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Файл:Английский язык для юристов = English for lawyers. Учебное пособие
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81
UNIT 5. ETHICAL PROBLEMS
A. Work with a partner to discuss the following ethical dilemmas.
1. Your best friend gives you an expensive birthday present. You do
not like it. What do you do?
2. Your friend’s husband has lost his job — you’ve seen him at the
job center. His wife doesn’t know this. Would you tell her?
B. What ethical problems do people do people experience in their
life?
C. Read the three texts quickly and match them with the following
ethical problems.
1. You work in a clothing department of a store.
Your friend, Julia, works in the same department. She is a good
friend, who supported you when the two of you didn’t get a good bonus at
the end of the last year. There was a lot of shoplifting in the clothing
department then: people were stealing a lot of expensive items like
designer shirts and silk ties. Your boss said that you weren’t paying
enough attention to your work and didn’t deserve a good bonus.
Yesterday, you were having a drink with Julia after work in a local
café and you noticed that Julia had two new men’s shirts in her bag.
“Wow! They look expensive,” you commented. Julia Laughed. “You don’t
think I paid for them, do you? I take a few things from time to time to
make up for our rotten bonuses,”
2. You are an environmental manager for a chemical firm.
All last year, the company was looking for ways of reducing costs
because it was making a loss. It decided, therefore, to cut back on
investment in technology. As a result, the company did not spend money
on buying some expensive new equipment. This reduces a special toxin in
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waste water. At present, scientists don’t know exactly how poisonous this
toxin is, and your waste is within legal limits.
However, the polluted waste from the factory flows into a nearby
lake and river. It seems to be affecting fish and wildlife, and a local
scientist has warned that people should not eat fish caught in the river.
If you tell the press or the local authorities about the waste water, the
firm will have to buy the expensive equipment. The company could go
bankrupt and everyone, including yourself, would lose their jobs.
3. You are Chief Executive of a car manufacturer.
You visited an overseas supplier some time ago, and when you left,
he gave you an expensive watch as a present. On returning, you were
planning to tell your colleagues about the present, but forgot.
Last week, you were sitting in your office when another present from
the same supplier arrived. It was a magnificent antique clock! At the time,
you were considering three competing offers to supply radios for a new
range of cars. Your generous supplier had made one of the offers. His
firm’s radios were more expensive than those of another supplier, while
the quality of the products was similar. You have never done business
before with the supplier of the cheaper radios.
D. Read the three texts above quickly and match them with the
following ethical problems.
a. You have information that could damage the company you work
for.
b. A company that gave you an expensive present is trying to become
a supplier for your company with the help of bribery.
c. You have a colleague who is not honest.
E. Read the texts again. Are these statements true or false?
Text 1
1. Your manager complained that you (Julia’s friend) were not
paying enough attention to him.
2. Julia said she stole things because she did not get a decent bonus.
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Text 2
3. The company was acting illegally.
4. The expensive equipment could stop the company going bankrupt.
Text 3
5. You did not tell your colleagues about the expensive watch.
6. You were given an expensive watch, an antique clock and some
radios as gifts.
F. What do the following words highlighted in the text refer to?
1 them 3 This 5 their 7 It
2 it 4 It 6 he 8 those
G. Read the following story and answer the questions below:
1. What did Walter Davidson see on the road that caused him to stop
his car?
2. How did Walter Davidson react when he reached the spot where
he saw the girl?
3. What did Walter Davidson do after he couldn't find any evidence
of the girl?
4. Who did Walter Davidson contact about his experience, and why?
5. How did Rev. Ashley Wright respond to Davidson's story?
6. What similar experiences did other motorists report?
7. What did Ian Nicolson describe when he saw the girl?
8. How did the police respond when a salesman reported seeing the
girl?
9. What did Mr. Wright discover about the history of the road?
10. What action did Mr. Wright take in 1951, and what was the
outcome?
84
MYSTERY OF THE GIRL WHO JUST FADED AWAY
by John Macklin
Glossary:
1. Windscreen: The front window of a vehicle.
2. Verge: The edge of a road or path.
3. Bewildered: Confused or puzzled.
4. Manoeuvred: Moved skillfully or carefully.
5. Figment: Something imagined or invented in the mind.
6. Exorcism: A religious or spiritual practice to remove a spirit or
demon.
7. Spectre: A ghost or phantom.
8. Ticked-off: Reprimanded or scolded.
9. Coincidence: A remarkable concurrence of events without
apparent connection.
10. Footpads: Historical term for highway robbers on foot.
11. Diocese: A district under the pastoral care of a bishop in the
Christian Church.
12. Astonishment: Great surprise or amazement.
13. Notorious: Famous or well-known, typically for a bad quality or
deed.
The night was dark and moonless, and Walter Davidson stared in
disbelief through his windscreen at the scene illuminated by his car
headlights.
The tree overhanging the remote country road made things even
blacker, but there was no mistaking what Walter Davidson had seen.
A girl, naked and bleeding, lay face down by the grass verge.
Davidson, an agricultural engineer in his fifties, jammed on his
brakes and brought his car to a shuddering stop.
It was just before 7 p.m. on a windy November night, and he was
returning to his home near Brighton through the Sussex countryside.
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Now he had come across something horrifying and violent. Was it an
accident? Or a particularly brutal murder?
He was trembling as he opened his car door and started to run along
the deserted road to where the girl lay. He reached the spot and stopped
bewildered. There was nothing there. He returned to the car and
maneuvered the vehicle so that its headlights illuminated the spot where
the girl had lain. There was nothing to be seen, not even a mark of blood
Davidson could swear that he had seen blood dripping down the girl’s
arms on to the road.
With a torch, he thoroughly searched the nearly hedge and verges
without success. Finally, shaken and puzzled, he returned to his car and
drove thoughtfully home.
Phenomenon
Was that incident, in November 1950, purely a figment of his
imagination? “The more I thought about it, the more I was convinced it
wasn’t.” said Walter Davidson, when I discussed the matter with him some
years later.
As a result, he eventually contacted a local minister, the Rev. Ashley
Wright, Who had conducted numerous exorcisms, and was the local
authority on the supernatural.
To his surprise, Mr. Wright did not appear astonished when told
about the bleeding girl.
Incredible
He knew all about the phenomenon already.
For in the previous two years, at least four motorists had reported
seeing a naked girl lying by the roadside at the exact spot where Walter
Davidson had seen the specter.
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On one occasion, the matter had been reported to the police who had
searched in vain for a body. But in all four instances the drivers involved
had no doubts about what they had seen.
One, Ian Nicolson, a farm-worker driving home in the twilight on a
September evening in 1949, told Mr. Wright: “When I saw the girl I
thought I’d stumbled across a murder.” She was quite naked and lying in
the grass by the road. There was blood on her back and her arms.
“I stopped the car and jumped out, but as I approached the body it
just seemed to fade away. I stood there just looking down at the empty
road. It was the most incredible thing that has ever happened to me, I
searched the area thoroughly and found nothing.
“I wondered whether I should report it to the police, but after all
there was really nothing to report. They would think I was mad or drunk,
or just having them on.”
Ashley Wright heard a similar story from a salesman who also saw
the phantom body in the headlights of his car.
Ticked-off
Instead of stopping, he drove frantically to the nearest house and
phoned the police and the ambulance.
“When the emergency services arrived, they found nothing … and
the motorist received a severe ticking off.”
Mr. Wright, checking the stories of all the drivers, discovered that
were virtually identical.
“None of the motorists knew each other and their reports covered the
period of over two years. Their descriptions of the girl, the way she was
lying and her position in the road, were always the same. “It seemed to me
that it could not be mere coincidence. I decided to make further inquiries.
And when I did, the phenomenon became even more remarkable.”
He consulted a local historian, Dr. Authur Beddowes, and found to
his astonishment that the road in question had had a notorious reputation in
past years.
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Exorcism
Mr. Wright explained: “He told me that exactly 300 years earlier, a
girl had been robbed, raped and left to die by footpads on the road at that
precise spot.
“Later two men were hanged for the crime, but obviously that wasn’t
the end of the matter.
“Early in 1951, after obtaining permission from the Bishop of the
diocese, I carried out an exorcism at the roadside. Happily, the specter of
the bleeding girl has not been seen again.
H. Which of the alternatives is closest in meaning to the words from
the text?
a) faded away (headline)
1) ran away
2) fell over
3) disappeared
4) died
b) remote (para. 2)
1) busy
2) quiet
3) frightening
4) isolated
c) jammed on his brakes (para. 4)
1) stopped suddenly
2) stopped slowly
3) stopped carefully
4) didn’t stop
d) brutal (para. 6)
1) accidental
2) bloody
3) horrible
4) cruel
e) he was trembling (para. 7)
1) he was frightened
2) he was shaking
3) he felt sick
4) he was swearing
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f) thoroughly (para. 10)
1) carefully
2) quickly
3) gradually
4) slowly
g) shaken (para. 10)
1) worried
2) surprised
3) shocked
4) frightened
h) in vain (para.16)
1) carefully
2) without success
3) for a long time
4) with a lot of people
i) virtually (para. 24)
1) absolutely
2) nearly
3) not at all
4) partly
j) remarkable (para. 26)
1) questionable
2) wonderful
3) certain
4) extraordinary
I. Match the following words with their correct definitions.
Words
Definitions
1. Moonless
2. Verge
3. Shuddering
4. Phenomenon
5. Specter
6. Exorcism
7. Astonishment
8. Coincidence
9. Frantically
10. Notorious
a. A remarkable or unusual event
b. Without the light of the moon
c. An act to expel an evil spirit
d. Intense surprise or amazement
e. A ghost or apparition
f. Famous for something bad
g. The edge or border of something
h. A series of involuntary vibrations
i. Happening by chance
j. In a hurried, chaotic manner
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J. Use the words from the list to fill in the blanks in the sentences
below.
Moonless
Verge
Shuddering
Phenomenon
Specter
Exorcism
Astonishment
Coincidence
Frantically
Notorious
1. The night was ..., making it difficult to see the road ahead.
2. Walter stopped his car at the ... of the road.
3. The car came to a ... stop when Walter hit the brakes.
4. The sight of the girl was a strange ... that Walter couldn’t explain.
5. The ... of the girl haunted the drivers who saw her.
6. The minister performed an ... to rid the area of the ghost.
7. Walter’s ... grew as he realized the girl had vanished.
8. It seemed too much of a ...that several people saw the same thing.
9. He searched the area ..., but found nothing.
10. The road was ... for the tragic events that had occurred there.
K. Here are the answers to the questions. Can you work out the
question?
a. _____________________________________________________
A naked girl.
b. _____________________________________________________
He stopped his car.
c. _____________________________________________________
It was windy.
d. _____________________________________________________
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He didn’t know if she’d had an accident.
e. _____________________________________________________
The Reverand Ashley Wright.
f. ______________________________________________________
Because he had a reputation for knowing a lot about the supernatural.
g. _____________________________________________________
At least four.
h. _____________________________________________________
Because he thought the police would think he was mad and drunk.
i. ______________________________________________________
No, he didn’t. He drove to the nearest house and phoned the police
and the ambulance.
j. ______________________________________________________
A local historian.
L. Add a prefix or suffix to form the opposite of the following
adjectives, verbs and nouns.
Word
Opposite
Responsible
Probable
Advantage
to agree
Harmless
Accurate
Honest
Mature
Tidy
to lock
to approve
Experienced
Painful
to appear
Polite
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