Text 19
ABOUT A GENERATION GAP
Every generation is unique in its experience. It has its own ideals and a system of values concerning every aspect of human life. Adults always complain that the young are not what they were. These words are repeated from generation to generation. Undoubtedly it is correct. In fact today the young are better educated. They grow up more quickly. They derive joy from more freedom. At present the young do not blindly accept the ideals of their parents. For them everything that the adults bear in mind is past history. And this is inevitable, because different generations take different directions. Moreover, the young look forward and the old people look backward. The adults always teach the young how to live. They apply old standards to the new way of life. The past is hanging over them preventing them from appreciating the things around them anew. The young think that the adults have lost touch with everything that is important in life. They are right, because what is important to the adults is the past. The young know what they want. They prefer to make their own mistakes rather than to listen to the warnings of the adults. The past exists to help the young to avoid unnecessary blurs. But they do want to have them. The young want to live their own life. They want to overcome their own difficulties without turning back. Unfortunately the life of the young is frequently determined by the adults. The adults start the war but the young die in it. The young and adults have different points of view concerning everything. And it generates the conflict of the generations. In the 19th century Ivan Turgenev in his novel “Fathers and Sons” perfectly illustrated the eternal problem of father’s and children’s misunderstanding.
Every new generation is different from the one that preceded it. Today the differences are especially considerable. The adults always believe that they know best only because they have been around a bit longer. They don't want their values to be doubted. The young on the other hand are questioning the assumptions of the adults, they suspect that the world created by their predecessors was not the best one.
It is known far and wide that the clash of tastes and values between generations occurs in the main in highly developed countries. Occasionally it was sharp, especially in the 1960s and '70s in Western Europe and the USA.
The only way to solve the problem of generations both the young and adults should be tolerant and patient.
1. Answer the questions:
1)Is a generation gap the most important problem of the youth?
2)Can you explain the meaning of the phrase “The a dults start the war but the young die in it”?
3)Do you agree with the author’s words “What is im portant to the adults is the past”?
4)Do the young really know what they want?
5)What do different points of view of the young and adults concern?
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6)What can you say about family relations and traditions in different cultures?
7)Are there clashes of values in your family?
2. Let’s pay attention to the prepositions. Insert the missed prepositions from this list: of (4), to, in (2), from (2), on, by, with.
System ... values, bear ... mind, preventing them ... appreciating, listen ... the warnings, the ideals ... their parents, derive joy ... more freedom, points ... view,
... the other hand, the world created ... their predecessors, the clash ... tastes, ...
fact, lost touch ... everything.
Text 20
THE MASS MEDIA
The mass media have become a daily and essential necessity with contemporary men. The mass media report about various aspects of life, form and affect public opinion. The mass media comprise press, radio, TV and the Internet, in this or that form the mass media come into every home. To understand the meaning of the mass media for the people it is necessary to consider their every aspect separately.
The Internet was created in 1983. Since that time it has grown beyond its largely academic origin into an increasingly commercial and popular medium. The Internet connects many computer networks. By the mid-1990s the Internet connected millions of computers throughout the world. Many commercial computer network and data services also provided at least indirect connection to the Internet. The World Wide Web, which enables simple and intuitive navigation of Internet sites through a graphical interface, expanded during the 1990s to become the most important component of the Internet.
Newspapers are usually issued daily, weekly, or at other regular times. They provide news, views, features, and other information of public interest and often carry advertising. Newspapers come out to provide their readers with fresh news. Today people have a chance to have the information about political, economic and cultural events in their own country and abroad.
Newspapers appeared in many European countries in the 17th century. The first English printed news book averaging twenty-two pages was the «Weekly News». It appeared in London in 1621. By the 1640s the news book had taken the form of a newspaper. The first periodical was the “ London Gazettes”, a biweekly court paper. It started as the “0xford Gazette” in 1665 when the King and the court moved to Oxford because of London plague. The first English daily was “The Daily Courant” (1702-35). It was in 1771 that Parliament allowed journalists the right to report its proceedings. The “Times” was founded by John Walter in 1785, and “The Observer” was founded in 1791.
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British newspapers are proud of their individual styles. They can be classified into quality and popular editions. Quality newspapers are serious daily issues. They appeal mainly to the upper and middle classes. Popular, tabloid newspapers are smaller in size and contain many photographs. Unlike quality newspapers popular newspapers are not so serious and their stories tend to be sensational. Quality newspapers are: “Financial Times”, “The Tunes”, “Th e Guardian”, “The Daily Telegraph”. “Financial Times” contains a comprehens ive coverage of industry, commerce and public affairs. “The Times” is the mos t famous newspaper. It represents the views of the establishment and is well known for its correspondence column. “The Guardian” gives a wide coverage of new s events and reports on social issues, the arts, and education. “The Daily Telegra ph” contains reports on national and international news, gives a full covering of sports and other topics. Popular newspapers are: “The Daily Express”, “The Daily Mir ror”, “The Daily Mail”, “The Daily Star”, “The Sun”. They have a national daily circulation and appeal mainly to the working and middle classes.
In America the first newspapers, magazines, almanacs were published in the 17th century. The oldest printing press in America was set up as early as 1639 at Cambridge. The first newspaper in the United States came out in Boston in 1690. But it was suppressed by the colonial governor after one issue. The weekly “Boston Newsletter” began publication in 1704. Independent newspaper publishing started with the “New-England Courant” in 1721. In 1776 on the eve of the Revolution Boston had five newspapers, and Philadelphia three. Freedom of the press was achieved in the United States in 1791 by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
In the USA daily newspapers are of two kinds: quality and popular. “The Wall Street Journal” is a quality newspaper. It covers n ational and international news. “The Washington Post” contains full coverage of Con gress. Some newspapers not only print, but also collect and sell news, news features and photographs to other newspapers. For example, “The New York Times”, “The Washington Post”, the “Los Angeles Times” are the best news services of this k ind.
As for the magazines, today they are numerous. They cover all topics and interests, from painting and architecture to tennis, from aviation and gardening to computers and literary criticism.
Radio has not lost its importance with the appearances of TV and the Internet. Today there are a lot of radio stations of many different types and so much variety. Talk shows and music programmes with disc jockeys are very popular.
Today almost every family in the civilized world has a TV set. Television plays an important role in our society, not only as an entertainer and informant, but also because of the grip it has on many people. Television channels easily go into people's homes taking in their time and life.
In the USA the National Public Radio network (NPR) is known for its quality news and discussion programmes. Another public radio network, American Public Radio (APR), with its commentary and entertainment programmes is very popular too. In the USA PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) with its 280 stations is the
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largest network. There are several cable networks: CNN carries news and news stories, SPN covers all sports events, and MTV is famous for its music videos.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was established in 1936 by the government. It provides five radio stations: new-music station Radio 1, adult music station Radio 2, cultural network Radio 3, flagship speech station Radio 4 and news and sport station Five Live. The BBC also runs thirty-seven local radio stations, providing material of local importance. External service of the BBC is a very important part of the BBC's work. The BBC World Service broadcasts in thirty-five languages. BBC TV operates BBC1, BBC2 and digital services including BBC News 24. BBC WORLD is a commercially-funded international news channel. It is a well-established fact that the high quality of British television is upheld by the BBC.
1. Answer the questions:
1)What is the role of the mass media in the life of contemporary society?
2)What is implied under the term “mass media”?
3)What place does the Internet take in the life of modern society?
4)When did the first newspapers appear in England?
5)What role do newspapers play today?
6)In what way do quality newspapers differ from the popular ones?
7)What information do quality newspapers contain?
8)How can American newspapers be classified?
9)What can you say about Russian newspapers?
10)What British and American radio and TV networks do you know?
11)What do you know about the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)?
2. Today Russia can be proud of the variety of newspapers circulating throughout the country. On the news stalls one can find newspapers of all kinds: national and local, official and private, quality and popular, professional newspapers, newspapers issued for children, teenagers, people of different trends, for fans (sportfans, car-fans, etc.)
Try to classify Russian newspapers. Which of them do you usually read?
Text 21
BOOMING FILM INDUSTRY FACES CHALLENGES
Many of the feature films that are currently made in this country never get attention of mass audience, with a large proportion either not getting a theatrical release or being shown in just a handful of theaters, with little promotion. But even those films that are shown at the movie theaters not necessarily get enough audiences to break even or bring in profits.
One of the biggest problems for Russian filmmakers today is competition with foreign, primarily Hollywood films. Distributors complain that a domestic film
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requires a much higher investment in promotion than its Hollywood counterpart. The reason is that when it comes to an American movie, audiences normally know what to expect in terms of quality and entertainment value, but in case of domestic films, they are not so certain.
The younger generation of today's moviegoers may not even remember the situation of the early 1990s when cinemas closed down and were turned into car showrooms or casinos, while most people watched new films on pirated videotapes. For almost an entire decade, domestic films, with a few exceptions, were only seen by festival audiences.
And the challenge the Russian film industry is currently facing is a direct result of what happened a decade ago. It is not just that distributors of Hollywood films were the first to catch the drift when people began to return to the newly refurbished movie theaters in the early 2000s and grab the lion's share of the pie. There is one more problem, and a rather big one, which is meeting the audiences’ expectations.
The audiences have all the reasons to be distrustful when it comes to newly released Russian films. Many of those released turned in no profit, but even those, which did often, disappointed the audiences. Meanwhile, the box office success of recent domestic blockbusters, such as Night Watch, Day Watch and the Ninth Company, which was largely achieved due to aggressive promotion on TV channels taking part in the financing of the films, has apparently made producers think that they have to put the emphasis on promotion and advertising rather than producing a quality film.
Today, aggressive promotion seems to work well to lure people to the cinemas. This was apparent in the recently released Mechenosets (Sword Carrier), basically an art film with a strong emphasis on the visual side, which was promoted as “this fall”s biggest blockbuster.” But you can’t mislead the audiences all the time in a situation when it has several Hollywood films as other options for the weekend.
In the last couple of years, the lawmakers have repeatedly discussed the issue of protecting the domestic film industry by introducing quotas on Hollywood films, with nothing coming out of it so far. Still, competition from foreign films is a major factor that should eventually make domestic producers and filmmakers improve the quality of films they produce. But if instead a decision is made to introduce quotas on foreign pictures, distributors of domestic films may end up having empty theaters during the shows of domestic films.
(From M N)
1. Answer the questions:
1)What are the biggest problems for Russian filmmakers today?
2)Why do Russian films require more expensive promotion than American films?
3)Can you give any examples of aggressive promotion of domestic films on TV?
4)What do you think about possible measures protecting domestic film industry?
5)What would you suggest for developing film industry?
6)What is your opinion about Russian films you have seen lately?
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7)How can you characterise the category of blockbusters?
8)Can you name Russian films and their producers who won prizes at international film festivals?
Text 22
ADAM SMITH AND THE DISCOVERY OF MODERN ECONOMICS
Adam Smith’s “Wealth of nations” (published in 1776 ) is the first great classic of economic theory and one of the first known attempts to describe economic life as a whole.
The genesis of “The Wealth of Nations” exactly mir rors the industrial revolution. Adam Smith was born in 1723, and was a student at Glasgow University in Scotland from 1737 to 1740, when John Kay invented the flying shuttle. Between 1764 and 1766, Smith toured Europe as the tutor of the Duke of Bucceuch, the ancestor of the man who is still Britain’s largest private landowner. While in France Smith met Voltaire and was greatly influenced by a group of philosophers known as the physiocrats, who believed that governments should not interfere in the natural course of things, that it was better for them to leave well alone. Meanwhile, back in England, James Hargreaves was inventing the spinning jenny and James Watt built the first condenser, which made it possible to harness steam power. On his return from France, Adam Smith sat down to write his great book. The year before it was published, in 1776, Richard Arkwright invented the spinning frame, the final invention needed to make the mass production of textiles possible.
The full title Adam Smith gave to his book was “An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.” Its stated ai m was to discover the causes of an increase in national wealth.
The first key question the book addresses is what is wealth? When Smith was writing, wealth equalled bullion, gold and silver. The conventional aim of government policy was to create the largest possible trade surplus through manipulating tariffs on imports and subsidies on exports, so that the nation’s surplus of money increased. This approach Smith called the “mercantile system of political economy.”
The fundamental mistake of mercantilism, Smith wrote, was the view that national wealth consists in money. Real wealth is measured by the availability of consumable goods and the labour, which produces them. An increase in wealth equals an increase in goods, and plenty means cheap goods. Anything that restricts the availability of goods reduces a nation’s wealth. National wealth can only increase as trade does between and within nations. For trade to grow you need a market, and how the market works is the core of Smith’s book.
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1. Answer the questions:
1)When was Adam Smith born?
2)What education did he get?
3)Whose ideas was Adam Smith influenced by?
4)What is the full title of Smith’s famous book?
5)What inventions were made at that time?
6)What problems does “Wealth of Nations” deal with ?
7)What is national wealth according to Adam Smith?
8)What is the core of Smith’s book?
2.Say what books by Adam Smith you studied at your economics classes. What problems did you discuss?
Text 23
THE WALL STREET OF 19th CENTURY RUSSIA
Ilyinka, the most important street of Kitai-gorod, was Moscow's trade center in the past. The first building of the stock exchange was erected in 1839. Although the country's main stock exchange was in St. Petersburg, the Moscow stock exchange was definitely number two, and due to the city's special role as the center of Russia's merchant class, it played an exceptional role in the country's economic life. By the turn of the 20th century, Ilyinka had become Russia's Wall Street or City, depending on which side of the Atlantic one comes from. The country's leading banks had their monumental office buildings here, including the St. Petersburg, International, Azov-Don, Volga-Kama and other banks.
For 30 years the Moscow Stock Exchange Committee was headed by Nikolai Naidenov (1834-1905), the most outstanding member of that prominent entrepreneurial family. Like most Russian merchant dynasties, this one was founded by a serf. The family was released from bondage in 1816.
Nikolai Naidenov was a unique phenomenon in the history of Russian industry and commerce. While many entrepreneurs in Russia, such as Morozov, Mamontov, and Tretyakov combined business with patronage of the arts and other forms of philanthropy, Nikolai Naidenov was, perhaps, the only businessman to combine commerce and scholarship. He was a historian of Moscow. His major and unique contribution to the field was the publication of albums of all of Moscow's churches and monasteries, and views of other buildings. He also published 80 volumes of documents on the history of Moscow and numerous books on the history of Russia's merchant class.
Naidenov thought that the state had to support Russia's newly developing industry. He favored high tariffs on imported goods to protect domestic industry. Naidenov founded a small but highly successful bank, but never issued stock, which
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did not belong to companies with close links to his bank. Naidenov's political views were rather conservative, and he believed in a patriarchal relationship between workers and employers, a system, which he practiced at his factories. He even refused to accept the status of nobleman, which he was granted for his achievements in commerce, and preferred to remain loyal to his merchant estate.
(Abridged from MN)
1. Answer the questions:
1)Why did Moscow stock exchange play an exceptional role in the country's economic life?
2)Why is Ilyinka called the Wall Street of 19th century Russia?
3)How does comparison of Ilyinka with Wall Street or City depend on the side of the Atlantic?
4)What Russian banks had their offices in Ilyinka?
6)How is Nikolai Naidenov’s life connected with the Moscow Stock Exchange Committee?
6)What family did he come from?
7)What are entrepreneurs Morozov, Mamontov and Tretyakov famous for?
8)What was Nikolai Naidenov’s contribution to Russian history and culture?
9)What were his economic and political views?
10)What measures did he support?
Text 24
SOME FACTS ABOUT UK
Full name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; population: 60.2 million (National Statistics, 2005); capital: London; area: 242,514 sq km (93,638 sq miles); major language: English; life expectancy: 76 years (men), 81 years (women) (UN); monetary unit: 1 pound sterling = 100 pence; main exports: manufactured goods, chemicals, foodstuffs; GNI per capita: US $37,600 (World Bank, 2006); Internet domain: .uk; Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II;
Prime minister: Gordon Brown.
The United Kingdom is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It has a long history as a major player in international affairs and fulfils an important role in the EU, UN and NATO.
The economy - one of the largest in the world - is no longer manufacturing but services-based, with e-commerce of
growing significance. The City of London is a global financial centre. The country
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has not yet adopted the euro currency and the debate continues over when, and indeed whether, it will do so. The government has said a series of economic criteria must be met before the issue can be put to a referendum.
UK sees unemployment total fall. The number of unemployed people in the UK fell in the three months to April, according to official figures, dropping by 15,000 to 1.68 million. The figures also showed that the number claiming jobseeker’s allowance was down by 9,300 to 880,400 in May (the figures of this passage are taken from “Story from BBC NEWS”, publi shed: 2007/06/13 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/6747659.stm). Average earnings rose by 4% on an annual basis - below forecasts - in the three months to April, down from 4.4% in the January to March period. The earnings data should calm fears of wages stoking inflation, analysts said. Earnings growth for the period was the slowest since December, largely because Christmas bonuses were not included in the period. Underlying earnings growth - excluding bonuses - remained constant at just 3.6%. “These are very encouraging figures for the Bank of England, indicating that wage growth is still one inflationary dog that isn’t biting,” said Global Insight analyst Howard Archer. Analysts had expected earnings growth to be about 4.5%.
Diversity. The UK is ethnically diverse, partly as a legacy of empire. Lately, the country has been struggling with issues revolving around multiculturalism, immigration and national identity. This is against a background of concerns about terrorism and political and religious radicalism, heightened after the suicide bomb attacks on London's transport network in 2005. One of the latest trends in migration has been the arrival of workers from the new EU member states in Eastern Europe. It is estimated that over 95% of the British population are monolingual English speakers. There are various minority Celtic languages, and speakers of these are invariably bilingual English speakers. In Scotland 1.4% speak Scottish Gaelic as well as English; in Northern Ireland 6.6% of the population are bilingual in Irish Gaelic and English; in Wales, 21% also speak Welsh. Welsh is the only Celtic language that enjoys official status. In Scotland, Northern Ireland and some border areas of England, Scots is a distinct minority language although at times it overlaps with Scottish English. There are also large numbers of community languages, brought into the country and sustained by recent immigrant communities, which account for more than 5.5% of the population. The largest group (spoken by 2.7% of the total UK population) is South Asian languages such as Bengali, Punjabi, Hindi and Gujarati. Other community languages include Cantonese, Italian, Polish, Greek and Turkish. 45% of the total ethnic minority population lives in London, but community languages are spoken throughout the United Kingdom.
Culture. The UK has been at the forefront of youth culture since the heyday of the Beatles and Rolling Stones in the 1960s. It has a rich literary heritage encompassing the works of Englishman William Shakespeare, Scot Robert Burns, Welshman Dylan Thomas and Northern Irishman Seamus Heaney. Traditional music has deep roots across the UK which has also produced classical composers from Henry Purcell in the Baroque period to Benjamin Britten in the 20th century.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1038758.stm)
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1. Answer the questions:
1)What does the abbreviation GNI stand for?
2)Is the UK going to adopt the euro currency?
3)Who is now Prime minister of the UK?
4)What goods does the UK export?
5)Why is e-commerce significantly growing?
6)Why does Global Insight analyst compare wage growth with “an inflationary dog that isn’t biting”?
7)Do they have any immigration problems in the UK?
8)What languages are spoken in the UK besides English?
9)Can you explain the meaning of the term “multicu lturalism”?
10)How is ethnic minority population represented in different parts of the country?
11)What famous people of the UK do you know?
Text 25
THE USA. ECONOMY
Facts. Full name: United States of America; population: 300 million (US Census Bureau estimate, 2006); capital: Washington DC; largest city: New York City; area: 9.8 million sq km (3.8 million sq miles); major language: English; life expectancy: 75 years (men), 80 years (women) (UN); monetary unit: 1 US dollar = 100 cents; main exports: computers and electrical machinery, vehicles, chemical products, food and live animals, military equipment and aircraft; GNI per capita: US $43,740 (World Bank, 2006); Internet domain: .us; President: George W Bush.
The United States economy is based on the free enterprise system: private businesses compete against one another with relatively little interference from the government. Since the depression of the 1930s, when the economy essentially collapsed, laws have been made giving the government a more active role in economic and other matters.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the US economy grew rapidly. Many companies moved to the South and Southwest, and these areas experienced change and growth. Then, in the mid-1970s, economic growth began to slow down.
Just as there had been a shift from agriculture to industry, there is now a shift from industry to services. Services are provided by hospitals, banks, law firms, hotels and restaurants, and so on. In recent years, most new jobs have been service jobs.
The United States is a large country and is rich in natural resources. It is a leading producer of fuel - of oil, natural gas, and coal. It is also a leading producer of
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