Text 3. How Does It Feel to Be an American Teen?

That is what one American teenager says about his peers:

“In my opinion, American teenagers have too much freedom. I find that we are too pampered and spoiled. In my high school, lots of my friends had their own cars, telephones and other things too. As my Mom said, "What do they have to look forward to when they are older?" Often the same people were not disciplined.

Too many times I see kids with their own cars are snobby about it. They don't appreciate anything they have, are not grateful at all. That's not the way life should be. I think people should be happy with what they have. Life is too short to be complaining and taking, not giving anything in return. Also teenagers here get bored easily. They can't sit in their rooms for more than eight minutes in peace and quiet. They always have to be out with friends partying. The reason why I am making all these negative comments is because I used to be like that. I didn't stop to think about my Mom supporting me. I was just living for the present, not for the future. Now that I'm on my own, I realize and appreciate, to say the least, what my Mom has done for me”.

A nationwide survey of 13-year-olds says, more than half (53%) describe their relationship with parents as being excellent, setter than with their teachers or classmates or siblings. A majority describe their parents as being very involoved in their lives and knowing just about everything that goes on, while fewer than 10% describe their parents as uninvolved and clueless.

In the teenage years, the relationship between parents and children is constantly changing. This is a time when they bicker a lot and parents are caught by surprise. They discover that the tricks they have used in raising their kids stop working. Nowadays, parents work more, so their teenage children are often left unsupervised. In fact, of all the issues that trouble teenagers, loneliness ranks at the top of the list. Many kids say they feel alone and alienated, unable to connect with their parents, teachers and sometimes even classmates. A survey shows that they spend an average of three hours and a half alone every day. Half of them have lived through their parents' divorce.

About 85 % of teens say that Mom cares very much about them; 58 % say the same about Dad. Though teens strive for indepen­dence, still they need attention. Practically every kid psychologists talked to, said that they wished they had more adults in their lives, especially their parents. When kids complete high school and leave home, many parents suffer from the “empty nest” syndrome and young people start missing their parents too.

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Notes:

peer – сверстник;

look forward to – ожидать;

sibling – брат или сестра.

Text 4. How To Become Popular?

At this middle school in Connecticut, Tory rates the highest. One girl explains: "She has the right hair - straight and pretty, and the right eyes - big and brown; and long legs." Another girl adds: "I don't know one person that has ever said she's mean, 'cause she's just, like, a really nice person." It wasn't always Tory. For the first six years of school, Tory kept to herself and she was too self-conscious to talk out loud in class. In fifth grade, Tory decided she was ready for a change. "I just told myself that I wanted to be noticed and I wanted to overcome my shyness," Tory says.

She describes how every morning in homeroom all the popular kids sat together. Each time she gathered up her courage and talked to them.

Then Tory persuaded her mom to let her get contact lenses, layered her long straight hair and spent her last month looking for the perfect outfit. It worked.

"As soon as attention started coming, it went to my head, and at first I didn't act like myself at all," Tory says. "I started caking on the makeup and making sure that I was always perfect. I just wanted to be whatever everyone wanted me to be." Besides being heavily made up, it meant not to be very smart. "Because I was blond, everyone was automatically like "ditz, stupid," whatever - so I tried to be stupid," Tory explains. She failed tests and pretended not to know basic words in Spanish.

Once, while watching "Hang Time" with some friends, Tory was inspired to change again. "A guy said that one of the reasons he liked a girl on the show so much was because she wasn't afraid to show people how smart she was," Tory says. She decided to ease up on the makeup and put the dumb act to rest.

A couple of weeks ago during lunch, Tory performed an act of kindness that served only to make her more popular.

A couple of kids started pegging basketballs at Jason, an eighth grader with few friends. Jason was cornered, alone and defenseless and reduced to tears, while most of the grade simply didn't look, not wanting to be associated with someone so obviously unpopular.

"I went over and took his hand and walked him to the nurse and then the guidance counselor," Tory says. She was the only one who'd stick up for him.

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