Текст 2 Go on Jude, you can do it!

One night some friends Wends and I were sitting around talking about a new TV programme called Teen Big Brother We had seen some advertisements for the programme and knew they were looking for contestants. Eight teenagers were going to live together for one week to see how they got on. I said I thought it would be very exciting being in the Big Brother house on TV. It would also be fun for friends and family to watch you every day. As well as that there was a great prize of a fantastic holiday for the winner, I've always liked the idea of sharing a house with friends, but my friend Nicole said that Big Brother was different because you would be living with strangers. She said that one week wasn't really long enough to' I get to know anybody and to make friends naturally Then another friend, Bob, said that it would be horrible living in the house if you were shy and quiet Big Brother normally attracts really confident talkative people and they don't have anything in common he said.

Bob and Nicole don't really like Big Brother but I said there were lots of good things about it. The new Teen Big Brother would be a great chance to live with different types of people. But more important than that the programme is a challenge. It would test how you dealt with problems on your own 'You'd be a great contestant! ‘said Nicole. 'You get on with everybody, you're funny and sociable' That really surprised me, but when Bob said 'Go on Jude, you can do it!' I decided I would apply.

Выберите подходящий ответ А. В, С или D

1. How did Jude and her friends know about Teen Big Brother!

A They'd been talking about it

В It had been advertised.

С They'd seen it before.

D It was on TV.

2. What excites Jude about the programme?

A The big prize.

В Meeting the other teenagers.

С Being in a special house on TV

D Your friends and family seeing you on TV.

3. What does Nicole think about the Teen Big Вrother experience?

A It's just like living with your friends.

В It's not natural.

С It's a difficult experience for most of the housemates.

D It's not enough time for the housemates to get to know each other.

4. Why does Bob think shy people will find the experience difficult?

A Because the house will be horrible.

В Because the programme attracts the wrong son of people.

С Because they won't know what to talk about.

D Because they won't get on with some of the more confident people.

5. What is the 'challenge' for Jude?

A Coping on your own.

В Dealing with different people.

С Dealing with lots of problems.

D. Living on your own.

6. Why does Jude decide to apply?

A Because she's funny and sociable

В Because Bob tells her she can do it.

С Because her friends want her to apply

D Because she wants the challenge.

Текст 3 Being a teenage mother

A bit of History

When people think about Britain of today very few imagine puritan Victorian Britain where any discussion of sex and sexuality were strictly prohibited and considered immoral. Since then, Britain has seen the crazy sixties with their new ideas of “free love” and “sexual revolution”. It has also seen the seventies when British women finally began to see themselves as career-maker as well as mothers and wives. In the eighties, it became normal to see a nude image on TV and in the nineties, nobody was any longer surprised at the increasing number of sexual images in the media.

So have all these social changes forever changed the British attitude to sex and given Victorian Puritanism a well-deserved place in long-forgotten history?

Problem

Unfortunately not. It appears that Britons are still uneasy about discussing sex. The UK has the highest proportion of teenage pregnancies in West Europe. Each year in England 90000 girls get pregnant. 2200 of these are under 14, and 7700 are under 16 years old. The British figure for the first, younger group is 10 times higher than in Japan, and eight times higher than in Sweden and the Netherlands, where attitudes to sex are more open.

According to the United Nations, the dramatic situation with teenage pregnancies in the UK is largely due to the lack of sex education. Another factor is lack of general education and appropriate family support, as most teenage mothers come from poorly educated and deprived families. Unfortunately, Britain is still very class-oriented and the difference between life opportunities given to different classes is still significant.

Choice.

Being a teenage mother is not easy. Some pregnant teenage girls decide to have an abortion or give their babies up for adoption. However, some decide to go all the way. Quite often, keeping the baby means never continuing education and ending up unemployed, living on scarce benefits from the state. Also, recent research conducted by Essex University has shown that British women who had their first child before 20, were twice as likely to be without a partner in their 30s than women who had their first baby in their 20s.

Solutions.

So what is to be done in order to improve the situation?

It seems obvious that prevention of teenage pregnancies lies in better and more open sex education, as demonstrated by Sweden and the Netherlands, and easy availability and awareness of contraception. Although contraceptive advice and services are available in Britain, teenagers are still scared of seeking help and advice in fear of blame for their sexual behaviour.

There have also been steps to improve the life of exiting teenage mothers through creating support schools with a crèche, where school-age mothers can combine school education with looking after their babies. This gives the young mothers a chance to make their way in the world and not depend on state benefits

Personal story.

16 year-old Jane Taylor tells her story: “Before I got pregnant I hated school and did not do much work there, concentrating on my social life instead. Every night I would go out drinking and clubbing. Since the birth of my son, Tom, my life has changed. I have realized that having a baby means a lot of responsibility and I now want to do well at school and maybe go to college or university afterwards. However, it is not easy to do with a baby, so I am lucky to have a local support school where I can attend lessons, get medical help and discuss baby problems in the company of other girls in my situation”.

Conclusion.

Although all’s well that ends well, as in Jane’s story, isn’t having a baby at an early age a too high price for learning to be responsible and mature? Is it wrong to have an abortion? There are no right or wrong answers to these questions, so you need to find the answers yourself – what do you think?

In Florida, USA, single mothers are obliged by law to give the newspapers the most intimate details of their past if they want to give the baby up for adoption. The young women must give their name, height, weight and eye colour, the names of their sexual partners and the estimated date of conception. This is done to give the baby’s father, who may or may not know about the baby, a chance to claim responsibility for the child before it can be adopted.

В каких параграфах говорится о:

a) prevention of teenage pregnancies;

b) the story of 16 year – old Jane Taylor.

Согласитесь или не согласитесь с утверждениями. Начните со следующих формул вежливости:

I am afraid that’s wrong; I think you are mistaken; on the contrary, I don’t think so; according to the story.

• In Victorian Britain any discussion of sex was prohibited.

• Since the 19th century Britain has seen “sexual revolution”

• In the seventies British women were mostly housewives.

• The UK has the highest proportion of teenage pregnancies in West Europe.

• The dramatic situation with teenage pregnancies in the UK is due to the lack of general and sex education.

• All pregnant teenage girls give their babies for adoption.

• The prevention of teenage pregnancies lies in prohibition of sex education.

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Вставьте в предложения слова из текста:

• Any discussion of sex was prohibited and considered … .

• In the nineties nobody was surprised at the increasing number of sexual images in … .

• The UK has the highest proportion of teenage pregnancies in … .

• The dramatic situation with teenage pregnancies in the UK is largely due to the lack of … .

• Being a teenage mother is not … .

• Some pregnant teenage girls decide to give their babies up for … .

• Keeping the baby means living on … .

• What is to be done in order to improve …?

• Teenagers are still scared of seeking help in fear of blame for their … .

• Having a baby means a lot of … .