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1. Moral values as they are seen today.

Moral values are the object of much distrust and thorny debate. But most people would admit that they are in some way important. Even the Youth of Today (YOT) would tend to agree, though our idea of morality may differ from that of our parents/

Oscar Wild asserted: “Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike”. H.G.Wells wrote: “Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo”. These two gems highlight the one quality most commonly associated with the notion of morality since time immemorial: hypocrisy. Vary rarely, it seems, do you see one without the other? Of course, we all know that this is not what true morality should be. True morality is very simple: Love thy neighbour as thyself. Or, in more modern parlance, it is all about respect (man).

The question is, do children need to have morality passed on to them? Are human beings fundamentally bad? Or conversely, are human beings inherently wonderful, angelic beings, corrupted only by the evils of social conditioning and bad parenting?

The answer somewhere in between: human beings are both good and evil. A moral education should strive to bring out the good and redirect the evil.

At the heart of Moral Re-armament is a brief that each person can make a difference to the world through a transforming experience of liberation in their lives and through their interaction with others. People long to be themselves to have a sense of worth and purpose of life, to be able to contribute of their time and talent, to know that they are needed and loved. In an age of information it's possible to fool ourselves, succumb to peer pressure and the spirit of the age. There are to be checks and balances-moral standards of honesty, purity, selflessness which guide our motives.

It's time for all countries to take a long hard look at themselves. Many of them are embroiled in a public debate about standards in public life, ethics in business values in education, values in the media and so on. It's because of the sort of the society we have created: a society which can produce the murder of a toddler: the massacre of infant-school children in Scotland and so on. Each of these events in isolation would have produced its own short-lived outcry.

But what can be done? It would be easy to say it all began with the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Easy but wrong. It was the sweeping reforms of the politicians. Its catchwords were “do your own things”. Morality was privatized. You could do what you wanted as long as you did not harm anyone else. Underlying all of this violence and civil disorders is the me-first philosophy which justifies all actions in terms of self-interest, rather than the common good. At the heart of these concerns lies the great issue of our time the dilemma between and constraints, rights and duties. Most pundits sum clear what is needed.

A simple preposition might be for each of us to start with ourselves. If each person began with what they could do, to put things right and to set standards, then we might soon see a difference.

2. Changes and rewards of voluntary work.

Voluntary work the things we put our heart into without asking for reward is a priceless asset to any country. Most voluntary work is held in people's spare time. But sometimes a grave need in national and global affairs calls for unusual steps and people abandon paid work to make her perspectives possible. Religious bodies through the ages have been upheld by such risk-taking people with a sense of vocation. And the current programmes of moral-re-armament are sustained by a partnership between people in a wide variety of jobs and other who make themselves wholly available. Moral re-armament seeks to liberate the initiative, creativity and depth of relationships that could make the world work. It takes all one's skills, stretches one's abilities and show up one's mistakes, sometime painfully, sometimes hilariously. Yet, it is satisfying to try to alter the fundamental motives of society.

Voluntary activities range from boxes in the street to sitting as a Justice of the Peace, from improving wildlife habitat to manning telephone helplines for children or parents.

So what makes people volunteer?

For the first group of people volunteer is a process of putting something into the place where they are living. They can organize seminars on racial harassment, community relations and drugs; advice adults on issues such as housing and employment; help young people prepare CVs and application forms and advise them on interview techniques.

Others want to create a good environment for the teenagers in the most deprived area of the town.

Some people visits housebound people to give the main career a break. It's nice for them to know that they are bringing a little bit of happiness into someone's life and putting something back into the community. They get pleasure out of feeling that they are making life more pleasant for people.

Many voluntary organizations help people from Asia and Africa. It’s very useful help, because the conditions of life of these people are bad. The water is dirty they haven't enough crops and animals to eat. They need clothes, medical equipment and so on. So such kind of organizations helps people to survive and change the situation for future generation.

Many volunteers work with asylum seekers. But some of them say that it's not very pleasant work because if you're befriended someone and seen them every week it's depressing when the person is suddenly deported.

There is no doubting of the commitment of many volunteers, nor the value of much of their work. Yet, good will along is not enough for the work. One should avoid of thinking in the following way: “oh, I am just a volunteer and I’m not paid to do this, so I cannot be expected to do it well”. That is not so and mustn’t be so. So voluntary work is the matter of good will and faith heart and consciousness.

3. The status and role of women in modern society.

Half the world’s human beings are women, yet statistics show there is no class of people more abused, aborted, exploited, humiliated, denigrated, harassed, molested, battered, persecuted and even murdered and enslaved.

There are really only two differences between men and women that we know to be completely natural and unavoidable and that affect the jobs they do: men, on average, have stronger muscles than women; and women give birth to babies. All other differences that we may observe are increasingly held to be the result of training and fashion, and not something inborn and inevitable.

This means that the traditional role of women as housewives, who perform the tasks of cooking, bringing up children, cleaning etc. as against the male role of going out to work, looking after the money side, fighting for hearth and home, etc. are now often thought to be purely the result of custom: men may be just as good at looking after babies once they are born, doing the housework, and all the other things considered to be women’s jobs in most countries today. And women may be just as good at earning the family’s living, handling the accounts, fighting where necessary, and so on. Many men and women have proved that they can perform tasks traditionally reserved for the opposite sex.

This is supposed to be an enlighten age, but you wouldn't think so if you could hear what the average man thinks of the average woman. Women won independence years ago. After a long bitter struggle they enjoy the same educational opportunities as men in most parts of the world. They have proved repeatedly that they are equal and often superior to men in almost every field. The hard-fought battle for recognition has been won, but it is by no means over. It is men not women who still carry on the sex war because their attitude remains basically hostile.

Even in the most progressive societies women continue to be regarded as second-rate citizens. In Nairobi a woman for getting a job must go to one of a few banks in the world designed exclusively for women, and it will make sure that she gets a loan. If she wants to learn to read, it may be more difficult. In Africa 8 women out of 10 are illiterate. Most Japanese believe that a woman must put the family ahead of her job

In the working world, women still come a distant second to men. Unemployment generally affects women more sharply. In most countries women are less paid. While in the developed world there are more female lawyers, managers and politicians than before, and women in communications are numerous, they are still heavily outnumbered by men. In developing countries women's work is often little more than the most menial of labour. 6 of 10 illiterates in the world are women.

Elsewhere in the world women have found cultural prejudices as hard to change as political ones. Some believe that woman and policy can't be combined. The spread of Islamic fundamentalism has meant the return of the chador and the loss of many hard-won freedoms. Female circumcision is still practiced in many countries and in South America women aren't covered by labour legislation,

maternity benefits and unemployment insurance provisions.

The truth is that men cling to their supremacy because of their basic inferiority complex. They shun real competition. They know in their hearts that women are superior and they are afraid of being beaten at their own game. One of the most important tasks in the world is to achieve peace between the nations. You can be sure that if women were allowed to sit round the conference table, they would succeed brilliantly, as they always do, where men have failed for centuries. Some things are too important to be left for men.

4. Structural types of a modern family and their problems.

Family is very important to every person. Belonging to a family is one bond almost everyone in the world shares. One sign that this is true is that people usually show great concern about the family as an institution.

There are many different types of families. While most families are traditional, comprising a father, a mother and one or more children some of them are headed by one parent, usually a woman. In a few families there are no children. These childless couples may believe that they would not make good parents, they may want freedom from the responsibilities of children; or perhaps, they are not physically able to have children. Other families have one adult who is a stepparent. A stepmother or stepfather is a person who joins a family by marrying a father or mother.

People tolerate and accept these different types of families. In many countries, people have the right to privacy and they do not believe in telling other ones what type of family group they must belong to. They respect each other's choices regarding family groups, Families are very important to everyone. One sign that this is true is that people show great concern about the family as an institution. Many believe there are too many divorces. They worry that teenagers are not obeying their parents. They are concerned about whether working women can properly care for their children. They also worry that too many families live in poverty.

Newspaper, motion pictures and television shows highlight difficulties within families. Family crimes, problems and abuse become news stories. But most families do not experience these troubles. Since the earliest days people have been predicting the decline of the family.

Families serve many functions. They provide a setting in which children can be bom and reared. Families help educate their members. Parents teach their children values - what they think is important. They teach their children daily skills, such as how to ride a bicycle. They also teach them common practices and customs, such as respect for elders and celebrating holidays. Some families provide each member a place to earn money, however, most people earn money outside the home. The most important job for a family is to give emotional support and security.

Families in a fast-paced, urban, country face many difficulties, adjust to the pressures of modern society by changing. These changes are not necessarily good or bad. They are simply the way people adjust to their world.

The family unit is still the basic living arrangement for most people. But for more and more people this definitely means the nuclear family. It is unusual already for adults of different generations within the family to live together. Very few children now grow up in large families and more and more adults are living along. Besides today people are getting married later than they used to. Some women and men are delaying marriage and family because they want to finish university or start their careers. Even women more and more often put aside their role in the society in order to make a career or to satisfy with their own life.

Nowadays most women work outside their homes. There are two reasons why mothers and wives work. One reason is that there are many opportunities for women. The other one is to support their families. The majority of women work because it is an economic necessity. Men worked, work and will work to support their families. So what is the result of both parents working? When both parents work they have less time to spend with their children and with each other. At the same time the majority of men and women say that they prefer a marriage in which the husband and wife share responsibilities for home jobs. They prefer a marriage in which the husband and the wife talk about their problems and solve them before they get too big. Members of strong families are committed to one another, show each other affection and appreciation.

Many marriages today fail and end in divorce. This does not mean that couples don’t believe in marriage. It simply means that they are giving up being married to a particular individual. Most people who get divorced marry again and live together without being married.

5. Children and TV.

Watching television over a long span seriously damages children's ability to think clearly and the exposure to TV sensationalism robs youngsters of childhood.

It's turning out to be a disastrous influence, at least as far as we can determine at present. Television appears to be shortening the attention span of the young as well as eroding, to a considerable extent, their linguistic powers and their ability to handle mathematical symbolism. Even more serious, in my view, is that television is opening up all of society's secrets and taboos, thus erasing the dividing line between childhood and adulthood.

I call television the "first curriculum" because of the amount of attention our children give to it. By now, the basic facts are known by almost everyone: between the ages of 6 and 18, the average child spends roughly 15,000 to 16,000 hours in front of a television set, whereas school probably consumes no more than 13,000 hours. Moreover, it is becoming obvious that there really is no such thing as "children's" programming. Between midnight and 2 in the morning there are something like 750,000 children throughout America watching television every day. There's a fantasy people have that after 10 p.m. children aren't watching television; that's nonsense.

Many parents, as well as educators, also have the mistaken belief that television is an "entertainment medium" in which little of enduring value is either taught by or learned from it. Television has a transforming power at least equal to that of the printing press and possibly as great as that of the alphabet itself.

Television is essentially a visual medium. It shows pictures moving very rapidly and in a very dynamic order. Although human speech is heard on television, it is the picture that always contains the most important meanings.

Television can never teach what a medium I like a book can teach, and yet educators are always trying, to pretend that they can use television to promote the cognitive habits and i the intellectual discipline that print promotes. In this respect they will always be doomed to failure. Television is not a suitable medium for conveying ideas, because an idea is essentially language - words and sentences.

The code through which television communicates - the visual image - is accessible to everyone. Understanding printed words must be learned; watching pictures does not require any learning. As a result, TV is a medium that becomes intelligible to children beginning at about the age of 36 months. From this very early age on, television continuously exerts influence.

For the reason, I think it's fair to say that TV, as a curriculum, moulds the intelligence and character of youth far more than formal schooling. Beyond that, evidence is accumulating that TV watching, hurts academic performance. A recent California Department of Education survey indicated that the more children sit in front of the television, the worse they do on achievement-test scores.

What emerges most clearly from the mass of figures of numerous surveys is that parents exercise little control over their children’s viewing, even when it worries them. They throw the onus on the programme makers, which is both cowardly and irresponsible. The people who make and schedule programmes should not be the ones who have to worry about little children being upset.

Much I am personally for some sort of indication given to parents as to the suitability of programmes. While children cannot be prohibited from viewing at home by anyone except their parents, as they can be an X certificate in the cinema, there is a precedent for guidance in another way. Adopting an R for Restriction recommended to be clearly attached to tricky titles in programme journals and in on-air trailers, would be immense assistance to responsible parents, and would encourage those who are less keen to take their job of guiding the young seriously.

I'm not criticizing television for that. I'm saying that's what television does; that is the nature of the medium. Television, after all, does have a valuable capacity to involve people emotionally in its pictures.

6. Radio in Great Britain. State Radio:

Radio 1 – pop music

Radio 2 – light music, chat shows

Radio 3 – classical music

Radio 4 – variety of programs

Radio 5 – sports, news

The Archers – the most popular radio soap opera

Pirate Radio:

Popular among young people – cock a snook at the law

London Weekend Radio – the most popular

The department of Trade and Industry carries raids against them

Radio has a predominantly day-time audience with the peak listening hours at breakfast and lunch time, whlV portable and car radios encourage listening at other times during the day . Radio services provide a range of programmes for both national and local audiences and cater for widely differing tastes. There arc five national BBC radio stations: the BBC regional radio services for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and BBC local radio stations in England, and independent local radio services provided by stations throughout Britain.

BBC NATIONAL RADIO SERVICES

BBC Radio's five national radio services each have a distinct character and together provide for the listener a wide immediate choice throughout the day. Radio 1 is a rock and pop music station, catering for all tastes from the charts to new music, classic oldies, heavy metal, dance and world music There are also documentaries, comedy, quizzes, news, social action campaigns and live concerts.

Radio 2 prides itself on being a 24-hour entertainment network with a daytime mix of good music and conversation, complemented by Jazz, big bands, country, folk, blues and light classical music In the evenings and at weekends. The schedule is interspersed with some of the most popular quiz shows on radio. The network not only provides news summaries on the hour every hour, 24 hours a day, but also brings you the news an soon as It happens. Taken together, Radios 1 and 2 account for nearly 80 per cent of radio listening.

Radio 3 is the BBC’s classical music network. During the day, it also broadcasts Jazz and traditional music from around the world, and speech programmes about music. In the evenings, BBC Radio 3 becomes a mixed cultural network though still music led. Programmes Include drama, documentaries, science, poetry I and arts discussions. The network draws on the

resources of the BBC's five symphony orchestras, commissions over 30 new works a year and broadcasts all the Proms.

Radio 4 is news and current affairs channel. It broadcasts news of the day, political discussions, traffic information, weather forecasts, topical plays and daily variety of special interest programmes and programmes for people with disabilities. There are plays every day and humour with sit-coms, quizzes and satire.

Radio 5 (launched In 19907) is Britain’s newest national network and combines sport, education, programmes for young people and a selection of BBC World Service broadcasts. Radio 5, is the sports network with live coverage of all major "national and international events. It also offers a range of programmes for the whole family with children’s stories, playa and magazines, programmes for young adults every evening and family magazines, plus education from pre-school to Open University.

In addition to the five national BBC Radio networks, services exist for listeners in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and are available to moat of the population of these areas. The BBC local radio station provide programmes of local news and information.

BBC EXTERNAL SERVICES

The BBC broadcasts by radio to most countries overseas (in 38 languages Including English) for a total of 705 hours a week. The main objectives are to give unbiased news, to reflect British opinion and to project British life, culture and development In science and industry.

She BBC English by Radio and Television Service is the moat extensive language teaching undertaking In the world. English lessons are broadcast weekly by radio with explanations in other languages, and recorded lessons are supplied to the stations in about 90 countries!

7. The calendar of English customs and traditions.

There are only six public holidays a year in Great Britain, that are days on which people need not go to work. They are: Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Spring Bank Holiday and Late Summer Bank Holiday. Most of these holidays are of religious origin, though it would be right to say that for the greater part of the population they have long lost their religious significance and are simply days on which people relax, eat, drink and make merry.

Besides public holidays, there are other festivals, anniversaries and simply days, for example Pancake Day and Bonfire Night, on which certain traditions are observed, but unless they fall on a Sunday, they are ordinary working days. NEW YEAR

In England the New Year is not as widely or as enthusiastically observed as Christmas. Some people ignore it completely and go to bed at the same time as usual on New Year’s Eve. Many others, however, do celebration it in one way or another, the type of celebration varying very much according to the local custom, family traditions and personal taste. The most common type of celebration is a New Year party. Another popular way of celebrating the New Year is to go to a New Year’s dance. Those who have no desire or no opportunity to celebrate the New Year themselves can sit and watch other people celebrating on television. This is the traditional time for making “New Year resolutions”, for example, to give up smoking, or to get up earlier. However, these are generally more talked about than put into practice.

There are some traditions on New Year’s Day. One of them is the old First Footing. The first man to come into the house is very important. The Englishman believes that he brings luck. This man (not a woman) must be healthy, young, pretty looking. He brings presents-bread, a piece of coal or a coin.

ST DAVID’S DAY

On the 1st of March each year one can see people walking around London with leeks pinned to their coats. А leek is the national emblem of Wales. The many Welsh people who live in London like to show their solidarity on their national day. The day is actually called Saint David’s Day, after а sixth century abbot who became patron saint of Wales. The saint was known traditionally as “the Waterman”, which perhaps means that he and his monks were teetotallers. А teetotaller is someone who drinks nо kind of alcohol, but it does not mean that he drinks only tea, as many people seem to think.

In spite of the leeks mentioned earlier, Saint David’s emblem is not that, but а dove. No one, not even the Welsh, can explain why they took leek to symbolize their country, but perhaps it was just as well. After all, they can't pin а dove to their coat!

TROOPING ТНE COLOUR

During the month of June, а day is set aside as the Queen’s official birthday. This is usually the second Saturday in June. On this day there takes place on Horse Guards’ Parade in Whitehall the magnificent spectacle of Trooping the Colour, which begins at about 11.15 а. m. This is pageantry of rаrе splendour, with the Queen riding side-saddle on а highly trained horse.

The colours of one of the five regiments of Foot Guards are trooped before the Sovereign. As she rides on to Horse Guards’ parade the massed array of the Brigade of Guards, dressed in ceremonial uniforms, await her inspection. For twenty minutes the whole parade stands rigidly to attention while being inspected by the Queen. Then comes the Trooping ceremony itself, to be followed by the famous March Past of the Guards to the music of massed bands, at which the Queen takes the Salute. The precision drill of the regiments is notable. The ceremony ends with the Queen returning to Buckingham Palace at the head of her Guards. The Escort to the Colour, chosen normally in strict rotation, then mounts guard at the Palace.

Midsummer's Day

Midsummer's Day, June 24th, is the longest day of the year. On that day you can see a very old custom at Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, England. Stonehenge is one of Europe's biggest stone circles. A lot of the stones are ten or twelve metres high. It's also very old. The earliest part of Stonehenge is nearly 5,000 years old. But what was Stonehenge? A holy place? A market? Or was it a kind of calendar? We think the Druids used it for a calendar. They used the sun and the stones at Stonehenge to know the start of months and seasons. There are Druids in Britain today, too. And every June 24th a lot of them go to Stonehenge. On that morning the sun shines on one famous stone - the Heel stone. For the Druids this is a very important moment in the year. But for a lot of British people it's just a strange old custom.

HALLOWEEN

Halloween means "holy evening" and takes place on October 31st. It is particularly connected with witches and ghosts. At parties people dress up in strange costumes and pretend they are witches. They cut horrible faces in potatoes and other vegetables and put а candle inside, which shines through their eyes. People play different games such as trying to eat an apple from а bucket of water without using their hands.

In recent years children dressed in white sheets knock on doors at Halloween and ask if you would like а “trick” or “treat”. If you give them something nice, а “treat”, they go away. However, if you don’t, they play “trick” on you, such as making а lot of noise or spilling flour on your front doorstep.

GUY FAWKES NIGHT (BONFIRE NIGHT) — NOVEMBER 5 Guy Fawkes Night is one of the most popular festivals in Great Britain. It commemorates the discovery of the so-called Gunpowder Plot, and is widely celebrated throughout the country. Gunpowder Plot Conspiracy to destroy the English Houses of Parliament and King James I when the latter opened Parliament on Nov. 5, 1605 engineered by а group of Roman Catholics as а protest against anti-Papist measures. In May 1604 the conspirators rented а house adjoining the House of Lords, from which they dug а tunnel to а vault

below that house, where they stored 36 barrels of gunpowder. It was planned that when king and parliament were destroyed the Roman Catholics should attempt to seize power. Preparations for the plot had been completed whenone of the conspirators wrote to а kingsman warning him to stay away from the House of Lords. On November 4 а search was made of the parliament vaults, and the gunpowder was found, together with Guy Fawkes, an English Roman Catholic/ Fawkes had been commissioned to set off the explosion. Arrested and tortured he revealed the names of the conspirators, some of whom were killed resisting arrest. Fawkes was hanged. Detection of the plot led to increased repression of English Roman Catholics. The Plot is still commemorated by an official ceremonial search of the vaults before the annual opening of Parliament, also by the burning of Fawkes's effigy and the explosion of fireworks every Nov. 5.

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS

Christmas Day is observed on the 25th of December, it is the most widely celebrated festival in all its parts except Scotland. The reason for this is clear. With its numerous, often rather quaint social customs, it is undoubtedly the most colourful holiday of the year, and, moreover one that has always been, even in the days when most people were practising Christian, а time for eating, drinking and making merry.

However, despite the popularity of Christmas, quite а number of English people dislike this festival, and even those who seem to celebrate it wholeheartedly, have certain reservations about it. The main reason for this is that Christmas has become the most commercialized festival of the year. The customs and traditions connected with Christmas, for example giving presents and having а real spree once а year, made it an easy prey to the retailers, who, using modern methods of advertising, force the customer to buy what he neither wants nor, often, can reasonably afford. An average English family sends dozens and dozens of Christmas cards, and gives and receives almost as many often practically useless presents. As much of this spending is forced upon people and often means that а family has to do without things they really need, it inevitably leads to resentment towards the festival. Needless to say that it isn’t the old customs and traditions that are to blame, but those who make huge profits out of the nationwide spending spree which they themselves had boosted beyond any reasonable proportion.

8. The British style of life: traditional and modern.

English Customs and Traditions

English life is full of traditions and the English are said to be steeped in traditions. Traditions can be divided into different classes: those connected with sports, with entertainments, with holidays and some occasions and those with no particular connection.

What we deal with here is a more or less random collection of customs chosen for their particular interest, their importance, former or present, in lives of the people.

The English are great lovers of sports; and when they are neither playing nor watching games, they like to talk about them. By the way, such sports and games as football, volleyball, basket-ball, tennis and boxing are quite popular in England just as all over the world. But there are games which the English are especially fond of. They are cricket and golf. Cricket is a game impossible to describe to foreigners and they are usually unable to appreciate it. It is at times not so much a game as a kind of dignified public ritual performed by 22 men in white flannels and two stationary old gentlemen in white coats who are the referees.

There are all kinds of racing in England: motor-racing, three-legged racing and even racing for dogs and donkeys.

Boat racing is very popular in England. People started to use boats for racing in the 19th century. This is one event that is fully amateur in the truest sense, with no cups or medals, the only reward being the satisfaction and pride of having had a part in it, win or lose. The annual boat contest between Oxford and Cambridge Universities dates back to 1829. It takes place in London on the Thames.

Much leisure time is devoted to gardening. Most English people like gardens, and this is probably one reason why so many people prefer to live in the Country. The British like making things grow whether it is in a window-box outside the kitchen, or in the garden. Flower-shows and vegetable-shows with prizes for the best exhibits are immensely popular.

Britain is a nation of animal lovers. Everybody knows that. They will speak affectionately to and of their dogs and cats, which is more than they will do concerning their friends and family. In Britain pets can send Christmas cards to their friends, birthday cards, there are even cards available for birds, fish and reptiles.

The most imposing and spectacular traditions are those are connected with Parliament and Government as Parliament is a very old institution and acquired traditions of its Town. One of them is the state opening of Parliament when, as tradition dictates, the Queen reads the speech prepared by the Prime Minister to both the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Queen drives in a state coach pulled by six horses from Buckingham Palace to Westminster. The ceremony takes place in the House of Lords with a few leading members of the House of Commons standing close to the end of the chamber^ opposite the throne technically 'outside' the House of Lords. This is also dictated by the tradition.

Another tradition connected with Parliament is known as "Guy Fawkes Day" which dates back to 1605 when some Catholics with Fawkes at the head decided to blow up Parliament. On this day a group of men In black hats and red coats with lanterns in their hands searched the Cellar of Parliament. The origin of this tradition has been forgotten by most people but for children is a day of great fun and merriment because big fireworks are lit' on this day.

The pageantry and glamour of traditions and ceremonies , connected with Parliament serve to catch the popular imagination and divert public attention from questions of vital importance.

10. The eternal problem of the generation gap.

If children in the United States are wanted and loved, why do they fight with their parents? At least this is one view of families that American television shows present. The other type of family shown on American television is one in which everyone is great friends with everyone else. These families seem to have no problems in real life. In real life, most families in the United States fall somewhere in the middle. Talk about a "generation gap" has been exaggerated. The generation gap is a_gap between the views of the younger generation o! teenagers and the views of their parents

Many parents in the United States want their children to be creative and question what is around them. In a democratic society, American children are taught not to obey blindly what is told to them. When children become teenagers, they question the values of their parents. This is a part of growing up that helps teenagers stabilize their own values. In one national survey, 80 per cent of the parents answering the survey said their children shared their beliefs and values. Another study showed that most teenagers rely on their parents more for guidance and advice than on their friends.

When American parents and teenagers do argue, usually it is about simple things. One survey found that the most common reason parents and teenagers 'argue is because of the teenager's attitude towards another family member. Another common reason for arguments is that parents want their children to help more around the house. The third most common basis for arguments between parents and teenagers is the quality of the teenager's schoolwork.

Arguments which involve drug or alcohol use occur in a much smaller group of families. Most parents (92 per cent) said they were happy with the way their children are growing up.

13. Cultural identity in the multicultural world.

MULTICULTURALISM

The third reason for caution about generalizations relates to the large-scale immigration to Britain from places outside the British Isles in the twentieth century. In its cities at least, Britain is a multicultural society. There are areas of London, for example, in which a distinctively Indian way of life predominates, with Indian shops, Indian clothes, Indian languages. Because in the local schools up to 90% of the pupils may be Indian, a distinctively Indian style of learning tends to take place.

These 'new British' people have brought widely differing sets of attitudes with them. For example, while some seem to care no more about education for their children than people in traditional English culture, others seem to care about it a great deal more.

However, the divergence from indigenous British attitudes in new British communities is constantly narrowing. These communities sometimes have their own newspapers but no have their own TV stations as they do in t United States. There, the numbers in such communities are larger and the physical space between them and other communities greater, so that it is possible for people to live their whole lives in such communities without ever really learning English. This hardly ever happens in Britain.

It is therefore still possible to talk about British characteristics in general (as the rest of this chapter does). In fact, the new British have made their own contribution to British life and attitudes. They have probably help to make people more informal (see below); they have changed the nature of the corner shop the most popular, well-attended festival in t whole of Britain is the annual Notting Hill 'Carnival in London at the end of August, which is of Caribbean inspiration and origin.

Strong Families

In a perfect world, families would have no problems. Parents would know how to rear their children to be responsible adults. Americans and others throughout the world are trying to learn what makes strong families. Perhaps families can learn how to solve their problems. Researchers at the University of

Nebraska have found some answers. Strong, happy families share some patterns whether they are rich or poor, black or white.

Strong, happy families spend time together. After dinner, for example.

happy families may take walks together or play games. Strong families also talk about their problems. They may even argue so that problems can be resolved before they get too big. Members of strong families show each other affection and appreciation. Members of strong families are also committed to one another and they tend to be religious. Finally, when problems arise, strong families work together to solve them.

The values that Americans cherish, such as democracy and economic and social freedom, are values that Americans want for their families. Americans work hard to make their families successful. Today, however, families are changing, but they are not disappearing. Americans accept that strong, happy families come in many sizes and shapes

14. National patterns of education in Great Britain and the USA.

Educational system of any country is integrally related to the values and assumptions of the society that surrounds it. Whatever its advantages and disadvantages are, the system will retain its current general characterizations as long as the values and assumptions that predominate in the surrounding society continue to hold away. But anyway our task today is reveal national patterns of education in Great Britain and the USA.

Let’s start from American system of education. Americans believe that every citizen has both the right and the obligation to become educated. In order to develop an educated population all states have compulsory school attendance laws which require that formal schooling begins by age 6 and continue until at least age 16.

About 88% of American children receive their elementary and high education in the nation’s public schools. The schools have some important characteristics in common. They do not charge tuition and are required to follow some state guidelines regarding. They are co-educational as well. Public schools are not sectarian.

About 12% of American children attend private schools. They can be divided into two categories: parochial (supported by a particular religious group) and secular (non-religious). Public schools charge tuition and are not under direct public control.

Before the age of 5 children can attend nursery schools or day care attendance, where they are looked after while their parents are at work. In most areas free public education begins with kindergarten classes for five-year-olds. The primary purpose of kindergartens is socialization. After kindergarten American children begin their academic studies. Their schooling is divided into 12 academic levels called grades.

The first academic institution that a student attends is called elementary school or grammar school. In some school systems elementary includes kindergarten through 8^th grade, and the next four years are called high school. In other school systems there is a third division called junior high school (or middle) usually including grades 6 through 8. During the elementary school years students are grouped into classes and each group stays together for the entire school day and the entire school year. The classes have the same teacher for most subjects. Its programmes include music, art.

Grammar schools teach language, arts, social studies, mathematics, science, PE and health.

High school subjects are more specialized: English grammar, literature and writing, American history, European history, psychology, algebra, geometry, a foreign language. In high school students move from classroom to another and study each subject with a different teacher and a different group of students. Many high schools have a tracking system which groups students according to academic ability and motivation.

Americans deeply believe education is the best vehicle for individual and social advancement. Improving the basic school system is one of the nation’s top priorities. But it is a consolation to remember that for most young Americans formal education does not end with high school graduating.

The legal basis of the educational system in the UK until 1988 was the educational act of 1944. it prescribed the duty of government, LEAs and parents in a system which is still compulsory for those aged 5 to 16. Nursery education is provided in nursery schools, day nurseries and pre-school playgrounds for children from 2 to 5.

Most children start school at the age of 5 in a primary school and go on it till 11-12. a primary school may be divided into two departments – infants (5-7) and juniors (7-12). In infant schools children are engaged in playing activities while in junior schools children have set periods of arithmetic, reading and composition. They are graded.

There is usually a move from primary to secondary school at the age of 11. Until 1960s there existed the tripartite system of secondary schools. But for years it was under assault. In early 70s by the Labour government the 11+ exams were abolished and most secondary schools were organized on comprehensive lines. Comprehensive schools admit children without reference to ability or aptitude. They provide courses that focus on practical skills considering them essential for the world we live in.

But comprehensive schools didn’t satisfy the society and that lead to school reform in the 80s. - GCE O-levels and CSEs were replaced with GCSE taken at 16. - AS level exam, the National Curriculum, a programme of Records of Achievements was introduced. For sure advantages of the system are evident but there is no perfect thing in the world. So the system should not behind the time and continue its mastering.

15. National values and assumptions in the English-speaking countries.

Most Americans would have a different time telling what the values are which Americans live by.

Even of Americans had considered this question, they would probable decide not to answer in terms of a definite list of values. The reason for this decision is itself one American value – individualism.

They believe that every individual is unique, completely and marvellously unique totally different from all other individuals and therefore, particularly precious and wonderful. Americans think they are more individualistic in their thoughts and actions than they really are. They take pride in claiming more individualism than in fact, they actually have.

An American can take credit only for what he accomplished by himself without any outside assistance. It expresses initiative, another typical feature of the nation.

Americans rely on themselves only. They know that they have to work hard to climb the difficult ladder of success. And they do work hard to gain the aim. The fact leads to Americans being known as workaholics. But it does not mean they like to work – they just have to work. They are participants of a great race for success.

American ways of life lead them to be considered as a rather materialistic people. It means that they value and collect more material objects that most of the world’s people would ever dream possible to own. It also means that they give a higher priority to obtaining, protecting and maintaining their material objects than they do in developing and enjoying personal relationships with people.

Their personal relationships are rather particular. Hey are considered to be direct and their directness does not observe the rule of subtle and highly ritualistic way of informing people of unpleasant news. Such kind of relationships is closely connected with another typical American feature as informality. They express it in their communication and dress. Besides American like change and believe the equality is one of heir most cherished value. Americans see the values to be positive, though they are not aware of other people do so too.

There are certain stereotypes of national character which are known as British traits.

People in modern Britain are very conscious about class differences, though many people say they don’t approve f class divisions. The main criteria for class division are money and accent.

The British are cling to intellectualism. Teachers and academic staff although respected, don’t have as high status as they do most other countries. Even the word “clever” has negative connotation.

Britain is usually claimed as “the land of tradition”, but in their private lives the British are less inclined to follow traditions. They just like old things, old houses, pubs looking old, regarding them as symbols of stability and safer times.

The British are individualists: they are proud of being different. Tourists usually describe the British as a very unfriendly nation, but that is not true. One should differentiate between unfriendliness and informality. When people aren’t playing a public role – there seem to be no rules at all. The key is this: being friendly in Britain often evolves showing that you are not bothering with the formalities. The British also tend to have essensual attitudes to animals.

The values and assumptions listed above are not complete. We can enumerate them endlessly for both the nations. But we sat nothing in a number of words if we don’t communicate at least with one British and American. As they say the best way to know the country is to visit country.

17. The priorities of an ideal school.

The mystery of how to choose a good school could soon be solved. It should take into account points such as marking homework, the amount of graffiti and the number of expulsion. Head teachers must tell the truth about truancy, bullying and the number of school leavers who end up on the dole. For many years schools set out their purposes, often in clear and helpful statements of aims and objectives. But they have not always turned these into definite targets.

The biggest danger is that a school will be judged solely by its poor exam results when, taking into account the IQs and background of the pupils, it was doing remarkably well.

Well, while choosing a school for your child pay attention to the following points about a school.

• Pupils’ performance in tests and exams;

• How many pupils come from homes where English is not the first language;

• What proportion of leavers go to university or college, or registered as unemployed;

• Does the school communicate efficiently with parents;

• How much vandalism is there – and is it growing or decreasing;

• Did a majority of parents make the school their first choice;

• How many pupils were suspended or excluded last year and are these numbers growing;

• What does the school do about graffiti;

• Is pupils’ homework set and marked effectively;

• How much bullying is there and what does the head do about it.

18. Drug abuse - the plague of the society.

In many countries of the world drug abuse has become a real problem that threatens people’s health and stability within society.

In many countries caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and barbiturates are all legal drugs. They are similar to illegal ones in that, sooner or later, they can affect you so that you find yourself depending on a regular supply of them. The extend of dependence varies according to the person and the drug, but most people find it harder to give up even cigarettes or tea, than say, apples or cheese. This is because most of us smoke, have a coffee or drink either as a way of calming ourselves down or relieving tension or as a way or bucking ourselves up, finding extra energy. These drugs have become associated with their power to relieve certain feelings and a habit is formed.

Stronger drugs – such as opiates and cocaine – can be habit-forming in just the same way. The drug taker comes to rely on the effect of the drug to produce a sensation of well-being and this reliance increases, until eventually dependence on a continual supply of the drug is established and an addictive habit is formed.

People who are addicted to drugs can be of any age and walk of life. Their reasons for taking drugs are as varied as the environments in which they live. In some cases, addiction will be life-long; in others, it may be a temporary phase which can be broken out of.

The incidence of drug use depends on many factors – among them the rate of youth unemployment, whether or not a country lies on a specific drug rout.

Drugs even the least expensive ones, are unaffordable to many. A great majority of drug abusers prefer to make their own drugs of poppies and other plants containing narcotic substances. Consequently, illegal cultivation of such plants is becoming increasingly widespread. The spread of illegal cultivation of opium poppies is especially menacing.

It was already said that drugs have accompanied humans since the beginning of civilization. The increasing number of drug addicts and rapid growth of illegal trafficking business show that the measures taken in many states are not sufficient. So approaches on how to deal with them today continue to differ. In some countries there is a clear trend toward greater emphasis on education and treatment, rather than repression. Many policy-makers are worried by the opening of new trade routes – bringing with it international organized crime – the availability of new narcotics, as well as the emergence of new diseases that can be spread by drug users such as AIDS and hepatitis. It was the emergence of AIDS and HIV which can be transmitted by shared needles among intravenous drug users, that prompted many countries to adopt new policies focused more on treatment and prevention rather than interdiction and persecution.

I think that we need to learn to live in a world with drugs – whatever the substance. And we know that with the prodigies of chemistry, there are so many new things. I think that what we need to do is, first, to be able to detect the new trends, to detect the new substances because some of them can be lethal substances, or very toxic substances; this is first. Second, what’s required is that we need to teach ourselves and our children to live in such a world.

19. The power of the media. ???????The press...Everywhere, everyday exiting things are happening. Each day is filled with news. How are people kept informed?The press, radio and television keep people informed on all topical issues of the day. The press has great political influence. You can get a lot of useful information from newspaper reports. If you are a regular reader of the press you will be well informed about all matters. Newspapers publish articles on home and foreign affairs. Reports by political observers and commentators help us to get useful information on international and domestic issues. Most newspapers come out daily. The reader's questions, opinions and suggestions, which they send in letters to the editor, help to improve the newspaper and make it more interesting.The British are great newspaper readers. Newspapers are often thought of as either "qualities" or "populars". The "qualities" give serious accounts of the news and reports on business matters, industry and culture. They are usually large-sized.The "quality" papers, like The Times, The Guardian and others, are directed at readers who want full information on a wide range of public matters. "Popular" newspapers appeal to people wanting news of a more entertaining character. They are usually with lots of illustrations. Some populars, like The Sun, are note for their sensational stories and photographs. Some newspapers come out only on Sundays: The Sunday Telegraph, Sunday Express, Sunday Mirror, The Sunday Times.Many newspapers are printed in color, as the part of Sunday or Saturday paper. They provide reading material about clothes, cooking, diet, the house and home.

20. The language of advertising and its impact on the community.

Advertisers tend to think big and perhaps this is why they are always coming in for criticism. Their critics seem to resent them because they have a flair for self-promotion and because they have so much to throw around. “It is iniquitous”, they say, “that this entirely unproductive industry should absorb millions of pounds each year. It only goes to show how much profit the big companies are making. Why don’t they stop advertising and reduce the price of their goods? After all, it’s the consumer who pays… ”

The poor old consumer! He’d have to pay a great deal more if advertising didn’t create mass markets for products. It is precisely because of the heavy advertising that consumer goods are soc cheap. But we get the wrong idea if we think the only purpose of advertising is to sell goods. Another equally important function is to inform. A great deal of the knowledge we have about the household goods derives largely from the advertisements we read. Advertisements introduce us to new products or remind us of the existence of ones we already know about.

Lots of people pretend that they never read advertisements, but this claim may be seriously doubted. It is hardly possible not to read advertisements these days. Just think what a railway station or a newspaper would be like without advertisements. Would you enjoy gazing at a blank wall or reading railway bye-laws while waiting for a train? Would you like to read only closely-printed columns of news in your daily paper? A cheerful, witty advertisement makes such a difference to a drab wall or a newspaper full of the daily ration of calamities.

We must not forget either that advertising makes a positive contribution to our pocket. Newspapers, commercial radio and television companies could not subsist without these sources of revenue. The fact that we pay so little for our daily paper, or can enjoy so many broadcast programmes is due entirely to the money spent by advertisers. Just think what a newspaper would cost if we had to pay its full price!

Another thing we must not forget is the small ads, which are in virtually every newspaper and magazine. What a tremendously useful service they perform for the community! Just about anything can be accomplished through these columns. For instance, you can find a job, buy or sell a house, announce a birth, marriage and death in what used to be called the “hatch, match and dispatch” columns; but by far the most fascinating section is the personal or agony column. No other item in a newspaper provides such entertaining reading or offers such a deep insight into human nature. It is the best advertisement for advertising there is!

21. Family women versus career women.

Why do women work? Many people seem to believe that women work because they have to. The economy is lousy, so it takes two incomes for a family to survive. It is just an economic necessity.

Other people seem to believe women work because our values are all screwed up. Our lust for material goods drives many women out into their workplaces at the expanse of a peaceful, balanced family life.

No wonder working women are filled with angst. They are constantly told they are supposed to feel guilty (for shortchanging their kids) or angry (at husbands who shirk their half of the housework). Every time they pick up a magazine they find yet another confessional tale by someone who’s ditched her glamorous, high-powered career to go back home and bake cookies for her neglected kids.

Contrary to the prevailing mythology, the real reasons women work have very little to do with need or greed. They work (from some people’s point of view) because they want to, and because they can.

Nearly every woman who works knows what she gets out of it: independence, self-esteem, a sense of completeness. She gets the chance to choose her own life (and her own man, or no man). This is true whether she’s a vice-president or a data-entry clerk, a sales manager or a telemarketer. Women have known forever that a pay cheque – a job of one’s own – is the most powerful instrument of liberation there is.

The other liberating force is technology. It is controversial to say so, but technological advances have all but abolished housework. Women aren’t needed at home any more because the job of housewife has ceased to exist.

Processed food, refrigerators, microwave ovens and wash-and-wear fabrics have altered our world as profoundly as the automobile or the microchip. Today, any family can manage home-maintenance chores in an hour or two a day, and the only time it makes sense for a parent to stay home is when the kids are young. (Technology is not likely to abolish the need for parents.)

There are entire industries devoted to maintaining the illusion that homemaking is still a full-time job. And idle housewives can take their pick of dozens of made-up arts and crafts, from wreath making to decoupage. But it’s all pretended. The housewife’s job as we’ve known it for hundreds of years is gone for good – and good riddance.

That’s the real reason why women have gone out of work, and why they’ll never go home again.

22. The problems of gender equality.

Gender is the term used to describe socially constructed categories based on sex (sex refers to a biological distinction). Gender is a social construct. It is through the concept of gender that society transforms female and male human beings into social women and men, assigning them roles and giving them cultural value. Gender stereotypes are structured beliefs about the socio-psychological characters of women and men. People believe that men and women are substantially different on number characteristics.

I prefer to think that all people are the same no matter what you are – a man or a woman. We all eat and drink and sleep and cough and laugh at the same things. But in some ways each person is different and individuals’ differing wants and preferences may conflict with each other. Many conflicts between men and women had happened in the world to prove who is better and supreme. If there is a cake for dessert there is a chance – one person can get a larger piece that another and even greater chance that one will think the other’s piece is larger whether it is or not. In the situation a man would be humbled as his rights were infringed. A woman would give a larger piece to the man – she got used to refusing herself for somebody’s sake. It is her nature.

Psychologists maintain that gender turns out to be the of the most important determinants of human behaviour, and try to make sense of seemingly senseless misunderstandings that haunt men and women relationships. Psychologists’ data show: women tend to focus o intimacy and men on independence. Intimacy is key in a world of connection where individuals negotiate complex networks of friendship, minimize differences, try to reach consensus and avoid the appearance of superiority, which would highlight differences. That will be the world ruled by a woman.

In the world of statuses independence is key because a primary means of establishing statuses is to tell others what to do and taking orders is a maker of low status. That is present-day world – it is ruled by a man.

Though all humans need both intimacy and independence, women tend to focus on the first and men on the second. That is the main difference leading to numerous conflicts and problems between genders.

Gender differences are a topic of perennial interest. It is through the concept of gender that society transforms female and male human beings into social women and men, assigning them roles and giving them cultural value. Social norms construct and reinforce attitudes about women’s and men’s proper work roles, their participation in family and community life, modes of dress and demeanour and their appropriate styles of verbal behaviour. That is a stereotype that a woman is a housewife and a man is a money-earner. People believe that men and women are substantially different on a number of characteristics. Men are considered to be higher in self-interest, women are considered to be higher in a concern of others.

Men are considered to be higher in a concern for others. Men are forceful, adventurous, aggressive, self-confident, rude, independent, ambitious, active and dominant. Women are affectionate, emotional, gentle, weak, sensitive, nagging and sentimental.

To my mind, people downgrade women’s achievements (sometimes they are great), people have negative opinions about women’s work capacities (though it is not always true); women have been represented negatively in many areas (though they work in most areas shoulder-to-shoulder with men); and women’s stereotypical characteristics are not as highly regarded as men’s are (though women are usually more tactful, punctual, responsible and hard-working than men).

These are the reasons why there cannot be equality of genders. Women would be constantly inferior to men in this respect: she lets a child play and rules wisely and imperceptibly – by means of men.

23. The main environmental problems facing mankind today.

All parts of the environment are closely related to one another. Ecologists, who study the relationships among living things and other parts of the environment, say that because of the close relationships, a kind of pollution that chiefly harms one part of the environment may also affect others. Air pollution harms the air, but rain washes pollutants out of the air and deposits them on the land and in bodies of water. Wind, on the other hand, blows pollutants off the land and into the air.

There are several kinds f environmental pollution: air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, and pollution caused by solid wasters, noise, and radiation.

Air pollution turns clear odourless air into hazy, smelly air that harms health, kills plants, and damages poverty. Air pollution results from pouring hundreds of millions of tons of gases and particles into the atmosphere each year. Most of air pollution results from combust ion processes. The burning of petrol to power motor vehicles and the burning of coal to heat buildings and help manufacture products are examples of such processes.

One serious result of air pollution is its harmful effect on human health. Both gases and particles burn people’s eyes and irritate their lungs. They may cause such diseases as cancer and emphysema, bronchitis and pneumonia.

Air pollutants can also damage the earth’s upper atmosphere, destroy the ozone layer, change the average temperature, reduce the amount of sunlight the reaches the ground, cause the warming of the earth’s surface.

Water pollution reduces the amount of pure, fresh water that is available for such necessities as drinking and cleaning, for such activities as swimming and fishing. The pollutants that affect ware come mainly from industries, farms and sewerage systems.

The addition of heated water to a body of water – thermal pollution coming mostly from industries and power plants – also upset cycles. Heated water can kill animals and plants that are accustomed to living at lower temperatures. It also reduces the amount of oxygen that water can hold.

Another major pollutant, which ruins beaches and kills birds and marine

life, is fuel oil, which enters oceans primarily from oil tankers and offshore oil wells.’

Soil pollution damages the thin layer of fertile soil that covers much of the earth’s land and is essential for growing food. Fertilizers used by people add extra nutrients to the soil and increase the amount of the crop that can be grown on an area of land. But the use of large amounts of fertilizers may decrease the ability of bacteria to decay wastes and produce nutrients naturally. Pesticides destroy weeds and pests. But pesticides may also harm helpful insects, worms and bacteria, and other helpful organisms in the soil.

Noise is an especially troublesome pollutant in urban areas. The noise causes discomfort in human beings. Some scientists even link prolonged exposure to loud noises with the development of high blood pressure and ulcers.

Radiation is an invisible pollution that can be highly dangerous. Nuclear radiation comes from radioactive substances, including waste from nuclear weapons testing and from nuclear power plants. Small amounts of radiometric radiation are produced by a variety of electronic devises, including computers, lasers, microwave ovens and television. Explore to large amounts cause cancer and harmful changes in reproductive cells.

International agreements ban most testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere. Such regulations have helped eliminate the major sources of radiation. However, the amount of radioactive waste is steadily increasing.

Scientists are studying ways to dispose of these wastes safely and permanently.

24. Conventional schooling in Belarus: problems and alternatives.

CONVENTIONAL SCHOOLING: PROBLEMS AND ALTERNATIVES

Most people have strong opinions about schools they went (or go)to. Often this is "the result of their own personal experiences which leave them feeling that there is much to criticize and' little to praise in the kind of schooling they received.

Conventional school nowadays is very often criticized. There are different reasons for it, starting with the level of education provided by conventional schools, finishing with the problem of truancy and children trying to flight shy of classes. As far as our conventional schools are concerned, there "are come problems that - are hardly found in other countries. First of all, there are not enough teachers and "young people take up teaching" as their future career unwillingly. As a result classes today are very often overcrowded, sometimes because" of lack of teachers pupils are not taught some subjects, most often foreign languages, for a long time. At the same time, teachers have to over-exert themselves without being paid much. So the problems are really very acute and some changes in conventional school are needed.

Today there, are lots of alternatives to conventional schooling, such as specialized colleges, gymnasiums, lyceums. Parents today are free to choose what school they would send their children to.

I'd like to speak about such alternative way of education as Dr.Weil's Summerhill school and City-as-a-school Idea.

An alternative in education – the city as School – Has been started in New York, USA. Its idea itself is not new but the New York programme is merally recognised as being the most successful of its kind.

Three hundred and fifty high school students between 15 and 18 attend the City-as-School: it's a school without walls and its classroom is the city itself, students spend their days in the theatres, museums, government offices and businesses of New York in a programme of part-time apprenticeships that are individually tailored to their interests and needs.

Students are accepted into City-as-School after an interview; the only academic requirement is two years of basic mathematics and science at a high school.

Credits are given, for satisfactory completion of each assignment, so that the students stand as good a chance of getting into an American college as their counterparts in ordinary high schools. In fact it was shown recently that 80-85 per cent of CAS graduates are going on to college without problems.

Many of the CAS students are young people who, for one reason or another, were unhappy with conventional education.

The New York CAS is viewed as a useful alternative way of dealing with these final and often troublesome school years. There are however, still some lingering doubts as to whether this kind of life experience can totally replace the academic development acquired in the classroom.

Summerhill began as an experimental school. It is no longer such; it is now a demonstration school, for it demonstrates that freedom works.

Dr. Neil set out to make a school in which he should allow children freedom to be themselves. In order to do this, they had to renounce all discipline all direction, all suggestion, all moral training, all religious instruction. All it required was a complete belief in the child as a good, not an evil, being.

His view is that a child is innately wise and realistic.

Logically, Summerhill is a place in which people who have the innate ability and wish to be scholars will be scholars; while those who are only fit to sweep the streets will sweep the streets. For one thing, lessons are Optional Children can go to them or stay away from them - for years if they want to. There is a timetable - but only for the teachers.

The children have classes usually according to their age, but sometimes according to their interests. They have no new methods of teaching, because we do not consider that teaching in itself matters very much. They have no truants and seldom a case of homesickness. They very rarely have fights - quarrels. There you can seldom hear a child cry, because children when free have much less hate to express than children who are downtrodden. Hate breeds hate, and love breeds love. Love means approving of children.

The function of the child is to live his own life- not the life that his anxious parents think he should. In Summerhill, everyone has equal rights. The absence of fear is the finest thing that can happen to a child.

So we see, that there are really lots of alternatives to conventional schooling. So we are only to choose which variant fits us better.

25. The environmental problems in Belarus. Air pollution:

Harms health, kill plants

Pour millions of particles and gases into the air

Smog

Because of combustion process

Causes pneumonia and bronchitis

Greenhouse effect

Water pollution:

Dump huge amounts of wastes into the water

Thermal pollution

Fuel oil from oil tankers and offshore oil wells

Soil pollution:

Damage fertile soil

Pesticides

Solid wastes:

People throw billions of solid materials

No way to dispose them

Burning – air pollution

Dumped in water – water pollution

Land for burring is running out

Noise pollution:

Urban areas

Causes high blood pressure

Radiation:

Invisible pollutant

From wastes

Electronic devices

Changes in reproductive cells

We all love our native, land, remarkably beautiful Belarusian nature with its blue lakes and ribbons of rivers, edged with thick forests with its endless expanses of fields, meadows and swamps with its varied animal and plant kingdom.

Nature is a source of man’s prosperity_, we are the children of the nature and we are eternally indebted to it As everyone admires the beauty of nature each of us must at the same time be filled with the sense of responsibility and concern for its protection, rational and thrifty of its riches.

Nature is an involved complex where all the components are closely intermixed and interdependent. That means that humankind must be very careful in usage of natural resources in order to avert the damaging consequences.

A great helper in the noble task of protection of the environment is the science of ecology, which reveals the links and makes forecasts if the people start improper business somewhere. Besides the ecology faces different programmes connected with ecological disasters and environmental holocausts like Chernobyl, for example.

Let's have a glimpse of Belarusian nature. The lands and forests are wonderful, we can find broad-leaved grove pine and fir forests. The republic has over 10.00Q lakes. More, than 58 types of fish are found in our rives and lakes (pike, roach, bream, crucian, loach, burbot.

Every autumn 160 types of birds migrate southwards and return to their native parts in spring. And there are 286 types of birds overall in Belarus.

The territory of Belarus is inhabited by 47 types of mammals. Over 40 spices are game There are elk, roe, wild boar, squirrels, hare, fox, marten. A lot of animals and beards, kinds of fish and plants are registered in Belarus Red Data book, and are legally produced against extermination.

The republic has a great number of recreational areas and tourist attractions which gained popularity among the lovers of nature and are visited thousands of people every year. Everyone knows our famous lake Naroch, say, Braslavskie lakes, or Buelovezhskaya Pustcha preserve. When people introduced to these unique parts, to their fauna and flora, they form love nature and come to realizing the need of its conservation.

The problems of environmental protection figure prominent part nowadays in the activities of the Belarusian government. But the burden Problems is overwhelming. There are few green zones around the industrial enterprises; our natural resources are not used properly. During the recent years there appeared a lot of harmful works, which pollute the surrounding neighborhood the water in the in rivers. And some more dangerous projects are still in progress.

Let me tell you about some of them. Everybody in Belarus knows that, for example, Orsha is highly industrialized area. Some businessmen together with the Italian partners decided to create a leather - producing joint venture construct the plant on the banks of the river Dniper. Of course leather necessary for producing shoes, jackets, etc. No doubt on the one hand it's necessary and economically incomsome undertaking. But on the other hand the dangerous industrial waste of chemicals. It's dangerous for composition including different acid and even heavy metals. It could ha ruined the nature in the territory of several miles around the factory. Moreover it could pollute the waters of the Dniper and produce harmful effect and even lead to ecological catastrophe.

One knows about the notorious LAVS AN in Mogilev an enterprise producing the artificial fibres. Beside the industrial output this plant throws into the air very dangerous micro elements which cause the allergic diseases such as asthma, for instance. The necessity of closing and re-profiling of factory is vivid to everyone, but it still functions.

Not to say about the Chernobyl holocaust As a result of it a great area the Belarusian territory became contaminated with radioactive particles, contamination caused a rapid raise of such incurable illnesses as the cancer, lot of people died from leukemia. Nowadays the agricultural production from 30 % of the Belarusian territory is not valid for consumption: The harm effect of this tragedy according to some estimations amounts to 30 billion $US.

It goes without saying that Belarus faces now a lot of extremely ecological problems. The Government commissions are being created, adopted, but as for the changes, they are few and hardly radical. The Supreme Executives control over the activities of local executive committees in order safeguard the nature and protect the environment. But these steps are insufficient. Therefore a great majority of people join all sorts of "GREEN" movements and ecological parties. We know the examples when the joint efforts of the environmentalists and the government realized into some successful projects such as THE SMALL RIVERS in France or THE RAIN in Germany, I^ICHIGAN in the United States etc.

Only if the ecological coalition of the government and society is created _one can expect the positive and fast solution of the ecological problems.

In the conditions of science and technological revolution, when man interferes in the natural process on an increasing scale, the protection of the environment is one of the most vitally topical problems. Its solution involves the efforts of all people inhabiting the planet. And it is a necessary and noble task, because we must preserve the civilization, and leave for the generations to come fresh air, pure water, national parks and preserves.

26. Egalitarian and elitist approaches to education.

Children’s intelligence, musical ability, physical endurance etc., vary enormously from individual to individual: some children are musical geniuses at the age of four or five, and others are what is usually called tone-deaf; there are mathematical geniuses, and children who are hopeless at maths; some girls become world swimming champions at 14, and others are always last in any race and so on.

Some “experts” claim that most of these differences are born in the child; others say that they are the result of early experiences. The most sensible attitude is that they are partly the result of heredity, and partly that of environment.

One therefore has to accept that there is a wide range of ability between different children in a large number of different skills and abilities, and one then has to decide what to do about it in the schools. Some governments believe in an egalitarian approach; others in giving special types of education to suit each different kind of ability, with especial encouragement to those who are outstanding in a particular thing. The latter is known as an elitist approach.

What is obviously right in any society which is interested in developing each child’s abilities to the full for the good of the community is to give all children equal opportunities to develop their special gifts. In a society in which some children are so underfed that their brains do not receive enough protein to develop fully; or in which some mothers are so busy earning a living that they are unable to spend time stimulating their children’s brains during the vital three years, equal opportunities for all do not exist.

A lot of things done by selecting gifted children at a very early age, and then sending then to schools in which they are given intensive training for something like ten years. Obviously, selection cannot be perfect: some children who should be at a particular type of school will have slipped through the net; and other do not go to that kind of school will drop out before the end of the course; but enough people with a particular type of skill will be produced each year for the country’s need.

An alternative is to send most children to comprehensive school, which is designed to enable everyone to pursue the subjects that they are good at, and at the same time to encourage social cohesion. But there are those who believe that the comprehensive system holds back the very bright children on whom the community will depend heavily in the years to come for the inventiveness, decision-making ability and intellectual endurance which enable a country to complete successfully in a world of advanced technology. However, there has never been any conclusive evidence that the comprehensive system does hold back the very intelligent pupils.

27. The personality of an ideal teacher.

Teaching is a very specific and responsible job. Not everyone has enough courage to accept this responsibility. Most young people prefer to choose a more rewording and better-paid job. However there are many young people who consider teaching as a career, who agree to be on stage day and night, paying special attention to the smallest details in their speech, voice, clothes, behaviour every minute.

The success of education and upbringing children depends to a great degree on the personality of a teacher, his/ her professional skills, moral principles, erudition and cultural back-ground. This noble and challenging profession demands form a teacher constant creativity, enthusiasm, understanding of children psychology and love for them, complete dedication to his course.

The teacher must be a model of competence; so he is a person who is learning as well as teaching all his life. Most jobs can be done within the usual office hours, but teacher’s work is never done and evenings are mostly spent marking exercise-books and preparing for the next lesson.

A good teacher encourages his or her pupils, keeps them interested in their subject. He/ she treats the pupils with respect and values them as individuals. He understands that each child is unique and has special talents and capabilities that’s why he educates each pupil with special attention to his/ her interests and encourages each one to be the best he/ she can be. He helps children to develop their critical and creative thinking to form their views and characters, their attitudes to life and other people. He/ she treats them to work independently and cooperatively, to be helpful and useful.

A good teacher will do his/ her best to bring up honest and considerate, patient and tactful, self-confident and self-disciplined people, able to meet many challenges of adult life in a rapidly changing world

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30. Man and Nature must work hand in hand.

Environmental pollution is one of the most serious problems facing humanity today and it calls for immediate actions as it causes global warming, destruction of the ozone layer, and other potentially disastrous processes. Air, water and soil – all harmed by pollution – are necessary to the survival of all living beings.

Badly polluted air can cause illness and even death. Polluted water kills fish and other marine life. Pollution of soil reduces the amount of land available for growing food. Environmental pollution also brings ugliness to our naturally beautiful world.

People pollute their surroundings in many different ways. They dirty the air with gases and smoke, poison the water with chemicals and other substances, and damage the soil with too many fertilisers and pesticides. People ruin natural beauty by scattering rubbish and litter on the land and in the water and operate machines and other vehicles that fill the air with disturbing noise. Nearly everyone causes pollution in some way.

Pollution problem is as complicated as serious. It is complicated because much pollution is caused by things that benefit people. For example, exhaust from cars causes a large percentage of all air pollution. Factories discharge much of the material that pollutes air and water. Thus, to end to reduce pollution immediately, people would have to stop using many things that benefit them. Most people don’t want to do it, of course.

There are thought to be between 5-8 million different animal and plant species in the world. The world is currently losing species at a rate of about one a day. The loss of wild life on this scale will have dramatic and irreversible effect on the whole fabric of life.

Thousand of species of animals and plants are endangered, and the number increases each year. Endangered animals include whales, some kinds of crocodiles, orang-utans, rhinos, snow leopards, tigers and whooping cranes. Endangered plants include running buffalo clover, Santa Cruz cypress and many species of cactuses.

There are many threats to wild creatures: wars, hunting, agricultural reclamation, pesticides. Each plant and animal plays a part in the delicate balance of all living systems. Thus the extinction of large numbers of species threatens the survival of other living things, including human beings. The chief reasons that species become endangered include destruction of habitat, wildlife trade, overhunting, and competition with domestic animals.

A growing number of animal species have become extinct in the wild and live only in captivity. Some zoos and animal research centres breed such animals and release them into protected areas with the hope of returning of their offsprings to the wild. In some cases the offspring can be trained to survive in the wild.

Dramatic environmental tragedies, nevertheless, have point out the seriousness of the problem and a public concern over the environmental pollution gradually grows. Millions of people are alarmed by the danger of pollution and large numbers of people are now working to reduce pollution and clean up the environment. People also start to understand that conservation doesn’t only concern itself with trying to guarantee the survival of the human race, it also tries to give us a pleasant environment to live in, by limiting pollution, ugliness, overcrowding, stress and tension caused by the world around us. This is perhaps its greatest service to the present generation of men and women

11. Interethnic relations (in the USA and Great Britain)

USA today is both a “salad bowl” and a “melting pot” of nations for all the diversity of cultures and their interrelations is represented in the country. As J.F. Kennedy pointed out, “Every American who ever lived… was either an immigrant himself or a descendant of immigrants”.

It was due to the contribution of every nationality, every individual who had ever inhabited the country that this unique and solid culture appeared, and because of this it can be called a “melting pot of nations”. And whatever imperfections or sins this culture be accused of, it still remains unique for there is no other example of a country in the world where one nation would imply a whole mixture of nationalities.

Even though nowadays the whole world tends to grow cosmopolitan, the USA remains still the best example of tolerance and homelike atmosphere for aliens.

It isn’t being disputed though that diversity where the difference of opinion is inevitable cannot but create troubles. And America is not an exception.

If to turn to the ethnic make-up of the country, the number of the nationalities that constitute it is merely uncountable, with the descendants of British colonists being the largest one and as the result the most influential. It is them who “gave the new nation its language, laws, and philosophy of government”. Since the times of the first colonists “the energy of Irish, Germans, Swedes, Poles and all the European tribes, of the Africans, and of the Polynesians” contributed immensely to the development of the USA in order to be assimilated ,or “melted” in the common “pot” of nations.

It is those who stood out from the crowd that created problems, either due to their own desire to counteract the mainstream culture or the tendency of the representatives of the “original” Americans for repudiating those who are different (which is actually inherent to any society, however democratic it may be).

For centuries the most vivid example of such a deplorable discrimination was the state of the Native Americans and the blacks in their country. As far as the former are concerned “by the 15^th century, there were 15 to 20 million Indians in the Americas. Perhaps as many as 700 000 were living within the present limits of the United States”. By the time colonization was over they counted in only several thousand. Neither the blacks felt at home being continuously humiliated end exploited. Undoubtedly the situation has changed today to a great extend if not to say reversed for the values of humanity have eventually prevailed over cruelty and discrimination. The needs of the formerly oppressed citizens of the USA are taken proper and thorough care of. And although some discontent and injustice still remains the representatives of these races are gradually gaining their equal standing in the structure of the society.

There are also other “ingredients” in the “salad bowl” of the American nation. These are Hispanics who “form the second largest cultural minority in the United States, after the nation’s 30 million blacks”. This group is actually quite diverse as it embraces the whole number of people of different nationalities — Cubans, Mexicans, South Americans, Puerto-Ricans, Brazilians and other. Though many of them have long ago become an integral part of the American culture, got assimilated, in general this group is still among those who are facing hardships, discrimination, sometimes even disdain. And many of them somehow fail to enter the society on equal terms with others. Though for that too there are reasons and explanations, the most common of which being “lower levels of education, difficulties with English”. It should be mentioned though that Cuban population, for example, is “largely middle-class. Many of these immigrants are educated people with backgrounds in professions or business. As a result, they have had more economic success in the USA than many other Hispanics”. Thus it proves to a certain extent the fact that it depends on the person himself if he manages to integrate in the society or not.

Apart from these large groups, the American nation is constituted of the whole range of other nationalities, less numerous but not less important. Basically a representative of almost every nation in the world can find his fellow countryman in America. They were coming throughout all American history, seeking shelter, safe haven from war, hunger, misery, injustice and persecution. In different periods of history they were coming from different parts of the world, thus almost all the continents are equally represented. Numerous Europeans, countless Arabs, multitude of Chinese and Japanese cohabitate and make up one nation, however different they all might be. Many of them even now stick to the traditions and customs that have been handed over to them by their ancestors. In the streets of big American cities one can easily meet an Indian or Arabian woman in their national dresses, a Jew in the traditional cap and some sort of frock and everybody is just glad to tolerate this, as one of the peculiar aspects of American life, as soon as it doesn’t come in contradiction with law, common sense and ideas of the nation. Otherwise it inevitably leads to misunderstanding on the both sides and as a result — to problems and conflicts which are hard to solve.

That is why American nation is not only a melting pot of different ethnicities, but also a “salad bowl” with some elements standing out from the crowd. So it should be remembered that equilibrium is to be preserved and the interests of every ethnic group — taken into account in order to preserve the fame of the country as highly democratic and by means of that to evade social upheavals.

Today migration processes are a common thing. For example in 2004 an estimated 223000 more people migrated to the UK than migrated abroad. The same thing can be observed in the USA. So as a result, we can observe a great number of ethnic minorities on the territories of these countries.

But first let’s try to distinguish what ethnic minority means.

Ethnic - relating to a particular race, nation, or tribe and their customs and traditions; someone who comes from a group of people who are a different race, religion etc or who have a different background from most other people in that country. Minority - a small group of people or things within a much larger group; a group of people of a different race, religion etc from most other people in that country. So from these definitions we can assume that ethnic minority is a group of people of a different race from the main group in a country, which has its linguistic, religious and cultural identity and traditions.

Now a question arises: what are the British and American societies, which places in them do ethnic minority groups occupy and what problems do they face?

First let’s take GB as an example of a multiethnic society. The increase in the numbers of people from different ethnic backgrounds and countries was one of the most significant changes in Britain during the 1990s. This population growth took place in the context of continuing counter-urbanization and regional economic decline and these twin patterns present both opportunities and challenges for the development of the British multi-cultural society.

The 1991 Census was the first to include a question on ethnic group. 92.1 per cent of the UK population described themselves as white (though not necessarily British). The remaining 7 per cent (4.6 million) belonged to non-white ethnic minority groups.

Since then a lot has changed. Today about 5.5% (5.9% in England and Wales) of national population which is about 60 mln is from an ethnic minority. The largest of them are: Indian, Pakistani, Black Caribbean, Black African, Bangladeshi and Chinese.

The US has also a long history of immigration, from the first Spanish and English settlers to arrive on the shores of the what-would-become-the-USA to the waves of immigrants in the present days. That is why it is so often said that the US is a nation of immigrants or more colloquial a vegetable soup. Today the major minority groups on the territory of the US are African-Americans, Indians, Hispanics, Chinese and Eskimos.

And now let’s outline the main problems ethnic minorities face.

The first and the major one is the problem of racial discrimination. Although numerous laws in the US as well as in GB make it unlawful to discriminate on racial grounds ("Racial grounds" includes colour, race, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins) in employment, training, education, the provision of goods, facilities and services and other activities, people from ethnic minority groups are more at risk of being the victim of a racially motivated attack than white people.

Besides they have lower levels of economic activity than white people. The employment rate for ethnic minorities in Great Britain for example in 2002 was 59 per cent, as compared to an overall rate of 75 per cent.

But what is more, bitter divisions are often breaking out between these minority groups. For example, in the US two largest minorities – Blacks and Hispanics – are often at odds over such issues as jobs (many Blacks fear that Hispanics, who are often willing to work for less than the legal minimum wage, are supplanting them in even the lowest positions), immigration (Hispanics outnumber may not only Blacks but they soon begin taking the most of the menial jobs – the largest source of employment) and political empowerment (although they have often united behind candidates from one group or the other, attempts to weld long-lasting political coalitions in most large cities have been difficult to sustain). At the root of this quarrel is a seismic demographic change – Hispanic will soon outnumber African-Americans. As a result Hispanics become more strident in their demands for a larger slice of the economic and political pie and Blacks in their turn fear that those gains will come at their expense. Increasingly, these long-simmering tensions are flaring into violence, especially in cities where one of the groups has a monopoly on political power. But what leaders in both camps fear most is that white politicians will try to play off the two groups against each other.

To my mind it is a natural phenomenon that there are difficulties ethnic minorities face because of the variation in their traditions, the way they see the world and for many it is quite difficult to understand a person from another culture. But at the same time, they are also people and should be treated in the proper way. So people should be tolerable to each other and collaborate. Because they have far more to gain from pooling their strengths than from bickering with each other.

Brown vs Blacks (A. Prud’Homme)

I would like to analyze the informative essay “Brown vs Blacks” written by A. Prud’Homme. The theme of this essay is to dispose the dispute between major minority groups in the US, between African American and Hispanics.

In this essay the author raised a very important problem which is unfortunately a burning issue in many countries nowadays. The USA has been facing this problem for many years. The USA today is both a “salad bowl” and a “melting pot” of nations for all the diversity of cultures; and their interrelations is represented in the country. As J.F. Kennedy pointed out, “Every American who ever lived… was either an immigrant himself or a descendant of immigrants”. There are different “ingredients” in this “salad bowl” of the American nation. One of such “ingredients” is a group of Hispanics who form the second largest cultural minority in the United States, after the nation’s 30 million blacks. This group is actually quite diverse as it embraces the whole number of people of different nationalities — Cubans, Mexicans, South Americans, Puerto-Ricans, Brazilians and other. Though many of them have long ago become an integral part of the American culture, got assimilated but in general this group is still among those who are facing hardships, discrimination, sometimes even disdain. And many of them somehow fail to enter the society on equal terms with others. And Hispanics think that the reason of their problems lie in the relationship of Blacks to them. That’s why bitter divisions are breaking out between these two largest minorities in the USA. Blacks and Hispanics are now often at odds over such issues as job, immigration and political empowerment. Sometimes it seems that these two groups of minorities are playing ping-pong with a zero-sum end. Hispanics complain that blacks are unwilling to treat them as equals in the fight for the equal rights. And blacks in their turn claim that Latinos are benefiting from civil rights victories won by blacks with little help from Hispanics.

Many blacks fear that Hispanic immigrants, who are often willing to work for less that the legal minimum wage, are supplanting them in even the lowliest positions. And Hispanics answer them with a statement that blacks think that they want to take jobs away from them and in the result resist any attempts in increase Latino employment.

So, we see that both groups are fighting themselves tooth and nail when they have to behave vice versa. And the author of the essay is trying to prove this. He shows the good results of their cooperation that lead to the strengthening of their forces on the political arena. We see that both sides are eager to share their plans and reach such compromises that didn’t step on anybody’s toes. The author finishes his essay with prognosis to the 21^st century saying that “if currents trends in immigration and birth rates continue, minorities will outnumber white Americans midway trough the 21^st century”. To sum everything up the author makes a conclusion that under these circumstances, for blacks and Hispanics the only chance to occupy some position in the American society is to unity their forces and to collaborate. Only in this way they can reach a respected place in the world and get the power they are always were struggle for.

28. Leisure and sports in Great Britain.

Great Britain is a country governed by routine. It has fewer public holidays than any other country in Europe. Among official holiday we can mention New Year, Good Friday, Easter Monday, Labour day, Christmas and Boxing Day.

Every average employee gets four weeks paid holidays a year. There are some ways of spending it. In the 18^th century there existed the fashion for seaside holidays. Soon it became normal for families to spend a week or two in a seaside resort town. The towns have hotels and boarding houses to stay in offering bed and breakfast or full board. Stereotypically daytime entertainment in sunny weather centers around the beach. For the evenings there are amusement arcades, bingo halls, dance halls, discos, theatres and so on.

Another popular holiday destination is the holiday camp. Both the types of holiday have become less popular in the end of the 20^th century.

Caravan holidays and package holidays become popular. Nowadays the British have more opportunity to go abroad. There are also many other extraordinary types of holiday: hiking in the country, potholing, a murder weekend and a variety of so-called working holidays – fruit packing and archaeological digging.

Weekends are usually spent in British pubs. The British pub is unique. It is the only indoor place where the average person can comfortably meet others and get into prolonged conversation with them. There are some other notable aspects about pubs. At first, that is the idea of tradition (the name with old-fashioned associations). But even old good pubs have to follow up-to-date fashion to survive. So we know that they served nothing but beer and spirits. These days you can get wine, coffee and some hot food with no waiter service.

As for food it has a strange unpleasant taste, their coffee is horrible, not because they prefer it in that way but because they don’t want to go to a café for a delicious cup of coffee – people just want to eat up quickly and aren’t interested much in quality. Besides they haven’t enough time to taste the food.

Though the quality of food doesn’t play an important role in people’s lives in Britain, sport does. Millions of British people take part in some kind of sport at least once a week. Many millions more are regular spectators and follow one or more sports. The most popular sports are football, rugby, tennis, boxing, hockey, basketball and others.

The importance of participation in sport has legal recognition in Britain. Every local authority has a duty to provide and maintain playing fields and other facilities including fitness clubs for obese people and those trying to keep themselves fit and healthy.

Spectator sport is also a matter of official public control. The most famous annual sporting occasions must be available to all TV channels.

Even if they aren’t taking part or watching, the British like to be involved in sport. They can do this by placing bets on future results. Gambling is widespread throughout all social classes. There are also bookmakers or turf accountants whose business is to take bets.

3.The moral values of the society you live in.

Moral values are the object of much distrust and thorny debate. But most people would admit that they are in some way important. Even the Youth of Today (YOT) would tend to agree, though our idea of morality may differ from that of our parents. At the heart of Moral Re-armament is a brief that each person can make a difference to the world through a transforming experience of liberation in their lives and through their interaction with others. People long to be themselves to have a sense of worth and purpose of life, to be able to contribute of their time and talent, to know that they are needed and loved. In an age of information it's possible to fool ourselves, succumb to peer pressure and the spirit of the age. There are to be checks and balances-moral standards of honesty, purity, selflessness which guide our motives. It's time for all countries to take a long hard look at themselves. Many of them are embroiled in a public debate about standards in public life, ethics in business values in education, values in the media and so on. It's because of the sort of the society we have created: a society which can produce the murder of a toddler: the massacre of infant-school children in Scotland and so on. Each of these events in isolation would have produced its own short-lived outcry. But what can be done? It would be easy to say it all began with the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Easy but wrong. It was the sweeping reforms of the politicians. Its catchwords were “do your own things”. Morality was privatized. You could do what you wanted as long as you did not harm anyone else. Underlying all of this violence and civil disorders is the me-first philosophy which justifies all actions in terms of self-interest, rather than the common good. At the heart of these concerns lies the great issue of our time the dilemma between and constraints, rights and duties. Most pundits sum clear what is needed. A simple preposition might be for each of us to start with ourselves. If each person began with what they could do, to put things right and to set standards, then we might soon see a difference.

USA today is both a “salad bowl” and a “melting pot” of nations for all the diversity of cultures and their interrelations is represented in the country.

It was due to the contribution of every nationality, every individual who had ever inhabited the country that this unique and solid culture appeared, and because of this it can be called a “melting pot of nations”. And whatever imperfections or sins this culture be accused of, it still remains unique for there is no other example of a country in the world where one nation would imply a whole mixture of nationalities.

Even though nowadays the whole world tends to grow cosmopolitan, the USA remains still the best example of tolerance and homelike atmosphere for aliens.

If to turn to the ethnic make-up of the country, the number of the nationalities that constitute it is merely uncountable, with the descendants of British colonists being the largest one and as the result the most influential. It is them who “gave the new nation its language, laws, and philosophy of government”.

For centuries the most vivid example of such a deplorable discrimination was the state of the Native Americans and the blacks in their country. By the time colonization was over they counted in only several thousand. Neither the blacks felt at home being continuously humiliated end exploited. Undoubtedly the situation has changed today to a great extend if not to say reversed for the values of humanity have eventually prevailed over cruelty and discrimination. The needs of the formerly oppressed citizens of the USA are taken proper and thorough care of.

There are also other “ingredients” in the “salad bowl” of the American nation. These are Hispanics who “form the second largest cultural minority in the United States, after the nation’s 30 million blacks”. This group is actually quite diverse as it embraces the whole number of people of different nationalities — Cubans, Mexicans, South Americans, Puerto-Ricans, Brazilians and other. Though many of them have long ago become an integral part of the American culture, got assimilated, in general this group is still among those who are facing hardships, discrimination, sometimes even disdain. And many of them somehow fail to enter the society on equal terms with others. Though for that too there are reasons and explanations, the most common of which being “lower levels of education, difficulties with English”. It should be mentioned though that Cuban population, for example, is “largely middle-class. Many of these immigrants are educated people with backgrounds in professions or business. As a result, they have had more economic success in the USA than many other Hispanics”. Thus it proves to a certain extent the fact that it depends on the person himself if he manages to integrate in the society or not.

Apart from these large groups, the American nation is constituted of the whole range of other nationalities, less numerous but not less important. Basically a representative of almost every nation in the world can find his fellow countryman in America. Numerous Europeans, countless Arabs, multitude of Chinese and Japanese cohabitate and make up one nation, however different they all might be. Many of them even now stick to the traditions and customs that have been handed over to them by their ancestors. In the streets of big American cities one can easily meet an Indian or Arabian woman in their national dresses, a Jew in the traditional cap and some sort of frock and everybody is just glad to tolerate this, as one of the peculiar aspects of American life, as soon as it doesn’t come in contradiction with law, common sense and ideas of the nation. Otherwise it inevitably leads to misunderstanding on the both sides and as a result — to problems and conflicts which are hard to solve.

That is why American nation is not only a melting pot of different ethnicities, but also a “salad bowl” with some elements standing out from the crowd.

Today migration processes are a common thing. For example in 2004 an estimated 223000 more people migrated to the UK than migrated abroad. The same thing can be observed in the USA. So as a result, we can observe a great number of ethnic minorities on the territories of these countries.