Контрольная работа № 2

I вариант

Task 1. Read the following text to answer some questions in writing.

The Causes of Crime (Part I)

No one knows why crime occurs. The oldest theory, based on theology and ethics, is that criminals are perverse persons who deliberately commit crimes or who do so at the instigation of the devil or other evil spirits. Although this idea has been discarded by modern criminologists, it persist among uninformed people and provides the rationale for the harsh punishment still meted out to criminals in many parts of the world.

Since the 18^th century, various scientific theories have been advanced to explain crime. One of the first efforts to explain crime on scientific, rather than theological, grounds was made at the end of the 18^th century by the German physician and anatomist Franz Joseph Gall, who tried to establish relationships between skull structure and criminal proclivities. This theory, popular during the 19^th century, is now discredited and has been abandoned. A more sophisticated theory – a biological one – was developed late in the 19^th century by the Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso, who asserted that crimes were committed by persons who are born with certain recognizable hereditary physical traits. Lombroso’s theory was disproved early in the in the 20^th century by the British criminologist Charles Goring. Goring’s comparative study of jailed criminals and law-abiding persons established that so-called criminal types, with innate dispositions to crime, do not exist. Recent scientific studies have tended to confirm Goring’s findings. Some investigators still hold, however, that specific abnormalities of the brain and of the endocrine system contribute to a person’s inclination toward criminal activity.

Another approach to an explanation of crime was initiated by the French political philosopher Montesquieu, who attempted to relate criminal behavior to natural or physical environment. His successors have gathered evidence tending to show that crimes against person, such as homicide, are relatively more numerous in warm climates, whereas crimes against property, such as theft, are more frequent in colder regions. Other studies seem to indicate that the incidence of crime declines in direct ratio to drops in barometric pressure, to increased humidity, and to higher temperature.

Answer the questions to the text “The Causes of Crime” (Part I) (in writing):

1. What concepts formed the basis of the earliest criminological theories?

2. What are the grounds on which the first efforts to explain crime were made?

3. How did the biological theories develop?

4. What was Montesquieu’s approach to causes of crime?

Task 2. Find the English equivalents for:

(See the text “The Causes of Crime” (Part I))

Мошенничество; кража; убийство; кража со взломом; сравнительный анализ преступников и законопослушных граждан; соотнести преступное поведение с факторами окружающей среды; преступление против человека; преступление против собственности; совершать преступление умышленно.

Task 3. Match each word on the left with the appropriate definition on the right:

a deserter a thief an accomplice an assassin a stowaway a forger a smuggler a spy a pickpocket a hijacker an offender

takes control of a plane by force and makes the pilot change course gets secret information from another country brings goods into a country illegally without paying tax is a soldier who runs away from the army is anyone who breaks the law steals things from people’s pockets in crowded places helps a criminal in a criminal act hides on a ship or plane to get a free journey is someone who steals makes counterfeit (false) money or signatures murders for political reasons or a reward

Task 4. Change the following sentences into Indirect Speech.

1. I said to Jack, “Please give me your dictionary.”

2. Mary said to her brother, “Take the letter to the Post Office”.

3. The teacher said to Tom, “Collect the exercise-books and put them on my table”.

4. The policeman asked me, “Where did you lose your wallet?”

5. The teacher said to the pupils, “Learn the poem by heart”.

6. I said to my friend, “Meet me outside the cinema at six o’clock”.

7. Ann’s mother said to her, “Don’t go out without your coat”.

8. Jack’s father asked him, “Who are you writing a letter to?”

Task 5. Render the following passage into English paying special attention to the words and expressions in bold type:

Преступность и ее причины могут быть изучены на индивидуальном, групповом и социальном уровнях. Им, следовательно, могут быть даны психологическое, социологическое и философское объяснения. Эти объяснения не противоречат друг другу, а дополняет одно другое, позволяя проанализировать причины преступности с различных сторон.

Рассматривая эту проблему на индивидуальном уровне, можно обозначить причины преступности как конфликт поведения человека с социальной средой.

Когда человек попадает в проблемную ситуацию, он часто не находит решения возникших сложностей и выбирает преступный путь.