Exercises

I. Questions for Understanding:

1. What is the main idea of the book “Unsafe at any Speed”?

2. What did the author accuse General Motors of?

3. Who and why try to discredit its author?

4. Whom did the General Motors Corporation hire to investigate a crusader and why?

5. What did the Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1996 seek to improve?

6. Why did support for Ralph Nader continue to grow?

7. What made Ralph Nader popular?

8. What allowed Ralph to establish a number of organizations to work for his goals?

9. What was American Congress more concerned with by 1980?

10. What were American auto manufacturers going to offer in 1990 models? Why?

2. Match each item in Column A with its definition in Column B:

	Column A		Column B
	permanent		to lose credit or reputation
	to accuse smb. of smth.		not expected to change
	to emphasize smth.		to say that smb. has gone wrong
	to discredit		to show importance
	to hire		to get the better of
	to investigate		to use services in return for fixed payment
	to overcome		to put aside
	to consider		to examine, make a careful study
	to reject		to think about
	to decline		to lose strength

III. Complete the phrases with prepositions (where it is necessary) and say in what situations they are used in the text. Use them in sentences of your own.

1. to change the economy… leading…the birth…

2. to follow…

3. to accuse smb…

4. to emphasize smth…safety

5. to discredit…

6. support…

7. graduate…

8. to reject…

9. to defeat to add…one’s fame in addition…

IV. Give Russian equivalents for the following words or word combinations from the text:

1. permanently

2. consumer movement

3. to emphasize styling over safety

4. to discredit the author

5. giant General Motors Corporation

6. to hire detectives

7. to investigate smth.

8. public sympathy

9. to overcome the objections

10. support for an investigator

11. to reject comfortable life

V. Retell the text using words and word combination given above.

VI. Complete the table. Work out your point of view on Nader’s theory.

Appraisal Ideas and Beliefs	Still Relevant	Needs Modification	Should Be Rejected
1.See the model on p. 2….

Give your reasons.