Mass Media

We live in the world of information. It is everywhere and sometimes it is even more valuable than money. Mass media, that is the press, radio, television and the Internet, play an important role in our society. They inform, educate, entertain and give us any kinds of information. The press is one of the most powerful kinds of mass media. Nowadays there are daily, weekly and monthly newspapers and magazines. Television plays a big role in our society, too. Most people have several TV-sets at home. Television gives a great opportunity for people to learn latest news. There are also a lot of educational programmes, children’s programmes, films and soap operas on TV, Talk shows are also very popular with people nowadays.

Radio is less popular than newspapers and television. People listen to the radio in cars and at work. I usually listen to the radio when I do my homework because it helps me think. There is a lot of music on modern radio and very few conversations. Every hour radio stations tell us news in brief. There are different types of radio stations. They are divided according to the style of music they play. There are radio stations where you can hear only classical music, rock or pop music.

The Internet is the newest kind of mass media. More and more people use it in Russia regularly, but it is very expensive and not every place has the Internet connection. The Internet is the greatest source of information. Almost everything can be found there. If you have the Internet, you may not read newspapers or listen to the radio. You may not watch television either. The main newspapers and television companies have websites, so you can read news and watch television without turning on a TV-set.

There are advantages and disadvantages of mass media. The advantages are the following: mass media educate and entertain people. But you need to have a TV-set to watch television, a radio set to listen to the radio. To look for information in the Internet you will need a computer and the Internet connection and they both cost a lot. Another disadvantage is that sometimes this or that information is not reliable. The Internet is full of sites with wrong information. But in spite of all disadvantages, people still watch TV, listen to the radio and browse the Internet.

However, television is a great achievement of the present day’s life. It provides us a great amount of information on the latest news, research in different branches of science. Television enriches our intellect, gives us opportunities to see the best actors, performances, famous people and events, which will become history. Besides television is a powerful medium. Some TV programs gather big audiences. Apart from their educational and entertainment value they give us many useful topics to discuss. But on the other hand television has many disadvantages. The first and, probably, the main one is that television affects our health through rushed meals and lack of sleep. More than that it prevents us from reading books, going to different sport clubs and other active kinds of spending our leisure time. Nowadays there is a great variety of TV programs such as news reports, sports, variety shows, and so you have to be selective and to give preference to some of them.

Exercise 2 Answer the following questions

1. What is mass media? 2. What is the role of mass media? 3. What role does TV play in our life? 4. Is radio popular? 5. What is the newest kind of mass media? 6. What programmes can you watch on TV? 7. What are the advantages of mass media? 8. What are the disadvantages of mass media? 9. What is your favorite TV programme? 10. Do you use Internet in your everyday life?

Exercise 3 Translate and memorize the following expressions from the text

To be more valuable, to inform, to educate, to entertain, weekly and monthly newspapers and magazines, the most powerful kinds, to subscribe to, to give a great opportunity, political talk shows, to chat with, cartoons ,educational programmes, talk shows, a great achievement, to depend upon the host's personality, hint of insincerity, people-in-power, advantages , disadvantages, apart from.

Exercise 4 Find synonyms among the following words.

Many , drawbacks, to search, to speak with, smart, a lot of, to enlarge, the greatest, wide range of, to look for, to decide, free time , to one’s mind, to solve, to widen, to talk to, it seems to smb., incorrect, clever, a great choice of, the biggest, leisure time, mistakes, wrong.

Exercise 5 Write a summary of the text, presenting the content of each paragraph in 2-3 sentences. Use the expressions:

The main idea of the text is ... The text deals with one of the most important (urgent) issues ... Much attention (consideration) is given to (classification, description) ... It focuses on the matters of ... The text gives an overview of ... The text is mainly concerned with ... The aim of the survey is to show (demonstrate, find)... Particular emphasis is given to the analysis of… The text gives a detailed analysis of (reports on) ... To sum up ... In conclusion ...

Индивидуальное задание для студентов заочного отделения к курсу

«Английский язык»

Вариант № 13/1c

Exercise 1 Read the text and translate it in written form.