Unit 12.

Exercise 1. Read the text and be ready for a comprehension checkup.

Would you believe it?

Probably only a few people noticed that the local radio programme had been changed that night. Instead of the usual radio play, a band began to play dance music. After a while, the voice of the well-known announcer interrupted the music in the middle of the tune.

A strange object had lauded in an open field near New York City. Then there was an interview with a scientist from Princeton University who had gone to the place where the object had landed. He had a message of great importance for the American people, he said. Strange creatures with terrible weapons had come out of the object and it seemed that the United States was being attacked by enemies from Mars. His message was followed by an interview with police and military specialists who said that the public should remain calm, but should be prepared to defend home and country if it should prove to be necessary. The radio station would keep on informing the public as long as it could, but there was the possibility that the enemy would shortly take control over the whole country.

Soon after this, the telephone lines to the radio station and the police were blocked by hundreds of callers trying to find out where they could escape to. In no time thousands of people were leaving their homes and driving out of the city, blocking the roads. A whole city lost its nerve on that evening in the Thirties. Thus the radio play “The War of the Worlds”, produced by the young Orson Welles, became famous. It hit the headlines all over the world, and is regarded as one of the most interesting examples of crowd behavior.

Exercise 2. Check up for comprehension.

1) What happened one night in New York? 2) When did it all happen? 3) What was a scientist’s message? 4) How did the public react?

Exercise 3. Confide to your friend what you would do if you were there at that time.

Unit 13.

Exercise 1. Read the text and express your opinion on the subject.

A woman’s place

Why can’t a woman be more like a man? So sang Professor. Higgins in “My Fair Lady”, the musical based on Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion”. The poor professor was baffled. He couldn’t understand Eliza, the young girl he had saved from poverty. All that was wrong was that she was in love, but he accused her of being a typical woman –irrational, illogical and never thinking properly. Not like а man at all!

Today, many women are asking the same question as Professor Higgins but in a different way. Why can’t women be thought of as equal in intelligence to men and able to do many of the same tasks? Are men and women really so different or has history and conditioning made us think there is a difference?

Biologically, of course, there is – there has never yet been a man who bore a child – but the theory that there is a male character and a female character is not easy to prove. In Chinese philosophy there is the idea of Yin and Yang. Yin is earth, female, dark, passive and absorbing, while Yang is heaven, male, light, active and penetrating: the active male and the passive female. More recently, studies have shown that the division is not so clear and that most people contain a balance of male and female characteristics.

It is the biological difference, however, which has always meant that men had done one part to play and women another. In the earliest human groups or tribes, the work was divided in a simple way. Women stayed at home having children and growing fruit, vegetables and crops to feed the family. Ken went away from home to hunt animals which would provide more food. The partnership was equal and women were respected for the part they played.

Since that time, the status of women has gone through many changes sometimes being high and other times low. But the role of women has not changed. Today, as much as any other time, most women in the world are expected to make their lives around the home. The woman is the centrepoint of the family and provides the link between children and father, whilst the man represents the family outside the home in society.

But there has always been rebels – those who refused to accept their role and were determined to pursue another course. Hypatia was a respected teacher at the University of Alexandria in the fourth century B.C. and the renowned Frenchwoman, Joan of Arc, defied convention by dressing as a man and leading soldiers into a successful battle against the English in 1429.

Literature is an area in which women, like the Bronte sisters, have done well. Charlotte, Emily and Anne lived all their lives in the family home in Yorkshire, but, between them, they produced three of the classic novels of the English literature – “Jane Eyre”, “Wuthering Heights” and “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”.

The world of science is one which women have found hard to penetrate, but the Polish-born Marie Curie managed it. Her research into radioactivity and the discovery of radium was the beginning of nuclear science.

All these women made sacrifices, often for the benefit of their families rather than themselves. Clara Schummann, wife of the composer Robert, gave up a brilliant career as a pianist and composer to support her husband in his work and look after their numerous children.

It is said that behind every powerful man there is a powerful woman, but very few women have gained power in their own right. Of course, many reached their position through their husband or family. It is interesting that many female leaders are remembered for their enlightenment – encouraging the arts and sciences and often setting up education health problems.

These women are the exception. For meet, life has had the same pattern for thousands of years. But there are an increasing number of women throughout the world who are looking for a change, who want to have a greater say in the way their family, village, town or country is run. In every country there are women working towards the improvement in the way their society regards them.

Representatives from 148 countries met at a conference in Copenhagen in 1980 to mark the halfway point in the United Nations Decade for Women. But the news on progress in the first five years was disappointing. Illiteracy among women had increased and the world economic crisis meant less work.

The conference was told that although over half the people in the world are female, they do two-thirds of the work, get one-tenth of the wages and own one-hundredth of the world’s property. It will be interesting to see if there are any improvements by the turn of the century.