Post-reading Activity

Task 1. Give your reasons why you are for or against euthanasia.

Task 2. Some people predict that active euthanasia will be a standard part of medical service. Organize a discussion between 2 groups to find out what effect it will have on society. Work under the mediator’s guidance, he will present the results of the discussion afterwords.

Task 3. Work in groups of 3 or 4. Discuss the situation below. Try to find the solution of the problem or at least give some advice. One of you will present the results of your discussion.

Situation: “The Trud” newspaper has recently published a letter of a mother who was asking to let the doctors to terminate her daughter’s life. The girl had terribly suffered in an automobile crash. And the mother sees no way out both for her and her daughter but to die.

T E X T 3

Pre-reading Activity

Answer the following questions.

1. What ideas or associations come to your mind when you hear the word “censorship”?

2. Can you give some examples.

3. Do you agree that censorship has got as long history as the printed word itself?

Reading Activity

(!) Read the text and

1. State its topic and main idea;

b) name the key-words or phrases to support the main idea.

Censorship

Censorship is universal. There is always someone trying to stop someone else doing, saying or showing something that the first person doesn’t like. It can be moral, political or religious censorship. It is a battle between those who believe that everyone should have the right to see, read, talk or write about what they choose. And those who believe that the State or Church or Party should decide what everyone is allowed to see, read, talk or write about.

The discussion usually centres on the amount of sex in films, books or TV programmes, but also concerns the use of bad language and excessive violence. The disagreement is usually between those who say erotic films or books are “obscene” and those who believe they are “realistic” or “artistic”. But these value judgments are more political. For the difference is really between those who believe “I don’t like this book or film or idea, but you can decide for yourself” and those who believe “I don’t like this book or film or idea, so you must not be allowed to find out about it.”

But censorship is not only concerned with sex or violence. It is concerned with ideas – social ideas, artistic ideas, political ideas. It concerns people’s right to freedom of speech, freedom of expression. And because people disagree about the meaning of freedom, there is disagreement about the meaning and necessity of censorship.

Post-reading Activity

Task 1. Make a summary of the text.

Task 2. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Support your opinion by the information from the text, your personal experience, the knowledge you’ve gained at the classes.

• Censorship is universal.

• A really democratic society has no need in censorship.

• The main concern of censorship should be sex and violence problems in the society.

• The notion of censorship is closely connected with the people’s right of speech.