Темы к экзамену
1.The English We Learn.
2. Higher Education in the USA and Great Britain.
3. What is Sociology?
4. Kinds of groups
5. The Methods of Sociological Research.
6. Deviance as a Sociological Problem.
7. Family Development.
8. Brain Drain: a Natural Phenomenon.
9. The Structure of Social Interaction.
10.Applying for a Job
The english we learn
Many people in our country study foreign languages. They do it to read and understand books in the original and to be able to speak.
One of the major languages in the world is English. It is the language of progressive science and technology, trade and cultural relations, commerce and business. It is also the major language of diplomacy.
Hundreds and hundreds of books, magazines and newspapers are printed in English and read all over the world. Half of the world's scientific literature is written in English. English has the largest vocabulary with approximately 500 000 words and 300 000 technical terms.
English is spoken by more than 350 million people. Geographically, it is the most widespread language on earth, second only to Chinese in the number of people who speak it.
It is the official language of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the United States of America, of Australia and New Zealand. English is used as one of the official languages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the Irish Republic. It is also spoken as a second language in many parts of India and Africa. The number of second-language speakers may soon exceed the number of native speakers.
Besides, millions of people study and use English as a foreign language. It is not surprising that a lot of intellectuals all over the world want to know as many foreign languages as possible.
Study of foreign languages is not only the sign of intellectual vitality. Nowadays it becomes an absolute necessity for any good specialist who should read much of a special scientific literature in foreign languages to be well informed in his / her field of knowledge.
English is one of those languages which for many seems easy in the beginning. But it is by no means an easy language to learn. Learning English is a long and slow process. There is a problem of spelling and pronunciation, of the large number of exceptions to any rule, it is very idiomatic and prepositions are terrible. The tense system is also very complicated.
Basic characteristics of English are simplicity of form, flexibility and openness of vocabulary.
BRAIN DRAIN: A NATURAL PHENOMENON
Nowadays we are hearing less and less about how detrimental brain drain is to Russia.
The consolation is that these days leaving the country does not necessarily mean saying good-bye forever. Indeed, in recent years, for every scientist who emigrates for good, there are four who are working on a contract basis. Their lifestyle is like a watchman’s job – one shift returns and another leaves. They usually receive temporary grants and travel from country to country.
Often they simply go because they can’t continue their research at a contemporary level in Russia, due to the lack of equipment, reactants or the fact that they just can’t get information they need. In the meantime, the level of this “internal scientific emigration” is at least twice as high as its “external” counterpart.
According to the official emigration statistics, most of our émigré scientists and pedagogical workers ended up in Germany, although those who emigrate to Germany usually end up changing their professions. So, in fact, three quarters of the people who actively work in the field of fundamental sciences are currently employed in the United States and Canada. Others go to Israel and Australia, while recently they’ve also started heading out to Latin American countries like Panama, Columbia and Mexico. There are also more exotic destinations like Trinidad, Namibia and Jamaica. They comprise the Russian scientific Diaspora.
The term diaspora or “dispersal” has historically been used to characterize people who are drawn to one another across the distance. The ethnic-Russian scientific Diaspora which is scattered throughout the entire world was able to become “glued together” very quickly with the help of computer communication systems.
First Russian scientists had mailing lists; now they also have web sites. One of the most popular mailing lists is the INFO-RUSS project, which links over 1,200 subscribers. This form of correspondence is open to everybody. According to recent calculations, approximately 14,000 – 18,000 scientists from Russia have been working abroad in the field of fundamental sciences/
A big-name professor may choose the specific universities he would like to work in, but his students are willing to take any job, even one that has nothing to do with major science. They are being hired to create virtual casinos and to develop banking services and new telecommunication technologies.
But science schools can’t exist without students. And Russia needs to hang on for about another 10 years until it gets some fresh blood. The only people to count on are the kids whoare currently in third and fourth grades.