The Plan of Rendering Newspaper Article

1. The headline of the article is “…”.

The article is headlined “…”.

The headline of the article I’ve read is “…”.

2. The author of the article is…

3. The article is taken from the newspaper…

4. The central idea of the article is about…

The main idea of the article is…

The article is devoted to…

The article deals with…

The article touches upon…

5. The purpose of the article is to give the reader some information on…

The aim of the article is to provide a reader with some material on…

6. Give a summary of the article (no more than 10-15 sentences).

7. State the main problem(s) discussed in the article and mark off the passages of the article that seem important to you.

8. Look for minor peculiarities of the article.

9. Point out the facts that turned out to be new for you.

10. Look through the text for figures, which are important for general understanding.

11. State what places of the article contradict your former views.

12. State the questions, which remained unanswered in the article and if it is possible add your tail to them.

13. Speak on the conclusion the author comes to.

14. Express your own point of view on the problem discussed.

Study the expressions which may be useful for rendering newspaper articles:

1. The author starts by telling the reader about…

2. According to the text…

3. The author stresses…

4. Further the author reports that…

5. To all appearances…

6. I want to single out the key points on which the article is based.

7. In conclusion I want to add…

8. Let’s look through the text for figures, dates (or data) which are very important for the general understanding the problem discussed.

9. I want to point out the following facts that turned out to be new for me.

10. The central idea can be worded in the following way.

11. Then I’m going to state the main problem discussed in the article.

12. The most widespread opinion is…

13. It’s extremely hard to predict…

14. Needless to say that…

15. As far as can be judged from the press…

16. Different sources say that…

17. The article contains a lot of key, important words (terms).

18. The article is pretty-packed, expressive, and very emotional; contains (very) important facts.

19. The essence of news is…

20. to have one’s fingers on the pulse of current events, public opinion;

21. to appeal to a wide readership;

22. news of general interest

23. The article expresses (doesn’t express) the opinion of the author; it just states the facts.

24. The information is very actual and important not only for… but for… (average men).

25. In my opinion / To my mind/ I’m sure that…

Part two Elections and Government

Elections

1. Put each of the following words or phrases in its correct place in the passage below.

Election campaign, polling station, support, predict, polling day, ballot box, opinion poll, candidate, vote.

People sometimes try to (a) … the result of an election weeks before it takes place. Several hundred people are asked which party they prefer, and their answers are used to guess the result of the coming election. This is called an (b)…. Meanwhile each party conducts its (c)… with meetings, speeches, television commercials and party members going from door to door encouraging people to (d)… their party. In Britain everyone over 18 is eligible to (e)…. The place where people go to vote in an election is called a (f)… and the day of the election is often known as (g)…. The voters put their votes in a (h)… and later they are counted. The (i)… with the most votes is then declared the winner.

Government

2. Instructions as above.

Cabinet, coalition, alliance, majority, right-wing, left- wing, prime minister, opposition, one-party states, split.

In most countries, except (a)…, there are several different political parties. The one with the (b)… of seats normally forms the government, and the parties which are against the government are called the (c)…. Sometimes no single wins enough seats, and several parties must combine together in a (d)… to form a government. The principal ministers in the government form a group called the (e)…. The leader of this group, and of the government, is the (f)…. Of course, there are many different kinds of parties and governments. A socialist or communist party is often described as (g)…. A conservative party on the other hand, is usually said to be (h)…. Political situations are always changing. Sometimes in a party or between two parties there is a big argument or deep difference of opinion. This is called a (i)…. When, on the other hand, two parties work together, this is sometimes called an (j)….

3. Explain the difference between…

1. pro- and anti-

2. an election and a referendum

4. Put one of the following words in each space in the sentences below.