Text 1. The problems of youth

 

Active vocabulary to remember

teenager to worry unemployment chain rasta от rastafari do one's best get on well with

– подросток, юноша – беспокоить(ся), волновать(ся) – безработица – цепь, цепочка – растафари (название секты ямайских негров, про­исходит от докоронационного титула императора Эфиопии Хайле Селессие (настоящее имя Тафари Маконнен) «рас Тафари», т.е. «принц Тафари», которого они считают воплощением бога) – сделать все от себя зависящее, проявить максимум энергии – ладить (с кем-л.)

 

Life used to be fun for teenagers. They used to have money to spend, and free time to spend it in. They used to wear teenage clothes, and meet in teenage coffee bars and discos. Some of them still do. But for many young people, life is harder now. Jobs are difficult to find. There's not so much money around. Things are more expensive, and it's hard to find a place to live. Teachers say that students work harder than they used to. They are less interested in politics, and more interested in passing exams. They know that good exam results may get them better jobs.

Most young people worry more about money than their parents did twenty years ago. They try to spend less and save more. They want to be able to get homes of their own one day.

For some, the answer to unemployment is to leave home and look for work in one of Britain's big cities. Every day hundreds of young people arrive in London from other parts of Britain, looking for jobs. Some find work, and stay. Others don't find it, and go home again, or join the many unemployed in London. There used to be one kind of teenage fashion, one style, one top pop group. Then, the girls all wore mini-skirts and everyone danced to the music of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. But now an eight­een-year-old might be a punk, with green hair and chains round his legs, or a skin head, with short, short hair and right wing politics, or “rasta”, with long uncombed hair and a love for Africa. There's a lot of different mu­sic around too. There's reggae, the West Indian sound, there's rock, there's heavy metal, country and western, and disco. All these kinds of music are played by different groups and listened to by different fans.

When you read the newspapers and watch the news on television, it's easy to get the idea that British young people are all unemployed, angry and in trouble. But that's not true. Three quarters of them do more or less what their parents did. They do their best at school, find some kind of work in the end, and get married in their early twenties. They get on well with their parents, and enjoy family life. They eat fish and chips, watch football on TV, go to the pub, and like reading about pop stars. After all, if they didn't, they wouldn't be British, would they?

Practice:

1. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the difference between the life of today's teenagers and their par­ents when they were in their teens?

2. What do teachers say about today’s students?

3. What problems do teens have today? Is it difficult to solve them?

4. What are the trends of today’s youth fashion in clothes, music, ways of life?

5. How does the mass media describe the young generation?

6. What is the author’s attitude to the young people?

2. What is missing? (Find the omitted words and define the part of the speech. Give the translation of the sentence):

1) For many young people, life is ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­________ now.

2) Most young people ______more about money than their parents ______ twenty years ago.

3) Teachers say that _______ work harder than they used to.

4) The answer to ______ is to leave home and ____ ____ work in one of ______ big cities.

5) They eat fish and chips, watch football on TV, go to the pub, and ____ ____ about pop stars.

6) They ____ ___ well with their parents, and _____ family life.

7) When you read the newspapers and watch the news on television, it's ______ to get the idea that British _____ people are all unemployed, ______ and in trouble.

 

1. Read the sentences and tick (Ö) the statements which are true to the text. Correct the false statements.

1) Every day hundreds of young people arrive in London from other parts of Britain, looking for entertainments.

2) Jobs are difficult to find.

3) Things are more expensive, but it's easy to find a place to live.

4) Three quarters of young people do nothing what their parents did.

5) Young people do their best at school, find some kind of work in the end, and get married in their early thirties.

6) Young people try to spend more and save less.

7) Young people used to have money to spend, and free time to spend it in.

8) The minority of young people want to be able to get homes of their own one day.

Text 2. The younger generation

Knows best

Active vocabulary to remember

generation dependent blindly to accept to precede to assume to threaten to doubt conformity drab convict violence guilt-ridden to amass to retrace to shrug off to admit inhibition annihilation

– поколение – материально зависящий, зависимый, подвластный – вслепую, как слепой – принимать, брать; соглашаться – предшествовать – допускать, предполагать, заявлять права на что-л. – угрожать – сомневаться, испытывать сомнения – следование, подчинение (определенным нормам, прави­лам, догмам) – ткань темно-коричневого или серого цвета – осужденный, заключенный; каторжник – жестокость, насилие, принуждение – страдающий от сознания своей вины (иногда вообража­емой); страдающий комплексом вины – собирать; копить, накоплять – прослеживать ход развития, восстанавливать прошлые этапы – отделаться, не обращать внимания, сбрасывать со счетов – допускать, соглашаться, признавать – подавление, сдерживание; комплекс – полное уничтожение, истребление

Old people are always saying that the young are not what they were. The same comment is made from generation to generation and it is always true. It has never been truer than it is today. The young are better educated. They grow up more quickly and are not so dependent on their parents. They think more for themselves and do not blindly accept the ideals of their elders. Events which the older generation remembers vividly are nothing more than past history. This is as it should be. Every new generation is different from the one that preceded it.

The old always assume that they know best for the simple reason that they have been around a bit longer. They don't like to feel that their values are being questioned or threatened. And this is precisely what the young are doing. They are questioning, they take leave to doubt that the older genera­tion has created the best of all possible worlds. What they reject more than anything is conformity. Office hours, for instance, are nothing more than enforced slavery. Wouldn't people work best if they were given complete freedom and responsibility? And what about clothing? Who said that all the men in the world should wear drab grey suits and convict haircuts? Why have the older generation so often used violence to solve their problems? Why are they so unhappy and guilt-ridden in their personal lives, so ob­sessed with mean ambitions and the desire to amass more and more material possessions? Can anything be right with the retrace? Haven't the old lost touch with all that is important in life?

These are not questions the older generation can shrug off easily. Their record over the past forty years or so hasn't been exactly spotless.

Traditionally, the young have turned to their elders for guidance. Today, the situation might be reserved. The elderly – if they are ready to admit it – could learn a thing or two from their children. One of the biggest lessons they could learn is that enjoyment is not “sinful”. Enjoyment is a principle one could apply to all aspects of life. It is surely not wrong to enjoy your work and enjoy your leisure: to shed restricting inhibitions. It is surely not wrong to live in the present rather than in the past or future. This emphasis on the present is only to be expected because the young have grown up un­der the shadow of the bomb; the constant threat of complete annihilation. This is their glorious heritage.

Practice:

1. Answer the following questions:

1. What comment is made from generation to generation?

2. How are the young differ from previous generation?

3. What do the old always assume?

4. What are the young doing?

5. What do they reject more than anything?

6. What can the old learn from their children?

 

2. Read the text and find Russian equivalents or explain the following phrases:

- to be dependent on the parents	- to give complete responsibility
- to be educated	- to lose touch with
- to accept the ideals blindly	- ambitions
- to know best	- older generation