Advantages and disadvantages of television

Television is one of the greatest achievements of the 20-th century. It is the most popular part of mass media. Today every family has a TV-set. TV has changed much since the time of its invention and so has its role. There have been numerous debates concerning advantages and disadvantages of television. When TV first appeared its main purpose was to give official information to people. It was supported by the government. Now television plays a big role in every civilised society. Today television gives people a possibility to be well informed and enjoy "civilised pleasures." The programmes are various and people have a chance to select what they want to see. Television provides great opportunities for education. There are programmes devoted to specialised subjects. With the help of TV it is possible to learn foreign languages, to know a lot of wonderful things concerning the world flora and fauna. TV teaches the ideals of democracy and political argument. Watching television can be compared with reading books. It provides an outlet for creative talents. By the beginning of the 21-st century TV became a coloured world network. Numerous programmes people can receive by satellite or cable. The choice of the channels ranges from six to twenty. These channels show programmes of various kinds from documentaries, current events and sports to programmes American films and science fiction cartoons. Now this medium of communication allows people to see and speak with each other if they are separated by thousands of kilometres. TV bridges between Russia and the USA once were very popular. They showed that TV was a unifying force and that our planet in reality is a small world. Previously innovations were promoted on TV. TV shocked, surprised and stimulated. It brought ballet, opera, and theatre to big masses of people. It was even in the vanguard of new drama. Moreover, TV can keep children quiet. If they are noisy their mothers turn on the set. If people do not like TV they do not buy it or switch it off.
At the same time there are a lot of arguments against TV. It is said that only three generations have grown up with television, but they managed to forget how to spend their free time without television. Its role is increasing not because it is an entertainer or informant, but because of the grip it has on many people. It is called a "living room monster" or "one-eyed monster." It is established that the biggest viewers are pensioners and housewives. The latter watch TV while their husbands are at work. In total they spend five hours daily sitting before the "boxes." Children watch commercials, horror films or films of violence. TV prevents children from creating their abilities. They get accustomed to TV to such an extent that they watch it all the time. To force their children away from their favourite evening programmes to their homework has eventually become the main problem of the parents of different countries.
Moreover, TV is damaging for health. It has bad effect on the eyes, particularly of children. The physicians proved that if children do not watch TV their eyesight improves. But if children do not watch TV they find themselves without anything to talk about at school, where comedians and singing stars are major topics during breaks between classes. The same is true about some adults. Sometimes TV programmes become the topics of common interest of the people and without, them they have nothing to talk about.

 

 

БИЛЕТ №13. Вопрос 1.

IS TELEVISION IMPORTANT TO YOU?

T

elevision now plays such an important part in so many people's lives that it is essential for us to decide whether it is a blessing or a curse. Obviously, television has both advantages and disadvantages.

In the first place television, it is often said, keeps one informed about current events, allows one to follow the latest developments in science and politics, and offers an endless series of programmes which are both instructive and stimulating. The most distant countries and the strangest customs are brought right into one's sitting-room.

Yet here there is a danger. "Television is chewing-gum for eyes." Is it true or false? Nowadays it is difficult to imagine what we used to do before this one-eyed monster was admitted into our life.

Lots of people spend most of their lives practically glued to the screen. All their free time is regulated by the telly. They rash home after work, flop down on a sofa with a sandwich and a glass of beer in hands and stay like that for hours, even falling asleep in front of the TV.

Whole population is addicted to television. People watch everything that is shown to them. They have no time for thinking or analyzing. Eve­rything is done for them. All they have to do is just gulp that mess of information and nobody worries if they can digest it or not. The money for the programmes is provided by the manufacturers of cars, soap, ciga­rettes, who "buy time" to advertise their products.

Every few minutes the programme is interrupted to give a commer­cial advertising of something or other.

The result is that when you listen to the "commercials" you are told that if you use A.'s soap, you will remain young and beautiful, if you smoke B.'s cigarettes, women will find you most handsome and so on. Nobody believes a word of it - nevertheless, people do buy this particu­lar soap, cigarettes and toothpaste in large quantities.

 

1. What is the text about?

2. What advantages of watching TV are mentioned in the text?

3. Are there any problems with watching TV?

4. What is your attitude to television?

5. How will TV be changed in a few years?

 

 

БИЛЕТ №13. Вопрос 2.

Leisure time

It is not easy to say exactly what teenagers in different countries do in their leisure time. I think that, in the main our interests and tastes do not differ very much. They are engaged in sports activities. They listen to their favourite music bands or take part in different concerts. Teenagers discover the world and themselves. In the main, all young people are individualists. Youth is the time when young people work out their outlook. At the same time they need collective experience to share their dreams and interests. Teenagers unite in specific organisations.

The first organisation that brought together thousands of teenagers in different countries was that of the Scouts. The aim of this association was originally to train boys in various different skills such as lighting a fire and to develop their character. Now the Scouts are active all around the world. The motto of the Scouts is "Be Prepared." After the October Revolution a similar Pioneer organisation was created in Russia. The Pioneers were supported and sponsored by the government. Now the Pioneers do not exist in our country.
The Scouts and Pioneers were the first, but not the only organisations of the young people. For example today the volunteer movement is extremely popular among the teenagers. It dates back to the year 1921, when a French soldier decided to restore a German house after World War I free of charge. The movement flourished only in the late 1990s when young people of Europe and the United States went to different parts of the world helping local communities to solve their problems. Today volunteerism is very popular in American community and political life. Volunteerism implies assisting people through privately initiated agencies. Volunteers do not receive any salary for what they are doing, but at the same time their work is highly motivated. They react very quickly, immediately coming to help to whoever may need it. There are several types of volunteer work: workcamps, mid-term and long-term volunteering projects. Any young man from any continent can come to workcamps. These camps attain certain objectives in social, ecological, archaeological fields. Usually all works are done under the supervision of professionals. The mid-and long-term projects usually concern the social sphere. They include assistance to children, old people, crippled or immigrants. Volunteer fund-raising groups unite to help the needy in all spheres. They can do almost any work that is necessary. Volunteers can be found in any part of the globe. In the United States six out of ten pupils are members of some volunteer organisations.

All three organisations that were mentioned above are more or less formal. At the same time there are many informal associations of teenagers. Very often they are not even registered, and if they are, no one cares about what they are doing. No records are kept of their activities. They emerge, evolve and disintegrate without leaving trace in history. Nevertheless such organisations are extremely important for their participants. They serve as a means for teenagers to express themselves, meet new friends that have common interests, discuss problems that are really important to them. Quite often a famous book, a movie or a musical band can serve as an impulse for creating such organisations. Fan clubs of different rock and pop groups are numerous. Fan clubs usually consist of teenagers. Members of such clubs listen collectively to their favourite songs, attend concerts, write letters to their idols.

The most spectacular example of unofficial organisation is presented by the Tolkienist movement. J.R.R. Tolkien, the famous British writer created a magic world of elves, dwarves, and hob-bits. Any person who likes Tolkien's novels can become a Tolkienist. This community is open to everyone; young people come and go, they choose a race, becoming, for example, an elf or a goblin. Their imagination will carry them as far as they want. In Russia Tolkien is extremely popular now. In Moscow there are several places where his fans assemble to share their views and ideas.

БИЛЕТ №14. Вопрос 1.

WONDERS OF THE MODERN WORLD

(After Ann Halliday)

I

don't believe that today's wonders are similar in the kind to the wonders of the Ancient World. They were all buildings and statues. In the last two centuries we have seen unprecedented technical and scientif­ic achievements. These are surely our modern wonders. Here is my list.

1. Computers.

They have already revolutionized the way we live and work. But it is early days for computers. We don't know how much they are still chang­ing the world. More computer wonders are yet to come.

2. Space Travel.

Only a few years before men were walking on the moon, reputable scientists had declared that it was impossible. But in 1969 Neil Arm­strong stepped out of his space capsule and made his famous statement: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."

3. Medical Science.

Surely nothing has done more for the comfort and happiness of man­kind than the advance of medical knowledge! How many millions of people have benefited from the humble aspirin? How many lives has penicillin saved? Average life expectancy in Europe has risen dramati­cally over the last hundred years, from about 50 years in 1906 to about 75 years today.

4. The Olympic Games.

It is true that the Olympic Games are now commercialized and there is greed and drug abuse. However, it is a competition in which every country in the world takes part. Every four years, for a brief moment, we see these countries come together in peace and friendship. We feel hope again for the future of mankind.

5. We are still here.

The last wonder of the modern world is simply that we are still here. We have bombs that could destroy the world but we have not used them. This is surely the greatest wonder of all!

 

1. What is the text about?

2. What wonders are mentioned in the text?

3. What did revolutionize the way we live most of all?

4. How are the Olympic Games changed?

5. What more wonders can you add in this list?

 

 

БИЛЕТ №14. Вопрос 2.

Th century music styles

The 20-th century is by all means considered to be the most influential period of time in the development of music. In the 20-th century there were more practising musicians than in all previous centuries taken together. In the 20-th century there was no mainstream but various styles in music.

In the 1920s in New Orleans beautiful music filled the streets and cafes. The black and poor singers sang about their hard lives. Their music - jazz, ragtime and blues - soon travelled to Europe. It was the time when the black music entered the whites' culture changing the lifestyle of the people all over the world. In the 1940s and 1950s new styles of music emerged. Swing, rock'n'roll and singers like Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry destroyed the laws of morality that were imposed on the people by the Church for centuries. In the 1950s Elvis Presley became the king of rock 'n' roll in the United States of America. In the 1960s in Great Britain, in Liverpool a new band was created. It was soon to be known world-wide as the "Beatles". John Lennon and Paul McCartney were writing simple songs and performing them so brilliantly that they gave a new impulse for the development of the musical community. In 1969 at Woodstock, near New York a great rock festival attracted nearly half a million young people. Most of them were hippies, who shocked the world with their beards, long hair, old jeans and their calls for peace and love. They came to listen to such new stars as Jimmy Hendrix and Joe Cocker. The mid-1970s witnessed great changes in the music. The gentle mood of the 1960s was gone. The music became violent and aggressive. This was a protest of the new generation, not peaceful pacifist protest of Woodstock, but protest aimed at the negation and destruction of the existing order. Hard rock, heavy metal and punk became popular among the young. Such groups as "AC/DC", "Kiss", "Black Sabbath", and "Sex Pistols" shocked the public by their music and behaviour.

Music that developed in the 1970s and 1980s had its own peculiarities. Melodies were simple and often unoriginal, different group would easily borrow the popular melodies written by competing groups. Young people would not listen alone to their favourite bands; they would rather have a get-together or a party or go to a disco club. The new music styles that appeared in the 1980s were aimed at dancing and disco clubs, thus rhythm and beat became more important than the melody.

Multiculturalism found its expression in the music. In the 1980s young people started to listen to different kinds of music and they were not afraid of choosing what they really loved. No single style or set of styles can be attributed to the 1980s and 1990s. The best world to characterise what was going on in the world of music at that time is diversification.
The epoch found its best expression in techno music. A British band "Depeche Mode" was the first to express the realities of a complex and constantly changing society through highly elaborate music. This was the music of technological advance and breakthrough, the message of the rhythm was the dependence of our civilisation on the machines that were able to do everything faster and better than humans do.

The 1990s witnessed further changes in the world of music. Pop music became extremely fashionable among young people. Madonna, Michael Jackson, and "Spice Girls", and "Backstreet Boys" give an example of what teenagers preferred to listen. At the same time a powerful opposition to the pop music appeared. Rave, techno, rap, chaos, and acid styles were gaining momentum in the 1990s. Young people who preferred this kind of music would never attend a pop show because of a general disgust and hatred for pop music.

 

 

БИЛЕТ №15. Вопрос 1.

YURI GAGARIN

I

t was on the 12^th of April 1961, when the first flight by man into space took place. Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut in the world, was a 27-year old Air Force pilot at that time.

The spaceship flew at the speed of 300 miles a minute. That's six times faster than man had ever travelled before. His flight lasted 108 minutes, but a circuit round the Earth took 89 minutes.

It was a brilliant achievement on the part of our scientists and tech­nologists, and on the part of Yuri Gagarin who risked his life to achieve a victory for his country and mankind.

This is what Yuri Gagarin said at his press conference: "On my flight the 'day' side of the Earth was clearly seen: the continents, islands, seas, and big rivers. Flying over the land I could clearly see the big squares of fields, and it was possible to distinguish which was a meadow and which was a forest. I could not see as well as from an airplane, but very, very well though.

I saw for the first time with my own eyes the Earth's spherical shape. I must say that the view of the horizon is very beautiful. You can see the noticeable change from the light surface of the Earth to the completely black sky in which you can see the stars. This transition, from light blue to dark, is very gradual and lovely.

I did not see the Moon. In space the sun shines ten times more bright­ly than on the Earth. The stars can be seen very well.

My legs and arms weighed nothing. Objects swam in the cabin. During this state of weightlessness, I ate and drank, and everything was the same as on the Earth. My handwriting did not change, though my hand was weightless. But I had to hold my notebook or it would have floated away.

The passage back from weightlessness to the force of gravity hap­pened smoothly. Arms and legs feel the same as during weightlessness, but now they have weight.

I ceased to be suspended over the chair, and then I sat in it. When I returned to the Earth I was full of joy."

 

1. What is the text about?

2. Is it fiction or non-fiction?

3. How much time was the flight?

4. How is the view from the spaceship described?

5. Do you think it was a heroic deed?

 

 

БИЛЕТ №15. Вопрос 2.