Росохранкультура разрешит вывезти российские картины в Лондон

Росохранкультура разрешит вывезти картины из российских музеев на выставку в Лондон в связи с тем, что в Великобритании досрочно вступил в силу закон, защищающий произведения искусства от конфискации, сообщил в понедельник замруководителя федеральной службы Анатолий Вилков. "Федеральная служба расценивает очень положительно такое отношение правительства Великобритании, которое подчеркивает уважение к российскому национальному достоянию, – сказал Вилков в эфире радиостанции "Эхо Москвы".

 

5. Новый год жжот!

Любовь к фейерверкам, хлопушкам и прочим огненным забавам в России существовала всегда. Так, например, фейерверки были особенно в моде во времена Петра I и Екатерины II – в эпоху, когда страна находилась на подъеме. В XX веке интерес к салютам возродился в 1943 году, когда стало понятно, что СССР одержит победу над фашистской Германией. Поэтому сегодняшнее желание встретить Новый год с чудесами пиротехники вполне закономерно: благосостояние людей в последние годы заметно выросло.

 

SPEAK OUT

 

BE READY TO COMMENT ON THE FOLLOWING

 

"Television is like the invention of indoor plumbing. It didn't change people's habits. It just kept them inside the house."

--Alfred Hitchcock

 

"The bigger the information media, the less courage and freedom they allow. Bigness means weakness."

--Eric Sevareid

 

'Freedom of the press belongs to the man who owns one'.

--A.J. Liebling.

 

It is a medium of entertainment which permits millions of people to listen to the same joke at the same time, and yet remain lonesome.

--T. S. Eliot (1888-1965), Anglo-American poet, critic. New York Post.

 

You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements

 

In America the press rules the country; it rules its politics, its religion, its social practices. - E.W. Scripps

 

Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put in that polluted vehicle.

 

To withhold the news is to play God.

 

Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock. ~Ben Hecht

 

The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers. ~Thomas Jefferson

 

The one function that TV news performs very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis as if there were. ~David Brinkley

 

Harmony seldom makes a headline. ~Silas Bent

 

A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself. ~Arthur Miller

 

We live under a government of men and morning newspapers. ~Wendell Phillips

 

The bigger the information media, the less courage and freedom they allow. Bigness means weakness. ~Eric Sevareid, "The Press and the People," television program, 1959

 

Freedom of the press in Britain is freedom to print such of the proprietor's prejudices as the advertiser's won't object to. ~Helen Swaffer

 

UNIT 9

SCIENCE AND TECHMOLOGY

DISCUSSION

 

– Which aspects of modernization are absolutely essential for a developing country, in your opinion?

– Is it practical for countries to approach the 21^st century without improving their level of technology?

– If you have lived in both developed and less developed countries, which do you prefer? Which offers a better quality of life, speaking not only materially but spiritually?

– Can a country keep its traditional way of life and develop? Or does development necessarily mean a change in tradition?

– If you could invent something new, what product would you develop? Use specific details to explain why this invention is needed.

– Some items (such as clothes or furniture) can be made by hand or by machine. Which do you prefer – items made by hand or by machine? Use reasons and specific examples to explain your choice.

– Some people think that governments should spend as much money as possible on developing or buying computer technology. Other people disagree and think that this money should be spent on more basic needs. Which one of these opinions do you agree with? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.

 

VOCABULARY

To develop science intensive industry To accelerate pace of development Industrial hitch Scientific breakthrough To introduce a new vaccine State-of-the art technology To cultivate genetically modified wheat Electronic data processing Chip Space probe Cosmological epoch Solar-powered engine Cybernetics Information technology Ergonomics Genetics] Civil engineering Internet junkie Techie World-beating technology Technological lead Hassle-free technology

To sponsor the invention To patent the invention Satellite communication Computerization of the remote places Nanotechnology Computerized (computer-assisted) diagnostics To make the unachievable come true To long for new achievements Molecular biology Bioclimatology Astrophysics Gadget junkie To surf the net Computer bug Glued to the computer Dot-com millionaire Technobabble Computer nerd In the Internet age Green technology

 

READING 1

THE LATEST GADGET

 

Some people love to buy the latest gadget as soon as it is invented. Other people are more cautious. They wait until gadgets are popular before they buy them.

Are you a 'gadget geek' or a 'wait-and-see consumer'? Do the 'quiz' below and find out what type of person you are.

Which of the following gadgets have you got? Score one point for each possession.

a DVD player an i-pod a mobile phone a PC a digital radio a digital camera a DVD recorder an LCD television a 3G video phone a laptop

 

Check your answers in the key. Discuss your answers with people in your class.

Key to the Quiz

0-4 You are not really into new technology

5-7 You like new technology - but you don't rush to the shops to buy the latest inventions

8-10 You really are a gadget geek