Task 1. State the topic and the main idea of each part according to the made outline.

Task 2. Answer the following questions.

1. Why are the notions of democracy and freedom often used interchangeably?

2. What is the difference between

a) direct and representative democracy;

b) democracy and authoritarian society?

3. How can citizens participate in the work of the government bodies?

4. Is there any need in controlling, monitoring or reporting of one's actions in a really democratic society?

5. Do you think that Abraham Lincoln's understanding of democracy still encompasses the essence of this notion?

Task 3. Speculate on the essence of the 11 pillars of democracy. Support your ideas by the facts of history or nowadays situation.

- Sovereignty of people.

- Government based upon consent of the governed.

- Majority rule.

- Minority rights.

- Guarantee of basic human rights.

- Free and fair elections.

- Equality before the law.

- Due process of law.

- Constitutional limits on government.

- Social, economic and political pluralism.

- Values of tolerance, pragmatism, cooperation and compromise.

T E X T 3

 

Pre-reading Activity

 

1. What does a word “community” mean?

2. Recall some films, books, newspaper articles, TV reports about the way the communities live within a society.

3. What do you think characterizes a community in the best way?

 

Reading Activity

Scan the text. State what kind of community the Amish people are and the reasons of their arrival in the USA.

AMISH FOLK

The AMISH are called “Plain People” because their clothes are so simple and undecorated.

The Amish began coming from Switzerland and Germany into Pennsylvania near the beginning of the 1700’s. They came seeking freedom to worship as they pleased, and to preserve their own ways of life. Many of them are still living much as their forefathers did 250 years ago.

The Amish do not have telephones in their homes. “Electricity is not in the Bible”, they say; though they will use those in other people’s homes, or public ones, in emergencies. Cars and tractors have also long been resisted by the conservative Amish. They say “A tractor gets the work done more quickly, but horses and the love of hard work keep us nearer to God”.

It is customary among the Amish to intermarry to keep the sect together. Weddings take place in November, when there is less work on the farms. Barn-raising is another old Amish custom. When a farmer’s barn burns or becomes too small or old, all his neighbours help him build a new one. A hundred men or more turn up. They can build a barn in a day.

In the barnyard are usually three cows. “They give us enough milk for our family, and enough left over to make cheese.” The families are almost self-sufficient. They raise pigs, kill them, smoke some of the meat, and sell the rest or trade it with neighbours. They also grow their own vegetables.

Unless it is absolutely necessary, many Amish folk will not obey the laws that violate their beliefs. Many refuse to pay for Social Security, saying they can take care of themselves – they do not need the State.

The Amish prefer to teach their children at home.

They say: “The training our children get at home is training for the lives they will lead. When we give them gifts, we give housework things to the girls, and tools, harness and so on to the boys”.

Keeping the sect together is still uppermost in the minds of the Amish folk. Nevertheless their numbers have increased since 1900 from 10,000 to almost 50,000 today.

(Abridged from “Northern Indiana Amish Country”

tourist guide of the Elkhart County Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2000)

Post-reading Activity

Task1. Answer the questions.

1. How are the Amish called and why?

2. Where did they come from?

3. How do the Amish feel about modern conveniences?

4. What are the main customs among the Amish?

5. How can you prove that the Amish are self-sufficient?

6. What is the Amish’s attitude to the laws of the country?

7. How do they educate their children?

8. What tendency can be noticed among the Amish folk?

Task 2. Say if the following is true or false.

1. The Amish came from Great Britain.

2. They came near the beginning of the 1990’s.

3. The Amish folk have preserved their own way of life.

4. The Amish do not have telephones in their homes.

5. It is unusual between the Amish to intermarry.

6. Weddings take place in November where there is much work on the farm.

7. In the barnyards there are two cows.

8. The families are completely self-sufficient.

9. The Amish won’t obey the laws that violate their beliefs.

10. The Amish prefer to teach their children at home.

Task 3. Use the following words and word combinations in the sentences of your own to describe the way of life of the Amish people.

Plain, to worship, forefathers, in emergency, customary, neighbours, self-sufficient, to raise, to violate, to take care, to trade.

Task 4. Act as a journalist and interview a member of the Amish folk. Think over the questions you’ll ask him/her.

Task 5. Feminism – the belief that women should have the same right and opportunities as men – is highly developed in the USA. Can you prove that the social phenomenon didn’t touch the Amish folk?

LISTENING PRACTICE

T A P E S C R I P T 1

THE COMPARISON GAME

Pre-listening Activity

 

Task 1. Do you compare yourself in mind and body with people around you? What are your feelings if anyone is cleverer, prettier and luckier than you?

Task 2. Look through the following list of words and clear up any difficulties.

To be intent on doing smth – стремиться что-либо сделать

To be superior to smb – превосходить кого-либо

To be inferior to smb – уступать кому-либо (по положению)

Eternal competition – вечное соревнование

To strive to do smth – стараться, прилагать усилия что-либо

сделать

 

Listening Activity

Task 1. Listen to the recording. Identify the variety of speech.

a) reading a letter from a friend

b) reading a letter on a professional radio programme

c) reading a letter to the editor.

Task 2. State the overall topic of the recording.

a) the problems children have at school;

b) the competitive nature of school life;

c) the competitive nature of society.

 

Task 3. Listen to the recording again and finish the missing part of the sentence.

1. Society has always been competitive but in this century life is perhaps ….

2. Even as children we are already intent on showing that we are not merely different from our fellows but in some way ….

3. School life is an ….

4. Our jobs, our possessions and even the areas in which we live become ….

5. Are we interested in proving our superiority, or is it that we take a sadistic delight in proving that some poor fellow being is …?

 

Post-listening Activity

Task 1. Answer the following questions.

1. What arguments does the speaker produce to prove that people are tought almost from birth, to compare themselves with the others.

2. Do you share the speaker’s concern about the competition in a society?

3. Do you agree that competition is a binding force in a society?

 

Task 2. Write an answer to Tunbridge Wells, the author of the letter “The Comparison Game.”

SPEECH PRACTICE

 

Task 1. Work in groups of 3 or 4. Organize a discussion on the quotation below.

“The authority of the government … is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed. The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is progress toward a true respect for the individual.”

(Henry David Thoreau. American essayist. 1817-1862)

Task 2. Here is a list of statements concerning the position of a person in the society. Choose one and express your point of view on the problem under consideration.

1. People feel themselves safer living alongside with somebody who shares their ideas, traditions, way of life.

2. Family is the nucleus of our society.

3. Advantages and disadvantages of co-parenting.

4. The reasons for the children’s diligence in being highly moral, that is making sacrifices such as missing out on time with friends in order to spend it with a needy parent.

5. The problem of increasing civic engagement decline in the USA.

 

Task 3. Being a member of a debate club work in teams. Give your arguments for and against the following: it's impossible to live in a society and to be free from that society at the same time. Do not forget to elect a spokesman to lead the debates.

WRITING PRACTICE