Ex. 8. Write the summary of the newspaper article.

Ex. 9. Read the text below, use the following words to complete it.

Accused, bulletproof, detained, detention, exercise, grievances, tighten, unrest

China Detains a Human Rights Advocate

The Chinese police have (1) ___________ a leading human rights advocate who represented farmers in lawsuits against the government, expanding a crackdown on writers, intellectuals, lawyers and journalists who challenge the Communist Party authorities. The advocate, Li Boguang, was detained by the police while visiting Fujian Province last Tuesday, his family said. The reasons for his detention are unclear. Mr. Li, a 37-year-old lawyer and writer, has helped peasants in many parts of China (2) __________ constitutional rights to oustcorrupt officials. He has also represented farmers seeking more compensation for confiscated farmland.

In September, the police arrested Zhao Yan, a journalist and researcher in The New York Times's bureau in Beijing who had in the past worked with Mr. Li to help farmers voice their (3) ___________. Mr. Zhao was charged with leaking state secrets abroad. It is unclear whether Mr. Li's detention has any connection to Mr. Zhao's arrest. But Mr. Li had expressed concern in recent weeks that the police might be undertakinga broad campaign to harass or imprison rights advocates suspected of contributing to a surge in rural (4) ____________.

In an article he posted on a Chinese Web site in October, Mr. Li said the police had ordered farmers in Fujian and other areas to report on his whereabouts. Mr. Li said the police had made it clear that he would be arrested if he continued to provide legal advice to protesters. The (5) __________ comes a few days after the Beijing police briefly detained two leading writers and a political theorist who are members of a Chinese chapter of PEN, the international writers group. Computers and other materials were confiscated from their homes, the three men said.

In November, Shi Tao, a poet and journalist based in Hunan Province, was (6) __________ of leaking state secretsand arrested. The authorities also recently detained Huang Jingao, the Communist Party chief of Lianjiang County in Fujian Province, two Hong Kong newspapers reported. Mr. Huang became a national sensation in August when he wrote a letter to the online edition of People's Daily contending that local officials had t hwarted his campaign against corruption in the area. Mr. Huang said he had received so many death threats that he was forced to wear a (7) ____________ vest.

While the various cases do not appear to be directly connected, some political analysts say they may represent an effort by President Hu Jintao to (8) ___________ discipline inside and outside the Communist Party as he solidifies his authority.

 

Ex. 10. Work in pairs or in small groups. Discuss the following issues:

1. The UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

2. The functions of the UN Commission on Human Rights and the High Commisssioner for Human Rights.

3. Four basic characteristics of human rights.

4. Basic civil and political rights.

 

 

Unit 8. Diplomacy

Key vocabulary

Give equivalents in your mothertongue to the following English words and phrases:

To accept full sovereignty

Ambassador at large

To avert a diplomatic crisis

To call in an envoy

The chief of mission

To circulate a letter

To commemorate the victims

To denounce

To express deep dissatisfaction and determined opposition

To face possible war

To foreshadow in public

To grant smb a visa

To lift the arms embargo on

Meddling in internal affairs

To negotiate a settlement on sb's terms

To offer reassurances to

Ousting of the government

To release a statement

To seek asylum

To sour the relationship

To sow discord between

Stalled talks

The state of emergency

To supplant one's influence

To tell a news conference

Ex. 1. Speak on the following:

1. Independent sovereign states: the main actors in the international system.

2. The best methods of maintaining order: balance of power, diplomacy, and the formation of alliances.

3. The role of international institutions in the world.

 

Ex. 2. Before reading the nespaper article below discuss in pairs what you think it

Is about. Read the article and see if your ideas were correct.

As Rice Prepares to Move Up, Diplomacy May Be on Rise, Too

By TODD S. PURDUM

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - Her confirmation as the 66th secretary of state is a foregone conclusion, and the White House plans to swear her in on Inauguration Day. But starting Tuesday morning, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will beginwhat could stretch to two full days of questioning Condoleezza Rice about almost every aspect of her past performance and future plans.

No question looms larger than just what kind of secretary of state Ms. Rice will be. She declined to be interviewed for this article, but her associates and even some of her rivals say she shows every sign of setting a course aimed at putting diplomacy at the top of the Bush administration's foreign policy agenda after a period dominated by military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ms. Rice's goals vary from restoring America's reputation in the capitals of Europe through a vigorous campaign of public diplomacy to actively promoting free institutions throughout the Middle East and renewing involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, and include a heightened focus on free trade and economic issues, associates say.

In campaign speeches for President Bush last fall, Ms. Rice likened the current world climate, including the daunting insurgency in Iraq, to the period of skirmishing that followed World War II, when the United States took the lead in establishing international institutions and the policy of containing the Soviet Union that rebuilt Europe and Asia and won the cold war.

"Europe and Asia are safer as a result," Ms. Rice said in October in Cleveland. "And so it shall be in the Middle East."

To put it mildly, that is an ambitious goal. Whether Ms. Rice can begin to achieve it may depend on how well she adapts to a markedly new role, and surmounts problems that have dogged her as national security adviser for the past four years.

Her critics have faulted her handling of terrorist warnings before Sept. 11 and her management of fractious internal disputes and flawed intelligence reports in advance of the war with Iraq and the military occupation that followed. They have also faulted her response to the threat of nuclear proliferation in Iran and North Korea and her overall role in a foreign policy that has strained the United States' relationswith longtime allies and perhaps spawnednew enemies around the world.

Her success or failure may also depend on how she fares with two strong-willed and more seasoned players, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, both of whom view foreign affairs as a major part of their own portfolios and with whom Ms. Rice has not always seen eye to eye. Her champions say that Ms. Rice is well aware of how her job will change, and that she is prepared for the switch.

"Her role will be different institutionally, as well as practically," said the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr. No longer will she be expected to summarize the views of others, but to state her own, saying, as Mr. Card explained it: "This is what I think. This is what the State Department strongly recommends."

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell seldom hesitated to tell the president that while Mr. Rumsfeld or Mr. Cheney might have a certain view, he had another. Will Ms. Rice be equally vocal?"Yes," Mr. Card said with a hearty laugh, "because she knows that Don and Dick will say the same thing." And, Mr. Card noted with another laugh, "She'll have great empathyfor Steve Hadley," her deputy and designated successor as national security adviser. "I'm not sure she'll have sympathy."

(Source: New York Times, 2005)

Ex.3. Read the article and answer the following questions:

1. What stress is Rice going to put on in her activity?

2. Why is it important for the US to shift from force to diplomacy in its forign policy?

3. What part is assigned to the US in the post-World War period?

4. What is she faulted of?

5. What does Rice's success or failure depend on?

6. How is her current role different from the previous position's function?

7. What is Mr. Card's opinion on the ability of Rice to articulate herself distinctly and strongly?

Ex. 4. Read the article and explain the following phrases:

Her confirmation as the 66th secretary of state is a foregone conclusion; putting diplomacy at the top of the Bush administration's foreign policy agenda; when the United States took the lead in establishing international institutions; more seasoned players, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; with whom Ms. Rice has not always seen eye to eye; Will Ms. Rice be equally vocal?

Ex. 5. Find words in the article which correspond to the following defintions:

1. very active, determined or full of energy (para 3)

2. to make sb feel nervous and less confident about doing sth (para 4)

3. to take part in a short fight or argument (para 4)

4. to cause sb problem for a long time (para 6)

5. cause sth to develop or be pooduced (para 7)

6. to be un/successful in a particular situation (para 8)

7. the ability to understand another person's feelings, experience (para 10)