Find the equivalents in the article.

To move slowly and awkwardly, to unload passengers, without stopping, very strong belief or feeling, cannot be taken away, symbolic, drawback, unhealthy food, eagerness to make people share your religious beliefs

Look at the title of the article in this section from the New York Times and answer these questions.

1. What sort of restrictions are referred to?

2. Who are the foreign smokers likely to be?

3. What does the idea of a last bastion suggest?

4. What is the main idea of the article?

3. Does the writer present arguments both for and against smoking restrictions or does she only present one side of the problem? What do you think the writer's attitude to these restrictions is likely to be?

4. What type of organization does the text follow?

a) there is a chronological development

b) the writer develops an argument

c) the passage describes a situation and presents various comments on it

d) the writer presents personal views and comments on them herself

5. Answer the questions.

1. Why do foreigners go to Caffe Lucca?

2. What, according to many foreigners, does the anti-tobacco militancy suggest about the American character?

3. What is one explanation given in the text for this extreme behaviour?

4. How do the Japanese differ from Americans?

For Discussion

- Are you a smoker or a non-smoker? How do you feel about smoking? Write a paragraph expressing your opinions.

- Are there smoking restrictions in our country or can people smoke anywhere?

- What are the social conventions surrounding smoking in private homes or at work?

Group Discussion

 Are you concerned about deforestation of the rain forests? Should you be? What solutions would you propose?

 Are there any endangered species in our country that scientists are trying to save? What is being done to prevent their extinction?

 Have you ever taken up a cause that you felt would improve the world?

 What scientific evidence do you now have that helps you better understand the environmental problems?

 How can industry help solve the pollution problem?

 Do you think people have the tight to control nature, or should nature control people?

 What do you think about the future of conventional and alternative medicine?

 What innovative approaches to treating people can you think of? What do you think will be the future of “healing by wire” or via Internet?

 Have you ever heard about living wills ( a document that specifies that if something goes wrong the patients won’t be kept alive against their wishes)? Do you think they are a good idea? Why? Why not?

 We are constantly bombarded with the advice from experts on ways of staying healthy and surviving to a ripe old age. Which aspects of their advice do you think is practicable to follow?

Panel Discussion

 Do you think environmental restrictions on industry should be abolished or relaxed if this leads to the creation of jobs? Or Do you think that environmental restrictions on industry should be strengthened even if this leads to unemployment?

Creative Consolidation

Project-Making

Devise an environmentally friendly enterprise. Remember about community benefits. Be ready to present it to the municipal committee and speak about its advantages – ecological, social and economic. Take into account the population profile of the community (old age pensioners, young families, high proportion of the unemployed etc.)

Write a 350-word essay supporting one of the following theses. Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement. Support your views with the reasons and examples from your own experience, observations, or readings.

1. Government should establish regulations to reduce or eliminate any suspected health hazards in the environment, even when the scientific studies of these health hazards are incomplete or contradictory.

2. Responsibility for preserving the natural environment ultimately belongs to each individual person, not to government.

3. It is unrealistic to expect individual nations to make independently the sacrifices necessary to conserve energy. International leadership and worldwide cooperation are essential if we expect to protect the world’s energy resources for future generations.

4. With the increasing emphasis on a global economy and international cooperation, people need to understand that their role as citizens of the world is more important than their role as citizens of a particular country.

5. The best way to preserve the natural environment is to impose penalties – whether fines, imprisonment, or other punishments – on those who are most responsible for polluting or otherwise damaging it.

6. The primary responsibility for preventing environmental damage belongs to the government, not to individuals or private industry.

7. In general people are not as concerned as they were a decade ago about regulating their intake of red meat and fatty cheeses. Vegetarian restaurants are still making a modest living but the owners of “the houses of beef” are millionaires.

8. Because of recent advancements in business and technology, the overall quality of life in most societies has never been better than at the present time.”

9. It is essential that the nations of the world increase spending on the building of the space stations and on the exploration of other planets, even if that means spending less on other government programs.

10. Technology ultimately separates and alienates people more than it serves to bring them together.

11. The automobile has caused more problems than it has solved. Most societies would probably be much better off if the automobile had never been invented.

12. Some people claim that the growth of mass media has stifled intellectual curiosity. Others however, argue that the availability of so much information and entertainment has encouraged individuals to expand their intellect and creativity.

[1] From Rolling Stone, May 3, 1990, By Straight Arrow Publishers, Inc. 1992.

[2] Based on “Dirty Work Ahead” by kay Itoi, B.J. lee, MICHAEL LARIS, barbara KOH, Newsweek, December 8, 1997,”Heavy Weather: How Procrastination and Politics Hobble Action on Climate Change” by Fiona Harvey, Financial Times, December 6, 2005, “For Sale: a License to Pollute” by Leyla Boulton, Financial Times, 1996.

[3] Persons dissatisfied with the methods of modern medicine or with the results sometimes seek help from those professing expertise in other, less conventional, and sometimes controversial, forms of health care, which are often called traditional, alternative or complementary medicine. Such practitioners are not medically qualified. Numerous persons also seek out some form of faith healing to cure their ills, sometimes as a means of last resort.

[4] Based on Peter Ustinov “In Time for a Divine Comedy”, the European and John Collee “Psychobabble”, the Observer, Simon Greenall, Diana Pye, CAE Reading Skills, Cambridge University Press, 1996, pp. 101-109; Christine Gorman “ Vitamin Overload”, Time, November 10, 1997.

[5] Neonatal – relating to the first weeks of a baby’s life.

[6] The articles in this section reflect the position of their writers and do not necessarily coincide with the stance of the author of this book.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 952