Look at these pairs of adjectives used to describe personal qualities.

Which pairs are positive, and which negative in meaning?

1. sensitive and thoughtful

2. dishonest and unreliable

3. mean and tight-fisted

4. broad-minded and tolerant

5. thoughtless and self-centred

6. lively and inquisitive

7. shy and insecure

8. out-going and independent

9. ambitious and single-minded

Match the pairs of adjectives above with a description below.

1. He’s a liar, and you can’t ask him to do anything for you.

2. He never buys his friends a drink in a bar.

3. She knows exactly what she wants to achieve in life and how to get

there.

4. He listens to other people’s opinions, and knows there are always two

sides to an argument.

5. She just doesn’t seem to realise that what she does could hurt other

people’s feelings. It’s all Me! Me! Me! with her!

6. She is very quiet and goes red if anyone speaks to her.

7. He loves parties and doing his own thing.

8. She’s always asking questions – always wants to know things.

9. She never forgets my birthday.

5. Which words in activity 4 have similar and/or opposite meanings to the

words below?

Trustworthy, free-spirited, inconsiderate, confident, dependable, narrow-minded, generous, selfish.

Which qualities in activities 3, 4 and 6 describe: a perfect diplomat / a hopeless diplomat?

TEXT 4

Read the text.

Diplomatic rank

Until the early 19th Century, each European nation had its own system of diplomatic rank. The relative ranks of diplomats from different nations had been a source of considerable dispute, made more so by the insistence of major nations to have their diplomats ranked higher than those of minor nations, to be reflected in table seatings etc.

In an attempt to resolve the problem, the Congress of Vienna of 1815 formally established an international system of diplomatic ranks. The four ranks within the system were:

1. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, or simply Ambassador, who is a representative of the head of state. Equivalent, and in some traditions primus inter pares, is the Papal nuncio. Amongst Commonwealth countries, the equivalent title High Commissioner (who represents the government rather than the head of state) is normally used instead.

A diplomatic mission headed by an ambassador would be known as an Embassy; one headed by a High Commissioner is called a High Commission. An ambassador is entitled to use the title "His/Her Excellency".

2. Minister Plenipotentiary (in full Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary), or simply Envoy. Usually just referred to as a Minister, an envoy is a diplomatic representative with plenipotentiary powers (i.e. full authority to represent the head of state), but ranking below an Ambassador.

3. Minister Resident or Resident Minister, or simply Minister, is the, now extremely rare, lowest rank of full diplomatic mission chief, only above Chargé d'affaires (who is considered an extraordinary substitute).

A diplomatic mission headed by either type of Minister would be called a Legation. As they formally represent the head of state, they are entitled to use the title "His/Her Excellency", which originally was reserved for Ambassadors.

4. Chargé d'affaires, or simply Chargé. As the French title suggests, a chargé d'affaires would be in charge of an embassy's or a legation's affairs in the (usually temporary) absence of a more senior diplomat.

As it turned out, this system of diplomatic rank did nothing to solve the problem of the nations' precedence. The appropriate diplomatic ranks used would be determined by the precedence among the nations; thus the exchanges of ambassadors (the highest diplomatic rank) would be reserved among major nations, or close allies and related monarchies. In contrast, a major nation would probably send just an envoy to a minor nation, who in return would send an envoy to the major nation. As a result, the United States did not use the rank of ambassador until their emergence as a major world power at the end of the 19th Century. Indeed, until the mid-20th Century, the majority of diplomats in the world were of the rank of envoy.

In diplomatic parlance, all the diplomats that station inside a nation are known as the diplomatic corps; one of these diplomats is recognized as the primus inter pares - in practice rather a protocolic honor - who acts as the spokesperson for all, known as the dean of the diplomatic corps (often by length of service, although in some Catholic nations it is held ex officio by the Papal Nuncio).

After World War II, it was no longer considered acceptable to treat some nations as inferior to others given the United Nations doctrine of equality of sovereign states. Consequently the use of the ranks of envoy and minister resident for legation chiefs gradually ceased. Where those ranks still exist, these usually act as mere embassy section chiefs.

Answer the questions:

1. Why had relative ranks of diplomats from different nations been a source of considerable dispute until the early 19th century?
2. What was done at the Congress of Vienna of 1815?
3. What is an embassy?
4. What title equivalent to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary is used amongst Commonwealth countries?
5. How should one address an ambassador?
6. What does “plenipotentiary powers” mean?
7. Who is in charge of an embassy's or a legation's affairs in the absence of an ambassador or ministers?
8. Why didn’t the new system of diplomatic rank solve the problem of the nations' precedence?
9. Who is usually appointed to be the dead of the diplomatic corps?
10. What consequences did doctrine of equality of sovereign states have?

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 1348