Answer the questions.

1. Are readers to blame for the low standards of the press?

2. How do the papers people choose reflect their personal views?

3. Is it in the public interest to expose the private lives of public figures?

4. Have the government tried to curb press freedom?

5. What is the function of the Press Council?

4. Match the adjectives with the nouns as they were used in the text.

5. Fill in the blanks with suitable prepositions.

1. We ___ readers are partly to blame ___ the low standards ___ which we complain.

2. We are spoiled ___ choice, though ___ practice people choose the paper that best reflects personal views.

3. If you can’t affect decisions made ___ you ___ high, why worry ___ them?

4. The question that arises ___ this theatre ___ cruelty is why a government that guards its own privacy so jealously ___ the Official Secrets Act gives its citizenry no legal right ___ privacy.

5. The editor protested that it would prevent him even ___ publishing that Mr Browne was ___ home ___ bed ___ a cold.

III Follow-up activities

1. You are participants of a discussion evening on the subject “Do we have the press we deserve?”. Choose your own part, e.g. chairman of the Press Council, an editor, a journalist working for a quality paper/tabloid, a famous politician/actor/sportsman harassed by reporters, a reader etc.

2. Conduct a survey of the reading habits of a certain group of people.

Additional tasks

Task 1. Match the headings with the articles.

1. Whales have brains more complex than any species, including man

2. Jury disqualify Bay Bea: Britain go into lead

3. Pack up and go!

4. New bid to end hunger strikes

5. Missing links?

6. “What’s this, overtime?”

7. Now U.S. doctors slam civil defense

8. Small talk

9. The slim blue line

10. France rushes industry takeover

a) If half as much energy and enthusiasm were channelled into planning a holiday wardrobe as in planning the holiday itself much confusion would be happily avoided.

Packing puts even the most orderly of organisers into a panic. Each summer our fashion department is flooded with pleas for what to pack for readers who are accompanying their husbands on business trips to Europe, taking coach journeys through the Alps or sabbatical to the Far East, and for the lucky few, planning far away cruises to the tropics.

b) Britain, who finished joint second behindthe United States in yesterday’s third inshore race of the international series ai cowes, took the team lead in the Admiral’s cup last night after the International Jury disqualified the American yacht Bay Bea.

c) The French government has overruled its own doubters and decided to act swiftly to nationalise industries as planned in President Mitterrand’s election programme – amounting to one fifth of French industry.

A three-stage programme to be unveiled in the national Assembly today by the Prime minister, Mr Mauroy, is expected to announce the takeover of banks (including extensive industrial holdings held by banks), armaments and steel in the autumn.

d) The government decided last night to send in a representative to the Maze prison in an attempt to end the IRA hunger strike.

An official from the Northern Ireland office is expected to read out to the prisoners a statement outlining terms for a solution.

e) They used to be the essential small accessory for the big businessman. But in the past few years, the price of pocket tape recorders has come down – and you’re now as likely to find one in a handbag or a trouser pocket as in the hand of a captain of industry. They are emerging from the business machine world to be used for shopping lists, interviews, telephone conversations – and even for listening to music.

f) More young policewomen are joining the fight against crime as growing numbers of men quit the force.

And if present recruitment trends continue eventually there could be more women officers than men, police chiefs were told yesterday.

g) They have been hunted to the brink of extinction to make mink food, margarine, cosmetics, fertilizer, whale steaks and lubricating oil.

There are cheap, plentiful substitutes for all whale products. But the massacre of the whales continues, led by Norway, Iceland, Spain and Japan. This year, more than 15,000 of these highly-intelligent marine mammals will suffer agonizing deaths as they are chased down at sea and blasted with massive harpoons.

h) Meet people in London with whom you have something in common. LINKUP offers a fresh approach to making friends in London by linking you with on going groups of members who share your interests.

LINKUP groups go out together in town and locally for meals/drinks/films/theatre/ music/ walks/swimming/Sunday brunches/parties/etc, escape to the country or just meet at someone’s place for a coffee. Each group is different, of course, but the atmosphere is always informal and friendly.

i) “If the civil defense budget were in my hands, I would spend all $120 million on morphine,” says one American scientist who has studied the effects of nuclear war. “Civil defense money is worse than wasted now. It misleads. It may let people believe they can get away in a nuclear war. They can’t.”

Task 2. Act out the story.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 1204