Discussion 1. Sale of HUMAN organs

Exercise 1. Under what circumstances would you allow an organ to be removed from your body? Tick the ones you agree with:

a. If I needed an operation.

b. After death, for general medical purposes.

c. To donate an organ to a close relative.

d. To donate an organ to a close friend.

c. To help anyone in need.

f. To make money.

g. Never.

Many people carry an organ donor card, which allows doctors to take parts of their bodies if they are killed. Do you carry one? lf not, why not?

Exercise 2.Read this article about debt collection in Japan. Does the same thing happen in other countries?

JAPANESE URGED TO SELL EYES TO PAY DEBTS

The phone calls from the debt collector got increasingly more threatening. First, the standard pressure: “You have to come up with the money. Sell your house quickly... sell your clothes and all your belongings if necessary”. But then: “Sell a kidney. You have two, don't you? Many of our borrowers only have one. You can get $28,000 for a kidney. You can get $9,500 for an eyeball”, said the debt collector, on tape recordings of the calls.

By this time, the person receiving the calls, Mr. Mamoto, a retired metalworker, was so frightened that when he heard dogs barking, he thought it was debt collectors coming after him, his lawyer said.

These ‘shoko loan’ firms lend money to small businesses who are experiencing financial difficulties and who cannot raise money in other ways. Their methods give a whole new meaning to the idiomatic expression “It'll cost you an arm and a leg!”

Aggressive debt collection has an unpleasant aspect of the business world but this new development has caused outrage. The sale of body organs is especially sensitive in Japan, where people are often reluctant to even allow the donation of an organ after death for medical purposes.

“We believe that our bodies are sacred. I would never allow anyone to take anything away from my body – dead or alive”, said Mr. Hiroshi Yamazaki, a small business owner in Tokyo and also a recently-threatened borrower. “Maybe in the western world this is different.” And indeed it is. The United States, for example, outnumbers organ donations in Japan by 20 to l.

Fortunately for Mr Mamoto, he found the legal help he needed before having to resolve to selling off parts of his body. He filed the first criminal complaint against one of the largest loan shark companies in Japan, a company charging interest rates of 30 to 40 per cent. National television has broadcast the recorded telephone threats repeatedly in an attempt to make Japanese citizens aware of the ruthless world of debt collection.

Exercise 2.1. Read the text again and answer these questions:

1. In the telephone threats that were made, what did the debt collector say that shows there have been other victims of these threats?

2. How did Mr. Mamoto get proof of these threats?

3. According to the article, why are there so few organ donors in Japan?

4. Which idiomatic expression in the article means ‘very expensive’?

5. The debt collector gave prices for certain organs. Where was he possibly getting those figures from?

6. Do you think people who object to organ donation are being selfish?

Exercise 3. Remember this idiomatic expression from the article, meaning that something is very expensive: It'll cost you an arm and a leg!

Lots of expressions in English have the word 'and' in the middle. For example: salt and pepper. There are two things to know about these expressions:

1. The order never changes - you never say 'cost a leg and an arm.'

2. The words before and after 'and' are almost always the same word class - 'arm' and 'leg' are both nouns.

Match the words below. The first one has been done for you as an example.

1. sick a. and age

2. wait b. and hard

3. black c. and far between

4. leaps d. and bounds

5. in this day e. and white

6. few f. and foremost

7. first g. and tired

8. think long h. and see

Exercise 3.1. Now put the expressions from the exercise above into the sentences below:

1. I had to think . . . . before I decided to become an organ donor.

2. It's amazing that this is still a controversial issue in this . . . ..

3. It's a complicated issue. There's no simple answer. It's not . . . ..

4. Maybe some day people will change their attitude towards organ donation - we'll just have to . . . ..

5. In some countries people who are willing to donate their organs are . . . ..

6. These are . . . . ethical questions, not medical questions.

7. Finding an organ donor used to be more difficult, but the situation has improved by . . . ..

8. People are . . . . of being pushed around by debt collectors.

Exercise 4. Answer these questions in pairs or small groups:

1. Do you think one day doctors will be shopping for organs on the internet? Is there anything wrong with selling organs?

2. Would you mind having your body cut up for the sake of science after you die? Would you put a limit on what they can take?

3. What would you tell a person who is considering becoming an organ donor? What would you say to encourage or discourage he or she?

4. How do you feel about using animal organs in human beings? How about using a monkey's heart? Would you like the eyes of a pig?

5. Many people don't have the time or just can't be bothered to get an organ donor card. Some countries want a new system where doctors automatically have permission to take your organs unless you have a card which says that you are not an organ donor. A system like this one could simplify and speed things up at hospitals and save lives. Would you be in favour of a system like this?

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1175