Just_English_2 часть. Just English. Английский для юристов 43
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Chapter II. Crime and Punishment Just English. Английский для юристов 59 58 TASK 6. What is your personal understanding of the following famous statements? Make a list of examples from history to illustrate these statements. Use the words and expressions from Task 5 to support the following opposite points of view: логических' преступников: предателей, шпионов, террористов. Смертная казнь для такого рода преступников — меньшее из двух зол. TASK 4. Answer the following questions:
TASK 5. Continue the table below with the following words and expressions describing polar views. The first few are done for you:
to consent to smth. to contradict to smth. to deny smth. to disagree with smth. to object to smth. to oppose smth. to reject smth. con defender pro supporter to accept smth. to admit smth. to agree to/with smth. to confirm smth.
60 Just English. Английский для юристов Chapter II. Crime and Punishment 61 DISCUSSION Describe the current attitudes to the following problems using the expressions from Task 5. Make up no fewer than 5 sentences. International terrorism Environment Artificial intelligence Drugs Political correctness Just for Fun Murder is always a mistake... One should never do anything that one cannot talk about after dinner. Oscar Wilde A man sentenced to death was being taken to the execution place in very nasty weather. "What lousy weather", he remarked. "You are not the one to grumble", commented one of the escort. "We've got yet to go back". UNIT 8. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT: FOR AND AGAINST Perhaps all criminals should be required to carry cards which read: "Fragile: Handle With Care". It will never do, these days, to go around referring to criminals as violent thugs. You must refer to them politely as 'social misfits'. The professional killer who wouldn't think twice about'using his cosh or crowbar to batter some harmless old lady to death in order to rob her of her meagre life-savings must never be given a dose of his own medicine. He is in need of 'hospital treatment'. According to his misguided defenders, society is to blame. A wicked society breeds evil — or so the argument goes. When you listen to this kind of talk, it makes you wonder why we aren't, all criminals. We have done away with the absurdly harsh laws of the nineteenth century and this is only right. But surely enough is enough. The most senseless piece of criminal legislation in Britain and a number of other countries has been the suspension of capital punishment. The violent criminal has become a kind of hero-figure in our time. He is glorified on the screen; he is pursued by the press and paid vast sums of money for his 'memoirs'. Newspapers which specialise in crime-reporting enjoy enormous circulations and the publishers of trashy cops and robbers stories or 'murder mysteries' have never had it so good. When you read about the achievements of the great train robbers, it makes you wonder whether you are reading about some glorious resistance movement. The hardened criminal is cuddled and cosseted by the sociologists on the one hand and adored as a hero by the masses on the other. It's no wonder he is a privileged person who expects and receives VIP treatment wherever he goes. Capital punishment used to be a major deterrent. It made the violent robber think twice before pulling the trigger. It gave the cold-blooded poisoner something to ponder about while he was shaking up or serving his arsenic cocktail. It prevented unarmed policemen from being mowed down while pursuing their duty by killers armed with automatic weapons. Above all, it protected the most vulnerable members of society, young children, from brutal sex-maniacs. It is horrifying to think that the criminal can literally get away with murder. We all know that 'life sentence' does not mean what it says. After ten years or so of 'good conduct', the most desperate villain is free to return to society where he will live very comfortably, thank you, on the proceeds of his crime, or he will go on committing offences until he is caught again. People are always willing to hold liberal views at the expense of others. It's always fashionable to pose as the defender of the under-dog, so long as you, personally, remain unaffected. Did the defenders of crime, one 62 Just English. Английский для юристов Chapter II. Crime and Punishment 63 wonders, in their desire for fair-play, consult the victims before they suspended capital punishment? Hardly. You see, they couldn't, because all the victims were dead. TASK 1. Explain the meaning of the following words and expressions: i
TASK 2. Study the following key phrases from the text above. Reproduce the text using these key phrases:
TASK 3. Follow the statements given in Task 2. Provide counterarguments to each statement. Compare your list with those of other students. TASK 4. Read the text below and write down the main ideas in Russian paying special attention to the words and expressions in bold type. Translate them into English. Use the vocabulary from the Unit to render the text into English: Пришло время отменить смертную казнь. С каждым годом это становится все более очевидным. Опыт всех стран показывает, что смертная казнь приводит к ожесточению в обществе. В ряде стран смертные приговоры применяются в основном к представителям неимущих слоев населения либо расовых или этнических меньшинств. |