Топики по английскому языку. Топики Тексты для чтения Экзаменационные вопросы Цветкова И. В. Клепальченко И. А
 Скачать 1.02 Mb.
|
|
CAN WE LIVE LONGER? Scientists say that in the future people will live longer. With healthier lifestyles and better medical care the average person will live to 90 or 100 instead of 70 and 75 like today. When the human genome is decoded, we'll probably live up to 150. Incurable diseases will be cured and "bad" genes replaced. But that's tomorrow. And today, we continue to stuff ourselves with fast food — chips and pizzas, hamburgers and hot dogs. We are always in a hurry. We have no time to enjoy a home-cooked dinner with family and friends. We want to eat now and we want to eat fast. What is tasty is not always healthy. Doctors say that chips and pizzas are fattening, cola spoils our teeth and coffee shortens our lives. If we eat too much, we'll become obese, and obesity leads to heart disease, diabetes and other serious illnesses. But the world today is getting fatter and fatter. America is the world's leader in obesity, but Europe is quickly catching up. Lack of exercise is another serious problem. We spend hours in front of our computers and TV-sets. Few of us do morning exercises. We walk less, because we prefer to use cars or public transport. Research shows, however, that young people who don't take enough exercise often suffer from heart attacks. It's common knowledge that smoking and drinking can shorten our lives dramatically. Cigarette-smoking, for example, kills about 3 million people every year. Many of them die from lung cancer. Some aren't even smokers. They are people who live or work with heavy smokers. Yet many young people smoke and drink. Why? One answer is that tobacco and drinks companies invest enormous sums of money in advertising their products. For them cigarettes and alcoholic drinks mean money. For us they mean disease and even death. We all know that the healthier we are, the better we feel. The better we feel, the longer we live. So why not take care of ourselves? Vocabulary scientist ['saiantist] ученый healthy ['helSi] здоровый lifestyle [laifstail] образ жизни medical care ['medikl ,kea] медицинское обслуживание average ['aevarids] средний human ['hju:man] человек; человеческий genome ['d3i:naum] генетический код, геном to decode [,di:'kau<3] расшифровывать, декодировать incurable [in'kjuarabl] неизлечимый disease [di'zi:z] болезнь to cure ['kjua] лечить, излечивать gene ['d3i:n] ген to replace [ri'pleis] заменять to stuff [sUf] oneself with зд. набивать желудки pizza ['pi:tsa] пицца hamburger ['haembaiga] гамбургер fattening ['faetnirj] способствующий ожирению, жирный cola f'kaula] кола to spoil [spoil] портить obese [au'bi:s] тучный diabetes [,daia'bi:ti:z] диабет to catch up догонять lack [laek] нехватка to prefer [pri'fa:] предпочитать research [ri'saitj] исследование to suffer f'SAfa] страдать heart attack ['ha:t a,taek] сердечный приступ it's common knowledge ['nolidj] общеизвестно dramatically [dra'maetikali] резко lung cancer ['!AQ ,kaensa] рак легких heavy smoker заядлый курильщик tobacco [ta'baekau] табак; табачный to invest [invest] инвестировать, вкладывать enormous [i'no:mas] огромный to advertise ['aedvataiz] рекламировать product ['prodAkt] продукт, товар alcoholic [,aelka'holik] алкогольный Questions 1. Do you think people will live longer in the future? 2. Do you believe that one day genetic engineers will be able to correct "gene" mistakes? 3. Do you like fast food? Is it tasty? 4. Why is fast food bad for us? 5. What illnesses does obesity lead to? 6. Are Europeans getting fatter? 7. The USA is the world's leader in obesity, isn't it? 8. Do you take regular exercise? 9. How often do you go for a walk? 10. Do you spend much time in front of your TV-set? 11. Why is smoking dangerous? 12. In some countries tobacco and alcohol advertising has been banned (to ban запрещать). Do you think it's a good idea? 13. Is passive smoking dangerous? 14. Would you like to live a long life? Mass Media MASS MEDIA The mass media play an important part in our lives. Newspapers, radio and especially TV inform us of what is going on in this world and give us wonderful possibilities for education and entertainment. They also influence the way we see the world and shape our views. Of course, not all newspapers and TV programmes report the events objectively, but serious journalists and TV reporters try to be fair and provide us with reliable information. It is true that the world today is full of dramatic events and most news seems to be bad news. But people aren't interested in ordinary events. That is why there are so many programmes and articles about natural disasters, plane crashes, wars, murders and robberies. Good news doesn't usually make headlines. Bad news does. Some people say that journalists are given too much freedom. They often intrude on people's private lives. They follow celebrities and print sensational stories about them which are untrue or half-true. They take photos of them in their most intimate moments. The question is — should this be allowed? The main source of news for millions of people is television. People like TV news because they can see everything with their own eyes. And that's an important advantage. Seeing, as we know, is believing. Besides, it's much more difficult for politicians to lie in front of the cameras than on the pages of newspapers. Still, many people prefer the radio. It's good to listen to in the car, or in the open air, or when you do something about the house. Newspapers don't react to events as quickly as TV, but they usually provide us with extra detail, comment and background information. The Internet has recently become another important source of information. Its main advantage is that news appears on the screen as soon as things happen in real life and you don't have to wait for news time on TV. Vocabulary mass media [,maes 'mhdia] средства массовой what's going on что происходит информации possibility [posa'biliti] возможность to inform [irrfo:m] сообщать, информировать entertainment [.enta'teinment] развлечение to report [ri'po:t] сообщать, писать (о) event [i'vent] событие, происшествие objectively [ab'd3ektivli] объективно fair [fee] честный, справедливый to provide [prepaid] обеспечивать reliable [rilaiabl] надежный ordinary ['o:dnri] обычный, заурядный disaster [di'za:ste] бедствие crash [kraej] авария murder ['тз:йэ] убийство robbery ['robari] грабёж to make headlines ['hedlainz] попасть в заголовки газет, вызвать сенсацию freedom ['fitdam] свобода to intrude [in'tru:d] вторгаться private ['praivit] частный, личный to follow [fblau] преследовать celebrity [si'lebriti] знаменитость to print [print] печатать sensational [sen'seijanl] сенсационный untrue [Airtru:] ложный, неверный half-true ['ha:ftru:] полуправдивый intimate [Intimit] интимный source [so:s] источник advantage [ad'va:ntid3] преимущество Seeing is believing. Лучше раз увидеть, чем сто раз услышать. besides [bi'saidz] кроме того politician [,poli'tijn] политик to He [lai] лгать to prefer [pri'fe:] предпочитать to react [ri'aekt] реагировать extra detail [,ekstra 'di:teil] дополнительные сведения, подробности comment j/komant] комментарий background ['baekgraund] information "закулисная" информация the Internet f'intanet] интернет recently [Ti:santli] недавно Questions 1. Do the media play an important part in your life? 2. Do you think that the media influence our life? 3. Millions of people get most of their news from television. What about you? 4. Do you read newspapers? 5. When do you usually listen to the radio? 6. Do you agree that most news we get from the media is bad news? 7. Do you think it would be nice if all news printed in newspapers and shown on TV was good news? 8. Do you think that journalists are given too much freedom? 9. If people have died in a plane crash, should their bodies be shown on TV? 10. How do paparazzi ([,paepa'raetsi]) earn their living? 11. Are you interested in politics? Don't you think that some politicians use the media to influence their voters (['vautaz] избиратели)? 12. What is the main advantage of the Internet? TV OR NOT TV? Whether we realise it or not, TV plays a very important part in our lives. It's the main source of information and a cheap form of entertainment for millions of people. It's the window on the world which gives us an opportunity to "travel" all over the world, to "meet" different people and learn about their customs and traditions . It has the power to educate and broaden our minds. It helps us to relax after a hard day's work and escape from reality. There's always a great variety of programmes on TV: news and sports programmes, talk shows and TV games, documentaries and feature films, concerts and theatre performances... Of course, not all programmes are good. But many are made in good taste and with great professional skill. Some people argue that television is a terrible waste of time. It makes us lazier. We stay at home instead of going out. We read less. We think less. We even talk less. It's true that some TV addicts spend hours in front of the "box" watching whatever's on — from second-rate Mexican soap operas to silly commercials. The trick is to learn to control television and use it intelligently. The ideal is to turn on the TV-set only when there's a really interesting programme. Violence on TV is another problem that worries people. As George Mikes once said, TV teaches us "how to kill, to rob, to shoot and to poison." But the same can be said about computer games and many films and books. And if you don't like a certain programme, why watch it? Names George Mikes ['mikej] Джордж Микеш (английский писатель-юморист венгерского происхождения) Vocabulary source [so:s] источник to educate ['edjukeit] обучать, развивать entertainment [.enta'teinment] развлечение broaden ['bro:dn] one's mind расширять кругозор opportunity [ppa'tjir.niti] возможность to relax [ttlaeks] расслабляться power ['раиэ] сила, способность hard day's work тяжелый трудовой день to escape [i'skeip] from reality уходить от реальности variety [ve'raiati] разнообразие documentary [,dokju'menteri] документальный фильм feature film ['fhtja ,film] художественный фильм in good taste со вкусом professional [prefejnl] skill профессиональное мастерство to argue ['aigju:] спорить, возражать waste of time бесполезная трата времени addict f'aedikt] наркоман, зд. человек, которого не оторвешь от телевизора box разг. "ящик", телевизор whatever's on что бы ни показывали (по теле- визору) second-rate [,sekend'reit] низкосортный, посредст- венный Mexican ['meksiken] мексиканский soap opera f'saup ppere] "мыльная опера" commercial [ke'maifl] телереклама the trick is зд. секрет в том (что) intelligently [in'telid3entli] с умом ideal [ai'diel] идеал violence [vaielens] насилие to rob грабить to shoot [Ju:t] (shot) стрелять to poison f'poizn] отравлять, отравить Questions 1. How often do you watch TV? 2. What are your favourite programmes? 3. Which is your favourite channel? 4. The average Russian teenager spends about 20 hours a week in front of the TV-set. What about you? 5. Why is TV often called "the window on the world"? 6. Do you agree that television has the power to educate? 7. What do you think of commercials? Do they annoy you? 8. Do you enjoy watching "soaps"? 9. Do you think that there's too much violence on TV? 10. Do you believe that violence on TV may turn people into criminals? 11. Some people say that television kills conversation. Do you agree? 12. Do you use TV intelligently? NEWSPAPERS In the past people learnt about news from newspapers. Nowadays people usually learn what is happening in the country and in the world from TV or radio news programmes or from the Internet. Still we cannot imagine our life without newspapers. There are dozens of them on every news-stand. There are newspapers for professionals, for businessmen, for children and teenagers, for men and women, for sports fans, for those who are interested in gardening and for those who keep pets. Some newspapers publish serious articles on politics, economy and finance, some aim to entertain their readers. Many newspapers express certain political opinion and people choose them according to their own political beliefs. In short, you can always find a paper which suits your interests. Besides, there are many free local newspapers which are put into your postbox whether you ask for it or not. Probably they are not interesting, because they consist mainly of advertisements, but you can find a lot of useful telephone numbers and addresses there. My parents subscribe to Argumenty i Facty. I also like this weekly. I don't read all the articles, but in every issue I find something interesting. I think that most articles are very well written, they give a detailed and well-balanced analysis of current events and trends in economy. I like to read articles on social issues, interviews, reviews of new books, plays and TV shows. One of my favourite columns is The Quotation of the Day, where they quote our popular politicians and give their comments. Sometimes it's very funny. Quite often I buy Sovershenno Secretno (Top Secret) and practically in each issue there are some fascinating stories which you read like a detective story. Sometimes they uncover things I have not heard about, sometimes they show well-known events in a completely new light. From time to time I read Moskovsky Komsomolets. It's one of the most popular daily papers, but I don't consider it serious. However, I never miss an article written by Minkin. I think he is a very good journalist. I also like Merinov's cartoons. Sometimes they publish good reviews of new films, new CDs and so on. In short, I think that TV, radio and the Internet have their advantages, but nothing can substitute newspapers. Vocabulary to imagine [i'maedjin] представлять себе dozens ['d/vznz] масса, множество news-stand ['nju:zstaend] газетный киоск fan [faen] поклонник, болельщик politics ['politiks] политика economy [i'konami] экономика finance [fai'nsens] финансы to aim [eim] ставить целью to entertain [,enta'tein] развлекать to express [ik'spres] выражать opinion [a'pinian] мнение, взгляд according [a'ko:dio] to согласно, в соответствии political beliefs [bi'lhfs] политические убеждения in short короче говоря to suit [s(j)u:t] подходить free бесплатный local [laukl] местный post-box ['paustboks] почтовый ящик advertisement [ad'vartismant] реклама to subscribe [sab'skraib] подписываться weekly ['wi:kli] еженедельник, еженедельный issue [IJii:], [Isju:] выпуск, вопрос detailed ['dhteild] подробный well-balanced [ wel'baelanst] взвешенный, объективный analysis [a'naelisis] (мн. ч. analyses) анализ current events [Jwant rvents] текущие события trend [trend] тенденция social issues общественные проблемы review [ri'vju:] обзор, рецензия column ['kolam] колонка quotation [,kwau'teijn] цитата politician [poli'tijn] политик comment ['komant] комментарий fascinating ['faesineitig] увлекательный to uncover [Aivk/wa] обнаруживать, раскрывать completely [kam'plhtli] совершенно daily ['deili] ежедневный to consider [kan'sida] считать advantage [ad'va:ntid3] преимущество substitute ['sAbstitjiKt] заменять Questions 1. Do you read newspapers regularly? 2. How many newspapers does your family subscribe to? 3. Do you like to read articles on politics and finance? 4. Do you read reviews of new films and books? 5. Do you follow sports news in newspapers? 6. Some newspapers run gossip columns (колонки сплетен). Do you read them? 7. Many newspapers print readers' letters, in which people write about their problems. Often there are answers written by psychologists, doctors, educators, etc. Do you read these letters and answers? 8. Have you ever written to a newspaper? 9. Do you read any newspapers in English? 10. What kind of newspapers do you prefer? 11. Do you like Sovershenno Secretno? 12. What do you think ofMoskovsky Komsomoletsl |