Divide into two groups.
Group A Look at the following editorial headline. On a separate piece of paper, write any ideas that you expect to find in the editorial. Then read it and check.
Headline 1—Life in Prison Is Still Life: Why Should a Killer Live?
Group B Look at the following editorial headline. On a separate piece of paper, write any ideas that you expect to find in the editorial. Then read it and check.
Headline 2—Why Do We Kill People to Show That Killing People Is Wrong?
Work with other students in your group and check whether you can find the same ideas in the editorial as you predicted.
Text A
Life in Prison Is Still Life: Why Should a Killer Live?
Murder is totally unfair; the victims of murder are gone forever. Their hopes and plans have ended permanently, and the pleasures they enjoyed in life have been destroyed. They will never see their friends again and will never hear the voices of parents, brothers, and sisters who cry, "How could this have happened?" But the murderer is still alive. Without capital punishment, murderers are allowed to participate in and enjoy life.
Today there are murderers in prisons all over the world. Most of them would rather spend their lives in prison than die. This is not surprising since the desire to live is normal and natural. In prison there are many small pleasures that one can enjoy every day: the feeling of warm sunshine, the taste of a hot meal, the comfort of sleep. The lifestyle in
|
prison is not always harsh and cruel; many prisoners have the opportunity to continue their educations, play sports, enjoy movies, and receive visits from their loved ones.
There is no reason why a killer, a destroyer of life, should live. Justice requires that each person respect the rights and freedoms of every other person, or be punished for not doing so. The people who commit murder give up their rights to citizenship and life itself. Why should the tax money of citizens—including the victim's family—keep the killer alive? The only fair punishment is execution. Execution puts the killer away from society forever, stops him from killing again, and sends a strong message to others who might kill: Killers will not be allowed to live.
Let sunshine fall on those who respect life—not on those who destroy it.
|
Text B
Why Do We Kill People to Show That Killing People Is Wrong?
There are times when murder is not committed because of cruelty. People may kill for other reasons such as anger, misunderstanding, and fear. Everyone has made mistakes because of such feelings. For society, it is a serious mistake to take the life of someone who has killed because it teaches everyone that forgiveness is unnecessary.
The government has the difficult job of deciding who is innocent and who is guilty, and this job can never be done perfectly. If capital punishment is allowed, there always exists the possibility that an innocent person will be executed by mistake. When that happens, an even worse crime has been committed—the killing of an innocent person by the government. Then there is the fact that the poor and minorities get the death penalty more often than whites do. Furthermore, the idea that capital punishment stops criminals from committing murder is doubtful; studies have been unable to show that the fear of capital punishment stops someone from committing murder more than other punishments. And let us not forget that murdering the murderer is a violent act in itself; it is revenge.
|
The U.S. government once followed the example of Germany, Britain, France, and other nations that no longer execute their citizens—however, since 1977, our society has been allowing capital punishment again, at a high cost. We cannot imagine the pain of family members who have been waiting for years for the government's decision to execute or not execute their loved ones. It also costs the taxpayer millions of dollars more to execute a criminal than to imprison that criminal for life. Prison is a better form of punishment because it protects society and punishes criminals by taking away their freedom.
People can change, even people who have made terrible mistakes. Life in prison gives people the chance to change. Caryl Chessman is an example of someone who became a better person in prison. He taught other prisoners how to read, and he wrote several books. Before his execution, he wrote that he had finally learned not to hate.
Chessman learned this important lesson in prison. But a dead man learns nothing, and an executed person will never change. When a government kills, it is murdering hope.
|
3. Comprehension check
1. The two editorials express different opinions about capital punishment.
Opinion A: Execution is a better form of punishment than life in prison.
Opinion B: Life in prison is a better form of punishment than execution.
Look at the main ideas below. Tick those which were used to support the opinion you read about in your editorial. Look at the text again to make sure that your answers are based on information from the reading.
_______ 1. Execution may cause an innocent person to die.
_______ 2. Prisoners are able to enjoy life, and this is not fair.
_______ 3. Not all people who kill are cruel.
_______ 4. Capital punishment is revenge.
_______ 5. A prisoner is no longer free.
_______ 6. People naturally want to live.
_______ 7. Racial prejudice affects capital punishment.
_______ 8. Prison can sometimes improve a person.
_______ 9. Execution may teach other people not to commit crimes.
_______ 10. Execution is more expensive than life imprisonment.
2. Match the main ideas you ticked in the previous exercise with the details below. Write the number of the main idea next to the detail.
___3___ a. Some murders are mistakes, caused by anger or fear.
_______ b. The government spends millions of tax dollars on execution decisions.
_______ c. Most people would rather go to prison than be executed.
_______ d. Caryl Chessman learned not to hate while in prison.
_______ e. The message of execution is that murderers will not be allowed to live.
_______ f. The government can make mistakes when it decides if a person is
guilty or not.
_______ g. Prisoners have the basic pleasures of eating and sleeping.
_______ h. Executing the murderer is a violent act.
3. Look back at the ideas you listed in the pre-reading task. Which ideas did you predict correctly? Discuss your predictions with your group.
4. When you have finished, find a partner from the other group and swap information about the opinions presented in the two editorials.
5. What kind of person wrote "Life in Prison Is Still Life: Why Should a Killer Live?" Look at the following list of qualities, and circle two or three you think best describe this person.
believes in forgiveness
cares about prisoners
believes in fairness
cares about victims
hopes to change people
wants to protect society
6. What kind of person wrote "Why Do We Kill People to Show That Killing People Is Wrong?" Look at the following list of qualities, and circle two or three you think best describe this person.
cares about prison workers
believes freedom is important
cares about prisoners' families
wants other countries to follow the United States
believes mistakes are unusual
hopes that people will change
/From North Star: reading and writing. Second edition. Laurie Barton, Carolyn Dupaquier Sardinas/
Writing 2
Look at the survey ‘Capital punishment in the USA’ conducted by Harris. Write a survey report describing some of the information it contains, and giving some possible explanation for the data.
The Harris Poll. Dec. 10-16, 2003. N=993 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3
|
“Do you believe in capital punishment, that is, the death penalty, or are you opposed to it?”
|
|
Believe in it
|
Opposed to it
|
Not sure
|
|
12/03
|
69
|
22
|
9
|
|
7/01
|
67
|
26
|
7
|
|
2000
|
64
|
25
|
11
|
|
1999
|
71
|
21
|
8
|
|
1997
|
75
|
22
|
3
|
|
1983
|
68
|
27
|
5
|
|
1976
|
67
|
25
|
8
|
|
1973
|
59
|
31
|
10
|
|
1970
|
47
|
42
|
11
|
|
1969
|
48
|
38
|
14
|
|
1965
|
38
|
47
|
15
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Do you feel that executing people who commit murder deters others from committing murder, or do you think such executions don’t have much effect?”
|
|
Deters others
|
Not much effect
|
Not sure
|
|
12/03
|
41
|
53
|
6
|
|
7/01
|
42
|
52
|
7
|
|
2000
|
44
|
50
|
7
|
|
1999
|
47
|
49
|
4
|
|
1997
|
49
|
49
|
2
|
|
1983
|
63
|
32
|
5
|
|
1976
|
59
|
34
|
7
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“In general, would you like to see an increase or decrease in the number of convicted criminals who are executed, or no change?”
|
|
Increase
|
Decrease
|
No change
|
Not sure
|
12/03
|
36
|
21
|
33
|
11
|
7/01
|
35
|
26
|
30
|
8
|
2000
|
36
|
22
|
31
|
11
|
1999
|
43
|
21
|
28
|
7
|
1997
|
53
|
14
|
27
|
6
|
|
|
|
|
|
“Do you think that innocent people are sometimes convicted of murder, or that this never happens?”
|
|
Sometimes
|
Never
|
Not sure
|
|
12/03
|
95
|
4
|
2
|
|
7/01
|
94
|
3
|
3
|
|
2000
|
94
|
5
|
1
|
|
1999
|
95
|
3
|
1
|
|
/http://www.pollingreport.com/crime.htm/
Listening 3 Arguments Against the Death Penalty
1. Pre-listening task
1. Look at the graph below. It shows the number of prisoners executed (put to death) in the United States between 1930 and 2000.
2 . Discuss the following questions with a partner.
1 What does the graph show about the death penalty in the United States?
2 What is your reaction to the information in the graph?
3. The following items contain important vocabulary from the tape. Work with a partner. Using the context and your knowledge of related words, choose the best synonym for the words in bold by circling the correct letters. Check your answers in a dictionary, if necessary.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that capital punishment was unconstitutional.
a illegal b immoral c impossible
But later, the Court reinstated it.
a continued to discuss it b put it back in place c repeated its argument
Executions are usually carried out by lethal injection or electrocution.
a cruel b deadly c painless
States with the most executions are also the states with the highest homicide rates. |
Скачать 3.57 Mb.