Do you know the parts of a newspaper? What information can you find on the following pages?
Letters page, obituary, reviews, business, TV listings, features, appointments, comment and analysis, oversees news, leisure.
5. Complete the text. Use the words given to form new words that fit the gaps:
Fleet Street is a street in the centre of London, 1 named (name) after the Fleet River which used to run nearby. It is also synonymous with the 2______ (England) press because of its 3______ (history) links with newspapers.
The first printer in Fleet Street was called Wynkin de Worde, and opened his shop in 1500. Soon, the area became well known for the printing of books and pamphlets and during the 1700s, the first 4_____ (day) newspapers appeared. By the middle of the 20th century, almost every major newspaper in England had its head office in Fleet Street. It was the perfect 5_____ (locate) for gathering news: close to the City, the 6 ____(finance) centre of London; the Old Bailey, which is the main 7______ (crime) court, and the Palace of Westminster (the British parliament). There were also plenty of pubs and restaurants on Fleet Street where journalists would spend hours interviewing their 'contacts' while enjoying large quantities of 8_____ (expense) food and drink which their employers paid for!
During the 1980s, it became clear that technology was changing the way newspapers were produced and that new premises were needed. The Times and Тhe Sun, both owned by Rupert Murdoch, were the first to move away from 9_____ (centre) London to the eastern edge of the capital. Gradually, all the other papers followed. Printing became 10_____ (computer). Journalists began spending more time on their mobile phones and less time on their 11 _____ (prolong) business lunches. But many older journalists are still unhappy about the changes. One of them, a gossip columnist called Peter McKay, wrote in The Independent in 2005: 'Fleet Street was a seething mass of printers, advertisers and journalists, drinking and punching each other every night, all night. People 12_____(literal) never went home: there was a Turkish bath we went to for a shave in the morning ... Nowadays we sit in the far corners of London, like battery hens at computer terminals, pecking out our stuff and never meeting one another.'
6. Read the text and discuss the importance of being politically correct in the contemporary society:
FOR the liberal parent concerned about his/her offspring being corrupted in the nursery, here is a politically corrected version of one fairytale.
THERE once was a young person named Little Red Riding Hood who lived on the edge of a forest full of endangered owls and rare plants that would probably provide a cure for cancer if only someone took the time to study them. Red Riding Hood lived with a nurture giver whom she sometimes referred to as 'mother', although she didn't mean to imply by this term that she would have thought less of the person if a close biological link did not in fact exist.
One day her mother asked her to take a basket of organically grown fruit and mineral water across the forest to her ill grandmother's house.
'But mother, aren't you oppressing me by ordering me to do this?' Red Riding Hood's mother pointed out that it was impossible for women to oppress each other, since all women were equally oppressed until all women were free.
Many people believed that the forest was a foreboding and dangerous place, full of thieves and deviants, but Red Riding Hood felt that in a truly classless society all marginalised peoples would be able to 'come out' of the woods and be accepted as valid lifestyle role models.
When she was in the woods, Red Riding Hood .was startled to find herself standing before a wolf, who said, 'You know, my dear, it isn't safe for a little girl to walk through these woods alone.' Red Riding Hood said, 'I find your sexist remark offensive in the extreme, but f will ignore it because of your traditional status as an outcast from society, the stress of which has caused you to develop an alternative and yet entirely valid worldview. Now, if you will excuse me, I would prefer to be on my way.'
But the wolf burst into the house and ate grandma, a course of action affirmative of his nature as a predator. Then, unhampered by rigid, traditionalist gender role notions, he put on grandma's nightclothes, crawled under the bedclothes and awaited developments. When Red Riding Hood entered the cottage the wolf leaped out of bed, grabbed Little Red Riding Hood, and opened his jaws so wide that she could see her grandmother cowering in" his belly.
'Aren't you forgetting something?' Red Riding Hood bravely shouted. 'You must request my permission before proceeding to a new level of intimacy!'
Suddenly a forester burst into the cottage, brandishing an axe. 'Get your hands off that endangered species! This is an FBI sting!' he screamed and sliced off Red Riding Hood's head.
7. Read the text and decide which answer (А, В, С or D) best completes each collocation or fixed phrase:
After more than fifty years of television, it might seem only too obvious to conclude that it is (1) ____ to stay. There have been many objections to it during this time, of course, and on a variety of grounds. Did it cause eye-strain? Was the screen bombarding us with radioactivity? Did the advertisements contain subliminal (2)____, persuading us to buy more or vote Republican? Did children turn to violence through watching it, either because so many programmes taught them how to shoot, rob, and kill, or because they had to do something to (3)____ the hours they had spent (4) ____to the tiny screen? Or did it simply create a vast passive audience, drugged by glamorous serials and inane situation comedies? On the other hand, did it increase anxiety by (5) ____ the news and (6) ____ our living rooms with war, famine and political unrest?
1) a around b there c ready d here
2) a information b messages c data d communications
3) a counteract b negate c offset d compensate
4) a attached b fixed c glued d adhered
5) a scandalizing b hyping c dramatizing d sensationalizing
6) a filling b loading c stuffing d packing
8. Explain in English the meanings of the following words:
Channel, chat show, quiz show, game show, cartoon, sitcom, soap opera, news reel, weather forecast, documentary, serial, host, guest, viewer.
9. Translate the text into English:
Столько бы не разоблачали телевидение, не раскрывали секреты иллюзий, вера в иллюзорный придуманный мир пересилит все попытки самых изощренных критиков. Хотят они того или нет, но своими возгласами негодования или призывами выключить телевизор, они только стимулируют интерес аудитории. Споры о дурном влиянии телевидения вертятся вокруг опасных образцов поведения, которые зритель усваивает, просматривая криминальные хроники, скандальные ток-шоу, откровенные выпуски новостей, а также боевики и мультфильмы для идиотов. Но с одинаковым успехом усваиваются не только плохие, но и хорошие модели поведения. Работает механизм идентификации с героями программ. Если зритель чувствует сходство, он с внутренним энтузиазмом «проживает» с таким персонажем его жизнь, и потом может подражать ему в реальности. Иногда сам того не подозревая.
Телевидение навязывает нам не только сценарии поведения, но и сценарии переживания. У экранных героев мы учимся плакать, смеяться и негодовать в определенных ситуациях. И телевизионные режиссеры умело выдавливают из нас слезу или доводят до коликов своими юмористическими программами. Там, где положено смеяться: пауза, подложенный смех, усиление сцены. Там где плакать: меланхолическая музыка, слезы на глазах актера, пауза для усиления, нарастание эмоций, синхронное усиление звука. Или: герой выхватывает пистолет и стреляет каждый раз, когда ему кажется, что его обижают. А потом у нас появляются мальчики, которые убивают по 37 человек в год. Конечно, телевидение не мотивирует, в этом смысле оно ни в чем не виновато. Но оно подсказывает ответы на вопросы, которые висят в воздухе. Оно создает атмосферу благоприятствования, «легализует», дает отмашку на воплощение самых страшных планов и фантазий.
Проблемные персонажи создают дополнительную мотивацию к жизни. Если нарушить нормальное положение вещей, человек начинает негодовать, возмущаться, плакать, жаловаться, то есть возбуждаться, отклоняться от состояния абсолютного покоя. А значит жить. Телевидение и создает непрерывный поток новых стимуляций для тех, кому их не хватает в жизни. И заставляет обывателя хоть о чем-то думать, тревожиться, смеяться.
И все-таки телевизор надоедает. Социологические службы фиксируют устойчивое падение рейтингов. Почему телевизор стали меньше смотреть? Чего хочет зритель, уже достаточно раскормленный и прихотливый, не скажет с уверенностью ни один продюсер, ни один телевизионный аналитик. Почему взрослые женщины смотрят молодежные реалити-шоу, футбол, а молодые мужчины стали смотреть мексиканские сериалы? Куда сваливают зрители в самый что ни на есть предпраздничный период, канун Нового года? Каналы выкладывают свои лучшие проекты, а показывать их неко Куда сваливают зрители в самый что ни на есть предпраздничный период, канун Нового года? Каналы выкладывают свои лучшие проекты, а показывать их некому. Гипотеза, хоть и ироническая такова: настоящую конкуренцию телевидению составляет шопинг. Женщиныэлементарно ушли по магазинам.Мужчины — за женщинами. Теперь они тоже ходят по магазинам. Хотя бы для того, чтобы проконтролировать семейный бюджет. А дети сбежали на улицу, пока родителей нет дома.
10. Group discussions and role-play:
1. You are invited to broadcast for three minutes on any topic you choose. What would you say?
2. You are a TV reporter/ journalist. You are interviewing: a popular sportsman, a writer, a politician, a president of a country, a film star.
3. Discuss what kinds of newspapers you mostly read. Do you prefer reading printed newspapers or finding information in the Internet?
11. Writing:
Write an essay (200 -250 words) on the topics:
1. Violence on TV and in movies creates violence in real life.
2. There should be government censorship of mass media.
UNIT 5