Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации Омский государственный университет им. Ф.М. Достоевского
УДК 20 Б...
399 downloads
1284 Views
696KB Size
Report
This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form
Министерство образования и науки Российской Федерации Омский государственный университет им. Ф.М. Достоевского
УДК 20 ББК 81.20 R 43
Рекомендовано к изданию советом ОмГУ Рецензенты: канд. филол. наук В.Г. Болотюк; ст. преп. Л.П. Черкашина
R 43
RENDERING Учебно-методическое пособие по обучению реферированию (для студентов 4–5 курсов факультета иностранных языков и специальности «Регионоведение» исторического факультета)
RENDERING: Учебно-методическое пособие по обучению реферированию (для студентов 4–5 курсов факультета иностранных языков и специальности «Регионоведение» исторического факультета) / Сост.: С.М. Богатова, Н.Ю. Цыганкова. – Омск: Изд-во ОмГУ, 2004. – 103 с. ISBN 5-7779-0501-3 В учебно-методическом пособии представлено не собственно реферирование (т. е. письменный вид работы), а его разновидность – «rendering», который используется главным образом в устной речи. Пособие состоит из шести разделов. Наибольший интерес представляет раздел «Skills», в котором последовательно и подробно анализируются этапы работы над устным рефератом. В разделе «Sources» предложен комплекс упражнений, подобранных по принципу «от простого к сложному» и обучающих передавать содержание материала на основе своеобразного словарного «каркаса», встроенного в III раздел и представляющего собой набор формулировок и клише, которые могут оказаться полезными в процессе обучения. Пособие дополнено приложением в виде оригинальных текстов, которые актуальны и интересны с точки зрения языка и проблематики (политика, экономика, борьба с терроризмом, вопросы религии и пр.), кроме того, предназначены активизировать навыки понимания оригинальной литературы и последующего устного изложения материала. Для студентов факультета иностранных языков и гуманитарных специальностей.
УДК 20 ББК 81.20
Изд-во ОмГУ
Омск 2004
ISBN 5-7779-0501-3
© Омский госуниверситет, 2004 2
I. WHAT IS RENDERING? Imagine you work in an office. Imagine one morning your boss comes up to your desk with a file of papers and says: «I want you to read this up, represent it in a smaller volume, suppressing all insignificant information, and give your own conclusion». He/she won’t be saying like that, actually. He/she will say «Render this, please» Rendering is defined in the Webster’s dictionary as «art of making presentations». Art indeed, as it requires a lot of your skills and knowledge of reconstructing and rearranging a written passage without any considerable damage to its context and idea(s). You may have to prepare rendering for two main purposes:  one can read your rendering and won’t have to take up the original passage.  one can read your rendering and decide for themselves if they need to take up the original passage or not. Rendering can’t be produced without thorough comprehension of the passage. Dividing the text into logical parts and singling out the main idea of each of them can be an essential help in understanding the passage. You will have to read the original more than once. All methods of rendering are based on the notional compression of the text, which presupposes the elimination of all types of redundancy, i.e. elements that repeat each other. A rendering is a text based on the notional compression of the original with the aim of rendering its general matter. The material in a rendering is presented from the point of view of the author of the original and does not include any elements of interpretation or evaluation. Rendering can be performed with two aims: informative and educational. Since the objective of this textbook is to provide you with tools for oral rendering in the framework of Conversation Practice lessons, you will still be asked to give your opinion of the original text at the end of your rendering. A rendering is usually kept to the following structure:  introduction, where you provide all necessary background information such as the title and source of the passage and state the main idea  the body, where the main idea is revealed 3
 the conclusion on the passage  your opinion of the problem (position) introduced in the passage There are several basic principles you are to follow in order to make a successful rendering:  You have to develop your power of judgment, so that you may be able to decide rightly what must be expressed and what must be suppressed.  In rendering, facts should be expressed as plain statements, with constant reference to the author of the passage. Try to avoid evaluative words and phrases in the body of the rendering, keep them for expressing your own opinion.  Figurative language is in most cases unsuitable To master rendering you will need certain skills that are discussed further. Note: Rendering is, so to say, a working name for a type of educational activity/exercise commonly used in Russian Universities. In British and American Universities a term «abstracting» or «summarizing» is used to mean an independent work (not a step in the process of rendering as we view it here) and is also translated into Russian as «реферирование». An abstract is usually done in written form and presupposes no personal opinion or interpretation (for more information see Unit V).
4
II. SKILLS A. Identifying the topic, main idea(s), and supporting details Understanding the topic, the gist, or the larger conceptual framework of a textbook chapter, an article, a paragraph, a sentence or a passage is a sophisticated reading task. Being able to draw conclusions, evaluate, and critically interpret articles or chapters is important for overall comprehension in college reading. Textbook chapters, articles, paragraphs, sentences, or passages all have topics and main ideas. The topic is the broad, general theme or message. It is what some call the subject. The main idea is the «key concept» being expressed. Details, major and minor, support the main idea by telling how, what, when, where, why, how much, or how many. Locating the topic, main idea, and supporting details helps you understand the point(s) the writer is attempting to express. Identifying the relationship between these will increase your comprehension.
sentence, be sure to underline it so that it will stand out not only now, but also later when you review. 2. Identifying the Topic:
A paragraph is a group of sentences related to a particular topic, or central theme. Every paragraph has a key concept or main idea. The main idea is the most important piece of information the author wants you to know about the concept of that paragraph. When authors write they have an idea in mind that they are trying to get across. This is especially true as authors compose paragraphs. An author organizes each paragraph's main idea and supporting details in support of the topic or central theme, and each paragraph supports the paragraph preceding it. A writer will state his/her main idea explicitly somewhere in the paragraph. That main idea may be stated at the beginning of the paragraph, in the middle, or at the end. The sentence in which the main idea is stated is the topic sentence of that paragraph. The topic sentence announces the general theme (or portion of the theme) to be dealt with in the paragraph. Although the topic sentence may appear anywhere in the paragraph, it is usually first – and for a very good reason. This sentence provides the focus for the writer while writing and for the reader while reading. When you find the topic
The first thing you must be able to do to get at the main idea of a paragraph is to identify the topic – the subject of the paragraph. Think of the paragraph as a wheel with the topic being the hub – the central core around which the whole wheel (or paragraph) spins. Your strategy for topic identification is simply to ask yourself the question, «What is this about?» Keep asking yourself that question as you read a paragraph, until the answer to your question becomes clear. Sometimes you can spot the topic by looking for a word or two that repeat. Usually you can state the topic in a few words. Let us try this topic-finding strategy. Reread the first paragraph on this page – the first paragraph under the heading Grasping the Main Idea. Ask yourself the question, «What is this paragraph about?» To answer, say to yourself in your mind, «The author keeps talking about paragraphs and the way they are designed. This must be the topic – paragraph organization». Reread the second paragraph of the same section. Ask yourself «What is this paragraph about?» Did you say to yourself, «This paragraph is about different ways to organize a paragraph?» That is the topic. Next, reread the third paragraph and see if you can find the topic of the paragraph. How? Write the topic in the margin next to this paragraph. Remember, getting the main idea of a paragraph is crucial to reading. The bulk of an expository paragraph is made up of supporting sentences (major and minor details), which help to explain or prove the main idea. These sentences present facts, reasons, examples, definitions, comparison, contrasts, and other pertinent details. They are most important because they sell the main idea. The last sentence of a paragraph is likely to be a concluding sentence. It is used to sum up a discussion, to emphasize a point, or to restate all or part of the topic sentence so as to bring the paragraph to a close. The last sentence may also be a transitional sentence leading to the next paragraph. Of course, the paragraphs you'll be reading will be part of some longer piece of writing – a textbook chapter, a section of a chapter, or a
5
6
1. Grasping the Main Idea:
newspaper or magazine article. Besides expository paragraphs, in which new information is presented and discussed, these longer writings contain three types of paragraphs: introductory, transitional, and summarizing. Introductory paragraphs tell you, in advance, such things as (1) the main ideas of the chapter or section; (2) the extent or limits of the coverage; (3) how the topic is developed; and (4) the writer's attitude toward the topic. Transitional paragraphs are usually short; their sole function is to tie together what you have read so far and what is to come – to set the stage for succeeding ideas of the chapter or section. Summarizing paragraphs are used to restate briefly the main ideas of the chapter or section. The writer may also draw some conclusion from these ideas, or speculate on some conclusion based on the evidence he/she has presented. EXERCISE 1. Read the following paragraph and underline the stated main idea. Write down in your own words what you are able to conclude from the information. The rules of conduct during an examination are clear. No books, calculators or papers are allowed in the test room. Proctors will not allow anyone with such items to take the test. Anyone caught cheating will be asked to leave the room. His or her test sheet will be taken. The incident will be reported to the proper authority. At the end of the test period, all materials will be returned to the proctor. Failure to abide by these rules will result in a failing grade for this test. EXERCISE 2. Identify the topic sentence and the supporting details A typical paragraph is organized like this:
program such as bicycling, walking, jogging or aerobics for thirty minutes four days a week will result in weight loss for the average person. An increase in activity means the body will burn more calories, resulting in weight loss. Second, moderate exercise helps develop and tone muscles in the arms, legs, back, neck and shoulders. The body uses these muscles to exercise, and the activity helps the muscles become stronger. The heart, the most important muscle in the body, gets stronger with exercise, which makes the heart work more efficiently. This brings about the third benefit – cardiovascular improvement. Exercise causes the heart to pump blood throughout the body more efficiently. The lungs deliver more oxygen to the cells, and breathing is easier. All of these benefits are the result of exercise, so start an exercise program today! EXERCISE 3. The idea of the article is not always stated in one topic sentence, sometimes it is implied. Identify the main idea of the following articles 1) Opinion article: The term ‘paparazzi’ comes from a character called Paparazzo in the Fellini film, La Dolce Vita, who rode around on a scooter taking photographs of the rich and famous. Modern day paparazzi take photographs of famous people, hoping to get them in an unflattering or compromising pose. The photograph is then sold for an enormous sum of money, sometimes close to a million dollars, to the tabloid press. Some people say that celebrities are public property and that this invasion of privacy is to be expected – ‘that’s show business’, they say. I think that is true up to a point, but celebrities are being followed, harassed, chased, provoked and spied on in their own homes. That’s not show business, that’s criminal.
I. The Main Idea Sentence (the topic sentence): A. Supporting Detail #1 B. Supporting Detail #2 C. Supporting Detail #3 II. Concluding (or Summary) Sentence There are three main benefits from exercise: weight loss, muscle tone, and cardiovascular improvement. First of all, a moderate exercise
2) Information article: According to recent medical research, sleeping more than nine hours or less than six hours a night can shorten your life expectancy. Those who are likely to live longest are people who regularly get between seven and eight hours a night. A new survey of 1,000 adults conducted by the Better Sleep Council (BSC) found that few people understand the important role
7
8
sleep plays in normal daily brain functions and many people actually reduce their brain power by getting too little sleep. One in three adults admit that they do not get enough sleep, and lack of sleep is leaving millions of people without the energy to work as hard as they should. Although a large number of people say that they need to be mentally alert in their work, over half of the people interviewed say that they sleep just under 7 hours a night during the week. On the other hand, most of the people interviewed say that they sleep more than seven hours a night at the weekend. This suggests that a significant number of people try to catch up on their sleep at the weekend instead of getting enough sleep during the week, when they most need it. 3) News article: JAY GARNER, the retired American general in charge of rebuilding Iraq, held a big meeting with some of the country's prospective leaders on Thursday April 24th. A number of prominent Iraqis were invited to a heavily guarded conference centre in Baghdad. The event followed a massive religious celebration by hundreds of thousands of Iraq's Shia Muslims, who took part in a pilgrimage once suppressed by Saddam Hussein. This has increased concerns among members of the invading coalition that some Iraqis may use religious organisations to try to establish a fundamentalist government, like that in Iran. Coalition officials believe that most Iraqis would prefer secular government to an Islamic republic. America has warned Iran not to interfere in its plans to establish a democracy. EXERCISE 4. Find the main idea in each of the following leading sentences (the first paragraph of a news story). EXAMPLE UGANDA (UPI) – Underscoring the virtual breakdown of law and order in Uganda, foreign diplomats have demanded greater military protection for both their embassies and families and indicated they might quit the troubled country if they did not receive it. Foreign diplomats demanded military protection.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The life expectancy of Asian children has increased sharply over the past two decades and a child born in Asia in 1985 could expect to live an average of 56 years – almost ten 9
years longer than those born in 1960, the World Bank said in a report issue yesterday. LISBON, Portugal (Reuters) – Antonio Gutteres, Portugal’s prime minister, faces a struggle to deliver promised reforms of taxation, social security and health service after his socialist party failed to win an absolute majority in Sunday’s general election LONDON (Reuters) – John Stonehouse, former British cabinet minister who faked his death by drowning, was freed from jail yesterday after serving three years for theft, fraud and deception EXERCISE 5. Find the main idea of the whole article, make up a title for it. The Sun, the best selling British tabloid newspaper, is not ready yet to stop displaying the topless «Page Three Girls» The word from the Sun’s headquarters in London on Wednesday was «no change at the moment» despite overnight remarks from the paper’s owner Rupert Murdoch, in Australia that the bare-breasted photographs might be phased out because readers’ tastes had changed. There has been intense debate about putting topless girls in the newspapers over since Stephane Rahn posed for the Sun in 1970, exposing the first two of approximately 16,000 breasts that have appeared ever since. Traditionalists on the paper say the photographs are a vital part of a formula that sells 3.7 million copies of the Sun a day. In his remarks to the shareholders of his global media company, News Corp. Ltd., Mr. Murdoch said that the topless models would be brought back if sales dropped without them. «If there was any threat to that, they’d return pretty quickly», he said. *** In divided Europe, America and Russia would never let a war like Yugoslavia’s start, let along rage this far. Now that the cold war is over, it is up to Europeans themselves to do what they can to stop the fighting their fellows have been foolish enough to start. They have four means at their disposal: talks, sanctions, peacekeeping and arm intervention. With Yugoslavia, the last is foolhardy and none of the others is foolproof. 10
Talks have so far got nowhere. So long as the Serbs and Croats showed a minimum of good faith, the Europeans did what they could to keep them at the bargaining table. After months of fruitless negotiations and countless broken ceasefires, European patience has worn thin. The EC, having imposed economic sanctions, is now asking the UN to add oil to its embargo on arms sales to Yugoslavia. Sanctions alone are unlikely to end the killing. Neither Serbia’s nor Croatia’s leaders seem unduly troubled by the economic wreckage the war is causing. There is no point in sending peacekeepers. Where there is no peace to keep without a durable truce, peacekeepers, even armed ones, are simply targets. B. Summarizing A summary –
    Â
is an essential condensation in your own words. answers the question «what is the author really saying?» is the result of careful «listening» to the author. remains faithful to the author's emphasis and interpretation. does not disagree with or critique the author's opinions.
How to Summarize a Paragraph
 Read the paragraph twice.  Isolate the topic sentence; if it conveys reliably the meaning of the paragraph, consider it your summary.  Underline key phrases and look for any crucial distinctions or contrasts which form the framework of the paragraph (the difference in attitudes about women in the workforce before World War II versus after WWII, for example).  Write your own summarizing sentence which makes use of those key phrases or distinctions. How to Summarize an Article
 Ask yourself why the article was written and who is the intended audience.  Consider the author's background. Does he have a special bias or point of view?  Compare the opening and closing paragraphs. 11
 Read the entire article more than once, if necessary.  Underline key or repeated words and phrases.  Distinguish the author's main idea from details which support that idea or are repetitions and variations on the same theme.  Draft a several-sentence summary which defines the author's main idea broadly enough to account for most of the supporting material introduced. How to Summarize a Complex Article
 Preview the article, skimming headings and first sentences; clarify any difficult terms with a dictionary or glossary.  Read the opening and closing paragraphs.  Read the article at least twice.  Isolate each important point as it occurs in the article and write it down in a complete sentence.  State the thesis of the article in one sentence.  Note how ideas are related to each other – comparison/contrast, cause-effect relationships, problem-solution patterns.  Write your summary by reconstructing the author's argument from your list of important ideas; draw attention to the relationships among ideas by using transitional phrases (like nevertheless, however, in contrast). Remember, your summary should
 read like a coherent, unified paragraph in its own right.  account for most of what the author says in your own words.  maintain a neutral, impartial tone. (See Unit V for more clues on How to Summarize Effectively) In courses that you take, your teachers want you to learn from what you read. They want you to absorb new ideas from authors and to improve you English from exposure to new texts. Both new ideas and better language will come if you strive to put the new ideas into your own words rather than copy the author’s words. In summarizing, you want to capture the essence of what the author has said, but in fewer words. There is no point in a summary that is as long as the original. 12
EXERCISE 1. Here are some passages from a story about an Indian girl Esther, who lived in a mission camp. Summarize them using the steps below, limit your summary to 25–30 words To summarize, follow these steps: Â Read the passage several times. Â Decide on the essential points; write down key words and expressions that remind you of these essential points. (These may come from the text or from you.) Â Expand your key words into a sentence or two. You can write in the third person (she, he, for example) even if the passage is in the first person (I). (1) My childhood recollections rushed upon me, devoured me. I left the store in a strange, calm frenzy, and going rapidly to the mission house I confronted my Father Paul and demanded to be allowed to go «home”, if only for a day. He received the request with the same refusal and the same gentle sigh that I had so often been greeted with, but this time the desire, the smoke-tan, the heart-ache , never lessened. Key words homesickness came upon Esther demanded to go home F. Paul refused desire remained Summary The homesickness Esther felt was so strong that she demanded to go home, but Father Paul refused. Her homesickness remained as strong as before. (25 words) Sample answer for Exercise 1, passage 1 (2) I listened, sitting like one frozen. Could those words have been uttered by my venerable teacher, by him whom I revered as I would one of the saints in his own black book? Ah, there was no mistaking it. My white father, my life-long friend who pretended to love me, to care for my happiness, was urging the man I worshiped to forget me, to marry with the factor’s daughter – because of what? Of my red 13
skin; my good old pagan mother, my confiding French-Indian father. In a second all the care, the hollow love he had given me since my childhood, were as things that never existed. I hated that old mission priest as I hated his white man’s hell. Follow-up In small groups, share summaries by exchanging papers. Did your classmates choose the same details that you did? EXERCISE 2. Summarizing a newspaper column Here is the example of summarizing a bigger article
Language When we talk about learning a language like English, Japanese or Spanish, we speak and think as though the language in question were a fixed unchanging thing. We expect to learn it as we learned geometry or how to ride a bicycle – systematically, and with clear ultimate success. Many people subsequently give up when they discover just what a misconception this is. They have in fact embarked on an activity that could last the rest of their lives. The experience makes them realize that they are not only going to have to work very hard indeed if they want to succeed, but also that they are – in many cases – barely masters of the language they call their own mother tongue. Studying any language is, in, fact, an endless voyage. Each of thousands of languages currently used in the world is a complex affair. Many languages do have a standard form – particularly on paper – and this is what we learn, but they probably also have a variety of regional dialects and social styles, and many are the product of the historical mingling of other languages. The English language is just such a hybrid. It began its career just under two thousand years ago as a form of ancient German, collided with a special kind of old French, was subjected to several waves of Latin and a flood of Greek , and since then has acquired bits and pieces of every other language that its users have ever been in contact with. A second common misconception about language is that words have fixed and clear meanings. That is – fortunately or unfortunately – far from true. Take even the apparently simple and specific English word «man». It seems clear enough; it refers to «an adult male human 14
being». Of course it does, but just consider for a moment the following sentences: 1. There are several men missing in this chess chest. 2. The boat was manned entirely by women and children. You may argue that these sentences are somewhat unnatural; certainly they do not represent the everyday core meaning of the word «man». They are, however, legitimate extensions of that core meaning, the second being especially interesting because it is a verb and not a noun, and suggests that we expect adult male human beings to serve as the crew of ships, and not women and certainly not children. Part of the pleasure and genius of language may well arise out of this slight misuse of words. After all, if you call a person a cat or cabbage, no literal identification is intended, but a lot of meaning is nevertheless conveyed. A third misconception about language claims that every language is – or should be – equally used and understood by all its practitioners everywhere. Certainly, users of the standard forms of English in the United Kingdom generally understand their equivalents in the United States: the degree of similarity between these two major forms of English is great. Dialect –users in these countries, however, have serious problems understanding each other, to the extent that they may wonder if they are actually using the same language. Someone from Brooklyn, New York, will have a trouble with a Cockney from London; an old-style British Army colonel won’t do well in discussion with a Californian flowerchild. Yet they all belong within the vast community of 20th century world English. some original sentences of the passages on language 1. When we talk about learning a language like English, Japanese or Spanish, we speak and think as though the language in question were a fixed unchanging thing (27 words) 2. We expect to learn it as we learned geometry or how to ride a bicycle – systematically, and with clear ultimate success. (21 words) 3 Many people subsequently give up when they discover just what a misconception this is. (14 words) 15
reduced versions of these sentences 1. We often treat a language as though it were a simple unchanging thing (13 words) 2. We expect to learn it as we learned geometry or how to ride a bicycle (16 words) 3. This is a misconception (4 words).
4 They have in fact embarked on an activity that could last the rest of their lives. (16 words) 5. The experience makes them realize that they are not only going to have to work very hard indeed if they want to succeed, but also that they are – in many cases – barely masters of the language they call their own mother tongue. (42 words) 6. Studying any language is, in, fact, an endless voyage. (9 words) 7. Each of thousands of languages currently used in the world is a complex affair. (15 words) 8. Many languages do have a standard form – particularly on paper – and this is what we learn, but they probably also have a variety of regional dialects and social styles, and many are the product of the historical mingling of other languages. (41 words) 9. The English language is just such a hybrid. (8 words) 10. It began its career just under two thousand years ago as a form of ancient German, collided with a special kind of old French, was subjected to several waves of Latin and a flood of Greek , and since then has acquired bits and pieces of every other language that its users have ever been in contact with. (57 words) Total 250 words
4. Learning a foreign language is a difficult lifelong activity…(9 words) 5. …and makes aware that we do not necessary know our own mother tongue really well (16 words)
6. (incorporated into #4) 7. Languages are complex…(3 words) 8. …many of them have standard forms, regional dialects and various social styles. Many of them are the result of the mingling of other languages. (24 words) 9. English is just such a hybrid…(6 words) 10. …a form of German influenced by French, Latin, Greek and other languages. (12 words)
Total 103 words
Ann Lander is one of the most widely read advice columnists in the United States. Many consider her an expert in human relationships. Here she gives advice on choosing a spouse. Read Ann Landers’s six pieces of advice several times to be sure that you understand them thoroughly. Then work with a partner to 16
summarize her advice in 65 words or less. In your summary, group Landers’s positive statements (1, 5, 6) together and her negative statements (2, 3, 4) together for economy of expression. How to Make an Intelligent Decision The more you have in common with the one you choose, the better your chances for a successful marriage. This means religious training, cultural, social and financial background. The old saying «opposites attract» may be true in the field of electromagnetics, but it seldom works out in choosing a lifetime partner. Don’t marry on the spur of the moment. If love is real, it will last. The tired line «marry in haste, repent in leisure» may be a cliché, but it still makes good sense. Don’t marry a person whose chief attraction is sexual. A marriage based in sex will fall apart when the passions cools and they’ll cool a whole lot faster than you thought. Don’t marry with the intention of changing your beloved to meet your specifications. It won’t work. If during courtship a person is unfaithful, a heavy drinker, a gambler or abusive, marriage will not provide the magic cure. In fact, he’ll undoubtedly get worse as time goes on. Choose someone who wants the same things from life that you want. Discuss in detail your aims, goals and objectives. Marriage should mean companionship and building a life together. Approach marriage as a permanent relationship and not as an experiment which can be tossed aside if it doesn’t work. Remember, a good marriage is not a gift – it’s an achievement. It takes working at. You must repeatedly compromise. Forgive and forget. And then be smart enough to forget what you forgave. Often the difference between a successful marriage and a mediocre one is leaving four or five things a day unsaid.
You may never have consciously bought or sold a share, but collapsing stock markets can still have a nasty effect on your wealth. Many people are «indirect» investors in shares – in other words, their pensions and other savings schemes are tied up in the stock markets. Over the past decade or so, share ownership has become much more widespread in the UK, especially since the mass privatisations of the 1980s. And the prolonged stock market boom of the 1990s has seen many large pension funds shift a greater proportion of their holdings into stocks, and away from traditionally safer investments such as government bonds. This is having unpleasant consequences. Although people have some say in how their pension funds are invested, some big investment companies have started to slap heavy exit fees on clients who want to get out of the stock markets. And although we have always been told that the returns from shares are better than those on bonds in the long term, that is not true at the moment. What if I don't have a pension or other investments? You are still at the mercy of the markets. In the past few years, British companies have become ever more conscious of their share prices. A low share value makes it harder for a company to operate – affecting its ability to raise money or complete acquisitions, for example. That, combined with the rise of the shareholder culture, explains why companies will go to often drastic lengths to support their share price. The most common measure is to cut costs – usually by shedding staff. So a collapsing market could make your employer less successful – and it could cost you your job. (298 words)
Article #1 How falling stock markets affect you I'm not a stockbroker: Why should I care about falling share prices?
Article #2 EC Sets ‘Ecolabel’ for Green Products BRUSSELS–A flower whose petals form 12 stars encircling an «E» will soon become a familiar sight on European Community products from washing machines to paints. EC environment ministers on Thursday adopted a new system to award an «ecolabel» to products deemed friendly to the environment, and manufacturers are expected to aggressively seek the new seal of approval. «For the first time, consumers throughout the EC will be able to get reliable guidance to help them choose the products that do least damage to the environment», said the British environment minister, David Trippier.
17
18
EXERCISE 3. Summarize a bigger news article. Try to make it at least twice smaller its size.
Officials felt that a Community-wide ecolabel based on clearly defined environmental standards was necessary to prevent consumers from being misled by spurious claims of ecological benevolence or confused by a plethora of national green labels. Germany’s Blue Angel environmental label has been awarded for two decades, and several other EC countries have planned to implement their own programs. Under the wholly voluntary EC program, criteria for the green label will be set by a panel of specialists from industry, retail trades and the environmental and consumer movements. National authorities will then decide whether a given product qualifies, based on a cradle-tograve assessment of an item’s production, use and disposal. Manufacturers said an EC-wide system will help consumers as well as industry. «It’s very clearly better to have one label rather than several», said David Veitch, European spokesman for Procter & Gamble Co., the U.S. – based consumer products company. «We market products on a European basis, so a single ecolabel holds many advantages in terms of costs and focusing our efforts to develop better products». He cautioned, however, that it would be «very difficult» to establish workable criteria for some products, such as laundry detergent, because there are many factors to consider, including biodegradability, water consumption and packaging. The environment ministers are to be joined on Friday by national energy ministers to debate the EC Commission’s controversial plan for an energy tax to combat carbon dioxide emissions. The ministers are expected to tell the Commission that they need more detailed information on the side effects of such a tax before they could consider any formal legislative proposal. The Commission’s plans were outlined in September as an informal «communication» to national governments. Only Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands want the Commission to issue a formal proposal at this time. (391 words) EXERCISE 4. Summarize an information article. Try to eliminate all details and examples. The article contains 347 words, try to make it up to 200 words. 19
Terrorism From the 1960s, international terrorist crimes, such as the hijacking of passenger aircraft, political assassinations and kidnappings, and urban bombings, constituted a growing phenomenon of increasing concern, especially to Western governments. Most terrorist groups are associated either with millenarian revolutionary movements on an international scale (such as some Marxist organizations) or with nationalist movements of particular ethnic, religious, or other cultural focus. Three broad categories of terrorist crime may be distinguished, not in legal terms, but by intention. Foremost is the use of violence and the threat of violence to create public fear. This may be done by making random attacks to injure or kill anyone who happens to be in the vicinity when an attack takes place. Because such crimes deny, by virtue of their being directed at innocent bystanders, the unique worth of the individual, terrorism is said to be a form of crime that runs counter to all morality and so undermines the foundations of civilization. Another tactic generating fear is the abduction and assassination of heads of state and members of governments in order to make others afraid of taking positions of leadership and so to spread a sense of insecurity. Persons in responsible positions may be abducted or assassinated on the grounds that they are «representatives» of some institution or system to which their assailants are opposed. A second category of terrorist crime is actual rule by terror. It is common practice for leaders of terrorist organizations to enforce obedience and discipline by terrorizing their own members. A community whose collective interests the terrorist organization claims to serve may be terrorized so that their cooperation, loyalty, and support are ensured. Groups that come to power by this means usually continue to rule by terror. Third, crimes are committed by terrorist organizations in order to gain the means for their own support. Bank robbery, kidnapping for ransom, extortion, gambling rake-offs (profit skimming), illegal arms dealing, and drug trafficking are among the principal crimes of this nature. In the Middle East, hostages are frequently sold as capital assets by one terrorist group to another.
20
C. Identifying the author’s opinion Because writers don't always say things directly, sometimes it is difficult to figure out what a writer really means or what he or she is really trying to say. You need to learn to «read between the lines» – to take the information the writer gives you and figure things out for yourself. You will also need to learn to distinguish between fact and opinion. Writers often tell us what they think or how they feel, but they don't always give us the facts. It's important to be able to interpret what the writer is saying so you can form opinions of your own. As you read an author's views, you should ask yourself if the author is presenting you with an established fact or with a personal opinion. Since the two may appear close together, even in the same sentence, you have to be able to distinguish between them. The key difference between facts and opinions is that facts can be verified, or checked for accuracy, by anyone. In contrast, opinions cannot be checked for accuracy by some outside source. Opinions are what someone personally thinks or how he/she feel about an issue. Opinions by definition are subjective and relative.
In 1876, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry engaged in a fight with Sioux Indians along the Little/Big Horn Rivers in Montana. Custer and his entire company were wiped out; no one survived to tell what really happened. In this instance, we can only read opinions on how this disaster befell Custer. To sum up, facts  can be verified in reference books, official records, and so forth.  are expressed in concrete language or specific numbers.  once verified, are generally agreed upon by people. Determining An Opinion
Facts are objective, concrete bits of information. They can be found in official government and legal records, and in the physical sciences. Facts can be found in reference books, such as encyclopaedias and atlases, textbooks, and relevant publications. Objective facts are what researchers seek in laboratories or through controlled studies. Facts are usually expressed by precise numbers or quantities, in weights and measures, and in concrete language. The decisions of Congress, specific technological data, birth records, historical documents, all provide researchers with reliable facts. Since anyone can look up facts, facts are generally not the subject of disputes. However, not all facts are absolutes. Often the problem is that facts are simply not readily available – such as battles like the Little/Big Horn where all the witnesses who could give information on what happened died in the disaster.
Opinions are based on subjective judgement and personal values rather than on information that can be verified. An opinion is a belief that someone holds without complete proof or positive knowledge that it is correct. Even experts who have studied the same issue carefully often have very different opinions about that issue. Opinions are often disputed, and many times involve abstract concepts and complex moral issues such as right or wrong, fairness and loyalty. Abstract concepts, because they are not easily understood, can never be defined to everyone's satisfaction. For example, each of us holds a personal opinion about what fairness or loyalty is, about gun control and abortion, and these issues always remain a matter of opinion, not fact. Although opinions cannot be verified for accuracy, writers should, nevertheless, back their opinions with evidence, facts, and reason – by whatever information supports the opinion and convinces the reader that it is a valid opinion. A valid opinion is one in which the writer's support for his or her opinion is solid and persuasive, and one in which the writer cites other respected authorities who are in agreement. If a writer presents an extreme or unconvincing opinion, the reader should remain wary or unconvinced. Writers often slip their personal opinions into a piece of writing, even when it is suppose to be a «factual» account; alert readers can identify subjective opinions by studying the writer's language.
21
22
Defining A Fact
 Opinions are often expressed as comparisons (more, strongest, less, most, least efficient, but): The painter Pablo Picasso was far more innovative than any of his contemporaries.  Opinions are often expressed by adjectives (brilliant, vindictive, fair, trustworthy): Ronald Reagan was a convincing speaker when he read a prepared address but was not effective at press conferences.  Opinions often involve evaluations: The excellence of her science project was a model for other students.  Opinions are often introduced by verbs and adverbs that suggest some doubt in the writer's mind: • It appears she was confused. • She seems to have the qualifications for the position. • They probably used dirty tricks to win. Some opinions obviously deserve more attention than others do. When expert economists, such as John Kenneth Galbraith or Paul Volcher, discuss the U.S. economy, their opinions are more informed and therefore more reliable than the opinions of people who know very little about economic policy. Similarly, when someone is a specialist on the poet John Keats, that person's opinion of Keat's poems should be given considerable weight. EXERCISE 1. Read an excerpt from an article and identify facts and opinions mentioned in it. What is the author’s attitude to C.S. Lewis, to Philip Hensher? What helped you figure it out?
Narnia, loves English schoolchildren, and appears whenever hope seems lost. Although Narnia has survived countless perils, the Chronicles themselves are now endangered. On one front they face the dubious honour of corporate marketing. On another literary voices have begun to denounce them as racist and sexist works. What's in progress is a struggle of sorts for the soul of children's fantasy literature. Only British readers are likely to be familiar with the Chronicles' second tribulation: critics attacking the books' reputation. The centenary of Lewis's birth was widely celebrated in England in 1998, but amid the general affection was prominent dissent. The novelist and critic Philip Hensher, a rising figure in the London literary establishment (he's a Booker Prize judge), censured the Chronicles as «poisonous» and «ghastly, priggish, half-witted» books intended to «corrupt the minds of the young with allegory». Corruption by allegory? Bailiff, take him away! Never mind that one of Hensher's own books, Kitchen Venom (1996), all but glorifies pederasty. What Hensher meant by corrupting the young was exposing them to what he derided as «Lewis's creed of clean-living, muscular Christianity». The Atlantic Monthly; October 2001 #3 EXERCISE 2. Read an except from an article and underline words or phrases that introduce opinions. Is the author’s opinion of Putin’s decision positive or negative? What helped you understand? The Fuzzy Shape of Things to Come
The seven-volume Chronicles of Narnia, by the mid-century Irish writer C. S. Lewis, has some 65 million copies in print in thirty languages. In the books several English schoolchildren are transported to a realm where a human society coexists with strange creatures, intelligent animals, and magic. Always the young visitors perform some improbable feat to rescue the kingdom from sinister forces. Presiding over events is Aslan, an enormous supernatural lion who called forth
President Vladimir Putin's decision to dismiss his government less than three weeks before the presidential election, when the government would have had to resign in any case, certainly seems to have been a masterful PR stunt, provoking a frenzy of speculation and breathing new life into the moribund election campaign. But is that all, or is there more to it? By announcing that he would unveil his new prime minister and Cabinet before the election and making this a plank of his campaign, Putin has certainly upped the stakes. Indeed, some opinion polls suggest that getting the vote out is a major Kremlin concern, with less than
23
24
«In Defence of C. S. Lewis» by Gregg Easterbrook
40 percent of the electorate intending to vote – well below the 50 percent needed to validate the election. And even if these figures are inaccurate, there will always be the worry that the legitimacy conferred on Putin by an overwhelming victory could be devalued by a poor turnout. Furthermore, the move cannot be impeached as being undemocratic. By going to the polls with his government already declared, Putin can argue that he is enhancing accountability (although his victory is guaranteed more or less whatever he does). And by demonstratively dumping Kasyanov, rather than waiting for a couple more weeks, Putin gets to signal a clean break with the past and to distance himself further from the Yeltsin era and from certain practices of the Kasyanov government. The Moscow Times / Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004. Page 10 EXERCISE 3. Rewrite the article above giving only facts and excluding opinions. Try to make it as objective as possible. D. Giving your own grounded opinion The final paragraph of rendering usually introduces your own opinion on the problem discussed in the article. Your conclusion should  be up to the exact subject of the article and touch upon the idea, NOT the theme  be clearly formulated  contain reasons supporting your viewpoint  be deep and serious Read the articles and do the tasks ARTICLE #1 Smokers Under 18 in Iowa Now Outlaws DES MOINES – Young smokers beware: On Monday it became illegal in Iowa for anyone under 18 to smoke a cigarette. If caught smoking, chewing or even possessing tobacco by the police, an under-age offender could be fined as much as $100, yanked off the street or out of the shopping mall and taken home in the backseat of a squad car. 25
The law is part of the state’s campaign to reduce tobacco use greatly among all Iowans by 2000. The police are charged with enforcing the law, but some are skeptical. On their crowded list of priorities, the measure shares a spot with the neighbor’s cat stuck in a tree. «We’re too busy to enforce a law like that», Sergeant Gail Dunn of the Des Moines Police Department said with a sigh. Michael J. Coverdale of the Iowa Department of Public Health has heard the grumbling, and his terse response is, «The law is the law». But for the first year or so, Mr. Coverdale said, he thinks the police will simply inform under-age smokers about the law and confiscate their cigarettes. «I doubt the police would actually arrest a juvenile for smoking», he said. «But they certainly will have the option to». Forty-four states have laws – rarely enforced – that bar selling cigarettes to minors or bar minors from possessing tobacco, said Tim Hensley of the Centers for Disease Control’s office on Smoking and Health, in Atlanta. “But I’m not aware of any other state that actually says they are prohibited from smoking,» he said. The grown-ups in Des Moines say the new law is for the «kids’ own good», because, after all, Mr. Coverdale said, «cigarettes are often a gate way to other drugs that are illegal». The kids are not so sure. «It’s stupid», declared Wendi Spuehler, 17, who smokes a halfpack of cigarettes a day. «I’m supposed to be an American. I’m supposed to be able to do whatever I want. If choose to ruin my lungs, it’s my choice and not the cops’». Some police officers in Iowa are not too keen about the law, either. In Davenport, Lieutenant Michael C. Hammes said he doubted that the measure would «scare very many kids» away from cigarettes. «I started smoking when I was 13», he said. «My parents didn’t scare me from smoking. And I feared my father more than I feared the police, and he couldn’t stop me». The tobacco industry, which has been under attack in the courts over liability in smokers’ deaths, has no argument with the law. Even the Tobacco Institute, an industry lobby group in Washington, supports it. 26
EXERCISE 1. Because there is so much disagreement about the effects of the smoking law, the article quotes many different opinions on the subject. Each opinion is presented in direct quotation. Go back through the paragraphs containing direct quotations. Complete the chart telling whether the person being quoted is for or against the new law and why. Para. 4
Speaker’s name/job
For or Against
Reason(s)
Gail Dunn / police officer
against
«too busy to enforce»
EXERCISE 2. Answer the questions Crimes can be divided into two categories: (1) those involving victims such as robbery and kidnapping and (2) victimless crimes such as use of illegal substances. 1) Are there laws in your society against both types of crimes? 2) Should protecting people from harming themselves be the role of government? 3) What is your opinion of the new Iowa law? Should minors be prohibited by law from smoking? ARTICLE # 2 A Rain of Protest on Columbus’s Parade / To American Indians, the Holiday Celebrates an Invasion, Not a Discovery DENVER – Will Rogers, who was part American Indian, once remarked that while his ancestors did not come over on the Mayflower, «they were there to greet the boat». The comedian used humor to state the obvious: that civilization on the North American continent hardly began with the arrival of Europeans. But if it is so obvious, many American Indians ask, what is all this hoopla surrounding Christopher Columbus? In Denver, and around the United States as celebrations are planned to mark the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival, American Indian groups are planning their own observances – but in protests, 27
not parades. To them, the national holiday marks an invasion, not a discovery. To the consternation of Italian-American groups here, members of the American Indian Movement, a leading Indian advocacy group, are demanding the removal of a plaque at the civic center that commemorates Columbus as «Discoverer of America». In a letter to Mayor Wellington Webb, who is black, the group wrote: «As an African-American, we hope that you can empathize with our feelings on this matter. It would be as if the city had a statue honoring slave traders or the Ku Klux Klan». There were Indian protests and spiritual ceremonies to coincide with Columbus Day parades around the country this weekend. Native American spiritual leaders and supporters gathered at the Capitol Mall in Washington on Monday, and American Indian groups in other cities planned sunrise ceremonies. «For us, Columbus was no hero», said Suzan Shown Harjo, a spokeswoman in Washington for the 1992 Alliance, a consortium of American Indian groups formed to oppose the Columbus holiday. «For us, Western civilization was no gift. We urge all people of conscience to forgo celebration of five centuries of genocide. We urge all to listen to our voices and to join us now to make the next 500 years different from the past 500 years». On Saturday, about 50 Indians briefly blocked a Columbus Day parade in Denver, beating drums and chanting, «No parades for murderers». Denver’s human relations commissioner, Steven L. Newman, said the city was trying to settle the dispute over the Columbus plaque. The Italian-American groups have made it plain that they oppose its removal, while Indian groups reject any official tribute to Columbus. The rift has been exacerbated by vows from members of the Ku Klux Klan to protect the Columbus plaque. Mr. Newman said: «There has to be a way to show appreciation for both groups, the Italian-Americans and the Native Americans. We need to find a way to get there». But history cannot be compromised, said John Emhoolah, the acting director of the Denver Indian Center. He rejected the idea that Columbus deserves any recognition. «He was a visitor, that’s all», Mr. Emhoolah said. «As a child, I remember the elders telling us that our 28
people had been here long, long time. They had many legends to tell. But they never mentioned this guy Columbus» Italian-Americans here say they fear they have been made a scapegoat. Frank Busnardo, the president of the Federation of ItalianAmerican Organizations in Denver, which sponsored Columbus Day parade on Saturday, said Columbus Day should honour all people. He said his group would reject any «assistance» from the Klan or other racist groups. «The theme for our parade is that Columbus is a bridge between two worlds – the Old World and the New World», Mr. Busnardo said. «The Italian community has gotten a bad deal out of this. It’s supposed to be for all ethnic groups, including the Indians». But Mr. Emhoolah said that joining the Columbus celebrations would be a betrayal. «We’re getting to the last of the people who know the language, the culture», he said. «I don’t know what it’s going to be like in 2091. I don’t know if there will be any tribes. I hope so. It’s our responsibility to pass on the culture to the next generation. «When it comes to Christopher Columbus, we can’t pay too much attention to that. I know the Europeans think the world of him. But that’s their deal. It’s not mine».
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to proclaim May 3 World Press Freedom Day. Culture The First Amendment of the American Constitution proclaims freedom of religion, speech, of the press and right of petition. The first ten amendments popularly known as the Bill of Rights were proposed and sent to the states by the first session of the First Congress. They were ratified December 15, 1791.
ARTICLE # 3 Who Cares About a Free Press? Background notes: The essay was published in the TIME-magazine. It is a commentary on the decision of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Who Cares About a Free Press? UNESCO has proclaimed May 3 World Press Freedom Day. In the American consciousness this is not likely to rank with Mother’s Day, Secretaries’ Day, Pharmacists’ Day or even Kiss-Your-Mate Day, but it deserves some attention at a time when America is more dissatisfied than ever with its own media. The exercise brings to mind a 17th century English pamphleteer named John Twyn who published a defense of revolution. Condemned for treason, he was hanged, cut down while still alive, emasculated, disemboweled, quartered and, presumably to make absolutely sure beheaded. A great many Americans today feel that this is just about the treatment appropriate to their journalists. Elsewhere in the world, they are in fact treated almost that way. In 1994, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 58 members were assassinated and 173 were in prison in 23 countries at the end of the year. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, democracy seemed to be on the march everywhere, together with an independent press. Much of that promise came true, but lately it has receded again. The Russian press, for example, forcefully criticizes the government in ways undreamed of a few years ago. Russian television has made Chechnya a living-room war. As a result there has been a vehement backlash. All camps – bureaucrats, politicians, the military, entrepreneurs, and criminals – seem to have declared open season on the press. Within the past seven months an investigative reporter and a prominent TV personality were assassinated. Reformers believe that the press is the last hope for democracy in Russia. The situation is similar in some of the old Soviet republics and satellites. Both former communists and former dissidents are fighting
29
30
EXERCISE 1. Because the article discusses the conflict over Columbus Day, both negative and positive words are used to describe the same person or event. For example, in the title discovery is a positive description of Columbus’s arrival, invasion is a negative one. Find in the text about 15–20 words to place into their proper categories: Positive
negative
EXERCISE 2. Choose your side in the Columbus controversy, and using information from the article express your feeling about the holiday.
daily to maintain or re-impose state control of the media. In Tajikistan, beset by civil war, the government suppressed all independent media. In Armenia police habitually raid editorial offices. In Romania journalists are often under surveillance. In Slovakia a proposed law would provide one- to five-year jail sentences for journalists who «demean» the country from abroad. In Poland, the Czech republic and Hungary the situation is better, but everywhere governments exert pressure by controlling paper supplies, distribution facilities and especially broadcast licenses. The battle is not confined to former communist areas. In Turkey, a NATO member, more than 70 journalists were in jail at the end of last year. Despite much progress in Latin America, licensing of journalists and other controls are widespread. Argentina recently threatened to pass a law providing up to 10 years of prison for «dishonoring the name of a politician». Many of the world’s governments have enshrined press freedom in their constitutions but fed free to ignore it. A charter drawn up by the World Press Freedom Committee condemns censorship in all its forms and proclaims freedom of expression as an essential human right. But government resistance to the charter’s principles is tenacious. There is the argument from patriotism: nations, especially when in crisis, cannot tolerate destructive criticism. There is the argument from culture: chaotic Western concepts of freedom cannot be applied to societies based on order and stability. There is the argument from economics: undue press attacks undermine development. There is the argument from idealism: an irresponsible press is apt to spread racial and ethnic hatred. All of these assertions contain elements of truth. It is nearly impossible to export the First Amendment of the American Constitution, for example, to countries without deep roots and habits of freedom. In many parts of the world, journalists lack any tradition of objective reporting. But for the most part the fight against press freedom comes down to politicians protecting themselves and the status quo. That is ultimately untenable in a world of instant communications that cross all frontiers. Arid in a global marketplace the notion that authoritarian rule can be combined with free enterprise – the notion might be called Lee Kuan Yewism, for Singapore’s Godfather – cannot work indefinitely.
The U.S. maintains that countries aspiring to membership in NATO in the European Union or in the wider community of developed nations must respect democracy, free enterprise and human rights. But Washington is notably passive in promoting freedom of the press. Why should Americans care? Because if there is to be a world in which the U.S. can enjoy a measure of security and prosperity, the spread of democracy is essential. And democracy is impossible without a free press. Free and responsible, of course. But responsibility is not likely to be taught by the Twyn treatment or lesser forms of repression. Looking at the rest of the world, American journalists have reason to be grateful that the only real threat they face is angry words. And the American public has reason to be grateful that its press, for all its sins, is still the most professional and responsible in the world. Could that mutual recognition produce a glimmer of detente between press and citizens? According to recent surveys, a majority of Americans believe that the media only get in the way of solving problems. But a majority also believe that the press keeps powerful people from becoming too powerful. Perhaps that thought should be the message of World Press Freedom Day, everywhere, including the U.S.
31
32
EXERCISE 1. Answer the following comprehension questions 1) Why did UNESCO proclaim World Press Freedom Day? 2) What is the state of things with the freedom of press in Russia and in former communist countries? 3) What arguments are given by some governments to restrict press freedom? 4) Why do most of the world’s governments feel free to ignore freedom of the press, according to the writer? 5) Why does the author think that it is impossible to export the First Amendment of the American Constitution? 6) Is the author optimistic about maintaining and promoting press freedom all over the world? 7) Is the writer satisfied with the American press? 8) Why does the writer think that Americans should care about the freedom of the world press?
EXERCISE 2. Discuss the following questions 9) Is democracy on the march everywhere including Russia? 10) Do you agree that undue press attacks undermine development? 11) Do the media sometimes get in the way of solving problems in Russia? 12) Do you agree that democracy is impossible without a free press? 13) What kind of press would you describe as irresponsible? 14) Do you agree with the writer that the press keeps powerful people from becoming too powerful? 15) How do you see the role of the press in Russia? 16) Do you think that the state of things with press freedom has changed in Russia since 1995, the time when this article was written? EXERCISE 3. Summarize your own opinion of the problem discussed in the article in a single paragraph. E. Linking ideas Organizing a formal text First / Firstly / First of all, we must consider … I should like to preface my argument with a true story. Next, it is important to remember that … Secondly and thirdly are also used with first/firstly for lists. Finally/Lastly, we should recall that … [not ‘at last’] The text alludes to several themes that need closer examination. [quoting/referring] Turning to the question of foreign policy, … [changing to a new topic] Leaving aside the question of pollution, there are also other reasons … [the writer will not deal with that question here] In parenthesis, let us not forget that … [making a point that is a side issue, not part of the main argument] 33
In summary, to sum up, we may state that … [listing / summing up the main points] In sum, the economic issues are at the centre of this debate. [listing / summing up the main points: much more formal] In conclusion / to conclude, I should like to point out that … [finishing the text, talk] We are forced to conclude that unemployment will always be with us. Markers for explaining, exemplifying, rephrasing, etc. To learn new words properly a lot of recycling is needed; in other words / that is to say, you have to study the same words over and over again. [That is to say is much more formal] Some English words are hard to pronounce, for example / for instance, ‘eighth’. The Parliament has different committees. Briefly, these consist of two main types. [the explanation will be short and not comprehensive] She is, so to speak / as it were, living in a world of her own. [makes what you are saying sound less definite/precise; As is were is more formal.] EXERCISE 1. Fill the gaps with typical written-text markers. The first letter of each phrase/word is given. Points for discussion crime and punishment: F........ (1), it is important to understand why people commit crimes, i........ (2), what are the motives which make people do things they would never normally do? F........ (3), a young man steals clothes from a shop; is it because he is unemployed? A drug addict? Mentally disturbed? N........ (4), it is essential to consider whether punishment makes any difference, or is it just, a........ (5), a kind of revenge? L........ (6), how can we help victims of crime? I........ (7), how can we get to the roots of the problem, rather than just attacking the symptoms?
34
EXERCISE 2. Match the markers on the left with the appropriate function on the right 1 Leaving aside …
change the topic
2 In parenthesis, …
read something earlier in the text
3 Turning to …
this will not be discussed
4 In conclusion …
this document is about another one
5 With reference to …
to finish off
6 See above
as an aside / secondary issue
Addition sentence/clause 1 For this job you need a degree. Video cameras are becoming easier to use. It’ll take ages to get there and it’ll cost a fortune. Children should respect their parents. We’ll have all the stress of going to court and giving evidence.
and In addition Furthermore Moreover What is more Besides* Equally Likewise On top of (all) that**
sentence/clause 2 you need some experience they’re becoming cheaper. we’ll have to change trains three times at least. they should respect their teachers. we’ll have to pay the lawyers’ bills.
* a more emphatic way of adding information; similar in meaning to anyway. ** even more emphatic: used mostly in informal spoken English.
Further to my letter of 18/9/01, I am writing to you … [formal opening for a letter] In addition to winning the gold medal, she also broke the world record. In addition to his BA in History, he has a PhD in Sociology. He’s on the school board, as well as being a local councilor. Besides / Apart from having a salary, he also has a private income. 35
Apart from her many other hobbies, she restores old racing cars. They sell chairs, tables, beds, and so on / etc. [and so on is more informal than etc.] EXERCISE 1. Fill in the gaps in this letter with suitable adding words and phrases. Dear Mr. Coldheart, ..................................... (1) my letter of 16.3.03, I should like to give you more information concerning my qualifications and experience. ..................................... (2) holding a Diploma in Catering, I also have an Advanced Certificate in Hotel Management. The course covered the usual areas: finance, front services, publicity, space allocation ..................................... (3). I also wish to point out that ..................................... (4) holding these qualifications, I have now been working in the hotel trade for five years. ..................................... (5), my experience prior to that was also concerned with tourism and hospitality. I hope you will give my application due consideration. Yours sincerely, Nora Hope Cause, reason, purpose and result Owing to the icy conditions, the two lorries collided. [rather informal] Owing to the fact that the conditions were icy … The collision was due to the icy conditions. The collision was caused by the ice on the road. The cause of the collision was ice on the road. Here are some other cause words in typical contexts. They are all rather formal, and more suitable for written use. The rise in prices sparked (off) a lot of political protest. [often used for very strong, perhaps violent reactions to events] The President’s statement gave rise to / provoked / generated a lot of criticism. [slightly less strong than spark (off)] The new law had brought about / let to great changes in education. [often used for political / social change] 36
The problem stems from the inflation of recent years. [explaining the direct origin of events and states] The court-case arose from / out of allegations made in a newspaper. [the allegations started the process that led to the court-case] *** The following sentences are all fairly formal for expressing reasons for and purposes of doing things. I wonder what his motives were in sending that letter? [purpose] I wonder what prompted him to send that letter? [reason/cause] She wrote to the press with the aim of exposing the scandal. [purpose] I’ve invited you here with a view to resolving our differences. [sounds a bit more indirect than with the aim of] He refused to answer on the grounds that his lawyer wasn’t there. [reason] The purpose of her visit was to inspect the equipment. *** Here are some expressions to talk about results, most of them are fairly formal. He did no work. As a result /As a consequence / Consequently, he failed his exams. The result / consequence of all these changes is that no-one is happy any more. [The examples with consequence/consequently sound more formal than result] His remarks resulted in everyone getting angry. [verb + in] The events had an outcome that no-one could have predicted. [results of a process or events, or of meetings, discussions, etc.] The upshot of all these problems was that we had to start again. [less formal than outcome] When the election results were announced, chaos ensued. [very formal]
1 announcement 2 new Act of Parliament 3 signal failure 4 violent storm 5 food shortages 6 food shortages
→ strong attack from opposition → great changes in industry ← train crash → wall collapsed → serious riots in several cities ← bad economic policies
EXERCISE 2. Make two sentences into one, using the ‘reason and purpose’ words in brackets. EXAMPLE There was a controversial decision. She wrote to the local newspaper to protest. (prompt) The controversial decision prompted her to write to the local newspaper to protest. 1 I didn’t contact you. I’d lost your phone number. (reason) 2 I will not sign. This contract is illegal. (grounds) 3 The government passed a new law. It was on order to control prices. (aim) 4 She sent everyone flowers. I wonder why? (motives) 5 The salary was high. She applied for the job. (prompt) Text-referring words
EXAMPLE closure of 20 mines → strikes in coal industry The closure of 20 mines sparked (off) a lot of strikes in the coal industry.
Text-referring words take their meaning from the surrounding text. For example, this sentence in isolation does not mean much: We decided to look at the problem again and try to find the solution. What problem? The words problem and solution help organise the argument of the text, but they do not tell us the topic of the text. They refer to something somewhere else. Here are some examples. The word in bold refers to the underlined words. Pollution is increasing. The problem is getting worse each day. Should taxes be raised or lowered? This was the biggest issue in the election. [topic causing great argument and controversy] Whether the war should have been avoided is a question that interests historians. Let’s discuss crime. That’s always an interesting topic. [subject to argue about or discuss, e.g. in a debate or in an essay]
37
38
EXERCISE 1. Make full sentences using ‘cause and reason words’
Punishment is only one aspect of crime. [part of the topic] Text-referring words are often used with ‘problem-solution’ types of texts, where a problem is presented and ways of solving it are discussed. In the following example, the words in bold concern a problem or solution. Try to learn these words as a family.
EXERCISE 2. Fill in the gaps with an appropriate word to refer to the underlined parts of the sentences. 1 So you were talking about animal rights? That’s quite a big ……………… nowadays. 2 We are running out of funds. How do you propose we should deal with the ………………? 3 Is there life on other planets? This is a ……………… nobody has yet been able to answer. 4 (Teacher to class) You can write your essay on ‘My best holiday ever’. If you don’t like that ………………, I’ll give you another one. 5 She thinks we should all fly around in tiny little helicopters. This ……………… to the traffic problem in cities is rather new and unusual. I wonder if it is viable?
The situation in our cities with regard to traffic is going from bad to worse. Congestion is a daily feature of urban life. The problem is now beginning to affect our national economies. Unless a new approach is found to control traffic, we will never find a solution to the dilemma. In the dialogue below, two politicians are arguing. Note how the words in bold refer to parts of the argument. A: Your claim that we are doing nothing to invest in industry is false. We invested £10 billion last year. You’ve ignored this fact. B: But the investment has all gone to service industries. The real point is that we need to invest in our manufacturing industries. A: That argument is out-of-date in a modern technological society. Our position has always been that we should encourage technology. B: But that view won’t help to reduce unemployment. situation: state of affairs, position (with regard to) problem: difficulty [more formal], crisis, matter response: reaction (to), attitude (to) solution: answer (to), resolution (to), key (to), way out (of) evaluation [of the solution]: assessment, judgement EXERCISE 1. Draw lines from the left-hand column to the right-hand column joining each sentence with a suitable label, as in the example. 1 The earth is an orbit around the sun. 2 World poverty and overpopulation. 3 God exists and loves everybody. 4 I’ve run out of cash. 5 It had proved to be most efficient. 6 They should get married, to my mind. 39
problem evaluation fact belief view issue
Reinforcing, exemplifying Look at the newspaper snippets and note the contexts in which the words in bold occur. The Prime Minister reiterated1 his concern that the debate should not be dominated by personal attacks. He also asked …
Mr Burn’s comments epitomize2 the attitude of many parents nowadays. He seems to be in the …
The recent events underscore3 the need for a better understanding of the environmental impact of biotechnology. If this phase in the...
Several historians have pos4 ited a connection between the decline of the Roman Empire and the eruption of a far distant volcano... In an attempt to account for6 the lack of interest, political analysts have looked at past voting patterns. On the basis of…
It was a philosophy first expounded5 by John Ruskin in the nineteenth century. If human… 1
4
2
5
repeated, restated are a perfect example of 3 emphasise
suggested as a basic fact or principle developed, proposed 6 explain, find the cause of 40
Exercise 1. Look at these extracts from essays and use the words from above to improve their style, making the underlined words more formal 1 The response from the public really shows us the importance of having a full investigation of the facts. 2 This view of the world was originally laid out by the Ancient Greek philosophers. 3 It is not easy to find the reason for the fall in population of these birds. 4 Economists have said there might be a link between exchange rates and a general lack of confidence in the European Union. 5 I should like to say again here that the issue is not one that can be easily resolved. 6 The recent events are the best example of the dilemma faced by politicians the world over. Categorising and including Japanese visitors comprised/made up 70 % of the hotel’s guests last year. [70 % consisted of] The course is comprised of two elements: reading and writing. [is composed of] These two approaches can be subsumed under one heading. [brought together / united] The book embraces a number of issues, from the economic to religious ones. [covers / includes] Her philosophy is difficult to categorise. [label as belonging to a particular type or class] Exercise 1. Rewrite these sentences using the verb in brackets and making any other necessary changes. 1 70 % of the landmass is mountain ranges. (COMPRISE) 2 A wide variety of subjects are dealt with in the book. (EMBRACE) 3 I think these three sections can all come under one heading. (SUBSUME) 4 Poems are not easily amendable to being put into different types. (CATEGORISE) 41
III. VOCABULARY SUPPORT 1. Данная статья – the present paper, article 2. Тема – the theme (subject-matter) 3. Основная проблема – the main (major) problem 4. Цель – the purpose 5. Основной принцип – the basic principle 6. Проблемы, связанные с – problems related to; problems of 7. Аналогично – similarly; likewise 8. Поэтому, следовательно, в результате этого – hence; therefore 9. Наоборот – on the contrary 10. Тем не менее – nevertheless; still; yet 11. Кроме того – besides; also; in addition; furthermore 12. Сначала – at first 13. Далее, затем -next; further; then 14. Наконец, итак -finally 15. Вкратце – in short; in brief Цель написания статьи:
1. The object (purpose) of this paper is to preset (to discuss, to describe, to show, to develop, to give)... 2. The paper (article) puts forward the idea (attempts to determine)... Вопросы, обсуждаемые в статье:
1. The paper (article) discusses some problems relating to (deals with some aspects of, considers the problem of, presents the basic theory, provides information on, reviews the basic principles of)... 2. The paper (article) is concerned with (is devoted to)... Начало статьи:
1. The paper (article) begins with a short discussion on (deals firstly with the problem of)... 2. The first paragraph deals with... 42
3. First (at first, at the beginning) the author points out that (notes that, describes)... Переход к изложению следующей части статьи:
1. Then follows a discussion on... 2. Then the author goes on to the problem of... 3. The next (following) paragraph deals with (presents, discusses, describes)... 4. After discussing... the author turns to... 5. Next (further, then) the author tries to (indicates that, explains that)... 6. It must be emphasized that (should be noted that, is evident that, is clear that, is interesting to note that)... Конец изложения статьи:
1. 2. 3. 4.
The final paragraph states (describes, ends with)... The conclusion is that the problem is... The author concludes that (summarizes the)... To sum up (to summarize, to conclude) the author emphasizes (points out, admits that...) 5. Finally (In the end) the author admits (emphasizes) that...
Оценка статьи:
1. In my opinion (To my mind, I think)... 2. The paper (article) is interesting, of importance (of little importance), valuable (invaluable), up-to-date (out-of-date), useful (useless)... (not interesting)...
IV. PRACTICE EXERCISES SCANNING NEWS STORIES
EXERCISE 1. Read the news stories and answer the questions. Try to use no more than two minutes for each story. 1) UK STEEL INDUSTRY SHUTS DOWN LONDON (UPI) – Britain’s state-owned steelworks shut down at midnight last night in the first nation-wide steel strike since 1926, threatening widespread disruption of Britain’s heavy industries. Final hopes of averting the strike failed on Monday when unions and management refused to budge from their positions on steelwor1 pay. ‘The strike is on. It is an impossibility to call if off. The only question now is how long it lasts’, said Bill Sirs, leader of the steelworkers’ Union. The steelworkers are demanding a 20 percent pay increase but the employers are sticking to their offer of six per cent on basic rates. 1) The story is about: a. British steel production in 1926 b. a steel strike c. rebuilding Britain’s steelworks 2) How big a pay increase do the workers want? a. 20 per cent b. six per cent c. the story doesn’t say. 3) How big a pay increase is management willing to give? a. 20 per cent b. six per cent c the story doesn’t say. 2) U.S. WARNS EUROPE ON DEFENCE BURDEN LONDON – The United States warned Thursday that Americans might no longer be willing to carry most of the military burden in fu-
43
44
ture European crises and voiced concern about the way the European Union is approaching defense. In a plea for greater defense burden- sharing, Strobe Talbott, the deputy secretary of state, told a London conference on. the future of NATO that basic differences had emerged across the Atlantic on the lessons of the Kosovo war. ‘Many Americans are saying never again should the United States have to fly the lion’s share of the risky mission in a NATO operation and foot by far the biggest bill’, Mr. Talbott told the Royal Institute of International affairs. (Reuters). 1) The story is about a. the U.S. and European Union disagreements. b. the European crisis. c. the European Union defence policy. 2) What is the United Stated unwilling to do in future? a. to grant help to the European Union b. to take part in future European conflicts c. to pay most part of the expenses in future NATO military operations 3) What caused the differences at the London conference on the future of NATO? a. the Kosovo war b. plans for new risky operations c. Strobe Talbott’s speech at the conference 3. PEACEKEEPERS LAND IN TIMOR DILI, East Timor – With all the fire power and high technology of modern war, the vanguard of an international peacekeeping force staked its claim Monday to this silent and broken town, watched warily by clusters of refugees, sullen Indonesian troops and small, angry groups of irregular militias. There was no resistance but no welcome. There was no peace to keep; this tiny capital of East Timor was a dead city; burned, looted and evacuated. 45
Through the hot still day, as dogs barked in the empty streets, about 2,000 Australian and British soldiers deployed through the city with their heavy packs and weaponry. As the sun went down, in a sort of welcome to the invited but unwelcome guests, three large fires were set in villages near the airport, their black smoke and bright orange flames filling the sky. 1) The story is about: a. Indonesian troops in East Timor. b. international peacekeeping force in East Timor. c. the beginning of war in East Timor. 2) How were the peacekeepers met? a. they were welcomed b. there was strong resistance c. they moved into the town smoothly 3) How many soldiers were deployed in the capital of East Timor? a. a small British regiment b. two hundred Australian soldiers c. two thousand British and Australian soldiers 4. JUDGE BACKS MOVE ON IRA RULING BELFAST (Reuters) – A Northern Irish Protestant whose parents were killed by an Irish Republican Army bomb can challenge Britain’s ruling that the group had not broken a two-year old cease-fire, High Court judge said on Monday. Judge Brian Kerr ruled that Michelle Williamson had the right to ask a court to review the decision by the British Northern Ireland secretary, Mo Mowlam, not to halt the early release of IRA prisoners under the province’s peace accord. She ruled that the cease-fire was still intact last month despite evidence that the IRA had been involved in a murder. 1) The story is about: a. a challenge to the British authorities in Northern Ireland. b. the peace talks. c. the Irish Republican Army. 46
2) Who was killed in a bomb explosion? a. Catholic b Protestant c. two Northern Irish Protestants
2. PARIS, (UPI) – Police and fire department officials sought the cause of today’s chain of three explosions in a fashionable residential area which left five dead and more than 40 injured. Subject: Predicate: The story is about: a, an attempt to find the cause of three explosions b. the deaths of five people. c. a problem between Paris police and the fire department.
3) When did the bomb explosion happen? a. during the cease fire b. before the cease-fire agreement c. after the cease-fire was broken 4) What did Michelle Williamson whose parents were killed want? a. to halt the release of the IRA prisoners b. to review the peace accord c. to get money 5) What was the decision of the judge? a. the IRA had nothing to do with the explosion b. the IRA had violated the cease-fire c. Michelle Williamson had the right to challenge the decision of the court EXERCISE 3. Find the subject and the predicate in each of the following sentences and answer the questions. Note that the first verb in these examples is not a predicate. The first one has been done for you. 1. CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – Five Muslim fundamentalists convicted of the assassination of President Anwar Sadat were executed early Thursday, hours after a clemency plea was rejected by Hosni Mubarak, Sadat’s successor. Subject: fundamentalists Predicate: were executed The story is about: a. the execution of five assassins. b. the conviction of five assassins. c. the replacement of Anwar Sadat by Hosni Mubarak.
47
3. NEW YORK (Reuters) – Alger Hiss, the former State Department official who was convicted of perjury 28 years ago in one of the most controversial trials in American history, has filed a court suit in an effort to clear his name. Subject: Predicate: The story is about: a. the filing of a court suit. b. a controversial trial. c. the conviction of Alger Hiss. 4. BERLIN (AP) – Chancellor Gerhard Schroder’s ruling Social Democrats suffered their worst regional election defeat since the Second World War in Germany’s eastern state of Saxony. Subject: Predicate: The story is about: a. Gerhard Schroder who is ruling German Social Democratic Party. b. the defeat of Social Democrats. c. a political crisis in Germany. 5. MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian business «oligarch» invited to testify to the US Congress on an alleged money laundering scandal has insisted that reports of $10bn being laundered through accounts in the Bank of New York were exaggerated. Subject: Predicate: 1) This is a story about: a. allegations of the Bank of New York. 48
b. inviting a Russian oligarch to the US congress. c. an ‘ playing down a scandal. 2) What caused the scandal? a. criminal money transfers b. stealing money from the Bank of New York c. avoiding paying taxes 6. LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s biggest trade mission to Libya since diplomatic ties were broken off 15 years ago is to set off to Tripoli next month. Subject: Predicate: This story s about: a. diplomatic relations with Libya. b. British trade mission to Libya. c. Britain breaking diplomatic ties with Libya. 7. TEMRAN (Reuters) – Iran’s leading proreform newspaper, already under suspension, went on trial yesterday on charges of insulting Islamic values and spreading propaganda against the state. Subject: Predicate: 1) The story is about: a. suspending Iran’s leading newspaper. b. Iran’s leading newspaper facing a charge. c. insulting Islamic values by the Iranian leading newspaper. 2) What ideas does the newspaper promote? a. it calls for overthrowing the government b. it stands for reforms in the country c. it defends fundamental values of Islam EXERCISE 4. Read each of the following leading sentences and find information about the source of the story and the background that helps you to understand the story better.
pope, the first non- Italian in 450 years to be named pontiff of the 700million-member church. the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church elected yesterday: WHOM? AS WHAT? BACKGROUND: 2. LONDON(UPI) – Jakov Stalin, son of the late Soviet dictator, attempted suicide in a Nazi concentration camp in 1943 by hurling himself onto an electrified barbed wire fence, the Sunday Times said. Jakov Stalin, son of the late Soviet dictator, attempted suicide: SOURCE: HOW? WHEN WHERE? 3. LOS ANGELES (AP) – US labor leaders are expected to endorse the Vice- President’s campaign for the 2000 presidential nomination tomorrow after his supporters managed to head off an attempt by disgruntled unions to delay the move. US labor leaders are expected to endorse the candidate: AS WHAT? WHEN? BACKGROUND: 4. BEIJING (Reuters) – China has signed a $2bn contract to buy about 30 advanced Russian Sukhoi fighters, about half the number of the jets previously reported, a Russian aerospace executive said yesterday. China has singed a contract: WHAT KIND? WITH WHOM? SOURCE: BACKGROUND:
1. VATICAN CITY (AP) – The cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church yesterday elected 58-year-old Polish Cardinal Karol Wojtyla as
5. MOSCOW (UPI) – Russia announced Wednesday that it had tested a short-ranged interceptor rocket for the Moscow anti ballistic missile system in what appeared to be a symbolic warning to the
49
50
United States not to go ahead with a national missile defense system flow under Consideration. Russia tested a rocket: WHAT KIND OF? WHEN? SOURCE: WHY? BACKGROUND: 6. STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Ahmed Zewail, an Egyptian-born scientist in California, was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Tuesday for developing the ultimate slow-motion camera to observe atoms in motion during chemical reactions. Ahmed Zewail was awarded the Nobel Prize. I N WHAT FIELD? FOR WHAT? WHEN? BACKGROUND 7. LONDON (Reuters) – Michael Portillo, the former defense minister regarded by many British Conservatives as a potential savior of their party, began his political comeback Wednesday by pledging loyalty to William Hague, the Tory leader, and launching an attack on Prime Minister Tony Blair. Michael Portillo began his political comeback: HOW? WHEN? BACKGROUND: EXERCISE 5. Find the main idea in each of the following leading sentences that begins with the participle or prepositional phrase.
2. GENEVA (Reuters) – After enduring a year- long bruising selection battle to become head of the World Trade Organization, Mike Moore has been pitched into yet another dispute- this time over his deputies. 3. LONDON (Reuters) – In the first wave of the European Union’s eastward enlargement, foreign ministers from the five central and east European countries, and Cyprus yesterday called on Brussels to accelerate negotiations. 4. MOSCOW (AP) – More than a decade after communism crumbled, the country’s central bank, one of the most influential institutions of the Soviet era, is facing a challenge to its secrecy and power. 5. PARIS (Reuters) – In an effort to halt its declining fortunes, France’s Gaullist RPR party has this week thrown open its leadership to an electoral contest, the only problem in this attempt at democratic transparency is that the candidates coming forward are all pretty invisible. EXERCISE 6. Read the following newspaper leads and answer the questions. Remember to look first for the subject and the predicate to help you catch the story’s main idea. 1. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (UPI) – Green land, the world’s largest island, has voted in favour of home rule for its 50,000 inhabitants, ending more than 250 years of Danish colonial status, nearly complete returns showed yesterday. a) Did the people of Greenland vote for independence or to remain a colony? b) Have all the votes been counted? c) How many people live in Greenland?
1. WASHINGTON (AP) – Ignoring protests it was aiding «Marxists and leftists», the US Senate voted 54 to 35 Tuesday to authorize $75 million in aid to help rebuild the war- shattered economy of Nicaragua.
2. ROME (AP) – Striking in early morning raid in fashionable neighbourhood through Italy today, police squards arrested 38 bank presidents and other prominent business men yesterday and charged them with participating in a nationwide scandal. a) What happened in this story and why?
51
52
3. BEIRUT (UPI) – Five Lebanese Muslim hijackers armed with guns and hand grenades released 73 passengers and nine crew members of a Middle East Airlines jet yesterday after a six-and hour air piracy drama. a) Did the hijackers hurt the passengers and crew members? b) What weapons did the hijackers have? c) How long did they keep the passengers in the plane? 4. BERLIN (Reuters) – Faced by growing differences over how much Nazi-era slave laborers should be compensated, German and American negotiators have abandoned plans for a meeting in Bonn later this month. a) What plans did German and American negotiators abandon? b) Why did they postpone the meeting? c) What issue caused the differences?
b) In what house of the Gene Assembly did they have majority? c) Were they in the majority in the state Senate? d) What made this victory a historical even for Republicans in Virginia? 10. BEIJING (Reuters)-.The United States and China are close to agreeing to resume military-to-military contacts, suspended by Beijing in the wake of the bombing on May 7 of China’s embassy in Yugoslavia, sources in Beijing said Wednesday. a) What contacts are the US and China likely to resume? b) When and why were such contacts suspended? c) What s the source of information?
7. NEW YORK (UPI) – United Nations Officials rejected allegations of mass murder committed by pro-Jakarta militia groups in East Timor, but acknowledged that nearly half the territory’s population of 890,000 was unaccounted for. a) What was rejected as allegations by the United Nations officials? b What did the UIN officials acknowledge? c) What is the population of East Timor? 8. MOSCOW (AP) – Russia’s reputation on foreign investment, already shaky, has been weakened even further by the ruling of a court in St. Petersburg that the 255-year-old Lomonosov porcelain factory be renationalized. a) What weakened Russia’s reputation on foreign investment? b) What was the ruling of St Petersburg’s court? c) What is Russia’s reputation like among foreign investors? 9. NEW YORK (AP) – For the first time in Virginia’s long political history, Republicans have taken control of the Old Dominion’s General Assembly, seizing a majority in the House of Delegates and holding on to the slim edge the party already had in the state Senate. a) Where did Republicans take control? 53
54
Render from English
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ASPECTS OF MARKETING
tion, have promulgated a set of professional standards for their industry. Copyright © 1994–2001 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (1946 символов)
Sometimes criticized for its impact on personal economic and social well-being, marketing has been said to affect not only individual consumers but also society as a whole. Criticisms have been leveled against marketers, claiming that some of their practices may damage individual welfare. While this may be true in certain circumstances, it is important to recognize that, if a business damages individual welfare, it cannot hope to continue in the marketplace for long. As a consequence, most unfavourable views of marketing are criticisms of poor marketing, not of strategically sound marketing practices. Others have raised concerns about marketing by saying that it increases prices by encouraging excessive markups. Marketers recognize that consumers may be willing to pay more for a product--such as a necklace from Tiffany and Co. – simply because of the associated prestige. This not only results in greater costs for promotion and distribution, but it allows marketers to earn profit margins that may be significantly higher than industry norms. Marketers counter these concerns by pointing out that products provide not only functional benefits but symbolic ones as well. By creating a symbol of prestige and luxury, Tiffany's offers a symbolic benefit that, according to some consumers, justifies the price. In addition, brands may symbolize not only prestige but also quality and functionality, which gives consumers greater confidence when they purchase a branded product. Finally, advertising and promotions are often very cost-effective methods of informing the general public about items and services that are available in the marketplace. A few marketers have been accused of using deceptive practices, such as misleading promotional activities or high-pressure selling. These deceptive practices have given rise to legislative and administrative remedies, including guidelines offered by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding advertising practices, automatic 30-day guarantee policies by some manufacturers, and «cooling off» periods during which a consumer may cancel any contract signed. In addition, professional marketing associations, such as the Direct Marketing Associa-
Of all the criticisms levelled at manufacturers, those against their advertising probably have been the most vociferous. Advertising is necessarily vulnerable to these attacks: it is experienced by everybody, its products are on show for a long time, and its purposes are materialistic. Although the major purpose of company advertising, which is to attract members of the public toward buying a particular product, is fairly straightforward, the methods employed in this process have become increasingly complex. As business has become more competitive, so has the advertising that sells its products. Coupled with this increased competition has been the development of more powerful media – the most important of these being television. From the consumer's point of view, the basic criticism of advertising is that it leads him to purchase goods that he has no wish to purchase by presenting misleading and untruthful statements or by creating wants, needs, and desires in his mind that might not otherwise exist. In the first instance it is accepted that the consumer, of his own volition, has a need that is filled by the description of the advertised product (but not necessarily by the product itself), whereas in the second the need is artificial and is stimulated entirely by the media. From an economic viewpoint, critics of advertising point to the enormous amount of money involved – money that, they state, does not benefit the consumer although he is compelled to pay it. A second criticism is that advertising restricts competition because only large companies can afford expensive, nationwide campaigns, thus limiting freedom of entry of new firms into an established market. A definitive answer to these questions is obviously impossible. Regarding the first, it might be fair to say that economic growth and the creation of wealth might come about far more slowly without the aid of advertising. The development of national rather than regional brands – and the economies of scale implicit in this development – might be retarded. For all its drawbacks, advertising informs the consumer and
55
56
CONTROLS ON ADVERTISING
enables him to make not only a choice between products but also a choice between the stores at which he can buy those products. For the manufacturer it justifies a heavy investment in capital and manpower in that it assures (to some degree at least) the quick development of sales. Regarding the second major criticism – that advertising encourages the concentration of industry – there is no doubt that this is true. But not everyone agrees that industrial concentration necessarily acts against the interests of the consumer, particularly in the absence of outright monopolies or cartels. In some countries, such as the United States and Great Britain, anti-trust or monopoly laws act to restrain the more flagrant abuses of industrial power. Other countries, especially some in western Europe, have established monopolies boards, which monitor or oversee activities of large corporations in the field of takeovers and mergers. The advertising industry has for many years been aware of the various criticisms and has accepted the need for some control over advertising methods in addition to the provisions of statutory regulations that exist in many countries. The country with the most stringent advertising standards is usually thought to be Great Britain, where, for example, all advertising on independent radio and television is controlled by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (iba), the commercial counterpart to the British Broadcasting Corporation. The Iba lays down controls on advertising, banning the use, for instance, of subliminal advertising (methods by which the listener or viewer might be influenced without his becoming aware of it) and of advertising that plays on fear and on the minds of the superstitious. The Iba has a further list of unacceptable products and services. Advertising is not allowed, for example, on behalf of cigarettes or betting, and political or religious advertising is prohibited. Other regulations involve methods of reproduction, the wording and advertising of guarantees, and the enforcement of prices and other offers; furthermore, special conditions exist in specific cases – the listening or viewing child, the employment of children in advertisements, and the advertising of certain products such as medicines and drugs and also financial services. Advertising time is sold by production companies appointed by the Iba, but advertisers may not sponsor programs. The general character of governmental and private controls over the claims and methods of advertisers may be said to be one of consid-
erable laxity. It seems likely that this situation will be changed not so much by the introduction of more stringent codes as by challenges to particular advertisers by consumer interest groups within the framework of existing legislation regarding truth in advertising. Copyright © 1994–2001 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (4171 символ)
57
58
SPS PICKS KOKH AS ELECTION CHIEF By Andrei Zolotov Jr. Staff Writer Alfred Kokh, one of the most colorful and controversial figures in both business and politics, will undertake next Monday the daunting task of managing the parliamentary election campaign for the liberal Union of Right Forces party. «It will be a challenge», Kokh said in a telephone interview Monday. The leadership of Union of Right Forces, or SPS, late last week appointed Kokh as the party's campaign manager for State Duma elections in December. Kokh, an aggressive businessman and longtime associate of SPS co-founder Anatoly Chubais, is spearheading the campaign at a time when its chances of getting into the Duma are uncertain, with its ratings hovering around the 5 percent threshold. SPS has suffered a string of defections since its surprise success in 1999 elections, the latest of which was in March when the head of its executive council, Eldar Yanbukhtin, left to become the deputy secretary of pro-Kremlin United Russia's executive council. Yanbukhtin oversaw SPS's finances and campaign plans. Kokh said Monday, however, that he was certain SPS could make it into the Duma in December. «They say we only have two parties in Russia – United Russia and the Communists», he said. «Well, if anybody tried to convince me that all of the interests and preferences of the people are spread between these two parties, I would disagree. This means there is a place for SPS». Kokh said his candidacy was proposed by SPS leader Boris Nemtsov and supported by all senior SPS officials, downplaying media reports that his appointment signaled a weakening of Nemtsov, who epitomizes the oppositionist wing within SPS, and a strengthening of
Chubais, who pushes for a pro-Kremlin stance. Gazeta and Kommersant reported Monday that Nemtsov also nominated several other candidates for the post, including Deputy Press Minister Vladimir Grigoryev and former deputy NTV head Rafael Akopov. But Kokh won as a person with not only strong management skills and ties to big business but a record as an SPS ally, the newspapers said. «Kokh is a real fighter, an excellent manager and absolutely right-wing in his ideology», Deputy Duma Speaker Irina Khakamada said on Ekho Moskvy. Kokh got a chance to showcase his management skills when, as head of Gazprom-Media in 2001, he wrangled control of NTV television and its sister companies from Vladimir Gusinsky. He quit the post in October 2001 when it became clear that Gazprom would not sell its media assets as earlier promised. Kokh began his career working with Chubais on privatization programs in St. Petersburg. He helped oversee the notorious loans-forshares auctions of 1995 and 1996 when he worked first as a deputy state property minister and then state property minister. Disgraced after the disastrous sale of a stake in Svyazinvest in 1997 and under fire for allegedly accepting a bribe in the form of an inflated book fee, Kokh retreated from public life to run the Montes Auri investment fund. Kokh attempted to win a seat on the Federation Council last year but withdrew his candidacy after the vote in the Leningrad region's legislative assembly was challenged in court. The challenge was seen as a sign that he was not in the Kremlin's good graces. Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst with the Carnegie Moscow Center, said it was unclear whether Kokh would be able to improve SPS's electoral chances. He said SPS was seriously wounded by the defection of Yanbukhtin – a former advertising executive who previously worked for Fatherland-All Russia and the Communists – and that he was privy to «many financial secrets» in SPS. Petrov said SPS leaders chose Kokh's political loyalty and management skills over his tarnished image, which Kokh «cynically uses to his advantage». «SPS has enough people on board who are vulnerable to criticism during the election campaign», Petrov said, referring primarily to Chubais. «Kokh adds to this burden». Viktor Peshkov, the Communist Party's campaign manager, said Monday that Kokh's appointment would not affect the Communists'
bid. «We are fighting for completely different electorates», he said by telephone. «We don't overlap at all ideologically». It appears that SPS's main struggle will be with Yabloko, which the Kremlin reportedly favors over SPS, and the liberal wing of United Russia. Yabloko spokesman Sergei Loktionov said Monday that his party has not made a final decision on who will run its campaign. Currently, Duma Deputy Sergei Mitrokhin is in charge of campaign media affairs, and staffer Daniel Meshcheryakov runs the «field work» with voters, he said. Kokh said he is on vacation and will start his new job next Monday. The Moscow Times, May 6, 2003 (3892 символа)
59
60
THE WTO AND DEMOCRACY: DISPUTE SETTLEMENT SYSTEM One of the most dramatic changes made to the global trade system by the Uruguay Round negotiations of the GATT was the establishment of a new free-standing global commerce agency, the WTO, with a powerful, binding dispute resolution system replete with tribunals whose rulings are automatically binding unless there is unanimous consensus by all WTO Members to reject the new interpretation. The new WTO enforcement system replaced the consensus-based GATT contract and its dispute resolution system, which was based on diplomatic negotiation and which required consensus of the GATT countries to adopt a ruling by a GATT dispute resolution. In contrast, the Uruguay Round contained hundreds of pages of new regulations going beyond tariffs and quotas and instead affecting domestic standards on matters as diverse as food and product safety to environmental rules on invasive species and toxics. The Uruguay Round also brought new economic sectors, such as services, investment and government procurement, under international commercial disciples. The expanded coverage of the international commercial rules newly implicated issue areas loaded with subjective, value-based decisions about the level of health, safety or environmental protection a society desires or relative social priorities, for instance in designing the balance between access to medicine for poor consumers and the degree of protection of intellectual property rights. It sought to apply one-sizefits-all rules on these issues to the whole world. Uruguay Round rules extended the realm of commercial rules beyond requiring that domestic
and foreign goods be treated under the same standard (nondiscrimination) to actually seeking to set a global standard to which all countries must adapt, a much more complicated, subjective decision. The combination of the WTO's powerful new enforcement capacities and the Uruguay Round's expansive new rules encroaching into areas traditionally considered the realm of domestic policy effectively shift many decisions regarding public health and safety and environmental and social concerns from democratically-elected domestic bodies to WTO tribunals. http://www.citizen.org/trade/wto/ (1849 символов) THE BUSH DOCTRINE AND THE U.S. MILITARY Responding to new threats of international terrorism, the administration of President George W. Bush has developed a new national security policy to guide the U.S. military. Known as the Bush doctrine, the policy was outlined in a September 2002 document known as «The National Security Strategy of the United States». In it, the United States for the first time reserves the option to wage preemptive war and opens the possibility for American use of nuclear weapons against nonnuclear states. President Bush argued that the new policy was necessary to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, comprising nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons. He cited the breakdown of the strategy of deterrence that served the U.S. military during the Cold War when the policy of «mutual assured destruction» was thought to be sufficient to prevent any nation with nuclear weapons from launching a nuclear war. This breakdown, Bush argued, was due to the increasing possibility that weapons of mass destruction could fall into the hands of stateless terrorists, such as al-Qaeda, who would not be deterred from using them. «Given the goals of rogue states and terrorists, the United States can no longer solely rely on a reactive posture as we have in the past ... Traditional concepts of deterrence will not work against a terrorist enemy whose avowed tactics are wanton destruction and the targeting of innocents; whose so-called soldiers seek martyrdom in death and whose most potent protection is statelessness.» – From The National Security Strategy of the United States 61
In line with the new policy, the Bush administration in 2002 withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, known as the ABM Treaty, and called for the creation of a missile defense shield for the United States by 2004. The policy also provides the Bush administration with its rationale for waging preemptive war against Iraq. The new policy, however, has met with criticism from some arms control and national security experts. Critics of the Bush doctrine note that a preemptive policy sets a dangerous precedent. Other countries with nuclear weapons might decide that they also have the right to launch a preemptive attack. For example, both India and Pakistan have nuclear weapons, and relations between the two countries are tense. If one or both of these countries adopted their own version of the Bush doctrine, the resulting destabilization might lead to a nuclear holocaust. Alternatively, these critics also argue, a nonnuclear state fearing a preemptive attack from the United States or another powerful country might decide that its only recourse was to seek weapons of mass destruction for self-protection. A spiraling arms race might ensue that would wreck the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Many political observers also fear that a preemptive war policy might threaten American democracy since a preemptive war launched by surprise attack would bypass Congress’s constitutional right to declare war. Finally, critics of the Bush doctrine argue that the U.S. decision to build a missile defense shield signals to other countries that the United States might be pursuing a first-strike strategy. A first-strike strategy seeks to win a nuclear war with another nuclear power by striking first and then seeking protection from nuclear retaliation with a missile defense shield. Other nations might then seek their own defense shields and further destabilize the world. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has emerged as the world’s sole superpower. The technological edge enjoyed by U.S. air, land, and naval power is likely to maintain that sole-superpower status for at least the next decade. For many people, however, the question is how wisely the world’s only superpower will play its role. http://www.encarta.com (3207 символов)
62
EVOLUTION OF THEORIES OF WAR
Peace research concentrates on two areas: the analysis of the international system and the empirical study of the phenomenon of war. World War II and the subsequent evolution of weapons of mass destruction made the task of understanding the nature of war even more urgent. On the one hand, war has become an intractable social phenomenon, the elimination of which seems to be an essential precondition for the survival of mankind. On the other hand, the use of war as an instrument of policy is calculated in an unprecedented manner by the nuclear superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. War also remains a stark but rational instrumentality in certain more limited conflicts, such as those between Israel and the Arab nations. Thinking about war is, consequently, becoming increasingly more differentiated because it has to answer questions related to very different types of conflict. Clausewitz cogently defines war as a rational instrument of foreign policy: «an act of violence intended to compel our opponent to fulfill our will.» Modern definitions of war, such as «armed conflict between political units,» generally disregard the narrow, legalistic definitions characteristic of the 19th century, which limited the concept to formally declared war between states. Such a definition includes civil wars but at the same time excludes such phenomena as insurrections, banditry, or piracy. Finally, war is generally understood to embrace only armed conflicts on a fairly large scale, usually excluding conflicts in which fewer than 50,000 combatants are involved. Copyright © 1994–2001 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (3432 символа)
Reflecting changes in the international system, theories of war have passed through several phases in the course of the past three centuries. After the ending of the wars of religion, about the middle of the 17th century, wars were fought for the interests of individual sovereigns and were limited both in their objectives and in their scope. The art of maneuver became decisive, and analysis of war was couched accordingly in terms of strategies. The situation changed fundamentally with the outbreak of the French Revolution, which increased the size of forces from small professional to large conscript armies and broadened the objectives of war to the ideals of the revolution, ideals that appealed to the masses who were subject to conscription. In the relative order of post-Napoleonic Europe the mainstream of theory returned to the idea of war as a rational, limited instrument of national policy. This approach was best articulated by the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz in his famous classic On War (1832–37). World War I, which was «total» in character because it resulted in the mobilization of entire populations and economies for a prolonged period of time, did not fit into the Clausewitzian pattern of limited conflict, and it led to a renewal of other theories. These no longer regarded war as a rational instrument of state policy. The theorists held that war, in its modern, total form, if still conceived as a national state instrument, should be undertaken only if the most vital interests of the state, touching upon its very survival, are concerned. Otherwise, warfare serves broad ideologies and not the more narrowly defined interests of a sovereign or a nation. Like the religious wars of the 17th century, war becomes part of «grand designs,» such as the rising of the proletariat in communist eschatology or the Nazi doctrine of a master race. Some theoreticians have gone even further, denying war any rational character whatsoever. To them war is a calamity and a social disaster, whether it is afflicted by one nation upon another or conceived of as afflicting humanity as a whole. The idea is not new – in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars it was articulated, for example, by Tolstoy in the concluding chapter of War and Peace (1865–69). In the second half of the 20th century it gained new currency in peace research, a contemporary form of theorizing that combines analysis of the origins of warfare with a strong normative element aiming at its prevention.
The international environment within which states and the people within them operate is regarded by many theorists as the major factor determining the occurrence and the nature of wars. War remains possible as long as individual states seek to ensure self-preservation and to promote their individual interests and – in the absence of a reliable international agency to control the actions of other states – rely on their own efforts. It is no accident that reforms of the international system figure prominently in many prescriptions for the prevention of war. Whereas the reform of human propensities or of the state is bound to be
63
64
THE CONTROL OF WAR
a long, drawn-out affair, if it is at all possible, relatively straightforward partial reforms of the international system may produce significant restraints upon resorting to war, and a thorough reform could make war impossible. Some theorists, being more optimistic about the nature of states, concentrate upon the removal of the fear and suspicion of other states, which is characteristic of the present as well as of all historical political systems; others, being less optimistic, think mainly of possible controls and restraints upon the behaviour of states. The underlying reasoning of both parties is generally similar. If individual states in competitive situations are governed by a short-term conception of their interests, acute conflicts between them will occur and will show a strong tendency to escalate. Thus, one state erects a tariff barrier to protect its industry against the competition of a trade partner, and the partner retaliates, the retaliatory interaction being repeated until the two countries find themselves in a trade war. Armaments races show a similar tendency to escalate, particularly so in an age of rapid technological change. The economic and the scientific efforts necessary to avoid falling behind rivals in the invention and development of rapidly improving weapons of mass destruction have already reached unprecedented heights. And yet, neither trade wars nor arms races necessarily end in violent conflict; there seem to be operating some restraining and inhibiting factors that prevent an automatic escalation. Much of the theory of war concerns itself with the identification, improvement, and development of these restraining factors. Copyright © 1994–2001 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc (1962 символа) THE ROOTS OF TERRORISM When nations find themselves in trouble, their difficulties have usually been a long time in the making. In the case of the terrorism that now afflicts the nations of the West, there is a long intellectual history behind it – one which is rather unflattering to those who see themselves as the main victims of terrorism. The intellectual roots of terrorism lie in three philosophical ideas which, ironically, are peculiarly Western: popular sovereignty, self-determination and ethical consequential65
ism. The diffusion of political responsibility that results from popular sovereignty, the belief that every group has a right to its own state, and the decline in the belief in absolute human rights have together fostered a hospitable intellectual climate for terrorism. Even opponents of terrorism may feel a certain moral ambivalence when faced with acts of terror. One reason academics, journalists and politicians have had difficulty in responding to terrorism is that it is hard to define terrorism in such a way that it refers only to one’s opponents’ activities and not also one’s own. As a result, condemnations of terrorism are often seen by neutral observers as hypocritical. This does not mean that moral enunciations of terrorism are not appropriate and mandatory. Terrorist acts are profoundly immoral. In addition, they are not as politically effective as their practitioners claim. One has only to look at the areas of the world where terror has held sway to see that the violence there is typically prolonged by terrorism, sometimes indefinitely, as the opposing sides come to perceive each other as «criminal» and thus as beyond the pale of civilized negotiation. But while it is correct for the Reagan administration, for example, to condemn terrorism as a means of effecting political and social change, such a denunciation makes sense only in the context of a moral stance that (1) rigidly distinguishes between combatants and noncombatants and (2) rigidly adheres to the principle that innocent people have an absolute right not to be murdered for any reason whatever. Both of these tenets have been steadily eroding since 1940, in the West as much as elsewhere. Despite repeated commitments to a plethora of declarations of human rights, few if any governments are scrupulous in their military policies regarding such rights. The doctrine of popular sovereignty developed as the profoundly moral idea that human beings are born free and equal and, as such, have a right to an equal share of political power. The slogan «one man, one vote» perfectly expresses the idea that democracy is the fairest of all political systems because it correctly reflects the natural human condition of freedom and equality. However, it has long been observed that popular sovereignty tends to diffuse responsibility for political acts, particularly acts of war. Everything from conscription to the saturation bombing of cities can find a rationale in popular sovereignty. If the people are the state, then is it not their responsibility both to defend 66
it and to bear the burden of attacks upon it? This question has never been satisfactorily answered. Thus, the principle of popular sovereignty has provided modern states with the moral leverage to nationalize the lives of their citizens in a way that puts them at risk. Terrorists of all stripes use this principle for their own purposes, and they capitalize on the moral ambivalence reflected in the remark: «One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.» Self-determination is one of those 19th-century liberal ideas which has worked its way into the primary documents of 20th-century international law, including the United Nations Charter. The principle claims that «a people» has the right to determine its destiny and the disposition of the land upon which it lives without the intervention of outside parties. The principle of self-determination came to the fore after 1945 as a rubric for decolonization. The moral tradition that shaped the West is an amalgam of classical and Christian sources. This ethical confluence has possible despite considerable differences between the two sources because both agree that the good life involves strict adherence to categorical moral principles. Both Plato and Aristotle insisted that injustice was not permitted as a means of producing good consequences. Plato and Aristotle initiated what was later to be called the natural-law tradition. Central to natural-law thinking is the Platonic insight that it is possible to define objectively what it means to be good at being a person. Just as there are standards of excellence for being a doctor and a teacher, so there are knowable standards of excellence for being human. The good society is one in which people are allowed to conform to these standards. The Judeo-Christian idea of a transcendent source of all value is consonant with these classical insights. The commandments that govern the life of the Jew and the Christian are strictly categorical in nature, as indeed are most ethical codes based on theistic sources. Friendship with God is closely linked to walking the path of justice; it is understood that to damage any basic human value is to attack the very source of value and being. The absolutist conception of justice was reflected in the medieval theory of the just war. The notion that in war noncombatants must never be made the object of direct attacks is but one instance of the application of the categorical prohibition of murder to the realm of war.
Machiavelli does not make it entirely clear why the preservation of the political order outweighs any other known good, but we may understand his thinking as a response to the rise of the modern, centralized state. In a world of absolute sovereign states, no structure exists to which appeal can be made over the heads of the princes. The state, therefore, becomes the only hope for the survival of any conception of the good life. A transitional figure, Machiavelli reflected the tension between the old and the new ways of thinking about justice. On the one hand, he recognized the good in the traditional sense – that there are certain qualities of character that are worth having for their own sake, and goods that are self-evident in the sense that no argument or further justification is necessary for them. On the other hand, he believed that necessities of state require the sacrifice of some of these principles (in particular, the prohibition against murder) for a greater good. Machiavelli’s thought was brought to completion in the 19th century by philosophers like Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill whose work faced up to the pure consequentialism of much modern politics. In its mature 19th-century formulations, consequentialism was a theory devised, in part, to deal with the perceived disappearance of generally agreed-upon moral standards. The skepticism brought on in some quarters by the rise of empiricism, Darwinism and various forms of atheism led to the search for some standard that would unite radically heterogeneous values. Mill and others fixed upon certain subjective ends, styled variously as «happiness» or «pleasure.» As the aforementioned belief in divine providence continued to decline, the terrible burden of completely securing the future seemed to fall entirely upon human shoulders. In principle, no possible course of action could be ruled out as wrong or impermissible in itself and no sacrifice of known goods could be regarded as too great if it would secure greater happiness in the future. Thus, in the search for a means of maximizing the good, moral rules lost their categorical force. Given the pervasiveness of this moral theory and its impact upon the common person, it is no accident that our own century is replete with political movements that require or threaten the destruction of known values in order to create a future of unlimited happiness. The belief in the mutability of moral obligations is one of the main arguments for terrorism. If there are no absolute human rights, the innocent are in danger. «Calculations» about
67
68
whether or not to kill an innocent person become no more than arguments of advocacy based on hypothetical scenarios of the future. Terrorists the world over have appropriated concepts and military strategies (consider the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and the fire bombing of Dresden) that originated in the West. This fact should not, however, in any way debilitate us in our fight against terrorism. No government, no matter what its own past transgressions, should fail to protect its own citizens. If anything positive can be said about this grim and ironic situation, it is that as victims of terrorism we may be forced to rethink our own policies on the use of force (including nuclear force) in order to bring them into line with our moral denunciations of terrorism. (7456 символов) RELIGION AND THE MODERN WORLD STAGE The 20th century may be remembered as the century in which empires collapsed. The British Empire, on which «the sun never set» 100 years ago, is now a faded memory. The Russian empire, which only 20 years ago was a feared superpower in its Soviet incarnation, imploded with stunning rapidity. The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires collapsed earlier, victims of the First World War. In the ruins of these and the other empires, an abundance of new states has emerged. Some have historical roots and others do not. But they all do face one challenge – to find some rationale for why they should be independent states. As it turns out, this transition from empires to independent states has a disturbing precedent in Western history. Look back at the beginning of the 16th century. Back then, Western Europe was nominally unified because of its allegiance to a single Catholic – or universal – church. And the Holy Roman Empire was a loose political expression of this unity. But this sense of unity began to unravel in the 1520s when Martin Luther challenged church doctrines, thereby beginning the Protestant Reformation. Already shaken by internal rivalries, the Empire’s fate was soon sealed. Religious differences undermined the previous 69
sense of unity – and led to conflicts that undermined the bonds holding the Empire together. What is striking, comparing the decline of empires then and now, is the role of religion in creating that indispensable identity for the new states being formed. In the 16th century, people thought the coexistence of multiple religions in one country would undermine its sense of community. As the French put it, «one king, one faith, one law.» In addition, religion provided a vital theme for nation-building around which people could unite to oppose foreign domination. Thus, Dutch Protestants rebelled against the rule of Spanish Catholics. And just a short distance to the west, Irish Catholics similarly resisted the authority of English Protestants. «In both societies, a religious cause enhanced – and was enhanced by, a sense of national identity,» observes Professor J. H. Elliott. «In both, the affiliation of national leaders to an international religious movement provided new opportunities for securing international assistance.» The potent force of religion in the decline of empires was initially less evident in the 20th century. To be sure, an Irish republic with a strong Catholic identity did gain independence in the early part of the century. And in the late 1940s, when the British empire began to dissolve, a Jewish state (Israel) and an Islamic state (Pakistan) emerged. Nevertheless, the strong identity of religion with national states did not become apparent until the breakup of the Soviet (Russian) empire. And in a fascinating fashion, the disintegration of Yugoslavia demonstrated religious identity with nationality, especially with regard to international support. How so? Well, just consider that it was Germany – the core of the earlier Holy Roman Empire – which urged early recognition of Catholic Croatia. Meanwhile, Greece and Russia exhibited strong sympathies for Orthodox Serbia – and the Islamic world supported Muslim Bosnia. In the wars that resulted from this multi-layered conflict, the Serbian-Bosnian cause was especially vicious, in large part because of the religious overtones. «Only God is with us,» exclaimed Radovan Karadzic, now wanted by the Hague War Crimes Tribunal, «although we are defending Christianity against militant Muslim fundamentalism.» Indeed, Christian-Muslim warfare is another uncomfortable parallel between the present era and the 16th century. Back then, that cen70
tury began with the expulsion of Muslim rule from Spain with the reconquista of 1492. It ended roughly with the Spanish triumph over the Ottoman fleet in the battle of Lepanto in 1571. In our own day, national struggles in the Mideast and South Asia are increasingly acquiring a religious dimension. These overtones make already difficult problems even harder to resolve. Now does this relate to perhaps the greatest religious struggle in the world today – the war against terrorism? Evidently, at its core it is a war between forces of religious tolerance and intolerance. What is even more fascinating is that this present battle has its origin in the effort by the United States to combat the Soviet Union in the Cold War. And it was the United States of all countries which deliberately – and in furtherance of its own strategy and tactical objective – decided to utilize the explosive tool of religious fanaticism in the current era. «Thousands of freedom fighters from more than 40 countries were welcomed, trained and armed by the United States to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan during the 80's,» writes the retired Pakistani General Mirza Aslam Beg in Pakistan’s Nation. And he adds: «Those Muslim fighters now form the core of the global resistance, which turns to places where Muslims are being brutalized.» According to Beg: «This wave of Islamic revival may be termed by any name – clash of civilizations or the new world order. Behind all these movements there is a latent dynamism, which points toward the resurgence of Islam, which is an unmistakable reality the world has to gracefully acknowledge, because the process cannot be reversed.» History does not repeat itself exactly, but there are patterns to human behavior. The national and religious disputes of the 16th century ultimately led to horrible wars before the principle of tolerance was accepted. And that tolerance resulted probably more out of exhaustion than conviction. All of that should give us a moment to pause. If history is repeating itself then the first decades of the 21st century may be very troubled, indeed. Just remember that the 16th century was also an era of globalization, as trade expanded, discoverers explored – and ideas spread rapidly following the introduction of printing presses. The Globalist, August 7, 2002 (5014 символов) 71
INTERNAL CRITICISMS OF RELIGION Internal criticisms of religion have their basis in the imbalance that occurs when one aspect or one understanding of religion is allowed to dominate the rest. Heresies have arisen when one way of understanding has been developed without balancing it with another. In the development of doctrines concerning the nature and person of Christ within Christianity, for example, heresies arose when a particular model (e.g., that of fatherhood and sonship) was believed to be capable of infinite development. The model of the Father-Son relationship was pressed too far, and the Son was subordinated to the Father in a way inconsistent with Christian orthodoxy, thus leading to what became heresy. Sectarianism develops when religious insights are associated exclusively with one particular doctrinal or theological phrase, such as justification by faith, or with one particular theological view regarding religious practices; e.g., baptism. Because religion is at once infinite and mysterious, it is important that religious belief does full justice to a wide variety of approaches. Another criticism of religion has been that it has tended to be overintellectual; and when this trait has been combined with moral laxity and factional rivalries, it has led to protests about the arrogance of intellectualized religion, often leading to the opposite error of supposing that belief does not matter as long as common sentiments are shared. Religious believers have not always recognized that for the most part their belief explicates metaphors, images, and symbols. Though ways of religious reasoning are appropriately informal and variegated, having their origins in a multitude of images and symbols, it nevertheless is considered a religious duty to produce the most reliable overall discourse based on the various images and models. The fundamental difficulty of all religious understanding, however, is to balance intelligibility and mystery. If the intelligibility is neglected, religious belief can become dishonest and religious men can lose integrity; if mystery is neglected, there may be splendid controversy and exercises in logical appraisal, but the heart of religion will have disappeared. The basic difficulty of all religions and of historical religions in particular is to effect a constant rebirth of symbols in changing cultures. In the course of time some of the most powerful images and 72
symbols lose their fertility in promoting ideas that inform a religious community. This might be said of the image of sacrifice in the Christian religion. Religious practices and institutions, though they may have social merits, can all become stereotyped routine, as happens when they fail to preserve a sense of reverence and fail to disclose the givenness of the sacred or holy. Because religious belief is so important and influences all aspects of a society, there is a tendency for religious institutions to become authoritarian and oppressive. If a religious institution becomes interwoven with political views it can become tyrannical. Religion's only compulsion, according to some scholars, must be the compelling power of a vision, as the modern English-American philosopher Alfred North Whitehead expressed it: «The power of God is the worship He inspires.» The authority of any religion is the authority of a vision, the authority of that which, in being disclosed, inspires men and leads them to fulfillment in their lives. For a Christian, the final authority is the love of God in Christ, and love is not love if its power is anything but inspiration. For other religions there is the compelling inspiration of that to which – Nirvana or the Qur'an, the Buddha or Muhammad--point. Internal criticisms of religion usually focus on such themes as narrowness, sectarianism, traditionalism, conventionalism, materialism, and immorality. Some criticism is also reserved for religiosity, which, though granting a dimension of faith, treats faith in an altogether superficial and often unbalanced way. Religiosity represents an excessive preoccupation with religion that is depicted in an incoherent and oversimplified relating of religious faith to intellectual views and social and personal practices. Copyright © 1994–2001 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. (3572 символа)
73
Render from Russian
САНКЦИИ ЗА ДОЛГИ 30 апреля 2003 Премьер-министр Великобритании совершил вчера молниеносный визит в Москву для того, чтобы поговорить о роли ООН в Ираке и о снятии санкций, введенных против этой страны еще в 1990 г. Россия занимает в этом вопросе одну из самых непримиримых позиций среди членов Совета Безопасности. «Где Саддам? Где эти арсеналы, если они вообще были?» – задал российский президент риторический вопрос сразу после встречи и еще раз подтвердил прежнюю позицию: возобновить программу «нефть в обмен на продовольствие» под контролем ООН. Вашингтон, напротив, считает, что санкции необходимо снять без всяких условий, не дожидаясь, пока инспектора сообщат о наличии или отсутствии в стране оружия массового поражения. В США считают также, что помочь Ираку нужно, списав долги, накопленные антинародным режимом. Ранее об этом говорил заместитель министра обороны Пол Волфовиц, а в понедельник американская сторона постаралась усилить свою позицию с помощью иракской общественности. На встрече с главой гражданской администрации в Ираке Джеем Гарнером представители религиозных и общественных организаций Ирака обратились к мировому сообществу с призывом списать внешний долг. Несмотря на нелегитимность гражданской администрации и неясность статуса собравшихся общественных лидеров, на их заявления откликнулось российское правительство. И премьер-министр Михаил Касьянов, и вице-премьер Алексей Кудрин подчеркнули, что вопрос о долге должен решаться в рамках Парижского клуба, членом которого является Россия. Кудрин напомнил, что в мировой практике существуют процедуры цивилизованной реструктуризации задолженностей. Возможность реструктуризации не исключил и премьер, четко продемонстрировав, что России важен не сам долг в полном объеме, а его признание – как шаг к легитимизации положения в Ираке. Это движение к возвращению страны в правовое поле и следует продолжать.
74
Российской стороне стоит увязать вопросы долга и санкций и настаивать на том, что в случае признания долга Россия эффективно поможет американцам и британцам в снятии санкций. Это вполне реалистичная позиция, поскольку шансы Вашингтона добиться списания долга невелики – здесь у него практически нет союзников. Списание противоречит практике Парижского клуба и международных финансовых организаций, ведь Ирак не является неплатежеспособной страной. (1993 символа)
Вопрос: Александр Александрович, американская политика подвергается яростной критике в странах Европейского союза. Крепко достается от ЕС и России. О чем, на взгляд социолога, говорят эти разногласия? Зиновьев: Мой ответ может показаться вам парадоксальным: приведенные вами примеры свидетельствуют о тесном сближении США, России и Западной Европы, крепко спаянных вместе, все более и более набирающим силу процессом глобализации. Возьмем, например, операцию по освобождению заложников в Москве. Я следил за тем, как ее освещали в западных СМИ. Как вы могли видеть, действия Кремля одновременно и одобряют, и порицают. Причем поступают подобным образом зачастую одни и те же люди, в одних и тех же изданиях. Меня, как социолога, это не удивляет, это нормально. Даже в сравнительно небольших человеческих объединениях люди интригуют друг против друга, такова человеческая натура. Идет эволюционный перелом. И все, что происходит сегодня в мире, не является однозначным. Смысл происходящих событий меняется со временем. Даже прошлое является изменчивым. Однако определенные тенденции все-таки выделить можно. Главный вопрос для исследователя – какие силы на планете сегодня играют доминирующую роль? Безусловно, США, представленные администрацией Джорджа Буша. В России таковыми является Кремль, представленный администрацией Владимира Путина. Что касается Западной Европы, то четко выраженной структуры там не просматривается. Но доминируют политические си-
лы, склоняющиеся к линии Джорджа Буша. Англия, Франция и Германия – как бы ни сопротивлялись две последние страны – все равно тяготеют к США. Таким образом, можно сделать вывод, что сегодня происходит интеграция западного мира под эгидой США. И газетная пена не может помешать глобальному процессу американизации Западной Европы, России, да и самих США. Это могучий поток, его ничем не свернешь. Вопрос: А что составляет социальную сущность американизации? Приведет ли усиление того или иного аспекта в США к аналогичному усилению этого же аспекта в России и Западной Европе? Зиновьев: По моим расчетам, социальной сущностью американизированной эволюционной тенденции является ослабление того аспекта, который ранее назывался либеральной демократией, и соответственно тяготение к своеобразному тоталитаризму. И подобное воздействие явным образом прослеживается в самих США, хотя определенные политические силы отчаянно сопротивляются этому. Но посмотрите на голосования в Конгрессе США: какими бы там ни были громкими протесты, все равно Конгресс, по идее являющийся хранителем и мерилом демократии, вынужден совершать определенно недемократические движения. В России очевидным образом происходит усиление этой тоталитарной линии. Власть Кремля усиливается. А то, что образует демократический аспект российской власти, не имеет никаких шансов перехватить инициативу. И в Западной Европе происходит то же самое, но не так явно, как в США и России. Все-таки Западная Европа – колыбель демократии, темпы американизации там более медленные, чем в России. Но все равно дело сведется в итоге к демократическому тоталитаризму. Вопрос: Когда американская элита утверждает, что Европа в отличие от России не понимает новых политических реалий, на самом деле за этим стоит недовольство США темпами американизации Европы? Зиновьев: Совершенно верно. Я немного понимаю сущность европейцев, все-таки по форме и по сути американцы поступают не по-европейски – грубо, прямолинейно, иногда слишком открыто. У западноевропейских правящих кругов нет принципиальных возражений против американской линии, но они предпочли бы мно-
75
76
РОССИЯ АМЕРИКАНИЗИРУЕТСЯ БЫСТРЕЕ, ЧЕМ ЗАПАДНАЯ ЕВРОПА
гое делать по-своему, если можно так выразиться, по-джентельменски. США открыто заявляют, что будут бомбить Ирак, а Западная Европа, соглашаясь в душе, обязательно при этом выскажет свои сожаления и переживания. Вот Кремль, и тут не надо строить иллюзий, прямо идет в фарватере американской политической стратегии. Россия тоже ведет себя не по-европейски. Если Западная Европа поддерживает США с оговорками и извинениями, то Россия притворяется несогласной с американцами, но по существу выступает более решительным союзником США, чем Западная Европа. Washington ProFile / 12.11.2002 (3558 символов) ГОСДУМА РФ ПРИНЯЛА НОВЫЙ ПРОЕКТ ПОСТАНОВЛЕНИЯ ПО ИРАКУ
ром политическому руководству страны предлагалось выступить с инициативой о возможности созыва специальной сессии Генеральной ассамблеи ООН для осуждения вооруженной акции США и их союзников против Ирака. Причем в первом варианте постановления нападение на Ирак характеризовалось как «агрессия США и союзников», что на тот момент не слишком соответствовало нейтральной позиции президента и МИДа, расценивавших войну в Ираке как «нарушение международного права». Тем не менее глава думского комитета по международным делам Дмитрий Рогозин тогда настаивал именно на такой формулировке военных действий в Ираке. 18 апреля комитет внес на рассмотрение палаты новый вариант документа, в котором слово «агрессия» все же заменили на президентскую формулировку «нарушение международного права». РосБизнесКонсалтинг – Новости (1909 символов)
Как сообщает сегодня «Коммерсант-Daily», Государственная дума РФ приняла 18 апреля новый вариант проекта постановления «О ситуации вокруг Республики Ирак». Издание отмечает, что текст заявления не такой резкий, как высказывания депутатов ГД во время разгара военной акции. В частности, из текста исчезло слово «агрессия», но добавились требования к США и их союзникам. Кроме того, в новом проекте постановления комитет учел последствия военных действий США в Ираке, в результате которых были почти полностью разрушены исторические памятники архитектуры в Багдаде. В тексте отмечается: «Сожаление депутатов Госдумы вызывает то, что войска анти-иракской коалиции оказались не способны предотвратить массовое мародерство, разрушение бесценных исторических и культурный памятников мировой цивилизации в Багдаде, Басре и других иракских городах». Особое внимание в проекте депутаты уделили инциденту с расстрелом автомобильной колонны российских дипломатов при выезде из Ирака: «Госдума настаивает на незамедлительном принятии военным и политическим руководством США и Великобритании исчерпывающих мер в связи с данным инцидентом». Депутаты требуют от руководства коалиционных сил представить отчет об инциденте с расстрелом российской колонны. Напомним, 21 марта Госдума приняла в целом первый проект постановления «О ситуации вокруг Республики Ирак», в кото-
США направляют в Ирак собственных экспертов по вооружению в количестве 1 тыс. человек, однако, по словам министра обороны США Дональда Рамсфелда, Пентагон признает, что поиск может оказаться безрезультатным. В связи с этим США намерены объявить о выдаче вознаграждения тем иракцам, которые смогут предоставить инспекторам ценную информацию, передает Sky News. «Мы собираемся найти людей, которые нам покажут, где искать оружие», – заявил Д. Рамсфелд. По словам министра обороны, данная операция – это «не поиск сокровищ, когда можно ходить кругом и надеяться что-нибудь увидеть». Он также отметил, что комиссия ООН не обнаружила никаких улик, и выразил сомнение, что американские эксперты смогут их найти. Между тем стоит отметить, что США оставили без ответа предложение МАГАТЭ о возобновлении инспекций ООН в Ираке. Ранее глава МАГАТЭ Мохаммад аль-Барадеи неоднократно заявлял, что только МАГАТЭ имеет мандат на проведение инспекций и поиск оружия массового поражения. Однако Вашингтон ясно дал понять, что намерен самостоятельно заняться поисками иракского оружия массового поражения и что полномочия МАГАТЭ и ЮНМОВИК в послевоенном Ираке будут сильно ограничены.
77
78
США ПРИЗНАЛИ, ЧТО НЕ МОГУТ НАЙТИ ХИМОРУЖИЕ В ИРАКЕ
Напомним, что утверждение США о том, что Ирак имеет запрещенное оружие и тем самым угрожает американской безопасности, стало главным поводом для начала военной операции против режима Саддама Хусейна. Однако до сих пор Вашингтону не удалось найти веских доказательств того, что Ирак располагал запасами оружия массового уничтожения. (1332 символа) ABU DHABI TV: НЕ ИСКЛЮЧЕНО, ЧТО С. ХУСЕЙН ЖИВ Американские телеканалы демонстрируют запись арабской компании Abu Dhabi, изображающую Саддама Хусейна и его сына Кусея. На заднем плане видны толпы иракцев, приветствующие своего лидера словами «Нашей кровью и нашими душами мы спасем тебя, о Саддам!». Запись была сделана 9 апреля. В этот день танки коалиции вошли в центр Багдада, и американское командование официально объявило о том, что сопротивление в столице Ирака сломлено. Представитель Abu Dhabi TV сообщил CNN, что пленка была получена от иракского источника в Багдаде, впервые она была продемонстрирована сегодня. Представители арабского телеканала сообщили, что сделана она в том районе Багдада, куда не дошли американские танки. Напомним, в ночь на 8 апреля американо-британская авиация нанесла бомбовые удары по зданию в пригороде Аль-Мансур, где, по данным разведки, находился Саддам Хусейн с сыновьями. Официальные представители США и Великобритании не подтверждали и не опровергали информацию о гибели С. Хусейна, в то же время неофициальные источники американского командования сообщали о том, что президент Ирака погиб. Как известно, с 8 апреля не демонстрировалась ни одна телевизионная запись с изображением С. Хусейна. Не исключено, что С. Хусейн воспользовался ударами по своему бункеру, чтобы исчезнуть. Ведь не пойман до сих пор Бен Ладен, не исключено, что не поймают и С. Хусейна. Только периодически будут всплывать видеопленки, на которых он будет призывать к джихаду против американцев. (1259 символов) 79
МЕЖДУ США И ООН ВОЗНИКАЕТ НОВЫЙ КОНФЛИКТ Между Соединёнными Штатами и Организацией Объединённых Наций возникает новый конфликт по иракской проблеме. Поводом стало предложение президента США Джорджа Буша отменить экономические санкции в отношении Ирака в связи с тем, что страна полностью освобождена. По мнению американской администрации, средства, полученные от продажи иракской нефти, должны быть направлены на восстановление экономики. В кругах ООН предложения Вашингтона были восприняты как весьма спорные. Представители ряда стран опасаются, что тем самым США пытаются существенно ограничить роль ООН в послевоенном восстановлении Ирака. Россия поставила вопрос об отмене эмбарго в зависимость от выполнения резолюции ООН номер 1441 о разоружении Ирака. До тех пор, пока не станет ясно, имеется ли в Ираке оружие массового поражения, санкции должны оставаться в силе, заявил глава российского МИДа Игорь Иванов. По его словам, в вопросе отмены санкций не должно быть автоматизма. Сначала должны быть выполнены условия резолюций ООН по Ираку, считает министр. Президент Франции Жак Ширак подчеркнул, что принятие решений о санкциях является прерогативой ООН. Именно эта организация должна определить условия отмены санкций. Премьер-министр Греции, председательствующей в Европейском союзе, Костас Симитис высказался за отмену санкций лишь после того, как ситуация в Ираке станет стабильной. Санкции в отношении Багдада ООН ввела в 1990 году в ответ на иракскую агрессию против Кувейта. В целях предотвращения катастрофических последствий эмбарго для населения Ирака в 1996 году Совет безопасности ООН разработал программу «Нефть в обмен на продовольствие», в рамках которой Багдад мог продавать часть добываемой в стране нефти и на вырученные средства приобретать медикаменты и продукты питания. 18.04.2003 Немецкая волна (1583 символа)
80
СТРАНЫ БЛИЖНЕГО ВОСТОКА БЕСПОКОЯТСЯ ЗА ИРАКСКУЮ НЕФТЬ
ГЛОБАЛИЗАЦИЯ И ПРОБЛЕМА ВЫЖИВАНИЯ РОССИИ
Эксплуатация природных ресурсов Ирака, в частности добыча нефти, оккупационными силами недопустима. Об этом в субботу на совместном заседании в ОАЭ заявили министры иностранных дел Саудовской Аравии, Кувейта, Сирии, Турции, Ирана, Иордании, Египта и Бахрейна. Как передает CNN, по мнению глав дипломатических ведомств этих стран, санкции ООН на экспорт иракской нефти должны быть сохранены в полном объеме до утверждения нового правительства страны. Министр иностранных дел Саудовской Аравии принц Сауд аль-Фейсал ибн абдель Азиз аль-Сауд заявил, что восстановление послевоенного Ирака должно координироваться подразделениями ООН, а не американо-британскими оккупационными силами. «Иракский народ должен сам решать свою судьбу и быть хозяином своих природных богатств», – заключил глава аравийского внешнеполитического ведомства. Кроме того, министры заявили, что американские и британские «оккупационные войска» должны как можно скорее покинуть Ирак, а центральная роль в создании нового иракского правительства должна принадлежать ООН. Министры также призвали коалиционные силы полностью соблюдать обязательства, вытекающие из международных законов, и обеспечить безопасность и стабильность в Ираке, защитить права иракского народа и его культурное наследие, передает АР. «Американские войска – оккупационные войска, – заявил министр иностранных дел Саудовской Аравии Сауд аль-Фейсал. – Даже американцы и британцы так говорят. Они полностью не выполняют своих обязательств по Женевским конвенциям». В совместной декларации также подчеркивается необходимость дать иракцам использовать свое право на самоопределение и необходимость сохранения территориальной целостности Ирака. В документе осуждаются угрозы США в отношении Сирии. (1557 символов)
На саммите в Шанхае Владимир Путин высказывался по поводу глобализации. Из его слов можно было ясно, что проблему он понимает в целом правильно. Он призвал не бояться глобализации, называя ее объективным экономическим процессом, хотя и не лишенным недостатков. «Это я говорю как гражданин страны, которая особенно пострадала от изоляции. Изоляция губительная для экономики», – сказал президент. А раз бояться нечего, то Россия выступает за дальнейшую интеграцию и либерализацию мировой экономики, снятие барьеров на пути торговли и инвестиций. Однако, подчеркнул Путин, наиболее развитые страны должны понять, что им невыгодно создавать базу бедности и нищеты в других странах, потому что это основа для терроризма и коррупции. «Итеграционные процессы и процессы глобализации должны развиваться так, чтобы неравномерность в распределении их выгод и издержек не становились источником новых опасностей». «Мы за совершенствование многосторонней торговой системы. Но против того, чтобы государства становились заложниками своих обязательств, принятых под давлением извне». Россия «за серьезные меры по ликвидации «цифрового разрыва». Но нас не меньше беспокоит другой разрыв – между реальной и «виртуальной» экономикой, чреватый новыми потрясениями». «Мы за либерализацию экономических режимов. Но против того, чтобы отмирание целых отраслей национальной промышленности в развивающихся странах и на так называемых «развивающихся рынках» разрушало социальный баланс, приводя к росту социально-экономических и политических напряжений в отдельных частях мира». Вряд ли кто-нибудь будет спорить с тем, что основные вызовы, с которыми приходится и придется в будущем сталкиваться современной России, связаны с процессом глобализации. Об этом особенно активно заговорили лишь в последнее время, но некоторые ученые считают глобализацию основным содержанием истории развития человечества в течение последних 500 лет. По их мнению, это явление включает в себя несколько аспектов: ментальный или культурно-идеологический, территориальный, экономический, информационно-коммуникационный, этнический, а
81
82
также организационный (имеется в виду целенаправленная деятельность Мирового правительства). Недавно президент Путин произнес знаменательную фразу: «У России есть только одна альтернатива – либо она будет сильной, либо ее не будет вообще». Десять лет интеграции в мировое сообщество обернулись для нас годами деградации и развала. Похоже, сейчас об этом начинают открыто говорить даже в Кремле. Прозрели. Но о полном прозрении или выздоровлении можно будет говорить только тогда, когда некие «непонятные темные силы», на происки которых все время многозначительно ссылаются, будут названы поименно, а враги будут названы врагами, а не «партнерами» и «коллегами». Павел Зимин (по материалам Института проблем глобализации) (2391 символов) ОСНОВНОЕ ПРОТИВОРЕЧИЕ ГЛОБАЛИЗАЦИИ (ЧАСТЬ 1) Глобализация – процесс формирования в мировом масштабе единого финансово-информационного пространства на основе новых, преимущественно компьютерных технологий. Увеличение роли технологий превращает финансы из главного источника рыночной силы в ее следствие. Деньги теряют значение, а конкурентоспособность все больше определяется технологиями, передача и использование которых намного сложнее передачи и использования денег. Главный барьер – образование и благосостояние: необразованный не сможет использовать технологии, даже если получит их (купит или украдет), а бедное общество не сохранит достаточное для пользования ими количество образованных людей. Это создает объективный, технологически обусловленный разрыв между развитыми и развивающимися странами, который нельзя преодолеть в современных условиях. Данный разрыв углубляется кардинальным изменением ключевых ресурсов развития: это уже не пространство с закрепленным на нем производством, но в первую очередь мобильные финансы и интеллект. Соответственно эффективное освоение территории – уже не оздоровление находящегося на ней общества, но, напротив, изъятие (обычно через кризис) его финансов и интеллекта. При этом прогресс более развитого общества идет за счет 83
деградации осваиваемого, и масштабы деградации, как всегда при развитии за счет разрушения, превосходят выигрыш более развитого общества. Таким образом, глобализация качественно изменила сотрудничество между развитыми и развивающимися странами: созидательное освоение вторых первыми при помощи прямых инвестиций уступает место разрушительному освоению при помощи изъятия финансов и интеллекта. Осмысление этого перехода породило понятие «конченых стран», утративших не только важнейшие – интеллектуальные – ресурсы, но и способность их производить. При этом единство рынка обеспечивает всеобщность и небывалую остроту конкуренции, объективно усиливающей сильных (в первую очередь США) и ослабляющей слабых. Углубляя технологически обусловленную пропасть между развитыми и развивающимися странами («золотым миллиардом» и остальным человечеством), конкуренция из механизма воспитания и развития слабых обществ превратилась в механизм их уничтожения. Это затруднило все развитие человечества: как показал доклад, подготовленный специалистами ООН к Саммиту тысячелетия 2000 года, в 90-е годы, с началом глобализации, рост богатства впервые перестал автоматически вести к решению фундаментальных проблем человечества (бедность, неграмотность, болезни, неравноправие женщин, эксплуатация детей и т. д.). Таким образом, технологический прогресс, усиливая на этапе глобализации рыночную конкуренцию до невыносимого для основной массы человечества уровня, подрывает его развитие и делает его невосприимчивым к собственным достижениям. Тем самым он ограничивает себя только развитыми странами, причем обострение конкуренции в перспективе ведет к сужению круга этих стран, а ограниченность рынков сбыта дорогой высокотехнологичной продукции, производимой относительно благополучными странами, уже сейчас начинает тормозить технологический прогресс. Михаил Делягин / 01.10.2001 (2697 символов)
84
ОСНОВНОЕ ПРОТИВОРЕЧИЕ ГЛОБАЛИЗАЦИИ (ЧАСТЬ 2) Основным противоречием глобализации является торможение прогресса или прямое ухудшение условий существования основной (и при том увеличивающейся) массы человечества за счет ускорения развития и роста благосостояния его абсолютного (и при том неуклонно сокращающегося) меньшинства. Это противоречие – главная характеристика современного человечества, через призму которого следует рассматривать все существенные для развития последнего события, в том числе, разумеется, и теракт 11 сентября. Население развивающихся стран, отставание которых от развитых стремительно нарастает, враждебно этим странам и их ценностям еще и потому, что сознает принципиальную недоступность этих ценностей для себя. Эмоциональное понимание того, что террор не имеет оправдания, часто не позволяет осознать, что он имеет причину. Спецслужбы владеют тысячами способов борьбы с террористами, но есть лишь один способ победить их: искоренить причину террора. Потрясение и искренняя солидарность с народом США (никто не может понять его лучше россиян, в сентябре 1999 г. и в августе 2000 испытавших подобный шок, остро переживающих реальную угрозу стать жертвой теракта и сейчас) не должны заслонять тот самоочевидный факт, что фундаментальной причиной террористических актов стала политика самих США. Они строят свое благополучие на последовательной и эффективной дестабилизации остального мира (не только развивающихся, но, как показала подорвавшая экономику Европы террористическая агрессия против Югославии в 1999 году, и развитых стран), привлекая капиталы созданием и поддержанием ситуации, когда проблемы остального мира качественно превосходят проблемы американского общества. США высокомерно игнорируют интересы других народов и, попирая все божеские и человеческие законы, всеми силами углубляют ту самую пропасть между развитым и развивающимся миром, из которой и вырвался дьявол террора. «Кто сеет ветер – пожнет бурю»: мы помним, что Бен Ладен воспитывался как оружие именно против нашей страны. Как это ни чудовищно звучит, 85
человечеству повезло со временем терракта: во время открыто террористической агрессии НАТО против Югославии он мог вновь разделить мир на два лагеря. Самое трагичное – что самоубийственная в своем разрушительном эгоизме стратегия обеспечения процветания США за счет «экспорта нестабильности» продиктована не злым умыслом или групповым помешательством, но объективной реальностью и потому не может быть изменена внешним воздействием на США. Ведь она является всего лишь объективно обусловленной формой реализации основного противоречия глобализации. Поэтому, хотя в краткосрочном плане относительная безопасность мира обеспечена энергичным давлением на потенциальных террористов, а в среднесрочном – сотрудничеством до смерти напуганных спецслужб, в долгосрочной перспективе глобальная нестабильность будет продолжать нарастать. Человечеству просто сказочно повезет, если через 5 лет или более оно отделается новыми тысячами жертв. Михаил Делягин / 01.10.2001 (2563 символов)
86
V. SUMMARIZING (ABSTRACTING) AS AN INDEPENDENT WORK Summarizing (or abstracting) can be also viewed as an independent work besides being a part of the process of rendering. As summarizing can be helpful in many other spheres of life outside the classroom, here are some more clues on how to summarize effectively. How to summarize effectively 1. Accuracy when Summarizing
It is crucial to accurately describe the main points of the work being summarized. As with paraphrasing, you should not distort the source material's original meaning. Before you can accurately summarize a source's ideas, you must understand them, of course. Misunderstanding an author's sarcasm, for example, when you read the original source, could lead you to believe he or she is promoting a certain idea, when they are actually opposing it. Once you are confident of a source's meaning, when you write your summary of the source pay close attention to the precise meaning of the words you use to ensure accuracy. Also, do not introduce any ideas that were not expressed in the original source into your summary. You must be sure not to leave out any crucial ideas from the source material, even if those ideas contradict your own opinions. Example of Accurate vs. Inaccurate Summarizing
that is where they can let it all hang out.» That's the time to remember it's probably not about you. Your teen is going through emotional changes that are often frightening. «Teens feel isolated. They are no longer kids and not quite adults. They don't know where to fit in,» says [Dr.] McGinnis. This can make for some chaotic moments. The challenge for parents, jokes McGinnis, is to «try to maintain your self-esteem while being totally devalued by your children.» He recommends being deaf during heated moments. In other words, don't be pulled into a fight. That doesn't mean giving in, but rather saying you'll discuss the situation at a different time. Excerpted from Lynn Utzman-Nichols, «Surviving the Teen Years» Accurate summary In her article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» Lynn UtzmanNichols, a frequent contributor to Fort Collins-Greely-Loveland Parent Magazine, discusses how parents can cope with the «emotional rollercoaster» their adolescent children ride through their teen years. While hormones do contribute to some of the changes parents see, Utzman-Nichols feels that worries about their place in society are a larger factor in causing stress for teenagers-stress, she says, that they sometimes relieve by taking out their anger and fears on their parents. She advises parents to not take their children's' emotional outbursts personally. Also, parents should not react to their children's anger right away. Instead, they should postpone discussing the problem until a calmer moment.
Original Source Parents often say their kids turn into emotional yo-yos once adolescence sets in. «My friend claims her daughter had PMS for three years until she finally had her period. Then everything fell into a rhythm and life was fine,» says Sue Hammerton, a nurse who works at Centennial High School and teaches classes on puberty for Poudre Valley Hospital. Part of the emotional rollercoaster is caused by hormones, Hammerton says, but much of it is caused by trying to manage busy, complicated social lives. «Kids, especially pre-teens, constantly worry about whether they fit in or not. They think they are at the center of the universe and everyone is watching them,» says Hammerton. «When they feel insecure, they might throw dirt on their home life, because
Inaccurate summary Lynn Utzman-Nichols, in her article, «Surviving the Teen Years» argues that parents should simply ignore their children's emotional outbursts during adolescence. Parents need to recognize that their children are not really concerned with their parents' opinions anymore, but only care about «fitting in» to their peer group. Home becomes a convenient dumping ground for their fears and worries, she says. This summary is inaccurate in several ways. Utzman-Nichols did not recommend «simply ignoring» a teenager's outbursts. Rather, she suggested waiting. Also, while she does say teenagers are very concerned with their peer group, she never says they don't care about their parents' opinions anymore.
87
88
2. Objectivity
When you summarize from a source, you must be careful to report the ideas of the source objectively. This means you should not inject your opinion of the source material into your description of the source's ideas. Your attitude towards the source material, whether negative or positive, shouldn't be readily apparent to your reader when he or she reads the summary. Of course, you may and should! express your opinion of the source's ideas in the frame surrounding the summary as a way of tying the source material into your focus. Objective vs. Subjective Summary Subjective Summary In her clearly written article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» Lynn Utzman-Nichols, a frequent contributor to Fort Collins-Greely-Loveland Parent Magazine, discusses how parents can cope with the «emotional rollercoaster» their adolescent children ride through their teen years. While hormones do contribute to some of the changes parents see, Utzman-Nichols feels, rightly so, that worries about their place in society are a larger factor in causing stress for teenagers-stress, she says, that they sometimes relieve by taking out their anger and fears on their parents. She wisely advises parents to not take their children's' emotional outbursts personally. Also, parents should not react to their children's anger right away. Instead, they should postpone discussing the problem until a calmer moment. We can tell right away how this writer feels towards UtzmanNichols' article. Adjectives such as «clearly» and «wisely,» as well as parenthetical comments such as «rightly so» paint a clear picture of this writer's approval for the ideas and style of the source material. While you may certainly express your opinion of the source material in the frame surrounding the summary, you should avoid being biased in the summary itself. Too many subjective comments will make your reader/listener wonder if you were able to read the source material with a critical eye, and also they may wonder if the summary is slanted to fit your opinions. Notice how in the revised summary below, we can't tell the writer's opinion towards the source material. This writer has succeeded in being objective. 89
Objective Summary In her article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» Lynn UtzmanNichols, a frequent contributor to Fort Collins-Greely-Loveland Parent Magazine, discusses how parents can cope with the «emotional rollercoaster" their adolescent children ride through their teen years. While hormones do contribute to some of the changes parents see, Utzman-Nichols feels that worries about their place in society are a larger factor in causing stress for teenagers-stress, she says, that they sometimes relieve by taking out their anger and fears on their parents. She advises parents to not take their children's' emotional outbursts personally. Also, parents should not react to their children's anger right away. Instead, they should postpone discussing the problem until a calmer moment. 3. Focus on Main Ideas
A summary, unlike paraphrasing, should not focus on specifics. Rather it focuses on the main ideas of the source material only. An effective summary avoids giving a play-by-play account, and instead recaps the overall arguments of the material. Example of Summary that doesn't Focus on Main Points Only In her article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» Lynn UtzmanNichols proposes ways for parents to cope with the «emotional rollercoaster" their adolescent children ride through their teen years. While physical changes do cause some of the changes parents see, a nurse Utzman-Nichols interviewed states that teenagers' lack of security about their place in society and their tendency to see themselves as «the center of the universe,» are larger factors in their outbursts at home. Teenagers often show their emotions most openly at home because that's where they feel they can be the most unguarded. These emotions also come about because adolescents are caught between two worlds – that of the child and the adult. They feel like they don't belong in either place; that they are alone. Parents should be aware, UtzmanNichols says, that they are not really the cause of the emotions, just an easy target to throw them at. It is hard for parents to not feel put down at such times, but they should strive to not get caught up in responding 90
to the child's emotion. Instead, parents should put off talking with the child about the issue until everyone is calmer. While this summary is accurate, it includes some points that do not really help the reader understand the main ideas of the source material. For instance, the observation that teenagers see themselves as «the centre of the universe» is not a main idea, but simply one reason why teenagers are so insecure, (which is a main idea). Also, the fact it was a nurse that the author interviewed does not tell us what the author's ideas were. And do we really need to know why adolescents are often emotionally out of control at home in order to understand what to do about it? The following summary is much more effective in sticking to main ideas and eliminating unnecessary detail. As Lynn Utzman-Nichols argues in her article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» parents can cope with the moodswings of their adolescent children by understanding the emotional causes for the changes and keeping their cool even while their teenagers lose theirs. Although hormones do contribute to some of the changes parents see, UtzmanNichols feels that worries about their place in society are a larger factor in causing stress for teenagers. Parents should understand that the reason their children sometimes lash out at them is because they are frightened and unsure of themselves. She urges them not to take their teenager's anger personally, but to remain calm and postpone talking about the source of the anger until a calmer moment arrives. Here the main ideas of this passage are covered succinctly and completely – teenagers have emotional outbursts because they are frightened and insecure and parents should keep their cool about the outbursts. 4. Excluding Details and Examples from Summaries
One trap students often fall into when summarizing is feeling the need to include all the details from the original source material. They often list the examples the author gave to support their points, rather than just restating the main ideas of the source. An effective summary avoids including the evidence, examples or descriptive details given in the summarized work or passage.
91
Example of Summary with Too Many Details and Examples Included In her article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» Lynn UtzmanNichols proposes ways for parents to cope with the «emotional rollercoaster» their adolescent children ride through their teen years. Physical changes such as the onset of menstruation do cause some of the changes parents see. For example, a nurse Utzman-Nichols interviewed recalled how a friend's daughter seemed to have «PMS for three years.» However, this same nurse said that teenagers' lack of security about their place in society and their tendency to see themselves as «the center of the universe,» are larger factors in their outbursts at home. Teenagers often show their emotions most openly at home because that's where they feel they can be the most unguarded. UtzmanNichols also interviewed a doctor who said that these emotions come about because adolescents are caught between two worlds--that of the child and the adult. They feel like they don't belong in either place, that they are alone. Parents should be aware, Utzman-Nichols says, that they are not really the cause of the emotions, just an easy target to throw them at. It is hard for parents to not feel put down at such times, but they should strive to not get caught up in responding to the child's emotion. Instead, the doctor she interviewed advised parents to become «deaf» during arguments, and tell their children they'll talk about the problem at a later, calmer moment. In this summary, the writer has repeated many of the examples given in the original source. For example, we are given the detail of the girl who had «PMS for three years» and we hear that Utzman-Nichols interviewed a nurse and a doctor for her article. Also, this writer has included the same example of a physical change, menstruation, that the author originally offered. It is inappropriate to include these kind of details in a summary as it doesn't tell us so much what the author's main ideas were, but rather how she backed up her points. It may cause your reader to lose the focus of your paper instead of thinking about ways to cope with teenagers' emotions (your subject), they might start thinking about other types of physical changes, or wondering which specific doctor the author interviewed.
92
If though, that if we cross out the underlined sections, as shown below, the summary becomes much more focused on ideas, while still giving us an accurate picture of what the author was arguing for. In her article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» Lynn UtzmanNichols proposes ways for parents to cope with the «emotional rollercoaster» their adolescent children ride through their teen years. Physical changes such as the onset of menstruation do cause some of the changes parents see. For example, a nurse Utzman-Nichols interviewed recalled how a friend's daughter seemed to have «PMS for three years.» However, this same nurse said that teenagers' lack of security about their place in society and their tendency to see themselves as «the center of the universe,» are larger factors in their outbursts at home. Teenagers often show their emotions most openly at home because that's where they feel they can be the most unguarded. UtzmanNichols also interviewed a doctor who said that These emotions come about because adolescents are caught between two worlds--that of the child and the adult. They feel like they don't belong in either place; that they are alone. Parents should be aware, Utzman-Nichols says, that they are not really the cause of the emotions, just an easy target to throw them at. It is hard for parents to not feel put down at such times, but they should strive to not get caught up in responding to the child's emotion. Instead, the doctor she interviewed advised parents to become «deaf» during arguments, and tell their children they'll talk about the problem at a later, calmer moment. 5. Concise Summaries
While a paraphrase may often be as long or even longer than the passage being paraphrased, an effective summary should be more concise than the original source material. In order to be more concise, focus on main points only, avoid including the examples or descriptive details given in the original source, make direct statements, and avoid repetition. Example of Too Lengthy Summarizing In her article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» Lynn UtzmanNichols proposes ways for parents to cope with the «emotional rollercoaster» their adolescent children ride through their teen years. 93
While physical changes do cause some of the changes parents see, a nurse Utzman-Nichols interviewed states that teenagers' lack of security about their place in society and their tendency to see themselves as «the center of the universe,» are larger factors in their outbursts at home. Teenagers often show their emotions most openly at home because that's where they feel they can be the most unguarded. These emotions also come about because adolescents are caught between two worlds – that of the child and the adult. They feel like they don't belong in either place; that they are alone. Parents should be aware, UtzmanNichols says, that they are not really the cause of the emotions, just an easy target to throw them at. It is hard for parents to not feel put down at such times, but they should strive to not get caught up in responding to the child's emotion. Instead, parents should put off talking with the child about the issue until everyone is calmer. Notice how this summary is very repetitious. It mentions in three different ways that adolescents are not sure of their place in the world. Repetition of ideas is often used in original source material to clarify a statement or give examples, but it should be avoided in a summary. Also, this summary includes details such as the fact it was a nurse the author interviewed and why children feel more free to be emotionally out of control at home, neither of which is a main point of the passage. Both the repetition and the extraneous details make this summary too lengthy. In fact, it is close to the same length as the original passage. A summary should always be more concise than the original source material. The following summary is a good example of a concise restatement of the passage's ideas. As Lynn Utzman-Nichols argues in her article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» parents can cope with the moodswings of their adolescent children by understanding the emotional causes for the changes and keeping their cool even while their teenagers lose theirs. Although hormones do contribute to some of the changes parents see, UtzmanNichols feels that worries about their place in society are a larger factor in causing stress for teenagers. Parents should understand that the reason their children sometimes lash out at them is because they are frightened and unsure of themselves. She urges them not to take their teenager's anger personally, but to remain calm and postpone talking about the source of the anger until a calmer moment arrives. 94
This summary could be condensed even more: As Lynn Utzman-Nichols argues in her article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» parents can cope with the moodswings of their adolescent children by understanding that the main reason their children sometimes lash out at them is because they are frightened and unsure of their place in society. Thus parents should not take their teenager's anger personally, but remain calm and postpone talking about the source of the anger until a calmer moment arrives. This summary still covers the passage's main ideas: why adolescents have emotional outbursts and what parents can do about them. Notice though, how it has been condensed down to just two sentences by making the first sentence of the summary specific about what the emotional causes are, and by not restating the idea of «keeping their cool» (i. e. «remaining calm) two different times and ways. 6. A successful summary:
As Lynn Utzman-Nichols argues in her article, «Surviving the Teen Years,» parents can cope with the extreme moodswings of their adolescent children by understanding that the main reason their children sometimes lash out is because they are frightened and unsure of their place in society. Thus parents should not take their teenager's anger personally, but remain calm and postpone talking about the source of the anger until a calmer moment arrives. All the elements of an effective summary are here. The summary covers only the passage's main ideas: why adolescents have emotional outbursts and what parents can do about them. Notice that it is also objective (we can't tell the writer's attitude towards Utzman-Nichols' ideas), very concise (only 2 sentences), and does not include specific details or examples (like the fact that the author quoted a doctor and a nurse).
VI. READING FOR MEANING After you've read an essay or an article once, use the following set of questions to guide your re-readings of the text. The question on the left-hand side will help you describe and analyze the text; the question on the right hand side will help focus your response(s). DESCRIPTION
RESPONSE
I. Purpose Describe the author's overall purpose (to inquire, to convince, to persuade, to negotiate or other purpose)
Is the overall purpose clear or muddled?
How did the essay or text actually affect you: did the author's purpose succeed?
How does the author want to affect or change the reader? Was the author's actual purpose different from the stated purpose?
II. Audience/Reader Who is the intended audience?
Are you part of the intended audience?
What assumptions does the author make about the reader's knowledge or beliefs?
Does the author talk to or talk down to the reader?
From what context or point of view is the author writing? III. Thesis and Main Ideas What question or problem does the author address?
95
96
Where is the thesis stated?
What is the author's thesis
Are the main ideas actually related to the thesis?
What main ideas are related to the thesis?
Do key passages convey a message different from the thesis?
What are the key moments or key passages in the text?
What assumptions (about the subject or about culture) does the author make? Are there problems or contradictions in the essay? What bothers or disturbs you about the essay?
Are sentences and vocabulary easy, average or difficult?
Did the sentences and vocabulary support or distract from the purpose or meaning?
What words, phrases, or images recur throughout the text?
Did recurring works or images relate to or support the purpose or meaning?
Remember that not all these questions will be relevant to any given article or text, but one or two of them may suggest a direction or give a focus to your overall response. When one of these questions suggests a focus for your response to the article, go back to the text to gather evidence to support your response.
Where do you agree or disagree? IV. Organization and Evidence Where does the author preview the essay's organization?
Where did you clearly get the author's signals about the essay's organization?
How does the author signal new sections of the essay?
Where were you confused about the organization?
What kinds of evidence does the author use (personal experience, descriptions, statistics, other authorities, analytical reasoning, or other).
What evidence was most or least effective?
Where did the author rely on assertions rather than on evidence? V. Language and Style What is the author's tone (casual, humorous, ironic, angry, preachy, distant, academic, or other)?
97
Did the tone support or distract from the author's purpose or meaning?
98
VII. ANSWERS TO EXERCISES II Skills A) Identifying the topic, main idea(s), and supporting details
Ex. 1 You should have underlined the first sentence in the paragraph – this is the stated main idea. What can be concluded from the information is: If you do not follow the rules, you will automatically fail the test. This concluding information is found in the last sentence. Ex. 2 I. The Main Idea Sentence: There are three main benefits from exercise: weight loss, muscle tone, and cardiovascular improvement. A. Supporting Detail #1: weight loss B. Supporting Detail #2: muscle tone C. Supporting Detail #3: cardiovascular improvement II. Concluding Sentence: All of these benefits are the result of exercise, so start an exercise program today! Ex. 3 1) The main idea of this article is that paparazzi, who overstep the limits and violate the privacy of celebrities, are no better than criminals. 2) The main idea of the article is that a recent research has again proved the importance of sleep for our brain activity, while surveys show that most people do not use sleep properly. 3) Jay Gardner tries to build relationship with the Iraqi leaders, because Americans want to prevent the creation of a fundamentalist government in Iraq.
4 Next 5 as it were 6 Lastly 7 In summary or in sum (more formal). (In conclusion would not be suitable here, since it just means ‘this is the end of the text’, whereas this sentence provides a summing up of the arguments in the text.) Ex.2: 1 this will not be discussed 2 as an aside / secondary issue 3 change the topic 4 to finish off 5 this document is about another one 6 read something earlier in the text Addition Ex. 1: 1 Further to 2 In addition to 3 etc./ and so on 4 in addition to / as well as / apart from / besides 5 Further more / Moreover / Likewise
E. Linking Ideas
Organizing a formal text Ex.1: 1 First of all / Firstly 2 in other words 3 For example / For instance 99
100
VIII. SOURCES 1. Лебедева М.С., Фролова Г.М. Язык средств массовой информации Великобритании и США: Уч. пос. 2–3 курс. М.: МГЛУ, 2001. 2. Cuesta College, Reading Comprehension, http://academic.cuesta.edu/acasupp/as/308.HTM 3. Encarta, http://www.encarta.com 4. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1994–2001 on CD-Rom 5. McCarthy M., O’Dell F. English Vocabulary in Use, Up-Int. and Adv., Cambridge University Press. 2000. 6. McCarthy M., O’Dell F. English Vocabulary in Use Adv., Cambridge University Press. 2002. 7. Ethel Tiersky, Maxine Chernoff. In the News Herald International Tribune. Mastering reading and language skills with the newspaper, National Texbook Company, Illinois, USA. 1997. 8. Inside Out SB Int. Macmillan Publishers Limited. 2001. 9. Public Citizen, http://www.citizen.org/trade/wto/ 10. Reading Room, http://elearn.mtsac.edu/amla/readingroom/details.htm 11. Smalzer, William R. Write to be read: reading, reflection and writing, Cambridge University Press, NY. 1998. 12. The Atlantic Monthly, http://www.theatlantic.com 13. The Globalist, http://www.theglobalist.com 14. The Moscow Times, http://www.themoscowtimes.com 15. The University of Texas Learning Centre, http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/handouts/1241a.html 16. Writing@CSU: Writing Guide, http://writing.colostate.edu/index.cfm
101
Оглавление I. What is rendering? .................................................................................... 3 II. Skills .......................................................................................................... 5 A. Identifying the topic, main idea(s), and supporting details ................... 5 B. Summarizing ....................................................................................... 11 C. Identifying the author’s opinion .......................................................... 21 D. Giving your own grounded opinion .................................................... 25 E. Linking ideas ....................................................................................... 33 III. Vocabulary support .............................................................................. 42 IV. Practice exercises .................................................................................. 44 V. Summarizing (abstracting) as an independent work........................... 87 VI. Reading for meaning............................................................................. 96 VII. Answers to exercises ............................................................................ 99 VIII. Sources .............................................................................................. 101
102
Софья Михайловна Богатова Наталья Юрьевна Цыганкова
RENDERING Учебно-методическое пособие по обучению реферированию (для студентов 4–5 курсов факультета иностранных языков и специальности «Регионоведение» исторического факультета)
Технический редактор Н.В. Москвичёва Редактор Л.Ф. Платоненко Подписано в печать 05.10.04. Формат бумаги 60х84 1/16. Печ. л. 6,4. Уч.-изд. л. 6,5. Тираж 70 экз. Заказ 523. Издательство Омского государственного университета 644077, г. Омск-77, пр. Мира, 55а, госуниверситет
103
104