Living in front of the cameras

1 O ay the words ‘reality TV’ and the show Othat comes into most people’s minds is Big Brother. Love it or hate it, the programme is a global phenomenon: there have been versions in more than seventy countries! The basic format is simple: put a group of strangers into a house, record everything they do and watch how they manage to live together.

2 Actually the idea wasn’t original. A similar show, The Real World, was broadcast in 1992 on MTV. But the format really became popular with the success of Big Brother, and it has been copied again and again, including celebrity versions. In similar shows, contestants have been sent to the jungle or put on a desert island. In Wife Swap

a mother goes to live with a family of strangers and tries to run their home; in Young, Dumb and Living off Mum a group of spoilt teenagers with no life skills learn to live together and look after themselves.

3 So what makes these shows so addictive? Inevitably, living with strangers is stressful and personality problems are common. Contestants often have to share tasks and chores and this also brings conflict. ‘It’s all about relationships,’ says TV critic Jo Barnett. ‘Some characters are pleasant, and some are unpleasant but they are all real people. If you aren’t interested in reality TV, you aren’t interested in people.’

4 But is it healthy to be this interested in other people’s private lives? And what kind of people want to appear in front of TV cameras twenty- four hours a day? Not everyone approves of such shows, including the first ever winner of Big Brother, Bart Spring. ‘I’m not a fan of the programme or of people becoming famous for being stupid. If I helped to create this mindless monster, then I’m not proud of it,’ he says.

Find the missing word (or phrase) in the text to match the definitions.

1 organize (paragraph 2)

2 badly behaved because they have been given too much (paragraph 2)

3 disagreement (paragraph 3)

4 not nice (paragraph 3)

5 thinks something is good (paragraph 4)

6 stupid, without any real reason (paragraph 4)

Discuss the questions.

• Do you think reality TV reflects real life?

• Do you agree that contestants 'become famous for being stupid'?

• Would you ever appear on a reality TV show? Why? Why not?

In pairs, choose a statement below. List the arguments for and against. Then think of examples and reasons to explain your argument.

• Young people should live away from their parents before they get married.

• It's a good idea for children to share a bedroom.

• Teenagers should not be allowed to watch TV after 10p.m.

Decide what to put in the introduction and how to sum up.

Choose one topic from ex. 5 and write an essay (200-250 words).

UNIT 3. SPARE TIME

LESSON 1

READING

Think of a festival you know or have heard about. How much do you know about it?

a) What is the name of the festival? d) What do you know about its history?

b) When does it take place? e) How do people celebrate?

c) How long does it go on for? f) How does the festival end?

Read this article about a big Spanish festival and find answers to the questions above.

LAS FALLAS

It’s March, and I’m in Valencia, Spain’s third largest city, with my new friend, Jose. It’s one o’clock in the morning. All around us, fireworks are going off and the streets are full of noisy people. ‘Welcome to I.as Fallas.’ Jose smiles. ‘You’re going to see that Valencians really know how to put on a 5 good pany!’ Seven hours later, I understood what he meant.

Las Fallas, Valencia’s famous festival, takes place even' March and goes on for a week. It takes a whole year to organise, and everybody joins in the preparations. The city is alive and buzzing all week, but, like all good parties, it is at night when people really get down to some serious celebrating.

The tradition of Las Fallas began in the eighteenth century. At that time, craftsmen used wooden candelabra to light up their workshops. To celebrate the end of winter, they burnt their candelabra on bonfires, and had a party, later they made the candelabra into lifelike statues, and then dressed them up to look like well-known but unpopular local characters.

Nowadays the lifelike statues are made of cardboard. Some of them are over thirty metres high and are worth 200,000 euros, but they all go up in flames before the end of the festival.

l'he Valencians like their guests to enjoy themselves, but after only one hour’s sleep it’s difficult to keep up with them. Nobody’s allowed to sleep 20 during Las Fallas! A brass band passes through the streets in the morning and wakes everybody up.

For many of the locals, the highlight of the festival is the flower parade.

A procession of 200,000 girls and boys, wearing traditional dress, march into the city centre, bringing flowers to decorate the statue of the Virgin Mary.

The festival reaches its climax on 19'*' March, a public holidayand St Joseph’s Day. This is the night when the cardboard statues arc burnt. Everybody looks forward to midnight. Firecrackers go off every second or two, and midnight passes in a shower of explosions. The last statue burns down, and the part)' is over. Well, almost ... the bars fill up and people cart)’ 30 on eating and drinking until the eariy hours of the morning. I have no idea how they keep it up! So I say goodbye to Jose, as he heads for the next bar.

It will take me weeks to get over it, but I’ve had the time of my life.

VOCABULARY

3. Complete this description of Las Fallas with the words in the box.\

bonfires festival firecrackers fireworks parade procession statues traditional dress

Las Fallas takes place in March and goes on for a week. The main feature of the (1)____________festival is the enormous lifelike (2)______________which are burnt in huge (3)___________________on the last day. The incredibly loud (4)______________that go off every lunchtime in the city centre make Las Fallas the noisiest festival in the world. There is also a spectacular display of (5)_______________in the park at midnight. One of the highlights of the festival is the (6)__________________of girls and boys in (7)___________________. They (8)__________________through the city centre, bringing flowers for the Virgin Mary.