Контрольная работа № 9 «Система социального обеспечения»
I. READING COMPREHENSION
Here are some notes from Adrian Mole’s diary.
Answer the question: “Why did Adrian get a family pack of Mars bars one day?”
Monday June 1st
My father had a letter that made his face go white: he has been made redundant from his job! He will be on the dole! How can we live on the pittance that the government will give us? The dog will have to go! It costs thirty-five pence a day for dog food, I am a single-parent child whose father is on the dole! Social Security will be buying my shoes!
Wednesday September 9th
My father can easily spare a hundred pounds. His redundancy payment must have been huge, so why he is lying on his bed moaning (стонать, охать) I don’t know. He is just a mean skinflint! He hasn’t paid with real money anyway! He used his American Express card.
Wednesday March 3d
I had to lend my father enough money for a gallon of petrol, he had an interview for a job. My mother cut his hair and gave him a shave and told him what to say and how to behave. It is pathetic to see how unemployment has reduced my father to childish dependence on others. He is waiting to hear from Manpower Services.
Friday March 5th
He got it! He starts on Monday… He is in charge of a gang of school-leavers. To celebrate he bought my mother sixty Benson and Hedges and himself sixty Prayer’s. I got a family pack of Mars bars.
Everybody is dead happy for once. Even the dog has cheered up a bit. Grandma is knitting my father a woolly hat for work.
II. What does Adrian mean by saying the following?
1. He (Adrian’s father) is just a mean skinflint!
a) He is greedy b) He is lazy 2. How can we live on the pittance that the
government will give us?
a) How can we live on that small amount of money
the government will give us?
b) How can we live if the government
doesn’t feel pity for us?
3. Social Security will be buying my shoes!
a) The unemployment get money from the Social
Security and spend it on whatever they like, shoes included.
b) There are social workers who are in charge of buying shoes
for children whose parents are unemployed.
4. … Unemployment has reduced my father to childish dependence on others.
a) Adrian’s father began to behave like a child when he was made redundant from his job.
b) Adrian’s father is unemployed and that’s why he depends a lot on other people like children usually do.
III. Which of the following statements have evidence and which have no evidence in the story?
1. Adrian’s father got a redundancy notice.
2. Adrian’s father will have to queue in the breadline.
3. Adrian’s family are going to get rid of the dog.
4. Adrian’s father unemployment benefit must have been huge.
5. Adrian’s father had to turn to Manpower Services for a job.
6. His future work will obviously be hard and boring.
7. Father will have to work with a gang of school-leavers.
IV. On the basis of Adrian’s notes one can make some generalizations about the state of things for the unemployed in Great Britain.
Which of these generalizations are valid (имеющие обоснование) and which are not?
1. People who are made redundant from their jobs are entitled to the dole.
2. The unemployed can hardly live on the pittance they get from the government.
3. The organization, which is in charge of the unemployed, is called Social Security.
4. Manpower Services is the organization that helps the unemployed to get a new job.
5. Unemployment reduces grown-up people to childish dependence on others.
V. USE OF ENGLISH (GRAMMAR/VOCABULARY)
Benefits for the jobless vary widely from country to country.
For questions 1-7, read the statements. Choose the construction or preposition, which you think fits best each space
1. Many unemployed people want something interesting and well-paid, _____ (as they say) “there is life after work”.
a) that’ why b) because c) though
2. _____ the lowest rate of unemployment in Europe the British Labour government promised to transform the welfare system.
a) In spite b) In spite of c) Because
3. _____ here are 3 million unemployed in France, almost all of them believe “they are entitled not just to a job, but to the right kind of a job”.
a) Although b) Because c) Thanks to
4. In France for some unemployed people any part-time job at minimum wage simply isn’t worth having, _____ the pay for this kind of work is almost the same as the welfare.
a) because of b) that’s why c) because
5. Many people are sure that “six months of joblessness is a career killer” and seek a job, _____ some other unemployed people don’t want to find a job and be paid minimum wage.
a) while b) because c) that’s why
6. German taxpayers pay tens of billions of euro to finance a lot of benefits _____ their ineffectiveness.
a) despite b) because c) due to
7. _____ a married man with two children in Germany gets about 2,800 euro if he’s on the dole, an employed man with an entry-level job in a hotel or restaurant takes home only 1,800 euro.
a) that’s why b) because c) because of
VI. Read the text below.
Use the words from the brackets to form new words that fit in the same numbered blanks in the text. Fill in each space with the new word
In the USA Social Security is limited mainly to the provision of pensions and Medicare for the (1) _____ (RETIRE) and elderly. Social Security system is financed through a tax which is paid by employees and their employers during the years of (2) _____ (EMPLOY). The self-employed, who also pay into the system, are (3) _____ (PROVISION) with benefits as well. When (4) _____ (WORK) retire at the age of 65, they are entitled to pensions.
To those who retire at the age of 62 or 64, (5) _____ (REDUCE) pensions are available. (6) _____ (PENSION) are also paid to non-working widows and widowers. Children under 18 and (7) _____ (DEPEND) parents can claim their benefits, too. Unemployment (8) _____ (INSURE) is financed through taxes paid by the employer.
VII. CULTURAL AWARENESS
For statements 1-7, decide which of them are TRUE and which of them are FALSE. Tick the necessary box
1. In Britain, the exceptions to free medical care are _____.
a) eyes b) teeth c) teeth and eyes
2. In Britain, an unemployment benefit is known colloquially as _____.
a) a giro b) the welfare c) the dole
3. Britain has a system of ensuring the welfare of its citizens by means of social services, which is called _____.
a) a Security State b) an Insurance State c) a Welfare State
4. In Britain, “child benefit” is available to each child until he/she leaves school or longer if the child is continuous in education up to _____.
a) 19 b) 16 c) 18
5. In Britain, at the national level the Government is responsible for _____.
a) the National Health Service and National Insurance
b) the National Health Service and Social Security
c) the National Health Service, National Insurance and Social Security
6. In Britain, private medical insurance scheme is called _____.
a) Medicaid b)BUPA c) Medicare