Choose the correct alternative to answer the following questions
1. Which of the following is something that Mrs Smallburn did not win in competitions?
A house.
The house where the family live.
Money and goods to the value of £3,000.
Five cars.
2. How does Mrs Smallburn earn аliving?
She works as a geography teacher.
She enters and wins competitions.
She runs a service giving advice on how to win competitions.
She has her own business and she makes money from competitions.
Mrs Smallburn used to
win more than she does now.
enter more competitions than she does now.
be better at winning competitions than she is now.
be known as the 'Queen of Competitions'.
Mrs Smallburn does not
want to buy a fax machine.
want to win a fax machine.
look forward to the postman coming.
try to win things her family want.
5. What is Mrs Smallburn's attitude to entering competitions?
She is obsessed with it.
She is very keen on it.
She is disappointed with the things she wins.
She thinks it is a strange way to earn a living.
6. The writer of the text thinks Mrs Smallburn's 'extreme enthusiasm' is the result-of
the excellent prizes she has won.
the feeling she gets from winning.
Not being free to buy what she wants.
an obsession.
The article is intended to
shock the reader.
annoy the reader.
entertain the reader.
make the reader feel sad.
Текст 17
Reporting the News. The Reporter’s Job.
There are dozens, often hundreds of different newspapers in every country. Daily papers - weekly papers - national papers - local papers - evening papers - Sunday papers -free papers. How do they all decide what to print? Or - to put it another way...
What is News?
Several factors make a good newspaper story. First - obviously - it must be NEW. But since TV can react to events so quickly, this is often a problem for newspapers. They usually respond to it in one of three ways.
• By providing extra detail, comment* or background information л
• By finding a new angle" on the day's major stories.
• By printing completely different stories which TV doesn't broadcast. OK - so a story needs to be new. What else? Well - it also has to be DRAMATIC. People don't want to read about ordinary, everyday life. Because of this, many stories involve some kind of CONFLICT or DANGER. This is one reason why so much news seems to be bad news. 'Plane lands safely - no-one hurt' doesn't sell news papers. 'Plane crashes - 200 feared dead!' does.
Next, there's HUMAN INTEREST. People are interested in other people -particularly in the rich, famous and powerful. Stories about the private lives of pop stars, TV personalities, actors, politicians and royalty, for example, all appear regularly in certain newspapers.
Finally, for many editors, FAMILIARITY is an important factor, too. They prefer stories about people, places and events which their readers know. That's why the stories in Tokyo's newspapers are often very different from the stories printed in Paris, Cairo, New York or Buenos Aires.
So…that's a quick introduction to 'news' itself. The next question is... how do papers find it? Well - there are two basic ways. One is from their own reporters. The other is from international news agencies.
The Reporter's Job
There are two kinds of reporter - general and specialist. General reporters cover a wide range of news stories, including... • accidents • conferences • crimes • festivals • local politics • strikes • wedding:
Most journalists are general reporters. Most - but not all. Some prefer to focus on one subject and only write about that. For example... • the arts • the environment • finance • foreign affairs • the law • the media • politics • sport.
But whether a journalist is 'general' or 'specialist', the basic process of reporting is the same.
1 . Researching the story
Who? What? Where? Why? When? How? That's what a reporter has to find out, and that's why research is so important. Journalists spend a lot of time... • reading files" • visiting libraries • checking facts • making telephone calls. Sometimes they do this alone - sometimes as part of a team. It's not very glamorous, but it is necessary.
2 . Building the story
After the research stage it's time to make visits (most journalists travel a lot) and interview the people involved in the story. In some cases this only takes a few hours - but it can take weeks or even months. It depends on the size of the story. Interviews are usually recorded either... (a) by making shorthand" notes, or (b) on a pocket cassette recorder.
3 . Writing the story
Journalists always have to complete stories by a specific time or 'deadline'. This means that they need to write (usually on a word processor) very quickly. Each story also has to be a specific length (for example 300/500/750 words) with a first paragraph or 'intro'" which contains the key facts.
The ability to do all these things... • work quickly • write a specific number of words • arrange facts in order of importance ...is what makes journalism a very difficult, skilful job.
Текст 18
Soap Operas and Reality
The soap opera depends so much on human interaction that we may use the term to describe our own conflicts. ("Gee, my father isn't speaking to me, my sister is getting an abortion, and I’m flunking out of school. My life is really like a soap opera!") In reality, few lives are as troubled and confused as those on the soaps. As with much of TV, our lives are dull by comparison.
Soap opera characters are carefully created for the mass audience. They are usually good or evil, positive or negative, with well-defined personalities. They are usually young (25-35), well dressed, and financially comfortable. Leading men are doctors, and lawyers. Leading women are attractive and well manicured. Indoor sets are unusually large and boast wall-to-wall carpeting, plush drapes, and built in wet bars. Soap opera characters tend to be very sophisticated and do a lot of eating, drinking, and arguing.
Regular viewers can name all the characters in a given soap and describe their history in detail. The casual observer gets lost in the plot, which has more twists and turns than a mountain highway.
Let's see... John's son is getting married today to the woman who used to be his father's wife, who was recently divorced from the doctor who delivered his illegitimate daughter. That illegitimate daughter is really Bill's mother, Nell, whose father was a doctor where Bill was in medical school. We know that Bill never graduated but came to town and set up practice anyway. Things were going great until he and Nell got divorced, but then she found out she was his mother and...
Unlike prime-time shows, soaps are often shot only a day or two before they are aired. This five-show-a-week schedule takes its toll on cast and crew. It really keeps the cast on their toes. One advantage to the schedule is that the soap script may incorporate recent news events, while prime-time shows, shot as much as six months in advance, cannot.
Here are some American students' comments on soap operas. Do you agree or disagree with them?
1. Soap operas are time consuming and non-productive. There is very little to be learned from watching them. Their quality of production has improved over the years, but it is still inferior to most other television.
2. Soap operas have very little if any redeemable qualities. They, the soap operas, focus on a small segment of the population. They are used as an escape by middle class America who attempt to live vicariously through the actors and characters.
3. Soap operas are addictive like a drug. One has to watch every day. It makes one's mind waste away.
4. What goes on in soap operas is very similar to what goes on in life, only soap operas make it look glamourous.
5. They do not challenge people or teach them anything, but some people don 4 want anything more.
Текст 19
Journalism: the most exciting career in the world
Man has always wanted to know what goes on in the world that surrounds him. How did people manage before the days of newspapers? The Incas in South America had a fascinating system, which was the forerunner of the media today. The information was given to a 'runner', who learnt к by heart. He then ran 20 kilometres and relayed the message to another runner who in turn memorised it and relayed it to the next runner. That happened every 20 kilometres. A message travelled in this way over 2,400 kilometres in ten days. Those were the earliest 'journalists'. Other early journalists used smoke signals, tom-toms and pigeons. The first newspapers as we know them were not published until the seventeenth century.
How do modern-day journalists get their information? Journalists may collect information by doing their own research. For example, if a journalist wants to write an article about our school, they may come and interview students, teachers or the principal. They will then write the article using the information they have collected. This can be good fun but there is a much easier and quicker way for journalists to obtain information: they can use news agencies. These are companies which supply information to newspapers, radio and television. Agencies have correspondents all around the world who collect information on site and send it to a central 'bank'. It is then up to the individual journalists to write their articles using this information. This leads us to one of the most important aspects of journalism: objectivity.
Objectivity means presenting things as they are, not as the journalist wants them to be. An objective journalist reports the facts. If a journalist who has written an article about our class says that there are 32 in it and that we are aged between 14 and 15, they are reporting facts and being objective. But if they say we are charming, good-looking or horrible students then they have let their own opinions influence their writing and have lost their objectivity. It is very difficult not to express a point of view when we write. That is why it is important for the news to be given by different newspapers: reading the different points of view will help us to make up our own minds.
Journalism is one of the most exciting occupations. People in this professionmeet many people and learn a lot about the world. Foreign correspondents travel a lot and learn about other cultures. To become a journalist in our country, you have to study for four years at university. You also have to be good at writing and speak a foreign language. It's much harder work than it looks but I think it is worth it.
Ответьте на вопросы:
a What did the runner learn by heart?
b What did one runner relay to another?
с Who were the earliest journalists?
d What do we call companies that supply information to the media? e What information do journalists use to write their articles?
f Who is aged between 14 and 15?
g In what profession do people learn a lot about the world?
Закончите предложения, используя информацию, данную в тексте.
a We can learn about events all around the world by reading newspapers, watching television or listening to the radio.
b The earliest 'journalists' were from …
с Other ways used to spread information were…
d Two ways journalists can collect their information are …
e When you are objective you …
f One way we can make up our minds about information we receive is to…
TEST
WHAT KIND OF VIEWER ARE YOU?
Everyone has a different way of using television. Here are some types of television viewers.
The absent-minded
This type of viewer leaves the TV on all day. In the meantime, he eats, phones, reads or does his homework. For him television is really just background noise for his day.
The addict
He won't give up TV for anything in the world. He watches the programmes in silence, with great concentration. Even during commercials, he won't leave the screen for fear of losing a second of the programme. He usually chooses the programmes he wants to watch very carefully.
The bored
He puts the TV on when he's got nothing better to do. For him TV is the last resort. He only watches it when it’s raining or when he is ill.
Choose the answer you like best:
1. You look up the programmes before you put the TV on.
a. Rarely
b. Sometimes
c. Often
2. If there isn’t a programme which interests you, you don’t switch on the TV.
a. Rarely
b. Sometimes
c. Often
3. You’ve got favourite programmes which you can’t miss.
a. None
b. Some
c. A lot
4. You like talking to friends about television programmes.
a. Rarely
b. Sometimes
Often
Majority of A answers.
For you watching TV is a way of escaping from reality. Be careful not to isolate yourself from others or give up more interesting things.
Majority of B answers.
Television isn’t very important for you. But if you stay at home you watch whatever is on that night. So, be careful not to be too superficial in your choices.
Majority of C answers.
You’ve got an active relationship with TV. You have a good critical sense and know how to choose programmes. Be careful not to give TV too much importance and don’t let it influence your language and way of life too much.