Study the following words and expressions

1. to make decisions -принимать решения

2. to adapt -привыкнуть

3. to be confident -быть уверенным

4. the rent -арендная плата

5. to provide -обеспечивать

6. to treat -обращаться с кем-л.

7. infant -ребёнок

8. urgent -острый, наболевший

9. to face -сталкиваться

10. to lure -соблазнять, искушать

11. to solve the problem -решать проблему

12. to cope with -справляться с чем-л.

Text 1

2.Read and translate the text:

YOUNG PEOPLE’S PROBLEMS

Everybody says your youth is probably the best time of your life as being young means romance, love, new discoveries and so on. But it is also the most difficult time because you have to make some very important decisions which will influence all your future life.

Things are not easy nowadays even for adults, but for teenagers who have to find their own place in society it is very difficult. It’s necessary not only to adapt to your society but also to be confident about your position in five, ten or twenty years time.

For your future it is essential to have a good job. Every boy and girl leaving the secondary school should choose an institution of higher education. In planning your future you have to think about the possibility of finding a job after graduation from your institution.

When you are studying you need money for your living expenses(food, clothes), to pay the rent if you live away from home. Money is usually the big problem for the young people. Your parents usually provide you with home, food and necessary clothes, but you have your own tastes and your parents can’t pay for them. To pay for extra things such as clothes, tapes, CDs, books, something connected with your hobby you have to work It is very difficult for a teenagers to find a job without any qualification.

Emotional problems of young people can be more difficult than financial ones. The typical teenager problem is that “nobody understands me’. The parents often continue to treat their teenage children as if they were infant, when they probably consider themselves to be grown up. So the problem of misunderstanding becomes urgent. Some people call it generation gap. Parents as well as children should be patient and tactful to solve the family problems and try to understand each other. Leo Tolstoy said: “All families are happy in the similar way and unhappy in its own way”. And happiness or unhappiness of any family mostly depends on relations in it.

The teenagers also face the problem how to spend their free time. They do it in different ways. Some teenagers attend different night clubs, other young people spend their free time in the streets where they can be lured to take alcohol or even drugs. Drugs becomes now the social problem. Once you try them you won’t stop and become dependent on drugs.

Youth if also time to meet you first love. It is wonderful but it is known that the first love is usually unhappy and some teenagers, especially girls, can’t cope with their depression themselves. Sometimes they need the psychological help.

So as you see it is very difficult to be young nowadays. But you can be young only once and some wonderful things can happen only when you are young. So enjoy your youth!

Use of English

3.1. Find in the text the English equivalents:

· принимать важные решения

· найти своё место в обществе

· выбрать ВУЗ

· жизненные расходы

· обращаться как с ребёнком

· проблема непонимания

· все счастливые семьи счастливы одинаково

· подвергаться искушению выпить или принять наркотики

· попасть в зависимость от наркотиков

· наслаждайтесь молодостью

3.2. Enumerate the teenager’s problems grading from the most till the least important ones.

parents

4.Read the text 2 and answer the questions:

1. Who is a teenager?

2. What do you think: are you in a teenage-group?

3. Do you have any ‘special’ problems of your age?

4. Do you think problems of the young people are different in different countries?

Text 2

Teenagers: What Problems?

Itravel quite а lot for my work and often meet young people. Recently I was in Belarus and talking to children and young people in schools and pedagogical insti­tutes and one question that always comes up is: "Are teenagers a problem in your country?"

Actually there are two questions. The sec­ond one is: "Do teenagers have problems in your country?"both these questions set me thinking why the two words “teenagers” and “problems” are so closely connected. Why, for instance, should teenagers have more problems than middle-aged people or babies? And why do they have the prerogative on having problems? Let's see if we can find answers and the best way to do that is to ask questions.

What is a teenager?

Officially, of course, a teenager is anyone aged from thirteen to nineteen inclusive but most people would probably think first of the younger age group and exclude 18 and 19-year-olds. After all, once you reach eighteen you can vote, get married without your parents permission and join the army, so it seems logi­cal that you are considered as an adult rather than a child. At the other end of the scale, chil­dren are growing up and developing more quickly and these days 11 and 12-year-olds would like to include themselves in the teenager' group. In actual fact they have their own group title now — 'Pre-teens' or some­times 'Between-agers'.

Without thinking about actual ages, perhaps we really mean by 'teenagers' people who are in the stage of their life when they are developing from children into adults.

Are teenagers a problem?

Parents and grandparents always seem to have the premise that teenagers are a special category when we define the human race. According to 'the older genera­tion' teenagers are lazy, they wear ridiculous clothes and are extremely rude to their betters and elders; they find it impossible to be polite, helpful, constructive, caring or hard-working. What's more, they spend all their time listening to awful music ("It isn't music, it's just a col­lection of horrendous noises!") and gawping at unsuitable films. And all they ever think about is parties, drugs and sex. Well, that's how the story goes! But is it anywhere near the truth?

Actually, it seems to me to be quite the opposite of the truth. Teenagers spend a lot of time thinking about their work (studies), their families and friends and their hobbies. Sure, there are certain preoccupations such as clothes, money, how to behave in a certain sit­uation, their bodies.

But isn't it the same for most people? So what about the myth that all teenagers are rude, selfish, lazy and greedy? As far as I'm concerned, it's nonsense. The vast majority of young people I meet are polite, friendly, open, interested and hard-working.

Do teenagers have problems?

Teenagers are human, so of course they have problems. And the problems aren't very differ­ent from anyone else's.

What's going to happen at work/school tomorrow?

Why does Dad like my sister better than me?

Am I too fat / skinny / tall / short etc.?

Does my boyfriend / girlfriend really like me?

How can I afford to buy ................ ?

Am I stupid?

There isn't anyone alive in the world who hasn't posed these questions. We usually do it when we turn out the light and lie down in bed at night and the answers aren't very satis­factory!

It's true, of course, that sometimes teenagers have special problems. It is a difficult time because it is a period of transformation. It isn't quite as bad as a chrysalis changing into a but­terfly. It isn't easy to grow up and the physical and emotional changes are often confusing and worrying. But it's my impression that most young people cope rather well.

4.1.Try to understand the text with the help of the following words and expressions:

betters and elders = older people who are (or should be!) wiser

caring - заботливый

what's more - более того

horrendous = terrible, extremely bad

to gawp at = to look at something in a foolish way, esp. with the mouth open

drugs -наркотики

preoccupations = things that you think about more than anything else

to behave - вести себя

rude [ru:d]- грубый

selfish - эгоистичный

greedy - жадный

as far as I'm concerned = in my opinion

nonsense - чепуха, ерунда

skinny - тощий

to afford - позволять себе, иметь возможность

to pose - ставить (вопрос)

chrysalis - куколка (насекомых)

impression - впечатление

to cope - справляться

to come up - возникать (о вопросе, проблеме и т.п.)

set me thinking = made me begin to think about it

prerogative - прерогатива, исключительное право

inclusive - включительно

to exclude - исключать

to vote - голосовать

permission - разрешение

at the other end of the scale - с другой стороны

in actual fact – в действительности

premise - предпосылка, данное, логическая посылка

to define - определять, давать точное определение

ridiculous - нелепый, смешной