English for Psychology

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ENGLISH FOR PSYCHOLOGY

RAMONA BRAN ANDREEA PELE

TIMISOARA 2015

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CONTENTS

UNIT 1: English as Lingua Franca

Adjective list · Matching · Lexical cloze · Reading comprehension · Open cloze ·

Error correction

UNIT 2: Words We Use About Ourselves and Others. Stereotypes

Adjectives · Rearrange the words (x2) · Adjective check-list · Lexical cloze

UNIT 3: Political Correctness

Nouns (job titles) · Matching · Summarize · Comment on · List of terms · Writing

(Paragraph)

UNIT 4: Gender Roles and Relationships

Discussion · Dialogue · Reading comprehension · Vocabulary (expressions with man)

· Writing · Lexical cloze · Reading comprehension · Grammar focus (Present tenses)

UNIT 5: Religious Symbols

Discussion · Lexical cloze (x2) · Reading comprehension (multiple choice) · Find a

title · Synonym list · Word formation · Discussion

UNIT 6: Legal Aliens

Discussion · Lexical cloze · Matching · Open cloze · Reading comprehension

UNIT 7: Discrimination

Discussion · Matching · Writing (Report) · Making a presentation

UNIT 8: Human Rights

Agree or disagree · Reading comprehension · Gapped text · Matching · Synonyms ·

Unscramble the text · Writing (Formal letter)

UNIT 9: 1984 & 1989

Presentation · Matching · Discussion · Reading · Finish the sentences · Matching

·Discourse cloze · Reading comprehension · Writing (How have things changed since

1989?) · Discussion

UNIT 10: On Freedom

Comment on · Matching · Open cloze · Reading comprehension · Discussion

UNIT 11: Quoting, Reporting, and Interpreting. Linking Words.

Gapped text · Collocations · Linking words (List and Practice)

UNIT 12: The True Value of Age

Proverbs · Matching · Discourse cloze · Reading comprehension · Discussion

UNIT 13: Disorders

Matching · Skim Read · Lexical cloze · Grammar focus (Modal Verbs) · Reading

comprehension

UNIT 14: I Choose not to Place ‘Dis’ in My Ability

Definitions · Brainstorming · Open cloze · Summarize · Matching · Idiomatic

expressions (body parts) · Writing (Letter of complaint)

UNIT 15: Memory/Memories

Rearrange the words · Gapped text (multiple choice) · Reading · Synonyms ·

Discussion

UNIT 16: Fears and Phobias

Definitions · Discussion · Matching · Lexical cloze · Creative writing

UNIT 17: Human Relationships

Definitions · Matching · Prefixes · Word formation · Discussion

UNIT 18: Money, Money, Money (part 1)

Discussion · Brainstorming · Lexical cloze · Discourse cloze · T/F · Rearrange the

words · Matching · Idiomatic expressions

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Discussion · Matching · Discourse cloze · Reading comprehension

UNIT 20: Consumerism: One Choice Too Many

Discussion · Synonym match · Lexical cloze ·Writing (Advertisement) · Word

formation · Discussion · Summarize

UNIT 21: Happiness

Lexical cloze · Prediction (T/F) · Discourse cloze · Synonyms · Reading

comprehension · Writing (Opinion essay)

UNIT 22: The Scope of Psychology and Its Faces

Error correction (extra word) · Open cloze · Discussion · Matching · Discourse cloze

· Reading comprehension

UNIT 23: Dreams Are Not About What They Are About

Definitions · Idiomatic expressions (sleep/dreams) · Synonyms · Matching · T/F ·

Word formation · Translation (Ro - En)

UNIT 24: Talking About Addictions

Brainstorming · Matching · Open cloze · Translate · Questions (Interview) · Reading

· Discussion

UNIT 25: Life Through a Lens

Lexical cloze · Discourse cloze · Reading comprehension · Find the word ·

Collocations · Word formation

UNIT 26: You Have A Brain. Use It!

Discussion · Matching (x2) · Quiz · Definition · Writing (Argumentative essay)

UNIT 27: Silent Speech

Skim read · Reading comprehension (multiple choice) · Idiomatic expressions ·

Discussion · Lexical cloze · Word formation

UNIT 28: Punctuation; Prefixes and Suffixes

Error correction (spelling and punctuation) · Word formation · Grammar focus

(Prefixes and suffixes) · Word formation

Bibliography

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UNIT 1: English as Lingua Franca

1. My English: Students recount their histories of learning English, from what age, teachers,

books, media, feelings etc.

2. Adjective Brainstorm: Ask students for adjectives describing their opinion / feelings

regarding the English language. In pairs, students talk about the adjectives.

3. My Language: Students tell each other about their language and their feelings for it.

4. Phrase Match: Students match the following phrases based on the article (sometimes

more than one combination is possible):

(a) Report Primary

(b) Redundant global, general

(c) to shun Study

(d) to escalate Alarm

(e) to slide 1,000,000,000

(f) Billion to fall, to decrease

(g) Whopping not necessary, useless

(h) wake-up call enormous, gigantic

(i) Elementary to avoid

(j) Worldwide to grow, rise, go up

5. Reinsert the missing words into the gaps.

English – Official Lingua Franca?1

BNE: Is English the world’s Lingua Franca? A report from the British

Council __________ yesterday estimated that by 2015 two billion

people will start learning English around the world, and three billion

people – __________ the planet – will be speaking it. However, report

editor, David Graddoll, said that English will not become the new

Esperanto and __________ global language learning as Arabic,

Chinese and Spanish are set to rise in importance. He said the

__________ is towards “linguistic globalization” and multi-

lingualism, not bilingualism, and definitely not monolingualism.

French, on the other hand, once considered a lingua franca, will see its

status as a world language continue to __________ .

dominate

trend

announced

slide

half

Although English will escalate in __________ , English language

teachers will likely be out of a __________ by 2050, when so many

people will be able to speak English, that teaching it will become

almost __________ . Demand for English teaching will drop by a

whopping 75%, from two billion to 500 million. Instead English will be

taught worldwide at elementary level, and many universities across the

world will choose to teach in English. This suggests a wake-up call for

traditionally __________ and monolingual Britons, who __________

to shun language learning because of their “everyone speaks English”

mentality. Brits will be left behind in a future poly-lingual world.

popularity

tend

redundant

lazy

job

1 Lesson adapted from http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/0412/10.futureOfEnglish.html

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2. USING YOUR OWN WORDS, answer the following questions based on the text:

How many people will probably speak English in the near future?

Why will English not become a lingua franca?

What is the situation of the French language?

Why will universities around the world probably teach in English?

In your opinion, will the British truly be left behind in a poly-lingual world?

3. Fill in the blanks from the text “Let's face it, English is a crazy language!”

There is no egg in eggplant, or ham in hamburger; ………… apple nor pine in pineapple.

English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are

candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.

We ………… English for granted. But if we explore ……. paradoxes, we find that quicksand

can work ………., boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither ……….. Guinea nor is

it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't

ham? … the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth? One goose, 2

geese.So one moose, 2 meese?

If a vegetarian eats vegetables, ……… does a humanitarian eat? If you wrote a letter, perhaps

you bote your tongue?

Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally

insane. In ……… language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and

send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell? Park on driveways and drive on

parkways?

…………. can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, ……..a wise man and wise guy

are opposites? How can “overlook” and “oversee” be …………, while “quite a lot” and

“quite a few” are alike?

You have to marvel …….. the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn

…… as it burns down, in which you fill …… a form by filling it out and in which an alarm

clock goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human

race (which, of course, isn't a race at ………). That is why, when the stars are out, they are

visible, ………. when the lights are out, they are invisible. And why, when I wind up my

watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it...

4. Bad English. Correct the mistakes in the following ads/notices from around the

world:

a) In a Tokyo hotel: Is forbidden to steal towels. If you are not a person to do such thing

is please not to read this notis.

b) Outside a Hong Kong tailor’s shop: Ladies may have a fit upstairs.

c) In a Bangkok dry cleaner’s: Drop your trousers here for best results.

d) In a Rome laundry: Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a

good time.

e) Ad for donkey rides in Thailand: Would you like a ride on your own ass?

f) In an Acapulco hotel: The manager has personally passed all the water served here.

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UNIT 2: Words we use about ourselves and others. Stereotypes.

1. Write down 5 adjectives that describe you.

2. Rearrange the words in the suitable order and you will get the definition of the

stereotype:

The stereotype is, an oversimplification, behaviour, of some observed, or appearance, or

imagined trait of, commonly held, a fixed, based on, notion or image, of a person or group

3. Complete the following sentences with your own stereotypes and explain your choice:

a. The Italians are ………………………………………….

b. The Americans are ……………………………………...

c. The Germans are ……………………………………...

d. The English are ……………………………………...

e. The Chinese are ……………………………………...

f. The Swedes are ……………………………………...

4. Self-stereotyping: What are you own views on the qualities and the defects of

Romanians?

Hospitable

Friendly

Hardworking

Intelligent

Polite

Honest

Tolerant

Talkative

Patriotic

Generous

Disciplined

Independent

Selfish

Tractable

Aggressive

Dishonest

Thieves

Lazy

Superficial

Passive

Jealous

Cowardly

Narrow-minded

Gullible

5. Complete the text with the following words: tomboy, distort, conform, adventurous,

diversity, confirm, landmarks, illusion, creativity, attitudes, propagate, convictions.

Certain mechanisms help (1) _____________ stereotypes. Sometimes, people (2) ________

the image of reality so that they do not have to change their own (3) ______________. For

instance, if we see a little girl clambering up a tree we prefer to think she is a (4)

____________, an exception, and that in general girls are less (5) ______________ than

boys. We (6) ______________ to stereotypes ourselves, we employ them like points of

reference that guide our behaviour and (7) ______________. Following what the stereotypes

dictate, we (8) ____________ them, which helps maintain the (9) _______________ that

they are based on reality. Stereotypes act like (10) ______________ of our daily life,

allowing us to structure our perception of the world. Despite this useful aspect, the fact is that

stereotypes restrict our perception of human (11) _______________. What is more, since

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they rigidly prescribe what people are supposed to be like, they stunt our development and

(12) ______________.

6. Rearrange the words in their correct order to form the sentences.

a) Scholars, a projection, fears, stereotypes, are, on others, of an individual’s, argue that

b) Racism, do not, from having, but from refusing, and xenophobia, prejudices, stem, to

reject them, and stereotypes

c) Prejudices, towards, directed, strangers, only, are

d) In the, is, and inevitable, of stereotypes, of cases, automatic, the activation, majority

e) Stereotyping, by the media, showing, can also be created, an incorrect, of a culture,

judgment, or place

UNIT 3: Political Correctness

The term POLITICAL CORRECTNESS (often abbreviated to PC) arose in the 1980s, first

in America and soon afterwards elsewhere. It deals with many areas of social interaction,

supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially in order to redress

historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.

In language, PC is concerned with avoiding or replacing words that cause offence or are seen

as discriminating against certain sections of society (e.g. by being racist or sexist), and

extends to the avoidance of terms that may be regarded even coincidentally as offensive, such

as black in black economy and blind (to) meaning “unwilling to recognize (a fact)”, and to

other words that offend various groups (e.g. deaf people, homosexuals, women, and old

people). The PC movement is also devoted to promoting an alternative terminology that seeks

to assert a more positive aspect to negative or undesirable qualities, such as deficiency

achievement for failure, differently abled for disabled, non-waged for unemployed, and many

compounds formed with -challenged (intellectually challenged, vertically challenged, etc.).

One of the main issues with which the movement has been concerned is that of eliminating

gender specificity in job titles. A gender-specific job title is a name of a job that also

specifies or implies the gender of the person performing that job. A gender-neutral job title,

on the other hand, is one that does not specify or imply gender, such as firefighter or lawyer.

1. Complete the table with the missing job titles:

Gender-specific job titles Gender-neutral job titles

Steward/Stewardess Flight attendant

Policeman

Businessman/Businesswoman

Mailman

Bartender

Chair

Headmaster/Headmistress

Salesperson/Sales representative

Member of Congress

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2. Match the words with their description (e.g. 3 - a).

1) baubles a) a lower-class, bad-mannered individual

2) reluctant b) to guide, direct on a course

3) chav c) humiliate, degrade

4) repugnant d) disgusting, distasteful

5) bigoted e) weakens, threatens

6) to steer f) unwilling, unenthusiastic

7) bias g) supporters

8) demean h) small, round, showy ornaments of little value

9) proponents i) intolerant, narrow-minded

10) undermines j) intolerance, prejudice, stereotype

3. Read the article “Political correctness gone bad”, by Ally Fogg. Then solve the tasks:

a) Extract ONE sentence that, in your opinion, best summarizes the whole text.

b) To what extent do you agree with the author?

Political correctness gone bad2

Words form the thread on which we string our experiences, as Aldous Huxley wisely

observed, but they do more than that. Words form the necklace of beads, baubles and pearls

that we display to the world. They form the millstones round our necks, and sometimes even

the ropes with which we hang ourselves.

I think it is reprehensible to use language that stigmatises, demonises and degrades

whole sections of society. I agree that language informs attitudes and perceptions, and so

influences behaviour, but that is not all. Language offers a window into the hearts of our

fellow human beings. I, for one, am reluctant to see that window veiled.

People are perfectly entitled to use any words they like. I don't like the word "chav"

any more than Zoe Williams does, but I couldn't care less if someone uses it about specific

deserving individuals, in a self-deprecating reference, or in a decent joke. She or he is also

entitled to use it as a blanket catch-all shorthand for the poorest and most marginalised in

society, or for the wider working class, and in return I am free to believe that such a person is

a repugnant, heartless snob. Similarly, anyone who uses a grossly sexist, racist, homophobic

or bigoted epithet within my radar is unlikely to get a sympathetic hearing for the rest of our

– probably short – engagement.

I realise this is a prejudice, and I may occasionally do an injustice to some kind-

hearted but clumsy tongued soul, but to be honest I think I can live with the loss. I can also

live with the implications for my own choice of words.

Language evolves, and as it does, I fully support efforts to steer it away from gender

bias, and strip away from everyday discourse terms that stereotype, diminish or dehumanise

sections of society. That requires ongoing debate about what is objectionable in which

circumstances, and more importantly, why. That debate happens in workplaces, in pubs, in

schools, on internet forums and wherever else people argue. I'd be delighted if we could all

feel confident in challenging attitudes that demean others and divide us as a society. But that

is for us to decide. Yes, all of us.

2 Adapted from the article published in The Guardian on the 19th of July 2008. The whole text is available at:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jul/19/wordsandlanguage

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It simply does not help to have the likes of the Fabian Society or the Equality and

Human Rights Commission laying down the latest list of forbidden words, with all the self-

appointed arrogance of a Guide to Modern Etiquette. That totally misses the point.

It is not words that sometimes need challenging, but the attitudes behind them. Sardar

is right to say that words shape attitudes, but he forgets that attitudes shape words to a far

greater extent. Ideological proponents of political correctness make a huge error in thinking

that offensive words themselves, those little strings of sounds or squiggly letters, are the

problem. They're not, they are just words. The problem is that people want to use them in the

first place.

If we are not free to convey our honest beliefs, then our honest beliefs will never be

challenged, and our conflicting opinions will never be fully explored. That cannot be healthy

for any democracy, but worse – it actively undermines efforts to build a fairer, better society.

4. Reread the first paragraph. With what would you compare the power of words?

5. Look at the list of politically correct terms and choose THREE that you would keep

and THREE that you consider exaggerated. Explain your choices.

LIST OF POLITICALLY CORRECT TERMS

A Crook - morally (ethically) challenged

Alcoholic - anti-sobriety activist

An Immigrant - a newcomer

Bald - comb-free; hair disadvantaged; follicularly challenged.

Blind - visually challenged

Broken Home - dysfunctional family

Cannibalism - intra-species dining

Censorship - selective speech

Cheating - academic dishonesty

China - porcelain

Chronically Late - temporarily challenged

Clumsy - uniquely coordinated

Computer Illiterate - technologically challenged

Cowardly - challenge challenged

Cowboys - bovine control officers

Deaf - visually oriented

Dishonest - ethically disoriented

Drug Addict - chemically challenged

Overweight - differently weighted; horizontally challenged

Freshman - first-year student

Garbage Man - sanitation engineer

Geek, Nerd - socially challenged

Ghetto / Barrio - ethnically homogenous area

Handicapped - differently abled

Homeless - outdoor urban dwellers; residentially flexible

Housewife - domestic engineer

Incompetent - differently qualified

Lazy - motivationally deficient

Loser - second place

Mankind - humankind

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Messy - differently organized

Short- vertically challenged

Mute - verbally challenged

Old - Senior citizen; older adult

Poor - financially disadvantaged

Policeman, Policewoman - law enforcement officer

Postman – letter/mail carrier

Prisoner - client of the correctional system

Redneck - rustically inclined

Refugees - asylum seekers

Steward, Stewardess - flight attendant

Stupid - intellectually impaired

Ugly - aesthetically challenged

Unemployed – in transition between careers

UNIT 4: Gender Roles and Relationships

1. Do men really have more advantages than women in the world of work? With a

partner, discuss whether or not you agree with these statements:

a. Generally speaking, men have a better deal than women.

b. In all age groups, men earn more than women.

c. Women have fewer choices in life than men.

d. On the basis of time spent working inside and outside the home, women work more hours

than men.

e. The worst jobs are generally done by men.

f. In the modern world, men need to take on both masculine and feminine traits and roles.

g. Women who work full time shouldn’t have children.

h. Men’s life expectancy has increased at the same rate as women’s.

i. For many years more money has been spent on research into women’s health than research

into men’s health.

j. The idea of the man being the sole provider for the family is no longer enough.

2. Read the following dialogue about the role of men in today's society. a. Which of the points in exercise 1 do they mention?

b. Do they agree?

c. What is the main difficulty that men have to face?

d. What is the main choice facing working women?

A: I think the biggest thing is that men are being asked to do new stuff, dare I say, feminine stuff,

as well as hold on to all the traditional masculine things. So it's kind of like, if you don't mind

me using the characters, it's kind of like you're supposed to be Arnold Schwarzenegger...

B: Yeah...

A: … as well as some very soft Alan Alda all at the same time as the new American male and...

Well, it's not fair, that's too many jobs.

B: Do you think you're getting a bad deal, you think men are getting a bad deal?

A: I think lately, yes, I think I'm being held up to two opposing standards sometimes, and it gets

really difficult in a relationship when you're trying really hard but it turns out you're holding

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up the wrong standard on the wrong day.

B: OK, here's a question for you. Do you think that men have the option not to work? Like

staying at home....

A: Yeah, just barely, yeah, I think they actually do, but do you know they have to do a lot of

explaining for themselves, still? While women who join the work world don't have to justify

themselves as much.

B: Well, except that they do in the sense that we still have a big debate about whether or not

women should work full time when they have children. You know, who does the childcare,

should women try to be at home when the kids are home, should they feel guilty?

A: They may question themselves but men have to defend themselves greatly if they said they

wanted to be a househusband.

B: So, you still think that men have to justify themselves if they decide to stay at home or if

there's a man in the playground...

A: Yes, or if they hold up a singularly masculine role of only, you know, a provider which twenty

years ago, or back in the fifties, say, after the war, was what a male was supposed to do. If a

man tries to hold on to that, then he's not really a modern guy and he has to defend himself

quite a bit. But if a woman want to “have it all”, well that's almost expected really. I mean that

she's allowed to have a fulfilling career, be a perfect mom, and have a lovely tended home.

3. The language of gender. Look at the following expressions with man. Can you replace

them with non-sexist ones?

a) a man of the people

b) to man an office

c) to be your own man

d) every man for himself

e) to man up

f) a man of my word

g) as one man

h) a man in the street

4. Writing: Comment on the two statements below. Give examples to support your

answers:

Women can do any job, even those traditionally done by men.

Men can do any job even those traditionally done by women.

5. You are going to read an article about changes in the number of women in

employment. Discuss these questions:

Are there more women than men in your workplace?

Is the number of women in the workplace increasing? Why, or why not?

How has women’s influence in the workplace changed?

What effect has this been having on the men?

Labour end Strong Alongside

Women men Before Employment

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The number of women working in the UK has been rising1 steadily for several decades. In

the mid-1960s, around 42% of women of working age were in ___________; in the late

1990s this number increased to nearly 70%. Today women have actually overtaken2 men in

the job market – men have never been in such a position ___________ and now it appears3 to

be affecting the way they view their role in life.

This phenomenon is spreading4 rapidly around the world. The number of working women in

the ___________ force in China has increased5 from 49% in 1980 to nearly 60% today – the

highest of any country in the world. At the other _________, only about 10% of women in

Iraq and Saudi Arabia currently work6.

Although their numbers have been increasing7, only 3% of the directors in the UK's top 1,500

companies are _________. Moreover, despite the fact that women have made8 progress in

areas such as childcare and increased flexibility in working hours, they are still facing9

___________ discrimination. Tina Knight, who has had10 various jobs in the industry is now

chair of Women Into Business, is currently lobbying11 Parliament on these issues. “One big

mistake that successful women make12,” says Tina, “is to try and shut ________ out. We have

to work _________ each other.”

6. Reading comprehension. Are the following statements True (T) or False (F) according

to the text?

a. There are fewer women than men working in Britain.

b. The number of women in employment is influencing the way men think of themselves.

c. China has witnessed the highest decrease of men in the workforce.

d. Saudi Arabia has the lowest percentage of women in the workforce.

e. There are not enough women in top positions in the UK.

f. The discrimination faced by women at work has gone down.

g. Women and men need to learn to collaborate at work.

7. Find a numbered verb in the text above, which expresses:

1. an action taking place at the moment of speaking

2. an action that happened at an unspecified time in the past

3. an action that has begun in the past and is likely to still go on in the future

4. a general and/or repeated action

Name these tenses.

GRAMMAR PRACTICE

1. Put the verb into the correct form, present continuous or present simple: 1. Are you hungry? ______________________ something to eat? (you/want)

2. Jill is interested in politics but she _______________________ to a political party. (not

belong)

3. Don’t put the dictionary away! I _______________________ it. (use)

4. Don’t put the dictionary away! I _______________________ it. (need)

5. Who is that man? What ____________________? (he/want)

6. Who is that man? Why ____________________ at us? (he/look)

7. George says he’s 80 years old but nobody ___________________ him. (believe)

8. She told me her name but I _________________________ it now. (remember)

9. I ______________________ of selling my car. (think) Would you be interested?

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10. I ______________________ you should sell your car. (not/think) You

_____________________ very often. (use)

11. I used to drink a lot of coffee but these days I _____________________ tea. (prefer)

2. Read the situations and write two sentences using the words in the brackets. Be

careful when you use the present perfect and when the present perfect continuous. a) Tom started reading a book two hours ago. He is still reading it and now he is on page

53.

(read/two hours) _________________________________

(read/53 pages so far) _____________________________

b) Linda is from Australia. She is travelling round Europe at the moment. She began her

tour three months ago.

(travel/for three months) ______________________________

(visit/six countries so far) _____________________________

c) Jimmy is a tennis player. He began playing tennis when he was ten years old. This

year he is national champion again – for the fourth time.

(win/four times) ______________________________

(play tennis/since he was ten) ____________________

d) When they left college, Mary and Sue started making films together. They still make

films.

(make/ten films since they left college) ____________________________

(make/films since they left college) _______________________________

UNIT 5: Religious Symbols

1. What do you know?

Which of the following words from the text do you associate with the Muslim religion, which

with the Christian religion and which with the Jewish religion?

headscarves Yom Kippur crosses skullcaps Eid

2. Key Vocabulary. Fill the gaps using these key words from the text:

secular Neutrality conspicuous ombudsman

commission outlaw (vb) headscarf absurd

1. If something is ____________________ , it is very noticeable or easy to see.

2. France is a ____________________ country. In other words, there is no official state

religion.

3. If you ____________________ something, you prohibit it or make it illegal.

4. A ____________________ is a piece of cloth that a woman or girl wears on her head

and ties under her chin.

5. ____________________ is behaviour that does not show strong feelings or opinions

and, for example, does not support either side in a war or a disagreement.

6. If something is ____________________, it is completely stupid.

7. A ____________________ is a group of people who are officially asked to

investigate something.

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8. An ____________________ is a person whose job is to deal with complaints made by

people about official organisations.

3. Read the article3 and insert the words below in the gaps.

a. separation b. neutrality c. secularism d. ombudsman

e. conspicuous f. headscarves g. French h. school holidays

Muslim headscarves and other religious symbols are almost certain to be banned from

French schools and public buildings after a special commission told the government recently

that legislation was needed to defend the secular nature of the state. The 20-member group,

appointed by President Jacques Chirac and headed by the national (1) _______________,

Bernard Stasi, recommended that all "(2)______________" signs of religious belief –

including Jewish skullcaps, oversized Christian crosses and Islamic headscarves – be

outlawed in state-approved schools.

The report, compiled after six months of study, also recommended that the laws

should include a clause requiring "the strict (3) ______________of all public service

employees". Some Muslim women had reportedly been insisting that their husbands

accompany them at all times in hospital and would accept only female doctors. The report

said the legislation must remind all health service users that "it is forbidden to reject a

healthcare worker, and that the rules of hygiene must be respected".

In a gesture of respect to "all spiritual options”, the report said the Jewish and Muslim

holy days of Yom Kippur and Eid should be made official (4)____________, and companies

should consider ways of allowing their employees to take off the religious holiday of their

choice.

Mr Chirac said that he favoured a law protecting France's secular republic, "I will be

guided by republican principles and the demands of national unity and the solidarity of the

French people," he said. The question of whether a "secularism law" is desirable or

necessary- particularly to deal with the increasing number of Muslim girls wanting to wear

(5)_____________ at school - may seem abstract, or even absurd, to those used to British or

US notions of multiculturalism. In France, where (6) ______________ is a constitutional

guarantee and everyone, in the eyes of the republic, is supposed to be equally (7)

______________regardless of ethnic or religious differences, the issue has dominated media

and political debate for several months.

Mr Stasi said the proposed law aimed to preserve constitutional secularism and

counter "forces trying to destabilise the republic", a clear reference to Islamic

fundamentalism. But he stressed that the law was not directed at the mainly moderate Muslim

community of 5 million. "Muslims must understand that secularism is a chance for Islam,"

Mr Stasi said. "Secularism is the (8) _____________ of church and state, but it is also the

respect of differences."

The main teachers' union, the SNES, said that the proposals did not go far enough to

promote secularism in schools.

Kamal Kabtane, the head of the Grand Mosque of Lyon said Muslims would respect a

law on headscarves but he added, “This will resolve nothing at all. It will only add to the

confusion.”

3 Adapted from an article (“France to ban pupils’ religious dress”, by Jon Henley) which appeared in The

Guardian and is available at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/dec/12/france.schools

15

4. Reading Comprehension. Choose the best answer:

1) The Stasi commission has recommended that the wearing of headscarves in French schools

be banned because...

a. they are conspicuous.

b. they represent forces trying to destabilise the republic.

c. the commission wants to defend the secular nature of the French state.

2) The commission recommended a clause requiring the strict neutrality of all public service

employees because...

a. they wanted to remind people that it is forbidden to reject a healthcare worker.

b. some people only accept female doctors.

c. it took six months to compile the report.

3) The commission recommended the introduction of new public holidays...

a. in order to allow workers to choose their holidays.

b. as a gesture of respect to all religions.

c. in order to ensure the strict neutrality of all public service employees.

4) The constitutional guarantee of secularism under French law means...

a. that people cannot wear headscarves to school.

b. that everyone is regarded as equally French whatever their religion or ethnic

background.

c. that the issue has dominated media and political debate for several months.

5) The main teachers’ union criticized the proposals because...

a. they were too radical.

b. they were not radical enough.

c. they promoted secularism in schools.

5. From the information you have garnered, what would be an appropriate title for the

article?

6. Vocabulary: words with similar meaning. Decide which word of the following groups is

significantly different from the others and justify your choice.

e.g. tradition Habit anomaly custom

anomaly = strange or unusual aspect of a situation

1. to ban to outlaw to sanction to forbid

2. password logo symbol Sign

3 secular worldly sectarian Profane

4. conspicuous prominent preeminent obvious

5. to promote to sponsor to develop to obstruct

6. to oppress to stress to underscore to point out

7. ombudsman Judge barrister solicitor

7. Use the most appropriate word from exercise 6 (in the correct form) in each of the

following sentences. More than one option may be possible at times.

16

1. Smoking __________________ inside the laboratory.

2. The new military regime ________________ strikes in the country.

3. I’ve been smoking for 10 years and now it’s really hard to break the _____________.

4. The ______________ language in James Joyce’s Ulysses really shocked the world in

the 1920s.

5. This country is __________________ in the field of genetic research.

6. You were really __________________ by your absence yesterday.

7. Evil witches are always depicted in fairytales as having a _________________ nose.

8. After her return from Africa, Janet _______________ an interest in pottery.

9. We are hard at work ____________________ the Christmas concert.

10. I _________________ to him where I used to live.

11. The case was brought before the ____________ who decided in the favour of the

plaintiff.

8. Discussion: a) Find 3 arguments for and 3 arguments against the wearing of religious symbols in public

schools.

b) In your opinion, should girls be free to wear headscarves to school?

UNIT 6: Legal Aliens

1. Why do people immigrate? What is the most difficult thing about changing nationality /

moving to a different country? What would you miss most about your country of origin?

2. Put the following words in the gaps below: bureaucracy, jargon, alien, passport,

naturalized, immigrant, native, forms, fill, officialdom, citizen, assimilated, documents,

outsider, expatriate, affidavits, permit, authorities, testimonials, officialese.

When you arrive in a new country, hoping to live there, you are officially an a)

……………….., and you will also be described as an b) ………………., which is another

way of saying foreigner. In the eyes of your own countrymen, you are an c) ……………….,

because you chose to live in a different country. In you adopted country, you will certainly be

made to feel like an d) ………………, especially when you first encounter the e)

………………… who ask you a lot of questions, using their own language, which is called

both f) ………………. and g) ………………… They will make you h) …………….. in

many i) ………………., ask to see your own official j) ………………….., including k)

………………….. from people who know you to say you are of good character, and sworn

statements, also called l) ………………. If you are lucky, they will give you a m)

…………………. to stay for a short time, and you may hope eventually to be n)

………………….., or made a o) ……………….. of that country. You will probably never

feel like a p) ………………., but when you have lived there a long time, you will at least

become q) ……………….. and feel less foreign. Then you can proudly show your own r)

………………., and, you hope, have nothing more to do with s) ……………….. or t)

………………., two words for the same thing – and a thing the world we live in has too

much of!4

4 Text taken from: Short Cuts: Using Texts to Explore English, 1995: 119.

17

3. Match the words on the left-hand column, with their equivalents on the right:

a stinging (vb) 1 poor, dilapidated, untended, decrepit

b willy-nilly 2 Meanness,

c Hurdle 3 backward, retrogressive, traditionalistic

d Proficiency 4 importance, significance

e Ravaged 5 shy, timid

f import (n) 6 crowds, large gathering

g Soothing 7 whether you like it or not

h Stinginess 8 devastated, sad, angry

i Raw 9 obstacle

j Regressive 10 painful, wounded, sensitive

h Rundown 11 competence, knowledge

i Droves 12 biting, hurting

l self-effacing 13 calming, appeasing

4. Read the text and supply the missing words:

Dislocation and neglect in Muslim Britain's ghettos5

It was the Rushdie controversy ________ forced us into the open. An invisible

community then - if such a word could be used for a group as diverse ______ we were,

divided by language, national origins, race and class - we were attacked by the racist

scorpions then set loose, stinging us all without distinction. The term "British Muslims" was

invented in that era _____ media hysteria and, willy-nilly, we found ourselves adopting it.

Real assimilation was the hardest hurdle. ______ all immigrants, the first generation

acquired varying degrees _____ proficiency in English, but still wept and cursed in its

original tongues - in Urdu, Arabic, Bengali or Turkish. We still read our old countries' papers.

We were ravaged by news from Bosnia, Iraq, Kashmir or Palestine and increasingly

infuriated by Britain's hostile policies on these matters of grave import _____ 2 million of its

citizens. The umbilical cord with home had not _______ cut and there was no soothing local

midwife to help.

Assimilation is a two-way, well-tended street, not a rubbish-filled dead-end street like

the ________ we lived in. Even if we had desperately wanted to integrate - and a great many

did - we could not have done it ______ a welcoming hand from our new compatriots. Such

generous gestures were rarely available. Instead, there was stinginess and suspicion, ______

both local and government level. We were left _____ our somber psychological or material

ghettos, but not before being handed the bright flag _____ multiculturalism to wave

obediently.

Modern Britain - its schools and its high streets - intervened between father and son

and, ________ sinisterly, between father and daughter, only to withdraw, leaving them

stranded, paranoid and angry.

This dislocation, _____ private and public, was a very raw state to be in. ______

wonder organised religion - financed from abroad, with US blessings, by the most regressive

elements in Pakistan and the Gulf - landed ______ such an appeal in the lunar landscape of

5 Article by Rana Kabbani, published in The Guardian on June 17, 2002, available at:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/jun/17/religion.politics

18

Muslim Britain. With no mainstream to admit them, no secular institutions to attract them, no

money spent on their rundown neighbourhoods, no training opportunities or jobs, no future

_____ all in fact, young Muslims flocked to the mosque in droves, often _____ the alarm of

their self-effacing parents. The doors were opened wide, _______ to receive, and then to

claim them.

5. Answer the questions:

a. Rana Kabbani says “The umbilical cord with home had not been cut and there was no

soothing local midwife to help”. What does it mean in your opinion?

b. What does Rana Kabbani call the dangerous state in which Muslims found themselves

vulnerable to the influences of fundamentalism?

c. Why was this state so dangerous?

UNIT 7: Discrimination

DISCRIMINATION is prejudice in treatment, actions and policies directed against minority

groups. Very often it is difficult and even impossible for a member of a minority group to

change their status (being a gypsy, an immigrant, a former delinquent etc) because the

dominant group considers this status as a permanent one.

☼ Gender discrimination is an exception because women are the majority group in the world,

and still they are discriminated against.

Attempts to fight discrimination have led to affirmative action and positive action, which

refer to measures that take race, ethnicity, or gender into consideration in order to promote

equal opportunity or increase ethnic or other forms of diversity. In fact, these efforts have

resulted in another form of discrimination, this time towards the opposite group.

Source: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Underneath-Are-All-The-Same/dp/B00939KEDM

1. Match the following types of discrimination with their definitions:

19

1) Racial discrimination a) Refers to the belief or attitude that one gender or sex

is inferior to the other

2) Employment discrimination b) Is treating a person or group differently because of

what they do or do not believe in

3) Disability discrimination c) Is treating a person or group differently because of

they way they look or dress, the music they listen to etc.

4) Age discrimination d) Refers to prejudice against someone because of their

country of origin

5) Ethnic discrimination e) Refers to prejudice against someone because of their

skin colour

6) Sexism f) Represents discrimination against various age groups

8) Religious discrimination g) It is discrimination in hiring, promoting, firing, or

compensating certain employees. It includes various

types of harassment.

9) Discrimination based on

nationality

i) Refers to prejudice against someone because of their

ethnicity

10) Discrimination on the

grounds of lifestyle or

personal appearance

j) It is treating a person or group unfairly on grounds of

physical or mental impairment

2. List at least 3 other types of discrimination.

3. Based on the graphs below, write a short report about ethnic discrimination and

discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in the EU. How do people’s

perceptions vary from one country to another and from one type of bias to the other?

¤ Structure of a report:

Give a title

Write 5 paragraphs: 1) introduce the topic; 2) analyse the first graph; 3) analyse the

second graph; 4) compare and contrast the two graphs; 5) speculate on the causes or

reasons which have lead to these statistics; draw a conclusion.

21

Source: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_296_sum_en.pdf

¤ Useful language and other tips:

The purpose of this report is…/ The report evaluates/describes/presents…

In the first graph we have/can see… / Whereas in the second graph…

On the one hand… /On the other hand…

In my opinion… / I would say… /I am of the opinion that…/All these arguments

considered…/In conclusion…

Give relevant examples (not more than 3 in one sentence!) and percentages to support

each idea/argument.

4. Present your report to the class.

22

UNIT 8: The Fundamental Human Rights

1. Do you agree/disagree with the following statements? Why/Why not?

"Hope is power" (Amnesty International)

"Please use your freedom to promote ours." (Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese Democracy Leader

and Nobel Peace Laureate)

“Poverty is the mother of crime.” (Marcus Aurelius)

"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." (Mother Teresa)

2. Read the short fragment and answer the questions:

Every person is entitled to certain rights, simply by the fact that they are a human being. They

are called “rights" because they are things you are allowed to be, to do or to have. These

rights are there for your protection against people who might want to harm you or treat you

unjustly. They are also there to help us get along with each other and live in peace.

Born out of the atrocities and enormous loss of life during World War II, the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights was created by the United Nations in 1948, to provide a

common understanding of what everyone’s rights are. It forms the basis for a world built on

freedom, justice and peace.

According to the first article of the Declaration, “All human beings are born free and equal

in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards

one another in a spirit of brotherhood”.

When was the Declaration created?

What is its purpose?

What is the importance of the first article of the Declaration?

3. Read the following articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and fill

in with the missing words from the table. Which do you believe is the most important?

regardless to torture innocent thought and expression

liberty and security borders Destruction

discrimination slavery or servitude proper and fair

Other articles in the Declaration state that:

everyone has the right to life, (1)______________________

everyone has the right to freedom of (2) ____________________

everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law (3)

_______________ of race, colour, gender, religion, language, political opinions, etc)

no one shall be held in (4) ____________________

no one shall be subjected (5) ________________ or to cruel, inhuman or degrading

treatment or punishment

all are equal before the law and are entitled without any (6) ______________ to equal

protection of the law

everyone has the right to a (7) ____________________ trial

everyone charged with a penal offense has the right to be presumed (8) _____________

until proved guilty

23

everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the (9) _________ of

each state

nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person

any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the (10) ______________

of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.

4. Match the terms from the first column with their definition in the second column:

1) Refugee a) It is a form of human rights violation in which people are considered to be,

or treated as, the property of others

2) Resolution b) It is the commerce and trade of people, for the purposes of slavery,

prostitution, forced labor, and servitude

3) Slavery c) It is the taking away of a person against the person's will

4) Famine d) It is the deliberate and systematic destruction, partially or totally, of an

ethnic, racial, religious, or national group

5) Genocide e) Person who has left their country due to fear of persecution because of

race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or social group.

6) Illiteracy f) It can refer to anyone imprisoned because of their race, religion, color,

language, sexual orientation, belief, or lifestyle so long as they have not used

or advocated violence

7) Kidnapping g) It is a punishment carried out illegally by a mob, usually by hanging.

8) Prisoner of

conscience

h) Text adopted by a deliberative body or an international organization

9) Human trafficking i) It is a lack of ability to read and write

10) Lynching j) It is a widespread absence of food, usually accompanied by regional

malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality.

5. Match the words from the article on the left with their synonyms on the right:

1. Figurehead a. childhood, education

2 Junta b. rebellion, insurgence

3. Upbringing c. unbelievable

4. to clamp down (on) d. symbol, icon

5. Uprising e. faction, coalition

6. Staggering f. to repress, shut up

6. PUT THE TEXT BACK TOGETHER. Number these lines in the correct order.

( ) 10,000 demonstrators. This made Suu Kyi more determined to help

( ) for freedom and democracy. The brutal regime clamped down on the people and slaughtered

( 1 ) Aung San Suu Kyi has been a figurehead for her country’s struggle for democracy

( ) release. Her new goal is to work with anyone and everyone in Burma to make a better

country for her people.

( ) since 1988. She was born to lead her nation; her father was Burma's independence hero. He

was assassinated when she was just

( ) seats in the 1990 election. The regime never recognized the results. The Generals offered her

freedom if she left the country,

( ) being detained. She was given her freedom by the military dictatorship on November 13th,

2010. She was greeted

( ) arrest. Even though the government arrested her, the party she led won a staggering 82% of

24

the

( ) two years old. Suu Kyi had an international upbringing. She was educated in

( ) her people by increasing her efforts to fight the dictators who were leading her country. She

was put under house

( ) chaos after a new military junta took power. A nationwide uprising against the Generals

started and Suu Kyi campaigned

( ) but she refused. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for the best part of two decades. Ms

Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize while

( ) by thousands of adoring Burmese at the gates of her home. World leaders welcomed her

( ) In 1988 she returned home to care for her dying mother. Burma was in political

( ) Burma, India, and the United Kingdom, where she got her PhD.

Why do you think she remained in Myanmar even though she had the possibility of

leaving?

Why do you think she was finally released?

What would you ask Aung San Suu Kyi if you could interview her?

7. Read the following letter and identify which fundamental human rights are violated

in the described case?

Dear Amnesty International,

We are two Bulgarian sisters that have been rescued by Italian police from a circus. I

am 16 and my sister is 19.

She was forced to swim with piranhas in a transparent tank while I, had snakes draped

across my body and suffered bites.

Four members of our family have also been freed from what we called the "circus of

horrors", in the south of Naples.

Three men have been arrested and charged with holding us in slavery. We were paid

100 euros a week, forbidden to leave the camp and forced to work 15- and 20-hour

shifts.

Our family has now been moved to a safe house but we are writing to you to draw

your attention to the desperate situation of people caught up in human trafficking

networks across Europe.

We have read that the European Union estimates that 500,000 people are affected by

trafficking every year in Europe.

Please stop the trafficking chain!

Thank you very much,

Nadia and Ludmila

9. Write a similar letter to an NGO starting from one of these stories taken from

Amnesty International:

a) 5 September 2015 - Amnesty has been working with refugees and migrants for decades,

from helping to prevent refugees being returned to be persecuted, to protecting the most

vulnerable migrants from being exploited and abused by their employers, traffickers and

25

smugglers. Around 1,700 refugees and migrants died trying to cross the Mediterranean in

January-April 2015 alone. Hundreds of thousands are dislocated, struggling to make it to

Western Europe where they can apply for asylum.

b) 24 August 2009- Thirteen girls and women were arrested in July for wearing trousers. Ten

were punished with 10 lashes and a fine. Lubna Ahmed Al Hussein has refused the pardon

offered her, bringing attention to the violation of the rights of girls and women in Sudan.

c) 9 June 2009- More than half of Nairobi’s population – around two million people – lives in

slums. Crammed into horrible shacks on just 1% of the city’s usable land, people live without

adequate access to water, hospitals, schools and other essential public services.

d) 24 April 2009- In Slovakia, huge numbers of Romani children are placed in "special

schools" or classes for children with mental disabilities, or segregated in Roma-only

mainstream schools or classes. There, they study lower curriculums in virtual isolation from

other pupils. Independent studies suggest that as many as 80 per cent of children placed in

special schools in Slovakia are Roma.

UNIT 9: 1984 & 1989

Born Eric Arthur Blair, George Orwell created some of the sharpest satirical fiction of the

20th century with such works as Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). He

was a man of strong opinions who addressed some of the major political movements of his

times, including imperialism, fascism and communism.6

Animal Farm (1945) was an anti-Soviet satire in a pastoral setting featuring two pigs as its

main protagonists. These pigs were said to represent Josef Stalin and Leon Trotsky. Nineteen

Eighty-Four, often published as 1984, is set in Airstrip One (formerly known as Great

Britain), a province of the superstate Oceania in a world of perpetual war, omnipresent

government surveillance, and public manipulation. The tyranny is epitomised by a Party

leader who enjoys an intense cult of personality but who may not even exist. The Party "seeks

power entirely for its own sake. It is not interested in the good of others; it is interested solely

in power."[4] The protagonist of the novel, Winston Smith, is a member of the Outer Party,

who works for the Ministry of Truth, which is responsible for propaganda and historical

revisionism. His job is to rewrite past newspaper articles, so that the historical record always

supports the party line. Many of the novel’s terms and concepts have entered into common

use since its publication in 1949.7

1. Match the following terms from/connected to Orwell’s novel 1984 with their

explanation:

1) Orwellian a) uncover and punish “crimethink”

2) Newspeak b) ministry that falsifies historical events

3) Thought police c) TV and security camera-like devices

6 Information taken from: http://www.biography.com/people/george-orwell-9429833#later-works 7 Information taken from: https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Nineteen_Eighty-Four

26

4) Big Brother d) accepting 2 opposite beliefs

5) Doublethink e) describes a futuristic totalitarian state

6) Ingsoc f) fictional, simplified language

7) Telescreen g) English socialism

8) Minitrue h) “illegal” thoughts

9) Dystopia i) tyrant, knows everything about everyone

10) Crimethink j) society controlled by a repressive state

2. How are concerns about privacy and freedom expressed in the novel manifesting in

the contemporary world?

3. Read the text8 by Neil Postman and answer the question: How is Huxley’s society

different from that described by Orwell?

Foreword

We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful

Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held.

Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian

nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older,

slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to

common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same

thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in

Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and

history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that

undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there

would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell

feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so

much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would

be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.

Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial

culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal

bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and

rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's

almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by

inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short,

Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.

8 “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business”, Penguin Books, 2005, page

xix.

27

4. Complete the sentences with the words you consider appropriate:

a) Human nature is…

b) Tyranny is…

c) Civilization is…

d) Technology is…

e) The future is…

1989: The Walls That Separate Us

The Great Wall of China- Chinese emperors began constructing it more than 2000 years

ago to keep out Mongols and invaders. It is actually a series of walls, spanning about 6000

km through the northern part of the country.

Border fence along the U.S.A.-Mexico border- At the very western edge of the U.S.-

Mexico border, there used to be a small plaza between San Diego and Tijuana called

Friendship Park. This was one of the few places on the border where people from Mexico and

the U.S.A. could meet and talk across the frontier. Under George W. Bush, the Department of

Homeland Security started installing a secondary fence (besides the existing pedestrian

barrier), essentially creating a no man's land where Friendship Park once stood. Almost 1000

km of fence went up until President Obama canceled plans to extend it.

A Roma wall or Gypsy wall is a wall built by local authorities in the Czech Republic,

Romania and Slovakia to segregate the Roma minority from the rest of the population. In

Baia Mare, Romania, the local administration built a wall surrounding the social housing

that houses 1000 Roma people into one-room apartments, some without water or electricity.

According to the mayor, this wall was designed to "prevent traffic accidents", while pro-

democracy organizations say it amounts to "institutionalized racism". In 2011, the national

anti-discrimination council fined mayor Cătălin Cherecheș for the building of the wall and

ordered it to be pulled down. The wall nevertheless proved popular with the majority

population and the mayor was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2012.

1. Match the words from the text with their equivalents:

1 barbed wire A Fortification

2 bulwark B a place along a road or a border,

where travelers are stopped for

inspection

3 to stem C to climb

4 defector D Solid

5 makeshift E challenge

6 checkpoint F to rush together

7 to defuse G fence

8 sturdy H to stop

9 to scale I temporary

10 gauntlet J to disarm

11 to swarm K deserter

28

2. Reinsert the following phrases back in the text: a) 2 million people, b) 12-foot-tall, 4-

foot-wide, c) mass defections from East to West, d) 12 checkpoints along the wall, e) United

States, Britain and France; f) including some 600 border guards, g) by closing its border for

good, h) East and West Germany, i) to shoot escapees on sight

Berlin Wall: 1961-19899

On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR,

or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,”

or “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin

Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the

socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming (1) ____________________.

Before the wall was built, Berliners on both sides of the city could move around fairly

freely: They crossed the East-West border to work, to shop, to go to the theater and the

movies. Trains and subway lines carried passengers back and forth.

The existence of West Berlin, a conspicuously capitalist city deep within communist

East Germany, “stuck like a bone in the Soviet throat,” as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev

put it. The Russians began maneuvering to drive the (2) _________________________ out

of the city for good. In June 1961, some 19,000 people left the GDR through Berlin. The

following month, 30,000 fled. In the first 11 days of August, 16,000 East Germans crossed

the border into West Berlin, and on August 12 some 2,400 followed—the largest number of

defectors ever to leave East Germany in a single day.

That night, Premier Khrushchev gave the East German government permission to stop

the flow of emigrants (3) ___________________________. In just two weeks, the East

German army, police force and volunteer construction workers had completed a makeshift

barbed wire and concrete block wall–the Berlin Wall–that divided one side of the city from

the other.

9 Abridged and adapted from: http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/berlin-wall

29

After the wall was built, it became impossible to get from East to West Berlin except

through one of three checkpoints: at Helmstedt (“Checkpoint Alpha” in American military

parlance), at Dreilinden (“Checkpoint Bravo”) and in the center of Berlin at Friedrichstrasse

(“Checkpoint Charlie”). (Eventually, the GDR built (4) ___________________________.)

The construction of the Berlin Wall did stop the flood of refugees from East to West, and it

did defuse the crisis over Berlin. (Though he was not happy about it, President Kennedy

conceded that “a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.”) Over time, East German officials

replaced the makeshift wall with one that was sturdier and more difficult to scale. A (5)

___________________ mass of reinforced concrete was topped with an enormous pipe that

made climbing over nearly impossible. Behind the wall on the East German side was a so-

called “Death Strip”: a gauntlet of soft sand (to show footprints), floodlights, vicious dogs,

trip-wire machine guns and patrolling soldiers with orders (6) ________________________.

In all, at least 171 people were killed trying to get over, under or around the Berlin

Wall. Escape from East Germany was not impossible, however. From 1961 until the wall

came down in 1989, more than 5,000 East Germans, (7) _____________________________,

managed to cross the border by jumping out of windows adjacent to the wall, climbing over

the barbed wire, flying in hot air balloons, crawling through the sewers and driving through

unfortified parts of the wall at high speeds.

The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German

Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they

pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin,

while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself. More than

(8) ___________________________from East Berlin visited West Berlin that weekend to

participate in a celebration that was, one journalist wrote, “the greatest street party in the

history of the world.” People used hammers and picks to knock away chunks of the wall–they

became known as “mauerspechte,” or “wall woodpeckers”—while cranes and bulldozers

pulled down section after section. Soon the wall was gone and Berlin was united for the first

time since 1945. “Only today,” one Berliner spray-painted on a piece of the wall, “is the war

really over.”

The reunification of (9) _________________________ was made official on October

3, 1990, almost one year after the fall of the Berlin Wall. To this day, the Berlin Wall remains

one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.

3. The year 1989 brought about the fall of communism in the so-called ‘East European

block’.

a) What walls do you think we still have to tear down?

b) Do you think it is possible to build a wall ‘high’ enough in order to prevent people

from breaking it?

4. Make a list of the most important changes that have taken place in Romania after the

1989 Revolution.

e.g. Since 1989, Romanians have earned the right to free speech.

For the past 25 years, we have been able to travel abroad freely.

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UNIT 10: On Freedom

1. Read the following quotes. Comment on…

a. The average man does not want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.

b. You have freedom when you're easy in your harness. (Robert Frost)

c. Freedom is the will to be responsible to ourselves. (Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols)

d. None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free. (Goethe)

2. Match the words from the text with their equivalents/explanation in the second

column:

1 Immunity a Representative

2 subject b disposable, that can be dismissed

3 to venture c Protection

4 Tenant d to employ, to use, to apply

5 Removable e to break, to violate

6 Delegate f infringement, violation

7 to exercise g to take a chance, to dare

8 to infringe h dweller, holder, occupant

9 Breach i Subordinate

3. Read the following text and fill in the gaps with the appropriate word:

The struggle ________________ Liberty and Authority is the most conspicuous feature

in the portions of history with which we are earliest familiar, particularly in that of Greece,

Rome, and England. But in old times this contest was between subjects, or some classes of

subjects, and the Government. By liberty, was meant protection _______ the tyranny of the

political rulers […]

They ________________ of a governing One, or a governing tribe or caste, who derived

their authority from inheritance or conquest, who, at all events, did not hold it at the pleasure

of the governed, and whose supremacy men did not venture, ____________ did not desire, to

contest.

Their power was regarded ___________ necessary, but also as highly

________________; as a weapon which they would attempt to use against their subjects, no

less than against external enemies.

The aim, therefore, of patriots was to ___________ limits to the power which the ruler

should be suffered to exercise over the community; and this limitation was what they meant

by liberty.

It was attempted in two ways. ___________, by obtaining a recognition of certain

immunities, called political liberties or rights, which it was to be regarded as a breach of duty

in the ruler to infringe, and which, if he did infringe, specific resistance, or general rebellion,

was _______________ to be justifiable. A second, and generally a later expedient, was the

establishment of constitutional checks,

A time, however, came, in the progress of human affairs, when men ceased to think it a

necessity of nature that their governors should be an _______________ power, opposed in

interest to themselves. It appeared to them much better __________ the various magistrates

of the State should be their tenants or delegates, revocable at their pleasure.

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____________ was now wanted was, that the rulers should be identified with the people;

that their interest and will should be the interest and will of the nation. The nation did not

need to be protected against its ___________ will. There was no fear of its tyrannizing over

itself. Let the rulers be effectually responsible to it, promptly removable by it, and it could

afford to trust them with power of which it could itself dictate the use to be made. Their

power was but the ______________ own power,

In time, however, people came to realize things were not always so.

The 'people' who exercise the power are not always the _________ people with those

over whom it is exercised; and the 'self-government' spoken of is not the government of each

by himself, but of each by _________ the rest. They realized that the people, consequently,

may desire to oppress a part of their number; and precautions are as much needed against this

___________ against any other abuse of power

4. Answer the following questions based on the text:

a) What did liberty mean, initially?

b) What were the attributes of the governing authority?

c) What were the dangers?

d) How did the people try to limit the powers of rulers?

e) What would happen if rulers did now follow rules?

f) What was the next step in the evolution of the relationship between ruler and the

ruled?

g) What was the misconception of this new form of government?

h) Explain in your own words: “the 'self-government' spoken of is not the government of

each by himself, but of each by all the rest” and “the people, consequently, may desire

to oppress a part of their number; and precautions are as much needed against this as

against any other abuse of power”

i) What does freedom mean to you?

j) What would you do for freedom?

k) Do you agree with the lyric: “freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose”?

UNIT 11: Quoting, Reporting and Interpreting. Linking

Words

A. Referring directly to other people’s words: to quote, to paraphrase, in the words of, as …

has it, according to, once wrote.

_____________ the Chancellor, a tax increase is unavoidable.

_____________ Shakespeare, ‘All the world’s a stage’.

_____________ Julius Caesar: ‘I came, I saw, I conquered.’

_______the Prime Minister _________, ‘Things can only get better’.

Beckett ___________ that people were ‘bloody ignorant apes’.

_____________ Abraham Lincoln, we’re not all idiots all the time.

B. Casting doubt on what people have said:

If Julian Assange is to be believed, Wikileaks is doing an ethical thing.

I gather / I understand / I hear Julian Assange is constantly harassed.

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Julian Assange is supposed to be in danger.

There’s a rumour going around (town) that his loyalists are abandoning him.

The word is that Assange will post more secret documents on the Iraq war..

C. Verbs that indicate a person’s attitude:

state (categorically); (utterly) repudiate; (proudly) proclaim; (rightly) remark; (strongly)

support; (totally) agree; (fully) understand; (greatly) appreciate

INTENSIFYING AND EMPHASISING

A. Powerful adjectives:

It cost a lot. CAN BECOME: The price was exorbitant / extortionate / astronomical.

It’s a big problem. CAN BECOME: It’s a vast / colossal / huge problem.

B. Collocation- a number of intensifying adjectives close to the meaning of “complete”,

collocate with particular nouns but not with others: unshakeable, sheer, unmitigated, eternal,

utter, comprehensive

- an________ optimist; a ____________ defeat; ________ stupidity;

_______madness; ____________ faith; an ___________ disaster

C. Adverbs of degree: adverb-adjective combinations are common to give emphasis:

absolutely ridiculous totally wrong plain stupid dead right extremely

expensive

LINKING WORDS / TRANSITIONS BETWEEN SENTENCES OR PARAGRAPHS

ADDITION: in addition, furthermore, moreover, besides, further, also, too, similarly, again,

and, equally important, first, second, finally, still

COMPARISON: likewise, similarly, also, in the same way

CONTRAST: in contrast, on the contrary, yet, however, still, nevertheless, on the other

hand, instead, in spite of, at the same time, otherwise, regardless, although, even so, even

though

EXAMPLE OR ILLUSTRATION: for example, for instance, to illustrate, thus, in this

manner, in particular, in fact, in other words, in short, it is true, of course, namely, that is,

truly, specifically, after all

REPETITION: in other words, that is, to repeat, again, to be exact, to be specific, to be

precise, more specifically, more precisely

TIME SEQUENCE: at once, suddenly, at length, immediately, at last, meanwhile, in the

meantime, now, presently, at the same time, shortly, in the end, temporarily, thereafter, after a

while, afterwards, again, also, and then, as long as, at that time, before, earlier, eventually,

finally, lately, recently, next, simultaneously, since, so far, soon, still, until, when

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SUMMARY: all in all, altogether, as has been said, in brief, in other words, in conclusion, in

particular, in simpler terms, in summary, on the whole, that is, therefore, to put it differently,

to summarize

EMPHASIS: indeed, certainly, in fact, of course

CAUSE AND EFFECT: as a result, for this reason, therefore, hence, consequently,

accordingly

CONCLUSION: to conclude, to sum up, in summary, in brief, on the whole, finally

¤

Rewrite the sentences using the linkers in parenthesis. Make the necessary changes:

1. She apologized several times. Her husband wouldn’t speak to her. (although)

2. We decided to go to the beach even though it was raining. (in spite of)

3. He works part-time to pay his university fee. He’s a good student. (in addition)

4. I’d love to join you tonight. I really haven’t got the time. (however)

5. Paris is a great place to visit. It has got huge traffic problems. (despite)

6. Mike was very busy yesterday. He helped me pack my luggage. (but)

7. She goes to the gym every day. She can’t lose weight. (yet)

8. It is a private parking area. If you pay, you can park here. (unless)

9. Jo learned German because she wanted to get a job with Siemens. (in order to)

10. Brenda reads a lot. Last week she finished 3 books. (for example)

11. Mark knew about the speed limit. He was in a hurry to get home. (nevertheless)

13. John does extra work. He wants to catch up with the top of the class. (so as to)

14. My brother doesn’t speak Spanish. My sister-in-law doesn’t speak Spanish. (neither...nor)

15. The accident was serious but nobody was killed. (Even though)

UNIT 12: The True Value of Age

1. Societal Attitudes towards Aging

a) What type of attitude is reflected in the following English sayings:

„Old age is ripeness”, „There is no fool like an old fool”, „Age and wedlock tame man and

beast”, „With age comes wisdom”, „Gray hairs are death’s blossoms”, „Old foxes

are not easily caught”.

b) Find six Romanian proverbs referring to old age (with positive or negative connotations).

2. Match these words with their equivalents in the sentences below: nonagenarian, limber

up, grueling, feat, tough cookie, bowed out, jaunt, missed out, tickled the ivories, staple

a. Organizing this conference with hundreds of participants was a real performance.

b. John is over ninety years old. He is a veteran of WWII.

c. Before running, athletes usually have a practice session where they warm up.

d. We're talking about a determined, undaunted woman who raised five children on her own.

e. Running a marathon is a very exhausting undertaking.

f. Actors and actresses are a permanent presence in the scandal press.

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g. They went on a journey through the mountains to see the waterfalls.

h. She resigned after two successful terms as governor.

i. Joanne had played the piano since the age of five.

j. We always go to the music festival, but we skipped it this year in favour of a holiday in

Greece.

3. Reinsert the fragments back in the text:

but I just can't

move as fast

to help her through at the finish has raised about

$100,000

he's there for me

67 years I say that every

year,

oldest woman I'm still going to

try

showing up

16th marathon I never try to

compete

it was like a

mountain

92-year-old becomes oldest woman to complete marathon10

Harriette Thompson is tougher than you. Seriously. She became the (a)__________________

to complete a marathon when she crossed the finish line Sunday at San Diego's Rock 'n' Roll

Marathon after 7 hours, 24 minutes and 36 seconds.

To be exact, Thompson completed the feat at the age of 92 years and 65 days. She

finished 2014's San Diego race in 7 hours, 7 minutes and 42 seconds. This makes Thompson

the fastest female nonagenarian to complete a 26.2-mile race. Sunday marked her (b) ______.

"It's amazing to me that I feel as well as I do. I'm a little stiff but limbering up as the

day goes on," she told CNN the day after the race. "My mother asked her mother when she

was 89 how it felt to be 89, and my grandmother said, 'Oh, I feel just like I did when I was

16, (c)_____________________,' and that's the way I feel."

Of the more than 21,000 runners who completed the race at the Padres' Petco Park,

Thompson drew exceptional applause (d)________________, with still and video cameras

capturing the moment as confetti littered the air, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

But finishing the race at her age isn't the only thing that makes Thompson a tough cookie.

That has more to do with how she had every reason not to bother (e)____________________.

Since she began running marathons at age 76, she has missed the San Diego race only

once - in 2013, as she underwent treatment for oral cancer. Last year, she had barely trained

because she was receiving radiation treatment for cell carcinoma on her legs, according to a

marathon news release.

According to race organizers, she missed out on training in late 2014 and early 2015

because her husband of (f)_________________, Sydnor, died in January after a battle with

cancer. And if all this wasn't enough reason to bow out of Sunday's race, Thompson also

contracted a staph infection in her legs during training.

"I'm sure all that weakened me to some extent, so I'm not as strong as I'd like to be but

(g)_________________________," Thompson told the magazine before the race. "I'm just

going to walk real fast and then run some, and just try not to wear myself down too fast. It'll

be sort of interesting. I'll be the most surprised person if I finish it. I hope I will!" She told

10 92-year-old becomes oldest woman to complete marathon, by Eliott C. McLaughlin, CNN, available online.

35

race organizers she would be relying on the assistance of her 56-year-old son, Brenneman, to

get through the grueling course. "Anytime I need anything, (h)_________________,"

Thompson said. "Water, Vaseline, Gatorade, PowerBars, GU, bananas, oranges, pretzels."

Her son, whom she calls Brenny, was right by her side, capturing his mom's historic jaunt on

his iPhone and crossing the finish line right behind her.

"I was really tired at one point. Around Mile 21, I was going up a hill and

(i)____________________," she said, "and I was thinking, 'This is sort of crazy at my age.'

But then I felt better coming down the hill. And my son Brenny kept feeding me all this

wonderful carbohydrates that kept me going."

Brenny is not her only motivating force. A former concert pianist who has played

Carnegie Hall and still enjoys tickling the ivories at her Charlotte retirement home,

Thompson plays piano compositions in her head (j)__________________ the grueling races.

"I do think the discipline required to play the piano has helped my running," she told race

organizers.

Also, she told CNN, this race carried added significance because another son, Sydnor

III, was recently diagnosed with cancer. "So I thought about him a lot on this race, hoping

and praying that all this research is going to help him," she said. Given her close relationship

with cancer - which includes several friends and family members who have battled blood

cancers - it should be no surprise that Thompson (k)________________________ for the

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society since 1999. She raised more than $8,000 Sunday.

"(l)_______________________________," she told race organizers. "I just try to make

money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society."

It's not clear if Thompson will take to Southern California's streets in 2016 for the

marathon at which she's become a staple. Even before Sunday's race, she told race organizers

she was considering bowing out. But just maybe. "I believe this will be my last time, but my

friends remind me that (m)________________________," Thompson said.

4. Answer the following questions:

a) What do you think of Harriette Thompson’s story?

b) What makes her an example?

c) How do you see yourself in old age?

d) Can you think of other examples of elderly people who lead a ‘young’ life?

5. Christa D’Souza uses the term age-orexia11 to refer to the fear of growing old. Read

the fragment below and then answer the questions:

a) Why are people today so afraid of growing old?

b) Do you think cosmetic products and plastic surgery can keep us forever young?

“The fuss began last month after an episode of the BBC2 documentary series Horizon

investigated the £25 billion anti-ageing product industry. The surprise conclusion was that

yes, in fact, there was one product that could help make wrinkles disappear. The programme

aired on the night of 27 March 2007. Within just 24 hours, sales of No7 Protect and Preserve

11 “My name is Christa. I'm an age-orexic”, The Observer, 13 May 2007, available at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2007/may/13/healthandwellbeing.features)

36

serum had increased by 2,000 per cent… Well hooray. It’s official. I’m not the only

ageorexic around… We are now, amazingly, more obsessed about being young than we are

about being size zero… In other words, if you want to insult the average British woman,

don’t guess her weight, just guess her age.”

UNIT 13: Disorders

1. Match the following mental illnesses and disorders with their definitions:

Category Definition of specific disorders

1) Schizophrenic and

other psychotic disorders

a) Include abnormal sexual practices or discomfort with one’s

gender.

2) Anxiety disorders b) Are conditions in which a person acts as if he or she has an illness

by deliberately producing, feigning, or exaggerating symptoms.

3) Mood disorders c) Involve the failure to resist an impulse, drive or temptation.

4) Developmental

disorders

d) Include deviations of personality from what is expected by society.

5) Sexual and gender

identity disorders

e) Are characterized by loss of contact with reality (hallucinations or

delusions), serious disturbances of thought and perception, and

bizarre behaviour.

6) Eating disorders f) Are characterized by severe disturbances in eating behaviour.

7) Sleep disorders g) Involve problems in the amount, quality or timing of sleep.

8) Impulse control

disorders

h) Represent abnormal changes in mood, quickly going from extreme

depression to elation.

9) Personality disorders i) Occur at some stage in the child’s development and include

language and learning disorders.

10) Factitious disorders j) Are different forms of abnormal and pathological fears and

anxieties, often including panic attacks.

2. In which of the above categories would you include the following disorders: anorexia

nervosa, insomnia, kleptomania, narcissism, pedophilia, manic depression, schizophrenia,

claustrophobia, Munchausen syndrome, or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity

Disorder)?

3. Read the text12 and underline all the examples of obsessive-compulsive behavior:

The main features of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are recurrent obsessions

and/or compulsions that are extremely time consuming, cause marked distress, or impair the

individual's functioning. Obsessions refer to intrusive and persistent thoughts, impulses, or

images that are not simply exaggerated worries about real-life problems. Common

obsessional themes include contamination/ disease, ordering/symmetry, doubting one's safety

or memory, harming someone, and performing inappropriate/unacceptable behaviors. For

example, contamination obsessions typically involve extreme fear of contracting germs or

diseases after touching certain objects; harming obsessions may include the sudden urge to

12 Adapted from Todd A. Smitherman 21st Century Psychology: A Reference Handbook. 2007. SAGE

Publications. 16 Sep. 2009. http://sage-ereference.com/psychology/Article_n80.html

37

throw hot coffee on a stranger, an impulse to run one's car into a tree, or the mental image of

a family member being killed; obsessions related to performing inappropriate behaviors may

include thoughts of violent sexual acts, the sudden urge to swear in church, or having a

thought contrary to one's religious beliefs.

Compulsions refer to the repetitive and ritualistic behaviors that the individual feels

compelled to perform in response to the obsessions and in order to prevent some feared event

from occurring. In this regard, compulsions are similar to most avoidance behaviors.

Compulsions may be overt behaviors or covert mental acts (e.g. praying, repeating words

silently). Individuals with contamination obsessions wash their hands, shower, and clean

excessively to avoid contracting diseases. People with obsessions about ordering or doubting

may arrange insignificant items into precise positions, repeat certain behaviors a particular

number of times, or repeatedly check certain objects (e.g., checking the door locks, checking

to make sure the stove is off). Other common compulsions include repeating certain words

silently, counting, praying excessively, and repeatedly requesting reassurance from others.

Some compulsive behaviors may be driven by thought-action fusion, or the belief that

negative thoughts and negative behaviors are morally equivalent (i.e., “thinking it is as bad as

doing it”). Individuals high in thought-action fusion also believe that having a thought about

a negative event makes it more likely that the event will actually occur (e.g. “Because I had

the thought that my wife would die in a car wreck today, she is more likely to do so”).

Obsessive-compulsive disorder has a lifetime prevalence of 2 to 3 percent. Although

less prevalent than social or specific phobias, OCD is one of the most disabling and time-

consuming anxiety disorders, and entire inpatient hospital units have been developed for

those with severe OCD. Unlike most other anxiety disorders, the prevalence of OCD is

relatively similar in males and females, with evidence suggesting that childhood OCD is

more common in boys and that adult OCD is slightly more common in women. Care must be

taken to distinguish the obsessions of OCD from the delusions of schizophrenia. Contrary to

patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, patients diagnosed with OCD are

usually able to recognize that their obsessions and compulsions are excessive, unreasonable,

and a product of their own minds (ego-dystonic).

4. Fill in the blanks with the disorders (or noun referring to the person suffering from

the disorder) from the photo below: a) A ………………………. might suddenly fall asleep while driving.

b) A ………………………… should not be trusted to tell the truth.

c) Someone who suffers from …………………….. cannot stand to be around people.

d) A person affected by ………………………… may have a panic attack at the thought of

throwing things away.

e) Someone who suffers from the ……………………….. could fall in love with their

kidnapper.

f) One who suffers from …………………… must check the door three times before they

leave the house.

g) …………………. will make an individual annoyingly self-absorbed.

h) If you experience terrible migraines and severe size distortions, you have to see a doctor

since you may have ………………………

i) She wouldn’t take any decision without her husband’s approval. She suffered from

…………………

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Source: http://www.trustpsychology.com/psychology-jokes/disney/

GRAMMAR PRACTICE

1. Find a modal verb from the ones in the previous exercise that expresses:

a) a recommendation

b) a possibility or uncertainty

c) an ability or the lack of an ability

d) an obligation

e) a strong possibility (formal)

f) a possibility (more informal)

g) an assumption, almost a certainty in the speaker’s opinion

h) a certainty (in a suppressed conditional)

i) a necessity (not quite an obligation)

2. Underline the correct modal verb in each sentence:

a) I don't think you could/should tell anyone yet.

b) I couldn't/shouldn't possibly leave without paying.

c) That mustn't/can't be the hotel Jane told us about.

d) There are times when the traffic here can/could be really heavy.

e) We are enjoying our holiday, though the weather could/must be better.

f) You couldn't/shouldn't really be sitting here.

g) You could/may be older than me, but that doesn't mean you're cleverer.

h) You might/should like to look over these papers if you have time.

i) I'm afraid that nobody should/would help me in that kind of situation.

j) Members of the association mustn’t/may not remove official documents from

these premises without written permission.

39

3. Complete each sentence with one of the phrases from the box:

couldn't be wouldn't be I might don’t have to couldn't possibly must

be must like need to may be might as well

a. The heating comes on automatically. You …don’t have to …turn it on.

b. Of course I'll help! I ______________________ let you do it on your own.

c. It's a lovely hotel. And the staff ______________________ more helpful.

d. George ______________________ it there if he has stayed there for so long.

e. You ______________________ right, but I'm still not convinced.

f. We ______________________ go in this museum. There's nothing else to do.

g. I love these trees. Without them the garden ______________________ the same.

h. There's the phone call I was expecting. It ______________________ George.

i. Thanks. And now you just ______________________ sign on the dotted line.

j. Try as ______________________ I simply couldn't open the lid.

4. Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence,

using the word given. Do not change the word given.

a. I couldn't be happier at the moment. (could)

I am as …happy as could be … at the moment.

b. Although I tried hard, I couldn't lift the suitcase. (might)

Try as ………………, I couldn't lift the suitcase.

c. Imagine you and I having the same surname! (should)

It's odd ………………the same surname!

d. I think you should take up jogging. (were)

If I ………………take up jogging.

e. It's possible that this kind of snake is poisonous. (could)

This snake ………………the poisonous kinds.

f. You can't borrow my car! (won't)

I ………………borrow my car!

g. I'm sure this isn't how you get to Norwich! (can't)

This ………………way to Norwich!

h. It makes no difference to me if we call it off. (may)

We ………………call it off.

5. Read the text entitled Imagined Ugly Syndrome and answer the questions below:

Last month, stunning actress Uma Thurman surprised her fans when she confessed that she

thinks she’s fat and ugly! “Ever since I had my babies I’ve had the Body Dysmorphic

Disorder. I see myself as fat”, she told an interviewer. She has in fact felt insecure about her

looks since her school days. “I didn’t fit in. I was a foot too tall, had one eye on each side of

my head, an extremely large nose and big, thick lips in the middle”.

The Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) Uma refers to is the medical term for

Imagined Ugly Syndrome. This syndrome causes people normally thought of as being

attractive, to look in the mirror and see faults in their faces and figures that no one else can

see. People suffering from it become obsessed with these imaginary physical defects and will

do anything to hide or change them. So, the BDD shares certain characteristics with eating

disorders such as anorexia (an anorexic is someone convinced she / he is fat and won't accept

40

any view to the contrary) and bulimia (also called binge eating). Constant pressure from the

media for people to conform to a particular idea of the perfect body shape or look has only

helped to aggravate this problem, and we are seeing more and more people (particularly girls)

resorting to unnecessary methods (such as plastic surgery) at a far younger age.

Distorted deliefs about body size are found even among those not suffering from an

eating disorder. Studies have shown that, when males and females are asked to indicate what

they think is the body size most attractive to the opposite sex, answers reveal distorted

perceptions. Thus, females rated their ideal body wieght as significantly lower than the males

thought most attractive, whereas males rated their ideal body weight as higher than the

weight women found most attractive. These differences place extra pressure on women to be

slim, and on men to be more muscular. The so-called ‘Adonis complex’ is an obsession with

the idea that a person is not muscular ‘enough’.

The only way to treat the BDD is through addressing its root cause (hypervigilance to

a perceived body flaw). Whether this involves therapy or any other form of psychoanalysis is

obviously dependent on the individual case. What it doesn't require is going under the knife

time and time again.

What is BDD?

How does the disorder manifest itself?

What segment is most vulnerable?

Why is it so important for people to be good-looking?

Do you think image is over-rated these days?

In your opinion does cosmetic surgery influence one’s personality?

UNIT 14: I Choose Not To Place "Dis", In My Ability

The SERVICES FOR THE DISABLED have a rather short history. During the ages,

little has been done for persons with disabilities. Even more so, in ancient Sparta for example,

individuals with disabilities were left to die of exposure. By contrast, Native Americans

allowed mentally disabled people to live unharmed, as children of the Great Spirit.

Nowadays, societies are trying to be more inclusive towards this category of the population.

A disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment that makes life’s major

activities more difficult. A disability may occur during a person's lifetime or may be

present from birth.

On December 13, 2006, the United Nations formally agreed on the Convention on the

Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the first human rights treaty of the 21st century, to protect

the rights and opportunities of the world's estimated 650 million disabled people. These

provisions included equal rights to education, employment, and cultural life; the right to own

and inherit property; not be discriminated against in marriage, children, etc; not be unwilling

subjects in medical experiments. Disabilities can be roughly divided in two big categories:

physical and mental.

A. PHYSICAL DISABILITIES

Physical impairment refers to a broad range of disabilities, which include: orthopedic,

neuromuscular, cardiovascular and pulmonary disorders, visual and hearing impairment, or

41

certain chronic illnesses. In what follows we shall focus on two of the above-mentioned

disabilities, namely restricted mobility and blindness.

1. BRAINSTORMING: Think of problems that people with restricted mobility face. (e.g.

difficulty in accessing any building with stairs).

2. What are some possible solutions to these problems? (e.g. creating ramps for every

building/means of transport)

3. Read the following news report and then:

a) fill in the blanks;

b) summarize it in ONE sentence.

Access Denied

Florence M., a 45-year-old Parisian teacher, was looking 1) __________ to a night out at the

movies. She had chosen “Kingdom of Heaven”- was it really the best film of the year? That is

a question Florence will not be able to answer because she was prevented 2) ___________

entering a cinema in Paris. The employee refused her entry for her safety. He 3) _________:

“In the event of emergency, people in a wheel chair could not be exited quickly enough. 4)

____________ is an essential concern for our management, and if there is a fire or another

disaster in the cinema, speed of exiting is our 5) __________ responsibility”.

However, Florence, who suffers from a bone-brittle 6) __________ and gets around in

a wheel chair, feels she has been discriminated 7) __________ and decided to sue the

management of the cinema. And she is not the only one who asks for 8) ___________

treatment. Europe has an estimated 50 million disabled people. They often find themselves

blocked from entering airports, buildings, buses, restaurants, subways, toilets, or trains. For

9) _________ chair users, physical barriers are a part of daily life. Can’t we do anything to

10) __________ this reality?

4. Read the following letter of complaint. Identify the basic steps of writing such a formal

letter and then insert them in the right-hand column.

Dear Sir/Madam, Greeting formula

I am writing to complain about an incident which took

place last week at the Paris Multiplex Cinema. I would

like to draw your attention to the discriminatory

practices of your employees.

Paragraph 1: Reason for writing

Firstly, I would like to point out the fact that I had

booked and paid my ticket online a week in advance. I

was looking forward to viewing Kingdom of Heaven, a

much acclaimed blockbuster. There was no checkbox

on the website asking me if I had any disability, so I

printed the ticket and prepared for the night out at the

movies.

Paragraph 2:

However, to my utter surprise, when I got to the Paragraph 3:

42

cinema, 30 minutes prior to the start of the film, I was

prevented from entering! Your employee explained

that, in the event of emergency, I could not be exited

quickly enough.

Moreover, when I pointed out that it was your

establishment’s responsibility to ensure the safety of

wheelchair users, the bodyguard started insulting me.

Not only this, but he violently pushed me outside, to

the perplexity of other customers and passers-by.

Paragraph 4:

In consequence, I demand a full refund and a formal

apology. I strongly suggest you take this matter

seriously and take action against your staff.

Conclusion:

Yours faithfully,

Florence M.

Formal greeting

5. Write a similar letter of complaint on behalf of a visually-impaired person. Address it

to the town hall and complain about:

- public libraries lack audio books and books in the Braille alphabet (a method used by

blind people to read and write; each Braille character or cell is made up of six dot positions)

- public phones/websites do not have text-to-speech software and/or text-to-Braille

hardware

- the absence of traffic lights with sound

- coins and banknotes are not adapted so that the value can be determined by touch.

B. MENTAL DISABILITIES

Mental impairments (also called developmental disabilities) refer to substantial limitations in

one or more important life activities, such as working, learning or communicating.

1. Match the following impairments with their description:

1) Mental retardation a) affect person who has a difficulty to learn effectively, caused

by an unknown factor or factors. Usually, people with such

disabilities have a normal intelligence level, but they have

problems with reading, writing, spelling, doing math etc.

2) Cerebral palsy

b) sometimes results from brain injury before/during birth. It

affects motion control, but sometimes also vision, speech, and

hearing. However, people affected by this disability may have

normal or superior intelligence.

3) Autism

c) is a chronic neurological disorder, characterized by

unprovoked seizures. The affected person has convulsions and

may be unconscious for a period of time afterward.

4) Down syndrome

d) affects children in the first three years of their life. It

manifests through repetitive motions, paying attention to

random sounds, rather than to words, delayed language

development, and withdrawal into a “world of their own”. These

children do not respond positively to their parents’ attention,

often behave violently or fearfully when approached.

43

5) Epilepsy

e) is caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st

chromosome. Often this syndrome is associated with some

impairment of cognitive ability and physical development, as

well as common facial appearance (round face, almond-shaped

eyes).

6) Learning disabilities

f) may be caused by injury at birth, genetic causes, poor infant

nutrition, a serious illness affecting the mother during pregnancy

(e.g. measles), or certain habits (drinking, smoking, drug use)

the pregnant mother manifests. IQ tests are used to measure

degrees of retardation: 100 = IQ score for people of average

intelligence, 50-70 middle retarded, 20-35 severely retarded, 0-

20 profoundly retarded.

2. Translate the following idioms connected to eye/sight:

a) “a sight for sore eyes”

b) “the apple of my eye”

c) “to turn a blind eye on something”

d) “to see eye to eye”

e) “to give someone the evil eye”

f) “out of sight out of mind”

3. Find two English idioms with each of the following body parts: heart, head, leg, foot,

and mouth.

UNIT 15: Memory/Memories

1. Rearrange the words to form a correct sentence:

a. involved, storage, encoding, three, and, essential, are, processes, retrieval, in, memory.

b. claim, forgetting, forgetting, aging, or, brain damage, theories, of, that, occurs, result, as, a,

trace, memory, of, the, decay of.

c. memory, context, memories, flashbulb, an, are, example, of.

d. may, lead, concussions, amnesia, to, head, in, which, injuries, or, a, patient, memories, loss,

suffers, a, of.

2. Multiple choice: Choose the word (A, B, C, D) that best completes the sentence and write

it in the blank space.

Mathematician John Griffith has estimated that, by the time the 1) __________ person

dies, he/she will have stored 500 times as 2) __________ information as can be found in the

Encyclopedia Britannica. In our own encyclopedia of memories, we could 3) __________ the

meanings of thousands of words. The impressive capacity of human memory reveals a

complex mental system. An explanation of this system begins 4) ____________ a look at the

kind of information it can handle.

44

In 5) ____________ hand does the statue of Liberty hold the torch? When was the last

time you spent cash for something? What part of speech is used to modify a noun? The

answer to the first question is likely to be an 6) ______. To answer the second you must 7)

____________ a particular event in your life. The third concerns general knowledge 8)

___________ to be tied to a specific event. Some theorists argue that answering each of these

questions involves a different type of memory. No one is sure how many types of memory

exist, but most 9) ____________ suggest that there are at least three basic types. Each is

named for the type of 10) ____________ it handles: episodic, semantic and procedural

memory. Any memory of a specific event that happened when one was present is an episodic

memory.

A. B C D

1) average Disabled treated supposed

2) many Much vital important

3) require Include adapt withhold

4) from At with since

5) where Whose which what

6) image Wrong emotion thought

7) resort Recall remind redeem

8) possible Unlikely likely probably

9) researchers social workers teachers doctors

10) emotion Stress information quantity

3. Read the article13 below and provide a synonym for all the words underlined:

Erasing Our Memories: Scientific Breakthrough or Social Nightmare?

Slowly but surely, scientists are getting closer to developing a drug that will allow

people to eliminate unpleasant memories. The new issue of Neuron features a report from a

group of Chinese scientists who were able to use a chemical - the protein alpha-CaM kinase

II - to successfully erase memories from the minds of mice. The memory losses, report the

authors, are “not caused by disrupting the retrieval access to the stored information but are,

rather, due to the active erasure of the stored memories.” The erasure, moreover, “is highly

restricted to the memory being retrieved while leaving other memories intact. Therefore, our

study reveals a molecular genetic paradigm through which a given memory, such as new or

old fear memory, can be rapidly and specifically erased in a controlled and inducible manner

in the brain.”

Technology Review provides further details on the study:

Researchers first put the mice in a chamber where the animals heard a tone, then

followed up the tone with a mild shock. The resulting associations: the chamber is a very bad

place, and the tone foretells miserable things. Then, a month later - enough time to ensure

that the mice’s long-term memory had been consolidated - the researchers placed the animals

in a totally different chamber, overexpressed the protein, and played the tone. The mice

showed no fear of the shock-associated sound. But these same mice, when placed in the

original shock chamber, showed a classic fear response. The chemical had, in effect, erased

13 By Nicholas Carr, available at: http://blogs.britannica.com/2008/10/erasing-our-memories-a-scientific-

breakthrough-or-social-nightmare

45

one part of the memory (the one associated with the tone recall) while leaving the other

intact.

Fiddling with mice brains is one thing, of course, and fiddling with human brains is

another. But the experiment points to the possibility of the eventual development of a precise

and quick method for manipulating people’s memories: “The study is quite interesting from a

number of points of view,” says Mark Mayford, who studies the molecular basis of memory

at the Scripps Research Institute, in La Jolla, CA. He notes that current treatments for

memory “extinction” consist of very long-term therapy, in which patients are asked to recall

fearful memories in safe situations, with the hope that the connection between the fear and

the memory will gradually weaken. “But people are very interested in devising a way where

you could come up with a drug to expedite a way to do that,” he says. That kind of treatment

could change a memory by scrambling things up just in the neurons that are active during the

specific act of the specific recollection. “That would be a very powerful thing,” Mayford

says. Indeed. One can think of a whole range of applications, from the therapeutic to the

cosmetic to the political.

4. How do scientists actually manage to erase memories?

5. Think of some advantages and of some disadvantages if this process were applied to

large groups of people.

6. Would you erase any of your memories? Bring arguments to support your answer.

UNIT 16: Fears and Phobias

1. What is the difference between fear and phobia?

¤ Some of the most commonly named fears include: fear of speaking in public, fear of

loneliness, of death, and of the dark.

¤ A phobia is an anxiety disorder, which refers to a persistent, excessive, and irrational fear

of a specific object or situation. Five major subtypes have been identified:

(a) animal type, if the fear is initiated by exposure to animals or insects;

(b) natural environment type, for fear that is prompted by objects in nature, such as heights,

storms, or water;

(c) blood-injection-injury (BII) type, for fear that is cued by invasive medical procedures, by

receiving an injection, or by seeing blood or an injury;

(d) situational type, for fear that is prompted by a specific situation, such as enclosed spaces,

public transportation, driving, or bridges; and

(e) other type, for fear that is cued by an object not classified within one of the above

categories, such as a fear of vomiting or of clowns.

¤ Interestingly, BII phobics typically manifest a physiological response pattern opposite to

that of other phobias. Instead of rapid and prolonged heart rate acceleration, BII phobia is

characterized by a brief acceleration of heart rate, followed by a quick deceleration of heart

46

rate and a decrease in blood pressure. As a result, and unlike other phobias, fainting is often

observed in BII phobia upon exposure to the feared stimulus.

2. Match the following phobias with their definitions:

1 Xenophobia a Fear of being on an airplane; also called aerophobia or fear

of flying.

2 Pteromerhanophobia b Abnormal fear of thunder and lightning.

3 Social phobia c Anxiety in situations where it is perceived to be difficult to

escape (e.g. wide-open spaces, crowds, bridges, malls,

etc.)

4 Astraphobia d Extreme fear of medical procedures involving injections.

5 Cynophobia e Intense fear in social situations.

6 Photophobia f Pathological fear of contamination and germs.

7 Mysophobia g A type of animal fear, namely the fear of dogs.

8 Trypanophobia h Fear of spiders.

9 Agoraphobia i A nonclinical phobia, used to describe unreasonable fear of

foreigners or strangers.

10 Arachnophobia j A non-psychological condition, referring to

hypersensitivity to light.

3. Fill in the blanks with the following words: snappy, undergone, low-brow, vertigo,

aneurysm, skeptical, allegedly, definitive

New kidney 'changed my whole personality'14

A woman claims to have a) ......................... a complete "personality transplant" after

receiving a new kidney. Cheryl Johnson, 37, says she has changed completely since receiving

the organ in May. She believes that she must have picked up her new characteristics from the

donor, a 59-year-old man who died from an b) ........................

Now, not only has her personality changed, the single mother also claims that her tastes in

literature have taken a dramatic turn. Whereas she only used to read c) .........................

novels, Dostoevsky has become her author of choice since the transplant."You pick up your

characteristics from your donor. My son said when I first had the transplant, I went d)

....................... - that wasn't me”, Mrs. Johnson added. The former Preston North End football

steward's life has been turned round since her successful operation. After developing kidney

problems in 1998, she had previously undergone every available form of dialysis as well as a

failed transplant in 2001.

Academics in America have developed a theory called cellular memory phenomenon to

explain the personality changes that are e) .................... experienced by some transplant

recipients. Examples include a Massachusetts woman with f) ...................... who became a

climber; a Milwaukee lawyer who began eating Snickers, having always hated chocolate; and

a seven-year-old girl who had nightmares about being killed after being given the heart of a

murdered child. However, the only case recognised by the scientific community is that of a

15-year-old Australian girl whose blood type changed following a liver transplant.UK

14 Published in The Telegraph, on 15 March 2008, available at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1581752/New-kidney-changed-my-whole-personality.html

47

Transplant also remains g) ..................... about the phenomenon. A spokesman said: "While

not discarding it entirely, we have no reason to believe that it happens. We would be

interested to see any h) ................... evidence that supports it."

4. Although most researchers believe it is nothing more than a superstition, let’s assume

people do take on some aspects of the donor’s personality. What personality trait would

you like to have transplanted and what personal characteristic would you hate to see

changed?

5. Choose one of the following fears and describe a day in the life of a person/character

living with this fear: abandonment, being laughed at, being touched, change, commitment,

failure, falling in love, leaving the house, accidents, animals, being buried alive, disease or

germs, fire, ghosts, growing old, pain, people, public speaking, storms, violence, water. DO

NOT MENTION THE FEAR!

UNIT 17: Human Relationships

Social Psychology is concerned with how people interact with and understand one another. It

covers different aspects including concepts about SELF, relationships with OTHERS,

communication, social beliefs and actions.

The self is often seen as embedded within a social and cultural network. Thus, social

interaction is important in the development of the self-concept. The self-concept consists of

two components: self-image (a factual self-portrait, including information about the body, the

person’s likes and dislikes, their past experience) and self-esteem (an evaluative component,

concerned with internalized social judgments about how worthwhile a trait of personality is).

Interpersonal attraction forms a major aspect of our social lives. Factors influencing

attraction include:

physical attractiveness (we tend to act more favorably to good-looking people);

similarity and complementarity (we are attracted to people who have the same

kinds of attitudes and ideas as we do);

familiarity (physical proximity);

reciprocal liking (we spend more time with people who show they feel positively

about us);

perceived fallibility (we often find people who are “not perfect” more attractive).

Close interpersonal relations involve powerful emotions such as love. Some psychologists see

love as an extreme example of attraction or liking. Freud sees love as a “special version” of

the sexual drive, channeled into a socially acceptable form. Maslow distinguishes between D-

love (“deficiency love”, originating from unsatisfied needs for security and belonging) and B-

love (“being love”, a more settled kind of love in which both partners are balanced,

independent, secure, with their psychological needs fulfilled). How do you see love?

48

1. Match the types of love with the definitions provided by Dwyer (2000) and Hayes

(2000)

2. Guess the missing word! Hint: it is a small animal.

Interpersonal relations are extremely complex. The ……………'s dilemma, or sometimes

the porcupine dilemma, is an analogy about the challenges of human intimacy. It describes a

situation in which a group of …………….. all seek to become close to one another in order

to share their heat during cold weather. However, once accomplished, they cannot avoid

hurting one another with their sharp quills. They must step away from one another. Though

they all share the intention of a close reciprocal relationship, this may not occur for reasons

which they cannot avoid.

Both Arthur Schopenhauer and Sigmund Freud have used this situation to describe

what they feel is the state in which individuals will find themselves in relation to others. The

……………'s dilemma suggests that despite goodwill, human intimacy cannot occur without

substantial mutual harm, and what results is cautious behavior and weak relationships. Thus,

one is recommended to use moderation in affairs with others both because of self-interest, as

well as out of consideration for others. This metaphor of the ………….. is often used to

justify or explain introversion and isolationism.

3. Look at these prefixes. Which of them have a negative meaning?

co- de- dis- en- re- un- under-

1. Romantic (Eros) a) “A logical love, based on selecting a partner who satisfies practical

needs and matches in terms of age/religion/background.” (Dwyer)

“A practical style of loving, in which objective information like the

partner’s occupation or location, is seen as being just as important as

emotional feeling.” (Hayes)

2. Companionate (Storge) b) “An emotionally intense, jealous, obsessive love shown by an

individual who lives in constant fear of rejection.” (Dwyer)

“A very emotionally intense love style, in which the person is very

jealous of the partner.” (Hayes)

3. Game playing (Ludus) c) “An all-consuming emotional experience, an immediate powerful

physical attraction.” (Dwyer)

“Searching for a partner who matches up to a physical ideal.” (Hayes)

4. Possessive (Mania) d) “An unconditional, caring, giving and forgiving type of love. There

is no expectation of reciprocity, love is self-sacrificing.” (Dwyer)

”A type of love in which the person loves the other without any

thought of payback.” (Hayes)

5. Pragmatic (Pragma) e) “Love based on fun, with little commitment. It is usually short-lived

and will end as soon as boredom sets in.” (Dwyer)

“A playful form of love, in which the relationship is seen as a source

of enjoyment, but not necessarily of commitment.” (Hayes)

6. Altruistic (Agape) f) “A comfortable intimacy that grows and involves mutual sharing

and gradual self-disclosure.” (Dwyer)

“A form of love based on the idea of friendship, which gradually

increases in intimacy and affection.” (Hayes)

49

Now make new verbs from the ones below, using some of these prefixes:

allow, discover, estimate, exist, please, stabilize, trap, unite.

4. Read the text below, and then make suitable words from the ones given in capital

letters, remembering to add negative prefixes where necessary.

0 VULNERABLE 5 PLEASE 10 HOLD 15 HAPPY

1 VALUE 6 GRIEF 11 SPEAK

2 AVOID 7 SYMPATHY 12 STABILIZE

3 TEND 8 AGREE 13 RELUCTANT

4 EXPLORE 9 AFFECT 14 SECURE

Compromise is no cure for conflict

The capacity to communicate openly and honestly in a relationship does not guarantee

(0)________________ to distress. At times, one person may (1)_______________ the other,

causing frustration and conflict. A compromise is normally reached, but this amounts to an

(2) ___________________strategy. Perhaps people should abandon the (3)

___________________to smooth things over, in favour of an (4)___________________

process, where more fundamental questions are asked. Though this may be very (5)

___________________ at the time, the airing of basic (6) ___________________ often leads

each person to view the other more (7) ___________________ in the long run.

Jealousy can be one of the most (8) ________________ feelings in any relationship. In

jealousy, there is a perceived loss of (9) ____________________if a partner is paying

attention to someone else, that attention is being (10) ____________________from you.

Often, these feelings of jealousy remain (11) _________________, either for fear of (12)

____________________ the relationship or because of a basic (13) ____________________

to confront the issue. Jealousy endured in silence breeds (14) ____________________, which

in turn brings even greater (15) ____________________to the sufferer.

5. How much do you enjoy the company of other people?

6. Isolationism leads to loneliness, which is the opposite of love. We can distinguish between

situational loneliness (most people experience it sometimes, for instance when they move

house, end a close relationship, etc.) and chronic loneliness (feeling lonely on a long-term

basis and not always because of social isolation).Which of these words relate to loneliness

and isolation? What do the other words mean?

solitary remote abandoned exile

conceited celebrity deserted weary

gregarious eccentric intimate reclusive

50


1. Rank the following values according to how important they are for you: money, peace,

love, friendship, career, family, health, long life, social status, spirituality.

2. Spend 2-3 minutes writing down some of the words you associate with ‘money’ and

‘millionaire’.

3. Write the words from the article into the gaps. Then find the words in the article to

see how they are used in context.

conglomerate tycoon upsurge prosper entrepreneurs

lucrative monopolist magnate commodities affluent

1. people who use money to start new businesses and make business deals ________

2. a person who is head of a business that has complete control of the product or service it

provides because it is the only company that provides it _________________

3. to be successful, especially by making a lot of money ________

4. a successful and important person with a lot of power in a particular industry ____

5. a sudden increase in something ____________

6. used about a place where people have a lot of money _______________

7. bringing a lot of money __________________

8. a large business organization formed when several different businesses join together

__________

9. things that can be bought and sold, especially basic food products or fuel _______

10 a rich and powerful person who is involved in business or industry ___________

Extra question: Which three of these words have very similar meanings?

_______________________ _______________________ ____________________

4. Read the text and fill in the blank spaces with the missing fragments from the box:

distribution of

wealth

threatening to sue proportion of

Americans

Two new British

names

‘haves’ and the

‘have nots’

Asia’s richest man Americans and

Europeans

to hand a huge

chunk

commercial

property

first non-American

college dropout

The richest person in the world15

Forbes rich list topped by Mexican mobile phone titan Carlos Slim

The old order is under threat at the world’s billionaires club. Traditionally dominated

by (1)______________, the top ranks of the world’s richest people have been infiltrated by

scores of ultra-rich entrepreneurs from the developing world – capped by the Mexican

telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim.

15 Article by Andrew Clarke, published in The Guardian, 10 March 2010, available at:

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/mar/10/forbes-rich-list-carlos-slim

51

Today, Slim, the titan of mobile phones in Mexico, criticized as a ruthless monopolist,

was crowned as the richest person in the world by American business magazine, Forbes,

which calculated his net worth at $53.5bn (£35.7bn). Bolstered by a surge in the share price

of his America Movil empire, Slim’s wealth edged ahead of the $53bn fortune amassed by

the Microsoft boss Bill Gates, making the portly cigar-smoking 70-year-old the

(2)__________________ to hold the top spot since 1994.

In third place was the legendary Nebraska-based investor Warren Buffett with $47bn.

Britain’s top entrant into the global rich list, the Duke of Westminster, could only muster

45th position as his vast landownings gave him a net worth of $12bn.

Below the top few individuals, however, the lower ranks of Forbes’ closely watched

annual list showed a substantial change in the (3)___________________. The number of

billionaires from Asian and Australasian nations leapt from 130 to 234 last year, with the net

worth of the region’s super-rich doubling from $357bn to $729bn.

“Asia is leading the comeback,” said Forbes’ editor-in-chief, Steve Forbes. “There are

remarkable changes taking place in the global economy.”

He pointed out that as the number of billionaires in the world swelled from 793 to

1,011, the (4)__________________ dropped from 45% to 40%: “The US still dominates but

it’s not doing as well as the rest of the world in coming back from the financial crisis.”

(5)___________________, Indian, Mukesh Ambani, became the fourth-richest person

on the planet with $29bn, as his textiles-to-petrol Reliance Industries empire prospered.

Pakistan also produced its first billionaire, banking magnate Mian Muhammad Mansha, and

the number of Chinese billionaires leapt by 27 to 64.

Among those enjoying an upsurge in fortunes was Robin Li, founder of the Chinese

internet search engine, Baidu, whose wealth reached $3.5bn as his company prospered on

Google’s abrupt withdrawal from China, due to censorship concerns. Another Chinese

tycoon, property magnate Wu Yajun, has emerged as the world’s richest self-made woman

with $3.9bn from her Longfor Properties empire, which includes apartments, town houses,

luxury villas and (6)________________ across China.

The upsurge in the number of super-rich individuals from less affluent nations went

beyond Asia. The number of billionaires from Russia almost doubled from 32 to 62. The

owner of the London newspaper, Evening Standard, Alexander Lebedev, re-entered the ranks

with $2bn, after (7)_______________ Forbes a year ago for claiming that losses in the

financial crisis had stripped him of his billionaire status. And Alisher Usmanov enjoyed a

lucrative year at his metals conglomerate with his net worth surging from $1.7bn to $7.2bn.

Turkey saw its number of billionaires swell from 12 to 28. And from South America, a

commodities tycoon, Eike Batista, became the first Brazilian to make the world’s top ten for

wealth. Batista, 52, a (8)_____________ who made his fortune from gold, oil and diamonds

is ranked eighth in the world with $27bn.

Economists say that a rapid rise in super-wealthy individuals from the developing

world reflects the pace of globalization. But it also points to a widening in inequality between

the (9)____________ in poorer parts of the world.

In British terms, little changed among the ranks of the super-rich. Behind the Duke of

Westminster came property developers David and Simon Reuben, the clothing store chain

Topshop’s boss Sir Philip Green and Virgin supremo Sir Richard Branson. (10)

____________________ joined the billionaires’ club – financier Alan Howard, who runs the

hedge fund Brevan Howard, and China-based property developer Xiu Li Hawken of Renhe

Commercial Holdings, who holds British citizenship.

For the newly crowned richest person on the planet, topping the rich list cements a

rapid rise to global fame. However, he is only top thanks to the generosity of a rival – if Bill

52

Gates had not chosen (11)_____________________ of his wealth to his Gates Foundation to

fight disease in the developing world, the software supremo would be worth as much as

$80bn.

5. True/False: based on the information in the text, which of these sentences are true (T) and

which are false (F)

Carlos Slim is a billionaire from an underdeveloped country.

The richest man holds the top spot by a narrow margin as opposed to second place.

Most billionaires are from the US.

The number of billionaires from China has gone down.

The richest woman in the world is Chinese.

The richest Brazilian does not have higher education.

The gap between the rich and the poor is being reduced.

Richard Branson is a newcomer on the British side of the list.

Carlos Slim is nr. 1 because of serious losses suffered by Bill Gates.

6. Arrange the jumbled words in the correct order:

a) A fool and money his are parted easily

b) makes Money the world round go

c) grow Money on trees doesn’t

d) Money a in your pocket hole burns

e) To ends make meet.

f) rags From to riches

g) and a leg to cost an arm

h) The love evil of is the root of all money

7. Match the idioms above with their meanings:

1. to have enough money to live on

2. money is not abundant or easily obtained

3. to be very expensive

4. start being very poor and become very rich and successful

5. the desire for money is the cause of all crimes

6. you are eager to spend it quickly or extravagantly

7. money is the most important thing in the world because every human activity depends

on it

8. people who aren't careful with their money spend it quickly

8. Fill in the following sentences with some of the idioms from 6:

1. I won’t give you my credit card anymore! ___________________ Last time you

bought a $20,000 watch!

2. It’s a story of a woman who went _____________________. She came from a village

in Siberia and now she is on Forbes Top 100.

3. This new phone ___________________________ but I don’t regret buying it. It’s so

cool!

4. I don’t earn much money but I __________________. I’m ok for now.

5. Because of their father’s enormous fortune, the two brothers ended up killing each

other. I guess _______________________.

53

UNIT 19: Money, Money, Money (part II)

1. Pre-reading questions:

a) What is the last thing you bought?

b) What would be the hardest thing for you to give up if you couldn’t use money

anymore?

c) Why do you think people constantly buy new things?

d) Have you ever bought something you didn’t need?

e) What would you do with the money if you won the lottery?

2. Matching:

1 To wallow a To reduce in number, shrink

2 Solvent b Excess, overabundance

3 To impoverish c Income

4 To downsize d Survival, endurance

5 Surfeit e Self-denial, self-renunciation

6 Revenue f To cast aside, throw away

7 Enlightenment g To indulge

8 To discard h To pauperize, to deprive, to make poor

9 self-abnegation i Capable of paying one's debts

10 Subsistence j Nirvana

11 Scavenging k. Small, inadequate, poor

12 Meager l. searching through waste, junk, etc., for

something that can be eaten, saved or used

3. Read the text16 below and insert the paragraphs back where they belong:

MEET THE MAN WHO LIVES ON ZERO DOLLARS

IN UTAH, A MODERN-DAY CAVEMAN HAS LIVED FOR THE BETTER PART OF A

DECADE ON ZERO DOLLARS A DAY. PEOPLE USED TO THINK HE WAS CRAZY

Daniel Suelo lives in a cave. Unlike the average American—wallowing in credit-card debt,

clinging to a mortgage, terrified of the next downsizing at the office—he isn't worried about

the economic crisis. [1]__________________________________

On a warm day in early spring, I clamber along a set of red-rock cliffs to the mouth of his

cave, where I find a note signed with a smiley face: CHRIS, FEEL FREE TO USE

ANYTHING, EAT ANYTHING (NOTHING HERE IS MINE).

Night falls and after an hour Suelo tramps up the cliff, mimicking a raven's call—his

salutation. He's lanky and tan. His hands are black with dirt, and his hair, which is going gray,

looks like a bird's nest, full of dust and twigs from scrambling in the underbrush on the

canyon floor. Grinning, he presents the booty from one of his weekly rituals, scavenging on

the streets of Moab: a wool hat and gloves, a winter jacket, and a white nylon belt, still

wrapped in plastic, along with pants and sandals, which he's wearing. [2]

He wasn't always this way. Suelo graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in

anthropology, he thought about becoming a doctor, he held jobs, he had cash and a bank

16 Adapted from an article by Christopher Ketcham, available at:

http://www.details.com/culture-trends/career-and-money/200907/meet-the-man-who-lives-on-zero-dollars

54

account. In 1987, he joined the Peace Corps and was posted to an Ecuadoran village high in

the Andes. He was charged with monitoring the health of tribespeople in the area, teaching

first aid and nutrition, and handing out medicine where needed.

[3]____________________________

The more they spent, says Suelo, the more their health declined. He could measure the

deterioration on his charts. "It looked," he says, "like money was impoverishing them."

The experience was transformative, but Suelo needed another decade to fashion his response.

[...]

By 1999, he was living in a Buddhist monastery in Thailand—he had saved just enough

money for the flight. From there, he made his way to India, where he found himself in good

company among the sadhus, the revered ascetics who go penniless for their gods. Numbering

as many as 5 million, the sadhus can be found wandering roads and forests across the

subcontinent, seeking enlightenment in self-abnegation. "I wanted to be a sadhu," Suelo says.

"But what good would it do for me to be a sadhu in India? A true test of faith would be to

return to one of the most materialistic, money-worshipping nations on earth and be a sadhu

there. [4]______________________________

I tell him that living without money seems difficult. What about starvation? What about

getting deadly ill? That it's hard is exactly the point, he says. "Hardship is a good thing. We

need the challenge. Our bodies need it. Our immune systems need it.

[5]_______________________________

When I tell him about my rent back in New York—$2,400 a month—he shakes his head.

What's left unsaid is that I'm here writing about him to make money, for a magazine that

depends for its survival on the advertising revenue of conspicuous consumption. As he

prepares a cooking fire, Suelo tells me that years ago he had a neighbor in the canyon, an

alcoholic who lived in a cave bigger than his. [6]________________________________

Suelo considers the riches of our own forage. "What if we saw gold for what it is?" he says

meditatively. "Gold is pretty but virtually useless. Somebody decided it has worth, and

everybody accepted this decision. The natives in the Americas thought Europeans were

insane because of their lust for such a useless yellow substance."[...]

From the perch on the cliff, the life of the sadhu seems reasonable. But I don't want to live in

a cave. I like indoor plumbing. I like electricity. Still, there's an obvious beauty in the

simplicity of subsistence. It's an un-American notion these days.

[7]_________________________________ For most of us, it's as real as the next house

payment. Suelo doesn't take public assistance or use food stamps, but he does survive in part

on our reality, the discarded surfeit of the money system that he denounces—a system, as it

happens, that recently looked like it was headed for the cliff.

Suelo is 48, and he doesn't exactly have a 401(k). "I'll do what creatures have been doing for

millions of years for retirement," he says. [8]_________________________________ Until

then, think of him like the raven, cleaning up the carcasses the rest of us leave behind.

A The tribe had been getting richer for a decade, and during the two years he was there he

watched as the villagers began to adopt the economics of modernity. They sold the food

from their fields—quinoa, potatoes, corn, lentils—for cash, which they used to purchase

things they didn't need, as Suelo describes it.

B My hardships are simple, right at hand—they're manageable."

C That's because he figured out that the best way to stay solvent is to never be solvent in the

first place. Nine years ago, in the autumn of 2000, Suelo decided to stop using money. He

just quit it, like a bad drug habit. [...]

D To be a vagabond in America, a bum, and make an art of it—the idea enchanted me."[…]

55

E We don't revere our ascetics, and we dismiss the idea that money could be some kind of

consensual delusion.

F "Why is it sad that I die in the canyon and not in the geriatric ward well-insured? I have great

faith in the power of natural selection. And one day, I will be selected out."

G The old man would pan for gold in the stream and net enough cash each month to buy the

beer that kept him drunk.

H He's also scrounged cans of tuna and turkey. All in all, a nice haul from the waste product of

America. I hand him a bag of apples and a block of cheese I bought at the supermarket, but

the gift suddenly seems meager.

4. Comprehension questions:

a. What episode determined Suelo to give up on money? Why?

b. Why did he decide to live as a bum in America rather than anywhere else?

c. What is the paradox that the reporter & Suelo find themselves in?

d. Suelo equates money with lack. Why do you think?

e. What is your opinion about Suelo?

f. Is he really living with 0 dollars?

g. How do you comment on the last sentence?

h. Is there anything one can learn from Suelo’s life choices?

i. What are the psychological implications of giving up on using money?

UNIT 20: Consumerism: One choice too many

1. What do you think about:

a. fast-food being sold in schools?

b. cosmetics being advertised in schools?

c. advertisements broadcast during programs for kids?

2. Match the following synonyms from the article:

a. Greedy Impact

b. Bombarding Peddle

c. Tout Induce

d. Insidious Uncaring

e. Enticing money-grabbing

f. Callous Contemporaries

g. Lure Sly

h. Peers Encouragement

i. Incentives Inundating

j. reach Tempting

3. Insert the words on the right in the appropriate gaps:

Food Companies Targeting Kids Online

____________-greedy corporate marketeers have found a new means of

ensnaring children into the net of consumerism. Not ________ with light

content

56

bombarding kids on TV, in the streets and at schools, marketing executives

are utilizing Internet games to ________ their wares to unsuspecting

children. The latest insidious ________ of more than eighty percent of the

world’s chocolate and snack food companies has been brought to

________ in a new report, entitled “It's Child's Play: Advergaming and the

Online Marketing of Food to Children”. It is “the first comprehensive

analysis of the nature and ________ of online food advertising to

children”. The research was commissioned by America’s Kaiser Family

Foundation and exposes the questionable ________ of companies such as

Mars, Hersheys and McDonalds in targeting children to promote their

products. The latter company, in particular, focuses its ads more on

enticing kids with cheap ________ toys than food.

giveaway

ploy

ever

tactics

tout

scope

The report ________ increases the likelihood of a new word entering the

English vocabulary – the “advergame” – an immoral and callous technique

to get kids ________ while having online fun. In addition, a variety of

other advertising and marketing tactics designed to lure kids into spending

an ________ amount of online time being ________ with corporate logos

are employed on these sites. These include viral marketing (encouraging

children to contact their ________ about a specific product or brand, found

on 64% of sites); promotions (65%); memberships (25%); on-demand

________ to TV ads (53%); and incentives for product purchase (38%).

Kaiser’s William Dietz said the scale of this advertising was an “eye

opener”. It ________ ethical concerns about the role food advertising plays

in childhood obesity. Kaiser vice president Vicky Rideout warned the

________ of online advertising is much deeper than that of television.

reach

unlimited

access

hooked

peers

raised

sadly

blitzed

4. Imagine you are a marketing executive for a junk food company. In teams, come up

with an advertisement (not longer than 5 lines) in order to promote your products in: a school,

hospital, mall, library, or office building.

5. Complete the text below by inserting the word in brackets with its correct prefix.

The job advertisement had asked for a self-motivated individual with good social skills. I

remember thinking that the salary wasn't brilliant, but the job didn't seem too (1)

___________ (paid) for what was required. However, I soon found out that what they wanted

was a workaholic! The factory was dirty, noisy, and the work was incredibly tiring. The place

was seriously (2) ___________ (staffed) with ten people doing the work of fifteen - and the

management was lazy and (3) ___________ (efficient). It soon became clear that anything

the factory produced was (4) ___________ (standard) as quality control was minimal. Not

surprisingly, relations within the workforce were poor and it was impossible to get anybody

to co-operate on projects. People were either irritable and (5) ___________ (patient) or just

couldn't be bothered. I remember the day I finally handed in my resignation. I tried to explain

some of the problems I'd experienced to senior management, and implied that some of their

working practices were quite frankly (6) ___________ (legal). But, true to form, they were

completely (7) ___________ (communicative) and (8) ___________ (interested). I was faced

with a wall of silence, then more or less thrown out of the factory gates!

6. Explain what the following concepts mean: - retail therapy (shopping therapy)

57

- shopaholic

- compulsive shopping

- shopping spree

*What needs are compulsive shoppers fulfilling when they buy something?

7. Read the article “Consumerism: One Choice Too Many”17 and summarize it in one

phrase:

Federal law permits people to take their phone numbers with them if they switch cell phone

service. It's nice to have more flexibility—but is this really what we need? Already, getting

phone service forces consumers to navigate a bewildering set of decisions: peak minutes and

off-peak, family plans and individual rates, flip-phones or one-piece "candy bar" devices,

analog, digital or GSM service, text messaging and camera capabilities, plastic color palettes

and vast ringtone libraries, recharging equipment and battery types, hands-free accessories,

phones with web access and phones that act like walkie-talkies.

Cellular service is an extreme example, but American life is flooded with too many

choices, says Barry Schwartz, a psychologist at Swarthmore College. In his book The

Paradox of Choice, he argues that the result is a society of stressed-out and unsatisfied

customers. Options overload applies to everything from raising children to buying jeans, and

might be at the root of that "overwhelmed" feeling that's been going around.

Choices seem like a good thing—prices stay low, and we can have things that are

"just right." But Schwartz argues that at least in the United States, as consumer options have

proliferated, we've long since passed that point. People faced with too many options are likely

to throw up their hands and not bother—even when a lot is at stake. Some people respond by

trying to examine every possibility as thoroughly as possible—and they are the unhappiest of

all, says Schwartz. A "maximizer," to use Schwartz's term, second-guesses his decisions,

constantly looking over his shoulder to see what he missed. "Maximizers do better, but feel

worse," Schwartz says—they are never satisfied that they've made the best choice. While

some might be born that way, he speculates that our consumer culture actually breeds

maximizers: The average American is exposed to 3,000 ads a day. Happier are the people

who Schwartz calls "satisficers," who simply use the standard of "good enough." And if you

can't remember that "perfect" is the enemy of "good," Schwartz says that remembering to feel

grateful for what we have releases us from the tyranny of choice.

17 Available at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200401/consumerism-one-choice-too-many

58

UNIT 21: Happiness

1. Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text:

drift off cognitive wellbeing reminisce anticipate random

distracted focused consistently engaging

a) If you are ……………….., you are not able to concentrate on something.

b) If something happens ………………, it happens regularly and in the same way.

c) A person’s ………………. is the satisfactory state they should be in, especially as regards

their health and security.

d) If you are ………………..., you are concentrating on a particular aim and not wasting

time or energy on other things.

e) When you think and talk about enjoyable experiences in the past it is said you

………………..

f) If a task is …………………, it is interesting and keeps your attention.

g) If you ……………….. something, you think that it will probably happen.

h) Something is ………………. when it is chosen or it happens without any particular

method, pattern or purpose.

i) If you ………………., you either stop concentrating on something or you fall asleep.

j) ……………… processes are those that are connected with recognizing and understanding

things.

2. Decide whether the statements below are true (T) or false (F). Then check your

answers by reading the text.

a) People spend more than half their time thinking about something other than

what they are actually doing.

b) If your mind wanders, this will make you less happy.

c) Being distracted is the cause of happiness.

d) People are happiest when they are doing sports or are in a conversation.

e) People are in a content state of mind when using a home computer.

3. Put the following phrases in the text:

a) and what made them most happy; b) what they are actually doing; c) to reflect on the past

and learn from it; d) made them less happy; e) to support the advice; f) failed to hold people’s

attention; g) cognitive achievement; h) at random times; I) the lead author of the study; j) the

cause of unhappiness.

Living in the moment really does make people happier18

Psychologists have found that people are distracted from the task at hand nearly half of the

time, and this daydreaming consistently makes them less happy.

Happiness is found by living in the now, according to a major study into mental

wellbeing. But the study also found that people spend nearly half their time (46, 7%) thinking

about something other than (1) ……………….

18 By Ian Sample, 11 November, 2010, adapted from The Guardian

59

The benefits of seizing the day are extolled by many philosophic and religious

traditions, but until now there has been scant scientific evidence (2) ………………

Psychologists at Harvard University collected information on the daily activities, thoughts

and feelings of 2,250 volunteers to find out how often they were focused on what they were

doing, (3) ………………. They found that people were happiest among other things when

exercising or conversing, and least happy when working, resting or using a home computer.

And although subjects’ minds were wandering nearly half of the time, this consistently (4)

………………

The team concluded that reminiscing, thinking ahead and daydreaming tend to make

people more miserable, even when they are thinking about something pleasant. Even the most

engaging tasks (5) ………………. Volunteers admitted to thinking about something else at

least 30% of the time while performing these tasks.

“Human beings have the unique ability to focus on things that aren’t happening right

now. That allows them (6) ………………..; it allows them to anticipate and plan for the

future; and it allows them to imagine things that might never occur”, said Matthew

Killingsworth, (7) ………………… “At the same time, it seems that human beings often use

this ability in ways that are not productive and, furthermore, can be destructive to our

happiness”, he added.

For the study, Killingsworth developed a web application for the iphone that

contacted participants (8) ………………… during their waking hours. When they received a

message, those taking part had to respond with information about what they were doing and

how they rated that activity. The results showed that happiness was more affected by how

often people drifted off than by the activity they were doing at the time. The researchers say

they’re confident that being distracted was (9) …………… rather than the other way around.

The authors write in the Science journal: “A human mind is a wandering mind and a

wandering mind is an unhappy mind. The ability to think about what is not happening is a

(10) ………………… that comes at an emotional cost.”

4. Find the words and phrases in the text:

a) gerund that means to fantasize

b) verb that means to praise enthusiastically

c) adjective meaning very little or not enough

d) verb meaning to move around aimlessly

e) verb meaning to take place or to exist

f) a two-word expression meaning while you are not asleep

g) an expression meaning vice-versa

5. Reading comprehension.

a. Check your predictions from exercise 2.

b. What does Killingsworth’s research try to find out?

c. How did he conduct his research?

d. What is the general conclusion of the study?

e. How do think the relationship between happiness and technology will evolve?

6. Writing. Amy Bloom says that the Fundamentally Sound, Top Five Components of

Happiness are: (1) Be in possession of the basics — food, shelter, good health, safety. (2) Get

enough sleep. (3) Have relationships that matter to you. (4) Take compassionate care of

others and of yourself. (5) Have work or an interest that engages you.

In your opinion, is there more to happiness than this?

60

UNIT 22: The Scope of Psychology and Its Faces

1. Some of the lines below are correct. Others have a word that should not be there. Tick

each correct line or write the extra word in the box.

1 What is psychology? It is a field of enquiry that is sometimes defined as so the

2 science of the mind, sometimes as the science of behavior. It is concerned with a

3 how and why organisms do what they do, why moths fly into the flame and sons

4 rebel against their fathers, why we are remember how to ride a bike 20 years

after

5 the last try, why humans speak and make peace or war. All these are behaviours

6 and psychology is the science that studies them. The phenomena it studies are

7 extremely numerous. Some one border on biology, others touch on social

sciences,

8 such as is anthropology and sociology. This enormous range covered by

9 psychology makes it a science of many a faces. Dreams are a perfect illustration

10 of how psychology approaches a single case. A dream is a kind of nocturnal

11 drama which can only be accessed by the falling asleep. It is usually a series of

12 scenes, sometimes common, sometimes bizarre and disjointed, in which the a

13 dreamer is often a participant. The events in the dream are generally experienced

14 as real, so real that a Chinese sage wrote 2000 years ago: “Once I dreamt I was a

15 butterfly, flying around as freely. Suddenly I woke up. Now I don’t know

whether

16 I am a man to dreaming I was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming I am a man.”

2. Provide a suitable word for the blank spaces:

a) In order to address the ______________ “Is psychology a science?” it is important to

understand the definitions of _____________ psychology and science.

b) A new _______________ of thought developed as an alternative ___________

psychoanalysis.

c) Behaviourists realized they could produce ___________ any response by

___________ an individual’s environment.

d) The counselor creates a warm ________________ in which the patient feels

comfortable and willing to ____________.

e) Some people claim that when we move from describing a ___________ behavior to

explaining it, we ______________ move from science to opinion.

3. What is the difference between a: psychologist, psychiatrist, psychotherapist and

psychoanalyst?

4. Match the words from the text with their equivalents/explanations:

1 fad a Fragile, breakable

2 full-fledged b To highlight

3 sprawling c Arrogantly, condescendingly

4 inchoate d Trend, mania

61

5 resilient e Rudimentary, not yet fully developed

6 spun glass (adj) f To collapse, to drop

7 To plummet g Stereotyped

8 To underscore h Tough, enduring

9 cookie-cutter (adj) I Spreading, expanding

10 cavalierly J Fully developed

5. Reinsert the fragments back into the text:

a. delicate, fragile, and easily shattered creatures

b. and how they want to feel about themselves

c. one-size-fits-all interventions

d. just so long as he doesn't overdo it

e. happiness, virtues, personal strengths, and altruism

f. For defensive pessimists, positive psychology has a decidedly negative side.

Is Positive Psychology for Everyone? New Research Raises Doubts19

As even a casual observer of the psychology scene is surely aware, the field of psychology

has long had its share of fads. Some develop into scientific disciplines, many die out entirely,

and still others become full-fledged pseudosciences. Over the past decade or so, one of

psychology's foremost fads has undeniably been "positive psychology," an intriguing,

sprawling, but at times inchoate movement that seeks to restore "positive" features of human

nature, such as 1) ______________, to their rightful place within the field of psychology.

Many advocates of positive psychology believe that the field of psychology has been too

focused on mental illness, and insufficiently focused on mental health. The term positive

psychology was coined by humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1964.

It remains to be seen whether positive psychology will mature into a legitimate

scientific discipline. Without question, some positive psychology research has proven

valuable by highlighting a crucial point that popular psychology had neglected for far too

long - namely, that most of us are far more resilient than traditional psychologists give us

credit for. In 1973, the brilliant University of Minnesota clinical psychologist Paul Meehl

poked fun at what he called the "spun glass theory" of the mind - the notion that most of us

are 2) ______________ who need to be treated with kid gloves. Since then, other researchers

have shown that most people are surprisingly resilient even in the face of extreme trauma. For

example, even when confronted with horrifically frightening events, like wartime combat,

earthquakes, or floods, the majority of trauma-exposed people (probably 70% or 75%) do not

develop posttraumatic stress disorder.

But I worry about the all too frequent implication that positive psychology is for

everyone. Psychology must respect individual differences, and 3) ______________are rarely

helpful. In some cases, such as crisis debriefing for trauma-exposed victims, they can

probably do harm.

One potent strike against the "positive psychology is for everyone" assumption

derives from the work of psychologist Julie Norem on defensive pessimism, summarized

nicely in her book, The Positive Power of Negative Thinking. If you knew someone in school

19 Adapted from Scott Lilienfeld on Jun 19, 2009 in The Skeptical Psychologist, available at:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-skeptical-psychologist/200906/is-positive-psychology-everyone-

new-research-raises-doubts

https://www.psychologytoday.com/experts/scott-lilienfeld

62

who drove everyone nuts worrying about how he/she would do on exams and who ended up

getting A pluses on all of her his/her exams, you probably knew a defensive pessimist. For

defensive pessimists, worrying about upcoming challenges is a way of life. But it's also a

healthy coping strategy that helps them prepare for adversity. Norem has shown that when

defensive pessimists are deprived of their pessimism by being forced to look on the bright

side of life, their performance on tasks plummets. 4) ___________________

In a three-part study, Joanne Wood of the University of Waterloo and two colleagues

also decided to see if positive affirmations work.

The answer, it turns out, isn't so simple. For participants with high self-esteem,

repeating a positive self-statement ("I'm a lovable person") made them feel a bit better, but

not all that much. But of course, people with high-esteem rarely need to repeat positive self-

statements, as they already like themselves. What about participants with low self-esteem,

from whom positive affirmations are typically intended? Here Wood and colleagues found

that repeating a positive self-statement actually made them feel worse, probably because

doing so underscored the discrepancy between how they feel about themselves 5)

____________________. In all likelihood, it just reminded them of how unlovable they

really feel.

So although positive psychology surely has a useful role to play for some of us, it just

as surely has its limits. And for some people, a purely positive approach to everyday life

appears to backfire. As we psychologists have yet again learned the hard way, any cookie-

cutter approach to human nature that cavalierly neglects individual differences is bound to

fail. So if your defensively pessimistic friend wants to spend the weekend worrying about

that Monday morning job interview, let him have at it - 6) ______________________.

6. Answer the following questions based on the text:

a. What is positive psychology?

b. What is positive psychology’s main contribution?

c. What is the downside of this branch of psychology?

d. What does defensive pessimism refer to?

e. Does positive psychology work for defensive pessimists?

f. Does this type of approach help people with low self-esteem?

g. What is the author’s attitude towards positive psychology?

UNIT 23: Dreams are not about what they are about

DREAMS are thoughts, emotions and the images shaped by them, which are encountered

when asleep. One has dreams during the rapid eye movement sleep (a state of sleep

characterized by increased neuronal activity of the forebrain and midbrain, dreaming and

rapid eye movements). Slow-wave sleep, on the other hand, is a state of deep, usually

dreamless sleep that occurs regularly during a normal period of sleep. Various theories on

dream interpretations exist but the real purpose of dreams is still unknown. Dreams are

closely associated with the human psychology. Research shows that during an average

lifespan, a human being spends about six years in dreaming which is around two hours every

night.

Dreams are not about what they are about

Sigmund Freud proposed that dreams are the means of one's expressions of his/her

unconscious wishes. He said that bad dreams allow the brain to gain control over the feelings

63

that are a result of distressful experiences. Carl Jung suggested that dreams compensate for

one-sided feelings borne in consciousness. According to Ferenczi, a Hungarian

psychoanalyst, a dream bears something that cannot be expressed outright. Some theories say

that dreams involve one's repressed emotions that are fantasized during the sleep. Anyway,

dreams speak in a deeply symbolic language. The unconscious mind tries to compare your

dream to something else, which is similar.

We only dream of what we know

Hartmann believes that dreams give a person an opportunity to organize his/her thoughts.

Blechner's theory of Oneiric Darwinism, which attributes the generation of new ideas to

dreams, is quite supportive of Hartmann's analysis. Griffin, through his recent research has

proposed the expectation fulfillment theory of dreaming, according to which dreaming

completes patterns of emotional expectations.

People also tend to have common themes in dreams, which are situations relating to school,

being chased, running slowly/in place, sexual experiences, falling, arriving too late, a person

now alive being dead, teeth falling out, flying, failing an examination, or a car accident.

Have you ever had a precognitive dream?

*Precognition, also called future sight, refers to perception that involves the acquisition of

future information that cannot be deduced from presently available and normally acquired

sense-based information. Results of several surveys across large population sets indicate that

between 18% and 38% of people have experienced at least one precognitive dream and 70%

have experienced déjà vu. The percentage of persons that believe precognitive dreaming is

possible is even higher.

1. Explain these idioms about sleep/dreams:

- Not sleep a wink =

- Recharge your batteries =

- Toss and turn =

- Beauty sleep =

- Catnap =

- Hit the hay =

- Sleep like a log =

- Daydreaming =

2. Supply a word that means:

- To have full awareness of what is going on around you =

- To make sense of dreams =

- A person who likes to be active at night =

- To awaken someone =

- Another term for sleep =

3. Match the following terms connected to sleep disorders with their definitions:

1 Insomnia a Performing different activities in a state of

low consciousness.

2 Onset insomnia b Ceasing to breathe while asleep, waking

up panicked, grasping for air.

3 Maintenance insomnia c c. Severe sleep disorder arising from

different reasons, mainly the physiological

64

states of anxiety and tension.

4 Sleep apnea d It is a test used in the study of sleep and as

a diagnostic tool in sleep medicine.

5 Sleepwalking e Rare disease, suddenly falling asleep

during the day

6 Bruxism f Excessive amounts of sleepiness.

7 Narcolepsy g Waking up frequently during the night

8 Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS) h Having difficulty to fall asleep.

9 Hypersomnia i Involuntary grinding or clenching of teeth

during sleep

10 Polysomnography (PSG) j Also known as Sleeping Beauty

Syndrome, this is a neurological disorder

characterized by recurring periods of

excessive amounts of sleeping.

4. True/False:

1) Everybody dreams.

2) We forget 90% of our dreams.

3) Hypnosis is a state of sleep.

4) A full 12% of sighted people dream exclusively in black and white.

5) Insomnia cannot be treated.

6) Animals dream too.

7) During REM sleep the body is paralyzed by a mechanism in the brain in order to

prevent the physical body to move.

5. Put the words in the appropriate form:

a) Behave; b) Effect; c) Miracle; d) Relax; e) Know; f) Proceed; g) Assist; h) Distract

Do you wish you could change some anti-social aspect of your a) ………………..? Have you

ever tried to curb an unpleasant, self-destructive habit, only to find your methods totally b)

……………? If so, then perhaps it’s time you looked to the c) ……………… power of self-

hypnosis for help. This new book will be essential reading. In conventional hypnosis, the

hypnotist brings the client into a deeply d) ……………. State in order to access e)

………….. parts of the mind and deal with whatever it is that is causing the problem. In self-

hypnosis, you go through a similar f) ………………., but without the g) ……………… of a

hypnotist. Of course, in order to get into a hypnotic trance you’ll need as few h)

…………….. as possible, but the authors claim the method is not dangerous, as at no time are

you fully asleep.

6. Translate the following text:

Visele ajută la învăţat şi la consolidarea memoriei20 Oamenii de ştiinţă au considerat multă vreme că somnul şi visele au explicaţii diferite.

În ultimii ani, însă, cercetătorii au ajuns la concluzia că această perspectivă este greşită. Una

dintre cele mai importante funcţii ale somnului, consolidarea amintirilor, se realizează prin

visare.Este binecunoscut faptul că somnul îmbunătăţeşte memoria de toate tipurile. Pe lângă

20 Fragments taken from: http://www.descopera.ro/stiinta/9551600-de-ce-viseaza-oamenii-care-sunt-

raspunsurile-stiintei

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acest lucru, creierul foloseşte perioada de somn pentru a reprocesa amintirile proaspete,

aşezându-le într-un context mental nou, transformându-le în amintiri permanente şi totodată

extrăgând un înţeles mai profund al acestora. Visele, cred oamenii de ştiinţă, reprezintă un

simptom al faptului că acest proces se află în desfăşurare.

În unul dintre experimente, participanţilor la studiu li s-a cerut să ţină minte un cuvânt

inventat, „cathedruke”, ce se aseamănă cu un cuvânt real din limba engleză, „cathedral”.

Apoi, în cea de-a doua etapă a studiului, cercetătorii au cerut participanţilor să recunoască

cuvântul „cathedral”, în cadrul unor teste. Rezultatele au fost interesante: cei care au efectuat

primul test seara iar al doilea în dimineaţa următoare recunoşteau mult mai greu cuvântul

„cathedral” decât cei care au efectuat primul test dimineaţa şi cel de-al doilea în seara

aceleiaşi zile. Cercetătorii cred că motivul este faptul că cei din primul grup au dormit (şi, cel

mai probabil, au visat), transferând cuvântul „cathedruke” din memoria pe termen scurt

(aflată în hipocamp) în memoria lexicală, situată în cortex, o regiune mai avansată a

creierului. Trecând în memoria lexicală, cuvântul inventat „cathedruke” afecta capacitatea de

recunoaştere a cuvântului real „cathedral”. Acest studiu a arătat că pentru ca un cuvânt nou

învăţat să ajungă în memoria de lungă durată, unde se află vocabularul obişnuit al unei

persoane, este nevoie de somn.

UNIT 24: Talking About Addictions

ALCOHOL remains one of the most abused substances in the world, which can lead to

addiction (physical and/or psychological dependence). It is a significant factor in premature

death, road fatalities, homicide, suicide, family violence etc. Other psychoactive substances

to which people can become addicted include tobacco, caffeine, and drugs.

The use of DRUGS (narcotics and hallucinogens) has also been documented through history,

but only recently has it become the object of acute international concern. Use of drugs can

lead to both physical and psychological addiction. It can have similar consequences as

alcohol abuse, however it also presents other specific long-term effects: malnutrition or

anorexia (drug addicts have low or no appetite), diseases (AIDS, infections, blindness,

psychiatric problems, depression etc.), problems during pregnancy and others.

☼ BRAINSTORMING

In your opinion, what are some reasons that determine people to start taking drugs?

Some possible SIGNS of drug abuse:

- physical: red eyes, fatigue, cough, scars/marks, shaking;

- psychological: irritability, low self-esteem, depression, becoming aggressive or

passive, decreased interest in school, drop in grades, truancy, discipline problems.

Once a person becomes addicted, TREATMENT is complex and difficult. It requires

medical detoxification as well as psychological counseling. In order to eliminate the physical

need for the chemical substance, one must spend about 3 months in detox clinics or rehab

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centers. Eliminating the psychological need, however, may require up to 18 months of

therapy. And there is always the danger of relapse.

1. Match the Standard English terms connected to drugs from the first column with their

slang21 equivalents from the second column:

1) Addict a) Uppers, meth

2) Marijuana b) Downers

3) Cocaine c) High, pipe, buzz, stoned, trip, airplane, to fly, to ride the

wagon, to have the slows, loaded

4) Withdrawal d) Roofie, forget-it, forget-me-pill, ruff-up, magic date

5) To overdose e) Candyman, pusher, watermelon man

6) Heroin f) Cold turkey, kicking the habit, chucks, sweats

7) Barbiturates g) To OD

8) Amphetamines h) Brown sugar / crystal, big H, gold dust, boy, Henry

9) Drug dealer i) Coke, crack, snow, candy, girl, Charlie

10) Being on drugs j) Pot, grass, weed, joint, Mary, Juanita, broccoli, African

bush, no-brand cigarette

11) Phencyclidine (PCP) k) The white nurse, mojo

12) Morphine l) Junkie, pillhead, snowbird, doper, tripper22

13) Rohypnol (date-rape

drug)

m) Angel dust, angel hair, angel mist, aurora borealis, horse

tranquilizer

2. Fill in the blanks with one suitable word:

From the beginnings, people have always relied on 1) _________ to ease their

unhappiness, as well as their physical 2) _________. The Ancient Greeks got drunk on

alcohol; marijuana (also referred to as 3) __________) was used in China and India well

before the birth of Christ, and 4) _________, obtained by chewing coca leaves, was used by

sixteenth-century Incas.

If drug-taking is such a constant practice in human society, why are we so concerned

about contemporary drug 5) ____________? Because so many people today are starting to

use drugs at a very 6) __________ age. While certain drugs, such as 7) ____________ and 8)

____________, may not be so harmful in moderation, others, like 9) ____________ and 10)

__________, cause addiction and other severe long-term effects. In the years of identity

crisis, adolescents often turn to drugs as answers to their problems. They are not aware that

they are endangering their physical and psychological health and that they will be needing

medical 11) ___________ as well as 12) _____________.

3. Translate the following text into English. You will need to include the words: junk

sickness, junk kick, syringe, dehydration, Demerol, codeine.

21 According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word “slang” refers to

1: language peculiar to a particular group: as a: argot b: jargon 2

2: an informal nonstandard vocabulary composed typically of coinages, arbitrarily changed words, and

extravagant, forced, or facetious figures of speech 22 All slang terms are taken from The Slang Thesaurus, Penguin Books, 1986

67

“Câteva minute mai târziu, a venit o soră cu o seringă. Era demerol. Demerolul ajuta întru-

câtva, dar nu e nici pe departe atât de eficace pentru reducerea simptomelor sevrajului cum e

codeina. Seara a venit un doctor să mă examineze. Aveam sângele îngroşat şi concentrat din

cauza deshidratării. În cele 48 de ore în care am stat fără drog, am pierdut 4 kg şi jumătate.

(...) Seara la 9 mi s-a făcut o nouă injecţie cu demerol. Injecţia asta nu a avut niciun efect. A

treia zi şi a treia noapte în sevraj sunt de obicei cele mai rele.După a treia zi, răul începe să

dea înapoi. (...) E cu putinţă să te detaşezi de cele mai multe suferinţe (...). De starea de rău

provocată de sevraj pare să nu existe scăpare. Starea de rău a sevrajului e reversal stării de

bine legate de marfă23.”

4. Imagine that the lines below were taken from an interview with a former addict. Arrange

them in a logical order and provide the questions. What other questions would you

consider asking him/her?

a) „It is easy to start, but it is difficult to quit. Believe me, I know it well. Your life will

never be the same again.”

a) „I was not the one in control, the drugs controlled me.”

b) „When my father got angry with me for taking drugs, I took more and more. I didn’t

want to stop”.

c) „It was exciting because I was doing what I wasn’t allowed to.”

d) „During my stay in rehab, it was easier for me to get drugs”.

5. Social media addiction?24

A study conducted at the University of Maryland found that nearly four in five students had

significant mental and physical distress, panic, confusion and extreme isolation when forced

to unplug from technology for an entire day. They found college students at campuses across

the globe admitted being “addicted” to modern technology such as mobile phones, laptops

and television as well as social networking such as Facebook and Twitter.

A “clear majority" of almost 1,000 university students, interviewed at 12 campuses in

10 countries, including Britain, America and China, were unable to voluntarily avoid their

gadgets for one full day, they concluded.

The research also showed that students used virtually the same words to describe their

reactions. These included emotions such as fretful, confused, anxious, irritable, insecure,

nervous, restless, crazy, addicted, panicked, jealous, angry, lonely, dependent, depressed,

jittery and paranoid. Thus, one in five reported feelings of withdrawal akin to addiction while

more than one in 10 admitted being left confused and feeling like a failure. Just 21 per cent

said they could feel the benefits of being unplugged. One British participant reported: “I am

an addict. I don’t need alcohol, cocaine or any other derailing form of social depravity...

Media is my drug; without it I was lost.”

A significant part of the attraction of Facebook and other social media is the promise

of connections with others. Humans are social creatures; we need relationships in order to

flourish. But for many, social media does not fulfill the promise of connection. That promise

is best fulfilled in face-to-face conversations and relationships, rather than on Facebook.

23 Fragment from Junky, by William S. Burroughs, p. 152-153, Polirom, 2005. 24 Adapted from an article available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8436831/Student-

addiction-to-technology-similar-to-drug-cravings-study-finds.html

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Social media have good and bad features, like most technology. It is up to us to make the best

of these technologies while minimizing their bad effects on our lives. For some people, the

only way to minimize those effects is to go cold turkey.

6. What other addictions can you think of?

UNIT 25: Life through a Lens

1. Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

widespread--- facilities--- sedentary---- decline---- pastime--- balanced---survey--- reluctant--

-multitask---essential

1. If you ____________, you do more than one thing at the same time.

2. If something is ____________, it happens or exists in many places.

3. A ____________ life is one in which all parts combine well together and exist in the

correct amounts.

4. A ____________ is a set of questions that you ask a large number of people.

5. ____________ are things such as rooms or pieces of equipment provided at a place for

people to use.

6. A ____________ is a reduction in the amount or quality of something.

7. If something is ____________, it is completely necessary.

8. A ____________ is something people do regularly for fun in their free time.

9. If you are ____________ to do something, you don’t want to do it.

10. If an activity is described as ____________, it involves a lot of sitting and not much

exercise.

2. Read the text and reinsert the missing fragments in their suitable place:

have a TV set in their bedroom only a quarter do so daily they watch more than four hours

daily

social interaction or the child’s

own imagination

continues to decline as a regular

pastime

They watch TV before they go to

school

to watch just one programme has overtaken fun they go online just over four

times

Children as young as eight

Life through a lens: How children eat, sleep and breathe TV25

A generation of ‘multitasking’ children are living their daily lives – including eating and

falling asleep – to the accompaniment of television, according to a survey of young people’s

media habits. (1) __________________, when they return home, as they eat their evening

meal and then – for 63%, a much higher percentage than read a book each day – in bed at

night. The survey of five to 16-year-olds shows that four out of five children now

(2)______________.

25 Adapted from an article by Lucy Ward, published on 16 January 2008, available at:

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jan/16/television.socialnetworking

69

Television has become so widespread that many children now combine it with other

activities, including social networking online, looking from their laptop to the TV screen and

back again. Even if they are concentrating on the television, young people are now unwilling

(3) _______________, often switching between channels to keep up with two programmes at

the same time. The survey, conducted by the market research agency Childwise, will increase

worries that childhood is increasingly about private space and sedentary activities and less

about play, (4) ___________________.

Internet use is also continuing to increase rapidly. This means children spend an average

of five hours and 20 minutes in front of a screen a day, up from four hours and 40 minutes

five years ago. Reading books for pleasure, on the other hand, (5) ________________. While

four out of five children read books in their own time, (6) _______________________ and

53% at least once a week.

The report, based on interviews with 1,147 children in 60 schools, found television

viewing now averages 2.6 hours a day across the age group, though one in ten say

(7) _________________________.

“It seems that children now multitask, keeping one eye on the television as they flick

through magazines or use the computer,” Duff added.

Computers are also now a key part of children’s private worlds. “The Internet is now an

essential part of most young people’s lives,” says the study. On average, (8)

_______________ a week, spending two hours each time.

The survey shows a rise in Internet use, particularly among younger children. This is

mainly the result of social networking sites, primarily Bebo.

Communication, says the report, “ (9) __________________ (e.g. online games) as the

main reason to use the Internet and study is now far behind”. Almost three quarters (72%) of

children have visited a social networking site, and over half have their own profile –

sometimes lying about their age to avoid minimum age requirements. (10)

________________ are now signing up.

Kathy Evans, policy director of the Children’s Society, which is conducting its own

inquiry into modern childhood, said there was now “growing public and professional concern

about the possible effects of children’s TV and Internet viewing habits”. The inquiry will

report next month on children and technology as part of its two-year investigation.

3. Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible.

1. What percentage of children watch TV in bed at night?

2. How much time on average do children spend in front of a screen each day?

3. How many children read books in their own time each day?

4. How many children did the survey interview?

5. How much time on average do children spend online (on the Internet)?

4. Comprehension check: Are these statements True (T) or False (F) according to the text?

1.Children often watch more than one TV programme at the same time.

2. Over 50% of children read every day.

3. The rise in Internet use is mainly the result of social networking sites.

4. Many children watch TV and use a laptop at the same time.

5. Watching TV and using the Internet teaches children how to play.

6. Some children are too young to join social networking sites.

5. Find the word: Find the following words or phrases in the text.

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1. A four-word expression meaning while something else is happening or can be heard. (para

1)

2. An adjective meaning not wanting to do something. (para 2)

3. An adverb meaning every day. (para 3)

4. A four-word expression meaning to watch, to follow something. (para 5)

5. A two-word phrasal verb meaning look quickly at a magazine or newspaper. (para 5)

6. A verb meaning to catch up with something, to replace. (para 8)

7. A two-word phrasal verb meaning agree to join a course or organization. (para 8)

8. A noun meaning customary practice. (para 9)

6. Verb + noun collocations. Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the nouns in the

right-hand column to make collocations.

1. visit a. facilities

2. turn on b. the Internet

3. improve c. a magazine

4. flick through d. attention

5. make e. a survey

6. use f. a choice

7. pay g. a website

8. conduct h. the television

7. Word building: Complete the table using words from the text.

verb Noun

1. interact

2. imagine

3. Decline

4. research

5. Refusal

6. inquire

7. investigate

8. please

UNIT 26: You Have A Brain. Use It!

What is intelligence? Simply put, it is the ability to learn about, learn from, understand, and

interact with one’s environment. This general ability consists of a number of specific

abilities, which include:

Adaptability to a new environment or to changes in the current environment

Capacity for knowledge and the ability to acquire it

Capacity for reason and abstract thought

Ability to comprehend relationships

Ability to evaluate and judge

Capacity for original and productive thought.

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Dr. Howard Gardner developed the theory of Multiple Intelligences. He says that there are

eight kinds of intelligence, not just one. People areintelligent in different ways and therefore

they learn things in differentways. All the different types of intelligence are important and

valuable, andeducation should help people to learn in different ways. According to Gardner,

the eight types of intelligence are: linguistic, musical, mathematical-logical, spatial,

bodily-kinaesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist.

1. Match each type of intelligence with its description:

a) Linguistic Controlling the body and handling objects

b) Musical Being sensitive to feelings of others and responding well

c) Mathematical-logical Understanding our own feelings and controlling our own

behavior

d) Spatial Being sensitive to words and sounds and the use of language

e) Bodily-kinaesthetic Recognizing and classifying flora and fauna

f) Interpersonal Hearing and making sounds and rhythm in music

g) Intrapersonal Understanding the visual world and responding well to it

h) Naturalist Seeing number patterns and following an argument

2. Match the activities with the intelligences. There are FOUR activities for each type.

asking questions about how things work

being individual

copying actions

doing experiments in nature

doing jigsaw puzzles

doing maths in my head

doing sports

drawing

having lots of friends

helping my friends

humming tunes

leading meetings and games

learning about nature

learning from films and pictures

learning from my mistakes

learning vocabulary

listening to other people’s problems

making things from paper or wood

playing a musical instrument

playing chess

playing number games

reading maps

recognising different types of things

remembering people’s names

saying tongue twisters

sewing

singing

sorting things into groups

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spending time on my own

studying alone in the library

tapping rhythmically

telling jokes and stories

3. Now check your answers by doing the quiz26 below. It will also help you identify

which intelligences you are strongest in. For each activity give a mark:

If you are very good at the activity, put 4.

If you are ok, but nothing special, put 2.

If you are no good at that activity, put 0.

A) Linguistic intelligence 4, 2 or 0

1) telling jokes and stories

2) remembering people’s names

3) saying tongue twisters

4) learning vocabulary

Total

B) Spatial intelligence

1) reading maps

2) drawing

3) learning from films and pictures

4) doing jigsaw puzzles

Total

C) Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence

1) copying other people’s actions

2) sewing

3) making things from paper or wood

4) doing sports

Total

D Interpersonal intelligence

1) leading meetings and games

2) helping my friends

3) listening to other people’s problems

4) having lots of friends

Total

E) Intrapersonal intelligence

1) studying alone in the library

2) spending time on my own

3) being individual

4) learning from my mistakes

Total

F) Logical-mathematic intelligence

1) doing maths in my head

2) playing chess

3) playing number games

26 What are you good at? - © BBC | British Council 2005(www.teachingenglish.org.uk)

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4) asking questions about how things work

Total

G) Musical intelligence

1) humming tunes

2) singing

3) playing a musical instrument

4) tapping rhythmically

Total

H) Naturalist intelligence

1) doing experiments in nature

2) learning about nature

3) recognising different types of things

4) sorting things into groups

Total

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of

oneself, of others, and of groups. Various models and definitions have been proposed of

which the ability and trait EI models are the most widely accepted in the scientific literature.

High EI people, for example, can accurately perceive emotions in faces. Such individuals also

know how to use emotional episodes in their lives to promote specific types of thinking. They

know, for example, that sadness promotes analytical thought and so they may prefer to

analyze things when they are in a sad mood (given the choice). High EI people also

understand the meanings that emotions convey: They know that angry people can be

dangerous, that happiness means that someone wants to join with others, and that some sad

people may prefer to be alone. High EI people also know how to manage their own and

others' emotions.

Criticisms have centered on whether the construct is a real intelligence and whether it has

incremental validity over IQ and the “Big Five” personality dimensions.

1. Can you guess the emotions on the faces below?

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2. How do you think Emotional Intelligence helps us in our personal and professional

lives?

UNIT 27: Silent Speech

1. Skim read the article below. As you read think about these questions:

Why is body language important?

How can it be used to your advantage?

Practical Psychology27

Have you ever taken a dislike to someone for ‘no reason at all’? Or ever wondered

why one particular plain, dull person is swamped by a vast circle of friends and a busy social

calendar? According to some psychologists the answer is simple – it’s all down to body

language.

Sheena Meredith explains some of the secrets of our ‘silent speech’. Body language, it

seems, could be the key to all sorts of unsolved mysteries. Experts believe that our ‘silent

speech’ – the way we move, small changes in appearance, postures and gestures – convey far

more meaning than the words in any conversation. Body language can make or break any

encounter, especially if you’re feeling uncomfortable.

Learning the Language If body language doesn’t match words, it makes us feel uncomfortable even if we can’t

identify why. Dr. Desmond Morris, the world-famous animal and people watcher, calls these

incongruities ‘non-verbal leakage’, the failure of our social ‘mask’, and being able to spot

them can help us to make much more sense to our interactions.

Watching other people’s body language can also help your own self-image. ‘The main

problem when people are insecure or lack self-esteem is that they imagine everyone else is

secure’, he says. ‘If you spot the tricks someone is using to intimidate you, they seem less

27 Tricia Aspinall and Anette Capel, Advanced Masterclasss CAE Workbook, Oxford University Press, 2006, p.

34-35

75

threatening’. Psychologist David Lewis concurs: ‘If you don’t feel good about yourself, it’s

going to show. You can only fake it to an extent.’ He teaches people how to use body

language to think themselves into a more confident manner.

Walk Tall Anyone who’s ever tried to change the way they move, say from being round-shouldered,

knows that it takes a great deal of concentration – for a while. It can also become as much of

a habit as a slouched posture. And walking tall increases and creates confidence.

Echoes of Friendship Consider how you feel with true friends. There is a sense of relaxation, of freedom of the

tension, power plays and uncertainty experienced during encounters with strangers. The key

there is that you are of equal status. Among friends, there is a similarity of posture and

mimicry of movement, known as ‘postural echo’. It carries the message ‘I am like you’.

Popular people seem to have a natural ability with postural echo, and it is often used by

successful salespeople. The synchrony is missing in people with serious mental disturbances,

and many normal people have poor postural echo. Perhaps their parents were

undemonstrative or unloving, they seem never to have absorbed the unconscious signals of

co-operative movement.

Minding your Language People signal feelings and intent in body language. Jabbing a raised finger in conversation

means power or anger. Turning the head, or crossing legs away from someone you’re talking

to – however animatedly – shows you don’t want to be involved. Other ‘barrier signals’, like

folded arms, may reveal a person’s hostility or insecurity. Submission gestures like nodding

and bowing are ritualised socially. We all start to edge away slightly, or sit forward in our

chair, when we’re too polite to say ‘I’d like to leave’, and most people will take the hint.

Lies and Language A whole new world opens up if you’re aware of contradictory signals. If a friend who

seems to be listening raptly is tapping her toes as well, change the subject, she’s bored. No

matter how charming the boss is being, those aggressive little foot kicks probably mean

you’ll not to be given a pay raise. After a lovely evening, the man of your dreams says he’ll

call soon, but he isn’t looking at you and his arms are folded – don’t bother to wait by the

phone.

Safe Space The way we dominate space is an extension of body language. The more expansive we

are, the more powerful, from the hands-behind-head, feet-on-desk pose, to the positioning of

towels on a beach or books on a table. Furniture is often used to dominate, like the common

ploy of forcing a visitor into a lowly position in the guise of having the most comfortable,

squishy armchair. Encroachments into strangers’ territory, like placing your bag firmly on

their desk or putting your coffee cup down near to theirs, make them nervous and increase

your dominance in an encounter.

Close Encounters The first four minutes of any encounter are critical, Dr. Lewis says. When two people

meeting make eye contact, both raise and lower their eyebrows in a flash greeting, which is

known by experts as the ‘eyebrow flash’. This may signal ‘hello’, a query, approval, thanks,

agreement, flirtation, emphasis or occasional disapproval. During a conversation direct gaze

is needed for contact and to convey good intent, but it can also be threatening. Intense staring

occurs at the heights of both intimacy and aggression. On the other hand, too short a gaze

implies disinterest.

2. Reading comprehension:

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1) Low self-esteem can be improved by

A using body-language to hide what you really feel.

B using threats to make others feel small

C recognising that everyone else feels secure.

D recognising that body language need not to be a threat

2) One of the ways to become more confident is to

A relax more with friends

B imitate the facial expressions of others

C alter the way you walk

D avoid direct contact with people

3) Some people have poor postural echo because they

A do not co-operate with their parents.

B do not mix with people of equal status

C have not received the proper training

D have not understood the signals in a relationship

4) How can you show that you want to end a conversation?

A cross your legs

B move back a little

C make themselves more comfortable

D hide their own nervousness

5) People dominate space in a meeting in order to

A give themselves an advantage

B put other people at their ease

C make themselves more comfortable

D hide their own nervousness

6) What should you try not to do in a social encounter?

A fail to return an eyebrow flash

B glance away while talking to someone

C look directly in someone’s eyes

D appear too friendly and interested

3. Multiple choice: Select A, B or C.

1. This is information _________________, so I am not sure we can use it in the report.

A heard on the grapevine B off the record C at your fingertips

2. The bulletin will _________________ on recent arrivals of vintage stock.

A be at your fingertips B on the grapevine C keep you posted

3. ‘Why are you telling me now?’ ‘_________________ about Erica.’

A Off the record B To put you in the picture C At your fingertips

4. ‘Perhaps this should be _________________ but I don’t think it really matters anymore.’

A off the record B on the grapevine C at your fingertips

5. The participants in the discussion wanted answers _________________.

A on the grapevine B from the horse’s mouth C at their fingertips

6. As a journalist you need to _________________________ for any scoop.

A have your ear to the ground B keep you posted C put in the picture

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4. Discussion: JUST SAY NO

In some countries, people don't like to say no to a request. They avoid saying no by:

1 remaining silent

2 saying something vague or unclear

3 changing the topic

4 ending the conversation without answering the request

5 giving a false excuse

6 delaying a reply to the request

7 saying, "Yes, but…"

Do people in Romania use these ways of saying no? Which are the most common? How

would you decline these requests without saying no?

- Could I borrow your car?

- Can you lend me $100?

- Could you please help me move to my new apartment on Sunday?

- Do you want to see a movie tonight?

5. All the verbs below describe different ways of looking. Choose the appropriate

verb to complete each sentence.

glanced gazed peeped peered stared

1 He ……………………. intently at the piece of paper in front of him, wringing his

hands in despair.

2 He stretched to his full height and ……………………. over the wall to see what

Lady Thackeray-Smythe's daughter was doing.

3 We …………………….through the fog, blinking, trying to catch a glimpse of a

moving light.

4 She stopped fidgeting and fiddling with her dress. She just sat, absolutely still,

and…………………….out of the window, miles away, just occasionally pursing her

lips, then biting them hard.

5 The referee …………………….at his watch again, made a sign to the linesmen,

then blew the final whistle.

6. Put the words below in the correct form:

1) Automatic; 2) behaviour; 3) mean; 4) judge; 5) arm; 6) consistent; 7) approach; 8)

consistent; 9) express; 10) consequence

On the receiving side of nonverbal communication, we take in, more or less

1)……………, a complex array of appearance and 2)…………… information from those

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around us. Usually we do not have to think about the 3) …………… of this input. It

simply registers and leads to 4) ……………. about the others. A friendly smile, for

example, 5) ……………… our suspicions, just as an angry glare alerts us to a threat.

However, there are times when the friendly smile is 6) …………………. with the tense

posture of the 7) ………….. stranger. And most people will realize the 8) ………………

and act accordingly. Sometimes body language varies in meaning from one culture to

another. For example, norms regarding touch, gaze, and 9) …………….. vary from

country to country. 10)………….. ,the impact of the same gesture may be quite different.

UNIT 28: Punctuation. Prefixes and Suffixes.

1. Read this text carefully and punctuate it correctly.

PSYCHOLOGIST JOHN GOTTMAN believes parents should teach their children to deal

with feelings. Try to see things from a childs view. When a birthday present arrived for his

brother and Kyle said it wasnt fair, his dad said When its your birthday Grandma will

probably send you a package. Gottman explains: While this statement explains the logic of

the situation, it denies Kyles feelings at that moment. On top of feeling jealous Kyle feels

angry that his dad doesnt understand his position Imagine if his dad were to respond: You

wish Grandma had sent you a package too - I bet that makes you feel jealous. Realizing his

father understands the way he feels makes Kyle more receptive.

Parents often set limits on inappropriate behaviour such as rudeness. But as Gottman

says Its not easy for children to change the way they feel about a situation. A childs sadness,

fear or rage doesnt just disappear because a parent says: Stop crying If we tell a child how she

ought to feel, it just makes her distrust what she does feel, leading to a loss of self-esteem.

But if we tell her she has the right to her feelings, but there may be a better way to express

them, her self-esteem is left intact. Also she knows she has an adult on her side

2. Use the correct form of the word in brackets to complete the following sentences:

1) Fortunately, as a soldier, he had been taught_________________ (to survive) tactics

during his training.

2) The ___________________ (to injure) passengers were rescued within minutes.

3) It is unfair to ___________________ (comparative) an amateur sportsman with a

professional.

4) There is no evidence that children of __________________ (to divorce) parents are more

likely to turn into criminals.

5) _____________ (to argue) the best lifestyle is one you feel most comfortable with.

6) Cigarettes and alcohol are known to be ___________________ (harm) in excess.

7) Eleanor will ___________________ (broken) her father’s heart when she gives up her

swimming career.

8) The life of a mountaineer has no ___________________ (attract) for me.

9) The article gave a detailed __________________ (describe) of the place where the

travelers had camped.

10) Have you___________________ (report) your missing bike to the police?

3. Prefixes and suffixes. Group the following into prefixes and suffixes:

a) un less in ful im dis extra inter

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b) Now use the prefixes and suffixes to make new words out of these in the box.

happy possible ordinary palatable action fit

home

regard used to decided fortunate agreement certainty

professional employed help satisfied

4. Complete the sentences 1-8 using a word with a suitable prefix or suffix from the box

in 3. Use each prefix and suffix once only. 1. Edward was totally ___________________ with his exam results.

2. There is a high degree of ___________________ surrounding which players will be

selected for the team.

3. A large grant from the fund will go towards setting up shelters for

the___________________ .

4. The officer was criticized for his ___________________ during the riot when he was

seen sitting in his car during the height of the confrontation.

5. It would be___________________ if those who were to be made redundant could be

told as soon as possible.

6. It is quite___________________ to force such large numbers of people to disperse

quietly.

7. The ___________________ scenes of violence outside the stadium have surprised

and shocked us all.

8. It is vital that___________________ of any kind between the witnesses is prevented

before and during the trial.

5. Insert the correct form of the word given in capitals below into each of the gaps.

Many people remain in (0) unhappy relationships where conflict and (1)______________

are the norm. They do not realize how (2) ______________ this can be, nor do they

believe that it is (3) ______________ to talk about their problems. Some believe that (4)

______________ is good enough and it is too much to expect to have a truly (5)

______________ relationship. (6) ______________ many marriages end in divorce

because couples have not realized how (7) ______________ it can be to ignore their

difficulties. The mere thought of consulting a stranger is (8) ______________ to them.

0 HAPPY

1. ARGUE

2. DAMAGE

3. CONSTRUCT

4. SURVIVE

5. SATISFY

6. FORTUNATE

7. HARM

8. PALATABLE

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Bibliography

Advanced Expert CAE Coursebook, by Jan Bell, Roger Gower, Drew Hyde, Pearson

Longman Publishing House (2008)

Proficiency GOLD Coursebook, by Jacky Newbrrok and Judith Wilson, Pearson Longman

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(2005)

Personality Psychology: Domains of Knowledge about Human Nature, by Randy J. Larsen

and David M. Buss, McGraw-Hill Publishing House (2005)

Personality Traits, by Gerald Matthews, Ian J. Deary, Martha C. Whiteman, Cambridge

University Press (2003)

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(2009)

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(1995)

http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org/wvs.jsp

English for Psychology

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