UNIT 9. HERE THE NEWS

I. Read the texts and comment on their contents.

THE MASS MEDIA

The mass media play an important part in our lives. Newspapers, radio and especially TV inform us of what is going on in this world and give us wonderful possibilities for education and entertainment. They also influence the way we see the world and shape our views.

Of course, not all newspapers and TV programmes report the events objectively, but serious journalists and TV reporters try to be fair and provide us with reliable information.

It is true that the world today is full of dramatic events and most news seems to be bad news. But people aren't interested in ordinary events. That is why there are so many programmes and articles about natural disasters, plane crashes, wars, murders and robberies. Good news doesn't usually make headlines. Bad news does.
Some people say that journalists are given too much freedom. They often intrude on people's private lives. They follow celebrities and print sensational stories about them which are untrue or half-true. They take photos of them in their most intimate moments. The question is - should this be allowed?

The main source of news for millions of people is television. People like TV news because they can see everything with their own eyes. And that's an important advantage. Seeing, as we know, is believing. Besides, it's much more difficult for politicians to lie in front of the cameras than on the pages of newspapers.

Still, many people prefer the radio. It's good to listen to in the car, or in the open air, or when you do something about the house.

Newspapers don't react to events as quickly as TV, but they usually provide us with extra detail, comment and background information.

The Internet has recently become another important source of information. Its main advantage is that news appears on the screen as soon as things happen in real life and you don't have to wait for news time on TV.

VOCABULARY ITEMS

to influence –влиять

to shape our views – сформировывать точку зрения

ordinary events – повседневные события

to be fair –быть честным

intrude – вмешиваться

celebrities – знаменитости

to lie in front of the cameras – врать перед камерами

to provide – обеспечивать

advantage – преимущество

to appear – появляться, обнаруживаться

NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES

Newspapers and magazines play a very important part in our life. Practically there is no family that does not read them. We can learn many things from newspapers. Perhaps that is why many years ago an American humorous writer said: “All I know is what I see in the papers”; and another American author more than half a century ago wrote that “the careful reader of a few good newspapers can learn more in a year than most scientists do in their great libraries”.

We can agree or disagree with these statements (better to disagree, because scientific books and magazines have more information than newspapers), but we'll have to say that newspapers help us in many ways. There are a lot of different kinds of newspapers in our country. One can buy them practically everywhere. It is impossible to read all the newspapers and magazines. Everyone has favorite ones.

My favorite newspaper is “Komsomolskaya Pravda”. We can read almost about everything in this newspaper. There are articles dealing with home and abroad news, sport events, life of favorite actors and singers and even the weather. We can find many interesting things there. We can read some useful pieces of advice, some stories about our life, and so on. There are puzzles, songs and even anecdotes there. “Komsomolskaya Pravda” is one of the most interesting newspapers, to my mind.

VOCABULARY ITEMS

Practically – практически

perhaps – возможно

humorous – юмористический

careful – внимательный, заботливый

scientists – ученые

a statement – высказывание

impossible – невозможно

almost – почти

to deal with – иметь дело с чем-либо/кем-либо

useful piece of advice – полезный совет

puzzles – загадки

to my mind – на мой взгляд

30 MILLION PEOPLE INVITED TO READ BOOKS (6th January, 2015)

The co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has launched what could be the world's largest ever book club. Zuckerberg announced last week that his New Year's resolution was to read a book every other week. He then invited his 30 million followers to join him in his literary pursuit. He created his own Facebook page called A Year of Books, on which he will announce what his latest read is and ask people to discuss the book with him. He explained the rationale for his initiative in a post, saying: "I'm excited for my reading challenge. I've found reading books very intellectually fulfilling. Books allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than most media today."

Zuckerberg has already selected his first book, 'The End of Power' by Moises Naim. He explained: "It's a book that explores how the world is shifting to give individual people more power that was traditionally only held by large governments, militaries and other organizations. The trend towards giving people more power is one I believe in deeply, and I'm looking forward to reading this book and exploring this in more detail." Zuckerberg takes on a challenge every year as a way to broaden his perspectives and learn more about the world, different cultures, beliefs, histories and technologies. A previous task was to learn to speak Mandarin, which he has managed to do.

VOCABULARY ITEMS

to launch – высказаться

to announce ­ – объявлять

literary pursuit – литературный поиск

to explore – исследовать

immerse yourself – погружаться

to take on a challenge – принять вызов

to broaden – расширять

previous – предыдущий

II. Exercises

a. Answer the questions

1. What does the mass media consist of?

2. Does the mass media play any important role in people’s life? Prove your words, using the text.

3. What is the main source of news for people according to the text?

4. Why do people like watching TV news?

5. What is the main advantage of Internet?

6. What was Zuckerberg’s New Year's resolution?

7. Who is the writer of the first selected book? How is this book called?

8. What was the previous challenge by Zuckerberg to himself?

b. Translate the sentences into English

1. Средства массовой информации играют важную роль в нашей жизни. 2. Газеты, радио и особенно телевидение, сообщают нам о том, что происходит в этом мире и формируют нашу точку зрения. 3. Конечно, не все газеты и телевизионные программы освещают события объективно, но серьезные журналисты и тележурналисты стараются быть справедливыми и предоставлять нам достоверную информацию. 4. Есть много программ и статей о стихийных бедствиях, авиакатастрофах, войнах, убийствах и грабежах. 5. Говорят, что журналистам дается слишком много свободы и они часто вторгаются в частную жизнь людей. 6. Основным источником информации для миллионов людей является телевидение. 7. Тем не менее, многие люди предпочитают радио. 8. Его хорошо слушать в машине, на открытом воздухе, или когда вы что-то делаете по дому. 8. Интернет в последнее время стал еще одним важным источником информации. 9. Его главное преимущество в том, что актуальные новости освещаются в реальном времени, еще до их появления на телевидении.

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