A selection of advertisements from today's cohtnms.
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Parents Urged to Take Time Off "For Child Care
More men should consider taking time off or working part-time while they and their partners bring up young children, a child care conference in London was told yesterday.
Old-fashioned sexism which demands that women stay at home while men go out to work has interfered with the real child care debate into the issue of whether many families are not too busy, the conference heard.
Mr Malcolm Wicks, director of tie Family Policy Studies Centre, a research charity, said: "Many women in British, society are trying to everything at once." Not only do they have children, go to work, pay a mortgage and pension contributions, but they and their partners work doubly hard to try to get their careers off the ground during their crucia- thirties.
He said both men and women should consider taking a year or two off when they have children, or consider trying to work flexible hours or part-time.
The 1990s would he the decade of the working woman but although the trends in society pointed towards a need for more child care, there was still a wider debate taking place about the rights and wrongs of working mothers: action to develop better childcare had been slow because " the public is' confused about the values at the heart of the family debate".
Mr Wicks said the confusion stemmed from a turn-around in the past decade; in the early 1980s, a period of high unemployment, the emphasis was on the traditional role of women in family life."There is now a danger that child care wiU be hijacked by the needs of the personnel manager and the concerns of the labour market, rather than the needs of the modern working family and in particular, the needs of the child? Mr Wicks was speaking at the United Kingdom Federation of Business and Professional Wom«n seminar,"The New Decade of Childcare." (By Ruth Gledhill;
UNIT 4. THE PUBLICISTIC STYLE The publicistic style treats certain political, social, economic cultural problems. Its aim is to form public opinion, to convince the reader or the listener. To be understood and imbued by the addressee it should be exact and convincing. Hence its character: imperative, evaluative, impersonal, emotive, expressive.
The publicistic style comprises the following subdivisions: 1) the oratory and speeches, 2) the radio and TV commentary, 3)theessay, 4) the journalistic articles. The oratorical substyle is directly addressed to the audience so it must be interesting and convincing. It makes use of a great number of expressive means to arouse and keep the interest of the public: repetition, gradation, antithesis, rhetorical questions, emotive words, elements of colloquial speech.
Radio and TV commentary is less impersonal, more expressive and emotional.
The essay is very subjective and the most colloquial of all the subdivisions of the pubiicistic style. It also makes use of expressive means and tropes. But it is interesting to note that unlike the belles-lettres style the publicistic style makes use of trite and hackneyed metaphors and other stylistic devices rather than the original ones. The aim of the speaker is not to deviate the attention of the listeners by making him think about the deep meaning of a new metaphor but rather to make him recognize an old one and not lose the thread of thought. Stereotyped and familiar phrases, as it were, are easier to understand and to establish a contact.
Exercises:
Read W.Churchill's speech and point out the peculiarities of the oratory style. Note the stylistic devices and expressive means used in it.
Compare sam,- les of the TV commentary, the essay and the journalistic article. Say which of them is more impersonal amd which is the most subjective of all. Prove your point.
* SAMPLE TEXTS. THE PUBLICISTIC STYLE
I. Oratory.
Broadcast of the Prime Minister of the United Kindom ( Churchill >, London, June 22,1941.
I have taken occasion to speak to you because we have reached one of the climacte-
-45rics of the war. In the first of these intense turning points, a year ago, France fell prostrate under the German hammer and we had to face the storm alone.
The second was when the Royal Air Force beat the Hun raiders out of the daylinght air and thus warded off the Nazi invasion of our islands while we were still ill-prepared.
The third turning point was when the President and Congress of the United States passed the lease and lend enactment, devoting nearly 2,000,000,000 sterling of the wealth of the New World to help us defend our liberties and their own.
Those were the three climacterics. The fourth is now upon us.
At 4;00 o'clock this morning Hitler attacked and invaded Russia. All his usual formalities of perfidy were observed with scrupulous technique. A nonagression treaty had been solemnly signed and was in force between the two countries. No complaint had been made by Germany of its non-fulfillment. Under its cloak of false confidence the German armies drew up in immense strength along a line which stretched from the White Sea to the Black Sea and their air fleets and armored divisions slowly and methodically took up their stations.
Then, suddenly, without declaration of war, without even an ultimatum, the German bombs rained down from the sky upon the Russian cities; the German troops violated the Russian frontiers and an hour later the German Ambassador, who till the night before was lavishing his assurances of friendship, almost of alliance, upon the Russians, called upon the Russian Foreign Minister to tell him that a state of war existed between Germany and Russia-All we know at present is that the Russian people are defending their native soil and that their leaders have called upon them to resist to the utmost.
Hitler is a monster of wickedness, insatiable in his lust for blood and plunder. Not content with having all Europe under his heel or else terrorized into various forms of abject submission, he must now carry his work of butchery and desolation among the vast multitudes of Russia and of Asia. The terrible military machine which we and the rest of the civilized world so foolishly, so supinely, so insensately allowed the Nazi gangsters to build up year by year from almost nothing, this machine cannot stand idle, lest it rust or fall to pieces. It must be in continual motion, grinding up human lives and trampling down the homes and the rights of hundreds of millions of men ...
1 see the Russian soldiers standing on the threshold of their native land, guarding the fields which their fathers have tilled from time immemorial. I see them guarding
their homes, their mothers and wives pray, ah, yes, for there are times when all pray for the safety of their loved ones, for the return of the breadwinner, of the champion, of their protectors.
I see the 10,000 villages of Russia, where the means of existence was wrung so hardly from the soil, but where there are still primordial human joys, where maidens laugh and children play. I see advancing upon all this, in hideous onslaught, the Nazi war machine, with its clanking, heel-clicking, dandified Prussian officers, its crafty expert agents, fresh from the cowing and tying down of a dozen coutries. I see also the dull, drilled, docile, brutish masses of the Hun soldiery, plodding on like a swarm of crawling locusts, I see the German bombers and fighters in the sky, still smarting from many a British whipping, so delightful to find what they believe is an easier and a safer prey. And behind all this glare, behind all this storm, I see that small group of villainous men who planned, organized and launched this cataract of horrors upon mankind ...
We have but one aim and one single irrevocable purpose. We are resolved to destroy Hitler and, every vestige of the Nazi regime. From this nothing will turn us. Nothing. We will never parley; we will never negotiate with Hitler or any of his gang.We shall fight him by land; we shall fight him by sea; we shall fight him in the air, until, with God's help we have rid the earth of his shadow and liberated its people from his yoke...
His invasion of Russia is no more than a prelude to an attempted invasion of the British Isles. He hopes, no doubt, that all this may be accomplished before the Winter comes and that he can overwhelm Great Britain before the fleets and air power of the United States will intervene. He hopes that he may once again repeat upon a greater scale than ever before that process of destroying his enemies one by one, by which he has so long thrived and prospered, and that then the scene will be clear for the final act, without wich all his conquests would be in vain, namely, the subjugation of the Western Hemisphere to his will and his system.
The Russian danger is therefore our danger and the danger of the United States just as the cause of any Russian fighting for his hearth and home is the cause of free peoples in every quarter of the globe.
Let us learn the lessons already taught by cruel experience. Let us redouble our exertions and strike with united strength while life and power remain.
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Documents on American Foreign Relations.Vol. Ш, July 1940- June 1941. Worid Peace Foundation.- Boston, 1941, - pp. 360-364.
2. An Essay
A LITERARY MAN
Alex Atkinson ( British ) Quite often, in the columns of a weekly journal, or in some obscure corner of newspaper which gives space to comment on the arts, one may observe a short book review signed with three initials which I will no* divulge here, since I have pledged my word not to do so. They bide the identity, as I have been at some pain to ascertain, of a man now in his middle sixties, who lives in a small, cramped ' private hotel' in Bayswater.His story (or as much of it as he was willing to divulge) throws some light on a hitherto little-known section of the London poor. His portrait is here subjoined. He had, he told me, devoted upwards of forty years of his life to the profession or calling of literature, and at the time that 1 met him he owed a fortnight's rent, was confined to his rooms on account of rain (hisvonly pair of shoes being woefully thin although well polished >, had recenty pawned his typewriter in order to take a visiting nephew to the theatre, and was sinking into one of the fits of despair which had, throughout his career, alternated with moods of buoyant optimism.
Upon leaving the university, where he had attracted some attention with a volume of verses and several short stories, he resolved to become, by constant application to the craft, a professional writer.
By the time he reached middle-age he had savings amonting to thirty-seven pounds; he was unmarried; he was living in furnished rooms; and there came a day when he cried aloud to God in his grief, asking why He had not chosen instead to make him a happy tram-driver.
'I have made mistakes, perhaps. I wrote to please myself. I did not at any time strive to present a striking' personality' to the world, for I believe in truth, and my personality is grey. I did not avail myself of the benefits to be gained by publicising myself upon the wireless, or, later, by playing the fool upon the television. Boih these doors to quick success were opened to me, and I declined to enter; for I had been brought up in an age when literature was an honourable calling, not even without a certain dignity. My attitude of mind prevented me from manufacturing stories which might be profitably
-48transformed into moving pictures. And so I struggled on, supported by praise and bowls of nourishing soup; until at last 1 felt I could struggle no longer. The day came when I lost the knack of composition, or any real inclination to try to recapture it. I am now existing, as you see, upon the kindness of friends and admirers who have it in their power to put little commissions in my way, such as the reviewing of books and novels. Many of them excellent, too. Excellent. England does not lack writers, I'm afraid. 1 can only hope they do not turn professional.
' Then, of course, 1 am able to sell the review copies at hal f the published price. Yes, indeed, a great help'.
He told me that he would soon be forced to leave his present address for the few guineas he earned per wee', did not really permit him to live < as he put it) in surroundings of quite such grandeur'. A friend had promised to let him have a caravan in a remote part of Kent. Here, геш-free, in a glade adjoining an orchard, with a five-minute walk to running water.he was preparing to end his days; without pride, without hope, without even the doubful solace of bitterness.
J.M. Ward. British and American English - Longmans, 1965, p. 212
3. The Journalistic Article
LATEST POLL KEEPS PRESSURE ON MAJOR by Ralph Atkins and Alison Swith
PRESSURE MOUNTED on Mr. John Major yesterday to put his stamp on a successful Conservative party conference next week as Mr Neil Kin nock, the Labour leader, declared that Labour had earned the trust of the British people and celebrated a two-point opinion poll lead for his party.
The Gallup survey, in today's Daily Telegraph, shows Labour on 41 1 /2 percent, to the Tories* 39 1/2 per cent. The previous month's poll in the scries showed the Tories with a 4 I/2-point lead over Labour.
Fieldwork for the poll was carried out at the end of the week, after Mr Kinnock's speech to conference on Tuesday received a rapturous reception. The results show the success that Mr Kinnock and his colleagues achieved.
The Gallup 9000 poll, however, which tracks opinion over a longer period, still shows the Tories with a lead, on 40.3 per cent, while Labour is on 36.9.
Even before the boost from the Gallup survey, Mr Kinnock predicted that: " Victory is more than within our grasp." At the finale of the last Labour conference before the election, he cast the results of the party's far-reaching policy review as the culmination of his eight-year leadership and said Labour, not the Conservatives, represented tiie best of British patriotism. As the public relations razzmatazz continued, Mr Kirmock focused on his desire to strengthen the National Health Service, to combat poverty and unemployment, and to help small businesses. " This conference will be shown to be a turning point for our party," he said.
FINANCIAL TIMES
October 5 / October 6,1991, - p. 1
4. TV Commentary
TV REVIEW/ PATRICK STODDART BED AND BOARDED UP
If there was a seasonal moral to be drawn from the two dramas which topped and tailed Christmas week, it had precious little to do with peace and goodwill to all men. To be sure. Secret Weapon (ITV, Sunday) was about a man with peace on his mind, but his reward was kidnap, betrayal and 15 years' jail. And there seemed to be little on the mind of The Widow Maker (ITV, Saturday) other than the joyless compulsion to kill and be killed.
Maybe the intention was simply to give us good drama (a gift in itself), and these two plays qualified as that...
And last night, ITV gave us The Widow Maker, a fiction based squarely on the facts of the Hungerford massacre, except that this killer had a wife and son, and did not die at the end of the bloody trail. Instead, while he is safely is prison, his wife must piece her life together again and try to discover who it was she had been married to for five years...
Boxing day was better. The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (ITV) had an omnibus of celebrities, recognisable by voice only, trotting around Timothy Spall as a little porkie pignapped by a sea captain with more liking for bacon butties than fish fingers. If this had been a ballet, the critics would have called it "beautifully realised". As it was television, let's just say it was great fun.
It was immediately followed on ITV by a new version of Loraa Doone, in which Clive Owen (a sort of Chancer in homespun) made a stolid John Ridd to the Polly
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Walker, who came аз fresh to the screen as Annabelle Apsion did three nights later.
BBC2 had the edge in the matter of high art, though, for if Channel 4 had double dose of Nigel Kennedy, BBC2 had two ВШ Brydens up its sleeve, and that's a hard hand to beat. On Christmas day came The Cunning Little Vixen, Bryden's highly accessible Royal Opera production of the Janacek family favourite, with armies of smalt children on stage and Simon Ratle in the pit.
THE SUNDAY TIMES 30 DECEMBER, 1990. - p. 6 5. A book review
'Hand In Glove' by Robert Goddard Bantam Press, 14.99
Goddard's latest novel is based in rural south-east England. The staid Charlotte Ladram and chivalrous Maurice Abberley are brotherand sister, descendants of Tristan Abberiey, an English poet who died in Spanish Civil War and whose royalties have financed their lifestyle. But this idyllic way of life is shattered when the dead poet's sister, Beatrix, is brutally murdered during what appears to be a robbery at her home.
Shady antiques dealer Colin Fairfax is arrested for burglary and being an accessory to murder, but claims he is being framed. His brother Derek rallies to support him and pursues his own investigation. Derek's audacios claim brings him into confrontation with Charlotte and Maurice. Distraught and offended, Charlotte pursues her own line of enquiry and unveils something far more sinister.
Although well-worn and predictable, the bare bones of the plot are enough to keep you hooked until the story begins to turn. With books tike 'Painting The Darkness' and 'Take No Farewell' behind him, author Goddart has a record of producining shocking twists of plot, and 'Hand In Glove'is no exception. His balanced, tantalising style combines the steely edge of a thriller with the suspense of a whodunit, all interlaced with subtle romantic undertones.
An earlier Goddard novel, 'Into The Blue', won the Smith popular fiction award; perhaps 'Hand In Glove' will establish his bestseller status.
Simon Chanpell. Time Out London's Weekly Guide Nov. 11-18,1992, pi4.
UNIT 5. THE STYLE OF RELIGION
The style of religion is distinguished as a separate entity by D. Crystal and D.Davy (1969) and by V. Naer(1981); most Soviet scholars do not mention it. Still, the fact is that this style has achieved quite a respectable status of its own in the English-speaking countries. Though the religious form of social conscience manifests itself in numerous forms and practices, and fulfils various functions in a society, the main aim ofthe religious functional style maybe defined as expressing religious belief on public occasions. Elements of the religious style may be used also in literature and in humour, they can penetrate the daily colloquial speech as well.
The religious style is not uniform - it falls into at least three substyles: 1) the biblical substyle, 2) the liturgical substyle and 3) the theological discourse substyle. The forms of realization of the religious style include, of course, the texts of the Scriptures (The Old Testament, The New Testament), as well as formal reading from the Scriptures, common biblical prayers, sermons (which have more in common with other oratory pieces) and theological diyourse. There also exist books of prayers and religious hymns; prayers and sermons are regularly televized and broadcast over the radio.
The core of the religious style is formed, in a sense, by the biblical substyle, which seriously influences all sub-spheres of religious communication. Stylistically relevant is the fact that The Scriptures are available in many variants, or editions. "The authorized" version of The Bible is the so-called King James' version, characterized by archaic lexis and syntax. Widespread nowadays are other versions of The Bible, written in easily understood modem day English.
Let us consider some of the linguistic styleforming features in Matthew 7 (see sample texts below).
1. The language of King James' version of The Bible is marked by various style-forming features, among which are graphical, lexical and syntactical peculiarities.
Graphical features include capitalization (God, Lord), italics (it is mine, shewed you ray kindness), archaic spelling in some editions (lesus), numbering paragraphs.
Noticeable are archaic pronouns (ye, thee, thou, thy, thine), archaic forms of verbs (beholdest, considerest, asketh, receiveth, seekest, findeth), and, of course, religious terms (Lord, Father which is in heaven, evil, devils, false prophets).
Syntactical stylistic devices may include parallelism, inversion (wide is the gate,
-52and great was the fall of it), anaphora (or... or...), epiphora (... you,... you) polysyndeton and so on.
In Matthew 7 one can also come across metaphors in lines 15:... false prophets... are ... wolves; 17: good tree bringeth forth good fruit; 27: rain descended and beat against the home. 2. When reading the same fragment from Matthew in Today's English Version (the text follows the extract from King James') one can see that the language is noticeably modernized, but the simplification deals mainly with the lexical stock. Most archaic words and forms are replaced by their up-to-date equivalents (ye - you, beholdest - look, considerest not -pay no attention, cast out - take out, , mote - speck, asketh - asks, serpent - snake etc.)
But, surprisingly, the "newest" version of The Bible makes more prorninent some of the devices which are still there, like lexical repetition and root repetition (judge-judge - judge, the same - the same), very effective oppositions (ask - receive, seek-find, knock - open, bread - stone, fish - snake, bad - good). The modern text also preserves most of the syntactical stylistic devices. Exercises
Read the samples of religious texts given below.
Point out the peculiarities of the religious style on different levels.
3. Pick out stereotyped combinations that have become idiomatic and state the function or the meaning they may carry nowadays.
THE STYLE OF RELIGION. SAMPLE TEXTS. St Matthew 7 Judge not, that ye be not judged
For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thyne own eye?
Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thyne eye; and, behold, a beam is in thyne own eye?
Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thyne own eye: and then shall thou see clearly to cast out the mote of thy brother's eye.
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and render you.
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seekest findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his so-" ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto yourchildren, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to then that ask him?
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
The Holy Bible. Authorized King James Version.-N.Y.: Oxford UP, 1934, - 1088pp. *
Matthew 7. Judging Others
"Do not judge others, so that God wffl not judge you, 2for God will judge you in the same way as you judge others, and he will apply to you the rules you apply to others, ^Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, and pay no attention to the log in your own eye? 4How dare you say to your brodier:"Please, let me take that speck out of your eye? 5You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
not give what is holy to dogs - they will only turn and attack you. Do not
throw your pearls in front of pigs - they will only trample them underfoot.