Ex. 29. Read the texts and punctuate them.

1. War devastates any country but its impact is the most dramatic in devel­oping countries. Children become orphans healthy young men and women be­come cripples food and water supplies are cut off houses schools and hospitals are destroyed communication systems fail.

2. While the longevity revolution represents a miraculous triumph of mod­ern medicine and the extra years of life will surely be treasured by the elderly and their families pension plans and other retirement benefit programs were not designed to provide these billions of extra years of payouts.

As life spans increase fewer babies are being born.

Unless their fertility rates rebound the total populations of Western Europe and Japan will shrink to about one-half of their current size before the end of the 21 st century.

Global aging and attendant labour shortages will therefore ensure that im­migration remains a major issue in developed countries for decades to come. Culture wars could erupt in Europe over the balkanization of language and re­ligion electorates could divide along ethnic lines and emigre leaders could in­fluence foreign policy.

The forecasts are nightmarish though there are a few exceptions. In Austra­lia, total public retirement costs are expected to rise only slightly and they may even decline in Britain and Ireland. This fiscal good fortune is not due to any special demographic trend but to timely policy reforms.

/from "Gray Dawn: The Global Aging Crisis" by Peter Peterson/

Ex. 30. Write a paragraph on what can be done locally about global envi­ronmental problems. Use compound sentences and transitional phrases. Mind the punctuation.

WRITING AN ESSAY - REVISION

Ex. 31. Study the following list and add the missing information, (for ref­erence use part I Writing 2 and part II Writing 1).

Points to remember

1. Make a list of the points for and against before you start to write

2. Never write an argument for or against without

3. Start each paragraph with a key sentence which

4. Do not use short forms or strong personal expressions in

essays. I think or I believe should only be used in

the final paragraph where you can give your opinion.

5. Make use of suitable connectives:

To introduce points: Firstly/ / ; One advantage of... is /

One disadvantage of... is, etc.

To add more points: Secondly ,a further advantage of...

is, etc.

To make contrasting points: However / / / / Con­versely, etc.

To conclude: To sum up, I / /

To express opinion: In my opinion, I got a strong impression,

To present the other side of the argument: Contraiy to what most people believe,

Which phrases are suitable only in an essay expressing opinion?

522

Ex. 32. Read the following paragraphs and decide which can serve as in­troduction or conclusion to the topics in ex. 33.

1. The daily avalanche of technological innovations that make our lives easier and at the same time more complicated puts most people in a vexed mood - like the depressive who gets time out from his clinic and goes to the beach for a few days. He sends his psychiatrist a postcard. The message he writes might well have come from any of us, a reflection of technology's effect on our lives: "'Having a wonderful time. Why?"

2. If we didn't take a chance at all. then there could be no new technologies of any kind, or any applied science: and that, taken all in all, would be a bad thing. But we should always bear in mind how vast is the scope of our igno­rance; that there is always a chance of disaster that may be quite different in kind from anything can yet be conceived, and far bigger.

3. We are entering a worrying new world where some people will be cloned while others will be rendered immortal, and yet others will have their intelligences and appearances changed. Should society discourage scientists from proceeding with their research?

4. The possible benefits of scientific research are huge. Trying to block re­search for ethical or other reasons can deprive the mankind of long-awaited cures for lethal diseases. As long as we can reserve the scientists their freedom but allow them no power, then we should extract the maximum benefits with the minimum of risks.