10. Give the general idea of the text.

11. Read the following joke and retell it:

A REPUBLICAN AND A DEMOCRAT It is easy to go to Washington now. You can go there by plane from any large city of the USA. There are also fast trains and, of course, you can go by car. But in the old days people had to travel several days to get from New York to Washington. People went then by coaches driven by horses or went on horseback. They stopped at inns to have a rest or to eat there and sleep.

They tell a story about a new congressman who stopped at an inn one night and asked for a place to stay. The inn­keeper wanted to know whether he was a Democrat or a Republican.

• Why do you ask? — said the congressman.

• Well, — said the innkeeper, — I always want to please my guests and I have learned that a Republican likes

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t o have good food and a comfortable bed while a Democrat is more interested in the care and feeding of his horse.

— Well, it so happens, — said the congressman, — that I am a Republican, but my horse is a Democrat.

12. Read the article and do the tasks that follow it:

POLITICIANS TAKE PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS Some years ago the President decided to conduct psy­chological tests on his representatives and entrusted the Personnel Committee of the government with the task of implementing these tests. This work was carried out by a group which included psychologists, sociologists, systems experts and programmers.

Here follows a list of demands made of a representative of the President:

• to represent the interests of various groups of the population, X

• to be able to forecast the changes,

• to have a respectable appearance and, the knowledge of etiquette,

• to be able to clearly express the thoughts,

• self-reliance,

• to be able to forecast the business and personal qualities of partners,

• aptitude for training.

Senior people were given the Luchaire test. Do you understand it? First, you take your seat in front of the computer. Eight colours appear on the computer screen, which have to be arranged in a pleasing sequence, then four colours in unpleasant way. Then the procedure repeats. The computer «ponders» for a few seconds and then pro­duces your psychological characteristics on 3 pages with intimate details that even one's best friend could not come up with.

The colour test of Luchaire is only one of many psycho-diagnostic procedures, including the 16-factor questionnaire

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of Cattell and the California psychological questionnaire together with «management grating» and «postal box», group discussion and medical examination.

Finally, the representatives of the President gave in. Fifty-four people were tested, each using a code-name which could be decoded only by an order of the supreme commission. The conclusions of psychologists were couched in the form of a recommendation. The results of the medical examina­tions were given personally to the «patient» and he was granted the right to decide whether he is able to continue work at this key post or not.

On the whole, the appraisal of the President's repre­sentatives was good: heightened responsibility, purposeful-ness, persistence. Those being tested were divided into three categories: 19 people in the «high» sub-group — those who received at least one high mark and the rest — not lower than the average; 19 people were in the «middle» sub-group, i.e., all average marks or high and low simul­taneously, and 16 were in the «lower» category, those who received at least one low mark and the others not higher than average.

As a result, three representatives resigned. One of them said, «Your technology may be used as a repressive system».

The appearance of psychologists in the presidential team is a common occurrence in advanced countries