Text Study

Exercise 1. Say whether these statements are true or false and give your arguments:

1. Mr. Morris was born in a small town on the coast of the sea.

2. He has two sisters and a brother.

3. After graduating from the University, he took a post-graduate course.

4. At present he works as a professor of English at the University.

5. Mr. Morris and his wife are old-aged pensioners and do not work.

6. When he was a student he tried to earn money during his vacation.

7. His sister works as a typist.

8. Exford is a large cultural center on the coast of the sea.

9. Mr. Morris is an elderly person in his sixties.

Exercise 2. Identify the part of the text which refers to Mr.Morris’s:

1. education, b) relatives, c) family

Exercise 3. Answer the following questions, using words and expressions from the text:

1. How old is Mr.Morris?

2. How does Mr. Morris look like?

3. What is Mr. Morris’s newspaper article about?

4. What does the reporter want to publish together with the article?

5. Where and when was Mr.Morris born?

6. Is it usual for English people to have two Christian names?

7. What does Mr. Morris’s father do for living?

8. Does Mr. Morris’s mother go out to work?

9. What does she do?

10. What do you know about Mr. Morris’s wife?

11. When did they get married?

12. What temporary jobs had he during summer vacation?

Part II

Exercise 1. Read Text C and render it.

These words will help you to understand the text:

because of -	из-за
consist of -	состоять из
a number of -	количество
furthermore -	более того

Text c. Families of the Past, Present and Future

A book which is still being discussed by many Americans today is “Future Shock” by Alvin Toffler. In this book the author describes the great changes which were made in family life because of science and industry.

In the past, when more Americans lived on farms, the typical family had many children. In a farm family, parents and their children often lived with grandparents. Often, too, uncles and aunts lived nearly. But when industry became more important than agriculture in American life, families became smaller. Industry requires workers who are ready and able to move off the land and to move again whenever necessary. Large families cannot be moved from place to place as smaller families can.

Today, because of industrialization, a typical family will move even more often than now, so families will be even smaller. The typical family may remain childless and consist only of a man and a woman. A smaller number of families may raise children. These families may raise children as their chief occupation, leaving the childless families free to move from job to job. Furthermore, these child-raising families may raise other people’s children in addition to their own.

Exercise 2. Read Text D and answer the questions:

1. Why must children in Japan work hard?

2. Why do Japanese study seriously?

3. Do parents help them? Why?

4. What is “an arranged marriage”?

5. Who is a matchmaker?

6. Do you think it is a good idea?