UNIT 1

“SMART” TECHNOLOGY
SMART GRIDS
CLEVER, BUT UNPRINCIPLED

PRE-LISTENING SECTION
Exercise 1. Discuss the following issues. Be guided by the information below.
 Can you define the meaning of the words TECHNOPHOBIA and
TECHNOPHILIA? What’s your attitude to people with such anomalies?
 What do you know about SMART GRIDS? What are their goals?

Technophobia is the fear or dislike of advanced technology or complex devices,

especially computers. The term is generally used in the sense of an irrational fear, but
others contend fears are justified. It is the opposite of technophilia. First receiving
widespread notice during the Industrial Revolution, technophobia has been observed
to affect various societies and communities throughout the world. This has caused some
groups to take stances against some modern technological developments in order to
preserve their ideologies. In some of these cases, the new technologies conflict with
established beliefs, such as personal values in simplicity and modest lifestyles.
A smart grid delivers electricity from suppliers to consumers using two-way
digital technology to control appliances at consumers' homes to save energy, reduce
cost and increase reliability and transparency. It overlays the electricity distribution
grid with an information and net metering system.
Such a modernized electricity network is being promoted by many governments as a
way of addressing energy independence, global warming and emergency resilience
issues. Smart meters may be part of a smart grid, but alone do not constitute a smart
grid.
A smart grid includes an intelligent monitoring system that keeps track of all
electricity flowing in the system. It also incorporates the use of superconductive
transmission lines for less power loss, as well as the capability of integrating renewable
electricity such as solar and wind. When power is least expensive the user can allow
the smart grid to turn on selected home appliances such as washing machines or factory
processes that can run at arbitrary hours. At peak times it could turn off selected
appliances to reduce demand.
In principle, the smart grid is a simple upgrade of 20th century power grids
which generally "broadcast" power from a few central power generators to a large
number of users, to instead be capable of routing power in more optimal ways to
respond to a very wide range of conditions, and to charge a premium to those that use
energy at peak hour.
Exercise 2. Match these words and phrases to their definitions or synonyms.
Translate them into your native language.
 1 ardent a confirmed; extreme or unchanging in attitude, opinion, etc.
advocate
2 dyed-in- b occurring occasionally or at regular or irregular intervals;
the-wool periodic

3 alacrity c stickler
4 encompass d Avert danger
5 snap e briskness, cheerful readiness
6 intermittent f continuously
7 surge g a cutoff of electrical power, especially as a result of a shortage,
a mechanical failure, or overuse by consumers
8 ward off h obstacle, obstruction
9 seamlessly i pull apart or break with a snapping sound
10 notch j an environmentalist, especially one who supports the
preservation of forested land and the restriction of logging
11 mundane k a level or degree
12 blackout l everyday, routine
13 frugal m a motivating influence; stimulus
14 tree-hugger n thrifty, sparing, economical
15 impediment o include, involve, cover
16 incentive p a sudden, transient increase or oscillation in electric current or
voltage or an instability in the power output of an engine
Exercise 3. Explain the meaning of the following proper names:
GE, Siemens, Cisco Systems, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Al Gore, T. Boone, Stimulus
Bill.
Translate them into Ukrainian.
Be guided by the information below.
The General Electric Company, or GE (NYSE: GE), is an American multinational
conglomerate corporation incorporated in the State of New York. In 2010, Forbes
ranked GE as the world's second largest company, based on a formula that compared
the total sales, profits, assets, and market value of several multinational companies.
The company has 304,000 employees around the world.
Siemens AG is Europe's largest engineering conglomerate. Siemens' international
headquarters are located in Berlin, Munich and Erlangen, Germany. The company has
three main business sectors: Industry, Energy and Healthcare; with a total of 15
divisions. Worldwide Siemens and its subsidiaries employ approximately 420,800
people in nearly 190 countries and reported global revenue of 76 651 billion euros for
the year of 2009. Siemens AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, and has been
listed on the New York Stock Exchange since March 12, 2001.
Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO, SEHK: 4333) is an American multinational
corporation that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking and
communications technology and services. Headquartered in California, Cisco has
more than 65,000 employees and annual revenue of US$36.11 billion as of 2009. The
stock was added to the Dow Jones Industrial Average on June 8, 2009, and is also
included in the S&P 500 Index the Russell 1000 Index, NASDAQ100 Index and the
Russell 1000 Growth Stock Index. Cisco is one of the world's biggest technology
corporations.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, FWB: GGQ1) is a multinational public cloud
computing, Internet search, and advertising technologies corporation. Google hosts
and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit
primarily from advertising through its AdWords program. The company was founded
by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, often dubbed the "Google Guys", while the two were
attending Stanford University as Ph.D. candidates. It was first incorporated as a
privately held company on September 4, 1998, with its initial public offering to follow
on August 19, 2004. The company's stated mission from the outset was "to organize the
world's information and make it universally accessible and useful", and the company's
unofficial slogan – coined by Google engineer Paul Buchheit – is Don't be evil. In 2006,
the company moved to their current headquarters in Mountain View, California.
Google runs over one million servers in data centers around the world, and processes
over one billion search requests and twenty petabytes of user-generated data every day.
Google's rapid growth since its incorporation has triggered a chain of products,
acquisitions and partnerships beyond the company's core search engine. Because of its
popularity and numerous products, Alexa lists Google as the Internet's most visited
website.
International Business Machines (IBM) (NYSE: IBM) is a multinational computer,
technology and IT consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, North Castle, New
York, United States. IBM is the world's fourth largest technology company and the
second most valuable by global brand (after Coca-Cola). IBM is one of the few
information technology companies with a continuous history dating back to the 19th
century. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software (with a focus on
the latter), and offers infrastructure services, hosting services, and consulting services
in areas ranging from mainframe computers to nanotechnology.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKEX: 4338) is a public multinational
corporation based in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures,
licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to
computing through its various product divisions.
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. (born March 31, 1948) served as the 45th Vice President
of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He was the
Democratic Party nominee for President in the 2000 United States presidential
election. Gore is currently an author, businessperson, and environmental activist.
Thomas Boone Pickens, Jr. (born May 22, 1928), known as T. Boone Pickens, is an
American financier who chairs the hedge fund BP Capital Management. He was a well-
known takeover operator and corporate raider during the 1980s. With an estimated
current net worth of about $3 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 117th-richest person
in America and ranked 880th in the world.
The Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 (enacted February 13, 2008) was an Act of
Congress providing for several kinds of economic stimuli intended to boost the United
States economy in 2008 and to avert a recession, or ameliorate economic conditions.
The stimulus package was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives on January 29,
2008, and in a slightly different version by the U.S. Senate on February 7, 2008. The
Senate version was then approved in the House the same day.It was signed into law on
February 13, 2008 by President Bush with the support of a majority of Democratic
lawmakers, as well as a minority of Republicans. The total cost of this bill was projected
at $152 billion for 2008.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, abbreviated ARRA and
commonly referred to as the Stimulus or The Recovery Act, is an economic stimulus
package enacted by the 111th United States Congress in February 2009. The Act
followed other economic recovery legislation passed in the final year of the Bush
presidency including the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 and the Emergency Economic
Stabilization Act of 2008 which created the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).
LISTENING SECTION
Exercise 1. Decide if the following statements are true or false according to the
recording, prove your opinion.
1. Surveys suggest that consumers would embrace smart grids enthusiastically.
2. The main function of smart grids is to make power transmission more reliable,
flexible and convenient.
3. Smart grids are various devices (e.g. meters that send in readings automatically,
software that detects snapped cables and reroutes power supplies around them).
4. The biggest impediment to the spread of renewables in most countries is an
antiquated grid.
5. The biggest impediments to the spread of renewables in most countries is the
lack of a price on carbon.
6. The main drawbacks of increasing the grid’s IQ is making blackouts more often
and helping terrorists to disrupt things.
7. Smarter meters could encourage conservation by letting customers know just
how much power they are using.
8. The technology can be used to deliver not just clean renewable energy more
efficiently, but also the grubby coal-fired sort.
9. When it comes to greening the world’s energy supply, technology is a substitute
for policy.
Exercise 2. Listen again and answer the questions with the grounds provided.
1. What does the term “smart grid” encompass?
2. What are the benefits of smart grids?
3. What is the main reason for the consumers to waste power?
4. How should the energy policy be regulated?
DISCUSSION SECTION
Exercise 1. Answer the following questions.
1. Do you approve of the idea of spending lots of money on smart grids?
2. What are the prospects of increasing the grid’s IQ in Ukraine? What are the
negative aspects of the problem?
TRANSLATION SECTION
Exercise 1. Study the transcript of the recording, present a translation-oriented
analysis of the text and translate it into your native language.
Smart grids
Clever, but unprincipled
When it comes to greening the world’s energy supply, technology is not a
substitute for policy
AMERICA wants one. So do Australia, Brazil, Britain, China, Germany, Italy
and Japan, to name a few. Even Malta is building one. Big utilities, such as Electricité
de France and American Electric Power, are keen. So are industrial heavyweights such
as GE and Siemens, and computing giants including Cisco Systems, Google, IBM and
Microsoft. Al Gore and other environmentalists are ardent advocates. So are dyed-in-
the-wool capitalists such as T. Boone Pickens. Endless surveys suggest that consumers
would embrace them enthusiastically. Barack Obama is a big fan: he rated them as one
of the highlights of America’s stimulus bill, which lavished $3.9 billion on them.
Businesses, sensing an opportunity, are investing with alacrity (see article). No one, it
seems, has a bad word to say about smart grids.
That is partly because no one is quite sure what they are—and because “smart”
sounds preferable to “dumb”. The term encompasses almost anything that would make
power transmission more reliable, flexible and convenient, from meters that send in
readings automatically to software that detects snapped cables and reroutes power
supplies around them.
The world’s grids will certainly need some clever upgrades to manage the
intermittent surges of electricity from the millions of wind turbines and solar panels
that are planned to ward off the threat of global warming. If distributed generation
(meaning small power sources such as rooftop solar arrays) becomes widespread, more
sophisticated technology will be required to allow power to flow out from homes and
offices as well as into them. That would also allow the batteries of electric cars to serve
as a backup supply of power when needed. Technophiles imagine a time when smart
grids will seamlessly balance supply and demand for power by turning down millions
of air-conditioners a notch when the wind drops or the sun goes behind a cloud.
Increasing the grid’s IQ would bring more mundane benefits, too. Blackouts,
which cost businesses billions each year, would become much rarer. Smarter meters
could encourage conservation by letting customers know just how much power they are
using, with which machines, at what cost, every minute of the day. Terrorists should
find it harder to disrupt things. As Mr Obama put it when urging Congress to pass the
stimulus bill, a smart grid “will save us money, protect our power sources from blackout
or attack, and deliver clean, alternative forms of energy to every corner of our nation.”
Spending lots of money on smart grids, however, will not bring about any of
those things by itself. The technology is not inherently frugal or green. It can be used
to deliver not just clean renewable energy more efficiently, but also the grubby coal-
fired sort. By reducing the need for expensive backup capacity, it may actually reduce
the cost of electricity, and so encourage consumption. The very fact that utilities and
their customers, tree-huggers and industrialists alike are all keen on it hints at the many
different ends to which it can be turned.
Smartening up the rules
Moreover, the biggest impediment to the spread of renewables in most countries
is not an antiquated grid, but the lack of a price on carbon. Consumers waste power not
just because they cannot regulate their spending very precisely, but also because it often
does not cost very much. Most utilities have an incentive to sell as much power as they
can, dirty or clean.
In short, smart grids are not a substitute for a proper energy policy. Mr Obama
and other politicians will still need to put in place regulations that encourage investment
in energy efficiency and cleaner forms of generation—almost certainly meaning higher
bills, however smart the grid. That, naturally, will be a lot less popular than a miraculous
technical fix.
Exercise 3. Translate the information below into Ukrainian and analyze the basic
transformations.
Electric grid stakeholders representing utilities, technology providers, researchers,
policymakers, and consumers have worked together to define the functions of a smart
grid. Through regional meetings convened under the Modern Grid Strategy project of
the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), these stakeholders have
identified the following characteristics or performance features of a smart grid:
 Self-healing from power disturbance events
 Enabling active participation by consumers in demand response
 Operating resiliently against physical and cyber attack
 Providing power quality for 21st century needs
 Accommodating all generation and storage options
 Enabling new products, services, and markets
 Optimizing assets and operating efficiently
Exercise 4. Give summary translation of the information into English, expand on
the ideas expressed.
Напрямки концепції Smart Grid
Генерація електроенергії
Проблеми зміни клімату на Землі і прогнозований дефіцит органічних
видів палива стимулює розвиток альтернативних джерел електроенергії, впершу
чергу таких, як вітрогенератори, сонячні фотоелектричні системи, генератори які
працюють на біопаливі, приливні і хвильові генератори, генератори, що
використовують тепло надр планети і т.д. Новий розвиток отримають і
гідроакумулюючі станції, які дозволяють більш ефективно використовувати вже
вироблену електроенергію. Очікується, що в майбутньому кількість таких
джерел буде неухильно зростати і підключатися до загальної електричної мережі
вони будуть у різних її точках. Тобто генеруючі потужності в майбутній системі
електропостачання будуть більш розподіленими, ніж концентрованими, як зараз.
Характерною особливістю таких джерел є їх відносно невелика потужність і
нестабільність параметрів потужності генерування. Очевидно, що для
стабілізації параметрів таких джерел і їх автоматичної синхронізації з мережею
необхідний досить «інтелектуальний» керуючий пристрій. Розробка принципово
нових і підвищення техніко-економічної ефективності вже існуючих систем
генерації електроенергії, пристроїв автоматичного керування ними, систем
зв'язку, що забезпечують інформаційний обмін таких джерел з іншими
елементами енергосистеми є одним з напрямків концепції Smart Grid.
Передача і розподіл електроенергії
Іншим напрямком концепції Smart Grid є, знову ж таки, вдосконалення
існуючих та створення нових, але вже систем не генерації, а передачі та
розподілення електроенергії. Основною проблемою цих систем з точки зору
екології (та й енергетики також) є втрати електроенергії. Чим вони більші, тим
більше природних ресурсів витрачається дарма, не приносячи користі людству та
наносячи шкоду навколишньому середовищу. До того ж, величина втрат прямо
пов’язана з тарифами на електроенергію. Уникнути втрат повністю неможливо,
їх можна лише зменшити. Заходи по зменшенню втрат передбачають
впровадження нових технічних рішень в систему передачі та розподілу
електроенергії. Найбільш ефективні з них входять до концепції Smart Grid.
Споживання електроенергії
Технологія Smart Grid працює через систему спеціальних «розумних»
лічильників, встановлених на підприємствах і в житлових приміщеннях. Вони
інформують про рівень споживання енергії, що дозволяє коригувати
використання електрообладнання в часі і розподіляти електрику в залежності від
потреб. Простий приклад: є сенс запускати пральну машину вночі, коли
енергоспоживання в місті спадає і тарифи знижуються. Втім, переконати
користувачів перейти до оптимального споживання енергії, що може увійти в
конфлікт з їх комфортом, буде непросто. Значить, треба навчити пральну машину
включатися вночі автоматично. Тому, на додаток до всього, створюються
автоматичні системи контролю, які зможуть оптимізувати домашнє споживання.
 UNIT 2
TERRORISM
TERRORISM IN RUSSIA

PRE-LISTENING SECTION

Exercise 1. Discuss the following issues. Be guided by the information below.

 Can you define the meaning of the word TERRORISM?
 What do you know about TERRORISM IN RUSSIA?

Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion. At present,

the International community has been unable to formulate a universally agreed, legally
binding, criminal law definition of terrorism. Common definitions of terrorism refer
only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for
an ideological goal, and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants
(civilians). Some definitions also include acts of unlawful violence and war. The word
"terrorism" is politically and emotionally charged, and this greatly compounds the
difficulty of providing a precise definition. Studies have found over 100 definitions of
“terrorism”. The concept of terrorism may itself be controversial as it is often used by
state authorities to delegitimize political or other opponents, and potentially legitimize
the state's own use of armed force against opponents (such use of force may itself be
described as "terror" by opponents of the state).
Terrorism in Russia has a long history starting from the times of the Russian Empire.
Terrorism, in the modern sense, means violence against civilians to achieve political
or ideological objectives by creating fear. Terrorism tactics, such as hostage-taking,
were widely used by the Soviet secret agencies, most notably during the Red Terror and
Great Terror campaigns, against the population of their own country, according to
Karl Kautsky and other historians of Bolshevism. Starting from the end of the 20th
century, significant terrorist activity has taken place in Moscow, most notably
apartment bombings and the Moscow theater hostage crisis. Many more acts of
terrorism have been committed in Chechnya, Dagestan, and other parts of the country.
Some of them became a matter of significant controversy, since journalists and scholars
claimed them to be directed by the Russian secret services, often through their Chechen
agent provocateurs.
Exercise 2. Match these words and collocations to their definitions (synonyms).
Translate them into your native language.
1 mayhem a admit
2 sorrow b the action of an armed force that surrounds a fortified
place and isolates it
3 condemnation c the willful and unlawful crippling or mutilation of
another person
4 siege d a serious or formal promise
5 take smth in one’s e bribe in order to secure improper cooperation or gain
stride exemption from a regulation or legal consequence
6 marauding f treat calmly
7 perpetrator g an expression of strong disapproval
8 pledge h an emotion of great sadness associated with loss or
bereavement
9 conundrum i characterized by plundering or pillaging
10 concede g culprit
11 buy off k susceptible to attack
12 vulnerable l severely repressive actions
13 crackdown m puzzle
Exercise 3. Tell what you know about the following personalities
Ramzan Kadyrov, Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev
Be guided by the following information.
Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov (born 5 October 1976, Tsentoroi, RSFSR, USSR) is
the President of Chechnya and a former Chechen rebel. Ramzan is a son of former
Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, assassinated in May 2004. In February 2007
Kadyrov replaced Alu Alkhanov as President, shortly after he had turned 30, which is
the minimum age for the post. He has the support of former Russian President Vladimir
Putin and was awarded the Hero of Russia medal, the highest honorary title of Russia.
Kadyrov was engaged in violent power struggles; with fellow Chechen government
warlords Sulim Yamadayev and Said-Magomed Kakiev for overall military authority,
and with Alu Alkhanov for political authority. As President of Chechnya, Kadyrov has
been credited for bringing peace and stability to the region. He has also launched
federally-sponsored renovations of the Chechen capital Grozny, which have completely
transformed the war-ravaged city. On the other hand, he has come under heavy
criticism from international press and even at times, Russia, for allegations of massive
human rights violations.
LISTENING SECTION
Exercise 1. Listen to the recording and decide if the following statements are true
or false.
1. In 2010 when terrorist bombings on the Moscow metro killed at least 39 people
and injured the emergency services was better co-ordinated than in the past.
2. Muscovites took the attack in their stride, and even the authorities responded
more humanely.
3. Thanks to the imposition of Ramzan Kadyrov as an autocrat in charge of the
republic and Vladmir Putin’s earthy pledge “to rub out the terrorists in the
shithouse”, violence across the region has abated.
4. The lawless and brutal behaviour of Russia’s security forces and widespread
corruption allows the terrorists not only to move with mystifying ease around
Russia but also to secure a steady source of income.
5. A big change in policy might stop terrorist attacks.
Exercise 2. Listen again and answer the questions with the grounds provided.
1. What are the responses to the deaths of innocent people at the hands of terrorists,
whether in London and New York or in Madrid and Moscow?
2. Why was the work of the emergency services better co-ordinated that time than
in the past?
3. What measures were taken to abate violence across the region?
4. What problem did Mr Medvedev identify as Russia’s biggest domestic problem?
5. What are the two obvious transmitters of terrorism through the north Caucasus
and into the Russian heartland?
6. What actions of Russia’s leaders would only make the state more vulnerable?
DISCUSSION SECTION
Exercise 1. Answer the following questions.
1. What do you know about the acts of terrorism in Ukraine?
2. What should be the reaction of the authorities and average men to terroristic
actions?
Exercise 2. Comment on the statements below.
1. Terrorism has become the systematic weapons of a war that knows no borders or
seldom has a face. Jacques Chirac
2. Fighting terrorism is like being a goalkeeper. You can make a hundred brilliant
saves but the only shot that people remember is the one that gets past you. Paul
Wilkinson
3. If inciting people to do that is terrorism, and if killing those who kill our sons is
terrorism, then let history be witness that we are terrorists. Osama Bin Laden
4. I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people
embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people
who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists. I
tell them that I was also a terrorist yesterday, but, today, I am admired by the
very people who said I was one. Nelson Mandela
5. We do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by
ignoring them. George W. Bush
6. Our enemies are fully aware that they can use oil as a weapon against America.
And if we don't take this threat as seriously as the bombs they build or the guns
they buy, we will be fighting the War on Terror with one hand tied behind our
back. Barack Obama
TRANSLATION SECTION
Exercise 1. Study the transcript of the recording, present a translation-oriented
analysis of the text and translate it into your native language.
Terrorism in Russia
Mayhem in Moscow
It is right to condemn the Moscow bombers, but also to look for new ideas for the
north Caucasus
SORROW and condemnation are the right responses to the deaths of innocent people
at the hands of terrorists, whether in London and New York or in Madrid and Moscow.
This week’s terrorist bombings on the Moscow metro killed at least 39 people and
injured many more.
For all its problems, the Russian capital held together. There was no panic, medical
help was swift and the work of the emergency services was better co-ordinated than in
the past. Moscow, which has lived through a theatre siege in 2002 and several previous
bombings, including two in the metro in 2004, has learned to cope (see article).
Muscovites took the attack in their stride, and even the authorities responded more
humanely. President Dmitry Medvedev observed a minute’s silence and he visited one
of the bombed metro stations to lay flowers. In a country where leaders have a habit of
disappearing from view at times of disaster, this counted for something.
There were a few ugly incidents, including several reported attacks on metro travellers
who looked Muslim. And marauding taxi drivers took advantage of the chaos to raise
their prices tenfold. Equally unpalatable were the attempts by some politicians to
capitalise on the tragedy to advance their own pro- or anti-Kremlin agendas. It only
adds to the offence that there is no room for a public debate about the causes and
consequences of such attacks.
The Russian authorities are surely right to suspect that the two female perpetrators had
links to Muslim terrorists from the north Caucasus. Despite two ferocious wars in
Chechnya, despite the imposition of Ramzan Kadyrov as an autocrat in charge of the
republic and despite Vladmir Putin’s earthy pledge “to rub out the terrorists in the
shithouse”, violence across the region has not abated. Rather, it has spread from
Chechnya to other republics, especially Ingushetia and Dagestan, which have lapsed
into a state of near-civil-war. Bombings, shootings and kidnappings are common. Most
go unsolved. Attacks by insurgents are no longer treated in Moscow or in the outside
world as terrorist attacks on Russia.
Solving the Caucasus conundrum
Few parts of the world have as miserable a history as the north Caucasus (see article).
Last September Mr Medvedev identified it as Russia’s biggest domestic problem. After
this week’s attacks, he and Mr Putin pledged again to destroy the terrorists without
wavering and to the end. Yet he surely knows that political repression and police and
military action alone will not be enough to bring peace to the region—or to the rest of
Russia.
There are two obvious transmitters of terrorism through the north Caucasus and into
the Russian heartland. The first is the lawless and brutal behaviour of Russia’s security
forces, which tends only to strengthen popular support for a small group of terrorists.
The second is widespread corruption, which allows the terrorists not only to move with
mystifying ease around Russia but also to secure a steady source of income. Corrupt
officials steal money that Moscow sends to the region, as Mr Medvedev himself has
conceded, and they buy off terrorist cells to leave them alone.
Yet to tackle these two faults would require broader reforms in Russia. And even a big
change in policy might not stop terrorist attacks. Defusing mines that were created over
decades will take time. The bombs on the Moscow metro were not the first and, sadly,
are unlikely to be the last. Even so, it would be tragic if Russia’s leaders used them to
justify further centralizing power, more crackdowns on political freedom and greater
powers for the state’s security forces. Far from making Russia safer, that would only
make it more vulnerable.
Exercise 2. Translate the information below into Ukrainian and analyze the basic
transformations.
Ukraine Joins Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism
The Government of Ukraine has announced its intention to become a partner
nation of the 14-member Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (Global
Initiative).
At the February 12-13, 2007 meeting of the Global Initiative in Ankara, Turkey,
partner nations emphasized the importance of broadening the initiative to include
nations committed to combating nuclear terrorism, who endorse the Statement of
Principles, and are willing to contribute to the activities of the Initiative. Ukraine is the
first such nation to state its commitment to the goals of the Global Initiative and its
intention to participate in its activities. All current and future partner nations are
encouraged to include new partner nations in their activities, upon receipt of their
written endorsement of the Statement of Principles by the U.S. and/or Russia.
Ukraine and all other current and future partner nations will meet again in
Kazakhstan to review the progress of Global Initiative activities, to take specific steps
to address gaps in implementation, and to welcome new partner nations whose
endorsements have been received by the U.S. and/or Russia prior to the meeting.
Exercise 3. Give a summary translation of the information into English, expand
on the ideas expressed.
ТЕРОР — ОЗНАЧАЄ СТРАХ
Терор, якщо перекласти це слово з латинської, означає страх, залякування.
У новій історії вперше практику масового тероризму застосовано наприкінці
XVIII століття під час Великої французької революції. Єдиного визначення цього
явища в міжнародних документах не існує. Проте практично всі дослідники
зазначають, що тероризм можна охарактеризувати як прагнення до досягнення
політичних або інших публічних цілей за допомогою насильницьких методів:
убивств, захоплення заручників, викрадань людей, диверсійних актів тощо.
Особливою загрозою останнім часом є прибічники ісламського тероризму.
За експертними оцінками, упродовж останніх 25 років вони найбільше від усіх
захопили заручників, скоїли диверсійних актів і вбивств. Ідеологія ісламського
тероризму формується окремими релігійними організаціями Саудівської Аравії,
Судану, Ірану, Пакистану й Афганістану та базується на положеннях ісламського
фундаменталізму.
 UNIT 3
GENDER PROBLEMS
Part I
WOMEN AND WORK
PRE-LISTENING SECTION
Exercise 1. Answer the following questions be guided by the information below.
1. How can you define the meaning of the words GENDER and SEX?
2. What are the main gender role tendencies in the contemporary society?
Gender is the wide set of characteristics that are seen to distinguish between
male and female. It can extend from sex to social role or gender identity. Gender has
several controversial definitions but it here refers to an individual's inner sex or
psychological sense of being a male or female irrespective of one's (outer) sex identity
as determined by one's sexual organs. There are two main genders: masculine (male),
or feminine (female). Gender identity refers to the options available to members of a
society to choose from a set of social identities, based on the combination of one's sex
identity on the one hand, and one's natural gender, interests and social experiences on
the other. Some ancient tribes have more than five human genders. Some non-Western
societies have three human genders – man, woman and third gender. Gender roles
refers to the set of attitudes and behaviors socially expected from the members of a
particular gender identity. Gender roles are socially constructed which are often
politicized and manipulated, which then result in the oppression of people.
In the modern West, this essential requirement has been changed to a
heterosexual desire, resulting in the Western concepts of 'homosexual' and
'heterosexual,' instead of the usual gender identities for males. Researchers recognize
that the concrete behavior of individuals is a consequence of both socially enforced
rules and values, and individual disposition, whether genetic, unconscious, or
conscious. Some researchers emphasize the objective social system and others
emphasize subjective orientations and dispositions. Creativity may cause the rules and
values to change over time. Cultures and societies are dynamic and ever-changing, but
there has been extensive debate as to how, and how fast, they may change. Such debates
are especially contentious when they involve the gender/sex system, as people have
widely differing views about how much gender depends on biological sex.
Exercise 2. Match these words and collocations to their definitions (synonyms).
Translate them into Ukrainian.
1 arguably a bother, trouble
2 modicum b ease, reduce, relieve
3 sting c humbug, nonsense
4 juggle d powerful , mighty
5 momentum e gentleness; moderation
6 alleviate f keep (more than two activities, for example) in motion or
progress at one time
7 bunk g a heavy long-handled hammer used to drive stakes or
wedges
8 hefty h driving power or strength
9 light hand i a symptom of some physical hurt or disorder
10 plague j including or applying to all categories or members
11 across-the- k to accuse or condemn or openly or formally or brand as
board disgraceful
12 stigmatise l possibly, plausibly
13 put off m a small or moderate or token amount
14 sledgehammer n persuade to delay further action
Exercise 3. Tell what you know about the proper names OECD, PepsiCo, AREVA,
Rosie the Riveter.
Explain the meaning of the expression glass ceiling. Translate it into your native
language.
Be guided by the following information.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD, in
French: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, OCDE) is
an international economic organisation of 32 countries. It defines itself as a forum of
countries committed to democracy and the market economy, providing a setting to
compare policy experiences, seeking answers to common problems, identifying good
practices, and co-ordinating domestic and international policies of its members.
PepsiCo, Incorporated is an American multinational corporation headquartered
in Purchase, New York, with interests in manufacturing and marketing a wide variety
of carbonated and non-carbonated beverages, as well as salty, sweet and cereal-based
snacks, and other foods. Besides the Pepsi brands, the company owns the brands
Quaker Oats, Gatorade, Frito-Lay, SoBe, Naked, Tropicana, Copella, Mountain Dew,
Mirinda and 7 Up (outside the USA).
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi has been the chief executive of PepsiCo since 2006. During
her time, healthier snacks have been marketed and the company is striving for a net-
zero impact on the environment. This focus on healthier foods and lifestyles is part of
Nooyi's "Performance With Purpose" philosophy.
AREVA is a French public multinational industrial conglomerate headquartered
in the Tour Areva in Courbevoie. Areva is mainly known for nuclear power; it also has
interests in other energy projects. According to the company official website, Areva
realized €13.16 billion in sales revenue in 2008 and €417 million in operating income.
However, Areva had 6.2 billion euros of net debt at the end of 2009. In June 2010,
Standard & Poor's downgraded Areva’s debt rating to BBB+ due to weakened
profitability following a further € 400 million provision for the Olkiluoto-3 over-
running European Pressurized Reactor build. In July 2010, the French government
authorised a 15% capital increase at Areva, in which Électricité de France (EDF)
could raise its stake from 2.4% to 7%.
 Rosie the Riveter is a cultural icon of the United States, representing the
American women who worked in factories during World War II, many of whom worked
in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions and war supplies. These women
sometimes took entirely new jobs replacing the male workers who were in the military.
The character is considered a feminist icon in the US.
In economics, the term glass ceiling refers to situations where the advancement
of a qualified person within the hierarchy of an organization is stopped at a lower level
because of some form of discrimination, most commonly sexism or racism. However,
since the term was coined, "glass ceiling" has also come to describe the limited
advancement of the deaf, blind, disabled, and aged.
LISTENING SECTION
Exercise 1. Listen to the recording and decide if the following statements are true
or false.
1. Women make up 50% of university graduates in the OECD countries and
professional workers in several rich countries, including the United States.
2. Women run many of the world’s great companies, from PepsiCo in America to
Areva in France.
3. Just a generation ago millions of women were routinely subjected to casual
sexism but today they are running some of the organisations that once treated
them as second-class citizens.
4. The Arab countries, Japan and some southern European countries admit that their
gender policy will result in paying a heavy price in the form of wasted talent and
frustrated citizens.
5. Women are under-represented at the top of companies because they can’t meet
the needs of the developing society - juggling work and child-rearing is difficult.
6. Many women claim sexism the main issue of their social failure.
7. New technology is making it easier to redesign work in all sorts of family-
friendly ways.
8. The shift towards women is likely to continue: by 2011 there will be 4.6m more
female than male university students in America.
9. Most Swedish women work in the public sector and Sweden has a lower
proportion of women in management than America does.
10.Welfare states don’t need to change the way they operate as they meet nowadays
needs.
11.Today the tough lives of many working women and their children have improved
but the glass ceilings still remain.
Exercise 2. Listen again and answer the questions below.
1. What is the biggest social change of our time?
2. Which societies try to resist the trend and what can the consequences be?
3. What are the “stings” of the positive changes in the gender situation?
4. How does the change in the present life help to alleviate the problems?
5. How can the governments improve the lives of working women?
DISCUSSION SECTION
Exercise 1. Express your opinion on the following and answer the questions.
1. Motherhood, not sexism, is the issue.
2. Some of the new theories about warm-hearted women making inherently
superior workers are bunk.
3. How can you characterize gender situation in Ukraine. What are the peculiarities
of the local glass ceiling? What should be done to to alleviate the problems and
improve the lives of working women?
Exercise 2. Comment on the statements below.
1. Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate
association with their oppressors.
2. Man endures pain as an undeserved punishment; woman accepts it as a
natural heritage.
3. Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.
4. Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their
strengths.
5. Several men I can think of are as capable, as smart, as funny, as
compassionate, and as confused - as remarkable you might say - as most
women.
6. Easy is an adjective used to describe a woman who has the sexual morals
of a man.
7. Nobody objects to a woman being a good writer or sculptor or geneticist
if at the same time she manages to be a good wife, a good mother, good-
looking, good-tempered, well-dressed, well-groomed, and unaggressive.
TRANSLATION SECTION
Exercise 1. Study the transcript of the recording, present a translation-oriented
analysis of the text, translate it into Ukrainian.
Women and work
We did it!
The rich world’s quiet revolution: women are gradually taking over the workplace
AT A time when the world is short of causes for celebration, here is a candidate:
within the next few months women will cross the 50% threshold and become the
majority of the American workforce. Women already make up the majority of
university graduates in the OECD countries and the majority of professional workers
in several rich countries, including the United States. Women run many of the world’s
great companies, from PepsiCo in America to Areva in France.
Women’s economic empowerment is arguably the biggest social change of our
times. Just a generation ago, women were largely confined to repetitive, menial jobs.
They were routinely subjected to casual sexism and were expected to abandon their
careers when they married and had children. Today they are running some of the
organisations that once treated them as second-class citizens. Millions of women have
been given more control over their own lives. And millions of brains have been put to
more productive use. Societies that try to resist this trend—most notably the Arab
countries, but also Japan and some southern European countries—will pay a heavy
price in the form of wasted talent and frustrated citizens.
This revolution has been achieved with only a modicum of friction (see article).
Men have, by and large, welcomed women’s invasion of the workplace. Yet even the
most positive changes can be incomplete or unsatisfactory. This particular advance
comes with two stings. The first is that women are still under-represented at the top of
companies. Only 2% of the bosses of America’s largest companies and 5% of their
peers in Britain are women. They are also paid significantly less than men on average.
The second is that juggling work and child-rearing is difficult. Middle-class couples
routinely complain that they have too little time for their children. But the biggest losers
are poor children—particularly in places like America and Britain that have combined
high levels of female participation in the labour force with a reluctance to spend public
money on child care.
Dealing with the juggle
These two problems are closely related. Many women feel they have to choose
between their children and their careers. Women who prosper in high-pressure
companies during their 20s drop out in dramatic numbers in their 30s and then find it
almost impossible to regain their earlier momentum. Less-skilled women are trapped
in poorly paid jobs with hand-to-mouth child-care arrangements. Motherhood, not
sexism, is the issue: in America, childless women earn almost as much as men, but
mothers earn significantly less. And those mothers’ relative poverty also disadvantages
their children.
Demand for female brains is helping to alleviate some of these problems. Even
if some of the new theories about warm-hearted women making inherently superior
workers are bunk (see article), several trends favour the more educated sex, including
the “war for talent” and the growing flexibility of the workplace. Law firms,
consultancies and banks are rethinking their “up or out” promotion systems because
they are losing so many able women. More than 90% of companies in Germany and
Sweden allow flexible working. And new technology is making it easier to redesign
work in all sorts of family-friendly ways.
Women have certainly performed better over the past decade than men. In the
European Union women have filled 6m of the 8m new jobs created since 2000. In
America three out of four people thrown out of work since the “mancession” began
have been male. And the shift towards women is likely to continue: by 2011 there will
be 2.6m more female than male university students in America.
The light hand of the state
All this argues, mostly, for letting the market do the work. That has not stopped
calls for hefty state intervention of the Scandinavian sort. Norway has used threats of
quotas to dramatic effect. Some 40% of the legislators there are women. All the
Scandinavian countries provide plenty of state-financed nurseries. They have the
highest levels of female employment in the world and far fewer of the social problems
that plague Britain and America. Surely, comes the argument, there is a way to speed
up the revolution—and improve the tough lives of many working women and their
children?
If that means massive intervention, in the shape of affirmative-action
programmes and across-the-board benefits for parents of all sorts, the answer is no. To
begin with, promoting people on the basis of their sex is illiberal and unfair, and
stigmatises its beneficiaries. And there are practical problems. Lengthy periods of paid
maternity leave can put firms off hiring women, which helps explain why most Swedish
women work in the public sector and Sweden has a lower proportion of women in
management than America does.
But there are plenty of cheaper, subtler ways in which governments can make
life easier for women. Welfare states were designed when most women stayed at home.
They need to change the way they operate. German schools, for instance, close at
midday. American schools shut down for two months in the summer. These things can
be changed without huge cost. Some popular American charter schools now offer
longer school days and shorter summer holidays. And, without going to Scandinavian
lengths, America could invest more in its children: it spends a lower share of its GDP
on public child-care than almost any other rich country, and is the only rich country that
refuses to provide mothers with paid maternity leave. Barack Obama needs to measure
up to his campaign rhetoric about “real family values”.
Still, these nagging problems should not overshadow the dramatic progress that
women have made in recent decades. During the second world war, when America’s
menfolk were off at the front, the government had to summon up the image of Rosie
the Riveter, with her flexed muscle and “We Can Do It” slogan, to encourage women
into the workforce. Today women are marching into the workplace in ever larger
numbers and taking a sledgehammer to the remaining glass ceilings.
Exercise 2. Translate the information below into Ukrainian and analyze the basic
transformations.
1. A woman has the last word in any argument. Anything a man says after
that is the beginning of a new argument.
2. Women never have anything to wear. Don't question the racks of clothes
in the closet; you 'just don't understand'.
3. Women will always ask questions that have no right answer, in an effort
to trap you into feeling guilty.
4. Women love to talk. Silence intimidates them and they feel a need to fill
it, even if they have nothing to say.
5. If a man goes on a seven-day trip, he'll pack five days worth of clothes and
will wear some things twice; if a woman goes on a seven-day trip she'll
pack 21 outfits because she doesn't know what she'll feel like wearing each
day.
6. The phrase "working mother" is redundant.
 Part II
THE WAR ON BABY GIRLS
GENDERCIDE
PRE-LISTENING SECTION I
Exercise 1. Discuss the following issues.
1. You are one half of the young couple expecting a baby. Who would you prefer to
have as your first baby – a boy or a girl? Why?
2. What do you think “gendercide” is? How is it formed?
Exercise 2. Match these words and phrases to their definitions or synonyms.
Translate them into Ukrainian.
1 to deem a sensitivity, sentimentality, tenderness
2 dowry b small piece, inner part of bread
3 to clamour c overstatement
4 susceptibility d the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the
marriage
5 maturity e mass murder
6 exaggeration f to demand, to require
7 crumb g ripeness, puberty
8 carnage h to suppose, to have your own opinion
Exercise 3. Explain the meaning of the expressions: mores hold sway around you,
cumulative consequence for society, “bare branches”, neglected to death, the crumb of
comfort.
LISTENING SECTION I
Exercise 1. Decide if the following statements are true or false according to the
recording, prove your opinion.
1. In China and Northern India more than 140 boys are born for every 100 girls.
2. In any country rootless young males spell troubles.
3. Crime rates, bride trafficking, sexual violence, even female suicide rates are all
falling.
4. Women are missing in their millions – aborted, killed, neglected to death.
5. Most people know China and northern India have unnaturally low numbers of
boys.
6. Other East Asian countries, including Taiwan and Singapore, some countries in
the western Balkans, Caucasus and some sections of America’s population - all
these have distorted sex ratio.
7. Wealth is unable to stop it.
Exercise 2. Answer the questions with the ground provided.
1. What for pregnant women in East Asian countries mostly use ultrasound scan?
2. Why do people in Asian countries call unmarried men – “bare branches”?
3. Describe the imbalance between the sexes in China.
4. Can the standard of living be considered the main factor of the existing sex ratio?
PRE-LISTENING SECTION II
Exercise 1. Discuss the following issues.
Do you agree with the proverb: “Marry your son when you will, your daughter when
you can”?
Are you for or against abortion? Why?
Exercise 2. Match these words and phrases to their definitions or synonyms.
Translate them into Ukrainian.
1 fetus a evil in influence, intention, or effect
2 pursuit b the ability to produce offspring, esp abundantly
3 malign c neither parallel nor at right angles to a specified or implied
line
4 skew d to cause to turn aside or away from what is viewed as good
or true or morally right
5 to exacerbated e unborn offspring of a mammal, in particular an unborn
human baby more than eight weeks after conception
6 fertility f to make more violent or bitter : intensify the bad qualities
of
7 to distort g a following with a view to reach, accomplish, or obtain : an
endeavor to attain to, gain, or achieve
8 to pervert h to alter or misrepresent
Exercise 3. Explain the meaning of the expressions: to pervert family life, a malign
combination, pursuit of a son.
LISTENING SECTION II
Exercise 1. Decide if the following statements are true or false according to the
recording, prove your opinion.
1. The destruction of baby girls is a product of two forces: the ancient preference for
sons and a modern desire for smaller families.
2. Sex ratios are most distorted in the modern, open parts of China and India.
3. Only India has managed to change the pattern of distorted sex ration.
4. If China or India—with incomes one-tenth and one-half Korea’s levels—wait until
they are as wealthy, many generations will pass.
5. China should cancel the one-child policy.
6. China leaders take into account Western concerns about human rights.
7. The principle of “harmonious society” can be achieved by having a one-child policy.
8. All countries should encourage female education; abolish laws and customs that
prevent daughters inheriting property; make examples of hospitals and clinics with
impossible sex ratios; get women engaged in public life—using everything from
television newsreaders to women traffic police.
Exercise 2. Answer the questions with the ground provided.
1. What are the main causes of baby-girls destruction?
2. In what countries and why the sex ratio is the most skewed?
3. How does policy influence the sex ration and family life in general?
4. What measures should be taken to raise the value of girls?
TRANSLATION SECTION
Exercise 1. Study the transcript of the recording, present a translation-oriented
analysis of the text and translate it into Ukrainian.
The war on baby girls
Gendercide
Killed, aborted or neglected, at least 100m girls have disappeared—and the
number is rising
IMAGINE you are one half of a young couple expecting your first child in a fast-
growing, poor country. You are part of the new middle class; your income is rising; you
want a small family. But traditional mores hold sway around you, most important in the
preference for sons over daughters. Perhaps hard physical labour is still needed for the
family to make its living. Perhaps only sons may inherit land. Perhaps a daughter is
deemed to join another family on marriage and you want someone to care for you when
you are old. Perhaps she needs a dowry.
Now imagine that you have had an ultrasound scan; it costs $12, but you can
afford that. The scan says the unborn child is a girl. You yourself would prefer a boy;
the rest of your family clamours for one. You would never dream of killing a baby
daughter, as they do out in the villages. But an abortion seems different. What do you
do?
For millions of couples, the answer is: abort the daughter, try for a son. In China
and northern India more than 120 boys are being born for every 100 girls. Nature
dictates that slightly more males are born than females to offset boys’ greater
susceptibility to infant disease. But nothing on this scale.
For those who oppose abortion, this is mass murder. For those such as this
newspaper, who think abortion should be “safe, legal and rare” (to use Bill Clinton’s
phrase), a lot depends on the circumstances, but the cumulative consequence for
societies of such individual actions is catastrophic. China alone stands to have as many
unmarried young men—“bare branches”, as they are known—as the entire population
of young men in America. In any country rootless young males spell trouble; in Asian
societies, where marriage and children are the recognised routes into society, single
men are almost like outlaws. Crime rates, bride trafficking, sexual violence, even
female suicide rates are all rising and will rise further as the lopsided generations reach
their maturity (see article).
It is no exaggeration to call this gendercide. Women are missing in their
millions—aborted, killed, neglected to death. In 1990 an Indian economist, Amartya
Sen, put the number at 100m; the toll is higher now. The crumb of comfort is that
countries can mitigate the hurt, and that one, South Korea, has shown the worst can be
avoided. Others need to learn from it if they are to stop the carnage.
The dearth and death of little sisters
Most people know China and northern India have unnaturally large numbers of
boys. But few appreciate how bad the problem is, or that it is rising. In China the
imbalance between the sexes was 108 boys to 100 girls for the generation born in the
late 1980s; for the generation of the early 2000s, it was 124 to 100. In some Chinese
provinces the ratio is an unprecedented 130 to 100. The destruction is worst in China
but has spread far beyond. Other East Asian countries, including Taiwan and Singapore,
former communist states in the western Balkans and the Caucasus, and even sections
of America’s population (Chinese- and Japanese-Americans, for example): all these
have distorted sex ratios. Gendercide exists on almost every continent. It affects rich
and poor; educated and illiterate; Hindu, Muslim, Confucian and Christian alike.
Wealth does not stop it. Taiwan and Singapore have open, rich economies.
Within China and India the areas with the worst sex ratios are the richest, best-educated
ones. And China’s one-child policy can only be part of the problem, given that so many
other countries are affected.
In fact the destruction of baby girls is a product of three forces: the ancient
preference for sons; a modern desire for smaller families; and ultrasound scanning and
other technologies that identify the sex of a fetus. In societies where four or six children
were common, a boy would almost certainly come along eventually; son preference did
not need to exist at the expense of daughters. But now couples want two children—or,
as in China, are allowed only one—they will sacrifice unborn daughters to their pursuit
of a son. That is why sex ratios are most distorted in the modern, open parts of China
and India. It is also why ratios are more skewed after the first child: parents may accept
a daughter first time round but will do anything to ensure their next—and probably
last—child is a boy. The boy-girl ratio is above 200 for a third child in some places.
How to stop half the sky crashing down
Baby girls are thus victims of a malign combination of ancient prejudice and
modern preferences for small families. Only one country has managed to change this
pattern. In the 1990s South Korea had a sex ratio almost as skewed as China’s. Now, it
is heading towards normality. It has achieved this not deliberately, but because the
culture changed. Female education, anti-discrimination suits and equal-rights rulings
made son preference seem old-fashioned and unnecessary. The forces of modernity first
exacerbated prejudice—then overwhelmed it.
But this happened when South Korea was rich. If China or India—with incomes
one-quarter and one-tenth Korea’s levels—wait until they are as wealthy, many
generations will pass. To speed up change, they need to take actions that are in their
own interests anyway. Most obviously China should scrap the one-child policy. The
country’s leaders will resist this because they fear population growth; they also dismiss
Western concerns about human rights. But the one-child limit is no longer needed to
reduce fertility (if it ever was: other East Asian countries reduced the pressure on the
population as much as China). And it massively distorts the country’s sex ratio, with
devastating results. President Hu Jintao says that creating “a harmonious society” is his
guiding principle; it cannot be achieved while a policy so profoundly perverts family
life.
And all countries need to raise the value of girls. They should encourage female
education; abolish laws and customs that prevent daughters inheriting property; make
examples of hospitals and clinics with impossible sex ratios; get women engaged in
public life—using everything from television newsreaders to women traffic police.
Mao Zedong said “women hold up half the sky.” The world needs to do more to prevent
a gendercide that will have the sky crashing down.
Exercise 2. Role-play the dialogue between
1) The supporter and the opponent of the abortion
2) A parent who wants daughter and a parent who wants son
Exercise 3. Practise consecutive / simultaneous interpretation of the dialogue.
Exercise 4. Translate the following sentences into English and analyze the basic
transformations.
1. Ми знаємо, що в Китаї та Індії кількість народжуваних хлопчиків перевищує
кількість дівчат, що може мати серйозні наслідки для суспільства.
2. Доступність дешевого ультразвукового сканування в азіатських країнах за
останні 20 років дозволила навіть найбіднішій жінці дізнатися про стать її
майбутньої дитини.
3. Статевий відбір у таких країнах як Китай та Індія зараз переважно здійснюється
за допомогою УЗІ, за яким іде аборт, якщо плід - дівчинка.
4. Тоді як нормальне співвідношення статей - приблизно 105 хлопчиків на 100
дівчаток, в Індії воно зросло до 113 хлопчиків на 100 дівчаток, а в деяких регіонах
і до 156 хлопчиків на 100 дівчаток.
5. Жорстка політика Китаю, яка була впроваджена в 1979 році і дозволяє мати
тільки одну дитину, щоб скоротити чисельність населення, серйозно порушила
статевий баланс у цій країні.
Exercise 5. Make up a report concerning the problem of gendercide using the
following words and word combinations:
Sex ratio, gendercide, pervert, to distort, to reduce fertility, one-child policy, scanning
technologies, poor country, to kill a baby daughter, abortion, bare branches.
Exercise 6. Give a summary translation of the information into English, comment
on the ideas expressed.
Для традиційної української культури характерний низький суспільний
престиж жіночого ґендеру: культ хлопчика-нащадка роду простежується вже у
весільному ритуалі, і далі – у преференціях при прогнозуванні статі дитини під
час вагітності та у родильній обрядовості. Чоловіча праця мала засадниче
значення у селянському господарстві, відтак – саме чоловіча стать
фаворизувалась народною культурою, посідаючи статус престижної. Такі
акценти зберігаються і в сучасному українському суспільстві, що виявляється у
професійній сфері, де зберігається “статевий” поділ праці на високооплачувану,
творчу і престижну чоловічу, та низькооплачувану, рутинну і непрестижну
жіночу. українська культура (як і інші культури патріархального типу) - споживає
жінку (працю, тіло, психологічний потенціал). Ґендерний дисбаланс особливо
яскраво виявляє себе у дистанції до влади (у царині політики та управління), де
“скляна стеля” жіночої кар’єри виготовлена не інакше як з броньованого скла.
 Натомість у побуті та сім’ї чи не вся повнота обов’язків продовжує
залишатись у відповідальності жінки. Жінці накинуто “особливу місію” у долі
української держави, нації, культури і сім’ї. Місію, що означає відповідальність
за цю долю. І за недолю. Завищені суспільні очікування щодо жіноцтва і фатальні
невдачі, що впродовж століть є супутниками української історії неминуче
спричиняють “комплекс провини” і фрустрованість у тієї самої “слабкої та
прекрасної” частини української людності, на яку була покладена “місія”
врятувати. Одною з найбільш згубних, деструктивних ідей, яку впродовж століть
навіювано українцям – це ідея жертовності. Жертовність як найвища жіноча
чеснота несумісна з феміністичним (ба, навіть просто демократичним)
дискурсом, бо засадничо позбавляє жінку права на власну вільну особистість, її
всебічний розвиток, що можливий лише за умови здорового егоїзму.

UNIT 4
AUTOMOBILES IN MODERN SOCIETY
CAR INDUSTRY

PRE-LISTENING SECTION

Exercise 1. Discuss the following issues.

 Have you, your friend or relative got a driver's license? What’s your attitude to
driving? What main problems do our drivers face?
 Do you regard cars as the barest necessity of our life or as a profusion ?

Exercise 2. Match these words and phrases to their definitions or synonyms.

Translate them into your native language.
1 ailing firm a always, eternally
2 shed b an abrupt failure of function; a breakdown
3 perennially c remove, lose, withdraw, get rid of
4 dowry d the act of reducing fossil fuel energy consumption in order to
reduce emissions of the green house gas carbon dioxide in the
pursuit to combat climate change and global warming
5 overcapacity e retribution for one's actions
6 carbon f the situation in which an industry or business cannot sell as
reduction much as it produces
7 incentive g money or property brought by a woman to her husband at
marriage
8 collapse h unsuccessful company
9 reckoning i motive, encouragement
Exercise 3. Explain the meaning of the expressions: bail-out, lease finance, home-
equity, scrappage scheme.
Translate them into your native language.
Be guided by the following information.
Bail out in economics and finance is a term used to describe a situation where a
bankrupt or nearly bankrupt entity, such as a corporation or a bank, is given a fresh
injection of liquidity, in order to meet its short term obligations. Often bail outs are by
governments, or by consortia of investors who demand control over the entity as the
price for injecting funds. Often a bail out is in response to a short term cash flow
crunch, where an entity with illiquid, but sufficient, assets is given funds to "tide it over"
until short term problems are resolved. However, often bail outs are merely delaying
the inevitable, as a government or investment structure attempts to avoid putting a large
quantity of illiquid assets on the market, which would force other similar entities to
write down their assets.
The bailing out of a corporation by government is controversial because bankruptcy
can be seen as being caused by the failure to satisfy consumer demand; the bailing out
is thus an instance of government intervention on the market overruling the will of
consumers.
A lease is a contract calling for the lessee (user) to pay the lessor (owner) for use of an
asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property. Leases for
intangible property could include use of a computer program (similar to a license, but
with different provisions), or use of a radio frequency (such as a contract with a cell-
phone provider). A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the
landlord pays for all property charges regularly incurred by the ownership from
lawnmowers and washing machines to handbags and jewelry.
Home equity is the market value of a homeowner's unencumbered interest in their real
property—that is, the difference between the home's fair market value and the
outstanding balance of all liens on the property. The property's equity increases as the
debtor makes payments against the mortgage balance, and/or as the property value
appreciates. In economics, home equity is sometimes called real property value.
Technically, home equity has a zero rate of return and is not liquid. Home equity
management refers to the process of using equity extraction via loans—at favorable,
and often tax-favored, interest rates—to invest otherwise illiquid equity in a target that
offers higher returns. Home equity may serve as collateral for a home equity loan or
home equity line of credit (HELOC). Many home equity plans set a fixed period during
which the person can borrow money, such as 10 years. At the end of this “draw period,”
the person may be allowed to renew the credit line. If the plan does not allow renewals,
the person will not be able to borrow additional money once the period has ended.
Some plans may call for payment in full of any outstanding balance at the end of the
period. Others may allow repayment over a fixed period, for example, 10 years.
A scrappage program is a government budget program to promote the replacement of
old vehicles with modern vehicles. Scrappage programs generally have the dual aim of
stimulating the automobile industry and removing inefficient, high emissions vehicles
from the road. Many European countries have introduced large-scale scrappage
programs as an economic stimulus to increase market demand in the industrial sector
during the global recession that began in 2008. Scrappage programs were touted with
different names, mostly referring to an environmental benefit. The German scrappage
incentive scheme and the British scrappage scheme do not have such requirements, and
the UK scheme was openly sketched on the target to provide financial support to the
motor industry. Similarly, the United States Congress devised a scrappage scheme,
commonly referred to as "cash for clunkers," as part of a general Automotive Stimulus
package series; however, the voucher is only given when the newer car has a better fuel
efficiency than the old car.
Exercise 4. Match car brands, countries and their capitals. Be guided by the
information below.
Fiat USA Paris
Opel Italy Berlin
Bugatti Germany Tokyo
Skoda Japan Washington
Honda Czech Republic Prague
Chrysler France Rome
Hyundai Great Britain Beijing
Rolls-Royce China Seoul
Geely South Korea London
Vauxhall Motors Limited (pronounced /ˈvɒksɔːl/) is a British car manufacturer,
owned by General Motors. Most current Vauxhall models are right-hand drive
derivatives of GM's German Opel company; however, production of left-hand drive
vehicles also takes place for export to other parts of Europe, and certain marginal
markets. There are also several performance vehicles coming from Opel Performance
Center (OPC) and Holden/Holden Special Vehicles in Australia. Vauxhall is
headquartered in the Griffin House in Luton. In early 2009, the future of Opel was
thrown into uncertainty as the global financial crisis drove GM towards bankruptcy.
New GM Europe (Vauxhall plus Opel, minus Saab), is presently controlled by a trustee,
with a controlling board made up of representatives from GM, employees and the
German Government; the company was subject to a bidding process. On 10 September
2009, it was announced that Magna, a Canadian car part manufacturer, and Sberbank,
a Russian company, would buy a majority stake (55%) in its European Opel/Vauxhall
operations. GM would have owned 35% of Opel; while Opel employees would have
owned 10%.
LISTENING SECTION
Exercise 1. Decide if the following statements are true or false according to the
recording, prove your opinion.
1. Sergio Marchionne predicted that the economic crisis would finally come to an
end in the world’s car industry.
2. The world governments haven’t subsidized their ailing car firms.
3. A lot of weak carmakers have collapsed waiting for the crisis to strike once again.
 4. Federal bail-out and deals with prosperous companies helped Chrysler and
Opel/Vauxhall to recover.
5. Opel’s new owners are threatening to cut some jobs and shut a couple of small
factories in Belgium and Britain and kept their word.
6. According to industry estimates, overcapacity in Europe next year will be around
20%.
7. Overcapacity is the main structural problem confronting the carmakers.
8. The production of small cars is not profitable and the gap is plugged with profits
from larger models.
9. Government aid, in the form of bail-outs and scrappage schemes, may have
prevented outright collapse, but it has merely delayed the reckoning.
10.The car business will have to close factories to reduce overcapacity on the one
hand, and consolidate into a smaller number of big firms to cut costs on the other
in the nearest future.
Exercise 2. Listen again and answer the questions with the grounds provided.
1. What were the predictions made by Sergio Marchionne?
2. What are the main problems car industry face nowadays?
3. What measures are taken by the governments to help the ailing car companies?
4. How is the car industries restructuring outlined in the recording?
DISCUSSION SECTION
Exercise 1. Answer the following questions.
1. Do you approve of the idea of spending lots of money on car industries recovery?
2. What are the prospects of car industries development in Ukraine? What are the
negative aspects of the problem?
Exercise 2. Comment on the ideas below.
1. Accidents happen since current drivers ride via roads of yesterday, in cars of
tomorrow, at beyond tomorrow speeds.
2. Driver is just the most perilous unit in automobile.
3. The Bible contains many parts with modern meaning. For example, Noy’s
story, he was searching for parking place in the course of all 40 days.
4. Everyone who has no car – dreams of buying it, while everyone who owns a
car – dreams of selling it and does not do it as can’t go without it.
5. Currently there are two categories of pedestrians known only – nimble and
dead.
6. Any car will serve you till your life end if to drive it furiously enough.
TRANSLATION SECTION
Exercise 1. Study the transcript of the recording, present a translation-oriented
analysis of the text and translate it into your native language.
The car industry
Trouble down the road
Carmakers are recovering after a terrible year. But daunting long-term problems
remain
 LAST December the boss of Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, predicted that the
economic crisis would finally force the world’s car industry to confront profit-
destroying overcapacity and change its broken business model. He also thought that,
by the end of 2010, consolidation would result in there being only six high-volume
carmakers left in the world. This week, as the industry gathered in Frankfurt, he
returned to his theme. But his predictions look increasingly like wishful thinking.
Across the world governments have lavished their ailing car firms with subsidies.
Although General Motors (supported with over $50 billion of taxpayers’ money) has
shed some brands and factories in America, so far not a single carmaker of any size has
disappeared. One of the weakest was Chrysler, but thanks to a $7 billion federal bail-
out and a deal with none other than Fiat, it motors on. So too does GM’s perennially
lossmaking former European arm, Opel/Vauxhall, propelled with a €4.5 billion ($6.5
billion) dowry from the German government last week into the arms of Magna, a
Canadian auto-parts company, and Russia’s Sberbank.
Opel’s new owners are threatening to cut some jobs and, perhaps, shut a couple
of small factories in Belgium and Britain. But the remarkable thing is that not a single
car factory in Europe has closed in the past 12 months. According to industry estimates,
overcapacity in Europe next year will be around 7m units, or 30%. In America, a market
of similar size, overcapacity will fall from about 6m vehicles this year to 3.5m next
year, but a great deal of the overcapacity elsewhere will be aimed at America when
sales begin to recover. There is no chance of the gap being filled by rising demand in
rich countries: carmakers agree that nearly all their future growth will come from
emerging markets, such as China, Brazil and India.
Overcapacity is not the only structural problem confronting the carmakers. The
other, potentially just as damaging to profits, is a shift toward smaller and more fuel-
efficient cars (see article), caused by three factors. First, cheap credit, especially lease
finance, and home-equity withdrawal let people buy more expensive cars in recent
years. Without such easy money, they will trade down to smaller models. Second,
demographic shifts in rich countries favour smaller vehicles: older people tend not to
buy large, powerful cars, which is particularly bad news for Germany’s premium
carmakers. Third, as governments try to meet their carbon-reduction targets they are
tightening emissions standards and penalising vehicles with big engines.
The problem with small cars, from the industry’s perspective, is that they are
much less profitable. Many carmakers actually lose money on their small cars, but plug
the gap with profits from larger models. As the mix shifts towards smaller models and
carmakers have to devote more research spending to developing greener vehicles,
profits will suffer. Compounding these long-term worries is the industry’s dependence
on scrappage schemes, which have boosted demand this year, especially in Europe.
Many, if not most, of the sales prompted by government incentives for people to scrap
their old cars were to people who would not otherwise have bought a new car. But some
were to people who brought purchases forward in order to benefit from the schemes.
Just how much this will affect future demand remains unclear.
 Put your foot down
All this means that the industry’s return to health is by no means assured.
Government aid, in the form of bail-outs and scrappage schemes, may have prevented
outright collapse, but it has merely delayed the reckoning. Rather than waiting for the
crisis to strike once again, the inevitable restructuring will be less painful if it is done
during an upswing. The industry needs to get smaller while finding a profitable way to
make small, green cars. Mr Marchionne’s predictions that the car business will have to
close factories to reduce overcapacity on the one hand, and consolidate into a smaller
number of big firms to cut costs on the other, may not come true next year. But one
way or another, they will come true eventually.
Exercise 2. Roleplay the dialogue between
An experienced driver and a beginner, discussing the ideas of car industry and buying
cars.
Exercise 3. Practise consecutive / simultaneous interpretation of the dialogue.
Exercise 4. Give a summary translation of the information into English, expand
on the ideas expressed.
В той час як американські міста синхронізують зелені сигнали світлофорів
для поліпшення автомобільного руху та пропонують спеціальні програми з
метою допомогти водіям знайти місце паркування, багато європейських міст,
навпаки, створюють умови, відверто ворожі до автомобілів. Методи можуть
варіювати, але місія єдина: зробити використання автомобіля дорогим і
абсолютно незручним, для того щоб схилити водіїв до більш екологічно дружніх
способів пересування.
Міста від Відня до Мюнхена і Копенгагена закрили величезну кількість
автомобільних смуг. У Барселоні і Парижі проїжджі частини доріг зруйновані
популярними програмами прокату велосипедів. Водії в Лондоні і Стокгольмі
змушені вносити більшу плату за в'їзд в центр міста. І за останні два роки дюжини
німецьких міст приєдналися до національної мережі «екологічних зон», куди
можуть в'їжджати тільки машини з низькими викидами вуглекислого газу.
Міста-однодумці вітають нові торговельні центри і багатоквартирні
будинки, але жорстко обмежують доступні місця для паркування. Вулична
парковка зникає. В останні роки навіть колишні автомобільні столиці типу
Мюнхена перетворилися в «рай для пішоходів», за словами Lee Schipper,
старшого інженера-дослідника в Стенфордському університеті, який
спеціалізується у сфері раціонального пересування.

UNIT 5
DRUGS AS A SOCIAL THREAT
ILLEGAL DRUG TRAFFIC
THE COCAINE BUSINESS
PRE-LISTENING SECTION
Exercise 1. Discuss the following issues be guided by the information below.
  Can you define the meaning of the word DRUG?
 What can you tell about TYPES OF DRUGS and their effect on human health?
A drug, broadly speaking, is any substance that, when absorbed into the body of
a living organism, alters normal bodily function. There is no single, precise definition,
as there are different meanings in drug control law, government regulations, medicine,
and colloquial usage.
In pharmacology, a drug is "a chemical substance used in the treatment, cure,
prevention, or diagnosis of disease or used to otherwise enhance physical or mental
well-being." Drugs may be prescribed for a limited duration, or on a regular basis for
chronic disorders.
Exercise 2. Match these words and collocations to their definitions
(synonyms). Translate them into Ukrainian.
1 payload a careful watching of a person or place, especially by the
police or army, because of a crime that has happened or is
expected
2 surveillance b divide
3 haul c to make impure by adding inferior materials or elements
4 spread d package
5 ruse e a dealer who sells goods in big quantity
6 wholesaler f to seize
7 bundle g cargo, merchandise
8 retailer h trick
9 shambolic i a dealer who sells goods in small quantity
10 slump j to reduce the strength, force, or efficiency of by mixing in
something else

11 to dilute k to imitate

12 to mimic l the amount of a contraband seizure

13 to adulterate m unorganized
Exercise 3. Explain the meaning of the following words and collocations. Translate
into Ukrainian.
Under surveillance, to slip through, to rocket, evolving network, to loiter out, to beef
up, to pay over the odds, money laundering, to shoot up to, to stick to family and
friends.
LISTENING SECTION
Exercise 1. Listen to the recording and decide if the following statements are true
or false.
1. The seizures of payloads of cocaine and other drugs are not common at all.
2. Every year the shipment of drugs decreases.
3. The price of cocaine in Europe has been falling due to its impurity.
 4. The most coke-hungry country is Spain.
5. In recent years traffickers have targeted Barcelona and Valencia to stay ahead of
the police.
6. There are many routes of drug shipment.
7. Most drug businesses are forced to stay complicated to evade the police.
8. Shortly before Christmas, the wholesale price in Britain shot up to 40,000 per
kilo.
9. Dealers don’t want to dilute what they sell in order to keep their customers.
10.Benzocaine is less harmful than cocaine.
11.Educating drug-takers about what is getting up their noses may lower demand.

Exercise 2. Listen again and answer the questions below.

1. Why has the availability of cocaine increased and the number of users
rocketed?
2. What did the drug-traffickers do to spread their risk and what was the reaction
of the police?
3. What do most dealers do to protect their profits?
4. What did a senior SOCA official mean saying he’s aware that the health equation
could one day say: “Stop trying to stop cocaine coming in”?
DISCUSSION SECTION
Exercise 1. Answer the following questions.
 Why is cocaine consumer society growing so fast nowadays?
 Will the high price on drugs ever stop their use?
 What can the governments do anything about the drug issue?
Exercise 2. Comment on the statements below.
1. Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol
or morphine or idealism. ~ Carl Gustav Jung
2. Two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity. ~ Friedrich
Wilhelm Nietzsche
3. I will lift up mine eyes unto the pills. Almost everyone takes them, from
the humble aspirin to the multi-coloured, king-sized three deckers, which
put you to sleep, wake you up, stimulate and soothe you all in one. It is
an age of pills. ~Malcolm Muggeridge
4. Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society.
If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for
drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of
power. ~P.J. O'Rourke
5. In the 1960s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is
weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal. ~Author Unknown
NOTES
Fluoxetine (trade names: Prozac, Sarafem, or in combination with olanzapine
Symbyax) is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)
class. Fluoxetine is approved for the treatment of major depression (including pediatric
depression), obsessive-compulsive disorder (in both adult and pediatric populations),
bulimia nervosa, panic disorder and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. Despite the
availability of newer agents, it remains extremely popular. Over 22.2 million
prescriptions for generic formulations of fluoxetine were filled in the United States in
2007, making it the third most prescribed antidepressant. It is manufactured and
marketed by Eli Lilly and Company.
TRANSLATION SECTION
Exercise 1. Study the transcript of the recording, present a translation-oriented
analysis of the text, translate it into your native language.
The cocaine business
Sniffy customers
Drug-traffickers are expanding their operations in Europe, despite the best
efforts of the police
OUTNUMBERED and outgunned, the sailors raised their hands. About 300km
off the west coast of Ireland, the yacht Dances With Waves was within hours of
delivering a half-billion-euro payload of cocaine to Cork in time for Christmas. The
vessel had been under surveillance since setting off from Trinidad and Tobago a month
earlier. Inside, Irish police found almost 1.9 tonnes of cocaine. Three British men are
now awaiting trial.
Such seizures are getting more common. European forces intercepted some 120
tonnes of cocaine in 2006, more than double the haul they managed in 2001 and nearly
six times as much as in 1995. But for every boat that is caught, more slip through.
Despite the seizures, the price of cocaine in Europe has been falling (see chart), leading
the UN to conclude that its availability has probably increased. At the same time, the
number of users has rocketed. In Britain, which recently overtook Spain as Europe’s
most coke-hungry country, 7.6% of adults claim to have tried it; use has doubled in the
past decade. Most rich European countries report a similar picture, especially among
the young. Overall, Europe now accounts for 17% of global cocaine seizures. In 1980
the figure was 3%.
Europe’s cocaine market is served by an evolving network of trade routes.
Shipments commonly head for the Iberian Peninsula, either hidden in legitimate
container vessels or on board creaking old “motherships”, which loiter out at sea while
nimbler craft bring the packages onshore. The traditional hotspot is the north Atlantic
coast of Spain, though in recent years traffickers have also targeted Barcelona and
Valencia to stay ahead of the police. Some three-quarters of European seizures take
place in Spain and Portugal, which also have some of the highest rates of consumption
on the continent.
Like any sensible business, drug-traffickers spread their risk: large shipments are
complemented with little-and-often supply lines, including parcel post and human
mules. That particular ruse has been upset by an advertising campaign run by the police,
warning potential mules of the severity of trafficking sentences. Some still risk it, but
they now command a fee of around $6,000, compared with the $2,000 they used to do
it for. That is enough to make the route unprofitable, police reckon.
But as one route closes, another opens up. In the past four years customs officers
have spotted a sharp rise in the amount of cocaine being smuggled into Europe via west
Africa. Of those seizures where the origin of the cocaine could be identified, European
forces reckon that in 2007 some 22% had been via Africa. As recently as 2004, just 5%
had stopped off there. Seizures have risen sharply, too: before 2003, officials had never
intercepted more than a tonne of cocaine each year in Africa. In 2006, they nabbed 15
tonnes. Britain and America have beefed up their presence in the region, but the
traffickers may already have planned their next move: on February 19th the UN warned
that a new supply route was emerging in the Balkans.
From high seas to High Street
In Britain, Europe’s biggest consumer of narcotics, the Home Office reckons that
drugs are brought in by about 300 major importers, who pass them to 30,000
wholesalers and then to 70,000 street dealers. Cocaine, meaning both the sniffable
powder and smokable “rocks” of crack cocaine (which can be made using a simple
microwave), accounts for about half the value of this industry, being less widely taken
than cannabis but much pricier.
Some rare light was shed on the business by a Home Office study in 2007, in
which 222 drug-dealers were interviewed in prison by analysts from Matrix Knowledge
Group, a consultancy, and the London School of Economics. One dealing partnership,
based in London and Spain, bought cocaine from a Colombian importer in 10kg
bundles, which they sold to retailers using an employee whom they paid £500 ($703)
per transaction. A second employee, paid £250 a day, would collect money from the
buyers and pass it to a third member of staff, who would count it (processing up to
£220,000 each day). Other employees would pay the Colombians and smuggle the rest
of the cash, on their bodies, back to Spain.
Most drug businesses are forced to stay small and simple to evade the police.
Only one dealer claimed to be part of an organisation of more than 100 people, and a
fifth were classified by researchers as sole traders. Fear of being uncovered also
hampers recruitment: most dealers stuck to family and friends, and people from the
same ethnic group, when hiring associates. Just like other businessmen, they carried out
criminal-record background checks on potential employees—except that, in this case,
a record was a good thing.
Kevin Marsh, an economist at Matrix Knowledge, argues that most players in the
drug business have a poor knowledge of the market. “Shopping around for new
wholesale suppliers is risky, so many retailers stick to the same one and pay over the
odds,” he says. Most of the dealers interviewed knew little about the purity of what they
were buying, and money laundering was usually fairly shambolic. Managing cashflow
is one of dealers’ biggest weaknesses, according to one drug specialist at the Serious
Organised Crime Agency (SOCA): “Supply of powder is the most resilient thing. To
destroy the business, you have to go after the money.” That, and extradite foreign
dealers, as America has long done. Britain is believed to be negotiating its first-ever
extradition of a Colombian, on drug charges, at the moment.
Times may at last be getting harder for cocaine-dealers. Shortly before
Christmas, the wholesale price in Britain shot up to £40,000 per kilo, the highest in
years. Better policing was one cause; another was the slump of sterling. European
retailers’ margins have been chipped away. To protect their profits, dealers are diluting
what they sell. A decade ago, average street-level purity was about 60%; police say it
is now nearer 30%. “People think there is a lot of cocaine around, but two thirds of it
isn’t cocaine at all,” says one SOCA officer.
That would be fine if the remainder were talcum powder. But in the past few
years dealers have turned to pharmaceutical cutting agents such as benzocaine, a topical
anaesthetic, which mimic the effects of cocaine and may be more harmful. Dealers call
such agents “magic” because of their effect on profits. “Grey traders”, who knowingly
sell such chemicals to dealers, are starting to be convicted.
Educating drug-takers about what is getting up their noses may lower demand.
But cutting raises bigger questions for drug policy. “We may have to say at some stage
that taking heavily adulterated cocaine is more physically harmful to the user than
taking cocaine that’s less adulterated,” a senior SOCA official says. “That is not the
case at the moment. But we’ve got to keep asking the question. I’m aware that the health
equation could one day say: Stop trying to stop cocaine coming in.”
Exercise 2. Roleplay the dialogue between
a senior SOCA official and Kevin Marsh, an economist at Matrix Knowledge
discussing the social problems of cocaine business.
Be guided by the following notes.
The Matrix Knowledge Group is a London-based consultancy providing software,
research and advice to political organizations and charities. Their goal is to provide
evidence and help with making decisions, with the motto ‘Better Decisions, Better
World’. The group is made up of four companies: Matrix Insight Ltd, Matrix Evidence
Ltd, Matrix Decisions Ltd and Matrix Knowledge Group Inc. Although based in the
UK, they have worked for European organizations, in India and in 2008 opened an
office in the USA. They have close partnerships with universities in the UK and USA,
including the University of Cambridge, King's College London, London School of
Economics and Political Science and several leading US academic institutions.
Matrix Knowledge Group was founded in 2005 and initially specialized in healthcare
consultancy. It has since expanded its work to provide research and consulting,
evidence assessments and software services - primarily to the public sector. Their
principal markets include health and social care and crime and justice. It works
primarily with national governments, international organizations as well as charities
and foundations.
Exercise 3. Practise consecutive / simultaneous interpretation of the dialogue.
Exercise 4. Translate the information below into Ukrainian and analyze the basic
transformations.
Prescription Drugs Prescription drug abuse is a modern-day plague with
estimates of up to six million Americans have or currently abuse prescription
medications. Many prescription drug addicts legitimize their use because of "doctor's
orders". It is not uncommon for these abusers to exhibit drug seeking behaviors--going
to several doctors, emergency rooms, and/or clinics reporting lost or stolen
prescriptions, increased pain, etc in an effort to obtain their drug. For those addicts in
the medical field or with access to prescription medications, stealing medications or
self-prescribing medications is not uncommon. Many prescription addicts use multiple
pharmacies to hide the amount and frequency of their use. Signs and symptoms of
prescription addiction vary due to the different types of medications (hypnotic,
sedative, amphetamine, etc). The most commonly abused prescription drugs are pain
killers, depressants, stimulants, and antidepressants.
Exercise 5. Summarize the information in English and comment on the ideas
expressed.
Наркотична залежність
Наркотики руйнують здоров’я людей, і це, одна з причин, чому уряди
забороняють їхнє вживання в немедичних цілях. Щороку через передозування
гинуть тисячі наркоманів. Ще більше вмирає від СНІДу. Коло 22% усіх ВІЛ-
інфікованих – це наркомани, які користуються зараженими шприцами. Однак
руйнується здоров’я не лише наркоманів. Коло 10% усіх немовлят, народжених
у США, зазнають впливу наркотиків – переважно кокаїну – ще в материнській
утробі. І, з’явившись на світ, вони страждають не тільки від абстиненції, але
деколи й через інші розумові та фізичні вади, спричинені наркотиками.
Через них росте злочинність, поширюються такі хвороби, як СНІД, гине
наша молодь і наше майбутнє”. Він додає: “Сьогодні у світі є приблизно 190
мільйонів наркоманів. Глобальні масштаби торгівлі наркотиками вимагають
міжнародних заходів. В останні роки з’явилося ще одне лихо – наркотики
викликають у людини ейфорію – відчуття радості і безтурботності, Оскільки такі
наркотики можна виготовляти дешево і майже скрізь, поліція фактично не в силі
контролювати їхнє надходження. Нові наркотики такі ж небезпечні, як і їхні
попередники. Кокаїн “крек” викликає у людини ще більшу, залежність, ніж
звичайний кокаїн. Нові препарати індійських конопель мають сильніший
гамоциногенний ефект, а розроблений недавно синтетичний наркотик, який
називають “айс”, належить до найзгубніших наркотиків.