Changes in attitudes to war
PART TWO
Let’s Agree
To Disagree
Anticipating the Issue
➢ How do you understand the title of the unit?
➢ What problems do you expect to be raised in this unit?
➢ What challenges does the society face today? What problems are especially topical for Russia (your own country)?
➢ Do you think that the problems the society faces unite it or vice versa[1] turn the social gap into insuperable abyss[2]?
➢ Do they affect the economy of the country? How? Or maybe cause-effect vector is the opposite one and social problems are deeply rooted in economy? Give examples to support your statement.
A. Man and Society
1. Are you a gregarious person, enjoying socializing, or do you prefer to stay alone in a distant place, savouring its tranquility[3]?
Read the following short extract by Margaret Horsfield, in which she describes her voluntary confinement in a remote homestead on Vancouver Island, seeking rest from people, telephones, dead lines and crowds[4].
In a remote place “people are very aware of each other. The presence of a person - any person - matters. People are assumed to be interesting creatures, and important. In the exhausting bustle of Central London, that doesn’t always seem to be the case. I have been lonely in the rush hour at Oxford Circus amidst the crowd. I was never lonely in my days of solitude on the far coast of Canada.”
● Comment on the paradox, the author describes.
● Have you ever lived in a small community or village far from “the centres of civilization”? What was it like?
● Has this short abstract changed your attitude to solitude and socializing?
Explain the meaning of the words in bold and answer the questions that follow.
FEMINISM: The modern feminist movement stems from the middle of the 1960s in North America. Basically the movement seeks equal political and social rights for women. The main theoretical assumption shared by all branches of the movement derives from the belief that there has been a historical tradition of make exploitation of women. Feminists are anxious to eradicate this exploitation. Feminism is a fairly general label attached not to a set of universally accepted postulates but to a range of beliefs with little in common, save a desire to raise consciousnessand to usher in a more equal society.
As a result of the feminist movement and heightened awareness of the sexist nature of some English vocabulary a number of changes are being introduced. Attention has been focused on the replacement of “male” words with a generic meaning by neutral items – chairman, for example, becoming chair or chairperson (though not without controversy) or salesman becoming sales assistant, sometimes it is necessitated by a legal requirement. There is a continuing debate between extremists and moderates as to how far such revisions should go – whether they should affect traditional idioms such as man in the street or Neanderthal Manor even All man are born equal, or apply to parts of words where the male meaning of man is no longer dominant such as manhandle and woman.
● How would you explain the expression “male” words with a generic meaning?
● Why do you think there might have been controversy about attempts to change the word chairman?
● What do more extreme advocates of making English sexually neutral want to do that is unacceptable to the moderates?
● Are there male words used generically in Russian?
● Have there been attempts to change them to avoid sexual stereotyping?
● Does using sex-biased words affect people’s attitudes to men and women?
Read the text, find equivalents to the words in bold, answer the questions.
Changes in attitudes to war
One area in which great changes occurred in the twentieth century is in the public attitude to war and peace. The vocabulary of war has been stripped of its former glamour and ceased to be one of courage andpatriotism. Instead it has become one of failure or of unimaginable disaster. The “War Office” has in general been replaced by “the Ministry of Defense”, the greatest destructive weapons ever invented have become deterrents. Most people went out of the century with a view of the military “virtues”, of the place of war in a civilized society, fundamentally different from that of the nineteenth century and earlier.
The inventor of dynamite at the end of the nineteenth century believed that his invention would outlaw war, since the devastation it could produce would make any major outbreak destructive beyond imagination. After 1918 the same view was held about aerial warfare. People had a serious conviction that a major war would end up wiping out the cities of the industrial world. Since 1945 the possibility of nuclear annihilation has seemed to make war between the great powers an act of collective suicide. These factors alone have contributed to a revulsion against large-scale military operations among thinking people in all nations – though the world is unquestionably still full of national, ethnic and political causes whose supporters see a resort to bullets and bombs as the only means of achieving their aims.
(Based on “New Internationalist”, 1999)
ways of discouraging people from doing sth because of the negative results;
feeling of total disgust;
fighting a war using aeroplanes;
loyalty to your own country;
total destruction by nuclear weapon;
movements, organizations;
make war illegal or impossible;
most important political powers.
● How had people’s view of the place of war in civilized society changed by the year of 2000?
● The inventor of dynamite was Alfred Nobel, who founded Nobel prizes. How does the text help to understand why he made one of those prizes a Peace Prize?
● What twentieth-century changes in the nature of war are mentioned?
● What is the connection between these changes and the general attitude to war?
● What kind of people don’t share this general attitude to war?
Raise the Issue
➢ What do you know about human rights?
➢ What differs them from constitutional rights?
A. Words in Context
1. Tick the word closest in meaning to that of the each boldfaced word. Use the context of the sentences to help you figure out each word’s meaning.
disparity (n)The wide disparity between men’s and
women’s pay in our company led to a protest by the women. The management tried to squelch the protest saying that the women were subversive and were trying to ruin company morale.
Disparity means a. a combination b. a gap c. closeness
forestall (v)When the environmentalists were unable
to forestall the destruction of the forest
by legal means, they lay down in front of the developer’s bulldozers.
Forestall means a. to keep from happening b. to predict c. to pay for
insidious (adj)The effects of certain prescription drugs,
such as Valium, can be insidious.
People who take them may slip into addiction without being aware of it.
Insidious means a. badly timed b. subtly harmful c. all-powerful
insinuate (v)Instead of directly saying “Buy our
product”, many ads use slick images to insinuate that the product will give the buyer sex appeal, power, or prestige.
Insinuate means a. to say indirectly b. to cry
c. keep from happening
interrogate (v)In many countries political prisoners
who are being interrogated by the secret police are likely to be tortured in an attempt to force answers from them.
Interrogate means a. to ask questions b. to delay c. to abuse
obsequious (adj)In a job interview, use discretion. Don’t
react as though you were being questioned by a police officer; but don’t be obsequious either, as if the interviewer were a king or queen and you were a humble servant.
Obsequious means a. unequal in rank b. methodical
c. overly eager to please
omnipotent (adj)Small children think of their parents as
omnipotent – able to do anything, control everything, and grant whatever a child might wish for.
Omnipotent means a. totally good b. willing to serve c. all-powerful
opportune (adj)Quite often we look for an opportune
moment to break some news to our family, especially when it is far from welcoming.
Opportune means a. appropriate b. difficult c. early
permeate (v)A sense of deep loss permeated her
after she learned about the death of hostages. She suffered as if they were part of her own family.
Permeate means a. to harm b. to penetrate c. to improve
retribution (n)For much of human history, before
science could explain diseases, many people believed that any illness was a retribution for immoral behaviour.
Retribution means a. inequality b. obstacle c. penalty