Now return to your original partner and share and talk about what you found out. Make mini-presentations to other groups on your findings
Discussion
1. Discuss in pairs:
1. What did you think when you were listening to the article?
2. Do you think children really cost 50 dollars a day?
3. Do you think couples have a better life with or without children?
4. Are children expensive to raise in your country?
5. How do you think parents could reduce the costs of raising children?
6. Does your government give any help to parents?
7. Do you think only rich people should have lots of children?
8. Why do you think childcare costs in the UK will double in the next decade?
9. How much pocket money do you think children should get?
10. Do you think this report is a scare tactic by the insurance company LV=to get people to take out insurance?
11. Do you think parents spend too much on presents for their children?
12. What is so expensive about the ages two to five?
13. What sacrifices (financial and social) do parents have to make when they have children?
14. Were you an expensive child?
15. Why do you think parents would say having children is worth it?
16. Do you think more couples will think about not having children if they read the LV=report?
Writing
Write a letter to your government leaders. Give them three suggestions on what they should do to help poorer parents. Give them three reasons why they should help parents with childcare. Read your letter to your partner(s) in your next lesson. Your partner(s) will answer your questions.
Unit 11. AGE
Vocabulary
Look up the translation of the following words and word combinations in the dictionary:
1) ageist (n) Someone who is ageisttreats older people in an unfair way.
2) aisle (n) She walked up and down the aislesof the supermarket pushing her trolley.
3) anxious (adj) Someone who is anxiousis often worried.
4) bearded (adj) A beardedman is a man who has a beard.
5) a big issue (phr) If something becomes a big issue, it becomes a big problem.
6) brush off (phr v) I picked up the chicken and brushedthe cat hairs offit!
7) change (n) Changeis the money someone gives back to you in a shop when you give more money than it costs to buy something.
8) counter (n) The counteris the place where customers are served in a shop.
9) exceed one’s limit (phr) You’ve exceeded your limitby £500. You need to come to the bank to discuss it.
10) get into a mess (phr) If you get into a mess, you get into a difficult situation.
11) get over the shock (phr) She slowly got over the shockof being forty.
12) get sb/sth on its feet (phr) If you get a group of people on their feet, you make them want to dance, sing etc.
13) hang up (phr v) Is it time for the Stones to hang uptheir bandanas?
14) be on one’s mind (phr) You look worried. What’s on your mind?
15) keep one’s mouth shut (phr) I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I should have kept my mouth shut.
16) kick off (phr v) If something kicks off, or if you kicksomething off, it starts.
17) liar (n) Someone who is a liardoes not tell the truth.
18) lick (v) The cat lickedthe chicken and burnt her tongue!
19) lose touch with sb (phr) I lost touch with himwhen we left university.
20) be the other way round (phr) Being eleven years older is nothing for a man, but for a woman it’s the other way round.
21) oversleep (v) We stayed up late and oversleptthe following morning.
22) queue up (phr v) You queue upat the counter to pay for your shopping.
23) a rocky past (phr) If someone has a rocky past, they have had problems in their life.
24) scruffy (adj) Someone who is scruffyis untidy or dirty.
25) shuffle (v) If you shuffle, you walk in a slow, uncertain way.
26) stay up late (phr) We stayed up lateand overslept the following morning.
27) be tied up (phr v) I’m afraid I’m tied uptoday. Can we meet tomorrow?
28) traumatic (adj) A traumaticevent makes you feel very upset and shocked.
29) trolley (n) She walked up and down the aisles of the supermarket pushing her trolley.
30) turn out (phr v) I spent all afternoon preparing the meal, and was pleased with how it turned out.
Adverbs
1) apparently Mick Jagger was 65 in July 2008, apparently.
2) enormously The Rolling Stones are an enormouslytalented band.
3) gracefully Do you think it’s time they retired gracefully?
4) harshly The world judges older women harshly.
5) hopefully Hopefullywe can see each other again soon.
6) obviously I’m a big fan so obviouslyI loved the gig.
7) personally Personally, I thought Mick Jagger looked pretty good.
8) predictably Sarah’s never punctual and, predictably, she arrived 10 minutes late!
9) regularly I don’t live abroad and see my family regularly.
10) stupidly Stupidly, I left my umbrella in the car.
11) surprisingly Surprisingly, she refused the invitation.
12) unbelievably He looks unbelievablyyoung for his age.
13) unfortunately Unfortunatelyit started to rain just before the gig started.
Supplementary Reading
1. Read and translate the text:
How to Guess Your Age
It seems to me that they are building staircases steeper than they used to. The risers are higher, or there are more of them or something. Maybe this is because it is so much farther today from the first to the second floor, but I’ve noticed it is getting harder to make two steps at a time any more. Nowadays it is all I can do to make one step at a time.
Another thing I’ve noticed is the small print they’re using lately. Newspapers are getting farther and farther away when I hold them, and I have to squint to make them out. The other day I had to back halfway out of a telephone booth in order to read the number on the coin box. It is obviously ridiculous to suggest that a person my age needs glasses, but the only other way I can find out what’s going on is ti have somebody read aloud to me, and that’s not too satisfactory because people speak in such low voices these days that I can’t hear them very well.
Everything is farther than it used to be. It’s twice the distance from my house to the station now, and they’ve added a fair-sized hill that I never noticed before. The trains leave sooner too. I’ve given up running for them, because they start faster these days when I try to catch them. You can’t depend on timetables any more, and it’s no use asking the conductor. I ask him a dozen times if the next station is where I get off, and he always says it isn’t. How can you trust a conductor like that? Usually I gather up my bundles and put on my hat and coat and stand in the aisle a couple of stops away, just to make sure I don’t go past my destination. Sometimes I make double sure by getting off at the station ahead.
A lot of other things are different lately. Barbers no longer hold up a mirror behind me when they’ve finished, so I can see the back of my head, and my wife has been taking care of the tickets lately when we go to theatre.
They don’t use the same material in clothes any more, either. I’ve noticed that all my suits have a tendency to shrink, especially in certain places such as around the waist or in the seat of the plants, and the laces they put in shoes nowadays are harder to reach.
Revolving doors revolve much faster than they used to. I have to let a couple of openings go past me before I jump in, and by the time I get up nerve enough to jump out again I’m right back in the street where I started. It’s the same with golf; I’m giving it up because these modern golf balls they sell are so hard to pick up when I stoop over. I’ve had to quit driving, too; the restrooms in filling stations are getting farther and farther apart. Usually I just stay home at night and read the papers, particularly the obituary columns. It’s funny how much more interesting the obituary columns have been getting lately.
Even the weather is changing. It’s colder in winter and the summers are hotter than they used to be. I’d go away, if it wasn’t so far. Snow is heavier when I try to shovel it, and I have to put on rubbers whenever I go out, because rain today is wetter than the rain we used to get. Draughts are more severe too. It must be the way they build windows now.
People are changing too. For one thing, they’re younger than they used to be when I was their age. I went back recently to an alumni reunion at the college I graduated from in 1943 – that is, 1933 – I mean, 1923 – and I was shocked to see the mere tots they’re admitted as students these days, the average age of the freshman class couldn’t have been more than seven. They seem to be more polite than in my time, though; several undergraduates called me “Sir,” and one of them asked me if he could help me across the street.
On the other hand, people my own age are so much older than I am. I realize that my generation is approaching middle age (I define middle age roughly as the period between 21 and 110) but there is no excuse for my classmates tottering into a state of advanced senility. I ran into my old roommate at the bar, and he’d changed so much that he didn’t recognize me. “You’ve put on a little weight, George,” I said.
“It’s this modern food,” George said. “It seems to be more fattening.”
“How about another martini?” I said. “Have you noticed how much weaker the martinis are these days?”
“Everything is different,” said George. “Even the food you get. It’s more fattening.”
“How long since I’ve seen you, George?” I said. “It must be several years.”
“I think the last time was right after the election,” said George.
“What election was that?”
George thought for a moment. “Harding.”
I ordered a couple more martinis. “Have you noticed these martinis are weaker than they used to be?” I said.
“It isn’t the good old days,“ George said. “Remember when we’d go down to the speak, and order some Orange Blossoms, and maybe pick up a couple of flappers? Boy, could they neck! Hot diggety!
“You used to be quite a cake-eater, George,” I said. “Do you still do the Black Bottom?”
“I put on too much weight,” said George. “This food nowadays seems to be more fattening.”
“I know,” I said, “you mentioned that just a minute ago.”
“Did I?” said George.
“How about another martini?” I said, “Have you noticed the martinis aren’t as strong as they used to be?”
“Yes,” said George, “you said that twice before.”
“Oh,” I said.
I got to thinking about poor old George while I was shaving this morning, and I stopped for a moment and looked at my own reflection in the mirror. They don’t seem to use the same kind of glass in mirrors any more.
Exercises on the text
1. Find the Russian equivalents for the following words and give the context in which they are used in the text:
Steep staircases; to squint; ridiculous; fair-sized hill; to gather up the bundles; to stand in the aisle; a couple of stops away; to have a tendency to shrink; revolving doors; to get up nerve; to stoop over; a filling station; farther and farther apart; obituary columns; to shovel the snow; draught; alumni reunion; a mere tot; a freshman; an undergraduate; to totter; advanced senility; to run into; a flapper; to neck.
2. Complete the sentences:
1) It seems to me that they are building staircases steeper than…
2) It is obviously ridiculous to suggest that a person my age…
3) I ask the conductor a dozen times if the next station is where I get off and he…
4) Barbers no longer…
5) I’ve noticed that all my suits…
6) Usually I stay at home and read the papers, particularly…
7) Even the weather is changing…
8) I went back recently to an alumni reunion at the college and I was…
9) I realize that my generation is…
10) “Everything is different,” said George. “Even…