Discuss with your partner if television is good or evil. Supply the missing questions
| Olga: | . . . . . . ? |
| Well, I suppose that I watch some television most days. My television watching tends to happen late at night for sort of domestic reasons and work resources, so it’s restricted by that. | |
| Olga: | . . . . . . ? |
| Mary: | Actually I watch a lot of news programmes. I nearly always watch the news, or current affairs programmes. I’m quite a sports fan as well, so if there is any sport on I tend to watch it: cricket or football, or something like that, if I’ve got nothing better to do. |
| Olga: | . . . . . . ? |
| Mary: | It’s on in the late afternoon and late at night. But I know that in some homes the television goes on as a kind of background and people don’t actually watch it in any kind of concentrated way. |
| Olga: | Well, I believe some people don’t realize that some TV programmes are a great danger, especially to children. . . . . . . ? |
| Mary: | You are right in a way, but I think television can be a great benefit to children too. I think there are a lot of good programmes that give them good educational information. And I also think television’s good for introducing children to good literature. There are often good children’s stories which are dramatized for television. |
| Olga: | Well, I can’t but agree with you that television can be both good and evil. One should only be reasonable in the choice of programmes. |
| Mary: | Right you are. |
| When is television on in your family? What programmes are your favourite? Do you watch news programmes? What’s your opinion? Mary, do you often watch TV? |
Work in pairs. Discuss with your partner TV programmes that do harm on children. Explain the reasons. Restore the dialogue using the words and word-combinations from the box given below.
| Julia: | What is the most dangerous thing for children on television? |
| Anna: | In my opinion it is the . . . . Some programmes are a part of big marketing exercise. There is a . . . . . . on children to go out and buy so many things advertised in the programmes and I think that is a very . . . . . . indeed. |
| Julia: | Any other danger? |
| Anna: | The other dangerous thing I think, . . . . . . is if the television is on . . . and the children get to see programmes not suitable for them. And I think that is a big . . . . But that’s up to the . . . to make sure that that doesn’t happen, . . . . . . . |
| Julia: | What would be a . . . . . . to watch television? |
| Anna: | I think the . . . thing is not how much you watch but how . . . . . . . |
| Julia: | Actually, I’m of . . . . . . . . . . |
| Important, danger, the same opinion, commercialism, for children, reasonable time |
| tremendous pressure, indiscriminately, parents, dangerous thing, selective you are, I think |
Characterize British TV and radio channels using the words and word-combinations from the box.
TV and Radio
Watching television is one of the great British . . . ! Broadcasting in the United Kingdom . . . by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). The BBC receives its . . . from the government, but the private companies controlled by the IBA earn money from ... .
National radio is controlled by the BBC, and listeners can . . . between four stations. Radio 1 is a pop-music station with news and magazine-style programmes. Radio 2 plays light music and reports on sport. Radio 3 . . . classical music whilst Radio 4 has news programmes, drama and general interest programmes. There are many . . . stations, some private and some run by the BBC. Their programmes consist mainly of music and local news.
The BBC has two TV . . . . BBC 2 has more serious programmes and news features. The IBA . . . . . . . . . looking after the regional independent TV companies who . . . their own programmes and those they have bought from other regions. There is a break for advertisements about every 15-20 minutes. The most recent independent channel is called Channel 4 and it has more specialized programmes than the . . . channels. All these channels are basically national, with just a few regional programmes, for example extra news programmes.
Breakfast TV (magazine programmes on BBC and ITV, giving news and interviews from approximately 6 a. m. to 8.30 a. m.) is very . . . .
New . . . continue to change the media. Cables and satellites have made it possible for viewers to receive more . . . into their homes.
| local main is controlled choose pastimes programmes plays popular advertising is responsible for technologies income channels broadcast |