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A) Skim through the text and say what the message of the text is.
6 (1.5 min.)
Aldous Huxley long ago warned of a future in which love was secondary and happiness a simple matter of consuming mass-produced goods and plenty of soma, a drug engineered for pleasure. More than 70 years later, Dr. Peter C. Whybrow, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, argues that modern society is not that distant from Huxley’s brave new world, although the soma seems to be in ourselves.
In the age of globalization, Americans are believed to be addictively driven by the brain’s pleasure centres to pursue status and possessions at the expense of the only things that can make us happy: relationships with other people.
Other countries feel the same kind of forces, Dr. Whybrow says, but the problem is worse in the United States because it is a nation of immigrants, genetically self-selected to favour individualism and novelty. Americans are competitive, restless and driven to succeed.
But the paradox of prosperity is that Americans are too busy to enjoy it. With the rise of the information age in the 1990s, when the global marketplace began staying open 24 hours a day, American mania reached its peak.
‘We are reward-driven creatures,’ Dr. Whybrow says. ‘But we also love each other and we want to be tied together in a social context. It’s up to each of us to think about our lives and slow down enough so that we can limit our appetites and find a better balance between work and family.’
b) Sum up the text in three sentences.
· c) Scan the text for details.
d) Answer the teacher’s questions.
3. a) Read a story about a man who managed to change his life for the better. Open the brackets using the correct forms of the verbs.
My name is Carl. I ________ (1 – to be) a cop for twenty years. When I ________ (2 – to be) forty my daughter ___________ (3 – to leave) home and then two years later my son ____________ (4 – to move out). Then I got to see that I didn’t have much of a relationship with my wife because I _____________ (5 – to spend ) all the years of my marriage working and not really participating in family life. After a couple more years my wife ___________ (6 – to decide) to leave and all I had was my job. The next year, at 46, I had my twenty years in and ________________ (7 – modal / to retire). I got to know what lonely meant very quickly. I figure I ____________ (8 – to miss) something and I’d like to find out what it is.
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Carl _____________ (9 – to catch) in a story of uselessness. When he no longer had the one thing that he _______________ (10 – to learn) to identify himself with, he _____________ (11 – to lose) his place in the story – he _____________ (12 – to lose) his self-identity. He decided that if he was going to survive he _________________ (13 – modal / to change) his story. It really wasn’t a difficult thing for him to do. Carl was so miserable that literally any life would have been better than his. As it ___________ (14 – to turn out), like so many of us, what Carl needed was simply ______________ (15 – to hear). As he listened to himself ____________ (16 – to tell) his story he began to see things that he ______________ (17 – to see) before, things that he __________ __________ (18 – modal / to change).
Carl began to look at what he ____________________ (19 – to accomplish) in his career rather than the negatives that ______________ _________ (20 – to depress) him. He began referring to himself as an ex-police officer rather than an ex-cop. He __________ (21 – to join) a health club and __________ (22 – to become) intent upon regaining a healthy body and then __________ (23 – to become) a volunteer trainer at the club specialising in helping senior citizens plan exercise programmes. He ________ (24 – to go) back to college and __________ (25 – to earn) a certificate in nutrition.
When I last spoke to Carl, he _____________ (26 – to meet) a delightful and creative woman, ________________ (27 – to work) at re-establishing contact with his son and _______________ (28 – to create) a powerful bond with his grandchildren. His life was very worth living.
b) Agree or disagree with the following statements. Support your viewpoint.
1. After their children had moved out, Carl’s relationship with his wife became even closer and warmer. 2. Carl undoubtedly had made a career at the expense of his family. 2. When Carl’s wife decided to leave he felt hurt because he had always loved and cherished her. 3. After the divorce all Carl had was his job. It was a great relief. 5. Upon reetirement Carl got to know what lonely meant very quickly. 6. Carl made an effort to find out what he had missed in his life. 7. Carl’s chief mistake was that his family was secondary to his work. 8. Carl spoke about his misfortunes simply to be heard. 9. Carl regained his self-identity when he began referring to himself as an ex-police officer rather than an ex-cop. 10. Carl’s life is worth living as he is finally at peace with his environment.
| VOCABULARY EXTENSION |
4. a) Read the text filling in the gaps with the proper words.
sustainable development indicators – показатели устойчивого развития
Pursuing Happiness In a Complex World
What is happiness? In many _______________ (1 – industrious / industrialised) countries it is often equated with money. The gross domestic product, or G.D.P., is routinely used to define the well-being of ______________ (2 – a people / a nation). However, material _________________ (3 – well-being / wealth) is only one component. That does not ensure that you are at peace with your ______________ (4 – environment / surroundings) and in harmony with each other. Today, we have to think of human well-being in __________ (5 – wider / broader) terms: ___________ (6 – admission / access) to healthcare, time with family, conservation of natural resources and other non- _____________ (7 – economic / economical) factors.
The goal is in part to return to a richer _____________ (8 – definition / description) of the word happiness, more like what the signers of the Declaration of Independence had in mind when they _____________ (9 – comprised / included) ‘the pursuit of happiness’ as an inalienable right equal to liberty and life itself for Americans.
In Britain, government officials have released a summary of ‘sustainable development indicators’ intended to be a snapshot of social and environmental indicators like crime, traffic, pollution and recycling levels. But the most important things in life are not _____________ (10 – prone / due) to measurement – like love. The goal of life should not be limited ______ (11 – by / to) production, consumption, more production and more consumption. There is no necessary _____________ (12 – relations / relationship) between the level of possession and the level of well-being.
b) Answer the teacher’s questions.