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Open the brackets using either the Gerund or the Infinitive.
1. If the Premier’s policy is to succeed, he must try ____________ (to keep) prices low. 2. What do you mean ___________ (to do) about the broken computer? 3. Don’t forget __________ (to wake) me before you leave. 4. Why don’t you try __________ (to use) honey instead of sugar? It’s much healthier. 5. I tried _________ (to take) the pill you gave me but I couldn’t swallow it. 6. Although Will is quite well off, he still regrets ____________ (not/to go) to university. 7. I definitely remember _______________ (you/to borrow) money from me. 8. I’d prefer you ______________ (to work) after office hours tonight. 9. Let’s stop ____________ (to have) something to eat. – Again? I wish you would stop _____________ (to eat) so much! 10. I think I’d prefer ______________ (to go) on holiday to Egypt this year and spend some time visiting historical sites. – Yes, I prefer ___________ (to do) something interesting to just _____________ (to lie) on a beach all day. And I’d prefer _____________ (to go) somewhere warm rather than ______________ (to stay) in Scotland.
32. Complete the sentences, using the Gerund or the Infinitive:
1. Do you remember … last week? 2. Did you remember … last night? 3. Our boss didn’t think we needed … . 4. I think the computer needs … . 5. Perhaps the tenants would prefer not … . 6. Does he/she prefer … to … ? 7. I hope you won’t forget … . 8. A truthful person hates … . 9. His mother is a domineering person. I’d hate … . 10. Having discussed the first item on the agenda, the board of directors went on … . 11. I can’t understand why you go on … if you hate … . 12. You should try … . I’m sure you’ll find it much easier. 13. He may not have succeeded, but at least he tried … . 14. Accepting this invitation means … .
| Text 1. Climbing Out of Poverty: Never Easy, Never Over. |
Cross-cultural Notes:
· 1. professional classes –social groups embracing educated and qualified people in jobs that require special skills and training, especially ones with high social status; the professions –a form of employment that is possible for an educated person and after training: the medical / legal / teaching / nursing profession.
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· 2. Chicago[SI'kQ:gRu] – the third largest US city situated in the state of Illinois ['IlInOI] on Lake Michigan ['mISIgRn]. It is an important industrial and business centre. Its airport, O’Hare, is the busiest in the world.
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· 3. Medicare –the US government’s medical programme for everyone over the age of 65. It is part of the Social Security system. It pays part of the costs of hospitals and offers additional medical insurance to people who pay an amount of money each month.
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· 4. Social Security – the US government payments to help people who are unemployed, poor or old, or who cannot work because they are ill or injured. Money for the payments is provided by taxes on employers and workers.
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· 5. ... her daughter’s desire to join the Navy– the US Navy consists of about 400,000 men and women. More than 80% of all military jobs are open to women.
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For most of her 38 years, Angela Whitiker has been on the outside looking in at the seeming perfection of the professional classes. While the rest of the United States continues to debate the barriers to mobility, Ms. Whitiker has quietly traversed several classes in a single lifetime. She has gone from welfare statistic in the early 1990s to credit-card carrying member of the middle class.
The third of five children, she was born to a mother who was a cook. She didn’t meet her father until she was 10, and she hasn’t seen him since. By 15, she was pregnant with her first child. By 23, she was the mother of five and had worked in a variety of low-paying jobs.
At 26, Ms. Whitiker and her children were living in a crime-burdened neighbourhood. She had become involved with a man who worked as a baggage handler at O’Hare International Airport. He paid the rent and was the father of her fifth child. His paycheck gave her the ability to get into a pre-nursing program at a local community college in Chicago. But the relationship fell apart, and without her boyfriend to pay the rent, she fell further behind.
She wound up in a cellblock of an apartment in the Robert Taylor Homes. Gangs ruled the place. The elevators didn’t work and gunshots were background music. “It was hell,” she would say later. “I wouldn’t want a dog to stay up in there.” Ms. Whitiker vowed from the very first night to get out. She postponed her nursing studies, working at a fast food restaurant and as a security guard.
Then she met Vincent Allen. A police detective, he had a college degree, a nice apartment and a solid middle-class background. They met when they were working as security guards. With Mr. Allen’s encouragement, Ms. Whitiker enrolled in nursing school again, but it was different this time. Or, rather, she was different. She had seen the bottom of the well and never wanted to go back there. Upon finishing nursing school, she was anxious to pass her licensing exam. “It was a step to another life,” she said later.
At first, nursing was like winning the lottery. She was earning enough for the family to move into a four-bedroom apartment in a nice building overlooking Lake Michigan.
Now she is making $83,000 a year, more than Mr. Allen, whom she married a few years ago. She is making more money than anybody she knows. And come payday, everybody needs something, and not just the kids. Relatives need gas money, friends need help with the rent. Even her patients have their hands out. “You got some money to lend me?” one of them, an older woman whose telephone had just been cut off, asked her.
After Medicare and Social Security deductions and her share of the household obligations, groceries, her $500 monthly car payment, loans to relatives, and the debt left over from her previous life, she finds that most months she has little left over. So despite her income, she still shops at the dollar stores in her old neighborhood.
Her job and paycheck say she is middle-class, but what does that mean? She said that when she was on the outside looking in, she never imagined it would mean working three and a half years without a vacation or having an empty dining room waiting for a table and chairs. It never occurred to her that she would be working this hard and still have to choose between paying the phone bill and paying for her daughter’s formal high school party.
“I feel like every corner of my body is being stretched,” she said.
Ms. Whitiker’s ideal of middle-class perfection has two missing pieces: her oldest sons, Nicholas and Willie. Her success came too late to benefit them. Both have spent time in jail on drug convictions, and both have children out of wedlock. She had to make the most painful decision a mother could make to keep her family on her chosen path. She made it clear that neither Willie nor Nicholas was welcome until they cleaned up their lives.
But she still has hope. “I’m a late bloomer,” she says, “and I know it’s not too late for them.”
Ms. Whitiker doesn’t hide her displeasure over her daughter’s desire to join the Navy – mainly because it does not fit the middle-class ideal she has for her children. She sees her daughter studying law.
“I try to talk my kids to go into a profession,” she said. “If you are certified and licensed, nobody can take that away from you.”
But to Nicholas and Willie, her advice is different. “Can’t you see your life is going down the drain, and you are the only one who can save it?” she asks. “You want a quick way out. There is no quick way out. I tried that. It doesn’t work.”
(After Isabel Wilkerson, The New York Times, 2005.)
| ACTIVE VOCABULARY 1. relation (countable / uncountable) – связь между двумя и более людьми (предметами, явлениями): e.g. The study found a direct relation between smoking and lung cancer. / a relation (Brit.), a relative (Am.) – родственник // relations – отношения (между людьми, странами, организациями): e.g. international relations; relations between Japan and China. We have very good relations with the local police. // relationship – 1. отношения (между людьми, особенно предполагающие тесную эмоциональную связь): e.g. romantic relationship. My relationship with my boyfriend has lasted six months now. 2. взаимосвязь между явлениями, отношения (менее формально, чем relation): e.g. There is a close relationship between poverty and crime. (Poverty is related to crime.) 2. 'anxious – 1. беспокоящийся, тревожащийся, встревоженный: e.g. I was terribly anxious about the children when they didn’t come home from school in time. 2. стремящийся к чему-либо, желающий чего-либо: e.g. The government is anxious to reassure everyone that the situation is under control. He was anxious for his son to find a job in an investment bank. / anxiety [WNg'zaIRtI] (about) – тревога, беспокойство: e.g. We waited with great anxiety for more news about the flood. There’s a lot of anxiety about the new parliamentary reform. 3. security – безопасность: e.g. When the documents were locked up in the bank vault we had no more anxieties about their security. / the UN Security Council – Совет Безопасности ООН / a security guard – охранник / social security (Brit.), social welfare (Am.) – социальное обеспечение (особенно неимущих слоев): e.g. John has been on social security for two years now. 4. to deduct – вычитать, удерживать: e.g. The cost of the broken glasses will be deducted from your pay. / deduction – 1. вычитание, удержание: e.g. Your gross salary will be $3000 a month, which works out $2200 after all deductions. 2. вывод, (умо)заключение: e.g. What deductions have you made from that, Watson? / to deduce – выводить заключение, делать вывод: e.g. Hercule Poirot deduced that the murder had been committed by a woman. 5. to occur [R'kR:] – случаться, происходить (more formal than to happen): e.g. Police say the accident occurred about 8 a.m. Complications occurred in only 10 per cent of cases. / to occur to sb / it occurs to sb to do sth– приходить в голову кому-либо: e.g. The thought of giving up the project never occurred to Jim. It didn’t occur to me to ask how he had found me. / occurrence[R'kArRns] – 1. случай, происшествие: e.g. Unfortunately, computer errors are a common occurrence. 2. распространение, частота возникновения: e.g. The report noted an increase in the occurrence of lung cancer. 7. background – 1. задний план, фон: e.g. The mountains form a background to this photograph of the family. 2. незаметное положение: e.g. She has a lot of power, but likes to remain in the background. 3. (социальное) происхождение; опыт, подготовка, уровень образования: e.g. We are looking for journalists with a background in economics. The program aims at educating children from disadvantaged backgrounds. 4. история вопроса, подоплека, исходные данные, сведения общего характера: e.g. You'll have to give the lawyer a bit more background information before he can help you. 8. 'perfect – 1. идеальный, совершенный: e.g. The equipment was in perfect condition. / in a perfect world – в идеале: e.g. In a perfect world, each patient should see their doctor daily, but we don’t have the resources. 2. законченный, полный, абсолютный: e.g. I wouldn't like to share a room with a perfect stranger. 3. подходящий во всех отношениях: e.g. The new house is perfect for their growing family. / perfection – 1. идеал, совершенство, безупречность: e.g. Valerie always seeks perfection in her boyfriends. The roast beef was cooked to perfection. 2. (у)совершенствование: e.g. He worked hard at the perfection of his technique. |
| to be born to sb / a family... – родиться у кого-либо / в семье… to be pregnant with (a son) / to be pregnant by sb – быть беременной (сыном) / быть беременной от кого-то to fall apart – распасться (об отношениях) to wind up – 1. закончить что-либо 2. оказаться в каком-либо месте или положении (обычно о неприятной ситуации) to enroll in – записаться, поступить (в) to go down the drain – пойти впустую |
| COMPREHENSION EXERCISES |