Share your impressions of the book you’ve read and discussed in class during this term
Discuss different opinions of the threat of population growth on our planet. (“The Population Bomb”, “There’s Plenty of Room Aboard Planet Earth”) Many men, many minds. These two articles perfectly display several opinions of the subject. The author of “The Population Bomb” Paul Ehrlich has quite a pessimistic approach. The destructive chain of all the forms of pollution starts from the rapid population growth. The figures presented in the article prove that the number of people on earth is increasing dramatically since ancient times and now it takes just 37 years to witness the population doubling. It is plain that the density of the population on earth is increasing and it is becoming quite crowded. Some optimistic scientists even assert an idea of an interstellar migration, though it is considered as totally utopian. The world has not witnessed all the disastrous consequences yet. The main feature of the people is that they act as in the proverb: “he won’t lock the barn door till after the horse is stolen”. On the other hand, the widespread pessimism about population explosion is exaggerated. The article “There’s Plenty of Room Aboard Planet Earth” enlightens some of the optimistic opinions though the figures of the rapid demographic growth remain unfavorable. According to the article some environmentalists believe that the crisis has been deferred, but not avoided, while their colleagues have other views of the demographic situation going south in a hurry. As an evidence of it, there are figures of replacement level in Europe, that clearly display the situation that the world is going to face soon: there will be fewer people of working age to support those on retirement. Also it may prove much harder to recruit people to do unpopular jobs. The pundits predict the population growth decline being on the horizon already. But those who have painted a rosy picture of an environment recovering its natural beauty could find that the opposite is nearer the truth. 2) Prove the problem of overpopulation is an urgent one. (“The Population Bomb”) Figures and numerous facts prove that the population growth has changed dramatically since ancient times. The length of time necessary to double the world’s population has become shorter. 6.000 years BC, 1.000.000 years were necessary to double the world’s population, but now it takes just 37 years to witness this kind of phenomenon. It is plain that the density of the population on earth is increasing and optimistic scientists even assert an idea of an interstellar migration. Though it is considered as totally utopian. The demographic growth explosion provokes a destructive chain, where every element leads to a great disaster, effecting everybody. Let me put you in the picture. The main threat of population growth is the possibility of malnutrition and undernoushment that may start first in some underdeveloped countries and then can easily spill over into the rest of the world. Simply the main occupation is going to be farming. I am afraid the human race is going to starve and there will be not enough of food for all the people, or perhaps the quality of it will worsen because of a growth of harmful agricultural production methods, devastating for the environment. Fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, DDT and detergents can be devastating, transforming complex ecosystems into simple ecosystems. Monocultures are a case of such mutation. Soon simply the plants will die. If people continue using the same methods, the inhabitants of the planet earth will suffocate. The world has not witnessed all the disastrous consequences yet. The main feature of the people is that they act as in the proverb: “he won’t lock the barn door till after the horse is stolen”. 3) Talk about the problems a newly-independent state is confronted with (Section IV, «Progress in Samoa») Samoa is a newly independent state and located south of the equator, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand in the Polynesianregion of the Pacific Ocean. Samoa nation is living in a time of change and challenge and of great opportunity as well. The sound of progress and civilization is springing up around the country, but that phenomenon is also frightening for some of the inhabitants of the island state. They do not want changes to come so fast, perhaps they are not ready mentally for them yet. When it comes to this part of the world modern things may seem controversial for the locals. The tradition of communal land ownership stultifies individual incentive and has resulted in neglect of the land. Nowadays Samoa witnesses an exodus of the youth; the migrant workers are leaving for New Zealand. The money the emigrants send to their families supports them, but leads to the thousands of Samoan families ignoring the land and living off the earnings of their expatriate children. This phenomenon provokes inflation and economic retard. The capital, Apia, is teeming with people all around the world who want to help. There has been a great modernization work done: the streets have been torn up for a new road system, the hospitals are being rebuilt with the loan from New Zealand, while a new 1 million pounds hotel has opened to promote tourism – an industry the country is not quite sure it wants. Having followed the same pattern for thousands of years the Samoans do not want to lose their traditional culture. Only time will tell whether they find a balance between past and future. 4. Talk on how parents feel about their children travelling on their own for the first time (Section VI, «Traveller»). “There are two times when parenting is the most difficult. When the baby arrives at home, and when the adult leaves home.” Jennifer Quinn It goes without saying that parents are always get worried when their children go abroad to visit new places and get to know other ways of living. Without any doubt traveling is necessary for all of us as it broadens our minds and horizons, it is kind of relaxation and a wonderful opportunity to get away from it all. When children go on a journey, they relax their body, refresh their spirits and renew the energy. But they may not even guess that their parents can’t sleep for a while thinking of them. Just imagine, a father or a mother helps the child to get ready for the first travel abroad. At the luggage store they want to buy him a suitcase, but he heads for the duffels and says that suitcases are more for old people. The American boy went to London, called his father and reported that London was like no place in America. The boy was really fascinatedby visiting new place in Europe.He hiked though a crowd of Scottish sheep and climb the mountain in a rainstorm, that was about to blew him off the summit. In France he tried to speak French, but French he learned from the cassette didn’t hold the water in Paris. His father asked himself what it was all like. He was never been himself outside the US, except two visits to Canada, and when he was young he made a list of experiences he intended to have before he reached 21.But he had never done them to fulfill his dreams. So when his son called, he sat down all the kitchen table and hung on every word. He just sat and listened. He had never listened to a telephone so intently and with such pleasure as he did then. It was wonderful and moving for him to hear news from his son that was so new for him. And when his 15-year-old son returned home from abroad with a dozen rolls of exposed films and a hundred dollars in uncashed traveler’s checks, he sat amazed. Youth travels light: no suitcase, no sports coat, not much luggage, and a slim expense account, and yet he went to the scene, got the story and came back safely. Father says that the night when your child returns with dust on his shoes from a country you have never seen is a night you would gladly prolong into a week. 5. Talk about stereotyped ideas that people may have about the way of life in other countries. (Section IV, «Traveller'sTales»). Nobody wants to be average. So generalizations about nations are not usually welcomed, though sometimes they are quiet accurate. The dangers may go even deeper, when someone tries to generalize from his own limited experience. The Americans, for instance, are the nation, about which numerous stereotyped ideas exist. They are created, as a rule, by the people who have never been to the USA, but nevertheless, they are apt to assure others categorically the country isn’t worth visiting. They invent false stereotypes, which in fact, turn out to be nothing more than inaccurate information, gathered from 2nd hand sources. For instance, you may hear that the whole pace of life among the Americans is dreadful. It is a daily perpetual strain. The social pressures are tremendous. This may seems appalling to people committed to the idea of actually living in town which is unheard of in America. It is supposed that the Americans are not even awareof slipping away at weekends to some peaceful place in the country, because countryside is entirely occupied by all those immense suburban housing developments. The idea of typical aAmerican housewife is even more amusing. It is believed that she has nothing to do but commit adulteryand go mad from boredom and frustration, Another prejudice about the Americans is that their habit of taking showers is the mania about personal cleanliness. American food is described as flavorless, stuff with no decent fruit and vegetables. Finally, even American children are said to be unbearable. However, even coming to the US, you get surprised to see quite the opposite and it wouldn’t be some local atypicality, because in reality the way of an American life is not a dreadful rat-race at all, although it has certain peculiarities, one should be ready to adopt oneself to. As for social pressures, I think, they do exist everywhere. I am sure Americans give a good example of hard work and optimistic life-style. This «can-do-spirit»proves that with the necessary willingness and inventiveness one can overcome all the difficulties. So, the Americans tend to be trendsetters in the lifestyles. And as for stereotypes I’d say that in the modern mobile world of traveling and active interaction, any stereotype ideas will soon be nonsense. 6. Talk about the place Madame Tussaud's museum occupies among other tourist attractions in London (Section V, «Madame Tussaud's”). It often comes as a shock for Londoners that Madame Tussaud’s museum is one of the capital top tourist attractions. Many find it gruesome and frightening. Others maintain that its collection of wax statues has no artistic merit. Yes, despite this criticism, Madam Tussauds has become a world famous. Millions of tourists from overseas and from other parts of Britain wouldn’t consider their trip to the capital worthwhile without a stop at the unusual waxwork exhibition. Madam Tussaudswas French in origin and was herself a modeller of waxwork in her uncle’s waxwork museum in Paris. She is said to perfect her skills by modeling the royal family of France. In 1802 she brought the collection, inherited from her uncle and children to England. A great number of waxwork are on display at Madam Tussauds’s. The exhibition consists of a series of halls: 1)in the first hall there’s« the Sleeping beauty» figure. By the way the figures are really durable and this one was cast from Madam Tussauds’s oldest moulds. It is believed that this model was made of Madame du Barry, Louis XV’s mistress, with a mechanism that simulates breathing. 2)the second hall is known as «the Conservatory», where visitors can view life-size wax models of sport, TV and film personalities. Accurate measurement and photographic preferences, photo all the way round the body, they are taken from many angles for the statue to be as lifelike as possible; it is also very important to capture the personality. Also «multimedia environment» effect is used to create a special atmosphere. 3) next to «Super Stars» is the Grand Hall. This room is peopled by noble historical, political, military and royal figures from Henry 8 to Gorbachev. Pr minister of Great Britain and from abroad. 4) the next hall is undoubtedly the most famous of the waxwork rooms «The Chamber Of Horrors». Nowhere are the visitors quieter than in this eerie place with terrifying scenes, keeping breath of history. There are models of execution, famous murders like Christie in their appropriate settings, the most infamous 20th century prisoners who were sentenced to life imprisonment for their wild crimes. So, it’s easy to understand why some people criticize parts of Madam Tussaud’s for its horror and sensationalism. It is even easier to understand why more people go there to be entertained 7. Have you (or someone you know well) been to the USA? Does your (their) opinion of this country coincide with some of the stereotyped prejudices? (Section IV, «Traveller'sTales»). So many men, so many minds. Unfortunately I have never been to the USA, though I consider it to be a must-visit country. A close friend of mine has visited this tremendous country this year.He stayed in a couple of cities, including New York. To put it into nutshell, he went to the scene, got the story and came back safely. That is wrong to generalize a nation from his limited experience, but I believe he is a fair and even-handed person. When my friend came back from his American IT conference, he shared some thrilling views of New York City pace of life. His observations and experience totally coincided with the opinion of the Crumbles on this point. The pace of life and the speed they walk along the streets are dreadful among the Americans. It is common that a lady is supposed to be on maternity leave for three years, before the toddler starts attending a kindergarten, but not in the USA. Women there cannot afford such a long leave, after 6 weeks they are welcomed back to work. If you want to develop a brilliant career you just cannot have gaps on your CV and absolutely commit yourself to the family. It is a daily perpetual strain. And the social pressures are tremendous. This may seems appalling to people committed to the idea of actually living in town which is unheard of in America. It is supposed that the Americans are not even awareof slipping away at weekends to some peaceful place in the country, because countryside is entirely occupied by all those immense suburban housing developments. According to what my friend told me I can say that, that is the very case where a wrong generalization is being made. The idea of a typicalAmerican housewife is even more amusing. It is believed that she has nothing to do but commit adulteryand go mad from boredom and frustration. Well, they definitely met the wrong lot of housewives. Finally what surprised me most is the attitude to theAmerican food. The Americans used to be lightened as a nation dreadfully suffering from obesity, moreover Christopher implicated the food in America in flavorlessness and doubts if there are any decent fruit and vegetables. I hope that now I will speak out on behalf of all my American friends, who can show off their wonderful weights and enjoy a vast amount of seasonal and exotic fruit and vegetables. However, even coming to the US, you get surprised to see quite the opposite and it wouldn’t be some local atypicality, because in reality the way of an American life is not a dreadful rat-race at all, although it has certain peculiarities, one should be ready to adopt oneself to. As for social pressures, I think, they do exist everywhere. I am sure Americans give a good example of hard work and optimistic life-style. This «can-do-spirit»proves that with the necessary willingness and inventiveness one can overcome all the difficulties. So, the Americans tend to be trendsetters inlifestyle. And as for stereotypes I’d say that in the modern mobile world of traveling and active interaction, any stereotype ideas will soon be nonsense. 8. Talk about the language of Shakespeare and the difficulties of presenting Shakespeare’s characters to a modern audience (Section V, 1. «Shakespeare»; 2. «Drama in Cambridge»). For any Englishman, there are never can be any discussion on topic who is the world’s greatest poet and dramatist. Only one name possibly suggests itself to him: that of William Shakespeare. All of us use words, phrases and quotations from Shakespeare’s writings that have become part of the common property of English-speaking people. Shakespeare, more perhaps than any other writer, made full use of the great resources of the English language. Most of us use about 5.000 words in our normal employment of English. Shakespeare in his works used more than 25.000. There is probably no better way for a foreigner to appreciate the richness and variety of the English language than by studying the various ways in which Shakespeare used it. For many years, critics have been theorizing about the Shakespeare’s plays. Sometimes, indeed, it seems that the poetry of Shakespeare will disappear beneath the great mass of comment written upon it. Fortunately, this is not likely to happen. Shakespeare’s poetry and characters (Macbeth, Othello, Hamlet and all the others) have long delighted not just the English but lovers of literature everywhere. These characters overflow with humanity—weakness, tenderness, jealousness, anger, grief. His characters are more about vulnerability than power, happier to redeem than to consign to damnation. It is universally relevant. In brining Shakespeare’s delicate and resonant plays to the stage, many stages of understanding have to be gone through and many interpretations are likely to be rejected as facile and simplistic. The process is really difficult, but rewarding. For the language of Shakespeare is still foreign even to Britain and making Shakespeare’s works for a modern English-speaking audience requires great thought and effort to say nothing of presenting these works to people who are not British. It is important to look further within the text and it is a great stretch to imagination to try to grasp the essence of the play and bring it out in a way, that does not require a British sensibility to comprehend it, but which appears to all. That is why people prey to many fears over the reception of Shakespeare’s plays. 9. Describe an English journalist's impressions of travelling through the vast spaces of Russia, China and Mongolia (Section VI, «The Trans-Siberian Express»). It’s no wonder that trains are a literary genre all on their own. Writers from Graham Green to Agatha Christie realized that there is nothing quite like curtain sleeping compartments quicken the narrative pulse. To board the train that crosses countries and continents is to feel that anything might happened. From the first days of a journey on board a Trans-Siberian Express the journalist was fascinated by the changing countryside, by his first-class compartment which had the air of a slightly down-at-heel gentlemen’s club. The scale of the Trans-Siberian, the largest and the longest of rail journeys in the world, it difficult to comprehend. Food in the dining car was adequate, if uninspired. But the best food was to be found at the stations where the train made scheduled stops, where were veritable bazaars with home-made dishes. The towns they passed, indistinguishable from one another, were a blur of smoking chimneys and grey apartment block. They rattled across wide rivers and climbed into the Urals. But the very ease of the journey began to betray the journalist. He read, slept, ate and began to forget who he was. Then they crossed into Mongolia. For miles they saw nothing, then 2 or 3 yurts, a herb of horses grazing in a water meadows, a woman tending a flock of black goats. In the Gobidesert the grass grew sparser. Like Mongolia, Chine offered them a timeless landscape. But in China everything was man-made, every tree a planted one, every inch of land cultivated. At Peking they came to a half and emerged blinking into the real word again. For all the enticements of China the journalist was said to leave the train. For a week it had been home, secure and familiar.
Share your impressions of the book you’ve read and discussed in class during this term.
From all the brilliant, exceptional authors that I have read over the years, one in particular has lived on in my mind ever since my childhood: Oscar Wilde. I was no more than a child when I first read his fairy tales, which I have read over and over again, and that never fail to bring a lump to my throat.
In accordance to my self-guide memo for the exam, I read “Fairy Tales” by Oscar Wilde. Moreover, I was amazed by some facts of the biography of this tremendous genius. The book “Fairy Tales” includes “The young King”, “The star child”, The Nightingale and the rose”, “The Happy Prince”, ”The Selfish Giant”, “The Cantervile Ghost”, “The Birthday of the Infanta”. I can read this book over and over again and never fail to stir emotions. To quote Wilde himself, “If one cannot enjoy reading a book over and over again, there is no use in reading it at all.”
"The Young King" is a wonderful, philosophical story which claims that the luxury of the rich comes through the pains of the poor. Oscar Wilde wrote a clear self-transformation portrait of the lad.
At first, the author introduces a description of the night before the day fixed for the young king'scoronation. This lad is the child of the old King's only daughter by a secret marriage. He lives in opulence and extravagance.Indeed, he is so fond of beauty that he sends away many merchants to traffic for amber, to look for turquoise and to buy Persian carpets and Indianivory. The actions rise when he dreams three dreams of the people who suffers to weave the robe for his coronation, get the pearls for his scepter and seek for rubies for his crown. The actions reach their climax when he decides to wear a leather tunic and sheepskin cloak instead of the golden rope, a shepherd's staff instead of the scepter and a spray of wild brier instead of the crown. Here, all the people refuse him to be their king and advise him to return to the palace and weak a king's raiment. At last, a miracle happens, his ragged cloths are turned to be a king's raiment, and he is crowned.
I do believe in magic and miracles, perhaps that is why I always interpret my dreams. While reading this story I was full of amusement of the mystical dreams turned out to be a reality of the treasures origin.
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