Different attitudes to sports in modern Western society (The sporting spirit, Americans' appreciation of sports)
The book I want to talk about is the only published novel by Oscar Wilde “The Picture of Dorian Grey”.
First of all I’d like to say a few words about the author of the book and his ideas. Wilde became particularly well known for his role in the aesthetic and decadent movements. The author was deeply impressed by the English writers John Ruskin and Walter Pater, who argued for the central importance of art in life. Wilde later commented ironically when he wrote in “The P. of D.G” – “All Art is quiet useless”. The statement was meant to be read literally, as it was in keeping with the doctrine of Art for Art’s sake. As the leading aesthete in Britain, Wilde became one of the most prominent personalities of his day. Though he was sometimes ridiculed for his paradoxes and witty sayings were quoted on all sides.
The novel tells of a young man named D. Gr., the subject of a painting by artist Basil Hallward. Basil is impressed by D’s beauty and becomes infatuated with him, believing his beauty is responsible for a new mode in his art. Talking in Basil’s garden, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wolton, a friend of Basil’s, and becomes enthralled by Lord Henry’s world view. Espousing a new hedonism, beauty and fulfillment of the senses. Realizing that one day his beauty will fade, Dorian cries out, expressing his desire to sell his soul to ensure the portrait would age rather than himself. Dorian wish is fulfilled, plunging him into debauched acts. The portrait serves as a reminder of the effect each act has upon his soul, with act sin displayed as a disfigurement of his form, or through a sign of aging.
In a letter O. Wilde said the main characters were reflections of Basil Hallward are what I think I am: Lord Henry is what the world thinks me: Dorian is what I would like to be – in other ages perhaps.
I personally like the book because it shows us that we should be responsible for our actions. Each person has 2 sides inside: a black one and a white side. And its up to each of us which side to choose. In this particular situation Art plays a role of so called indicator of man’s personality. Art is quite useful, I should say it’s not the tool but it is an inspiration.
2. There are sometimes events in a young boy's or girl's childhood that may influence their vision of the adult world. Prove or disapprove "Snowdrops" Recall a similiar experience from your or someone else's childhood.
Children live in some other kind of world than adults. Everything is much simpler there, there much less difficulties, there are no so much responsibility. All the things seem to be different for them, I mean children are not aware yet of all the life as it is.
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But living alongside with adults, they may get a vision of real adult’s life just before they step in it themselves.
Particularly, speaking about children’s attitude to teachers, we can say that children, especially small ones, look at them with great appreciation. They think that their teacher would not forget about them and would be the best one whatever happens.
In the story “Snowdrops” we see that a young hero doesn’t notice that his teacher looks different because of her close friend’s death. He doesn’t notice that his teacher’s voice has become different and her appearance has changed by the influence of the tragedy which has stroke her.
In such a situation children usually don’t notice all the changes. And that’s a lot because of the efforts of the teacher who shouldn’t show his real feelings and stay sturdy and fulfill his duties, because he has a responsibility as a teacher and doesn’t have to display his real emotions.
But some events give children an evidence of the real picture of the adult’s world. Thus, the hero of “Snowdrops” compares a minute, fragile flower to his teacher. He sees flowers blow in a sudden gust of the cold wind and straighten again and he sees his teacher crying. By comparing this two creatures he can find them very much in common.
When I studied at the third form, our teacher was offered a vacancy in a more high-status school, where her job was better well-paid and she had better courier prospects. We all knew why she had left us in the middle of the term and it made us understand that in spite of the teacher commitment to her pupils and her love to her job in general, money does matter.
3. Speak of freedom of the will as an essential quality of human nature " The Burden of Eden"
As far as I can understand it means that man is free to accept or reject God and God doesn’t intrude upon this freedom. In other words, man is free and capable of realizing his will. As described in the Bible “man is the only one in all creation that has God’s spirit breathed into him”. So freedom of the will is essential quality of human nature. What is more, it is a gift; however it is a dangerous and hard to deal with as it implies a lot of responsibility. And man shouldn’t exercise this (his) freedom for fleshly indulgence. But as far as I’m concerned our world is striving for the evil more than for the good. And mankind has acquired a reputation of being drunk by sin and having used its freedom “as a cover for evil”.
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At the same time however sinful man is, God doesn’t turn away from him. But to tell the truth it’s hard for me to believe that a new Jesus Christ will come into our history to redeem people’s sins and save them from spiritual death and slavery to sin. Nevertheless some people do hope and believe.
4. Speak about the frustrations and rewards of teaching as seen by an American university teacher "Why do I teach"
To begin with I must admit that teaching is a really challenging and rewarding job, but it is a demanding as well. It’s an incredible responsibility to be the guardians of the human spirit and the human mind. To be a good teacher you must be sincerely interested in what you are doing not to quit because teaching is a red-eye, sweaty-palm and sinking-stomach profession: Actually there are some frustrations about this job, for instance a teacher not always feels ready to teach, no matter how late at night he stays up to prepare; he is always nervous before entering the classroom; sometimes it happens so that a teacher realizes that the lesson failed and he was even more boring than usual. But still on the other hand there are many rewards of teaching which recompense for all the frustrations. Firstly, teaching is built on change, even when the material is the same, the teacher himself changes and his students change. Secondly, a teacher is the boss of his own, he is free to make his own mistakes, to learn his own lessons, to stimulate himself and his students. Even if there is a colossal failure, he can learn from those failures. Thirdly, teaching gives many nectars to taste, many woods to enter and leave, many fine books to read, and many ivory towers and real-world experiences to discover.
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Teaching gives pace, variety and the opportunity to keep on learning. And we know that every time you learn smth new, became smth new. Besides, it’s a great pleasure to see the people who grow and change in your presence. Alongside with all this, teaching offers smth else: it offers love, not only love of learning, but also the love a teacher feels for that rare student who walks into the life of a teacher and begins to breathe. And being around people who are beginning to breathe, you can find yourself catching your breath with them.
5.Talk about the relationships between the member of the Barstinse family and Mrs. Barstin's ambitions. An extract from The"Painted Veil" by S.Maugham
To begin with, I must admit that Mrs. Garstin was a hard, cruel, managing, ambitious, parsimonious and stupid woman. So she married Mr. G. just for convenience, because he had seemed a young man of promise and her father said he would go far. But he hadn’t. He was painstaking, industrious, and capable but he hadn’t the will to advance himself. Mrs. Garstin despised him and she treated him without mercy. Mrs. Garstin’s daughters had never looked upon him as anything, but a source of income: it had always seemed perfectly natural that he should lead a dog’s life in order to provide them with board and lodging, clothes, holidays and money for odds and ends.
It never occurred to them to ask themselves what were the feelings of the subdued little man. He was a stranger to them, but because he was their father they took it for granted that he should love and cherish them. Well, it was on her daughters that Mrs. Garstin set her hopes by arranging good marriages for them, she expected to make up for all the disappointments of her life.
6. What impressed you in the story "If only they could talk"? Share your own experience of treating a sick animal.
Speaking about this story I’d like to say that the title itself attracted my attention. You know, the same story happened with my dog 2 years ago. Unfortunately we didn’t have an opportunity to call a vet and couldn’t treat our dog. It wasn’t as old as that one and it wasn’t a matter-of-fact approach. We did have to put him to sleep but it was miserable to imagine that it wouldn’t follow me around the house when I’m doing my little jobs. I couldn’t see when the doctor filled the syringe and gave an overdose of an anesthetic to my dog. By the time the injection has finished, the breathing had stopped. When my dog was out of pain I stood motionless except for clasping and unclasping of my hands. It was a difficult moment for me. There’s nothing more terrible and awful when we lose our best friends, the most honest and true ones.
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7. Speak about vivisection as a method of medical research (Tape-recording "Vivisection")
Well, frankly speaking it’s quite difficult to decide on or against carrying out experiments on life animals. On the one hand enormous advances have been made due to vivisection. On the other hand, not always vivisection can be justified because it’s cruel and inhumane. Well, in fact it is not always these experiments that help to conquer some diseases, such as diphtheria, smallpox, etc. It’s largely due to careful scientific observation and because of the improvements in hygiene. No matter how odd it might seen, some drugs as penicillin and aspirin were found by accident. So I suppose people shouldn’t carry out experiments on animals; we should take care of them, not take advance. Because nobody takes any pride in causing suffering. But still, there are some people who consider scientific observation to be not always reliable and they think that new drugs have to be tested on animals to check for side-effects. But the disadvantage is that it is difficult to predict what the effect of a drug will be on human beings. So, my point of view is: careful observation and nothing more.
8. Compare the different attitudes to women's employment in medicine in the 19th century and today "A letter"
To begin with, in the 19th century to most women the thought of studying medicine was utterly repugnant because they had always despised body as the greatest hindrance to all that they most valued. Some women couldn’t at all trace the source whence they derived this contempt for the body, but still there was the spirit of asceticism and deep rooted opposition to the conditions of human existence. In spite of this fact, actually, there were some women trying to subdue their body and those who accepted the idea of surgical intervention and wanted to become a physician. On the whole it was thought that a thoroughly qualified woman physician would be a great boom to society, but at the same time all equally agreed that it was impossible for a woman to become an equally educated physician and that it would be foolish and even improper to pursue a course to became a physician. Today the picture is quite different and “a woman –physician” doesn’t sound strange at all.
9. What do you know about different methods of combating infectious diseases in the past and present? "Smallpox - Epitaph for a killer"
"AIDS Hysteria"
To start with, there have always been such diseases which are as dreaded as plague or cholera. What is more, suspicion, fear and hostility often thwart attempts to control and combat against such diseases. If we look back in history we can make sure that the laws were believed to cope with earlier epidemics such as smallpox and plague.
For instance, affected children were forcibly removed from their parents and placed in isolation; and also fires were used to make plague barriers and purify public places. But I would say that sometimes such measures and such laws were just an excuse to attack persecute immigrants. In addition, over the centuries, spying, imprisonment and taking away civil rights have been introduced to legal means to prevent disease spreading.
In this age of computer science and biotechnology we should realize that laws will only be effective if they are build upon good information concerning infectious diseases and how they are transmitted. Besides, laws shouldn’t focus on individuals or groups in society, as it can be unjust, unfair and discriminating. That’s why a policy of quarantine has been quite rightly described as a cruel and unrealistic method to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. To crown the picture I must admit that bringing in laws about infectious diseases may make some people feel better, but such laws will make very little difference in controlling epidemics. At this point of view control of these diseases must depend on education. This is where the solution must lie, in educating communities, risk groups and every individual.
Different attitudes to sports in modern Western society (The sporting spirit, Americans' appreciation of sports)
It’s common knowledge that sport nowadays is increasing its popularity. There are different attitudes to sport in our society nowadays.
For some people it’s a wonderful way to get rid of tension and to let off steam. Sport provides an opportunity for people to express themselves in a way that is not always possible in work life. It gives a challenge and can break down economic and social barriers.
Many people overwhelmingly appreciate sport in their culture. They think that spectator sports have a positive impact on society, that competitive sports help children to learn valuable life lessons. A lot of people consider sports participation to help people get along with those from different racial or ethnic groups. Sports involvement is also thought to help people in the business world and to get along better with people of the opposite sex.
At the same time there is a growing evidence of the flip side. And to my mind the number of negative views has increased.
To begin with sport has become too connected to big business. Sometimes it seems less to do with enjoyment and more with making money.
More and more people come to think that sport can’t create good relationships between nations. Some international competitions end in orgies of hatred because of nationalism and racism.
Nearly all kinds of sport nowadays are competitive. People don’t enjoy the game as they try to do their utmost to win. For example, on the village field where it’s possible to play just for fun people don’t do that because the question of prestige arises.
At the international level sport sometimes looks like a mimic warfare. It’s horrible that nations can work themselves into funnies over these absurd contests and seriously believe that they are tests of national virtue.
Many people are convinced that professional sport has nothing to do with fair play because it’s bound up with hatred, jealousy, boastfulness, disregard of all the rules and sadistic pleasure in witnessing violence.
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