Текст 18 Soap Operas and Reality

The soap opera depends so much on human interaction that we may use the term to describe our own conflicts. ("Gee, my father isn't speaking to me, my sister is getting an abortion, and I’m flunking out of school. My life is really like a soap opera!") In reality, few lives are as troubled and confused as those on the soaps. As with much of TV, our lives are dull by comparison.

Soap opera characters are carefully created for the mass audience. They are usually good or evil, positive or negative, with well-defined personalities. They are usually young (25-35), well dressed, and financially comfortable. Leading men are doctors, and lawyers. Leading women are attractive and well manicured. Indoor sets are unusually large and boast wall-to-wall carpeting, plush drapes, and built in wet bars. Soap opera characters tend to be very sophisticated and do a lot of eating, drinking, and arguing.

Regular viewers can name all the characters in a given soap and describe their history in detail. The casual observer gets lost in the plot, which has more twists and turns than a mountain highway.

Let's see... John's son is getting married today to the woman who used to be his father's wife, who was recently divorced from the doctor who delivered his illegitimate daughter. That illegitimate daughter is really Bill's mother, Nell, whose father was a doctor where Bill was in medical school. We know that Bill never graduated but came to town and set up practice anyway. Things were going great until he and Nell got divorced, but then she found out she was his mother and...

Unlike prime-time shows, soaps are often shot only a day or two before they are aired. This five-show-a-week schedule takes its toll on cast and crew. It really keeps the cast on their toes. One advantage to the schedule is that the soap script may incorporate recent news events, while prime-time shows, shot as much as six months in advance, cannot.

Here are some American students' comments on soap operas. Do you agree or disagree with them?

1. Soap operas are time consuming and non-productive. There is very little to be learned from watching them. Their quality of production has improved over the years, but it is still inferior to most other television.

2. Soap operas have very little if any redeemable qualities. They, the soap operas, focus on a small segment of the population. They are used as an escape by middle class America who attempt to live vicariously through the actors and characters.

3. Soap operas are addictive like a drug. One has to watch every day. It makes one's mind waste away.

4. What goes on in soap operas is very similar to what goes on in life, only soap operas make it look glamourous.

5. They do not challenge people or teach them anything, but some people don 4 want anything more.

Текст 19 Journalism: the most exciting career in the world

Man has always wanted to know what goes on in the world that surrounds him. How did people manage before the days of newspapers? The Incas in South America had a fascinating system, which was the forerunner of the media today. The information was given to a 'runner', who learnt к by heart. He then ran 20 kilometres and relayed the message to another runner who in turn memorised it and relayed it to the next runner. That happened every 20 kilometres. A message travelled in this way over 2,400 kilometres in ten days. Those were the earliest 'journalists'. Other early journalists used smoke signals, tom-toms and pigeons. The first newspapers as we know them were not published until the seventeenth century.

How do modern-day journalists get their information? Journalists may collect information by doing their own research. For example, if a journalist wants to write an article about our school, they may come and interview students, teachers or the principal. They will then write the article using the information they have collected. This can be good fun but there is a much easier and quicker way for journalists to obtain information: they can use news agencies. These are companies which supply information to newspapers, radio and television. Agencies have correspondents all around the world who collect information on site and send it to a central 'bank'. It is then up to the individual journalists to write their articles using this information. This leads us to one of the most important aspects of journalism: objectivity.

Objectivity means presenting things as they are, not as the journalist wants them to be. An objective journalist reports the facts. If a journalist who has written an article about our class says that there are 32 in it and that we are aged between 14 and 15, they are reporting facts and being objective. But if they say we are charming, good-looking or horrible students then they have let their own opinions influence their writing and have lost their objectivity. It is very difficult not to express a point of view when we write. That is why it is important for the news to be given by different newspapers: reading the different points of view will help us to make up our own minds.

Journalism is one of the most exciting occupations. People in this profession meet many people and learn a lot about the world. Foreign correspondents travel a lot and learn about other cultures. To become a journalist in our country, you have to study for four years at university. You also have to be good at writing and speak a foreign language. It's much harder work than it looks but I think it is worth it.

Ответьте на вопросы:

a What did the runner learn by heart?

b What did one runner relay to another?

с Who were the earliest journalists?

d What do we call companies that supply information to the media? e What information do journalists use to write their articles?

f Who is aged between 14 and 15?

g In what profession do people learn a lot about the world?

Закончите предложения, используя информацию, данную в тексте.

a We can learn about events all around the world by reading newspapers, watching television or listening to the radio.

b The earliest 'journalists' were from …

с Other ways used to spread information were…

d Two ways journalists can collect their information are …

e When you are objective you …

f One way we can make up our minds about information we receive is to…