4. Answer the questions:

1. What comment is usually made about the younger generation?

2. What epithets do grown-ups use speaking about children?

3. Does anyone believe that children will make our country a better place to live in?

4. What term has been coined recently?

5. Are tweens interested in playing with dolls and toys?

6. What things do they want to have and why?

7. Why is the awkward age the most painful part of childhood?

8. Do teenagers obey their parents?

9. Teenagers with sympathetic and supportive parents never get in bad company, do they?

10. Why do teenagers become addicted to drugs and alcohol?

11. What do teens regard as their right?

12. What society do we live in?

13. Are there any people who live below the poverty line in this country?

14. Who belongs to the smart set or gilded youth?

15. What can push children from poor families to commit a crime?

16. When do children start using computers nowadays?

17. What does preoccupation with computers bring about?

18. Children are easily influenced by violence on TV, aren't they?

19. How do they behave in real life?

20. What do many parents think about upbringing nowadays?

21. Are they right?

22. What should parents do?

23. Is it possible to predict what people today's children grow up?

24. What sort of life do children expect to have?

25. What could grown-ups learn from their children?

26. Why do young people prefer to live in the present?

27. What does World War III mean?

28. Do young people have a right to question the wisdom and sanity of their elders?

5. Agree or disagree with the following statements:

1. Old people never grumble that the young are not what they were.

2. Adults are not sure that today's children will grow up to make this country a better place.

3. The new term «tweens» means the same as «teens».

4. Tweens prefer to wear practical clothes.

5. They think that having the most fashionable things is the quickest way to acceptance.

6. Tweens imitate the haircuts, clothes and make-up of celebrities.

7. Experts say that the rush to grow up is due to the mass media.

8. Teenagers are confident of their appearance.

9. Adolescents experience high and low spirits by turns.

10. Their rebel against parental authority brings them satisfaction.

11. Few parents care too little about what their children do.

12. Children start roaming the street out of curiosity.

13. Stratification of our society is one of the reasons for a wide spread of juvenile delinquency.

14. Obsession with computers brings about creative imagination and helps to develop emotionally.

15. Teenagers are thrown into a ruthless world.

16. Nowadays all parents think that children should grow and experience on their own.

6. Find synonyms to these words in the text:

receptive	susceptible
mild	compassionate
to imitate	to copy
cruel	ruthless
to cause	to effect
intense	piercing
happiness	euphoria
envy	discontent
monotony	dullness
excitement	stimulation

7. Work in groups. Find out from your partners:

- what term has been recently coined for kids from 8 to 14;

- why adolescence is the most distressing period of childhood;

- whether they had any problems at the awkward age;

- how they got through the awkward age;

- what sort of parents they've got;

- if they've got a personal computer;

- whether the computer is a curse or blessing.

8. Prove that:

- the mass media cause the rush to grow up;

- television is full of violence;

- most parents are very permissive nowadays.

9. Comment on:

- the desire of tweens and teens to have the latest in everything;

- teenagers' rebel against parental authority;

- the way most children spend their free time;

- the consequences of obsession with computers;

- the reasons of juvenile delinquency.

10. Imagine that:

• You have a teenage son/daughter. He/she has entered into the awkward age and your life has turned into a nightmare. Ask a psychologist for help. Role-play a dialogue with your partner;

• You are a middle-aged person. You've met your old school friend and you start talking about the younger generation. He/she thinks that all of them are arrogant, aggressive and good-for-nothing. But you can't agree with him/her. Role-play a dialogue with your partner;

• You've just had a terrible row with your parents. Now you are strolling the streets with your friend in order to cool off and discussing the relations with your parents. Role-play a dialogue with your partner.