Discussion
1.What are the advantages of a work-life balance scheme, according to Mr. Brown? Make a list, then discuss with your partner.
2.How important is it to maintain a work-life balance? Think about health, family and friends. Discuss in groups.
II.BACKBONE OF SOCIETY
3. Are Russian Yuppies Packing Their Bags?
It's been said that in the 20 years since Russia emerged from Soviet rule, it has managed to create a barely fledging middle class. But whether it has what can be called a middle class, Russia does have a growing class of yuppies. And, according to a pilot study by Yale Club president Maksim Kiselyov in conjunction with Yale University last year, a lot of those yuppies are anxious to leave Russia because they have no certainty about whether their professional prospects are reliable in this country. For Kiselyov, the time to worry came when his students, who took part in the study, asked him directly when they should start packing their bags.
“I'm not ready to answer that question,” said Kisel yov in a recent interview. “But I'm ready to talk about why this question is being asked.” He insists that this is not a study with some clear-cut, sociological results, like a poll is, since only 125 people were involved. But the problem under consideration is of great importance.
So, what is a Russian yuppie? According to Kiselyov, the Russian yuppie shares some of the general characteristics with his Western counterpart. “These are professionals who make a pretty good living doing what they do best.” But while American yuppies may also be associated with a certain lifestyle, for the Russians aged 25-38 who took part in the study, it was their profession that identified them in their own eyes. “Here there is also an outline of s ome sort of lifestyle. However it's not so clear-cut as in the West.” But Kiselyov disc overed a much more striking difference. Russian yuppies seem to share a “sober , critical view of the events
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happening around them. Unlike Western yuppies, who declare an absence of any commitment in the political sphere, ours are anything but apolitical.”
And, because of their vigilant attitude to what Kiselyov called propaganda,
because of their attention to national events — and not only from the TV set — they
experience uncertainty in their future here. “An ab solute majority saw a problem for themselves arising out of the current developments in the country's political situation. They see serious interference from the government in the private sector. For a majority of them, there's something wrong with that picture.”
So, what is it exactly that makes so many of these young professionals want to leave? For Kiselyov, a lot of those aspects are directly political: the destruction of a civil society before it even had a chance to form, the concentration of power. And
that leads to a logical conclusion. “Why should we torment ourselves if we, as
professionals, can live in a country more appropriate for us? In a country with a developed civil society, where a person feels secure.”
For the few that have made a firm decision to stay, Kiselyov sees in it an act of self-realization. “It shows that they are thinking about trying to make life better here.” But even those have their reservations — they will not be so resolute if things get considerably worse.
For decades, in the brief surge of immigration in the 1970's and after the Iron Curtain was lifted, analysts warned of the menacing “brain drain” of some of Russia's best scientists, who abroad have much better prospects than making 0 a month that they would get in their deteriorating institutes back home. Now, according to Kiselyov, it seems as though the worst is yet to come, if Russia hasn't managed to accommodate its first post-Soviet professional generation.
Do the Following Tasks:
Vocabulary Practice
1.Match the underlined words from the text with the correct definitions, then use them in your own sentences:
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a)a movement of highly skilled or professional people from their own country to a country where they can earn more money;
b)an attempt to find out what the public think about something, done by questioning a large number of people;
c)they seem to be only concerned about their jobs, making a lot of money and spending it on expensive things;
d)developing into a bad or unpleasant situation;
e)having a serious attitude to life;
f)the way someone lives, including the place they live in, the things they own, the kind of job they do and the activities they enjoy;
Text Analysis
What does the author of the article mean by the following?
a) … it (Russia) has managed to create a barely fle dging middle class.
b)… our yuppies are anything but apolitical.
c)… they have no certainty about whether their pro fessional prospects are reliable in this country.
Discussion
Discuss the following questions:
1.What general characteristics do Russian and Western Yuppies have in common? What is the difference?
2.Why do some Russian professionals prefer to find work in other countries?
3.Make a study of your own. Discuss this problem in your group and find out who prefers to stay in Russia and who would like to move abroad after graduating from the Institute?
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4. Russia’s Middle-class Values and Investing for the Future
In any country, the question of saving and investing is of most urgent interest to the middle class. As a member of America’s middle class, one of the things which struck me most deeply not long after I arrived in Russia in July 1998 was the marked difference between middle class Americans and many of their Russian counterparts in their approaches to saving and investing family income.
A few days after I began working in the Russian capital, I remember seeing a young mother with her three or four year-old son, strolling through a Moscow park. Something about the picture seemed wrong to me, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Then it suddenly came to me: the mother was dressed like a fashion model! I couldn’t recall ever seeing a young American mother decked out in that type of clothing. I thought to myself, very few middle class American mothers would choose to spend that kind of money on clothes for themselves; quite the contrary, the dominant image of American suburban motherhood is the “mom in tennis shoes”.
A few weeks later, I had a conversation with my Russian colleagues about plans for the upcoming holidays. One after another, four of the ten Russian colleagues in my office described their vacation plans: Egypt, Mexico, Malaysia, the United States... As the subject came up with my American friends, I got answers like: “no particular plans”; “to grandma and grandpa’s place in Texas”; “to New York,” etc.
And then it dawned on me: most average Americans rarely if ever travel overseas; many of them think they can’t really afford it. I became fascinated with the apparent cultural difference in what Americans and Russians thought they could afford on their salaries, and came to the conclusion that Russians are more willing than Americans to spend their hard-earned money.
Why do young Americans who are making more money than these Russians feel less free to spend it on things like international vacation packages and high fashion? Based on my own experience and those of many of my middle-class friends, the answer is simple enough. The so-called “American dr eam” consists of the three things which define the lives of most middle class Americans: buying a home; paying for college; and funding a retirement. Today, a middle class home in an “average”
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part of the country can cost between $75,000 and $200,000. The next big expense for the average middle class family is college for the children. Experts on education estimate that for a child born in the year 2001, a four-year degree at a state university could cost as much as $180,000, while a four-year degree at a private university (such as Harvard or Stanford, for example) could cost $300,000 or more. Finally, for middle class parents with an average income to live as well in retirement as they will have during their final working years, they will almost certainly need to supplement their Social Security checks (provided by the U.S. government) with their own retirement savings. The point here is not that Americans succeed or fail to save and invest money for these purposes, but that these goals effectively determine an American’s sense of wealth.
As I have come to know Russia better, I have realized that the kinds of major financial outlays I have described above do not enter into the thinking of most Russians. So young Russians say to me, “Save? Inves t? For what? In what? Russian stocks? Even the bank accounts are unreliable, let alone the Russian stock market...
We spend our money because we have no reason to invest. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Who’s to say how long this relatively healthy period in the economy will last? Why not enjoy this money now?”
What most young middle class Russians do not seem to realize is that with a little discipline, focus, and research, exercised over a period of twenty or thirty years, they could easily retire very well-off. The much greater challenge, of course, is the change in attitude and behavior required to save a few hundred dollars a year, or more, to invest.
By Joseph Austin
Do the Following Tasks:
Vocabulary Practice
1.Match the adjectives with the appropriate nouns to make word combinations, then make up your own sentences with these word combinations:
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1. |
Middle |
a) market |
2. |
Upcoming |
b) security |
3. |
High |
c) class |
4. |
Private |
d) outlays |
5. |
Social |
e) holidays |
6. |
Stock |
f) fashion |
7. |
Financial |
g) University |
2. Match each word with the appropriate definition: |
||
1. |
Investment |
a. something that tests strength, skills or ability |
2. |
Income |
b. an amount of money that you have to spend on something |
3. |
Retirement |
c. the money that you earn from your work or that you |
|
|
receive from investment |
4. Expense |
d. a large amount of money or possessions |
|
5. Wealth |
e. money that people or an organization have put into a |
|
|
|
company in order to get profits |
6. |
Challenge |
f. a period of time when a person stops working, usually |
|
|
because of the age |
Text Analysis
Do you agree that…?
1.Russians are more willing than Americans to spend their hard-earned money.
2.The bank accounts are unreliable in Russia.
3.With a little discipline, focus, and research, exercised over a period of twenty or thirty years, Russians could easily retire very well-off.
Discussion
Discuss these questions in pairs:
1.What does the so-called “American dream” consist of?
2.How do Russians prefer to spend their hard-earned money?
3.Do Russians spend much money on accommodation and education?
4.Can an average Russian citizen save a few hundred dollars a year?
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5. Stratification in British Society
In any society people are divided into different social groups and they are awarded unequal amount of prestige, economic rewards and power. The division into upper, lower and middle classes had been for many decades the cause of enmity and bitterness in Britain. But the English at last have acknowledged the futility of these ancient partitions and try to sweep them away. The bad old system is being smashed and the new Britain is being born. There has been social mobility in English society for a long time.
The royal family, the surviving titled families and old land owing families enjoy special status in Britain - the status of extremely wealthy people. Wealth means assets that are worth of money if they are sold. The main forms of wealth are property, stocks and shares. The Queen is said to be the wealthiest person in Britain and one of the richest women in the world. The British land aristocracy is also among the richest, because it owns 40% of British land. This group of the rich has obtained its wealth exclusively through inheritance. There are around 24000 millionaires in the UK. They include supermarket owners, members of the aristocracy and the royal family, famous writers and music stars. There is a big difference in the language of the upper class and the rest classes. According to one's accent some people can tell all about the person: how much a person earns, how well mannered the person is, where one lives. Most people in England are classified according to their occupation. Occupation is connected with many differences in people's access to life chances in such areas as education, health, leisure style and working conditions.
According to their occupation people in Britain fall into two broad groups: the middle class (white-collar workers) and the working class (blue-collar workers). Traditionally, the middle class in Britain was composed of managers and traditional professionals. All people who earned their living in non-manual jobs are considered as middle class people. Nowadays the middle class is facing two major changes: the growth of the professionals, stimulated by the expansion of service industries, and as for the clerical workers, they have sunk into the working class, however they still enjoy some advantages over manual workers. Therefore, they have become a
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marginal group, representing the borderline between the working class and the middle class. Since the 1950s there has been a massive growth of the middle class and at the same time, the working class has started rapidly declining in Britain. Now there are two clearly distinguishable groups within the working class.
They are as follows:
1.The traditional working class (belonging to areas of traditional employment such as mining, docks and heavy industry);
2.The new working class (the efficient working class, employed in the new industries of advanced technologies and high industry).
These two groups are quite different in their life styles. For example, in living conditions, areas of employment, in income, voting behavior, in the feeling of working solidarity and their children's chances in education. It is important to notice that nowadays the top 50% of the population in Britain own about 97% of the marketable wealth. As for those who are at the bottom, share about 4% of the national wealth of the UK. Income is less unequally shared than wealth, because it includes tax and benefits. It is impossible to establish a society in which there are now unprivileged classes and there are certain functions that cannot be provided by the poor.
Do the Following Tasks:
Vocabulary Practice
1.What do the following words / expressions mean? Can you explain them in English? Make your own sentences with these phrases.
1. |
prestige |
4. inheritance |
2. |
prosperity |
5. clerical workers |
3. |
aristocracy |
6. leisure style |
2. Find the odd one out: |
|
|
|
a) rich people |
aristocracy |
millionaires |
white-collar workers |
b) profession |
occupation |
organization |
vocation |
c) property |
prosperity |
stocks |
shares |
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d) manual |
professional |
blue-collar |
the unemployed |
workers |
people |
workers |
|
Text Analysis
1.Find at least five words and phrases in the text connected with the idea… a) of being famous and rich people;
b) of being a member of the aristocracy;
c) of being a representative of a middle-class;
2.Prove the following ideas using the text;
a)Land aristocracy has obtained its wealth exclusively through inheritance;
b)It is impossible to establish a society in which there are now unprivileged classes and there are certain functions that cannot be provided by the poor;
Discussion
Answer the following questions:
1) In every society people are divided into different social groups. What can you say about such division in the UK?
2) How can you describe the Royal family and the members of aristocracy? 3) How many millionaires are there in the UK?
4) What two main categories according to the occupation do you know? 5) What groups within the working class do you know?
III.WORK. PROFESSION
6. From Dusk Till Dawn
They are awake and on duty while the city is asleep, watching out for us, entertaining us, taking us places or making sure we know what went on during the night when we wake up and turn on our TVs. Four night shift workers talk about their jobs.
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Alan Shaw, 36 Air Traffic Controller, Heathrow Airport
"I work a basic 35-hour week on the ATC Tower. My main responsibility is to make sure that planes landing at and taking off from Heathrow do so with safety and without delays. I also keep pilots informed about changes in weather conditions that can cause the pilot to lose control of the aircraft.
I work the night shift because I prefer it. The airport is quieter and I can get to and from work with ease. I have to make sure that I sleep properly during the day, because there's no room for errors here. You need total concentration to be sure that all pilots get the correct instructions. The stress of being responsible for the safety of several aircrafts and their passengers can be quite exhausting; you simply can’t do it if you are not 100 %."
Helen Aldridge, 38 TV Newscaster
"I front four news summaries every night and I also present the Morning News programme at 5.30 am. My pattern is 7 nights on, than seven days off, which is like having short holidays every other week, so I like that. A car picks me up at 9.30 in the evening. At work I write news summaries and present them. At 7 o'clock in the morning I go home, have breakfast and go to bed at 9. Family life is affected, of course. I often have to go without seeing my husband for a whole week, but I miss him so much that it makes me love him even more!"
Stephen Lai, 42 Ambulance Driver
"I have been working the night shift as an ambulance driver for eleven years now. Being an ambulance driver is like being a police officer: 95% boredom, 5% terror. When you work the night shift you sleep in a hospital room waiting for the phone to ring, then listen to the directions and bolt to the ambulance, hoping that you got the address right. I get into work at 11 pm and I finish it at 7 in the morning, unless a last minute call makes me late. One of the best things about the job is that I'm always on duty with one of the other guys. Nasty incidents are much easier to stomach when you are with someone. It took me several years to get used to working nights, but now I wouldn't go back to day shifts."
Kenny Walters, 26 Taxi Driver
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