10. Say it in English.

1. сталкиваться с труднопреодолимыми препятствиями в карьерном

росте

2. поменяться местами

3. взять на себя инициативу

4. возвратиться к традиционной роли по воспитанию детей

5. долгосрочные цели

6. получить повышение в обход кого-то

7. достичь равенства между мужчинами и женщинами

8. женщинам принадлежит ведущая роль в воспитании детей

9. сосредоточить внимание на проблеме личного выбора

10. полностью реализовать свои возможности

Reading

1. Complete the following passage putting a suitable word or expression into

each gap.

Generally speaking, British people invest about the same amount of their identity in their… as people in other parts of northern Europe do. On the one hand, society no longer overtly endorses differences in the public and … roles of men and women, and it is illegal to … on the basis of sex. On the other hand, people still (often unconsciously) expect a fairly large number of differences in everyday behaviour and … roles.

In terms of everyday habits and mannerisms, British society probably expects a sharper difference between the sexes than most other European countries do. For example, it is still far more acceptable for a man to look … and scruffy than it is for a woman; and it is still far more acceptable for a woman to … emotions and be demonstrably … than it is for a man to do so.

As far as roles are concerned, most people … that a fami­ly's financial situation is not just the responsibility of the man. On the other hand, they would still normally comple­ment the woman, not the man … a beautifully decorated or well-kept house. Everyday … of children is still seen as mainly the woman's responsibility. Although almost as many women have jobs as men, nearly half of the jobs done by women are part-time. Men certainly take a more … domestic role than they did forty years ago. Some things, ... , never seem to change. A comparison of child-rearing habits of the 1950s and the 1980s showed that the … of men who never changed a baby's nappy had remained the same (40%).

In general, the sharpest distinction between the expected roles and behaviour of the two sexes is found in the lower and upper classes. The distinction is far less clear among the middle classes, but it is still there.

2. Before you read the article below, try to guess what the dilemma of the

modern woman is. Discuss it with a partner.

Now read the article to see whether you have guessed correctly.

Dilemma for the modern woman

She feels overworked, lonely and unhappy. Her partner is a grave disappointment and she hates the way she looks. Welcome to modern woman. A magazine poll reveals this depressing news. But who needs a poll?

New woman crying in the loo and teetering on the edge of a crisis between business meetings is everywhere.

She has tried therapy, Buddism, acupuncture, yoga, Weight-Watchers and self-defence.

She spends hours of her day trying to fathom why her man - any man - who was meant to be strong, dependable, honest and caring is instead weak, self-obsessed and as often as not an accomplished liar. Alas, her efforts to improve or understand her plight come to nothing.

You can’t alter thousands of years of history. Man used to know what he was for. To fight. To bring home the bacon. His woman kept house, bore his children, did his bidding.

Then, blow me, she changed the rules.

Now she is rampant in the market place. She must not be pawed. She must not be made to cry. She cannot be whistled at or told she has great tits.

She must be taken seriously. Tricky this, since often she is taut, nervous, irritatingly overconscientious. Worrying about work; worrying if everyone likes her.

Privately, and between his mates, he’d describe her as a bit of a moody cow who seems convinced a lot of men only come to the office to be horrid to her.

While he, if he is young and bumptious, is a major achieve­ment. And he’d like to know what’s wrong with sitting on the lavatory with Autocar or a porn magazine? Come to that, why shouldn't he enjoy getting drunk and saying out loud what he could do with Claudia Schiffer?

He is not too worried if the secretary's birthday card gets signed. He is very concerned about making time for his squash and his football team.

Occasionally, he is puzzled why she at home and her in the office seem to have such a low opinion of him.

And there’s the rub.

His mother never put him on her knee and warned him one day he might grow up and fall in love with a woman who was brighter and cleverer than he. One who, unlike his mother, would not find joy in ironing his shirts and doing his washing. And worse, there'd be more women at work with the same indif­ferent attitude to his importance.

Meanwhile, her mother, who probably had no truck with early feminism, only promised that one day her princess would marry a prince.

That the prince has turned into a bit of a frog and the princess doesn’t know how to he part-bimbo, part-business exec­utive, is roughly the size of the joke as we near the end of the century.

(From “The Express”)