Vocabulary

disrupt – срывать (урок)

permissive nature – вседозволенность

offspring – дети

punishment – наказание

selfish – эгоистический

enjoyment – удовольствие, наслаждение

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

1. What problems do teachers face in some secondary schools in Britain?

2. What is the reason of the children’s bad behavior?

3. What does Mr.A. Buckingham suggest to do?

13. The history of money

Can you imagine the world without money? It is quite impossible. Money, they say, makes the world go round. Why is it so? Well, think of all the situations in which you have to pay for the things you buy – like food, clothes, medicine, newspapers, or for the services you get, like a new hairstyle or car repairs.

Think of the entertainments you have to pay for – tickets to the concerts, sports matches, favorite books, CDs and holidays. You can have it all if you have got the money.

Money has played an important role in every civilization. It has taken various forms and has changed many times over the centuries. The first form of payment was the exchange of goods. People usually exchanged animal skins and meat, fruit and vegetables, cloth and precious stones. In ancient Egypt they used metal bars which were cut into smaller parts if necessary. In the 7^th century B.C. the first coins appeared. They were usually made of silver or gold and their value depended on the amount of metal in each coin. With time coins became very popular and many countries began to produce their own currency.

The introduction of paper money – banknotes – in the seventeenth century was the beginning of banking system in many European countries. Since then, banks have offered a wide range of services like credits, loans, chequing and savings accounts, etc.

Today, people pay for things in many different ways: they pay in cash, by cheque, or by credit card. The last one it seems is the most convenient form of payment. Many people believe that one day money in the form of coins, banknotes, cheques and magnetic cards will totally disappear and that all buying and selling will be done via the Internet.

Vocabulary

hairstyle – зд. прическа

currency – валюта

in cash – наличными

via – через, посредством

ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

1. Why is money so essential for our everyday life? Prove it.

2. What was the first form of payment?

3. When did the first coins appear?

4. What was the beginning of banking system?

5. How will we buy and sell things in future?

14. Is england a really safe place?

How would you feel if a bureaucrat told you that you were not allowed to have a party with fireworks, because it was dangerous? Would you feel if you organized another party with pies and a bureaucrat told you that you were not allowed to feed your guests with them until you had filled out a report on the “risks” of poisoning from these pies? Well both these incidents are real examples of “Health and Safety” rules in England today. Some people think the state is like a “nanny”.

The phrase “Health and Safety” means a lot to an English person. Most of all it means lots of rules and regulations to keep people safe and prevent accidents. There is a powerful government organization called “The Health and Safety Executive”. More and more people feel that some of the rules are just ridiculous.

This was shown recently by the two examples we started with. Organizers of a party were told they had to write a report on the “risk” of their pies. If they don’t do this, they would not be given permission to have the party. Local bureaucrats told the organizers to put up about nut content of the pies; they had to check the temperature of the hot chocolate before serving it, and many other things. The reasons for this were to protect public safety: a guest might burn himself with the hot chocolate, or have a nut allergy. This happened just before last Christmas. The organizer said: “For a small village in Yorkshire it is like a joke really. I’m surprised they didn’t want us to do a criminal records check for Father Christmas”.

On the other hand, there are examples that show that England is not a very safe place at all. While bureaucrats worry about the temperature of hot chocolate, some statistics show that cold weather is a big problem. Last winter in England there was some cold weather, but the average temperature was plus four degrees centigrade. 23000 pensioners died in England and Wales from cold. Why?! Some pensioners do not have enough money to heat their houses. Others do not have winter cloths. Most of the deaths were because of flu, heart attacks and strokes caused by cold. By comparison, in Russian Yakutsk, the coldest city in the world, there are no “cold-related” winter deaths.