Text 3 One Who Understands

When Matt Kelley was growing up in the United States, he often thought to himself, "Who am I!?" Of course, there is nothing unusual about it, most teenagers ask the same question from time to time. But Matt's problem was special. When he saw his schoolmates, he didn't see anyone who looked like him. There were white kids and black kids, Asian kids and Hispanic kids, but none like him. When Matt came home and watched TV or read a magazine, he still didn't see anyone who was quite like him.

Matt Kelley was a multiracial teen, his dad was white and his mum was a Korean. He felt he didn't fit with white kids because of his Asian blood and he didn't fit with Asians because he was half-white. This made him feel worried and confused and he often wondered if he was the only teenager in the world with this problem.

When Matt entered the university, he met other young multiracial people and he began to talk with them about the problem they had in common. Soon he learned that there were a lot of multiracial people in the U.S. and that they didn't really have a place to discuss their problems.

So, in 1998, when Matt was only 19, he founded MAVIN. MAVIN, which means "one who understands" in Hebrew, is a magazine for young multiracial people who want to read about other people of mixed race and their experiences. It publishes articles about the same problems that affect multiracial teens and invites the readers to write their own stories for publication in the magazine.

In a recent survey, when a group of American teens were asked if they ever dated someone of a different race or ethnic background, 60% said "yes". This and the popularity of multiracial celebrities like Tiger Woods, Lenny Kravitz and Mariah Carey made people reconsider the old concepts of race. "Multiracial means disregarding old models", explained Matt Kelly. "It means there are no boundaries to race. We can be comfortable being whatever we want to be".

Today, in addition to editing his magazine, Matt is a president of the MAVIN foundation, an organization that gives support to multiracial teens and their families. He is truly one who understands.

Notes:

Fit - подходить, соответствовать

Blood - кровь

Feel worried - чувствовать беспокойство

Confused - находящийся в замешательстве

Wonder - интересоваться

In common - общий

Experience - случай, опыт

Affect - влиять

Survey - статья, обзор

Date - встречаться; свидание

Background - слой

Celebrity - знаменитость Disregarding - переосмысливание Boundary - ограничение

I n addition to - в добавок к

Support - поддержка

Truly - на самом деле

Exercise 7. Complete the sentences, using information from the text.

1. Matt's problem was that...

2. Matt discovered that there were a lot of multiracial people when...

3. Matt's magazine MAVIN is for...

4. The magazine articles are about...

5. The ΜAVIN foundation is an organization which...

Exercise 8. Find the information in the text.

1. What kinds of kids did Matt go to school with?

2. Why is Matt described as multiracial?

3. What are MAVIN readers encouraged to do?

Exercise 9. Suppose the situations. Say what would happen if...

1. If Matt weren't multiracial...

2. If there were some other multiracial kids in his school ...

3. If he didn't worry about his multiracial origin ...

4. If he failed to found MAVIN ...

5. If Matt lived in Russia ...

6. If he were the only teen in the world with such a problem ...

Time for fun. Read and complete the short text.

A Boy or a Girl?

In western countries a lot of boys and girls have the same hairdos and many of them wear similar clothes. So it is often difficult to tell whether they are boys or girls. On day an old gentlemen went for a walk in the park in New York. He saw a teenager standing near the pond and feeding ducks.

"Oh, my God", said the gentlemen to the person near him. "Do you see that teen over there, in trousers and long hair? Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A girl", replied the person. "She is my daughter".

"Oh!" the old gentlemen answered quickly. "I didn't know that you were her mother!"

Notes: hairdo - прическа, similar - похожий, pond - пруд.

Exercise 10. Read the text, fill in the gaps and answer the questions below.

Solomon Decision

Once upon a time 2 women argued about a small baby, whose he was. The first woman said he was her child, another replied that hers. At last they asked the judge to help them. The judge drew a circle, put the kid into it and told the women to pull him That who wins will be his true mother. The women started pulling the baby. Suddenly the second ...

'That is his real mother!" - said the judge, "You may take him!" Questions:

1 .Why do you think the judge gave the baby to the second woman? 2.Was she really his mother?

Notes: judge - судья, decision- решение, to pull - тянуть

Street children

Words and phrases:

Orphan - сирота

civil war - гражданская война

victim - жертва

famine - голод

poverty - бедность

rubbish - мусор, отходы, отбросы

odd jobs - разовые работы

beat - бить

slavery - рабство

turn to - обратиться за

imprison - заключать в тюрьму

tidy up - чистить, убирать

There are 100 million young people around the world who call the street their home. And their number is raising by the hundreds of thousands each year. In Africa there are orphans of civil war and victims of famine. In Latin America and Asia they are victims of poverty, in the Western world they are the run-aways.

Street children have to look after themselves, living off rubbish, trying to earn money by odd jobs. The two most difficult cities in the world right now are Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Bangkok in Thailand. Many of the street children are beaten, raped and sold for slavery. They can not turn to the police for help because the police often does the same things to them. In some Latin American countries children are imprisoned or killed just to tidy up the streets for important foreign visitors.

Questions for discussion.

1. How many street children do you think there are in Russia?

1. Do you think street children is an economical, political, social or cultural problem? Why?