In pairs discuss the following statements:

1. “Each of mediums has their own strengths and imitations”

2. “Every time a new medium emerges, the older media try to adapt to the new challenge”

Use the following expressions:

• It looks like… because…

• It seems to me that it’s… because…

• I don’t think that ….

• Judging by the fact that … I guess that…

• I consider this comes from…

WRITING

Write a short essay about your favourite medium of communication. Compare it to other mass media.

Unit IV. Tv and its Audience

READING

A. Pre-reading task. Answer the questions and do the following quiz to find out whether you are a “TV addict” or not. Use the Active Vocabulary.

1. Are you addicted to the television?

2. Do you spend hours in front of it watching programme after programme? Or do you find other ways to pass your time?

starve голодать

kick off your shoes сбрасывать обувь

remote control пульт дистанционного управления

zap переключать программы (на пульте телевизора)

bungee-jumping прыжки с канатом (с моста)

relevant уместный

bound обязывать

Quiz

1. How many hours of television do you watch a day?

1. 1 hour or less

2. 2 hours

3. Something between 2 and 15 hours

2. What’s your idea of a romantic night?

1. The theatre and a candlelit dinner

2. A night on the sofa watching my favourite programmes

3. Dancing all night in a disco

3. If there were a fire in your house, what would you save first?

1. My family and pets

2. Jewelry, money and expensive furniture

3. The television and my video collection

4. What’s the first thing you do when you get home?

1. Prepare some food – I’m usually starving

2. Do some exercise, eat then get ready to go out

3. Kick my shoes off, lie down on the sofa, pick up the remote control and start zapping

5. It’s sunny outside and you don’t have to go to university (work).

1. Turn on the television and see what’s on

2. Get my bicycle and go for a ride

3. Go to the park and meet friends

6. You would like to do something different from the sort of things you normally do, you

1. Do a new sport such as bungee-jumping

2. Subscribe to a new satellite/cable channel

3. Go to the nearest travel agency and buy two tickets to a faraway country

7. What’s the best way to educate a child?

1. Put them in front of the television for 12 hours a day

2. Fill their free time with lots of different activities

3. Buy them some books and tell them to get reading

8. What are your favourite topics of conversation?

1. Politics and religion

2. I don’t really have any favourites – I just see where the conversation is going and try to say something interesting and relevant

3. The things that have happened in the previous episode of my favourite television series or soap opera

9. How would you react if you had no television for a week?

1. I’d pull out all my hair, bang my head repeatedly against the wall and try to jump off a bridge

2. I’d go to sleep

3. I probably wouldn’t notice the difference

10. It’s late at night and you’re watching TV but there’s nothing good on. What do you do?

1. Turn the TV off and go to sleep

2. Sit down and wait – there’s bound to be something good on soon

3. Get a book – that’s much better than watching the “rubbish” they put on these days

11. What’s your idea of the perfect dinner?

1. Lots of friends, great food and a lively conversation

2. A pizza, a bucket of ice-cream and my best friend to talk to

3. Alone on the sofa with a bag of crisps and the TV

12. What’s your opinion of television and how do you think it can affect our lives?

1. It can teach us how to deal with problems and communicate with others. It can also act as a great substitute for a real life

2. We should never let television influence or dominate our lives in any way

3. It can lead to an increase in violence and the use of bad language

Quiz score

1. a.1 b.2 c.3

2. a.1 b.2 c.3

3. a.2 b.1 c.3

4. a.2 b.1 c.3

5. a.3 b.2 c.1

6. a.1 b.3 c.2

7. a.3 b.2 c.1

8. a.1 b.2c.3

9. a.3 b.2 c.1

10. a.1 b.3 c.2

11. a.1 b.2 c.3

12. a.3 d.2 c.1

Quiz analysis

1-12: Television has very little importance for you. You seem to know how to fill your time constructively

13-24: You like watching the television now and then but you seem to have your “addiction” under control

25-36: You are completely addicted to the television.

B. Read the text and translate it into Russian using the Active Vocabulary.

astound поражать, изумлять

perplex сбить с толку, озадачить, приводить в недоумение

currently в настоящее время

tablet планшет

debate дебаты, дискуссия

pundit эксперт, ученый

foresee предвидеть, предсказать

efficient эффективный

precipitate провоцировать, торопить

high-quality высококачественный

low-cost малозатратный, недорогой

diverse разнообразный

opt for делать выбор в пользу, выбирать

blend сочетать

enable способствовать, давать возможность

cater for предназначаться, обеспечивать

via с помощью, посредством

documentary документальный фильм

social network социальная сеть

justification оправдание

occasionally иногда, время от времени

reinforce усилить, укрепить

proliferation распространение

penetration проникновение

Instant Messaging (IM) мгновенный обмен сообщениями

digital цифровой

Six billion hours. That’s in a quiet month. The amount of the UK devotes to television continues to astound and perplex.

About 54.2 million people watch TV in a given week, according to measured consumption data. This is equivalent to a reach of about 95 per cent of the population aged 4+. On a typical evening in the UK, at about 9pm, some 27 million people are watching television. If we add an estimate of TV viewing which is not currently measure, that is viewing on computers, tablets, smartphones and etc., the total TV viewing in the UK is equivalent to all the time spent on all social networks worldwide – some 6.5 billion hours. So, why do we watch TV so much?

Exactly why television occupies so much of our collective time has been the subject of much debate for decades. Many pundits have foreseen an imminent plummet in TV viewing. The arrival of new, more efficient ways of watching TV, and perceived falling standards of programming, are among the factors to precipitate a fall in TV viewing. But pundits can be fallible: TV viewing volumes have remained stable.

One of the reasons why people watch TV in the quantities is they do it because TV provides a daily stream of high-quality but low-cost content which is diverse and popular, engaging and relaxing. It is also entertaining and informative that viewers are willing to come back for more. Television’s huge reach enables its production costs to be shared across millions of viewers. When presented with a choice we tend to opt for higher quality outputs – hence the marked preference for professional TV productions over user-generated content. We also opt for lower prices. Television blends high production values with competitive pricing.

Television is a key enabler of another fundamental human need – being social. Not all of us watch TV purely out of choice. For some a motivation for watching TV is to fill time. Television offers an increasingly wide variety of genres and programmes catering for our diverse spectrum of tastes, stratified by an even richer blend of nationalities and social classes. A small proportion of UK population claims not to have a TV set, but for the other 98 per cent, television addresses a need.

What people want from TV is as varied as our population. For some viewers, TV’s primary role is to inform, via documentaries and the news. But the majority of us look to TV as a primary way to relax.

Humans are a highly social breed. Many of us struggle without regular dosage of social activity. And in this sense TV is the original social network since it provides the motivation to gather with partners, friends, families, and occasionally thousands of strangers. Thus we use TV not just for the content, but also as a justification for being with others. Television’s ability to gather families is particularly noted by younger age groups: two-thirds of 16-18 year olds agreed “strongly” or “slightly” with the statement “Watching TV is a good way of bringing the family together”.

The social nature of TV is reinforced by the tendency for TV viewing to be greater when programmes are watched with others. The preference for watching TV collectively is strongest among the youngest age groups. The proliferation of social networks and penetration of Instant Messaging (IM), email and other forms of digital communication, add to the social nature of TV, through enabling discussion of what’s watched across multiple households anywhere in the world.

The 55+ represent a third of the UK population aged over 16; older generations tend to watch the most television. Unemployment levels may also be the influence.

Television is what we want it to be, as it enables each of us to mold our personal viewing habits. But the core attractions are common to most of us: entertainment, relaxation and a means to be social.

С. Discussion. Answer the following questions:

1. Why do people watch so much TV? Do you agree with the author and his reasons for TV viewing?

2. What age groups watch TV in the UK most of all? Is situation the same in our country?

3. Why do pundits predict a fall in TV viewing? Do you share their opinion?

4. What key factors influence TV viewing?

5. Why do people prefer watching professional TV productions?

6. How does TV enable our need to be social?

7. Why is TV so varied?

8. Can TV really “unite” people?

9. Can the audience control the TV content?

10. What would you as a part of audience change in modern TV viewing?

D. Retelling. Now retell the text using the words from the Active Vocabulary list.

WORD STUDY

A. Check the pronunciation in the dictionary and mark the stressed syllable in the following words:

measure, equivalent, pundit, plummet, efficient, diverse, occasionally, slightly

B. Translate the following words and word combinations into Russian:

1. consumption data

2. imminent plummet

3. to remain stable

4. production cost

5. user-generated content

6. competitive pricing

7. human need

8. to address a need

9. unemployment level

10. personal viewing habits

C. Match the words which are close in their meaning:

engaging equivalent blend efficient perplex

effective combine appealing confuse corresponding

D. Match the words having the opposite meaning:

quiet continue typical stable relaxing

changing stop loud tense unusual

GRAMMAR STUDY