Подборка текстов "Reading for Discussion" для 11-го класса к УМК "New Millennium"

Coventry Cathedral is one of the newer cathedrals in the world, having been built following the World War II bombing of the ancient cathedral by the Luftwaffe. Coventry motor companies have contributed significantly to the British motor industry, and it has two universities, the city centre-based Coventry University and the University of Warwick on the southern outskirts.

Unusual Jobs

Unusual jobs can be a way to get out of a rut and make some money. I have worked as a repo-man, a investigative process-server, and even handed out free samples in grocery stores, among many other jobs I've had. Here are some other possibilities.

Wrinkle Chaser

A Wrinkle Chaser is the person that irons wrinkles from shoes as they are being made to ensure they are perfectly smooth when you buy them.

Chicken Sexer

This is a real job title. A chicken sexer sorts through baby chicks to determine if they are male or female, and then segregate them.

Citrus Fruit Colorer

A Citrus Fruit Colorer, with the help of steam and chemicals, gives citrus fruit a more natural coloring, because fruit is usually picked before it is fully ripe.

Celluloid Trimmer

A Celluloid Trimmer shaves down a golf club and then adds celluloid bands onto the golf clubs to make the leather grip stay in place.

Odor Judgers

Odor Judgers get to smell armpits all day to help make deodorants that will work well. I'm not sure why somebody other than some strange fetishist would want this job.

Furniture Tester

Now here's a good one. The La-z-Boy Company (and probably others) employs furniture testers to check out their recliners. Want to relax for a living?

  Psychic ability is demonstrated whenever a person picks up information and knowledge that he or she wouldn't or shouldn't normally know.   The   information comes from a source outside of the person's intellect, and is distinct from learned knowledge and experience. The insights and knowledge derived, comes directly from the universal mind and from other people themselves. It works like mental telepathy where one person can read another's thoughts. Everyone has had that experience more than once in there life, and if they can't recall ever having done so, its because they were not paying attention and didn't recognize it. Just like hearing, feeling, seeing, smelling and tasting, everyone has it. It is our sixth sense. 

  Some signs of psychic ability.

1. The telephone rings and you know who it is.

2. You know what someone is about to say to you before they say the words.

3. You get a hunch or knowing about something and it turns out to be correct.

4. You get a sudden urge to go somewhere or do something, and when you do that thing, and it turns out to be the right thing that you should have done. And you are pleased.

5. You get a sudden urge to go somewhere or do something, and you ignore it or don't do it, and it turns out that you should have. And you regret it.

6. You can understand someone's true inner feelings even though on the outside they are hiding them.

7. You have a feeling that there is a presence or that someone or something behind the scene is helping you.

8. When something happens in your life, either good or not so good, and you suddenly understand a higher purpose behind it.

9. You sometimes hear a soft inner voice tipping you off about things happening in your life or in the life of someone else.

The difference between a psychic, an intuitive, and a medium.

The psychic is one who tunes to a higher source to get information that comes from out side of the intellect. This information comes from the universal mind through ESP (extra sensory perception – see ESP related pages). The intuitive knows things based upon an intellectual capacity that utilizes logic, personal experience and learned knowledge to arrive at certain conclusions about the facts. The medium has the highly developed senses of both , plus the added mental tuning to another realm of knowledge. The medium has is able to connect with the world of deceased souls that are said to be dead, but rather who are in a different reality than those who exist in the physical world.

Current Problems in the Media

The burgeoning problems with the media have been documented in great detail by researchers, academicians and journalists themselves:

High levels of inaccuracies

• Public confidence in the media, already low, continues to slip. A poll by USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup found only 36 percent of Americans believe news organizations get the facts straight, compared with 54 percent in mid-1989.

• According to an in-depth study by the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1999, 23 percent of the public find factual errors in the news stories of their daily paper at least once a week while more than a third of the public – 35 percent – see spelling or grammar mistakes in their newspaper more than once a week.  The study also found that 73 percent of adults in America have become more skeptical about the accuracy of their news.

• The level of inaccuracy noticed is even higher when the public has first-hand knowledge of a news story.  Almost 50 percent of the public reports having had first-hand knowledge of a news event at some time even though they were not personally part of the story.  Of that group, only 51 percent said the facts in the story were reported accurately, with the remainder finding errors ranging from misinterpretations to actual errors.

• When reporters and editors interviewed in the ASNE study were asked why they thought mistakes were being made, 34 percent said the "rush to deadline" was the major factor, one third said it was a combination of being "overworked" and "understaffed,” and the remaining third said it was "inattention, carelessness, inexperience, poor knowledge" and just-plain-bad editing and reporting.

• The Columbia Journalism Review and the nonprofit, nonpartisan research firm Public Agenda polled 125 senior journalists nationwide in 1999 on various questions.  When asked: "Have you ever seriously suspected a colleague of manufacturing a quote or an incident?" a disturbingly high 38 percent answered yes.

Sensationalism

There is tendency for the press to play up and dwell on stories that are sensational – murders, car crashes, kidnappings, sex scandals and the like.

• In a study by the American Society of Newspaper Editors, eighty percent of the American public said they believe "journalists chase sensational stories because they think it will sell papers, not because they think it is important news. "  Another 85 percent of the public believes that "newspapers frequently over-dramatize some news stories just to sell more papers." Over 80 percent believe sensational stories receive lots of news coverage simply because they are exciting, not because they are important.

• 78 percent of the public thinks journalists enjoy reporting on the personal failings of private officials.

Wonder carbon pioneers win Nobel Physics Prize

The Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm announces the winner of the Nobel Physics Prize.

Two Russian-born scientists, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, won the 2010 Nobel Physics Prize Tuesday for pioneering work on graphene, touted as the wonder material of the 21st century.

Both laureates began their careers as physicists in Russia but now work at the University of Manchester in Britain. Geim holds Dutch nationality and Novoselov is both a British and Russian national.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences hailed graphene, a form of carbon isolated only six years ago, for its glittering potential in computers, home gadgets and transport.

It lauded Geim, 51, and Novoselov, 36, for having "shown that carbon in such a flat form has exceptional properties that originate from the remarkable world of quantum physics."

Graphene is a novel form of carbon that comprises a single layer of atoms arranged in a honeycomb-shaped lattice.

Just one atom thick, graphene it is the world's thinnest and strongest nano-material, almost transparent and able to conduct electricity and heat.

As a result, graphene is described as the candidate material to replace silicon semi-conductors.

Graphene transistors would in theory be able to run at faster speeds and cope with higher temperatures than today's classic computer chips.

That would resolve a fast-growing problem facing chip engineers who want to boost power and shrink semiconductor size but without raising temperatures, the bugbear of computing.

Its transparency means it could potentially be used in touch screens and even solar cells, and when mixed with plastics would provide light but super-strong composite materials for next-generation satellites, planes and cars.

The academy said it was "interesting to consider that everyone who has used an ordinary pencil has probably produced graphene-like structures without knowing it."

The Nobel jury acknowledged that most of the practical applications of graphene "exist only in our fantasies, but many are already being tested."

Geim said last year as he accepted an honour at Britain's prestigious Royal Society that the list of uses was "long and (was) yet to be completed."

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda or La Joconde) is a 16th-century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel by Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci during the Renaissance in Florence, Italy. The work is currently owned by the Government of France and is on display at the Musee du Louvre in Paris under the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo.

Leonardo used a pyramid design to place the woman simply and calmly in the space of the painting. Her folded hands form the front corner of the pyramid. Her breast, neck and face glow in the same light that models her hands. The light gives the variety of living surfaces an underlying geometry of spheres and circles. Leonardo referred to a seemingly simple formula for seated female figure: the images of seated Madonna, which were widespread at the time. He effectively modified this formula in order to create the visual impression of distance between the sitter and the observer. The armrest of the chair functions as a dividing element between Mona Lisa and the viewer.

Detail of Lisa's hands, her right hand resting on her left. Leonardo chose this gesture rather than a wedding ring to depict Lisa as a virtuous woman and faithful wife.

The painting was among the first portraits to depict the sitter before an imaginary landscape and Leonardo was one of the first painters to use aerial perspective. The enigmatic woman is portrayed seated in what appears to be an open loggia with dark pillar bases on either side. Behind her a vast landscape recedes to icy mountains. Winding paths and a distant bridge give only the slightest indications of human presence. The sensuous curves of the woman's hair and clothing, created through sfumato, are echoed in the undulating imaginary valleys and rivers behind her. The blurred outlines, graceful figure, dramatic contrasts of light and dark, and overall feeling of calm are characteristic of Leonardo's style. Owing to the expressive synthesis that Leonardo achieved between sitter and landscape it is arguable whether Mona Lisa should be considered as a traditional portrait, for it represents an ideal rather than a real woman. The sense of overall harmony achieved in the painting—especially apparent in the sitter's faint smile—reflects the idea of a link connecting humanity and nature.

Mona Lisa has no visible facial hair—not even eyebrows and eyelashes. Some researchers claim that it was common at this time for genteel women to pluck them out, since they were considered to be unsightly. In 2007, French engineer Pascal Cotte announced that his ultra high resolution scans of the painting provide evidence that Mona Lisa was originally painted with eyelashes and eyebrows, but that these had gradually disappeared over time, perhaps as a result of overcleaning. For modern viewers the missing eyebrows add to the slightly semi-abstract quality of the face.

Capital Punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the killing of a person by judicial process as a punishment for an offense. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from Latin capitalis, literally "regarding the head" (Latin caput). Hence, a capital crime was originally one punished by the severing of the head.

Capital punishment has in the past been practiced in virtually every society, although currently only 58 nations actively practice it, with 95 countries abolishing it (the remainder having not used it for 10 years or allowing it only in exceptional circumstances such as wartime). It is a matter of active controversy in various countries and states, and positions can vary within a single political ideology or cultural region. In the European Union member states, Article 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union prohibits the use of capital punishment.

Today, most countries are considered by Amnesty International as abolitionist. Amnesty International allowed a vote on a nonbinding resolution to the UN to promote the abolition of the death penalty. However, over 60% of the world's population live in countries where executions take place, insofar as the four most populous countries in the world (the People's Republic of China, India, United States and Indonesia) apply the death penalty. All of them voted against the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly in 2008.

Since World War II there has been a trend toward abolishing the death penalty. In 1977, 16 countries were abolitionist. According to information published by Amnesty International in 2010, 95 countries had abolished capital punishment altogether, 9 had done so for all offences except under special circumstances, and 35 had not used it for at least 10 years or were under a moratorium. The other 58 retained the death penalty in active use.

According to Amnesty International, at least 714 executions were known to have been carried out in 18 countries in 2009. In addition, there are countries which do not publish information on the use of capital punishment, most significantly China, which is estimated to execute hundreds of people each year. At least 17,000 people worldwide were under sentence of death at the beginning of 2010.

An alternative lifestyle

An alternative lifestyle is a lifestyle generally perceived to be outside the cultural norm. Usually, but not always, it implies an affinity or identification within some matching subculture (examples include hippies, goths and punks). Some people with alternative lifestyles mix certain elements of various subcultures (i.e.-grunge musicians were often influenced by a mixture of the punk, hippie, and heavy metal subcultures). Not all minority lifestyles are held to be "alternative"; the term tends to imply newer forms of lifestyle, often based upon enlarged freedoms (especially in the sphere of social styles) or a decision to substitute another approach or not enter the usual expected path in most societies.

A Stanford University cooperative house, Synergy, was founded in 1972 with the theme of "exploring alternative lifestyles."

The following are examples which may be considered by some to be alternate lifestyles:

• Living in unusual communities, such as communes, intentional communities or ecovillages
• Lifestyle travellers, hippies, housetruckers, New Age travellers
• Vegetarianism or veganism
• Non-typical sexual lifestyle, such as homosexuality, BDSM, swinging, or polyamory
• Alternative spiritual practices

24 October 2006: Chernobyl in the Ukraine, Linfen in China and Ranipet in India are among the ten most-polluted locations in the world, according to research carried out by the New York-based Blacksmith Institute. The top ten also includes three sites in Russia, one in Peru and one in Zambia. The biggest pollutants were heavy metals and long-lasting chemicals, say the authors of the research study. The World Bank estimates that 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world were in China.

The Blacksmith report describes the world’s ten worst-polluted places as killer communities. Richard Fuller, director of the Blacksmith Institute, said that a key criterion in the selection process was the nature of the pollutant. "The biggest culprits are heavy metals – such as lead, chromium and mercury – and long-lasting chemicals – such as the `Persistent Organic Pollutants' (POPs). That's because a particular concern of all these cases is the accumulating and long lasting burden building up in the environment and in the bodies of the people most directly affected," he explained.

The 10 worst-polluted places in the world are (in alphabetical order):