Discuss the major problems facing American teenagers.

Speak on the measures the government should take to help troubled youths in you country.

5. Write a short report or conduct a survey of youth's problems in your country.

Unit 7. LEISURE AND ACTIVITIES

1 .Read the text and answer the following questions:

1. What kind of student activities do students participate in?

2. What are die favorite sports of American youths?

3. What is die favorite music of teenagers?

4. Are America's young people hardworking?

5. What kind of jobs do teens take?

6. What kind of organizations arc popular with teenagers?

Schools provide American students with much more than academic education. Students learn about the world through various school-related activities. More than 80 percent of all students participate in student activities, such as sports, student newspapers, drama clubs, debate teams, choral groups and bands.

What are the favorite sports of American young people? According to the survey "The Mood of American Youth." they prefer football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, tennis, soccer, boxing, hockey, track and golf.

During their leisure time, students spend much time watching television. They also listen to music on the radio and tape players. The average American teenager listens to music on the radio about three horns every day. Without a doubt, rock-and- roll music is the favorite of teenagers in the United States.

America's young people are mostly hardworking. Many have after-school jobs. One poll indicated that nine out of 10 teenagers polled said they either had a job or would like one.

Child labor laws set restrictions on the types of work that youths under 16 years old can do. Many youth work part-time on weekends or after school at fast-food restaurants, babysit for neighbors, hold delivery jobs or work in stores.

Many youths are involved in community service organizations. Some are active in church and religious-group activities. Others belong to youth groups such as Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts. About three million girls aged six to 17 years old belong to Girl Scouts, for example. They learn about citizenship, crafts, arts, camping arid other outdoor activities.

Thousands of young people volunteer to help take care of the elderly, the handicapped and hospital patients. Many help clean up die natural environment.

Prove the fact than American young people are involved in different organizations and activities.

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

TEXT I. Administrative System of the States

Government in the United States can be divided into levels and brunches. The different levels of the government consist of the federal government, 50 state governments, and countless local and regional governments. In the Constitution, different responsibilities are given to each level of government. The federal government is responsible for foreign policy, foreign trade, the infrastructure (the system of railroads and interstate highways that criss-cross the United States), and federal governmental spending on social programs. In contrast, the states have their own state government and control their state educational systems, their police forces, and state taxes. The federal government and other states cannot interfere in state concerns, like education and taxation, but the state must follow all federal laws. Local governments are given power over spending in local schools (with the help of state governments), and provide public services for their communities (cleaning streets, garbage collection, etc.). In this way, everybody's needs are served by one of the levels of government.

As with the federal level of government, the state level of government is divided into the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The executive branch is headed by the governor of each state. Therefore, there are 50 state governors in the United States. The responsibility of these officials is to execute the laws, that is, to make sure that every citizen follows the law. This job is not easy, and many governors have cabinets of secretaries, who advise these officials on the laws and help implement them. The laws themselves, though, are made by the legislative branch, which consists of 50 state congresses. In all but the state of Nebraska, these congresses are broken up into the House of Representatives and the Senate (Nebraska only has one "Congress"). Each state has a State Supreme Court that can decide legal matters within the state. There are also lower courts, both federal and state, that hold trials and decide if the defendant (the person accused of a crime) is guilty or innocent. Therefore, because of these divisions, the different parts of these governments are able to do the difficult job of governing the United States.

Discussion Questions

1. What was the Articles of Confederation and its faults?

2. What is it meant by a system of "checks and balances"?

3. What is the most important part of the Constitution?

4. Why is the Constitution called a "living" document?

5. How is the structure of the state government similar to that of the federal government?

For each level of government (federal, state, and local) please list three things for which it is responsible.

 

TEXT II. United States Political Parties

There are two major political parties in the United States, the Democratic party and the Republican party. These two parties win the offices of most governmental positions in local, state, and national offices, but sometimes socialist parties or other small parties win in state or local elections. Most people belong to the Democratic or Republican parties, though. Membership in these parties is not difficult to obtain; a citizen needs only to declare that s/he is a member of one of the parties when s/he votes. People can also choose not to be a member of either party.

The Democratic party is often associated with labor and a strong central government with many social programs. The Republican party likes a smaller central government and usually supports business and industry. The Republicans believe that local and state governments should be more involved in helping people than the federal government. Democrats, however, say that many states cannot help people as well as the national government. These smaller governments do not have enough money or power to do so. With these differences, people in cities and workers often vote lor the Democrats, while richer Americans and business leaders vote more often for Republicans.

In government, political parties are important, but have less power than in other countries. Although most candidates for political office are Republican or Democrat, they are mainly elected to a governmental office because they represent their "constituencies," or people who live in the area that they represent. In other words, politicians are not obliged to follow the beliefs of their political party at all times, and they will often respond to the needs and desires of the voters of their region rather than to those of any political party. Therefore, many times one Republican senator will oppose a bill proposed by another Republican senator because his constituency does not like it. Many voters also will vote for both Republicans and Democrats in an election, choosing the candidates they feel will best respond to their needs.

Voters are not the only influence on politicians, though. They are also influenced by special interest groups. These are groups that lobby politicians to make laws that will help the causes and ideas they represent. These causes can be anything: animal rights, gun-control laws, environmental protections, religious rights, etc. These groups often contribute money to politicians that help them. Many voters feel that special interest groups, and their large amounts of money, influence politicians more than voters do. For this reason, some Americans believe that special interest groups are unfair and undemocratic, leading many politicians to ignore the needs of their constituencies. In fact, there are laws controlling the amount of money that a politician can accept from a special interest group, but many politicians still depend on this money as a campaign contribution. Running for political office in the United States is very expensive because of the cost of television and newspaper advertisements, and politicians need this money to win an election. So, the special interest group argument is one that no side can effectively win; both voters and politicians are affected by the work of these groups.

If you were a politician running for office, what party (Democrat, Republican, Liberal, etc.) and special interest group (environment protection, minority rights, etc.) would you represent?

Vocabulary List

to draft - планувати

checks and balances – контроль і рівновага

entity – сутність, icтотa

amendment - поправка

to guarantee – гарантувати

grievance – скарга

abuse – зловживання

levy  – збирати

court of appeal – апеляційний суд

impeachment – звинувачення у державній зраді

trial – судова справа

plaintiff – позивач

lo implement - виконувати

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