Read the article and follow its recommendations.

 

DO SOMETHING NOW

 

Did you realize that once you've passed the age of twenty, you start to die? Of course, it takes fifty years or so in most cases, but it's not some­thing you want to hurry, is it? Once past twenty, your body begins to wear out, very slowly. Or not slowly, depending on the way you treat it.

But you can slow the march of time to stay young longer and enjoy an active and healthy life for as many of those years as possible. And you cannot begin too soon. Teenagers find it difficult — if not impossible — to imagine becoming middle-aged, let alone old. Young people are naturally fit, but unless you get into the habit of taking regular exercise and condi­tioning yourself to do so, you will find it more and nore difficult as you get older.

So what are you going to do about it? First, I must emphasize that any­thing I write from now on applies only to people in normal health and with no medical problems.

For a start, check your weight. Jump up and down in front of a mirrow. If everythinf wobbles, you are overweight; if some of it wobbles, you're still overweight. So watch your diet and burn off the excess with a fitness programme which will prolong youth and life.

The easiest way to reach and maintain fitness is through sport. It's fun and it has social and psychological advantages. But if sport holds no ap­peal, you'll have to do it hard way — and it will require will-power. Not at the start, but in order to keep going when the novelty wears off.

It is vital to progress slowly. First, jog as far as you can. Then do some simple form of exercise — sit ups or press ups will do — for so long as you can. Set no targets. Simply discover your starting point. If you repeat your exrcise daily, you will automatically make progress. What is unbear­able the first few sessions will gradually become within your scope.

How can you tell you are fit? When you can run three miles without getting exhausted.

Work out your own programm of longevity. What will it include?

3. Give English equivalents for:

Долгожитель; менять привычки; долголетие; среда; генетик; про­длить жизнь; генетическая информация; приобретать; социальная адаптация; отличительная черта; положительное воздействие.

4. Fill in the gaps with the words and expressions from the texts:

1. The scientists today … not only … but study entire populations.

2. … deserves special attention and can prove to be one of the main reasons for …

3. Gerontophile atmosphere undoubtedly has … on the tonus and... among the elderly and … their interest in life and longevity as a whole.

4. A higher … is peculiar not only to people, but also to animals and plants.

5. The female organism is more …, and can adapt to the changing … better.

6. Because of their greater …, men develop more often such diseases as heart attacks, cancer, and …

 

Longevity; vulnerability; examine; mortality rate; optimistic mood; environment; individual centenarians; mental diseases; a favourable effect; a psychic health factor; flexible; maintains;

 

5. Discuss the following questions:

1. Do you think young people are growing up faster these days? If so, give examples.

2. At which age would you most like to stop the world for ten years so you could enjoy it? Has that age passed or is it still to come?

3. Do you agree or partly agree with the saying «Life begins at forty»?

4. Some people say there are similarities between childhood and old age. Do you agree?

5. Do you know the problems of elderly people? What are they? How can society help them?

6. What do you think about old people’s home? Are there any in our country? Do elderly people want to live in them? Why?

6. Develop the following situations making up dialogues:

1. You are interviewing a centenarian. What possible questions can you ask him? What would be his answers?

2. You are a gerontologist. Tell the students about the problems you are dealing with. The students ask you questions.

3. Make up a dialogue between a psychiatrist and a middle aged man who is worried about his age and getting old.

7. Solve the problem:

You are a counseling psychologist. You have to answer the following letter:

Ever since my wife died three years ago, I’ve been living with my son and his wife and their two children. They live in a three-bedroom apart­ment building three blocks from here. We’ve always gotten along well be­fore now; they’ve given me a room and meals, and I’ve given them some of my Social Security check each month. But last night we had a big argu­ment. My daughter-in-law said it was getting to hard to take care of me, and they were going to put me in a nursing home. My son agreed with her and said he was going to make arrangement alone. I don’t have any friends. And I’ll kill myself before I’ll let them take me to a nursing home.

8. Translate into English:

Уход на пенсию и пожилой возраст редко сопровождается испол­нением жизненной мечты. Казалось бы, у пожилых людей появилось время для исполнения всего, о чем они раньше мечтали, но перед ни­ми встают другие проблемы, которые не дают им быть полностью счастливыми. За исключением особых случаев наступление старости достаточно устрашает. Никто не хочет быть старым.

Пожилые люди говорят, что уже стоит жить, если вы здоровы, достаточно сильны и любимы своими родственниками.

К сожалению, многие пожилые люди одиноки, а некоторые — да­же остаются без крова. Они живут на улицах, под мостами, на же­лезнодорожных и автобусных станциях, часто выпрашивают деньги или еду. Кто-то из них никогда не имел семьи, а кого-то выставили из дома родные дети, как будто они были в тягость. Некоторых отправ­ляют в специальные дома престарелых на попече­ние социальных служб, и хотя у пожилых людей есть хороший меди­цинский уход и общение, они все равно чувствуют себя одинокими и покинутыми близкими родственниками. Тот же, кто живет дома, большую часть времени проводит сидя у окошка, глядя на природу и жизнь других людей, проходящих мимо.

9. Speak on the following topics:

1. Is it worth to live long or elderly people's problems.

2. What is the secret of long life?

 

 

Unit 5

 

ON LOVE

 

Learn these words:

 

integrity	целостность/честность	communion	сходство
unfolding	раскрытие	inflate	раздувать
transcend	превосходить/превышать	realm	сфера/область
grasp	понимание	craftsmanship	мастерство
alienated	отчужденный	selfishness	эгоизм
greedy	жадный	genuine	искренний
extinguish	уничтожать	sanity	здравый смысл
background	окружение	passion	страсть
support	поддержка	obligations	обязательства

 

Text A

 

Pre-text activity 1:

1. What do you think love is? Why is it so important to be loved? Is it more important to love or to be loved? Why?

2. What can you compare love with?

3. How do you understand this quotation: «Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.» (Alfred Lord Tennyson). Do you agree with the statement?

1. Read and translate the text:

 

WHY LOVE?

 

There is only one passion which satisfies man's need to unite himself with the world, and to acquire at the same time a sense of integrity and in­dividuality, and this is love. Love is union with somebody or something outside oneself, under the condition of retaining the separateness and in­tegrity of one's own self. It is an experience of sharing, of communion, which permits the full unfolding of one's own inner activity. The experi­ence of love does away with the necessity of illusions. There is no need to inflate the image of the other person, or of myself, since the reality of ac­tive sharing and loving permits me to transcend my individualized exis­tence, and at the same time to experience myself as the bearer of the active powers which constitute the act of loving. What matters is the particular quality of loving, not the object.

Love is one aspect of what I have called the productive orientation: the active and creative relatedness of man to his fellow man, to himself and to nature. In the realm of thought, this productive orientation is expressed in the proper grasp of the world by reason. In the realm of action the produc­tive orientation is expressed in productive work, the prototype of which is art and craftsmanship. In the realm of feeling the productive orientation is expressed in love, which is the experience of union with another person, with all men, and with nature under the condition of retaining one's sense of integrity and independence. In the experience, of love the paradox hap­pens that two people become one, and remain two at the same time. Love in this sense is never restricted to one person. If I can love only one person, and nobody else, if my love for one person makes me more alienated and distant from my fellow man, I may be attached to this person in any num­ber of ways, yet I do not love. If I can say, «I love you, » I say, «I love in you all of humanity, all that is alive; I love in you also myself.» Self-love, in this sense is the opposite of selfishness. The latter is actually a greedy concern with oneself which springs from and compensates for the lack of genuine love for oneself. Love, paradoxically, makes me more independent because it makes me stronger and happier — yet it makes me one with the loved person to the extent that individuality seems to be extinguished for the moment. In loving I experience «I am you», you — the loved person, you — the stranger, you — everything alive. In the experience of love lies the only answer to being human lies sanity.

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