Pre-reading questions

Translate the following words and word combinations into Russian. Divide them into several groups according to their meaning and make several short talks based on espionage.

1) a former diplomat; 2) steamy spy thrillers; 3) to go on trial for treason; 4) to drag on (a scandal) for many years; 5) the long-awaited trial; 6) the British intelligence service; 7) allegedly; 8) controller; 9) a former Soviet deputy foreign minister and senior disarmament negotiator; 10) to prompt the worst spy row between…; 11) to declare (dissidents) insane; 12) to concede; 13) to evade the maximum punishment; 14) to be well enough to stand trial; 15) footage; 16) to confess to one’s alleged crimes; 17) odd socks; 18) surveillance cameras; 19) a sophisticated radio device; 20) espionage potboilers, brimming with sex and violence; 21) to perish; 22) scoundrels; 23) to fake one’s madness.

Article 4

· Do you think Moscow can be called a ‘violent city’? Give your reasons.

· What are the most ‘usual’ crimes that people commit in Moscow?

· Compared with other Russian and foreign cities, is Moscow more or less ‘violent’?

Read the following article about Rio de Janeiro and say if you see any common traits between this city and Moscow. Where do you think the situation is worse? What is being done by the authorities in Brasil and in Moscow? Do you think the measures are effective?

What ails Rio de Janeiro?

The fight against drug-fuelled violent crime in Brazil's picture-postcard city has national implications

A bomb explodes outside a posh hotel in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro's best­known stretch of beach-front. A bus is set alight in nearby Botafogo, killing one per­son and injuring a dozen others. Gang warfare halts traffic on the city's main mo­torways. On the eve of a presidential elec­tion in October, threats and bomb attacks shut down shops and businesses in Copa­cabana and Ipanema. Cariocas, as the citi­zens of Rio are known, are used to living in one of the world's more violent cities, but the recent spate of terrorist-style attacks on Rio's richer quarters is something new.

It has served to highlight Brazil's en­demic and multi-faceted problem of viol­ent crime, which ranks with poverty and poor education as one of the three main development challenges facing Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil's new left-wing presi­dent. His government sees the Rio out­break as an expression of a social problem, which hurts poor Brazilians more than rich ones and is rooted in the disparities be­tween them. His law-enforcement team is eager to prove that the left can deal effec­tively with an issue that has traditionally been a chief concern of the right.

But in Brazil, it is the states, not the fed­eral government, who are mainly responsible for crime and policing. How well Lula's lawmen work with state politi­cal bosses will determine whether Brazil starts to restore a sense of security to its cit­ies. They face long odds - and nowhere more than in Rio de Janeiro, whose state government has a woeful recent history.

Rio's governor, Rosinha Matheus, a mother of nine, owes her election last year to her husband, Anthony Garotinho, who stood down as governor to stand for presi­dent. On April 28th, amidst speculation that the federal government would inter­vene to take control of Rio's security, she handed that job to her husband, who re­mains the de facto ruler of the state. Nomi­nally now an ally of Lula, Mr Garotinho wants to run against him in 2006. To do so, he must pacify Rio; for him, crime is a po­litical headache more than a social ill.

Rio's crime is not typical of Brazil, and the recent attacks in the city's richer zones are not typical of Rio. Both have much to do with the city's thriving drugs trade and its dramatic topography, with slum-­draped hills rising up from sea-level cres­cents where the rich live. The poor, crowded favelas supplydrugs to adjoining prosperous quarters. To control the trade, one has to control the favela, and to do that requires a teenage army. Today, most of Rio's 800 favelas, which have a total popu­lation of around 1m people, are controlled by one or other of the city's three main traf­ficking mobs. Their rule is enforced by just 5,000-6,000 "armed and active" young­sters, according to Luke Dowdney of Viva Rio, a local NGO.

The drug trade takes the toll of a war. In 1999, 482 people aged 15-17 were shot dead in Rio de Janeiro state - five times as many per head as in California. Most of the kill­ing happens in fights between or within drug gangs or in police raids on favelas. Ac­cording to Glaucio Soares, a professor at IUPERJ, a Rio research institute, 70% of the city's murders are related to drugs, a much higher proportion than in other Brazilian cities. Everywhere though, the vast major­ity of victims of violence are poor. The main threats to middle-class Brazilians are mugging, burglary and car theft, which rarely end in murder.

The attacks now unnerving middle­class cariocas are also drugs-related. They may be a reaction to new restrictions im­posed on jailed gang leaders, such as Fer­nandinho Beira-Mar, who were accus­tomed to managing their operations from prison. Criminals "feel they can use terror as a political tool" to extract concessions from the state, says Luiz Eduardo Soares, the federal secretary of public security.

So far Mr Garotinho has offered ges­tures, ad hoc measures - and some bold promises. He ordered that prisoners be put to work making uniforms for the police as a "humiliation". He says he will unify the state's police forces, which would be im­portant if it happens. But he may be tempted to strike a deal with the drug traffickers, offering tolerance in the prisons in exchange for peace on the streets.

If Mr Garotinho goes for quick fixes, he will clash with the federal government, which has more radical notions of reform. Mr Soares, who is an anthropologist as well as Brazil's top law-enforcement offi­cial, is an unsparing critic of the country's police forces. Many generate "paperwork but not information" and do not know how to measure their own performance. The various agencies are hampered by "fragmentation" and through brutality and corruption alienate the citizens they are supposed to protect.

There is little Mr Soares can do about this directly. Each state has its own civil (detective) force, and its military police, a gendarmerie. He has a budget of 404m reais ($135m) to dole out to states that present plans for police reform. Not much, but some states are so broke that any cash can be a powerful incentive for change. Two, Espirito Santo and Rio Grande do Sul, have already agreed to reforms; Mr Soares hopes that Rio de Janeiro will soon follow.

The government's approach gives pri­ority to prevention, especially of violent crime, and to co-operation with the states. Critics see in this a lack of toughness. Walter Maierovitch, a former drug tsar, scolds the government for making "no at­tempt to alter the constitution to diminish the autonomy of the states." Lula knows, his critics allege, that Brazilian presidents are not normally judged by voters for their record in tackling crime.

That cannot be said of state governors. But which way will politics push Mr and Mrs Garotinho? Mr Soares says that he and Mr Garotinho "share the same vision" of reform. The former governor is probably the only person in the state with the au­thority to bring it about. What is unclear is whether he has the desire or the courage. While governor, Mr Garotinho hired Mr Soares, who embarked on a crusade against police corruption. The governor fired him 16months later.

Find in the article the English for the following words and word combinations and use them in a speech describing any city of the world which interests you:

1) несоответствия между…; 2) накануне чего-л.; 3) ограничения, наложенные на находящихся в тюрьме главарей банд; 4) мать четверых детей; 5) безжалостный критик; 6) уделять чему-либо большое внимание; 7) поставлять наркотики; 8) управлять государством фактически (на самом деле); 9) столкнуться с; 10) нетипичный для…; 11) беспокоить, причинять страдание; 12) неравные шансы; 13) разорённый; 14) хорошо справляться с чем-либо; 15) сильный стимул; 16) потери как на войне; 17) останавливать уличное движение; 18) основная забота «правых»; 19) «левый» президент; 20) чувство безопасности; 21) специально предпринимаемые меры; 22) закрывать магазины; 23) ярко освещать, выдвигать на первый план; 24) наплыв; 25) процветающая наркоторговля; 26) мафия; 27) пристрелить; 28) союзник; 29) выдавать в скудных размерах; 30) характерная для Бразилии, многогранная проблема.

Article 5

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