Text 2. Leisure activities of youth

Read the text and express your opinion about the consequences of youth unemployment.

Additional texts for reading

Exercises

1. Answer the following questions:

1. How does Oleg solve the problems with his parents?

2. Does he face the problem of free time?

3. What consequences will drugs and alcohol lead?

4. Is it difficult for you to find a common language with your parents and with your friends‚ group-mates?

5. Do you have any bad habits?

6. Are you a member of any organization or party? What organization would you join?

2. Develop the following ideas:

1. Young people want to be independent that’s why ….

2. I face (don’t face) the problem of free time as ….

3. Young people use drugs and alcohol because ….

4. I don’t smoke (smoke) because ….

3. Speak on:

– the problem of fathers and sons;

– the problem of free time;

– drug-‚ smoke- and alcohol-habits.

Text 1. PROBLEMS OF YOUNG PEOPLE’s UNEMPLOYMENT

People of almost every age are susceptible to this pernicious disease but it hits the youth the hardest. Its name is unemployment. The percentage of unemployed youth in the total number of the jobless is high. In many developing countries the situation is more serious. Many young people commit suicide. Youth unemployment will mount, unless the economic situation in the world changes. These predictions refer to all categories of workers with high and low skills in towns and in the country. These young people are outside the production structure of society. They are deprived the possibility of creating their “surplus” from time to time. Some may get a hit of luck, but the majority becomes disillusioned. Unemployment greatly influences the tendency towards drug, frustration and crime among the youth. This is a time bomb and is a heavy accusation of any social economic system.

Read the text and say what the most popular free time activities for British and our teenagers are‚ what activities you like and why.

Britain has recently been described as a “leisure society”. This is because there are a great variety of leisure pursuits. Young people generally go out on Friday or Saturday nights to a disco, to a concert or to a pub. In recent years going out for a meal or getting a take-away meal have become popular too. During the past years there is a great increase in keeping fit and staying healthy. A lot of teens started running, jogging and going to different fitness clubs in their spare time. Aerobics classes and fitness clubs opened in every town, and the number of recreation centres greatly increased. Indoor pools, with their wave-making machines, water slides and tropical vegetation, have become very popular.

And the same is true in Belarus. A lot of teens go in for different kinds of sport. Sport helps them to feel as fit as a fiddle. In both countries there are special programmes for problem teenagers, such as high-risk activities, for example‚ they are taught to jump out of airplanes. But despite the increase in the number of teens participating in sport, the majority of young people still prefer to be spectators. They prefer to be couch potatoes. Watching sports on TV is a popular leisure activity, as is going to football matches on Saturday. Cinemas have been redesigned with four or more screens, each showing a different film at the same time, and a lot of teens like going to the cinemas too.

The young generation is fond of communication. There are many available methods of communication nowadays, and the most popular one is computers. A lot of teenagers spend plenty of time working on computers. The Internet seems really good fun. You may send e-mails to friends from different countries and get their answers instantly. You even may talk to them. It is easy and quick. A lot of teenagers have mobile telephones, so they can always be contacted, if they keep their telephone switched on, at any time of the day or night, or send text messages.

A lot of teenagers in both countries are crazy about animals. They race them, train them and breed them. They like to hear stories about them on television programmes and they like reading books about them. Many teens have a pet animal. It could be a dog, a cat, a goldfish, a bird or a small furry animal like a hamster. Looking after and being kind to their pets is very important for teens. Why are teens so interested in animals? Perhaps it’s because they are rather shy in their heart of hearts. One of my friends says: “I can say anything I like to my dog, but she never thinks I’m silly.”

There are plenty of other kinds of activities, such as travelling, visiting historical places, babysitting, delivering newspapers, putting together jigsaw puzzles, reading, going to different museums, skateboarding, going fishing, hitchhiking, shopping, helping people in need, joining a computer club and others. We can say “So many teens; so many kinds of activities.”

Chapter 7. The Republic of Belarus. Cities of Belarus

Дата добавления: 2014-12-24