Inquire about one specific point of the statements below to make sure you understood correctly. Consult exercise 2 for the necessary vocabulary.
Example:
Teacher:
Industrialization, new drugs, automation, computerization, welldeveloped communication and transport systems improve life on earth.
Student:
Do I understand you to say that further industrialization improves life on the earth?
1. Emigration from overpopulated earth, communication with other civilizations, inquiry into the origin of the universe might be possible issues for space research.
2. Poverty, social and economic problems, and national clashes will exist as long as man lives.
3. Monarchy and totalitarian systems are becoming obsolete.
4. The manner of dressing and speaking, breeding and behaving are important characteristics of an individual.
5. Financial backing, press and party support, and a well developed control system are necessary for every government.
6. Big organizations can’t work successfully without hierarchy, rewards, high wages, and employee competence and enthusiasm.
7. An adult is adversely affected by childhood psychological wounds, traumatic experiences, and cruel or indifferent treatment.
8. Women are more emotional, less practical, more irrational, and more dependent on instinct than men.
9. An unhappy personal life and the lack of money and material possessions affect the old more than the young.
Make a statement (you may use the statements in the preceding exercises). Let the other students ask you to expand on the point concerned.
Model:
Student 1:
TV is a unifying factor.
Student 2:
Would you mind explaining that?
Student 3:
Your point is not quite clear.
Student 4:
Could you specify what you mean by a unifying factor?
You will see two fragments of discussions. In the first fragment A (the female speaker) and B (the male speaker) discuss the factors which can break up marriage and cause divorce. The second dialogue deals with the impact of divorce on the children of the divorcing spouses.
Dialogue 1
Read Dialogue 1. What changes in social and economic life strongly affect private life?