Read the text carefully. When a sentence has an extra

Word, underline it. Some sentences are correct.

The film star, Ben Affleck, he was born in Berkeley, California. His father, a car mechanic, and his mother, a schoolteacher, who separated not long after Ben’s birth. He grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts and got on his first acting job in a TV series shortly after his eighth birthday. The same year that he met Matt Damon and they became very close friends. Both Ben and Matt were so interested in acting and Ben got work in television after leaving the school, unlike Matt who he went to Harvard University. In the late 1990s, Ben worked with his friend Matt in quite a few independent movies. He also met and fell in love with the star like Gwyneth Paltrow and they acted together in the successful film Shakespeare in the Love. In the last few of years, Ben’s career has prospered in such as blockbusters as Pearl Harbor. Some critics have compared him with stars like as Harrison Ford.

Television in Great Britain

A. Read the text:

The most popular entertainment in British home life today is television. In London people have a choice between four TV channels: BBC I, BBC 2 and two commercial channels. The BBC is financed by payments which are made by all people who have TV-sets. There is no advertising on any BBC program. On the contrary, commercial television which is called ITV gets its money from advertising. The programs on this channel are financed by different companies, which, however, do not have anything to do with the arrangement or content of these programs. They just “buy time” to advertise their products and the viewers of ITV have to watch advertisements for petrol, washing machines, soap and many other items which they do not require between and during programs. In other words British TV serves the interests of big business.

Different types of TV programs can be seen In great Britain. News is broadcast at regular intervals and there are panel discussions of current events, both national and international. Operas, ballets, music concerts and variety shows are presented at various times. Broadcasts for schools are produced on five days of the week during school hours. In the late afternoon and early evening TV stations show special programs for children. In the evenings and at weekends there are broadcasts of sports events. A large part of TV evening time is often occupied by serials – films which appear on television in parts daily or at intervals.

The channels of British television keep people informed about current events, the latest achievements in science and culture and offer some programs which are both informative and entertaining. But they also offer a lot of trivial programs, the poor quality of which is criticized by viewers. There is also serious concern about the negative effect of some TV shows in which scenes of violence and crime are presented.

B. Pick up useful expressions concerning TV.

C. Comment on the difference between the channels.

22.*** Read the text. Pick up useful expressions to

enrich your vocabulary:

Reality TV

In 1974, the BBC broadcast a new TV program called The Family. In 12 episodes, everyday scenes from the life of the working-class Wilkins family in Reading were shown to the nation. Some television executives feared that it couldn’t possibly be a success – who would be interested in watching something so boring? But The Family was instantly a huge hit. Known then as ‘fly-on-the wall’ documentaries, and now as ‘docusoaps’ or reality TV, such programs now dominate the TV schedules and regularly attract millions of viewers.

In the 1990s, house and garden makeover programs such as Changing Rooms were particularly popular, while ‘docusoaps’ such as Driving School made overnight stars out of likeable ordinary people such as Maureen Rees, possibly the worst driver in the world.

In the new millennium, however, reality TV programs have tended to become more personal and humiliating. Fat Club, for example, followed the ups and downs of eight overweight people desperate to lose weight at a remote health club, and Wife Swap took the simple but explosive idea of two women swapping places in each other’s families for two weeks. For the first week they had to live according to the other woman’s rules, but for the second week they could dictate how the house was run. In 2003, reality humiliation reached a new low with How Clean Is Your House, a surprise hit involving two women who investigate some of the dirtiest homes in the country, then return later to see if the inhabitants are still following their cleaning advice.

With reality TV also came interactive TV, starting with the mother of them all, Big Brother. Following the model of that program, in which viewers decide each week by vote who stays and who goes, many other elimination shows quickly appeared. The most popular ones are Pop Slurs, Fame Academy and I’m a Celebrity – Get Me Out of Here, where a group of celebrities attempt to survive for two weeks in the jungle together, performing various tasks along the way. Celebrities, especially those who seek to boost their careers, seem particularly keen to appear on reality shows, as successful celebrity versions of Big Brother, Driving School, Fat Club and Fame Academy have proved.

Note:

episode – серия фильма

television executive – руководитель ТВ - программы

fly-on-the wall documentary – документальная

«скрытая камера»

docusoap – документальный сериал, «мыло»

makeover programme – программа, сделанная по

аналогии с предыдущей

overnight – внезапный, неожиданный

likeable – привлекательный

humiliating – оскорбительный

ups and downs – превратности судьбы, удачи и неудачи

to reach a new low – достичь еще более низкого уровня

elimination show – игра на выбывание

along the way – по ходу игры

to boost one’s career – сделать себе рекламу

23.*** Read what British and American teens say