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All radio performers and writers depend on Mr.C.E. Hooper’s Hooper Ratings. Hooper speaks on behalf of thirty-five million Americanfamilies, and has nearly thousand employees who ring up people, trying to find out what theylisten to. America is a scientific country. Mr.
Hooper’s assistants ring up people day andnight, collect answers to relevant and irrelevant questions put in a skilful or clumsy way, issuestatistics by the score and state extremely scientifically that a song called Open the DoorRichard is 137 times more popular than Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and chats on ‘How Ilike my cheese and why’ are 217.08 times better liked than A Midsummer Night’s Dream byW. Shakespeare.One of the popular programs is Quiz. A few t.v. viewers make fool of themselves in oneway or another and in return they receive prizes. And what prizes! Whenever you see a personcarrying a refrigerator or a piano on his back or leading a camel through the streets of NewYork, you may rest assured that he has just won a quiz prizeA special feature in American broadcasting is the soap opera.
One of the most popularexample is the Romance of Helen Trent. Miss Trent is just an average American girl. She hasbeen thirty-two for the last two decades. She is intelligent, beautiful and employed as adesigner by one of the Hollywood film companies.
In spite of the fact that she is beggedevery week to become a film star she has never been. She solves life’s problems for anyonewho happens to come near her or pass down the street in front of her window. These areusually grave and momentous problems. There is for example a young man who has charmingmanners and an admirable character. He is a graduate of Princeton University, has an incomeof four million dollars per year, loves Helen Trent’s colleague madly. She loves him too, andtheir parents agree to the marriage – what are they to do? Everybody is at a loss until Helen,with a few simple, calm, wise words arranges their lives and separates them forever.From George Mikes “ How to Scrape Skies”1.
Answer the questions.:1.What are the major broadcasting networks in the USA?2.Which American newspapers and magazines do you know?3.Do you think that now people get more news from the Internet than from traditional sources?4.How much of TV and radio air time is given to commercials in the USA and in Russia?5.What is the main function of commercials?6.Why is advertising called a fine art sometimes?7.What effects do TV commercials use?8.What is the origin of “soap-operas”?9.Is there anything positive about soaps?10.What do you think of the T.V. and internet influence on young children?2.
Find the English equivalents corresponding to the Russian ones:1. Oсвещать какое-либо событие в прессе; 2. представлять новости объективно и вясномизложении; 3. малоформатная газета со сжатым текстом и многимииллюстрациями; 4. аудитория, имеющая одинаковые возрастные и социальныехарактеристики; 5. место (в газете), отводимое рекламе; 6. занимать позицию покакому-либовопросу;7.обеспечиватьобъективноеосвещениесобытий;8.предоставлять одинаковое время (на радио и телевидении).3. Discussion problems:1.Television and radio are one of the most powerful forces for good or evil in modern life.2.
“Detailed information about television content can help us make informed choices”.3.The televiewers have a right to control television content if the content is harmful to society.4.Television, internet and young generation.Chapter VIII.LIFESTYLESRead and translate the following words and word combination:to make generalization aboutto make observations ona forbearto bear witness tothe melting potto save facethe need for self-reliancenewlywedsdaily essentialsamenitieseconomically pressuredbatteredneed for self-reliancehome choresto meet challengeshectic lifea groundbreakerwilly-nillynew means of locomotionto wind up drivingto be renownedgentilityunderstated quipa pun (on)to give ample prooftwo-tiered highwayskindlyquipIt is very difficult to make generalizations about American characters or lifestyles, asthe diversity of patterns of American life is really great.
Very many things account for this:ethnic and social background, immigration date of their forbears, religion and otherfactors.77% of the USA population lives in urban areas, 23% - in rural areas. The populationof the USA represents cultures from around the world. The largest minority group consists ofAfro-Americans who make up about 12% of the population. Spanish-speaking people fromMexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba and other Hispanic countries form another group, which equals6% of the population. Native Americans are less than one half of I% of the total.
Minorities ofAsian descent include Chinese, Japanese, Indochinese and others. It is now estimated that bythe year 2050 half of Americans will be Hispanic, Black, or Asian by ethnic background. Formany immigrants America seemed to be the only place to fulfill their dreams. Before the late1960s, immigrants were expected to become part of the mainstream of American culture – theidea of “the melting pot”.Trying to make some general observations on the American character one shouldagain remember the history of the USA.What is the American Frontier?The frontier experience began when the first colonists settled on the east coast of thecontinent in the 1600s and ended about 1890 when the last western lands were settled.Americans have always tended to view the frontier as the purest examples of hard work of thepeople, who turned the wilderness into towns, and towns into cities.
The need for selfreliance on the frontier encouraged a spirit of inventiveness. Frontier men and women notonly had to provide most of their daily essentials of living, but they were constantly facingnew problems and situations, which demanded new solutions. The willingness to experimentand invent led to another American trait, a “can-do” spirit, and a sense of optimism that“every problem has a solution”. Americans take pride in overcoming challenges andobstacles. As American historian Frederick Jackson Turner wrote, Americans see themselvesas ground - breakers in all areas of industry, science, and technology.
They consider it naturalthat they should constantly create new ways of life, new means of constructing houses, newappliances,. new cars,etc.The frontier provided conditions for strengthening the American ideals of individualfreedom, self-reliance and equality of opportunity. Later many of the frontier values becamenational values. Emphasis on individual personality rather than collective identity orresponsibility is one of the most important features of the American character.Another distinctive American characteristic is pragmatism.
This means that emphasison achievement and success is understood first of all as material prosperity. Americans arefond of common sense; they are not particularly interested in theory, abstract reasoning, orphilosophy. If something works, do it; if it does not, try to do something else.Generally speaking, Americans are open and friendly people. The public behavior ofAmericans is less reserved than that of English, e.g..
It is normal for Americans to speakloudly, joke and laugh in public. Americans tend to be informal and unceremonious in boththeir public or private lives, although they are not absolutely uniform in their outwardbehavior. It seems, that people from the Northeast are more reserved than Midwesterners,who are very direct and especially famous for their friendliness. The South has long beenrenowned for the value it places on hospitality, gentility, and manners. Westerners areprobably more informal than all the rest. The rules, which parallel this informality aregenerally established and understood.
There are topics –wages, income, religion, politics, –that many Americans try to avoid in casual conversation. Those who insist on formal addressor titles or take themselves too seriously are often targets for humor.Like the British, Americans have a love for the intricate practical joke, the pun, andthe understated quip (clever remark). Newspapers headlines bear witness to the second, andthe very subtle humor of “The New Yorker” is an example of the third. There is also atradition of “slapstick”, the pie-in-the face, and the banana peel on the floor.
A different typeof the American humor is called “kidding around”. It is part of the daily life of manyAmericans, and often serves as background to normal conversations. In many cases ifsomething is conveyed indirectly, through joking or other “light” humor, face can be saved orarguments prevented.Marriage and DatingMarriage in the U.SA is considered a matter of individual responsibility anddecision. Marriage is preceded by dating – one of the most prominent cultural rituals inAmerica. Casual dating usually begins in the early teens.
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