Учебно-методическое пособие по работе с темой "COUNTRY PROFILE". Дедова С.А. - 25 стр.

science, industry and military technology. Then, the undermining of his        2) Which of the following words from the text do you associate with the
authority in his own country through an invasion of foreign ideas, laws and    Muslim religion, which with the Christian religion and which with the Jew-
ways of life, sometimes even been stressful enough if Muslim governments       ish religion?
had been wise and just; but many were corrupt. Repression and poverty                  1. headscarves
became the lot of their subjects. On top of all this, the traditional Muslim           2. Yom Kippur
has had to contend with the challenge to the mastery in his own home                   3. crosses
from the emancipation of women and a rebellion of children. For many it                4. skullcaps
has been too much.                                                                     5. Eid
        One can understand why Muslim fundamentalists should want to pu-
rify Islamic society by returning to its origins in the hope that Muhammad',   Now read the text.
message, unchanged by time and thought, dress and education, would pro-
vide the answers today as it did in the golden era. One can understand why                 FRANCE TO BAN PUPILS’ RELIGIOUS DRESS
this might appeal to people frustrated by the failure of their own systems
and their leaders. But in the Muslim world, this nostalgia has smoothed               Muslim headscarves and other religious symbols are almost certain
the way for something no Western society has endured – the radicalism of       to be banned from French schools and public buildings after a special
«God's fanatics» whose doctrines guarantee backwardness and self-destru-       commission told the government recently that legislation was needed to
ction and war between the «good» Muslim world and the «evil» West.             defend the secular nature of the state. The 20-member group, appointed by
                                                                               President Jacques Chirac and headed by the national ombudsman, Bernard
13. Before reading the text France to ban pupils’ religious dress do the       Stasi, recommended that all «conspicuous» signs of religious belief – in-
   following tasks.                                                            cluding Jewish skullcaps, oversized Christian crosses and Islamic head-
                                                                               scarves – be outlawed in state-approved schools.
1) Key Vocabulary. Fill the gaps using these key words from the text:                 The report, compiled after six months of study, also recommended
       Secular, neutrality, conspicuous, ombudsman, commission, outlaw         that the laws should include a clause requiring «the strict neutrality of all
(vb), headscarf, absurd                                                        public service employees». Some Muslim women had reportedly been in-
       1. If something is ____________________, it is very noticeable or       sisting that their husbands accompany them at all times in hospital and
easy to see.                                                                   would accept only female doctors. The report said the legislation must re-
       2. France is a ____________________ country. In other words,            mind all health service users that «it is forbidden to reject a healthcare
there is no official state religion.                                           worker, and that the rules of hygiene must be respected».
       3. If you ____________________ something, you prohibit it or                   In a gesture of respect to «all spiritual options», the report said the
make it illegal.                                                               Jewish and Muslim holy days of Yom Kippur and Eid should be made offi-
       4. A ____________________ is a piece of cloth that a woman or girl      cial school holidays, and companies should consider ways of allowing their
wears on her head and ties under her chin.                                     employees to take off the religious holiday of their choice. Mr Chirac said
       5. ____________________ is behaviour that does not show strong          that he favoured a law protecting France's secular republic, «I will be
feelings or opinions and, for example, does not support either side in a war   guided by republican principles and the demands of national unity and the
or a disagreement.                                                             solidarity of the French people», he said. The question of whether a «secu-
       6. If something is ____________________, it is completely stupid.       larism law» is desirable or necessary – particularly to deal with the increas-
       7. A ____________________ is a group of people who are officially       ing number of Muslim girls wanting to wear headscarves at school – may
asked to investigate something.                                                seem abstract, or even absurd, to those used to British or U.S. notions of
       8. An ____________________ is a person whose job is to deal with        multiculturalism. In France, where secularism is a constitutional guarantee
complaints made by people about official organizations.                        and everyone, in the eyes of the republic, is supposed to be equally French
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