Учебно-методическое пособие по работе с темой "COUNTRY PROFILE". Дедова С.А. - 26 стр.

regardless of ethnic or religious differences, the issue has dominated media       4) Find the following from the text.
and political debate for several months. Mr Stasi said the proposed law            1. A verb which means ‘to prepare by bringing together information from
aimed to preserve constitutional secularism and counter «forces trying to          different sources’.
destabilise the republic, a clear reference to Islamic fundamentalism». But        2. An adverb which is used to suggest that something may have happened.
he stressed that the law was not directed at the mainly moderate Muslim            Possible synonyms are ‘apparently’ and ‘allegedly’.
community of 5 million. «Muslims must understand that secularism is a              3. A verb which is the opposite of ‘to accept’.
chance for Islam», Mr Stasi said. «Secularism is the separation of church          4. An adjective which means ‘very large’.
and state, but it is also the respect of differences». The main teachers' un-      5. A noun which means ‘an idea or understanding of something’.
ion, the SNES, said that the proposals did not go far enough to promote            6. A noun which means ‘the belief and practice of giving equal importance
secularism in schools.                                                             to each of the different cultures in a society’.
                                                                                   7. A verb which means ‘to emphasise’.
3) Comprehension Check. Choose the best answer:                                    8. A noun which means ‘the belief that original religious laws should be
1. The Stasi commission has recommended that the wearing of headscarves            followed very strictly’.
in French schools be banned because ...
       a. they are conspicuous                                                     5) Discussion: What are the arguments for and against the wearing of reli-
       b. they represent forces trying to destabilise the republic                 gious symbols in public? Do you think that girls should be free to wear
       c. the commission wants to defend the secular nature of the French          headscarves to school?
          state
2. The commission recommended a clause requiring the strict neutrality of          14. Before reading the text do the following tasks:
all public service employees because ...                                                 1) The article which follows contains the words «racial profiling is
       a. they wanted to remind people that it is forbidden to reject a health-            one of the hottest hot-button issues in contemporary America».
          care worker                                                                      What do you understand by «racial profiling»? What is a «hot-
       b. some people only accept female doctors                                           button issue»?
       c. it took six months to compile the report
3. The commission recommended the introduction of new public holidays...                 2) The article is about the case of Walied Shater, an Arab-American
       a. in order to allow workers to choose their holidays                                who was refused permission to board a flight from Baltimore to
       b. as a gesture of respect to all religions                                          Dallas-Fort Worth on Christmas Day. Which of the following rea-
       c. in order to ensure the strict neutrality of all public service employ-            sons do you think may have been responsible for this refusal:
          ees
4. The constitutional guarantee of secularism under French law means...             a.   Mr Shater had a gun             f.   He had an Arabic name
       a. that people cannot wear headscarves to school                             b.   He was carrying a book on       g.   He was sweating profusely
       b. that everyone is regarded as equally French whatever their relig-              Arab history
          ion or ethnic background                                                  c.   He was nervous and agitated     h.   He pretended to be a secret
       c. that the issue has dominated media and political debate for several            agent                                service
          months                                                                    d.   He was of Middle-Eastern        i.   He had weapons in his lug-
5. The main teachers’ union criticised the proposals because...                          appearance                           gage
       a. they were too radical                                                     e.   He behaved in a confronta-      j.   He filled in a form incorrectly
       b. they were not radical enough                                                   tional manner
       c. they promoted secularism in schools                                            3) Now read the article and check your answers.
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