Fill in the blanks with the necessary words.

1. I think it is very important to be fit and healthy and it is necessary to … of your health.
2. To be healthy we must … of different … habits that can affect our health.
3. To be healthy and keep fit, it is also very important to ... sport and spend a lot of time …
4. Warning on the … of smoking are printed on packets of cigarette brands.
5. Smoking has been … in most public places because everyone agrees that it … harm to our health.
6. Among people’s harmful habits less dangerous habits are considered such ones as skipping meals, eating … food or even overeating.
7. Food stuff with high fibre and low fat content such as … have taken the place of hamburgers and desserts.
8. Contaminated … is very dangerous because it hurts people’s health and provoke different diseases.
9. One of the ways to live long and happy life is to … excessive negative emotion, irritation …

Agree or disagree with the following statements.

1. People nowadays are more health-conscious than they used to be.

2. It’s common knowledge that smoking and drinking can shorten our lives dramatically.

3. In recent years eating habits have undergone a change.

4. Natural catastrophes, provoked by human dominating the Earth, teach us to be merciful to the

other people and to our planet.

5. Personally I believe that regularity in life, reasonable hours of work and rest promote our

health.

6. Programmes which contain the amount of violence and bad language are dangerous for

child’s development.

7. Among the laws of the healthy way of life is positive attitude towards people and things

around us.

Memorize the following proverbs and illustrate them with situations.

1. Health is better than wealth.
2. He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything.
3. Healthy mind in a healthy body.

SMOKE OR NOT TO SMOKE

Michele Parks interviews two people with very different opinions. One is Julia Halewood, an advertising executive. She is also the leader of the “Campaign Against Smoking in Public Places”. The other is Daniel Paul, a novelist and film writer.

Parks: Smoking used to e considered fashionable. But now people like you, Julia are suggesting

that it’s anti-social, even almost criminal. Could you tell us why?

Julia: Look at the facts. As a nation we spend more on tobacco than we do on educating our

children or on doctors, medicine and hospitals. Smokers, of course, are far more likely to

come down with diseases like cancer or chronic bronchitis, and have to be treated at the

nation’s expenses. But not only do they ruin their own health but that of others as well.

They force us to inhale the poison they blow into the air. This, of course, is dreadfully

anti-social behaviour.

Parks: Well, what do you suggest should be done?

Julia: First, double the tax on all forms of tobacco. Second, ban all forms of tobacco advertising.

Third, ban smoking itself in all restaurants, trains, public meeting-places and places like

schools and hospitals. And fourth, protect young people more than we do now.

Parks: What kind of protection did you have in mind?

Julia: Among other things we could double or triple the fines on anyone who sells tobacco to

people under the age of 18. And we could and must intensify our efforts to educate

young people – to show them the dreadful effects of this dreadful habit.

Parks: Daniel Paul. What’s your reaction to this?

Paul: It seems an exaggeration, to say the least. I don’t deny that smoking can be harmful. But

so can lots of other habits. Eating sweets, for example.

Julia: Oh, I just can’t accept that there’s any comparison between the two habits! And I very much

doubt that anybody else can, either.

Paul: Perhaps you’d let me finish. Lots of people die because they eat far too much sugar.

Not only does it cause things like tooth-decay, it makes people overweight, as well.

And as a result they often die of heart-attacks. But there’s no tax on sweets, and

no campaign to ban them, either.

Julia: Of course too much sugar is bad. But who’s harmed by it? Only person who eats too much!

Paul: Just a moment. On the one hand you want to ban smoking in restaurants because you say

the smoke is bad for non-smokers. But on the other hand you say nothing about motor cars.

You don’t really believe that smoking causes as much pollution as motor cars, do you?

Julia: Of course I don’t. But…

Paul: Then why don’t you try to ban cars from public places, as well? From the roads,

for instance.

Julia: Motor cars at least solve some useful purpose.

Paul: You can hardly expect smokers to give up the simple pleasure of a cigar or cigarette

after a good meal in a restaurant.

Julia: Quite the contrary! You can hardly expect non-smokers to have the simple pleasure

of actually tasting the food ruined by selfish and thoughtless smokers!

Paul: Aren’t you going a bit too far when you say that we actually ruin the pleasure of tasting

the food? You don’t really believe that, do you?

Parks: Well, we’ll come back to that question after a short break for a song. And its title,

strangely enough, is “Smoke Keeps Getting In My Eyes”. And here to sing it is Edith

Montgomery.

Explain:

1. What do you think Julia means by “anti-social”?
2. In what way does smoking appear an expensive habit, according to Julia?
3. Describe the four things she would like to do.
4. In what way is sugar bad, according to Daniel Paul?
5. In what way do motor cars cause pollution?
6. How do you feel about people smoking in a restaurant?

Comprehension

Choose the one best answer.

1. The main reason Julia thinks smoking is anti-social to be because:

a) it is so expensive; b) smokers harm themselves; c) people do not object enough to it;

d) smokers harm themselves and others.

2. She wants to ban tobacco-advertising or:

a) allow it only at certain times; b) not allow it at all; c) put tax on it; d) attack those who do it.

3. Smokers come down with cancer or:

a) die of it; b) cause others to die of it; c) suffer from the disease; d) do not realize they will get it.

4. Daniel Paul believes that Julia:

a) makes smoking sound worse than it is; b) is more or less correct in what she says;

c) is herself overweight because she eats too much sugar; d) should not compare smoking and eating sweets;

5. Pollution is:

a) something caused only by cars; b) a type of disease smokers get; c) dirt, bad air and things like that; d) any bad habit which causes a disturbance;

6. How does Daniel feel about smoking in restaurants?

a) he sees nothing really wrong in it; b) he agrees it is a very unpleasant thing; c) he says smokers must expect to give it up; d) he says he never does it himself.

Describing habits

Disagreeing

• I can’t stand people …
• I detest who …
• I don’t altogether agree that … is so bad.
• I very much doubt that it isn’t harmful.
• I reject the idea that it isn’t harmful.
• It’s completely wrong to say it isn’t harmful
• I don’t mind …
• I see nothing wrong …
• I just can’t accept that … is so bad.

Agreeing

• … is a pleasant (nasty, revolting, inoffensive, fashionable) habit.
• I also think that it causes many diseases.
• It really brings harm people.
• I entirely agree that it …

Use these or other ways you can think of to describe your attitude to such things as: a) smoking;

b) chewing tobacco and spitting it out; c) laughing and singing loudly in public; d) playing radios or tape-recorders in public; e) letting dogs run wild or foul the pavement; f) arguing, losing one’s temper, swearing.