3.

PHONETICS:
THE DEATH PENALTY s: /s/, /z/, /iz/; ed: /t/, /d/, /id/; //, //, /t/, //, //, /ei/, /ai/, /^/, /æ/, /i:/, /3:/

One issue that didn’t really provoke a lot of discussion in the last
presidential election was the death penalty. The reason was a simple one: both the 4. USE OF ENGLISH.
Democrats and the Republicans, along with 75% of the American public, are 1. Perhaps they have forgotten you were coming because they’re not at home.
absolutely in favour of it. Joe Biden, who supposedly represents the less right-wing They ……………………………………………………………..
of the two main parties, had trouble in demonstrating his support for capital 2. I would love to live by the sea.
punishment. This it seems, was part of a well-planned strategy to capture the all- I wish …………………………………………………………….
important “middle-ground” in American politics. And yet, in its enthusiasm for the 3. Who repaired the car?
death penalty, the United States remains strangely out of sync with other western Who …………………………………………………………….
democracies. The nations that practise capital punishment are those that many 4. My mother said, ‘Don’t touch the water. It’s boiling·.
Americans would consider “primitive” or even “barbaric”. They include China, Iran, My mother warned ……………………………………………..
Iraq, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the former Soviet Union. Even South Africa, for 5. She doesn’t go to bed early because she has too much work to do.
decades the most hated country in the world, has abolished the death penalty. This If ………………………………………………………………..
decision came shortly after the ending of apartheid. 6. She was playing the piano when the stage lights went out.
Why, then, the Americans’ determination to maintain the death penalty? …………………………………………………………………?
For us, Europeans, this is something that remains incomprehensible. 7. The director of our company is extremely talented. He was recently appointed.
The director …………………………………………………….
***********************

5. COMPOSITION.

The death penalty. Can it be justified in some cases?

Advantages and disadvantages of prison as a punishment

1. READING COMPREHENSION.
1. The death penalty is supported in USA by three out of four people.
2. Clinton was supposed to be in favour of the death penalty.
3. Death penalty was openly discussed during the last elections in the USA.
4. Death penalty is practised in USA and other uncivilized countries.
5. Europe understands USA attitude towards the death penalty.

2 LEXICON: Find words in the text with the same or similar meaning to:
a) conservative
b) question, matter
c) voters who are in the middle of the two main political parties, without being
absolutely in favour of either of them.
d) which does not follow the general tendency.
e) polls
f) capital punishment
g) occidental