Group 1 for Comprehension Task

As a follow up to the 1999 Reith Lectures Anthony Giddens TEXT: LECTURE 1. GLOBALISATION, Professor Anthony Giddens - Director of the London School of Economics 1997 - 2003 EXERCISES TO THE TEXT: Paragraph 18 of the transcript http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith1999/lecture1.shtml

EX. 1. (Text comprehension) Read the following text fragment and answer the questions given below: Globalisation thus is a complex set of processes […] (para 18) to[…] are American - Coca- Cola, McDonald's. (end of para 24)

1) Globalisation favours economic development of all the countries. TRUE FALSE 2) Do local nationalisms spring up because of the weakness of older TRUE FALSE nation-states? 3) Is globalisation able to create new economic and cultural zones TRUE FALSE across nations? 4) Economic influences can be shaped by technology and cultural TRUE FALSE differences only. 5) Does globalisation explain the collapse of the Soviet Union? TRUE FALSE 6) Did television play a direct role in the 1989 revolutions? TRUE FALSE 7) Are the processes of Westernization and Americanisation similar TRUE FALSE to globalisation?

EX. 2. (Text comprehension) Choose a right answer:

1) One of the consequences of globalization is that: a) nations lose some of their economic power; b)all the countries gain from it; c)it doesn’t create any pressure for local authorities.

2) What did American sociologist Daniel Bell say in relation to globalization? a) the nation becomes unable to solve its own problems; b) the nation gets more problems that it had before; c) the nation becomes too small to solve the big problems, but also too large to solve the small ones.

3) Hong Kong, northern Italy and Silicon Valley in California are examples of: a) developing regions; b) new economic and cultural zones within and across the nations; c) separated regions with the high level of welfare.

4) What are the main driving forces of the changes: a) economic influences, especially the global financial system; b) political motivation and tendency to the global governance; c) cultural unification.

5) What is considered to be the biggest impact of globalization? a) an increase of the level of trade;

1 b) an increase of the level of finance and capital flows; c) a decrease of micromanagement.

EX. 3. (Vocabulary) Explain the meanings of the following word combinations (make references to the text fragment given above): 1) to operate in a contradictory fashion 2) to “pull away” power 3) to spring up 4) to squeeze sideways 5) the driving forces 6) to add weight to developments

EX. 4. (Vocabulary: Collocation) Match the following words: 1) to solve a) economies 2) to propel b) downwards 3) to shape c) problem 4) to pull d) influences 5) to liberalise e) street protests 6) to push f) changes 7) to watch g) upwards

EX. 5. (Oral production) Open-ended questions:

1. Compare the phenomena of globalisation, Westernisation and Americanisation. What are the differences and similarities? 2. What is the effect of globalisation on the poor countries? 3. How does globalisation explain the reasons of the Soviet communism collapse?

EX. 6. In each line underline one word which is not a synonym to other words:

1. strain propensity inclination slope 2. to change to quit to modify to alter 3. to forbid to discharge to ban to prohibit 4. to stem to stop to cease to spring up 5. amusement inspection entertainment pastimes 6. tribulation disaster calamity insurance 7. untouched benign intact virgin 8. pile bale waist stack 9. cable message package telegram 10. perpetual accidental haphazard occasional

EX. 7. Insert articles in the gaps where necessary:

__ globalisation is __ main theme of my lecture tonight, and of __ lectures as __ whole. __ term may not be - it isn't - __ particularly attractive or elegant one. But absolutely no-one who wants to understand our prospects and possibilities at century's end can ignore it. I travel __ lot to 2 speak abroad. I haven't been to __ single country recently where __ globalisation isn't being intensively discussed. In __ France, __ word is __ mondialisation. In __ Spain and __ Latin America, it is __ globalizacion. __ Germans say __ globalisierung. __ global spread of __ term is evidence of __ very developments to which it refers. __ different thinkers have taken almost completely opposite views about __ globalisation in debates that have sprung up over __ past few years. Some dispute __ whole thing. I'll call them __ sceptics. According to __ sceptics, all __ talk about __ globalisation is only that - just talk. Whatever its benefits, its trials and tribulations, __ global economy isn't especially different from that which existed at __ previous periods. __ world carries on much __ same as it has done for many years. Others, however, take __ very different position. I'll label them __ radicals. __ radicals argue that not only is __ globalisation very real, but that its consequences can be felt everywhere. __ global marketplace, they say, is much more developed than even two or three decades ago, and is indifferent to __ national borders. __ nations have lost most of __ sovereignty they once had, and __ politicians have lost most of their capability to influence __ events. It isn't surprising that no one respects __ political leaders any more, or has much interest in what they have to say. __ era of __ nation state is over. __ nations, as __ Japanese business writer Keniche Ohmae puts it, have become mere “fictions”. __ authors like Ohmae see __ economic difficulties of __ last year and this as demonstrating __ reality of globalisation, albeit seen from its disruptive side.

EX. 8. Insert prepositions in the gaps of the following abstract: The sceptics tend to be __ the political left, especially the old left. __ if all __ this is essentially a myth, governments can still intervene __ economic life and the welfare state remain intact. The notion __ globalisation, according __ the sceptics, is an ideology put __ __ free- marketeers who wish to dismantle welfare systems and cut back __ state expenditures. What has happened is at most a reversion __ how the world was a century ago. __ the late 19th Century there was already an open global economy, __ a great deal of trade, including trade __ currencies. Well, who is right __ this debate? I think it is the radicals. The level __ world trade today is much higher than it ever was before, and involves a much wider range __ goods and services. But the biggest difference is __ the level __ finance and capital flows. Geared as it is __ electronic money - money that exists only as digits __ computers - the current world economy has no parallels __ earlier times. __ the new global electronic economy, fund managers, banks, corporations, as well as millions __ individual investors, can transfer vast amounts __ capital __ one side __ the world __ another at the click __ a mouse. As they do so, they can destabilise what might have seemed rock-solid economies - as happened in East Asia.