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educating children shows that we place a lot of faith in good upbringing in the molding of character. Yet, children are clearly born with different temperaments and this will lead them to respond differ-ently to the same treatment. Then again, accidents or disease can bring about changes to the brain that can completely transform a person's character.
Deciding where the balance lies between nature and external causes can be difficult. Take, for example, the case of the man whose character changed from being amiable and law-abiding to being aggressive and antisocial in a matter of a few weeks. On investigation, it was found that the man was suffering from a brain tumour. When this was removed, he returned to his original kindly character. Later the tumour grew once again, and the same slide into antisocial behaviour began again. In both cases the tumour was pressing on the part of the brain that controls social behaviour and changing the man's character. The response from others was understanding and help. However, where a criminal is born with the same type of brain that the tumour caused, our response is not sympathy and treatment, but condemnation and punishment. Is this logical? Is it fair?
(236 words)
Unit 6
Part I Pre-Reading Task
Script for the recording:
In the song you are about to listen to we hear what the singer is thinking as he writes his diary. Like many people who keep a diary, he treats it like a friend to whom he can pour out his inmost feelings. From the confidences he entrusts to his diary we learn of what he thinks of the way most people live. He thinks they spend their days in a rush, so much so that they have no time for him. As he says:
So many people by the score. Rushing around so senselessly. They don't notice there's people like me.
Perhaps he's right, perhaps people are too much in a rush to spare enough time for one another.
Appendix I - 121 -
Though one suspects they may have other reasons for not sparing the singer time. He sounds alto-gether self-centred, looking at the world only from his own narrow point of view. We hear this at the end of the song, when he passes lightly over an H-bomb explosion as something of no concern to him as nobody he knew was involved. Given his outlook, it is probably just as well he has his diary as a friend, as others might find it a bit hard to put up with him.
Dear Diary
The Moody Blues
Dear diary, what a day it's been. Dear diary, it's teen just like a dream. Woke up late. Wasn't where I should have keen. For goodness sake what's happening to me. Write
lightly, yours truly, dear diary.
It was cold outside my door. So many people by the score. Rushing around so senselessly. They don't notice there's people like me.
Write lightly, yours truly, dear diary.
They don't know what they're playing. They've no way or knowing what the game is. Still they carry on doing what they can. Outside me, yours truly, dear diary. It's over. Will tomorrow he the same: I know that they're really not to blame.
If they weren't so blind then surely they'd see.
There's a muck better way for them to he. Inside me, yours truly, dear diary.
Somebody exploded an H-bomb today. But it wasn't anyone I knew.
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Appendix I
Part II Text A
lexl Organization 1.
Parts Part One Part Two Paragraphs Paras 1-11 Paras 12-18 Main Ideas The author gives three reasons why we feel so time-pressed today. Not every one is time-stressed, and in the case of Ameri-cans they have actually gained more free time in the past decade. The perception of time-famine has triggered a variety of reactions. The author pins down the crux (fE^p) of the problem and puts forward a remedy for the stress we feel. Part Three Part Four Paras 19-23 Paras 24-28 2. 1) The motorcar causes more traffic problems than it promises to solve.
2) The aircraft creates a high demand for time-consuming journeys that we never dreamed of. 3) The washing machine, contrary to our expectations, multiplies the hours spent on washing and ironing.
4) Instead of making our lives easier, technology goes so far as to cram extra work into our leisure time.
5) Technology produces the new burden of dealing with faxes, e-mails and voicemails. 6) Technology eats further into our time by forcing us to handle software glitches on computers and filling our heads with useless information from the Internet.
Vocabulary
I. 1. 1) appliance
3)
multiply 5) prosperity 7) aircraft
2) comparative 4) oblige 6) in reality 8) volunteers