A mirror Has Two Faces

№ 187

ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ АГЕНТСТВО ПО ОБРАЗОВАНИЮ

Кафедра русского и иностранного языков и литературы

О.Г. Россихина
Л.В. Коколина

A mirror Has Two Faces

Учебное пособие по англоязычной прессе

Рекомендовано редакционноиздательским
советом университета

Москва  Издательство ´УЧЕБАª
2008 

УДК 811.111 
 
Р76 

Р е ц е н з е н т  
д-р пед. наук, проф. Е.Г. Силяева (РГСУ) 
 

Россихина О.Г., Коколина Л.В. 
Р76  
A mirror Has Two Faces: Учеб. пособие по англоязычной 
прессе. – М.: МИСиС, 2008. – 164 с. 

Настоящее пособие ставит целью развитие у студентов навыков чтения, 
понимания, перевода и пересказа англоязычной прессы и на основе овладения активным вокабуляром по наиболее актуальным проблемам современности совершенствование умения как вести дискуссию, так и письменно аргументировать свое мнение. 
Материал сгруппирован по следующим темам: 
1. Общие особенности стиля массовой коммуникации, в частности специфика газетных заголовков. 
2. Короткие новости вкратце по разделам «Люди и организации», «Переговоры», «Войны и революции», «Природные катаклизмы и катастрофы», 
«Суды и правопорядок», «Бизнес», «Выборы» с примерами коротких газетных сообщений и упражнениями. 
3–4. Политика: энергетическая безопасность и Ближний Восток как очаг 
напряженности. 
5–7. Наука и бизнес: глобальное потепление; клонирование; коррупция; 
8. Образование. 
9. Мнение, эссе. 
10. Письма читателей и включает также дополнительные тексты для чтения. 
Пособие предназначено в первую очередь для студентов отделения «Лингвистика», но может быть полезно студентам и аспирантам других специальностей с уровнем языковой подготовки Intermediate / Upper-Intermediate. 

© Государственный технологический  
университет «Московский институт 
стали и сплавов» (МИСиС), 2008 

Contents 

A mirror has two faces............................................................................4 
Unit 1. General outlook on newspapers and their specific features............5 
1. Habits questionnaire on newspaper reading ...................................5 
2. Types of English-language newspapers..........................................6 
3. Newspaper layout ...........................................................................7 
4. Newspaper headlines ......................................................................8 
5 . Emphatic devices of newspaper language ...................................12 
Unit 2. News in brief. Newspaper vocabulary..........................................19 
1. People ...........................................................................................19 
2. Organisations................................................................................20 
3. Delegations, talks, politics............................................................24 
4. Revolutions, wars, disturbances ...................................................27 
5. Justice, courts................................................................................31 
6. Catastrophes, natural disasters......................................................35 
7. Business........................................................................................39 
8. Elections .......................................................................................44 
Unit 3. Energy security.............................................................................50 
1. Energy in a global context............................................................50 
2. Energy as a political leverage.......................................................52 
3. Alternative sources of energy: hydrogen and nuclear power........55 
4. Britain’s debates over nuclear energy...........................................57 
Unit 4. The middle east – a hotbed of tension ..........................................61 
Part 1. Iraq ............................................................................................63 
1. American journalists give their argumentsin support of the US 
invasion of Iraq.................................................................................63 
2. ‘Unintended consequences’ of the War in Iraq ............................67 
3.World community discusses pros and cons of the war in Iraq ......68 
Part 2. Iran ............................................................................................74 
4. Iran – the center of the Axis of Evil .............................................74 
5. Iranian president and his political ambitions................................76 
Part 3. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict – a war of terror.......................81 
Unit 5. Cloning .........................................................................................90 
Unit 6. Education......................................................................................98 
Unit 7. Law and corruption.....................................................................113 
Unit 8. Global warming: science meets business ...................................122 
Part 1. Global warming or global fraud? ............................................122 
Part 2. Big business is going green.....................................................129 
Unit 9. Essays, comments, opinions.......................................................135 
Unit 10. Problem page letters. Letters to the editor................................145 
Supplementary Reading......................................................................152 

A mirror has two faces 

Even those of us who find reading newspapers an unexciting occupation realize that it is an essential part of living we can’t do without. Everyone should be aware of the world around us not only as academic 
knowledge, but also on order to understand how our entities fit the reality. 
On social occasions during ‘small talk’ apart from weather and sport people discuss politics. They do it for various reasons-to show off and establish their superior position, to pass the time in proper ways, but mostly 
because they feel really concerned and do care.  
For a linguist reading a newspaper or listening to the BBC, CNN or 
Euronews provide a unique opportunity to deal with an authentic modern 
language and thus pick up vocabulary and grammar structures.  
However, if everything in politics was straightforward and every dispute had only one obvious solution, there would be no diplomacy and 
wars in the world and the society would never need such organizations as 
the United Nations, the Security Council or the International Court of Justice. In international affairs ‘a mirror always has two faces’, so in this 
book we tried to present a two-party point of view on hot issues such as 
the War in Iraq, the World Energy Suppliers, the Terrorism, Human Cloning etc. Firstly, we expound the opinion of foreign opponents, and then of 
their Russian counterparts, the latter articles are often in Russian and present the material for translation and practicing the vocabulary acquired. 
These units should be used for discussion either in pairs or at round table. 
The very distinguished feature of the newspaper is its functional style, 
which can also be defined as ‘an information style’ or ‘a mass-media 
style”. The newspaper is targeted at the mass-reader with different educational levels, living under time pressure and thus requiring brief, concise 
and emotionally charged materials with a strong impact on the audience. 
Only in a newspaper one can find such a high proportion of neologisms, 
idioms, repetitions, clichés, chains of adjectives and other language devices that will be considered further. 
All the units are supplemented with lexical exercises, translation practice and discussion points. The book is provided with the cassette containing relevant materials recorded from the BBC and CNN News. All the 
articles are authentic, being taken from “The Economist’, ‘The Independent’, ‘Newsweek’, ‘The National Journal’, ‘New York Times’, etc. 

Unit 1. GENERAL OUTLOOK ON NEWSPAPERS 
AND THEIR SPECIFIC FEATURES 

1. Habits questionnaire on newspaper reading 

Answer the questions as fully as you can 
1. 
Do you read newspapers? Do you read them with a will or because you have to? 
2. 
Do members of your family read the same newspaper as you? 
3. 
How often do you read a newspaper? If you do not, what are the 
reasons 
4. 
for not reading them? 
5. 
Is there a particular place and a particular time when you read the 
newspaper? 
6. 
Do you ever talk to people about things you read in a newspaper? 
7. 
Do you think it is important for people to read newspapers in the 
epoch of television and computers? Why? 
8. 
Do you believe everything you read in the newspaper? 
9. 
What do you do with a newspaper once you have read it? 
10. How do you think reading English-language newspapers can help 
your language learning? 
11. Do you think there are highbrow newspapers as there is highbrow 
literature?  
12. Have you ever thought of journalism as a career? Why? 
13. Do you think the journalist possesses special personal qualities? 
What are they if any (the ability to cut to the quick, have a clear/cool head 
and a kind heart, to be able to speak in private…)? Can a private person be 
a journalist? 
14. Could you name any ethical dilemmas facing journalists? 
15. Should journalists ever lie or use deceit in the pursuit of a story? 
16. Is it legitimate to record a conversation and not inform the interviewee of this? How 
17. Important is it for journalists to protect their sources? 
18. Is it legitimate to invade someone’s privacy for a story? Is it right 
to apply different standards to public figures and to members of the general public? 
19. To what extent should newspapers provide readers with the right 
to reply to inaccuracies? 
20. Is it possible to use shocking photographs or obscene language? 

21. Is check-book journalism justified? 
22. Is the press really the fourth estate? 

Quotations about newspapers 
• 
A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself (Arthur Miller). 
• 
My motto is publish and be sued ( Richard Ingrams). 
• 
Whenever I see a newspaper I think of the poor trees. As trees 
they provide beauty, shade and shelter. But as paper all they provide is 
rubbish ( Elude Menuhin). 
• 
The press is ferocious. It forgives nothing, it only hunts for mistakes (Diana, Princess of Wales). 
• 
When a dog bites a man, that is not news, it happens so often. But 
if a man bites a dog, that is news ( John B.Bogart). 
• 
Whenever you find hundreds and thousands of sane people trying 
to get out of a place and a little bunch of madmen trying to get in, you 
know the latter are reporters (H.R.Knickerbocker) . 
• 
Newspapermen ask you dumb questions. They look up at the sun 
and ask you if it is shining ( Sonny Liston). 

2. Types of English-language newspapers 

In GB there are no official government newspapers. The government 
doesn’t exercise any official control over them and most of newspapers 
are proud of their peculiarities and individual styles. On the other hand 
there are some newspapers that can represent the views of the establishment, The Times, for example.  
The British newspapers may be classified into 2 main groups: quality 
and popular newspapers. Quality newspapers are large-sized and are 
called broadsheets, sometimes they are also referred to as the qualities or 
the heavies∗.  
The best-known British newspapers which give serious coverage of the 
news and comments are: The Times, The Observer, The Independent, 
The Daily Telegraph, Financial Times, The Guardian. (Some American qualities are: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times ). 
Broadsheets contain information on home and foreign affairs, serious 
editorials; present the reader with serious news which is supported with 
detailed analysis and comment on economic, political, social and world 
__________ 
∗ They contain so many pages that they are physically heavy to carry. 

events; provide up-to-date financial information and much professional 
advertising. Broadsheets are considered to be informative and objective 
keeping news and opinion or comment apart. Some newspapers have a 
colour supplement; for example, The Times Literary Supplement is one of 
the leading literary weakly magazines. It is noted for its interesting coverage 
of the literary and publishing world, for its readers’ letters to the editor. 
Tabloids (tabloid newspapers, populars) are about half the size of 
broadsheet newspapers. They are offered for less serious reading and far 
exceed the quality newspapers in their sales. They have brief news reports 
and a large number of photographs. Much attention is given to personal 
stories often concerning scandal involving prominent figures or personalities in the public eye. The style of English in these newspapers is often 
conversational with much use of slang, nicknames and catchy attentiongrabbing headlines. The most widely read of these newspapers are: Daily 
Mail, Daily Express, The Sun, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Daily 
Sport.  

3. Newspaper layout 

Newspaper material is organized in rubrics according to the subject, 
each rubric having its fixed position in the newspaper. The most important 
information is presented on the front page in the form of editorials or 
leading articles, the last pages are secured for entertainment, TV and radio programmes, and weather. 

Typical newspaper rubrics: 
1. Front Page News, Editorial 
2. Home news-problem articles, politics, essays, fueillatons, scandals 
3. European News 
4. World News 
5. Advertisements and Lonely Hearts Column 
6. News Features-Science 
7. Interviews 
8. Letters to the Editor, Comments  
9. Court and Social Announcements 
10. Arts &Books Review 
11. Business and Markets 
12. Sport 
13. Puzzles, Programmes, Weather 
 

Exercise 1. Read the abstracts and decide which rubrics they belong to: 

 

4. Newspaper headlines 

Newspaper language is very specific and headlines are just a concentrated expression of this peculiarity. Newspapers and magazines are designed for the mass-reader, who is pressed for time and does not always 
want to go into details. This need for compressed information dictates the 
language rules – omission of verbs, articles and sometimes possessive 
words; high frequency of abbreviations, clichés, abstract nouns; the use of 
attributive chains. All these specific features make English-language 
newspapers difficult to understand.  

1. They are not always complete sentences: 
‘Challenge for Euro’ – Испытание для евро 
‘Falling out’ – Поссорились 
Translate the following headlines from Unit 1: “Tough talks between 
Georgia and Russia’; ‘Going Dutch’, ‘Discount Boost for Malaysia 
Airlines’. 

2. They omit articles and verbs (especially the verb to be): 
‘Orange CEO likely to quit’ – генеральный директор, принадлежащий 
к партии власти на Украине, собирается в отставку. 
Translate: ’20 killed in fighting in capital’, ‘Bomb threat denied’.  

3. If a continuous form is used be is omitted 
“Prices going through the roof” – Цены резко взлетели 
Translate: ‘EU leaders looking to revive the constitution in 2008’, 
‘Litvinenko detectives heading to London’. 

4. They may contain strings of three or more nouns: 
'Software company takeover battle’ – Борьба за приобретение компьютерной компании.  
Translate: ‘Russia-Estonia Border treaty Fails Apart’ or ‘Strangecolored snow said to pose no health threats’. 
For more practice see Ex. 3  

5. They use an infinitive to refer to the future: 
‘US President to visit France’ – Президент США посетит Францию 
‘ Nokia chief to stand down’ – Глава фирмы Нокиа уйдет со своего поста. 
Translate: ‘Hong Kong retailer to buy U.S.Company’  

6. The verb in the Present Simple tense refers to the past: 
‘Jordan and Syria hold more talks’ – Иордания и Сирия продолжили 
переговоры 
Translate: ‘British Judges refuse to Extradite Exiled Tycoon’; ‘Maker 
of Solar Unit Announces Share Sale’; ‘US Envoy pushes to reopen 
North Korea Talks’; “Diver dies and four get injured trying to bring 
him up to safety’.  

7. They contain words used both as nouns and verbs: 
‘Banks in merger credits deal’ – Банки сливают свои капиталы 
Here ‘deal’ is a noun. 
‘This bank does not deal with individuals’ – Этот банк не работает с 
частными лицами Here ‘deal’ is a verb. 
Translate: ‘Delovaya Rossiya presented a selection of proposals, including radical tax aimed at fueling economic growth’; ‘A Cornish businessman has triggered a property boom on the Moon’  

8. Short words are used to save space: 
Headline writers try to catch the reader’s eye by using as few words as 
possible. They prefer words that are shorter and generally sound more 
dramatic than ordinary words. 

Row – an argument 
Quit – to leave a job 
Bid – an effort, a try, an attempt 
Cut – reduce 
Hit – to affect badly 
Talks – negotiations 
Key – very important 
Aid – help 
Axe – to cut, to remove 
Bar – to exclude, to forbid 
Blast – explosion 
Blaze – fire  
Boost –incentive, to encourage 
Boss/head – a manager/director 
Clash – dispute 
Curb – to restrain, limit 
Drama – tense situation 
Drive – campaign, effort 
Gems – jewels 
Go-ahead – approval 
Link – connection 
Move – step forward to a desired end 
Ordeal – a painful experience 
Oust – to push out 
Plea – a request 
Pledge – promise 
Ploy – a clever activity 
Poll –election, public opinion survey 
Probe – investigation 
Riddle – mystery  
Strife – conflict 
Threat – danger 
Vow – promise 
Wed – marry 
Top – exceed 
Hail – welcome 

Exercise 2. All headlines are closely connected with the text of the 
article and it is often impossible to do translation being unaware of the 
contest. The headlines and the first paragraphs of the corresponding 
articles are given in different columns in the mixed order. Match the 
headline and its article.  

Bid for First Human Bird Flu Trials 

Four members of the same family were found shot dead at their home 
yesterday. A 40- year-old man, believed to be a Gulf War veteran with 
a history of psychiatric illness was arrested after surrendering to officers in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 

Rebel MPs to Be 
Given ‘Yellow 
Card’ 

The Attorney General will challenge a High Court ruling today that 
gives expert witnesses such as Sir Roy Meadow immunity from disciplinary proceedings over evidence in court.  

Expert Witness 
Challenge 
A British company has applied for permission to conduct the first trial 
in Britain of a vaccine against avian flu. PowderMed has asked the 
Healthcare Agency for clearance to test its H5N1 vaccine on 75 volunteers at Guy Hospital in London.  

WTO Deal Set for 
G8 Summit 
BT has agreed a deal with the banking group HSBC to put cash machines in 50 phone kiosks around Britain this year. As part of a lastditch effort to save the phone box from extinction, the telecoms group 
is setting up new ‘cash and phone’ kiosks which will use HSBC branding and advertise the bank’s telephone banking service.  

Gulf Veteran is 
Held Over Killing 
of Four in Family 

Labour party chiefs are to introduce a ‘yellow card’ for dissident MPs 
in an effort to rein in the party’s increasingly unruly rebels. The new 
disciplinary measure, amounting to a short-term suspension from party 

activity, was drawn up after attacks by Labour MPs on senior figures 
including Tony Blair. 

Discount Boost for 
Malaysia Airlines 
President Lech Kaczynski of Poland has announced that he will formally name his twin brother, Jaroslav, to succeed Prime minister 
Kazimierz Marcinkievicz, who resigned suddenly during the weekend.

BT in Cash-andCall Deal with 
HSBC 

Malaysia Airlines said that the Malaysia Government had allowed it to 
offer discounts on domestic routes, setting the stage for a price war 
with the bigger carrier Air Asia.  

Brothers Set to 
Lead Poland in 
Top 2 Jobs 

Russia and the United States seem set to strike a deal on Russia’s entry 
to the World Trade Organisation either on Friday or during this weekend’s Group of Eight Summit in St.Petersburg. 

Death squad spy 
ring is captured 
A necklace of uninhabited islands was declared the world’s biggest 
marine nature reserve. 

Marine animals 
given biggest 
playground as 
Bush turns greener 

Lebanese authorities have broken up an apparent Israeli spy ring 
whose members have claimed responsibility for a string of killing of 
Hezbollah and Palestinian militants since 1999. 

Look at these headlines (Ex.2). Which of the features described in 
Unit 1 section 3 do they show?  
Explain the meaning of each headline and translate them into Russian. 

Exercise 3. To economize on space and make the message more informative journalists often use strings of nouns, which are difficult to 
interpret. Practice doing it: 
Chess-giant-turned –liberal-activist or the chess-champion-turnedliberal-reformer; the Commons Home Affairs Selected Committee; the 
shadowy deputy head of the presidential administration; takeover target 
Esat; a bubblegum pop star; right-wing talk-radio and cable TV host. 

Exercise 4. Write a paragraph to fit the following newspaper headlines: 

MINISTERS IN TAX ROW 
PRICE CURBS BOOST EXPORT 
COALMINE DISASTER PROBE 
KEY WITNESS DEATH THREAT 
GO-AHEAD FOR WATER CURBS 
NEW BID TO CUT TEENAGE SMOKING 
MOVE TO CREATE NEW JOBS 
POLL PROBES SPENDING HABITS 
MINERS REFUSE TO WORK AFTER DEATH 
MARKET BLAST BLAMED ON SKINHEADS 
STOLEN PAINTING FOUND BY TREE