According to the teachings of history if a lot of people agree in something it is not sure that this something must be the truth. For example Copernicus - in his century - was the only one who was on the opinion that the Earth is global. Everyone else was totally sure about that the Earth is flat. In our days we know that the multitude was wrong.
In spite of this if we deal with religions it is unavoidable to check how many adherents they have. The first one which has the largest number of followers is the Roman Catholic Church, the next is Islam, the third ones are Hinduism, Confucionism and Taoism and the fourth is Buddhism.
There are many different opinions about the exact time of the beginning of Hinduism but usually it is said to began in approximately 1500 BC. But one can find followers of the tendency which claims that Hinduism is 6000, 10000 or even 50000 years old. Anyway Hinduism is the only religion that divides its adherents into four castes which can seldom be mixed with each other. In approximately 500 BC as a breakaway from Hinduism Buddhism began. In a way Buddhism is not a religion , it is rather a lifestyle and the collection of methods which lead to enlightenment. It is interesting to mention that in one of the Buddhist branches - called Zen Buddhism - there is a saying: “After uttering Buddha’s name wash your mouth out.”. It emphasises the unique way - the way of several methods - and would not believe in any kind of Gods or Buddhas.
In the Near East Judaism developed in a contradictional way. First it mixed with Egyptian religion then step by step through the appearing of the prophets it converted in a separate and independent religion. One can clearly follow the development of the changing Jewish idea of God, because in the Old Testament every prophets’ word had been kept word by word. Judaism inspired with the waiting for the coming of Messiah, but when someone is claiming that he is the Messiah or the messenger of it the Jews lost no time in killing them. It happened with Jesus Christ as well with a slightly difference that the Roman governor Pilate Pontius condemned him to death. In approximately 600 AD Mohammed turned up with the intention of mixing the teachings of Judaism and Christianity. In his opinion Adam, Abraham, Jesus and Mohammed were all prophets, the prophets of Allah. The Jewish and Christian people did not share his opinion so the religious wars have started and continued up to our days.
Nowadays the number of religious followers are the highest than ever. The religious types of books are on the tops of the best-sellers lists. God is mentioned more than ever, so therefore unavoidably the question of what is the reason for all that popularity comes up. The first reason is the basic contradiction of human existence, because one is being born to this world maybe unwillingly and disappear from here without any questioning. And if that is the case every human being struggles between the barrier of birth and death, while fighting for implementing their secret dreams and ideas. Everyone has got a feeling that they have to crush their hopes, ambitions and desires into a short interval of a human life. To make it more difficult they can not even use that brief time without any disturbance of a higher authority which steadily interfere in everyone’s life, way of thinking and behaviour.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam believe that their religion is the only true way. Whereas Confucianism, Hinduism and Buddhism are a kind of summarising religion, they are trying to dissolve other opinions and conceptions into themselves, as long as that other idea would not radically differ from their own teachings. Orientalist religions are based on the doctrine of reincarnation and because rebirth is giving an infinite perspective it can give a stable background to the religious patience. Religious impatience comes from the awareness that human life is happening only once and unable to repeat itself.
What different religions have in common that they offer codes of conduct. if one observes these codes he/she can easily notice that usually they are reasonable and rational codes disguised - by a clever and wise person - as a kind of religious rule or code of conduct. But anyway one could easily mix some parts of the doctrines and statements of the different religions up and afterwards hardly anyone would notice even these changes.
Among Hungarian traditions there is a big fast around the time of Easter which coincides with the clearing the toxins out of the body suggested by the doctors and the alternative healers. In Judaism and Islam porkeating prohibition serves the same purpose.
Religions in their original form assure one’s physical and mental health and the harmony with the nature and the universe. The only problem if some fundamentalist and unintelligent people deal with the case of religions and they interpret the other way simple and rational regulations in literal sense and they use these as a weapon against the followers of other conceptions. To sum it all up every morally well-founded religions serve well the development of one’s spiritual, physical and mental state. But like everything else, religions too could be used for bad purposes and that is not the problem of a religion but the follower.
Showing posts with label essay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label essay. Show all posts
Friday, May 11, 2007
L 220 F
Graham Greene is the kind of writer whose novels and short stories are influenced by his own experiences in life. He does not write directly about his life but his attitude to the phenomena of the world and the things that happen to him can be felt in the ways he makes his stories. The role of childhood experiences, the unpleasant side of life and escapism are important aspects in Greene's life. This essay will examine how and why he deals with them in his works too.
The bad experiences that Greene has during his childhood influence his later life to a great extent. He cannot get rid of the idea that one's personality is determined by the age of 16 and the early negative experiences have special effects on one's whole life. This kind of mentality is due to the fact that as a student he does not live at home but in a dormitory. This means that he has to leave his loving mother with whom he is in a close relationship and that he has to get used to the hostile atmosphere of the dormitory. He has to accept conditions he can hardly bear : he has to adapt to others and has no private life. In addition the headmaster of the school he attends is his father so all the students pick on him, they enjoy ridiculing him. But this is not Greene's fault: he is only the victim of the conditions. What makes it even worse is that their house is on the doorstep of the dormitory and there is a door connecting the two buildings but he is never allowed to open that door and retreat to home. This door appears in some of his books and is called the 'green baize door'. In one of his stories he writes about a madhouse where this door is between the wards and the cell: it connects the world where the mad are 'happy' to live and the world they detest and are afraid of.
Greene's early bad experiences have such a great effect on him that he writes about the importance and influence of childhood in many of his stories. In the 'Innocent' the narrator, who is an adult, tries to compensate for his childhood: as a child he was truly in love with a girl but the affair was 'innocent' because there could be no physical satisfaction, which made him suffer a lot. Therefore now he tries to live a life that is exactly the opposite of his childhood life: it is full of sexual satisfaction, he has as many experiences as possible and has no emotions just plays around with girls. In the 'Shocking Accident' Greene also suggests that one cannot escape from the effects of bad experiences: all the people to whom the main character Jerome tells the story of his father's death laugh-his father died because a pig fell out from a balcony and hit him while walking in the street. For the naive and inexperienced child the main negative experience is not the casualty but people's reactions to the story: when they laugh he is struck by the real world. From then on he developes different methods of telling the story to avoid having the same humiliating experience and qualifies people according to the ways they react: he would not marry a girl who laughed at his story.
Greene's experiences make him obsessed with the dark side of life: his pessimism roots in his childhood because he cannot live the kind of life he wants to live and he can only feel the hostility and spitefulness of people. His pessimism is always there in his stories as a general atmosphere or background. In 'The Destructors' for instance little children deliberately and without any reason destroy someone's house and they laugh at the man's tragedy. So in this story Greene draws attention to the fact that the world is full of hostility, it cannot be changed because evil is in human nature itself, it is even in children and that is the biggest problem. 'The Man Who Stole The Eiffel Tower', which is another short story, also shows Greene's pessimistic point of view: by the fact that in the story someone steals the Tower without anyone noticing it the writer concentrates on the superficiality and indifference of 20th century people.
Apart from his childhood experiences World War II and other events that claimed the death of many people also contribute to Greene's pessimism and focusing on the dark side of life only. He is so concerned about war and terrorism that he even makes some historical references in his stories and in this way he draws attention to the danger and existence of violence in the world. In 'An Old Man's Memory' for example the Channel Tunnel is destroyed by terrorists and Greene refers to actual events that happened in his own life: he mentions the so-called Lockurbie-disaster and another plane destruction when the Americans exploded a plane over the USA because its pilot refused to identify himself and the US thought they were Iranians or spies - in reality they were civilians. The fact that in Greene's life there are so many bloody incidents claiming a lot of victims makes him even more pessimistic and he cannot help concentrating on the unpleasant side of life in his works.
His pessimism is made even stronger by the dehumanisation that he can feel around him as an adult. In his despair he tries to escape from the world he does not like and to create another one where he can find no aggression, no low moral standards and no humiliating effects. First he tries to escape by reading and then later by writing. His escapism can even be detected in the stories themselves: for example in 'The Lottery Ticket' the main character goes on a holiday because he wants to escape from where he lives, he wants to be alone so that he can be happy about coming back. However he finally escapes from where he escaped to.
Considering all these facts one can conclude that Greene's background influences his works. His negative childhood experiences determine his later life to the effect that he becomes a pessimist. His mentality can be felt in his stories because he always focuses on the dark side of life. In other words: what happens to Greene in his life indirectly appears in his works too.
The bad experiences that Greene has during his childhood influence his later life to a great extent. He cannot get rid of the idea that one's personality is determined by the age of 16 and the early negative experiences have special effects on one's whole life. This kind of mentality is due to the fact that as a student he does not live at home but in a dormitory. This means that he has to leave his loving mother with whom he is in a close relationship and that he has to get used to the hostile atmosphere of the dormitory. He has to accept conditions he can hardly bear : he has to adapt to others and has no private life. In addition the headmaster of the school he attends is his father so all the students pick on him, they enjoy ridiculing him. But this is not Greene's fault: he is only the victim of the conditions. What makes it even worse is that their house is on the doorstep of the dormitory and there is a door connecting the two buildings but he is never allowed to open that door and retreat to home. This door appears in some of his books and is called the 'green baize door'. In one of his stories he writes about a madhouse where this door is between the wards and the cell: it connects the world where the mad are 'happy' to live and the world they detest and are afraid of.
Greene's early bad experiences have such a great effect on him that he writes about the importance and influence of childhood in many of his stories. In the 'Innocent' the narrator, who is an adult, tries to compensate for his childhood: as a child he was truly in love with a girl but the affair was 'innocent' because there could be no physical satisfaction, which made him suffer a lot. Therefore now he tries to live a life that is exactly the opposite of his childhood life: it is full of sexual satisfaction, he has as many experiences as possible and has no emotions just plays around with girls. In the 'Shocking Accident' Greene also suggests that one cannot escape from the effects of bad experiences: all the people to whom the main character Jerome tells the story of his father's death laugh-his father died because a pig fell out from a balcony and hit him while walking in the street. For the naive and inexperienced child the main negative experience is not the casualty but people's reactions to the story: when they laugh he is struck by the real world. From then on he developes different methods of telling the story to avoid having the same humiliating experience and qualifies people according to the ways they react: he would not marry a girl who laughed at his story.
Greene's experiences make him obsessed with the dark side of life: his pessimism roots in his childhood because he cannot live the kind of life he wants to live and he can only feel the hostility and spitefulness of people. His pessimism is always there in his stories as a general atmosphere or background. In 'The Destructors' for instance little children deliberately and without any reason destroy someone's house and they laugh at the man's tragedy. So in this story Greene draws attention to the fact that the world is full of hostility, it cannot be changed because evil is in human nature itself, it is even in children and that is the biggest problem. 'The Man Who Stole The Eiffel Tower', which is another short story, also shows Greene's pessimistic point of view: by the fact that in the story someone steals the Tower without anyone noticing it the writer concentrates on the superficiality and indifference of 20th century people.
Apart from his childhood experiences World War II and other events that claimed the death of many people also contribute to Greene's pessimism and focusing on the dark side of life only. He is so concerned about war and terrorism that he even makes some historical references in his stories and in this way he draws attention to the danger and existence of violence in the world. In 'An Old Man's Memory' for example the Channel Tunnel is destroyed by terrorists and Greene refers to actual events that happened in his own life: he mentions the so-called Lockurbie-disaster and another plane destruction when the Americans exploded a plane over the USA because its pilot refused to identify himself and the US thought they were Iranians or spies - in reality they were civilians. The fact that in Greene's life there are so many bloody incidents claiming a lot of victims makes him even more pessimistic and he cannot help concentrating on the unpleasant side of life in his works.
His pessimism is made even stronger by the dehumanisation that he can feel around him as an adult. In his despair he tries to escape from the world he does not like and to create another one where he can find no aggression, no low moral standards and no humiliating effects. First he tries to escape by reading and then later by writing. His escapism can even be detected in the stories themselves: for example in 'The Lottery Ticket' the main character goes on a holiday because he wants to escape from where he lives, he wants to be alone so that he can be happy about coming back. However he finally escapes from where he escaped to.
Considering all these facts one can conclude that Greene's background influences his works. His negative childhood experiences determine his later life to the effect that he becomes a pessimist. His mentality can be felt in his stories because he always focuses on the dark side of life. In other words: what happens to Greene in his life indirectly appears in his works too.
L 218 F
When, some five months ago, I was invited for a three-week-long holiday at one of my distant relation's country house, I did not dare to think that a new way of life would unfold itself, strange but still convincing enough to be adopted.
Maria and Laszlo are a middle-aged couple living in a restored traditional peasant house at the edge of a little village in the western part of Hungary. They moved there about three years ago in order to start a new life. Owing to their invitation for a summer holiday, I could look into the mysteries of the style of their living.
The accommodation took quite a lot of time for me, so I think of describing only the last day's routine, by when I had actually managed to adopt their pace of life. Starting with the morning, I have to remark that it sets in hours earlier than we are accustomed to. The phrases " rise with the lark " and "go to bed with the sun" were completely true for us as sleeping lasted from about 9 o'clock in the evening to about 5 o'clock in the morning. I have non objection to this natural habit; watching TV late at night or dancing at a party till the small hours after a weary weekday is of no use, besides, sleeping hours before midnight are much more valuable than in any other part of the day.
Although there was a little bathroom in the house, we rarely used it; we preferred washing outside, in a deep tub filled with fresh cold water drawn from the well. I particularly enjoyed pacing on the soft grass wet with dew with nothing but a night-dress on me. I was taught some bracing gymnastic exercises, too, which we did jointly and also in the open air every morning.
When one of us got hungry, he or she just walked down to the bottom of the garden, decided which hind of fruit he or she desired most, looked for the right tree or bush and, without any washing, peeling, grating or pressing, ate it in hide and hair. By the way, I learnt some laws restricting eating habits. These include the rule settling that ingestion before noon may consist of fruits only, for these foodstuffs detoxicate the human system, and their active principles are most effective in the late morning hours.
The little garden supplying the family with all the necessary green stuff was a biotic one, that is no sprays and chemical fertilizer were used in it. We usually spent the morning hours there planting, watering, or just ingathering the crops. Then we chose the ingredients of a light midday meal and prepared it in always less than half an hour. The secret of this quickness was the omission of mixing, kneading, cooking, baking or cooling. We took a deep bowl, sliced various kinds of raw vegetables, onion and spices in it, dressed it with cold-pressed oil and dredged some grated nuts over the ready-to-eat vegetable salad.
The afternoon was the time for littering down the stable, rubbing down the horses and harnessing them, ready for riding out to the countryside. The two mares, one of them dark bay, the other yellow, were not runners but still slippy horses that handled well. Riding gallop through the fields, trotting in the woods, riding at a slow-pace through a flat stream made me feel that I am part and parcel of nature, rather than of a smoky, noisy, racing and bumptious civilization, which has more to do with barbarism than with an advanced culture said to have overcome the former.
Arriving home with a pleasant tiredness in the body, we had an abundant bath or went down to the stream and swam a little for limbering up. After having some light meal, we conversed for a while, or one of us read out so that we could discuss the things heard afterwards. Finally, with a last sniff of fresh air, we went to bed. to tell the truth, usually I was the only one doing like this, as Maria and Laszlo preferred making their beds outdoors, which was entirely natural for them and after three weeks quite convincing for me, too.
Leaving the cosy house after three weeks of quiet, calmness and serenity, and after learning the rules of a new outlook upon life more valuable than any other, meant parting from my masters, who opened my eyes to be able to see what is natural, healthy, precious and improver for people in this world.
Maria and Laszlo are a middle-aged couple living in a restored traditional peasant house at the edge of a little village in the western part of Hungary. They moved there about three years ago in order to start a new life. Owing to their invitation for a summer holiday, I could look into the mysteries of the style of their living.
The accommodation took quite a lot of time for me, so I think of describing only the last day's routine, by when I had actually managed to adopt their pace of life. Starting with the morning, I have to remark that it sets in hours earlier than we are accustomed to. The phrases " rise with the lark " and "go to bed with the sun" were completely true for us as sleeping lasted from about 9 o'clock in the evening to about 5 o'clock in the morning. I have non objection to this natural habit; watching TV late at night or dancing at a party till the small hours after a weary weekday is of no use, besides, sleeping hours before midnight are much more valuable than in any other part of the day.
Although there was a little bathroom in the house, we rarely used it; we preferred washing outside, in a deep tub filled with fresh cold water drawn from the well. I particularly enjoyed pacing on the soft grass wet with dew with nothing but a night-dress on me. I was taught some bracing gymnastic exercises, too, which we did jointly and also in the open air every morning.
When one of us got hungry, he or she just walked down to the bottom of the garden, decided which hind of fruit he or she desired most, looked for the right tree or bush and, without any washing, peeling, grating or pressing, ate it in hide and hair. By the way, I learnt some laws restricting eating habits. These include the rule settling that ingestion before noon may consist of fruits only, for these foodstuffs detoxicate the human system, and their active principles are most effective in the late morning hours.
The little garden supplying the family with all the necessary green stuff was a biotic one, that is no sprays and chemical fertilizer were used in it. We usually spent the morning hours there planting, watering, or just ingathering the crops. Then we chose the ingredients of a light midday meal and prepared it in always less than half an hour. The secret of this quickness was the omission of mixing, kneading, cooking, baking or cooling. We took a deep bowl, sliced various kinds of raw vegetables, onion and spices in it, dressed it with cold-pressed oil and dredged some grated nuts over the ready-to-eat vegetable salad.
The afternoon was the time for littering down the stable, rubbing down the horses and harnessing them, ready for riding out to the countryside. The two mares, one of them dark bay, the other yellow, were not runners but still slippy horses that handled well. Riding gallop through the fields, trotting in the woods, riding at a slow-pace through a flat stream made me feel that I am part and parcel of nature, rather than of a smoky, noisy, racing and bumptious civilization, which has more to do with barbarism than with an advanced culture said to have overcome the former.
Arriving home with a pleasant tiredness in the body, we had an abundant bath or went down to the stream and swam a little for limbering up. After having some light meal, we conversed for a while, or one of us read out so that we could discuss the things heard afterwards. Finally, with a last sniff of fresh air, we went to bed. to tell the truth, usually I was the only one doing like this, as Maria and Laszlo preferred making their beds outdoors, which was entirely natural for them and after three weeks quite convincing for me, too.
Leaving the cosy house after three weeks of quiet, calmness and serenity, and after learning the rules of a new outlook upon life more valuable than any other, meant parting from my masters, who opened my eyes to be able to see what is natural, healthy, precious and improver for people in this world.
L 216 F
The lobsters' popularity in Western cultures has grown enormously great in this century. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, lobsters or the family Homaridae all belong to the order of Decapoda and to the class of Crustacea. They use their first pair of legs, modified as pincers for grabbing food and fighting. Their other legs, called the swimming legs and a flipper-like tail are used for swimming backwards in the sea. Mainly nocturnal, lobsters scavenge for dead animals, but they also eat live fish, other animals, and seaweed. They may live up to fifty years. This essay aims to give information on travel with lobsters and show some of the researches made to lessen the difficulties of these activities.
Lobsters have been known, both artistically and scientifically, for their affection for travelling. In the field of the fine arts, many artists have dedicated their lives to show this special feature. One of the first descriptions of journeys made by a lobster, is Homar's Odyssey. The hero travels for ten years visiting the famous and infamous sights of the ancient underwater world. In its modern version called On the Road, by Jack Crabouac, the life of a young lobster is told, as he makes his way through the waters of the 20th century American Ocean. In the field of science, as well, many experts have sacrificed their time for studying this characteristic. Horvath Jozsef, a Hungarian aqua-scientist, conducted an experiment last year, with his colleagues at the Computer Assisted Lobster Locating Center in Pecs, Hungary. He implanted signalling devices in one hundred lobsters. Then he monitored them for six months. The record distance journey was 4230 km long, covered by a lobster tagged off at Calais, France and reached shore at Port Jefferson, Long Island, New York, USA. The animals travelled 1500 km on average. The most common destination among them was Canada.
The monotony of long-distance swimming however, has always been intolerable for the majority of lobsters. In the 18th century, Sir Edward Grimm made serious efforts to try to solve this problem and elevate the lobsters' mood, in vain. But in 1865, Lewis Carroll using Grimm's train of thought, invented the Lobster Quadrille, the ultimate solution. This is a dance performed by humans and lobsters. Having formed two lines along the sea-shore, the dancers advance twice, each with a lobster as a partner. They change lobsters and retire. Then they throw the lobsters with a bound into the air as far out to sea as they can. Swim after them, turn a somersault and change lobsters again. Having done this, they go back ashore and start again. During the journeys, it should be danced twice a day. If performed properly, it gives a sense of well-being and satisfaction for both parties.
Even with all the benevolent and soul-elevating features of the Lobster Quadrille, lobsters are prone to melancholy. Their psychological strength can not be compared to that of humans'. Thus lobsters must have the opportunity for solitude. This helps them sorting out their worries, repressed anger, and other negative feelings. Introducing different types of meditation techniques makes them able to overcome the obstacles they are confronted with. Generally, it takes them two to three hours a day to meditate, according to a study made by Dr John Crustace, at the Hydrophil University in Boston. He also asserts that lobsters need at least one six-hour-long sleep a day." Failing to provide this for them," he says " the animals undergo a serious psychological as well as morphological change. They transform into creatures resembling the mixture of a jar of mouldy jam and Johnny Rotten, the lead-singer of the former Sex Pistols band."
Appearance and physical well-being are important factors in a lobster's life. Julian Chelate, a French lobster expert has published an article on what toiletries these animals need for travelling. He states that during the journey, the animals are subjected to various diseases. He advises lobster enthusiasts to take extra precautions, such as coating the lobster skin with special ointment, to prevent the animals from contacting viruses. He suggests that the best product available is castor oil. People should apply this on the hard, rigid rostrum with a piece of loofah sponge. On the soft abdominal part however, it should be applied with soft cotton buds avoiding injuries to the sensitive parts. Pincers need special care to be kept looking and feeling good. To achieve this, Dr Barbara Deccapoda, an etologist from Rome, Italy, considers taking a pedicure set for the travel a very useful idea . She explains that the lobsters may develop allergic symptoms if their nails remain uncleaned for more than three days. For an overall body wash, any type of bath-cremes and salts are adequate, unless they have yarrow among their ingredients.(Yarrow is toxic for lobsters.)
Although there are still several psychological and physical difficulties in relating to lobsters, more and more people find solace in being and travelling with them. Learning to be conscious about their needs is an efficient way to avoid unnecessary irritations for both parties involved. By studying the latest information on lobster travelling and paying extra attention to the lobsters' necessities for frequent entertaining, occasional solitude, and special physical care, humans have all the opportunities for creating an even closer bond between the two species.
Lobsters have been known, both artistically and scientifically, for their affection for travelling. In the field of the fine arts, many artists have dedicated their lives to show this special feature. One of the first descriptions of journeys made by a lobster, is Homar's Odyssey. The hero travels for ten years visiting the famous and infamous sights of the ancient underwater world. In its modern version called On the Road, by Jack Crabouac, the life of a young lobster is told, as he makes his way through the waters of the 20th century American Ocean. In the field of science, as well, many experts have sacrificed their time for studying this characteristic. Horvath Jozsef, a Hungarian aqua-scientist, conducted an experiment last year, with his colleagues at the Computer Assisted Lobster Locating Center in Pecs, Hungary. He implanted signalling devices in one hundred lobsters. Then he monitored them for six months. The record distance journey was 4230 km long, covered by a lobster tagged off at Calais, France and reached shore at Port Jefferson, Long Island, New York, USA. The animals travelled 1500 km on average. The most common destination among them was Canada.
The monotony of long-distance swimming however, has always been intolerable for the majority of lobsters. In the 18th century, Sir Edward Grimm made serious efforts to try to solve this problem and elevate the lobsters' mood, in vain. But in 1865, Lewis Carroll using Grimm's train of thought, invented the Lobster Quadrille, the ultimate solution. This is a dance performed by humans and lobsters. Having formed two lines along the sea-shore, the dancers advance twice, each with a lobster as a partner. They change lobsters and retire. Then they throw the lobsters with a bound into the air as far out to sea as they can. Swim after them, turn a somersault and change lobsters again. Having done this, they go back ashore and start again. During the journeys, it should be danced twice a day. If performed properly, it gives a sense of well-being and satisfaction for both parties.
Even with all the benevolent and soul-elevating features of the Lobster Quadrille, lobsters are prone to melancholy. Their psychological strength can not be compared to that of humans'. Thus lobsters must have the opportunity for solitude. This helps them sorting out their worries, repressed anger, and other negative feelings. Introducing different types of meditation techniques makes them able to overcome the obstacles they are confronted with. Generally, it takes them two to three hours a day to meditate, according to a study made by Dr John Crustace, at the Hydrophil University in Boston. He also asserts that lobsters need at least one six-hour-long sleep a day." Failing to provide this for them," he says " the animals undergo a serious psychological as well as morphological change. They transform into creatures resembling the mixture of a jar of mouldy jam and Johnny Rotten, the lead-singer of the former Sex Pistols band."
Appearance and physical well-being are important factors in a lobster's life. Julian Chelate, a French lobster expert has published an article on what toiletries these animals need for travelling. He states that during the journey, the animals are subjected to various diseases. He advises lobster enthusiasts to take extra precautions, such as coating the lobster skin with special ointment, to prevent the animals from contacting viruses. He suggests that the best product available is castor oil. People should apply this on the hard, rigid rostrum with a piece of loofah sponge. On the soft abdominal part however, it should be applied with soft cotton buds avoiding injuries to the sensitive parts. Pincers need special care to be kept looking and feeling good. To achieve this, Dr Barbara Deccapoda, an etologist from Rome, Italy, considers taking a pedicure set for the travel a very useful idea . She explains that the lobsters may develop allergic symptoms if their nails remain uncleaned for more than three days. For an overall body wash, any type of bath-cremes and salts are adequate, unless they have yarrow among their ingredients.(Yarrow is toxic for lobsters.)
Although there are still several psychological and physical difficulties in relating to lobsters, more and more people find solace in being and travelling with them. Learning to be conscious about their needs is an efficient way to avoid unnecessary irritations for both parties involved. By studying the latest information on lobster travelling and paying extra attention to the lobsters' necessities for frequent entertaining, occasional solitude, and special physical care, humans have all the opportunities for creating an even closer bond between the two species.
L 215 F
Both teacher and student can achieve real success, if they are able to fulfill their appropriate parts in the class. Since the teacher and the students are participants, the interaction should be formed in two directions. First, between the teacher and his students, and second, between the students. The teacher obviously has the role of the leader in the class. In this role his first duty is to be prepared for the lesson. For example a plan is very important. At least the teacher should know what will take place on the lesson, what is the end of it. In the class this plan becomes actions of the teacher, which should be followed by the reactions of the students.
But: Interaction is more than this, more than action followed by reaction .Interaction means acting reciprocally, acting upon each other. The teacher acts upon the class, but the class reaction subsequently modifies his next action, and so on. The class reaction becomes in itself an action, evoking a reaction in the teacher, which influences his subsequent action. There is a constant pattern of mutual influence and adjustment.[1] For instance: if the teacher only follows his plan without responding to the students' reactions, the teacher would fail to achieve any success during the lesson. Probably, this kind of teacher is even not interested in a successful lesson; but what about the students? They will not be satisfied with it, and a conflict would develop. One would neither teach, nor learn in an atmosphere like this. So the plan, though it is still important, can and must change when it comes to reality.
The teacher has other roles as well. For example, he can be a live dictionary for the students. He can simply give the meaning of a word that is unknown for them, or try to interpret it in the language they study. The second one is more useful, because the students first gave a picture about it, and then the actual word. It needs more thinking, and makes easier for the students to remember that word later. Another role for him is the correction. It has many ways. Oral mistakes are less corrected than written ones. Perhaps because during the class more talking took place than writing, and also because talking is more quickly, and there would be no time to correct everything. Written mistakes can be corrected , for instance, by giving simply the right answers. A better way is to mark the words, or phrases that are wrong with different kinds of signs, and ask the students to find out the right answers. Even students can correct each other. The students should participate in as active as they can. They should feel free to ask questions any time they do not understand anything, or they do not agree with that has been said. For example, they can give advices about the plan for the next time, and it can be a cooperative work. This is very important to have this active cooperation between teacher and students, to be together instead of in complete isolation within the class. Successful work is only possible, if both parts can give and receive.
Another important task is about communication. People can communicate most easily with those who have most in common. So the teacher should make an effort to know about his students as much as possible, and also vica versa. Otherwise, the interaction will not work. This is best shown by the following: a new teacher arrives to a school perhaps from abroad, from a different culture, but we do not need to go so far, and he starts teaching, but after a while he would be a bit confused, because the students cannot understand his way of teaching language. It is similar to that, if they spoke different languages. From the point of view of the teacher, the class should not be seen as a mass of students, as something homogeneous, which reacts always the same way. Rather he should take into consideration that the class is consisted of individuals. Each of them have different attitudes towards him. There are students who like speaking and who do not; or it can happen that half of the class is interested in the game that the teacher offered, but still there are students who would like to do something else. This is very difficult to do everything right, to make everybody satisfied.
The interaction between students needs also a kind of giving and receiving, as well as a cooperative work. If the students really want to achieve success in the class, it is easy to do, but if they are uninterested in what their classmates have said, or they do not bear a part in the work, it is very hard. Students should be active, but they should notice the right moment for speaking, and for being in silence, and perhaps for giving the opportunity of speaking to somebody else. The teacher has a serious role here. He is the one who can always pass the ball to those who wait for being asked. Students should know each other also, because if one is alone, and knows nobody in the class, he can have the feeling of expulsion; and it would hold him up to say anything in class. Furthermore, listening to each other is very useful from the point of view of learning. Students can learn much from each other. They can improve their pronounciation, extend their vocabulary, and so on. Nevertheless, when "...teaching is undertaken...learning can occur. Hence the success of any lesson can best be judged in terms of the learning, that results from it, in terms of the learners' reactions to the teacher's action."[2]
But: Interaction is more than this, more than action followed by reaction .Interaction means acting reciprocally, acting upon each other. The teacher acts upon the class, but the class reaction subsequently modifies his next action, and so on. The class reaction becomes in itself an action, evoking a reaction in the teacher, which influences his subsequent action. There is a constant pattern of mutual influence and adjustment.[1] For instance: if the teacher only follows his plan without responding to the students' reactions, the teacher would fail to achieve any success during the lesson. Probably, this kind of teacher is even not interested in a successful lesson; but what about the students? They will not be satisfied with it, and a conflict would develop. One would neither teach, nor learn in an atmosphere like this. So the plan, though it is still important, can and must change when it comes to reality.
The teacher has other roles as well. For example, he can be a live dictionary for the students. He can simply give the meaning of a word that is unknown for them, or try to interpret it in the language they study. The second one is more useful, because the students first gave a picture about it, and then the actual word. It needs more thinking, and makes easier for the students to remember that word later. Another role for him is the correction. It has many ways. Oral mistakes are less corrected than written ones. Perhaps because during the class more talking took place than writing, and also because talking is more quickly, and there would be no time to correct everything. Written mistakes can be corrected , for instance, by giving simply the right answers. A better way is to mark the words, or phrases that are wrong with different kinds of signs, and ask the students to find out the right answers. Even students can correct each other. The students should participate in as active as they can. They should feel free to ask questions any time they do not understand anything, or they do not agree with that has been said. For example, they can give advices about the plan for the next time, and it can be a cooperative work. This is very important to have this active cooperation between teacher and students, to be together instead of in complete isolation within the class. Successful work is only possible, if both parts can give and receive.
Another important task is about communication. People can communicate most easily with those who have most in common. So the teacher should make an effort to know about his students as much as possible, and also vica versa. Otherwise, the interaction will not work. This is best shown by the following: a new teacher arrives to a school perhaps from abroad, from a different culture, but we do not need to go so far, and he starts teaching, but after a while he would be a bit confused, because the students cannot understand his way of teaching language. It is similar to that, if they spoke different languages. From the point of view of the teacher, the class should not be seen as a mass of students, as something homogeneous, which reacts always the same way. Rather he should take into consideration that the class is consisted of individuals. Each of them have different attitudes towards him. There are students who like speaking and who do not; or it can happen that half of the class is interested in the game that the teacher offered, but still there are students who would like to do something else. This is very difficult to do everything right, to make everybody satisfied.
The interaction between students needs also a kind of giving and receiving, as well as a cooperative work. If the students really want to achieve success in the class, it is easy to do, but if they are uninterested in what their classmates have said, or they do not bear a part in the work, it is very hard. Students should be active, but they should notice the right moment for speaking, and for being in silence, and perhaps for giving the opportunity of speaking to somebody else. The teacher has a serious role here. He is the one who can always pass the ball to those who wait for being asked. Students should know each other also, because if one is alone, and knows nobody in the class, he can have the feeling of expulsion; and it would hold him up to say anything in class. Furthermore, listening to each other is very useful from the point of view of learning. Students can learn much from each other. They can improve their pronounciation, extend their vocabulary, and so on. Nevertheless, when "...teaching is undertaken...learning can occur. Hence the success of any lesson can best be judged in terms of the learning, that results from it, in terms of the learners' reactions to the teacher's action."[2]
L 214 F
It is said and known, that the United States of America is not the safest place to live in. The figures show, that in proportion to population the United States is one of the most, if not the most dangerous land on Earth . Through the means of mass communication anyone can get aquainted with the state of affairs on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean. A lot of foreigner viewers state, that the news is overwhelmed by reports about wars, assasinations, murders, violence. Obviously crime is one of the hottest topics and most serious problem of American citizens. Crime concerns them all, especially violent crime touches the public mind. Violent crime is a class of offenses, which are against person. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation the most serious offenses classified as violent crimes are: aggravated assault, forcible rape, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, and robbery.
About 10 percent of the offenses reported in 1983 were for crimes against person. Many people think, that most arrest are made for serious crimes, but this is not true. (The most frequent arrests in the U.S. are made for driving under the influence of liquor and narcotics, drunkenness, and vagrancy). The public belief, that serious violent crimes are major offences is due to the press, which naturally puts a special emphasis on violent crime (often for financial reasons). Sometimes mass communication suggests, that the situation is desperate, and it exaggerates the problem.
Since violence has been reported, experts have been trying to give an explanation to the question: Why is violent crime so high in the USA. Everyday violence has various reasons in the USA. Going back in time, and looking for some historical and traditional reasons one can see, that during the colonization, and afterwards during the independence movement a lot of controversy occured. Frequently violence and shooting were the easiest way to a solution. In the "Wild West" farmers, sheep herders, cattle breeders did not sit down to negotiate whose the land would be. They had gathered their employees and they had been fighting till somebody won. The "tooth for tooth, eye for eye" moral had come across until the police appeared on the west.
Since then the police have got a lot to do. In the 20th century, during the period of "Prohibition" (1919-1933) a huge network of corruption and blackmail and gang rivalry grew. When this era elapsed the network of organised crime turned to other kinds of activity (e.g. drugs, large scale-robbery etc.). Nowadays still lots of violent crime can be connected with reckoning between two gangs or organizations.
Of course, violence cannot be correlated merely with the gangland. There are individual criminals whose social condition forces them to commit a crime. The highest crime rates occur in the most deprived sections of large cities. Slum areas are unprovided with well-equipped schools and possibilities of employment. For many young people the one and only chance to escape from boredom is going out to the streets, which are scenes of crime and vice (gambling, prostitution, drug abuse). Unfortunately, the residents of these areas are blacks or other minority groups. As a result, these people are considered to be misdemeanant.
Sad to say, but these citizens are afraid of both criminals and policemen, thus they refuse to cooperate with police, therefore police can not work effectively. The efficiency of the police is not only a matter of relationship to the citizens. Public opinion polls show, that Americans think police have not enough officer. Citizens unanimously believe, that there would be less violence on the streets if there were more patrols. Also, it is a well-known fact, that the U.S.A. is the land, where human rights are taken into consideration. In certain cases we witness, that human rights hinder and tie the investigation. Of course some way or another the police can go into action, but because of some official process the criminal can gain time.
Finally, a further cause of violent crime in the U.S. should be mentioned. And this is a cultural one. Many experts say, that films are to be blamed for the excessively high rate of violent crime. At the beginning of the 1980's a large number of action-films appeared on the screen. These films had a great influence on young people, who as a result, learnt a rather violent morals, and violent problem solving. Young people and some weak-nerved adult approved this behaviour, and violence penetrated into their life.
The government can take legal measures in order to improve the situation. First of all stricter laws and punishment can be initiated. The two issues, which are in focus now are death penalty and gun control. Death penalty was considered to be "cruel and unusual" punishment by Supreme Court in 1972. Meanwhile the number of murders had been growing. Public opinion polls were showing a massive support for the return of the use of capital punishment. In 1975 it was allowed again in certain circumstances. The number of murders had declined by a fifth. But capital punishment is still not a common one, even in death penalty states most murders do not qualify for it.
The other important issue is gun control. It is even more controversial, than the question of death penalty. Approximately 50 percent of murders are commited with handguns. It is possible, because handguns can be bought so easily. Some states have certain restrictions on the open sale, some do not have any. Unfortunately, those who want to restrict public access to guns cannot argue effectively against one of the most powerful pressure groups, the National Rifle Association. NRA is a conservative lobby, which refer to the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, saying: "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". In 1986 some restrictions were passed, but adequate control of guns will not be easily achieved.
Obviously, these antagonistic interests are difficult to bridge. The opponents have to compromise, so that not any kind of radical solution is possible. But other problems are not so ticklish. For example the press should be forced to give a lesser publicity to violent criminal cases. The same could be done with TV channels and movies. One could say, that this is a violence against the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, according to the freedom of press, but this shall not be a censorship just a kind of agreement, that would regulate presenting violent films, news and so on. On the other hand bureaucracies should be decreased, in order to let the police act much faster. The effective force should be extended, and more patrol should be sent out to the streets, especially to the slum areas. Finally, the Government should take measures in order to improve the circumstances in the deprived city areas. Of course, this essay does not enumerate all of the problems, and does not give an answer to all of the questions, but it shows, that by compromise the situation can be improved. Even if some measure is seemingly unconstitutional, or limiting personal freedom, by these changes the American society would win more, than it would lose.
About 10 percent of the offenses reported in 1983 were for crimes against person. Many people think, that most arrest are made for serious crimes, but this is not true. (The most frequent arrests in the U.S. are made for driving under the influence of liquor and narcotics, drunkenness, and vagrancy). The public belief, that serious violent crimes are major offences is due to the press, which naturally puts a special emphasis on violent crime (often for financial reasons). Sometimes mass communication suggests, that the situation is desperate, and it exaggerates the problem.
Since violence has been reported, experts have been trying to give an explanation to the question: Why is violent crime so high in the USA. Everyday violence has various reasons in the USA. Going back in time, and looking for some historical and traditional reasons one can see, that during the colonization, and afterwards during the independence movement a lot of controversy occured. Frequently violence and shooting were the easiest way to a solution. In the "Wild West" farmers, sheep herders, cattle breeders did not sit down to negotiate whose the land would be. They had gathered their employees and they had been fighting till somebody won. The "tooth for tooth, eye for eye" moral had come across until the police appeared on the west.
Since then the police have got a lot to do. In the 20th century, during the period of "Prohibition" (1919-1933) a huge network of corruption and blackmail and gang rivalry grew. When this era elapsed the network of organised crime turned to other kinds of activity (e.g. drugs, large scale-robbery etc.). Nowadays still lots of violent crime can be connected with reckoning between two gangs or organizations.
Of course, violence cannot be correlated merely with the gangland. There are individual criminals whose social condition forces them to commit a crime. The highest crime rates occur in the most deprived sections of large cities. Slum areas are unprovided with well-equipped schools and possibilities of employment. For many young people the one and only chance to escape from boredom is going out to the streets, which are scenes of crime and vice (gambling, prostitution, drug abuse). Unfortunately, the residents of these areas are blacks or other minority groups. As a result, these people are considered to be misdemeanant.
Sad to say, but these citizens are afraid of both criminals and policemen, thus they refuse to cooperate with police, therefore police can not work effectively. The efficiency of the police is not only a matter of relationship to the citizens. Public opinion polls show, that Americans think police have not enough officer. Citizens unanimously believe, that there would be less violence on the streets if there were more patrols. Also, it is a well-known fact, that the U.S.A. is the land, where human rights are taken into consideration. In certain cases we witness, that human rights hinder and tie the investigation. Of course some way or another the police can go into action, but because of some official process the criminal can gain time.
Finally, a further cause of violent crime in the U.S. should be mentioned. And this is a cultural one. Many experts say, that films are to be blamed for the excessively high rate of violent crime. At the beginning of the 1980's a large number of action-films appeared on the screen. These films had a great influence on young people, who as a result, learnt a rather violent morals, and violent problem solving. Young people and some weak-nerved adult approved this behaviour, and violence penetrated into their life.
The government can take legal measures in order to improve the situation. First of all stricter laws and punishment can be initiated. The two issues, which are in focus now are death penalty and gun control. Death penalty was considered to be "cruel and unusual" punishment by Supreme Court in 1972. Meanwhile the number of murders had been growing. Public opinion polls were showing a massive support for the return of the use of capital punishment. In 1975 it was allowed again in certain circumstances. The number of murders had declined by a fifth. But capital punishment is still not a common one, even in death penalty states most murders do not qualify for it.
The other important issue is gun control. It is even more controversial, than the question of death penalty. Approximately 50 percent of murders are commited with handguns. It is possible, because handguns can be bought so easily. Some states have certain restrictions on the open sale, some do not have any. Unfortunately, those who want to restrict public access to guns cannot argue effectively against one of the most powerful pressure groups, the National Rifle Association. NRA is a conservative lobby, which refer to the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, saying: "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed". In 1986 some restrictions were passed, but adequate control of guns will not be easily achieved.
Obviously, these antagonistic interests are difficult to bridge. The opponents have to compromise, so that not any kind of radical solution is possible. But other problems are not so ticklish. For example the press should be forced to give a lesser publicity to violent criminal cases. The same could be done with TV channels and movies. One could say, that this is a violence against the 1st Amendment to the Constitution, according to the freedom of press, but this shall not be a censorship just a kind of agreement, that would regulate presenting violent films, news and so on. On the other hand bureaucracies should be decreased, in order to let the police act much faster. The effective force should be extended, and more patrol should be sent out to the streets, especially to the slum areas. Finally, the Government should take measures in order to improve the circumstances in the deprived city areas. Of course, this essay does not enumerate all of the problems, and does not give an answer to all of the questions, but it shows, that by compromise the situation can be improved. Even if some measure is seemingly unconstitutional, or limiting personal freedom, by these changes the American society would win more, than it would lose.
L 213 F
It is a quite difficult question to rate the way that my parents brought me up because in rating them I rate myself. If I say that my parents brought me up perfectly, I say that I am an ideal grown-up who is well-mannered. In this case I would say that I always know what to do and I always do it in good time. Of course it would not be a true way to declare myself. But if I say that my parents brought me up badly, so I would be saying that I am a badly brought up adult then.
So all things considered I can maintain that I am an average well-mannered young person.
We talked a lot about this problem with my parents and we discussed how we could have done things differently. I feel we agree on the basic questions, on essentials.
I owe a lot to my parents. They always listened to me and made me feel like and independent person who may have different tastes and opinions from theirs. They spent a lot of time with me and never misled me. They tried to teach me to be strong and get ahead and make my way in life without asking for any help.
Of course I can see their mistakes because I recognized them, to my cost. For instance I did not receive enough encouragement from them and they never wanted to stimulate me to do better at school. They were always satisfied with me and my results.
They never took me to visit other families and other children because they did not have any friends.
I had never played with other children of the same age before nursery school and that is why in the nursery school I followed the nursery school mistress instead of making friends with the children.
Criticizing my parents is an easy thing to do but I may make the same mistakes when I am a parent. I do not know whether I will make a good one or not because it might turn out than my children would be asked the same questions. It will take years before my children can answer these questions. I am nineteen years old now and I do not want to have a baby during the next five years. Of course I have some ideas of bringing up a baby, but they are always changing.
First I think nursing a baby starts not with the birth but before it, when a women notices that she is going to have a baby. I would like to plan for this moment, not only become pregnant by chance. I would like to have a job to earn enough money to live on in comfortable circumstances and to have the financial means to buy all that the baby needs.
Then I have to take the doctor's advice in dieting, do the recommended exercises, and other things. These conditions (financial needs, diet) are essential before the baby' s birth but it is a substantial part of nursing, because these are conditions of having a mentally and physically healthy child.
The real bringing up starts at the moment of birth. In the early time (zero - three years old) the most important thing is the close contact between the mother and the little baby. It is important to talk to the little baby from the beginning, for example while feeding her. She does not understand our words but she gets used to being listened to and she will soon smile at us. If this contact develops during the first years it will help a lot when the first problems appear.
These first problems appear in nursery school and in primary school. Nursery school is the first real place for the baby to pass out from the familiar surroundings. She is alone and separated from her mother. We have to help the child to prepare for nursery. I will try to do this by a gradual increase in the hours she has to spend in nursery school. First I will leave her there only for four hours because I would like her to be accustomed to being among children. I do not like her to be bored at home and then suffer from the lack of adopting herself to new surroundings. At the same time she will know that I will always arrive at the nursery on time in order to bring her home. So she will not be afraid of being left in the nursery for ever. I will always listen to her when she talks about what happen to her and what she does in the nursery school. I will never tell her to go away because I have not got time for her, because she may not want to tell about it later.
If it could be done I believe it would help us (the parents and the baby) to overcome difficulties in school.
School is the place where most children are or can be hurt. She arrives at a new place with new faces around her and in addition, she has got duties which she did not have before. She has to feel that we will assist, and we are always besides her whatever she does.
I would like to do common programmes with her, for example we will walk an hour every day together. I would enjoy providing every possibility for her to talk about her problems and give her opinion. She will choose her school-bag and the cloth she wears because I would like her to feel that she is important and has got a chance to decide. I will always encourage and praise her for doing anything well because I would like her to become self-confident adult.
I would never tell her a lie. Telling lies to a child poisons everything. Standing in front of the hospital I will never say that taking a blood-test will not cause any pain. I will say that it gives a little pain and she has to stand it because she is old enough.
I reckon that if we deal with a child as an equal from the first time than, she will become a teenager who shares her problems with us. I would enjoy becoming a good parent. I will accept and like her with her faults and I hope it will be enough. Perhaps I will not be worse than the others. I will not make a perfect parent but I will try to be a good one.
So all things considered I can maintain that I am an average well-mannered young person.
We talked a lot about this problem with my parents and we discussed how we could have done things differently. I feel we agree on the basic questions, on essentials.
I owe a lot to my parents. They always listened to me and made me feel like and independent person who may have different tastes and opinions from theirs. They spent a lot of time with me and never misled me. They tried to teach me to be strong and get ahead and make my way in life without asking for any help.
Of course I can see their mistakes because I recognized them, to my cost. For instance I did not receive enough encouragement from them and they never wanted to stimulate me to do better at school. They were always satisfied with me and my results.
They never took me to visit other families and other children because they did not have any friends.
I had never played with other children of the same age before nursery school and that is why in the nursery school I followed the nursery school mistress instead of making friends with the children.
Criticizing my parents is an easy thing to do but I may make the same mistakes when I am a parent. I do not know whether I will make a good one or not because it might turn out than my children would be asked the same questions. It will take years before my children can answer these questions. I am nineteen years old now and I do not want to have a baby during the next five years. Of course I have some ideas of bringing up a baby, but they are always changing.
First I think nursing a baby starts not with the birth but before it, when a women notices that she is going to have a baby. I would like to plan for this moment, not only become pregnant by chance. I would like to have a job to earn enough money to live on in comfortable circumstances and to have the financial means to buy all that the baby needs.
Then I have to take the doctor's advice in dieting, do the recommended exercises, and other things. These conditions (financial needs, diet) are essential before the baby' s birth but it is a substantial part of nursing, because these are conditions of having a mentally and physically healthy child.
The real bringing up starts at the moment of birth. In the early time (zero - three years old) the most important thing is the close contact between the mother and the little baby. It is important to talk to the little baby from the beginning, for example while feeding her. She does not understand our words but she gets used to being listened to and she will soon smile at us. If this contact develops during the first years it will help a lot when the first problems appear.
These first problems appear in nursery school and in primary school. Nursery school is the first real place for the baby to pass out from the familiar surroundings. She is alone and separated from her mother. We have to help the child to prepare for nursery. I will try to do this by a gradual increase in the hours she has to spend in nursery school. First I will leave her there only for four hours because I would like her to be accustomed to being among children. I do not like her to be bored at home and then suffer from the lack of adopting herself to new surroundings. At the same time she will know that I will always arrive at the nursery on time in order to bring her home. So she will not be afraid of being left in the nursery for ever. I will always listen to her when she talks about what happen to her and what she does in the nursery school. I will never tell her to go away because I have not got time for her, because she may not want to tell about it later.
If it could be done I believe it would help us (the parents and the baby) to overcome difficulties in school.
School is the place where most children are or can be hurt. She arrives at a new place with new faces around her and in addition, she has got duties which she did not have before. She has to feel that we will assist, and we are always besides her whatever she does.
I would like to do common programmes with her, for example we will walk an hour every day together. I would enjoy providing every possibility for her to talk about her problems and give her opinion. She will choose her school-bag and the cloth she wears because I would like her to feel that she is important and has got a chance to decide. I will always encourage and praise her for doing anything well because I would like her to become self-confident adult.
I would never tell her a lie. Telling lies to a child poisons everything. Standing in front of the hospital I will never say that taking a blood-test will not cause any pain. I will say that it gives a little pain and she has to stand it because she is old enough.
I reckon that if we deal with a child as an equal from the first time than, she will become a teenager who shares her problems with us. I would enjoy becoming a good parent. I will accept and like her with her faults and I hope it will be enough. Perhaps I will not be worse than the others. I will not make a perfect parent but I will try to be a good one.
L 212 F
The child is father of the man. As the saying suggests the experiences of childhood determine a person's character as an adult. A child is a small human being who needs 15-20 years to become a parent good enough to provide his or her own child with the essential advice and help for life. Parents teach their children with the aim to make them able to begin their own life. The question is what way should it happen. Whether it is better to fill their cerebral convolutions up with dry facts in two hours five times a week and hope that the next Einstein is going to enhance the family's reputation, or we had better give thanks that our offspring is given a happy childhood in today's rather neurotic world.
The Better Baby Institute founded in America implies the first one. Where else could this idea find more fans if not in the 'Land of Dreams' where everything is possible even producing an unsurpassable genius from our child by following the 89 instructions of Mr Glenn Doman, who guarantees satisfaction in return for $490. It has been left out from the 'recepee' that every child has a different character so they probably also need a different treatment. It would be against nature to force a child to do something it is not comfortable with. The only truth in the article is that an average child is capable of attaining much more information than a well-educated adult, but yet at the school it becomes clear what its real fields of interests are. A child who is superb at all subjects, either has a high IQ-rate or has a botched up childhood of not having enough time to relax because of learning constantly. Parents cannot multiply their child's intelligence by overwhelming them with data. A child is not a speciman copy to amaze the neighbours. Children have their own inside world and the main task of parents is to show them the way how to find happiness and satisfaction in life. A child is innately innocent and naive trying to imitate the adult's life and behaviour. Children believe everything they hear and see is true and it depends merely on us what they will turn out to be in their adulthood. We have to look after them with responsibility for their future being prepared to answer all their questions and showing our love so that they could feel secure. Children often find themselves in situations which they need to understand to become gradually mature.
Everybody of us is contuniously seeking the aim of our life and children are the same. Parents have to take time to explain them the unknown parts of life to strengthen their self-confidence so to be able to come to deceisons in certain situations later when being on their own. There must be a trustful relationship between the child and the tutor to give the child the feeling that its problems and mixed up feelings from the events happening around can find solution and that later he or she will be able to overcome the difficulties coming in way.That should be the way of preparing them for independent life.
A very sad characteristic of our age is the disappearing of real fairytales and bed-time stories. Instead of that kids are playing with Barbie-dolls dressed in tiny posh evening dresses what absolutely distorts their sense of reality. They are stuck to computer games all day long growing up not being able to distinguish a horse from a cow. Apart from parents it is exactly the fairytales that can give the child solution for their problems. It has been the entire task of fairytales ever since they exist. Today, as well as in the old times, they could teach both talented and average children to recognize the higher values of life, they can show what experiences a child needs to have its character improved. Fairytales suggest that anybody can reach a happy full life but only on condition that one does not run away from difficulties because the way to a real personality leads through learning. Bedtime stories should take a great part in children's education and parents should put emphasis on providing them with story books and discussing the moral of them with their children.
There was no need for a 'hyper-super' toy for Mozart to become a genius, if somebody gets the right amount of stimuli and has the essential gene group, it will probably show its effect. It is naturally given to our world that the relation between people with high IQ and people less clever is in balance. We cannot expect everybody to give a performance above average because the results might not satisfy us. Let's take look at the suicide level of the Japanese students. Parents rushing their children into studies often do not even relize to what degree they burden their children.
The Better Baby Institute founded in America implies the first one. Where else could this idea find more fans if not in the 'Land of Dreams' where everything is possible even producing an unsurpassable genius from our child by following the 89 instructions of Mr Glenn Doman, who guarantees satisfaction in return for $490. It has been left out from the 'recepee' that every child has a different character so they probably also need a different treatment. It would be against nature to force a child to do something it is not comfortable with. The only truth in the article is that an average child is capable of attaining much more information than a well-educated adult, but yet at the school it becomes clear what its real fields of interests are. A child who is superb at all subjects, either has a high IQ-rate or has a botched up childhood of not having enough time to relax because of learning constantly. Parents cannot multiply their child's intelligence by overwhelming them with data. A child is not a speciman copy to amaze the neighbours. Children have their own inside world and the main task of parents is to show them the way how to find happiness and satisfaction in life. A child is innately innocent and naive trying to imitate the adult's life and behaviour. Children believe everything they hear and see is true and it depends merely on us what they will turn out to be in their adulthood. We have to look after them with responsibility for their future being prepared to answer all their questions and showing our love so that they could feel secure. Children often find themselves in situations which they need to understand to become gradually mature.
Everybody of us is contuniously seeking the aim of our life and children are the same. Parents have to take time to explain them the unknown parts of life to strengthen their self-confidence so to be able to come to deceisons in certain situations later when being on their own. There must be a trustful relationship between the child and the tutor to give the child the feeling that its problems and mixed up feelings from the events happening around can find solution and that later he or she will be able to overcome the difficulties coming in way.That should be the way of preparing them for independent life.
A very sad characteristic of our age is the disappearing of real fairytales and bed-time stories. Instead of that kids are playing with Barbie-dolls dressed in tiny posh evening dresses what absolutely distorts their sense of reality. They are stuck to computer games all day long growing up not being able to distinguish a horse from a cow. Apart from parents it is exactly the fairytales that can give the child solution for their problems. It has been the entire task of fairytales ever since they exist. Today, as well as in the old times, they could teach both talented and average children to recognize the higher values of life, they can show what experiences a child needs to have its character improved. Fairytales suggest that anybody can reach a happy full life but only on condition that one does not run away from difficulties because the way to a real personality leads through learning. Bedtime stories should take a great part in children's education and parents should put emphasis on providing them with story books and discussing the moral of them with their children.
There was no need for a 'hyper-super' toy for Mozart to become a genius, if somebody gets the right amount of stimuli and has the essential gene group, it will probably show its effect. It is naturally given to our world that the relation between people with high IQ and people less clever is in balance. We cannot expect everybody to give a performance above average because the results might not satisfy us. Let's take look at the suicide level of the Japanese students. Parents rushing their children into studies often do not even relize to what degree they burden their children.
L 209 F
I think the tree most important qualities of an ideal parent are: to be affectionate, understanding and influential.
Nowadays there are more and more children who don't get on well with their parents, but I think it is very important to be a good relationship between a child and a parent. The most important thing in the relation of a child and a parent that they can understand each other, to speak about daily and also about personal problems. I think a good parent can talk almost about everything with his/her child. The best is if they are on friendly terms. In this case they don't feel strangerity in the presence of each other. There won't be secrets of the child, he/she will share his/her difficulties with his/her parents and won't be afraid of the consequences. He/she dares to say if he/she has done something bad. It is the primary condition of the honesty. But the bad relation can cause many quarrelling. The child doesn't dare to say about personal problems rather he/she turns to his/her friends. He/she doesn't like being at home, he/she often goes home late because he/she likes to be with his/her friends. At the worst his/her friends can directe his/her to the wrong way. He/she completely becomes alienated from his/her parents and even he/she doesn't listen to them. Their relation become unhappy, but in many cases the parents try to make it better often too late. This bad contact can be prevented if the parents bring up their children to be honest. But a good relation require not only understanding but even require to have influence of the parent. It's no good if a child doesn't respect his/her parents. The parents can order their children if it needs. Don't allow everything to their children, a child have to know what he/she can do and can't do. But at the same time the parents have to be indulgent. I mean they don't be so serious, for example don't beat their children if they have done something bad because usually it is no effective but I don't say that sometimes it doesn't serves them right. I think it is also important that the children address their parents as 'mother' and 'father' and do not call them by their christian names because it doesn't express prestige in the direction of the parents. It is also a great regard for the parent if the child doesn't talk back. The third most important quality of a parent is to be loving. It means that they can lough, speak and cry together with their children. It is important for a child to feel the love of his/her parents. A good parent can always help his/her child at any time, if the child turn to him/her he/she doesn't say that he/she has no time to help or 'I am tired'. For example they play with the children or help them to do the homework and hears the lesson. He/she always interested in the problems of his/her child. Parents can also express their love by touching their children while they are talking or waking up their children with caressing and they tell a tale in the evenings. But it is no good if the parents overdo the love because the child becomes spoiled. For example parents don't present always their child if he/she behaves sensibly or does something well because later the child will always expect the present.
In a word to bring up a child is a very difficult task what parents can do only with patience, understanding and loving.
Nowadays there are more and more children who don't get on well with their parents, but I think it is very important to be a good relationship between a child and a parent. The most important thing in the relation of a child and a parent that they can understand each other, to speak about daily and also about personal problems. I think a good parent can talk almost about everything with his/her child. The best is if they are on friendly terms. In this case they don't feel strangerity in the presence of each other. There won't be secrets of the child, he/she will share his/her difficulties with his/her parents and won't be afraid of the consequences. He/she dares to say if he/she has done something bad. It is the primary condition of the honesty. But the bad relation can cause many quarrelling. The child doesn't dare to say about personal problems rather he/she turns to his/her friends. He/she doesn't like being at home, he/she often goes home late because he/she likes to be with his/her friends. At the worst his/her friends can directe his/her to the wrong way. He/she completely becomes alienated from his/her parents and even he/she doesn't listen to them. Their relation become unhappy, but in many cases the parents try to make it better often too late. This bad contact can be prevented if the parents bring up their children to be honest. But a good relation require not only understanding but even require to have influence of the parent. It's no good if a child doesn't respect his/her parents. The parents can order their children if it needs. Don't allow everything to their children, a child have to know what he/she can do and can't do. But at the same time the parents have to be indulgent. I mean they don't be so serious, for example don't beat their children if they have done something bad because usually it is no effective but I don't say that sometimes it doesn't serves them right. I think it is also important that the children address their parents as 'mother' and 'father' and do not call them by their christian names because it doesn't express prestige in the direction of the parents. It is also a great regard for the parent if the child doesn't talk back. The third most important quality of a parent is to be loving. It means that they can lough, speak and cry together with their children. It is important for a child to feel the love of his/her parents. A good parent can always help his/her child at any time, if the child turn to him/her he/she doesn't say that he/she has no time to help or 'I am tired'. For example they play with the children or help them to do the homework and hears the lesson. He/she always interested in the problems of his/her child. Parents can also express their love by touching their children while they are talking or waking up their children with caressing and they tell a tale in the evenings. But it is no good if the parents overdo the love because the child becomes spoiled. For example parents don't present always their child if he/she behaves sensibly or does something well because later the child will always expect the present.
In a word to bring up a child is a very difficult task what parents can do only with patience, understanding and loving.
L 207 F
There is a difference in the attitude to bringing up children in the UK and in Hungary. In our country mothers usually stay at home with a new baby for a few years, or if they do go back to work, then comes the grandmother. There are hardly any nannies, and not many cleaning ladies either. The bringing up of children and the household duties are still considered the role of the mother, even if she has a good job. Sometimes the father helps in too, and the grandparents often get an important part in the lives of their grandchildren.
In the UK the situation is not the same. Mothers don't stay at home with their babies for long and even if they do, they often get a home–help. Cleaning ladies are quite common even in households without young children. They go over once or twice a week, sometimes every day to clean and tidy the house. A well–off family when a baby is born gets first a maternity nurse than later a nanny. Nannies are usually British or Australians and they can even be employed on a live–in or a daily basis. Families that don't have enough money to employ a professional nannie often get an au–pair. Au–pairs are people between the age of 17 and 27 from other countries. They do light household duties and help in looking after the children in exchange for the opportunity to improve their English in a native environment. As they don't have a work permit, they are not allowed to get wages, but they are provided with food and lodging and also some pocket money.
There are families who treat the au–pair almost like a servant saying "The au–pair is just the modern alternative for a maid". There is some truth in this. The au–pair is the cheapest labor in the UK. A family doesn't have to be rich to be able to afford one, but sometimes even wealthy families chose not to pay for a professional nanny.
According to the law an au–pair should be treated as a part of the family, and most families except this. They try to make them feel welcome and loved. It is not always this simple though. If a family decides to get an au–pair, most of the time means in fact several au–pairs. The usual stay of an au–pair in the UK can be 2 years at most, but often it is just a few month. This means that by the time the children grow up, they have had numerous au–pairs. No wonder sometimes they can't even remember their names.
A lot of bad things are said about how an au–pair's life is in the UK. Some of them are true, it's not easy for anybody to fit into another family's life. But once the au–pair accepts that it's not easy for the host family either to have someone living in their house, usually things can be worked out. Some families get an au–pair just because of the work that needs to be done, others are open to other cultures and enjoy getting to know someone from another country.
There are several reasons why the au–pair system is so wildly spread in the UK, and in some other West–European countries, but not in Hungary. Before the First World War upper or even middle class families could employ a nanny or a maid. When our country was communist travelling wasn't much appreciated, and the life standards dropped too. There have been political changes in the last years, but most families still wouldn't have enough money to afford a nanny. Even an extra person living with the family would mean way too much extra cost. Also, probably most people would reject the idea of a 'stranger' living in their homes and bringing up their children. For some reason most British families handle this really well.
Most British families go to an agency to find an au–pair for them to help in looking after their children and their homes. They invite someone in their homes, who they hardly even know and often they trust them with sole charge of their children. This is quite a big step, especially considering, that we tend to say, that the British are reserved and they like to live isolated on their islands.
In the UK the situation is not the same. Mothers don't stay at home with their babies for long and even if they do, they often get a home–help. Cleaning ladies are quite common even in households without young children. They go over once or twice a week, sometimes every day to clean and tidy the house. A well–off family when a baby is born gets first a maternity nurse than later a nanny. Nannies are usually British or Australians and they can even be employed on a live–in or a daily basis. Families that don't have enough money to employ a professional nannie often get an au–pair. Au–pairs are people between the age of 17 and 27 from other countries. They do light household duties and help in looking after the children in exchange for the opportunity to improve their English in a native environment. As they don't have a work permit, they are not allowed to get wages, but they are provided with food and lodging and also some pocket money.
There are families who treat the au–pair almost like a servant saying "The au–pair is just the modern alternative for a maid". There is some truth in this. The au–pair is the cheapest labor in the UK. A family doesn't have to be rich to be able to afford one, but sometimes even wealthy families chose not to pay for a professional nanny.
According to the law an au–pair should be treated as a part of the family, and most families except this. They try to make them feel welcome and loved. It is not always this simple though. If a family decides to get an au–pair, most of the time means in fact several au–pairs. The usual stay of an au–pair in the UK can be 2 years at most, but often it is just a few month. This means that by the time the children grow up, they have had numerous au–pairs. No wonder sometimes they can't even remember their names.
A lot of bad things are said about how an au–pair's life is in the UK. Some of them are true, it's not easy for anybody to fit into another family's life. But once the au–pair accepts that it's not easy for the host family either to have someone living in their house, usually things can be worked out. Some families get an au–pair just because of the work that needs to be done, others are open to other cultures and enjoy getting to know someone from another country.
There are several reasons why the au–pair system is so wildly spread in the UK, and in some other West–European countries, but not in Hungary. Before the First World War upper or even middle class families could employ a nanny or a maid. When our country was communist travelling wasn't much appreciated, and the life standards dropped too. There have been political changes in the last years, but most families still wouldn't have enough money to afford a nanny. Even an extra person living with the family would mean way too much extra cost. Also, probably most people would reject the idea of a 'stranger' living in their homes and bringing up their children. For some reason most British families handle this really well.
Most British families go to an agency to find an au–pair for them to help in looking after their children and their homes. They invite someone in their homes, who they hardly even know and often they trust them with sole charge of their children. This is quite a big step, especially considering, that we tend to say, that the British are reserved and they like to live isolated on their islands.
L 206 F
NBC Super Channel ITN World News 1995 30th October 21:30
Audience: General, English speaking
Genre: Daily news
Anchor: Alex Thompson
Director: Martin Boyd
Production team: Brian Bryant, Chris Bryant, Rachel Corp, Alison Perry, Stuart Webb, Bruce Whitehead
ITN World News appears on NBC Super Channel twice a day: at 18:00 and 21:30 o'clock. It lasts thirty minutes. Each edition consists of several parts that differ day by day. The 30th October 1995 session has seventeen separate parts. All these segments are introduced by the anchor who says a few introducing sentences.
The anchor seats in front of a blue wall and the background constantly changes when the news changes.
The parts of the 30th session:
1. The failure of UN policy
Pictures are taken from Studio B, Belgrad. The reporter, Nick Gain comments through the report and at the end he himself draws the conclusion. The topic: Dutch UN troops are blamed for not handling muslim aids properly. Several documents are shown to prove the facts that the reporter claims. A computer-made picture is included to represent the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
2. The Croatian election
Pictures of the NBC Super Channel are shown. The reporter, Alison Perry first tells the story of the Croatian elections and briefly the political career of Franjo Tudjman. She herself does not appear as the creator of this hard news presentation.
3. Catastrophy in Azerbaidzhan
Julien Marien reports through telephoning about an underground fire in Baku. The reporter is not shown but pictures of the NBC back up what he says.
4. Democratic election?
Lawrence McDonnell's report informs about the forcoming Russian election. The reporter appears in the middle of the report saying a few comments about the topic. The focus of the report is on how democratic the Russian election will be and how Boris Jelcin's illness affects it.
5. This part of the program shows the main title of NBC Super Channel and commercials.
6. Preview of other programs on the channel.
7. Serial killer
Robert Hose reports about a woman who killed ten women and girls. The lady's picture is only shown behind the anchor and after that painted pictures are to represent the trial: the suspect, the jury and the lawyers. It is a typical soft news.
8. Nuclear tests in the South-Pacific
Hard news about John Major's and Jacques Chirac's cooperance on nuclear tests. The reporter, Hew Pins does not appear but he speaks through the montage constantly and draws the conclusion finally.
9. Protests against nuclear tests
A short summery about recent demonstrations and a report about a new one in Wellington, New Zealand. The anchor is the one who tells the story.
10. Killing in Sri-Lanka
The anchor tells about the accocination of 132 people. Pictures of the killed people are shown.
11. Retired soldiers
Peter Lain - never appearing - informs about the fate of retired British army soldiers in Hong Kong. Several soldiers are asked about their future.
12. Storm in the Philippines
The anchor tells about the tropical storm in Visayas. A few minutes of pictures are shown about the disaster.
13. Election in Canada
The anchor informs about the election in Montreal, Quebec. Local pictures are shown.
14. US - Israel meeting
Warren Christopher meets the hebrew Prime Minister in Damaskus- reports the anchor. In the meantime the events are shown.
15. Fear in Israel
Peter Wilson's way of presenting a hard news: composite report with montages, questionned people, commenting. Some clips are transferred from TVM.
16. Friction in the Netherlands
The anchor tells about the accusation that the Dutch made conserning UN troops not handling aircrafts and aids properly in Bosnia.
17. The first royal flight
The anchor tells a soft news about the Queen of England. She flies on a scheduled flight for the first time. The monarch is shown for a few seconds.
Finally the anchor says good bye. The camera -from a different view- shows the image of the studio.
The anchor spoke at a high level of speech. He wore a suit and a tie. He seemed to be familiar about the subjects so he did not make mistakes.
No connection can be seen between the segments. Only a few soft news appeared and there were any investigative reports.
Audience: General, English speaking
Genre: Daily news
Anchor: Alex Thompson
Director: Martin Boyd
Production team: Brian Bryant, Chris Bryant, Rachel Corp, Alison Perry, Stuart Webb, Bruce Whitehead
ITN World News appears on NBC Super Channel twice a day: at 18:00 and 21:30 o'clock. It lasts thirty minutes. Each edition consists of several parts that differ day by day. The 30th October 1995 session has seventeen separate parts. All these segments are introduced by the anchor who says a few introducing sentences.
The anchor seats in front of a blue wall and the background constantly changes when the news changes.
The parts of the 30th session:
1. The failure of UN policy
Pictures are taken from Studio B, Belgrad. The reporter, Nick Gain comments through the report and at the end he himself draws the conclusion. The topic: Dutch UN troops are blamed for not handling muslim aids properly. Several documents are shown to prove the facts that the reporter claims. A computer-made picture is included to represent the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
2. The Croatian election
Pictures of the NBC Super Channel are shown. The reporter, Alison Perry first tells the story of the Croatian elections and briefly the political career of Franjo Tudjman. She herself does not appear as the creator of this hard news presentation.
3. Catastrophy in Azerbaidzhan
Julien Marien reports through telephoning about an underground fire in Baku. The reporter is not shown but pictures of the NBC back up what he says.
4. Democratic election?
Lawrence McDonnell's report informs about the forcoming Russian election. The reporter appears in the middle of the report saying a few comments about the topic. The focus of the report is on how democratic the Russian election will be and how Boris Jelcin's illness affects it.
5. This part of the program shows the main title of NBC Super Channel and commercials.
6. Preview of other programs on the channel.
7. Serial killer
Robert Hose reports about a woman who killed ten women and girls. The lady's picture is only shown behind the anchor and after that painted pictures are to represent the trial: the suspect, the jury and the lawyers. It is a typical soft news.
8. Nuclear tests in the South-Pacific
Hard news about John Major's and Jacques Chirac's cooperance on nuclear tests. The reporter, Hew Pins does not appear but he speaks through the montage constantly and draws the conclusion finally.
9. Protests against nuclear tests
A short summery about recent demonstrations and a report about a new one in Wellington, New Zealand. The anchor is the one who tells the story.
10. Killing in Sri-Lanka
The anchor tells about the accocination of 132 people. Pictures of the killed people are shown.
11. Retired soldiers
Peter Lain - never appearing - informs about the fate of retired British army soldiers in Hong Kong. Several soldiers are asked about their future.
12. Storm in the Philippines
The anchor tells about the tropical storm in Visayas. A few minutes of pictures are shown about the disaster.
13. Election in Canada
The anchor informs about the election in Montreal, Quebec. Local pictures are shown.
14. US - Israel meeting
Warren Christopher meets the hebrew Prime Minister in Damaskus- reports the anchor. In the meantime the events are shown.
15. Fear in Israel
Peter Wilson's way of presenting a hard news: composite report with montages, questionned people, commenting. Some clips are transferred from TVM.
16. Friction in the Netherlands
The anchor tells about the accusation that the Dutch made conserning UN troops not handling aircrafts and aids properly in Bosnia.
17. The first royal flight
The anchor tells a soft news about the Queen of England. She flies on a scheduled flight for the first time. The monarch is shown for a few seconds.
Finally the anchor says good bye. The camera -from a different view- shows the image of the studio.
The anchor spoke at a high level of speech. He wore a suit and a tie. He seemed to be familiar about the subjects so he did not make mistakes.
No connection can be seen between the segments. Only a few soft news appeared and there were any investigative reports.
L 205 F
On the 19th of April, 1995, a bomb blew the federal office building in Oklahoma City apart. The event was covered by several newspapers, among which there are Newsweek and Time. Both of the international newsmagazines released special issues on the bombing and both issues date the 1st of May, 1995. After reading both articles, one discovers that there are many similarities and differences between the length, the pictures, the structure and the style of the two articles. In this essay, the articles will be compared from the above aspects.
The first difference that comes to the reader`s eyes when looking at the newspapers is the difference between the front-cover pictures. The front-cover of Time brings a picture of the suspect of the bombing, Tim McVeigh, while Newsweek shows two victimes from the scene of the bombing. The two pictures already indicate the differece between the focus of the two articles: Time focuses mainly on the suspect, while Newsweek has its main focus on the victims and the scene of the tragedy. However, the word-choice of the cover-titles coincide: the word "terror" is present in both of them, which might indicate the international view of the blast: it was a terror.
Since both of the articles are cover-stories, they are both quite long: Newsweek has 19 and Time 31 pages on the blast. The "longerness" of the time article is due not only to the written text, but also to the high number of pictures in the article: there are 34 pictures in the Time article (and only 22 in the Newsweek coverage). There are three pictures that are present in both newspapers: that of the federal building, of Tim McVeigh and a third "image that came to symbolize the tragedy"(Newsweek): a fireman holding a one year-old baby. As for the other pictures, the ones in Time are more personal (and are therefore more shocking): a mother and a child in hospital, five children with their missing mother`s picture, relatives hugging. Th pictures of Newsweek are of a more objective kind: firefighters at work, terrorists breaking into the Nichols` house. In both magazines there are a map of Oklahoma and a sketch of the federal building and its surroundings.
The surface-structure of the two articles are quite similar: both of them consist of three main articles and there are several short ones attached to them. However, the ordering of the themes covered in the stories differ.
As mentionned earlier, Time focuses on the suspects, and therefore its first article is entitled "Who Are They?" and it is about Tim McVeigh and the Nichols. The article gives details of the suspects` activities on the day of the crime, presents their history ad explains how McVeigh was caught. It is only after the detailed presentation of the suspects that in "The Blood of Innocent" part the reader learns about the victims and gets a description of the site. Finally, the last part of the cover-story, "How Safe Is Safe?", raises the question of public safety.
In contrast with this, in its first article "The Rescue", Newsweek starts by victim-stories, gives a description of the site of the bombing and describes how people helped each other after the blast. It is only in the second part of the cover-story, "The Manhunt", that McVeigh is introduced and the police-hunt is presented. The third part, "The Patriots", deals with the militia group. The ordering of the articles certainly shows how the focus differs in the two magazines.
The comparison of the information covered in Newsweek and Time is also important. The main facts of the bombing are covered in both magazines, however, Time provides a more detailed presentation of the event. There is, for example, an (in my opinion) important fact that is not mentionned in Newsweek, only in Time: "For those sad, waiting parents, the terror was not over. Children’s Hospital received a bomb threat. They faced an awful decision: evacuate, or hope it was the cruelest of huaxes." (pg. 40.) On the other hand, there are stories that are stated in both articles, for example, the case of Dana Bradley, 20, or that of a man: "One man tottered down the sidewalk, blood on his face, declaring that he was heading home -only he didn’t know where that might be and couldn’t remember his name." (Time) Besides covering more information, Time also uses a more personal style. It gives names of firefighters, lots of victimes and also states the name of the federal building ( Alfred p. Murrah), which Newsweek does not do. On the top of some pages, Time brings quotations which also add to the personal nature of the article. The personal style can be best felt in the lines: "Colton called joyfully to his mother and ran to give her a big hug. `I love you Mommy.` That was the last time she spoke to his son." (pg.38)
While reading articles, especially ones as shocking as the Oklahoma Bombing story was, the reader does not pay special attention to the ordering, the structure, the style of the article, and what is more, one is not likely to read the same story twice in different magazines. The aim of this essay, therefore, was to call the readers` attention to the similarities and differences of two coverages of one event.
The first difference that comes to the reader`s eyes when looking at the newspapers is the difference between the front-cover pictures. The front-cover of Time brings a picture of the suspect of the bombing, Tim McVeigh, while Newsweek shows two victimes from the scene of the bombing. The two pictures already indicate the differece between the focus of the two articles: Time focuses mainly on the suspect, while Newsweek has its main focus on the victims and the scene of the tragedy. However, the word-choice of the cover-titles coincide: the word "terror" is present in both of them, which might indicate the international view of the blast: it was a terror.
Since both of the articles are cover-stories, they are both quite long: Newsweek has 19 and Time 31 pages on the blast. The "longerness" of the time article is due not only to the written text, but also to the high number of pictures in the article: there are 34 pictures in the Time article (and only 22 in the Newsweek coverage). There are three pictures that are present in both newspapers: that of the federal building, of Tim McVeigh and a third "image that came to symbolize the tragedy"(Newsweek): a fireman holding a one year-old baby. As for the other pictures, the ones in Time are more personal (and are therefore more shocking): a mother and a child in hospital, five children with their missing mother`s picture, relatives hugging. Th pictures of Newsweek are of a more objective kind: firefighters at work, terrorists breaking into the Nichols` house. In both magazines there are a map of Oklahoma and a sketch of the federal building and its surroundings.
The surface-structure of the two articles are quite similar: both of them consist of three main articles and there are several short ones attached to them. However, the ordering of the themes covered in the stories differ.
As mentionned earlier, Time focuses on the suspects, and therefore its first article is entitled "Who Are They?" and it is about Tim McVeigh and the Nichols. The article gives details of the suspects` activities on the day of the crime, presents their history ad explains how McVeigh was caught. It is only after the detailed presentation of the suspects that in "The Blood of Innocent" part the reader learns about the victims and gets a description of the site. Finally, the last part of the cover-story, "How Safe Is Safe?", raises the question of public safety.
In contrast with this, in its first article "The Rescue", Newsweek starts by victim-stories, gives a description of the site of the bombing and describes how people helped each other after the blast. It is only in the second part of the cover-story, "The Manhunt", that McVeigh is introduced and the police-hunt is presented. The third part, "The Patriots", deals with the militia group. The ordering of the articles certainly shows how the focus differs in the two magazines.
The comparison of the information covered in Newsweek and Time is also important. The main facts of the bombing are covered in both magazines, however, Time provides a more detailed presentation of the event. There is, for example, an (in my opinion) important fact that is not mentionned in Newsweek, only in Time: "For those sad, waiting parents, the terror was not over. Children’s Hospital received a bomb threat. They faced an awful decision: evacuate, or hope it was the cruelest of huaxes." (pg. 40.) On the other hand, there are stories that are stated in both articles, for example, the case of Dana Bradley, 20, or that of a man: "One man tottered down the sidewalk, blood on his face, declaring that he was heading home -only he didn’t know where that might be and couldn’t remember his name." (Time) Besides covering more information, Time also uses a more personal style. It gives names of firefighters, lots of victimes and also states the name of the federal building ( Alfred p. Murrah), which Newsweek does not do. On the top of some pages, Time brings quotations which also add to the personal nature of the article. The personal style can be best felt in the lines: "Colton called joyfully to his mother and ran to give her a big hug. `I love you Mommy.` That was the last time she spoke to his son." (pg.38)
While reading articles, especially ones as shocking as the Oklahoma Bombing story was, the reader does not pay special attention to the ordering, the structure, the style of the article, and what is more, one is not likely to read the same story twice in different magazines. The aim of this essay, therefore, was to call the readers` attention to the similarities and differences of two coverages of one event.
L 204 F
Family structures represent the basic units of society. They have existed for thousands of years , which proves that they are needed. This kind of social institution is built on love and understanding . It provides its members with a feeling of safety which is essential in life. A family's main function is to give the child all he needs and bring him up under the best conditions possible. Any problem in the family organization might cause serious defects in the child's or in other words , in the future generation's development. The question is whether families can properly function close to the end of the twentieth century.
The advancement of science and technology parallel with the social movements brought about many changes in this century. In all highly developed societies a so called high rise life has emerged . It is a lifestyle which is centred almost only around working and earning money and allows practically no free time for anything else. Let me describe only those features of high rise life which are strongly related to family build - up. First of all, as I have already suggested everything have become much more money oriented. Life’s speed has accelerated. In order to keep up with the rat race one has to work harder than before, which among many other things results in less time with the family. Unlike in the previous centuries most women have to work instead of looking after the family members. Children are very often left alone and do not get the care and attention they long for. So lifestyle has been changing in such a way that the existence of the tradditional family pattern seems to be threatened. The main victim of this process is the child himself.
Childhood is a very special phase in life. During this period the child needs guidance ,caring and a lot of time with those whom he loves. It is during these formative years that he gets to know the world around him. He is exposed to a lot of influences which should be controlled by his parents so that he can learn the most out of them.
Today in an average family both parents work, usually from early early morning till late afternoon. This is why the small child is placed at a kindergarten for most of the day. By the time he is taken home he has got many things to tell his parents about. However, the parents often turn out to be too exhausted to listen. Yet, the child is promised that the following day will be spent by talking and playing. Next day the child becomes very disappointed when he realizes that his parents broke their promise. He cannot understand why. The parents, who love their child ,try to make up the lost time by giving him beautiful toys. Nevertheless , the child deep inside is not satisfied because for him nothing can substitute the parents' presence and love.
A child at a school age comprehends the events at home differently. He realizes that his parents cannot deal with him enough - of course the reader should think of a normal , average family here as well- , because they are too much occupied with their work. He feels very sorry for it.
The children's reaction in this situation has various forms. Fortunately, a high number of children make friends easily and in this way they find a substitution for the love they miss and can easily overcome their feeling of loneliness. In another group of children a very bad feeling might emerge. This feeling tells them, that nobody deals with them at home because they are not good enough for that. As a consequence they do not socialize in school either and they gradually become isolated. Isolation of this type has got different stages. If it is not so serious, then the child can easily get over his feeling of uselessnes and soon finds somebody he can confide in and can play with. A third type of children might decide to concentrate on school marks to satisfy the parents and to gain their attention. On the surface this reaction seems harmless. However, by this behaviour the child might put himself under very big pressure which is produced by the fear of failing. This often happens when the child convinces himself that he is no good , unless he is excellent in school. Of course this fear can be induced by the parents too, if they force the child to produce good results when the child has not got the ability for it.
Isolation and the constant fear of not getting good grades are the too main factors thet can cause serious defects in a child's thinking. Both conditions force him to act in a way which is unusual and strange at his age. In isolation he has nobody to share his thoughts with , so he has to process everything by himself. Under the exaggerated pressure of school there is not enough time left for him to play and to be himself. In both circumstences the period which is defined as childhood is lost. It is very easy to see that this occurence is a very harmful production of the high rise life.
Besides isolation and loneliness ther is another achivement of this century which strongly affects and easily damages many children's personality. This monster is TV .TV became a widely used baby- sitter .Mothers who cannot devote enough time to their children often make their kids sit in front of the TV regardless of the programm. Spectacles of sadism and violence surely do no good to children . These films only teach them how to be aggressive. In front of the TV children experience a lot of things which they should meet only much later.
Of course a child's development is affected by another great number of things which are not mentioned here. I only tried to concentrate on those which are characteristic and new in this era. Of course one must not forget , thet it would not be normal either , if the child got no bad or strange influence from the outside world.
Unfortunately, as papers suggest the figures of juvenile crime and childhood suicide have soared. It indicates that there is a serious deformation in the process of bringing up children. The key problem is that children are expected to behave more mature than they are at their certain age. Too much pressure is put on them both from the school and from the "rushing" family life, and it is made very hard to bear without strong links with the ones the child loves. It has to be emphasized all over again how much traditional family structures are still needed. Without their real support a both mentally and physically healthy generation cannot be brought up.
It seems that generally family institutions cannot carry out their duties today. For their main function would be to give love by hugs and kisses and not only by material possesions. Of course on an average it is not really the parents' fault. They themselves are forced into the lifestyle mankind has created for itself. Close to the end of the twentieth century many people have become too much subjected to jobs and money and as a consequence tend to overlook other very important aspects of life like that of a real , functioning family. Without this old social institution it is the future generation that is done harm to. Without proper family background children will not be able to lead a "healthy" way of life when they become adults. Their life will lack the basic needs of humanity which are love and understanding. Their society will be like of robots or computers. In order to prevent the human race from becoming a society of neatly dressed human machines much more attention should be paid on the still existant families. A thorough examination should be conducted into the problems these social institutions face today and solutions should be found pretty soon. Otherwise the human race is not going to survive for too long.
The advancement of science and technology parallel with the social movements brought about many changes in this century. In all highly developed societies a so called high rise life has emerged . It is a lifestyle which is centred almost only around working and earning money and allows practically no free time for anything else. Let me describe only those features of high rise life which are strongly related to family build - up. First of all, as I have already suggested everything have become much more money oriented. Life’s speed has accelerated. In order to keep up with the rat race one has to work harder than before, which among many other things results in less time with the family. Unlike in the previous centuries most women have to work instead of looking after the family members. Children are very often left alone and do not get the care and attention they long for. So lifestyle has been changing in such a way that the existence of the tradditional family pattern seems to be threatened. The main victim of this process is the child himself.
Childhood is a very special phase in life. During this period the child needs guidance ,caring and a lot of time with those whom he loves. It is during these formative years that he gets to know the world around him. He is exposed to a lot of influences which should be controlled by his parents so that he can learn the most out of them.
Today in an average family both parents work, usually from early early morning till late afternoon. This is why the small child is placed at a kindergarten for most of the day. By the time he is taken home he has got many things to tell his parents about. However, the parents often turn out to be too exhausted to listen. Yet, the child is promised that the following day will be spent by talking and playing. Next day the child becomes very disappointed when he realizes that his parents broke their promise. He cannot understand why. The parents, who love their child ,try to make up the lost time by giving him beautiful toys. Nevertheless , the child deep inside is not satisfied because for him nothing can substitute the parents' presence and love.
A child at a school age comprehends the events at home differently. He realizes that his parents cannot deal with him enough - of course the reader should think of a normal , average family here as well- , because they are too much occupied with their work. He feels very sorry for it.
The children's reaction in this situation has various forms. Fortunately, a high number of children make friends easily and in this way they find a substitution for the love they miss and can easily overcome their feeling of loneliness. In another group of children a very bad feeling might emerge. This feeling tells them, that nobody deals with them at home because they are not good enough for that. As a consequence they do not socialize in school either and they gradually become isolated. Isolation of this type has got different stages. If it is not so serious, then the child can easily get over his feeling of uselessnes and soon finds somebody he can confide in and can play with. A third type of children might decide to concentrate on school marks to satisfy the parents and to gain their attention. On the surface this reaction seems harmless. However, by this behaviour the child might put himself under very big pressure which is produced by the fear of failing. This often happens when the child convinces himself that he is no good , unless he is excellent in school. Of course this fear can be induced by the parents too, if they force the child to produce good results when the child has not got the ability for it.
Isolation and the constant fear of not getting good grades are the too main factors thet can cause serious defects in a child's thinking. Both conditions force him to act in a way which is unusual and strange at his age. In isolation he has nobody to share his thoughts with , so he has to process everything by himself. Under the exaggerated pressure of school there is not enough time left for him to play and to be himself. In both circumstences the period which is defined as childhood is lost. It is very easy to see that this occurence is a very harmful production of the high rise life.
Besides isolation and loneliness ther is another achivement of this century which strongly affects and easily damages many children's personality. This monster is TV .TV became a widely used baby- sitter .Mothers who cannot devote enough time to their children often make their kids sit in front of the TV regardless of the programm. Spectacles of sadism and violence surely do no good to children . These films only teach them how to be aggressive. In front of the TV children experience a lot of things which they should meet only much later.
Of course a child's development is affected by another great number of things which are not mentioned here. I only tried to concentrate on those which are characteristic and new in this era. Of course one must not forget , thet it would not be normal either , if the child got no bad or strange influence from the outside world.
Unfortunately, as papers suggest the figures of juvenile crime and childhood suicide have soared. It indicates that there is a serious deformation in the process of bringing up children. The key problem is that children are expected to behave more mature than they are at their certain age. Too much pressure is put on them both from the school and from the "rushing" family life, and it is made very hard to bear without strong links with the ones the child loves. It has to be emphasized all over again how much traditional family structures are still needed. Without their real support a both mentally and physically healthy generation cannot be brought up.
It seems that generally family institutions cannot carry out their duties today. For their main function would be to give love by hugs and kisses and not only by material possesions. Of course on an average it is not really the parents' fault. They themselves are forced into the lifestyle mankind has created for itself. Close to the end of the twentieth century many people have become too much subjected to jobs and money and as a consequence tend to overlook other very important aspects of life like that of a real , functioning family. Without this old social institution it is the future generation that is done harm to. Without proper family background children will not be able to lead a "healthy" way of life when they become adults. Their life will lack the basic needs of humanity which are love and understanding. Their society will be like of robots or computers. In order to prevent the human race from becoming a society of neatly dressed human machines much more attention should be paid on the still existant families. A thorough examination should be conducted into the problems these social institutions face today and solutions should be found pretty soon. Otherwise the human race is not going to survive for too long.
L 203 F
Today the role of the family extremely increases . People understood, that the more stronger is a family, the more stronger is the society. Since one of the main functions of a family is the upbringing of children, now these children in modern families play a more important role than ever. Most of the today's American parents dedicate their lives to their children in the proper sense of the word . Even advice of Dr. Benjamin Spock, the famous American pediatrician about child care is not enough for them. With their obsessive ambitions parents want to create brilliant perfect children. Such people like Glenn Doman hasten to help them. Doman studied children for over forty years, and involving in his studyings developmental psychology, neurology and anthropology he developed a new brand of science which helps parents in his Better Baby Institute to learn how to make their children more intelligente . According to Doman parents should begin to educate children when they are not even one year old. Thus by the age of three or four any child will be able to read, to perform mathematical stunts and to distinguish and analyze famous classical literary works and musical compositions. Actually the idea is not so bad and no doubt that there are many parents who like it but I myself would not want my children to be trained like this. My personal opinion is that such parents who give everything best to their children at the beginning and entirely dedicate their life to them ( because nobody and nothing is so important as our child) , later they expect too much from their grown–up child and very often they become so embittered when all their efforts meet with failure . In these cases it is not so difficult for a parent to become a tyrann of his child and to become his enemy number one . These parents can not understand and believe that how they could bring up so " undutiful " child. Not to mention about the position of the child himself. Since not every parent is able to pay hundreds of dollars for the seminars in the Better Baby Institute, it means that later at school these perfect marvellous children will study together with ordinary children. At best their classmates will accept them in and these children will have many friends, in other case they will stay alone because nobody will understand them. Other children will envy and hate them because of their intelligence. Once my mother told me a sad story of her classmate who was really very talented and clever and who one day left his home and nobody have seen him since then. Maybe at that time teachers and other children of that class were not prepared for such things yet and it became a tragedy for that poor boy.
Last year I have read some extracts from the famous letters written by Earl Chesterfield to his only but illegitimate child. This man spent a half of his life writing letters to his lovely son. Now these letters became an invaluable pattern of parental biddings. He also wanted to bring up a kind of perfect child. Unfortunately he failed. He was so sure that he did right because he wished only the best to his son, that he totally forgot about the individuality of his child. As a result of it, he " lost" his son and the latter " lost " a father forever.
Of course i would like my children to be intelligent and well–educated but I will try to reach it not with so extreme method as Glenn Doman proposes.
Last year I have read some extracts from the famous letters written by Earl Chesterfield to his only but illegitimate child. This man spent a half of his life writing letters to his lovely son. Now these letters became an invaluable pattern of parental biddings. He also wanted to bring up a kind of perfect child. Unfortunately he failed. He was so sure that he did right because he wished only the best to his son, that he totally forgot about the individuality of his child. As a result of it, he " lost" his son and the latter " lost " a father forever.
Of course i would like my children to be intelligent and well–educated but I will try to reach it not with so extreme method as Glenn Doman proposes.
L 201 F
Since I have been learning English I have found myself becoming more and more interested in not only the language itself but in British culture as well. After spending two weeks' time in England I became even devoted to the British. Though my holiday was not enough to experience everything, but most of the differences between usual Hungarian habits and funny or sometimes strange British behaviour were recognized immediately.
Many books were written to tourists and students dealing with these oddities, but experiencing them is not so boring at all than reading about them everywhere. The most pleasant thing is to be confronted with the opposite side . The first commonplace is that the British are conservative and reserved people. The very first look of the streets shows something else : colourful people in crazy and funny clothes according to the latest fashion, free individual attitudes and helpful, smiling faces when asking information from them.
My second impression was not so positive : I found them mad after seeing some "snapshots" from the bus-window like a daddy having his baby overturned from the doll's perambulator by chance, etc. By the way, English children are much more naughty than Hungarian ones.
The other striking point in my observation was that there are so many coloured people in London. Not this is surprising, but the fact that Britain really seems to function as a multicultural and multiracial society. There were no such precedents for incidents against immigrants like in Hungary , Germany and in other European countries. I think it is connected with the reserved behaviour of the people. I am not stating that they really like and accept foreigners and immigrants at all. It is inconsistent with the strict customs rules for instance. So in the background of their smiling faces I could find only politeness and nothing else. They could never accept anyone who is an alien and no-one or only a few people can get closer to an Englishman. What I liked was their tolerance. This fact manifested itself in chats that I had with them : they were very sensitive to others' accents, and were interested in many things, but made no serious or concrete responses on questions covering existential or personal points despite these were not obtrusive at all.
The funniest thing about the British was that wherever they found a little spot covered with grass they sat down and had a picnic there, not bothering them if it was in the centre of a traffic junction. That is one thing I cannot imagine in Hungary, and not just because we have not got so many and so beautiful parks and grassy places .
And now we came to the topic of tradition. As I started with a commonplace at the beginnings , let me go on with another : charishing traditions in Britain. I think as far as we, Hungarians are known in the world, we are concerned as having old traditions and rich cultural life. But nowadays we have not got enough time for these things, and much of our traditions are fading away, while others seem to be forced for me . The opposite is existing in Britain. We must admit that the British Empire had always been much more richer, and had had more historic and cultural attractiveness than Hungary, in source of her world-ruling role. What is really enviable is the people’s trust of these ancient and old things and habits.
Before I become accused with devotion, let me mention a repulsive phenomenon of Britain, which is unfortunately another commonplace, and that is the British weather. Though many other things could compensate it listed above , I could hardly get used to it.
Many books were written to tourists and students dealing with these oddities, but experiencing them is not so boring at all than reading about them everywhere. The most pleasant thing is to be confronted with the opposite side . The first commonplace is that the British are conservative and reserved people. The very first look of the streets shows something else : colourful people in crazy and funny clothes according to the latest fashion, free individual attitudes and helpful, smiling faces when asking information from them.
My second impression was not so positive : I found them mad after seeing some "snapshots" from the bus-window like a daddy having his baby overturned from the doll's perambulator by chance, etc. By the way, English children are much more naughty than Hungarian ones.
The other striking point in my observation was that there are so many coloured people in London. Not this is surprising, but the fact that Britain really seems to function as a multicultural and multiracial society. There were no such precedents for incidents against immigrants like in Hungary , Germany and in other European countries. I think it is connected with the reserved behaviour of the people. I am not stating that they really like and accept foreigners and immigrants at all. It is inconsistent with the strict customs rules for instance. So in the background of their smiling faces I could find only politeness and nothing else. They could never accept anyone who is an alien and no-one or only a few people can get closer to an Englishman. What I liked was their tolerance. This fact manifested itself in chats that I had with them : they were very sensitive to others' accents, and were interested in many things, but made no serious or concrete responses on questions covering existential or personal points despite these were not obtrusive at all.
The funniest thing about the British was that wherever they found a little spot covered with grass they sat down and had a picnic there, not bothering them if it was in the centre of a traffic junction. That is one thing I cannot imagine in Hungary, and not just because we have not got so many and so beautiful parks and grassy places .
And now we came to the topic of tradition. As I started with a commonplace at the beginnings , let me go on with another : charishing traditions in Britain. I think as far as we, Hungarians are known in the world, we are concerned as having old traditions and rich cultural life. But nowadays we have not got enough time for these things, and much of our traditions are fading away, while others seem to be forced for me . The opposite is existing in Britain. We must admit that the British Empire had always been much more richer, and had had more historic and cultural attractiveness than Hungary, in source of her world-ruling role. What is really enviable is the people’s trust of these ancient and old things and habits.
Before I become accused with devotion, let me mention a repulsive phenomenon of Britain, which is unfortunately another commonplace, and that is the British weather. Though many other things could compensate it listed above , I could hardly get used to it.
L 200 F
As we all know, “Dallas” is one of the most popular soap operas in Hungary - and probably in many other countries, as well. The reason for this is quite complex, yet vary obvious. In modern societies human relations are getting weaker and weaker. There are many lonely people who need company but they simply cannot make friends. /This has got many reasons such as their fear, the effect of huge, crowded cities, however it could be the topic of another essay./ For these people and for many others who are in fact not lonely but still have a need for soap operas the characters of these films mean company. Watching these series they are getting to know them and after a while people feel that they know so much about these characters as if they were their close friends. /This is the explanation why an old lady in Hungary wanted to send a ransom for Isaura a few years ago./ So, people sit in front of the TV every time a new episode of the series is on, to see what happiness to the well-known “Heroes/heroines” and “intrigues”.
These characters are especially interesting as They are members of the “high society” of the United States. Isn’t it exciting to get involved in these people’s affairs, to see that they also have their everyday problems, they love and hate, cry and laugh as we do? Its suggests that wealthy people are just the same as we are, therefore the audience can identify him/herself with the characters and feel sympathy to them.
Furthermore there is another significant reason for the popularity of “Dallas”: the film is full of beautiful women and macho men dressed in wonderful clothes, they drive huge cars and go to parties all the time. This visual pleasure also attracts people to watch the film.
So, watching “Dallas” is an exciting experience which satisfies our need for company, pleasure, beauty, adventure and of course, entertainment. It is doubtless that it has great popularity but the question is whether besides giving joy to the audience it has got any use, as well. Does it transmit any useful information? Does it have any esthetic value? Is it a piece of art? It would be quite difficult to answer “yes” for these questions and also give a satisfactory explanation for it.
Still, there are certain factors which seem to have positive effects on particular groups of our society.
Let me take an “average” Hungarian family with a mother and a father plus two children. In the evening the mother coming home from work, prepares dinner for the family, then washes up, helps the children with their homework, bathing and going to bed. After all this she feels like dieing. And then comes “Dallas” - she does not have to do anything but sit in front of the TV, watch the film and enjoy it. She does not have to think, worry about the family, or work - she is having a rest. If she tried to sleep all her problems would come to her mind but during “Dallas” all she is doing is watching and listening.
She can see other people’s problems and delight - she can feel sympathy or sorrow or she can laugh with the characters. She forgets her everyday problems completely which means that watching “Dallas” is the best thing she can do. Isn’t it wonderful?
Or, have you ever heard of Dallas Club? Yes, a club is organised for all those people who watch “Dallas” regularly and would like to meet other people whose hobby is “Dallas”, too. They come together and talk about the events of the last episode or try to guess what is going to happen to Samantha, Jenna or Bobby. Thus, these people find a company where they can share their ideas with other who have the same interest they do and, on other hand, it is likely that they make new friends which is definitely a great help for those who cannot get in touch with other people easily.
But “Dallas” produces themes for those people who are actually not “Dallas” fans but when they do not have anything else to do they watch it. We can often hear them joking about it, parodising certain characters, etc. They are usually the authors of “Dallas-jokes”, as well however, many of them deny that they often watch these series.
And what about the actors synchroninsing the film? It is not doubtful that they earn much of their salary by lending their voices to the characters in “Dallas”. This factor cannot be neglected when we observe the use of “Dallas” as nowadays actors suffer from the economic crises in Hungary and the money they get for synchronising constitute a great percentage of their salary. So, “Dallas” with its endless number of episodes means a good way for many actors to earn their living. It is probably not the work they are dreaming of, but besides the money it brings them fame and popularity as well.
Finally, we all know that “Dallas” is a good topic for newspapers, especially for tabloid papers and women magazines. There is also a “Dallas” magazine which only deals with the series exclusively - it writes about the actors’ lives, gossips about them and also includes a short account of the Dallas Club or cut the adored characters pictures from it. Why is it useful, then? Because it gives a further access to people to come together and have fun.
Now, taking all these advantages of watching “Dallas” together we can say that it is definitely useful. It is very important for many people and it is unpredictable what will happen when “Dallas” comes to its final episode. It will probably cause more serious objections - or even scandal - than what Bobby’s sudden death caused. /It was not by accident that h e soon returned./ If the series come to the end people will loose their “friends” and something important will be ”stolen” from their lives. However, this is a question of the future.
Nevertheless, we should also have a look at the other side of the coin: what values does “Dallas” possess or transmit.
First of all, let me point out that the visual tools of the film mislead the audience everybody and everything appear to be perfect. All the characters are attractive and elegant the houses, gardens and offices are beautifully furnished, cars are splendid. Although it is pleasant for the eye, there is not an element of truth in it. Still, many of the people believe it. Moreover, the situations are simplified, the dialogues are naive, and the events are predictable. In summary, the plot of the stories are plain and boring. Obviously, it does not mean that it makes the film unenjoyable but it does not offer any “intellectual” entertainment. The actors’ play is artificial and weak, they are repeating the same sentences and gestures all the time. The characters never greet or say good-bye to each other on telephone and other values apart from money do not appear in the film. Power and money are in the center of the stories, everybody if fighting for them while real emotions are neglected or oppressed.
Everything seems to be artificial: the people and the way they behave, their environment and the events that take place, as well. Everything about “Dallas” is unrealistic. It is a fairy tail for adults.
One can say that “Dallas” was not designed to be a piece of art, it is light entertainment for people who like soap operas. On the one hand, it is true. But on the other hand, we must note that there is a group of the audience of “Dallas” who take it more seriously that it would be necessary and therefore cannot be critical with it. Briefly, I can say that “Dallas” can be useful if one knows “how to watch it” otherwise it is rather harmful.
These characters are especially interesting as They are members of the “high society” of the United States. Isn’t it exciting to get involved in these people’s affairs, to see that they also have their everyday problems, they love and hate, cry and laugh as we do? Its suggests that wealthy people are just the same as we are, therefore the audience can identify him/herself with the characters and feel sympathy to them.
Furthermore there is another significant reason for the popularity of “Dallas”: the film is full of beautiful women and macho men dressed in wonderful clothes, they drive huge cars and go to parties all the time. This visual pleasure also attracts people to watch the film.
So, watching “Dallas” is an exciting experience which satisfies our need for company, pleasure, beauty, adventure and of course, entertainment. It is doubtless that it has great popularity but the question is whether besides giving joy to the audience it has got any use, as well. Does it transmit any useful information? Does it have any esthetic value? Is it a piece of art? It would be quite difficult to answer “yes” for these questions and also give a satisfactory explanation for it.
Still, there are certain factors which seem to have positive effects on particular groups of our society.
Let me take an “average” Hungarian family with a mother and a father plus two children. In the evening the mother coming home from work, prepares dinner for the family, then washes up, helps the children with their homework, bathing and going to bed. After all this she feels like dieing. And then comes “Dallas” - she does not have to do anything but sit in front of the TV, watch the film and enjoy it. She does not have to think, worry about the family, or work - she is having a rest. If she tried to sleep all her problems would come to her mind but during “Dallas” all she is doing is watching and listening.
She can see other people’s problems and delight - she can feel sympathy or sorrow or she can laugh with the characters. She forgets her everyday problems completely which means that watching “Dallas” is the best thing she can do. Isn’t it wonderful?
Or, have you ever heard of Dallas Club? Yes, a club is organised for all those people who watch “Dallas” regularly and would like to meet other people whose hobby is “Dallas”, too. They come together and talk about the events of the last episode or try to guess what is going to happen to Samantha, Jenna or Bobby. Thus, these people find a company where they can share their ideas with other who have the same interest they do and, on other hand, it is likely that they make new friends which is definitely a great help for those who cannot get in touch with other people easily.
But “Dallas” produces themes for those people who are actually not “Dallas” fans but when they do not have anything else to do they watch it. We can often hear them joking about it, parodising certain characters, etc. They are usually the authors of “Dallas-jokes”, as well however, many of them deny that they often watch these series.
And what about the actors synchroninsing the film? It is not doubtful that they earn much of their salary by lending their voices to the characters in “Dallas”. This factor cannot be neglected when we observe the use of “Dallas” as nowadays actors suffer from the economic crises in Hungary and the money they get for synchronising constitute a great percentage of their salary. So, “Dallas” with its endless number of episodes means a good way for many actors to earn their living. It is probably not the work they are dreaming of, but besides the money it brings them fame and popularity as well.
Finally, we all know that “Dallas” is a good topic for newspapers, especially for tabloid papers and women magazines. There is also a “Dallas” magazine which only deals with the series exclusively - it writes about the actors’ lives, gossips about them and also includes a short account of the Dallas Club or cut the adored characters pictures from it. Why is it useful, then? Because it gives a further access to people to come together and have fun.
Now, taking all these advantages of watching “Dallas” together we can say that it is definitely useful. It is very important for many people and it is unpredictable what will happen when “Dallas” comes to its final episode. It will probably cause more serious objections - or even scandal - than what Bobby’s sudden death caused. /It was not by accident that h e soon returned./ If the series come to the end people will loose their “friends” and something important will be ”stolen” from their lives. However, this is a question of the future.
Nevertheless, we should also have a look at the other side of the coin: what values does “Dallas” possess or transmit.
First of all, let me point out that the visual tools of the film mislead the audience everybody and everything appear to be perfect. All the characters are attractive and elegant the houses, gardens and offices are beautifully furnished, cars are splendid. Although it is pleasant for the eye, there is not an element of truth in it. Still, many of the people believe it. Moreover, the situations are simplified, the dialogues are naive, and the events are predictable. In summary, the plot of the stories are plain and boring. Obviously, it does not mean that it makes the film unenjoyable but it does not offer any “intellectual” entertainment. The actors’ play is artificial and weak, they are repeating the same sentences and gestures all the time. The characters never greet or say good-bye to each other on telephone and other values apart from money do not appear in the film. Power and money are in the center of the stories, everybody if fighting for them while real emotions are neglected or oppressed.
Everything seems to be artificial: the people and the way they behave, their environment and the events that take place, as well. Everything about “Dallas” is unrealistic. It is a fairy tail for adults.
One can say that “Dallas” was not designed to be a piece of art, it is light entertainment for people who like soap operas. On the one hand, it is true. But on the other hand, we must note that there is a group of the audience of “Dallas” who take it more seriously that it would be necessary and therefore cannot be critical with it. Briefly, I can say that “Dallas” can be useful if one knows “how to watch it” otherwise it is rather harmful.
L 199 F
According to the Oxford Handy Dictionary, a cup is a "drinking vessel usually with one side handle." If there are two side handles, it is a soup bowl. If there is only one , it is either a tea-cup or a coffee-cup.
While there is usually one or maximum two types of tea-cups on the basis of their design, there are at least three distinguishable kinds of coffee-cups: (1) "mocca" or "espresso," (2) "cappuccino," (3) mug.
"Mocca" or "espresso" cups are very small and narrow china vessels with the cubic capacity usually of no more than one deciliter. Their use is widespread especially in Eastern Europe from Poland to Croatia. In this part of the world, people never seem to stop or slow down. They are constantly in the human-race almost never taking the time to enjoy the little pleasures of life. This may be the reason why they do not "waste" time with leisurely leaning back and relaxing sipping a "normal" cup of coffee or cappuccino. They just gulp down a small amount of the suspiciously dark drink killing fatigue in ten seconds and out they are again on the run. Therefore, the little porcelain cups decorated with fine flowery pattern or little dots make up an inevitable part of all "nice" girls' dowry and are the adornments of all elderly ladies' show-case. Because espresso coffee is made under steam pressure in those well-known coffee machines of metal that can be found in 99% of the households of all Hungarian coffee fans, it is stronger than anything. Drinking more than one deciliter of it at one time may make anyone's heart beat with a double or triple speed. That is why there are special cups designed especially for this kind of coffee. They resemble a liquor glass both in shape and size, the only difference is that they are always made of china and liquor glasses are always without a handle. Both types of "drinking vessels" serve similar purposes, though: to improve one's momentary general feeling as soon as possible.
"Cappuccino" cups are wider and deeper than their above mentioned "colleagues," simply because of the fact that cappuccino is a thinner kind of drink made with more milk and sugar than coffee. Cups designed especially for it are about 7-8 cms deep with the upper diameter of about 10 cms which makes it capable of containing two deciliters of drink. Because Hungarians seem to be devoted to black coffee, cappuccino cups are rather rare. They are not, or just rarely available in stores, and they are sometimes missing even from reastaurants. In Southern Europe, on the other hand, where people apparently take life less seriously and prefer passing their time on the sunny terraces of the numerous cafes instead of preying their minds, the habit of sipping a "long" cappuccino is more common. Maybe if the bourgeois lifestyle takes stand in Hungary again and life means something joyful and pleasant and not just "making a living," it will gain ground hereabouts, too. The process has started but it is not in its full bloom, yet.
The well-known ordinary mugs, which are "pillars" of most people's everyday lives, make up the third group of my categorization. Mugs with the cubic capacity of 2.5-3 deciliters are the best "drinking vessels" for the so called "long coffee." A coffee is long when the proportion of water is higher in the mixture than that of coffe, therefore it much more resembles hot water with coffee aroma than coffee in the espresso sense. Drinking two or three whole mugs of it has no negative impact on anyone's blood pressure, so it would be a worthless idea to try with smaller vessels. We can get a "liquid" of this kind if we buy one of those fancy coffee machines made of plastic that are available all over the Western world but nowdays also in our region.
It is very hard to decide which of the three types is the best. Naturally it is very subjective. If you are a fan of espresso coffee, you will vote for those fancy, tip-top cups. If you are in favor of "long coffee," cappuccino, or even Turkish coffee, on the other hand, your choice will most likely fall on mugs. All have their advantages and disadvantages: "mocca" cups are narrow and small, as I have already stated at several points, therefore they are rather inconvenient to drink from especially for people with long nose. Once a cup or even a glass is small in diameter, it is very probable that its upper edge just hits the tip of a long nose while its lower edge is in the mouth. It may be very frustrating and embarassing... "Cappuccino" cups are very elegant in my opinion, and it is also very pleasant to drink from once you have managed to reach your mouth without spilling the sweet drink. Since they are not deep but wide, it is rather hard to keep the drink inside and not pour it on your lap or the table cloth. If cups of this latter type are elegant then mugs, especially the ones with bright colors and cute patterns are cosy. They are designed for informal occasions and are the actual parts of our lives: they may express something about us and our personality. For instance, if you are keen on elephants, you may have a mug with smiling little elephants on, but the range of possibilities and varieties is practically endless. Although mugs are rather informal and we usually do not serve coffee in them when our grandmother comes for a visit, I think they are the best and most convenient "drinking vessels with one side handle." They are deep with a relatively thick wall which makes it impossible to bite in two when lazily "chewing" on a cup of coffee when watching TV or reading the newspaper (it is a crucial point of view by all means ). The handle is of a normal size, too which means you can get a steady hold of it reducing the risk of dropping the mug to the minimum (it cannot be said about "mocca" cups and their "Liliputhian-size" handles). So they are apparently not only fancy but also practical.
There is a fourth group of coffee-cups that is worthwhile to mention although its "representatives" are completely different from the previous types. I am thinking about those white or brown plastic cups, or rather "drinking vessels," that we are all so familiar with from buffets and drink automats. They are far from being nice or well-designed. Their value does not lie in their esthetics but on a deeper level: in their production price. They are disposable, therefore they have to be as cheap as possible. Once they are cheap, the emphasis is on practicality and not on appearance. The question of practicality is reduced to the lowest possible level, though: they should be able to hold about two deciliters of hot drink for long minutes and that is all. And all the disadvantages are rooted here: because they have to be cheap, the amount of plastic used in the production is very low. Therefore they are light and the walls are thin making it very easy to press the cup from the side spilling the drink to the floor. The adjustment of a handle would increase the expenses, too, consequently it is always missing, which is the worst of all the disadvantages of plastic mugs: once the drink is hot , the thin plastic gets hot easily, too, and once the cup you are holding is hot, you may easily burn your hand or drop your drink losing everything you have come for.
But in the case of coffee automats and school buffets (for example) the design of the cup you are served with counts the least. You just want a good cup of coffee and do not care about the rest. That is why they are cheap and practical (if a coffee cup without a handle can be practical at all) rather than satisfying to the eye. But it is you (or a close companion of yours) who pick your very own coffee cup of either type, therefore they should serve some esthetical criteria too. That is why they are rather expensive. And they are not disposable, only some semi-fixed assets of our lives which should last some
While there is usually one or maximum two types of tea-cups on the basis of their design, there are at least three distinguishable kinds of coffee-cups: (1) "mocca" or "espresso," (2) "cappuccino," (3) mug.
"Mocca" or "espresso" cups are very small and narrow china vessels with the cubic capacity usually of no more than one deciliter. Their use is widespread especially in Eastern Europe from Poland to Croatia. In this part of the world, people never seem to stop or slow down. They are constantly in the human-race almost never taking the time to enjoy the little pleasures of life. This may be the reason why they do not "waste" time with leisurely leaning back and relaxing sipping a "normal" cup of coffee or cappuccino. They just gulp down a small amount of the suspiciously dark drink killing fatigue in ten seconds and out they are again on the run. Therefore, the little porcelain cups decorated with fine flowery pattern or little dots make up an inevitable part of all "nice" girls' dowry and are the adornments of all elderly ladies' show-case. Because espresso coffee is made under steam pressure in those well-known coffee machines of metal that can be found in 99% of the households of all Hungarian coffee fans, it is stronger than anything. Drinking more than one deciliter of it at one time may make anyone's heart beat with a double or triple speed. That is why there are special cups designed especially for this kind of coffee. They resemble a liquor glass both in shape and size, the only difference is that they are always made of china and liquor glasses are always without a handle. Both types of "drinking vessels" serve similar purposes, though: to improve one's momentary general feeling as soon as possible.
"Cappuccino" cups are wider and deeper than their above mentioned "colleagues," simply because of the fact that cappuccino is a thinner kind of drink made with more milk and sugar than coffee. Cups designed especially for it are about 7-8 cms deep with the upper diameter of about 10 cms which makes it capable of containing two deciliters of drink. Because Hungarians seem to be devoted to black coffee, cappuccino cups are rather rare. They are not, or just rarely available in stores, and they are sometimes missing even from reastaurants. In Southern Europe, on the other hand, where people apparently take life less seriously and prefer passing their time on the sunny terraces of the numerous cafes instead of preying their minds, the habit of sipping a "long" cappuccino is more common. Maybe if the bourgeois lifestyle takes stand in Hungary again and life means something joyful and pleasant and not just "making a living," it will gain ground hereabouts, too. The process has started but it is not in its full bloom, yet.
The well-known ordinary mugs, which are "pillars" of most people's everyday lives, make up the third group of my categorization. Mugs with the cubic capacity of 2.5-3 deciliters are the best "drinking vessels" for the so called "long coffee." A coffee is long when the proportion of water is higher in the mixture than that of coffe, therefore it much more resembles hot water with coffee aroma than coffee in the espresso sense. Drinking two or three whole mugs of it has no negative impact on anyone's blood pressure, so it would be a worthless idea to try with smaller vessels. We can get a "liquid" of this kind if we buy one of those fancy coffee machines made of plastic that are available all over the Western world but nowdays also in our region.
It is very hard to decide which of the three types is the best. Naturally it is very subjective. If you are a fan of espresso coffee, you will vote for those fancy, tip-top cups. If you are in favor of "long coffee," cappuccino, or even Turkish coffee, on the other hand, your choice will most likely fall on mugs. All have their advantages and disadvantages: "mocca" cups are narrow and small, as I have already stated at several points, therefore they are rather inconvenient to drink from especially for people with long nose. Once a cup or even a glass is small in diameter, it is very probable that its upper edge just hits the tip of a long nose while its lower edge is in the mouth. It may be very frustrating and embarassing... "Cappuccino" cups are very elegant in my opinion, and it is also very pleasant to drink from once you have managed to reach your mouth without spilling the sweet drink. Since they are not deep but wide, it is rather hard to keep the drink inside and not pour it on your lap or the table cloth. If cups of this latter type are elegant then mugs, especially the ones with bright colors and cute patterns are cosy. They are designed for informal occasions and are the actual parts of our lives: they may express something about us and our personality. For instance, if you are keen on elephants, you may have a mug with smiling little elephants on, but the range of possibilities and varieties is practically endless. Although mugs are rather informal and we usually do not serve coffee in them when our grandmother comes for a visit, I think they are the best and most convenient "drinking vessels with one side handle." They are deep with a relatively thick wall which makes it impossible to bite in two when lazily "chewing" on a cup of coffee when watching TV or reading the newspaper (it is a crucial point of view by all means ). The handle is of a normal size, too which means you can get a steady hold of it reducing the risk of dropping the mug to the minimum (it cannot be said about "mocca" cups and their "Liliputhian-size" handles). So they are apparently not only fancy but also practical.
There is a fourth group of coffee-cups that is worthwhile to mention although its "representatives" are completely different from the previous types. I am thinking about those white or brown plastic cups, or rather "drinking vessels," that we are all so familiar with from buffets and drink automats. They are far from being nice or well-designed. Their value does not lie in their esthetics but on a deeper level: in their production price. They are disposable, therefore they have to be as cheap as possible. Once they are cheap, the emphasis is on practicality and not on appearance. The question of practicality is reduced to the lowest possible level, though: they should be able to hold about two deciliters of hot drink for long minutes and that is all. And all the disadvantages are rooted here: because they have to be cheap, the amount of plastic used in the production is very low. Therefore they are light and the walls are thin making it very easy to press the cup from the side spilling the drink to the floor. The adjustment of a handle would increase the expenses, too, consequently it is always missing, which is the worst of all the disadvantages of plastic mugs: once the drink is hot , the thin plastic gets hot easily, too, and once the cup you are holding is hot, you may easily burn your hand or drop your drink losing everything you have come for.
But in the case of coffee automats and school buffets (for example) the design of the cup you are served with counts the least. You just want a good cup of coffee and do not care about the rest. That is why they are cheap and practical (if a coffee cup without a handle can be practical at all) rather than satisfying to the eye. But it is you (or a close companion of yours) who pick your very own coffee cup of either type, therefore they should serve some esthetical criteria too. That is why they are rather expensive. And they are not disposable, only some semi-fixed assets of our lives which should last some
L 198 F
The genre of "soap opera" is still in its infancy in Hungarian Television. Besides Dallas we have only a few more Hungarian soap operas, among which the most favourite series is the "Neighbours".
We have had the chance to watch the episodes of Dallas for quite a few years, and there are still such enthusiastic viewers who follow the parts on every Friday evening with attention.
Dallas is always a central topic in everyday conversations: at home, in the family, at workplaces and even on buses and trams.
People call Dallas in different ways, depending on their interest. The constant viewers say it is a TV series but they would never term it soap-opera. The other group of people, the opposing party, call it "junk" or "non-sense".
Everybody has got opinion on Dallas and people like expressing their thoughts.
Dallas is a well tried way of entertaining the 20th century people. It seems to be never ending, the writers never run out of ideas, they are always able to roll on the story line wich is quite cylical: some events are repeated many times.
The actors and actresses have signed long-term contracts with the television company: they do not have to worry about supporting their families for many years. Dallas is a profitable business for the TV company: there will always be enough number of people who subscribe to their channel so that they would not miss any episode of the soap opera. Many people work for them with the back-ground work, assistance. Moreover, television companies of other countries - like the Hungarian - also buys the episode and broadcast the on their channels.
So, making soap operas must be a great and very profitable business all over the world which does not seem to stop.
Another important use of Dallas is that the media are also concerned about the current topics, opinions and its influences on the different generations.
Many articles appear in newspapers and magazines about Dallas, you can easily follow the lives, love affairs, scandals and families of the different characters. These articles are always published amid colourful pictures of Hagman, Duffy, Principal or Kercheval. I have just read a writing about the happiness of the Americans: new episodes of Dallas are being shot with the same actors and actresses. This article was published in "Kiskegyed" - the weekly magazine, so Hungarian fans might also appreciate the news.
Practical businessmen make a considerable profit from retelling the story of the next episode on telephone. These businessmen exploit those curious viewers who have nothing else to do except waiting for the following episode.
I hear many people say that Dallas is a useless, stupid, meaningless soap opera without any literary value; a "sob stuff". Does it have any use? Is it worth watching for any reason? Are these any ideas in it which could benefit us or make our brains work?
I wonder if the viewers ever thought about the problems coming up in Dallas.
The caracters play their roles in a kind of "dream-world" which is free from politics, economics, world news. You only know about the period from the style of their clothes and the type of their cars.
One of the advanteges of watching Dallas is that it provides real relaxation for the viewers. They do not have to meditate about politics and difficulties in their own lives. The characters are always the same and their life engage the viewers' interest for at least an hour while they do not have to concentrate on anything else, only Dallas.
Moreover, this soap opera gives safety to the viewers: Friday night is a secure point in everybody's life, a certain measure which may be the end of the week. People like safety: they are aware of the continuing of the story so they can look forward to something during the whole week. They do not have to feel sorry for the end of the episode because the next one will arrive the following week.
Dallas is also a great topic of chats in cafés and workplaces. Yo can always find people among your colleagues who prefer Jockey's style while another one will fight for Cliff. Women may also discuss the new suit of Samatha, or the dirty clothes of the neglected Ray. Those who never watch Dallas have quite a hard life at working places because they are generally left out from these exciting discussions. You can always find colleagues who only watch Dallas to laugh at the bad jokes of the episodes, the old-fashioned clothes or the dot of sweat on Ray's shirt.
These viewers have also important role during the Dallas-debates, where they represent the role of the "unreliable" viewer who does not take Dallas seriously.
You can often be the ear-witness of conversations on buses or trams when people, who have never met before, start debates about the previous episode and tell their opinions to each other. Momentary friendships or enemies are born during these conversations. You can observe this incident especially in the case of elderly women who live alone and have not opportunity to reveal their opinions. This is always a great chance to start a chat: "Did you see the last episode of Dallas on Friday?"
Dallas is not only a pretext to get enganged in conversation but also a good psychological practice to examine different chacarters. The personalities are well-created in this soap-opera, there are usually no contradictions. The actors and actresses form characters which are taken from real life: strong-willed, weak, impressionable, smart and less intelligent.
The viewers can learn from it and can turn this experience to his advantage. These portraits may help us to recognize wiched or shifty personalities.
As Dallas is also about oil business in the United States, businessmen may also make use of the tricks which spice the episodes. They may learn quite a lot from the constant hostility of Jockey and Cliff. Their techniques are indicative or clever businessmen who know a thing or two.
And if you want to dream about Dallas, either should you watch an episode or write an essay about it.
We have had the chance to watch the episodes of Dallas for quite a few years, and there are still such enthusiastic viewers who follow the parts on every Friday evening with attention.
Dallas is always a central topic in everyday conversations: at home, in the family, at workplaces and even on buses and trams.
People call Dallas in different ways, depending on their interest. The constant viewers say it is a TV series but they would never term it soap-opera. The other group of people, the opposing party, call it "junk" or "non-sense".
Everybody has got opinion on Dallas and people like expressing their thoughts.
Dallas is a well tried way of entertaining the 20th century people. It seems to be never ending, the writers never run out of ideas, they are always able to roll on the story line wich is quite cylical: some events are repeated many times.
The actors and actresses have signed long-term contracts with the television company: they do not have to worry about supporting their families for many years. Dallas is a profitable business for the TV company: there will always be enough number of people who subscribe to their channel so that they would not miss any episode of the soap opera. Many people work for them with the back-ground work, assistance. Moreover, television companies of other countries - like the Hungarian - also buys the episode and broadcast the on their channels.
So, making soap operas must be a great and very profitable business all over the world which does not seem to stop.
Another important use of Dallas is that the media are also concerned about the current topics, opinions and its influences on the different generations.
Many articles appear in newspapers and magazines about Dallas, you can easily follow the lives, love affairs, scandals and families of the different characters. These articles are always published amid colourful pictures of Hagman, Duffy, Principal or Kercheval. I have just read a writing about the happiness of the Americans: new episodes of Dallas are being shot with the same actors and actresses. This article was published in "Kiskegyed" - the weekly magazine, so Hungarian fans might also appreciate the news.
Practical businessmen make a considerable profit from retelling the story of the next episode on telephone. These businessmen exploit those curious viewers who have nothing else to do except waiting for the following episode.
I hear many people say that Dallas is a useless, stupid, meaningless soap opera without any literary value; a "sob stuff". Does it have any use? Is it worth watching for any reason? Are these any ideas in it which could benefit us or make our brains work?
I wonder if the viewers ever thought about the problems coming up in Dallas.
The caracters play their roles in a kind of "dream-world" which is free from politics, economics, world news. You only know about the period from the style of their clothes and the type of their cars.
One of the advanteges of watching Dallas is that it provides real relaxation for the viewers. They do not have to meditate about politics and difficulties in their own lives. The characters are always the same and their life engage the viewers' interest for at least an hour while they do not have to concentrate on anything else, only Dallas.
Moreover, this soap opera gives safety to the viewers: Friday night is a secure point in everybody's life, a certain measure which may be the end of the week. People like safety: they are aware of the continuing of the story so they can look forward to something during the whole week. They do not have to feel sorry for the end of the episode because the next one will arrive the following week.
Dallas is also a great topic of chats in cafés and workplaces. Yo can always find people among your colleagues who prefer Jockey's style while another one will fight for Cliff. Women may also discuss the new suit of Samatha, or the dirty clothes of the neglected Ray. Those who never watch Dallas have quite a hard life at working places because they are generally left out from these exciting discussions. You can always find colleagues who only watch Dallas to laugh at the bad jokes of the episodes, the old-fashioned clothes or the dot of sweat on Ray's shirt.
These viewers have also important role during the Dallas-debates, where they represent the role of the "unreliable" viewer who does not take Dallas seriously.
You can often be the ear-witness of conversations on buses or trams when people, who have never met before, start debates about the previous episode and tell their opinions to each other. Momentary friendships or enemies are born during these conversations. You can observe this incident especially in the case of elderly women who live alone and have not opportunity to reveal their opinions. This is always a great chance to start a chat: "Did you see the last episode of Dallas on Friday?"
Dallas is not only a pretext to get enganged in conversation but also a good psychological practice to examine different chacarters. The personalities are well-created in this soap-opera, there are usually no contradictions. The actors and actresses form characters which are taken from real life: strong-willed, weak, impressionable, smart and less intelligent.
The viewers can learn from it and can turn this experience to his advantage. These portraits may help us to recognize wiched or shifty personalities.
As Dallas is also about oil business in the United States, businessmen may also make use of the tricks which spice the episodes. They may learn quite a lot from the constant hostility of Jockey and Cliff. Their techniques are indicative or clever businessmen who know a thing or two.
And if you want to dream about Dallas, either should you watch an episode or write an essay about it.
L 197 F
As a fifth year student I have been able to get a little insight into our university's and also the English Dept.'s life. This period is enough for every student to get to know the /black-/ rules and get along very well. Now I would like to tell about some of my experiences. I might be a bit ironical.
English major = a language major? This is one of the main questions that has been formulated in me during the past five years. In my opinion a language becomes a language only if it is used for communication. At the Dept. of English we slowly forget this fact. Our set idea about a language is being slowly replaced by an obscure something which is nicknamed language. English becomes rather a set of grammatical laws and structures than a means of communication.
As we get to the end of our education at the department we slowly forget English. At the entrance exam we were expected to use advanced level English. Our natural expectations when coming to the university were to be able to further improve our language knowledge. When you are majoring in history you learn history, when in biology you learn biology, when in English you learn something that you cannot outline. Instead of learning the language you are learning about language. It is something like just learning the philosophy of history at the Dept. of History. As I have told /and also have been told/ language becomes a language only if it is used. That is why if it is not used then it is forgotten. We are hardly ever able to speak in English. After five years I came to the point that I become embarrassed if I have to say something in English. There are a lot of lectures and not enough seminars. Moreover the seminars are usually like mini-lectures where the teacher talks and the students passively sit /maybe listen/. Some teachers are trying to involve students. This effort is, however, not successful in most cases. It has a double reason: everybody knows that if he doesn't say anything it cannot be wrong, and if he is not any more able to speak about general topics then how could he be expected to talk about, for example, abstract literary ideas that are hard to express even in Hungarian. I was very much surprised when I found out that we only have two language practices a week. In high school we had eight. /There we had a chance to speak and learn./ Later I had to find out that there are no language practices after second year at all. This means that there are no classes where we could speak.
Most of us had never been to any English speaking countries for longer periods. We only learn the pronunciation from our teachers /maybe also from TV or radio/. However, many of the teachers at the department are rather speaking Hunglish than English so we are acquiring a perfect Hunglish pronunciation.
The English department is also good for finding out about the laws of physics. Students, following the laws of nature, always move towards the smallest resistance. As we are able to decide what classes to take we usually choose those where we can get a five without doing anything. Passivity is the best way to survive. The most important rule is to escape work and find shortcuts. The university prepares us for life, after all. It is of course not always easy to get into the most popular classes. That's why everybody learns how to push oneself, step on others and be as impudent as possible. Some of us are also busily practicing our friends' signatures to be able to sign the sacred sheet of paper instead of each other. I'm sure we won't have any problems with success in life further on.
As we are used to not doing anything during the year /university life is not for studying/ we are usually in panic during the exam period and shocked by the finals. Of course one week is not enough to learn everything we missed during a four semester period so we have to draw up various ways of cheating.
Whoever has seen the list of compulsory readings for the literary final and even started to read some of it is sure to get to hate literature or even reading itself. It is impossible to read 6000 pages even in Hungarian. Especially when you are told what to read. Before the literary final we are busily looking for short editions /possibly written for children/ and Hungarian translations. As these books are fast disappearing from the faculty library we have to discover other libraries in Pécs, in our hometowns in Budapest and all around in the country.
The English department teaches us to rewrite chapters of books into essays. Plagiarism is, of course, not allowed, that's why the best way to avoid thinking is to find Hungarian books, articles of the given topic and translate them. Our rewriting and translating skills are highly developed.
As we have to hand in word processed essays we need to get familiar with computers.
Everybody knows that if he pushes F10 then the computer asks a question about saving the document. The other golden rule is to push reset if you are in trouble. In connection to handing in printed essays the department is also forming our personality. We patiently have to sit in lines and wait for computers for long hours.
The English department carefully watches out for our health and fitness. The elevator is often out of order, anyway it is very slow. So we have to climb five stories to get to the classes. /Of course this is one of the reasons for missing them./
Finally the main use of the department that is worth all sufferings is to get a paper, a diploma at last. Fortunately, in our country it is still the paper that counts and nobody cares about what is behind it. Of course a teachers' diploma is not the most spectacular in our days, still it is a diploma.
English major = a language major? This is one of the main questions that has been formulated in me during the past five years. In my opinion a language becomes a language only if it is used for communication. At the Dept. of English we slowly forget this fact. Our set idea about a language is being slowly replaced by an obscure something which is nicknamed language. English becomes rather a set of grammatical laws and structures than a means of communication.
As we get to the end of our education at the department we slowly forget English. At the entrance exam we were expected to use advanced level English. Our natural expectations when coming to the university were to be able to further improve our language knowledge. When you are majoring in history you learn history, when in biology you learn biology, when in English you learn something that you cannot outline. Instead of learning the language you are learning about language. It is something like just learning the philosophy of history at the Dept. of History. As I have told /and also have been told/ language becomes a language only if it is used. That is why if it is not used then it is forgotten. We are hardly ever able to speak in English. After five years I came to the point that I become embarrassed if I have to say something in English. There are a lot of lectures and not enough seminars. Moreover the seminars are usually like mini-lectures where the teacher talks and the students passively sit /maybe listen/. Some teachers are trying to involve students. This effort is, however, not successful in most cases. It has a double reason: everybody knows that if he doesn't say anything it cannot be wrong, and if he is not any more able to speak about general topics then how could he be expected to talk about, for example, abstract literary ideas that are hard to express even in Hungarian. I was very much surprised when I found out that we only have two language practices a week. In high school we had eight. /There we had a chance to speak and learn./ Later I had to find out that there are no language practices after second year at all. This means that there are no classes where we could speak.
Most of us had never been to any English speaking countries for longer periods. We only learn the pronunciation from our teachers /maybe also from TV or radio/. However, many of the teachers at the department are rather speaking Hunglish than English so we are acquiring a perfect Hunglish pronunciation.
The English department is also good for finding out about the laws of physics. Students, following the laws of nature, always move towards the smallest resistance. As we are able to decide what classes to take we usually choose those where we can get a five without doing anything. Passivity is the best way to survive. The most important rule is to escape work and find shortcuts. The university prepares us for life, after all. It is of course not always easy to get into the most popular classes. That's why everybody learns how to push oneself, step on others and be as impudent as possible. Some of us are also busily practicing our friends' signatures to be able to sign the sacred sheet of paper instead of each other. I'm sure we won't have any problems with success in life further on.
As we are used to not doing anything during the year /university life is not for studying/ we are usually in panic during the exam period and shocked by the finals. Of course one week is not enough to learn everything we missed during a four semester period so we have to draw up various ways of cheating.
Whoever has seen the list of compulsory readings for the literary final and even started to read some of it is sure to get to hate literature or even reading itself. It is impossible to read 6000 pages even in Hungarian. Especially when you are told what to read. Before the literary final we are busily looking for short editions /possibly written for children/ and Hungarian translations. As these books are fast disappearing from the faculty library we have to discover other libraries in Pécs, in our hometowns in Budapest and all around in the country.
The English department teaches us to rewrite chapters of books into essays. Plagiarism is, of course, not allowed, that's why the best way to avoid thinking is to find Hungarian books, articles of the given topic and translate them. Our rewriting and translating skills are highly developed.
As we have to hand in word processed essays we need to get familiar with computers.
Everybody knows that if he pushes F10 then the computer asks a question about saving the document. The other golden rule is to push reset if you are in trouble. In connection to handing in printed essays the department is also forming our personality. We patiently have to sit in lines and wait for computers for long hours.
The English department carefully watches out for our health and fitness. The elevator is often out of order, anyway it is very slow. So we have to climb five stories to get to the classes. /Of course this is one of the reasons for missing them./
Finally the main use of the department that is worth all sufferings is to get a paper, a diploma at last. Fortunately, in our country it is still the paper that counts and nobody cares about what is behind it. Of course a teachers' diploma is not the most spectacular in our days, still it is a diploma.
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