A National Debate

Topic extension

1. Look at the expressions below and try to work out their meanings. Use a dictionary if necessary.

Ø to overcome adversity Ø to receive a lot of / little media attention Ø media portrayal of immigration Ø to create / promote a negative image of immigrants Ø to increase inequality Ø a daunting task Ø to promote the economic growth Ø to contribute to tolerance and understanding Ø to contribute to crime and corruption Ø law-abiding Ø a thriving multicultural society Ø to spill over to ill-feelings towards smb Ø to put a strain on public services Ø to face racist harassment / hostility Ø anti immigrant sentiments Ø to impose restrictions on Ø to eradicate poverty Ø social discontent Ø rapidly ageing and retiring workforce Ø to discourage illegal immigration Ø fragile economy of developing nations Ø to aggravate the situation Ø impoverished countries Ø to prevent human and labour rights violations against smb Ø to prosecute unscrupulous employers Ø to be vulnerable to smth  

2. Write these expressions in the most appropriate column bellow. Some of the expressions can be used in more than one column.

Immigrants	Developing countries	Developed countries	Positive sides of immigration	Negative sides of immigration	Addressing the problems of immigration
to overcome adversity

3. Choose one of the six aspects of immigration and prepare a short presentation of your ideas on it using the expressions from the relevant column.

Reading 2

1. Read the article quickly ignoring the gaps and find out the attitude of French people to Gerard Depardieu’s flight.

Gerard Depardieu's Tax Flight Stirs Fierce Debate in France

By Eleanor Beardsley

Gerard Depardieu, one of France's most iconic and beloved film stars, is now at the center of a national uproar over French taxes and patriotism.

G

Depardieu, who has been in around 200 films, says he's moving to Belgium to avoid paying a new 75 percent tax on the superwealthy.

The uproar began just before Christmas, when it came to light that Depardieu bought a home in Nechin, a drab Belgian village less than a mile over the French border. Depardieu admitted to establishing a foreign residence to escape new French tax rates.

French President Francois Hollande is counting on the rich to balance the country's budget for the first time since 1973. So Depardieu's move didn't go over well with the government.

"It's pathetic really," Prime Minister Jean Marc Ayrault said earlier this month. "Paying taxes is an act of patriotism and we're asking the rich to make a special effort here for the country."

"I am leaving because you consider success, creativity and talent grounds for sanction," the actor wrote. Depardieu said he has paid more than $190 million in taxes over the last four decades. He said he no longer recognized his country and offered to surrender his passport if he was, indeed, so pathetic.

Though the prime minister said he regretted his initial choice of words, the battle lines were drawn.

A National Debate

The entire episode has exploded a debate over patriotism, values, equality, responsibility and paying taxes, dominating the airwaves and animating many at Christmas dinner table.

And every day, a new celebrity or politician seems to weigh in on the issue. Others call him courageous.

The gargantuan blond thespian, known for his real-life excesses, has left no one feeling noncommittal. While many disparage Depardieu's headline-grabbing, drunken antics, for others, his propensity for going overboard on good food and fine wine only makes him more lovable.

Another film icon, Catherine Deneuve, has weighed in to defend her friend and colleague.

She called Depardieu a great actor and defended his right to do as he pleases.

This week, supermarket chain magnate Edouard Leclerc said the revolution may be over, but in France, the wealthy are still being hunted.

"It's this government's fiscal campaign against those who make money in this country.

Maybe it's not 1789, but there will be plenty of rich leaving France. And there is a frightening populism on the rise."

Not only did Belgium's finance minister welcome any other French citizens who want to join Depardieu, but President Vladimir Putin offered him Russian citizenship.

2. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A – G the one which fits each gap. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.

A	"Whether you like Depardieu or not is not the point," he said.
B	Some accuse Depardieu of being unpatriotic and a traitor.
C	The heated debate has spilled over France's borders.
D	Depardieu hit back at Ayrault in an open letter published in a major Sunday newspaper, Le Journal du Dimanche.
E	On a national scale, the number of tax exiles was previously estimated at some 1,000 per year; today, it is expected to multiply by as much as five.
F	In her own open letter, in the newspaper Liberation, Deneuve said the prime minister's comments were unworthy of a head of state.
G	The move has divided the country and has focused attention on the Socialist government's controversial new tax policy.

3. Vocabulary. Find the English equivalents of the following words / phrases in the text:

Ø быть в центре национального скандала / шумихи

Ø парировать / возражать к-л

Ø вызвать дебаты о ч-л

Ø рассчитывать / полагаться на к-л

Ø вступить в спор / высказать свое мнение по вопросу (phrasal verb)

Ø выходить за пределы (французской границы) (phrasal verb)

Ø основания для санкций / взысканий

Ø спорная / противоречивая налоговая политика

Ø заполнить эфир всех теле- и радиоканалов

Дата добавления: 2015-10-31