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I. Listening comprehension: Teenage rebellion (3.21 min) Vocabulary:transgressions - wrong doingsstay over - spend the nightleft to their own devices - they could do what they wantedhaving the time of their lives - having a marvellous timea terrific row - a big argumenta sick note - a note from parents saying that their child is too ill to go to schooloutlandish - strange, exoticno big deal - nothing importantwe got off lightly - we were not hurt too much Summarise the text and answer the questions: If you want you can integrate the questions in the summary (underline and number the answers accordingly in the margin.) a. What was the most worrying aspect of Mary's rebellion?b. Describe Mary's attitude to drugs, clothes, food and drink, and school.
c. How long did Mary's rebellion last? Is any explanation given for her eventual Imagine you are walking home from school.
Suddenly you're hit sharply on the head, attackedfrom behind. As you fall over you look up. You seesomeone laughing and filming you on a mobilephone. You are the latest victim of 'happyslapping'.
A victim's story:Sixteen-year-old Becky Smith from Manchesterwas walking home when a gang of teenagersjumped on her. "A girl punched me in the kidneysand stamped on my head. The worst thing waswhen one of the gang got his phone out. Not tocall an ambulance - but to film her kicking me." An attacker's story: Manny Logan,16-year-old: "You see someone justsitting there. You just run up to them, slap themand run off. It's funny. It's like seeing a sketch onTV. My mates go on the Internet after school andlook for new happy slaps." 1. Brian Carnell, the headmaster ofSydenham Comprehensive School writesa short report to the school authoritiesabout the 'happy slapping' of one of hispupils. (letter) 2. Dr. Graham Barnfield, a psychologist,is interviewed on TV about this newphenomenon in Great Britain. Thereporter wants to know who or what is toblame for this new form of teenage violence and what could be done about it.
Write this interview.
a) Why has shopping addiction become a major national problem of Britain (and other states as well)?b) Why do more and more people fall victim to omniomania?c) Which part of the population is most likely to become a shopaholic? Give your personal point of view concerning question d and e in one statement: d) What does shopping mean to you? Is it a pleasure or is it just a necessity to provide yourself with the goods you need for life.
e) If you won a weekend-trip to Paris, would you rather spend the time on shopping or sightseeing? You come home with a load of shopping bags and you know that your husbandwill not at all be delighted with your shopping addiction. Is he right when he calls you a shopaholic? Is it really you who is to blame for it?Write an inner monologue Posh Spice and David Beckham did it together. LizHurley does it alone, and Madonna did it justbefore her baby was born. Retail therapy hasbecome one of Britain's most pleasurable leisureactivities. But the percentage of the populationsuffering from the serious medical condition ofshopping addiction is reaching crisis point and isnow higher than the number of drug and drinkaddicts in the UK combined.
Experts believe 10 per cent of the population, andpossibly 20 per cent of women, are manic,compulsive shoppers. Most shopaholics areseriously in debt, and the condition has led tofamily break-ups, depression, homelessness andeven suicide.
The condition, known as omniomania, has beenknown to psychiatrists since the early 1900s, butonly now is it reaching epidemic proportions. AEuropean Union report recently found that up tohalf of 14- to 18-year-old girls in Scotland, Italyand Spain showed symptoms of shoppingaddiction, with eight per cent showing signs of a"pathological compulsion".
One of the reasons behind this sudden rise could be that shopping has never been so attractive. Shoppingcentres are beautiful these days, absolute wonderlands. Store cards are offered at the till, and people canobtain handfuls of credit cards with relative ease.
Last year, five credit card companies took Elizabeth, a 31-year-old business woman from Leeds, to court. Inher wardrobe, there were 26 handbags and 72 pairs of shoes. "I can't count my clothes - that would take allday," she said.
Elizabeth has been offered Prozac (an anti depressive medicine) by her doctor in an attempt to counter heraddiction, which he believes is caused by low self-esteem. She has just sold her flat and paid off an overdraftof £4,700. But she is still shopping.
"It started when Harvey Nichols (an elegant department store) opened a shop in Leeds," she said. "Everyonein my office was forever rushing off and coming back with bags of lovely stuff, but I was saving for a holiday,and I really felt left out. I thought, 'Stuff it!', and went mad buying clothes for my holiday on my credit card.
It was a fantastic rush, a great feeling. Then all of a sudden I was just buying stuff all the time.
Jim Goudie, a consumer psychologist at Northumbria University, England, believes shopping addictionmasks deeper problems. "Mostly there is underlying depression and anxiety. Often it can be a disturbedrelationship with one's parents. Cold and unemotional parents often lavish presents on children, who thenassociate that with pleasure.
"Empowerment is also an increasing trend among young, professional women," he says. "I had one womanwho bought 150 pairs of shoes - shopping gave her a buzz. They take the purchase home, feel guilty, then goback out and shop to fight the depression. "Consumer debt is one of the most rapidly growing nationalproblems in Britain. The National Association for Citizen's Advice Bureaux reported a 37-per-cent increase in calls on the subject in just two years. Last year advisers received half a million calls concerning shoppingdebts.
Shopping addiction can reach astonishing levels among the rich. Last year, Sir Elton John admitted going ona £40-million shopping spree in less than two years, while socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson attendedDebtors Anonymous after admitting to having bought seven pairs of designer jeans at £300 each. Comparingshopping to her former cocaine habit, she said: "Spending £6,000 in Dolce & Gabbana was much moresatisfying.
Adrienne Baker, a psychotherapist and author of Serious Shopping, said: "Taking illegal substances in excessis one thing; shopping till you drop arouses only amusement. " I. Listening comprehension: Teenage rebellion (3.21 min) From: Texts for Listening Comprehension, Set 11, Nr. 16, KIXX Studio Joe Schmid, Oberschützen.
From her thirteenth birthday on Mary had been changing completely. She was forever criticising, turned against any kind of authority and would not talk anymore to her parents. At thirteen she was already involved with boys, cigarettes, pot, and alcohol, and did not care much about school.
Her parents were shocked, that Mary's rebellion came much earlier than in their own generation. Nevertheless they tried to keep communicating with their rebellious daughter. And suddenly, after about two years, the spell was over and Mary was the friendly girl again she had been before.
II. Impulse Text: Happy Slapping (147 words) (From: Current November/ December 2005, pp 6 - 8), abridged III. Long text: Shopping until they drop by Tracy McVeigh (592 words) (From: Spotlight 2/ 2001, p. 24), abridged Shopping addiction has become a serious problem nowadays because about 10% of the population, mainly young women, are afflicted by it. It runs them into debts, depression and personal ruin. Shopping has become so attractive with all these modern shopping centres and credit cards at hand. And once you start buying excessively you have to go on to shop away the guilt and depression.
However, shopping, compared to other addictions like drugs or alcohol, causes at least much pleasure for the shopaholics.

Source: http://www.ursulinen.asn-graz.ac.at/gymnasium/maturathemen/E_8C_2006.pdf