Answer the questions related to the topic of the article.

2. What are the points of view of the old and the young generations?

Nowadays old generation tends to think that young people are too rude, mean, disrespectful and
disobedient. Elderly people always compare modern teenagers to the ones they used to be, see
and know many years ago. Meanwhile young generation thinks that it is too old-fashioned to rely
on older people like it used to be. Teenagers, children and young adults feel and know that they
are also capable of everything without any help from others. Young people do not enjoy being
spoon-fed by the old generation.

3. How can the generation gap issues be resolved?

Through discussion and interaction. The old generation should trust and believe in the young
generation more. Younger people, on the other hand, should show more respect to the old
generation. Both generations have to realize and admit that they have different positive and
negative traits and they are not something that should be judged.

4. Have you ever felt the effect of a generation gap?

In my opinion, almost every person on the Earth has felt the effect of a generation gap, and I am
not the exception. My grandparents always tell me that I should rely on them in every aspect of
my life because `they know better due to their age`, even when it comes to the easiest things in
the whole universe. And, of course, I should mention that my grandparents also find it hard to
understand every modern thing I know (smartphones, laptops, Wi-Fi).

5. Is this social phenomenon common in your country?

I think that with every passing year it becomes less and less common to feel this `generation
gap` in Ukraine. More and more old people nowadays understand what `Wi-Fi` and
`smartphone` means, unlike it used to be a decade ago. Needless to say, a great number of
elderly people still find it hard to use modern technologies in our country.

6. How would you handle this situation with your elders / young people around you?

I would simply let both of the generation explore the unusual for each other things. Or, I could
make young generation explain every modern thing to elders and vice-versa. As long as they
would communicate with each other, interact and discuss, everything should be just fine.
Communication is key and solution to almost every existing problem.

7. Do you have any suggestions on how to solve the problem of generation gaps?

I would let both of the age groups sit down and discuss what exactly bothers them in each other.
I guess that eventually they would come to the one common solution to this problem. The old
generation would tell younger people what they find weird and unusual, and the young generation
would do the same. In the end, they will find something they could do for each other to make the
situation with the generation gap better.

2. Read and translate the text into Ukrainian - in writing.

1. Give your point of view about the Generation Gap.

Generation Gap is something that every person face at least once in their life. It is that one
important thing that helps us to understand how different young generation is from the old one.
But, nevertheless, it also shows us that despite every difference we should be respectful toward
each other and try our best to understand each other. Overall, generation gap is a weird, but kind
of useful thing.

2. Which point of view do you support: Liam's, John's or Sally's?

I highly support John`s point of view. Everything he has told is told accurately and definitely on
point. Even though he is considered to be from the old generation, he still tries his best to think as
young people would think, and I do support this type of thinking. Overall, everything he said is
something I would say too.

Generation gap

Liam (16)

Young people aren’t treated fairly by the media. Every day there’s something
negative in the papers about people of my age – stuff like antisocial behaviour, or drugs, or fights
between gangs. The media create the idea that young people don’t have enough respect for
other members of society, and that all they care about is having a good time. Well, all I know is
that my friends aren’t like that. New technology is one of the things that make it harder
for the different generations to understand each other. Things like social networking sites are an
everyday part of my life, but they’re a mystery to a lot of people of my parents’ age. Little
things like that add to a sense of separation.

ЗМІ несправедливо ставиться до молодих людей. Кожного дня в газетах з’являється щось
негативне про людей одного зі мною віку - такі речі як антисоціальна поведінка, або
наркотики, або бійки між бандами. ЗМІ створює уявлення, що молоде покоління не має
достатньо поваги до інших членів суспільства, і що їх цікавить лише «гарно провести час».
Ну, я знаю лише те, що мої друзі не є такими. Нові технології є однією з тих речей, яка
ускладнює процес розуміння різних поколінь одне одного. Такі речі, як соціальні мережі є
повсякденною частиною мого життя, але для людей одного віку з моїми батьками – вони є
загадкою. Такі дрібниці посилюють відчуття розлуки.

John (59)

Lots of people of my age seem to think the country’s going to the dogs, but I tell them they’re
looking at the past through rose-coloured glasses. They say young people today are more
individualistic, or even selfish, than in the past, and that their sense of right and wrong isn’t as
strong as that of older people. There might be a little bit of truth in that, but in general I
think the differences are exaggerated. I know I don’t look at my own kids, who are 19 and 23, and
wish they were more like I was at their age. One thing that worries me slightly, though,
is the possibility that kids today don’t appreciate what they’ve got. Young people in Britain have
more money to spend than they did 50 years ago, and more choices available to them, but I don’t
think they’re happier than we were.

Багато людей мого віку, здається, думають, що наша країна погіршується, але я відповідаю
їм, що вони дивляться на минуле крізь рожеві окуляри. Вони кажуть, що молоді люди
сьогодні є індивідуалістичними, чи навіть егоїстичними, ніж було раніше, і що їхнє відчуття
того, що є правильним, а що – ні, вже не таке сильне, як у літніх людей. В цьому може буть
частка правда, але загалом, я вважаю, що відмінності є перебільшеними. Я знаю, що я не
дивлюся на своїх власних дітей, віком 19 і 23 років, і мрію про те, щоб вони були схожі на
мене в їхньому віці. Хоча, одна річ, яка все ж мене трішки турбує – це можливість того, що
діти не цінять те, що мають. Молоді люди у Британії мають і витрачають більше грошей, ніж
50 років тому, і вони мають більше можливостей вибору, але я не думаю, що вони є
щасливішими за нас.

Sally (85)

Of course, there’s a gap between people of my age and the younger generations. British
people of my age have lived through a war, and many of us can remember poverty of a kind that
hardly exists these days, at least in Britain. That really shapes your outlook on life.
Most young people growing up today have never known hardship, so they’re less
likely to appreciate what they’ve got. I’m sure youngsters’ behaviour hasn’t got worse in every way,
but I do think some of them lack respect for authority. They don’t have enough discipline.
My granddaughter is a teacher, and tells me awful stories about
some of the children in her school. In my day it would have been
unthinkable to behave like they do – we would have got the cane, and rightly so.

Звичайно, розрив між людьми мого віку та молодшим поколінням присутній. Британці
одного зі мною віку пережили війну, і багато хто з нас пам’ятає ту бідність, яка майже не існує
сьогодні, принаймні у Британії. Це і справді формує ваші погляди на життя. Більшість
молодих зростаючих людей ніколи не стикалися з труднощами, саме тому вони з більшою
вірогідністю менше цінять те, що мають. Я впевнена, що поведінка молодих людей не
погіршилася в усіх аспектах, але я дійсно вважаю, що деяким із них бракує поваги до влади.
Їм не вистачає дисципліни. Моя онука є вчителькою, і розповідає мені жахливі історії про
деяких дітей у її школі. За моїх часів, поводитися так, як вони поводяться, було б немислимо
– нас би вдарили тростиною, і правильно.

3. Here are some simple definitions for words that appear in the text “Generation gap?”
Find the words they refer to and fill in the gaps.

1. If you look at something through rose - colored glasses (idiom), you consider it to be better
than it really is.

2. Poverty (noun): a situation in which someone does not have enough money to pay for their
basic needs

3. Media (noun) radio, television, newspapers, the internet, and magazines, considered as a group

4. A person who is individualistic (adjective) believes that what individual people want is more
important than what society or the government wants.

5. Kid (noun – informal): child or, sometimes, teenager or young adult

6. If something or somewhere is going to the dogs (idiom), it is becoming much worse than it
used to be.

7. If you appreciate (verb) something, or a situation, you understand its true nature. You would
realize, for example, how good or important it is.

8. An authority or authorities(noun): the people and institutions in society that

have the power to tell other people what to do (e.g. the police, and teachers)

9. Unimaginable (adjective): impossible to imagine

10. Cane (noun): a long, thin stick. (‘The cane’ is a punishment given to children in schools in which
they are hit with a long thin stick. In Britain it has been illegal in all state schools since 1987
and in all private schools since 2003.)

11. Youngster (noun – informal): child or young person. (In Britain this is a word used mainly by
old people.)

12. Antisocial (adjective): showing a lack of care for other people or for society in general

13. Hardship (noun): a situation in which life is very difficult

14. A social networking site(noun), such as Facebook or MySpace, allows you to communicate
with friends and make new friends.

15. Outlook (noun): your general attitude to things

4. Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F), or if the text doesn’t say
(D).

1. Liam thinks his friends are similar to the young people who are often written
about in the newspapers. (F)

2. Sally thinks life is harder for young people today than it was when she was growing up. (D)

3. John totally disagrees with the idea that young people are more individualistic or selfish than
they used to be. (F)

4. Liam tries to avoid reading newspapers. (D)

5. John has a more positive opinion of young people than some other people of his age. (T)

6. From what her granddaughter tells her, Sally thinks schoolchildren today behave worse than
they did when she was at school. (T)

7. None of the three people give an example of how young people today behave better than they
did in the past. (T)

8. Liam regularly uses social networking websites. (T)