20. Read and translate the text “Children and Parents”. Write down the main idea of the text.

In a family, parents are responsible for the welfare of the children and offer the children an embracing, unconditional love that overlooks and compensates for their weaknesses. Through their example, they teach their children the basic values and attitudes which they will carry throughout life. The children, in turn, respect their parents as the source of their very being, as their teachers, and as the ones who have laboured and sacrificed for their sakes. When they are grown, they should be responsible to care for their parents in their old age. These relative responsibilities should not be undertaken as a matter of duty, but rather emerge from the spontaneous promptings of parental love and the children's gratitude and respect. This is the vertical axis defining relations of love and respect between people of unequal status and different responsibilities.

Laugh-a-bits

21. A. Look at the diagram of the story: “Whenever”. Do you find it optimistic, realistic, funny or something else? Think of some endings of your own to complete or compose a fascinating story.

Whenever my teachers have
give us homework	look at me	a test	a cup of tea
I’d like to say	through his	I	the world
“No”	thick glasses	wish I had	seems
but I	I	the brains	alright…
don’t	feel very small	of a computer

B. Try it! Are you Susceptible to Stereotyping?

I) To understand the subtleties of stereotyping, try to answer the following riddle.

A father and his son were driving along the interstate highway when the father lost control of the car, swerved off the road and crashed into a telephone pole. The father died instantly, and his son was critically injured. An ambulance rushed the boy to a nearby hospital. A prominent surgeon was summoned to provide immediate treatment. When the surgeon arrived and entered the operating room to examine the boy, a loud gasp was heard. “I can’t operate on this boy,” the surgeon said. “He is my son.”

II) How could this be, if the father had died in the crash? If you still don’t think you’ve come up with a satisfactory explanation, try another riddle.

A father and his son were driving along the interstate highway when the father lost control of the car, swerved off the road, and crushed into a telephone pole. The father died instantly, and his son was critically injured. An ambulance rushed the boy to a nearby hospital. A prominent surgeon was summoned to produce immediate treatment. When the surgeon arrived and entered the operating room to examine the boy, the surgeon burst into tears and become hysterical. “I can’t operate on this boy,” the surgeon sobbed. “He is my son!”

Note :You may look for the answer key in unit VI.

Follow-up Activities