номер 4, страница 56 - гдз по английскому языку 11 класс учебник Вербицкая, Каминс Карр

Unit five.

Track thirty-five.

Part one.

Mike Winters: Good evening and welcome from me, Mike Winters, to this week's edition of Express Yourself. Nobody else will. Tonight, we'll be discussing issues related to freedom, including freedom of the press and the freedom of young people to watch whatever they choose on TV and at the cinema. So, get ready to call in with your views, but first of all, let me introduce our guests who will give their opinion on these subjects first. They are James Harmer, film and TV critic for the Daily News, Kelly Malone, the sensational singer from the Irish band Blackbury, and Tommy Fisher, a media study student from Kent. Thank you all for joining us tonight. First of all, James, you watch a lot of films and TV in your job, I imagine. So, what's your take on the subject of film ratings?

James Harmer: Well, to be honest, I am a bit shocked sometimes by the lack of ratings control these days. Some twelve A films shouldn't really be allowed in my opinion. They seem to be far too violent for twelve-year-olds and should in fact be given a fifteen rating at least. Hmm.

Mike Winters: But you have to bear in mind that the board that decides these things, the BBFC, the British Board of Film Classification, is not really in the business of censoring films.

James Harmer: Sorry, but I thought the BBFC was the board of film censors.

Mike Winters: Well, it used to be, yes, but it changed more than twenty years ago, though few people realize it. The truth of the matter is that the board is guided by what the public wants, rather than telling the public what it wants. So, it goes without saying that these days they expect adults to make up their own minds about the films they see.

Kelly Malone: Yes, that's all very well for adults, but it's precisely what young people have a problem with. In a survey on film ratings we're doing at college, we ask young people, mainly between sixteen and eighteen, what they think of the current film ratings. So far, over eighty percent of them think the adult rating should be brought down to sixteen, and that the one for fifteen-year-olds should be scrapped. They feel that at sixteen, they are ready to make up their own minds about what films to see.

James Harmer: Well, that's rubbish.

Kelly Malone: That might not necessarily be a good thing, but...

James Harmer: You can't deny that they have a point. When I was sixteen, I thought I was ready for anything. It's a well-known fact that when you ban something, it can make it more attractive. The way I see it, kids grow up too fast these days, but I don't see how we can change that. But the truth is, it's not film ratings that are the real problem. As far as I can see, television has a much worse influence. It's almost impossible to control what kids watch now. Although I'm only nineteen, I sometimes feel I've experienced a lot of stuff I wasn't ready for.

Kelly Malone: Yes, but you're in a different position. You're a celebrity.

James Harmer: Yes, and of course I'm thrilled with my success and all that. But on the other hand, the tabloids are getting me down. I've got no privacy. The photographers follow me wherever I go and often make up completely false stories about me. It's very upsetting.

Mike Winters: Yes, tabloid journalism has got a bit out of hand, hasn't it? Sorry, our first calls are now coming in, so I'll have to interrupt you for now. Let's hear what our listeners have got to say, and we'll come back to this fascinating discussion later on.