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Texts for Supplementary Reading
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GENERATION GAP
Everywhere people are rattled about children, who are described these days as “difficult”, “rude”, “wild” and “irresponsible”. Only some people say that they will grow up to make their country a better place.
Nowadays young people have more opportunities than ever because the world’s economy has been booming. They are accustomed to a world of information and they’ll probably be the best educated generation in history. A substantial majority expects to go to college.
But in all communities the problem of the gap between the younger generation and the older one is in the centre of public attention.
Children have got an insatiable desire for the latest in everything – from clothes with labels so that everyone will know that they’ve got the latest stuff – to CDs. To parents and teachers they can be a nightmare, aping the hair, clothes, and makeup of celebrities twice their age.
Nowadays teenagers have more marketing potential than ever. Children have a say in all kinds of purchases – from soft drinks to cars. There is always something new they want. A lot of money goes to clothes. Almost fifty years ago when girls talked about self-improvement they were thinking of doing good works or doing better at school. Now everything comes down to appearance. They think that having the right stuff is the quickest way to acceptance. But why do they have so much to say?
Guilt is one factor. Parents who aren’t around much often try to compensate their kids almost everything they ask for. There is also a bribery theory – a new CD can buy cooperation in a hectic week.
Children’s influence also grows out of a dramatic change in family relationships. Now people treat each other like members of a group, rather than sons and daughters and moms and dads. If parents ask “What do you want?” or say “I’m interested in your opinion”, kids may grow up with a false sense of power or may end up spoilt and unhappy because they are not going to have their way all the time. Letting kids have their way means that it is necessary to set limits.
Children are exposed to adult things from birth. The pressure to act like grownups starts at homes. Too old for child care and not old enough to travel about town on their own they are often alone in the afternoon with only the computer or TV, which takes up most of their free time. Parents try to regulate the number of hours kids watch TV and monitor films. Experts say that the rush to grow up is due to popular media – magazines and TV shows. Being brought up by single parents as well as watching TV can also accelerate the desire of children for being independent and creates behaviour problems.
Most children don’t belong to any clubs and just hang about after school. Friends are becoming increasingly important during these years. At school and colleges there are cliques who decide what is “cool”. Many parents are afraid of their children being exposed to drugs. Kids also began cutting down their classmates (USA). “Wild parties with alcohol, smoking, and trying drugs are not for our children,” – parents say. Some of them think that they should act as role models and try to show the kind of behaviour they want to see in their children.
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Every society does have a serious problem. It is not the problem of the younger generation but the society itself. Some communities have such a culture that children cannot find a solace in their friend or family and their heads are being filled with violent pictures they have seen on TV.
There is no way to predict how today’s children will turn out. Keeping faith in kids is necessary. They are not bad. They are optimistic. They expect to have a better life then their parents.
SOME HISTORICAL FACTS
Between the 10th and 12th centuries, the Principality of Polotsk emerged as the dominant center of power in what is now Belarusian territory, with a lesser role played by the principality of Turau to the south. It repeatedly asserted its sovereignty in relation to other centers of Kiev Rus, becoming a political and episcopal capital, the controller of vassal territories among the Balts in the west. Its most powerful ruler was prince Vseslav Bryachislavich, who reigned from 1044 to 1101. A 12th -century inscription commissioned by Vseslav’s son Boris may still be seen on a huge boulder installed near the St. Sophia Cathedral.
Polotsk became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1307, and it is said to have been the main center of trade in the state. The Magdeburg law was adopted in 1498. Polotsk was a capital of Połock Voivodship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1772. Captured by the Russian army of Ivan the Terrible in 1563, it was returned to Lithuania just 15 years later.
That period of warfare started the gradual decline of the city. After the first partition of Poland, Polotsk degraded to have the status of a small provincial town of the Russian Empire. During the French invasion of Russia in 1812, it was the site of two battles: First battle of Polotsk and Second battle of Polotsk.
CULTURAL HERITAGE
The city’s Cathedral of St. Sophia in Polotsk (1044-1066) was a symbol of the independence of Polotsk, rivaling churches of the same name in Novgorod and Kiev and referring to the original Hagia Sophia in Constantinople (and thus to claims of imperial prestige, authority and sovereignty). The building of the cathedral had been ruined by the troops of Peter I of Russia. Hence the present baroque building by Johann Christoph Glaubitz dates from the mid-18th century. Some genuine 12th century architecture survives in the Convent of Saint Euphrosyne, which also features a neo-Byzantine cathedral, designed and built in 1893-1899 by Vladimir Korshikov.
Cultural achievements of the medieval period include the work of the nun Euphrosyne of Polotsk (1120-1173), who built monasteries, transcribed books, promoted literacy and sponsored art (including local artisan Lazarus Bohsha’s famous “Cross of Euphrosyne”, a national symbol and treasure lost during World War II), and the prolific, original Church Slavonic sermons and writings of Bishop Cyril of Turaw (1130-1182).
Belarussian first printer Francysk Skaryna was born in Polotsk around 1490. He is famous for the first printing of the Bible in an East Slavic language (in Old Belarussian) in 1517, several decades after the first-ever printed book by Johann Gutenberg and just several years after the first Czech Bible (1506).
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In September 2003, as “Days of Belarussian Literacy” were celebrated for the 10th time in Polotsk, city authorities opened a monument to honor the unique Cyrillic Belarusian letter Ў, which is not used in any other Slavic language. The original idea for the monument came from the Belarusian calligraphy professor Pavel Siemchanka, who has been studying Cyrillic scripts for many years.
HISTORY
Belarus has a long history going back in time. The first human beings appeared in its territory about 100-40 thousand years ago. There are traces of primordial sites in the territory of Belarus dating back 28-24 thousand years. Those lands were generally inhabited about 10-8 thousand years ago. Indo-European tribes, ancestors of Slavs and Balts, began to settle in the Belarusian land in late 3rd-early 2nd millennium BC.
The Belarussian ethnic group began to form in the 6th-8th centuries. As a result, East Slavic ethnic communities appeared – Krivichi, Dregovichi, Rodimichi, who were part of the ancient Russian community, forming the state of Kievan Russia in the 9th century.
In the 13th century, the Belarusian and Lithuanian ethnic territories were central to the formation of the largest feudal monarchy in Europe, the Great Principality of Lithuania. In the middle of the 16th century, the Great Principality of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland united federally to form a new state – Rzech Pospolita. By the end of the 18th century Rzech Pospolita was split to parts and the Belarusian territory was annexed to the Russian Empire.
Following the successful uprising in October of 1917 in Petrograd, the Soviet power was proclaimed in Minsk on 8 November 1917.
On 1 January 1919, the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed as part of the USSR in December 1922. The western Belarus, which became part of Poland in 1921, was reunified with the BSSR in 1939.
22 June 1941 – 28 July 1944 was the period of occupation of Belarus by fascist Germany. Belarus’ input in the fight against invaders and its sacrifices for the sake of a fascism-free world made the country a founding nation of the United Nations.
On 27 July 1990 the Supreme Council of the BSSR passed the Declaration on the National Sovereignty of Belarus. In August of 1991 it was enforced as constitutional law. On 19 September 1991 the BSSR changed its title to the Republic of Belarus. Following the signing of the Union Treaty Denunciation Act of 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to be. On 15 March 1994 the Supreme Council of the Republic of Belarus adopted a new Constitution whereby Belarus was proclaimed a unitary and democratic state governed by the rule of law.
RECENT DECADES
On 8 December 1991 Viskuli (Belaya Vezha) hosted leaders of the Republic of Belarus, Russian Federation and Ukraine who signed the Agreement on the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On 21 December 1991 the heads of 11 sovereign countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Ukraine) signed Protocol as part of that Agreement. Among other things, the Protocol underscored that the new independent states on equal basis shall be founding the Commonwealth of Independent States. In 1993 a new acceding state was Georgia.
On 10 July 1994 Alexander Lukashenko was elected the first President of the Republic of Belarus. Pursuant to the referendum of 24 November 1996, the Constitution of 1994 was amended and added accordingly. Alexander Lukashenko was re-elected twice as President of the country, in September 2001 (with 75.65 % vote) and in March 2006 (with 83 % vote).
In March 1996 the Republic of Belarus signed an Agreement to enforce a closer economic co-operation and create unified customs space with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic and Russia.
In April 1996 Belarus signed an agreement on closer economic integration with Russia and the creation of the Commonwealth of two countries. On 2 April 1997 the agreement on the creation of the Union between the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation was signed into effect.
On 10 October 2000 the heads of Customs Union member states signed the Agreement on the establishment of the Eurasian Economic Community. The organization was intended to promote and enhance the formation of the Customs Union and Unified Economic Space.
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