5 Read the conversation and say what Mary, David, Belle and Lisa are proud of. Who is ashamed of some of the events in his/her country? What are they ashamed of?
Counsellor: Let's start with you, Lisa.
Lisa: Russia has got a lot of achievements which are recognized all over the world, but I think the most wonderful thing we have done was to build the first spaceship and to send a man to space. Belle: You were the first, of course, but the USA has done it too. So I'm keeping my stone. David: My country hasn't done it yet. But I don't think we need so many spaceships anyway.
It is much wiser to spend money on health and education. Here is my stone.
Mary: We haven't done it either. Here is my stone.
Daniel: Take mine too. Australia hasn't built a spaceship yet either. And I think we should. You'll be surprised, but the Russian scientist Sergey Korolyov is my role model. He had a dream to fly to the space and he fulfilled it, although nobody believed it was possible. His story is fascinating. Belle: OK. My turn. A citizen of my country first landed on the moon.
Lisa: Here is my stone. We haven't done it yet.
David: Nobody else has done it, right? So each of us should put in a stone. Now it's my turn. Although my country is an island, we, together with France, have made a tunnel connecting Britain to the continent. The Channel Tunnel which was opened in 1994 is the second-longest tunnel in the world. Amazing, isn't it? Lisa: I couldn't agree more. This is a real wonder. We haven't got a tunnel like that. Here is my stone.
Belle: We haven't done anything like that either, and I agree it was an awesome project.
Mary: Neither has Canada, but not everybody needs a tunnel like that. Daniel: That's exactly what I think. I don't think we need a tunnel like this. Here's my stone.
Mary: All the achievements that have been mentioned are great. I'd like to speak about something which is less impressive, but not less important. I think the greatness of a country is also in how it treats the old, the poor and the weak. I'm proud that my country didn't only free its slaves but also gave them equal rights. Moreover, it helped the slaves from the USA in times when slavery there was still legal. To me this shows that Canada is a real democracy which has true respect for everybody's rights and freedoms. The USA also freed its slaves, but it didn't happen until after the Civil War. I come from South Carolina, one of the Southern states. My great-grandfather used to have slaves. He was not a very good master and his slaves often tried to run away to Canada. I think this is a very shameful part of our family history. Here is my stone.
We didn't have many slaves from Africa in Russia, but a lot of Russian people themselves used to be slaves until 1861. Although slavery was abolished in Russia, in my opinion, it happened too late. Here is my stone. I believe there wasn't any real slavery in modern England. However, I'm sure there's also some law which makes slavery illegal. So I think I can keep my stone. May I interrupt here? I'm not sure I agree with you. What about the British colonies? Those colonies had slavery and they were part of Great Britain. I think you need to give us your stone, David. Now what about you, Daniel? There weren't any real slaves in Australia, were there? We didn't have real slavery, it's true. But what we had was probably in some ways worse. Have you ever heard about the stolen generations? Yeah, I've read something about aboriginal children who were brought up by church missionaries, but that was ages ago, right?
Daniel: The truth, that not everybody knows, is that a large number of aboriginal children were taken from their own parents until 1970. By that time about 100,000 aboriginal children had been either taken away by government officials, or simply stolen from their own families. When the children were removed from their homes, they were usually very young, so they didn't remember their parents. They were told that that they had been orphans. Later those children were raised by foster families or church missionaries.
Mary: But how could the government explain these actions?
Daniel: The Australian government said that it was trying to help. The European Australians had decided that the aboriginal people weie not fit to raise their own children. The government also said that this policy would help the aboriginal children to integrate into Western society. However, in reality the government just wanted to wipe out the aboriginal culture.
Lisa: And the easiest way to kill a eulture is to interrupt the connection between generations.
Daniel: Exactly. Children of the stolen generations didn't know their own language and didn't even remember the faces of their own mothers.
Belle: But what happened to these children when they grew up? Anyway when those children grew up, they all got a good education, good jobs and became useful members of society.
Daniel: I can't agree with you here. What you are talking about is our Western values. But we need to understand that our values are NOT universal. I'll tell you one story that happened to me. Before we moved to Sydney, our family had lived in the outback. One day I was playing in the garden when an old aboriginal woman came up to me. She smiled and started to sing. I jumped on my feet and ran away. "Mum, help!" I shouted, "There is a dark, scary woman in the garden!" Mum hurried to the garden while I stayed inside.
That night Mum cried a lot, but she refused to tell me why. Only years later she told me that the woman had been her mother, my Granny.
Belle: That's awful! But why didn't she introduce you to each other?
Daniel: It was the first time they had ever met. When my mother was two, she got ill and Granny brought her to the hospital. Later Granny was told that her daughter had died, but she didn't believe it. She started looking for her child and she didn't give up even 30 years later. When they met on that day, they couldn't even talk to each other properly because Mum didn't speak a word of her mother tongue and Granny's English was very poor. Soon after that, we left for Sydney. That's the end of my story. Here is my stone.
Counsellor: Thanks, Daniel. It is obviously a touchy subject for you. (pause) Well, it looks like it's time for dinner. Hurry up, everyone, or we'll be late.
Counsellor: Let's start with you, Lisa.
Lisa: Russia has got a lot of achievements which are recognized all over the world, but I think the most wonderful thing we have done was to build the first spaceship and to send a man to space. Belle: You were the first, of course, but the USA has done it too. So I'm keeping my stone. David: My country hasn't done it yet. But I don't think we need so many spaceships anyway.
It is much wiser to spend money on health and education. Here is my stone.
Mary: We haven't done it either. Here is my stone.
Daniel: Take mine too. Australia hasn't built a spaceship yet either. And I think we should. You'll be surprised, but the Russian scientist Sergey Korolyov is my role model. He had a dream to fly to the space and he fulfilled it, although nobody believed it was possible. His story is fascinating. Belle: OK. My turn. A citizen of my country first landed on the moon.
Lisa: Here is my stone. We haven't done it yet.
David: Nobody else has done it, right? So each of us should put in a stone. Now it's my turn. Although my country is an island, we, together with France, have made a tunnel connecting Britain to the continent. The Channel Tunnel which was opened in 1994 is the second-longest tunnel in the world. Amazing, isn't it? Lisa: I couldn't agree more. This is a real wonder. We haven't got a tunnel like that. Here is my stone.
Belle: We haven't done anything like that either, and I agree it was an awesome project.
Mary: Neither has Canada, but not everybody needs a tunnel like that. Daniel: That's exactly what I think. I don't think we need a tunnel like this. Here's my stone.
Mary: All the achievements that have been mentioned are great. I'd like to speak about something which is less impressive, but not less important. I think the greatness of a country is also in how it treats the old, the poor and the weak. I'm proud that my country didn't only free its slaves but also gave them equal rights. Moreover, it helped the slaves from the USA in times when slavery there was still legal. To me this shows that Canada is a real democracy which has true respect for everybody's rights and freedoms. The USA also freed its slaves, but it didn't happen until after the Civil War. I come from South Carolina, one of the Southern states. My great-grandfather used to have slaves. He was not a very good master and his slaves often tried to run away to Canada. I think this is a very shameful part of our family history. Here is my stone.
We didn't have many slaves from Africa in Russia, but a lot of Russian people themselves used to be slaves until 1861. Although slavery was abolished in Russia, in my opinion, it happened too late. Here is my stone. I believe there wasn't any real slavery in modern England. However, I'm sure there's also some law which makes slavery illegal. So I think I can keep my stone. May I interrupt here? I'm not sure I agree with you. What about the British colonies? Those colonies had slavery and they were part of Great Britain. I think you need to give us your stone, David. Now what about you, Daniel? There weren't any real slaves in Australia, were there? We didn't have real slavery, it's true. But what we had was probably in some ways worse. Have you ever heard about the stolen generations? Yeah, I've read something about aboriginal children who were brought up by church missionaries, but that was ages ago, right?
Daniel: The truth, that not everybody knows, is that a large number of aboriginal children were taken from their own parents until 1970. By that time about 100,000 aboriginal children had been either taken away by government officials, or simply stolen from their own families. When the children were removed from their homes, they were usually very young, so they didn't remember their parents. They were told that that they had been orphans. Later those children were raised by foster families or church missionaries.
Mary: But how could the government explain these actions?
Daniel: The Australian government said that it was trying to help. The European Australians had decided that the aboriginal people weie not fit to raise their own children. The government also said that this policy would help the aboriginal children to integrate into Western society. However, in reality the government just wanted to wipe out the aboriginal culture.
Lisa: And the easiest way to kill a eulture is to interrupt the connection between generations.
Daniel: Exactly. Children of the stolen generations didn't know their own language and didn't even remember the faces of their own mothers.
Belle: But what happened to these children when they grew up? Anyway when those children grew up, they all got a good education, good jobs and became useful members of society.
Daniel: I can't agree with you here. What you are talking about is our Western values. But we need to understand that our values are NOT universal. I'll tell you one story that happened to me. Before we moved to Sydney, our family had lived in the outback. One day I was playing in the garden when an old aboriginal woman came up to me. She smiled and started to sing. I jumped on my feet and ran away. "Mum, help!" I shouted, "There is a dark, scary woman in the garden!" Mum hurried to the garden while I stayed inside.
That night Mum cried a lot, but she refused to tell me why. Only years later she told me that the woman had been her mother, my Granny.
Belle: That's awful! But why didn't she introduce you to each other?
Daniel: It was the first time they had ever met. When my mother was two, she got ill and Granny brought her to the hospital. Later Granny was told that her daughter had died, but she didn't believe it. She started looking for her child and she didn't give up even 30 years later. When they met on that day, they couldn't even talk to each other properly because Mum didn't speak a word of her mother tongue and Granny's English was very poor. Soon after that, we left for Sydney. That's the end of my story. Here is my stone.
Counsellor: Thanks, Daniel. It is obviously a touchy subject for you. (pause) Well, it looks like it's time for dinner. Hurry up, everyone, or we'll be late.