III. Consider    
    Does television play a positive or negative role in the modern word?    
             Arguments     
   1. Television is now playing a very important part in our lives.     
   2. Television is not only a convenient source of entertainments\, but also a comparatively cheap one.     
   3. Television keeps one informed about current events, allows one to follow the latest developments in science and politics and offers an endless series of programmes which are both instructive and entertaining.     
   4. A lot of television programmes introduce people to things they never thought of before and have never heard of before.    
   5. Television series have done a great job in popularizing many literary masterpieces.    
6. Television has been good company to those who do not work, like housewives, lonely old people, etc.     
   7. With television people are still free to enjoy other "civilized pleasures", or even more.     
   8. There is a considerable variety of programmes on television. The viewer is always free to choose whatever he wants to see.     
   9. Television provides enormous possibilities for education, like school programmes via closed-circuit television    
  10. Television provides special broadcasts for those in TV university, or open university. It also offers specialized subjects like language teaching, sewing, cooking, cosmetics, etc.    
  11. Television does the job of education in the broadest sense. Instructive programmes achieve their goal through entertaining the viewers.    
  12. Television provides an outlet for creative talents.     
  13. People all around the world are no longer distant and isolated from each other. The most distant countries and the strangest customs are brought right into one’s sitting-room.    
  14. Compared with the radio, everything on television is more lifelike, vivid, and real.     
  15. Television may be a vital factor in holding a family together where there are, for example, economic problems and husband and wife seem at breaking point.     
          Counter-arguments    
   1. Television is a great time-waster.     
   2. People who don’t watch television are happier than those who watch it because television goes with the kind of life which leaves the viewer nothing to spare, nothing left.    
   3. television makes the viewer completely passive because everything is presented to him without any effort on his part.     
   4. The very danger of watching television lies in the fact that the viewer takes no initiative. He makes no choice and exercises on judgment.    
   5. Television passes on to children the corrupting values of a corrupt society.     
   6. Television is to blame for the fact that children take longer to learn to read these days and barely see the point at al of acquiring the skill.     
   7. Television takes up too much of our time. We no longer have enough time for hobbies, entertaining activities, and other outside amusement like theatres, sports, etc.    
   8. Unfortunately all our free time is now regulated by television.     
   9. People rush home, gulp their food, which is often as simple as sandwich and a glass of beer, and start watching the TV programmes.     
  10. The monster, i. e. television, demands absolute silence and attention. No one dares to open his mouth during a programme.     
  11. People have grown addicted to television, often neglecting the necessary and more important things meals, sleep and even work.    
  12. A lot of parents use television as a pacifier for their children. They put their children in front of eh set and don’t care whether the children are exposed to rubbishy commercials or spectacles of violence as long as the children are quiet.     
  13. Most of the television programmes are bad and they do not keep pace with the high demand of viewers and do not maintain high quality.    
  14. The wide coverage of television programmes has reduced society to the conditions in pre-literate communities: we are utterly dependent on the most primitive media of communication: pictures and spoken words.     
  15. What the viewer receives from television is nothing but secondhand experience. He is completely cut off form the real world.     
  16. The more the viewer watches television, the lazier he becomes. He is glued to the set instead of going out.     
  17. Television prevents people from communicating with each other. It has done a lot of harm to the relationship between family members.

             Questions    
   1. Do you like watching television? Why (Why not)?    
   2. Do you think television has done more good than harm to its viewers or vice versa? Explain.     
   3. Do you think it is harmful and damaging for children to watch a lot of television? What suggestions do you have on this aspect?    
   4. What would you do if you were in charge of TV programmes?    
　　IV. Write    
    Work out an outline of your own viewpoints. The outline should consist of major statements and supporting evidence and examples. Do not write down every word of your speech.    
　　V. Speak    
   1. Speak according to your outline, or give spontaneous speeches when you disagree with your classmates or when you want to support your own group with similar opinions.     
   2. Language devices: You are expected to extend your ability to agree or disagree with other people’s opinions and to ask them to explain their points of view.     
    I couldn’t have put it better myself.     
    That’s just what I was thinking.     
    There’s something is that, I suppose.    
    I’d go along with you on that.    
    I couldn’t agree more.    
    You are not serious, surely.     
    Oh, come on.     
    That’s a little far-fetched, isn’t it?    
    Well, I don’t know.     
    Well, the point I’m trying to make is that...    
　　VI. Sum up    
   1. The whole class decide on the best prepared speech and the best spontaneous speech.    
   2. The whole class pick out the most convincing statements from the arguments and counter-arguments.    
   3. The teacher gives comments on students’ ideas and language.