Magazine Revolution

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Introduction
You can listen to a recording of this article at:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish-podcasts-themes.htm

This support pack contains the following materials:
a pre-reading vocabulary activity
the article that you can listen to
a comprehension activity based on the article

Before you read

Activity 1
Match the words and phrases at the top to their definitions.

a. backwards b. bid c. disappointment
d. extremist e. field f. shareholders
g. steam h. the human race i. velvet

1. all people considered as a species
2. area of activity
3. hot gas produced when water boils
4. offer of a sum of money for something on sale
5. opposite to the usual direction
6. people who own equal parts of a company
7. someone with beliefs that most people think are unacceptable
8. something that is not what you were hoping it would be
9. thick, soft cloth made from silk or cotton

Read the article

Revolution
by John Kuti

The other day I was watching a debate on TV on
the subject Should it be compulsory to learn
English? The speaker chosen to oppose the idea
was Vladimir Zhirinovskiy - a politician who many
people in Europe think is a dangerous extremist.
He said that one of the causes of the problems in
Russias sad history in the 20th century was the
use of imported words which people didnt fully
understand. Revolution (or the Russian word
revolyutsia) was one of these. He also
mentioned communism and privatisation. If
you use other words like revolt, rebellion or
coup dtat the idea of changing the
government by force seems a lot less attractive.
Calling some important change a revolution can
make people think it is good, or maybe that its
something that no one can stop, as the Marxists
used to say.

Going forwards

Since the 19th century there has been an idea
that certain changes in society must happen. Are
you optimistic about the human race? I guess
most people still are. I think most people believe
in Progressyou know: Scientists get closer to
the truth. Societies improve. Weve never had it
so good. A Pentium 4 is better than a Pentium 3.
I think it is dangerous when someone says that
all our problems will be solved by new
technology, or by choosing a government with a
more modern ideology. Revolutions seem to
depend on the hope of a beautiful future, maybe
thats why they end in disappointment. Some
people are so optimistic that they can forget
about reality altogether. They can make logic
work backwardsI remember, back in my days
as a student political activist, having arguments


Magazine Revolution

Page 2 of 3
The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.


about Chinese history with the young members of
The Socialist Workers Party enthusiasts for
revolution. They used to say that there had been
no revolution in China. This was because the
results had not been the happy ones that they
expected.



Whats another word for it?

If you look on the website
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/online/ you can
find words with similar meanings to the one you
type in. Starting with revolution the visual
thesaurus gives:

coup
takeover
putsch
coup dtat
revolt
insurrection
uprising
mutiny
insurgency

Which word to choose?

When you want to choose a word really carefully
its a good idea to see how other people use it. In
my experiment I used the Times newspaper from
March 1995, and the website at
http://www.edict.com.hk/concordance/WWWConc
appE.htm

This site is called a concordancer and it lets you
look at how words are used. You can choose
different materials instead of The Times, but I
thought a newspaper would have more about
politics. It mentions one revolution the socialist
workers might agree really happened Cubas
Marxist revolution but also one change of style
by a Marxist government Chinas cultural
revolution, and two changes of government
where the Marxists lost power: Czechoslovakias
velvet revolution and Estonias singing
revolution.

However, more often than any of these,
revolution is just used to talk about a general
change in the way people live or work. The most
common of these is the industrial revolution
which happened more than 200 years ago in
Britain when they started making steam engines
and factories.
The newspaper thinks these other revolutions
might be happening now

Educational revolution,
Sexual revolution,
Information revolution,
Telemarketing revolution,
Training revolution,

When something not so big or important happens
you can still call it a minor revolution. The Times
reports one minor revolution in Edinburgh
people starting to live in some old buildings that
had been used as offices for a long time.

Of the other words in my list coup is used most
often. This is a short way of saying coup dtat
and it usually refers to a revolution organised by
people who are already quite close to the top of
the government. A revolution organised by
people a long way from power might be better
called an uprising.

In The Times, a revolt or a mutiny usually
happens inside a British political party when
ordinary Members of Parliament disagree with
the leaders of their party. But the newspaper also
mentions a revolt by shareholders who did not
agree with the managers of the company they
had invested in.

Takeover belongs especially to the field of
business. In March 1995 there was a big story
about the hostile takeover bid by Glaxo for
another pharmaceutical company Wellcome.

I think Zhirinovskiy was right revolution is a
word that makes you want to believe in it. It
means this is better than what there was before.


Magazine Revolution

Page 3 of 3
The United Kingdoms international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations. We are registered in England as a charity.


Of course, The Times is not a revolutionary
newspaper, but in this case it chooses words just
like those socialist worker students optimistically
waiting for the revolution which will automatically
make everything better.

After reading

Activity 2
Which revolution described in The Times do these things relate to?

a. Cuban revolution b. Czechoslovakia's velvet revolution
c. educational revolution d. Estonian singing revolution
e. industrial revolution f. information revolution
g. minor revolution h. revolt
i. sexual revolution j. takeover
k. telemarketing revolution l. training revolution

1. Free primary schools
2. Reliable contraception
3. The company is hoping to sell its agrochemicals and specialty-chemicals divisions to raise up to
$3billion and mount an alternative bid that analysts expect to be in the region of $10.5billion
4. Two million people standing on a road holding hands
5. Change in the economy from making things in factories to services
6. Buying and selling things by telephone consumers demand convenience
7. 26th of July Revolutionary Movement, the People's Socialist Party and the Revolutionary
Directory March 13
th
join together
8. Help for people who have finished school and cant find jobs
9. Using a steam engine to make cotton textiles
10. A copy of an experimental 1960s pop record by the Velvet Underground
11. Five-storeyed properties, occupied for decades by firms of lawyers, bankers and surveyors, are
being turned into homes by families
12. Tory MPs defy John Major by condemning what they regard as a "climbdown" by the cabinet.
Thirty Tory backbench MPs will sign a Commons motion



Answers

Activity 1
1. h; 2. e; 3. g; 4. b; 5. a; 6. f; 7. d; 8. c; 9. i

Activity 2
1. c; 2.i; 3. j; 4. d; 5. f; 6. k; 7. a; 8. l; 9. e; 10.b; 11. g; 12. h