Ex.4. Read an extract from an interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton. What does she consider to be most important for each and every young American?

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 553.

Q.: As a teenager, what advice did your parents give you that you found most important or helpful?

A.: My parents always stressed the importance of education, working hard in school and learning as much as possible. They also encouraged me to value myself and believe in myself and do what I thought was right for me, not follow the crowd or be influenced by the fashion of the day. I had to make my mind up how I wanted to live and that I then had to try to do what was right for me. I think that is still good advice today.

Q.: How can young people educate themselves about what media reports are real and what are just rumors?

A.: You know, that's very hard, and it's getting harder because there are so many sources of information. I think it's becoming harder and harder for the average person to make sense of all of the information, to try to figure out what they believe and what they don't, and what could be partially true and what's untrue. I think it's going to get worse, so I'm very concerned about this.

Q.: What do you see as a challenge for a democracy like ours?

A.: Well, people have to make the majority of decisions about how they're going to be governed – either by voting or by supporting other actions at the local, state, and federal level. And it's very difficult for people to make good decisions if they can't believe the information that they've been given. I guess it really requires a lot of work because you have to read or view a lot of different sources and then try to make sense of it. The average person can be totally confused much of the time.

Q.: Does it mean newspapermen are to be more responsible for what they do?

A.: Certainly. I hope journalists will realize they are undermining their own profession by not giving people ways of arriving at accurate information. If journalists don't perform that function, then people will see it as just entertainment. They won't take it seriously and won't use it as a basis for making decisions. I think it poses a lot of very serious questions about how we're going to run our democracy. People might stop voting, stop caring, and I don't think that's good for our country. This is something we have to work on.