UNITATEA 5: DOES ALTRUISM EXIST ?

La sfârşitul acestui curs, studentul va putea: − să elaboreze în limba engleză asupra conceptului de altruism − să exerseze utilizarea verbelor modale la diferite timpuri

Cunoştinţe privind semnificaţiile verbelor modale

Engleza pentru admitere, Bantaş, Andrei, Ed. Teora, Bucureşti, 1995, vol. 1; Practise Your Tenses, Adamson, Donald, Longman, 1996; Exerciţii de gramatica limbii engleze, Gălăţeanu-Fârnoagă, Georgiana, Editura Albatros, Bucureşti, 1987

Două ore

Pre-reading What do you think “empathy” actually refers to? Reading Text DOES ALTRUISM EXIST ? , Social Psychology, p.302 (Part 1). LANGUAGE FOCUS New Vocabulary: welfare; to confine, to limit; an account; downtrodden, to tread; to stress, to emphasise; to draw a bottomline; nevertheless; to empathise; to assist, assistance, assistant; plight; distress; instead of. Practice Make up at least five sentences with “out of….”. (E.g.: She helped him out of pity.) GRAMMAR FOCUS 1.Adjectives describing character: (un)selfish, altruistic, sociable, (un)reliable, easy-going, cheerful, friendly, surly, withdrawn, optimistic, pesimistic, fun-loving, bossy, shallow; open-hearted, tight-fisted, narrow-minded,…. 2.Modal Verbs Expressing ability (skill and achievement). Modal verb To express Examples CAN Ability in the present or

future How well can you speak German?

COULD/WAS ABLE TO Ability in the past Ability in the past for repeated actions

Two years ago, Jane could hardly speak German, but now she can speak it very well. He could/was able to swim a lot when he was young.

COULDN’T/WASN’T ABLE TO

For repeated or single actions Grandma couldn’t/wasn’t able to find her wallet.

I WILL/WON’T BE Skill and achievement in the I can’t use the computer

ABLE TO future very well yet, but by the end of the university year I’ll be able to use it perfectly. If you keep up learning throughout the course, you’ll be able to master English.

COULD + PERFECT INFINITIVE

For past ability, when the action was not performed; When we don’t know whether it was performed or not; To express irritation at or reproach for the non-performance of an action.

I could have given you a helping hand. Why didn’t you let me know in due time? The cake has “vanished”! Who could have taken it ? You could have anticipated it !

Practice 1.Identify the modal verbs in the given text and specify what they express. 2.How many things can you think of that:

ü Impressed you? ü Made you happy? ü Bothered you? ü Annoyed you?

Altruism, empathy