The American dream

Ø 1) Before reading the text answer the questions: What is a dream? Do you have a dream? Would you like to share it with us?

Ø 2) Everybody knows the expression “the American dream.. Does Russia have a national dream? What is it?

Ø 3) Look through the text and say what ideas each paragraph is devoted to.

(1) To start with nothing, to work hard, and then to make a fortune - this is the American dream. People in the U.S.A. want more than anything to be successful. And when they make their money, they like to show it off by driving expensive cars and buying beautiful furniture for their homes. One bad result of this is that some people never start working. Some even hold two full-time jobs at the same time. This means that they have no time to enjoy themselves. The good result is the confidence that many Americans have in themselves. They feel that they can do anything, and get whatever they want if they try hard enough. It may take a lot of hard work to do well in America, but it is certainly exciting.

(2) A young man with no money and very little education decides he must get to the top. He works all day, studies at night, and looks around for a chance to get rich. He discovers that all his friends like eating his mother's home-made pizzas. He learns how to make them and starts selling them at school. Then he opens a pizza restaurant. It is a great success, so he opens another, and five years later he makes his first million dollars. He is the perfect example of the successful American businessman.

(3) Stories like this are very popular in the U.S.A. Men who started out with nothing and built up huge fortunes are national heroes. Every schoolchild knows the names of Неnry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and Steven Jobs, who founded the Apple computer business. People like to believe that the chance to get wealthy or even rich is there for everyone however poor, who is brave, smart, and hardworking enough to take it.

(4) The American admiration for business success is as strong as ever. Americans work very hard. Most people have only a two- or three-week holiday a year, and work for at least forty hours a week. But the situation in American industry itself is changing. Old industries, like steel, textiles, and shoes, cannot keep their prices low enough. New industries, that use computer techniques, do not employ as many people as the old ones, as a result, people who worked in the factories twenty years ago are working in restaurant offices or airlines today. On the other hand, those who manage to get adapted to the new technologies find their way in the new world of business.

(5) When Kay Nolan got her first job at an engineering company in England, she was told, “You’ll never earn a proper salary because you are a woman.” Kay had a good degree in physics, but she wasn’t surprised. It seemed normal in those days that good jobs in industry were closed for women.

(6) After several different jobs, she moved to an American firm called Texas Instruments. At that time, a lot of American companies were looking for clever young scientists from abroad. They could usually offer better working conditions and more money than the British or other European firms. The stream of brilliant scientists going to America became a flood, which was called “the brain drain.”

(7) Kay and her husband, who had a Ph.D. in biology, joined it. They moved to Cali­fornia, which was then becoming one of the most exciting areas for “hi-tech” industry in the U.S. Kay started working at Apple Computer and traveled a lot all over the United States, to Ireland and Holland in Europe, and even to Japan and Australia. Now Mrs. Nolan is a principal engineer at the factory in Elk Grove. She is in charge of five other engineers, and it is her job to look after and repair the test equipment that Apple uses to build their computers.

(8) The key to Kay’s success is that she never stopped learning. She finished another course of study, and got her Master of Business Administration degree. Now she is earning a very good salary, and she is still moving up in her career. But when she is not working, she knows how to enjoy herself. In her free time, she sings in a choir that performs classical music. Her eyes light up when she talks about it. “Put me with ten or twenty other sopranos, ” she laughs, “and I’ll have a lot of fun.”

Ø 4) Answer the following questions:

a) What does the expression “the brain drain” mean?

b) What is the key to success according to Americans?

c) What qualities of character are necessary to get wealthy in their point of view?

d) Do Americans admire success as strongly as ever?

e) With the old industries like steel, textile and others closing, what way out of the situation do Americans find to be employed?

f) How much do Americans work?

Ø 5) What tips would you take into account if you decided to get to the top?

a) Set realistic targets for yourself.

b) Be very good at your job, and the luck will come.

c) Hold fast to dreams.

d) Get totally involved in what you are doing and answers will bubble up to the surface.

e) Keep learning, especially from the opposition.

f) Enjoy yourself.

g) Be a shark: keep moving forwards.

h) Being a manager is an ongoing learning experience.

i) Learn from your mistakes.

j) Fill your time productively and profitably.