Will everything be better the day after? It may seem premature (преждевременный), in the midst of (в разгар) what Emmanuel Macron has described as “a war against an invisible (невидимый) enemy”, to consider the political and economic consequences (последствия) of a distant peace.
Read more in English in The Guardian.
I. Choose words from the word bank and fill in the gaps in the sentences.
Naive, epoch making (эпохальный, исторический), swept away, stress-tested, to draw lessons (извлекать уроки), at a standstill.
1. World leaders, diplomats and geopolitical analysts are living through ………. times now.
2. Power blocs, leaders and systems of social cohesion are being ………. in the court of world opinion.
3. Already everyone in the global village (наша планета) is starting to ……….
4. Many certainties and convictions will be ……….
5. The next generation will be less ……… about globalization.
6. Public life may be ……….., but public debate has accelerated.
II. What has Emmanuel Macron promised to do?
A. He has promised to start a Jour d’Après website.
B. To give people to the life they used to have before the pandemic.
C. To make a major investment in health
care.
III. What does Henry Kissinger, the US secretary of state under Richard
Nixon, say about the pandemic?
A. He laments that “we talked the state down (убеждали разговорами) for
30 years”.
B. He called for a commission to study the future.
C. “Rulers must prepare now to transition (переход) to a
post-coronavirus world order.”
D. “Covid-19 is showing dramatically;
either we join together, or we can be defeated.
IV. Let’s try to sum up the article. What is it about? Choose the
answers.
A. The countries which will emerge as
leaders of the post-coronavirus world.
B. The impact of the coronavirus on different countries, economies and
nations.
C. Countries ought to come together to better defeat Covid-19, but they
need to stand apart in order to protect themselves from the virus.
D. The differences between western and eastern mentalities, which
affect the way countries are handling the crisis.
