P. Howard: Every day thousands of people in Asia and
Africa die of starvation. Millions more suffer from malnutrition and disease.
All this misery could be prevented if the rich nations kept their promise to
provide one per-cent of their annual Gross National Product in assistance to
developing countries. Last year they gave on average less than 0.4%. That isn’t
much, is it Obviously they could have give more than that, and they certainly
should have played a more important role in doing this. J.
Adams: There are poor people in our own country. We should
take care of them before we start giving money to foreigners. In this city we
have 20,000 home-less families, 4,000 sick or disabled people. There is no point
in squander our precious money. Let the rich princes and the corrupt dictators
of Africa take care of their own people. It’s nothing to do with us. Why should
we be responsible for their wrongdoing Why should we be supposed to look after
their people D. Graham: A few years ago there was a
terrible famine in the countries bordering the Sahara Desert. Thousands of
people died. They could have been saved if a few dams had been built to collect
water during the raining season. They’ve been asking for help for years, but
they never got it. Why is it that the rich countries can afford to develop
supersonic aircraft, space shuttles and rockets and nuclear weapons powerful
enough to destroy the whole world, and yet they can’t afford to build a few dams
that could save thousands of lives I simply don’t understand this. The
developed countries throw away millions of money into their space projects, and
they even grudged just a little money for the poor people. In America, people
die of heart diseases from overeating. How call they imagine starvation Most
American dogs eat more and better than the children in Bangladesh. American
farmers destroy surplus food in order to keep the prices high. Nobody will pay
to send it to people who are dying of starvation. They just don’t care. Why
could things be so different for people in the developing countries They are
also human beings, aren’t they H. Wilson: I got what
I have by hard work and sacrifice. It’s about time the poor countries learned to
do the same. They could build huge manufacturing industries if the people were
prepared to work instead of begging. Their main problem is over-population.
Whose fault is that When beggars are allowed to have ten children, how can a
poor country expect to develop When you first have so many mouths to feed, how
can you think of better housing and good education system. They have got too
many problems. P. Mombo: For hundreds of years we were
exploited by colonialism. Our men were taken as slaves, our natural resources
were stolen, our industries were suppressed. As a result of these, Europe and
North America became rich and we have nothing. Now it’s time to repay the debt.
We must be given money to build export industries and to develop our farms. We
can take care of ourselves if we are given a fair chance. I have complete faith
in my people. They are honest and hard working if only can they stand a chance
to start. Now match each of the persons (61 to 65) to the
appropriate statement. Note: there are two extra
statements.
Statements [A] We were exploited in the past and now the rich
nations should pay their debt. [B] People in the developing countries should
build huge manufacturing industries. [C] People are getting too fat in
America because they eat too much food and suffer from over-nutrition. [D]
What we should consider first is our own problems at home. [E] The rich are
getting richer and the poor poorer simply because the rich don’t care about the
poor. [F] The rich nations failed to keep their promise to give 1% of their
annual Gross National Product in assistance to developing countries, causing
serious problem there. [G] I made myself a success through hard work. Begging
for money does not really help the poor countries. P. Mombo