TEXT B: DISABLED AMERICANS
TEXT A:
Before reading the text learn to pronounce the following words correctly:
| [æ] overlap natural statute | [e] protect essentially election attempt general recognize representative | [i:] meaning freedom guarantee belief frequently | [i] individual civil liberty different distinguishable religious considerable resistance | [o] authority equality resolve contract minority |
| [ei] legislation inalienable proclaim | [ ] government public adjust justify | [ a:] arbitrary regard harsh parliament | [ә:] concern term assert worship confer interpret |
CIVIL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES
Sometimes they use two terms, civil liberties and civil rights, interchangeably, although their meanings are different.
Civil liberties are freedoms that are guaranteed to the individual. Civil liberties declare what the government cannot do; in contrast, civil rights declare what the government must do or provide.
Civil rights are powers or privileges that are guaranteed to the individual and protected from arbitrary removal at the hands of the government or other individuals. The right to vote and the right to jury trial in criminal cases are civil rights.
Civil rights and civil liberties overlap with individual rights and liberties, but belong more to the area of social and public interests than do individual rights, which belong mainly to the area of individual interests. They are concerned essentially with what individuals and groups may do within the law, e.g. stand for election to a public authority, rather than with what they may exact, e.g. social security. Civil rights may be regarded as attempts to give meaning to the ideal of equality under laws, and civil liberties as flowing from the ideal of freedom.
Civil rights protect certain general human needs and interests, but sometimes conflict with other human needs and interests, this conflict has to be adjusted and resolved in the courts or by legislation. A civil right or liberty exists only in so far as it is legally recognized and protected, not merely if it is asserted or even proclaimed by a government or political party.
Civil liberties are distinguishable from moral liberty or freedom of the will; from political liberties, such as the right to elect and to stand for election; from 'human rights' or 'natural rights'; from economic liberties, such as freedom of contract, trade, competition, of organizing, and of striking; from religious liberties, such as freedom of belief and of worship; and from academic freedom; though there is considerable overlapping, and as law in general protects each of these groups of liberties, some would class all of these within the general group of civil liberties. Civil liberties were justified by seventeenth — and eighteenth-century philosophers as inherent or inalienable rights. Historically most of them arose by way of successful resistance to kings, harsh employers, unrepresentative parliaments, and the like.
The question what civil rights or liberties citizens enjoy under a particular system of government and law, depends partly on what rights or liberties are conferred by constitution, code, statute, and case, but also, and.frequently more particularly, on how these rights or liberties are actually interpreted, and how far they can be and are secured and enforced, particularly by minority groups.
I. Are these statements true or false?
1. The terms civil rights and civil liberties are quite different.
2. Political liberties include the right to elect and to be elected.
3. Historically many civil rights and liberties appeared as a result of
resistance to kings.
4. Conflicts, caused by the contradictions between civil rights and some
of the human needs and interests must be resolved in the courts.
5. Civil liberties are practically interchangeable with “human rights”
or “natural rights”.
II. Complete the following statements about the text choosing the correct variant.
1. Sometimes civil rights and civil liberties are used …
a) in different ways
b) interchangeably
c) as antonyms.
2. Civil rights declare …
a) what the government of the country is obliged to do
b) what the individual must do
c) what politicians parties must do.
3. Civil liberties differ from …
a) moral liberty
b) civil rights
c) constitution of the country.
4. Civil liberties were justified …
a) by kings
b) by people
c) by philosophers of the past.