Topic recap sheet n°4 : Solidarity or charity ? Content / Documents

Topic recap sheet n°4 : Solidarity or charity ?
Content / Documents :
Pictures : cartoon (survival of the richest) / Zell Kravinsky
Videos : the Zuckerberg “donation” + the first black and minority orchestra
Texts : The trader who donates half his pay / translation : how much should one give ? + Banksy
moves Dismaland to Calais
Graph : charitable causes / charitable nations
Civilisation / Culture : affirmative action
Picture(s) (description & meaning)
Description: Zell Kravinsky donated all his fortune to charities and a kidney to a young woman. He had
also decided to donate more: a part of his liver, a lung and bone narrow but his wife stopped him. He
thinks his life is worth the same as other people’s one and explains we all have a moral duty to do as
much good as possible, to help as many people as possible.
Meaning: Everybody can give a little part of their property even if he isn’t rich. We have to donate to
charities that we think will make the world better. But a donation isn’t only money: it can be time, objects
or even parts of our body.
Graph (description & meaning)
Description: There are different ways to help others. A
large part of the population of Myanmar and Sri Lanka
declared they helped strangers more than developed
countries like the United Kingdom and Australia.
Nevertheless, more people donated money to charities.
Meaning: Even people who don’t have a lot of money and
live in poor countries are willing to help others even if it’s
not with money. Those people have values of solidarity.
Vocabulary :
English
Effective altruism
French
Look up to
Look down on
Admirer
Mépriser
Let down
Abandonner
Do away
Give a hand
Se débarrasser
Aider
L’altruisme efficace
English
To be below the
poverty line
A discrepancy
Distribution of wealth
To commit oneself to
doing sthg
Tuition fees
Skeptical
French
Etre en dessous du seuil
de pauvreté
Un écart
Répartition des
richesses
Promettre de faire
quelque chose
Les droits d’inscription
Sceptique
Make up
for=Make things
right
Be up to
Be responsible for
Affirmative action
Réparer
The underclass
Le quart-monde
Etre à la hauteur
Etre responsable de
Discrimination positive
A recipient
A volunteer
Selfishness
Selflessness
Un bénéficiaire
Un bénévole
Egoisme
altruisme
Recent events, historical & cultural references mentioned in the
documents:
-
Charity is a form of support that implies that a weak person receives help from a powerful
one. It is top down. Solidarity is also a form of help, but it takes place between equals.
-
Chineke is the first black and minority orchestra. They use classical music to make minorities
go to concert halls. Music is a universal language for everybody;
-
Zuckerberg announced that he will give 99% of his FB shares over his lifetime (to his own
foundation). He wants to improve the world his daughter will live in. He wants to be a model
for others to follow, to set a standard.
-
A young trader who had studied philosophy with Peter Singer chose his job because it allows
him to earn a lot of money that he can give to humanitarian NGOs. But there are other
charities and everyone can choose which one they want to give to: there should be no guilt
about what causes people donate to.
-
Banksy decided to dismantle Dismaland, his gloomy “bemusement” park and to send the
materials to the jungle of Calais to provide shelter to refugees.
-
Everybody thinks Darwin’s theory consists in the survival of the strongest and the death of
the weakest, but it’s not. The theory of evolution describes the modifications that a species
undergoes in order to adapt to its (changing) environment and thus survive, and explains the
diversity of animal and vegetal species on earth.
Key expressions (grammar, syntax, translation...)
- 4000 times as worthy as: 4000 fois plus important que
- a 100% chance: 100% de chances
- The person whom I have met. La personne que j’ai rencontré.
The person whose kidney was not functional.
- During+ événement / For+ durée / Since+date (during the concert/ for a long time/ since 2002)
- Over the course of ... = not all at once : au cours de leur vie
- Set a standard: montrer l’exemple
- it has been there for fifteen years: cela fait 15 ans qu’il existe
- They have given 21 billion so far: jusqu’à maintenant
- To give a hint: donner un apercu
- To catch attention: attirer l’attention
Document prepared with great care by : Juliette, Charlotte, Anne- Sophie, Justine M., Juliette M.