UNIT 66: HOMES

The institutional care we provide to our older people is a good reflection of the
overall attitude of our society toward the aged. In the past few years, nursing homes have
received wide attention as boring, meaningless places where people often have little else to
do but wait for the end of their lives. Senile wards in mental hospitals are even worse. One of
the appalling things about nursing homes has been the unwillingness of people on the outside
to show real concern for what happens in these institutions. Even people who are entrusting a
parent to the care of a home rarely ask about the nurse-patient ratio, about the kind of
creative facilities or physical therapy equipment available, or even about the frequency of
doctor's visits.

I. VOCABULARY
Institutional: Related to the (building of) organization for social welfare
Reflection: Thought
Attitude: Feeling, manner
Nursing homes: Attention, treatment places for old people
Senile ward: Division for the old people in a hospital
Appalling: Shocking
To entrust: To trust somebody to safeguard somebody or something
Ratio: Proportion, percentage
Available: On hand, obtainable
II. EXERCISE: Complete the sentences with a suitable form of the words defined
above.
1. I am to carry on with the exhausting task of caring for an old and ... woman.
2. This arrangement left her with the responsibility of her younger son's education,
which she decided .... to a private tutor.
3. I believe the .... of men's jobs to women's is 8 to 1.
4. Your course leader will be .... to help you.
5. We cannot accept the.... housing conditions and will take whatever action is necessary
III. READING COMPREHENSION
1. It is obvious in the passage that the writer criticizes ...........
a. the situation of the institutions which provide care to the old people
b. the mental hospitals where the aged are treated.
c. the boring and meaningless nursing homes.
d. people who have little to do but wait for their deaths.
e. the wide attention that nursing homes receive.
2. The writer points out that none ..........
a. shows unwillingness to concern for the institutions.
 b. asks about the facilities for old people.
c. places a parent in an institution.
d. is happy about the therapy equipment available.
e. is interested in what is going on in the institutions.
3. The same lack of interest in the institutions for the old people
a. are not true for the mental hospitals.
b. is only the characteristic of people on the outside.
c. has nothing to do with the attitude of society.
d. is considered to be boring and meaningless.
e. can be seen in the relatives of those placed in these institutions.