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The Online Porn Problem
Before you read: some questions to help you think about the topic and the words you might need.
What do you already know from Korean news about the government trying to stop online porn?
What is your opinion about this topic?
Which if the bold colored words below do you already know?
In South Korea, a volunteer army is fighting what may be the most futile war we can imagine or think of. All they are armed with is their computers and connections as they seek to eradicate pornography from the web.
The famously called “Nuri Cops”, made up of around 800 people, spend hours at a time searching and looking through the Internet for porn. They’re not deviants though. Pornography is illegal in South Korea — one of the most highly connected countries on the earth — and the Nuri spend their time helping government censors find illicit material.
As the Associated Press reports, the hope is that cutting down on porn in the country will lead to a reduction in sex crimes.
The news agency reports that more than 6 400 people were arrested for producing, selling and posting pornography online over a six month period ending in October. “Obscene materials and harmful information that can be easily accessed on the Internet are singled out as one cause that motivates people to commit sex crimes,” President Lee Myung-bak said in a radio interview in September.
One of the Nuri says it feels like he’s “cleaning up dirty things,” although he admits that it’s like “shoveling snow in a blizzard”.
Guessing meaning from context (the words around that word or phrase).
Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. The answers are below the table.
|
futile |
A |
1 |
The tools or weapons someone has to do a job |
|
armed with |
B |
2 |
Illegal, wrong, not allowed |
|
eradicate |
C |
3 |
All efforts to achieve something can do very little or nothing |
|
deviants |
D |
4 |
Disgusting, offensive |
|
illicit |
E |
5 |
To correct, take back control |
|
cutting down |
F |
6 |
People who go another strange way, perverts |
|
Obscene |
G |
7 |
To notice/see one thing only, to find from amongst many and give attention to that one thing |
|
singled out |
H |
8 |
reducing |
|
cleaning up |
I |
9 |
To destroy, to get rid off |
A=3, B=1, C=9, D=6, E=2, F=8, G=4, H=7, I=5
Some example sentences using the new words to help you to better understand their meaning.
1. It is futile to try to teach a cat to speak English.
2. When you do business in another culture, it is important to go armed with knowledge about that culture.
3. It will be hard to eradicate poverty in Africa, but Bang Ki Moon said we must try.
4. Immigration expects a police check on anyone teaching English to make sure there are no sexual deviants coming into the country.
5. North Korea produces a lot of illicit drugs and money.
6. If you want to lose weight then you need to cut down on how much you eat.
7. The angry taxi driver was yelling obscenities at the other one.
8. Some movies can only be seen by people older than 19 because of obscene language and sex scenes.
9. Park was singled out as the best Korean soccer player and was given a contract with Manchester United.
10. After the big storm it took the country 6 months to clean up the damage.
Some discussion questions using the new words to help you better understand the word meaning and how to use them correctly. Try to use the words in your answer.
1. Do you agree that it is futile to control porn on the Internet? Why or why not?
2. What other things could the police arm themselves with to control illicit porn on the Internet?
3. Do you agree that eradicating porn on the Internet will reduce sexual crimes? Why or why not?
4. What punishment do you feel is best for sexual deviants?
5. Are there some other things that the police in Korea or another country doing to cut down on the amount of obscene porn on the Internet? Do you have any suggestions?
6. In the reading was only online porn singled out? What other things are the government attempting to clean up? | 
ECK Education
