Question

In groups , ask and answer these questions and give reasons for your answers.

a) Should the officials have taken the premonitions seriously?
b) Should they have informed people about them?
c) Should they have listened to the fortune tellers?
d) What importance should we give to people's premonitions or dreams?
e) Do you believe in premonitions? Have you ever had one?
textul :
ON APRIL 14 th,1912, at 11.40 p.m., the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank four hours later.It was its first trip across the Atlantic.
At that time,the Titanic was the best and largest ship ever built and everybody thought it was unsink-able.Its captain,Edward J.Smith,together with his crew,wanted to etablish a new time record for crossing the Atlantic.They decided to travel at a higher speed than they would normally and to risk going far north into the icy waters of the Atlantic to shorten the distance.Although they had received six ice warnings,they refused to take them seriously as they were sure the Titanic couldn't sink.For the same reason they had taken on enough lifeboats for only 1178 people,although the ship was carrying 2207 people.At 2 a.m., on April 15th,when the captain gave the order 'Abandon ship!' only 651 passengers were able to get into lifeboats.
Strangely enough,the two ships that were closest when the accident happrned,did not hear the Titanic's desperate radio calls for help . What is more, the officers on the Californian , that was only ten miles away,were close enough two see the Titanic , but they did not understand the situation.Ther radio officer on the Californian had gonevto bed just before the Titanic struck the iceberg.He had tried to warn the officers on the Titanic about the ice, but they wouldn't listen.
The Carpathia,which was fifty-eight miles away when it received the Titanic's desperate S.O.S. on its radio, arrived two hours after the great ship had gone down. It saved 705 people. A total of 1502 people had lost their lives.A tragedy like this shouldn't have happened.It should never happen again.

Answer 1

a) No, since they have very small chances of being true
b) Yes, in order for the people to be able to chose if they believe them or not
c) We shouldn't give much importance to premonitions and dreams, but we should keep them in mind
d) No, I don't believe in them. Once I had something like a premonition, but I think it was a coincidence.