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Е. В. Захарова язык и культура великобритании в условиях европейской интеграции предисловие данное учебное пособие

Вид материалаУчебное пособие
Unit viii. scotland - dynamic and polyphonic
Encyclopedia Britannica
Ii.vocabulary focus
Iv. speaking personally
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UNIT VIII. SCOTLAND - DYNAMIC AND POLYPHONIC




I.READING COMPREHENSION


A. Pre-reading task. Answer the following questions


1) Do you know any prominent Scottish cultural figures?

2) Do you know what languages are spoken in Scotland?


B.Now read and translate the text. You can make use of the word-combinations given below:


Obsess – завладеть умом; преследовать

Obsession – неотступная мысль

Assert – утвердить

Currency – валюта

Be akin to – быть похожим на что-либо, сходным

Mock at smb – насмехаться

Ridicule – высмеивать

Minutiae – мелочи

bristling – агрессивный

lapse – власть в состояние; превратиться

inherent – присущий, свойственный

profile – репутация

foolhardy – безрассудный

alter – меняться

articulate – формулировать

ethos – характер, дух

geared – рассчитанный на что-либо

outlook – мировоззрение

run – управл


Modern Scotland, like modern England, is a nation but not a state. This position obsesses many who study Scottish culture and politics. The fact that before 1603 Scotland was a separate kingdom, and that until 1707 it had its own parliament in Edinburgh, tends to intensify this obsession. An impressive majority of Scottish voters now vote for parties which support Scotland having democratic control of its own affairs, though only a minority of those voters support independence from the rest of the United Kingdom. A concern with, and a perceived need to assert, national identity characterize many aspects of Scottish life.

So, for instance, Scotland’s banks continue to produce their own notes, though, of course, Scotland does not have its own currency. The established church, the Church of Scotland, is Presbyterian. Scots Law differs significantly from the law of England, being often more akin to continental legal systems based on Roman Law. Scotland’s educational system is broader-based than that of England, and, both at school and university level, offers a different structure.

A Scottish nationalistically-minded poet Hugh MacDiarmed mocked at and ridiculed those who complain about minutiae such as the use of the word ‘England’ where the ‘United Kingdom’ is meant, yet a bristling at trifles continues to be significant in a modern Scotland which is often regarded by London-based companies (such as the BBC) as a ‘region’ rather than a nation.

Scotland, however, is in little danger of lapsing into mere regional status. It has too high an international profile for that. Scotland is also Britain’s brainbox. Aberdeen for a long time had as many universities as England. James Watt, Alexander Graham Bell, John Baird – Scots invented modernity from logarithms to the steamship, from television to radar. They were doctors, missionaries and mechanical engineers. Even if assumption about the long history of widespread Scottish literacy have been dented, the dream of Scotland as a land of education persists.

A lot of modern thought has tried to seek out the ideas of “Scottishness’ which would hold true of the culture in general. A Scottish writer Kurt Wittig wrote that nobody could fully enjoy Scottish literature until he learned to interpret it primarily in terms of its own inherent values which are ‘essentially Scottish’.

Nevertheless, the search for constistency or at least identifiably Scottish cultural attributes has led in recent decades, and particularly in the last ten years, to several totalizing and impressive examinations of Scottish history and culture in which Scottish art is considered having a continuous and distinct identity as part of the European tradition.

It would be foolhardy to pretend that culture and politics can be kept separate. Indeed, it is noticeable that the upsurge in the production of totalizing histories of Scottish literature,art and music – striving to give a wholeness to the Scottish experience in these fields – has come during a period in which Scotland has striven for a complete expression of its political identity.

Scotland alters according to its relations with the rest of the world, not least the rest of Britain, changing and being changed by interaction with other cultures and communities. More than that, Scotland itself is dynamic, going through an internal polyphonic process. That process involves a variety of languages (not least English, Scots and Gaelic) and their attendant traditions; it involves an ongoing regional interaction between parts of Scotland as different as Glasgow and the Outer Hebdrides. Scotland is and has long been a multicultural, multilingual society. Gaelic-speaking Scotland, Scots-speaking Scotland and English-speaking Scotland have co-existed for centuries. There are only 80 000 Gaelic speakers today, yet several of the most internationally recognized Scottish symbols are strongly linked to Gaelic culture. Few Scots have no imaginative investment in the Gaelic world, even though they do not speak its language.

The Scots’ awareness of centuries of linguistic and cultural pluralism is rarely consciously articulated but it is deeply felt. There are some clear parallels with the cultures of Ireland and Wales. Yet in England , which has no equivalent of Gaelic , there is less of a deep sense of native linguistic and cultural pluralism. Anglo-Saxon and Norman French are too far in the past. It is easy to sketch English culture so as to exclude the Channel Islands; much harder to sketch Scottish culture so as to exclude the Hebrides. All this supports the idea of a plural Scottish identity as something deeply ingrained in Scottish culture, if not always articulated fully. Part of this wider Scottish identity would take the form of an acknowledgement that many Scots have favoured (and continue to favour ) integration in Britain. Scotland does not speak with one voice, and it would be a dangerous position if it did.

So, in recent centuries much of Scottish cultural energy has been directed towards the maintenance not simply of a Scottish but of a fully British ethos in which Scotland can play its part. Scott’s novels, the Encyclopedia Britannica, Sir John Reith’s BBC – all these are Scottish-rooted institutions geared to presenting Britishness that was significantly more than Englishness. Yet Scottish culture today often suggests that such classic Britishness is a thing of the past. It is hard to think today of what can be confidently called ‘British’ culture rather than English or Scottish culture.

While some of the most prominent mid-century Scottish cultural figures – Muriel Spark, Sean Connery , Karl Miller – left Scotland for various reasons, there may be today a greater feeling of native self-confidence which helps keep (or even repatriate) Scottish talent. Young poets such as Kathleen Jamie and Don Paterson move easily between Scotland and the wider world. These figures, like the composer James MacMillan, look and travel abroad. They are Scottish-international in outlook.

Scottish culture seems to have moved into a post-British phase. If Scots wanted to run Britain in the eighteenth century, and to run the empire in the nineteenth, in the twentieth century they seem, more reasonably, to want to run Scotland. Culturally, they have already declared independence. Scotland is imaginatively and intellectually freed-up – supplied with many visions of itself as well as many ways of looking at, engaging with, and being perceived by an increasingly interested world beyond.


C. Referring back to the text , answer the questions:


1) Until what year was Scotland a separate Kingdom?

2) When did its parliament cease to exist?

3) Do the majority of Scottish people vote for independence from the rest of the United Kingdom?

4) How is concern to assert national identity manifested in different spheres of Scottish life?

5) What gives Scotland a high international profile?

6) How is Scottish art considered in the last ten years?

7) What makes Scotland alter?

8) How many people speak Gaelic today?

9) What idea is deeply ingrained in Scottish culture?

10) What people brought Scotland world fame in literature and music in the twentieth century?


II.VOCABULARY FOCUS


A. Translate the following word-combinations into Russian:


To tend to do smth; to persist; to strike; to involve; ongoing; to favour smth; prominent cultural figures; self-confidence; to repatriate; to declare independence.


In which situations are they given in the text? Reproduce them.


B. Find the English equivalents in the text:


Банкноты; жаловаться на что-либо; пустяки; взаимодействие; быть тесно связанным с чем-либо; сознательно; исключить что-либо; империя; с уверенностью; быть воспринятым.


Think of your own sentences with these expressions.


C. Match the words which collocate with each other:

1. cultural a. church

2. established b. minded

3. nationalistically c. status

4. London d. pluralism

5. regional e. based


D. Match the words which are close in their meaning:

1. akin a. rash

2. inherent b. change

3. foolhardy c. infatuated

4. alter d. related

5. obsessed e. immanent


E. Match the words having opposing meaning:

1. inherent a. preserve

2. obsessed b. alien

3. akin c. cautions

4. foolhardy d. acquired

5. alter e. indifferent


F. Match the words and their meanings:

1) To ignore obvious dangers in a stupid way
a. to be akin

2) The set of attitudes and beliefs that are typical of an organization or a group of people
b. obsession

3)An emotional state in which smb or smth is so important to you that you are always thinking about them, in a way that seems extreme to other people

c. to lapse

4) Similar to smth
d. foolhardy

5) To gradually change to a quieter or less active state
e. ethos



G. Translate the following sentences into Russian:


1) It was foolhardy to get involved in the first place.

2) Working 12-hour days seems to be part of the company ethos.

3) The girls’ interest in the star had bordered on obsession.

4) The political situation here is more akin to dictatorship than democracy.

5) Now it was her turn to lapse into thought.


H. Insert prepositions where necessary(for; in; to; with):


1. to be ingrained ___ smth 6. the search ___ smth

2. to be geared ___ doing smth 7. to lead ___ smth

3. ___ some reason 8. the upsurge ___ smth

4. to be supplied ___ smth 9. to strive ___ smth

5. ___ terms of smth 10. according ___ smth


I. Complete the following sentences with the words from the box:

Currency obsesses pluralism

Lapsing status foolhardy

Articulated awareness

1) This position ___ many who study Scottish culture and polities.

2) Scotland does not have its own ___.

3) Scotland is in little danger of____ into mere regional ___.

4) The Scots’ ___ of centuries of linguistic and cultural ___ is rarely consciously ___ but it is deeply felt.

5) It would be ___ to pretend that culture and politics can be kept separate.


J. In which meanings are the following words used in the text:


1) to run

a. to move quickly with legs

b. to control

c. to be performed or shown


2) to alter

a. to make smth or someone different.

b. to make small changes to a piece of clothing so that it fits better


3) profile

a. the public image of a person or organization

b. a description of a person, group, or organization that contains all the details someone needs

c. the shape of someone’s face when you look at them from the side


III.INTERPRETATION


A.. Answer the following questions

1) It’s known that only a minority of Scots support independence from the rest of the United Kingdom though practically all of them are eager ‘to run’ Scotland. How is this fact perceived in the UK?

2) Do you think that in the world Scotland is identified as a mere region of Great Britain or a separate cultural entity?

3) What processes are noticeable within Scotland itself?

4) Do you know any internationally recognized Scottish symbols linked to Gaelic culture?

5) What are the most prominent Scottish-rooted institutions geared to presenting Britishness that was significantly more than Englishness?


B. Paraphrase and explain the following statements Comment on them:


1) It has too high an international profile for that.

2) Scotland is also Britain‘s brainbox.

3) Scotland does not speak with one voice, and it would be a dangerous position if it did.

4) Few Scots have no imaginative investment in the Gaelic world.

5) It is noticeable that the upsurge in the production of totalizing histories of Scottish literature, art and music-striving to give a wholeness to the Scottish experience in these fields – has come during a period in which Scotland has striven for a complete expression of its political identity.


IV. SPEAKING PERSONALLY


Some prominent cultural figures left Scotland for various reasons. Today the changing situation keeps or even repartriates Scottish talent. How can you account for it? Is it typical only of Scotland?

While discussing the issue with your partners, you may make use of the following expressions:

Firstly; first of all; to begin with

Secondly;

At the same time; in the meanwhile; for the time being

The reason for this is; the cause of this is

As a result of this, consequently; therefore

To sum up; in short; after all