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Lesson one text: a glimpse of London. Grammar

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Speech and composition
Clothes and fashions
WEATHER: Bright with showers. Outlook: Sunny intervals and showers.
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Assignments



(a) Quickly look through the list and mark the lettered phrase nearest In meaning to the word or phrase tested.


1. Rags: (i) fashionable clothes worn by English aristocrats; (ii) a special sort of dress worn by bus conductors; (iii) old torn clothes.

2. Worship: (i) be fond of; (ii) make an idol of; (iii) hate.

3. Learned person: (i) an expert; (ii) a first-year student; (iii) a person having much knowledge.

4. Quote: (i) repeat the exact words (from a book): (ii) mention some interesting facts from a book; (iii) read books by these authors.

5. Show off: (i) discuss topics of general interest; (ii) try to show others that one knows more than they do; (iii) discuss personal mat­ters.

6. Uneducated people: (i) people who never went to school; (ii) peo­ple who can only read and write; (iii) people without a university educa­tion.

7. Superior: (i) no different from others; (ii) just as good as every­body else; (iii) much better than others.

8. Dangerous: (i) unsafe; (ii) interesting; (iii) exotic.

9. Hardly ever: (i) almost never; (ii) never; (iii) nearly always.


(b) Complete the following.


1. "Fight" is synonymous with —. 2. "To tell the truth" is the opposite of —. 3. The opposite of "criminals" is —. 4. The difference between a "learned" person and an "educated" one is that —.


(c) Choose the answer that expresses most accurately what is stated in the passage. Only one answer is correct.


1. To the English the Continent is: (i) Europe; (ii) Europe and Asia; (iii) Europe without Britain.

2. In England they worship: (i) all street cats; (ii) some cats; (iii) cats from Egypt.

3. In England Latin and Greek authors are quoted by: (i) educated people; (ii) learned persons; (iii) people who have never read these authors.

4. The idea behind the sentence "The English fight heroic wars to combat these dangerous ideas without ever mentioning which is really the most superior race in the world" is that: (i) the English are more heroic than other nations; (ii) the English think they are the most su­perior race; (iii) the English have a bad reputation.

5. On the Continent the population mostly consists of: (i) criminals; (ii) honest people; (iii) people who are neither honest nor criminal.

6. "In England they hardly ever lie, but they never tell the truth" means that English people: (i) neither lie nor tell the truth; (ii) never lie; (iii) always lie.

7. "The English think cricket is a game" means: (i) the English take life seriously; (ii) the English like to play cricket; (iii) the English think life is like a game of cricket.

8. "The other way round" means: (i) very much the same; (ii) just the opposite; (iii) with some differences.


(d) Sum up what the text has to say on each of the following points.


1. Sundays on the Continent and in England. 2. The Englishman's favourite subject of conversation. 3. The fondness of the English for animals in general and cats in particular. 4. Food and cooking on the Continent and in England. 5. What the English think of foreigners. 6. How the English take life.


(e) Discuss the following.


1. What the English think of themselves.

2. The reputation the English have among foreigners.

3. What the author thinks about the English.


(f) Say if, in the author's opinion, the English have a sense of humour, or not. Quote examples from the text to prove your statement.


(g) Make a list of all the different ways in which the English differ from the Continentals.


(h) The humorous effect of the passage depends a good deal on exaggeration. Quote examples of exaggeration you have noticed in it.


(i) Ask questions, covering the contents of the text.


(j) Give a talk, stating your agreement (or disagreement) with the author's argu­ments and conclusions.


Ex 54 Read the passage as rapidly as you can. Time yourself. During the second reading, pay special attention to the words you don't know: look carefully at the context and see if you can get an idea of what they mean. Make an outline of the passage.


There are four climatic zones in the Soviet Union: arctic, subarctic, continental and subtropical. The climate is the coldest in the Arctic, where there are several months of the polar night in the winter. But the nearness of the ocean is very important. In the summer, even in the sunny months, the weather is cloudy with damp snow and temperatures seldom above freezing point.

The European areas of the USSR have a milder climate. The winter is not so cold and the summer is not very hot. In the East-European part of Russia the climate is continental. To the east of the Baltic and Black Seas the winter is colder and the summer is hotter. The southern coast of the Crimea has the warmest winter with no frosts.

Because of the warm Black Sea the summer in the Caucasus is hot and the winter is mild. Farther east to the shores of the Caspian the sum­mer is hotter and the winter is a little colder. This is, in fact, a dry sub­tropical region!

Soviet Central Asia is the hottest and driest region of the country. Here there is no cloud for weeks on end and because of the hot surTthere is practically no vegetation.

SPEECH AND COMPOSITION


Ex 55 Answer the following questions. Sum up your answers (orally, or in writing).


CLIMATE


1. What climate do you have in your part of the country? 2. What is the climate like in Britain? 3. What is the difference between a sea and a continental climate? 4. What kind of climate do you think is the ideal one?


CLOTHES AND FASHIONS


1. What do men (women, children) usually wear in winter (summer, etc; on a rainy day; in cold, damp, hot, etc weather)? 2. What do you wear at home (at the office, Institute, etc; when on vacation; to a party, reception, the theatre, etc)? 3. How do fashions change with the times? 4. Why do fashions change every now and then? 5. What can clothes tell of a person's character, his life style, etc? 6. What are people's clothes made of? 7. What clothes are made of wool (cotton, silk, leather, nylon, etc)? 8. What do the English mean when they say "We are not rich enough to buy cheap things"?


Ex 56 Read the weather forecasts, note their style. Say what time of the year they refer to. Consult your local paper, and (a) give the full story behind the brief item about the weather; (b) write up the weather forecast in English.


WEATHER: Showers, win­try at times. Outlook: Cold with rain or sleet.



WEATHER: Cloudy with rain. Some sunny intervals. Temperatures will range from near normal in the South to cold in the North. Windy.




WEATHER: Mainly cloudy with rain. Normal temper­atures. Outlook for tomorrow and Thursday: Changeable.







Tomorrow and Monday: Rain at first in the South, with some snow over high ground.






WEATHER:Generally very cold, with very cold north

WEATHER: Showers. Rath­er cold. Tomorrow and

­easterly air-stream contin­uing. Sunny and dry, with frost and some icy patches.









Thursday: Occasional rain with some snow In North. Temperatures below normal.










WEATHER: Cloudy at first, clear in the after­noon. Outlook: Mostly mildand unsettled.






WEATHER: Sunny inter­vals, but showers in East­ern areas; cold and windy. Outlook: Cloudy with show­ers; cold.






WEATHER: Bright with showers. Outlook: Sunny intervals and showers.


Ex 57 Read the passage. Answer the questions. Retell (or write up) the passage in English.


Как у каждого народа, у англичан много хороших традиций, и спорт — одна из них.

Англичане любят спорт. В зимние воскресные дни на вокзалах можно часто встретить семьи с лыжами: мама, папа, дети, а иногда и дедушка с бабушкой. Я видел много таких семей. Поезда, уходящие в снежные, горные районы, забиты лыжниками всех возрастов.

А традиции англичан в одежде? В данном случае я не говорю об одежде клерков или гвардейцев, а об обычной, повседневной одежде англичан.

Среди англичан можно редко встретить людей в слишком яркой одежде. Если вы встретите мужчину в ярком галстуке или яркой рубашке, не спрашивайте, как пройти на Гордон-сквер, он не может вам этого сказать, потому что он приезжий.

(С. Образцов. «Две поездки в Лондон»)