Britain is the country of traditions

Traditions… They make a nation special. Some of them are old-fashioned and few people remember them, others are part of people’s life.

1What do you know about British traditions?

Study the words:

substantial – солидный distinguish – определять

forbid – запрещать annual – ежегодный

prohibition – запрет pageant – пышное зрелище; маскарад

abolish – разрушать, отменять evolve – развивать

urge – побуждение, толчок peculiarity – особенность

rival – соперник Easter – пасха

cherish – воодушевлять sophisticated – утонченный, умудренный

to keep up – поддерживать holy – святой

2Read the text and say what special is in Bank Holiday.

The British people are very proud of their traditions, cherish them and carefully keep them up. Speaking about British traditions we should distinguish bank, or public holidays, annual festivals, celebrations and pageant ceremonies. The term bank holiday dates back to the 19^th century when the Bank Holiday Acts of 1871 and 1875 declared certain days on which banks were to be closed. Today their observance is no longer limited to banks only. Post offices, most factories and shops are closed too. There are 8 bank holidays: New Years’ Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day Bank Holiday, Spring Bank Holiday, August (or Summer) Bank Holiday, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. All public holidays, except New Year’ Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day are movable, that is they do not fall on the same day each year.

Most of Bank holidays are of religious origin, and meant holy days. But for the greater part of the population they have lost their religious significance and simply days on which people relax, eat, drink and make merry.

a) Good Friday is the Friday before Easter when the church marks the death of Christ. On this day people eat small sweet rolls marked on top with across. On Easter people give each other chocolate Easter eggs. Easter Monday is a traditional day fore the start of the summer tourist season, as schools close for two weeks.

b) May Day Bank Holiday is the first Monday after May 1. May Day which is not a bank holiday is a celebration of the coming of spring. Different outdoor events are held, and MAY-queen, the most beautiful girl of the celebration, is selected.

c) Spring Bank Holiday falls on the last Monday in May. Summer Bank Holiday is held on the last Monday in August. These two bank holidays are great days for excursions. In Britain people generally make a beeline for the coast. On the last weekend in August there is a big carnival at Notting Hill West London. It is the biggest carnival outside Brasil.

3Speak in short about these holidays.

4Read the story below and say if New Year parties are as popular as Christmas ones?

Is the First Foot a proper name? Who receives the name «the First Foot»? What superstitions (предрассудки) do people have? (reading for detail).

In Britain the New Year is not as widely celebrated as Christmas. Some people ignore it completely and go to bed at usual time. Others, however, do celebrate it in one way or another. The most common is a New Year party. There is a funny tradition connected with the New Year: the First Foot. This is the first visitor to enter the house on New Year’ morning. He is a person of great importance.

5There are strange places in Britain and strange people connected with them. Read about one of them and try to explain: Who are the Druids? What is Stonehenge used for? Why did the Druids choose June 24^th? Is this custom observed today? (reading for detail)

Midsummer’ Day, June 24^th is the longest day of the year. On that day a very old custom at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, is observed. Stonehenge is one of the Europe’ biggest stone circles that is 10 or 12 metres high. The earliest part of Stonehenge is approximately 5000 years old. But what was Stonehenge? A holy place? A market ? Or a kind of calendar? Actually the Druids priests (жрецы) in Britain used Stonehenge for a calendar. They introduced it about 2000 years ago. The sun and the stones at Stonehenge let Druids know when the months and seasons start. On the morning of June 24^th the sun shines on one famous stone – the Heel Stone, this is the most important moment of the year for the druids. There are Druids in Britain today, too, and every June a lot of them attend Stonehenge. It is a strange, ancient, rare but still living custom.

6Read the text, think of the title to it. Divide it into logical parts. Find the kea sentences to each part.

Much social contact takes place in people’s homes, and invitation to tea is a common way of keeping in touch with friends and relatives. On special occasion the family may go out to tea: to a tea-shop or café and order high tea, that is a fairly substantial meal often consisting of fish and chips, or boiled ham and salad, followed by bread and butter and cakes. Relics of Puritanism forbade the playing of professional games on Sundays. So almost all amusement places were closed this day up to recent times. But nowadays these places are no longer forbidden on Sundays. Prohibitions on sport matches and meetings were abolished. But the Church of England’ Board urged that public performances should not be allowed to start until 2 p.m., not to interfere with the Sunday Dinner which is in many parts of the country a great family occasion . Pubs and clubs play an important part in social life of the country. On every town and village nowadays there are plenty of pubs where people can go for a drink and a chat.

7Read the text. Define its main topics. Divide the text into logical parts. Give the title to the text and to each part.

English men are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up. Foreigners coming to England are struck at ones by quite a number of customs and peculiarities in English life. Some ceremonies are rather formal, such as the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Trooping the Colour, the State opening of Parliament. Sometimes you will see a group of cavalrymen riding on black horses through the streets of London. They wear red uniform, shining helmets, long black boots and long white gloves. These men are life Guards. Their special duty is to guard the king or the queen of Great Britain and very important guests of the country. To this day family prefers a house with a fire place and a garden to a flat with central heating.

Most English love gardens. Sometimes the garden in front of the house is a little square covered with cement painted green imitation of grass and a box of flowers. They love flowers very much.

The English people like animals very much, too. In Britain they have special dog shoes selling food, clothes and other things for dogs. A new tradition has been born in Britain. Every year a large number of ancient motor-cars drive from London to Brighton. Some of these veteran cars look very funny. This run is a colourful demonstration. People are dressed in the clothes of those times. It is not a race, and most of the cars come to Brighton, which is sixty miles from London, only in the evening.

8The British have got many celebrations they enjoy.

1) What other interesting celebrations, holidays and customs do you know?

2) Give a short summary of any tradition you like.

The Arts in Britain

1Read the description of some words. What is the word for each one? The first letter is already there.

2Read the text and render it into Russian. What are the logical parts of the text?

THE ARTS IN BRITAIN

The arts in Britain are flourishing, and present a varied and lively picture. London has become an international forum of the arts, with major exhibitions of painting and sculpture and theatre, opera and ballet companies and orchestras drawing large audiences. Throughout Britain there are festivals and centres of artistic activity – among them are the Edinburgh International Festival, the music festivals at Aldeburgh, Windsor and Cheltenham and opera at Glyndebourne. The spread of musical interest in Britain owes much to the British Broadcasting Corporation with its daily music program find its partial financing of the Promenade Concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, London. There are over 900 museums and art galleries in Britain and art exhibitions are shown all over the country through the Arts Council, which distributes government grants for music, drama, painting and sculpture. Local authorities play an important part in encouraging the arts, supporting galleries, orchestras and arts centres – an example is the ambitious Midlands Art Centre for young people in Birmingham. British artists, writers, musicians and architects exert a powerful influence abroad. British music owes much to the composer Benjamin Britten, whose influence has produced a new school of British opera. In architecture the work of Sir Basil Spence (Coventry Cathedral, Sussex University) and the collective work of modern British architects in housing and town planning are outstanding.

Literature presents great diversity. Poetry has received fresh stimulus from regional movements including the Liverpool poets, who write for public performance. Among novelists of worldwide reputation are Graham Greene, Angus Wilson, William Golding, Iris Murdoch and Muriel Spark.

3Answer the questions.

1) Prove that London has become an international forum of the arts.

2) What does the spread of musical interest in Britain owe to?

3) How many museums and art galleries are there in Britain? Can you name them?

4) Name the notable figures of arts?

5) What can you tell us about Benjamin Britten?

4Literary Britain.

British Literature is very rich. You can always find a town, a city connected with a famous writer. All of us know the names of the great British writers like Shakespeare, Hardly, Burns and Sir Walter Scott.

1) Find in the right column what is said about the writers and poets.

2) Are you fond of reading books of Britain writers? What have you read?

UNIT 2

The United States of America (the USA). In every life people call this country America.

Study the words:

troop – войско, отряд Thanksgiving Day – День благодарения

plain – равнина equal – равняться

prairie – прерия Eureka – эврика

representative – представить golden poppy – золотой мак

scrape – скрести await – ожидать

Senate – сенат essay – очерк

stripe – полоса harvest – урожай

valley quail – перепел line – строчка

amount – количество no doubt – несомненно

1Read the text and follow the information.

AMERICA TODAY

At present, the USA is a highly developed industrial and agricultural country. It is rich in coal, oil, iron and natural gas. It exports a lot of raw materials, industrial and agricultural products.

People enjoy the wonders of nature practically in every state. The Appalachians and the Rocky Mountains, forests, plains, prairies and even deserts, wonderful lakes, waterfalls and rivers cover the American territory that equals about 9.4 million on square kilometers. Among the most famous sites of interest are the Great Lakes, Niagara falls, the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and others. There are many beautiful National parks and protected areas of wilderness in America.

The population of the USA is about 250 million people of many nationalities. Some of the biggest cities are New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and others. There are many very tall buildings in them that really scrape the sky, that's why they are called skyscrapers.

The capital of the country is Washington D. C. (the District of Columbia). The USA is a federal republic. The American parliament (called Congress) has two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The flag of the USA has 13 red and white stripes representing the original 13 states and 50 stars – for each of the 50 states of the country. Each state has its national motto, bird and flower as its symbol. For instance, California's motto is «I've found it! (Eureka)». Its state bird is Valley Quail and flower – Golden Poppy. America as any other country has its own customs, traditions, and holidays. For instance, on the 4th of July they celebrate Independence Day that gave birth to the American nation. At the end of November America has Thanksgiving Day which was celebrated for the first time in 1621 when the first colonists from England got their first good harvest.

Young people enjoy two other holidays – Halloween (on October 31) and St. Valentine's Day (on February 14). No doubt, a great amount of information about the USA is awaiting the future learners of this country. They will learn of the activity and life of American Presidents, the USA's great writers, poets, artists, scientists, musicians, film stars and other outstanding people.

2Make up a plan of the text in the form of questions.

3Retell the text using this plan.

4You Can Always Spot a Typical American. Read the text and say what the typical American is like.

Study the words:

to spot – распознать it's still alive by far –

Value and belief – ценность и вера она всё еще жива, да еще как!

to realize – осознавать material wealth –

self-reliance – независимость материальное благополучие

trait – черта характера conviction – убеждение

obligatory – обязательный humour – юмор

to designate – определять to reveal – показывать

pull yourself up by the bootstraps – counterbalance – противовес

вытащить себя за волосы dash and roar– натиск и рев

confident – самоуверенный fastpaced – быстрый

unaffected – естественный whirring – шумный

industry – трудолюбие snarl – беспорядок

failure – неудачник mating – брак

a «can-do» spirit – в духе «я могу» attitude – точка зрения

to strengthen – усиливать adget – безделушка

abundance – изобилие installment – в рассрочку

from rags to riches – to portray – описывать

из нищеты в роскошь shapely – стройный

You can easily spot Americans abroad by their toughness. It comes from their sense of individual freedom - their first value and belief.

Americans realize however that individuals must rely on themselves, otherwise they risk to lose their freedom. They must come to both financial and emotional independence from their parents as early as possible, usually by age of 18 or 21. So, self-reliance usually is the second to trait and moral value supposed be obligatory to a true American.

It designates the ability of succeeding on one's own. «Pull yourself up by the bootstraps» is their saying as well as «Life is what you make it» and «Actions speak louder than words».

The third national value accounts for their confident and unaffected manners. It's the old belief that everyone in America has equal opportunity to succeed, an equal chance for success. This value is said to be particularly true at the times of settlers' moving west to make a new beginning, from 1600s to 1890s. The differences in wealth between rich and poor were little at that time, so one's fortune depended only on one's industry. But if everybody had chance to better his living conditions, then everybody's duty was to try, which led to the overall competition with one another. And up to now people who compete successfully are honored and called «winners». Those who do not like to compete and are failures are dishonored and called «losers».

Here we come to the fourth American value – competition. 60 % of the Americans believe competition and desire to win are healthy and desirable. So you can hardly see a person wishing to look incapable or «a loser». But you shouldn't think that their optimistic look is but make believe. In spite of the fact that society can't consist only of «winners» the Americans are optimistic. This trait proceeded from a «can-do» spirit of earlier settlers which had to be inventive experimentors and had come to believe that every problem has a solution: a difficult problem can be solved immediately – an impossible one may take a little longer. This «can-do» spirit was for all that strengthened by natural abundance and unmeasured territory.

It greatly reduced the conflict between the rich and the poor too. «If at first you don't succeed, try, try again» they say here.

As for the greater American dream «from rags to riches» it is still alive by far! It goes on attracting immigrants from all over the world.

The fifth national value is material wealth. Well, wealth but ought to become measure of social status and success in the society which rejected aristocracy with all its privileges. Most Americans believe wealth is a reward for hard work and that it is possible to have a good standard of living if a person works hard. This conviction is believed to stem from the Protestant religion, which holds that gaining wealth goes along with self-improvement of a person. «God helps those who help themselves,» says the proverb.

The sense of humour is often the most revealing aspect of a culture. Surely, humour has never been valued more highly in any civilization than in this one.

Humour is the great reliever of tension, the counterbalance to the dash and roar of our fast paced industrialized life with its whirring machines, traffic snarls and frayed tempers.

American humor, in short, confirms the importance of mating and the family, the high status of women and children, the pace and tension of life.

Americans carry with them an appearance which is more a result of attitude than of clothing.

They love children, animals, gadgets, mother, work, excitement, noise, nature, television, shows, comedy, installment buying, fast motion sports, the flag, Christ, jazz, shapely women and muscular men, crowds, beefsteak, coffee, ice cream, do-it-yourself.

There is of course no typical American. But if you added them all together and then divided by 226.000.000 they would look something like what this chapter has tried to portray.

5You're just returned from America and your friends are very impatient to know more about what Americans are. Express your attitude towards this.

6Your friend has failed in his business. He doesn't believe that he could ever succeed. Try to cheer him up. Tell him that life is what one makes it.

7a) Make up a list of features of an average American for your sociological essay (project).

b) Using the categories listed try to apply them to your own society and formulate characteristics. Have a round table discussion.

c) What is the most revealing aspect of a culture for Americans? Why do they call it the greatest reliever of tension?

8 1) Read and try to describe every one of the holidays below.

2) About some American holidays are associated with history of nation. Most of these holidays are not legal holidays. Schools, offices and banks may close and may stay open. There are many customs and traditions associated with these holidays. All American holidays are used by businessmen as a big chance for advertising and sale of their goods.

3) Read and translate

CALENDAR OF MAJOR HOLIDAYS

New Years Day 1 January

Martin Luther King 15 January

Lincolns Birthday 12 February

St. Valentine's Day 14 February

President's Day Third Monday of February

April Fool's Day 1 April

Mother's Day Second Sunday in May

Memorial Day Last Monday of May

Flag Day June 14

Father's Day Third Sunday in June

Independence Day July 4

Labor Day First Monday of September

Columbus Day Second Monday of October

Halloween October 31

Veteran's Day November 11

Thanksgiving Day Fourth Tuesday of November

Christmas December 25

Easter One Sunday in Spring

9Practice the dialogous.

SPECIAL GREETINGS

a) A. Merry Christmas

B. The same to you!

A. Are you doing anything special?

B. We're having some friends over. What are you doing?

A. Oh, I'm just going to take it easy.

b) A. Happy New Year!

B. Thank you! Same to you.

A. Have you got any plans?

B. I've been invited over to a friend's. And you?

A. My roommate's having a party.

c) A. What does the word Halloween mean?

B. Halloween means «holy evening».

A. And how often do Americans celebrate Halloween?

B. Every October 31.

A. Is it a church holiday?

B. Oh, no, it's rather a holiday for children.

A. What do children do then?

B. They really enjoy themselves! They put on strange masks and try to look like monsters. They ask their neighbors: «Trick or treat!» «Money or eat!»

A. Do adults treat them?

B. Yes, usually they do. They give the children some money or candy.

A. And what if they don't?

B. Then the children play some trick on them like soaping the windows of their cars.

A. Thank you very much for your detailed description. Now I see what Halloween is!

10Read and find out.

AMERICAN WRITERS

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