- •К.В.Голубина
- •Introduction the cultural impact of a foreign text
- •Unit 1. Think global, speak local (Tape)
- •Unit 2. Basic brit-think and ameri-think
- •The most important things to know
- •1. I’m gonna live for ever
- •2. New is good
- •3. Never forget you’ve got a choice
- •4. Smart money
- •5. The consensus society
- •‘Them ‘n Us’
- •(Brian Walden The London Standard)
- •6. ‘Me-think’ vs. ‘We-think’
- •7. Good Guys and Bad Guys
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 3. Brits and yanks abroad
- •Amer-Executive
- •Ameri-wife
- •Brits on us hols ... A word of warning
- •A Brit goes Stateside
- •Mrs Brit
- •Brit groovettee
- •Us / uk guide to naffness-avoidance: What not to do in each other’s countries
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Shopping (uk)
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 4. Strictly business
- •Succeeding in business
- •Intimidation and desks
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 5. Brits and yanks at home Home as backdrop
- •Home as bolt-hole (‘Don’t tell anyone I live here’)
- •1. For the affluent, aspirational, or upwardly mobile:
- •2. For everyone else:
- •Some like it hot
- •Brits on heat
- •Ordeal by water
- •Beddy-bye
- •American dreams
- •Closet needs
- •Comprhension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 6. Going places (Film)
- •Unit 7. What do they aspire to? ‘Having It All’
- •Brit soap
- •Strike it rich
- •Success story Double standards
- •Nothing succeeds like success
- •Failure: Anglo-American excuses Making dramas out of crises
- •Delegating blame: ‘It’sa notta myfault!’
- •Bouncing back Recovery from adversity
- •Set-backs
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •The Neasden connection ... Place-names
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Writing
- •Unit 9. Patriotism (Multi-media support available)
- •Eco-chauvinism
- •Buy British:
- •Dollar allegiance … big bucks
- •Pound of flesh
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 10. The establishment
- •The Brit-Establishment includes anyone who:
- •It does not include such instruments of the Establishment as:
- •Amer-Establishment
- •America’s Haute-Establishment – Anyone who:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 11. Yes, prime minister. The smoke screen (Film)
- •Unit 12. A better class of foreigner ‘Foreigner’
- •The foreign menace
- •British league-table of foreigners (reading from most to least reliable)
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 13. Class The thorny question of Class Gotta Lotta Class
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Labour if:
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Conservative if:
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Liberal, sdp, or sdp-Lib. Alliance if:
- •Class Act
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 14. Only fools and horses (Film)
- •Unit 15. The food connection
- •Eating in Britain: Things that confuse American tourists
- •The importance of sharing
- •Brit guide to Ameri-portions
- •British/american food
- •Unit 17. The importance of being cute
- •Other cosy things Brits do
- •1. Extol the amateur
- •2. Obstruct mPs
- •3. Fill their national newspapers with ‘Around America’ columns
- •4. Cultivate their gardens
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 18. Goods and services Consumer durables and vice versa
- •Conspicuous Ameri-consumption:
- •Attacking the problem
- •Example:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit19. Doctor doctor Medicine
- •Moi first, doc
- •Doctors
- •Perfect Brit patients
- •The perfect Ameri-patient
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 20. Laws of the lands
- •Comprehension and language
- •Unit 21. Rumpole and the age of miracles (Film)
- •Unit 22. Judging a nation by its television Meet the Press: The media we deserve
- •Ameri-vision: You are what you watch
- •Brit-tv: They’re watching me
- •You are what you read
- •1. Brit tabloids are more explicit.
- •2. Brit papers declare political affiliations.
- •3. Yanks don’t have national newspapers.
- •Snigger Press
- •The international co-production deal: Brit-mogul meets Yank-mogul
- •The 8 commandments of international co-production
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 23. Good sport
- •Fair play
- •American football is:
- •Brit-footie is:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Unit 24. Oxford blues (Film)
- •Unit 25. Humour travels? Transatlantic laughs:
- •To be funny in America, you have to be:
- •To be funny in Britain, you have to:
- •Comprehension
- •Unit 28. One foot in the grave (Film)
- •Unit 29. East-enders (Film)
- •Unit 30. The final solution: or, whatreally counts
- •1. The Royal Family
- •2. The Pub
- •Double raspberry ripple to go
- •Appendix I The Special Relationship
- •Yanks (on brits)
- •Brits (on yanks)
- •Appendix II Glossary of us-uk equivalents
- •Glossary (and translation) of Anglo-American weather terms american
- •British
- •Appendix III The ones that don’t translate
- •Appendix IV The very, very best things in America
- •The best of British
- •Contents:
The Neasden connection ... Place-names
Like songs about cities, British place-names tend to lack pizzaz. Somehow, there’s little grandeur, or emotional impact. Consider, for instance, GRIMSBY. Scunthorpe / Neasden / Blackpool / Frinton-on-Sea. TWICKENHAM, for heaven’s sake. What could sound more earth-bound? Not for Brits the heart-swelling euphony of a ‘San Francisco’ And it’s doubtful that Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber would’ve scored a world-wide mega-hit with ‘Don’t Cry For Me, Hemel Hempstead’.
No: Brits like to live in places that sound – here it is again – cosy. Even if they have industrial blight and teeming populations. ‘Newcastle-Upon-Tyne’. Sounds pretty, doesn’t it? ‘Swansea’.
If Brits reside in small villages (their true spiritual homes) they prefer place-names redolent of Olde Worlde Charme. These are cosier-than-cosy ... by definition, ‘twee’ ... evoking warming visions of thatch-on-roof, copper-on-walls, roses-on-trellis, scones-in-fireplace, and wood-worm-in-beams. Consider Nether Wallop, Little Didcot, things in-the-Marsh, things on-the-Wold, and things under-Lyme. And if that’s not cosy enough, Brits assign names to their cottage homes and rural hideaways. Yes, if great estates and palaces can have titles (Sandringham, Blenheim), why not your retirement bungalow? This is a harmless device for allowing Brits from all walks of life to live out the ‘country house’ fantasy. Patient postmen find their way to thousands of Lake Views, Shangri-La’s and Journey’s Ends.
Of course, the cosiness of the British landscape – decorously arranged on human scale – contributes to the snugness of it all. Nowhere in these Sceptred Isles are Brits outfaced by their own topography; nature has the decency to behave. There are no towering mountain-ranges, no deserts, no glaciers, no natural wonders (unless you count Hadrian’s Wall, and he was Italian). And if a mischievous Providence had placed Mt Everest somewhere in Britain, chances are that the natives would have called it ‘Perriwinkle Tor’.
Comprehension
Exercise 1.Make up 4–5 true or false statements about the text to check comprehension.
Exercise 2.Sum up the main points of the chapter in your own words.
Language practice
Exercise 3.Explain the meanings of the words and word combinations below. Comment on their register and expressiveness, suggest synonyms of various degrees of formality. Think up appropriate contexts with them:
ground-breaker, n / buff, n / to exert a draw / a high spot / tongue-tied / to take sth. in one’s stride / animosity, n / die-hard, n / to fudge / to croon / downbeat, adj / ditty, n / earth-bound, adj.
Exercise 4.Comment on the cultural impact of the text. An up-to-date dictionary on language and culture, or a reference book will help you do it better.Note: you are expected to be able to sort out factual information from the author’s emotional attitude and evaluation.
Exercise 5. Phrasal Verbs Practice.
Give examples of the phrasal verbs used in text and speak about their degree of informality and expressiveness.
Exercise 6.Geography Quiz:
a) Which parts of the UK do you associate with the following?
bagpipes / lochs / tail-less cats / male voice choirs / white cliffs / tartan / rose / leek / shamrock / thistle / druids / orchids / lawn tennis / mountain skiing
b) What are these places noted for?
Harley Street / Fleet Street / Newcastle / Blarney / Mayfair / Sherwood Forest / Number 11 / Ascot / Kew / Petticoat Lane / Cheddar / Caernafon / Blenheim / Hastings / Nottinghill
c) Make up a similar quiz on the US.
SPEAKING
Exercise 7. Choose a region / county / city / town in the US / UK and speak on its economic and political background and cultural significance (3–5 min.) (For this assignment multi-media support is available).
Exercise 8. Go through the extract onTerritoryandEnvironment(1) in the Supplementary Materials and speak about how the territorial and environmental differences between the English and Russians affect cross-cultural communication between the nations in question.
Exercise 9.Use your outside reading, personal experiences, TV and video-watching, etc. to support, expand on or question the points and observations made in the chapter.