- •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:
Comprehension
Exercise 1.Make up 7–10 true or false statements about the text to check comprehension.
Exercise 2.Sum up the main points of the chapter trying to sound as English as you can.
Language practice
Exercise 3.a) Give the meanings of the words and phrases below, comment on their register and expressiveness and suggest synonyms of various degrees of formality. Think up Russian equivalents for them:
nary / to be at pains to do sth. // to be high/low on sth. // no mean achievement / per capita / conundrum / an ignoble scramble / to die hard / tax-sheltering, n / to sit well with smb. / to pinch sth. (fig.).
b) Find words and word-combinations in the text that can be used as synonyms for the ones below, comment on their difference, stylistic and otherwise. Think up appropriate contexts with them:
conceited / weak, not well thought-out / exact / inaccessible / newspaper / experienced / trivial; childish / shrewd / to succeed / major, adj / advice / joke, n / ambiguous / brainwashing.
Exercise 4.Identify the cultural information, things, stereotypes and topics in the text and comment on them.
Exercise 5. Phrasal Verbs Practice.
Write out all the sentences with phrasal verbs and their derivatives, look them up in a recent dictionary and write out more sentences with them. Translate the sentences in writing, possibly with a number of options for different speech situations.
Exercise 6.What other language from the text would you like to select for intensive study and why?
Exercise 7. Make up a list of topical vocabulary on the subject for the upper-intermediate learners, explain and practise it with your classmates.
Exercise 8.Complete and extend the chart.
a) THE BRITISH NATIONAL PRESS (newspapers)
Name |
Format |
Reporting |
Politics |
Register |
Target readership |
Ads |
The Times … |
Daily n/p |
Analytical |
R/c |
Formal |
Professional people, intellectuals |
Airlines, charities, computers, property, shares, securities |
The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times, The Guardian, The Observer, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express, The Daily Mirror, The Sun, The Daily Star, The Sunday Sport
b) THE BRITISH NATIONAL PRESS (magazines)
Name |
Reader ship |
Interest |
Contents |
Reporting |
Register |
Ads |
The Economist ... |
Middle class |
General |
Business, politics |
Analytical |
Formal |
Airlines, computers, securities |
The Sunday Times Magazine, New Society, Private Eye, Punch, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Magazine, Harper’s and Queen, Field, Lady, New Scientist, Observer Magazine, You, The Daily Mail Magazine, Woman’s Own, Viz, The Listener, In Britain.
Do the magazine’s contents reflect their readership’s lifestyle?
Do all women’s magazines carry cooking sections?
Are the recipes in different magazines different or the same?
Can ads in magazines be seen as equally revealing social markers?
Are there magazines without any commercial ads in Britain?
c) Do similar charts on American and your country’s press. Which of the parameters do you find more relevant? Can you think up more effective parameters to classify the national press?
d) Use classifications above to scale the national press along one of parameters, e.g.:
British newspapers – a style and register scale
MAX FORMAL MAX INFORMAL
Fin.T / T / Ind. / …………………………………… Sun / Sun Sup