Commentaries and Notes:

1. …as the couple live together, they… - существительное couple как и многие другие существительные, обозначающие группы людей, например: family, police, army – может согласовываться с местоимениями множественного числа they, their.

2. marginal man – маргинал.

3. as it were -так сказать.

4. melting pot - «плавильный котел» - так называли Соединеные Штаты Америки, ставшие своего рода плавильным котлом, в котором перемешались обычаи и культуры разных народов.

5. …a curse and a blessing – проклятие и благодать.

6. old-world heritage – наследие Старого Света (Старым Светом называли Европу).

7. Irish stew – ирландское рагу (из баранины, тушенной с луком и картофелем; заправляется мукой).

8. background – зд. происхождение, общественный и моральный облик: например, What is his background?

Exercises:

1. Find Russian equivalents for:

particular groups, ethnic enclave, way of life, older residents, superficial differences, two-way process, lasting interpersonal situations, host population, careful analysis, rural (urban) population, to come to exist, to share a common way of life, similar backgrounds, to be alike, complete merging, urban environment, impersonal relationships, careful analysis, to fathom the issue, homogeneous way of life, reciprocal aspects.

2. Find English equivalents for:

быстрая ассимиляция, впитывать, заметно, американская модель, личный опыт, групповой процесс, различия, маргинал, шовинизм, психическое расстройство, плавильный котел, помешать кому-то сделать что-то, плавильный котел, наследие Старого света, основные религиозные группы, сельский образ жизни, преуспеть в чем-либо, увековечить религиозные различия, разный цвет кожи, гомогенный (однородный), вклад, взаиамодействовать, тщательный (внимательный) анализ, быть похожим, частичная ассимиляция, хороший пример.

3. Answer the questions on the text:

1. Describe the traditional three - generation assimilation model of immigrants to the USA?

2. How do the migrants influence the way of life of the host family?

3. What is meant by the term “assimilation”?

4. What kind of assimilation do you know? Provide some examples.

5. What does “melting pot” mean?

6. How can assimilation change people who have been married for many years?

7. What is meant by “complete assimilation”?

8. How would you define a “marginal man”?

9. Give your own examples of marginal men, typical for your country.

10. Is the classical three-generation assimilation model equally accurate for all groups of immigrants to the USA?

4. Translate into Russian and paraphrase the following sentences taken from the text:

1. The ultimate way of ending conflict is through the reduction of the differences that produced it in the first place.

2. American society generally values cooperative activity, but some types of cooperation toward socially proscribed goals are specifically dis­approved.

3. Competition is widely valued in human societies because it appears to increase effort and achievement.

4. Conflict is inherently destructive and costly; so much so that its con­tinuance may threaten the very existence of the social order.

5. They are more likely to fathom the issues that divide societies and are more likely to see how those issues may be resolved. Their very marginality to a society may make them potentially more useful to it.

6. The very same isolation that is reflected in adjustment problems for marginal persons tends, on the other hand, to make them exceptionally as­tute and perceptive observers of the societies in which they live.

7. If studies of the matter were done, they would likely show that most couples do not achieve such a complete merging of themselves in mar­riage. And studies of other forms of assimilation such as the assimilation of immigrants in a new country would show the same thing.