Text 2

1. Read and translate the text.

The Ethnic Dimension

The ethnic minority communities in Brit­ain are about 5.7 per cent of the total popu­lation but are likely to rise to about 7 per cent in the early years of the 21st century, on account of their higher birth rate. Black immigrants first started coming to Britain in substantial numbers from 1948 onwards, in response to labour shortages. At first almost ail came from the West Indies, but during the 1960s and 1970s a large number came from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. There were already several thousand non–white Britons, mainly in ports like Liverpool, Bristol and Cardiff. Some families dated back to the eighteenth century and slave trading. They were used to discrimination.

The immigrants arriving in waves in the 1950s and after soon discovered that they were the target of discrimination in class and status. Black people have generally had the worst paid jobs, lived in the worst hous­ing and encountered hostility from white neighbours. The initial view that black im­migrants would assimilate into the host community was quickly proved wrong. In the mid 1960s the government introduced the first of three Race Relations Acts in order to eliminate racial discrimination. The 1977 Race Discrimination Act sought to prevent discrimination in employment, housing and other areas, and to prevent the publication of any material likely to stir up racial hatred. At the same time, however, laws were introduced to restrict immigra­tion. Although these laws were not specif­ic, it was difficult to avoid the conclusion that they were particularly aimed at col­oured оr black immigrants. Over the years the situation for the ethnic minorities has not improved.

At a popular level Afro-Caribbeans and Asians experience disadvantage. It may merely be that they find greater difficulty getting a job. One controlled experiment, using two actors, one white, the other black, demonstrated that a while is ten times more likely to obtain a job than a black. The un­employment figures confirm this. In 1982 unemployment among whites was 13 per cent, and 25 per cent among Afro-Caribbeans. A government survey in 1986 found that among white youths aged 16 – 24, 17 per cent were out of work, compared with 32 per cent of Afro-Caribbeans and 43 per cent of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. A black is likely to find it harder to obtain credit from a bank or a loan to purchase a house. Even in the provision of housing, there is widespread discrimination, with a tendency for councils to allocate their better hous­ing to whites.

Difficulties for ethnic minority children begin when they go to school. Most mem­bers of the ethnic minorities live in deprived inner city areas where the quality of the schools is worse than elsewhere and where teachers may have lower expectations. Low expectations from their teachers and a sense of alienation from the majority white com­munity are serious disadvantages. Afro-Caribbeans are expected to remain at the bot­tom of the economic scale. Asians, who do better in formal education than Afro-Caribbeans and many white children, are often resented when they surpass whites.

It is hardly surprising that those aged be­tween fifteen and twenty–five feel the great­est anger. They discover prejudice at school and on the streets, and when they leave school they find it is far harder for them to find work than it is for whites.

Successive governments have introduced legislation that promises absolute equality for non–white British citizens. But the prom­ise has remained unfulfilled.

2. Make a summary of the given text.

3. Put 15 questions of different types to the text if it is possible.

4. Discuss the contents of the text.

5. Make up a dialogue on the basis of the text.

6. Retell the text in detail.

Text 3

1. Read and translate the text.

BRITAIN IN CLOSE–UP

CULTURAL AND STYLE: NATIONAL AND SELF–EXPRESSION

The Rural Ideal

While many might agree that the charac­teristics and behaviour mentioned above are recognisably British there are, of course, many cultures reflecting age, class, gender, ethnicity and social outlook. Broadly speak­ing there is a divide between the cultures of the controlling majority and those of the protesting minority, people who feel com­paratively weak.

One of the most striking aspects of pop­ular mainstream culture in Britain is the love of the countryside. Many people, whether they live in a suburban house or in a flat in a high-rise block, would say their dream home was a country cottage with roses growing over the door. In 1977 a col­lection of Edwardian amateur watercolours and sketches of wild flowers and simple rural scenes were published under the title The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady. To the surprise of the publishers this proved to be the best selling book of the next ten years. It appealed to romantic (and upper-class) nostalgia for the countryside. The Archers, radio's longest running serial soap opera (over thirty-five years so far), Laura Ash­ley's highly successful decor and fashion shops, and the fashion for unpainted pine furniture, all tap deeply into the British rural imagination.

As a nation, the British have made a men­tal retreat from the urban environment. They have a deep nostalgia for an idealised world of neat hedgerows, cottages and great coun­try houses, surrounded by parkland, that clever eighteenth–century style of garden­ing that looked 'natural'. The nostalgia stems partly from a sense of loss which has lin­gered since the Industrial Revolution two centuries ago, and from a romantic love of nature which has been such a powerful theme in English literature. The National Trust, which owns or manages hundreds of country estates, stretches of countryside and great country houses, was founded more than a century ago on the rising nostalgia for a lost rural paradise. Its growth in mem­bership from 315,000 to 1.3 million, illus­trates its success in encouraging a love of the country and of the past.

A basic reason why so many town dwell­ers wish to live in the suburbs is to have a garden in which to grow flowers. Indeed, many suburban houses imitate a cottage style. Even in the heart of London, its great parks, such as St James', Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, are informal, recre­ating a rural ideal, and city–dwelling chil­dren often know the names of wild flowers and birds.

Britain is a country where over 80 per cent of the population live in towns of 50,000 inhabitants or more. Yet most reject the urban industrial culture, viewing life in the city as an 'unnatural' economic necessity.

This sense of nostalgia and traditional­ism is also expressed in appearances. The 1989 British Interior Design Exhibition con­tained twenty-seven example room sets, the majority of which were traditional, pretty and were mainly some version of the Eng­lish country house. Laura Ashley floral wall­papers and fabrics decorate suburban and even high-rise homes all over the land.

2. Make a summary of the given text.

3. Put 15 questions of different types to the text if it is possible.

4. Discuss the contents of the text.

5. Make up a dialogue on the basis of the text.

6. Retell the text in detail.