Практика устной речи по английскому языку - Малышева О.Л., Валько О.В., Щёголева Т.П

I can’t make up my mind where I stand on this. They know their

own mind, as usual.

They feel strongly that most doctors are little better than drugpushers, and are convinced that acupuncture is the medicine of the future.

I suppose they might have a point there.

They recommend natural childbirth for all mothers-to-be and reject the need for such things as induction, drips and painkillers, except in special circumstances.

I expect one or two of you mothers would disagree.

They are in favour of abortion being freely available, and I guess you don’t need me to tell you their feelings on women’s equality. They are against corporal punishment of any kind – I would imagine their attitude towards capital punishment is fairly predictable – and is pro voluntary euthanasia.

They take a keen interest in the fortunes of the Third World, and doubt whether any of the Western powers really care.

They are supporters of conservation in its broadest sense, back all tree-planting projects, and strongly approve of recycling waste paper and other rubbish.

I presume most people would share that particular viewpoint. They would like to see solar energy taken more seriously and are

fiercely anti-nuclear power.

My own feeling is that solar energy in Britain is rather a

contradiction in terms.

They are under the impression that all politicians are either gangsters or fools.

I must admit, I’m afraid I’m tempted to agree.

They advocate prisons without bars and are of the opinion that 99% of serious criminals are in need of psychiatric help.

To my mind, pleas of insanity have become suspiciously

common.

They are prepared to accept that UFOs probably do exist, and they have no time for people who dismiss reincarnation out of hand.

It all seems a bit improbable to me.

They adore punk clothes, but can’t stand the people. They rate Lennon above McCartney and are great fans of Steve Wonder.

I’ve never understood their taste in clothes or trusted their

judgement when it comes to music.

As far as they are concerned, tobacco is an unspeakable evil, but they support the movement for the legalisation of soft drugs. They are also for restrictions regarding the sale of alcohol.

171

Me? I don’t mind much about the drug thing, but I’m quite fond

of my old pipe and rather keen on my brandy after dinner.

They consider that marriage should be a loose arrangement that ensures security for children, but maintain – insist even – that one balanced parent is preferable to two who are always at each other’s throats.

They’re the sort of people who believe in the freedom of all people at all times, and think anyone with a different point of view must be crazy.

I wouldn’t have thought that was a very liberal approach, but

never mind. If you ask me, nobody’s totally open-minded.

Oh yes, and they jog.

OK, so you may see eye to eye with them on some of those issues, but you should try being related to one of them, that’s all!

Exercise 13. A. Here are some names we give to people who have quite Practice definite attitudes, views of behaviour:

Now, who might say which of the following statements?

1.I don’t believe in God.

2.I don’t think I believe in God.

3.I don’t believe that anyone really believes in anything.

4.Love makes the world go round.

5.Face facts: love doesn’t make the world go round – the sun does.

6.Any player not on time for training will be fined 10 pounds for every minute he’s late.

7.Me, emigrate? You must be joking. It would break my heart.

8.I’m not a bad sort of person. I just happen to believe that my country is superior to and more important than any other.

9.I’ll concede that 99.9% is a good examination result. I just want to know why you failed to get 100%.

10.Honestly, I’ve nothing against foreigners, as long as they don’t come and live next door to me or try to marry my daughter.

11.What will be will be.

12.I don’t know why you bother to talk about the next World Cup. There will probably have been a nuclear war by then.

172

13.It’s no good just sitting and talking about social injustice. The n. masochist time has come to do something about it.

14.We shall achieve our aims by any means available; if that includes bloodshed and suffering for innocent people, that’s the way it’ll have to be.

15.I ran fifty kilometers in the midday sun today. Every kilometer hurt more than the last, so I feel really good about it. It must have done me good.

16.You might not enjoy this, but I’m certainly going to enjoy watching you suffer.

17.What did those politicians, lawyers and priests ever do for me? We should all follow our own ideas on government, law and the church.

18.Just because you’re losing 0-6, 0-6, 0-5 and 0-40 doesn’t mean you’re necessarily going to lose.

19.I don’t care what they say – palace or not, royalty or not, hundredth anniversary or not, I am not going to wear a tie.

20.It’s the moral duty of all of us to do what we can to reduce the amount of human suffering in the world. At least, that’s the way I look at things.

21.I am convinced that we are capable of creating paradise here on earth.

Interaction B. Act out short arguments between the pairs of people below, who are attacking each other’s standpoints and attitudes. Start: The trouble with people like you is …Use vocabulary from this unit.

*a vegetarian and a cattle farmer

*a doctor and a teacher

*a ‘green’ supporter and the director of a firm producing chemicals

*a seventeen-year-old and a twenty-year-old

*any other couple with opposite views on some subject

Exercise14. Read the following passage about newspaper Discussion advertisements and sensations. What does it tell you about

the interests of people nowadays? Express your opinion on the controversial issues in the news reports at the moment.

… A weekly New Age newspaper reported on natural foods, holistic healing and spiritual matters ranging from reincarnation therapy to spirit

173

channeling. Gurus, swamis, psychics. Tarot-card readers, acupuncturists, herbalists to movie stars, channelers, aura interpreters, palm readers, chaos-theory dice counselors, past-life guides, high-colonic therapists and other specialists offered their services in heartening numbers.

Cosmic disasters loomed at every turn: the Exploding Sun, Comet Strike, Time Snap, The Big Bang, Wasteland.

Exercise 15. What is your attitude to the issues mentioned in ‘A 1980s Writing Couple’? Write a short essay about Nineties people.

Exercise16. The sentences below are the beginnings or ends of paragraphs Story making on the back covers of (imaginary) romantic novels. Choose one of them and complete the story. Use your vocabulary

from this unit. Mind the style!

Eternally Yours …

Susanna was taken completely by surprise when she accidentally opened a letter to her husband that began ‘Darling’ and ended ‘Eternally yours’ …

Escape to my Arms

… Racing barefoot through the forest with the dogs getting closer and closer, Diana fell straight into the arms of a tall, dark stranger.

Heart to Heart

Roger’s illness meant either an early death or an early transplant. Given the choice, he didn’t hesitate, but he had never met a heart surgeon quite like April Davies before …

Pasadena Passion

Her heart was racing as she drove the Chevrolet into the motel parking lot.

UNIT 24. BOY MEETS GIRL

Exercise 1. A. Listen to the recording. It is taken from an old BBC Listening comedy programme called ‘Take it from here’. In this episode, Ron has a conversation with his father about shyness. Then Ron’s father goes out, and Ron meets Eth for the first time. Note down the key words and

try to summarize what happens.

B.Listen again to the conversation between Ron and his father.Canyouhearanynon-standardpronunciations?

174

C.Listen again to the conversation between Ron and Eth. Then work in groups and act it out.

Exercise 2. A. Read the letter, which was sent to a British newspaper. Practice Then prepare an answer to the letter, giving advice to

the writer.

… I have a terrible shyness problem. I don’t remember the last time I had a real conversation with a girl. When I try to talk, my mouth goes dry and I just can’t say anything.

I am in my twenties, and other men my age seem to have no trouble talking to girls. Sometimes I wonder if I will ever manage it.

Please tell me what I ought to do.

B.Work in groups of three or four. In each group, choose one of the following subjects to work out several questions. When your questionnaire is ready, go round the class asking your questions. Then report to the class on what people think. Give your own opinions as well.

Example questions:

Friendship: How important are your friends to you?

Love and sex: Do you think you can love more than one person at

Exercise 3. Read the text and express your opinion about the topic . Reading discussed

The First Four Minutes

When do people decide whether or not they want to become friends? During their first four minutes together, according to a book by Dr Leonard

175

Zunin. In his book ‘Contact. The first four minutes’ he offers this advice to anyone interested in starting new friendship: ‘Every time you meet someone in a social situation, give him your undivided attention for four minutes. A lot of people’s whole lives would change if they did just that.’ You may have noticed that the average person doesn’t give his undivided attention to someone he has just met. He keeps looking over the other person’s shoulder, as if hoping to find someone more interesting in another part of the room. If anyone has ever done this to you, you

probably did not like him very much.

When we are introduced to new people, the author suggests, we should try to appear friendly and self-confident. In general, he says: ‘People like people who like themselves.’

On the other hand, we should not make the other person think we are too sure of ourselves. It is important to seem interested and sympathetic, realizing that the other person has his own needs, fears, and hopes.

Hearing such advice, one might say: ‘But I am not a friendly, selfconfident person. That’s not my nature. It would be dishonest for me to act that way.’

In reply, Dr Zunin would claim that a little practice can help us feel comfortable about changing our social habits. We can become accustomed to any change in our personality. ‘It’s like getting used to a new car. It may be unfamiliar at first, but it goes much better than the old one.’

But isn’t it dishonest to give the appearance of friendly selfconfidence when we don’t actually feel that way? Perhaps, but according to Dr Zunin, ‘total honesty is not always good for social relationships, especially during the first few minutes of contact. There is a time for everything, a certain amount of play-acting may be best for the first few minutes of contact with strangers. That is not the time to complain about one’s health or mention faults one finds in other people. It is not the time to tell the whole truth about one’s opinions and impressions.

Much of what has been said about strangers also applies to relationships with family members and friends. For a husband and wife or a parent and a child problems often arise during their first four minutes together after they have been apart. Dr Zunin suggests that these first few minutes together should be treated with care. If there are unpleasant matters to be discussed they should be dealt with later.

The author declares that interpersonal relations should be taught in every school, along with reading, writing and mathematics. In his opinion, success in life depends mainly on how we get along with other people. That is at least as important as how much we know.

176

Exercise 4. A. Answer the following questions:

Practice

1.What kind of situation may be called a social situation?

2.How does an average person behave when someone is introduced to him / her at a party?

3.Is it polite to ignore the person you’ve just met?

4.Why is it important to seem interested in a new acquaintance?

5.What makes us sometimes change our social habits?

6.Do you agree that ‘total honesty’ is not always good for social relationships?

7.What is your idea of success in life?

B.Finish the sentences:

1.A friendly person is a person who … .

2.A self-confident person is a person who … .

3.A dishonest person is a person who … .

4.A disinterested person is a person who … .

C.Fill in the blanks using the words in brackets: a. mistake, error, blunder, slip

1.There is a serious ____ in your reasoning.

2.You must always allow for the human _____.

3.He must have been ill to make such a _____.

4.You keep making the same _____ . It must be psychological.

b.to claim, to declare, to assert, to insist, to

allege, to contend, to maintain

1.She _____ that anyone can master a foreign language if he really wants to.

2.Once I have said it is so, I will always _____ it.

3.You can _____ on it as much as you like, I do not believe you.

4.You _____ that I was lying and yet you admit that you didn’t hear what I said.

5.I can positively ______ that his story is absolutely true.

6.Don’t just _____ it with such conviction – prove it!

7.I do not _____ that I am always right.

D. Translate into Russian:

1.Habit is a second nature. 2. It is not easy to get accustomed to being criticized. 3. Experience is the name people give to their mistakes. 4. The man who makes no mistakes does not usually do anything. 5. Truth

177

is always strange, stranger than fiction.6. For a man who lacks selfconfidence, silence is the wisest course. 7. Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better. 8. It is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions. 9. New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common. 10. Culture is acquainting ourselves with the best that has been known and said in the world, and thus with the history of the human spirit.

Exercise 5. A. Work in pairs. Discuss if you believe in love at first Preparation sight. Give your reasons.

Vocabulary B. Read the story. Underline the multi-word verbs and idiomatic expressions. Then discuss their meaning with your partner.

Across a Crowded Room

It was love at first sight. I saw her standing on the other side of a crowded room sipping a glass of wine. Our eyes met. I walked over to her and said, ‘You seem to be on your own. Can I join you?’

She smiled and said yes. At first she came across as rather shy, but as I got to know her better I found out she was an open and confident person who was easy to get on with. At the end of the party I said I would like to see her again and asked her out for a meal the following week.

I took her out to a small Italian restaurant in Soho. After talking for a while, we found out that we had a lot in common – in fact, we seemed to have the same interests and tastes in everything. She smiled at me when I spoke to her, and when our eyes met this time I knew that I was head over heels in love with her. I thought that she was falling in love with me, too. We started going out with each other, and after some time we got engaged and decided to live together. We were both very happy and made plans to settle down and get married the following year.

However, it wasn’t long before things started to go wrong. She seemed less affectionate and loving as the weeks passed, and I started to feel she was going off me. She criticized me all the time. ‘Why are you always going on at me?’ I asked.

In the end I wondered if we were suited to one another. I was keen on hard rock and she was fond of classical music. I was interested in sport and she was interested in politics. We finally fell out over a TV programme. We had a terrible row, broke off our engagement, and called off the wedding. A week later she moved out. I was heartbroken, and it took me a long time to get over it.

178

A few months later I heard she was engaged to a man who worked in local government. They got married, but after two years their marriage broke up and they got divorced.

I tell you this because last night I went to a party and I was drowning my sorrows when I saw her standing on the other side of the room sipping a glass of wine. I saw a man walk over to her and heard him say, ‘You seem to be on your own. Can I join you?’

Meaning C. Match the verbs with their definitions.

Listening D. Listen and respond to the prompts.

Exercise 6. A. Jane is very upset. Her friend, Mary, has come to visit Practice her. Look at their conversation below. Replace the

words in italics with multi-word verbs.

MARY: What’s the matter, Jane? Have you had an argument with Paul again?

JANE: Yes, you could say that …

MARY: Well, it takes two to have an argument. What was it about this time?

JANE: He said I was always complaining and criticizing him.

179

MARY: Is it true?

JANE: Well, in a way, yes. But I was feeling insecure because I thought he was starting to dislike me.

MARY: How long have you been seeing one another?

JANE: Nearly a year now. But yesterday I discovered he’s been having a relationship with someone else.

MARY: Oh, so what did you do?

JANE: I told him, and he said he wanted to end our relationship. MARY: But I thought you were planning to get married in June? JANE: We’ve cancelled it.

MARY: Well, I’m sorry to hear the two of you have ended your

relationship.

JANE: I think it’ll take me a long time to recover from this.

MARY: Well, perhaps it’s for the best. You were never really happy with him. And after all, there are plenty more fish in the sea!

Listening B. Listen to the dialogue to check your answers. What does the last sentence of the dialogue mean? Why does

Mary say it? How would you express the same idea in Russian?

Exercise 7. A. There are six mistakes in the text below. Activate Find and correct them.

I used to be very keen at football, but I lost interest in it when I met my best friend’s sister. At first I was only fond on her, but later on I fell in love to her. We had a lot on common and thought about getting married. I was engaged with her for six months, but in the end she got married with someone else.

Interaction B. Work with your partner. Take turns asking one another the questions below. Try to use phrasal verbs in your questions and answers.

a.What impression do you think you give of yourself when you first meet people?

b.Imagine someone is always criticizing you. What would you do or say?

c.Would you have a relationship with someone your parents didn’t approve to?

d.If you have a relationship with someone, how important is it that you both have a lot in common (that you are both keen on sport, for example)?

e.What kind of things make you stop liking someone?

f.What would make you end a relationship with someone?

180