I. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following word-combinations:

особенности продуктов; гастрономические излишества; развитие дегустаторских свойств; подходить к вопросу серьезно; создает тонкий привкус; гурманские смеси ингредиентов; наесть щеки; хороши для смазки и склеивания; наслаждение вкусом; воспроизводить этническую кухню; влияет на чувства; верх экзотичности.

II. Paraphrase using the expressions from the text.

to confer a delicate taste

distinctive qualities of products

to modify emotions

to cook the dishes peculiar to some ethnic cuisine

joys of tasting

to develop fat cheeks by eating

most strikingly unusual dishes

to treat smth. seriously

to become able to make subtle distinctions in food

extreme epicurism in eating

III. Translate the following into Russian:

The stomach is the conductor that leads and livens up the great orchestra of our emotions.

Now we have food fanatics and wine freaks.

Eating is one of the basic pleasures built into our nervous system.

People took advantage of various edible substances in their environment.

The cultivated palate provides many opportunities for joys.

Text 4.

In search of english food

How come it is so difficult to find English food in England? In Greece you eat Greek food, in France French food, in Italy Italian food, but in England, in any High Street in the land, it is easier to find Indian and Chinese restaurants than English ones. In London you can eat Thai, Portuguese, Turkish, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Swiss, Swedish, Spanish, and Italian — but where are The English restaurants?

It is not only in restaurants that foreign dishes are replacing traditional British food. In every supermarket, sales of pasta, pizza and poppadoms are booming. Why has this happened? What is wrong with the cooks of Britain that they prefer cooking pasta to potatoes? Why do the British choose to eat lasagne instead of shepherd’s pie? Why do they now like cooking in wine and olive oil? But perhaps it is a good thing. After all this is the end of the 20^th century and we can get ingredients from all over the world in just a few hours. Anyway, wasn’t English food always disgusting and tasteless? Wasn’t it always boiled to death and swimming in fat? The answer to this question is a resounding ’No’, but to understand this, we have to go back to before World War II.

The British have in fact always imported food from abroad. From the time of the Roman invasion foreign trade was a major influence on British cooking. English kitchens, like the English language, absorbed ingredients from all over the world — chickens, rabbit, apples, and tea. All of these and more were successfully incorporated into British dishes. Another important influence on British cooking was of course the weather. The good old British rain gives us rich soil and green grass, and means that we are able to produce some of the finest varieties of meat, fruit and vegetables, which don’t need fancy sauces or complicated recipes to disguise their taste.

However, World War II changed everything. Wartime women had to forget 600 years of British cooking, learn to do without foreign imports, and ration their use of home-grown food. The Ministry of Food published cheap, boring recipes. The joke of the war was a dish called Woolton Pie (named after the Minister for Food!) This consisted of a mixture of boiled vegetables covered in white sauce with mashed potato on the top. Britain never managed to recover from the wartime attitude to food. We were left with a loss of confidence in our cooking skills and after years of Ministry recipes we began to believe that British food was boring, and we searched the world for sophisticated new dishes which gave hope of a better future. The British people became tourists at their own dining tables and in the restaurants of their land. This is a tragedy! Surely food is as much a part of our culture as our landscape, out language, and out literature. Nowadays, cooking British food is like speaking a dead language. It’s almost as bizarre as having a conversation an Anglo-Saxon English.

However, there is still once small ray of hope. British pubs are often the best places to eat well and cheaply in Britain, and they also increasingly try to serve tasty British food. Can we recommend to you our two favourite places to eat in Britain? The Shepherd’s Inn in Melmerby, Cumbria, and the Dolphin Inn in Kingston, Devon. Their steak and mushroom pie, Lancashire hotpot, and bread and butter pudding are three of the gastronomic wonders of the world!

I. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following word-combinations:

важнейший фактор британской кухни; изощренные блюда; замаскировать их вкус; изделия из кукурузы идут на ура; ограничивать использование; успешно включены; очень сильно переваренная; гастрономическое чудо света; причудливые соусы; картофельная запеканка с мясом; впитывать ингредиенты со всего света; со всего мира; отношение к пищею

II. Answer the questions.

What are the main characteristic features of English food?

How did the national British cuisine develop?

What influenced British cuisine?

What made British food boring? Why?

What food do the British prefer? How is it cooked?

III. Summarize each passage in a phrase or short sentence and make a plan of the text.

IV. Make up a dialogue between:

A: A foreign gourmet eager to learn about the national British food.

B: An Englishman informing him about various dishes while treating his guest to them in the restaurant.

Use the expressions from the text.

Translate into English

Еда и напитки.

Англия никогда не отличалась авантюризмом в области кулинарии. В этом отношении здесь всегда ощущался этакий пуританский дух. Простая добрая кухня и честно заработанный хлеб – понятия, по-прежнему ценимые очень высоко и содержащие явственный намек на то, что чересчур красиво оформленные блюда и не хороши, и заработаны явно нечестным путем.

Сомерсет Моэм заметил, что в Англии можно отлично питаться, если завтракать три раза в день. И хотя настоящий большой английский завтрак, приготовленный по-домашнему, то есть шипящее пиршество из бекона, яиц, колбасы, жареных помидоров, грибов, почек, копченой селедки и т.д. – дал основания считать, что питаться по утрам растворимым кофе и кукурузными хлопьями значительно здоровее, его все еще запросто можно получить в любое время дня и ночи в любой закусочной, например у автозаправочной станции.

Ростбиф, баранина или свинина с овощами и жареной картошкой по-прежнему являются излюбленными национальными блюдами, и англичане считают их «настоящей едой». Во всех других случаях, а также когда не хватает выдумки, англичане предпочитают еще одно традиционное блюдо – тушеные бобы и тосты.

Картошка – важнейший компонент дневной трапезы. Средний англичанин съедает за год двести кило картошки. По большей части – в виде хрустящего картофеля и, конечно же, в виде чипсов – с рыбой, гамбургерами и прочими блюдами или же просто так, с солью и уксусом. Картошка нравится им также в виде «чип батти», которая представляет собой разрезанную пополам булочку, намазанную маслом и начиненную жареной картошкой.

Большая часть англичан сочтет трапезу незаконченной, если не получит свой «пудинг». Им может оказаться приготовленный на пару рулет с джемом, рассыпчатый пирог с ревенем, яблочный пирог, пудинг с патокой, земляничное пирожное и т.п. – все исключительно охлажденное, из морозилки. Подумайте, как следует, прежде чем опрометчиво заказывать «йоркширский пудинг» или «черный пудинг». Ни тот, ни другой своему названию не соответствуют. Первый представляет собой кусок запеченного взбитого теста, и его обычно едят с ростбифом, а второй – жуткого вида кровяную колбасу.

По мере того, как в Англии рос интерес к иностранной пище, увеличивался и выбор предлагаемых блюд. С преобладавшей ранее французской и итальянской кухней теперь соперничают многие другие: тайская, китайская, мексиканская, русская, американская. Существуют даже рестораны, специализирующиеся исключительно на английской еде. Один такой весьма процветающий лондонский ресторан называется Скул диннер. В нем усталые и явно переработавшие бизнесмены могут порадовать себя.

Read and dramatize the dialogue.

- We haven’t eaten anything since breakfast. Why not have lunch somewhere? There’s no need for us to starve.

- That’s exactly how I feel. There is a small restaurant round the corner. Shall we try that?

- Well, you lead. You should know better.

- We’ll have a complete meal, I suppose. I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.

- I doubt if they actually have any horse on the menu, but nice old chops with stewed vegetables they do have.

- That’s a wrong place to start, if you ask me. Look, they’ve got excellent turtle soup – wouldn’t that be cool, ah? First things first!

- Botheration! Why should you always have the whole menu on the table and not eat decent two-course dinner like everybody else?

- Stop grumbling if you can help it. Better try that delicious salmon for a starter.

- A starter? You don’t seem to be in need of any start, do you?

- Indeed, I’m a hearty eater if there is one.

- Come on, give me the menu already! Well when it comes to hors-d’oeuvres I’m for the Russian caviar definitely. And – and – a mutton cutlet would suit me admiringly.

- So that’s settled. A mutton cutlet with French fries for you –

- Well-well-well, hold your horses, you horse-eater! I don’t think I’ll bother with the potatoes. Got to think of my waistline, you know.

- You and your waistline! Isn’t it quite exasperating never to eat one’s fill?

- Do you expect me to be stuffed up to my gills each time I have a snack?

- I expect nothing; I just want to eat my dinner. And well – that reminds me. A nice large plate of ravioli with ketchup is just the thing for me.

- Would you also try some pizzas or spaghetti? It’s just as fattening.

- I’m not hearing this. Now comes the dessert. Wow!

- The glutton digs his grave with his teeth.

- Stop that! I’ll have a piece of apple pudding with whipped cream, a piece of chocolate layer-cake, an éclair and –

- Pretty hard indigestion.

- Could you please eat your miserable underdone chop and mind your own business?

- My chop isn’t underdone! I bet it will be done to a turn and quite succulent.

- Glad for you. And now comes the dessert!

- I’m sorry, did you miss anything? We’re through with the dessert already, unless, of course, you’d like some ice-cream to end up with.

- Excellent notion! What do you say to a vanilla ice-cream?

- I don’t mind but I thought that perhaps you would.

- Nonsense! Why should I? So, it’s two ices.

- Let’s call it a day, shall we?

- Wait! How about some beverages?

- A glass of orange juice with ice for me.

- You know a good drink when you see one, don’t you? Iced orange juice isn’t that bad.

- Thanks. And you’ll stick to coffee, I suppose?

- Sure. I want it piping hot and of the blackest Turkish kind possible.

- So, how’s your soup? Anything particular?

- It isn’t actually a treat but it’s tolerably good.

- Tolerably! Call it turtle soup! All those dainties are never quite up to the expectations, wouldn’t you say?

- Yes. I hope ravioli will prove better.

- My chop is undersalted, and you know what? – it is underdone!

- Just so I knew! Help yourself to some cake – it’ll make up for the main course.

- I won’t have anything making up for that lump of raw meat. I’ll just have another helping, that’s all there is to it. WAITER!!!

Comment on the following statement.

Fast food is very popular and saves time for busy working people. However, many experts say that it is not completely healthy.

What can you say for and against fast food?

Use the following plan

1. Introduction (State the problem).

2. Arguments “for”.

3. Arguments “against”.

4. Conclusion.

Text 5.