Activities

Exercise 1. Read the text and identify all structure elements and lexical, grammar, and stylistic means characteristic of the newspaper style.

Blaze at charity bonfire damages warehouses

Two firemen were overcome by fumes and several bystanders slightly injured in a fire last night at Paxton, Kent.

The blaze was caused when flames from a Guy Fawkes night bonfire organized in support of local charities spread to nearby warehouses.

Firemen battled against the flames for several hours before getting them under control, and at one time there were ten fire-engines in attendance at the blaze — the largest in this part of Kent for more than five years.

Strong winds hampered operations, and at first there were fears that showers of sparks might reach other warehouses some distance away, one of which — a paint-store — could have exploded.

But firemen succeeded in confining the outbreak to warehouses containing less inflammable materials.

The injured were allowed home after treatment at the local hospital, but one of the firemen was detained for observation.

Exercise 2. Read the sentences and identify lexical stylistic devices (epithets, colloquial words, clichés, metaphors, comparisons, idioms, puns, allusions, etc.). Translate the sentences.

1. Managers sometimes moan that their people aren't interested in financial quotations or quality statistics or productivity measures; they are just a time-for-lunch bunch.

2. A couple of glasses of wine had released his inhibitions long enough for him to accept the challenge, but the Dutch courage hadn't lasted for fifty minutes.

3. The members of the environmental movement are between a rock and a hard place. They don't like global warming and they don't like nuclear energy. But if they want to prevent global warming, they are going to have to embrace nuclear energy.

4. Even if you love what you are doing, some days a one-person business feels like a one-ton albatross.

5. When Jowell approached Cabinet with the idea to host the Olympics in 2003, Tony Blair was skeptical, and Gordon Brown set against iron-fisting the plan until Jowell talked him round.

6. You also must admit that when it comes on in a bar or club, you and your mates will air-riff to it like morons.

7. On January 21st the New York Times ran a story alleging that Mr. McCain had a too-close-for-comfort relationship with a female lobbyist.

8. Although first impressions are only a snapshot of who you are, you have a very small window to get it right: Europeans are not frivolous about dressing—it's almost a part of their DNA.

9. An article headline: Iceland’s Penis Museum Gets First Human Member.

10. An article headline: Saucy Sarah’s Sex Secrets with Secretary of State.

11. There is something fishy going on of the B.C. coast. Almost weekly, thousands of farm salmon are breaking stir and swimming into wide – open waters, where, environmentalists fear, they wreak havoc with the wild salmon.

Exercise 3. Analyze a newspaper article by way of answering the following questions:

3. Does the article answer the 5 Wh- questions in the first few paragraphs?

4. Does the article include all the information you want to know about the topic? If not, what is missing?

5. Is there a photo accompanying the article?

6. If so, what information does it provide? Does it help the reader understand the main point of the story?

7. Can you detect any bias or viewpoint in the story (in the word choice or selection of facts)?

8. Does the information in this article differ in any way from what you have heard on the radio, seen on TV, or read in the Internet about the same event?

9. Does the article deal with a controversial issue? If so, are the opposing points of view given equal space and objective presentation? Can you tell which side the journalist favors?

10. Do you consider this article a good example of clear, objective news reporting?

11. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the article?

12. What stylistic devices did the writer employ to communicate his message?

13. If an editor asked you to write this news story, what would you do differently?

Exercise 4. Translate the sentences from Russian into English:

1. Этот журналист известен тем, что использует большое количество аллюзий и переделанных цитат из фильмов и книг.

2. Чтобы говорить по-английски в совершенстве, нужно знать устойчивые словосочетания и применять их согласно ситуации.

3. Предложения с инверсией можно встретить в художественном и публицистическом стилях, но они маловероятны в научном стиле.

4. Метафоры используются повсеместно: иногда люди даже не осознают, что они мыслят и говорят метафорами.

5. В русской журналистике 5 вопросов, из которых состоит лид, получили название «формула Квинтилиана».

6. Выразительная сила обращения Сталина к народу во время ВОВ была такова, что даже противники режима были тронуты до глубины души.

7. Завтра наша группа пишет тест по стилистическим приемам.

8. Газетные клише в английском и русском публицистическом стилях примерно одинаковы.

9. Мое эссе получилось слишком длинным – надо подумать, как сжать информацию.

10. Чтобы привлечь внимание аудитории, авторы рекламных текстов изобретают различные способы – то изменят способ написания слова, то придумают какую-нибудь необычную рифму.