XVI. Questions for discussion:

1. Which of the British traditions is three hundred years old?

2. Does an English family prefer a house with a garden to a flat in a modern house with central heating?

3. How can you prove that English people are fond of gardening?

4. Do old tra­ditions differ in Scotland, Ire­land, Wales and England?

5. What do you know about Christmas celebration and New Year's Day in the UK?

6. What is a new national tradition born in Britain?

7. How do the British celebrate the “Old Crocks drive”?

8. What is the history of the stone of destiny?

9. Why is it so important for the king to sit on both the English throne and the Scottish stone at the same time?

10. Do the British traditions differ greatly from ours?

Unit 8 The usa and Its People

I. Learn the new words and read the text “American Values and Beliefs”:

creed – кредо

haven – приют

the Founding Fathers – отцы-основатели

persist – упорствовать, сохраняться

proprietorship – собственность

frontier – граница

wilderness – глушь

devise – разработать

volunteerism – принцип добровольности

pervasive – повсеместный

abundance – изобилие

assumption – предположение

spaciousness – вместительность

war slogans – военные лозунги

segregation – изоляция

bar – преграждать

American Values and Beliefs

I’d like to say that having a particular race or creed or lifestyle does not identify one as American. However, there are certain ideals and values, which many Americans share.

Freedom

At the center of all that Americans value is freedom. Americans commonly regard their society as the freest and best in the world. They like to think of their country as a welcoming haven for those longing for freedom and oppor­tunity. They are proud to point out that even today America's immigration offices are flooded with hopeful applicants who expect the chance for a better life. Moreover, such news events provide continuity to Americans' perception of their history as being that of a nation populated by immigrants who exercised free choice in coming to the New World for a better life.

Americans' understanding of freedom is shaped by the Founding Fathers' belief that all people are equal and that the role of government is to protect each person's basic rights. The U.S. Constitution's Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791, assures individual rights, including provisions for freedom of speech, press, and religion.

The notion that America offers freedom for all is an ideal that unifies Americans and links present to past. Yet this ideal has not always corresponded to reality. Reality continues to demonstrate that some social groups and individuals are not as free as others. Because of religious, racial, sex, or age discrimination some Americans have not enjoyed the same rights and opportunities as others. In a real sense, American history is the history of groups and individuals struggling to attain the freedoms the Founding Fathers promised.

Individualism

Americans' notion of freedom focuses on the individual, and individualism has strong philosophical roots in America.

Individualism, understood not only as self-reliance but also as economic self-sufficiency, has been a central theme in American history. In the early days, most Americans were farmers whose success depended not on cooper­ation with others but on their ability to confront the hardships of land and climate on their own. Both success and virtue were measured by individual resourcefulness. The idealization of the self-reliant individual translated itself in the industrial age into the celebration of the small businessman, who became a financial success on his own.

Even in today's society, where most Americans work for large, complex organizations and few people can claim economic self-sufficiency, individualism persists. Individual proprietorship in business is still the ideal. Government regulation is often resisted in the spirit of individualism. "Right to work" laws, which discourage union activity, are defended on the grounds that they protect the independence of the individual worker.