7.2.2. Просмотрите данный текст и дайте ответ на вопрос “What are the main peculiarities of pubs?”

PUBS – TOWN AND COUNTRY

Every country has its drinking habits, some of which are general and obvious, others most peculiar. Most countries also have a national drink. In England the national drink is beer, and the “pub”, where Englishmen (and women to a lesser extent) go to drink it, is a peculiar English institution. The word “pub” itself, of course, is an abbreviation of “public house”.

A bright introduction to any self-respecting pub is the sign outside it. The sign might hang from a wrought-iron bracket, or be mounted on a post, or be fixed to the wall above the door. On it will be the pub’s name – “The Pig and Whistle” for example, or “The Three Mariners”. Push open the door and you will be met by a rush of warm air and a bubble of voices. At tables round not a very large room people will be sitting and in front of each person you will see a pint or half-pint mug of beer, or a smaller glass of a “short” drink – whiskey, gin and tonic, or fruit juice. This room is called the “bar”, but, confusingly, the same term is used for the great counter of polished wood which dominates one end of the room. At this bar people will be standing with a drink either in their hands or on a “beermat” at their elbow.

To describe one particular kind of pub is to oversimplify my account, since there are many, many variations on the theme. Indeed, pubs are everywhere in England; a small town of, say, 50 000 inhabitants will have between 50 and 100 pubs, each with its own character. Each tiny village has its pub. Sometimes a pub will stand in solitude on a country road over the moors, far from any village or town, a relic of days when traveling was mostly a matter of making stops for refreshment or lodging; and even today, in outlying districts as well as in towns, the pub often serves as a small hotel, or “inn”. There is a good deal of folklore behind the names which pubs bear. The derivation of some names is obvious; often animals figure in the title (The Fox and Goose); often an element of history enters with the name of a local noble family, (The Tatton Arms). Jokes, too, abound. A late-night traveler knocked at the door of the George and Dragon. From an upstairs window a female head appeared, and in vigorous terms told him that all sane folk were already in bed by that hour, and what was he doing making all that noise in the middle of the night? The traveler looked at the inn-sign and said, “Could I speak to George, please?”

There are two important peculiarities about pubs. One is that they have striсktly limited hours of opening, which vary in length in different areas, each local government authority having power to fix its own “licensing hours” as they are called. It is almost impossible to get strong drink in the early morning, in the middle of the afternoon, or at midnight or later. The second peculiarity is that most pubs are divided into at least two separated bars: the public bar and the saloon bar. The differences between the two are that the saloon bar is less uncomfortable, it has chairs and linoleum, whereas the public bar will have wooden benches and perhaps a floor sprinkled with sawdust, and the beer costs a penny or two more in the saloon bar than in the public bar.

7.2.3. Прочитайте текст ещё раз. Найдите в тексте ответы на следующие вопросы (работа в парах).

1. What is the national English drink?

2. Why is the pub considered to be a peculiar institution?

3. How can an English pub be described?

4. Why are there so many pubs in England?

7.2.4. Выпишите из текста слова, отражающие основную тему текста.

7.2.5. Составьте план текста на английском языке.

7.2.6. Напишите небольшое сообщение на английском языке по теме текста.