Кондратева Импрове ёур Енглиш 2011

МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ

НАЦИОНАЛЬНЫЙ ИССЛЕДОВАТЕЛЬСКИЙ ЯДЕРНЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ «МИФИ»

IMPROVE YOUR ENGLISH

Учебное пособие для подготовки аспирантов технических вузов

к кандидатскому экзамену по английскому языку

Рекомендовано к изданию УМО «Ядерные физика и технологии»

Москва 2011

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WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ENGLISH?

A.Being English used to be so easy. They were one of the most easily identified peoples on earth, recognized by their language, their manners, their clothes and their tea drinking. It is all so much more complicated now that these conventions are dead.

B.The imperial English carried British passports but they didn’t need to worry about whether being «English» was the same as being «British». Nowadays, as England’s Celtic neighbours go their own way, nothing infuriates a Scot so much as confusing these two words. Then there is the problem of Europe. If it is successful, a United States of Europe will make the United Kingdom redundant. And there is the corrosive awareness that neither Britain, nor any other nation, can singlehandedly control the flow of capital that determines whether individual citizens will eat or starve.

C.These elements — the end of empire, the cracks in the United Kingdom, the pressures to join Europe and the uncontrollability of international business — have made people wonder: What does it mean to be English in the modern world? The roots of the present anxiety of the English about themselves can be partly uncovered by looking into the past, at the things that created the instantly recognizable Englishman. Some influences are relatively easy to spot. Obviously the fact that they were born on an island rather than living on a continental landmass has had an effect. They came from a country where Protestant reformation had put the church firmly in its place. They had inherited a deep belief in personal liberty.

D.Once upon a time the English knew who they were. They were polite, unexcitable, reserved and had hot water bottles instead of a sex life: how they reproduced was one of the mysteries of the western world. They were doers rather than thinkers, writers rather than painters, gardeners rather than cooks. They were obsessed with class and incapable of expressing their emotions. They were subject to melancholy but were not in any meaningful sense religious. They did their duty and their most prized possession was a sense of honour. They had a strong

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belief in the value of education for the formation of character and a strong attachment to marriage and the institution of the family.

E.This is the mentality of today’s grandparents — of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. They married in 1947 and reached their golden wedding anniversary in 1997. But by then less than one tenth of the couples who married were expected to complete the same marathon and the royal couple’s own children had contracted three failed marriages. Moreover the heir to the throne had divorced the woman intended to be the next queen and she had met her death in Paris alongside her playboy lover. Diana’s funeral produced scenes of public mourning so bizarrely «un-English» — the lighting of candles in the park, the throwing of flowers onto her passing coffin — that the older generation could only look on as baffled travellers in their own land. The flower-throwers learnt their behaviour from watching television: it is now almost impossible to exaggerate the power of the mass media. Fashions in food, clothing, music and entertainment are no longer home-grown.

F.The «English» population itself has changed. Within 50 years of the landing of the first 492 Jamaican immigrants in London, the racial complexion of the country has been transformed. Most large cities now contain areas where white people have become a rarity. White children have become a minority at schools in inner London and even in the suburbs they make up only 60% of the school population. And if the English people have changed so too have the towns in which they live. The high streets are either jammed with cars or pedestrianised. Shop after shop is colonised by burger bars and pizzerias. Small traders have vanished, replaced by branches of retail chains: a nation of shopkeepers has become a nation of checkout operators.

(adapted from «The English» by Jeremy Paxman)

READING

Read the extract. In which paragraph/s (A-F) can you find the answers to the following questions (1-6)?

1. How have England and the English people changed in recent years?

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2.How was it possible to instantly recognize English people in the

past?

3.In what ways does the British royal family symbolize the changes that have affected society as a whole?

4.What characteristics and beliefs were associated with the English in the past?

5.What political and economic forces are now making English people question their identity?

6.Which two factors had an extremely important influence on creating an English identity?

WRITING

Explain why…

1.the Scots are sometimes angry about the use of the word «Eng-

lish».

2.the United States of Europe could make the United Kingdom redundant.

3.many people were confused by the reactions to Diana’s death and funeral.

4.Britain is described as «a nation of checkout operators».

SPEAKING

Work in groups.

Talk to other students.

1.Do Italians have a strong sense of national identity?

2.What is the stereotype image of the Italian?

3.Have Italy and Italians changed in recent years in similar ways to the English?

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ENGLISH SOUNDS

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I.Grammar Explanatory Notes And Exercises (Грамматические комментарии и упражнения)

Table of Tenses. (Система времен английского языка) Present Simple and Continuous, action and non-action verbs

Present Simple: I live, he works, etc.

They work in a bank.

Where do you live?

He doesn’t wear glasses.

She usually has cereal for breakfast.

I’m never late for work.

–Use the present simple for things that are always true or happen relularly.

–Remember the spelling rules, e.g. lives, studies, watches.

–Use ASI (auxiliary, subject, infinitive) or QUASI (question word, auxiliary, subject, infinitive) to help you with word order in questions.

–Put adverbs of frequency, e.g. usually , before the main verb and after be.

Present Continuous: be + verb + -ing

A Who are you waiting for?

B I’m waiting for a friend.

A What are you doing after class?

B I’m going to the café.

–Use the present continuous (not present simple) for actions in progress at the time of speaking or for future arrangements.

–Remember the spelling rules, e.g. living, studying, getting.

Action and non-action verbs

A What are you cooking tonight?

B I’m making pasta.

A Great! I really like pasta.

–Verbs which describe actions, e.g. make, cook, can be used in the present simple or continuous.

–Verbs which describe states or feelings (not actions), e.g. like, want, be, are not normally used in the present continuous.

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– Common non-action verbs are agree, be, believe, belong, depend, forget, hate, hear, know, like, love, matter, mean, need, prefer, realize, recognize, seem, suppose.

! A few verbs have an action and a non-action meaning. The most common is have. = possession (non-action)

I can’t talk now. I’m having lunch.= an activity (action)

Ex.1. Correct the mistakes in the highlighted phrases.

1.Ouch! You stand on my foot!

2.They have always breakfast in bed on a Sunday morning.

3.She can’t come to the phone now. She has a shower.

4.We are needing an answer from you before Wednesday.

5.I’m studying a lot now because I have exams next week.

6.She don’t eat meal at all.

7.They always are late.

8.Do you go out tonight?

9.He never replys to my emails!

10.Are you going to the park this afternoon? – I don’t know. It’s depending on the weather.

Ex.2. Write questions in the present continuous or present simple.

1.Where ________ lunch today? (you/have). – At home. My mum’s making pasta.

2.What _______ ? (he/do). He’s an accountant.

3._______ this weekend? (you/go away). No, we’re staying here.

4._______ to eat out tonight (you/want). Yes, that would be nice. Where shall we go?

5.What _______? (she/cook). I don’t know, but it smells good.

Past Tenses

Past simple: worked, stopped, went, had, etc.

They got married last year.

What time did you wake up this morning?

I didn’t have time to do my homework.

Use the past simple for finished past actions.

Past continuous: was/were + verb + -ing

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A What were you doing at six o’clock last night?

B I was watching TV. It was a cold night and it was raining.

Use the past continuous to describe an action in progress at a specific time in the past.

Past perfect: had + past participle

When they turned on the TV, the match had finished. I felt nervous because I hadn’t flown before.

Use the past perfect when you are talking about the past and you want to talk about an earlier past action.

Using narrative tenses together

When John arrived, they had dinner. (first John arrived, then they had dinner)

When John arrived, they were having dinner. (when John arrived they were in the middle of dinner)

When John arrived, they had had dinner. (they had dinner before John arrived)

Ex.1. Combine the two sentences. Use past continuous or past perfect.

1.They watched TV from 7.00 until 9.00. I arrived at 7.30. When I arrived, they _______ TV.

2.He left the office at 7.00. She phoned him at 8.00. When she phoned him, he _______ the office.

3.I studied for the exam the night before. The exam didn’t go well. The exam didn’t go well although I _______ the night before.

4.He cycled to work this morning. In the middle of his journey he had an accident.

When he _______ to work this morning, he had an accident.

5.He only had five lessons. He passed his driving test.

When he passed his driving test, he _______ (only) five lessons.

Ex.2. Complete with the past simple, past continuous, or past perfect. 1.– How _______ ? (the accident/happen)

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