Солнцева Практический курс английского языка Ч.1 2011

idea to make compliments about appearance – this might be regarded as sexual harassment.

3. In China it‘s polite to champ when you are out on a visit, otherwise the hosts might think that the food they are treating you to is not tasty. Eating silently in China means offending the hosts and the cook. And the sauce-covered tablecloth

indicates that you‘ve been eating with appetite. It is also impolite to give flowers to the hostess. It‘s considered that by doing so the guests point out that the house is so ugly that you have to bring decorations with you. The Chinese think that it

is not a good idea to give natural flowers. It‘s a symbol of death – they will die soon. But artificial flowers are OK – they are eternal. In China it is a terrible thing to give something connected with the number four because it is a symbol of death. Even in buildings you will never find the fourth floor.

4.In Finland it‘s not customary to make compliments in public. Compliments made in public are not considered to be real compliments.

5.In Greece it‘s not a good idea to admire a picture or a vase in your hosts' home, or they will feel they have to give it to you.

6.―Thumbs up‖ in some countries means ―I‘ve cheated you‖.

7.In some countries it is believed that if you wash up in somebody's home, you wash away the happiness. So if you want to help your hosts after the party you can vacuum clean, for example… But don‘t even think of coming near the dishes!!!

8.In South Korea if you try to wipe tears and sniffles running down your face while eating (the food is extremely spicy) you can be considered very rude. The best compliment for the hostess / the cook is crying and sniffling. It is also

customary to tell women that they look tired or ill. It‘s a form of making compliments. A girl has to look ill and feeble to make men want to defend her.

9.It‘s not customary to keep from belching in Mongolia and Buryatia. If a guest is not belching he is hungry, so he has to keep eating.

10.In Japan and Norway it is not customary to give an odd number of flowers

because it is considered that a flower that doesn‘t have a pair feels lonely. Odd numbers of flowers are brought to cemeteries and funerals.

11. In India it is not customary to thank your relatives. Actually, it‘s not customary to say ―thank you‖ at all. If you are given something, you can say

―What a beautiful thing!‖ or ―How long I have been dreaming about it!‖ But if you say ―thank you‖ it means treating your partner formally, as a stranger.

12. In Central Asia tea is poured into a guest‘s cup gradually. If a full cup is poured you must drink it and leave. And if you pour it little by little you can

have long leisurely conversations. It is called ―with respect‖ and ―without

respect‖.

13. To sit cross-legged pointing at your interlocutor with your toe is a terrible offense in many countries of South-East Asia. So is patting on the head.

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14.Arabs never pass the mouthpiece of the water-pipe to each other because it is considered to be constraint. They put it on the table.

15.In Japan it is impossible to leave work earlier than your boss.

16.In Russia it isn‘t customary to praise children because people are afraid of the evil eye. For the same reasons it is not habitual to say you are perfect if asked how you are.

17.In Georgia it is customary that the guest‘s glass always stays full even if they are not thirsty any longer. So if a polite guest always drinks it up, the host will be obliged to go on pouring wine into his or her glass.

Reading: Cultural Differences

1. Do the matching task to help you understand the text.

2. Read texts A and B. What are the main differences between the opinions of the two writers?

3.Choose the most appropriate answer:

1.Text A argues for the following.

a.Doctors should treat symptoms of illness.

b.We should all understand the causes of illness.

c.We should all be culturally aware.

2. Text A argues that

a.thinking about other people's behaviours and beliefs is strange.

b.it is very easy to describe what other people believe and how they behave as strange.

c.our own ways of behaving are perfectly normal.

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3. Text B states that

a. small differences don't get into the newspapers.

b. it is important to know how close you should get to someone on public transport.

c. small cultural differences are unimportant. 4. Text B states that

a.multiculturalism can work in certain circumstances.

b.multicultural communities should be easy to establish.

c.your kids' education is more important than being able to find a job.

4. Which of the words below suggest a style closer to Text A and which closer to Text B? You may choose more than one word to describe each text.

textbook blog email essay formal informal chatty distant

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5. Work in groups of four to have a debate on the motion Cultural differences are important. Students A and B are for the motion; Students C and D are against.

Reading and Speaking: In Search of Good Food

1. Find in the text the equivalents to the following words and expressions:

тонкая хрустящая индийская лепѐшка, римское завоевание, поглощать ингредиенты, стать составной частью британских блюд, богатая почва,

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(кулинарный) рецепт, нормировать, картошка пюре, эксцентричный, луч надежды, рагу (тушѐное мясо с овощами).

2. There are several national British dishes mentioned in the text: shepherd‟s pie, Lancashire hotpot, pudding. What ingredients do these dishes

consist of? Give a recipe of one of them (don‘t forget to mention ingredients and the way the dish is cooked). Do you know any other traditional British dishes?

3. Translate into literary Russian:

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1. Wasn‘t English food always disgusting and tasteless? Wasn‘t it always boiled to death and swimming in fat? The answer to these questions is a resounding

‗No‘.

2. 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.

Active Vocabulary. Unit 4.

Listening and Speaking: Discussing Your Environment

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Ex. 2. What is the capital of: Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Scotland, Iran, Iraq, Sweden, Ireland, Mexico, Finland, Thailand, Australia, Greece, the USA, Brazil, Saudi Arabia?

Ex. 3. Name the nations that live in: Wales, Holland, Sweden, Turkey, Austria, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Iceland, Iran, Israel, Cyprus, Argentina, Brazil, Finland, Scotland, Saudi Arabia, Ireland?

Ex. 4. What nation lives in: Vienna, Bang'kok, Edinburg, Riyadh, Cairo,

Tehran, Reykjavík, 'Lisbon, 'Stockholm, Bagh'dad, Beijing, Helsinki, 'Athens, 'Amsterdam, 'Ankara, Rome, Jerusalem, Islamabad, Buenos Aires, Nicosia?

Ex. 6. Supply one or more synonyms to these words and word

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Ex. 7. Translate into English, using the active vocabulary:

1.Где бы вы хотели жить – за городом в одноэтажном доме или в центре города в многоквартирном здании?

2.Сельская жизнь тоже может быть насыщена событиями.

3.Сейчас, наверное, за городом тепло и можно загорать.

4.Цены на все товары в этом магазине колеблются от 7 до 10 долларов.

5.Давайте уберем весь мусор с участка, установим урну, и больше не будем бросать на землю окурки и пакеты от чипсов.

6.У Норы стоит побывать – никто не умеет так принимать гостей, как она. – Обязательно посещу ее, как только у меня будет такая возможность.

7.На этот фильм стóит сходить? – Думаю, тебе сначала стоит прочитать книгу, на которой он основан.

8.На этот сериал стоит подсесть. – Да ты не можешь обходиться без него!

9.Он гений и общение с ним стóит того, чтобы мириться с некоторыми его причудами. Его любимые изобретения абсолютно бесполезны.

10.В моем новом мобильном очень удобное меню.

11.Почему бы нам не попытаться сделать нашу комнату более уютной? Мне кажется, результат будет стоить затраченных усилий.

12.Как вы относитесь к забастовке? – Что касается ее причин, то они вполне понятны.

13.Ты уже обедал? – Нет, только заморил червячка – съел пончик.

14.Полиция быстро справилась с грабителями, но что касается организатора ограбления, то его вряд ли когда-нибудь задержат.

15.Бег на длинные дистанции (long-distance running) истощает организм.

16.Я подожду, пока вы смиритесь с мыслью, что вы теперь богаты.

17.После того, как Рональда сократили, он не сразу начал искать себе новую работу, а съездил в Кению, о чем давно мечтал.

18.Президенты пожали друг другу руки после заключения соглашения.

19.Теннисист пожал руку сопернику и признал, что победил сильнейший.

20.Вас сложно обмануть, это действительно искусственный краситель.

21.Кто сбил собаку? – Велосипедист, поэтому только он и пострадал, с собакой все в порядке.

22.Не надо так плохо отзываться обо всем американском только потому, что тебе не понравился один представитель этой страны!

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Unit Five. Money

Reading and Vocabulary: Money

1. Read the text and find equivalents to the following words:

измерять ценность, хранить богатство, банкнота, первобытное общество, иметь равную ценность, конкретные нужды, совпадать, крупный рогатый скот, зерно, перо, слоновий бивень, компактный, долговечный, узнаваемый, делимый, иметь на себе надпись или рисунок, денежная стоимость, номинальная стоимость, независимо от, обращаться с чем-л., валюта, наличные деньги.

Money

Money is used for buying or selling goods, for measuring value and / or storing wealth. Almost every society now has a money economy based on coins and paper notes of one kind or another. However, this has not always been true. In primitive societies a system of barter was used. Barter was a system of direct exchange of goods. Somebody could exchange a sheep, for example, for anything in the market-place that they considered to be of equal value. Barter, however, was a very unsatisfactory system because people's precise needs seldom coincided. People needed a more practical system of exchange, and

various money systems developed based on goods which the members of a society recognized as having value. Cattle, grain, teeth, shells, feathers, skulls, salt, elephant tusks and tobacco have all been used. Precious metals gradually

took over because, when made into coins, they were portable, durable, recognizable and divisible into larger and smaller units of value.

A coin is a piece of metal, usually discshaped, which bears lettering, designs or numbers showing its value. Until the eighteenth and

nineteenth centuries coins were given monetary worth based on the exact amount of metal contained in them, but most modern coins are based on face value, the value that governments

choose to give them, irrespective of the actual metal content. Coins have been made of gold (Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu), aluminium (Al), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), plastic, and in China even from pressed tea leaves. Most governments

now issue paper money in the form of notes, which

are really "promises to pay". Paper money is obviously easier to handle and much more convenient in the modern world. Cheques, bankers' cards, and credit cards are being used increasingly and it is possible to imagine a world where "money" in the form of coins and paper currency will no longer be used. Even

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