A World We Live In - Unit1

11

With an English cup of tea.

II. Would you make a guess at the nationally if it were not mentioned? How?

III. Learn the verse by heart.

IV. Would you try to compose or find a verse about Russians, Americans, etc.

V. Read the stories and say what typical traits of English character they reveal:

Who's Nuts?

"Up the wall", "round the bend", "looney", "crackers" - there are a lot of different ways of saying "crazy", in English. Many visitors to England think the people are a bit nuts /looney/ crackers ... in other words, that they are crazy. But are they really up the wall? Are the English more "looney" than the other people? This article is about some famous English nut-cases - so read it and decide for yourself!

Who's Reserved?

What about the English character? Everybody says that the English are cold, reserved and shy - I don't agree - but the most reserved of all English men was William John Cavendish Bentinck Scot, fifth Duke of Portland.

He was so shy he lived most of his life underground in a huge system of rooms and tunnels he had built. After inheriting a beautiful country house from his father, he hired hundreds of workmen and gave them strict orders that they must not look at him or speak to him. Any workmen who disobeyed were dismissed immediately.

The Duke hated meeting people and never invited anyone to his house, but ordered the workmen to build the largest ballroom in Englandunderground of course, plus a splendid library and an enormous billiard room.

The only time the Duke ever left his underground home was at night. A female servant used to walk several yards ahead of him holding a light with orders never to speak or look behind. The Duke was also a bit crazy in the way he dressed, wearing a floor-length fur coat in midsummer, and always carrying an umbrella whatever the weather. if he saw anyone who might try to speak to him he used to put up the umbrella and hide behind it ...

VI. Read the story and define: the theme of it; the main idea of it;

its problem.

If You're The Shy Type ... It's Never Too Late To Change, is it?

Do you have to force yourself to go to parties? Does the thought of having to make a new acquaintance frighten you? Are you frequently at a loss for something to say to someone

12

you've just met? Do you avoid talking to people unless it's absolutely necessary? Do you have a very small circle of friends? Are you closely attached to your family?

Don't take fright. This isn't the start of personality purge. But if you answered 'yes' to most of those questions you could be more or less Socially Inept, whether you know it or not.

To most people you're just shy and difficult to talk to, but your problem may be much more than shyness. It could extend to include a total inability to make normal social contacts, to that normally and exchange trivial greeting with people, which can result in loneliness and isolation.

A psychiatrist who has seen this phenomenon in student and other adult patients described to me how social ineptitude in its advanced stage arises.

"They don't learn as children what almost all people learn - the normal conversational and non-verbal signals that we all use.

"Things like saying "Hallo, how are you?' and looking people in the eye and shaking hands or not. They just don't know the language of small talk. They don't know how to make light conversation or how to talk to other people.

"They don't come from homes in which they've been badly treated or there hasn't been affection or stability.

"They come from families which have been parted from any bigger social grouping, by the father changing his job and moving to another part of the country or something like that.

"The parents themselves are usually a bit isolated - they may be shy or introverted, and they tend to marry like that and from tight little family groups. They're happy within themselves but they don't talk much and they don't talk to their children a lot.

"There aren't any grandparents or other relations living with the family, and the parents don't have many friends. So the child grows up almost in isolation apart from his parents."

Social ineptitude isn't much of a problem at school, where the child may simply be a bit of a lone wolf, and may compensate for his lack of participation in school life by an added application to his homework.

The crunch comes when the child leaves school and finds he can't communicate with people in the outside world. To someone in this position the psychiatrist's advice wasn't easy to take.

"Force yourself. When you're sitting with a group of people and they start to chat, Join them. Don't leave, tolerate the emotional stress and make yourself join the conversation.

"I'm a great believer in the ready-made social structure - the sort of framework of leisure activities that a school or college or large firm has.

"Make yourself go in for these spare-time activities - the football club or the dramatic society. You will slowly learn the language, but only if you can recognise your problem first."

A person who is socially inept will never become a fully fledged extrovert - extroversion and introversion are largely genetically determined - but they can be happier if they tackle the problem sensibly. The time to start is as soon as possible.

Apparently it's never too late, which is heartening news.

VII. 1) Say if it is necessary to differentiate the following words: modest

13

unassuming restrained unpretentious simple reserved

shy

2)Why?

3)What type are you?

4)Your groupmates?

VIII. What does the conversation suggest to you?

-"You know, at the evening party last night I won a prize for shyness." -"Really? What was the prize?"

-"I don't know. I was too shy to go and get it."

IX. Read the text and say what parts of it are worth

1)translating;

2)discussing;

3)memorizing;

4)ignoring.

Account for your choice.

Men And Women - The Challenge Of New Roles.

Labour-saving devices in the home, ideas on Women's Liberation and an increase in the numbers of unemployed have all contributed to a change in the relationships between men and women in Britain. How is British society adapting?

"Ten thousand women stood up in their homes and said: "We shall not be dictated to." Then they went out and got jobs as stenographers ..." This is how one commentator ironically summarized the effects of campaigns for women's rights which culminated in the emancipation of women in Britain. Women's role in society had began to change with the advent of the industrial revolution. Previously most women had spent their lives at home, primarily as careers - of husband and family or of parents or relatives. When they took paid employment most of the jobs available to them were in areas such as teaching, nursing or domestic service. Many women were employed as cheap labour once industries such as factories and cotton mills were established. Although their wages were low, their earning power gave them a certain amount of independence.

Two world wars gave women more opportunities. They did work on farms and in factories previously done by men and did it well. This changed society's view of their role; it also changed their own views of their potential. But until the 1950 it was unusual for a woman to be in a senior position in government service, law, banking or other aspects of business although many women became adapt at developing small businesses such as shops, guest houses, etc. Until 1946 women in the civil service had to resign if they married. The

14

law gradually acknowledged that women should not be treated differently from men. The Married Women's Property Acts starting in 1870 enabled women to hold and dispose of property as they wished. Previously, a woman's property passed to her husband on marriage. The Representation of the People Act gave women the vote at the age of 30 in 1918 and at age 21 - the same age as men - in 1928. Today both sexes can vote at age 18.

But how have these changes in women's affected the men in Britain? As American civil rights leader Martin Luther King used to say: "No one is free until we are all free." There is a sense in which the development of rights for women freed men from the rigid stereotypes imposed on them by the old attitudes. They began to feel able to express their emotions more openly and behave differently. Today in families where the wife works, the father is more involved in bringing up the children. This may not sound like an advantage when looked at in terms of changing babies' nappies and washing up! Nevertheless many men have found a new type of relationship with their wives and their children as a result of sharing responsibilities and spending more time with the family. It is taking time for men generally to accept this sharing of responsibility. Initially the man who stood at the kitchen sink or did housework was a figure of fun to his workmates or colleagues. There was a suggestion that such a man was losing his masculinity, becoming "too soft" or "henpecked." Ten years ago it would have been unthinkable for a government minister to say that he began his day by cooking breakfast for five children and delivering them to their different schools. Yet Britain's Energy Secretary, Peter Walker, stated that this was part of his daily routine.

Don't run with the idea that all British men are expert at running a home and a job. This dual role is still expected from mothers of oneparent families or married women who take a job outside the home, as 61 per sent of wives in Britain do today. When a man runs a home and job, it is still exceptional. Even more exceptional is the reversal of roles when the woman becomes the only earner for the household and the man remains at home. For a few couples this is a matter of choice but recently others have had to accept this reversal of roles because the man has been made redundant and the only work available is that for which the wife is better qualified. Ironically the Jobs which employ women-mainly service or light industries - have survived the recession better than heavy industry, which employs more men.

So men and women in Britain are having to develop a flexible approach to their roles and society is starting to follow suit, although the concept of equal rights still has a long way to go.

** *

X.Read the following passages and describe two persons strikingly

a)different;

b)alike.

He tramped steadily on, always watchful with curiosity. He was a tall, well-built man, apparently in the prime of life. His shoulders were square and rather stiff, he leaned forward a little as he went, from the hips, like a man who must stoop to lower his height. But he did not stoop his shoulders: he bent his straight back from the hips.

(D.H.Lawrence "Samson and Delilah")

15

** *

Matilda was a tall, thin, graceful fair girl, with a rather large nose. Matilda loved painting and music, and read a good many novels, whilst Emmie looked after the house-keeping. Emmie was shorter, plumper than her sister, and she had no accomplishments. She looked up to Matilda, whose mind was naturally refined and sensible.

In their quiet, melancholy way, the two girls were happy. Their mother was dead. Their father was ill also. He was an intelligent man who had had some education, but preferred to remain as if he were one with the rest of the working people. He had a passion for music and played the violin pretty well. But now he was getting old, he was very ill, dying of a kidney disease. He had been rather a heavy whisky-drinker.

(D.H.Lawrence "You Touched Me")

** *

James was a quick, slender, dark-haired fellow, a gentleman, who was always trying to catch her out with his quickness. She liked his fine, slim limbs and his exaggerated generosity. He would ask her out to ridiculously expensive suppers and send her sweets and flowers, fabulously recherchй. He was always immaculately well-dressed.

(D.H.Lawrence "The Lost Girl" )

** *

Lord Henry looked at him. Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp golden hair. There was something in his face that made one trust him at once. All the candour of youth was there as well as all youth's passionate purity. One felt that he had kept himself unspotted from the world.

(O.Wilde "The Picture Of Dorian Grey" )

* * *

She had fair hair and delicate features. There was very little make-up on her face. It was a pretty, wistful, perhaps slightly stupid face. The woman was dressed in a small frock of dark green high to the neck.

(by A.Christie)

* * *

He was a man of medium height with a heavy definite personality; clean-shaven, with a mobile mouth of an actor, and the slightly prominent eyes that so often go with the girl of oratory. He was good-looking in a quiet well-bred way. Though looking pale and somehow distressed, his manner was perfectly formal and composed.

(by A.Christie)

** *

His voice was surprisingly deep. He was shorter than Eric but he had very broad shoulders and a thick chest. Eric guessed that he was about 27. He had a round red face and fine jet-black hair but his eyes were light blue and destroyed any softness in his appearance. He was trim. He was wearing a navy blue suit, a blue shirt and a white stitched collar that kept his thick neck from looking too short.

16

(by M.Wilson)

** *

There was in Dr. Audlin’s appearance nothing to attract attention. He was tall and spare, with narrow shoulders and something of a stoop; his hair was grey and thin; his long sallow face deeply lined. He was not more than fifty, but he looked older. His eyes, pale-blue and rather large, were weary. When you had been with him for a while you noticed that they moved very little; they remained fixed on your face but so empty of expression were they that it was not discomfort. They seldom lit up. They gave no clue to his thoughts nor changed with the words he spoke. If you were of an observant turn it might have struck you that he blinked much less often than most of us. His hands were on the large side, with long, tapering fingers; they were soft but firm, cool but not clammy. You could never have said it what Dr. Audlin wore unless you had made a point of looking. His clothes were dark. His tie was black. His dress made his sallow lined face paler, and his pale eyes more wan. He gave you the impression of a very sick man.

(by W.S.Maugham)

** *

George was tall and slim, his curly hair of a palish brown, was so fine, his eyes were so blue, he was the perfect type of the young Englishman. He had the engaging candour of the breed. His nose was straight, though perhaps a little fleshy and his lips were, perhaps, a little full and sensual, but he had beautiful teeth and his smooth skin was like ivory. George was the apple of his father's eye. He did not like Harry, his second son, so well. He was rather stocky, broad-shouldered and strong for his age, but his black eyes, shining with cleverness, his coarse dark hair and his big nose revealed his race. Freddy was severe with him, and often impatient, but with George he was indulgence. Harry would go into business, he had brains and push, but George was the heir. George would be an English gentleman.

(by W. S. Maugham)

XI. Learn one of the descriptions by heart. Account for your choice.

XII.What descriptions are more suitable for the appearance of your

1.close girl (boy)-friend;

2.school-mates (groupmates);

3.parents;

4.teachers etc.

Why?

XIII.Which description(s) do (don’t) you consider ideal? Why?

XIV.Compose an ideal description of

1)a boy (a girl);

2)a young woman (man);

3)a middle-aged woman (man);

4)some people in the prime of their life,

17

5) in the evening of life.

…

A good laugh is sunshine in a house.

W.M.Thackeray

XV.English humour is known as unique. What makes it peculiar and what do you think of it?

The Value of a Sense of Humour

. . . There are troubles in everybody's life, and very often the small ones are more irritating than the big ones. But the person who can face his difficulties with a sense of humour does not allow them to press upon him with an intolerable weight. He throws them off with a laugh, and emerges on the other side, scatheless.

When you are waiting in a bus queue in the boiling sun and bus after bus go by full, you can either fidget and fret, and grumble about the inadequacy of public transport, or you can amuse yourself by watching the various expressions on the faces of the other people in the queue, and joking with your neighbours. If you do the first, you will be cross and tired, and the rest of your day will be ruined; if you chosen the second, you will have saved yourself from the worst of the ill-effect of lateness and tiredness, for your nerves will not have to suffer from irritation.

People who have a sense of humour usually have the power of sympathy strongly developed. The misdeeds and failures of other people do not shock and revolt them; they see the funny side, and amusement cannot mix with hatred. It is more at home with tolerance and pity, and therefore the person with a sense of humour is a lovable and loving person, one who has a sense of kinship with his fellow men and women.

Laughter is a very good tonic. There are many proverbs about the salutary effect of laughter, and its infectious nature, and these, like most sayings of the people, are based on experience of life. The cheerful people are, as a rule, the healthiest, if not always physically, at least mentally. They do not suffer from melancholia and depression and other miserable afflictions of the mind that make their victims' lives hardly worth living. And laughter soon spreads. When a happy child gets into a bus and laughs at the delights which surround it, the long faces of the other passengers soon relax and soften. Humour has laid its healing touch on them.

(from "Fifty Model Essays" by Joice Miller)

Quite Right

"Let us see whether you are smart at arithmetics, Charley! I have twenty shillings and borrow fifty from your aunt and thirty from your dad. What does that make?"

18

"Debts, uncle!"

A Polite Question

The manager of a very fashionable restaurant was much pained when a guest tied his napkin round his neck. So he called a boy waiter to make the gentleman understand, as tactfully as he could, that such things were not done.

The boy approached the guest and asked seriously: "Shave or haircut, sir?"

Scottish Appetite

One day two friends were sitting in a restaurant. One of them, a Scotsman, told his friends he would bet ten shillings that he could eat a turkey and three pounds of sausages. Of course his friends did not believe this. So the turkey was roasted and put before him on the table. With great astonishment his friends watched him eating up the bird. And after some minutes he also swallowed the three pounds of sausages! So they had to pay the money.

The Scotsman finally drank some glasses of beer and then went home together with one of his friends. But when they arrived at the front door of his house, the Scotsman said to his friend: "Please don't tell my wife that I've eaten so much."

"Why not?" asked his friend.

"Because she would give me no supper!" the Scotsman answered.

Insufficient Local Knowledge

A Londoner who was going to the West of England for a holiday, arrived by train at a town, and found that it was pouring with rain.

He called a porter to carry his bags to a taxi. On the way out of the station, partly to make conversation and partly to get a local opinion on prospects of weather for his holiday, he asked the porter:

"How long has it been raining like this?"

"I don't know, sir, I've only been here for fifteen years," was the reply.

Skill

Two "pavement artists" in the West End of London were boasting to one another about their skill in drawing.

"Do you know," said one, "I drew a sixpence on the pavement one day, and a beggar nearly broke his finger-nails trying to pick it up."

"That's nothing to what I did," said the other. "I painted a pound of sausages on a paving-stone and it was so natural that a dog ate half the stone before he found out his

19

mistake."

Three Boasting Men

A Frenchman, an Englishman and an American were boasting about how fast the trains go in their countries. The Frenchman said:

"In my country the trains go so fast that the telegraph posts by the line look like a garden fence."

The Englishman said: "In England the trains go so fast that we have to pour water on the wheels to cool them because they get white hot and would melt."

The third man, the American, said: "That's nothing. You must come to America to see how fast the trains go there. I was once leaving on a trip and my wife came with me to the platform to see me off. I got into the train and was standing at the window of my compartment. I wanted to take leave of my wife as the train was just starting so I leant out of the window to give her a kiss. But the train went off at such speed that I kissed a cow in a field six miles down the line."

A Wise Man

Vanity is a word I could not understand until I went to work for Mr. Green. He was the owner of our local newspaper. Mr. Green was a good and clever man but had the habit of talking to himself all the time. One day a friend of him came and asked him why he did this.

"Well, there are two good reasons," he said. "First, I like to hear a wise man speak. Secondly, when I speak it is a pleasure to have an intelligent audience."

A Valuable Old Master

One day, a very wealthy American came to an English artist and said: "Sir, I've secretly bought a valuable sixteenth century painting. I know that the English Government won't let me take it out of England, but I have a plan to get round that. I want you to paint a picture - it doesn't matter what it is - on top of old master. When I get to New York, we can

easily remove your picture from the canvas without damaging the picture underneath." The artist agreed and painted a picture of a London gasworks on it. Then the American

got the canvas to New York and sent it to remove the artist's painting. But about a week later he got a telegram from the firm. It said: "We have removed the picture of London gasworks, also the old master, and now down to a portrait of Queen Victoria. When do you want us to stop?"

XVI.Which story really makes you laugh? Why?

20

XVII.Dramatise one of the stories. Account for your choice.

XVIII. Find some other stories revealing English humour as peculiar and unique. Prove your point of view.

XIX.Read the verses: a) speak on the impression they produced on you;

b)translate one of them into Russian ;

c)learn one of them by heart;

d)account for your choice.

XX.Describe the people: a) composed these verses;

b)the verses were devoted to;

What makes you think so?

LOVE

Glynn Cook

I am

completely, hopelessly, madly, Passionately, deeply, confusingly, totally, absolutely, fully,

Wholly, knowingly, desperately in love

With you I think.

SHE IS NOT FAIR

Hartley Coleridge

She is not fair to outward view,

As many maidens be;

Her loveliness I never knew

Until she smiled on me.

Oh, then I saw her eye was bright,

A well of love, a spring of light.

But now her looks are coy and cold -

To mine they ne'er reply;

And yet I cease not to behold

The love-light in her eye.