Английский язык для архитектора и градостроителя. Учебное пособие по английскому языку

3.6.2 With your partner make up a dialogue about modern architecture of your native town

3.7 Summarize your knowledge of the question under consideration. Speak on different styles of architecture

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4 Unit 4 British Architecture

4.1 Pretext exercises

4.1.1Warming-up

1)How did the British architecture develop?

2)What ancient British towns do you know?

3)What architectural monuments would you like to see being in Britain?

4.1.2Read the words. Pay attention to the letters in italics

[ju] circular, monument, occupation, perpendicular [ju] sanctuary, during, pure

[ə:] curtain, turn

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4.1.4 Read the following verbs. Mind their meaning. Pay attention to the

principal forms

4.1.5 Find proper Russian words with the same roots as the following

English words:

history, race, characteristic, monument, civilization, sort, circular, structure, form, horizontal, perpendicular, infant, balance, group, contact, system, occupation, primitive, hall, social, master, decorate

4.1.6 Choose the proper English word:

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4.1.7Find English equivalents for the following Russian words:

Апримитивный; украшать убором; скромный; разбрасывать; непрочный;

устанавливать; исконный; приводить; предполагать; крепкий: предназначать;

вырезать; пополнять

В precarious; humble; to supplement; to establish; rude; to suppose; to cut; stout; to pattern; to scatter; primordial; to spend; to allot

4.1.8 Form all possible word combinations:

horizontal balance

perpendicular curtains

precarious cities

narrow halls

auxiliary yard

large holes

spacious slabs

patterned props

4.1.9 Read the following word combinations and translate them into

Russian:

to pass several stages; to be closely connected with the history; the first inhabitants; dry caves of limestone; to form by a mere juxtaposition of slabs; perpendicular props; infant

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architects; precarious balance of the hanging stones; wattle-and-clay houses; fortificated fence; to bring into contact; major systems of fortification; scattered villages and townships; open hearth; in the middle of the earthen floor; low-roofed huts; to be protected by a stout fence; to cover with oiled linen; bright-patterned curtains; hall allotted for the master of house; flat broad stone; humble dwelling;

4.2 Read the text and tell about the early period of British architecture

Text 4 A

British Architecture in the Period of Ancient History

British architecture passed several main stages in its development. It is closely connected with the history of the country.

As far as historical research could establish, the first inhabitants of the British Isles were nomadic Stone Age hunters. They lived probably in the dry caves of limestone and chalk hills.

An Alpine race came to the British Isles about 1700 B.C.

A characteristic monument of this civilization, primordially rude and primordially majestic, is the so-called Stonehenge, a sort sanctuary erected on Salisbury Plain about 1100 B.C. or some-what earlier. This circular structure was formed by a mere juxtaposition of tall horizontal slabs, capping those perpendicular props for all the world like houses built by infant architects reckless enough to disregard the seemingly precarious balance of the hanging stones-whence the name of the structure, the "Hanging Stones", Stonehenge.

During the invasion of Celts tribes (8-th-Is' cc B.C.) fortresses were built on hilltops; towns began to appear in the more wealthy south-east, true they were at first no more than large groups of wattle-and-clay houses enriched by a sort of fortificated fence.

The invasion by the Romans (lc. B.C.-5c. A.D.) brought the country into contact with the Roman civilization. Major systems of fortifications were constructed as a defense.

Then came the occupation of the country by Anglo-Saxon tribes. The Anglo-Saxon had no big cities, only scattered villages and townships, that is, arrangements of the lord's

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house with the wattle-and-mud huts of the villagers grouped round it. The huts were primitive affairs, of wood and clay while timber was abundant with no chimney over the open hearth but a hole in the roof to let the smoke out and to let the light in. The hearth was usually nothing more complicated than just a large flat stone in the middle of the earthen floor. Much of the smoke supposed to escape through the hole in the roof remained in the low-roofed hut and blackened the beams of the roof with soot. The walls were bare; the narrow holes cut them to admit light, admitted much of the wind and the cold as well.

The lord's house had a large yard where much of the housekeeping work was done with lots of auxiliary buildings like sheds and barns and the like inside it. It was protected by a stout fence supplemented by a sort of circular fortification, or mound. The interior arrangements were characteristic: there was always a spacious hall where most of the family's social life was spent, where the lord had his meals with his family and his guests. The light came through narrow holes in the walls covered with oiled linen. The walls were hung with coarse but bright-patterned curtains, though quite often it was only the part of the hall allotted for the master of house and his most honoured guests that was thus decorated, the rest of the walls being bare. The hearth was nothing much more elaborate that a flat broad stone and the blackened roof beams were just as much the feature of the lord's hall as they were of the humble dwelling.

4.3 Exercises to the text

4.3.1 Find the false sentences using the information from the text. «Correct the false sentences:

1)The first inhabitants of the British Isles lived in the dry caves.

2)Towns appeared first in the more wealthy north-east.

3)During the Roman invasion no fortifications were constructed.

4)There were no big cities during the Anglo-Saxon period.

5)The huts of the villagers were made of wattle and clay.

6)The light came trough wide windows.

7)The walls of the lord's house were painted.

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4.3.2Complete the following sentences:

1)The first inhabitants of the British Isles were: a) Anglo-Saxons

b) nomadic Stone Age hunters c)Celts

2)The first towns looked like large groups of houses enriched by a sort of...

a) hanging stones b) horizontal slabs c) fortification fence

3)The Anglo-Saxons had only scattered ...

a)huts

b)villages and townships

c)fortresses

4)The lord's house had a large yard with lots of...

a)sheds

b)dwellings

c)stones

5)The lord's house was protected by ...

a)perpendicular props

b)flat stones

c)stout fence

4.3.3Find the passage describing the Anglo-Saxon dwelling and translate it into Russian

4.3.4Answer the following questions:

1)Where did the first inhabitants of the British Isles live?

2)What sort of monument it the so-called Stonehenge?

3)When did the first towns begin to appear?

4)How did the dwellings of the villagers look like?

5)What were the interior arrangements of the lord's house?

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4.4 Read the text and tell about different phases of English Gothic

Text 4 В

Medieval British Architecture

At the end of the 9th century came the colonization by the Vikings who dominated England for two hundred years. A system of strongholds dates mainly from this period.

The construction of feudal castles first started in earnest, however, with the Norman conquest. To keep the Anglo-Saxons in subjection, the Norman built castles

Both for symbolic (like the Durham castle commanding a view of the burnt up villages of the North) and practical purposes (like the Tower of London meant to be William's own fortified residence).

The thick-walled castles of feudal nobility, with round or square towers rising the whole length of the building, pierced by narrow windows that served as shooting apertures, formed a conspicuous feature of the times. Christian ideology was predominant in feudal Europe, and England was no exception to the rule. The feudal establishment was vitally interested in instilling a belief in the infallibility of the faith, in the greatness of the church. Architecture flourished after the conquest became church building also. The majority of the cathedrals and monasteries were built late in the 11th and early in 12lh cc. Primarily by French architects and craftsmen in the so-called Romanesque style. They were vast affairs, usually with a tall central part. The arches were round, with a lot of brickwork decoration, beak-head edges and chevron design. The building seemed to be weighed down to the ground by the solidity of its round-arched shape, though powerfullooking, as the cathedrals were meant to be by the abbots and bishops who organized the construction. They evoked mixed feelings, however, for one couldn't help wondering at the might of human genius that went into the building.

Later on Gothic architecture was introduced, again from Romanic countries, France first of all. It was a style harmoniously blending architecture, sculpture and pictorial art. The western facade of the cathedral buildings was in fact a sculptured surface, mostly with symbolic biblical figures and later on realistic folk-lore features. Art historians usually distinguish three periods of Gothic architecture in England. Early English, with pointed arches and arrow-like windows and tall tapering turrets and steeples and pinnacles that

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seem to uplift the whole structure. An early English cathedral produces an impression of soaring into the air; it seems to be ready to take off and leave the sinful earth bellow. Salisbury cathedral is usually shown as an example of pure Early English Gothic.

Later into 13thс the so-called Perpendicular Gothic was introduced, with a lot of parallel-placed tall perpendicular shapes and lines emphasizing the upward-directed movement of the structural rhythm; King's College Chapel in Cambridge is often taken as a typical instance. The 14thс brought a deterioration of the Gothic style, the so-called "Decorated Gothic" where the purity of the Gothic outline is marred, or in any case obscured, by numerous decorations making the whole somewhat gaudy or at least florid. Stained glass with religious themes was an important ingredient of Gothic church architecture.

In the long run, the Norman kings did much to centralize power and unite England into a state. There were great changes in the material life of the population.

Life was already safer and consequently could be made more comfortable for the rich than in the early Norman period when the wealthy families had to be crowded in the darkness of grim square Norman "keeps", fortress-homes. Now palaces and castles were built with spacious banqueting halls illuminated by wide windows with lots of light pouring in. True, there were still towers at each end, with cannons and shooting apertures.

The farms and cottages of the poor were built of logs or planks, the floors were usually bare earth and the roof made of thatch: the walls might be made of mud and timber.

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4.4.1Choose the sentences which correspond to the contents of the text

1)The construction of feudal castles began mostly during the Norman invasion.

2)Medieval architecture was also church building.

3)The majority of the monasteries and cathedrals were built by Anglo-Saxon architects.

4)Gothic architecture was brought from Romanic countries.

5)Art historians usually point out four periods of English Gothic.

6)Palaces and castles of the English nobility had big banqueting halls illuminated by wide windows.

7)The dwellings of the poor were made of logs and planks.

4.4.2Increase you vocabulary. Make some sentences of you own using the following phrases:

to date from this period to be characterized by to be subdivided into to be combined with to become popular

to be of great beauty (importance; complexity)

4.4.3Ask your partner the following questions:

1)When does the system of strongholds date back?

2)When did the construction of feudal castles begin?

3)Why did the architecture flourished after the Norman conquest become also church building?

4)Where was Gothic architecture introduced from?

5)What kind of style was Gothic?

6)What periods of English Gothic do art historians usually distinguish?

7)What are the major monuments of Gothic architecture in England?

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