Лингвострановедение. Английский язык. Учебно-методическое пособие для самостоятельной работы студентов

7. Национально-маркированная лексика, связанная с традиционными

праздниками

Introduction. Проанализируйте предложенное упражнение и скажите, какие

культурно-специфические элементы составляют его содержание.

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2. Give definitions and say, which holidays the words are associated with.

А) Hot Cross buns, maypole, May Queen, Pancake Bell, Duck Apple (Forking for Apples, Bob Apple), the first-footer, Auld Lang Syne, morrice dance, a ‘guy’, a carol, mistletoe, Easter bunny.

B) The Tournament of Roses parade, resolutions, roast turkey, eggnog,

3. Which of the holidays are official?

А) Shrove Tuesday, Mischief Day, New Year’s Eve, Guy Fawkes’ Night, April Fool’s Day, Easter, New Year’s Day, Hallowe’en, Kissing Friday, Christmas, May Day.

B) Columbus Day, President’s Day, Thanksgiving, Hallowe’en, New Year’s Day, Christmas, Independence Day, Martin Luther King Day, Groundhog Day, Veteran’s Day, Labour Day, Memorial Day.

4.Work with a dictionary of idioms and choose some idioms associated with holidays.

5.Do the exercise below. Compare the resulting description with the initial one and analyze how words of different register, colloquial or formal, change the effect they produce.

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Here is an extract of someone talking about a festival using rather informal language. Write it as a more formal description, using words and expressions from the box instead of the underlined words, and making any other necessary changes.

parade, pagan, raucous, atmospheric, symbolize, trace, focus, sombre, be believed to, superstitious, associate, flamboyant.

Well, it’s called the Festival of Flowers, and it’s all to do with the coming of spring, after the dark, serious winter months. It all started with a religious tradition of taking flowers to the church to offer them to God. Spring flowers are the main thing in the festival, and there’s always a big gang of people marching through the streets dressed in traditional costumes. It’s all very lively and extremely colourful and rather noisy, and it has a great feeling about it. The flowers mean new life, and people thought they would be guaranteed a good harvest later in the year if they were offered to God. Nowadays most people don’t have such funny beliefs about nature, but there’s still a really old, pre-Christian atmosphere about it all…

(The exercise is taken from a vocabulary book:

McCarthy M., O’Dell F. English Vocabulary in Use.

Cambridge University Press, 2002)

6. Describe a Russian holiday, using formal or informal language.

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7.Questions to discuss.

Are the patterns of British and American holidaymaking the same as in Russia?

What aspects of Christmas in the UK and US, and the customs associated with it, are different from those in Russia?

If you had a tourist agency, what holiday tour would you organize for the foreign visitors of Russia? What holiday would you like to spend in Britain or America?

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8. Национально-маркированная лексика домашнего обихода

Introduction

London is a splendid place to live

Прочитайте цитаты и скажите, что

for those who can get out of it.

они говорят о национальном

(Lord Balfour of Burleigh)

характере британцев и их образе

Englishman’s home is his castle.

идеального/типичного дома.

(Anon.)

Можно ли сказать, что Америка и Россия в этом отношении отличаются?

Изучите предложенный материал и выполните задания.

1.Allocate the given types of

houses in Britain to social classes: upper, middle, lower.

2.Which of the given types of houses can bee seen in particular regions of the USA?

Stately homes, row houses, apartment buildings, semi-detached houses,

thatched cottages, tower blocks, but and bens, town houses, bungalows,

plantation houses, chalets, Brownstones, terraced houses, farm houses,

detached houses.

3. What houses can be seen a) outside cities, b) in the suburbs, c) in the cities in

the UK and in the USA?

A stately home, a detached house, a semi-detached house, a terraced house, a town house, a flat in a tower block, bungalow

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Correct the mistakes.

a)It was a gorgeous detached house with lots of spacious rooms. One of the lounges was mahogany with French windows.

b)A New Age Traveller is a person travelling by bus, coach or van.

c)The Magrittes live in a terrific house: redbrick, lots of decorations outside, dark coloured wood of the furniture, ornaments, a fire-place with fine tiles – a typical Brownstone

d)They can’t afford a permanent house so far. They’ve bought a motor-home recently – 9 meters long, 4 rooms, a well-equipped one.

5. Study the vocabulary referring to homestyles and do the exercise.

The exercise is taken from a vocabulary book: McCarthy M.,

O’Dell F. English Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge University

Press, 2002.

Homestyles

A squat is an empty building where people start living without the owner’s permission.

A hovel is a very poor, dirty house or flat in a bad condition.

A pied à terre is a small flat or house in a city owned or rented by people in addition to their main home and used when they are visiting the city.

A penthouse is a luxury flat at the top of a building.

Council housing is provided by the state for people who cannot afford to buy their own homes.

High-rise flats are flats in a tall, modern building with a lot of floors.

A granny flat is a set of rooms for an elderly person, connected to a relative’s

house.

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Exercise

Complete the following table about the types of accommodation

6.Translate into English with the help of idioms: home from home, home truths, hothouse plant, top steps, window-dressing, go up the walls with grief.

1) Мастерская стала его вторым домом.

2) Горькая истина в том, что им приходится быть постоянно в разъездах. 3) Не балуй ребенка. Она вырастет тепличным растением.

4) Верхние ступеньки общества очень притягательны, но трудно достижимы,

если ты не принадлежишь к определенному социальному кругу. 5) Этот отчет – не более чем очковтирательство.

6) Она обезумела от горя.

7.Study some more idioms and metaphors relating to homes and lifestyles.

The exercise is taken from a vocabulary book: McCarthy M.,

O’Dell F. English Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge University

Press, 2002.

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Idioms and metaphors relating to homes and lifestyles

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Exercise

Choose one of the idioms from the table to replace the underlined words in these

sentences.

1)We had the most marvelous time on holiday this year.

2)As soon as spring comes I feel as if I’m becoming energetic and active again.

3)The problems caused by the floods are only making themselves fully felt now.

4)I imagine that being a servant in the past was very hard and tedious.

5)All over the world everybody knows about McDonald’s.

8.Questions to discuss.

How would you explain the popularity of different types of dwelling in Britain, America and Russia?

Do you think the image of an ideal house is becoming more or less the same in all the three countries? What accounts for this?

What is the attitude to homeless people in these countries? How can you explain the difference?

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