Практикум по обучению диалогической речи. Сборник текстов на английском языке для студентов I и II курсов заочного отделения-1

people thought that if the ravens ever left the Tower, the monarchy would fall. So Charles II decreed that six ravens should always be kept in the Tower and should be paid a wage from the treasury. Sometimes they live as long as 25 years but their wings are clipped so they can't fly away, and when a raven dies, another raven is brought from Essex.

Anybody can see some traditions, which are mixed with everyday life in the streets of busy London.

Traditional uniforms are still preserved in Great Britain. You can see a group of cavalrymen riding on black horses through the central streets of London. They wear red uniforms, shining helmets, long black boots and long white gloves. They carry swords. These men are Life Guards and their special duty-is to guard the king or queen. In the Tower of London you can see the warders (or Beefeaters) with their funny flat hats.

Englishmen are proud of their traditions and carefully keep them up.

Answer the questions:

1.What public holidays of Great Britain do you know?

2.What national holidays do you know?

3.What is the most popular holiday in England?

4.What holiday is held on the 5th of November?

5.Where is Burns Night marked?

6.Are there any rituals in everyday British life?

7.What are the foreign visitors amused by when they come to Great Britain?

Text 10

Holidays in Great Britain

The most popular holidays in great Britain are Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, St.Valentine Day, Mother's Day, Easter, Halloween, Bonfire Night. Christmas - the birth of Christ is celebrated by Christians the world over on 25th of December. In Trafalgar Square in London there is a big Christmas tree. There is a good tradition to buy gifts for the family, children and friends. People also write Christmas cards. Before Christmas they make Christmas puddings. The whole

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family stir it and make a wish. When the pudding is ready and still hot, they put different things into pudding - little silver things, like a horseshoe, a ring or a button, and 5-penny pieces. The horseshoe brings luck, the ring means marriage, the button means that you are not going to get married. A 5-penny pieces is a sign of wealth.

The day after Christmas is better known as Boxing Day. The term may come from the opening of church poor boxes that day. On Boxing Day one visits friends, gives presents to friends and relatives.

New Year's Day is not as widely celebrated as Christmas. Some people ignore it and go to bed as usual. Others celebrate it, organize a family party or a party for yours friends. In London people like to gather in Piccadilly Circus or Trafalgar Square to welcome the New Year.

February has long been a month of romance. On 14 February St. Valentine Day thousands of people travel to a small village Gretna Green on the border with Scotland to get married. It began in 1754 when people could not married under the age of 21 without parents' permission in England. In Scotland the permission was not required. Every February, across the country, candy, flowers and gifts are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St.Valentine - Goddess of women and marriage.

Mother's Day is a time of commemoration and celebration for Mom. It is a time of breakfast in bed, family gathering, and crayon scribbled "I Love You's". The second Sunday in May has become the most popular day of the year to dine out, and telephone lines record their highest traffic, as sons and daughters everywhere take advantage of this day to honor and to express appreciation of their mothers.

Easter is a religious holiday. It is celebrated in spring on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25. On Easter people give presents - Easter colored eggs, which are usually made of chocolate. Easter is the time of springtime festivals. In London on Easter Sunday there is Easter Parade in Battersea Park.

Flalloween is a great day for parties. Children dress up as witches, ghosts or vampires, and they go from house to house playing "trick or treat". Afraid of evil spirits, people therefore either wore ugly masks to frighten those spirits away, or they

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stayed at home saying prayers. Halloween means Hallows' Evening. It is the evening before All Hallows' Day (now called All Saints Day), a Christian holiday, celebrated on the 1st of November.

November 5th marks the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot, a conspiracy to blow up the English Parliament and King James I in 1605. Guy Fawkes and a group of conspirators attempted to blow up the House of Parliament. Before they were able to carry out their plan they were caught, tortured and executed. Every year since then English people have traditionally celebrated his failure by letting off fireworks and burning an effigy of "Guy".

Answer the questions:

1.What are the most popular holidays in Great Britain?

2.When is Christmas celebrated in Great Britain, in USA and Canada?

3.Where is there a big Christmas tree?

4.What do people do before Christmas tree?

5.What do people usually put into the Christmas pudding?

6.What is Boxing Day?

7.How is New Year's Day celebrated?

8.When is St.Valentine Day celebrated?

9.What do people do on St.Valentine Day?

10.What do you know about its history?

11.What is Mother's Day? How is it celebrated?

12.What is Easter? When is it celebrated?

13.When and why is Halloween celebrated?

14.What is Bonfire Night?

15.How is it celebrated?

Text 11

My Speciality

I study at the Moscow State Academy of Water Transport. Today the Academy consists of many departments. I am a student of the Service and Tourism Department. My speciaslity is Social service and Tourism. We study both general and special subjects.

The general disciplines are: history, Russian, philosophy, foreign languages and others. The special subjects are organization and management in the sphere of

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tourism, marketing, advertising, culture of communication and so on. Each year is divided into two terms. At the end of each term we take exams. Those, who pass all their exams successfully, get grants. Our speciality comprises different spheres of marketing and management in the sphere of Tourism:

-regulation and research in tourism;

-tourism promotion;

-travel agent and tour operators activities;

-transportation in tourism;

-accommodation and catering;

-customer relations in Tourism;

-business travel;

-others.

Tourism has been one of the fastest growing industries in recent years.

The growth rate of tourism has generally exceeded the growth rate for the worldwide economy.

So tourism is labour - intensive industry.

But a majority at the jobs in tourism have one common feature: contact with the public, including both the positive and negative aspects of dealing with ordinary human beings. So anyone who has chosen a careen in tourism should enjoy working with people and be tolerant. Language skill is also necessary in the sphere of tourism.

Answer the questions:

1.What Academy do you study at?

2.How many departments does your Academy consist of?

3.What department do you study at?

4.What kinds of disciplines do you study?

5.What spheres of marketing and management does your speciality comprise?

6.Is Tourism a fast growing industry?

7.What common feature do the jobs in tourism have?

8.What skills should you have to be successful in your Tourism service career?

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Text 12

Advertising

The success of every company depends on a marketing strategy and tactics. The marketing policy of a company should follow the rule of four Ps: product, price place and promotion. Advertising is one of the promotional tools companies may use.

The advertising plan includes a section on analysis, advertising objectives and strategy. Advertising objectives may be expressed up through the advertising pyramid

(awareness; comprehension, conviction, desire, action).

The advertising (or creative) strategy is determined by the advertiser's use of the creative mix . The creative mix is composed of the target audience, product concept, communication media and advertising message.

The target audience is the specific group of people the advertising will approach.

The product concept refers to the bundle of values the product is intended to

represent to the customer.

The communication media are the vehicles used to transmit the advertisers message.

The advertising message is what the company plans to say in its advertisements and how it plans to say it.

Advertising research is used to develop strategies and test concepts. Research results help the advertiser define the product concept, select the target market, and develop the primary advertising message elements.

Advertisers use testing to ensure that their advertising dollars are spent wisely. Pretesting is used to detect and eliminate weaknesses in a campaign. Posttesting is used to evaluate the effectiveness of an advertisement or campaign after it has run.

There are five kinds of advertising:

1.Informing advertising (it's aim is to give customers all the information about a product and its advantages);

2.Remonstrative advertising (it's aim is to try to persuade a consumer to buy the exact product but not a competitor's one);

3.Comparative advertising (its aim is to compare the exact product with a competitors' one);

4.Reminding advertising (reminds prospective customers about the existence in the market);

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5. Supporting advertising (supports the customers, who have already bought the product, convinces them of the Tightness of the product chosen).

To make the advertising company successful, each organization should have an advertising plan as a part of its marketing plan. Besides, firms should have in-house advertising departments, which are responsible for advertising planning and coordination or they can address special agencies for help.

Advertising agencies are independent organizations of creative people and businesspeople who specialize in the development and preparation of advertising plans, advertisements, and other promotional tools on behalf of clients.

The two basic types of agencies are the full -service agencies and the agencies that offer a la carte services.

Answer the questions:

1. What rule should marketing policy of a company follow?

2.What does the_advertising pyramid consist of?

3.What is the creative mix composed of?

4.Why is the advertising research used?

5.How many kinds of advertising do you know?

6.What are the main aims of Informing and Remonstrative advertising?

7.What are the main aims of Reminding and Supportive advertising?

8.What kind of advertising compares the exact product with a competitors' one?

Text 13

Business correspondence

With the development of industry, technology, trade and economic ties among the countries and ordinary people a great volume of business is done by mail. People write business letters in many situations: finalizing contracts writing order letters, an inquiry, claim letters, cover letters, letters of confirmation and letters of guarantee. A business letter should make a favorable impression. It should be neatly written or typed, properly spaced on the page and correctly folded in the envelope.

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As a rule, business letters are written on the form of the firm and consist of the following elements: 1) the heading (including place and data), 2) the inside address, 3) the greeting, 4) the body of the letter, 5) the ending, 6 the signatures, 7) the reference to enclosures. If one forgets something he/she means to say in the letter, he/she should put it in a PS at the bottom of the page.

Business letters exchanged by commercial firms, companies are usually written on business letterheads, with the name and address of the firm or office, telephone number, telex etc., already printed above the letter (the letterhead also can be printed in the left corner of a letter). Place and data of the letters are typed in the top right corner of the page, under the Heading. The Reference is typed on the top left of the letter on the same line as the Data. The Reverence include file number or an initials of the writer and of the typist separated by a virgule (HD/PR or HD/1,3). The internal address is typed on the left side of the letter (the receiver, the apartment number, street, city, country or state). The most common greeting is Dear Sirto a man, Dear Sirsto a firm, Dear Madam - to a woman.

The usual layout for the official business letter is blocked style: all new lions of typing are ranged to the left including paragraph openings and the concluding greeting.

The golden rules for writing letters are the following: 1) decide what are you going to say, 2) arrange the points in order of importance, 3) use short sentences 4) put each separate idea in a separate paragraph. So, the body of the letters should be complete, concise, courteous, correct (gram., spelling, and punctuation). The traditional ending phrases are forms of politeness such as: Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully, Yours truly. The signature is placed in the left of the letter. Under the signature is printed the Sender's position or only the name of a company or a department. The references to the enclosures are placed under the signature on the left side of the letter.

Answer the questions:

1.What are the points of a business letter?

2.What is usually indicated in a letterhead?

3.Where is the letterhead usually written?

4.What is written in the right corner of a letter?

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5.Where is the internal address written?

6.What is the usual layout for a business letter?

7.What is typed on the same line as the date?

8.What are the "golden rules" for writing the letters?

9.What comes first after a complimentary close: a signature or a sender's position in the company?

10.How should a business letter make a favorable decision?

Text 14

Russia

We are living in a rapidly changing, multinational and multicultural world. Barriers keep falling, people and cultures mix, but one thing remains basic and dear to my heart - my homeland, Russia.

No one can deny that it is the great country in all senses of the world, with its area of 17.1 million square kilometres, and the population of 150 million people. It spans two parts of the world, Europe and Asia, serving as a bridge between them. It is washed by the seas of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The variety of climatic zones it covers is breathtaking, from the arctic wastes in the north down to the subtropics in the south. It has immense natural resources, such as coal, oil and gas, all kinds of mineral deposits, great forests and rivers, it has everything. There are many branches of industry in Russia - machine-building, steel production, chemical and electronic industries, and numerous others. Unfortunately, agriculture is in a rather poor state, and we have to import foodstuffs, and even wheat. The potential of Russia and its people is great, and with reasonable economic mechanisms and laws the country will overcome the present difficulties, and will occupy the place it deserves in the world community.

The cultural heritage of Russia is rich and varied. The names of Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Tchaikovsky are known all over the world. Russia's history, like that of any other great country, is full of glory and blood. Russia twice saved Europe from the Dark Age - stopping the Tartars, and crushing the German fascists.

Russia is a multinational federal republic, and thotigh there are some separatist tendencies, I believe* alt the problems can be resolved peacefully.

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I am proud of my country, I love Russia, my motherland, and will do the best I can to improve its economic and political situation.

Answer the questions:

1.What territory does Russia occupy?

2.How many people live in Russia?

3.What kind of climate has it?

4.Russia has immense natural resources, hasn΄t it?

5.What branches of industry are the in Russia?

6.Is Russia a federal republic?

7.What is political and economic situation in Russia now?

Text 15

Moscow

Moscow is the capital of Russia, its political, economic, commercial and cultural centre. It was founded 8 centuries ago by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky. Historians have accepted the year of 1147 as the start of Moscow's history. Gradually the city became more and more powerful. In the 13th century Moscow was the centre of the struggle of Russian lands for the liberation from the tartar yoke. In the 16th century under Ivan the Terrible Moscow became the capital of the new united state. Though Peter the Great moved the capital to St Petersburg in 1712, Moscow remained the heart of Russia. That is why it became the main target of Napoleon's attack. Threequarters of the city was destroyed by fire during Napoleon's occupation, but by the mid-19th century Moscow had been completely restored. After the October revolution Moscow became the capital again.

Now Moscow is one of the largest cities in Europe. Its total area is about nine hundred square kilometres (ancient Moscow occupied the territory of the present-day Kremlin). The population of the city is over 8 million.

Moscow is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The heart of Moscow is Red Square. It has more historic associations than any other place in Moscow. The Kremlin and St Basil's Cathedral (Vasily Blazheny) are masterpieces of ancient Russian architecture. The main Kremlin tower, the Spasskaya Tower, has become the

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symbol of the country. On the territory of the Kremlin you can see old cathedrals, the Bell Tower of Ivan the Great, the Palace of Congresses, the Tzar-Cannon and the Tzar-Bell, the biggest cannon and bell in the world. St Basil's Cathedral was built in the mid-16th century in memory of the victory over Kazan. There is a legend that Ivan the Terrible blinded the architects Barma and Postnik, because he didn't want them to create another masterpiece.

There are a lot of beautiful palaces, old mansions, cathedrals, churches and monuments in Moscow. Now Moscow is being reconstructed and we all hope that in a few years the city will become even more beautiful.

There are more than 80 museums in Moscow. The largest museums are the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and the State Tretyakov Gallery. Other unique museums in Moscow include the All-Russia Museum of Folk Arts, the Andrei Rublev Museum of Early Russian Art, Alexei Bakhrushin Theatre Museum, Mikhail Glinka Museum of Musical Culture and many others.

Moscow is famous for its theatres. The best-known of them is the Bolshoi Opera House. Drama theatres and studios are also very popular.

Moscow is a city of students. There are over 80 higher educational institutions in it, including several universities.

Moscow is the seat of the Russian Parliament (the Duma) and the centre of political life of the country.

Answer the questions:

1.When was Moscow founded?

2.Is there a monument to Yuri Dolgoruky in Moscow? Where is it?

3.When did Moscow become the capital?

4.In 1712 the capital was moved to St Petersburg, wasn't it? When did Moscow become the capital again?

5.Was ancient Moscow a big city? What's the total area of modern Moscow?

6.What's the population of Moscow?

7.What places of interest in the centre of Moscow do you know?

8.What do you know about St Basil's Cathedral?

9.What can you see on the territory of the Kremlin?

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