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Файл:Соединенные Штаты Америки. Учебное пособие
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pedestrian n —
a vehicle.
to exaggerate v — make (something) seem larger, better, worse, etc.
than it really is:
exaggeration n : To call this hill a mountain would be an
exaggeration.
to bring something home to somebody — to make someone
clearly understand something.
a person walking in the street and not traveling in
He is exaggerating the idea of his own importance.
to ridicule v —
They all ridiculed her suggestion.
ridicule n —
something appear worthless or foolish.
to hold up to ridicule —
pictures which were once held up to ridicule are now
acknowledged as masterpieces.
ridiculous
unreasonable:
looked ridiculous in her tight pink trousers.
to exasperate v —
esp. by testing the patience of:
delays.
exasperating
exasperating man!
exasperation n:
to abandon v —
abandoned adj — 1. left and no longer wanted, used or needed: an
abandoned car / house. 2. completely uncontrolled, wild; not following
accepted standards or thought to be immoral: abandoned behavior.
to laugh unkindly at; declare the foolishness of:
language or behavior intended to make someone or
to make fun of as being silly:
adj —
to leave completely and forever; to desert.
deserving ridicule; foolish, silly, or
What a ridiculous suggestion! The fat woman
[usu. passive] to annoy or make extremely angry,
I was exasperated by all the
adj —
In sheer exasperation, he gave the machine a kick.
extremely annoying:
He’s such an
Her
to thrive v — to become, and continue to be, successful, strong,
healthy, etc.; to flourish: New businesses thrive in this area.
141
ASSIGNMENTS
I. Translate into Russian paying attention to the active
vocabulary:
1. This bookstore is within walking distance from my university
2.
It was ludicrous to think that the plan could succeed.
3.
She gave an exuberant performance.
4.
The school has recently built a new gym.
5. The hotel was really filthy and I’m not exaggerating.
6. The child was found abandoned but unharmed.
7. I’m sure he exaggerates his Irish ascent.
8. The exam was ridiculously easy.
The supermarket is within a seven-minute walk from here.
9.
10.
I work out in the gym most days. I like to exercise on a
treadmill.
11.
Pedestrian accidents are down by 5 percent.
12. These animals rarely thrive in captivity.
13. We prefer shopping in downtown stores.
14. They abandoned the baseball game because of the rain.
15. Due to this thriving industry the region has become the richest
in the country.
16. This is a pedestrian zone. No vehicles are allowed here.
17. How can we get to the other side of the highway? Can you see
any pedestrian crossing?
18. We can excuse his behavior as youthful exuberance.
19. Jogging is a good way to keep you fit.
20. He can’t keep from doing ludicrous remarks.
21. I overdid it in the gym and hurt my back.
22. He tends to exaggerate the difficulties.
23. The abandoned car was causing an obstruction.
24. This is such an exasperating child! I have no patience with her.
25. Why does everybody have to ridicule me? I can’t stand it any
longer!
26. I don’t want to take part in the TV show — it will only expose
me to public ridicule!
27. How are your children? Thriving, I hope!
.
142
II. Paraphrase using the active vocabulary:
1. The trade in this area flourishes.
2. His wild behavior annoys everyone.
3. In Russian cities you can see lots of people walking in the
street.
4. My exhilarating imagination drew a vivid picture of happiness.
5. I am used to your absurd jokes.
6. It is impossible to run slowly and steadily in a crowded street.
7. I don’t see how you can achieve good results within one month
without joining a health club.
8. The office routine is getting on my nerves.
9. You are being foolish today. What’s the matter with you?
10. Barbara is so annoying! I can’t stand her company any longer.
11. The house had long been deserted and looked spooky.
12. She has such a lively personality — why make fun of her?
III. Below are words from the active, each followed by a group
of synonyms and antonyms. Decide which is a synonym and which
is an antonym referring to the context the word is used in.
to abandon: to depart, to withdraw, to come, to vacate, to return
ludicrous: logical, ridiculous, foolish, absurd, sensible, reasonable
exasperating:
comforting, aggravating. infuriating
IV. Translate into English using the active vocabulary:
annoying, soothing, irritating, provoking,
1. Билл живет в трех минутах ходьбы отсюда.
2. Супермаркет далеко отсюда? — Да нет, не очень, минут
двадцать пешком.
3. Компьютерная индустрия сегодня быстро развивается.
4. У подножья горы они увидели заброшенный дом в стиле
ренессанс.
5. Скажите пожалуйста, где находится вокзал? Мне надо
сесть на автобус? — Не обязательно, можно дойти
пешком.
чше заниматься бегом, чем играть в такие скучные
6. Лу
игры.
143
7. Какая нелепая идея! Как тебе объяснить, что ты ничего не
добьешься такими методами?
8. Я считаю это предложение совершенно абсурдным.
9. Она любит кричащие цвета и потому иногда выглядит
нелепо.
10. Некоторые люди не любят пешеходные перекрестки и
нарушают правила.
11. Он занимается на беговой дорожке три раза в неделю, а в
спортзал ед
ет на автомобиле, хотя живет в пяти минутах
ходьбы. Разве это не смешно?
12. Он хочет, чтобы его дело процветало, поэтому нанял
новых квалифицированных специалистов.
13. Как ужасно, что в стране так много брошенных детей, хотя
их родители живы.
14. Я ему завидую — у него такое живое воображение!
15. Смит в отчаянии, потому чт
о его новый роман подняли на
смех. — Я думаю, ты преувеличиваешь.
16. Мэгги, как насчет пробежки по парку? — Ладно, только
давай доедем до парка на автомобиле.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. If there were large shopping malls far from where you live,
would you visit them even though you don’t own a car?
2. Do you work out a lot or do you think it takes up too much of
your valuable time?
3. What is healthy living for Russians and for Americans?
TEXT 2
THE CUPHOLDER REVOLUTION
I am assured that this is a true story.
A man calls up his computer helpline complaining that the
cupholder on his personal computer has snapped off, and he wants to
know how to get it fixed.
‘Cupholder?’ says the computer helpline person, puzzled. I’m
sorry, sir, but I’m confused. Did you buy this cupholder at a computer
show or receive it as a special promotion?'
144
‘No, it came as part of the standard equipment on my computer.’
‘But our computers don’t come with cupholders.’
‘Well, pardon me, friend, but they do,’ says the man a little hotly.
‘I’m looking at mine right now. You push a button on the base of the
machine and it slides right out.’
The man, it transpired, had been using the CD drawer in his
computer to hold his coffee cup.
I bring this up here by way of introducing our topic: cupholders.
I don’t know if cupholders exist in Britain yet, but if not, trust me,
they are on their way. Cupholders are taking over the world.
If you are not familiar with them, cupholders are little trays, lids or
other receptacles with holes for holding cups and other drinks
containers, which are found in multiple locations throughout every
modern American automobile. Often they are mounted on the backs
of seats or built into armrests, but just as often they are ingeniously
tucked away in places you would never think to look for a beverage
stowage device. Generally, in my experience, if you push an
unfamiliar button anywhere in an American car, either it will activate
the back windscreen wiper, which will rub with a heavy dragging
noise across the glass once every six seconds for the rest of eternity
no matter what you do to try to stop it, or it will make a cupholder
slide out, rise up, drop down or otherwise magically enter your life.
It would be almost impossible to exaggerate the importance of
cupholders in American automotive circles these days. The
Times
cars. It rated each of them for ten features, such as engine size, boot
space, handling, quality of suspension, and, yes, number of
cupholders. A car dealer acquaintance of ours tells us that they are
one of the first things people remark on, ask about or play with when
they come to look at a car. People buy cars on the basis of cupholders.
Nearly all car
with as many as seventeen cup-holders. Seventeen! The largest
Caravan holds seven passengers. You don’t have to be a nuclear
physicist, or even wide awake, to work out that that is 2.43
cupholders per passenger. Why, you may reasonably wonder, would
each passenger in a vehicle need 2.43 cupholders? Good question.
recently ran a long article in which it tested a dozen family
advertisements note them prominently in the text.
Some cars, like the newest model of the Dodge Caravan, come
New York
145
Americans, it is true, consume positively staggering volumes of
fluids. One of our local petrol stations, I am told, sells a flavored
confection called a Slurpee in containers up to 60 ounces in size.
That is three English pints of sickly stuff that turns your tongue blue.
But even if every member of the family had a Slurpee
bottle of Milk of Magnesia for dealing with the after-effects, that
would still leave three cupholders spare.
There is a long tradition of endowing the interiors of American
cars with lots of gadgets and comforts, and I suppose a superfluity of
cupholders is just an outgrowth of that tradition.
The reason Americans want a lot of comfort in their cars is
because they live in them. Almost 94 per cent of all American trips
from home involve the use of a car. (The figure in Britain is about 60
per cent, which is bad enough.) People in America don’t just use
their cars to get to the shops, but to get between shops. Most
businesses in America have their own car parks, so someone running
six errands will generally move the car six times on a single outing,
even to get between two places on opposite sides of the same street.
There are 200 million cars in the United States —
the world’s total, for about 5 per cent of its population — and an
additional two million new ones hit the roads each month (though
obviously many are also retired). Even so, there are about twice as
many cars in America as there were twenty years ago, driving on
twice as many roads, racking up about twice as many miles.
So, because Americans have a lot of cars and spend a lot of
time in them, they like a lot of comforts. However, there is a limit
to how many different features you can fit into a car interior. What
better, then, than to festoon it with nifty cupholders, particularly
when people seem to go for them in a big way? That’s my theory.
What is certainly true is that not putting cup-holders in a car is
a serious mistake. I read a couple of years ago that Volvo had to
redesign all its cars for the American market for this very reason.
Volvo’s engineers had foolishly thought that what buyers were
looking for was a reliable engine, side-impact bars and heated
seats, when in fact what they craved was little trays into which to
insert their Slurpees. So a bunch of guys were put to work
and
a personal
40 per cent of
146
designing cupholders into the system, and Volvo was thus saved
from beverage ignominy, if not actual financial ruin.
NOTE
Pay attention to the difference in the following American and
British names of automobile parts:
AmE antenna cf. BrE aerial — антенна
AmE fender cf. BrE wing — крыло автомобиля
AmE gas gauge cf. BrE petrol gauge — сигнализатор резерва
топлива
AmE gas pedal/accelerator cf. BrE accelerator — педаль
акселератора
AmE gas tank cf. BrE petrol tank — топливный бак
AmE gas tank door cf. BrE petrol cap — пробка топливного бака
AmE hood cf. BrE bonnet — капот (автомобиля)
AmE license plate cf. BrE numberplate — номерной знак
автомобиля
AmE parking light cf. BrE sidelight — боковой у
поворота
AmE parking lot cf. BrE car park — открытая автостоянка
AmE side mirror cf. BrE wing mirror — боковое зеркало
AmE splash guard cf. BrE mudflap — брызговик
AmE tire cf. BrE tyre — шина
AmE window roller cf. BrE window winder — стеклоподъемник
AmE windshield cf. BrE windscreen — ветровое стекло
автомобиля
AmE windshield wiper cf. BrE windscreen wiper —
стеклоочиститель ветрового стекла
казатель
CULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS
Look up the following entries in the Dictionary of U. S. Life and
Culture (Жизнь и культура США: Лингвострановедческий
словарь) or other dictionaries and encyclopedias:
ad
ounce
147
pint
Read the text aloud paying attention to the pronunciation of
all the words.
COMPREHENSION CHECK
Do you think the story about the computer helpline is true?
1.
Explain what happened.
2.
Do cupholders exist in Britain? Russia?
3.
Why are they so popular in the U.S.? Give explanations from
the text.
4.
Give equivalents in the Russian measurement system for the
following:
5.
When people buy a car in the U.S./Russia, what features do
they usually pay attention to?
6.
How can the number of cupholders in a car influence a
potential American customer?
7.
Why do Americans want a lot of comfort in their cars?
8.
Comment on the automobile statistics given in the text.
9.
Why did Volvo have to redesign all its cars for the American
market?
10.
Comment on the following statements from the text:
“Americans, it is true, consume positively staggering
volumes of fluids.”
“The reason Americans want a lot of comfort in their cars
is because they live in them.”
60 ounces; three English pints
.
ACTIVE VOCABULARY
to take over —
control over and responsibility for (something):
been dismissed
driving
armrest n — the part of some type of seat, esp. in planes or cars,
which supports your arm.
—
to assume management or possession of; to take
The mayor has
—
who do you think will take over? I am tired of
will you take over?
148
to advertise v —
generally known to the public, for example in a newspaper or on
Are lawyers allowed to advertise their services? We
TV:
advertised for someone to look after the garden.
to make (something for sale, services offered, etc.)
advertisement n —
notice on a wall or a commercial on TV. Also
classified ad — a small advertisement placed in a newspaper by a
person wishing to sell or buy something, offer or get employment,
She scanned a column of classified ads.
etc.:
beverage n — any type of drink except water or medicine:
beverages
to bring something up — to mention or to bring to attention (a
subject):
gadget n — a small tool or device that does something useful:
clever little gadget for peeling potatoes.
errand n —
something:
to go on/run errands:
outing n —
outing to the coast
to hit the road —
ASSIGNMENTS
I. Translate the following sentences into Russian paying
attention to the active vocabulary:
Don’t bring up that embarrassing topic.
a short pleasant trip, esp. for a group of people:
something used for making things known, e. g. a
ad
[informal].
hot
(= tea, coffee, hot chocolate);
a short journey to carry a message, to do or get
I’m busy, I’ve got some errands to do.
I have no time to run errands for him.
.
to start a journey; leave.
alcoholic beverages.
a
a school
1. Who do you think will take over now that the governor has
resigned?
2. It is unwise of you to advertise your own failures.
3. He’s not a very good advertisement for the driving school —
he’s failed the test six times!
4. I’m against the law governing the sale of alcoholic beverages.
5. This gadget is great for opening jars.
149
6. I’ve bought myself a new flash disc — you know I am fond of
gadgets.
7. We’ve already discussed what we are going to do about it —
why bring it up again?
8. It’s not my job to run errands for Doctor Wilson.
9. Thank you for taking me to the reservation park —
such a pleasant
10. OK, it’s late, guys —
outing!
time to
hit the road.
it’s been
II. Divide the text between the members of the group and
translate it into Russian in writing.
III. Paraphrase paying attention to the active vocabulary:
1. I consider this type of drink to be unhealthy because it contains
lots of colors.
2. The director is in hospital —
management
3.
The concert will take place on March 15 — we’ll have
make an announcement
4. It’s impossible to imagine our life without such useful tools as
coffee-makers or toasters.
5. In a couple of days we are going to start our trip to Egypt.
6. We are going on a short pleasant trip to the mountains — will
you join us?
IV. Translate into English:
while he is sick.
in the local newspaper.
you’ll have
to assume
to
1. Это удобное приспособление для замешивания теста.
2. Вместо того, чтобы оценивать качество мотора, подвески и
тормозов, ты смотришь на подлокотники и подставки для
стаканчиков. Разве так покупают автомобили?
3. Он считает, что «Пепси» — прекрасный безалкогольный
напиток.
4. Когда мы подъехали к автозаправочн
машину, на номерном знаке которой было написано
название штата Мэн.
ой станции, я увидел
150
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