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Файл:Соединенные Штаты Америки. Учебное пособие
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21. Я уже заплатил за год обучения моей дочери в универ-
ситете.
22. К сожалению, не могу принять ваше приглашение.
23. Я думала, что буду ждать тебя, а получилось наоборот.
24. Билл занимался немецким языком с репетитором.
25. Тед обернулся с испуганным взглядом на лице.
26. Не забудь надеть толстовку.
V. Look up the term “empty-nes
ter” in a dictionary and
explain how it relates to the text.
VI. Translate the text into Russian trying to preserve the
author’s style and humor. Discuss the translations in class.
ADDITIONAL ASSIGNMENTS
U. S. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
School Class Age
NURSERY SCHOOL
3 — 5
(optional)
KINDERGARTEN
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
first grade
second grade
third grade
4 — 5
6 — 12
fourth grade
fifth grade
sixth grade
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL seventh grade
12 — 14
eighth grade
HIGH SCHOOL ninth grade
(freshman)
tenth grade
14 — 18
(sophomore)
eleventh grade
(junior)
twelfth grade
(senior)
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COLLEGE
(
UNDERGRADUATE)
freshman
sophomore
junior
senior
GRADUATE SCHOOL Master’s program
Doctoral program
I. 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:
Associate
Bachelor
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.)
freshman
graduate studies
high school
junior
Master
scholarship
senior
sophomore
undergraduate studies
NOTES
Pay attention to the difference in the following British and
American terms:
AmE graduate cf. BrE postgraduate — относящийся к обучению
в университете после получения первой степени (бакалавра).
II. Match the columns:
1. Junior high school a. a school for children aged between 14
and 18
2. High school b. a school for children aged between 12
and 14
3. Nursery school c. a school for young children, aged 6 to 12
4. Elementary school d. a school for young children of aged 3 to 5
162
III. Answer the questions illustrating your knowledge of the
U. S. educational system:
1. A child is attending kindergarten. How old should s/he be?
2. If your child is 12 years old, what school should s/he attend?
3. What institution should one enter in order to get a Bachelor’s
degree?
4. A student is a high school senior. What grade is s/he in?
5. How many years should one study to get a degree of an
Associate? Bachelor? Master?
IV. Which of the following suggestions would improve
education in your country? Discuss each one and then agree on
two major recommendations.
1. The school day should last longer so that students can take
additional classes.
2. Students ought to spend a minimum of three hours a day on
homework.
3. All students ought to have access to the Internet.
4. Students shouldn’t be given failing grades.
5. Schooling should be free till the age of 21.
6. Students ought to be allowed to watch educational TV in the
classroom.
7. The library ought to be replaced by a multimedia center with
computers.
V. Academic subjects aren’t the only things you learn at
school. Read the list. Add more items.
School teaches you:
how to get along with others;
how to think for yourself;
how to follow a schedule;
how to organize your time;
how to speak with confidence;
how to finish something you’ve started;
163
how to become independent from your family;
_______________________
_______________________
_______________________
VI. Compare the American and Russian grading systems.
American Grading System
90 — 100% A Excellent
80 — 89% B Good
70 — 79% C Satisfactory
65 — 69% D Unsatisfactory
Below 65% F Failure
VII. List the reasons against educating children at home.
Consider the following:
qualification of parents
children’s psychological development
the role of school
exams and qualifications
VIII. Find more information about the educational system in
the U. S. A. Compare it with the Russian educational system.
TEXT 2
DUMB AND DUMBER
A few years ago an organization called the National Endowment
for the Humanities tested 8,000 American high school seniors and
found that a very large number of them didn’t know, well, anything.
Two-thirds had no idea when the U.S. Civil War took place or
which president penned the Gettysburg Address. Roughly the same
proportion could not identify Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill or
Charles de Gaulle. A third thought that Franklin Roosevelt was
president during the Vietnam War and that Columbus sailed to
164
America after 1750. Forty-two per cent — this is my favourite —
couldn’t name a single country in Asia.
I am always a little dubious about these surveys because I know
how easy it would be to catch me out. (‘The study found that Bryson
couldn’t understand simple instructions for assembling a household
barbecue.’) Still, there is a kind of emptiness of thought at large these
days that is hard to overlook. The phenomenon is now widely known
as the Dumbing Down of America.
I first noticed it myself a few months ago when I was watching
something called the Weather Channel on TV and the meteorologist
said, ‘And in Albany today they had 12 inches of snow,’ then brightly
added, ‘That’s about a foot.’
No, actually that is a foot, you poor sad imbecile.
On the same night I was watching a documentary on the Discovery
Channel when the narrator intoned: ‘Owing to wind and rain, the
Sphinx eroded by three feet in just three hundred years,’ then paused
and solemnly added: That’s a rate of one foot a century.’
See what I mean? It happens all the time.
I was recently on a cross-country flight with Continental Airlines
(suggested slogan: ‘Not Quite the Worst’) and, goodness knows why,
I was reading that ‘Letter from the President’ that you get at the front
of every airline magazine — the one that explains how they are
constantly striving to improve services, evidently by making everyone
change planes at Newark. Well, this one was about how they had just
conducted a survey of their customers to find out their needs.
What the customers wanted, according to the incisive prose of Mr.
Gordon Bethune, President and CEO, was ‘a clean, safe and reliable airline
that took them where they wanted to go, on time and with their luggage.’
Gosh! Let me get a pen and a notebook! Did you say ‘with their
luggage’? Wow!
Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t for a moment think that
Americans are inherently more stupid or brain-dead than anyone else.
It’s just that they are routinely provided with conditions that spare
them the need to think, and so they have got out of the habit.
Partly you can attribute it to what I call the ‘London, England’
syndrome, after the American newspaper practice of specifying the
165
country as well as the city in datelines. If, say, the New York Times
were to report on a British general election, it would dateline the story
‘London, England’, so that no reader anywhere would have to think:
‘London? Now let’s see, is that in Nebraska?’
The idea is to spare the audience having to think. At all. Ever. Oh,
but of course.
On one occasion when I made reference to someone in Britain
attending a state school, an American researcher said to me: ‘But I
didn’t think they had states in Britain.’
‘I meant state in the rather broader sense of nation-state.’
‘So you mean public schools?’
‘Well, no, because public schools in Britain are private schools.’
Long pause. ‘You’re kidding.’
‘It’s a well-known fact.’
‘So let me get this straight. They call private schools public
schools in Britain?’
‘Correct.’
‘Then what do they call public schools?’
‘State schools.’
Another long pause. ‘But I didn’t think they had states in Britain.’
But let us finish with my favorite inanity of the moment. It is the
reply given by Bob Dole when he was asked to define the essence of
his campaign.
‘It’s about the future,’ he replied gravely, ‘because that’s where
we’re going.’
The scary thing is, he’s right.
NOTES
1. Pay attention to the difference in the following American
and British terms:
AmE state — штат cf. BrE state — государство
AmE state school cf. BrE AmE public school
AmE private school BrE public school
2. Pay attention to the difference in the following American
and British spellings:
AmE favorite cf. BrE favourite
AmE Mr cf. BrE Mr.
166
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:
Albany
barbecue
Boston Globe
CEO
Civil War
Columbus
Continental Airlines
Dole, Bob
Gettysburg Address
National Endowment for the Humanities
Nebraska
New York Times
Newark
public school
Roosevelt, Franklin
state
state school
Vietnam War
Weather Channel
COMPREHENSION CHECK
1. Who was tested by the National Endowment for the
Humanities? What were the results of the survey?
2. How does the author explain the meaning of the phenomenon
“Dumbing Down of America”?
3. What examples does he give to prove the existence of this
phenomenon?
4. Explain the following phrase: “…they are routinely provided
with conditions that spare them the need to think, and so they
have got out of the habit.”
5. Why do Americans get confused when they hear about private
and states schools in Britain?
167
6. How many inches are there in a foot?
Calculate your height in feet and inches (e. g. 165 cm = 5′5″, which
means five feet five inches).
ACTIVE VOCABULARY
to identify v — 1. to prove or show the identity of: She was asked to
identify the criminal. 2. to discover or recognize: to identify the
main cause of a problem 3. (with) to connect, associate, or involve
closely: to identify a person with a school of thought.
dubious adj — 1. causing doubt, ambiguous, vague: a dubious
remark. 2. feeling doubt, hesitating, skeptical: I am still dubious
about their plan. 3. with the outcome undecided or hanging in the
balance: dubious battle. 4. rousing suspicion, questionable; shabby:
a dubious character. Synonym: doubtful.
to survey v — 1. to look at or consider, esp. in a general or
comprehensive way; view: to survey the house. 2. to make a survey
of: Almost 60% of those surveyed said they didn’t support the
President’s actions.
survey n, pl — veys 1. a detailed study or inspection through
observations, questionnaires, etc.: to carry out a survey of public
opinion. 2. a general view, comprehensive study or examination: a
survey of Italian art.
imbecile n — 1. a retarded person mentally equal to a child between
three and eight years old. 2. a rude way to describe a person that
you think is very stupid: They behaved like imbeciles.
narrator n — a person who tells a story or explains what is
happening.
narrative n — 1. account of events. 2. the act of narrating.
Note: Pay attention to the stresses in the words: to narrate, narrator,
narrative.
customer n — a person or organization that buys goods or services
from a shop, business, etc., esp. regularly: He is a good customer.
168
The customer is always right. Note: When people go out to buy
things in stores and shops, they are shoppers: The streets were full
of shoppers. When people buy things from a particular store, they
are that store’s customers: Mr. Hardy is our regular customer. If
you are paying for professional services, esp. from a lawyer or a
bank, you are a client. If you are staying in a hotel, you are a guest.
to advertise v — 1. to tell about or praise (a product, a service, etc.)
publicly, as through newspapers, handbills, radio, television so as
to make people want to buy it. 2. to make known; give notice of: to
advertise for a secretary.
advertisement n — 1. the act of advertising. 2. a public notice or
announcement, usu. paid for, as of things for sale, needs, etc.
cross-country adj, adv — 1. across open country through woods and
fields, etc.: cross-country skiing. 2. across a country: a cross-
country flight.
at large —1. free; not confined; not in jail: Two of the escaped
prisoners are still at large. 2. in general, as a whole, altogether:
The country at large is hoping for great changes.
habit n — a tendency to perform a certain action or behave in a
certain way; usual way of doing: Social customs vary greatly from
country to country. Synonyms: practice: the practice of reading in
bed; custom: the custom of dressing up for dinner.
to get into the habit (of) / out of the habit (of)
slogan n — a short phrase expressing a political, advertising, or some
other message: demonstrators shouting anti-nuclear slogans.
documentary n — a film or a television program or a radio broadcast
that presents facts: Ben is watching a documentary about President
Kennedy.
ASSIGNMENTS
I. Translate into Russian paying attention to the active
vocabulary:
1. This company pays a famous singer to advertise their product.
2. The big bookstore across the road has taken away most of our
customers.
169
3. Sophie has a lot of little habits that I find really irritating.
4. She identified herself to the police as the driver of the car.
5. We are a small business, so we can only advertise in the local
press.
6. The story seemed a bit dubious to me.
7. He was an imbecile to sign a contract with them.
8. He sat quietly surveying the scene around him.
9. You must have seen those computer games — they’ve been
heavily advertised on TV and in all the Sunday papers.
10. Ms. Jackson can’t answer the phone — she’s serving a
customer.
11. He’s been living in the U. S. for such a long time that he no
longer identifies himself with the Ukrainian community.
12. She raised her eyebrows with a dubious expression.
13. We are not exactly imbeciles in money matters.
14. Robert has an annoying habit of saying wrong things at the
wrong time.
15. Discounts are available for our regular customers.
16. He identified the patient as Mr. Black’s wife.
17. Don’t tell my mother I smoke, she thinks it’s a bad habit.
18. We were dubious about signing the deal.
19. This survey shows the percentage of single-parent households
in each area.
20. Whenever I walk by her building I look up at her window from
sheer force of habit.
II. Paraphrase the following sentences using the active
vocabulary:
1. Don’t pay any attention to Jack; it is his usual manner of
behavior to make a fool of himself.
2. For a moment Ann hesitated, she didn’t know what to choose.
3. Bob is so dumb, no wonder that he doesn’t know such simple
things.
4. In some cities you can see special buses with loudspeakers that
make announcements for the sale of different products.
5. A group of scholars made a detailed study of public attitudes.
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