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Файл:Соединенные Штаты Америки. Учебное пособие
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5. Reheat the soup in the microwave.
6. The situation was more complicated than they had at first
realized.
7. I felt very conspicuous in my new car.
8. She is dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt.
9. The advertisements were all posted in conspicuous places.
10. The concert will raise money for local charity.
11. Mary receives low wages.
12. She was on friendly terms with most of the hospital staff.
13. She was astounded by his arrogance.
14. “What did he say about me?” she asked as casually as she could.
15. I don’t like microwavable meals.
16. We hold a dance every year to raise money for homeless people.
17. The hotel offers a friendly atmosphere and personal service.
18. The moment I saw her, I realized something was wrong.
19. The microwave will bleep when your meal is ready.
20. The workers demanded an increase in wages.
21. You never know where you stand with her — one minute she’s
friendly, the next she’ll hardly speak to you.
22. Only later did she realize her mistake.
II. Paraphrase the following sentences using the active
vocabulary:
1. Students prefer wearing informal clothes.
2. To an observer who does not pay much attention, the system
appears confusing.
3. We are collecting money for those who need it badly by
arranging receptions.
4. We’ve bought a basket of nice things for our children.
5. They were enjoying all kinds of good food and drinks at a
newly built local restaurant.
6. The advertisements were all posted in places where it was easy
to notice them.
7. He has achieved his goal of becoming a professional actor.
8. She’s in a habit of buying lots of different things in shopping
malls.
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9. We were greatly surprised at hearing the news.
10. He became aware of what was going on when everybody
showed him their backs.
11. She changed her hair color into very noticeable black to attract
the attention of her group mates.
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:
astound: surprise, astonish, shock, amaze, strike dumb
conspicuous: bright, invisible, vivid, noticeable, prominent,
famous, obscure, notable, plain, obvious, glaring
casual: careless, formal, flippant, offhand, relaxed
realize: accomplish, fail to fulfill, gain, obtain
IV. Choose between wages, salary, pay, fee:
1. She’s on a … of £24 000.
2. The … will be fixed according to qualifications and
experience.
3. We talked about the contract, …, etc.
4. She asked for an advance on her … .
5. They had to take a 20% cut in … .
6. My … is paid directly into my bank.
7. There are extra benefits for people on low … .
8. Entry is only allowed on payment of the full registration … .
9. The … they are offering bears no relation to the amount of
work involved.
10. Her job is hard work, but the … is good.
11. He gets a basic … plus commission.
12. There is no entrance … to the museum.
13. … are paid on Fridays.
14. The government has done nothing to resolve the conflict over
nurses’ … .
15. They’ve docked 15 % off my … for this week.
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V. Translate the following sentences into English paying
attention to the active vocabulary:
1. Джим старался говорить непринужденно, но я знал, что он
обеспокоен.
2. Он не очень приветлив с незнакомцами.
3. Нас поразило, что они пришли.
4. Я понял, как исказили мои слова.
5. Они прислали сообщение о том, что приедут к нам на
обед.
6. Ходят слухи, что ты уезжаешь во Флориду. Это правда?
7. Микроволновки использу
ются в ресторанах быстрого
питания, потому что в них очень быстро готовится пища.
8. Это очевидно даже для случайного наблюдателя.
9. Агенты по недвижимости, как правило, непопулярны,
потому что они обычно описывают дома лучше, чем они
есть на самом деле.
10. Мы пообедали с моими родителями в ресторане в городе.
11. Давай на
бьем холодильник едой и устроим вечеринку.
12. Существуют десятки способов собрать деньги на
благотворительность.
13. В этой красной шляпе ты обращаешь на себя внимание.
14. Что ты делаешь? Ты не в своем уме?
15. Стефани принесла нам много всякой вкуснятины к чаю.
16. Весть об их разводе потр
ясла меня.
17. Не забудь — до Рождества остается только одна неделя на
покупки.
18. Они обедают в ресторане или кафе один-два раза в
неделю.
19. Он, наверное, сошел с ума — занимается бегом в такую
погоду.
20. Мы поражены его успехом.
21. Он заметный молодой человек.
22. Красота Скалистых гор поразила меня.
DISCUSSION
1. What is the safest place you have ever been to?
2. Imagine what would happen if you left your apartment
unlocked and went out of town on vacation.
203
3. Is the crime rate connected with the standard of living? What
other factors can influence it?
4. Is there a difference between big cities and small places in
terms of safety?
5. Do you think that the author exaggerates speaking about
friendly Americans? Can you speak from your personal
experience?
6. What about Russians — do you think they are as friendly as
Americans?
7. Are people in big cities as friendly as in small towns?
TEXT 2
PRE-READING
1. Why do people emigrate from one country to another?
2. Distinguish between the terms ‘emigration,’ ‘immigration,’
and ‘migration.’
3. Name the reasons why people change their place of living.
4. Make a list of positive and negative sides if immigration.
5. What are the least populated areas on the Earth?
6. What are the least populated regions of the U.S. territory?
Check your guesses using reference books.
7. Why is the United States so attractive for immigrants?
WIDE-OPEN SPACES
In the past twenty years the population of the United States
increased by almost exactly the equivalent of a Great Britain. I find
that quite amazing, not least because I don’t know where all these new
people are.
A remarkable thing about America, if you have been living for a
long time in a snug little place like the UK, is how very big and very
empty so much of it is. Consider this: Montana, Wyoming and North
and South Dakota have an area twice the size of France but a
population less than that of south London. Alaska is bigger still and
has even fewer people. Even my own adopted state of New
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Hampshire, in the relatively crowded Northeast, is 85 percent forest,
and most of the rest is lakes. You can drive for very long periods in
New Hampshire and never see anything but trees and mountains —
not a house or a hamlet or even, quite often, another car.
I am constantly caught out by this. Not long ago, I had a couple of
friends over from England and we decided to take a drive over to the
lakes of western Maine. All we had to do was cross New Hampshire —
which is after all the fourth tiniest state in America — and go a little
way over the state line into our lovely, moose-strewn neighbour to the
east. I figured it would take about two to two and a half hours.
Seven hours later we pulled up exhausted at the shore of Rangeley
Lake, took two pictures, looked at each other, and wordlessly got back
in the car and drove home. This sort of thing happens all the time.
The curious thing is that nearly all Americans, as far as I can tell,
don’t see it this way. They think the country is way too crowded.
Moves are constantly afoot to restrict access to national parks and
wilderness areas on the grounds that they are dangerously overrun.
Parts of them are unquestionably crowded, but that is only because 98
percent of visitors arrive by car, and 98 percent of those venture no
more than 400 yards from them. Elsewhere, however, you can have
whole mountains to yourself even in the most crowded parks on the
busiest days. Yet I may soon find myself barred from hiking in many
wilderness areas, unless I had the foresight to book a visit weeks
beforehand, because of perceived overcrowding.
Even more ominously, there is a growing belief that the best way
of dealing with this supposed crisis is by expelling most of those not
born here. There is an organization whose name escapes me (it may be
Dangerously Small-Minded Reactionaries for a Better America) that
periodically runs earnest, carefully reasoned ads in the New York
Times and other important publications calling for an end to
immigration because, as one of its ads explains, it ‘is devastating our
environment and the quality of our lives.’ Give me a break. Elsewhere
it adds, ‘Primarily because of immigration we are rushing at
breakneck speed toward an environmental and economic disaster.’
You could, I suppose, make a case for cutting back on
immigration, but not on the grounds that the country is running out
of room. Anti-immigration arguments conveniently overlook the
205
fact that America already expels a million immigrants a year, and
that those who are here mostly do jobs that are too dirty, dangerous
or low-paying for Americans to do. Getting rid of immigrants is not
suddenly going to open employment opportunities for the locals;
all it’s going to do is leave a lot of dishes unwashed and a lot of
fruit unpicked. Still less is it going to miraculously create a lot
more breathing space for the rest of us.
America already has one of the lowest proportions of immigrants
in the developed world. Just 6 per cent of people in the United States
are foreign born compared with, for instance, 8 per cent in Britain and
11 per cent in France. America may or may not be heading for an
environmental and economic disaster, but if so it certainly isn’t
because six people in every hundred were born somewhere else. But
try telling that to most Americans.
The fact is America is already one of the least crowded countries
on earth with an average of just sixty-eight people per square mile,
compared with 256 in France and over 600 in Britain. Altogether, only
2 per cent of the United States is classified as ‘built up.’
Of course, Americans have always tended to see these things in a
different way. Daniel Boone famously is supposed to have looked out
of his cabin window one day, seen a wisp of smoke rising from a
homesteader’s dwelling on a distant mountain, and announced his
intention to move on, complaining bitterly that the neighborhood was
getting too crowded. I just hate to see the rest of my country going the
same way.
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:
Alaska
Boone, Daniel
cabin
homesteader
immigration
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Maine
mile
Montana
moose
New Hampshire
North Dakota
South Dakota
wilderness
Wyoming
yard
COMPREHENTION CHECK
I. True or false:
1. There’s no room for immigrants in the U.S.A.
2. It takes seven hours to cross New Hampshire.
3. Americans consider immigrants to devastate their environment
and quality of their living.
4. The U.S. already expels 2 million immigrants a year.
5. Immigrants don’t do jobs that are dirty, dangerous and low-
paying.
6. Ten per cent of people in the U.S. are foreign-born.
7. America is one of the least populated countries on Earth.
8. Only 5 percent of the United States is classified as “built up.”
9. There are 600 people per square mile in Britain.
II. Answer the following questions:
1. What states does the author mention when writing about the
lack of population?
2. Where did a couple of his friends go and what did they do
there?
3. What is the general opinion about immigration in America?
4. Why does the author think that anti-immigration arguments are
wrong?
5. How does the author call the organizations dealing with
immigrants in his own words?
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6. What are the proportions of immigrants in other developed
countries? Do you think Americans are aware of this fact?
7. What did the author mean by saying that “only 2% of the U.S.
are built-up”?
8. What was Boone’s attitude towards his new neighbors?
III. Divide the text into parts and translate it into Russian.
Discuss the translation in class.
ACTIVE VOCABULARY
to fool v around/about — 1. to spend time doing nothing useful: Jane
never does any work, just fools around all day long. 2. to behave in
a foolish or irresponsible way: You shouldn’t fool around with
electric equipment.
to increase v (by) — to become greater in size, amount, degree, etc.;
grow: The population of the country has increased. 2. to cause to
become greater in size, amount, degree, etc.: They have increased
the price of gas by almost 20 percent. Synonyms: to enlarge,
augment, multiply. Antonyms: to decrease, diminish, lessen.
earnest adj — 1. serious or intense; not joking or playing fool: an
earnest young woman who never laughs.
in earnest — seriously, in a determined way: I’m sure Larry was
in earnest when he said he wanted to marry Sally.
disaster n — any happening that causes great harm or damage;
serious or sudden misfortune. Synonyms: calamity suggests a
grave misfortune that brings deep distress or sorrow to an
individual or to the people at large; catastrophe is esp. applied to a
disastrous end or outcome; cataclysm suggests a great upheaval,
esp. a political, or social one that causes sudden and violent
change.
to overlook v — 1. to have or give a view of from above: Our room
overlooks the sea. 2. to fail to notice, neglect: He’s overlooked this
little detail. Synonyms: to miss, neglect, ignore.
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to devastate v — 1. to destroy completely, so that nothing useful or
valuable remains: The fire devastated the town. 2. to make
helpless; overwhelm: The teacher’s criticism devastated him.
environment n — 1. the natural conditions, such as air, water, and
land, in which people, animals, and plants live: new laws to protect
the environment. 2. the physical and social conditions in which
people live, esp. as they influence their feelings and development:
home environment; a pleasant working environment.
to pollute the environment — to add dirty or harmful substances
to land, air, water, etc. so that it is no longer pleasant or safe to use.
to protect the environment — to make sure that environment is
not harmed, injured, damaged, polluted, etc.
WORD COMBINATIONS AND PHRASES
to cut back (on) — to curtail or discontinue: We oppose any plans to
cut back (on) the education budget.
at breakneck speed — vary fast, with extremely high speed
give somebody a break — [informal] to give somebody a chance (to
make things better): Give him a break and he’ll succeed.
I. Translate into Russian paying attention to the active
vocabulary:
1. We expected wine-drinking to increase in the U.S. and Britain
over the next few years.
2. Natural disasters such as drought two years ago left the region
devastated.
3. The environment is more polluted in large cities.
4. War, famine and disaster are every-day events on the TV
screen.
5. Our boss never overlooks even a beginner’s mistakes.
6. The government is increasing pressure on drug dealers.
7. He is in the habit of fooling around with his dog in the
evenings.
209
8. Environment pollution is one of the biggest problems of the
st
century.
21
9. The citizens of New Orleans suffered a huge disaster during
hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
10. My windows overlook the street.
11. Come on, give me a break!
12. The Senate adopted a new law to protect the environment.
13. Thousands died in the disaster.
14. The price of oil increased.
15. Stop fooling around and sit down!
16. The bomb devastated much of the old part of the city.
17. Despite her earnest efforts, she could not find a job.
18. He seems to have overlooked one important fact.
19. If you fool about with matches, you’ll end up getting burned.
20. Driving at breakneck speed is very dangerous.
21. The company had to cut back production.
22. Give him a break — it’s only his first day on the job!
II. Insert the right word (choose from ‘calamity, tragedy,
catastrophe, disaster’):
1. The flood was a …, from which Bangladesh has never really
recovered.
2. The death of 15 000 seals last summer is one of several … that
have caused the North Sea pollution.
3. The Second World War was a … for the USSR costing nearly
20 million lives.
4. Many people clearly remember the … in which 116 school-
children were killed.
5. We prayed to God to protect us from further … .
6. In his poetry, he recalls the … that engulfed Europe between
1914 and 1918.
7. Not for the first time in history, predictions of world … are in
the air.
8. Complacency has led to some appalling ecological … .
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