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Файл:Соединенные Штаты Америки. Учебное пособие
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pecan
pine
poison ivy
redwood
sugar maple
sumacs
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Do a literary Russian translation of Text 2.
2. Count your height in feet and inches.
CULTURE QUEST
See the table of states (Приложение 2) in the Dictionary of
U.S. Life and Culture paying special attention to the list of flowers
and trees known as their symbols.
TEXT 3
AH, SUMMER!
In New England, a friend here recently explained to me, there are
three times of year. Either winter has just been, or winter is coming, or
it’s winter.
I know what he meant. Summers here are short — they start on the
first of June and end on the last day of August, and the rest of the time
you had better known where your mittens are — but for the whole of
those three months the weather is agreeably warm and nearly always
sunny. Best of all, the weather stays at a generally agreeable level,
unlike Iowa, where I grew up and where the temperature and humidity
climb steadily with every passing day of summer until by mid-August
it is so hot and airless that even the flies lie down on their backs and
just quietly gasp.
It’s the mugginess that gets you. Step outside in Iowa in August
and within 20 seconds you will experience a condition that might be
called perspiration incontinence. It gets so hot that you will see
department store mannequins with sweat circles under their arms. I
have particularly vivid memories of Iowa summers because my father
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was the last person in the Midwest to buy an air-conditioner. He
thought they were unnatural. (He thought anything that cost more than
$30 was unnatural.)
The one place you could get a little relief was the screened porch.
Up until the 1950s nearly every American home had one of these. A
screened porch is a kind of summer room on the side of the house,
with walls made of a fine but sturdy mesh to keep out insects. They
give you all the advantages of being outdoors and indoors at the same
time. They are wonderful and will always be associated in my mind
with summer things — corn on the cob, watermelon, the nighttime
chirr of crickets, the sound of my parents’ neighbor Mr. Piper arriving
home late from one of his lodge meetings, parking his car with the aid
of his dustbins, then serenading Mrs. Piper with two choruses of ‘Rose
of Seville’ before settling down for a nap on the lawn.
So when we came to the States, the one thing I asked for in a house
was a screened porch, and we found one. I live out there in the
summer. I am writing this on the screened porch now, staring out on a
sunny garden, listening to twittering birds and the hum of a neighbor’s
lawnmower, caressed by a light breeze and feeling pretty darned
chipper. We will have our dinner out here tonight (if Mrs. В. doesn’t
trip over a rucked carpet with the tray again, bless her) and then I will
lounge around reading until bedtime, listening to the crickets and
watching the cheery blink of fireflies. Summer wouldn’t be summer
without all this.
Soon after we moved into our house, I noticed that a corner of the
mesh had come loose near the floor and that our cat was using it as a
kind of cat flap to come in and sleep on an old sofa we kept out there,
so I just left it. One night after we had been here about a month, I was
reading unusually late when out of the corner of my eye I noticed the
cat come in. Only here’s the thing. The cat was with me already.
I looked again. It was a skunk. Moreover, it was between me and
the only means of exit. It headed for the table and I realized it
probably came in ever night about this time to hoover up any dinner
bit that had fallen on the floor. (And there very often are, on account
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of a little game the children and I play called ‘Vegetable Olympics’
when Mrs. Bryson goes off to answer the phone or get more gravy.)
Being sprayed by a skunk is absolutely the worst thing that can
happen to you that doesn’t make you bleed or put you in the hospital.
If you smell skunk odor from a distance, it doesn’t smell too bad at all.
It’s rather strangely sweet and arresting — not attractive exactly, but
not revolting. Everybody who has ever smelled a skunk from a
distance for the first time thinks, ‘Well, that’s not so bad. I don’t know
what all the fuss is about.’
But get close — or, worse still, get sprayed — and believe me it
will be a long, long time before anyone asks you to dance slow and
close. The odor is not just strong and disagreeable, but virtually
ineradicable. The most effective treatment, apparently, is to scrub
yourself with tomato juice, but even with gallons of the stuff the best
you can hope is to subdue the odor fractionally.
A schoolmate of my son’s had a skunk get into her family’s
basement one night. It sprayed and the family lost virtually everything
in their home. All their curtains, bedding, clothes, soft furnishings —
everything, in short, that could absorb an odor — had to be thrown on
a bonfire, and the rest of the house thoroughly scrubbed from top to
bottom. The schoolmate of my son’s never got near the skunk, left the
house immediately and spent a weekend scouring herself with tomato
juice, but it was weeks before anyone would walk down the same side
of a street as her. So when I say you don’t want to be sprayed by a
skunk, believe me you don’t want to be sprayed by a skunk.
All of this went through my mind as I sat agog watching a skunk
perhaps six feet away. The skunk spent about 30 seconds snuffling
around under the table, then calmly padded out the way it had come.
As it left, it turned and gave me a look that said: ‘I knew you were
there the whole time.’ But it didn’t spray me, for which I am grateful
even now.
The next day I tacked the mesh back into place, but to show my
appreciation I put a handful of dried cat food on the step, and at about
midnight the skunk came and ate it. After that, for two summers, I put
a little food out regularly and the skunk always came to collect it. This
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year it hasn’t been back. There has been a rabies epidemic among
small mammals which has seriously reduced the populations of
skunks, raccoons, and even squirrels. Apparently this happens every
fifteen years or so as part of a natural cycle.
So I seem to have lost my skunk. In a year or so the populations
will recover and I may be able to adopt another. I hope so because the
one thing about being a skunk is that you don’t have a lot of friends.
In the meantime, partly as a mark of respect and partly because
Mrs. B caught one in the eye at an inopportune moment, we have
stopped playing food games even though, if I say it myself, I was
comfortably in line for a gold.
NOTE
Pay attention to the difference in the following British and
American terms:
AmE garbage can, trash can cf. BrE dustbin
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:
dinner
gallon
Iowa
Midwest
porch
READING
Get ready to read the text aloud in class. Make sure you know the
pronunciation of all the words. Express the meaning of each sentence
clearly.
34
COMPREHENSION CHECK
1. Whom does the author call “Mrs. В.”?
2. How much is “six feet” in the decimal system?
3. Explain the meaning of the following sentences:
Either winter has just been, or winter is coming, or it’s winter.
The flies lie down on their backs and just quietly gasp.
It gets so hot that you will see department store mannequins
with sweat circles under their arms.
My father <…> thought anything that cost more than $30 was
unnatural.
<…> a little game the children and I play called ‘Vegetable
Olympics.’
I was comfortably in line for a gold.
ACTIVE VOCABULARY
agreeable adj — pleasant and easy to like: We spent a most agreeable
day together. Antonym: disagreeable.
agreeably adv in a pleasant, nice way: an agreeably warm day.
humid adj — [of the air or climate] warm and damp: These flowers
will grow best in a humid atmosphere.
humidity n — 1. the amount of water in the air: high / low
humidity; 70% humidity 2. conditions in which the air is very
warm and damp: These plants need heat and humidity to grow
well.
to gasp v — 1. (at something) to take a quick deep breath with your
mouth open, esp. because you are surprised or in pain: She gasped
at the wonderful view. 2. (something out) to have difficulty
breathing or speaking: She managed to gasp out her name.
gasp n — a quick deep breath, usu. caused by a strong emotion: to
give a gasp of horror / surprise / relief.
lawnmower n — a machine for cutting the grass on lawns.
to mow lawns — to cut the grass on lawns.
35
to revolt v — 1. (against somebody/something) to take violent action
against the people in power: The peasants threatened to revolt.
Synonym: to rebel, to rise up. 2. (against something) to behave in a
way that is the opposite of what somebody expects of you, esp. in
protest: Teenagers often revolt against parental discipline.
Synonym: to rebel 3. to make somebody feel horror or disgust: All
the violence in the movie revolted me. Synonym: to disgust.
revolting adj — extremely unpleasant: a revolting smell.
Synonym: disgusting.
fuss n — 1. unnecessary excitement, worry or activity: He does what
he’s told without any fuss. 2. anger or complaints about something,
esp. something that is not important: I’m sorry for making such a
fuss about the noise.
odor n — [formal] a smell, esp. one that is unpleasant: a
foul / musty / pungent, etc. odor; odor of cigarette smoke;
[figurative] the odor of suspicion.
basement n — a room or rooms in a building, partly or completely
below the level of the ground: He lives in a basement apartment.
to appreciate v — 1. to recognize the good qualities of somebody:
You can’t really appreciate foreign literature in translation. 2. to
be grateful for something that somebody has done; to welcome
something: I’d appreciate some help. Note: not used in the
progressive tenses.
appreciation n — 1. pleasure that you have when you recognize
and enjoy the good qualities of somebody/something: She shows
little appreciation of good music. 2. (of / for something) the feeling
of being grateful for something: Please accept this gift in
appreciation of all you’ve done for us.
gravy n — a brown sauce made by adding flour to the juices that
come out of meat while it is cooking.
36
ASSIGNMENTS
I. Translate from English into Russian:
1. He seemed extremely agreeable.
2. The island is hot and humid in the summer.
3. Thanks for coming. I appreciate it.
4. The way he ate his food revolted me.
5. The humidity was becoming unbearable.
6. They gasped in astonishment at the news.
7. I would appreciate it if you paid in cash.
8. Finally the people revolted against the military dictatorship.
9. They were agreeably surprised by the quality of the food.
10. Her family doesn’t appreciate her.
11. She’s revoltingly overweight.
12. All that fuss over a few pounds!
13. ‘What was that noise?’ he gasped.
14. Your support is greatly appreciated.
15. It’s a very ordinary movie — I don’t know what all the fuss is
about.
16. He came to the surface of the water gasping for air.
17. I don’t appreciate being treated like a second-class citizen.
18. Steve kicks up a fuss every time I even suggest seeing you.
19. Kitchen goods are sold in the basement.
20. His breath came in short gasps.
21. His talents are not fully appreciated in that company.
22. We’d like a quiet wedding without any fuss.
23. The crowd murmured in appreciation.
II. Translate from Russian into English:
1. Он улыбнулся в знак одобрения.
2. Нельзя оценить красоту и богатство природы только лиш
по картинкам, не видя всей прелести своими глазами.
3. Вы чувствуете этот отвратительный запах? Должно быть,
это запах мусора в контейнере.
4. Я не хочу, чтобы дети увидели это отвратительное
зрелище по телевизору.
37
ь
5. Я не выношу такую влажную погоду.
6. Вам подать соус к бифштексу?
7. Погода была приятная, и мы решили поужинать на свежем
воздухе.
8. Не могли бы вы успокоить людей, стоящих в очереди?
Они устроили такой шум из-за ерунды.
9. У Мэгги перехватило дыхание от ревности, когда она
увидела Боб
10. Он сопротивлялся до последнего вздоха.
11. Зрители в цирке затаили дыхание от изумления, когда она
положила голову в пасть льва.
12. Это растение любит теплую, влажную атмосферу.
13. Вся эта суета абсолютно бессмысленна. Ничего нельзя
исправить.
14. Она не выносит запаха химикатов.
15. Газон надо косить по крайней мере раз в две недели.
16. Мы храним садовы
III. Look up the following names of birds, animals, and insects
in the Dictionary of U. S. Life and Culture and other dictionaries
and encyclopedias. Learn the words. Find pictures of the birds,
animals, and insects living in the U.S.
а с другой девушкой.
е инструменты в подвале.
bear
cardinal
caribou
chickadee
chipmunk
coyote
cricket
deer
elk
firefly
goose
grizzly bear
groundhog
38
hedgehog
lark
mockingbird
moose
quail
rabbit
raccoon
roadrunner
robin
skunk
squirrel
turkey
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. How does the author describe the weather in New England?
2. What are summers like in the state of Iowa?
3. What are the author’s associations with the summer?
4. What does a skunk look like?
5. Why don’t skunks have a lot of friends?
6. One of the early U.S. researchers said that the skunk’s spray
smelled as hell. How does Bill Bryson describe it?
7. How should a person act when a skunk is around to avoid being
sprayed? What did the author do?
8. What wild animals and birds have you ever seen? How do you
feel about them?
9. What animals and birds are characters of Russian fairytales?
Which of their qualities are emphasized?
10. Do you know any American fairytales about animals? In what
way are they similar to the Russian characters? Is there any
difference?
CULTURE QUEST
1. Find information about seasons and weather in different parts of
the U.S.A.
39
2. Look up the recent weather reports in different parts of the U.S.
and compare them with the weather in your city in Russia.
3. Which bird is the symbol of the United States of America? Why
was it chosen as a symbol?
4. See the table of states (Приложение 2) in the Dictionary of U.S.
Life and Culture paying special attention to the list of birds known as
their symbols.
GROUP PROJECTS
1. Make a PowerPoint presentation of flowers and plants used as
symbols of the states.
2. Find information about specifically American animals and birds.
Prepare a PowerPoint presentation on them.
3. Select episodes from Russian and American animated cartoons
with animal characters. Make a presentation illustrating their
similarities and differences.
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