- •Уо «Мозырский государственный педагогический университет
- •Essential vocabulary
- •Basic American Values and Beliefs
- •Introduction
- •Basic american values and assumptions a land of diversity
- •Individual Freedom and Self-Reliance
- •Joining and protesting
- •Hurry, hurry, hurry
- •Are americans materialistic?
- •Straight talk
- •Equal ity
- •Achievement, action, work, and materialism
- •Directness аnd assertiveness
- •Equality of opportunity and competition
- •Material wealth and наrd work
- •Vocabulary Check
- •1. Analyze the following abstract notions аз they are treated in the text:
- •2. Study the following idioms and see if you can supply contexts for them:
- •3. Reading comprehension check. Write the letter of the best answer according to the information in the chapter.
- •Cloze Summary Paragraph
- •The Protestant Heritage
- •Vocabulary Check
- •Comprehension Check
- •Cloze Summary Paragraph
- •American Values at the Crossroads
- •A. Vocabulary Check
- •B. Comprehension Check
- •D. Cloze Summary Paragraph
- •Customs vary with culture
- •Usa and uk in comparison
- •Character and characteristics: a humorous look at
- •Stereotypes
- •What the British Think of Americans…
- •What Americans Think of the British...
- •4 Assessing Students' Comparative Skills
- •I Look at the chart and decide whether the student
- •Socio-cultural portrait of the uk & usa
- •British values and assumptions. Monarchy the island people
- •The island people (II)
- •Essential vocabulary
- •I. Define and comment on the following terms used in the texts
- •II. Study the following list of geographic names.
- •The united kingdom
- •Introduction
- •As others see us
- •0 Wad1 come Pow'r the giftie2 gie3 us
- •It wad frae5 mony6 a blander free us
- •Views of britain. The official view
- •Тhe people's view
- •British society a changing world
- •Attitudes
- •Stereotypes and change
- •English versus british
- •Multiculturalism
- •Conservatism
- •Being different
- •The love of nature
- •The national trust
- •The love of animals
- •Formality and informality
- •The scruffy british
- •Public spiritedness and amateurism
- •I. Mark the following areas of activity as 'professional' or 'amateur / voluntary':
- •II. Sort out the following as positively or negatively viewed by the British:
- •Privacy and sex
- •Lovely weather we're having
- •II. Explain the meaning of the following:
- •III. Match the adjectives with the nouns they collocate with:
- •IV. Explain the use of articles with the word England:
- •I. Fill in the grid:
- •II. Sort out the details for each "stereotype" of the English person
- •III. Answer the questions:
- •IV. Do you agree that
- •No longer an island
- •Have the english finally left their
- •Island mentality behind?
- •Cast in the same mould
- •Change of direction
- •I. Match the following proper names with relevant characteristics:
- •Monarchy
- •Vocabulary
- •The royal family
- •The Sovereign
- •The Royal Family
- •The Monarchy
- •I. Great Britain is a monarchy. Find out from your partner: what is the role of the monarch in a highly developed modern country?
- •II. Choose the correct equivalent for the word:
- •V. Say if you agree or .Disagree with the following and explain why:
- •VII. Express your opinion on the following:
- •Adapt or die?
- •I. Find out the following.
- •II. Make sure you understand the following words and expressions:
- •III. Match the words on the left with their definitions in the right-hand column:
- •IV. Fill in the gaps with the prepositions:
- •In groups and pairs discuss:
- •III. Choose the right preposition:
- •IV. Fill in the gaps where necessary with suitable notional or functional words, using your active vocabulary:
- •V. Translate from Russian into English, using your active vocabulary:
- •Russian and belarusian values and assumptions. Sharing Your Own Culture
- •1 Pre-Reading Discussion
- •2 Vocabulary Development
- •3 Reading, Thinking, Sharing
- •1 * What do the Americans who visited Russia or Belarus think about these countries and their people? Read an extract from a diary and list the areas which provoke culture shock in Russia.
- •15 August, 1996 - Vladimir
- •1 September, 1996 - Vladimir
- •A man of the people
- •Russian mentality
- •People of belorussia
- •1. Strike off one inappropriate word in each tine. Translate those used in the text. Make sure you know the weaning and the pronunciation of the rest words.
- •2. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English using the vocabulary from the text.
Equality of opportunity and competition
An important reason why immigrants have traditionally been drawn to the United States is the belief that everyone has a chance to succeed in the U.S. Generations of immigrants front the earliest settlers to the present day have come: with this expectation. They have felt that because individuals are free from excessive political, religious, and social controls, they have a better chance for success. Particularly important is the lack of a hereditary aristocracy.
Because titles of nobility were forbidden in the Constitution, no formal class, system developed in the United States. In the early years of American history many immigrants chose to leave the older European societies, believing that they had a better chance to succeed in America than in "the old country", where their place in life was determined largely by the social class into which they were born. They knew that in America they would not have to live among noble families who possessed great power and wealth inherited and accumulated over hundreds of. years. The hopes of many of these immigrants were fulfilled; in their new country. The lower social class into which many were born did not prevent them from rising to a higher social position. Many found that they did indeed have a better chance to succeed in the United States than in the old country. Because millions of these immigrants succeeded, Americans came to "believe in equality of opportunity. When Tocqueville visited the United States in the 1830s, he was impressed by the great uniformity of conditions of life in the new nation. He wrote:
The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that ... equality of condition is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived.
It is important to understand what Americans mean when they say they believe in equality of opportunity. They do not mean that everyone is - or should be - equal. However, they do mean that each individual should have an equal chance for success. Americans see much of life as a race for success. For them, equality means that everyone should have an equal chance to enter the race and win. In other words, equality of opportunity may be thought of as an ethical rule. It helps ensure that the race for success is a fair one and that a person does not win just because he or she was born into a wealthy family.
President Abraham Lincoln expressed this belief in the 1860s when he said:
We ... wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else. When one starts poor, as most do in the race of life, free society is such that he knows he can better his condition; he knows that there is no fixed condition of labor for his whole life.
There is, however, a price to be paid for this equality of opportunity: competition. If much of life is seen as a race, then a person must run the race in order to succeed; a person must compete with others. If every person has an equal chance to succeed in the United States, then it is every person's duty to try. Americans match their energy and intelligence against that of their neighbors in a competitive contest for success. People who like to compete and are more successful than others are honored by being called "winners". On the other hand, those who do not like to compete and are not successful when they try are often dishonored bу being called "losers". This is especially true for American men, and it is becoming more and more true for women.
The pressures of competition in the life of an American begin in childhood and continue until retirement from work, learning to compete successfully is part of growing up in the United States. In a recent opinion poll, 60 percent of the American people agreed with this statement: "It is not healthy for young people to refuse to believe that winning in competition is important". That is 60 percent believed competition and the desire to win are healthy and desirable. Only 28 percent disagreed
The pressure to compete causes an American man to be energetic, but it also places a constant emotional strain on him. When he retires at age 65, he is at last free from the pressures of competition. But then a new problem arises. He tends to feel useless and unwanted in a society that gives so much prestige to those who compete well. This is one reason why older people in the United States do not have as much honor and respect as they have in other, less competitive societies. In fact, any group of people who do not compete successfully—for whatever reason— do not fit into the mainstream of American life as well as those who do.