IV. Language focus

1. Match the word with its definition.

1. lavish (adj) a) endless

2. alien (adj) b) a feeling of satisfaction

3. gratification (n) c) a particular good quality in someone’s character

4. tireless (adj) d) to complain of smth

5. threshold (n) e) foreign, strange

6. virtue (n) f) the place or point of beginning

7. grumble (v) g) generous

2. Pick out the words from the text describing the American and the British ways of life.

1. The British: have so little idea of their own virtues, …

2. The Americans: the whole purpose of living is …

V. Speaking

“British are conservative”. Do you think this generalization is accurate? Give your arguments for and against. Here are some arguments against.

• Discoveries made in England:

  • genetic finger prints in 1901

  • the law of gravitation

  • splitting atom and many others

• Inventions first introduced in England:

  • steam engine

  • railway between Stockton and Darlington in 1825

  • underground in London in 1863

• Most of ball games originated in England:

• football, cricket, rugby, golf

• new sports events Gladiators were recently introduced in Great Britain

• New trends and lifestyles:

• the Beatles introduced a new style in pop music in mid 60s

• the famous British model Twiggy was the first to demonstrate a hip-hugging mini-skirt in mid 60s

• And finally! – What other nation’s language is spoken all over the world?

VI. Discussion

Work in group and discuss any experiences you have had of living or holidaying in a different country.

1. Was it as you had expected? Did the people conform to the stereotypical image you may have had of them?

2. What did you particularly enjoy or dislike being there?

3. In what ways was life there very different from being in your own country?

4. If you could choose somewhere else to spend a few years, which country would you choose? Why? Which would you definitely not choose? Give your reasons.

TEXT 3

Italian neighbours*

(Upper-intermediate)

I. Pre-reading task

Before you read the text study the following words.

to perplex – озадачить

a facetious example – смешной пример

to float to the fore – быть в центре внимания

to assume smth – полагать

preconception (n) – предвзятое мнение

reticent (adj) – скрытый, молчаливый

to fiddle – жульничать

to exaggerate – преувеличивать

Tim Parks, a writer, has lived in Italy since 1981 and is married to an Italian. What differences do you think are there between living in Italy and in your own country?

II. Skim Extract 1 with Tim’s interview about his living in Italy and find answers to the questions:

1. What does Tim say is difficult for foreigners about living in Italy?

2. What relevance do the following people and places have to this difficulty?

• the local doctor

• Naples

• the university

3. What is his attitude to the difficulty? Does he find it irritating or amusing?

Extract 1

INTERVIEWER: As an Englishman living in Italy could you describe some aspects of Italian life that you find very different or very difficult to live with?

TIM PARKS: I think one of the things that's most perplexing to a foreigner is that the rules of operating in Italian society are actually very different from the written rules so that for example they will introduce a new law. I remember one year there was a tax on the use of your local GP - your local doctor - and I immediately rushed out and paid this and nobody else did because everybody else had a sense that maybe this tax wasn't actually in the end going to be enforced and very quickly the whole thing was removed. Well, I mean in Italy this kind of thing happens with great regularity. And in many areas of life you need a process of initiation from somebody else to understand the difference between the official way of doing things and the way things are actually done. Let me give a rather funny anecdote of that. I mean, Naples, for example, is famous for its chaotic traffic and for the fact that the people don't stop at red lights and so on. So I remember the first time I went to Naples I was thinking well, you know I wonder if it's really like this or if it's just folklore. And I'm coming in from the airport with a taxi and this taxi is running most of the red lights and I'm thinking, yes it really is like this and he's driving far too fast, and I was quite pleased that this was the case, and then he stops at a red light and I was somewhat shocked because there didn't seem any difference between this light and the others and I said to him, you know, 'Why have you stopped?' and he said, 'Well it's a red light. Can't you see?' and I said, 'Well you know you ran through all the others,' and he said, 'Yeah but this is a light that you stop at and we know that in Naples' so you see you begin to realize that really you'd have to live there to know where you have to stop and where you don't and I think that's true of many aspects of Italian life in a different way. I mean it seems a kind of facetious example but even for example getting a job at the university there's an official set of rules for how that's done but everybody knows that basically it operates in a different way from that. So those kind of things can be difficult but also they can be fun.

III. Skim the extract again, focusing on the anecdote about the taxi driver. Try to reproduce it using the clues below to help you.

1. Naples/ famous/ chaotic traffic/ first time visit/ come from airport/ it taxi

2. driver/ go/ too fast/ go through red lights

3. stop at red light/ ask why stop

IV. Scan Extract 2.

1. What is Tim saying about national stereotypes?

1. They don’t exist – every person is different.

2. There is some truth in them but they are exaggerated.

3. They are surprisingly true.

2. Can you guess what the British think the Italians are like? Can you guess what the Italians think the British are like?