3.5.5. Translate the following sentences into English with special focus on the proper use of the indefinite pronouns 'many', 'more' and 'most'.

Note: the indefinite pronoun 'many' is preferably used in interrogative or negative contexts. Affirmative contexts usually require that 'many' should take a modifying adverb with it — such as, for instance, 'so', 'very', 'too', 'rather'.

1. У вас есть какие-нибудь английские книги в оригинале? — Есть несколько, но не много.

2. У него много друзей?

3. В этой конференции приняли участие не только наши ученые, но и очень многие специалисты из-за рубежа.

4. Сколько месяцев вы там пробыли?

5. Сколько раз тебе говорить, что так вести себя нельзя!

6. Вы мне уже дали почитать два романа Диккенса. А у вас есть еще что-нибудь из его книг? — Нет, у нас больше нет книг этого автора. Но мы можем вам предложить какие-нибудь книги других авторов этого периода.

7. Хотите еще кофе?

8. В день ей приходится делать больше телефонных звонков, чем кому-либо из нас.

9. В результате аварии более, чем 20 пассажирам потребовалась помощь.

10. Я уже достал 5 билетов на этот спектакль, но мне нужны еще два.

11. Все больше людей сегодня волнуют проблемы экологии.

12. Большинство книг этого автора неоднократно переиздавались.

13. Большинство из присутствующих удивились, услышав его слова.

14. Как и большинство людей, я хотел бы иметь интересную работу по окончании университета.

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3.5.6. Study all the cases of 'no' in the text:

'of no interest and importance'

'of no economic value'

'no one would want to live in such a desolate place'

'no scientific expert'

'no easy answers'.

— What part of speech is it?

3.5.7. Translate the following sentences into English with special focus on the proper use of 'no' in each case:

1. Понятия не имею, где он сейчас, — мы давно не виделись.

2. В этом городе она была совершенно одна. Не было никого, кто мог бы ей помочь.

3. Найти его не составило никакого труда: он остановился у наших общих знакомых.

4. У меня, по-моему, нет никаких книг этого автора. Придется пойти в библиотеку.

5. Вы хотите, чтобы я это сделал? — Ни в коем случае.

6. В этой части города кинотеатров нет.

7. Конечно, я не врач и не могу точно ответить на ваш вопрос.

8. Вы обидитесь, если я скажу «нет»?

9. Он был так взволнован — неудивительно, что он все перепутал.

10. Нет никакого сомнения в том, что из нее со временем выйдет прекрасный специалист.

3.5.8. Make up questions (both general and special ones) on the basis of the declarative sentences in 3.5.3., 3.5.4., 3.5.5., 3.5.7. (See 1.4.5.).

3.5.9. Make up declarative sentences (both affirmative and negative ones) on the basis of the interrogative ones in 3.5.3., 3.5.4., 3.5.5., 3.5.7. (See 1.4.6).

3.5.10. Present each of the declarative and interrogative sentences from 3.5.3., 3.5.4., 3.5.5., 3.5.7. in the form of 'reported speech' (See 1.4.7.).

3.5.11. Make up contexts of your own on the basis of the sentences from 3.5.3., 3.5.4., 3.5.5., 3.5.7. (See 1.4.8.).

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I UNIT 4

I THE ENGLISH NATIONAL CHARACTER'

———— 4.1. Listening comprehension ————■

4.1.1. Listen to Audio-Target 2. Answer the following questions:

1. What is the text about? Formulate the main idea of the text in a few words.

2. What are the main characteristics of the English national psychology as they are described in the text?

3. How could the physical appearance of English town and country affect the English national character?

4. How can you account for 'that special feeling for the sea' that distinguishes English people?

5. What is actually meant by the cliche that 'Britain is an island'?

4.1.2. Listen to Audio-Target 2 once more with the help of the text below:

Some English characteristics, upon which both natives and visitors have tended to agree, have to do with national psychology: egoism, self-confidence, intolerance of outsiders, ostentatious wealth, independence, social mobility, love of comfort, and a strong belief in private property. Others, equally marked, have to do with the physical appearance of English town and country, and are more easily illustrated than described. These are: an urge to wander over the earth, and bring back its products, to make England a 'microcosm of the world'; a preoccupation with home that has led to the evolution of both the English 'home' — informal, relaxed, and domestic — and its landscape setting; a love of games, in which (until the rise of spectator sports) competition was less important than enjoyment; and that special feeling for the sea that made Englishmen not only great sailors and explorers, but also the inventors of the seaside holiday.

We come back to the cliche that Britain is an island — a fact that has been subtly decisive in so many aspects of her history: in the Reformation, which determined the course of religion in England; in the pattern of trade, which led to the formation of the Empire; in the growth of a navy at the expense of an army, with its repercussions on the political system; and, last but by no means least, in the well-known 'insularity' of English art and English music. The cultural moat has often been wider than the twenty-one miles of water that separate Dover from Calais.

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4.1.3. Translate the text into Russian with the help of the dictionary.

4.1.4. Make up five questions about the text beginning with

'What'

'Who'

'Why'

'Where'

'How'

'When'

——■ 4.2. Syllables. Stress. Rhythm. Prosody ——

4.2.1. Divide the words of the text into fully-meaningful and syn-categorematic ones.

— Mark off the fully-meaningful words by underscoring them in the printed text.

— Which of the words of either group is going to be stressed and why?

4.2.2. Listen to the text and comment on the pronunciation of the stressed syllables in the following words:

visitors

national

psychology

intolerance

ostentatious

mobility

property

others

physical

illustrated

products

preoccupation

setting

competition

special

holiday

religion

pattern

repercussions

political

insularity

separate

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— What are the basic principles that have to be followed here?

4.2.3. Transcribe these words dividing them into syllables (use the English Pronouncing Dictionary for that purpose).

4.2.4. How is the text divided into parts by means of pauses?

— Which of the pauses are shorter and which are longer and why?

4.2.5. Which of the words in the text are stressed and which are accented?

— Study the words in the two boxes below and divide them into two groups — the stressed words and the accented ones.

natives not

tended great

visitors sailors

intolerance explorers

others also

marked seaside holidays

physical inventors

appearance come

town subtly

illustrated decisive

urge aspects

microcosm history

less course

special religion

feeling England

sea navy

army

Empire

political

insularity

moat

separated

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4.2.6. Study the cases of 'and', 'in' and 'that' which occur in the text in terms of stress.

— Pay special attention to their behaviour in the flow of speech, especially at the word-junctures.

— What is the basic peculiarity of the articulation that distinguishes the unstressed cases of 'and' and 'in' in the text?

— Do you know any other 'in' or 'that' in English apart from those you have come across in the text? Give examples.

4.2.7. Study the rhythm within every part of the text singled out by pauses.

a) Analyze the simple rhythm units into three groups — monobeats (M), trochees (T) and dactyls (D).

— Use the following as a model:

'Some English characteristics, upon which both natives and visitors have tended to agree, have to do with national psychology'.

Some English characteristics, upon which both

M T D T M D

natives and visitors have tended to agree, have

D+l D+l M T

to do with national psychology

T D+l_________D__________________

Note: Our analysis of simple rhythm-units is based on the pausation of the spoken text. In this case pausation is supported by punctuation in the printed text.

b) Explain the rule of English rhythm which is observed in the following cases:

more easily illustrated;

bring back its products;

not only great sailors;

in so many aspects;

by no means least;

the twenty-one miles of water.

— Why are 'easily', 'back', 'only', 'many', 'means' and '-one' phonetically degraded?

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