Comprehension

Ex.1 Decide whether the statements are true or false. Correct the false ones.

1. Americans appear much friendlier than the British.

2. Both Americans and the British tend to value punctuality higher than any other character trait.

3. Looking young and good isn’t as essential for Americans as for the British.

4. Tough guys and outlaws are extremely popular heroes in Britain.

5. Americans are obsessed with psychotherapy, as they think it will help them have a positive outlook on life.

6. Showing emotions and enthusiasm in public isn’t common in Britain.

7. Americans are direct and open people who expect positive answers to their questions.

Ex.2 Summarise the main differences and similarities between the British and Americans.

Discussion

Ex.1 Answer the following questions.

1. Which facts about the British and Americans do you find most interesting / surprising? Can you add any other?

2. Which national character appeals more to you? Why?

3. Do you think the influence of one culture on another is a positive or a negative thing? Prove your point.

4. Describe typical Russian character traits relying on the topics from the text.

National Characteristics

The English are not easy to understand. As one of the characters in a play called The Old Country put it: 'In England we never entirely mean what we say, do we? Do I mean that? Not entirely.'

The British are famous for their tolerance and sense of humour, yet, as writer Paul Gallico observed: 'No one can be as intentionally rude as the British, which amazes Americans, who do not understand such behaviour.' Britain's nearest neighbours can be just as astounded as the Americans. French writer Andre Maurois wrote: 'In France, it is impolite not to have a conversation with someone: in England, it is unwise to have one. No one there blames you for silence. When you have not opened your mouth for three years, they will think, 'This Frenchman's quite a nice fellow.'

The truth about the British is, of course, much more complicated, but certain generalisations can be made. Britain is an island — a fact not changed in anyone's mind by the construction of the Channel Tunnel — and it has not been successfully conquered for nearly 1,000 years. For this reason, Britain and the British remain deeply individualistic. To the English, the Welsh seem a much more talkative group than themselves. This talkative nature is one of the Welsh national characteristics and Wales became a very popular place with preachers and trade union leaders, particularly in the 19th century. In contrast, the Scots, who have a rather different historical and religious background from the English (they were never conquered by the Romans, or by the Normans after 1066), are seen as quiet and serious.

In the 1950s, many Commonwealth citizens, mostly from the West Indies emigrated to Britain. There are now around half a million West Indians in Britain and four black politicians were elected to parliament in 1987. Others came to live and work, too. Asians came from the Indian subcontinent and Africa, and Chinese people from Hong Kong, many of whom have put in a lot of effort to build up successful businesses. All these people, together with Arabs and Africans, help to form what is now a multiracial society.

But, although the people in Britain all have different accents, different cultural backgrounds and different views, and even different languages, they make up a really astonishing island race, whose culture and customs are mixed so well together that they form a character which is the sum of so many parts.

'To understand Britain, however,' its people tell you, 'takes many visits.' Bearing in mind their inability to say what they mean, this probably translates as: 'Although we regard tourism as rather undesirable, we put up with it because we do need the business the visitors are bringing in.'

Notes

entirely	полностью
tolerance	терпимость, толерантность
intentionally	намеренно
astounded	пораженный, изумленный
unwise	неблагоразумный, глупый
complicated	сложный
generalisations	обобщения
to remain	оставаться
preacher	проповедник
Commonwealth	Содружество
effort	усилие
to regard	рассматривать, считать
undesirable	нежелательный
to put up with	мириться

Comprehension

Ex.1 Match these headings to paragraphs 1-6. There is one heading you do not need.

1. A successful combination

2. A mixture of characteristics

3. A recent change

4. A difficult race to understand

5. An exciting event

6. A strange contradiction

7. An unwilling acceptance

Ex.2 Answer the following questions.

1. Do you think the writer intended to be serious or amusing, or both? Why?

2. What other opinions does the writer quote? Why do you think he does this?

Discussion

Ex.1 Answer the following questions.

1. Find some British, Welsh, French and Scottish characteristics in the article. Are you surprised by any of these? Why? Why not?

2. What are your nationality’s characteristics? What major events have helped to form them?

Where Do People Live Under the Ground?

One place where people live under the ground is a small town called Coober Pedy. Coober Pedy is in the Outback of south Australia. Most of the people in Coober Pedy are miners. Miners dig under the ground. They look for gold or special stones. Coober Pedy is famous for opals. Opals are beautiful white stones. People put opals in jewelry.

Miners discovered opals in Coober Pedy in 1915. At that time, many miners lived in simple holes under the ground. Aboriginal people laughed at them. The Aboriginal people are the native people of Australia. They called the area kupa piti. This means 'white man in a hole' in their language.

Today, the homes are not simple holes. About four thousand people live in Coober Pedy. About half the people live under the ground. Coober Pedy has homes, restaurants, hotels, and churches. It is like other towns. But the people don't have a view. A new underground house with five rooms costs about $25,000. Some homes have swimming pools!

The people of Coober Pedy live underground for different reasons. One reason is there are no trees. The last tree died in 1971. People need wood from trees to build houses. The main reason why people live underground is the very hot weather. The temperature in the summer goes up to 122° F [50° C]. Underground, the temperature is 77° F [25° C].

People also live under the ground in the Sahara Desert in south Tunisia. It is very hot and there are no trees. The people there are called Berbers. The Berbers dig deep holes in the ground. Many houses have two or three floors, but they are simple. Air and light come through an open hole. There are about seven hundred of these holes.

Thousands of years ago, people hid underground in Cappadocia, Turkey. People still live there today. It is a beautiful place with good weather. In the future, more people will live under the ground. They will have different reasons. Japan has a lot of people and little land. Japan wants to build a city under the ground. The name of the city will be Alice City. About 100,000 people will live there. It will have offices, hotels, sports centres, and theatres.

Underground cities are very interesting, of course. But can people live with no sun and no sky?

Notes

miner	шахтер
to dig	рыть, копать

Comprehension

Ex.1 Answer the following questions.

1. Where is Coober Pedy?

2. How many people live in Coober Pedy?

3. What are the native people of Australia called?

4. What did the miners discover in 1915?

5. How many holes are there in the Sahara Desert?

6. What is the name of the city Japan is planning to build?

Discussion

Ex.1 Answer the following questions.

1. Would you like to live underground? What would be the best thing? What would be the worst thing?

2. What do you think about Japan's underground city?

3. Do you know any other unusual places people live in?

My First Trip Abroad

My first trip abroad was to Mexico with my Spanish class. My high school had an exchange programme with a school in Mexico City where we alternated between us visiting them and them visiting us every year. The trip was my first opportunity to experience another culture, and from the moment I walked off the plane, I was blown away. Every aspect of life in Mexico was different from that to which I had grown accustomed.

The people drove like maniacs. Speed limits, turning signals, and seat belts were non-existent. It was common for people to drive at night with their lights off. Cops routinely drove with their red and blue lights on. Easily half of all vehicles were Volkswagen Beetles (the old kind). And to top it off, Mexico City was so big that it took as long as 2 hours to get to our destination, even though it was in the same city!

Time is a completely different concept in Mexico. On my trip, we usually had to meet at the school at 8:00 am. Every day, the first few people would show up at around 8:05, a few more at 8:15, and most people would get there at 8:20. Finally, the last few stragglers would arrive at 8:30. For the first few days, I freaked out. I was constantly worried that I would get left behind. After all, in my high school, if you arrived in class 10 seconds late, you were immediately rewarded with a detention. 8:00 always meant 8:00 to me; I was too young to have been introduced to the concept of being fashionably late. So every day, I pushed my Mexican family to get moving, every day, we got to the school a little after 8:00, and every day, we waited for 30 minutes until everyone showed up. It felt like I was living in some kind of Bizarro World, where every infallible facet of life that had been ingrained into my naive head was completely shattered with the sound of a tiny Volkswagen horn on the hot, overcrowded tarmac as I left the Mexico City airport.

On my first trip abroad, I climbed pyramids, saw mummies, and flirted with death every time I entered a vehicle, but that's not what my trip was ultimately all about. It was about the making of me. I saw another culture in full effect, and it changed the way I looked at the world. Things didn't seem so black and white anymore. I still loved my country, but I had been freed of the single-track mindset that had been carved into me from an early age by all of society. I saw firsthand that people could lead very different lifestyles than the American standard, yet be content with all that surrounds them.

So much had changed in my life, yet when I got back home, everything was the same. I wanted to share with the world my pictures, my thoughts, and my memories, but for the most part, nobody cared. It was incredibly difficult to slow the pace of my life back to what is used to be. Worse yet, I felt that nobody who wasn't with me on the trip understood what this felt like. Many years later, I would find out that this was a common phenomenon, and it had an ugly name: reverse culture shock.

Eventually, I adjusted back to my normal lifestyle. I went to school, worked, and tried to save some money. I knew that someday I would get back to Mexico...

Notes

exchange programme	программа обмена
to alternate	чередовать
to experience	испытать, изведать
accustomed	привыкший
non-existent	несуществующий
routinely	обычно
vehicle	транспортное средство
stragglers	отставшие, опоздавшие
to freak out	беситься
detention	оставление после уроков
infallible	непогрешимый, верный
facet	аспект
ingrained	укоренившийся
to shatter	разрушать
ultimately	в конечном итоге
mindset	ментальность, мировоззрение
content	довольный
to adjust	адаптироваться, привыкать