Writing

Exercise 54

Write paragraphs to comment on the following quotations.

1. Identity is what you can say you are according to what they say you can be (Jill Johnson).

2. Just as you inherit your mother's brown eyes, you inherit part of yourself (Alice Walker).

3. Don't imagine I regard foreigners as inferior - diey fascinate me (Harold Wilson).

Exercise 55

Write cm essay on one of the following subjects.

1. I have no country to fight for: my country is the earth, and I am a citizen of the world (Eugene V. Debs).

2. The strength of a nation is derived from the integrity of its homes (Confucius).

3. A man's feet must be planted in his country, but his eyes should survey the world (George Santavana).

WORKSHOP 4 VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Exercise 56

Complete the text bearing in mind all the studied words. The first, letters of the necessary words are given to help you.

Inventing National Identity

Over a century ago the French historian Ernest Renan

e the d of nations in Europe. "Nations

are not e . They had a beginning and diey will have an

end. And they will probably be r by a European

confederation." His prophecy would be about to come true, were it not

for an inherent с in European politics. Just as the

maturing European U is beginning to r

the n -state, the banner of n is being

r all over the continent.

Nations are much younger than their official histories would have us believe. No nation in the modem, that is political, sense of the word

existed before the ideological r that began in the 18^th

century and с political power "on the people". But in

1800 We still in the first stages of f what Benedict

Anderson has called "imagined communities". The с

model for the generation of national identities was f by

European intellectuals in the course of the 19th century through a

p of mutual observation, imitation and transfer of ideas

and e . From that time on, the nation was conceived as a

broad с united by a 1 different in nature

both from a to the same monarch and from membership

of the same religion or social estate. The nation no longer d from die ruler. This powerfully subversive concept

opened the way for entry into die age of democracy; but if it was to

succeed, the future had to be j in terms of

1 to die past.

In order to move from a Europe of kings to a Europe of nations, d populations groups had to be convinced that despite

their obvious d they s an identity diat

was die basis for a collective interest. This was no easy matter. In 1800

the с identity^- of a Prussian landowner and a Bavarian

craftsman, for example, was far from self-evident. It was, in any case,

far less certain than identities based on social s , religion

or a to a fairly restricted local area. To produce

Germans, Hungarians or Italians, it was necessary to postulate a с of birth and community of filiation through die ages.

We have become used to d between two

о concepts of the nation: the French concept, based on

free, rational a of die individual to a political

collectivity, and die Gentian concept of objectively determined membership of an organic body. However, the construction of European

nations has always i a mix of both of these concepts,

even if die proportions have v with die political and

social context. For generations of French schoolchildren, the teaching of

civic rights and duties has always gone h in

h with the rote learning of a unified national history

starting from the Gauls that ignores or g over wide

d in regional experience.

Exercise 57

Complete the text with one word only.

In his September 1997 Conference speech, Tony

Blair the British nation like this: "We are by our

and tradition innovators, adventures, pioneers". Yet Mr

Blair's words gave gone . The nation

which __ globalization and the industrial revolution remains stubbornly to any involvement in

the multi-globalism and the space-industrial revolution of the near

future. I find diis is a insult to my

British identity, and can only suppose that our British genius for

the future has fled the country and emigrated to

America.

I believe drat our character would best be

expressed by taking of the tremendous opportunities for

space-oriented growth which face us. Britain should

its historic role radier than wait fro

other countries to take the . Will we be as

of our national destiny as were the of

the Empire? Or will we try to pretend that we are no more dian a province of the Unholy Belgian Empire, with no greater destiny than to

endlessly among ourselves about our internal

bureaucracies and no of any universe greater dian what

lies immediately in front of our ? Will our most

and energetic "innovators, adventures, pioneers" have

in future to US citizenship in order to

their dreams? Or will we be proud to be British? The question is very much one of our of our national destiny.

Exercise 55

Translate into English using the active vocabulary.

Европа черпает свою силу и мощь в многообразии. Однако это не должно подталкивать к превратному выводу о том, будто бы она должна оставаться неединой. В объединенной Европе следует не устранять различия, а объединять многообразие. Мирный порядок и ценностная ориентация Европы не должны подменить иден­тичность европейских народов и наций. Они должны создать возводимое над старыми нациями дополнительное европейство. Лишь большая Европа может быть конкурентоспособной и жизне­способной, и точно так же европейские нации и народы с их культурами могут выжить лишь внутри более крупной объединенной Европы. Только в рамках большой Европы могут и дальше процветать сегодняшние культурные нации и региональные элементы во всем их многообразии.

ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION

Get ready to discuss the problem of skinheads in Russia at a round- table conference. Distribute die roles among the participants and do not forget about die role of die chairperson. Make use of die hints given in Unit 2 The Press.

Asian student - Skinheads are dangerous juvenile delinquents and should be imprisoned.

Psychologist - Skinheads are sick young people suffering from xenophobia who need medical treatment.

Preacher - Skinheads are physically mature but spiritually retarded young men in need of re-education.

Nationalist - Skinheads are true Russian patriots.

Hair-stylist - Skinheads are like punks and hippies - only a passing

fashion.

African diplomat - Skinheads are puppets in die hands of closet racists in Russia.

Politician - There is no place for skinheads in a democratic society.

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