- •Белорусский государственный университет Кафедра английского языка гуманитарных факультетов
- •Абрамчик е.Ф., Поваляева в.Н., Турляй л.П., Козел л.А.
- •History as a Science
- •Preview
- •Text 1. Understanding History
- •Text 2. How do We Know?
- •Text 3. Examining Archaeology
- •Text 4. Museum – Source of Knowledge and Impressions
- •Polydialogue. The University-wide Open Days
- •The usefulness of archives
- •Video. Dartmoor National Park
- •Vocabulary
- •Follow-up
- •Vocabulary
- •Follow-up
- •Vocabulary
- •Before you view
- •Vocabulary
- •Comprehension tasks
- •Follow-up
- •Writing tasks
- •Finally …
- •Unit 2 first steps toward civilization
- •Text 1. The Early Accomplishments of Homo sapiens
- •Text 2. Setting the Stage for Civilization: The Origins of Food Production
- •Text 3. The Gradual Transition From Food Gathering To Food Production
- •Text 4. The Transition to a Sedentary Way of Life
- •Ex. 1. Translate the text into English.
- •Unit III classical civilization. Ancient greek culture
- •Text 1. The ancient Greeks
- •Text 2. The Evolution of Democracy
- •Text 3. Sparta and Athens
- •Text 4. The Age of Pericles
- •The economy of Athens
- •Text 5. Religions and sports festivals
- •Text 6. Greek Drama
- •Text 7. The Spread of Greek Culture
- •The Golden age of Greek Theatre
- •The tragedy form
- •Александрия
- •Unit IV ancient rome and its socio-political development. The roman empire
- •Text 1. The Rise Of The Republic
- •Text 2. Overseas Expansion
- •Text 3. The Fall Of The Roman Republic
- •Text 4. Greece and Rome
- •The Birth of Rome
- •Text 5. The Early Empire
- •Text 6. Social Rank in the Empire
- •Text 7. The Roman Economy
- •Rich and Poor
- •Золотой век
- •Unit V rome and the christians
- •Text 1. The Early Christians
- •Text 2. Rome and the Christians
- •Text 3. The Decline of Rome
- •Text 4. The Fall Of Rome
- •The Causes of the Fall
- •Христианство
- •Unit VI the middle ages
- •Text 1. The Middle Ages. Their Classification and General Characteristics.
- •Text 2. Byzantine and Its Influence on Neighboring Countries
- •In the Field of Learning and Religion
- •Text 3. Medieval Europe
- •Text 4. The Spirit of the Renaissance
- •Features of Renaissance Art
- •Ex. 2. Translate the text into English. Феодальная система в Западной и Центральной Европе
- •Discussion
- •Text 1. Primordial Belarus – From Forest Tribes to the Decline of Polatsk
- •Text 2. The Development and Flourishing of Great Lithuania
- •Text 3. Belarus after Vitaut: its Golden Age and Decline
- •Text 4. Belarus after the Third Division of Rech Paspalitaya
- •Dialogue Travelling Broadens the Mind
- •B. Some old and Rare Books in the Francisk Skaryna Library in London
- •Part III
- •Britain
- •Preview
- •Reading Text 1. Primitive Society on the territory of the British Isles
- •The Earliest Men
- •The Celts
- •The Primitive Communal System
- •Word Check
- •Comprehension
- •Text 2. The British Empire
- •Text 3. Economic and Social Changes
- •In England in the 18th and 19th Centuries
- •Text 4. Modern Britain. Stability and Change.
- •Rich and Poor
- •Unit II american continet:
- •Its first civilizations and colonies.
- •Text 1. From Early People to Colonies.
- •Text 2. Colonization of America. War For Independence
- •Discussion
- •Text 3. Constitution. Bill of Rights.
- •Comprehension
- •Word Check
- •Ex. 2. Discuss which of them one can find in a) democratic society
- •Text 2. The European Union Read the text and say in a few words the main points of the text
- •Text 3. United Nations Read the text and assimilate its information
- •Security Council.
- •Translation
- •Unit II outstanding people
- •Text 1. The “Father of History”
- •Text 2. Alexander the Great and his Influence
- •Text 3. Elizabeth I.
- •Text 4. John Fitzerald Kennedy.
- •Contents
Text 4. The Age of Pericles
Read the text and do the tasks that follow.
The Greeks defeated the Persians in 479 B.C., just one year after the invasion of Athens. Pericles then returned home. As a young man, he became well known in the law courts, where he won many cases because of his intelligence and his excellent speaking ability. The Greek historian Plutarch wrote the following about Pericles’ ability: “Like Zeus, he was said to speak with thundering and lightning, and to wield a dreadful thunderbolt in his tongue”.
Because he was a persuasive speaker, Pericles was able to convince the citizens that his ideas were important. As a result, in 460 B.C. they elected him as one of the generals, the main elected officers in the Athenian democracy. The term for generals lasted just one year, but Pericles was elected over and over again.
Pericles set three major goals for Athens. His military goal was to protect Athens. His artistic goal was to make Athens beautiful. His political goal was to strengthen democracy.
Pericles’ first goal was to protect Athens from its enemies. He was determined to prevent another disaster such as the burning of the city by the Persians just 20 years earlier.
The Athenians had already built a strong stone wall around Athens after the war with Persia. But enemies could still surround the city and block Athens from Piraeus, its harbor five miles away.
So the Athenians extended the wall to the sea. The new barricaded corridor became known as the Long Walls.
To protect their city further, the Athenians also built up a very powerful navy.
Pericles’ second goal was to make Athens the most beautiful city in the world. To do that, the Athenians built new public buildings and temples.
The most magnificent of these buildings were built on the Acropolis. The Acropolis was a flat-topped, fortified hill in the middle of Athens. It stood about 200 feet above the rest of the city and covered a little more that 10 acres. Temples had adorned the Acropolis for many years. But the Persian troops had destroyed all of them when they invaded the city.
The most beautiful new temple, called the Parthenon, was dedicated to Athene, the city’s patron goddess. The Partheon was 60 feet high, built from marble, and surrounded by 46 tall, graceful columns. The Partheon was a tribute to the Athenians during the Golden Age.
Pericles wanted to make Athenian democracy even stronger by spreading power more evenly between rich and poor. He said to the citizens of Athens:
“It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few. When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law; when it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses.”
As many as 20,000 citizens were on the public payroll during the Golden Age of Athens. Everyone in the government received a salary. As a result, even poor citizens could afford to hold office and have their voices heard.
During the Golden Age, Athens was called the “school of Greece”, because it was a center for art, literature, and ideas. In the same speech in which he praised the Athenian democracy, Pericles stated some of the basic beliefs of the Athenians:
“Our love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance; our love of things of the mind does not make us soft. We regard wealth as something to be properly used, rather than as something to boast about. As for poverty, no one need be ashamed to admit it: the real shame is in not taking practical measure to escape from it. Here each individual is interested not only in his own affairs but in the affairs of the sate as well.”
The citizens of Athens generally enjoyed a pleasant life during the Golden Age. A typical household included a mother, father, two or three children, and one or two slaves or hired servants.
Everyone in the family ate a light breakfast of pieces of bread soaked in wine mixed with water. Afterward, the father headed down the narrow, crooked streets toward the agora, or marketplace. The agora was a large, open square located near the Acropolis. Beautiful public buildings and temples lined two sides of the square. On the other sides of the square, men debated the issues of the day.
Men also might go to the Assembly or serve as jurors at the law courts. At the Assembly, citizens debated current political issues. Some of these debates were so important that citizens walked into the city from 10 to 20 miles away to hear them. At the law courts, jurors listened to speeches for and against an accused person. Then the jury members cast votes of guilty or innocent. Juries in Athens consisted of between 201 and 2,501 citizens.
In the afternoons, Athenian men went to one of the outdoor gymnasiums and exercised. In the evenings, the men socialized together as well.
While men were in the agora, women were at home. Women were not allowed to vote or hold office. Instead, a woman spent much of her time in a double room called the looming room. There she made the family clothes. Next to the looming room was a small kitchen. There women ground grain for bread and baked the bread in small clay ovens. Preparing bread was an important task, because bread was a staple of the family’s diet.
Women also cared for their young children. Once sons reached the age of seven, they attended school during the day. Daughters stayed home and learned how to do household tasks.
Many rich citizens could have lived in more luxury. However, they believed that their wealth should be used for the good of the whole community. The famous Greek speaker Demosthenes noted that the Athenians made public buildings that “their successors can never surpass; but in private life, they practiced so great a moderation” that an observer would not be able to tell the homes of the rich from the homes of the poor.
One reason wealthy citizens enjoyed a pleasant lifestyle was that noncitizens did much of the work. Two groups of noncitizens, metics and slaves, lived in Athens.
In order to live and work in Athens, metics were required to register with the government and pay a monthly tax. They could not own property in Athens. Metics were allowed to attend the theater and religious festivals, and they had the right to use the law courts.
Citizens looked down on metics as inferior or second-class people.
In contrast to metics, slaves had no legal rights. Most Athenian citizens owned at least one slave. Wealthy landowners often kept several slaves to farm their land, including one slave to oversee the others. Even an ordinary farmer kept one slave so the farmer could be free on certain days to go into Athens and attend the Assembly.
Slaves often did the same jobs as other Athenians, working alongside them.
Slaves who saved enough of their earnings could buy their freedom. Once freed, however, slaves did not become citizens. They could only move into the rank of metics.
Word Check
Ex. 1. Vocabulary extension.
to wield – to have and use smth.
persuasive – convincing
to fortify – to strengthen (a place) against attack (with walls, trenches, guns, etc)
to adorn – add beauty or ornaments to
payroll – list of persons to be paid and the amounts due to each
agora – place of assembly, market place
juror – member of a jury
loom – machine for weaving cloth
staple – chief sort of article or goods produced
Ex. 2. Use these words from Ex. 1 in the situations from the text.
Ex. 3. Arrange the following in pairs of synonyms
to defeat, to win, ability, to wield, persuasive, term, goal, disaster, to adorn, salary, to boast
to brag, wage, intelligence, to conquer, to succeed, to handle, aim, to decorate, convincing, period, catastrophe
Ex. 4. Arrange the following in pairs of antonyms
innocent, outdoor, to allow, staple, luxury, wealth, the rich, a citizen, inferior, freedom
superior, a noncitizen, slavery, guilty, to forbid, indoor, secondary, Spartan, the poor, poverty
Comprehension
Ex. 1. Complete the sentences, use the words and expressions from the text.
Pericles won many cases because of his … and his excellent speaking ….
Pericles was said to speak with thundering and lightning and … a dreadful thunderbolt in his lounge.
Because he was a … speaker, Pericles was able to … the citizens that his ideas were important.
The … for generals lasted just one year, but Pericles was elected over and over again.
Pericles set three major … for Athens.
He was determined to prevent another … such as burning of Athens by the Persians 20 years ago.
The Acropolis was a flat topped … , hill in the middle of Athens.
Temples … the Acropolis for many years.
As many as 20 000 citizens were on the public … during the Golden Age of Athens.
The … was a large, open square located near the Acropolis.
Men also might go to the Assembly or serve as … at the law courts.
A woman spent much of her time in a double room called the … room.
Two groups of noncitizens, … and slaves, lived in Athens.
_______________________________________________________________
Words for reference: metics, looming, agora, jurors, intelligence, ability, disaster, fortified, to wield, term, goals, persuasive, had adorned, to convince.
Ex. 2. Answer the following questions.
What did the Greek historian Plutarch write about Pericles’ ability?
What goals did Pericles set for Athens?
What was his first goal?
What was his artistic goal?
What was his political goal?
How was Athens called during the Golden Age?
How did citizens of Athens spend their days?
Who did much of the work in Athens?
Ex. 3. Speak on
why the years of Pericles’ leadership were called the Golden Age of Athens?
what the roles of men and women were in a citizen family?
how a metic’s life was different from a slave’s?
Translation
Ex. 1. Translate the text into Russian.