- •Уо «Мозырский государственный педагогический университет
- •Essential vocabulary
- •Basic American Values and Beliefs
- •Introduction
- •Basic american values and assumptions a land of diversity
- •Individual Freedom and Self-Reliance
- •Joining and protesting
- •Hurry, hurry, hurry
- •Are americans materialistic?
- •Straight talk
- •Equal ity
- •Achievement, action, work, and materialism
- •Directness аnd assertiveness
- •Equality of opportunity and competition
- •Material wealth and наrd work
- •Vocabulary Check
- •1. Analyze the following abstract notions аз they are treated in the text:
- •2. Study the following idioms and see if you can supply contexts for them:
- •3. Reading comprehension check. Write the letter of the best answer according to the information in the chapter.
- •Cloze Summary Paragraph
- •The Protestant Heritage
- •Vocabulary Check
- •Comprehension Check
- •Cloze Summary Paragraph
- •American Values at the Crossroads
- •A. Vocabulary Check
- •B. Comprehension Check
- •D. Cloze Summary Paragraph
- •Customs vary with culture
- •Usa and uk in comparison
- •Character and characteristics: a humorous look at
- •Stereotypes
- •What the British Think of Americans…
- •What Americans Think of the British...
- •4 Assessing Students' Comparative Skills
- •I Look at the chart and decide whether the student
- •Socio-cultural portrait of the uk & usa
- •British values and assumptions. Monarchy the island people
- •The island people (II)
- •Essential vocabulary
- •I. Define and comment on the following terms used in the texts
- •II. Study the following list of geographic names.
- •The united kingdom
- •Introduction
- •As others see us
- •0 Wad1 come Pow'r the giftie2 gie3 us
- •It wad frae5 mony6 a blander free us
- •Views of britain. The official view
- •Тhe people's view
- •British society a changing world
- •Attitudes
- •Stereotypes and change
- •English versus british
- •Multiculturalism
- •Conservatism
- •Being different
- •The love of nature
- •The national trust
- •The love of animals
- •Formality and informality
- •The scruffy british
- •Public spiritedness and amateurism
- •I. Mark the following areas of activity as 'professional' or 'amateur / voluntary':
- •II. Sort out the following as positively or negatively viewed by the British:
- •Privacy and sex
- •Lovely weather we're having
- •II. Explain the meaning of the following:
- •III. Match the adjectives with the nouns they collocate with:
- •IV. Explain the use of articles with the word England:
- •I. Fill in the grid:
- •II. Sort out the details for each "stereotype" of the English person
- •III. Answer the questions:
- •IV. Do you agree that
- •No longer an island
- •Have the english finally left their
- •Island mentality behind?
- •Cast in the same mould
- •Change of direction
- •I. Match the following proper names with relevant characteristics:
- •Monarchy
- •Vocabulary
- •The royal family
- •The Sovereign
- •The Royal Family
- •The Monarchy
- •I. Great Britain is a monarchy. Find out from your partner: what is the role of the monarch in a highly developed modern country?
- •II. Choose the correct equivalent for the word:
- •V. Say if you agree or .Disagree with the following and explain why:
- •VII. Express your opinion on the following:
- •Adapt or die?
- •I. Find out the following.
- •II. Make sure you understand the following words and expressions:
- •III. Match the words on the left with their definitions in the right-hand column:
- •IV. Fill in the gaps with the prepositions:
- •In groups and pairs discuss:
- •III. Choose the right preposition:
- •IV. Fill in the gaps where necessary with suitable notional or functional words, using your active vocabulary:
- •V. Translate from Russian into English, using your active vocabulary:
- •Russian and belarusian values and assumptions. Sharing Your Own Culture
- •1 Pre-Reading Discussion
- •2 Vocabulary Development
- •3 Reading, Thinking, Sharing
- •1 * What do the Americans who visited Russia or Belarus think about these countries and their people? Read an extract from a diary and list the areas which provoke culture shock in Russia.
- •15 August, 1996 - Vladimir
- •1 September, 1996 - Vladimir
- •A man of the people
- •Russian mentality
- •People of belorussia
- •1. Strike off one inappropriate word in each tine. Translate those used in the text. Make sure you know the weaning and the pronunciation of the rest words.
- •2. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English using the vocabulary from the text.
D. Cloze Summary Paragraph
This paragraph summarizes the chapter. Fill in each blank with any word that makes sense.
In the 1960s and 1970s Americans faced three challenges __________their values. The loss __________the Vietnam War caused __________to question the strength __________their country and its __________ The Watergate scandal weakened __________ faith in the Presidency, __________ he decline in Material __________ threatened to lower their__________ of living. Faced with__________ about the future, some __________to return to the__________Public opinion polls showed__________by 1980 many Americans__________that life was better __________the past than in __________present or the future. __________ elected President in 1980, __________to return to the __________before 1930 when business __________strong and government was __________Other leaders believe instead__________Americans should develop new __________to go along with old values. There should __________a greater emphasis on __________of natural resources and __________national cooperation. The belief __________the freedom of the__________and the value of __________have discouraged national cooperation__________ the past, but if__________is to meet the__________of the future, some __________in priorities will be__________
Read the text to find out the phenomena characteristic of the American life and their way of thinking.
Customs vary with culture
Many American customs will surprise you; the same thing happens to us when we visit another country. People living in varied cultures handle many small daily things differently. What a dull world it would be if this were not true!
The constant restless motion of Americans may be starting at first. People in the flat Middle West think nothing of driving 75 to a 100 miles just to have dinner with a friend; they go to a far-off city for an evening of theater or music or even a movie. Countless young people select a college thousands miles away from their families 'just to see another part of the country'.
You may come upon Americans who lack knowledge about your country. If so, be patient with them. Unfortunately, we do not teach enough about other cultures, customs, or even geography in our schools; we have always been so insulated by oceans that we are not readily exposed to different cultures and other ways of doing things. If Americans crudely try to help you with something that has long been totally familiar to you, if they confuse your country with another thousands of miles away, be patient. This huge continent has been developed from virgin land into the modern dynamo that it is now in a remarkably short time - about 300 years. We have been absorbed with our own growth, with road building, city building, free education for millions of children, the assimilation of countless strangers; with the inventions, discoveries, and developments that our science and technology have contributed to the world. Our attention has been inward, not global, through most of these 300 years. A 'world' sense has come to the United States only since the end of World War II. Regrettably, most of us are still quite unfamiliar and uniformed in regard to other lands.
Because our people have come from so many nationalities, there is a far wider range of what is 'acceptable' than in some countries where the inhabitants have grown up with a common heritage. As a result, no one needs to feel uncomfortable in following his or her own customs. Although Americans are noticeably informal, if you prefer somewhat greater formality, feel free to act in your own way. This will be acceptable to those around you. As the young say, each person can 'do his own thing' and be respected here to a very large extent.
Conversational questions may seem to you both too personal and too numerous - especially when you first arrive. 'Where do you work?', 'Are you married?', 'How many children do you have?', 'Have you taken your vacation yet?' are not persons' questions by American standards. They are a search for common ground on which to build a relationship or base a conversation. Understand such questions are meant to be friendly; the questioner is interested in you; he or she is not being impertinent.
(V.M. Ivanova, G.V. Nesterchuck. Read and Speak about
the USA and the Americans)