- •К.В.Голубина
- •Introduction the cultural impact of a foreign text
- •Unit 1. Think global, speak local (Tape)
- •Unit 2. Basic brit-think and ameri-think
- •The most important things to know
- •1. I’m gonna live for ever
- •2. New is good
- •3. Never forget you’ve got a choice
- •4. Smart money
- •5. The consensus society
- •‘Them ‘n Us’
- •(Brian Walden The London Standard)
- •6. ‘Me-think’ vs. ‘We-think’
- •7. Good Guys and Bad Guys
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 3. Brits and yanks abroad
- •Amer-Executive
- •Ameri-wife
- •Brits on us hols ... A word of warning
- •A Brit goes Stateside
- •Mrs Brit
- •Brit groovettee
- •Us / uk guide to naffness-avoidance: What not to do in each other’s countries
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Shopping (uk)
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 4. Strictly business
- •Succeeding in business
- •Intimidation and desks
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 5. Brits and yanks at home Home as backdrop
- •Home as bolt-hole (‘Don’t tell anyone I live here’)
- •1. For the affluent, aspirational, or upwardly mobile:
- •2. For everyone else:
- •Some like it hot
- •Brits on heat
- •Ordeal by water
- •Beddy-bye
- •American dreams
- •Closet needs
- •Comprhension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 6. Going places (Film)
- •Unit 7. What do they aspire to? ‘Having It All’
- •Brit soap
- •Strike it rich
- •Success story Double standards
- •Nothing succeeds like success
- •Failure: Anglo-American excuses Making dramas out of crises
- •Delegating blame: ‘It’sa notta myfault!’
- •Bouncing back Recovery from adversity
- •Set-backs
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •The Neasden connection ... Place-names
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Writing
- •Unit 9. Patriotism (Multi-media support available)
- •Eco-chauvinism
- •Buy British:
- •Dollar allegiance … big bucks
- •Pound of flesh
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 10. The establishment
- •The Brit-Establishment includes anyone who:
- •It does not include such instruments of the Establishment as:
- •Amer-Establishment
- •America’s Haute-Establishment – Anyone who:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 11. Yes, prime minister. The smoke screen (Film)
- •Unit 12. A better class of foreigner ‘Foreigner’
- •The foreign menace
- •British league-table of foreigners (reading from most to least reliable)
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 13. Class The thorny question of Class Gotta Lotta Class
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Labour if:
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Conservative if:
- •If you are a Brit, you will vote Liberal, sdp, or sdp-Lib. Alliance if:
- •Class Act
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 14. Only fools and horses (Film)
- •Unit 15. The food connection
- •Eating in Britain: Things that confuse American tourists
- •The importance of sharing
- •Brit guide to Ameri-portions
- •British/american food
- •Unit 17. The importance of being cute
- •Other cosy things Brits do
- •1. Extol the amateur
- •2. Obstruct mPs
- •3. Fill their national newspapers with ‘Around America’ columns
- •4. Cultivate their gardens
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 18. Goods and services Consumer durables and vice versa
- •Conspicuous Ameri-consumption:
- •Attacking the problem
- •Example:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit19. Doctor doctor Medicine
- •Moi first, doc
- •Doctors
- •Perfect Brit patients
- •The perfect Ameri-patient
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 20. Laws of the lands
- •Comprehension and language
- •Unit 21. Rumpole and the age of miracles (Film)
- •Unit 22. Judging a nation by its television Meet the Press: The media we deserve
- •Ameri-vision: You are what you watch
- •Brit-tv: They’re watching me
- •You are what you read
- •1. Brit tabloids are more explicit.
- •2. Brit papers declare political affiliations.
- •3. Yanks don’t have national newspapers.
- •Snigger Press
- •The international co-production deal: Brit-mogul meets Yank-mogul
- •The 8 commandments of international co-production
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Writing
- •Unit 23. Good sport
- •Fair play
- •American football is:
- •Brit-footie is:
- •Comprehension
- •Language practice
- •Speaking
- •Unit 24. Oxford blues (Film)
- •Unit 25. Humour travels? Transatlantic laughs:
- •To be funny in America, you have to be:
- •To be funny in Britain, you have to:
- •Comprehension
- •Unit 28. One foot in the grave (Film)
- •Unit 29. East-enders (Film)
- •Unit 30. The final solution: or, whatreally counts
- •1. The Royal Family
- •2. The Pub
- •Double raspberry ripple to go
- •Appendix I The Special Relationship
- •Yanks (on brits)
- •Brits (on yanks)
- •Appendix II Glossary of us-uk equivalents
- •Glossary (and translation) of Anglo-American weather terms american
- •British
- •Appendix III The ones that don’t translate
- •Appendix IV The very, very best things in America
- •The best of British
- •Contents:
The perfect Ameri-patient
... NEED DO ONLY ONE IMPORTANT THING: stay conscious long enough to sign the medical insurance forms. Ameri-doctor seems to work with greater skill and sense of Hypocratic vocation when he knows you carry Blue Cross, Blue Shield and Major Medical.
Comprehension
Exercise 1. Make up 5–7 multiple choice questions about the text to check comprehension.
Exercise 2. Sum up the main points of the text in your own words.
Language practice
Exercise 3.Find synonyms in the text for the words and phrases below, comment on their register and expressiveness. Think up appropriate contexts with them:
to rely, rest on sth. / to compete with / rich / peniless / having no idea about sth. / to humble oneself / alert and ready for action / to bungle / to enhance, increase / a severe and long examination.
Exercise 4.Identify the cultural information, things, specific idiom and topics that come through in the text and comment on them.
Exercise 5.Complete the following sentences by using the words below:
1. The idea behind the NHS is that the health … should be free for every person living in Britain. 2. If you’ve got something wrong with you the choice is to either do it on … or to go … 3. Today the NHS costs over £16 million … 4. The usual criticism … the NHS is that it is … and that the nurses and doctors are…
underpaid / to run / provision / understaffed / the NHS / private
Exercise 6.Choose and use:recipe,prescription,ticket,receipt.
1. The cookery section has some very clever … 2. I’ve had this condition for years, and had to renew my … many times now. 3. (At a gentlemen’s club) He left his coat and the attendant gave him a … 4. I lost my laundry … 5. He opened a Building Society account by putting in ten quid, and the clerk gave him a … 6. (In a shop) I don’t know how much it costs – there is no … on the dress.
Exercise 7. Phrasal Verbs Practice.
Write out all the sentences with phrasal verbs and their derivatives, look them up in a recent dictionary and write out more sentences with them. Translate the sentences in writing, possibly with a number of options for different speech situations.
Exercise 8.What other language from the text would you like to select for intensive study and why?
Exercise 9.Where is the odd-one-out? Since there may be different options, try to explain your choice as you go on:
social worker, social security, social services, social function, social work;
doctor, GP, doc, PhD, surgeon, medic, paramedic, MD;
ward, surgery, clinic, infirmary, nursery, mortuary;
medic, paramedic, matron, doc, vet, sis, nurse, shrink, quack;
Blue Shield, Prudential, State Farm, Blue Cross, HMO;
Podiatrist, surgeon, analyst, sergeant, resident.
Exercise 10. Idioms Practice
Look up idioms and metaphoric expressions with the words HAND, FIST, PALM, ARM, SHOULDER, NECK, HEAD, EAR, BROW, NOSE, EYE, FACE, TEETH, LEG, FOOT, TOE, THUMB, etc. in a recent English-English dictionary, give illustrations and practise them with your classmates.
Speaking
Exercise 11.Use your outside reading, personal experiences, TV and video-watching, etc. to support, expand on or question the points and observations made in the chapter.