Практика устной речи по английскому языку - Малышева О.Л., Валько О.В., Щёголева Т.П

B.Choose the best explanation in each case.

1.If you call a person an ass,

a.you might be saying that he or she is a silly fool.

b.you are being extremely offensive and insulting.

c.you are saying that the person has terrible manners.

2.If you say that a person is extravagant, you might be suggesting that he/she

a.spends too much money.

b.is rather peculiar.

c.is always extremely wasteful.

3.If you were to use womanly to refer to a woman, you would be

a.referring to sexual attractiveness.

b.distinguishing her as female, compared with male.

c.referring to her qualities as a woman.

4.If we refer to a person’s temperament, we are

a.referring to his or her basic nature or character.

b.suggesting that he or she is normally lively.

c.saying the person is ‘full of spirit’.

5.A far-sighted person is one who

a.is often absent-minded

b.needs glasses.

c.is capable of imagining the future.

6.A sensible person is one who

a.is quick to feel pain.

b.has good sense and judgement.

c.quickly reacts to heat and cold.

7.A delicate person is one who

a.gets ill easily.

b.has good manners.

c.has fine looks.

8.If we refer to a person’s high spirits, we are suggesting he or she

a.has a lot of determination.

b.has drunk too much alcohol.

c.is in a very cheerful mood.

9.If you say that a person has a temper, you are

a.suggesting he or she is capable of getting very angry.

b.suggesting he or she often gets depressed.

c.referring to his or her state of mind which may be good or bad.

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Exercise 3. Translate into English:

Check Yourself

1. Она произвела на всех нас впечатление своими деловыми манерами. 2. Сегодня мы можем оглядываться назад и смеяться над нашими студенческими проделками. 3. Зевать неприлично. 4. Вы забыли, как надо себя вести? 5. Ему было едва за тридцать, но он уже имел манеры и слабое телосложение стареющего инвалида. 6. Какой-то банкир средних лет оштрафован за буйное поведение в поезде. 7. Если он не исправится, то к 18 годам сядет в тюрьму. 8. Я знаю, что я совершил кое-что нехорошее в прошлом, но сейчас я начинаю новую жизнь. 9. Шеф очень крут с теми, кто нарушает приказ. 10. Тебе действительно не следует пить так много, когда ты за рулем – так только нарвешься на неприятности. 11. Когда ему было 15, у него были неприятности с полицией. 12. Полиция выдворила несколько человек со стадиона за то, что они дурно вели себя во время игры. 13. Со мной этот номер не пройдет. 14. Он замыслил что-то недоброе. 15. Разведенные отцы часто позволяют своим детям шалить, когда встречаются с ними в выходные дни. 16. Полиция сказала, что демонстрация была организованной (спокойной) и арестованных не было. 17. Все будет в порядке, если ты не будешь высовываться. 18. Он вечно попадает в истории. 19. ‘Дети хорошо себя вели, когда меня не было?’ – ‘Да, с ними не было никаких хлопот’.

Exercise 4. Read the short texts below and answer the questions.

Speaking

A young woman, called Kitty Genovese, was walking along the streets of a middle-class neighbourhood in New York at 3.00 a.m., when she was attacked. She screamed for help and managed to escape. A few minutes later her assailant caught her again and she continued screaming for half an hour whilst 38 neighbours watched transfixed from their windows and did nothing. They didn’t even call the police. Kitty died of multiple stab wounds.

In another town in America, a man went to a garage sale and bought an old tool box for $15. At home when he opened it up, he found $5,500 hidden under some plates at the bottom of the box. He returned the money to the woman he’d bought the box from.

1.Which seems to be the strangest story – Kitty Genovese’s or the man returning money?

2.What do you think? True or False? People did nothing to help Kitty because they:

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a.prefer to protect themselves rather than get involved and risk being killed.

b.no longer have a group or tribal feeling which binds them together – we are all too individual and we always put ourselves first.

c.convince themselves that there are special institutions in cities to deal with this kind of problem; they don’t need to intervene because the police will intervene for them.

d.are basically selfish and just don’t care about other people.

The man returned the box because:

e.he was a noble altruist.

f.he was simply afraid he might have been caught.

3.What would you do in the following situations?

a.You see someone suspicious hanging around outside a neighbour’s door.

b.You see a teenager stealing some sweets from a shop. (And if

it was a little old lady?)

c.You see someone of a different colour skin being beaten up by four of your colour skin.

d.You see a mother violently beating her screaming child.

e.You see some children teasing and taunting another child.

Exercise5. Read the dialogue and say which explanations in exercise 5 Activate question 2 are mentioned, and if the speakers believe they

are true or false.

A:I’m afraid I’m of the school that thinks that basically people are out for themselves and are rather cowardly. And I think in both cases that’s proved by these stories. If you hear someone screaming in the middle of the night, and you think that sounds dangerous, you do nothing, you think I’m not going anywhere near that, so you want to protect yourself and that explains why people stand back and watch someone get killed in front of them.

And as for the man finding the money in the bottom of the box and giving back, I think that’s also fear, that’s a fear of being caught.

B:… being caught. Yes, I think I tend to agree with that actually.

C:But I thought that was in that situation there was no chance that he

could get caught.

A: But… but it’s not a rational thing, is it? You know, I mean that someone, somewhere, that in fact they could have done it to trap you.

C: So there’s no such thing as a noble motive, in your opinion?

A:I don’t know. I think that people can, but then that may well be a sort of self-promotional thing.

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C:I have an idea of why it might happen, and that is that we’re originally tribal, not individuals, and we’ve lost that, and we’ve become more and more and more individual, so there’s nothing really to take care of that, but the yearning for it is shown in things like Live Aid, Mother Teresa, charities and so on. We want that to be fulfilled but we don’t

belong to any group, and it’s in the big cities and so on that the really heartless behaviour seems to take place.

A:I’m sure that being in cities is part of it, and certainly in the first story that must be a major part of it, the fact that you feel that there are the institutions already set up and whereby people are going to be protected, the police will do something.

Exercise 6. Read the following and try to predict what your partner Quiz would do in such situations.

Are you an altruist?

1.You see an old lady struggling to cross the street with some heavy bags.

a.You ignore her; she should get herself a shopper’s trolley.

b.You help her to cross.

c.You help her to cross and then offer to carry her bags for her, even though she lives in the opposite direction.

2.At a party there’s one more chocolate left on the plate.

a.You take it and eat it when no one’s looking.

b.You offer it to the others first.

c.You insist that someone else have it, though your mouth is watering.

3.You run over a cat in your car / on your bike.

a.You carry on driving.

b.You stop and knock at the presumed owner’s door.

c.After calming down the owner you offer to take the cat to the vet.

4.A neighbour’s car alarm goes off in the middle of the night.

a.You close the window and put your ear plugs in.

b.You ring the neighbour but do nothing more if there’s no reply.

c.You rush round to investigate.

5.You are driving along a country road in the dead of night. A bedraggled person of unknown sex tries to flag you down.

a.It’s probably some drunken maniac.

b.You drive past and feel terribly guilty that you didn’t stop.

c.You stop immediately and give whatever assistance is needed.

Score: If the majority of your answers are As, you are thoroughly selfish, but definitely part of the great indifferent majority.

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Bs – You do your best to help the world, though rather half-heartedly. Cs – You’re on a one-way ticket to heaven.

Now, interview your partner and compare your predictions with his/her answers.

Exercise 7. Read the text and discuss the following statements.

Discussion

One person who no one could really accuse of having ulterior motives for helping others was Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was born in Serbia in 1910. Her father was a rich merchant who gave generously to the church and fed the poor at his table. She did very well at school and spurred on by her father’s example, she decided to become a missionary. She joined the Order of Loreto nuns in Ireland and then moved to Calcutta in 1928. She opened a house for the dying, another one for abandoned babies and established medical services for lepers. Later she opened centers around the world and as a result of this work won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Since then her work in Calcutta was interspersed with visits to various disaster victims around the world – from the Bhopal pollution victims to those of the Armenian earthquake. Her only possessions were two white saris, a bucket in which to wash and her devotional books.

*Nobody does something for nothing.

*I would never give money to charity.

*There’s no point in giving money to beggars, they only spend it on alcohol.

*Public charity-aimed events are motivated by publicity rather than humanity.

Exercise8.A. These complaints are about four irritating people. Speaking Which of them would irritate you, if any?

1.‘… and he used to smoke all the time: in the house, in the kitchen, even in the bedroom. Never used to ask. Didn’t care.’

2.‘She was always arguing: shop assistants, bus drivers, waiters, friends – me. She’d never stop. I couldn’t take it.’

3.‘We’d be playing in the street, and he’d come up and start shouting, you know, «Young hooligans, haven’t you got anywhere to go?» and if he caught you, he’d hit you.’

4.‘She spent a lot. Just couldn’t control herself. Some days she’d go into every shop we passed. I’d get fed up and go home and then the delivery men would start arriving.’

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B.Talk about an irritating habit or behaviour, which annoyed you.

Exercise 9. What are your neighbours like?

Style Have you ever had any problems with them? If so, what would you do in such situations?

Readthefollowingletter.Whatisitsstyle:formalorinformal? Correct the underlined inconsistencies in style.

Dear Mr Branston

I am writing on behalf of the residents of the residents’ association to inform you of our feelings regarding your behaviour. We’ve really had just enough of you. Although we have tried to speak to you civilly on several occasions, you have always responded with a stream of verbal abuse. Ever since you moved in three months ago, you have shown very little consideration for the other residents of this building, despite numerous complaints. For the past six weekends in a row, you have held extremely noisy parties, which have not finished until the early hours of the morning. It’s just not on! As you are aware, most of the people here are elderly or have very young children, and the noise keeps them awake all night. You don’t have to be so noisy, do you? Last weekend the situation deteriorated further when two of your acquaintances were involved in a fight on the first floor landing. The disturbance was so bad that the police had to be called. What’s more, your mates left the stairs in a terrible state – they even smashed two windows on their way out! We feel that this type of behaviour is intolerable.

We strongly recommend that you arrange payment for the damage to the windows soon. If you don’t and you carry on being a nuisance, we’ll kick you out! Legal steps will be taken if necessary.

Yours sincerely

Julia Harrison

*Consider the style of the underlined parts. What lexical and grammar peculiarities of formal and informal style can you note?

Exercise10. A. Read the writing task. Discuss with another student the Writing following aspects, and add your own ideas.

You recently had a visitor from Britain staying with you for a month, as part of an exchange programme. You had asked for someone similar to you in age and interests, but the company that organized the trip actually arranged for a person of a very different age and background from yourself to stay with you. It was very difficult looking after this person,

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who had nothing in common with you and yet expected to be constantly entertained.

Now that the visitor has left, you have decided to write to the company, describing the various problems you had, and suggesting that they should be more careful when matching people in future.

Possible causes of misunderstanding can be:

-Age: interests, opinions, health

-Daily living: eating, sleeping, tidiness, cost.

-_________________.

B. Use the framework below to plan what you are going to write. You may like to use some of the suggestions given to begin each part of the letter.

* Beginning the letter:

Dear Sir / Madam Dear Mr / Mrs / Ms

I’m writing to you regarding / concerning … … with regard to …

* The visitor – what happened:

Although / Even though I had specifically asked you to … Despite / In spite of requesting …

* Your recommendation to the company:

I suggest that … I would urge you to … I strongly recommend that you …

* Ending the letter:

Yours faithfully / Yours sincerely

Exercise 11. TranslateintoRussian.Whatwordsandphrasesfromthis Translation unitdoyouassociatewitheachherooftheseextracts?What a guess can you make about their characters on the basis

of the information given?

1.… The boss yelled once, then stormed from the office, making threats. All the colleagues were frustrated, but also embarrassed at his antics.

The secretary rolled her eyes at Clint as if she wanted to apologize for this pompous loud mouth.

2.‘I liked him,’ Donner said. ‘He was the quietest man I’ve ever known, one of the most polite, one of the smartest – and sure as hell the most self-effacing. Last guy in the world to brag. And he could be a lot of fun when he was in the right mood. But he was very self-contained. No one ever really got to know him.’

3.Louise knew that her voice was smooth and soothing. She couldn’t help it. Any time she wanted a man to do something for her, she

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instinctively cooed. Twenty-nine years of training could not be overcome by sheer will. And anyway, it always worked.

UNIT 16. HONESTY

Exercise 1. Learn the following words and expressions. Make up Preparation sentences of your own.

female	to be straight		to hedge around the subject			obvious
to drop hints		to nag	to sulk	issue	tough	to accuse

Exercise 2. A. The conversation you are going to hear is about Listening the relationships between boys and girls. After you

listenedtotheconversation,choosethecorrect answer:

1.Recent changes in behaviour have affected __________

a.women only.

b.more women than men.

c.more men than women.

d.both men and women to the same degree.

2.Young men complain that their girlfriends __________

a.have no time for them. c. never understand them.

b.never want to talk to them. d. never tell them the truth.

3.‘To hedge around the subject’ means ____________

a.to refuse to talk about certain problems.

b.to avoid talking about certain problems.

c.to keep talking about one problem for a long time.

d.to keep asking questions about one problem for a long time.

4.It’s difficult for girls to talk about _________

a.their feelings.

b.their problems.

c.their plans.

d.their ideas.

5.Girls would like their boyfriends __________

a.to ask them what they want.

b.to find out what they want.

c.to guess what they want.

d.to know what they want.

6.a. Girls are very critical of their boyfriends.

b.Girls never criticize their boyfriends.

c.Girls love being criticized.

d.Girls hate being criticized.

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7.‘Why can’t you buy some smart clothes?’ can be considered ___

a.a suggestion.

b.a request.

c.an order.

d.a question.

8.Girls tend to avoid being straight with their boyfriends because ____

a.they know that boys don’t like it.

b.they are afraid to do it.

c.they don’t know how to do it.

d.they think it is not necessary.

9.A girl mustn’t tell her boyfriend that _______

a.he can’t understand her.

b.he will never understand her.

c.he doesn’t understand her.

d.he doesn’t want to understand her.

10.Making boys feel jealous is ________

a.exciting.

b.effective.

c.useless.

d.necessary.

11.It’s irritating when people _______

a.are frank.

b.say what’s on their minds.

c.think you can guess what’s on their minds.

d.want you to guess what’s on their minds.

12.Do you think that the girls took the journalist’s advice _________

a.seriously?

b.with skepticism?

c.with great interest?

d.as a joke?

B. Find the second part of the sentences on the tape.

1.It’s a common belief these days that ________ .

2.Young men often complain that _______ .

3.They may have _____ .

4.Most of us find it impossible to be direct ________ .

5.It’s because you complain more often _______ .

6.Those are quite _______ .

7.So you’re trying to say that _______ .

8.That’s a tough question, but _______ .

9.First don’t say that ________ .

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10.Tell him what ________ .

11.Second, don’t deliberately make him jealous ________ .

12.So, say exactly what’s on your mind and ______ .

13.Be direct but ________ .

C.Put the missing words.

1.Women have been affected more than men … recent changes.

2.Girlfriends are not straight … their boyfriends.

3.Girls never get … the point.

4.They aren’t direct … their deepest feelings and fears.

5.Continual hinting, nagging and sulking won’t get you … the root of the problem.

6.Girls often complain … boys’ clothes, behaviour or haircuts.

7.These questions may mean you and he have very different outlook

…life.

8.We are scared … the possible consequences.

9.Girls prefer playing a submissive role, putting up … behaviour or attitudes they don’t feel entirely happy with.

10.Teenage girls don’t know how to deal … their boyfriends.

D.Listen to the tape and find the words that precede

thefollowing.

The definitions in brackets should help you.

1.______ changes (that have taken place in the last years)

2.______ belief (popular)

3.______ hinting (done again and again)

4.______ feelings (the most serious)

5.______ haircut (considered to be of an acceptable standard)

6.______ suggestions (clear and simple)

7.______ consequences (likely)

8.______ role (behaving in a quiet and obedient way)

Exercise 3. A. Criticize your boyfriend or girlfriend for:

Activate

a.not being straight with you.

b.hedging around the subject and not getting to the point.

c.not being direct about his/her feelings.

d.nagging you all the time.

e.blaming you for everything.

f.never telling you what is bothering him/her.

g.expecting you to guess what’s wrong.

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