6.Culture in America or The Old New World

MIND THE PRONUNCIATION OF THE FOLLOWING DIFFICULT WORDS:

Validity[v{#liditi] 1) юридическая сила, юридическая действительность, законность, юридическое действие,2) аргументированность, вескость, мотивированность, обоснованность, 3) истинность, достоверность

fashion­able[#f@S{n{b{l] модный, стильный; светский; фешенебельный

praise[preiz] (по)хвала; восхваление хвалить; восхвалять; превозносить,

decadent[#dEk{d{nt] декадентский, упадочнический, упадочныйSyn:depressive

degenerate[di#dZEn{,reit] деградировать, вырождаться, обесценивать, девальвировать, ухудшать (качество) ; фальси фицировать; подмешивать, унижать достоинство

decline[di#klain] спад, снижение, уменьшение, спадать, снижаться, уменьшать ся; убывать, ослабевать

substance[#s[bst{ns] содержание, суть, сущность; существо практическая значи мость, полезность; реальная ценность

accent[#@ks{nt] акцент, упор; тон, манера, стиль

tremendous[tri#mEnd{s] огромный, гигантский, громад ный

surge[s{:dZ] всплеск; толчок; выброс; им пульс

vitality[vai#t@liti] жизнеспособность; жизнен ность, жизнестойкость; живу честь

apparent[{#p@r{nt] очевидный, явный; несомнен ный; видимый, открытый

deplore[di#plO:] оплакивать, сетовать, скорбеть; сокрушаться; горевать,

сожалеть; горько жаловаться

weird[wi{d] странный, непонятный; причуд ливый, фантастический

maturity[m{#tju{riti] взрослость, зрелость , разви тость

mugger[#m[g{] фигляр, шут

sky­scraper[#skai,skreip{] небоскрёб, многоэтаж ный дом, высотное здание

giants[#dZai{nt] великан, гигант; титан

head­quarters[,hEd#kwO:te{] главный орган управления ка кими-л. структурами , штаб; штаб-квартира; орган

управления войсками

playwright[#plei,rait] раматург

patron[#peitr{n] покровитель, патрон, шеф; глава, руководитель

overpowering[,{uv{#pau{riNнепреодолимый; подавляющий; всепоглощающий

ensembles[an#samb{l] ансамбль группа множество

prestige[prE#sti:Z] авторитет, престиж

prestigeclubпрестижный клуб

highprestigejobвысокопрестижная работа

little/lowprestigeнепрестижность, малый вес, малое значение

to enjoy / have prestige иметь вес, авторитет

todamagesmb.'sprestigeподорвать чей-л. автори тет, чью-л. репутацию

togainprestigeзавоевать авторитет

plight[plait] обязательство , помолвка

READ THE TEXT

The Historical Dimension

Although it is clearly a generalization , it useful to divide American cultural history into three broad stages. While no clear dividing line sepa­rates them, and while various influences affected different cultural areas in different ways, they do have some historical validity.

The first stage stretches from colonial times until about the Civil War. In this period, Ameri­can art, architecture, music, literature, and fashion were strongly influenced by European ideas, traditions, and trends. What was fashion­able in European cultural centers such as Lon­don, Paris, Rome, or Vienna usually set the pat­tern for Boston, New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. Some Americans followed the Eu­ropean trends unwillingly. And it often took some time for the trends to reach America. But there is little question that they were followed, more or less, sooner or later.

This did not mean, of course that America only imported her art or artists. The American painter Benjamin West, who was called the "American Raphael" in England, was a founder of the 'Royal Academy in London and. beginning in 1792, was its president for 26 years. The art of other Ameri­can painters, among them Washington Allston, John Singleton Copley, Charles Willson Peale, and Gilbert Stuart, also found favor and fame in Europe. Likewise the famous insult in the Edin­burgh Review in I820 soon lost its sting when American writers such as James Fenimore Cooper or Edgar Allan Рое became widely read and praised throughout Europe. Soon, too, that particular American gilt to mod­em music, the creation of "standards," songs that just about everyone everywhere knows and sings, had started.

The argumentative tone during this first stage is often forgotten today. As part of their revolution, many Americans also wanted a cultural break with Europe. European art, culture, and society were attacked as being "aristocratic." They were seen as a threat to the ideal of democracy. They were described as being decadent, degenerate, and debased. Benjamin Franklin, a man who had close personal ties to Europe and who had often had often been honored there for his intellectual brilliance, characterized the mother country on the eve of the Revolution as bad influence on American so­ciety and morals. A further union with Britain was not desirable, he stated because of "the extreme corruption prevalent among all orders of men in this old rotten state." The art of America, like the country, would need a fresh start.

From the other side came an argument about American culture that was also to be repeated again and again over the years. This argument, the so-called elitist or aristocratic position, was that republican America - the new democracy of the common man, that "mob of mixed races"-could not possibly support the finer things in life. Civi­lization, this argument claimed, has always been furthered and preserved by a ruling elite. The rise of the common man could only mean a decline in art and culture.

This argument was always strongest during the periodic revolutions and popular uprisings which swept Europe in the 19th century. It was most loudly voiced, not surprisingly, by those who felt most threatened by the echoes and effects of the American and, later, French revolutions. In short, those sympathetic to the ruling classes could not be expected to see America or its culture in a favorable light. They recognized - quite correctly, as history has shown-a threat to their dominance in the widespread American belief that art and culture are not the property of a privileged few.

Transatlantic Routes

The second stage, from the Civil War era until around World War I or so, is marked by tension. Americans, it can be said, had a foot in each world, and often felt that this was an uncomfort­able position. Writers, architects, and painters of 19th century still considered themselves largely part of the European tradition. Increas­ingly, however, America became subject and sub­stance of much artistic creation. Europe versus America is one of the more significant themes in American literature. In the novels and stories of Henry James, for example, Americans are fre­quently pulled between the cultures of the Old and New Worlds. James himself lived between the two worlds, claiming and being claimed by both. Yet, by this second stage it is clear that America had developed a cultural style of her own. There is no mistaking the clear American accents in the voices of 19th-century writers such as Cooper, Thoreau, Emerson, Melville, Whitman, Dickinson, Stephen Crane, Harte, or Twain. Obviously strong national culture had been established. Eu­ropean influences were still strong but no longer dominant. However self-consciously, a specific American direction was being followed.

The third and present stage is marked by a tremendous surge of American creativity in all areas, by a growing international influence, and by a steady self-confidence. The European scholar of the arts George Steiner has described this present stage of American cultural life as "Elizabethan phase." The current American novel, he wrote in 1975, "now represents the richest, most complex interplay of intelligence and style in the language .Although this vitality and creative experimen­tation can be seen in art, architecture, music, dance, film, and fashion as well, it is most clearly apparent in literature. The first American to be honored by a Nobel Prize in literature was Sin­clair Lewis, in 1930. He was then followed, in regular succession, by Eugene O'Neill, Pearl S. Buck, T.S. Eliot, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, and the two Polish-born Americans, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Czeslaw Milosz. And who reads an American novel today? If someone were to ask for a list of American writers who are read in most corners of the globe, a large number of names could be offered, beginning, for example, with Agee, Algren, Anderson, and Asimov, and ending somewhere around Williams, Wolfe, Wouck, and Wright.

Changing Places

It is somewhat comical that alter a century and a half of Americans worrying about foreign in­fluences on their culture, of complaining about the negative influences of the Old World, its "Ba­bylonian sins" and moral decay, the winds have seemingly shifted in the other direction.

Once criticism from outside America claimed that the United States had very little cultural influence in the world. Now it seems that America has too much, for many people on the other side of the Atlantic (and Pacific). American culture has become too popular.

One French critic, acknowledging the pre­eminence of the American novel, complains of home-grown imitations of American culture. A member of the French Academy of Medicine worries because the "English of America" has become dominant in the literature of interna­tional science. He states that "America's linguis­tic imperialism is in no doubt". The British seem to be the most sensitive to the strong influence of their former colonies. An Observer article warns that the United States now accounts for about three-quarters of all the world's books published in English. Some British authors these days are first published in America in American English The "negative effects" of American English spread by radio. TV, films, music videos on British teenagers are deplored in a never ending series of letters to the nation’s press. The writers of these letters usually forget that words like "radio," "T V," or "teenager" were оnсе con­sidered "terrible Americanisms." The (London) Sunday Times released the results of a nationwide poll which showed that almost 60 percent of the British think that there is "too much" American cultural influence on British television. And almost a third think that America has too much negative influence on' "British morality"! If Benjamin Franklin - who two centuries ago complained so bitterly about negative British in­fluences - could come back today, what would he think when he heard that his brave New World had become, for many, the "New Babylon"? Until rather recently, Paris in American middle-class minds was the source of all sin and wild living. That it has been replaced by the corrupt, artistic vitality of New York City or the weird, wild "sex, sun, and drugs" scene of southern California is, historically viewed, ironical .It is fair to say that if some Americans are insensitive to charges of "cultural imperialism," they are, first, simply returning a historical com­pliment. And secondly Americans are for the most part unconcerned about a discussion that takes place beyond their shores. On the more positive side, they have become more willing to admit to their cultural ties and borrowings. They will, in fact, often point out with pride the advan­tages of having so many, and such varied, cultural traditions. It is cultural maturity has made them less concerned about what can be labeled "foreign" or "made in America," what is im­ported and exported. Internationalism and plu­ralism are expected and welcomed.

New York, New York

Let's be honest: New York often irritates people in the rest of America, and a good many people in the rest of the world as well. New Yorkers take for granted that their city is the financial, business, as s well as news and communications center of the world. New York, however, is also "the art capital of the world" and the "foremost modern dance and ballet metropolis." It is the "leading book and publishing center," "the earth's entertainer," and a place "where actors outnumber muggers." It is also, as one foreign guidebook excitedly points out, "the home of the world's most famous opera," the Met (that is, the Metropolitan Opera).

A visitor from the city that likes to think of itself as "the nation's capital," Washington, D.C., might point out that the Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. Or, someone from Harvard might explain that theirs is the world's largest university library. But a New Yorker

would simply say that the New York Public Li­brary is, "I believe," the largest library in the world that is not a national collection. What irri­tates so many people about New Yorkers is that they know where they live and who they are. Often they don't seem too concerned about what the rest of us anywhere else think. In New York alone, for example, there are some 12,000 artists and sculptors who are supporting themselves from their work, 400 art galleries and hundreds of exhibitions and shows each sea­son. Then there are the great museums .Among them is the Museum of Modem Art (MOMA) which houses the most complete collection of modern art in the world. There is the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in its range comparable only with the British Museum and the Louvre. There is the Guggen­heim, The Cloisters with its fine medieval collec­tion, the Brooklyn Museum, the Frick Collection, the National Museum of Design, the Pierpont Morgan Library, the Museum of the American Indian, the American Craft Museum, and the Whitney Museum of Modern Art. With so many other museums in addition to those concerned with art (e.g., the American Museum of Natural History), a visitor would need a book to find them all. New York's status as the leading art center is not only based on the number of artists working there, its many galleries and exhibitions, or the museums. Several important movements in modern art have their roots there. Among the better known which largely spread from New York into international art, are Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting, the related “ happenings” that came out the city in 1959-60, Pop-art, minimal art, and photorealism. Similarly, Chicago is often associated with modern architecture as the home of Louis Sulli­van, sometimes called "the father of the " and Frank Lloyd Wright. Yet, it is the Manhattan skyline that is for many people the symbol of the modern big city. And the Guggen­heim Museum is one of Wright's best-know designs Because so many of the major news and media companies as well as publishing giants like Time-Life have their head­quarters in New York City, it has also been an important center for photo-journalists. Finally, so-called "street art," whether the high-priced subway graffiti and paintings or the wall-and-buildings paintings with their strong ties to Hispanic-American and southern California art, still are most often associated with New York.

Theater in America is especially healthy in the hundreds of regional and university groups

around the country. But it is Broadway with its in some 40 major professional stages and the over 350 off-Broadway experimental theaters that bring to mind American playwrights such as O'Neill, Miller, Saroyan, Williams, Inge, Albee, Jones, Simon, and Shephard. There are over 15,000 professional actors in New York alone, and another 20,000 or so in the state of California The competition is intense.

The theater in the United States, by the way, is not state-supported .It does not survive because is financed by cities or states. Many Americans tend to see culture and the arts as areas that the government should not interfere with. They do not see government as the patron of the arts. In addition, people who like jazz, for example, do not see why their tax money should be used to support the pleasures of those who prefer classi­cal music (or vice versa). And those who like rhythm and blues aren't very impressed by the argument that opera will make us all more civi­lized. Americans feel that each person should be willing to support and help pay for his or her own favorite cultural activity, whatever it may be. While New York is almost overpowering in its cultural offerings, it is just the major, not the only, cultural center in the United States. The fact that three times as many Americans attend symphony concerts as go to baseball games can be explained by the fact that there are some 1,500 orchestras throughout the country (Los Angeles alone sup­porting about 20). Some three dozen orchestras in the United States can be termed "major," or world-class. Obviously, there are many Ameri­cans who like classical music and support it. Of the five American symphony orchestras which are usually included among the world's top ten or so, only one is from New York (the Philhar­monic), the other four being from Boston, Chi­cago, Cleveland, and Philadelphia. School and university ensembles and orches­tras also play a very important role throughout the country. They act as training academies for musi­cians and dancers. There are hundreds of city, state, and nationwide music competitions. University schools of music, theater, and dance provide scholarships and professional training, and the best of their orchestras, groups, and per­formers are very good indeed. Here a pyramid system can also be seen, with an increasing quality and level of competition evident as one progresses from school to university, to city or regional orchestras or stages, to professional careers. In addition, the universities provide cul­tural offerings in many areas of the nation, espe­cially in smaller cities, which would otherwise find it difficult to support a major symphony, theater, or concert season on their own.

The community open-air concert which is free for all also has a long tradition in America. The Central Park concerts in New York City, for example, are famous for their variety, with everyone from the Philharmonic to Simon and Garfunkel willing and wanting to appear. Similar open-air concerts in other cities attract tens of thousands throughout the nation. There are two reasons for this tradition. First they are good public relations, a way of thanking the com­munity for its support and making new friends. Secondly and simply, it's fun, with or without classical music.

So-called serious music is therefore very healthy in the U.S. On the one hand, it has the tradition of quality associated with Menuhin , Stern, Horowitz, and Rubinstein, or Tucker, Mer­rill, Price, Sills, and Home. On the other hand, it has the promise of future quality with the large

number of musicians ,singers, and dancers being trained.

Film

The world of American film and film-making is so far-reaching a topic that it deserves, and often receives, volumes of its own. Hollywood, of course, immediately comes to mind, as do the many great directors, actors, and actresses it con­tinues to attract and produce. But then, one also thinks of the many independent studios throughout the country, the educational and do­cumentary series and films, the socially-relevant tradition in cinema, and the film departments of universities such as the University of Southern California (USC), the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), or New York University which have trained directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg. However, to speak only of "the American cinema" is misleading. For over 50 years, American movies have conti­nued to grow in popularity throughout the world. Generations have grown up watching American films (and viewing America through them!), for better or for worse. Television has only increased this popularity. What most national television systems across the globe have in common is the large proportion of Americans films they choose to run. In many cases, these American films, old or new, are shown more often than are the home­grown variety. The great blockbusters of film entertainment that stretch from Gone with the Wind to Star Wars receive the most attention. A look at the prizes awarded at the leading international film festivals will also demonstrate that as an art form, the American film continues to enjoy considerable prestige. Even when the theme is serious or, as they say, "meaningful," American films remain "popular." In the past decade, movies which treated alcoholism, divorce, the danger of nuclear power and weapons, inner-city blight, the effects of slavery, the plight of Native Americans, pov­erty, and immigration have all received award and international recognition. And, at the same time, they have done well at the box office.

Happy Birthday to You

The main problem in discussing American popu­lar culture is also one of its main characteristics: it won't stay American. Regardless of what it is whether films, food and fashion, music, casual sports or slang, it's soon at home elsewhere in the world. There are several theories why American popular culture has had this appeal, especially since the 1920s. One theory is that it has been "advertised" and marketed" through American" films, popular music, and more recently television. But this theory fails to explain why Ameri­can films, music, and television programs are so popular in themselves. They are, after all, in com­petition with those produced by the other countries.

Another theory is that because America is "a nation of nations," its popular art and culture find it easier to "return home," to appeal to the traditions and tastes of other countries. This fails to clarify why school children in Italy wear cloth­ing saying "baseball" and "football," why cow­boy boots are on Japanese feet, or Afros on Swed­ish heads.

Still another theory, probably the most common one ,is that American popular culture is internationally associated with something called "the spirit of America." This spirit is variously described as being young and free, optimistic and confident, informal and disrespectful. The final theory is less complex: American popular culture is popular because a lot of people in the world like it.

Regardless of why it spreads, American popu­lar culture is usually quite rapidly adopted and then adapted in many other countries. As a result, its American origins and roots are often quickly forgotten. "Happy Birthday to You," for in­stance, is such an everyday song that its source, its American copyright, so to speak, is not remembered. Black leather jackets worn in American movies by James Dean and Marlon Brando, too, could be found, a generation later, on all those young men who wanted to make this macho-look their own. Potato chips are sold as "crisps," "real American hotdogs," also called "wienies," ap­pear in Vienna, and Thousand Island salad dress­ing is found on the tables of people who might not be able to find them on a map.

Two areas where this continuing process is most clearly seen are clothing and music. Some people can still remember a time when T-shirts, sweatshirts, and jogging clothes, the light wind-breaker, "letter jackets" and tennis shoes, denim or "Levi" jackets, shirts, and plain old blue jeans were not common daily wear everywhere. Base­ball caps, trackers' hats and vests, quilted hunting jackets , football jerseys, "the college look," and the classic Humphrey Bogart style have all become familiar. Only twenty or thirty years ago, it was possible to spot an American in Paris by his or her clothes. No longer: those bright colors, plaid and checkered jackets and trousers, hats and socks which were once made fun of in car­toons are back again in Paris as the latest fashion. American in origin, informal clothing has become the world's first truly universal style.

The situation with American popular music is more complex because in the beginning, when it was still clearly American, it was often strongly resisted. Jazz, as is well known, was once thought to be a great danger to youth and their morals, and was actually outlawed in several countries. Today, while still showing its rather humble American roots, it has become so well established that it's almost a member of the middle-aged, middle-class set. Swing, rock'n'roll and all its variations, rhythm & blues, soul, and, most re­cently, country & western music, all have more or less similar histories. They were first resisted -often in America as well - as being "low-class," musical trash, and as "a danger to our nation's youth." The BBC, for example, banned rock and roll until 1962, forcing the pirate radio stations to smuggle in Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, the Big Bopper and all their shocking American friends. And then the music became accepted, local var­ieties based on the American originals took hold, and the new genre or style was established. The music is translated, often extended and de­veloped, and then commonly exported back to the U.S.

Sometimes it is difficult even for an American to distinguish between the original and the gifted imitation, whether that man or woman singing the blues was born in Birmingham, Alabama, or Birmingham, England, whether that cowboy moaning about his sweetheart or pick-up truck is home on the range in Kansas or on the road to Calais.

American Food: From Asparagus to Zucchini

The popular view outside the U.S. that Americans survive on cheeseburgers, Cokes, and French fries is as accurate as the American popular view that the British live on tea and fish 'n' chips, the Germans only on beer, bratwurst, and sauerkraut, and the French on red wine and garlic.

Besides being a cliche, this view also comes from the fact that much of what is advertised abroad as "American food" is a pretty flat, taste­less imitation. American beef, for example, comes from specially grain-fed cattle, not from cows that are raised mainly for milk production. As a result, American beef is more tender and tastes better than what is usually offered as an "American steak" in Europe. When sold abroad, the simple baked potato that comes hot and whole in foil often lacks the most important ele­ment, the famous Idaho potato. This has a differ­ent texture and skin that comes from the climate and soil in Idaho. Or, there's even that old picnic standby, corn-on-the-cob. There's absolutely no comparison with corn that has been canned, kept in water, or frozen stiff and shipped for weeks over thousands of miles.

Even something as basic as barbecue sauces show differences from many of the types found on supermarket shelves overseas. A fine barbecue sauce from the Southside of Chicago has its own fire and soul. The Texans have a competition each year for the hottest barbecue sauce (the recipes are kept secret). And the Hispanic communities in the Southwest know that theirs is the best. Then there are those California wines which are doing quite well in international tasting competitions. Like fine wines everywhere, the best ones never leave home. The oldest bourbons and smoothest "sippin' whiskeys" are also not things you would offer to just anyone.

America has two strong advantages when it comes to food. The first is that as the leading agricultural nation, she has always been well sup­plied with fresh meats, fruits, and vegetables in great variety at relatively low prices. This is one reason why steak or beef roast is probably the most "typical" American food; it has always been more available. But good Southern-fried chicken also has its champions, as do hickory-smoked or sugar-cured hams, turkey (which some people wanted to make the national bird), fresh lobster, and other seafoods such as crabs or clams. In a country with widely different climates and many fruit and vegetable growing regions, such items as fresh grapefruit, oranges, lemons, mel­ons, cherries, peaches, or broccoli, iceberg let­tuce, avocados, and cranberries do not have to be imported. This is one reason why fruit dishes and salads are so common. Family vegetable gardens have been very popular, both as a hobby and as a way to save money, from the days when most Americans were farmers. They also help to keep fresh food on the table. Vegetable gardens are so popular that even The New Yorker always prints a few zucchini cartoons each autumn. One thing that always grows is zucchini, and trying to get the family to eat more of it with everything, or the neighbors to accept just a few more, has become a kind of national joke. In some areas where just about everyone goes fishing now and then, fish replace zucchini ("you caught them, you eat them!"). The first few fresh perch or mountain trout are quite good...

The second advantage America has enjoyed is that immigrants have brought with them, and continue to bring, the traditional foods of their countries and cultures. The variety of foods and styles is simply amazing. Whether Armenian, Basque, Catalonian, Creole, Danish, French,

German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, traditional Jewish, Latvian, Mexican, Vietnamese or what have you, these traditions are now also at home in the United States. A toasted bagel for breakfast (with Philadelphia cream cheese), a crisp taco with fresh lettuce (and a sharp cheese) for lunch, or a serious dinner starting with sweet-and-sour in a Chinatown restaurant have also become "typi­cally" American.

There seem to be four trends in America at present which are connected with foods and din­ing. First, there has been a notable increase in the number of reasonably priced restaurants which offer specialty foods. These include those that specialize in many varieties and types of pan-cakes, those that offer only fresh, baked breakfast foods, and the many that are buffets or salad bars. Secondly, growing numbers of Americans are more regularly going out to eat in restaurants. One reason is that they are not too expensive. Another reason, probably more important, is that many American women today do not feel that their lives are best spent in the kitchen. They would rather pay a professional chef and also enjoy a good meal. At the same time, there is an increase in fine cooking as a hobby for both men and women. For some two decades now, there have been popular television series on all types and styles of cooking, and the increasing popu­larity can easily be seen in the number of best-selling specialty cookbooks and the numbers of stores that specialize in often exotic cooking de­vices and spices.

A third trend is that as a result of nationwide health campaigns, Americans in general are eating a much lighter diet. Cereals and grain foods, fruits and vegetables, fish and salads are empha­sized instead of heavy and sweet foods. More than one American, of course, will refuse to give up that "solid" meal of meat, potatoes, and gravy. Yet the strong health and fitness movement in the U.S. shows no signs of being a temporary trend. Finally, there is that international trend to "fast food" chains which sell pizza, hamburgers, Mexi­can foods, chicken, salads and sandwiches, seafoods, and various ice creams. While many Americans and many other people resent this trend and while, as may be expected, restaurants also dislike it, many young, middle-aged, and old continue to buy and go eat fast foods. Perhaps it's all taken a bit too seriously? After all, while most Americans would still judge France to be the home of fine cuisine, Paris is also the home of the world's busiest Burger Chef restaurant.

EXERCISES:

I TRANSLATE INTO ENGLISH::

Обращаться к традициям и предпочтениям жителей других стран; ассоциироваться с тем, что называется «дух Америки»; перенимать чью-либо культуру; быть объявленным вне закона; различать оригинал и приближенную к нему имитацию; предлагать изысканную кухню; национальная оздоровительная компания; чувствовать себя в неудобном положении; взаимодействие интеллектуальной и стилистической составляющих языка; проявлять обеспокоенность по поводу иностранного воздействия на культуру; доморощенные аналоги американской культуры; опубликовать результаты национального опроса населения; признавать культурные связи; культурная зрелость; центр передовой школы современного танца и балета; благодарить общество за поддержку и сотрудничество; социально-релевантная традиция в кино; иметь значительный престиж; получать награды и международное признание.

II GIVE RISSIAN EQUIVALENTS OF THE FOLLOWING EXPRESSIONS:

To have some historical validity; to import one’s art or artist; to find favor and fame in Europe;

a cultural break with; a threat to the idea of democracy; to be honored for intellectual brilliance; elitist or aristocratic position; to see one’s culture in a favorable light; a widespread belief; to be marked by tension; to develop one’s own cultural style; a tremendous surge of creativity in all areas; vitality and artistic experimentation; to be much the thing of the past; to acknowledge the preeminence; to be replaced by the corrupt artistic vitality; private and voluntary funding; to admit cultural ties and borrowings; to be expected and welcomed; to take for granted; to make much sense; not to be state-supported; to be the patron of; to make us more civilized.

III USE THE NECESSARY EXPRESSIONS FROM THE LIST ABOVE IN THE PROPER FORM TO COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTENSES:

1 As American influence, wealth and power expanded into the 20^th century, the debate about the originality of American civilization began……… .

2 There are many people on the other side of Atlantic who though complain of home-grown imitations of American culture still have to…….. .

3 Americans are for the most part unconcerned about the debates that take place beyond their shores and continue to……. .

4 Americans point out with pride the advantages of having so many and such varied cultural traditions and they have become more willing ……… .

5 New York’s art offerings are so numerous and varied that the authors of guidebooks…..don’t think it……. to list only few of them and often give up and list numbers.

6 Theater in America is especially healthy in the hundreds of regional and university groups around the country because…… .

7 European art and culture were described as being decadent, degenerate and debased and were seen as……. .

8 A particular American gift to modern music, the creation of standards, songs that just about everyone and everywhere knows and sings made Americans praised and honored all over the world and a lot of them……. .

9 The theater in the US is…….. , and people who like rhythm and blues are not very much impressed to see that their tax money should be used to support the interests of those who prefer classical music and think that opera ……. .

10 New Yorkers don’t seem too concerned about what the rest of us anywhere else think and …………. that their city is the financial, business, as s well as news and communications center of the world.

IV MATCH THE WORDS IN A WITH THE NOUNS PHRASES IN B TO MAKE EXPRESSIONS:

A B

1 to provide A ” major” or worldclass

2 to give B graffity

3 to be associated with C favorite cultural activity

4 tasteless D highly paid international stars

5 high-priced subway E level of competition

6 to support F cultural offerings

7 to attract G immitation

8 to depend on H the wrong impression

9 to be claimed as I modern architecture

10 to increase J government backing and money

V SAY WHETHER YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THE STATEMENTS:

1 Americans survive on cheeseburgers, Cokes, and French fries.

2 Many American women today feel that their lives are best spent in the kitchen.

3 Regardless of why it spreads, American popu­lar culture is not usually quite rapidly adopted and adapted in many other countries.

4 American in origin, informal clothing has become the world's first truly universal style.

5 The theater in the United States survives because is financed by government.

6 T-shirts, sweatshirts, and jogging clothes, the light wind-breaker, "letter jackets" and tennis shoes, denim or "Levi" jackets, shirts, and plain old blue jeans had never been popular outside America.

7 Growing numbers of Americans would prefer to eat at home to enjoy a good and healthy meal rather than to go out to eat in restaurants.

8 What irri­tates so many people about New Yorkers is that they know where they live and who they are.

9 Americans are not inclined to admit to their cultural ties and borrowings. They are strongly concerned about what can be labeled "foreign" or "made in America," what is im­ported and exported.

10 The community open-air concert which is free for all also has a long tradition in America

VI QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

1 What are three main stages of the American cultural history?

2 What was the first stage of cultural development marked by?

3 Why did Americans want a cultural break with Europe?

4 What was the European argument in respond to America’s attacks blaming Europe as being too aristocratic.

5 Why was the idea that art and culture were not the property of a privileged few revolutionary?

6 Was the advancing of American culture difficult during the second stage?

7 What was one of the most significant themes in American literature of this period?

8 How can the third and present stage of American cultural history be described?

9 Why is New York sometimes irritating for people in the rest of America?

10 What are the numerous New York City’s offerings?

11 Why is it difficult for the authors of guidebooks to make up lists of cultural offerings of New York?

12 What important artistic movements have originated from New York?

13 What is New York associated with?

14 What status does theater have in New York?

15 Is American theater publicly or privately financed?

16 Why is there a strong belief in America that government should not interfere with arts?

17 What are advantages and disadvantages of private financing?

18 Why can not Metropolitan opera Association compete internationally with many government- supported opera houses?

19 What does the fame of American modern dance come from?

20 How does the love for classical music express itself in the USA?

21 How are nationwide music competitions supported?

22 Do open air concerts attract many visitors?

23 What is film making industry in America associated with?

24 What do most national television systems across the globe have in common?

25 Do you feel the preeminence of American films on our TV?

26 Why do you think American films have gained such a great popularity all over the world?

27 What arguments can you give that American pop culture won’ stay American?

28 What are the reasons of such rapid adoption of everything “made in the USA”?

29 What are two social trends where the continuing process of adoption most clearly seen?

30 What clearly American clothes are spread far beyond the boundaries of the country?

31 How did the situation with jazz, swing, rock’ roll, country and western music change over the last decades?

31 What are the stereotypes about American food?

32 Why does American food have nothing to do with it’s tasteless imitation abroad?

33 What are two strong American advantages when it comes to food?

34 What are four trends in America at present connected with food and dining?

VII COMMENT ON THE FOLLOWING:

1 The pervasiveness of Coca-Cola and American pop music are just two indications of how small the world has become.

2 Few of Americans would take the risk to state that he or she has noting to do with typical features of the national pop culture. Passion for automobiles and perfect road network, mass culture with it’s Hollywood, country music, blues, juzz, rock and rap, general craze for basketball and baseball, hockey and golf, beer and coca-cola, indispensable barbecue at weekends and fastfood every day, intricate ” ethnic” blocks with their specific lifestyles and fashionable luxurious districts all this is so common for everyone living in America.

3 It must be born in mind that due to a complex multinational structure of society it’s quite common that even within a block there may be distinctive ethnic mini communities who don’t just honor with palpitation the traditions of their ancestors but very often cultivate them strenuously.

4 The most striking feature for a foreign tourist is however a tremendous general tolerance of the locals, distinct respect for family and historic values, for civil rights and liberties, non-finite

thirst for the new and, besides a surprising confidence of the people living in the USA that it is their nation which has the best and the most advanced traits combined with never ending fight for their right s and freedoms and for the preservation of traditional values.

VIII TRANSLATE INTO ENGLISH:

1 Американская музыкальная индустрия является наиболее сильной в мире. Афро-американские музыкальные веяния, включая блюз, джаз и хип-хоп давно уже распространились по всему свету. 2 Рэп, внутренний голос городов Америки, с тяжелым ритмом и серьезным смысловым подтекстом, ориентированный на белых людей среднего класса, будет еще ни одно десятилетие смущать американских социологов. 3 Исключительное содержание американской культуры сильнее всего проявляется в кино- и телеиндустрии. В основном люди из других стран составляют мнение об Америке после просмотра ее телевизионных передач и художественных фильмов. 4 Когда мы думаем об американских городах, мы в первую очередь представляем себе небоскребы – символы американского оптимизма. Чикаго – типичный представитель технократического развития, впрочем также как и Нью-Йорк. Но несмотря на это, в сельских районах Америки сохраняется своеобразие архитектурных стилей, таких как: обшитые досками дома в Новой Англии; глинобитные постройки в Нью-Мексико. 5 Из-за размеров страны и многонациональной "эмигрантской среды" США здесь вряд ли удастся выделить какую-то единую модель или стиль поведения - несмотря на усиленную пропаганду "общечеловеческих ценностей", универсальной американской культуры не существует. Однако есть целый набор стереотипов, как навязанных политическими структурами, так и естественных, которые характерны для всего американского общества в целом.