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to be just so, but he never fussed; he was not like this new man who wanted to have his finger in every pie. But Albert Edward was tolerant. St. Peter's was in a very good neighborhood and the parishioners were a very nice class of people. The new vicar had come from the East End couldn't be expected to fall in all at once with the discreet ways of his fashionable congregation.

“All is 'ustle," said Albert Edward. "But give 'im time, he'll learn." When the vicar had walked down the aisle so far that he could address

the verger without raising his voice more than was becoming in a place of worship he stopped.

"Foreman, will you come into the vestry for a minute. I have something to say to you." "Very good, sir."

The vicar waited for him to come up and they walked up the church together.

"A very nice Christening, I thought, sir. Funny 'ow the baby stopped cryin' the moment you took him."

"I've noticed they very often do," said the vicar, with a little smile. "After all I've had a good deal of practice with them."

It was a source of subdued pride to him that he could nearly always quiet a whimpering infant by the manner in which he held it and he was not unconscious of the amused admiration with which mothers and nurses watched him settle the baby in the crook of his surpliced arm. The verger knew that it pleased him to be complimented on his talent.

The vicar preceded Albert Edward into the vestry. Albert Edward was a trifle surprised to find the two churchwardens there. He had not seen them come in. They gave him pleasant nods.

"Good afternoon, my lord. Good afternoon, sir," he said to one after the

other.

They were elderly men, both of them, and they had been churchwardens almost as long as Albert Edward had been verger. They were sitting now at a handsome refectory table that the old vicar had brought many years before from Italy and the vicar sat down in the vacant chair between them. Albert Edward faced them, the table between him and them, and wondered with slight uneasiness what was the matter. He remembered still the occasion on which the organist had got into trouble and the bother they had all had to hush things up. In a church like St. Peter's, Neville Square, they couldn't afford a scandal. On the vicar's red face was a look of resolute benignity, but the others bore an expression that was slightly troubled.

"He's been naggin' them, he 'as," said the verger to himself. "He's jockeyed them into doin' something, but they don't 'alf like it. That's what it is, you mark my words."

But his thoughts did not appear on Albert Edward's clean-cut and

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distinguished features. He stood in a respectful but not obsequious attitude. He had been in service before he was appointed to his ecclesiastical office, but only in very good houses, and his deportment was irreproachable. Starting as a pageboy in the household of a merchant-prince, he had risen by due degrees from the position of fourth to first footman, for a year he had been single-handed butler to a widowed peeress, and, till the vacancy occurred at St. Peter's, butler with two men under him in the house of a retired ambassador. He was tall, spare, grave, and dignified. He looked, if not like a duke, at least like an actor of the old school who specialised in dukes parts. He had tact, firmness, and self-assurance. His character was unimpeachable.

III. Answer the following questions to the text.

1.Who is Albert Edward Foreman?

2.How many years had Albert Edward been verger of this church?

3.In what way is the recently appointed vicar described?

4.What is known about churchwardens?

5.Did Albert Edward start as a page-boy in the household of a merchant-prince?

IV. Choose the correct form of the verb “to be” for each blank. Pay attention that one variant is not necessary.

is	to be	was will be	were	was

1. The verger knew that it pleased him (to be) complimented on his

talent.

2.He (to be) not like this new man who wanted to have his finger in

every pie.

3.It (to be) the most amazing thing I ever heard, – cried the general.

4.The vergers of St. Peter’s, like the popes of Rome, (to be) there for

life.

5.He had tact, firmness, and self-assurance. His character (to be) unimpeachable.

V. Paraphrase or explain in your own words the italicized parts of the following sentences; translate them into Russian.

1.On the vicar's red face was a look of resolute benignity.

2.He stood in a respectful but not obsequious attitude.

3.It was a source of subdued pride to him that he could nearly always

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quiet a whimpering infant by the manner in which he held it.

4.Albert Edward was a trifle surprised to find the two churchwardens

there.

5. But his thoughts did not appear on Albert Edward's clean-cut and distinguished features.

VI. Replace the italicized parts of the sentences with the words and phrases from the text.

1.The vicar had a talent for soothing infants when they cried during

Christening.

2.There had been a Christening that afternoon at St. Peter’s, Neville square and Albert Edward Foreman still had his verger’s gown on.

3.Dozens of such old and faded gowns were kept in the bottom drawer of the wardrobe.

4.He was a red-faced active man in the yearly forties.

5.Albert began working as a page-boy in the household of the merchant-prince.

VII. Make the written translation of the following extract.

But his thoughts did not appear on Albert Edward's clean-cut and distinguished features. He stood in a respectful but not obsequious attitude. He had been in service before he was appointed to his ecclesiastical office, but only in very good houses, and his deportment was irreproachable. Starting as a pageboy in the household of a merchant-prince, he had risen by due degrees from the position of fourth to first footman, for a year he had been single-handed butler to a widowed peeress, and, till the vacancy occurred at St. Peter's, butler with two men under him in the house of a retired ambassador. He was tall, spare, grave, and dignified. He looked, if not like a duke, at least like an actor of the old school who specialised in dukes parts. He had tact, firmness, and self-assurance. His character was unimpeachable.

VIII. Pick out from the text adjectives and other words used to characterize:

a) the vicar; b) Albert Edward Foreman. Give their character sketches.

IX. From the facts given in the story what impression do you form of Albert Foreman?

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X. Imagine you are a vicar and you are going to work in that church. Describe your appearance, behavior, actions. Make up a new story, using information from the text and your own ideas.

IX. Make your own ending of the story.

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San Diego

I. What interesting do you know about San Diego (California, USA)? Discuss your associations with the group.

II. Read the text about San Diego presented below. What new facts have you learned about the history and sightseeings of San Diego after reading the text?

San Diego’s clean air, miles of beaches, perfect weather, crescent bay, and few traffic jams have moved San Diegans to name their garden-like town “America’s Finest City”. Once thought of only as a heaven for the retired, San Diego is rapidly overtaking Los Angeles as the more pleasant metropolis for residents and tourists alike. In fact, many San Diegans are dismayed by the rate at which their city is expanding; no one wants it to turn into another Los Angeles jungle.

In contrast to the mobile homes and pre-fab houses of other Southland areas, the buildings of San Diego form a tangible record of the alternating growth and stagnancy in the city’s history. The oldest buildings are the early 19th century abodes of Old Town. Fine houses and apartment buildings from 1910 to 1950, in dozens of styles from Mission Revival to Zig-Zag Modern, are found on almost every block.

The centerpiece of San Diego’s redevelopment is Horton Plaza. This open-air, multi-leveled shopping center, with its pastel colors, oblique angles, glass, and steel, encompasses seven city blocks and features San Diego’s most interesting collection of shops and personalities. Along with its neighbor, the million-dollar-per-unit condominium project known as Meridian, Horton Plaza signals renewed interest in downtown among San Diego’s rich and powerful.

Balboa Park was established in 1868, when San Diego’s population was 2301. Miraculously, it has since lost only a few of its 1000-plus acres to city expansion, the only major intrusion being the naval hospital in the south. The park entertains the millions each year with its concerts, theater, delightful Spanish architecture; street entertainers, lush vegetation, and zoo. Above all, the park has the greatest concentration of museums in the U.S. outside the Mall in Washington, D. C.

The San Diego Zoo deserves its reputation as one of the greatest in the world. One hundred acres of exquisitely designed natural habitats, re-creating such environments as a Southeast Asian rain forest and an African savannah, would impress almost everybody.

You shouldn’t miss the Museum of Man whose castle-like tower and dome are covered with shiny tiles in a Spanish design. Inside, millions of years

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of human nature are dissected by permanent exhibits on primates, early man, the Mayan and Hopi cultures, and other native American societies. You can learn about the Native Americans of Southern California through photographs of their pictographs and samples of their craft. Temporary collections of clay pots and potholders reflect one thousand years of living, laughing, and loving in a Native American tribe.

The San Diego Museum of Art possesses a comprehensive collection, ranging from ancient Asian to contemporary Californian. In between are works by Renaissance painters, American Western artists, and German expressionists. One can admire the works by Rubens, Rembrandt, Hals, Van Dyck and Goya alongside with Monet landscape and a city scene by Hopper. Not far from there it is possible to see the outdoor Sculpture Court and Garden with a Henry Moore presiding.

Old town is the site of the original settlement of San Diego. In Presidia Park the Serra Museum is a 1929 replica of the original San Diego mission on the same site. It houses a less-than-scintillating collection of unique Spanish furniture and photographs of the archeological dig dug before the museum was built. Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá was moved in 1774 to its present location. Mission San Diego has a chapel, a garden courtyard, a small museum of artifacts, and a reconstruction of the living quarters of founder Padre Junipero Serra. The chapel has a high ceiling of rough wooden planks and windows recessed into the thick walls which, along with candles, are the only sources of light. The altar is decorated with simple, two-dimensional representations of vines and flowers as are the walls in the nave. The courtyard is a fertile place for meditation.

III. Answer the following questions to the text you have just read (ex.

II).

1. What kinds and styles of buildings can be found on the territory of San

Diego?

2.In what museum of San Diego is it possible to learn about the Native Americans of Southern California?

3.Why is the San Diego Zoo considered one of the greatest zoos in the

world?

4.Where is it popular to do the shopping in San Diego?

5.When was Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá transferred to its current location?

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IV. Choose the correct form of the verb “to expand” for each blank. Pay attention that one variant is not necessary.

1.At present San Diego … very intensively.

2.Recently the San Diego Zoo … very much.

3.We can assume that Balboa Park will expand in the not-too-distant

future.

4.Many centuries ago Native American tribes … their territory very

actively.

5.Every year Horton Plaza in San Diego … more and more intensively.

expanded, will expand, had expanded, is expanding, has expanded, expands

V. Make five puzzles with the words from the text (ex. 2) which you did not know earlier using their definitions. Let the group guess the answer.

E. g.

Settlement – a village where a group of people have come to live and make their homes, usually where few or no people lived before.

VI. Make a word tree. Find as many words as possible in the text to add to the tree.

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VII. Correct lexical and grammar mistakes in the sentences below.

1.Balboa Park was destroyed in 1868.

2.The San Diego Museum of Art house a huge collection of exhibits representing different epochs and peoples of the world.

3.San Diego quickly overtakes Los Angeles as a more attractive city both for residents and for tourists.

4.The San Diego Zoo is considered one of the worst in the world.

5.Nobody wants San Diego to turn into the other Los Angeles jungle.

VIII. Translate this passage from the text you have read (ex. II) in the written form.

You shouldn’t miss the Museum of Man whose castle-like tower and dome are covered with shiny tiles in a Spanish design. Inside, millions of years of human nature are dissected by permanent exhibits on primates, early man, the Mayan and Hopi cultures, and other native American societies. You can learn about the Native Americans of Southern California through photographs of their pictographs and samples of their craft. Temporary collections of clay pots and potholders reflect one thousand years of living, laughing, and loving in a Native American tribe.

The San Diego Museum of Art possesses a comprehensive collection, ranging from ancient Asian to contemporary Californian. In between are works by Renaissance painters, American Western artists, and German expressionists. One can admire the works by Rubens, Rembrandt, Hals, Van Dyck and Goya alongside with Monet landscape and a city scene by Hopper. Not far from there it is possible to see the outdoor Sculpture Court and Garden with a Henry Moore presiding.

Old town is the site of the original settlement of San Diego. In Presidia Park the Serra Museum is a 1929 replica of the original San Diego mission on the same site. It houses a less-than-scintillating collection of unique Spanish furniture and photographs of the archeological dig dug before the museum was built. Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá was moved in 1774 to its present location. Mission San Diego has a chapel, a garden courtyard, a small museum of artifacts, and a reconstruction of the living quarters of founder Padre Junipero Serra. The chapel has a high ceiling of rough wooden planks and windows recessed into the thick walls which, along with candles, are the only sources of light. The altar is decorated with simple, two-dimensional representations of vines and flowers as are the walls in the nave. The courtyard is a fertile place for meditation.

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IX. Give a personal description of another American city. In your story use the words from the frame below.

perfect, crescent, pleasant, tangible, miraculous, great, exquisite, fertile, permanent, temporary, comprehensive, contemporary, original, scintillating

X. Optional. Translate the following text into Russian.

Louisville

Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky. This important transportation center is located on the banks of the Ohio River. Plastics, automobiles, meat packing, and tobacco are a few of the city’s important industries. The world’s largest publisher of Braille books and magazines is in Louisville. The Kentucky Derby Festival starts the week before the Derby, culminating in the “Run for the Roses” (the first Saturday in May) known as “the most exciting two minutes in sports”. Balloon and steamboat racing, music, and all manner hullabaloo are featured all week long.

When visiting Louisville don’t forget to visit J. B. Speed Art Museum which has a nationally known collection of Dutch paintings and tapestries as well as Renaissance, modern, and contemporary art, and a contemporary sculpture court.

The original casting of Rodin’s The Thinker stands on the steps of the University of Louisville’s administrative building.

The Howard Steamboat Museum houses boat models, trophies, and pictures in the Victorian mansion of an old shipping family.

Philip Morris, U. S. A. produces Marlboro cigarettes in the flip top box.

Good things are made by good people is their ironic motto.

Louisville has a thriving nightlife that offers everything from bluegrass and Beethoven to Brecht and Beckett. The Kentucky Center for the Arts is Louisville’s newest entertainment company, and it hosts major performing art groups. The Actors Theater, a Tony award-winning repertory company, has performances at 8 pm and some matinees. Phoenix Hill Tavern is the place to go for live music in Louisville. Two bands play every night: energetic country-rock on the first floor, cozy easy-listening on the second.

Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace, the proverbial log cabin, is now a National Historic Site 45 miles south of Louisville. The 56 steps leading to the small, unobtrusive monument represent the 56 years of Lincoln’s life. Enormous oaks line trials that crisscross the grounds.

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Highlights in Architecture

What are your associations connected with St. Petersburg?

I. Read the text and say what new you have learned about the sights of these historical environments.

Almost all basic trends in the world and in Russian architecture in the 18th-20th centuries are represented in St. Petersburg. That's why the city is called "A Museum in the Open Air". Its architecture is fantastic. Many buildings of the city are treasures of Russian architecture and some of them may be regarded as masterpieces of world significance.

The plan of the city was unusual for Russian towns. Instead of a hill with a citadel, a Kreml, from which the name of the Kremlin occured, an island in the Neva's mouth was chosen as a focal point. A fortress was erected there.

This allowed for an arrangement of straight avenues, streets, and for those architectural ensembles for which the city is famous.

In Petrine times the typical building had common stylistic traits such as clear silhouette, grace, modest exterior decoration and clear-cut planning. The buildings of the first thirty years of the city's existence can be classified as BAROQUE STYLE of early period. It is represented by the building of the Twelve Colleges (arch. Domenico Trezzini) which was built between 1722 – 1742. It was designed for the twelve main ministries of the Government. Now it houses Saint-Petersburg State University.

Many residences, palaces and churches appeared in the city and its environs in the middle of the 18th century. They were richly decorated. This style came to be known in architectural history as Russian Baroque. The outstanding examples of this style are:

—the Smolny Convent;

—the Winter Palace;

—the Stroganov Palace (arch. Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli);

—the Cathedral of St. Nicholas with its belfry standing separately

(arch. Savva Chevakinsky)

The second half of the 18th century was marked by the enrichment of the nobility and the wide scale construction of country estates. The Baroque Style was too ornate and complicated for construction held by serf-craftsmen. By the 1760s this style was gradually ousted by the more economical, simpler style Classicism. At first this style incorporated Baroque elements.

The second phase STRICT CLASSICISM was characterized by proportions common to ancient Greece and Rome. The first of the "Classicists"

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