Copy of Texts for Class 1

В.READING

Surface Divisions, Great Waterways, and Climate

of North America

T h e USA consist of several surface divisions. Th e low Coastal Plain borders the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Beyond it are the Appalachian

Highlands, usually	divided into	three sections. C o m i n g from the
Coastal Plain we	reach, first, the	Piedmont Belt. The word " p i e d m o n t "

means "foothill" and the Piedmont Belt is a strip	of hilly land between
t h e C o a s t a l Plain a n d the real Appalachian	Mountains. G o i n g

westward from the Appalachian Mountains we cross a succession of

valleys made by rivers through the Appalachian				Plateau.	Here	rock
layers lie horizontally, instead			of being wrinkled	and bent as they are
in the	m o u n t a i n s . T h e	rivers	have worn dow n	an d intersected		the
plateau	until some of it	began	to look like a m o u n t a i n		region.	The

Catskill Mountains in the state of New York are part of the plateau, though due to their appearance they even have the term " m o u n t a i n s " in their official name .

Beyond the Appalachian Mountains lies a great area of plains — the Central Plains and the Great Plains. After crossing them, we get to the mountains, valleys, and deserts that make up the western third of the United States. A considerable part of it is occupied by the Rocky Mountains, which rise from the eastern edge of a great plateau and are more than a mile high and a thousand miles wide. On the western edge of the plateau are the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Mountains.

Th e Sierra Nevada, or "Snowy Range", is in California. Th e Cascade Mountains take their n a m e from the numerous cascades and falls in the Columbia River at the place where it works its way through the highland.

Between the Sierra Nevada and the Cascade Mountains on the west and the central part of the Rocky Mountains on the east lies the Grand Basin, so named because it is h e m m e d in by great ridges on each side.

Th e	Great Basin is not lowland, though parts of it lie below sea level.
The	larger part of it is a plateau crossed by ranges of mountains . South

of the Great Basin lies the Colorado Plateau, named after the river that runs through its territory. North of the Great Basin is the Columbia Plateau, also named after a river. It is a lava region, one of the largest areas, which is covered so thoroughly and so deeply by the flow from ancient volcanoes. Through many centuries the lava rock that filled the valleys has crumbled into the fertile soil. Abundant rainfall, caused by winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean, has helped to produce the deep forests, which cover the western slopes of the Coast Ranges.

It is not by chance that many American regions and even states are named after American rivers. It indicates the great role they have always

played in t h e life of t h e p e o p l e . As for t h e n a m e s of t h e rivers themselves, they usually have some historical or folklore flavor. Among

the	major rivers of	the	east, the Charles		River and	the	James	River
were	n a m e d after	t h e	English	m o n a r c h s , while		the	Delaware	was
named after an English governor,				Lord De	La Warr.	The	Hudson	River

was named after the explorer w h o followed its meandering course into the interior u p s t a t e N e w York, the Columbia after C h r i s t o p h e r Columbus w h o discovered the N e w World. As with many place-names

in the	USA, the Potomac, the Shenandoah,		the	Roanoke and	many
other rivers are derived from American		Indian words.
The	Mississippi is one of the longest	rivers	in	the world. It	got its

nam e from the Indian word, which means " T h e Father of Waters". T h e Mississippi receives the water from more than fifty navigable rivers and from hundreds of others not navigable. On the navigable branches one might sail for a distance nearly equal to the circumference of the earth. Flowing through a region of fertile soil and temperate climate, they afford more opportunity for navigation and development than any other system in the world. Th e two largest branches of the Mississippi are the Ohio and the Missouri, connecting the main stream with the eastern and western portions of the Central Plains. The Missouri, hurrying from its source three thousand miles away, pours into the Mississippi one hundred and twenty thousand cubic feet of water every second. About one hundred and fifty miles farther down the Mississippi we come to its junction with the Ohio. This river discharges more water into the trunk stream than the Missouri, though the Missouri is three times as long. But the Missouri drains a country where the rainfall is very light and the water quickly soaks into the parched ground or evaporates in the dry air. It is not surprising, that the floods of the lower Mississippi, which do great damage to shipping and farming, are due largely to the rising of the waters of the Ohio and its branches.

T h e	crest of the Rock y M o u n t a i n s is	t h e G r e a t Divide of t h e
country.	It sends some rivers, such as the	Missouri and the Arkansas,

to join the Mississippi and to continue their course through level plains

and	fertile valleys to	the Gulf of Mexico. Others, like the	Columbia
and	the Snake, find their way over great lava plains to the		Pacific
Ocean. The Colorado,		most wonderful of t h e m all, works its	way to

the sea through a high plateau in which it has cut a canyon two hundred miles long and a mile deep. Few rivers join it in its long journey through the desert; indeed, in the whole world no other river of its size flows for so great a distance without a tributary. It is a dashing, foaming, impetuous stream, many hundred feet below the surface of the land, held in its place by vertical walls of rock. There are hundreds of canyons in this part of the country, yet n o n e of them can compare with that of the Colorado.

Th e surface divisions and geographical position determine the great varieties o f c l i m a t e i n t h e U S A . W i t h o u t travelling b e y o n d its

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boundaries it is possible to go from the subtropical temperatures of the South to the almost arctic winters of the North; from the abrupt changes of the weather in N e w England states to the balmy winters of southern California, where the temperature varies only slightly and where the sun shines from a cloudless sky for weeks at a time. We may visit western Oregon, where nearly ninety inches of rain fall each year, and see its forests of i m m e n s e trees, fields of waving w h e a t , a n d o r c h a r d s of delicious fruit. Several hundred miles farther to the south, in southern

California,	we	find	o n e of the		driest	regions of the world. In			Death
Valley, a part		of the	Mohave Desert,			less than two inches of rain falls
annually, and often a year or two passes with no							relief from the		bright
sunshine. No life exists here except a						few varieties of the		cactus	plant
and s o m e	lizards a n d			h o r n e d	toads .	T h e s u n ' s	rays in	s u m m e r are
intensely	h o t .	W a t e r		t h r o w n	u p o n	t h e g r o u n d	d i s a p p e a r s a l m o s t
instantly,	a n d	a stone that has lain				for s o m e time in		t h e s u n s h i n e
becomes almost too			hot to touch.

T h e weather is also determined by the ocean currents that flow near

the coasts of America. T h e	western	part is greatly influenced by the
Japan Current, responsible	for the	warm winds that blow u p o n the

western shores, bringing the mild, even temperature of the ocean and making the winter roses and fruits of southern California possible. Here temperatures are moderate year-round, although they start to dip as you go northward into America's wettest region. T h e Cascade Range acts as a climatic divide, with the western side receiving up to twenty times

m o r e rain than the dusty plains to the mountains' east. The cold,							lofty
peaks of the Sierra Nevada block the winds,				and the rest of the western
region receives very little rain		i n d e e d .	On t h e		e a s t e r n	c o a s t , the
Labrador Current flows	southward	near the		shore,	chilling	the	land
for miles around. Though not so agreeable,			its importance to the people
of the East is perhaps	as great as	that of the warm			Japan Current to

California; for in its cold waters, great numbers of codfish, herring, and mackerel find food and temperature suited to their development. T h e arctic stream is as necessary to the life of these fish as rain and sunshine are to the crops of the farmer, and without it the fishing industry of N e w England would not be possible. T h e lives of people in the eastern states are also affected by the Gulf Stream, a w a r m c u r r e n t t h a t originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows northeast across the Atlantic, producing hot, wet, energy-sapping conditions for Florida and the other Gulf states.

Because of the continent's extreme weather patterns, rarely a year goes by without one headlinemaking natural disaster. These include

hurricanes	p o u n d i n g	the	G u l f or	t h e eastern seaboard, snowstorms
paralyzing	cities o n	t h e	eastern	coast, t o r n a d o e s tearing t h r o u g h

"tornado alley" in the Midwest. Though the US meteorological services are able to predict extreme weather very accurately, and residents of the affected regions are usually prepared to react to such occurrences, the

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p e o p l e of t h e G u l f States, especially L o u i s i a n a , still suffer from hurricanes every year. By tradition, the hurricanes bear women's names .

In 2005,	the Katrina hurricane practically destroyed the city of N e w
Orleans and many other cities in Mississippi and Alabama.
Oddly,	considering the extremities of the American climate, weather

words were.slow to arise in the American English. Snowstorm, the first

meteorological		A m e r i c a n i s m ,	isn't	recorded until 1771,			and	no o n e
appears to	have	referred to a	tornado in print		before	1804.	In	between
came cold	snap	('unexpected	cold	weather')	(1776).	Blizzard,		a word

w i t h o u t w h i c h a n y d e s c r i p t i o n of a n o r t h e r n w i n t e r w o u l d s e e m incomplete, did not c o m e to describe a heavy snowstorm until 1870. This word of u n k n o w n origin had been coined in America somewhat

earlier,	but previously denoted a blow or a series of blows,				as with fists
or from	guns. T h e terms gale			and hurricane are of late	origin. T h e
difference		between these fierce		winds is in their speed. If the		speed of
the wind		is m o r e than	38 miles	an hour, it is a gale, and	if it	is m o r e
than 75	miles an hour,		it is a hurricane.

There are also some local words that refer to some special kinds of winds blowing in special places, such as Santa Anas, the hot and dry, often dusty wind that blows across the desert into southern California,

and, seems to	make everyone grouchy. T h e		chinook is	either a warm
wet wind that blows south		from the Pacific	Northwest	or a warm dry
wind blowing	east off the	Rockies.

E X E R C I S E S

Answer the questions:

1)What parts does the Appalachian system consist of? What is the exact meaning of the word " P i e d m o n t " ? Why are parts of the Appalachian Plateau called " m o u n t a i n s " ? What can you say about the economic possibilities of each section of the Appalachian system judging by their geographical positions only?

2)What is specific in the relief of the American West? What type of surface occupies most of the territory? What mountains rise from

the eastern

and

western

edges of that

plateau?

What

is

the

G r e a t

Basin?

What is

there to

t h e south and to t h e

n o r t h

of the

G r e a t

Basin?

W h i c h

p a r t

o f t h e A m e r i c a n

West h a s better

e c o n o m i c

advantages than

the

others?

3) What

is

m e a n t by the Great Divide?

Where is it in the

American

West? Do we have such

a thing in Russia? What do the

n a m e s of

American rivers

express?

What river got its n a m e from the

Indian

word,

which means

" T h e

Father of Waters"? Why? What Russian

river

m a y

b e c o m p a r e d

w i t h t h i s g r e a t A m e r i c a n

river

b y its

importance

to economy

and national

consciousness?

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4)What feature is usually mentioned first in relation to the climate of the USA? Is it good or bad for national agriculture? What factors

influence the climate of the USA? What ocean currents contribute to it? What terms are used to refer to very fierce winds that are caused by those currents? What can you say about meteorological Ameri - c a n i s m s ? H o w d o e s t h e Russian climate c o m p a r e with t h a t o f America? What factors can help to explain the differences? Do you think we are more fortunate in climate than Americans?

like " I d i o t v i l l e " ? W h a t sort of n a t i o n a l m e n t a l i t y coul d have produced such toponymic monsters?

2) Do American toponymic traditions resemble English ones? In what

way are	they radically different?	H o w do they treat the classical
n a m e s	they have chosen for their cities? What changes have			the
originally Spanish place n a m e s		survived? W h a t	was the fate	of
F r e n c h	borrowings? Give examples of " p o p u l a r		e t y m o l o g y "	in
toponymies.

3) Why was it necessary for President Benjamin Harrison to create the

Geographical N a m e s Committee in	1890? What program of reforms
did it submit? What h a p p e n e d to	m o s t of its rather reasonable

suggestions? Compare Russian and American toponymic traditions.

4)Is it really possible to trace evolution of a town by its architecture? What criteria do historians use when trying to answer the question

of the town's age? Is it more easily d o n e with a young country like the USA? Are architectural styles developed for the builders or for

the dwellers? H o w	many architectural styles	did historians	reveal
while studying t h e	evolution of residential	h o m e s a n d	official
buildings in the USA? What tendency did they observe?
5) What styles prevailed in English architecture at the end of the			18th —

beginning of the 19th century? Were they all copied across the ocean by "American cousins"? Were Georgian o r n a m e n t a t i o n a n d big

windows	really necessary for	Puritans? What features were m o r e
welcome	in a N e w England	home ? What does a classical Federal
house look like?

6)What sort of place is an average American city? What social processes began to spoil American cities from the inside m u c h earlier than it happened in Europe? What is meant by "inner city"? Is such factor as dilapidated old houses in the city center enough to classify it as

an "inne r city"? Or does any ethnic community make it by living in a particular district for many generations?

7) H o w do English and American speakers use the word " t e n e m e n t " ? Why did the term have negative connotation in America, while in England it is a perfectly neutral term?

8) Do you know that the main business of America is business? If that is true, when did construction projects acquire the dimensions of businesses? W h o was the initiator of such projects? H o w did the technology work?

9) What changes have occurred in commuter movement lately? Did it

pursue interests	of the	retired and idle, w h o preferred to live closer
to countryside?	What	was the most significant difference between

the railway suburbs and model ones? Why lots of jobs were created inside and around model suburbs? Do you know statistics connected with it? What problem did it pose for a local city worker?

10) W h a t sort	of zones developed	along the highways that used to
connect the	residential suburbs	and office centers? H o w did they
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integrate into local social contexts? H o w did t h e c o m m u n i t i e s themselves change? What new communitie s with new mentality developed in the areas of former " d o r m i t o r y suburbs"? Are set­ tlements of this kind numerous enough to constitute a special cate­ gory of city dwellers?

E. COMPOSITION

Живая и неживая природа Северной Америки в зеркале английского языка

По прибытии в Н о в ы й Свет первые колонисты увидели мно­ жество животных и растений, прежде им не известных. Поражен­ ные многообразием видов д и к о й природы, они раздавали при­ вычные названия животны м и растениям, хотя бы минимальн о похожим на тех, что окружали их на родине. Зверек, которого о н и назвали кроликом (rabbit), на самом деле заяц (hare), а деревья, которые они называли «дубами» (oaks), зачастую похожи на своих европейских тезок разве только высоким ростом и тенистостью. Листья одного из американских «дубов», называемого poison oak, выделяют маслянистую жидкость, вызывающую у многих людей сильнейшие ожоги. На Восточном побережье подобными свой­ ствами обладает ядовитый п л ю щ (poison ivy), никакого отноше­ н и я к плющам не и м е ю щ и й . По словам ботаников, очень многие названия растений (среди них beech, walnut и hemlock) употребля­ ются в Америке по о т н о ш е н и ю к совсем и н ы м видам растений, нежели в Европе. Еще более распространенным способом номи­

нации	было создание сложных слов (eggplant, bluegrass, bullfrog, catfish
и т.д.),	которые отличаются, как и многие другие американиз­

м ы , образностью и прозрачностью этимологии, по сравнению со словами, употребляемыми для обозначения этих же понятий в британском варианте английского языка (ср. например, eggplant

иaubergine).

Колонисты не всегда сами придумывали собственные слова для обозначения неизвестных им растений и животных; иногда они заимствовали местные индейские названия . Первые употребления слова moose (американский родич европейского лося, elk) зареги­ стрированы в 1603 году, слова raccoon (енот) — в 1608-м, caribou (канадский олень), opossum (американская сумчатая крыса, почти слепая, очень большая, покрытая белой редкой шерстью) и skunk (скунс) — в 1610-м, hickory (распространенный в Америке вид древесного ореха, похожий на грецкий орех) — в 1618-м. Все за­ имствования претерпели более или менее значительные фонети­ ческие трансформации . Например, слово raccoon произведено от

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raugroughcum, skunk — от seganku,	hickory	— от pawcohiccora. Слово
pawcohiccora индейцы употребляли	не в	о т н о ш е н и и самих деревь­

ев, а только к их плодам. К о л о н и с т ы же не только расширили его значение, но и произвели от него целых два слова: hickory и pecan, употребляя первый для обозначения растения Carya illinoensis, а второй — для его плодов. Некоторые заимствованные из индей­ ских я з ы к о в слова подверглись народной этимологии, как, на­ пример, слово woodchuck (североамериканский сурок) произош­ ло не от сложения слов wood (лес) и chuck (швырять), а от слова wuchak. А от особо труднопроизносимых индейских названий, не

поддающихся ни ассимиляции,	ни народной этимологии, посе­
л е н ц ы отказывались, заменяя	так и не п р и ж и в ш и е с я термины

английскими словосочетаниями. Так, родственников этого сурка,

живущих к	западу от	М	и с с и с с и п и , стали называть prairie	dogs за
отрывистые,	похожие	на	собачий лай, звуки, которые о н и	изда­

ют, а плоды съедобного кактуса metaquesunauk — просто «колючи­ ми грушами» {prickly pear).

Неживой природе, т.е. терминам, с в я з а н н ы м с особенностями рельефа, почв, водоемов и растительности, повезло не меньше . Оказавшись в весьма специфических природных условиях Нового Света, колонисты не могли не внести свой вклад в словотворче­ ство. О н и вводили в обиход новые слова и выражения, описываю­ щ и е специфические природные особенности их новой родины, а также употребляли многие уже существующие в английском языке слова в новых значениях, заставляя их обозначать совсем другие реалии.

Уже в начале 1620-х годов они начали использовать слово pond не в смысле «пруд», а для обозначения больших природных водо­ емов, которые в Англии обычно называют словом lake. И л и дру­ гой пример. В британском английском слово creek описывает узкий заливчик сильно «изрезанного» берега моря, а в Америке о н о обо­ значает «ручей» (вместо почему-то забракованного слова brook). Т и п и ч н ы е для заболоченных районов американского крайнего юга «вялотекущие» ручьи называются bayou. С другой стороны, для о п и с а н и я различных типов местности американцы не используют многих принятых в Англии терминов. Почему-то было отвергнуто слово marsh, употребляемое в Англии для обозначения топких бо­ лот, и вместо него стали употреблять слово swamp, произведенное от голландского zwamp. Контакты с французскими колонистами обогатили я з ы к американцев галлицизмами (например, слово park для горной долины и peak — для горной вершины) и кальками с французского (например, badlands — от mauvaises terres). По-види­ мому, для американцев было более актуально, чем для англичан, описывать обрывистые склоны, и они позаимствовали у францу­ зов слово chute для обозначения крутого спуска, ravine — для глу­ бокого оврага и butte — для холма с обрывистыми краями, сто-

ящего на равнине, а у голландцев — blaff для о п и с а н и я обрывис­ того берега реки.

Последний термин достоин в н и м а н и я хотя бы потому, что был первым из американизмов, спровоцировавшим критические вы­ пады британских языковых пуристов. Еще в 1735 году один важ­ н ы й английский ч и н о в н и к написал, что город Саванна стоит на обрывистом берегу реки, который американцы «называют на сво­ ем варварском языке blaffi>. Сэмуэл Д ж о н с о н , автор первого боль­ шого английского толкового словаря, тоже отмечал, что в своих географических книгах а м е р и к а н ц ы н е п р а в и л ь н о употребляют многие слова. Например, Д ж о н с о н у не нравилось употребление

слова creek в значении «ручей»,	branch для полноводного ручья,
gap в о т н о ш е н и и горного ущелья	и	spur для низких отрогов гор­
ных хребтов. Д ж о н с о н был против		использования слова main для

о п и с а н и я просторов — как земных, так и				океанских, например,
к а к название ю ж н о й		части	Атлантики —	"Spanish Main" .	Этот
смысл	сохранился в	слове	mainland и отчасти в названии		штата
М э н	(Maine).

Одним из самых распространенных приемов н о м и н а ц и и было изменение семантики уже имевшихся слов. Какое - то время для описания западных ландшафтов использовалось слово desert (Great American Desert), как видно, первоначально употреблявшееся для обозначения всяких безлюдных пространств (это значение сохра­ нилось в словосочетании deserted place), даже если они покрыты густой травой. Впоследствии, когда слово desert стало употребляться по о т н о ш е н и ю к внутренним районам Запада, о н о приобрело его сегодняшний смысл. А для описания травянистых просторов За­ пада американцы стали употреблять заимствованное из француз­ ского слово prairie, которое в колониальный период использова­ лось для указания на любые пустующие земли, окруженные со всех сторон лесом.

A S S I G N M E N T

Read the text again and write a short gist of the text in English (not more than 250 words). Add information from the previous texts. Comments of your own are also welcome.

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