книги / Модели речевой коммуникации. Устная речевая практика английского языка для студентов-переводчиков

in the US, estimates that as many of 85-90 percent of "classical and certain other types of artifacts on the market do not have a documented provenance."

The contention that Western museums should identify and return such objects has only come up relatively recently, over the past 50 years, namely as European and American colonies in Africa and Asia have declared independence, developed their economies, and started to throw political weight around. "Repatriation has become a hot topic in the last decade or so, with many third-world countries trying to assert their independence and cultural identity by demanding the return of their cultural objects that were stolen from them," Julia Fischer, a professor of art history at Georgia Southern University, wrote. "In many cases, I believe these objects should be returned home."

But it’s unclear how many objects in museums around the world should even be considered for repatriation, given that no clear criteria exist to make that determination. The UN has made some progress, establishing a 1970 convention designed to curb the export of stolen artifacts and allow countries to issue repatriation claims, then pay to have the objects returned. But many museums around the world have interpreted this convention to mean that if they can prove an object left its country of origin before 1970, they’re in the clear. Meanwhile, a UN report issued last year evaluating the effectiveness of the convention found it to have "serious weaknesses," including a lack of staffing and few international laws to back it up.

Among American museums, repatriation has mostly occurred on a case-by-case basis – typically when officials are confronted by foreign governments with solid evidence. The process often takes years, as there are other points of view to be considered. For example, Turkey’s demands for Byzantine and Greek artifacts to be

81

returned are often seen as controversial, since the ancestors of the Turks did not arrive in the region from Central Asia until the 11th century. Others worry that Western museums will be left empty, and it will be much more difficult for tourists to see these magnificent examples of world art.

Nevertheless, progress is being made to return these objects to their rightful homes. The Met itself has repatriated dozens of objects over the past 20 years to countries including Italy, Egypt, and India, as the museum itself openly asserts. "We returned items by making good decisions on our own," said Harold Holzer, a senior spokesperson for the Met. "We have acted responsibly on a whole range of items. I can say that the Met never stops studying and researching the pieces in its collections."

[Passages adapted from: https://www.theverge.com/2013/5/13/4326306/museum-artifacts- looted-repatriation]

Vocabulary:

To concur	to agree
Thorny	controversial
Occupying army	an army that has invaded and taken over a
	place
Validity	whether something is true/has a strong basis
Provenance	record of ownership of art or antiques
Contention	argument, claim
To throw one’s	to show one’s strength
weight around
To curb	to lessen

82

Task 1: Summarize the article

Task 2: Dialogue - Debate whether artifacts should be returned to their country of origin. Each partner should take a different side.

Section 4. Leisure Time

Topic 13. Sport. Olympic Games

Task 1. Read the citations about the true importance of the Olympics in the modern world and summarize the conceptual idea of Olympic Games.

With the ongoing Winter Olympics 2018 in Pyeochang, the hot topic for many of us is, “What’s the importance of Olympics?”

That’s a question a lot of us have wondered throughout the years. What if the Olympics didn’t exist? That’s a tough question to answer.

When French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin proposed reviving a version of the ancient Greek Olympics, he did so with good intentions in mind. The late 19th century had been fraught with international conflict, and the baron saw the Olympics as a way of promoting peace between warring nations alongside the athletic competitions.

This has been the case in many ways, with touching moments of international cooperation speckling the highlight reels. When Cathy Freeman, an Australian Aborigine who won the 400m race in front of a jubilant home crowd in 2000 in Sydney, for example, many historians saw it as a symbol of reconciliation with Australia's native peoples. Or the rousing success of the 1992 games in Barcelona, when Germany competed as a unified nation for the

83

first time since 1964 and post-apartheid South Africa was finally invited back to the Olympics after a 30-year absence.

Mankind has been competing in sports for as long as we can remember, and the Olympics hold a significant place in history.

Started during the 5th century in Greece, the Olympics have changed the course of history in many ways. With athletes like Jesse Owens defying Hitler and eventually going to win several medals, proving the Aryan race theory wrong, the Games have indeed become important throughout the world.

Why are the Olympics so significant?

Thousands of athletes compete against each other every 4 years. But more than that, the Games are not just between athletes, they are between nations. In 2018, in the Winter Olympics, 92 countries compete against each other.

But more than that, the Olympians are symbol of honor for their country. They are representatives of their nation, showing the world that their country has what it takes to compete with the world.

Furthermore, it’s also a uniting force that brings together hundreds of nations, participating side by side.

An Athlete is the symbol of self-discipline, commitment and determination. They don’t just represent the honor of their country; they also act as role models to thousands of people who want to be just like them.

Sports is a way of communicating with different people from around the world and bridging the gap between different cultures through one platform.

Athletes play a vital role in helping develop communities by inspiring those who look up to them.

84

One of the best things about the Olympics is that the Games don’t focus on one sport. The focus is on different types of sports. From skeleton to figure skating and even tug of war, it’s a way to celebrate all the variety of sports in the world.

When you’re competing in the Olympics, nobody cares about your race. Sure, you’re representing your country but on the field, everyone is equal and they’re all competing for the top.

The Olympics encompass the value of honesty, determination, hard work, and self-discipline.

And last but not least, it helps different athletes represent the core values of their country.

[All passages derived from:

https://www.akwasifrimpong.com/2018/02/true-importance- olympics-modern-world/; https://www.livescience.com/2733-olympics-changed-world.html]

Vocabulary:

To do something with good	to mean to do good
intentions in mind
To be fraught with conflicts	to have a lot of problems and cause
	disagreement
Warring nations	countries at war with each other
To speckle highlight reels	to happen often during an event
	(idiomatic, lit. to show up often in a
	film)
Reconciliation	ending of a conflict and restoring
	friendship
Rousing success	great success

85

To defy someone	to stand up to someone, go against
	what they want
To bridge the gap between	to bring together
something
To represent core values	to show the most important values

Task 2. Dialogue - Choose the type of olympic sport that you like and keep track of and discuss it with your partner. Each partner should take a different type of olympic sport.

Topic 14. Holidays and Travelling

Task 1. Dialogue - discuss with your partner when people prefer travelling and what are their expectations; use the vocabulary given below.

Vocabulary:

Peak season/off season period with the most tourists/least tourists

Jumping off point			common starting point for trips in a
			particular area
Attraction			something tourists come to see or do
Tourist	trap/off	the	something	popular	with	tourists/
beaten path			something few tourists know about
Place of interest			something interesting to tourists
Sightseeing			to go to see the most important/interesting
			places in an area
Package	holiday,	all-	holiday that includes travel, hotels, food,
inclusive			tours, etc. sold together

86

Discussion issue: “Musings on my short, Siberian travel”

Living abroad for the year in Russia and having lived in Russia before, I decided I needed to finally see Lake Baikal. To go to Baikal, a pride of Russia and the envy of most of the rest of the world, is a dream for many and certainly had been for me as well. I’d also heard that Baikal, while expansive, relaxing, indescribable during the summertime (when most people see it), was also just as unbelievable during the winter. I was unsure of whether or not I would ever have another chance to see the lake during this time of year. I decided that now was my only definite opportunity to see the frozen Baikal that many talk about and that so many more only experience through photographs.

So, with a friend, I flew from Moscow to Irkutsk. We planned to spend a night in Irkutsk, a night in Baikal, and then take the train westward back towards Perm, where I would get off (my friend currently lives and works in Ulyanovsk). When the plane landed in Irkutsk, the pilot said over the loudspeaker, “Welcome to Irkutsk, the current temperature outside is -36. Having lived with the Fahrenheit system in America all my life, Celsius still means little to me. I do know, however, that -40 degrees is where the Fahrenheit and Celsius systems converge, so -36 Celsius was close enough to -40 Fahrenheit, which was about 30 degrees (Fahrenheit) colder than I had ever experienced in my life up to that point and about 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) colder than I had ever felt before coming to Russia. And if the thought of -36 degrees didn’t make me scared of the weather awaiting me outside, the Russian sitting next to me on the plane, who laughed out loud in seeming self-pity upon hearing “-36” from the pilot, most definitely did.

Stepping off of the plane, my first breath felt like a soft punch to the lungs, and I started to cough walking to the bus that would take us to the main airport terminal – another first for me. Irkutsk was a

87

neat city, and the very little that I saw of it I liked, but the real gem of the trip was Baikal, so flash-forward a day to the lake: WOW.

I don’t have words to explain the beauty that was the little sliver of lake on the edge of what was so clearly a tiny, tourist town. The English-language idiom “It took my breath away” had never in my life been so appropriate (helped in part by the cold that literally did take my breath away) than it was upon seeing the lake. To be honest, the town we went to was nothing special. We chose it more out of proximity to and accessibility from Irkutsk (it was a relatively short, hour-long bus ride to Baikal from the city) than anything else. Still somehow the lake managed to stun, despite the kitschy cafes and souvenir stands, in only the way nature is capable of doing, making me feel so incredibly small and alone yet surrounded. Standing on the ice – another first for me – I felt physically vulnerable and supported all at once. Mountains stretched in the distance under a crystal-clear blue sky, pine-dotted hills and forests framed the background of the town behind us. It was like walking in a painting.

I was on the other side of the world. No. Scratch that. I was in a completely different world, some kind of weird, parallel universe where the people spoke Russian. That’s what it felt like to be there at Lake Baikal this winter. It didn’t feel like I was in Russia, and I seemed farther away from anything than I ever had before – because I was, and that’s what is so interesting, so mind-boggling to me. Being there was this paradoxical duality of both confusion as to why I felt like I was on another planet and recognition that I truly was so far away, of being alone but surrounded, powerless and exposed but still so strongly supported by the nature beneath my feet. On a different note, this national Russian treasure, which has been seen and experienced by so few Russians, was a reminder that I truly know so little about my own country, that there is so

88

much of my own country to see, to understand, and to experience as I continue traveling these far corners and reaches of the world.

So reflecting on the day I was lucky enough to spend at Lake Baikal – and I recognize how lucky I was, I understand the once-in- a-lifetime nature of such a trip – I must say that it was as advertised, that is that it was indescribable. And that is how I describe it.

Vocabulary:

Definite opportunity	certain opportunity
Proximity	close location to something
To stun	to shock
Mind-boggling	incomprehensible, outside of the scope of
	our comprehension as human beings;
	confusing, no answer
Up to the point	up to the moment

Task 2: Retell the essay by Connor S. Odekirk and tell about your travelling experience.

Topic 15. Transportation

Task 1. Read about Public transportation in the US and compare with the situation in Russia. How do people usually get around? How has it changed over time?

Public Transportation in the US

The US spends a ton of money on public transportation. So why is it so terrible?

American buses, subways, and light rail lines consistently have lower ridership levels, fewer service hours, and longer waits between

89

trains than those in virtually every comparably wealthy European and Asian country. At the same time, a much greater percentage of US public transit costs are subsidized by public tax dollars.

In other words, we pay more for transit and get far less – basically the worst of all worlds.

Many people try to explain this paradox by pointing to US history and geography: Most of our cities and suburbs were built out after the 1950s, when the car became the dominant mode of transportation. Consequently, we have sprawling, auto-centric metropolises that just can't be easily served by public transportation.

Although history and geography are partly to blame, there's a deeper reason why American public transportation is so terrible. European, Asian, and Canadian cities treat it as a vital public utility. Most American policymakers – and voters – see transit as a social welfare program.

Most American cities – especially those outside the Northeast and Rust Belt – are relatively new, so they were built mainly with the car in mind. They're sprawled out, with cul-de-sac-heavy suburbs instead of a tight grid.

All this makes cost-efficient and fast transit way more difficult. After all, it costs more for a rail or bus line to serve the same number of people spread across a wider area. Highways, curving roads, and cul-de-sacs also make it difficult to reach bus stops, metro stations, and other destinations on foot.

The fact that older US cities with prewar street grids (like New York, San Francisco, and Chicago) have the highest levels of US transit ridership seems to support this argument.

Still, this isn't the whole story. A closer look at transportation history in other countries challenges the idea that post-1950s development alone made bad transit inevitable in the United States.

90