Read the comment once again and explain the following points of the text.

Read the comment once again and explain the following points of the text.

1. What do you think "Woldingham and A levels" are?

2. What does the phrase "the joke has put paid to the response" mean?

3. What kind of a look is described as “a knowing leer”? Under what circumstances do people leer at others?

4. What do “estate agents” do?

5. When do people tend to “suck the end of a pencil”?

6. Paraphrase the following "....laws of libel, which lean heavily in favour of lawyer-happy types with an eye to a massive payout".

7. What is "a scrum" of reporters? Why does the author use the word?

8. When do people usually pay tribute to others? How do they do it?

9. Who does the author refer to when she mentions Michael Barrymore's "minders"?

Exercise 48

Look through the text quickly and find the words and phrases the author uses for the following.

to pursue smb

to threaten smb

to push through the crowd

to guarantee smth

to gather facts

a lie in print

to display signs of honour

to explain smth

to meet smb unexpectedly

Exercise 49

Suggest the Russian for the following word combinations used by the author.

to get tempted to do smth

to put paid to smth

to lean in favour of smth

a massive payout

to dig out the truth

my heart sinks

to doorstep smb

to generate publicity

primary justification

Exercise 50

What English phrases does the author use to render the following.

в духе самосохранения

предельный срок

доносить правду до широких масс

оказывать давление на кого-либо

свидетельские показания

дюжий охранник

Exercise 51

Translate the following sentences into English using the new

vocabulary .

1. В стремлении увеличить свой тираж большинство газет уделяют теперь больше внимания публикациям развлекательного и скандального содержания.

2. Руководство спецслужб фактически объявило сезон охоты на журналистов, которые организовали утечку секретных материалов о проводящихся опытах с запрещенным химическим оружием.

3. Неверно полагать, что в стремлении докопаться до истины журналисты наносят ущерб авторитету страны и принижают ее достоинство.

4. Сотни людей пришли в телецентр отдать последний долг погибшему журналисту.

5. Свободная пресса призвана доносить правду о деятельности правительства до широких масс.

6. Полиция совершила налет на толпу журналистов, поджидавших выхода газетного магната, и конфисковала несколько камер.

7. Первая поправка к Конституции США увековечила свободу прессы в этой стране.

8. Либералы признают, что цензура является неизбежным злом, и допускают, что она может вводиться в чрезвычайных обстоятельствах.

► WRITING

Exercise 52

Write paragraphs to comment on the following quotations.

1. Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.

Napoleon I

2. Headlines twice the size of the events.

John Galsworthy

3. As for modern journalism, it justifies its own existence by the great Darwinian principle of the survival of the vulgarist.

Oscar Wilde

Exercise 53

Write an essay on one of the following subjects.

1. A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad.

Albert Camus

2. Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of a free society.

Felix Frankfurter

3. Journalism is the entertainment business.

Frank Herbert

Exercise 55

Complete the text with one word only.

The average 1_____ office receives many times the amount of 2_____ news than it has 3_____ to print. The 4_____ must include or jettison items as he sees 5_____. It is inevitable that his ideas of what the 6_____ wants to know, or should know, are 7_____. Because the newspaper 8_____ do not want to endanger a 9_____ business, there is the constant 10_____ between personal opinion and the desire not to offend too many readers or 11_____. It is essential to the operation of all mass 12_____ that they avoid being 13_____ in their news 14_____ or 15_____.

Exercise 56

Translate the following into English using the active vocabulary.

Содержание газеты изменялось в соответствии с требованиями жизни и с необходимостью удовлетворить запросы всех заинтересованных сторон. Основой любой газеты является свежая, быстро доступная и разнообразная информация, отражающая реальные факты.

Основным элементом газетной полосы является броский, эффектный заголовок, который краток и часто сенсационен. Составление заголовков — одна из основных обязанностей помощника редактора, его профессиональные качества проверяются именно в этой сфере. Другой его обязанностью является построение газетной полосы, содержание которой объективно, непредвзято и беспристрастно и представлено в наиболее сжатой, четкой и выразительной форме.

Exercise 57

Read a conversation between two journalists and make note of the infringements on the freedom of the media that one of them found while visiting X.

A. How was your trip to X.?

B. Fine. I was able to meet the people I wanted to.

A. So what is your impression of the media there?

B. I wouldn’t like to be a journalist in X. All the media, print, electronic, broadcasting, are controlled by the Government.

A. Are they censored?

B. Censorship is subtle, but it is clear the newspapers only print what the Government wants people to read. Radio and television are totally under the control of the Government and are not allowed to report the views of opposition political leaders.

A. So how do they report events in the world?

B. There’s little media coverage of international events at all.

A. What about foreign journalists?

B. Any foreign journalist accredited to X. who writes an article even mildly critical of the regime will be taken to task. Either their accreditation is not renewed or in some cases they have been expelled from the country for biased reporting.

Exercise 58

Use one of the words from the conversation above, which have to do with the media to complete the sentences below.

1. Last night’s television_____ the news of the assassination attempt.

2. The BBC has been accused of being _____ against the government.

3. The authorities have threatened to impose _____.

4. The event was not reported in the newspapers and received no _____ on television either.

5. The newspaper claims to have given a _____ report of the coup. Dissidents are either ____ or imprisoned.

Exercise 59

Discuss as a class the following issues.

1. The media has little effect on public opinion.

2. Why doesn’t the British Government stop press intrusion into the affairs of the Royal Family?

3. The American press is not impartial.

4. Which of the media provides the best coverage of international news?

► ROLE PLAY

Recent programmes in the BBC overseas service have referred to corruption in government circles, high levels of crime, inefficiency in dealing with ethnic matters.

ROUND-TABLE DISCUSSION

Get ready to discuss the problem of censorship at a round-table conference. Distribute the roles among the participants and do not forget about the role of the chairperson.

Chairperson

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I now declare open the round table devoted to the subject "Censorship in the mass media".

On behalf of the University allow me to express our great appreciation for your presence here today and for the contributions you are ready to make to the coming discussion. The questions to be debated today are highly controversial and allow for a variety of opinions. Yet, all those who assembled here today feel that the young generation needs to know the answers. The questions are as follows:

Is there a place for censorship in a democratic society?
What kind of information is to be censored? Who should decide what to censor?

I propose a time limit on statement of position of 2 minutes and one minute for all other speakers during the debate. Is that agreed? Thank you.

Will participants please identify themselves clearly to the Chair if they wish to speak or ask a question.

I call Mr. ...

Mr. ..., thank you for that stimulating speech.

I now welcome Mr. ... Mr. ..., you have the floor.

May I remind the participants please to identify themselves clearly to the Chair if they wish to ask a question or make an objection. Does anyone else wish to speak?

We can't all speak at once; Mr. ... Would you like to speak first?

1 shall have to call you to order Mr. ...

To sum up our discussion today, it seems we all agreed that... I declare the discussion closed. Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen.

This is your role and stance. Think of three or four argumentsor examples to substantiate and illustrate it. Get ready to defend it against criticism.

CENSORSHIP

Representative of the Ministry of Information — "Censorship does not confine democracy but prevents chaos".

Actress — "We are human beings like everyone else and have the right to privacy. Seeking for a scoop drives journalists and paparazzi crazy and they have to be restrained".

Politician — "Reports from parliamentary sessions must be censored as indiscreet coverage may undermine the trust of the public in social institutions".

Journalist — "Celebrities have no right to hide behind censorship. They serve as role models for other people and should be open to public scrutiny".

Civil Rights Activist — "Censorship is a violation of human rights as it deprives an individual of a chance to decide what to read or watch".

Liberal — "Community that puts up with censorship lacks self-respect".

Advertiser — "Censorship of advertising violates the rules of "fair play" in the free market economy. Besides, without our money the mass media will go bust".

Editor — "The public have the right to know and journalists are obliged to report events. People working in the media are reasonable and self-restriction is enough".

Teacher — "The young who cannot yet distinguish between what is right and what is wrong suffer the most at the hand of irresponsible media. Censorship is called upon to protect the immature from corruption".

Feminist — "Though compared to the past job opportunities and education opportunities for women have somewhat improved, the way women are shown in magazines and on TV still leaves much to be desired. Editors and producers should be either censored or fined for undeferential treatment of women in the media".

War veteran — "Pro-fascist propaganda, programmes and articles that may incite racial or national strife should be banned".

Doctor — "Many newspapers and fashion magazines promote an unhealthy image of beauty, which is the cause of many eating disorders and anorexia cases especially among young women. Such publications and advertisements should be censored".

Student — "Because of censorship many important issues remain unavailable to the general public while the aim of the media is to inform".

Preacher — "Censorship helps to suppress evil. It serves to protect our life from exposure to sin: pornography, violence and heresy".

Lead-in

Work with a partner. Read the statements below and discuss the

questions that accompany them.

1. More people speak English as an international language or second language than speak English as their native tongue. In China alone, more people are learning English as an international language than there are people who live in the United States. About 330,000,000 people speak a variety of English as their native language (in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the West Indies), while about 400,000,000 people speak English as a second language (in India, Kenya, the Philippines, and Nigeria).

· What is your reaction to these facts?

· What are the historical reasons that caused this situation to occur?

2. English has many varieties —.for example, British English, American English, Canadian English, Indian English, Jamaican English, Australian English, and Philippine English. Do you think International English should be one of these varieties or none of them? Why? / Why not?

3. English is the primary international language used in science, technology, business, air and sea travel, and diplomacy.

· Which of these areas is most important for you now?

· Will other areas become more important for you as time passes?

4. English is used as an official language in forty-four countries, more than any other language. In fact, approximately 80 percent of the information stored in computers is written in English. Approximately 75 percent of the mail, cables, and telexes that are sent around the world are in English. And about 50 percent of all scientific and technical journals are written in English. Do these statistics surprise you? Why? / Why not?

The English language is not a homogeneous "substance". Its heterogeneous composition can be demonstrated graphically. Look at the chart and try to describe and explain what you see.

P — poetical words

A — archaic and historical words (foreign words)

T — terms

B — barbarisms

AC — authors' coinages

PROF — profession words

VER — vernacular words

D — dialectal word

J — jargonisms

N-W — nonce-words

V — vulgarisms

1. Explain the following idioms: to save face, to cut bait, to have other fish to fry. Find them in the text and translate the sentences into Russian.

2. Recall all the synonyms to the word "subterfuge".

3. Find the sentence in the text with the verb ending in "vert". Paraphrase it.

4. Give examples of tough language.

5. Give examples of euphemisms in the text.

Comprehension questions:

Why does the author speak about the language of love and the language of diplomacy? Do they have anything in common? What is it? Who is Cupid?
What do the reactions of different groups of people to the president's statement prove?
Why is it challenging to translate into Chinese and to report about China?
What are the limitations of modern education according to the article?
What is the language of saving face?
How did the Chinese authorities manage to bridge the gap between the president's actual words and the sought-for result?
What actually propelled the crisis in Sino-American relations?

Exercise 14

Translate the following sentences into Russian.

1. Some conservatives thought George W. Bush should have used tougher language in the initial stages of the crisis on Hainan Island by calling our pilots "hostages".

2. Whatever Bill Clinton would have said, and he would have said a lot, every hour on the hour, no one could have translated it into two or three Chinese words.

3. "Sorry" was the word they had to have us say so they could tell their people that the United States had apologized.

Exercise 15

Explain in English the following word combinations related to language. Give their Russian equivalents.

sappy cliché

sensitivity and subterfuge of language

tough language

tortured syntax

linguistic crossfire

complexities and subtleties of language

infinite shades/nuances of language

clear and precise language

Exercise 16

Translate the word combinations into Russian. In what context are they used by the author?

to find the delicate balance between

to quibble over words

the art of persuasion and translation

impact on society

to use language to one's advantage

to guide public opinion

to gloss over smth with

to manipulate a word

to have verbal clearance

to spin out of control

Exercise 17

Use the word combinations from the exercise above in the following sentences.

1. Politicians skillfully_____ and artfully _____ different words when addressing the public.

2. The aim of the mass media is not only to convey information but also to _____ both inside the country and abroad.

3. Only some scholars possess knowledge of various shades of language when exercising _____.

4. Communication gap stems from the inability to _____ when arguing about personal matters.

5. The talks aimed at reaching an agreement and preventing the situation from _____.

6. The war's_______ and on the future development of the country was tremendous.

7. The authorities demanded that reporters should _____ recent heavy losses and told them how they should approach their stories if they wanted to survive.

8. The Chinese authorities _______ because they wanted the US to accept the blame for the collision.

The plane entered the airspace of a foreign country without_____ and thus ran the risk of being shot down.

Exercise 18

Translate the following sentences into English using the studied vocabulary.

1. Английский язык, будучи языком германской группы, испытал, начиная с XI века, сильнейшее и многократное воздействие французского. Около 55 % слов в английском — заимствования из французского или из латинского при посредстве французского; весьма сильно влияние французского в синтаксисе и заметно в морфологии.

2. Понятие стиля у римских писателей периода империи было очень развитым и тонким. Оно относилось, кроме всего прочего, к литературной речи.

3. Умелое обращение со словами, знание бесконечных их оттенков и нюансов необходимы дипломату в его искусстве убеждения и перевода.

4. Повсеместное распространение всеобщего образования и грамотности, сглаживание различий между городом и деревней привели к становлению общенационального языка с его бесчисленными оттенками и нюансами.

5. Другой ученый эпохи Буур (Bouhours) писал, что французский язык «нашел секрет, как соединить краткость не только с ясностью и точностью, но и с чистотой и с благовоспитанностью; французский язык прибегает к метафоре только тогда, когда не может без нее обойтись, он ненавидит гиперболу, столь ценимую соседями». (Буур иронизирует над итальянскими и испанскими языками).

6. Как в политике, так и в дипломатии для достижения своих целей необходимо в совершенстве владеть искусством убеждения, умело играть словами, используя их с выгодой для себя.

Exercise 19

Consider a new list of phrases containing instances of doublespeak and euphemisms. Explain in plain English what they really mean.

1. HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL SOURCES have been used in TECHNICAL SURVEILLANCE for decades.

2. One of my best friends is currently categorized as a DISPLACED HOMEMAKER .

3. Military commanders usually warn soldiers not to FRATERNIZE with the local population.

4. ARTIFICIAL DENTURES are believed to have inspired people with confidence.

5. Make sure your niece does not bring a DARKEY into the family.

6. The company spent $12 million on CONTRIBUTIONS.

7. The army BROKE OFF CONTACT WITH THE ENEMY.

8. A true NEW RUSSIAN can hardly do without a LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT.

9. He took us by surprise in our BIRTHDAY SUITS.

10. The Americans were shocked when they heard about the number of CRIMINAL OPERATIONS performed annually on schoolgirls.

Exercise 20

Can you identify the euphemistic expressions in the sentences below? What do they really mean?

1. At the end of the evening, the minister seemed to be tired and emotional.

2. The president admitted that the statement he had made yesterday was no longer operative.

3. When the lawyer questioned him closely, the civil servant admitted that he may have been economical with the truth.

4. He is no longer in the best of health.

5. A man is helping police with their enquiries.

To be Politically Correct, PC, means to be correct according to a set of liberal opinions, that black people and women should have equal chances to get jobs, education etc.

The newest edition of Random House Webster’s College Dictionary boasts more new words than any of its competitors. Besides it has a chapter called "Avoiding Insensitive and Offensive Language", which tells us that we should avoid "emphasizing the differences between people" and think of language as a way "toward rectifying the unequal social status between one group and another."

Before reading the text below ponder over the following questions.

1. Is political correctness always acceptable? What distortions could it cause?

2. Which words could you think of as discriminatory? What examples of gender-neutral language can you come up with?

3. Should language be politicized or not?

WINNER AS A DIRTY WORD

TOP OF THE WORLD

SEXIST LANGUAGE

Strategy of Analysis

1. Divide into pairs or groups to analyze the issue of "Sexist Language".

2. Introduce the subject. Among other things mention the fact that in recent years many people have taken objection to what is called sexist language: "he" is often used to mean "everyone", "man" to mean "mankind" (i. e. men and women) — even "men and women" puts men first; why not "women and men"? Look back through the unit or try to remember from your own experience what similarly sexist attitudes you can find or think of.

3. Delve into the subject. Don't fail to mention that objection has been taken to words like "spokesman" and "chairman". Analyzing the phenomenon discuss with your partner the questions that follow. Do you prefer "spokesperson" and "chairperson"? What about "personipulate" instead of "manipulate", "herstory" instead of "history", "Personchester" instead of "Manchester"? Are they only good for a modern laugh, or is there something serious behind them? Why do you think these questions have arisen in recent years? What should we do about them — adopt new forms such as Ms instead of Mrs or Miss, or keep to the old ways? Is there any alternative to he/she which is less cumbersome?

4. Now proceed to areas of usage. Are there areas which have predominantly masculine or feminine language? Talk about one of the following and try to analyze how "masculine" or "feminine" the language you use is: football, child care, war, cooking, cars, love, diplomacy, newspapers. Do you agree that "the English language does indeed assume everybody to be male unless they are proved otherwise"? (Angela Carter, "The Language of Sisterhood").

5. Discuss sexist words as manifestations of negative attitudes, since sometimes they are used in an insulting way. Women have been considered "the weaker sex" (William Alexander) and effeminacy has been considered a fault in men, just as mannishness has been thought of as a fault in women. Write paragraphs or comment on the following quotations describing these attitudes. Then compare the amount of sexist language you have used with the rest of the class. "What vain unnecessary things are men. How well we do without "em". (John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, "Draft of a Satire on Man") Women get more unhappy the more they try to liberate themselves. (Brigitte Bardot)

6. Work out a conclusion. What is the relationship between sexist language and political correctness?

Consider the following well-known story taken from Politically Correct Bedtime Stories by James Finn Garner. Choose all instances of politically-correct vocabulary and paraphrase them into plain English.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

There once was a young person named Red Riding Hood who lived with her mother on the edge of a large wood. One day her mother asked her to take a basket of fresh fruit and mineral water to her grandmother's house — not because this was woman's work, mind you, but because the deed was generous and helped engender a feeling of community. Furthermore, her grandmother was NOT sick, but rather was in full physical and mental health and was fully capable of taking care of herself as a mature adult.

Red Riding Hood set off with her basket through the woods. Many people believed that the forest was a foreboding and dangerous place and never set foot in it. Red Riding Hood, however, was confident enough in her own budding sexuality that such obvious Freudian imagery did not intimidate her.

On the way to Grandmother's house, Red Riding Hood was accosted by a wolf, who asked her what was in the basket. She replied, "Some healthful snacks for my grandmother, who is certainly capable of taking care of herself as a mature adult".

The wolf said, "You know, my dear, it isn't safe for a little girl to walk through these woods alone".

Red Riding Hood said, "I find your sexist remark offensive in the extreme, I will ignore it because of your traditional status as an outcast from society, the stress of which has caused you to develop your own, entirely valid, worldview. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be on my way".

Red Riding Hood walked on along the main path. But, because his status outside society had freed him from slavish adherence to linear, Western-style thought, the wolf knew a quicker route to Grandma's house. He burst into the house and ate Grandma, an entirely valid course of action for a carnivore such as himself. Then unhampered by traditionalist notions of what was masculine or feminine, he put on Grandma's nightclothes and crawled into bed.

Red Riding Hood entered the cottage and said, "Grandma, I have brought you some fat-free, sodium-free snacks to salute you in your role of a wise and nurturing matriarch".

From the bed, the wolf said softly, "Come closer, child, so that I might see you".

Red Riding Hood said, "Oh, I forgot you are as optically challenged as a bat. Grandma, what big eyes you have!"

"They have seen much, and forgiven much, my dear". "Grandma, what a big nose you have — only relatively, of course, and certainly attractive in its own way".

"It has smelled much, and forgiven much, my dear". "Grandma, what big teeth you have!" The wolf said, "I am happy with WHO I am and WHAT I am," and leapt out of bed. He grabbed Red Riding Hood in his claws, intent on devouring her. Red Riding Hood screamed, not out of alarm at the wolf's apparent tendency toward cross-dress- ing, but because of his willful invasion of her personal space.

Her screams were heard by a passing woodchopper person (or log-fuel technician, as he preferred to be called). When he burst into the cottage, he saw the melee and tried to intervene. But as he raised his ax, Red Riding Hood and the wolf both stopped.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" asked Red Riding Hood.

The woodchopper person blinked and tried to answer, but no words came to him.

"Bursting in here like a Neanderthal, trusting your weapon to do your thinking for you!" she exclaimed. "Sexist! Speciesist! How dare you assume that women and wolves can't solve their own problems without a man's help!"

When she heard Red Riding Hood's impassioned speech, Grandma jumped out of the wolf’s mouth, seized the woodchopper person's ax, and cut his head off. After this ordeal, Red Riding Hood, Grandma, and the wolf felt a certain commonality of purpose. They decided to set up an alternative household based on mutual respect and cooperation, and they lived together in the woods happily ever after.

THE STATE OF ENGLISH

By Anthony Burgess, the "Sunday Times"

Can our language be protected? It depends on what you mean by the language. Unlike Iroquois and Cherokee, English has leapt out of the confines of its origin, and there is nobody to tell us where true English is to be found. The various forms of American, Australian, South African are as prominent as what is known as Queen's English. In Britain itself the three national forms of English and the innumerable dialects demand our attention because they are in daily use, but to most people "good English" means the language of television newsreaders, of up-market commercials, and of the more serious political announcements. In other words, Standard English with "RP", or Received Pronunciation.

Historically this is just one dialect out of many. But a consensus has elevated it to a language, which we think everybody ought to learn. There is, of course, no possible way of making anyone learn it. Our schools and colleges can, in fact, do little. Children speak the language appropriate to a larger cultural area than a mere classroom. Language cannot be enforced. It goes its own way, or the way of its speakers. It is a construct created by human beings for their own use. There was in the 18th century a belief that language could be legislated for, that academics could lay down the law. Jonathan Swift objected to the word "mob", a presumed truncated form of mobile vulgus, but "mob" came to stay. The great Doctor Samuel Johnson believed that he had fixed for all time both spelling and pronunciation with his incredible Dictionary (to some extent that was true), but he left out of account those changes in human life and knowledge that demand new words, and the more or less passive phonetic changes which produced new pronunciation.

With his novel, Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell inflicted on an imaginary totalitarian future a form of English known as "Newspeak", notable for the steady diminution of its vocabulary, the aim being to create a language in which dissident thought could be impossible. "Newspeak" is more of an amusing toy than a device for securing political orthodoxy. It does not work. If you say "Emmanuel Goldstein is double plus ungood" you can say the same thing about Big Brother. If you are scared of saying this, that has nothing to do with a limitation of language.

In fact, it is very rarely language itself that is at issue when we invoke standards of correctness. Errors in language are often an aspect of the outer social shell, which encloses language. If we want to do any teaching at all, we had better pay attention to what is known as registers. An American professor of nuclear physics will say, "Now we zero in on the real nitty gritty". This is the wrong register. A year or so ago the speaker of the House of Commons (not the present one) quietly told a member to f*** off. He was not heard except by the microphones, but it was still the wrong register. To call the Queen Mother "the Queen Mum" to her face is to employ the wrong register.

Choice of the right register is dictated by the need not to give offence. Pronunciation can give offence, too, but we have no sure grounds for legislating for it. A Birmingham accent in Fort- num & Mason may be inappropriate, meaning that it may give offence. Any local accent, once it strays out of the confines of its regional origin, is likely to give offence, unless it carries a Celtic flag. We can do little about this, except foster the common-sense attitude to language, which makes it a sociable rather than an aggressive medium of exchange. MPs who hurl coal-mining accents at the front bench when indulging in a partisan diatribe are doing nobody any good. We need Standard English with RP.

I say we need it, but there is so little solidity in language that we cannot be sure of the forms, the meanings or the sounds we utter. Most people will have noticed that the final stop consonants in substandard speech are disappearing. I mean, for instance, p, t, and k. We are hearing a glottal stop instead. By about 2020 the sound will be signalled in print but will belong to the dead past.

We may weep for this, but we cannot prevent linguistic change from happening. We weep because we believe that English is a beautiful language. There are too many popular books with titles like The Peerless Gift of Our Native Tongue. This is nonsense. English is no better than Esquimo. What it incontestably has is a great literature. This certainly needs protection.

Notes:

1. RP - Received Pronunciation, the name used by students of language for the type of pronunciation of British English which is regarded as standard. It is used by middle class and upper class people from all over the UK, especially in the south of England, and it is the form of pronunciation shown in British dictionaries. It is sometimes called "BBC English" as it is the accent used by most people on radio and television;

2. Nineteen Eighty-Four - a novel by George Orwell about a political system in which ordinary people have no power, and are completely controlled by the government. It has had a great influence on the way people think about and write about politics and political systems like that described in the book is sometimes called Orwellian;

3. newspeak - language whose meanings are slightly changed to make people believe things that are not quite true;

4. Big Brother - a character in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Big Brother is the leader of the state, and although no one has ever met him there are pictures of him everywhere with the message "Big Brother is watching you". People now use the expression "Big Brother" to describe any government or organization that has complete power, allows no freedom, and carefully watches what people are doing;

5. Celt - a member of an ancient people who lived in Britain before the arrival of the Romans and whose culture and languages are still found in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland;

6. glottal stop — a speech sound made by completely closing and opening the glottis, which in English may take the place of [t] between vowel sounds or may be used before a vowel sound

Explain the following cultural phenomena:

1. What is the difference between the two terms the ACCENT and DIALECT? What are COAL-MINING accents?

2. Who are/were the following people: JONATHAN SWIFT, Dr. SAMUEL JOHNSON, GEORGE ORWELL, QUEEN MOTHER, BIG BROTHER, SPEAKER in the HOUSE of COMMONS?

3. What do Iroquois, Cherokee and Esquimo have in common?

4. What is the idea of "a local accent carrying a Celtic flag"?

5. Who has the right to sit on the FRONT BENCH in the House of Commons?

6. What kind of place is FORTNUM & MASON?

General comprehension questions:

1. Does the author answer the question that opens the article? What is his answer?

2. What does the author have to say concerning the state of English?

3. What is the author's attitude to changes that the English language undergoes?

4. In what way has the role and place of the English language in the world changed?

5. What problems do people communicating in English most frequently confront?

6. What are registers? Why are most mistakes made by foreigners register errors? Do native speakers make register mistakes?

7. Do you think your native language needs protection? How can a language be protected?

Exercise 26

Translate the following sentences into Russian paying special attention to the underlined structures.

1. George Orwell inflicted on an imaginary totalitarian future a form of English known as "Newspeak", the aim being to create a language in which dissident thought could be impossible.

2. Any local accent, once it strays out of the confines of its regional origin, is likely to give offence, unless it carries a Celtic flag.

3. English is no better than Esquimo.

Exercise 27

a) Look back at Exercise 26 sentence 1. Find the Absolute Participle Construction (APC) and translate it into Russian. Why is it called Participle? Revise the forms of Participle I and II.

Participle	Active	Passive
Simple Participle I	doing	being done
Perfect Participle I	having done	having been done
Participle II	—	done

b) Translate the following sentences into Russian. Note the difference in translating the APC.

The monster at No 10

The hideous monster, the Gobbledygook, which has been rampant in Whitehall for years, paid a visit to 10 Downing Street yesterday, courtesy of the Plain English Campaign.

Led in chains, snarling savagely, the Gobbledygook delivered the first copy of the campaign's magazine, Plain English, which aims to persuade writers of forms, leaflets and agreements to write them more clearly.

Exercise 36

Try to rewrite the sentences below in Plain English. An example has been done for you.

EXAMPLE: "It is expected that in the foreseeable future further meetings will be arranged with the Trade Union for the purpose of conducting negotiations in relation to a reduction in working hours".

In Plain English: "We will soon be meeting the Trade Union to discuss shorter hours ".

If I were asked to give an accurate description of my physical condition at the present moment, the only possible honest reply would be that I am greatly in need of liquid refreshment.
People whose professional activity lies in the field of politics are not, on the whole, conspicuous for their respect for factual honesty.
Failure to assimilate an adequate quantity of solid food over an extended period of time is absolutely certain to lead, in due course, to a fatal conclusion.
It is by no means easy to achieve an accurate understanding of that subject of study, which is concerned with the relationship between numbers.
The climatic conditions prevailing in the British Isles show a pattern of alternating and unpredictable periods of dry and wet weather, accompanied by a similarly irregular cycle of temperature changes.
I should be grateful if you would be so good as to stop the uninterrupted flow of senseless remarks with which you are currently straining my patience to breaking point.

Exercise 37

Read the memo from the Director of Studies to the new Health and Safety officer of a language school and use the information to complete the fire notice. Use no more than two words for each gap. The words you need do not occur in the memo.

MEMORANDUM

To: David

From: Kim

RE: Fire notices for inspection next week.

As you know, we've got the all important inspection coming up next week and we still haven't got any proper fire notices up! Can you put something official-looking together on the computer— don't forget to laminate the notices! Make sure you include the following:

· if you see/smell a fire, set off the nearest alarm

· try and put the fire out if you can but don't get burnt/trapped

· go to the meeting place (behind the library)

· wait for your name to be called out

· if you hear the alarm, get out straight away — don't try to pick up any books, coats, etc.

· go to the meeting place but don't lose control or run

· don't go back into the building until the senior fire officer (that's you by the way!) says it's OK.

Kim

FIRE NOTICE

On discovering a fire:

1. a)…….the nearest fire alarm.

2. b)……. to c)…….the fire but d)…….risks.

3. Proceed to the e)…….point (to the f)…….the library)

4. g)…….roll call.

On hearing the fire alarm:

1. Leave without stopping to h) …….

2. Proceed to the library quickly but without i)…….or running.

3. j)…….outside the building until k)…….that it is safe l)…….by a senior officer.

Exercise 38

Read this extract from a letter. It is written by a mother to her son who is away from home for the first time and is unable to cook. Change the vocabulary and structures to rewrite the passage in a form that is more appropriate for this task.

The cooking of an omelette is not a time-consuming project, nor does it necessitate a particularly high degree of culinary skills. The prerequisites in terms of provisions are two eggs, water and butter, and the essential equipment comprises a frying pan and heat source. The procedure is as follows. Initially, the two eggs are broken, and the contents, both egg yolk and white are placed in a bowl, where they are beaten. A small quantity of water or milk is then added and the mixture stirred again. The butter is placed in the frying pan, heated to melting point, and the egg mixture is subsequently added to the pan. The process of cooking is complete in approximately one minute, after which time the omelette is folded in half and served.

Exercise 39

If you hear the following lines, can you say precisely who is speaking to whom and in what situation?

1. Good morning, Matron.

2. I can't hear you, caller.

3. With your Lordship's permission.

4. Penny for the Guy?

5. Excuse me, officer.

6. Take the book in your right hand

7. Hear, hear.

8. Good boy, come here.

9. My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, pray silence for

10. Mr. Chairman, I object.

Exercise 40

Read the following comments from a language school student questionnaire and use the information to complete the numbered gaps in the formal memorandum to staff. Use no more than two words for each gap. The words you need do not occur in the students 'comments. The exercise begins with an example (0).

Classes

"My teacher was late for class every day except the first Monday!"

"I came to England to study English not to play games — I'm not a child!!!"

Facilities

"My classroom (A35) is a mess — can't the repairmen fix the cracks in the walls and stick the wallpaper back on? Only one of the lights was working during the whole 4-week course!"

"I liked the books and things in the self-access centre but it's in a bad place right at the top of the library on the fourth floor! Why not put it somewhere students spend more time?"

"The "Munch House Cafe Bar" is OK — I liked the new chairs and tables. Some of the sandwiches were off and they always ran out of coke when it was hot!"

Food

"I didn't like the food at all — it's always the same — chips, chips, chips!"

"All the food is boring — it has no real taste".

Activities

"I liked the tour of the city but the sports were terrible, nobody knew where to go or what time to arrive!"

"Tom Shark was very rude to the students and we had to pay for things I thought I'd paid for when I paid for the course — like the BBQ and discos!"

MEMORANDUM

To: All members of EFL staff

From: Jack Boot (Director of Studies)

Date: 16 June

Cc: The Principal

Lessons

(1) ............ seems to be a problem with many teachers, in fact one managed to be on time only once during the course. There also seems to be a feeling among students that the lessons weren't (2) and that too many games were played in class. Many of our students find such activities rather (3)…….

Facilities

Various students noted that the classrooms are in a (4)…….of repair and that we need to pay greater and more immediate attention to (5)……. .As regards the new self-access centre, many students praised the wide selection of (6) …….but commented negatively about its (7)…….at the top of the library building, which, it seems, makes it somewhat (8)…….for students. Another more positive element in the school is the "Munch House". Many students commented favourably about the (9) ……. .But also pointed out that the sandwiches are often (10)…….and that soft drinks are frequently in short (11)……particularly during hot weather.

Catering

The food lacks (12)……..With a great deal of the same food appearing day after day. It also seems that the food is far too (13)……for international students.

Activities

There were numerous negative comments in this area. The sports activities seem very (14)…….organized with students having no clear instructions as to where and when to play. Certain members of the activities staff were also described as (15)……. .Finally, it is clear that many students are being charged again for activities they paid for in (16) ……., such as barbecues and discotheques. I propose to hold an emergency meeting to discuss how best to address the most urgent issues outlined above. The meeting will be this Friday 23 June starting at 4.30 pm in the staff room.

Tasks

1. In the text of the letter, underline all instances of colloquial usage, write out the informal words and expressions and suggest more formal equivalents.

2. Restructure the letter making it more logical and consistent, re-write the letter using appropriate style and vocabulary.

POPPING IN TO THE PALACE DEAR YOUR MAJESTY...

"A long time ago you gave out OBEs to The Beatles and have since given awards to many famous pop stars, but you've had the same band playing outside Buckingham Palace since forever. Well, we are four young lads aged 16 and 17 who form the band ALIVE. In fact, here's a CD of our music for you to listen to and some information about us. We were recently booked to play a load of concerts with top acts, but the promoter turned out to be a complete conman and we really lost out. We've never played in London and would like the chance to perform at Buckingham Palace, possibly inside the gates where the band usually plays to entertain the crowds or inside at a party. It would be a really good gig for us and having the gig on our CV might help us swing a record contract. You will note from the enclosed leaflet that we got support from the Prince's Trust. They gave us a grant of 480 pounds in January 1997 and we would have asked Price Charles, but as Buckingham Palace is your house, we thought we should ask you first. We've put a nice slow song on the CD first cos we thought you wouldn't be into heavy stuff. By all means give the CD to your grandchildren to listen to but make sure they give it you back. Finally, we are four good lads who don't do drugs, aren't scruffy and don't use foul language (maybe that's where we've been going wrong!) Anyway, if you can give us a break it would be cool. With our love to you and all the Royal Family, Andy, Daz, Martin and Craig XXXXX".

PAIRWORK

Answer the following questions:

Read the title of the article. Where are the subject and the predicate of the sentence?
Read the subtitle: "To give children the right start, add speaking to the three Rs". What is meant by three Rs?
Where does Paul Barker come from? What does he do? Where does he work?
What sort of accent has he? How does he feel about it?
What is "Bad Language"?
How do Peter Trundgill and Lars Anderson feel about changing one's accent? What does Paul Barker think about it?
What does "elocution" mean?
Does Paul Barker think people should take elocution lessons?
Have educationists been discussing the problem of teaching speaking for a long time?
When did John Honey's survey appear? How did the press receive it? How did the public receive it? Why did opinions differ?
What does the ranking order of accents in Britain look like?
What characteristics do listeners attribute to RP speakers?
How do Glaswegians and Londoners feel about their accents?
Who "won" in the television show discussion between John Honey and a university lecturer from Birmingham?
Is Bernard Show's remark about accents still valid?
Does Paul Barker support or oppose the idea of speakers changing their accents?

Exercise 43

Explain or translate the underlined parts of sentences from the

text.

1. In an ideal world, it would be pleasant if you could agree with Trudgill and Anderson: anything goes.

2. The taboo was first broken by John Honey in his entertaining sharp-eared survey. "Does Accent Matter?"

3. City accents fare worst.

4. It emerges that people read an extraordinary range of messages into accent.

5. Not everyone takes this lying down.

6. I am no defender of snobbism.

Exercise 44

In the text find the words corresponding to the following definitions.

something that sells in very large numbers —
strong social custom forbidding a particular word or behaviour —
to gradually wear away or destroy —
the art of good clear speaking in public —
one's social or professional rank —
to travel so as to change one's place of living especially for a limited period —
appear from being hidden —
a combination or mixture of different things —

Exercise 45

In the text find the English equivalents for the following Russian phrases.

невооруженное ухо
появиться на радио
объединять усилия
на основании чего-либо
очевидное различие
подвергать риску свою будущую карьеру
основной навык
нарушить запрет
несмотря на что-либо
городской, сельский акцент
наделять кого-либо какими-то качествами
цепляться за что-либо
уступать кому-либо в чем-либо

Exercise 46

Translate the following sentence into Russian paying special attention to the underlined structure.

Accent discrimination is an anti-democratic phenomenon, not totally unlike racial prejudice.

Using the given pattern, form word combinations, making the adjectives below negative and adding NOT to them. Translate them into Russian.

FAVOURABLE, FREQUENT, ATTRACTIVE, NATURAL, RESPONSIVE, MINDFUL, LIKE, COMMON, INTERESTING

Translate the sentences into English using the pattern given above.

Новый советник-посланник произвел весьма благоприятное впечатление на дипломатический персонал посольства.
В наши дни собственный персональный компьютер уже стал чем-то вполне обычным и имеется практически в каждом доме.
Премьер-министр распорядился о проведении внеочередного заседания правительства и, ничуть не забывая о своей ответственности за принятие окончательного решения, призвал собравшихся министров высказаться по существу проблемы.
Внезапные бури довольно часто случаются в этих отдаленных местах.
Небезынтересно, что премьер-министр даже не пытался отрицать свою причастность к инциденту.
Выбор дипломатической карьеры был вполне естественным для него.
Вполне вероятно, что они победят на выборах.
На него это очень похоже — сомневаться во всем и не быть уверенным ни в чем.
Я нахожу перспективу дипломатической карьеры весьма привлекательной и ваше предложение достаточно заманчивым.
Она хорошо разбирается в нюансах английского языка и неплохо понимает французскую речь.

Exercise 47

Write a summary of Paul Baker's point of view concerning accents.

PAIRWORK

Answer the following questions:

1. Where is Janet Daley from? What does she do?

2. Why does the author feel more comfortable when she speaks to an Englishman than when she speaks to an American?

3. Why does Janet Daley whose native language is English find her intentions misunderstood by English people at times?

4. What does the author understand by "social lies"? How does she differentiate between "lies" and "social lies"?

5. Is the attitude of the author to social lies negative or positive? Give facts from the text to prove your point of view. What is your attitude to social lies?

6. What examples of misunderstanding and failed communication does the author give? What do those examples serve to prove?

7. Who does Janet Daley hold responsible for English corrupt social mores? Do you agree with her? Why? / Why not?

8. What dangers may the duplicity of the English involve?

9. What advantages according to the author have the English as a nation gained through the constant practice of deception?

10. What might be the possible consequences of not knowing the rules of the game?

11. What does the author mean by referring to "industrial relations" in the last two paragraphs of the article? Who is "the Other Side"?

12. What from your point of view may enable foreigners to overcome communication gaps that so many foreigners confront in dealing with the English?

13. Is the problem relevant to your native language?

Exercise 48

Find words corresponding to the following definitions.

1. customs, manners, social behaviour

2. deceit, hypocrisy, doubledealing

3. smth fixed firmly and deeply

4. morbid persistence of an idea in the mind, craze

5. the ethics, set of ideas, or beliefs of a person or a community

6. intentionally, on purpose

7. a peculiar way of behaving or speaking that has become a habit

8. to take into consideration

9. tending to make weak

10. clearly marking a person or thing as different from others

11. ingenuity, inventiveness

12. praiseworthy

13. greater than what is normal or necessary, insincere

14. fashionable

15. absurdly inappropriate, fatuous

16. annoy continually

17. natural, innate

18. clumsy, awkward, tactless

19. odd, unusual

Exercise 49

Give the meaning of the following phrases.

1. to get hold of the wrong end of the stick

2. compulsive truth-telling

3. the laid-back classes

4. the Byzantine code of opaque communication

5. in league with

6. fulsome support

7. to get the message

8. dead giveaway

Exercise 50

Find words in the text similar in meaning to those given below.

DUPLICITY, EMBEDDED, TRENDY

Exercise 51

Say which sentences in the text may be said to have been patterned on the following proverbs.

1. One man's meat is another man's poison.

2. What one loses on the swings one makes up/gains on the roundabouts.

Exercise 52

Write a summary of the article.

Exercise 53

Study the following idioms and make up sentences using them.

1. to split hairs — to make fine distinctions

The mother and child spent a great deal of time arguing about the hair-splitting question of whether "going to bed" meant lights out or not.

2. straight form the shoulder — in a direct, open way

I took the wind out of his sails by telling him straight from the shoulder what I thought of it.

3. to break the ice — to make a start by overcoming initial difficulties, to overcome stiffness between strangers

All after-dinner speakers break the ice by telling a story or joke at the start of their speeches.

4. a pretty kettle of fish — a messy situation, a problem

He thought it was an innocent white lie, but it got him into a pretty kettle of fish.

Make up a situation using the idioms and the active vocabulary of the unit.

READING PASSAGE ON LANGUAGE

The language spoken in each society is a reflection of its own particular culture. The type of language spoken by each individual within a society is a symbol of his personality, background and status. People, therefore, classify each other according to the way they speak, as is well illustrated in the following extracts from THE COLLECTOR by John Fowles. In this novel, a young man obsessed with a girl much higher up in the social scale, kidnaps and imprisons her. The first extract describes the thoughts of the man, Frederick, and the second those of the girl, Miranda.

Note that "D and Ms class" means "Daddy and Mummy s class" and that Caliban is Miranda's name for Frederick. In Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST, Miranda is the cast-away heroine, Caliban the island s monster.

She often went on about how she hated class distinction, but she never took me in. It's the way people speak that gives them away, not what they say. You only had to see her dainty ways tosee how she was brought up. She was not la-di-da, like many, but it was there all the same. You could see it when she got sarcastic and impatient with me because I could not explain myself or I did things wrong. Stop thinking about class, she'd say. Like a rich man telling a poor man to stop thinking about money.

I do not hold it against her, she probably said and did some of the shocking things she did to show me she was not really refined, but she was. When she was angry she could get right up on her high horse and come in over me with the best of them.

There was always class between us. What irritates me most about him is his way of speaking. Cliche after cliche after cliche, and all so old-fashioned, as if he has spent all his life with people over fifty. At lunch-time today he said, I called in with regard to those records they have placed on order. I said, Why don't you just say, "I asked about those records you ordered?" He said, I know my English isn't correct, but I try to make it correct. I didn't argue. That sums him up. He's got to be correct, he's got to do whatever was "right" and "nice" before either of us was born.

I know it's pathetic, I know he's a victim of a miserable Nonconformist suburban world and a miserable social class, the horrid timid copycatting genteel in-between class. I used to think D and M's class the worst. All golf and gin and bridge and cars and the right accent and the right money and having been to the right school and hating the arts. Well, that is foul. But Caliban's England is fouler.

Choose the best option to complete the sentences below.

1) According to Frederick

a) He knew the girl was really a snob because she didn't fall for him.

b) It was the girl's accent that showed she was upper class.

c) His inability to express himself brought out the girl's class consciousness.

d) It is typical of the rich to tell you to stop thinking about class distinctions.

2) When the girl was angry

a) She really laid into speaker.

b) She made it plain he was her social inferior.

c) She ganged up with her social equals against him.

d) She would go off riding and leave him.

3) The girl objected to the man's remark about the records because

a) It was unnecessarily complicated.

b) It was a cliche.

c) It was an old-fashioned remark.

d) It was grammatically correct.

4) The man's obsession with being "correct" sums him up in the girl's eyes because

a) It is the right thing to be.

b) It is a nice thing to be.

c) It is pathetic.

d) It is typical of his class.

5) The comparison with "D and M's class" shows that the girl

a) Regards speaking the right sort of language as a virtue.

b) Prefers the lower middle class to the upper middle.

c) Prefers the upper middle class to the lower middle.

d) Regards aping the middle class as worse than belonging to it.

Exercise 54

Can you complete these well-known proverbs?

Better to be safe than ...
Strike while the ...
It's always darkest before ...
You can take a horse to the water but...
Don't bite the hand that...
No news is ...
A miss is as good as ...
You can't teach an old dog new ...
If you lie down with dogs , you'll ...
Love all, trust...
The pen is mightier than the ...
An idle mind is ...
Where there's smoke there's ...
A penny saved is ...
Two's a company, three's ...
Don't put off till tomorrow what...
None are so blind as ...
Children should be seen and not...
When the blind leads the blind ...

Exercise 55

Fill in the appropriate word.

Learning to (1) _____a computer is not as difficult as many people think. Computers can be expensive to buy, but you can often get comprehensive packages containing all the equipment you need at a (2) _____from big companies. Some companies will even (3) _____the system for you. Your system will also include various kinds of (4) _____ such as

word-processing and game programmes, all stored on disks. When you put the disk into the computer, the programme or information can be displayed on the (5) _____. Many computer (6) _____go on the Internet. This is a system that links computers, making it possible to (7) _____information from one system to another in a different place (8) _____the telephone. This can (9), _____ problems, because addicts who use their computers all the time can (10) _____ the phone circuits, meaning that other people cannot make (11) _____ tele phone calls.

► WRITING

Exercise 56

Write paragraphs to comment on the following quotations.

1. English usage is sometimes more than a mere taste, judgment, and education — sometimes it's sheer luck, like getting across a street.

E. B. White

Slang is a language that rolls up its sleeves, spits on its hands and goes to work.

Carl Sandburg

I am always sorry when any language is lost, because languages are the pedigree of nations.

Samuel Johnson

Exercise 57

Write an essay on one of the following subjects.

1. Accent is one of the biggest barriers to social equality in Britain.

2. Much unhappiness has come into the world because of bewilderment and things left unsaid.

F. Dostoyevsky

3. Language is the archives of history. Language is fossil poetry.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

ROUND - TABLE DISCUSSION

Get ready to discuss the PROBLEM OF DRUGS at a round-table conference. Resort to euphemisms and politically correct words to avoid direct accusation. Distribute the roles among the participants and do not forget about the role of the chairperson. Make use of the hints given in Unit 2 The Press.

Policeman — Drug-taking breeds all kinds of crime and should be banned.

Diplomat — Drag trafficking has become a global problem. Illegal drug laws should be made much stronger the world over. World governments should conduct joint campaigns against drugs.

Clergyman — The war on drugs can never be won on an international level. It must be won locally.

Human rights activist — The level of crime will be reduced if light narcotics like marijuana, are made legal and the governments give them to addicts free of charge.

Writer — Drug addiction is no worse that alcohol addiction, and people in a democratic society should be free to decide for themselves whether or not to take drugs.

Doctor — Drugs have always been used in medicine to relieve pain, and it will be inhuman to deprive those who are terminally ill of narcotics.

Teacher—People who develop drug problems should have their

children taken away from them.

Mother and housewife — It is our children who are the first to

fall victims of drug pushers and die of overdose.

Pop singer — Drugs are a blessing for most pop stars as they both stimulate our creative activity, and help many hard working pop stars cope with stressful situations which are plentiful in our profession.

Cross-country skier — Drug taking has become common practice among professional sportsmen. Our health is often sacrificed for the sake of national prestige and financial gains.

► Word List III

to award

acceptability

amalgam

to bring to the fore

burgeonings of

beyond the pale

to break a taboo

cliche

confines of origin

construct

complexity

conventional

clear and precise

to cling to

compulsive truth-telling

to credit

common sense

complacency

consensus

commercial

to delve into

to design

to eliminate

digital

to diminish

delicate balance between

deliberately

to define

duplicity

dead giveaway

devoid of

to draw the line at

dissident thought

in league with

innumerable dialects

to inflict

legacy

linguistic crossfire

laudable

to legislate

to leave out of account

literacy

lexical fingerprint

lexical innovation

to manifest

to manipulate

mannerism

to migrate

nuance

notorious

offshoot

to overshadow

on the grounds of

obsession

opaque communication

politically correct

persuasion

to pester

partisan diatribe

prolific

ponderous

to quibble over

quaint

to rise

recesses of the human psyche

to eliminate

to equal

to erode

to exclude

eligible

embedded

ethos

to emerge

endemic

to enforce

to elevate

far-fetched

fulsome support

to foster an attitude to

to get into the stride

to guide public opinion

gauche

to give offence

to get hold of the wrong end

of the stick

to get the message

to gloss over

infinite shades

impact on

inept

to refer to rural

to subvert

sensitivity

to subside

subterfuge

subtlety

to spin out of control

to separate

to subject to risk

spectrum

social mores

stigma

spread of universal education

tough language

tortured syntax

trendy

to upgrade the status

to use to one's advantage

to upstage

unaided ear

urban

verbal clearance to weep for

to yield to

Unit IV. NATIONAL IDENTITY

Lead-in

Not long ago the article below appeared in a national daily.

The Times

A third of people living in England now see themselves as more English than British, the British Social Attitudes survey says today. That proportion has risen from a quarter two years ago. The survey, which concludes that a "modest English backlash" is taking place, comes a month after a Runnymede trust report suggested that the word "British" was tainted with racism and called for a rethinking of national identity.

Notes:

1. backlash — a strong but delayed feeling of opposition or a sudden strong reaction (ответная реакция);

taint — to be regarded with a lack of trust, to spoil, undermine, besmirch (запятнать, опозорить, подорвать репутацию).

In pairs discuss the questions:

1. What could have happened to the British nation, and why do some people prefer to see themselves as more English rather than British?

Can the words "English" and "British" be used interchangeably?
How can you explain the difference between the two if there is any?
Can the words «русский» and «российский» be used interchangeably?
How can you explain the difference between the two if there is any?

Exercise 1

Write a letter to the editor of the Times that published the note above to say what you think of the attempt undertaken by politicians to force people to rethink their identity (Approximately 250- 300 words).

Exercise 2

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate phrases in the correctforms, using the reading notes to both articles.

1. The rebels are fighting _____ some independence.

2. The resignation of three key Ministers was seen as a _____ against the Prime Minister's usurpation of power.

3. The unfortunate incident _____ his political career.

4. CNN broadcast numerous scenes of Palestinians singing _____ songs, waving flags when Americans were mourning the victims of the terrorist attack.

5. Only four members of the original Cabinet _____ next year.

6. The chairman was convicted of corruption and his reputation _____ forever.

7. The rise of the Hippie movement was a _____ against the war in Vietnam.

8. The report _____ heavily with racism.

9. The country managed _____ some degree of dignity in defeat.

It is much better _____ problems _____ as soon as they arise, than let them escalate into something serious.

Exercise 3

Translate into English .

1. Даже находясь в плену, ему удалось сохранить чувство собственного достоинства.

1. Активные действия полиции спровоцировали яростную ответную реакцию местного населения.

2. Среди избранных депутатов нет ни одного, чья репутация была бы запятнана.

3. Правительство полно решимости подавить в зародыше недовольство экономическими реформами.

4. Если Вы желаете сохранить у себя оригинал документа, пожалуйста, пришлите нам его копию.

5. Категорически выступая против любых проявлений расовой дискриминации, некоторые политические партии, тем не менее, пытаются представить ряд обоснований резких нападок на выходцев из африканских стран.

6. Руководство запятнало себя связями с мафией.

Exercise 4

Render the following passage into the English language.

Все говорят о национальной идентичности. Этот термин производит на публику впечатление некой теоретической весомости, научной добротности. Он, между прочим, приглянулся (go down well with) и современному политическому истеблишменту.

Те, кто в эпоху империи не очень пеклись (fret about) о чистоте своей национально-культурной идентичности, в эпоху демократии отождествляются с маской (assume the mask) представителя той или иной «коренной» нации. Один нашел себя украинцем, другой — чувашем, третий — русским. Для этого надо отделить себя от Другого (another), увидев его в качестве изначально и неисправимо Чужого (alien). Эту роль в русском случае успешно играет воображаемый еврей, в украинском — столь же воображаемый русский.

Фигура Чужого — всегда конструкт. Нет Чужого самого по себе — без того, для кого он чужой. Нельзя быть чужим, им можно только представляться. Чужое не только лицезреют, его показывают, демонстрируют. Феномен чужого часто оказывает вредное влияние. Так «поверхностный» и «легкомысленный» француз, будучи не чем иным, как образом, созданным англичанами и немцами, (именно так представлявших себе француза) в определенный момент начинает активно представляться таким.

Так же как и французы в свое время не смогли противостоять данному им описанию, русские согласились принять на свой счет характеристику «варвар» (barbarian). «Да, скифы мы»... Пытаясь постоять за (fend for) себя, мы превратили «Русского медведя» из неуклюжего зверя в простоватого силача (hulk) — или добродушного медвежонка, ставшего символом Олимпийских игр 1980, но образ начал функционировать как заместитель «русского». «Чужим» становятся незаметным для себя образом.

GOODBYE TO ALL THAT

(by Andrew Sullivan)

My home town was a kind of ground zero for Englishness. Almost a national synonym for middle-class ennui, East Grinsted was the last stop on a railway line south of London, the first place outside the metropolis that wasn't actually metropolitan, a welter of disappointment and understatement and yet also of a kind of pride.

When I grew up it was a commuter-belt development of 20,000 but also a place of its own. Its Victorian railway station and Elizabethan main street, its unique mix of local butchers, bakers, hardware stores and bookshops, vegetable allotments and rugby pitches, — they made it a place in itself, a place to stay and grow up in, a place that knew itself and knew where it stood.

But 15 years later, it is a place I almost fail to recognize. The old railway station has been replaced by a concrete terminus. The new de facto town center, a cavernous aircraft hangar of a supermarket, has displaced almost every local shop in the town. The main street is now a ghostly assortment of real estate offices and charity shops, banks and mortgage companies.

The main road now leads swiftly on to the new M25 that circles London. Trucks with Belgian and Italian licence plates clog the artery, on their way to the Channel Tunnel, And I click past dozens of German channels to watch Larry King.

This wasn't quite the script I had imagined when I left in 1984. Every emigrant to America likes to think of his home country as a repository, of the old and the quaint, of unchanging stability and backward thinking. So it is an adjustment to find the suburban England I had once seen as an edifice of nostalgia, class and passivity, become the kind of anonymous exurb I once associated with America, and to feel what such a transformation has clearly brought about.

By transformation, I mean the loss of national identity itself. For in a way perhaps invisible to outsiders and too gradual for insiders to fully acknowledge, the combined forces of globalization, political reform and the end of the cold war have swept through Britain in the past two decades with a force unequalled in any other country in the western world. As the century ends, it is possible to talk about the abolition of Britain without the risk of hyperbole.

The UK's cultural and social identity has been altered beyond any recent prediction. Its very geographical boundaries are being redrawn. Its basic constitution is being guttered and reconceived. Its monarchy has been reinvented. Half its parliament is under the ax. Its voting system is about to be altered. Its currency may well soon be abandoned. And its role in the world at large is in radical flux.

Some of this change was organic and inevitable. But much of it is also the legacy of three remarkable prime ministers, who have successfully managed in very different ways to revolutionize Britain's economy, society and constitution in a way that promises to free the people of the island from the past that long threatened to strangle them.

It is part of the genius of Britain's undemocratic democracy that this transformation has taken place with such speed and thoroughness. A British Prime Minister commands a largely unitary state with almost unchecked power for the indefinite tenure. With a solid majority in Parliament, he or she can do almost anything, and come from almost anywhere.

Walk through central London today and within a few blocks, you hear Arabic and Italian, Urdu and German. Australian ac^:cents are almost as common as American ones.

The distinct class dialects I remember from my youth — the high vowels of aristocracy, the rough, broad edges of Cockney, the awkward flatness of mid-England — are far less distinct. Even the BBC is a cacophony of regional accents, with Scottish brogue and Welsh lilt more common than the Queen's English of my teens.

Elsewhere, there is a kind of sonorous merging, the rise of a new accent that seems to have absorbed East End vowels with a southern English blandness. It is classless but at the same time fashionably downmarket. Tony Blair's voice captures it: he swings in one sentence from solid English propriety to sudden proletarian slang.

Think of what Britain once meant and a handful of cliches come to mind. Bad food. Crooked teeth. Good manners. Pragmatism. Free speech. Theatre. Class. Monarchy. Poor heating. Sexual awkwardness. Sentimentality to animals. Looking at this list today, only a handful survive: theatre, free speech and the pet fixation. A modern list of "Britishness" would look altogether different. Designer furniture. Public relations. Sarcasm. Excessive drinking. Fast driving. Mobile phones. Tabloids. Sexual ease.

Tony Blair's real radicalism has turned out to be constitutional rather than economic or social. He embarked on perhaps the most far-reaching series of reforms ever tried by a modern British government.

Of the dozens of conversations I had in London about the future of the UK, no one I spoke to believed Scotland would be a part of Britain in 10 years' time. The Welsh, too, voted in favour of their own assembly.

When I left for America, the clear simple symbol of England was the Union Jack. It is now increasingly the bare emblem of St George, a red cross on a white background. You see it in soccer stadiums and emblazoned into the skulls of East End skinheads.

The repercussions of this are a little hard to envisage. They extend from the possibility of a bitter if peaceful split-up — a kind of Yugoslavia with cups of tea — to more far-reaching questions such as Britain's place in the UN Security Council. Will England deserve a seat — with a population of merely 49 million, on barely two-thirds of a small island? No one seems to know.

It has become a rallying cry for all those suddenly fearful of the symbolic end of a nation that has, in truth, already ended. It is a symbol of a reality the English have accepted but not yet acknowledged.

Loss is the central theme of modern Britain: loss of empire, loss of power, loss of grandeur, loss of the comfort of the past. When Churchill called his countrymen to the immense task of 1940 by calling the Battle of Britain his nation's "finest hour", he was perhaps unaware of the burden that phrase would impose on future generations. How do you envisage a future in a country whose greatest moment has been indisputably centred in the past?

The British have finally stopped seeking a role and started getting a life. It is a typically pragmatic improvisation. By quietly abolishing Britain, the islanders abolish the problem of Britain. For, there is no "Great" hovering in front of Scotland, England or Wales. These older deeper entities come from a time before the loss of empire, before even the idea of empire. Britain is a relatively recent construct, cobbled together in the 17th century in the Act of Union with Scotland, over-reaching in Ireland and America in the 18th and finally spreading as an organizing colonial force across the globe in the 19th.

Like the Soviet empire before it, although in an incomparably more benign way, this contrived nation experienced a cathartic defeat-in-victory in the Second World War, and after a desperate, painful attempt to reassert itself, has finally given up. Before very long, the words "United Kingdom" may seem as anachronistic as "Soviet Union", although they will surely be remembered more fondly.

But unlike Russia's future, Britain's is far from black. London is Europe's cultural and financial capital. The ruddy faces and warm beer may be receding, but the rowdy cosmopolitanism that was once typical of the islanders under the last Queen Elizabeth seems clearly on the rebound.

Perhaps England's future, then, will be as a Canada to the EU's United States, with Scotland playing the role of Quebec.

Notes:

1) Victorian — used to describe the style of buildings and furniture, and the way that houses were decorated, during the Victorian period (1837-1901). Victorian buildings are typically made of red brick and often decorated on the outside;

2) Elizabethan — from or typical of the period when Elizabeth I was queen of England (1558-1603);

3) Cockney — the way of speaking English that is typical of Cockneys, people who come from the East End of London, especially someone who is working class and who has an accent which is typical of this area. Only someone "born within the sound of bow bells," the bells of a church in the city of London, is considered to be a real Cockney;

4) the Queen's English — a name sometimes used for good correct English, as written and spoken in the UK, when a king is ruling instead of a queen, it is called the "King's English";

5) Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)— a British politician in the Conservative party who was Prime Minister during most of World War II and again from 1951 to 1955. He is famous for the many speeches he made during the war. He is also known for making the V sign to show his belief in a British victory in the war;

6) the Battle of Britain — the name used for the fights between German and British aircraft during the summer and autumn of 1940. The bombing was stopped at the end of 1940, and British people considered this to be a great victory;

7) the Act of Union — the agreement that joined the parliaments of England and Scotland in 1707 as well as the agreement that ended the Irish parliament in 1800 and made Ireland part of the United Kingdom in 1801;

8) ennui — tiredness and dissatisfaction caused by lack of interest (скука, томление, тоска);

9) exurb — (short for exurbia) settlements not far from cities (поселки, где живут работающие в больших городах);

10) a cathartic defeat-in- victory — a serious unexpected defeat (поражение, в том, что казалось победой)

General comprehension questions:

1. Which features of his native town did the author use to associate with "Englishness"?

2. How does the author describe the typical attitude of emigrants to their native country? Why do most of them not want their native country to change?

3. What factors according to the author served to transform the UK beyond recognition?

4. How has the structure of the state changed?

5. What is happening to the state symbols?

6. What consequences can the current reforms lead to in the future according to the author? What do you think?

7. How do different groups of people react to the changes? Why do most people show little concern?

8. What advantages can be gained by England if Britain is abolished from the point of view of the author? Do you agree?

9. Why does the author feel very pessimistic about the future of Russia? Are his apprehensions justified?

10. Do you think our country also faces a national identity crisis? How does it manifest itself? How long do you think it will take the Russian people to overcome it?

Exercise 16

Translate the following sentences from the text into Russian.

1. Almost a national synonym for middle-class ennui, East Grinsted was the last stop on a railway line south of London, the first place outside the metropolis that wasn't actually metropolitan, a welter of disappointment and understatement and yet also of a kind of pride.

2. Tony Blair's real radicalism has turned out to be constitutional rather than economic or social.

3. They extend from the possibility of a bitter if peaceful split- up — a kind of Yugoslavia with cups of tea — to more far-reaching questions such as Britain's place in the UN Security Council.

4. Before very long, the words "United Kingdom" may seem as anachronistic as "Soviet Union".

Exercise 17

What do those sell?

butchers, bakers, hardware stores, supermarkets, bookshops, charity shops, green-grocers

Exercise 18

In pairs, sort out those words into concept groups. Explain your reason for grouping the words in a particular way to your partner:

metropolis, cosmopolitanism, terminus, clich, tenure, commuter-belt development, grandeur, sarcasm, globalization, exurbia, nostalgia, hyperbole, radicalism, edifice, unitary state, emigrant, repository, legacy, mortgage companies, pragmatism, entity, real estate offices, pragmatism, rugby pitches, vegetable allotments

Exercise 19

In the text of the article find the opposites for the following words:

1) de juro

2) overstatement

3) immigrant

4) upmarket

5) jingoism

6) conformism

7) idealism

8) harmony (in music)

Exercise 20

Explain the difference between the following words.

ACCEPT — ACKNOWLEDGE

ALTER — TRANSFORM

DISPLACE — REPLACE

ABANDON — GIVE UP

Exercise 21

Choose the right word.

1. He displaced/replaced a bone in his knee while playing sports.

2. Reputable scholars have abandoned/given up the notion.

3. They have altered/transformed themselves into permanent city-dwellers.

4. The former President of the Philippines refused to accept/acknowledge the authority of the court.

5. Thousands of people in the region have been forced to abandon/give up their homes to enemy troops.

6. The astronaut accepts/acknowledges danger as being part of the job.

7. We've displaced/replaced the adding machine with a computer.

8. At a certain stage of its development Britain abandoned/gave up such foundations, merging its future irrevocably with the wider world economy.

9. Britain since the war has been altered/transformed from a society of hierarchy to a multi-layered, multi-dimensional society.

10. It is also legitimate to consider whether the old Establishment has indeed been displaced/replaced by new power- centers.

11. In housing, tower blocks (high-rise blocks of flats) are universally accepted/acknowledged as a human disaster.

12. Tensions do not alter/transform the fact that there is still a political union called the United Kingdom.

Exercise 22

Fill in the gaps with the right word.

1. The terrorists refused to___________ the court.

2. America must radically___________ its traditional economic policy.

3. After five unsuccessful attempts, the mountaineers have __________ their bid to climb Everest.

4. The indigenous population was soon__________ by the settlers.

5. An area of sandy pastures can be_________ into a barren landscape in two or three years.

6. She is____________ as an expert on the subject of politics.

7. Arabic script was___________ with the Roman alphabet in official documents.

8. The company decided to__________ the project in view of the ever rising cost.

9. He grudgingly___________ having made a mistake.

10. In only 20 years the country has been___________ into an advanced industrial power.

11. He was registered as a___________ person.

12. Getting that new job has completely__________ her.

13. These resources can easily___________ nuclear power.

14. The immigrants showed an increasing unwillingness to __________ bad working conditions.

15. We shall never____________ the freedom that we have won.

16. In fact, most women have___________ their role in the family and in society.

Exercise 23

Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Несмотря на появление тревожных симптомов в экономике страны, в том числе заметное падение произ-водства и рост безработицы, большинство экономистов отказываются признавать наличие кризиса.

2. Незадолго до проведения всеобщих выборов партия заявила о своих претензиях на завоевание большинства в парламенте, а ее лидеры обещали, что, в случае прихода к власти, будут стремиться к радикальному улучшению (радикальному изменению к лучшему) жизни простых людей.

3. По утверждению профсоюзных активистов, после того, как требования трудящихся будут признаны работодателями в качестве основы для нового коллективного договора, угроза бессрочной забастовки практически будет сведена к минимуму.

4. Появившиеся сообщения о подавлении вооруженного мятежа резко изменили обстановку в парламенте — паника и растерянность, еще совсем недавно охватившие депутатов, сменились на настроения эйфории и воодушевления.

5. Принято считать, что овладение в совершенстве любым иностранным языком невозможно без понимания особенностей психологии людей, являющихся его носителями.

6. По оценке политологов, правительство неоконсерваторов уже в ближайшее время будет смещено, так как откровенный популизм и отсутствие реальной программы действий самым пагубным образом сказываются на его популярности.

7. По причине резкого ухудшения погодных условий группа спасателей была вынуждена временно отказаться от поиска пропавших альпинистов.

8. Российский руководитель распорядился изменить программу своей поездки с тем, чтобы иметь возможность встретиться с известным писателем.

9. Сенатор признал, что уровень безработицы неуклонно растет, и у правительства нет ясной программы по повышению занятости трудового населения страны.

10. Город нисколько не изменился с тех пор, как я побывал тут в последний раз, хотя прошло почти четверть века.

11. Нельзя исключать, что пострадавший обратится с соответствующим иском в суд, однако крайне сомнительно, что понесенные им в результате пожара убытки будут возмещены страховыми кампаниями.

Exercise 24

Match the following adjectives and nouns to form word combinations as they appear in the text. Suggest the Russian translation for the resulting phrases:

backward change

contrived cry

cultural and social drinking

excessive identity

indefinite majority

organic and inevitable nation

proletarian power

rallying slang

solid stability

unchanging state

unchecked system

unitary tenure

voting thinking

Exercise 25

Complete the sentences below using the appropriate word combinations from the exercise above.

1. The reason for sacking most of the workers by the new management lay in the workers' _____.

2. The success of the bank is due to the _________ of its performance in the most critical periods of the nation's history.

3. The opposition strongly objects to what it sees as _____ of Prime Minister.

4. The first disputes about the state language in multinational states gave rise to concerns about _____.

5. The traditional conservatism of Civil Service stems from bureaucrats' political caution rather than _____.

6. As usual on the eve of the election party leaders addressed the rank and file with _____.

7. The question of reforming the British _____ has been discussed by both Houses of Parliament.

8. Most of the former Soviet republics embraced changes as _____.

9. The public opinion is strongly against the _____ of the regional leaders.

10. Czechoslovakia has often been regarded as a _____ because Czechs and Slovacs have never properly mixed into one nation.

11. The pro-President parliamentary groups have a _____ in the State Duma.

12. The Russian language of the 1930s abounded in _____ and other forms of informal language.

13. Like Britain, Sweden and Denmark are also _____, which have a single constitution for the whole country.

Exercise 26

Learn the following verbs:

1) to revolutionize

2) to command

3) to embark on

4) to extend

5) to impose on

6) to abolish

7) to spread

8) to recede

9) to envisage

Complete the sentences below using the verbs above.

1. Once the Royal Navy _____ the seas.

2. The railways are about to _____ on a major programme of modernization.

3. The important discovery has _____ our understanding of the Universe.

4. Most of those who voted for independence did not _____ war as the eventual outcome.

5. There have been calls for the monarchy to be _____.

6. The more society _____ conformity on its members the more people want to rebel.

7. Who has been _____ malicious rumours about me?

8. As the fear of famine _____, other things began to worry us.

9. His radicalism did not _____ to the sphere of economics.

We do not _____ a general election for at least another two years.
The new technology is _____ the way music is played and composed.
A huge tax burden was _____ upon people of incomes.
There is a new drive in Britain to _____ fox hunting.
Already the memory was _____.
Peru has _____ on a massive programme of reform.
The city has _____ in all directions.
The bank has _____ very strict conditions for the repayment of debt.
For many years in the USA civil rights did not _____ to Negroes and women.

Exercise 27

Translate the sentences using the verbs above.

1. Составители закона не смогли предусмотреть всех возможных негативных последствий его применения и признали, что он потребует серьезных изменений и дополнений.

2. Открытие нового лекарства коренным образом изменило методы лечения многих болезней.

3. Как в России крепостное право, так и в США рабство было отменено в 19 веке.

4. Надежда на быстрое спасение постепенно убывала.

5. Несмотря на предостережения коллег и собственные сомнения, он решил взяться за лечение больного, чье психическое состояние внушало явные опасения.

6. Против Ирака были введены экономические санкции.

7. Никто не мог предвидеть такого мощного извержения вулкана.

8. Опасность заразных болезней состоит в том, что они быстро распространяются и тяжело переносятся людьми с ослабленным здоровьем.

9. Власть накладывает чувство ответственности на тех, кто избран представлять интересы народа.

Как только угроза затопления ослабела, городские власти немедленно взялись за укрепление набережной и морской дамбы.
Новые таможенные правила не распространяются на определенную категорию товаров, прежде всего на предметы роскоши.

Exercise 28

Render the following passage into the English language:

entity

ethnic strife

cease to be

confusion

to rock the boat

to interpret as

misconception

a multitude of minor sovereigns

to speculate about

national sovereignty

1991 год, год распада СССР, повлек за собой не только чудовищные межэтнические распри, но и чудовищную мировоззренческую дезориентацию. Одним хотелось бы преобразовать это государство в русское. Другие, наоборот, раскачивают и без того не слишком устойчивую федерацию, используя девиз о предоставлении самостоятельности. Разрешимо ли это противоречие? Думается, что разрешимо.

Отсутствие демократической традиции имело своим печальным результатом смещение в значении понятий: нацию у нас привыкли понимать не как сообщество граждан, а как некую культурную (или, того хуже — этническую) целостность. Вместо того, чтобы вести речь о единой нации россиян, объединенных одним общим и прошлым и будущим, мы говорим о существовании под крышей одного государства различных наций. Российское государство из единственного носителя суверенитета превращается во вместилище множества суверенов. Проблема культурного самоопределения подменяется проблемой этнического самоопределения. Между тем в большинстве демократических стран эти вещи строго разведены.

Так, в бывшей Австрийской империи, забота словенцев о сохранении своей этнокультурной самобытности, отнюдь не означает, что они перестают быть австрийцами. Принадлежность особому этническому сообществу не мешает им принадлежать к общей для них с чехами, хорватами, словаками, евреями австрийской нации.

Вера в то, что государственно-политическая общность прочна лишь тогда, когда опирается на этнокультурную однородность — один из самых вредных предрассудков XX века.

WHAT IS BRITAIN?

(Richard Jay, "Political Ideologies: ail Introduction")

The orthodox image of Britain is that of a long-established political identity, focused upon the supremacy of the Westminster Parliament as the forum of the nation, and recognising the diversity of nationalities and cultures represented within the unity of the Kingdom. Different party ideologies may view this differently: Liberals emphasise diversity and decentralisation; Conservatives the elements of continuity, authority and unity; Labour those of working-class solidarity and the capacity of the central state to deliver uniform economic and social benefits throughout the Union.

These images, however, are not exhaustive, nor without their complications. Those on the (significantly termed) "Celtic fringe" would argue that much of the traditional sense of Britishness derived from images of Englishness — standard pronunciation, a literary canon, sights of the white cliffs of Dover, honey for tea, and the crack of leather on willow on an English summer's afternoon. A succession of Romantic and neo-Romantic movements have imbued the national culture with rural nostalgia, feudal longings and reverence for tradition. England's green and pleasant land, however, was built on the economic foundations of commerce, financial speculation, and industrial muscle. And modernising movements, like the National Efficiency movement early in the twentieth century, which have sought to update Britain's scientific and entrepreneurial skills, to replace the aristocratic culture of leisure and amateurishness with one of professionalism and drive, have faced an uphill battle.

The Union, too, was always, in a sense, a Protestant union forged against external Catholic powers, and the subversive potential of Catholicism within. Not only, in the end, did this mean that Catholic Ireland fled the British family of nations, but secularisation has left traditional national institutions like the Church of England in an increasingly anomalous role. Finally, the Union went hand in hand with empire, images of British martial spirit and military success, and a faith in the British as a governing race, dispensing the benefits of political liberty, civilisation, and culture. Most of these traditional conceptions are under threat. The end of empire has undermined much of the instrumental rationale for maintaining the Union. As in France and Germany, immigration has established black minorities which challenge traditional identities. Is Britishness tested by possession of British citizenship, or, as Lord Tebbitt once suggested, by which side you cheer for in the test match?

These trials indicate two different directions for the future. One, which has had the higher profile over the last two decades, and has been driven by the Conservative right represented by Enoch Powell, Lady Thatcher, and John Major, is towards a tighter and narrower definition of Britishness. This involves reinvigorating an idea of conservative nationhood — one built around the revival of "Victorian values" of traditional family morality, economic freedom, pre-war educational standards, law and order, defence of the Union, and patriotic resistance to foreign bullies, not least to Brussels and the idea of a federal Europe. The other view challenges the antiquated nature of British institutions, its emphasis on centralisation, unity and orthodoxy rather than equality and diversity, which looks to partnership not national solidarity, and outwards towards participation in a wider Europe rather than backwards to the relics of a dead imperial culture. Which will prevail remains to be seen.

Notes:

1. The Romantic Movement — a group of writers, artists, etc who followed their feelings and emotions rather than logical thought or reason, and who preferred wild, natural beauty to things made by man. It first became popular in the late 18th century;

2. Lord Tebbitt — a British politician in The Conservative Party. He had several important positions in M. Thatcher's government and was known for his strong criticism of left-wing politicians and their ideas;

3. test match — a cricket or rugby match played between teams of different countries;

4. Enoch Powell — a British politician in the Conservative Party, who was a government minister in the early 1960s, and later left the party and became an MP in Northern Ireland. Although some people admired him for his intelligence, his patriotism, and his opposition to the EU, he was greatly criticized for the speech he made in 1968 in which he said that if the UK allowed too many black people to come, there would be fighting and "rivers of blood" in the streets.

Comprehension questions:

Who are those on the "Celtic fringe"?
Which nations within the British family made up a Protestant union?
What are the main parties of Great Britain?
Who / What are or were the following people: Lady Thatcher, John Major?
What is implied by "Victorian values"?
What do Brussels and federal Europe stand for?
What is the Westminster Parliament?

Discussion questions and tasks:

1. What is the orthodox image of Britain? What do different political parties emphasize in the image and why?

2. Do those on the Celtic fringe embrace the British identity? How do they substantiate their position?

3. Expand on the images of Englishness the author lists. What complications do they contain?

4. What changes has the Union undergone in terms of religious, military and social developments?

5. What challenges traditional conceptions and identities?

6. What did Lord Tebbitt suggest? Is his idea worthwhile?

7. What are the two directions towards the definition of Britishness? Prove that the two approaches are completely opposite.

Exercise 29

Explain the following in English:

1) standard pronunciation

2) financial speculation

3) literary canon

4) industrial muscle

5) rural nostalgia

6) instrumental rationale

Exercise 30

a) Add nouns to the participles given and translate the phrases into Russian:

long-established short-lived

long-standing short-handed

long-awaited short-staffed

long-anticipated short-tempered

long-lasting short-sighted

b) Translate the phrases and make up sentences with them:

to go hand in hand with

from head to foot

to see eye to eye on

hand-to-hand combat

to run neck and neck with

foot-and-mouth

to stand shoulder to shoulder on

cheek by jowl with

to stand back to back

hand in glove with

to live from hand to mouth

to bind hand and foot

Exercise 31

Match the following nouns with their definitions:

1)	supremacy	a)	uninterrupted connection
2)	diversity	b)	the state of being joined, or in agreement together
3)	continuity	c)	making guesses, talking about a matter without having the necessary facts
4)	authority	d)	removal from the control or influence of the church
5)	unity	e)	the highest position with regard to power, importance, or influence
6)	succession	f)	the act of following one after the other
7)	reverence	g)	generally or officially accepted ideas or opinions
8)	speculation	h)	the condition of being different, variety
9)	amateurishness	i)	great respect and admiration mixed with love
10)	secularisation	j)	the ability, power, or right to control and command
11)	revival	k)	bringing back into use or existence, renewal
12)	orthodoxy	1)	lack of experience or skill in a particular activity

Exercise 32

Translate the following phrases into Russian and recall how they are used in the text:

to deliver, dispense benefits

to imbue the culture with

to seek to update skills

to face an uphill battle

to forge a union to have a high profile

to reinvigorate an idea

Now use some of the words above in the following sentences.

These liberal and republican ideas soon__________ within the Catholic political classes, and shaped the formation of popular national politics over the following century.

Protestant leaders increasingly argued that, irrespective of nationalist claims, this would ________, equipped with symbols alien to British Protestant culture.

In the inter-war period, the post-revolutionary leadership of the new Irish Republic ________ a political culture for the state and _________ it with new national symbols.

The new political culture __________ the Irish scientific professional skills to replace the cultural and economic dependence of the colonial past by creating an economically self-sufficient state.

The attempts in recent years to reconstruct images of Irish nationhood ________: instead, complex patterns of conflict and collaboration emerge.

5. Women's rights and individual freedoms rather than traditional moral values were to have _________ in the reformed culture.

6. In 1990, the election of the liberal barrister as President appeared to mark the advent of a new Ireland and was expected to _________ throughout the country.

Exercise 33

Translate the sentences into English using the studied words and phrases.

1. Многообразие языков, на которых говорят в этой стране, показывает весь спектр национальностей, проживающих здесь.

Культура этой страны пропитана колоритом целого ряда отдельных национальных культур.
Авторитет и влияние старой культуры основываются на уважении к ее традициям, которые прошли испытание временем.
В последнее время средства массовой информации уделяли большое внимание проблемам Европейского Союза и, в частности, проблеме единой валюты.
Идея господства одной нации в стране оказалась недолговечной.

6. Давно укоренившаяся ортодоксальность идей на официальном уровне не мешает молодому поколению экспериментировать как в моде, так и в музыке.

Несмотря на разные подходы к проблеме войны и мира, в целом оба государства одинаково смотрят на ситуацию в этой арабской стране.

8. Президент страны заявил, что появившиеся в прессе сообщения о возможности его переизбрания на второй срок явились не более чем пустым домыслом.

Сторонники единой Европы подчеркивают, что союз принесет несомненную выгоду европейским народам как в политической, так и в экономической областях.

The next text examines whether Britishness exists any longer,either in its arguable former state or in changed form. It emphasizes the tensions inherent in such a concept.

BRITISH UNITY IN DIVERSITY

(Mary Ann Sieghart, the "Times")

What is Britishness? Is it more than the sum of its parts — or less? Many Scots and not a few Welsh believe that Britishness is no more than a disguised version of Englishness. Exploring the questions of national identity for the BBC, I have just visited three towns with the same name — one each in Scotland, Wales and England — to try to discover whether there is an overarching sense of identity that it still makes sense to call British.

Nobody in Newport, Shropshire [England], had a problem with Britishness. In Newport, Gwent [Wales], some of the Welsh felt British, though others prefer to call themselves European. But it was in Newport-on-Tay, near Dundee [Scotland], that we found the greatest reluctance to sign up to a common identity of Britishness.

Here is Billy Kay, a local writer: "The British identity that I'm supposed to feel part of I see as being first of all an imperial identity through the Empire and then an identity which has been forced by the idea of people coming together to fight two world wars. I don't think that's a healthy identity to carry into the 21st century".

This is a common complaint — that Britishness is something from the past that has little relevance today. When the Act of Union uniting England, Wales and Scotland was signed in 1707, people had to be persuaded to attach an extra loyalty to their long-standing allegiance to region or nation. Successive governments used the common religion of Protestantism as a propaganda weapon to encourage the English, Scottish and Welsh to unite around a common flag — and against Catholic enemies. The Empire — which was always the British, not the English Empire — was also a unifying force. It drew heavily on the expertise of the Scots and Welsh as doctors, traders, explorers and administrators. Then there was the monarchy. Queen Victoria [1819-1901] perhaps perfected the art of being monarch to all of Britain and the Empire. Meanwhile, successive wars have brought Britons together in defence of the Empire and the Union.

It was the Battle of Britain, not the Battle of England, that took place over the Channel and southern counties.

But history is history; the Empire has gone, the Church no longer binds us, the Armed Forces are shrinking and the monarchy is troubled. Some people feel that the glue of nationhood has dried up. Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish nationalists, no longer wants to be attached to what he sees as a Britain in decline. He looks to Europe as Scotland's new stage. So do a surprising number in Newport, Gwent. Alan Richards, a sales director, has found that doing business with Europe has changed his outlook. "I see our future very much as being linked to Europe as a whole; that includes England. I see England merely as part of Europe".

But he is still unusual: probably a majority of the Welsh still think of themselves as British too. We are all capable of overlapping loyalties and identities — Britishness need not detract from Welshness. And as a nation we have a surprising amount in common. We are good at winning wars together. We are all good explorers, travellers, traders, philanthropists and inventors. We share a sense of fair play, and probity in public life. We respect the law.

These British values and ways of thinking that we all share have been somewhat eclipsed by Scottish and Welsh strivings for national identity. So frustrated are they by English political domination that they have allowed themselves to forget how much the nations of Britain still have in common.

Some people see the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales as a threat to the Union. But it could be that, by venting their differences through politics, the Scots and Welsh would feel more comfortable as part of the joint enterprise called Great Britain.

Comprehension questions:

What is Protestantism and in what countries do people belong to this religion?
Within what time framework did the British Empire exist?
In what way did the country develop when Queen Victoria ruled?
When did the Battle of Britain take place?
What are the aims of Scottish nationalists?
What is understood by the Union and who supports it?
When was the transfer of political power from Westminster to self-governing national assemblies effected?

Discussion questions:

1. What was the aim of the author's visit to the three towns of Britain? What conclusions did he come to?

2. What does a sense of identity imply?

3. Why are people reluctant to sign up to an identity and to the British one in particular?

4. What forces have brought the English, Scottish and Welsh together? Why are these factors no longer as strong as they used to be?

5. What can save and what can ruin the Union?

6. What is Britishness?

Exercise 34

Write a summary of the text above.

Exercise 35

Explain in English the following sequences. In what context are they used by the author?

disguised version of Englishness

overarching sense of identity

to attach an extra loyalty to

glue of nationhood

political domination

Exercise 36

Find in the text the words used with the adjective COMMON, the noun IDENTITY, the noun LOYALTY. Translate the collocations into Russian.

Exercise 3

a) Look up synonyms or equivalents for the following words used by the author.

reluctance probity

relevance outlook

loyalty striving

glue devolution

b) Match each verb on the left with the four synonymous verbs, one from each group, on the right.

1) to detract from 1) to upstage

to improve

to connect

to annoy

to impair

2) to eclipse 2) to spoil

to bug

to relate

to enhance

to outstrip

3) to perfect 3) to associate

to damage

to exasperate

to refine

to outshine

4) to link 4) to irritate

to bind

to upgrade

to outdo

to mar

5) to frustrate

Now use some of the verbs in the following sentences in the correct form.

1. Although opinions differ about the nature and success of Thatcherism, the term _____ with policies such as free-market economics, the attempt to cut taxation and public spending.

2. The decline in world power and the relative decline in economic performance _____ inextricably.

3. The _____ of British military power by the United States and Russia was widely forecast as early as the 1840s because of the much greater human and physical resources they could command.

4. The deficiencies of British life often _____ to the mentality and behaviour of Establishment institutions.

5. The commentary _____ from the significance of the events that had just occurred.

6. The task is to establish a new democratic settlement between politics and people, _____ the quality of representation, _____ influence over taxation and spending.

7. Our inheritance from the Conservatives is quite _____: it includes almost 300 schools which have been inspected and found to be failing.

8. This may be a good thing for the people who live in that country, but it is a source of_____ for those who study it and try to understand it.

Exercise 38

Give the Russian equivalents for the following collocations and recall how they are used in the text.

to sign up to a common identity

to feel part of an identity

long-standing allegiance to

to draw heavily on the expertise of

to be in decline

identities overlap

strivings for national identity

devolution of power to

to vent differences through/on

Use the above collocations or parts of them in the following sentences.

1. The end of empire and the relative_____ of Britain has made Scots question the Union. They no _____ the British identity.

2. Sometimes people unfairly______ their feelings on the nearest and dearest and later regret doing it.

3. Others, however, argue that a collective sense of Britishness was already in existence before the eighteenth century, _____ the common characteristics and values.

There is a growing tendency nowadays showing people reluctant_____ a particular identity.
It is precisely the feeling that central government ignores Scottish opinion that has given rise to the strong support for_____.

6. Their deep-rooted an _____ nation brought the people together in defence of the country.

7. Despite our national identity crises and Scottish and Welsh _____ identity, style is still something Britain possesses in abundance, to the continuing admiration and envy of other races.

8. The English were our allies, our fellow citizens in the great British nation; and_____ and loyalties we _____ a whole which was greater than the sum of its parts.

Exercise 39

Fill in the gaps with the words and phrases given below, putting the verbs into the correct form.

to decline

to imbue the culture with

to maintain (2)

to feel part of

to forge

to draw heavily on the expertise

to enhance

to vent differences on

to accept

to sign up to

supremacy

reverence

long-standing allegiance

union (2)

cohesion

strivings for national identity

speculation

revival

reassessment of Britishness

secularization

difference

overlapping identities

Some historians argue that there is still a Britain with a _____ to British identity composed of_____, characteristics and values. Before 1707, the history of the geographical British Isles is arguably not about Britishness or Britain. It is about Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland, which were different countries, often hostile and_____ one another. Britain, as a political unit is a relatively recent_____ of three older nations. The United Kingdom_____ only in 1801.

Historical developments, common institutional structures and alleged values have_____ this inherently unstable _____. The growth of a British identity, for some historians, began largely in the eighteenth century and was conditioned by Protestantism in England, Scotland and Wales, and the expanding empire, which_____ of these nations.

One side of the debate_____ that Protestantism in England, Wales and Scotland promoted a sense of_____ from the Catholicism of most of continental Europe. European military victories in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries helped the British to create a worldwide empire with no one to challenge Britain's_____. The establishment of foreign markets expanded trade and_____ job opportunities, promoted wealth and economic strength and increased a sense of national identity, making people_____ it. The English, Scots, Welsh and (partly) the Irish all _____ the notion of a British Empire and _____ a British identity.

But, for some historians, the ties of this common British identity have weakened. The empire has disappeared and Britain has experienced a reduced world role since 1945. Protestant belief and strength _____ in modern Britain as _____ has increased and as the country has become more multicultural and multi-religious. A sense of British national confidence and _____ has also declined, to be replaced with confusion, and_____. Arguably, a _____ within Europe is required. The_____ is that the current movement is away from Britishness and towards a renewal of the identities of the four ancient nations within a European and global context. It points to a potential_____ of Englishness and its strengths, as well as indicating the difficulties in defining what is meant by a "nation". It also suggests nationalist reactions to a globalization of economics, _____ international features and_____ for all foreign and the easy assumption that global effects are inevitable and overpowering.

The following text deals with the findings of the public opinion poll taken of the population s attitude to national identity. Read it and do the tasks that follow.

"CONFIDENT CELTS PUT ENGLAND IN SHADE: WELSH AND SCOTS FIND NEW PRIDE AS ENGLISH FACE IDENTITY CRISIS"

(Mark Henderson, the Times)

The English are a dull, petty and insecure people who are increasingly reviled by their proud Celtic neighbours, according to a survey into national identity published today.

While devolved Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are emerging as confident nations with a strong sense of local identity, Englishness is in crisis, the report by the brand consultants Springpoint says. The [English] national character is seen at best as quaint and boring and at worst vulgar, materialistic and loutish. It is summed up by football hooligans, staid City gents and "people just talking about nothingness", and is disdained by the rest of the United Kingdom. The English find none of the inspiration that Scots, Welsh and Irish derive from their nationhood and are often "dumped with all the least desirable traits and characteristics of Britishness, including the less attractive colonial ones". Positive aspects of Englishness — tolerance, the Royal Family and fine public services such as the health service — are now seen as part of a new British identity that embraces Scots, Welsh and Irish as well.

The report, I? UK — Voices of Our Times, finds an affinity for a wide range of national symbols, such as fish and chips, Wimbledon and Big Ben, but these "do not add up to a national identity that connects with people, feeds and inspires them and makes them feel proud". Instead, there is widespread insecurity and self-consciousness. The English see themselves as "people just talking about nothingness" in Laura Ashley sitting rooms, who are "petty, envious, obsessed with money, small-minded, divided". They feel that "Englishness is increasingly irrelevant as a notion, and something from which they distance themselves". The traits are most marked in the South East, which attracts opprobrium both from the Celtic fringe and the North [of England]. Those from the North of England have a strong regional identity, which they often place ahead of an Englishness they can find alien and embarrassing. Many feel closer to the other nations than the English of the South.

The report concluded: "Combine the energetic defiance and criticism of the English and England from newly confident Scottish and Welsh; some English people's own insecurity and defensiveness about their own identity; the possible fragmentation of the United Kingdom through devolution; and hints of a more positive, emerging identity for Britain which co-opts some of the positive values of England — and you have a recipe for a "crisis of Englishness".

The research involved in-depth interviews with a socially representative range of adults in regional centres across the United Kingdom. Fiona Qilmore, managing director of Springpoint, said the "crisis of Englishness" was a thread that ran through the 77-page report. "I was amazed at its strength", she said. "The English are seen — and see themselves — as insular, restrained, pompous and obsessed with money. Their positive qualities are shared by Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish, but these nations have lots of particular qualities as well".

Scots felt by far the strongest separate national allegiance. They have a clear idea of who they are — "tough and hardy, outdoor, friendly, warm". They are enthusiastic about their history and traditions, and their identity is well-understood and respected outside Scotland. The success of the film Braveheart and impending devolution have helped to fuel a burgeoning sense of nationhood that "can provide an emotional uplift, an inspiration, even spiritual feelings".

Wales is less aggressive in its national feeling, and its people are more vague about how they identify it. Even so, there is a strong underlying sense of common identity. The Welsh emphasize the strength of communities, a friendly, welcoming character and a sense of social responsibility. "In some ways this can be difficult to pin down, but it seems to be about genuineness and integrity, a real sense of caring", the report found. Many Welsh felt their country was re-emerging after years in England's shadow, as the language revives and devolution and economic regeneration progress. "We're rediscovering ourselves through the language and culture, the beauty of the country", one Cardiff respondent said.

Northern Irish identity was also distinct, both from Irishness and the rest of the United Kingdom, though the bulk of the research focused only on Ulster Protestants. They had an easygoing and down-to-earth character, a hardworking streak and a love for "good crack". Others said they identified neither with the "shamrocks and leprechauns" of the Republic nor "Brits" from the mainland.

Britishness was picked out as an increasingly powerful concept that encompassed opportunity, respect, tolerance and supportiveness, as well as some sense of national decline. The notion of being British has become acceptable to Celts and ethnic minorities as well as the English — indeed such groups get intensely annoyed by the continuing English tendency to try to appropriate its qualities for themselves. Britain is seen to have "nicer connotations" than England: it has shed its imperialist image and is seen as a force for progress and decency, in contrast to the insularity and conservatism of England. It "adds up to an inclusive identity", the report found.

Europe, however, scarcely gets a look-in. British people of all backgrounds gave little communitaire spirit, and most saw it as "distant and not part of their everyday lives".

Notes:

"I? UK — Voices of Our Times" (1999) London: Spring- point;
Laura Ashley — a company producing mainly chintzy fabrics;
Braveheart — a film loosely based on William Wallace (1274— 1305), Scottish knight and champion of the independence of Scotland;
good crack — talk, gossip and entertainment;
shamrock — the national emblem of Ireland: a clover-like plant with three leaves on each stem;
leprechaun — in Irish folklore, a fairy in the shape of a little old man

Comprehension questions:

When did Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland vote for devolution from the British government?
Why does the author mention Wimbledon and Big Ben? What do they represent?
What is Cardiff? What are the capitals of the parts of Great Britain?
What does the author mean saying: "Europe, however, scarcely gets a look-in"?

Exercise 40

Who or what does the author speak about using the following participles?

reviled

disdained

obsessed

restrained

published

dumped

divided

shared

devolved

widespread

marked

respected

Translate the resulting collocations into Russian.

Exercise 41

Make up sentences of your own with

a) the noun IDENTITY and the following verbs

identity

to embrace

to distance oneself from

to shed

to add up to

to appropriate

to encompass

to derive from

to emerge

to connect with

to assume

b) the following collocations with the noun IDENTITY

identity

inclusive

umbrella

common

distinct

local

regional

imperial

alien

emerging

c) the following derivatives of the noun IDENTITY

to identify — identical — identification

Exercise 42

What does the prefix RE- mean ? Translate the following verbs and make up sentences with them about national identity.

to re-emerge to regenerate

to revive to rediscover

Make up more verbs with the prefix.

Exercise 43

Fill in the chart with the traits of character of each given nation using

1. the conclusions of the survey

2. your own background knowledge

N ATIONAL CHARACTER

Nation		Positive Traits	Negative Traits	Stereotypes

The English

The Sottish

The Welsh

The Nothern Irish

Discussion questions

1. Is the notion of Britishness changing? What connotations is it developing?

Why do the English appear to be confused about who or what they are? Why do the other nations of the UK seem to be confident?
What constituents make up a "crisis of Englishness"? What does the crisis of Englishness mark?
Does the author prove the statement which is the title of the text?

PAIRWORK

In pairs discuss the possible ways the situation in the UK could develop in.

1. The nations embrace Britishness as an umbrella identity.

2. The British identity breaks up and a new society emerges.

3. Englishness is reinvented and tensions grow.

4. Society moves towards a renewal of the identities of the four ancient nations within a European and global context.

Exercise 44

Study the following idioms and make up sentences using them.

to keep a stiff upper lip — to be courageous in the face of trouble

It was admirable to see how the British managed to keep a stiff upper lip in spite of the German bombing.

a feather in one's cap — something to be proud of

If she could get the movie star's autograph, she knew it would be a feather in her cap.

a bitter pill to swallow — a humiliating defeat

It was a bitter pill to swallow for the famous billiard player to be overwhelmed by an amateur.

ivory tower — isolated from life, not in touch with life's problems

Many artists have been said to be living in an ivory tower.

Make up a situation using the idioms and the active vocabulary of the unit.

Exercise 50

Learn the following verbs: to plunge, to take over, to revere, to surge, to nurture, to counter.

Paraphrase the underlined parts of the sentences using the verbs from the previous exercise.

Read the comment once again and explain the following points of the text.

1. What do you think "Woldingham and A levels" are?

2. What does the phrase "the joke has put paid to the response" mean?

3. What kind of a look is described as “a knowing leer”? Under what circumstances do people leer at others?

4. What do “estate agents” do?

5. When do people tend to “suck the end of a pencil”?

6. Paraphrase the following "....laws of libel, which lean heavily in favour of lawyer-happy types with an eye to a massive payout".

7. What is "a scrum" of reporters? Why does the author use the word?

8. When do people usually pay tribute to others? How do they do it?

9. Who does the author refer to when she mentions Michael Barrymore's "minders"?

Exercise 48

Look through the text quickly and find the words and phrases the author uses for the following.

to pursue smb

to threaten smb

to push through the crowd

to guarantee smth

to gather facts

a lie in print

to display signs of honour

to explain smth

to meet smb unexpectedly

Exercise 49

Suggest the Russian for the following word combinations used by the author.

to get tempted to do smth

to put paid to smth

to lean in favour of smth

a massive payout

to dig out the truth

my heart sinks

to doorstep smb

to generate publicity

primary justification

Exercise 50

What English phrases does the author use to render the following.

в духе самосохранения

предельный срок

доносить правду до широких масс

оказывать давление на кого-либо

свидетельские показания

дюжий охранник

Exercise 51

Translate the following sentences into English using the new

vocabulary .

4. Сотни людей пришли в телецентр отдать последний долг погибшему журналисту.

5. Свободная пресса призвана доносить правду о деятельности правительства до широких масс.

7. Первая поправка к Конституции США увековечила свободу прессы в этой стране.

► WRITING

Exercise 52

Write paragraphs to comment on the following quotations.

1. Four hostile newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.

Napoleon I

2. Headlines twice the size of the events.

John Galsworthy

3. As for modern journalism, it justifies its own existence by the great Darwinian principle of the survival of the vulgarist.

Oscar Wilde

Exercise 53

Write an essay on one of the following subjects.

1. A free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad.

Albert Camus

2. Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of a free society.

Felix Frankfurter

3. Journalism is the entertainment business.

Frank Herbert

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