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Different Wavelengths

Men: they cringe at the prospect of discussing anything personal, grumble they're being nagged when asked to take out the rubbish and, if they lose their way while driving, rage at the suggestion they ask for directions.

Women: they read things into the most …………………. (1) comment, get upset when their man says 'I' rather than 'we' and demand impossibly detailed reports of every conversation they miss - who said what and how they looked when they said it.

It will all go on like this, each sex bristling at the other's peculiar ways, until we ………………… (2) to the simple truth - men and women don't speak the same language.

Women use language to ………………….. (3) intimacy, men to ………………. (4) independence. Women, concerned primarily with making connections with people, regard conversation as a way to share feelings, create bonds and explore possible solutions to ………………… (5) problems.

Men are concerned primarily with status, and prefer discussion of facts to …………………… (6) of feelings. Since feelings suggest ……………….. (7) and thus inferiority, men see conversation as another way of …………………. (8).

Apparently the main difference in the way we communicate is in the crucial matter of the …………………… (9) - the unspoken attitudes, thoughts and intentions behind what is actually said. And while fact-oriented men ……………… (10) to listen to the message, feeling-oriented women tend to listen for the ………………… (11) metamessage.

Without understanding the gender differences in ways of speaking, we're …………………… (12) to blame other people, or ourselves, or the relationship. The biggest mistake is believing there is one right way to listen, talk and have a conversation.

 

§ What statements would you choose to support?

§ What assumptions would you rather challenge?

THEME ONE What Do They Look Like?

 

Before reading the texts discuss the following questions.

· What do you think a national stereotype is?

· How is your own nation stereotyped by others? Or perhaps people from certain regions have a particular image. Think about appearance, habit, lifestyle, way of thinking, and so on.

· Do you think there is an element of truth in these stereotypes, or are they completely unjustified?

· Some people view national and regional stereotypes as harmless and funny, while others see them as insulting and disapprove of them. What do you think?

 

Text a

The English Character

 

The national character of the English has been very differently described, but most commentators agree over one quality, which they describe as fatuous self-satisfaction, serene sense of superiority, or insular pride. English patriotism is based on a deep sense of security. Englishmen as individuals may have been insecure, threatened with the loss of a job, unsure of themselves, or unhappy in many ways but as the nation they have been for centuries secure, serene in their national successes. This national sense of security, hardly threatened by the First World War, has been greatly weakened by the Second World War and by the invention of the atomic bomb.



Much has been said about the British character. Traditionally, the British have been known as insular. This attitude is summed up in the legendary story of a headline which is supposed to have appeared one morning in The Times, as follows: FOG STOPS CROSS-CHANNEL TRAFFIC: CONTINENT ISOLATED. Even if the story is not true, it certainly ought to be. Traditionally, the British have also been known as superior, snobbish, aloof, hypocritical and unsociable.

Many books have been written on English traits, English ways of life, and the English character. Their authors tend to point out what seem to them puzzles, contrasts, in the way the English behave.

First, there is the contrast between the unity the English display in a crisis, their strong sense for public order, indeed for conformity, and their extraordinary toleration of individual eccentricities.

Second, there is the contrast between the English sense of dignity and importance of the individual, and the very great social and economic inequalities that have characterised English life. There are indeed two nations, defined simply as the rich and the poor.

Third, there is the contrast between the reputation of the English as hard-headed practical man – “the nation of shopkeepers” – and as men of poetry – the countrymen of Shakespeare and Shelley.

The apparent coldness of the Englishmen and their reserve has been almost universally noted by foreigners; but foreigners also confess that they find English reserve not unpleasant, and that once one gets to know an Englishman he turns to be a very companionable fellow.

From Mozaika, 1967

 

Text b

Welcome to New Britain

 

"Our party - New Labour. Our mission - New Britain," Tony Blair told the Labour conference in 1994. But it took the death of Princess Diana to inject real life into the idea. As the crowds started massing at the gates of London's palaces, as middle-aged men broke down in tears over a woman they had never met, as the people started demanding action from the royal superiors - then, for the first time, a once abstract concept suddenly seemed real: New Britain.

But what is New Britain? Who lives there? What does it look like? Is it for real or just the slogan, as empty as the New Improved promise on a soap powder? What does the phrase New Britain actually mean?

Perhaps, a sharp definition will take years to come. But already an outline is forming. New Britain is less formal and that respectful. It's more open and personal. It's more tolerant and optimistic, less macho and miserable. It's probably less collective, but perhaps more communal. It's fiscally conservative, but socially liberal. It has national pride, even as it accepts a smaller place in the world. Dress code has changed, too. At Diana's funeral the mourners outside the abbey were in jeans and T-shirts - just as office workers had been all summer.

The funeral itself was proof of how short our patience for formality has become: protocol, one of Old Britain's defining traits, mitigated in the face of public demand. The rule book was all but buried that day.

New Britons speak more freely, and demand others do the same. British Telecommunications spotted the mood and bottled it in a slogan, "It's good to talk." The Orange mobile phone company also wants us to be open with our emotions: "Talk, Listen, Laugh, Cry" they urge, demanding a direct rebellion against the stoicism of Old Britain. Diana herself led the charge, with her confessional appearance on Panorama. We followed her lead when we mourned her, engaging in public display of emotion few had ever witnessed before. In the New, Dianised Britain, hugs have replaced the stiff upper lip as the physical gesture of choice.

Plenty have been alarmed by the change. Panicked commentators – emissaries from the Old country – have urged us to stop all this emotional bingeing. They fear New Britain is becoming a land that puts heart above head. They might be right. Suddenly human relationships, rather than ideas, matter most.

This feminisation has touched more than just popular culture: it is shaping the way we see our place in the world. The more masculine aspects of Britannia ruling the waves, of Britain as the imperial nation, have gone.

Of course, one can get carried away. First, how New Britain is a country where so many of the old probably remain? The gap between rich and poor is still widening – no matter how cuddly we are to each other. Nor have we replaced the individualism of the 1980s with a full-blooded return to collective solidarity. Sure, there is a hankering for community, for local connections, but New Britain also seems more concerned with responsibilities than rights. Tough love is the order of the day.

The shift might even be a return to an Old Britain. Historians record that we were a noisier, more expressive society in the 18th century. Perhaps we are rediscovering our roots.

The Guardian, 2004

 

Notes

1. English: adj the term should not be used too loosely, and it would be inaccurate to refer to the British as English. The Scots and the Welsh find it particularly annoying, for they do not regard themselves as English. The Englishthe people of England

2. Englishman, Englishwoman: a British citizen born in England or of English parents

3. British: of Britain: a British citizen/ passport; the British, to be British

4. Brit: informal a British person: the Brits / The Brits are always complaining about the food.

5. Briton: usually formal a British person: the ancient Britons /The report said there were three Britons on the crashed plane.

6. The nation of shopkeepers: the phrase used by Napoleon to describe the English. Though uttered in a sneering spirit, it embodied the profound truth that British prosperity was based upon trade.

7. Rule Britannia: a song about Britain’s command of the seas in former years, sung on patriotic occasions in the belief that Britain is still great.

 

8 Explain the meaning of the following word-combinations; suggest how they can be translated into Russian:

 

• national character • fatuous self-satisfaction

• a serene sense of superiority • insular pride • patriotism

• hypocritical • a strong sense for public order

• conformity • individual eccentricities • reserve

• hard-headed practical man • macho • stoicism

• to lead the charge • feminisation • cuddly

• collective solidarity

 

9 In the text find a word or phrase which, in context, is similar in meaning to:

• relating to money and financial matters • reduce the harmful effects of something • an attack by people running very fast towards someone or something • someone who does a job for a government or a leader • a period o drinking • wild behaviour • a strong wish

 

10 Answer the following questions:

 

Text A

1. What is the traditional opinion of the British as a nation?

2. What does the writer mean by saying that “English patriotism is based on a deep sense of security”?

3. What is to be understood by the “national successes” of the English?

4. Why doesn’t Britain feel as secure at present as it did in the past?

5. What are traditional British traits?

6. Why are books describing the English and their ways of life often contradictory?

7. What contrasts do the books spot?

8. Why are the English often referred to as the “nation of shopkeepers”?

Text B

1. What do the names of Tony Blair and Princess Diana tell you about?

2. What event enabled the concept of New Britain to seem real?

3. What changes has Britain undergone?

4. What does the writer mean by the phrase “less collective, but perhaps more communal”?

5. What is the implication of the phrase “fiscally conservative, but socially liberal”?

6. What do the word “protocol” and the phrase “the rule book” refer to?

7. What is the contribution of late Princess Diana to the process of changes?

8. Why do some people sound the alarm about the changes? Who are they?

9. Explain in your own words what the writer means by “masculine aspects of Britannia ruling the waves”?

10. What does the writer imply about the remains “of the old”?


Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1584


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