XX. Act out the following situation.

A group of Russian students arrives in London on an exchange programme. They decide to make a tour of London the very first Saturday. Only the group leader knows London as it is her/his third visit to the capital of Great Britain. The students know quite a lot about London from books and they are looking forward to seeing everything with their own eyes, But their interests are totally different and it takes them time to come to an agreement.

ROLES:

Student 1 cares for painting;

Student 2 is interested in historical monuments;

Student 3 wants to see what Speakers' Corner really is;

Student 4 prefers just to stroll about London parks.

Each tries to prove his suggestion is the best. The group leader tries to remain neutral and help the students to work out a programme acceptable to everyone.

Language Notes:

Making suggestion

What about... (doing smth.)

Why don't we (do smth.)

We could always...

I've got a great/marvelous idea; we could...

I think we should

Suppose we ... (do smth.)

The only way out is to ...

My suggestion is that...

Have you thought of... (doing smth.)

In my opinion the best thing is to...

Refusing suggestion

It's out of the question (to do smth.) Of course we couldn't... What a ridiculous idea... It'd be a complete waste to ...

Agreeing

I fully (quite) agree with you That's just what I was going to say Beyond all doubt

Disagreeing

I wouldn't say so

I disagree with you

There's something in what you say, but...

Oh, but you've got it all wrong, I'm afraid.

I wonder what makes you say so.

I agree with you on the whole but it could be said that

I'm not sure I go along with you on that.

Raising objections or difficulties

It's all very well to say..., but...

It's not as easy as all that, if we..., it means that...

Yes, but look, Peter (girls, people), that would mean...

Yes, but on the other hand...

Let's be realistic about this...

That's all very well, but you've got to take... into

account/consideration.

Expressing likes and preferences

I'm keen on (doing) smth.

I'd rather do smth. than do smth. else.

I would prefer smth.

Breaking into a conversation

If you'd let me get a word in edgeways I'd ...

If you'd only listen to me...

That's nonsense/stupid/ridiculous!

Calming the argument

Listen, please, all of you... Wouldn't it be a good idea to ... Don't get upset/angry! Well, you could always... Keep your hair on! One way out would be to...

Criticizing attitudes

I think you're being rather selfish/unrealistic/inconsiderate I don't think you're being very helpful about... You don't seem to realize/understand that...

XXI. Topics for oral and written composition.

1.Speak in favour of doing the sightseeing of London on your own.

2.Prove that a guided tour of London is the best way to see it.

3.Imagine you are a student of London University and you take a friend of yours on a tour of London. Prepare a list of places and buildings you recommend your friend to see and give your reasons trying to get him interested in these places.

4.Prove that London is a city of contrasts.

5. Explain how this or that London street (square) got its name.

6. Speak of the history of a famous Donetsk street (square).

O U T - O F - C L A S S R E A D I N G

PUBS

Owing to the uncertainty of the weather, outdoor cafes are not a feature of English life. Their place is partly filled by what are colloquially known as 'pubs', public houses. Here you can get any form of alcoholic drink, from beer to whisky, or -nowadays - soft drinks. Many pubs also run some kind of snack bar that provides cold food such as sausages, ham, olives, salad, veal-and-ham pie, rolls and butter and sometimes hot pies or toasted sandwiches. Some pubs maintain the traditional division into two parts - a public bar and a saloon bar. In the first there is often a dartboard, and groups of friends will gather in the pub for a friendly match. The loser may have to pay for a round. In the saloon bar your drinks cost a little more, but the atmosphere is quite and there are perhaps fewer people. In many pubs there is also a restaurant, and the food here is usually plain but of good quality; in fact, to taste good, traditional English food you would do well to visit a reputable pub. Many businessmen habitually have lunch in a pub near their office. In the country, the pub is often part of an inn where you can put up for the night. The Englishmen's favorite drink is beer, of which a variety of sorts is brewed', 'bitter' is probably the most popular. 'Stout' is a heavy dark beer, very popular in Ireland. English beer is different from Continental beer; the latter should be served well chilled, whereas English beer is at its best when it is only cool. Continental-type beer or 'lager' has become very popular in England in recent years and its sales are beginning to rival those of the more traditional beers. Wine is also increasingly drunk, both in pubs and in the home. The times of opening of pubs are regulated by law; local variations are possible but usually a pub is open from half past eleven to three o'clock and from half past five to half past ten or eleven o'clock. Betting is forbidden in pubs and children are not allowed on licensed premises. In the old days, when people drank too much and pubs were often rowdy, the law against children entering pubs was a wise one. Today, however, increasing numbers of pubs are opening their gardens to customers, so that children can play safely while their parents have a quiet drink. It would be quite wrong to consider the average English pub as anything other than a respectable, friendly place that provides good drink, good food and a pleasant social atmosphere. Far too often the foreigner has read accounts of sordid nineteenth-century drinking places, haunted by people whose one desire was to drink as much as they could afford as quickly as possible. Another fairly widespread idea is that people do not sit down in English pubs, whereas they often do. This misconception probably arises from the origin of the word 'bar', which referred to the metal rod (bar) along the lower edge of the counter, where the customer could rest his foot while standing up to have his drink. English pubs do not resemble the 'saloons' shown in the more fanciful Wild West films!

Questions:

1. Why are there few outdoor cafes in England?

2. What is a pub?

3. What is the difference between the public bar and the saloon bar?

4. What sort of food does one usually get in the bar?

5. State one way in which English beer is different from Continental beer?

6. Why is it not possible to get into a pub at certain times of the day?

7. Describe several ways in which pubs have changed since the old days.

8. Describe the atmosphere in an average English public house.

9. Why is that some foreigners have wrong ideas about English pubs?

10. What is the origin of the word 'bar'?

THE CIVIL WAR

Introductory note

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR began on April 12, 1861, when the opening guns were fired on Fort Sumter, a fort belonging to the US Government and guarding the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.

Upon seceding, South Carolina had demanded that the fort be evacuated and turned over to the state. President Buchanan had refused, and so South Carolina had prevented food from reaching it and finally made it surrender by a sudden attack. The next day, the Stars and Stripes came down, and a wave of rage swept the North, bringing a great response when two days later Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to serve three months.

Fort Sumter had been fired upon for the purpose of shaking the remaining eight slave states out of the Union and into the Confederacy. Four of them responded to those shots and seceded, making eleven in all.

The war, which was to «end in ninety days», lasted four years, resulting in the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery. Its importance in the stream of American history is immense. But it failed to resolve many old problems and created countless new ones. Neither did it secure for the Negro a full participation in a free society.

(From "Abraham Lincoln's World" by G.Foster)

AT FIRST the war went badly for the North. They had the bigger population, the greater wealth, the more arms factories; but their soldiers were untrained, unready and unwarlike. The Southerners had great skill in riding and shooting. Their general, Robert E. Lee, was ably seconded by "Stonewall" Jackson and they won a succession of brilliant victories.

In those yearly years the North had no soldier to compare with Lee or Jackson. But they had Lincoln. For four years he shouldered an almost unbearable burden of defeats and disasters and of disloyalty in his Cabinet by those he thought were his friends. He was saddened by the terrible slaughter on both sides, and in his personal life, by the death of his elder son and the mental illness of his wife. But he was unshaken by defeats, by sadness or disappointments. Generals failed; he appointed others. Armies fought badly; he sent them reinforcements. The people's courage was failing; his speeches revived it. He never lost courage or faith hi the righteousness of his cause.

Gradually the tide turned. He appointed General Grant to take command - not without considerable opposition from the rest of the Cabinet. Grant was of humble origin, shabby in dress, rough in speech and manners, and there were many stories of his hard drinking. Lincoln knew that these stories were exaggerated and, when a member of the Government demanded that, because of his drinking, Grant should be dismissed, Lincoln replied - with a touch of humour that was characteristic of him - "Grant wins battles. If I knew what kind of liquor he drinks I would send a barrel or so to some other of my generals."

Grant proved worthy of Lincoln's trust. Jackson had been killed in 1863, and now the armies of Grant and Sherman, Grant's second in command, were advancing everywhere. In November 1864, Sherman with an army of 60,000 men marched off from Atlanta, southwards into Georgia. For a month nothing was heard of them. Then on Christmas Day, Lincoln received a telegram from Sherman:

"I BEG TO OFFER YOU AS A CHRISTMAS PRESENT THE CITY OF SAVANNAH."

They had marched 300 miles, from Atlanta to the sea, all the way through enemy country.

The enemy forces had been cut in half.

In January Sherman marched northwards again to where Grant was attacking Lee. Final victory could not be far away now; and now that the triumph of his policy was assured, Lincoln issued a proclamation setting free every man, woman and child in the USA. Slavery was ended.

On April 9th, Lincoln received a message from Grant:

"GENERAL LEE SURRENDERED THIS MORNING ON TERMS PROPOSED BY MYSELF."

And, though fighting did not cease until May 26th, the Civil War was over. Lincoln's unconquerable spirit, his steadfast faith in his country's true destiny, his resolute leadership had won the day.

He now turned from leadership in war to reconciliation in peace, and he showed as great a nobility of spirit in reconciling former enemies for peace as he had shown in heartening his country for war.

One of the most terrible battles of the American Civil War was fought in July 1863 at Gettysburg. In November of that year a portion of the battlefield was dedicated as a final resting-place for those men of both armies who died there. The chief speech on that occasion was given by Edward Everett, a celebrated orator. Lincoln was asked to "make a few remarks." Everett's speech lasted two hours, Lincoln's for two minutes; it was over almost before the crowd realised that it had begun. But the Gettysburg speech is now one of the world's immortal pieces of literature. Here is a fragment of this speech generally called The Gettysburg Address.

"The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

(From G.E. Eckersley. Book 4, p.p. 281-284, 290-291)

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

THE CONSTITUTION has been amended 26 times since 1789, and it is likely to be further revised in the future. The most sweeping changes were made within two years of its adoption. In that period, the first 10 amendments, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, were added. They were approved as a block by the Congress in September 1789, and ratified by 11 states by the end of 1791.

Much of the initial resistance to the Constitution came not from those opposed to strengthening the federal union, but from statesmen who felt that the rights of individuals must be specifically spelled out. One of these was George Mason, author of the Declaration of Rights of Virginia, which was a forerunner of the Bill of Rights. As a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, Mason refused to sign the document because he felt individual rights were not sufficiently protected. Indeed, Mason's opposition nearly blocked ratification by Virginia. As noted earlier, Massachusetts, because of similar feelings, conditioned its ratification on the addition of specific guarantees of individual rights. By the time the First Congress convened, sentiment for adoption of such amendments was nearly unanimous, and the Congress lost little time in drafting them.

These amendments remain intact today, as they were written two centuries ago. The first guarantees freedom of worship, speech and press, the right of peaceful assembly, and the right to petition the government to correct wrongs. The second guarantees the right of citizens to bear arms. The third provides that troops may not be quartered in private homes without the owner's consent. The fourth guards against unreasonable searches, arrests and seizures of property.

The next four amendments deal with the system of justice: The fifth forbids trial for a major crime except after indictment by a grand jury. It prohibits repeated trials for the same offense; forbids punishment without due process of law and provides that an accused person may not be compelled to testify against himself. The sixth guarantees a speedy public trial for criminal offences. It requires trial by an unbiased jury, guarantees the right to legal counsel for the accused, and provides that witnesses shall be compelled to attend the trial and testify in the presence of the accused. The seventh assures trial by jury in civil cases involving anything valued at more than 20 U.S. dollars. The eighth forbids excessive bail or fines, and cruel or unusual punishment.

The last two of the 10 amendments contain very broad statements of constitutional authority: The ninth declares that the listing of individual rights is not meant to be comprehensive; that the people have other rights not specifically mentioned in the Constitution. The 10th provides that powers not delegated by the Constitution to the federal government nor prohibited by it to the states are reserved to the states or the people.

From American Government

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

Date: 2016-04-22; view: 2054