Английский язык для студентов университетов. Чтение, письменная и устная практика (стр. 21 из 42)
Exercise 30
Explain the meaning of the following proverbs.
1. The glutton digs his grave with his teeth.
2. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
3. You can't eat a cake and have it.
4. The appetite comes with eating.
5. Man does not live by bread alone.
6. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
7. First catch your hare then cook him.
8. You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs.
9. Enough is as good as a feast.
10. Hunger is the best sauce.
11. Dog does not eat dog.
Exercise 31
Comment on the quotations:
'Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.'
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
'Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.'
Samuel Butler
'A gourmet is just a glutton with brains.'
Philip W. Haberman Jr.
'Where the guests at a gathering are well-acquainted, they eat 20 percent more than they otherwise would.'
Edgar Watson Hawe
'The whole of nature, as has been said, is a conjugation of the verb to eat in the active and passive.'
William Ralph Inge
Exercise 32
Find out what the following English idioms
1. to bite off more than one can chewA. to have a lot of tasks
2. to take something with a pinch of saltB. extremely rich in producing food
3. to have a lot on one's plateC. to be sold out very quickly
4. to know which side one's bread is buttered onD. to make an unpleasant thing seem less so
5. flowing with milk and honeyE. not to believe entirely
6. to sell like hot cakesF. to be an unwanted member of a trio
7. a storm in a tea-cupG. where one is in a position of advantage
8. to sugar the pillH. for certain
9. to play gooseberryI. to attempt to do more than one can
10. as sure as eggs is eggsJ. disturbance over a trifling matter
mean matching the two parts.
Exercise 33
Role play "A Students' Party"
Setting: At a university hostel.
Situation: Two groups of Russian and British students decide to celebrate some holiday (Christmas, New Year, Easter, etc.) together and cook national dishes to treat each other. They cook, discuss the recipes, make others guess, what they have put into the dishes, and choose the best cooks.
Cards I—VII — Russian students. They cook ravioli, borsch, Russian salad.
Cards VIII—XIV — English students. They cook a pudding, turkey, vegetables.
WRITING
Exercise 1
Prepare to write a dictation. Learn the spelling of the words in bold type from Introductory Reading and the words from exercise 1 on page 176.
Exercise 2
Translate the text in writing.
В этом году всё сложилось удачно. Праздник 8 марта совпал с масленицей, вместе с ней и закончился. Нам, грешным, одним искушением меньше. Прямо с понедельника начался Великий пост.
Во время первой русской революции и последнего царя пищей называлось «всякое вещество ... годное для поддержания, обновления и увеличения тела». И увеличение никого не смущало. В то время в салат «Оливье» вместо картошки полагалось класть черную икру. Так, по крайней мере, советовали в тогдашней поваренной книге.
Оглянуться не успели, еда из удовольствия превратилась в проблему. Каких-нибудь полвека спустя знаменитая сталинская «Книга о вкусной и здоровой пище» открылась словами: «Проблема питания — одна из основных проблем».
Дальше — больше. Выяснилось, что от еды жди беды. Сахар — это белая смерть, кофе — черная, масло — желтая ...
Откусывая очередной кусок, надо помнить: жирное вредно для сердца, нежирное — для желудка. Отсутствие мяса замедляет процесс старения и делает организм более выносливым. Каждое движение челюстей — это выбор между бодрой старостью и затянувшейся, безрадостной молодостью. Здоровый образ жизни — тот самый, где образ есть, а жизни нет.
В общем, как говаривал великий шотландец Роберт Бёрнс, благодарите Бога, если ваши желания совпадают с вашими возможностями: «У которых есть, что есть, те подчас не могут есть. А другие могут есть, да сидят без хлеба.»
Социологические обследования показывают: стоит нашим гражданам разбогатеть, они сразу накидываются на постненькое. «Новые русские» едят почти в три раза больше фруктов и рыбы, чем «старые».
По данным Всероссийского центра уровня жизни, мяса и масла на российских столах вполовину меньше, чем на американских. Зато молока, сыра и яиц — легко усвояемых белков - на 20% больше. Мы на верном пути — к здоровому образу жизни. Жаль только, что со здоровьем по-прежнему как-то неважно. Видно, голодание не всегда лечебное.
(Из еженедельника «Аргументы и факты»)
Exercise 3
Write a dream menu for a day.
Exercise 4
Write an essay on one of the following topics:
A.
1. From All Diets I Choose ...
2. Non-Traditional Food — Pros and Cons.
3. Better Cooks — Men or Women?
4. Each Family Has its Own Style of Cooking.
5. What I Like and What I Hate to Eat.
B.
1. It's No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk.
2. There is Many a Slip Between a Cup and a Lip.
3. Half a Loaf is Better than No Bread.
Note:
Punctuation (continued from page 167.)
Punctuation marks with direct speech are used differently in British English. There are two approaches. The prevailing one is to use double quotation marks for most purposes, and single ones for quotations within quotations (e.g. "Well, so he said to me 'What do you mean by it?' and I said 'I didn't mean anything' ". Single quotation marks are also used for isolated words, short phrases, and anything that can hardly be called a formal quotation.
The other method is that adopted by the Oxford University Press, of reserving the double marks exclusively for quotations within quotations.
But for this difference the use of other punctuation marks in both approaches is similar:
1) quotation marks are placed at the top of the line;
2) the words introducing direct speech are followed by a comma (or occasionally by a colon, particularly when the direct speech starts a new paragraph);
3) when the words of the author interrupt direct speech in the middle of a clause they are set off by commas and the first word of the second half of the clause is spelt with a small letter (e.g. 'Oh,' he said, 'so that is the long and the short of it?');
4) when the words of the author are inserted between two independent clauses these words are preceded by a comma or the punctuation mark required after the first clause. The words of the author are followed by a roll stop (e.g. 'Quite correct, said the host. 'Quite correct.' / 'What is this? ' he asked. 'I do not understand.').
INTRODUCTORY READING AND TALK
The meny-go-round of college life is something that one never forgets. It's a fascinating, fantastic, fabulous experience, irrespective of the fact whether one is a full-time or a part-time student.
Who can forget the first day at the university when one turns from an applicant who has passed entrance exams into a first-year student? I did it! I entered, I got in to the university! A solemn ceremony in front of the university building and serious people making speeches. Hey, lad, do you happen to know who they are? Who? The rector, vice-rectors, deans, subdeans... and what about those ladies? Heads of departments and senior lecturers? Okay. Some of them must be professors, some — associate or assistant professors, but, of course, all of them have high academic degrees. And where are our lecturers and tutors? Oh, how nice...
The monitors hand out student membership cards, student record books and library cards — one feels like a real person. First celebrations and then days of hard work. So many classes, so many new subjects to put on the timetable! The curriculum seems to be developed especially for geniuses. Lectures, seminars and tutorials. Home preparations; a real avalanche of homeworks.
If one can not cope with the work load of college he or she immediately starts lagging behind. It is easier to keep pace with the programme than to catch up with it later. Everyone tries hard to be, or at least to look, diligent. First tests and examination sessions. The first successes and first failures: "I have passed!" or "He has not given me a pass!" Tears and smiles. And a long-awaited vacation.
The merry-go-round runs faster. Assignments, written reproductions, compositions, synopses, papers. Translations checked up and marked. "Professor, I have never played truant, I had a good excuse for missing classes". Works handed in and handed out. Reading up for exams. "No, professor, I have never cheated — no cribs. I just crammed".
Junior students become senior. Still all of them are one family — undergraduates. Students' parties in the students' clab. Meeting people and parting with people. You know, Nora is going to be expelled and Dora is going to graduate with honours. Yearly essays, graduation dissertations, finals...
What? A teacher's certificate? You mean, I've got a degree in English? I am happy! It is over! It is over... Is it over? Oh, no...
A postgraduate course, a thesis, an oral, and a degree in Philology. The first of September. Where are the students of the faculty of foreign languages? Is it the English department? Oh, how nice...
1. Say a few words about your university: say what it is called, speak about its faculties and their specializations.
2. Would you compare college life with a merry-go-round or with something else?
3. What do you think of the first months at the university?
4. They say that it is a poor soldier who does not want to become a general. Name the steps of the social ladder which a student must pass to climb up to the position of the rector. Use the words from the list below, placing one word on one step.
Dean, assistant lecturer, head of department, vice-rector, associate professor, assistant professor, subdean, professor.
○ TEXT
Ruth at College
(Extract from the book by A. Brookner "A Start in Life". Abridged)
The main advantage of being at college was that she could work in the library until nine o'clock. She was now able to feed and clothe herself. She had, for the moment, no worries about money. In her own eyes she was rich, and it was known, how, she did not understand, that she was not on a grant,' did not share a flat with five others, did not live in a hall of residence, and took abundant baths, hot water being the one element of life at home.
There was also the extreme pleasure of working in a real library, with access to the stacks. The greed for books was still with her, although sharing them with others was not as pleasant as taking them to the table and reading through her meals. But in the library she came as close to a sense of belonging as she was ever likely to encounter.2
She was never happier than when taking notes, rather elaborate notes in different coloured ball-point pens, for the need to be doing something while reading, or with reading, was beginning to assert itself. Her essays, which she approached as many women approach a meeting with a potential lover, were well received. She was heartbroken when one came back with the words "I cannot read your writing" on the bottom.
She bought herself a couple ofpleated skirts, like those worn by Miss Parker;* she bought cardigans and saddle shoes3 and thus found a style to which she would adhere for the rest other life.
* Miss Parker — Ruth's teacher at school.
The days were not long enough. Ruth rose early, went out for a newspaper and some rolls, made coffee, and washed up, all before anybody was stirring. She was the neatest person in the house. As she opened the front door to leave, she could hear the others greeting the day from their beds with a variety of complaining noises, and escaped quickly before their blurred faces and slippered feet could spoil her morning. She was at one with the commuters at the bus stop.4 There would be lectures until lunch time, tutorials in the afternoon. In the Common Room there was an electric kettle and she took to supplying the milk and sugar.5 It was more of a home than home had been for a very long time. There was always someone to talk to after the seminar, and she would take a walk in the evening streets before sitting down for her meal in a sandwich bar at about six thirty. Then there was work in the library until nine, and she would reach home at about ten.
'But don't you ever go out?' asked her friend Anthea. For she was surprised to find that she made friends easily. Needing a foil or acolyte for her flirtatious popularity, she had found her way to Ruth unerringly;6 Ruth, needing the social protection of a glamorous friend, was grateful. Both were satisfied with the friendship although each was secretly bored by the other. Anthea's conversation consisted either of triumphant reminiscences — how she had spumed this one, accepted that one, how she had got the last pair of boots in Harrod's sale, how she had shed five pounds in a fortnight — or recommendations beginning 'Why don't you?' Why don't you get rid of those ghastly skirts and buy yourself some trousers? You're thin enough to wear them. Why don't you have your hair properly cut? Why don't you find a flat of your own? You can't stay at home all your life.
These questions would be followed rapidly by variants beginning 'Why haven't you?' Found a flat, had your haircut, bought some trousers. It was as if her exigent temperament required immediate results. Her insistent yet curiously uneasy physical presence inspired conflicting feelings in Ruth,7 who was not used to the idea that friends do not always please.
By the end of the second year a restlessness came over Ruth, impelling her to spend most of the day walking. The work seemed to her too easy and she had already chosen the subject for her dissertation: "Vice and Virtue in Balzac's Novels". Balzac teaches the supreme effectiveness of bad behaviour, a matter which Ruth was beginning to perceive. The evenings in the library now oppressed her; she longed to break the silence. She seemed to have been eating the same food, tracing the'same steps for far too long.8And she was lonely. Anthea, formally engaged to Brian, no longer needed her company.
Why don't you do your postgraduate work in America? I can't see any future for you here, apart from the one you can see yourself.
Ruth took some of Anthea's advice, had her hair cut, won a scholarship from the British Council which entitled her to a year in France working on her thesis, and fell in love. Only the last fact mattered to her, although she would anxiously examine her hair to see if it made her look any better. Had she but known it, her looks were beside the point;9 she was attractive enough for a clever woman, but it was principally as a clever woman that she was attractive. She remained in ignorance of this; for she believed herself to be dim and unworldly and had frequently been warned by Anthea to be on her guard. 'Sometimes I wonder if you're all there,'10 said Anthea, striking her own brow in disbelief.