features of English life which from the 15th century onwards struck almost
every observer were the country's wealth and its strong sense of
individualism.
The features that have shaped the British distinctiveness were determined
by the country's geographical isolation from the European continent, with
the consistent centrality of sea power and a broad social fluidity in which
the early collapse of feudalism helped generate a new industry and
commercial enterprise. The long centuries during which the land was free
from invaders meant that there could be a flowing culture continuity from
the time of Chaucer onwards impossible on the war-torn Continent. A
political and legal evolution is expressed in the English Parliament which
has survived in recognisable form till today, without those interruptions
and periods of absolute monarchy that have marked the history of its
neighbours, and the rule of law. There have been other significant features
in the development of England which mark it as a country to some degree
separate from Europe. One of the most important is the language. English is
a language of unparalleled richness, subtlety and variety, which unlocks'
the treasures of a literature second to none in the werid. It is the
easiest language to leam.
As for British history, it is not one of harmonious continuity,
broadening from epoch to epoch. It is a dramatic, colourful, often violent
story of an ancient, society and culture torn apart by the political,
economic, and intellectual turmoil of human experience. Britain in many
ways has been the cockpit of mankind.
Vocabulary
Ambassador – посол assume – допускать
Proclaim – провозглашать psychology – психология
Self – confidence – самоуверенность intolerance – нетерпимость
Ostentatious – показной Uniqueness – уникальность
social fluidity – соц. Подвижность Avoidance –
уклонение extreme – крайность
Isolation – изоляция invader –
захватчик Continuity – непрерывность
proceed – продолжать Turmoil –
беспорядок
private property – частная собственность
Environmental protection
The 20th century began slowly, to the ticking of grandfather clocks and the
stately rhythms of progress. Thanks to science, industry and moral
philosophy, mankind's steps had at last been guided up the right path. The
century of steam was about to give way to the century of oil and
electricity. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, only 41 years old in
1900, proposed a scientific basis for the notion that progress was gradual
but inevitable, determined by natural law.
And everybody thought that the development would continue in the small
steps that had marked the progress of the 19th century. Inventions like the
railroad or the telegraph or the typewriter had enabled people to get on
with their ordinary lives a little more conveniently. No one could have
guessed then that, in the century just beginning, new ideas would burst
upon the world with a force and frequency that would turn this stately
march of progress into a long distance, free-for-all sprint. Thrust into
this race, the children of the 20th century would witness more change in
their daily existence and environment than anyone else who had ever walked
the planet.
This high-velocity attack of new ideas and technologies seemed to ratify
older dreams of a perfectible life on earth, of an existence in which the
shocks of nature had been tamed. But the unleashing of unparalleled
progress was also accompanied by something quite different: a massive
regression toward savagery. If technology endowed humans with Promethean
aspirations and powers, it also gave them the means to exterminate one
another. Assassinations in Sarajevo in 1914 lit a spark that set off an
unprecedented explosion of destruction and death. The Great War did more
than devastate a generation of Europeans. It set the tone - the political,
moral and intellectual temper - for much that followed.
Before long the Great War received a new name - World War I. The roaring
1920s and the Depression years of the 1930s proved to be merely a prelude
to World War II. Largely hidden during that war was an awful truth that
called into question progress and the notion of human nature itself.
But civilization was not crushed by the two great wars, and the ruins
provided the stimulus to build a way of life again. To a degree previously
unheard of and perhaps unimaginable, the citizens of the 20th century felt
free to reinvent themselves. In that task They were assisted by two
profound developments–psychoanalysis and the Bomb.
stately - величественный, величавый
thrust - толчок
high-velocity - большая скорость
savagery - варварство
aspiration - стремление
exterminate - уничтожать
assassination - убийство политического или общественного деятеля spark
- искра
explosion - взрыв
destruction - разрушение, уничтожение
devastate - опустошить
roaring - бурный
Depression - кризис 1929-32 гг.
Outstanding people
Edward VI took the English throne in 1461. When he unexpectedly died in
1483, his brother Richard was one of the most powerful men in the kingdom.
Edward IV left two little sons, Edward, Prince of Wales, age twelve, and
Richard, Duke of York, age nine. Their uncle Richard made a conspiracy to
seize the Princes. He brought them to London and locked away in the Tower,
and started to move toward usurpation. He alleged that the marriage of his
dead brother, Edward IV, was invalid because Edward had previously promised
to marry another woman. As a result, the little princes were declared
bastards, and young Edward V had no right to the throne of England. To
assure his own security, Richard is believed to have ordered to murder the
little princes in the Tower. He became King Richard III.
Richard had the most obvious reasons for wanting the young princes dead. He
lived through a civil war that taught him that powerful men were always
ready to rally around a standard revolt. If such a flag could be raised for
a prince of the royal blood to restore him to a rightful throne, noblemen
with great lands, great debts, and empty wallets might readily take arms,
looking for the main chance in the change of kings. Richard never felt
secure on his throne; his swift, lawless, and lethal moves against those
who threatened him showed that he was capable of murder if by murder he
could rid himself of the mortal danger. And as long as the little princes
remained alive the danger was always present. In the summer of 1483, the
little princes disappeared forever; that much is certain.
Richard III was killed in the battle on 22 August 1485. Henry Tudor, earl
of Richmond, now King Henry VII by right of conquest and some other
hereditary claims, felt he needed to justify his own actions at the battle
of Bosworth. He issued a royal proclamation, dated the day before the
battle, declaring himself the rightful king of England and condemning
Richard as the rebellious subject.
In 1674 two small skeletons were found in a wooden box buried ten feet
under a small staircase that workmen were removing from the White Tower.
They were thought to be the bones of the little princes. King Charles II
had his own reasons for being offended at the murder of kings, so he placed
these bones in the chapel of Henry VII in Westminster Abbey.
usurpation - узурпация, незаконный захват
allege - утверждать, заявлять (голословно)
invalid - не имеющий законной силы
bastard - внебрачный ребенок
security - безопасность
rally – сплотиться
standard - знамя, флаг
murder - убийство
disappear - исчезнуть
it-rightful - законный
condemn - осуждать
Youth and unemployment
In the year 1000, Western Europe was just emerging from the long depression
commonly known as the Dark Ages. Shortly before the beginning of the
millennium, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III moved his capital and court
back to the Eternal City. But what little grandeur Rome still possessed
paled by comparison with the splendors of 'the new Rome, Constantinople,
the capital of the Byzantine empire. Byzantium was one of three centers of
wealth and power in the known world of the 11th century, India and China
were the others. There were sophisticated cultures elsewhere, notably the
Mayans of Mexico, but they were virtually out of touch with other
civilizations — thus lacking an essential condition for being considered
part of world history.
Little of Europe's coming dynamism was apparent in the year JOOO, although
there were signs that the Continent was getting richer. Wider use of plows
had made farming more efficient. The planting of new crops, notably beans
and peas, added variety to Europe's diet Windmills and watermills provided
fresh sources of power. Villages that were to become towns and eventually
cities grew up around trading markets. Yet the modern nation-state, with
its centralized bureaucracies and armies under unified command came into
being in the 15th century. For most of the Middle Ages, Roman Catholicism
was Europe's unifying force. Benedictine abbeys had preserved what
fragments of ancient learning the Continent possessed. Cistercian monks had
cleared the land and pioneered in agricultural experimentation. Ambitious
popes competed with equally ambitious kings to determine whether the
spiritual realm would hold power over the tea or vice versa. Symbolic of
the church's power were great Gothic cathedrals of Europe: construction of
Reims began 13th century, and Charters—the most glorious of all such
edifices—was consecrated in 1260.
By the 20th century the ingenuity, coupled with an aggressive wanderlust,
brought Europeans and their culture to the ends earth. By the year 1914,
eighty four per cent of the world' surface, apart from the polar regions,
was under the influence European civilization. The hegemony of European
civilization was based on the successful application of new knowledge to a
problems and conquering nature, and much of that success based on
circumstance and ingenuity.
emerge - выходить
millennium – тысячелетие
asceticism - аскетизм
sophisticated - сложный
bureaucracies - чиновники apparent -
явный
watermill - водяная мельница ambitious -
честолюбивый
ingenuity - изобретательность wanderlust
- страсть к путешествиям
surface - поверхность
conquer - завоевать
assertion - утверждение
accomplishment - достижение
grandeur - великолепие, пышность, грозность
Mass media
The problem between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland started a
long time ago. It is more political than religious. For centuries the
English had tried to gain control of Ireland. Until the 16-th century,
England controlled only a small area of Ireland around Dublin. English
rulers, including King Henry VIII (1491-1547), Queen Elizabeth I (153-1603)
and Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) gradually conquered the whole of Ireland.
The last area to resist the province in Ulster, in the north of Ireland,
but in the Irish were defeated.
In 1910 the British Government offered Ireland a mild form of Home Rule –
full self-government in regard to purely Irish affairs. Opposition was
basked by the generals of the British Army’s troops in Ireland. The Irish
patriots formed their own military organizations of the Irish Volunteers,
drilling troops for the fight. The Labour Party in Ireland established the
Irish Army. The Volunteers and the Irish Citizen Army jointly started
preparation for an insurrection. The set date was Monday of Easter Week,
1916. Although the uprising was a failure, it laid the foundation for
another stage of the fight for freedom. In 1921, an independent Irish state
was set up, that is the Republic of Ireland. In the north of Ireland six
countries were dominated and controlled by Protestants, who refused to join
the new Irish state. These six countries stayed part of the UK and are now
called Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland is a very beautiful place. It is a land of mountains,
rivers and lakes. It has a rugged coastline and one is never more than half
an hour away from the coast by car. The people of Ireland have always been
known for the stories and myths. They say that giants used to live on the
Antrim coast, north of Belfast. One giant, Finn McCool, the commander of
the king of Ireland’s army, fell in love with the woman giant in Scotland.
He wanted her to come to Ulster so he started to build a bridge, the
Giant’s Causeway, so that she could walk across the sea.
Area-пространство
Defeat - наносить поражение
Home Rule – Гом Руль
Back - поддержать
Troops - войска
Volunteers - «Добровольцы»
Drill - строевая подготовка
Insurrection – восстание
Uprising – восстание
Failure – неудача, провал
Independent - независимый
County – округ, графство
Giant – великан
Leisure time
Until 1800 the United States of America had five «capitals» or meeting
places of the Congress - Princeton, Annapolis, Trenton, New York and
Philadelphia. For various reasons, none of these cities offered an ideal
seat of government for the new nation. Southern states protested that they
were all too far north. After the Constitution was adopted, the
establishment of a new city was considered. President Washington pinpointed
the exact location, and Congress passed a bill for a federal city and
capital on July 17, 1790. The city of Washington was called just «The
Federal City». It didn't gain its name until after the first president's
death. When Congress and the rest of the small government's agencies
arrived from Philadelphia in, the new capital looked very unpromising
indeed. Only a fragment of the Capitol was completed, and a part of the
White House. Other government departments were scattered about, and a few
houses had been built. Up until the time of the Civil War, Washington grew
quite slowly. It really was just another sleepy southern town, enlivened
only when the Congress was in session, and not much even then. After the
Civil War it became the real capital of the United States.
The best known building in Washington is the White House, home of
American Presidents since 1800. The site was selected by president
Washington, the architect was James Hoban. The first residents of the White
House were President and Mrs. John Adams. The cornerstone of the Executive
Mansion, as it was originally known, dates from October 13, 1792, 300 years
after the landing of Columbus. The president's home is the earliest of all
government buildings in the District of Columbia. The British troops which
arrived in Washington in 1814 were indirectly responsible for the name
«White House»: the building was fired by them. Later the fire marks on the
walls were concealed by painting the whole building white. The term «White
House» became official at the end of the 19th century. The President works
here in the «Oval Office», but the White House is also a family home.
President Truman had a piano next to his desk and President Kennedy's
children used to play under his office windows.
Washington is a cultural centre. It is proud of its art galleries, a
zoo, natural history collections, and the Museum of History and Technology.
Nation - государство
Pinpoint - указать
Exact location – точное расположение
Pass a bill – одобрить законопроект
Cornerstone – краеугольный камень
Government buildings – правительственные здания
To be indirectly responsible for – быть косвенно ответственным за
Civil War – гражданская война
Enliven – оживлять
Be in session - заседать
Delay - задержать
Completion - завершение
Accessible – доступный (открытый)
Magnificent view – великолепный взгляд
International organizations and international co-
operation
Russian literature in the last half of the nineteenth century provided an
artistic medium for the discussion of political and social issues that
could not be addressed directly because of government restrictions. The
writers of this period shared important qualities: great attention to
realistic, detailed descriptions of everyday Russian life; the lifting of
the taboo on describing the unattractive side of life; and a satirical
attitude toward routines. Although varying widely in style, subject matter,
and viewpoint, these writers stimulated government bureaucrats, nobles, and
intellectuals to think about important social issues. This period of
literature, which became known as the Age of Realism, lasted from about mid-
century to 1905. The literature of the Age of Realism owed a great debt to
three authors and to a literary critic of the preceding half-century
Aleksandr Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Nikolai Gogol, and Vissarion
Belinsky. These figures set a pattern for language, subject matter, and
narrative techniques, which before 1830 had been very poorly developed. The
critic Belinsky became the patron saint of the radical intelligentsia
throughout the century.
Ivan Turgenev was successful at integrating social concerns with true
literary art. His «Hunter's Sketches» and «Fathers and Sons» portrayed
Russia's problems with great realism and with enough artistry that these
works have survived as classics. Many writers of the period did not aim for
social commentary, but the realism of their portrayals nevertheless drew
comment from radical critics. Such writers included the novelist Ivan
Goncharov, whose «Oblomov» is a very negative portrayal of the provincial
gentry, and the dramatist Aleksandr Ostrovsky, whose plays uniformly
condemned the bourgeoisie.
Above all the other writers stand two: Lev Tolstoy and Fedor
Dostoevsky, the greatest talents of the age. Their realistic style
transcended immediate social issues and explored universal issues such as
morality and the nature of life itself. Although Dostoevsky was sometimes
drawn into polemical satire, both writers kept the |main body of their work
above the dominant social and political I preoccupations of the 1860s
and 1870s. Tolstoy's «War and Peace» and «Anna Karenina» and Dostoevsky's
«Crime and Punishment» and «The Brothers Karamazov» have endured as genuine
classics because they drew the best from the Russian realistic heritage
while focusing on broad human questions. Although Tolstoy continued to
write into% the twentieth century, he rejected his earlier style and never
again reached the level of his greatest works.
The literary careers of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Turgenev had all
ended by 1881. Anton Chekhov, the major literary figure in the last decades
of the nineteenth century, contributed in two genres: short stories and
drama. Chekhov, a realist who examined not society as a whole but the
defects of individuals, produced a large volume of sometimes tragic,
sometimes comic, short stories and several outstanding plays, including
«The Cherry Orchard», a dramatic chronicling of the decay of a Russian
aristocratic family.
Artistic medium – художественное средство
Government restrictions – правительственные ограничения
Subject matter - тема
Government bureaucrats – государственные чиновники
Owe – быть обязанным
Preceding – предшествующий
Patron saint – покровитель
Negative portrayal – отрицательное изображение
Provincial gentry – провинциальное дворянство
Human rights
In November 1960 the American people elected Senator John F. Kennedy to the
Presidency. Kennedy defeated by a narrow margin his Republican opponent,
Vice President Richard Nixon. The two youthful presidential candidates
highlighted their campaigns by appearing on television in a serious of
debates - Nixon emphasized the experience he had gained during his eight
years in the administration and reminding voters of the «peace and
prosperity» achieved under Republican leadership, and Kennedy calling for
new, forward-looking leadership and more effective use of the country's
human and economic resources.
Almost everything about the new President caught the imagination of
the people, and his Inauguration was no exception. In his. eloquent address
the President set the tone of youthful energy and dedication that was the
mark of his administration. Kennedy said: «Let the word go forth from this
time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to
a new generation of Americans, born in this century, tempered by war,
disciplined" by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage and
unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to
which this nation has always been committed... Let every nation know that
we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any
friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty.» But
the address was not merely a call to battle but an invitation to peace as
well. «Let us never negotiate out of fear,» said the President, «but let us
never fear to negotiate. Co-operation is better than conflict; let us then
substitute co-operation for conflict. Let both sides explore what problems
unite us... Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of
its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts,
eradicate disease.»
The first President to be born in the twentieth century, and the
youngest ever to be elected to the presidency, Kennedy was not only
spokesman for a new generation, but symbol as well. He brought to the
presidency an alert intelligence, immense personal charm, a warm and
generous humanitarianism, but also a lively awareness of the immense
potentialities of presidential leadership. Indeed, his Cabinet and his
White House advisers made up the youngest group of top-level officials in
the country's history -a group notable for its openness to new ideas and
its readiness to take vigour actions.
Narrow margin – небольшое преимущество
Highlight – освещать
Inauguration - инаугурация
Eloquent - красноречивый
Heritage - наследие
Burden - бремя
Hardship – неприятности
Substitute - заменить
Awareness – осведомленность, информированность
Immense – огромный
Vigour - решительные
Take actions – принимать действия
Culture of the youth
The foundation of the great schools which were named Universities was
everywhere throughout Europe a special mark of the new impulse that
Christendom had got from the Crusades. A new desire for study sprang up in
the West from its contact with the more cultured East. Oxford and Cambridge
are the oldest universities in England. Both of these universities are very
beautiful. They have some of the finest architecture in Britain. Some of
their colleges, chapels and libraries are three, four and even five hundred
years old, and are full of valuable books and precious paintings. Of the
early history of Cambridge little is known, but enough remains to enable us
to trace the early steps by which Oxford gained its intellectual glory. The
history of Cambridge is believed to begin in 1209 when several hundred
students and scholars arrived at the little town of Cambridge after having
walked 60 miles from Oxford According to the custom they joined themselves
into “Universities” or a society of people with common employment. Only
later they came to be associated with scholarship. '
Cambridge won independence from the Town rule in 1500. Students were
of different ages and came from everywhere. Gradually the idea of the
College developed and in 1284 Peter house, the oldest College was
established. In 1440 King Henry VI founded King’s College, and other
colleges followed. The first college of Oxford University was founded in
1249. At hat time with the revival of classic studies many teachers became
enemies of parliament, and the Church. The lectures of Vicarious on the
Civil Law at Oxford were prohibited by the English king. Now the university
of Oxford has thirty-five colleges and about thirteen thousand students.
There were no woman students at Oxford until 1878, when the first women’s
college, Lady Margaret Hall, was up. Now, most colleges are open to man and
women. Oxford is famous for its first-class education as well as its
beautiful buildings. Many students want to study there. It is not so easy
to get a place at Oxford University to study for a degree. But outside the
university there are many smaller private colleges, which offer less
difficult courses and where it is easy to enrol.
Architecture - архитектура
Valuable - ценный
Precious - дорогой
Christendom – Христианский мир
Crusade – крестовый поход
Spring up - возникать
Revival of classic studies – возрождение классических наук
Prohibit - запрещать
Degree – ученая степень
Enrol – зачислять
Arts
American literature is dated from Mark Twain. Much of his writing was
autobiographical. «Life on the Mississippi» was a story of his experiences
as a pilot learning the great river and the country that it crossed, and
the society that lived on its boats or along its banks. In 1884 came the
greatest of his achievements«Huckleberry Finn». 'All modern literature
comes from «Huckleberry Finn»', said Ernest Hemingway, and the aphorism is
really true. Mark Twain was considered by his contemporaries the Lincoln of
American literature. The «valley of democracy» that created Mark Twain
produced his friend W.D. Howells. In his writing Howells gave the most
comprehensive picture of middle-class American society to be found in the
whole of American literature. Probably no other novelist except Balzac ever
made so elaborate a report on his society as did W.D. Howells. He drew
genre pictures of the New England countryside, the best of all portraits of
the «self-made» businessman, the extravagant life of the Ohio frontier, the
rough life and work in New York City, and the clash of cultures in European
resorts. Howells was not only one of the most representative American
novelists; but he was, too, at the same time, the leading American
Literature literary critic. He edited the great «Atlantic Monthly». He
introduced Ibsen, Zola, and Turgenev to American audiences, discovered and
sponsored younger writers like Stephen Crane and Frank Norris.
The third of the major novelists who emerged during the 1870s and
reached maturity in the transition years was Henry James. Henry James took
middle-class America for his theme. His best novels -«The Portrait of a
Lady», «The American», «The Ambassadors», «The Wings of the Dove» - explore
the themes of manners and morals. Very often they are cast into a pattern
of New World innocence and Old World corruption. Of all American novelists
between Hawthorne and Faulkner, James was most completely preoccupied with
moral problems. Because James wrote of characters and subjects alien to the
average American, and in a style intricate and sophisticated, he achieved
little popularity in his own lifetime.
Pilot - лоцман
Comprehensive – исчерпывающий, полный
Frontier - граница
Contemporary - современник
Genre pictures – жанровые сцены
Transition years – переходный период
Preoccupy – занимать, поглощать внимание
Character - персонаж
Subject - тема
Alien - чужой
Intricate - замысловатый
Average - средний
Maturity - зрелость
Defiant - вызывающий
Literary currents – литературные направления
Novel - роман
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