Wales is a land of mountains and valleys. The highest mountain is Mount Snowdon in the Snowdonia National Park. Wales is almost entirely mountainous.
Wales has some wonderful holiday towns. And the beaches are beautiful.
There are castles everywhere in Wales. Most were built by the English to keep the Welsh under control.
The English and Welsh have been very bad neighbours for centuries. The English invaded Wales many, many times. And the Welsh invaded England.
The most populated part of Wales is the south around Cardiff. Cardiff is the capital, principal seaport and shipbuilding centre. In this part of Wales coal has been mined for two hundred years. Coal is the most valuable mineral resource of Wales.
The Welsh take great pride in their choirs and songs. Choral singing is a popular and characteristic part of Welsh musical life. Welsh people speak the Welsh and English languages.
WRITING TASK
Write about National Parks in our country. Have you ever visited any National Park?
TRANSLATION
Scotland is the modern, dynamic country and also the home of whisky, golf and bagpipes, the part of Scottish tradition.
Scotland is known for its beautiful scenery: mountains, valleys and lochs (lakes). To the north and west lie remote and unspoilt islands. The landscape of Scotland can be divided into three regions: the Highlands, the Central Lowlands, and the Southern Uplands. More than one-half of the surface of Scotland is occupied by the Highlands.
Scotland is characterized by a lot of streams and lakes. Most lakes are long and narrow. Scotland has significant reserves of coal.
Scotland's capital and busy city is Edinburgh, with its castle, old houses and narrow streets. Glasgow is a huge city and the industrial heart of Scotland. Shipbuilding was once a great industry. But now it has been replaced by new, high technology industries, and by commerce and tourism.
WRITING TASK
Write about some parts of Russian tradition. Would you like to visit the famous Loch Ness and the Loch Ness Monster? Do you think it’s the part of Scottish tradition?
TRANSLATION
Australia geographically is the sixth-largest country in the world and the only one to occupy the entire continent. Its neighbouring countries include New Zealand to the southeast and Indonesia to the north.
The Commonwealth (содружество) of Australia is a Constitutional monarchy. The Queen of Australia is considered to be the Head of State. But under the Australian constitution the role of the Queen is almost entirely ceremonial. The highest executive power belongs to the Cabinet, whose members are chosen by the governing party or by the Prime Minister.
Australia is divided into six states. Most of the Australian population descends from the 19th and 20th century immigrants mostly from Great Britain and Ireland, but from other countries in later years.
English is the main official and spoken language in Australia. A considerable number of first and second-generation immigrants are bilingual.
Much of Australia's culture comes from Europe and more recently America, but distinctive Australian features have come from the environment, aborigine culture, and the influence of Australia's neighbours.
WRITING TASK
Write about the roots of Australian culture. Why are there so many bilinguals in Australia?
TRANSLATION
Malta
Today, Malta is a popular holiday island in the Mediterranean Sea, but it was not always an island: thousands of years ago, there was a large desert between Europe and Africa, but at that time there were no people there.
Between 7000 and 5000 BC, people travelled across the sea to Malta. They built the famous temples on the island. People used the island's natural harbours for their ships, and they also traded with other countries around the Mediterranean from these harbours. During the Roman Empire, Rome also controlled the island for seven centuries.
The Arabs lived there for two centuries and gave the modern Maltese language many words. The Spanish, the French and the British all came and left the island, and, finally, in 1964, Malta became independent and can make its own laws and protect its own people.
WRITING TASK
Write about any holiday island and its people. Would you like to live on a holiday island?
TRANSLATION
Iceland, the island in the North Atlantic is larger than England and Wales, but few people live here – only about 290,000, with over half in the capital city, Reykjavik. Iceland is a country of amazing landscapes – blue lakes and lagoons, fast rivers and waterfalls, mountains and volcanoes that erupt frequently.
Mount Hekla, in the south of the country, has erupted sixteen times in the last thousand years, and, in one of the most violent eruptions of recent times, the volcano on the island of Heymaey almost destroyed the town in 1973.
WRITING TASK
Write about the dramatic and peaceful life of the island, which is known for its amazing landscapes. Is it necessary to protect such places?
TRANSLATION
The word “culture” has a number of meanings. It often refers to music, literature, art, and higher education. It also means the customs of a society and the way in which people interact with each other.
Every culture has certain basic ideas which everyone accepted for granted. These are fundamental things that everyone knows from his or her childhood, and which are automatic to the people who live in that culture. They include everything from the common courtesies (правила вежливости) and details of daily life to the deeper issues of a person's place in society, of family, of life.
When a person enters a new culture, the basic customs and ideas that he or she automatically accepted may no longer be true. The person faces a new set of customs and attitudes to try to understand.
Certain types of behavior are expected in English-speaking countries. The Americans like to speak about their home, colleges and achievements. Nicknames are much more often used in the USA than in Britain.
People in both countries consider time as an expensive object or material. They talk about it in many different ways. They save it, waste it, spend it, kill it. They have free time, leisure time, spare time. They invest in it and carefully budget it. Be polite and friendly in public places. Daily showers and a fresh set of clothes are the norm. Smile and people will smile with you.
WRITING TASK
Write about polite behavior in our country. What is the meaning of the word “culture”?
TRANSLATION
Knowledge of differences between cultures is one of the essential key skills that modern people need to possess in order to work and learn effectively. It is important to know cultural differences in order not to offend people of other culture or be misunderstood.
The value system of culture is very important. The value systems of culture shape public behaviours and beliefs. It is difficult to accept that one's own ways of behaving, which seem perfectly normal, can be seen as strange and even rude in another culture. But if a person does not try to observe his or her own culture objectively and does not have an understanding of why other cultures do things differently, it is inevitable that cultural mistakes will be made.
WRITING TASK
Write about strange behaviour of other people. Do you think that our own ways of behaving are perfectly normal?
TRANSLATION
The Colosseum is an incredibly impressive building. It is a vast amphitheatre and big crowds used to go there to watch gladiators and fights between wild animals. It is made of stone and concrete, and although it was damaged by earthquakes in the 15th century, the main structure has survived for almost 2,000 years.
The Eiffel Tower is one of the world's best-known landmarks. It looks elegant and graceful rising above Paris. It was built as a temporary structure for the 1889 Universal Exhibition but has never been taken down, although there was a lot of opposition from the public to it. It is 300 metres tall – and it was the world's tallest structure until about 1930.
The Golden Gate Bridge spans the mile-wide mouth of San Francisco Bay. The total length of the bridge is 2,739 metres. The bridge expands on hot days and contracts when it is cold. On hot days the heat lengthens the cable. As a result the bridge becomes 4.9 metres lower and 1.8 metres longer. The bridge was opened on 21 May 1937, during which 200,000 people walked across the bridge. On the morning of the following day it was opened to traffic.
Big Ben is the universal symbol of London. It is the bell which strikes the hours dictated by the Palace Clock (23 ft in diametre) in its 320-feet Tower. The great bell got its name in the 19th century after Sir Benjamin Hall, First Commissioner of Works, and a very tall, stout man, whose nickname was “Big Ben”. The bell and the clock are on the clock tower of the Houses of Parliament.
WRITING TASK
Write about any magnificent building. What is the universal symbol of your city?
TRANSLATION
Frank Lloyd Wright learned his skills as an architect and engineer in Chicago, at the offices of Adler and Sullivan. They created some of the finest skyscrapers in the United States. They designed innovative structures such as open plan office instead of traditional rectangular rooms with doors. Wright learned much from the firm's engineering experience and its attention to details. He also developed his own ideas.
Wright collected Japanese prints. Besides constructing large buildings, Wright designed lovely houses not only to look at, but also lovely ones to live in. He often designed not just the house, but all its furniture and even the dinner service to create what he called an “organic unity” of materials and space.
Wright was the most important US architect. He was one of the first architects to use reinforced concrete in buildings; one of the first to use flat roofs; one of the first to design a large building to withstand an earthquake – the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. He was a remarkable architect, designing over 700 buildings during his 60-year career.
WRITING TASK
Write about an outstanding arts representative and his or her ideas. What do you think who the most important architect of our country is?
IV Профессиональная сфера общения
(Я и моя будущая профессия)
Unit 6
6.1. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY
When work is a pleasure, life is a joy!
Maxim Gorky, 1868- 1936, Russian writer
ЗАДАНИЕ 1. Прочитайте интернациональные слова и определите их значения, обращая внимание на части речи:
а) существительные: economist, intelligence, expert, activity, career, information, finance, utilization, operation, resources, behaviour, mechanism, factor, standard, risk
б) глаголы: produce, analyze, plan, practice, adapt
ЗАДАНИЕ 2. Подберите русские соответствия английским словам, данным под чертой.
consumer behaviour, full employment, goods and services, the ability and the willingness, objective, living standards, affect, labour economics, by means of, no matter
цель, товары и услуги, поведение потребителя, уровень жизни, посредством, полная занятость, оказывать воздействие, способность и желание, неважно, экономика рынка
ЗАДАНИЕ 3. Догадайтесь о значении выделенных слов.
1. People get resources from the earth.
2. The economist studies consumers' behaviour in the service markets.
3. Consumers buy goods from manufacturers.
4. We study Economics.
5. The growth of industry and agriculture affects the life of all the people in the country.
ЗАДАНИЕ 4. Используя данные слова, скажите, какие качества важны для успешной профессиональной деятельности экономиста.
To be a professional economist (manager, accountant, book-keeper, financial analyst, banker, auditor) it is necessary to (be, have) … .
training and experience
ability and willingness
plan, prepare and practice
use new information
learn and adapt modern skills
know computers and data processing
know foreign languages
ЗАДАНИЕ 5. Познакомьтесь со словами и словосочетаниями, которые помогут вам понять текст:
1) demands on – требования к
The demands on economists are very great.
2) experience – опыт
He has enough experience for this job.
3) one never stops learning – никогда не нужно прекращать учиться
In Economics one never stops learning.
4) to evaluate – оценивать
Economists evaluate and use new information.
5) data processing — обработка данных
Data processing is he handling of large amounts of information.
6) market mechanism – рыночный механизм
Economists take interest in the relationship between “price system” and “market mechanism”.
7) industrial economics – экономика промышленности
Industrial economics is an applied area of study.
8) an approach – подход, метод
There are three main approaches to economics.
9) development economics — экономика развития
Development economics studies the factors of economic growth.
10) a supplier – поставщик
11) a consumer – потребитель
12) goods – товары
Individuals are considered both as suppliers of labour and as consumers of goods.
ЗАДАНИЕ 7. Прочитайте текст к теме «Professional Activity».
The demands on economists or accountants are very great. No matter how great their intelligence, training and experience, they can never be experts in everything. In Economics one never stops learning. The ability and the willingness to find out are very important.
Business is an increasingly important activity throughout the world today. There are now five fields of business those offer exciting careers:
management – the activities guiding a company to reach its objectives;
marketing – the movement of goods and services from producer to customer;
accounting – the measurement and communication of financial information;
finance - the acquisition and utilization of capital to start up, operate, and expand a business;
computers and data processing – the handling of large amounts of information concerning business operations.