Render the following text in English:
То обстоятельство, что мы — «островная раса», время от времени выдвигается в качестве объяснения некоторых особенностей нашего национального характера, например замкнутости. Возможно, в этом есть доля правды, но я не думаю, что островное обитание само по себе является главной причиной, ведь существует много островных народов с совершенно другими национальными характерами, хотя у нас с ними, наверно, и есть что-то общее. С другой стороны, если принять во внимание размеры нашего острова и плотность населения, тогда довод в пользу географии начинает выглядеть более убедительно. Это не просто остров, а относительно небольшой и перенаселенный остров — благодатная почва для формирования у людей таких качеств, как сдержанность, скованность, скрытность, стремление иметь свою территорию, настороженность, неловкость и неумение вести себя в обществе. Только в таких условиях и могла возникнуть культура, в которой господствует «отрицательная вежливость», культура, где вежливость — это в первую очередь форма отказа от вмешательства в частную жизнь людей и навязывания им своего общества; культура с обостренным восприятием классовых отличий, где каждый озабочен своим социальным статусом и боится, как бы его не причислили к более низкой категории населения; общество, для членов которого характерны неловкость, застенчивость, двусмысленность, боязнь близких отношений/выражения чувств/возбуждения; общество, балансирующее между чрезмерной вежливостью и агрессивной воинственностью… Я заметила ряд существенных сходных особенностей англичан и японцев (хотя во многом мы очень разные) и подумала, что, возможно, фактор маленького перенаселенного острова все-таки имеет значение.
Прежде чем я поставлю точку в своем исследовании, хочу предупредить: английская самобытность заразна. Кто-то более восприимчив к ней, кто-то — менее, но если вы немного поживете среди нас, то, вполне вероятно, к своему удивлению, вскоре обнаружите, что на любую неприятность от задержки поезда до катастрофы международного масштаба реагируете типично английской фразой «Вот так всегда!», а на любой намек на излишнюю серьезность или напыщенность — восклицанием «Ой, да будет тебе!» и совершенно теряетесь при знакомстве с новыми людьми. Не исключено, что в качестве приветствия будете спрашивать: «Холодновато сегодня, правда?» Но вполне вероятно, что вы окажетесь в числе более удачливых гостей страны или иммигрантов, обладающих прочной культурной иммунной системой, которая защищает от нашей социальной неловкости.
(Кейт Фокс «Наблюдая за англичанами».)
UNIT IV
THE ENGLISH AND THE PECULIARITIES OF ENGLISH SPEECH
HOW NOT TO BE CLEVER
by George Mikes
"You foreigners are so clever," said a lady to me some years ago. First, thinking of the great amount of foreign idiots and half-wits I had had the honour of meeting, I considered this remark exaggerated but complimentary.
Since then I have learnt that it was far from it. These few words expressed the lady's contempt and slight disgust for foreigners.
If you look up the word clever in an English dictionary, you will find that the dictionaries are out of date and mislead you on this point. According to the Pocket Oxford dictionary, for instance, the word means 'quick and neat in movement... skilful, talented, ingenious'. Nuttal's Dictionary gives these meanings: 'dexterous, skilful, ingenious, quick or ready-witted, intelligent'. All nice adjectives, expressing valuable and estimable characteristics. A modern Englishman, however, uses the word clever in the sense: 'shrewd, sly, furtive, surreptitious, treacherous, sneaking, crafty, un-English, un-Scottish, un-Welsh'.
In England it is bad manners to be clever, to assert something confidently. It may be your own personal view that two and two make four, but you must not state it in a self-assured way, because this is a democratic country and others may be of a different opinion.
A continental gentleman seeing a nice panorama may remark: "This view rather reminds me Utrecht, where the peace treaty concluding the War of Spanish Succession was signed on the 11th April, 1713. The river there, however, recalls the Guadalquivir. Oh, rivers... What did Pascal say about them? "Les rivieres sont les chemins qui marchent..."
This pompous, showing-off way of speaking is not permissible in England. The English man is modest and simple. He uses but few words and expresses so much—but so much— with them. An Englishman looking at the same view would remain silent for two or three hours and think about how to put his profound feeling into words. Then he would remark: "It's pretty, isn't it?"
An English professor of mathematics would say to his maid checking up the shopping list:
"I'm no good at arithmetic, I'm afraid. Please correct me, Jane, if I'm wrong, but I believe that the square root of 97344 is 312."
And about knowledge. An English girl, of course, would be able to learn just a little more about, let us say, geography. But it is just not 'chic' to know whether Budapest is the capital of Roumania, Hungary or Bulgaria. And if she happens to know that Budapest is the capital of Roumania, she should at least be perplexed if Bucharest is mentioned suddenly.
It is so much nicer to ask, when someone speaks of Barbados or Fiji: "Oh those little islands... Are they British?" (They usually are.)
Vocabulary
1. wit (n), a half-wit, quick/sharp-witted, witty, witticism, to outwit sb
2. exaggerate (v), exaggeration
3. contempt (for) (n), to feel contempt – to despise, contempt of court, contemptuous, contemptible
4. disgust (v, n), in disgust, to be disgusted with, disgusting
5. out-of-date (adj) – up-to-date
6. mislead (v), misleading
7. neat (adj)
8. skill (n), skilful, (un)skilled
9. ingenious (adj)
10. furtive – surreptitious
11. estimate (at) (v), estimate (n), at a rough estimate
12. treacherous, treachery, traitor, treason, betray (v), betrayal
13. assert (v) – state; to assert oneself; assertive, assertion
14. confident (of) (adj)
confidence (n), to have confidence in sb, to tell sb sth in confidence, to take
sb into one’s confidence, to enjoy sb’s confidence
confide (v), to confide sth to sb, to confide in sb
confidential (adj)
15. assured (adj), self-assured,
assure (v), assure sb of sth, assure sb (that)
assurance (n)
16. remind (v) sb of/about sth
17. succession (n), in succession, to succeed sb (as sb), successor
18. show off (v), showoff (n)
19. pompous
20. permissible, the permissible level of concentration (the PLC)
permission, to ask permission, to give/grant permission, to get/obtain permission
permit (v) (sb to do sth), to permit sb/oneself sth
21. root (n), to go back to one’s roots, to take root, square root
22. perplexed (adj) – confused – bewildered, perplexing, (in) perplexity
23. at least, he should at least be told about it,
to say the least
Revision:
1. to be far from (being)
2. to look up (a word)
3. according to
4. it is bad manners to do sth
5. to be of a (different) opinion
6. to put sth into words
7. to be (no) good at
Exercises
I. Transcribe the words and read them aloud:
honour, exaggerate, exaggeration, contemptuous, ingenious, dexterous, surreptitious, estimate (n), estimate (v), treachery, treacherous, confidential, democratic, panorama, mathematics, arithmetic, pompous, Roumania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Bucharest, Budapest, Sofia
II. Word-building
1. Complete the chart:
| verb | noun (abstract) | noun (person) | adjective |
| wit | |||
| exaggerate | |||
| contempt | |||
| skill | |||
| treachery | |||
| assert | |||
| confide | |||
| assure | |||
| succeed | |||
| permit | |||
| perplex |
2. Form antonyms by adding a negative prefix:
permissible, sincere, decent, modest, wise, skilled, compatible, appropriate, prejudiced, biased, offensive, sufficient, adequate, to do, to lead
III. Translate into Russian:
1. What progress we have enjoyed has come about either as a result of skilled, painstaking experimental work or inspired guesses about how the brain works. 2. Cover takes effect from the moment your policy is issued, and you can rest assured that any claim will be expertly, sympathetically and speedily handled. 3. Her connection with France was tenuous to say the least — a fragile link broken long ago. 4. Already, in expectation, the four archbishops had produced a pastoral letter in which they condemned the legalizing of divorce on the grounds of the preservation of ‘the common good’ and because they feared the tendency that people had to accept as right that which was legally permissible. 5. Nevertheless, the events of 1797 suggested that there was a limit to public confidence, and contributed to a significant shift in the pattern of war finance. 6. Aunt Rose pinched her thin lips together, uncertain how much to confide. 7. It would be implicit that City employees know that they are not to use confidential information for the purposes of insider dealing. 8. Bidding for this (mostly down the phone) stopped at £320,000, way short of the catalogue estimate of £450,000–£550,000, and the lot was withdrawn. 9. They have given up reading texts and treat the water as their scripture, their Bible, their Koran, from which they are constantly teasing out ingenious interpretations of hidden, secret messages.10. Secondly, provisional arrangements made for Spain and Portugal are likely to be succeeded by the full discipline of the budget. 11. For most people the dread of being surrounded by contemptuous or accusing eyes is a weightier factor than all but their most basic needs. 12. But the mention of Wilde also serves to remind us that social purity never succeeded in totally silencing its opponents. 13. Quite apart from the misreporting here, and the extraordinary exaggeration — the tribunal cost nowhere near three billion naira — the piece is notable for its complete lack of concern for the facts. 14. The succession from Bevan to Michael Foot to Kinnock may be seen as a progress from genius to talent to mediocrity. 15. This unusual composition has no striking literary merit, yet has real importance as an attempt to assert the value of women writers.
IV. Fill in the blanks with the given words in the correct form:
