English in the World

ORAL AND WRITTEN PRACTICE IN MODERN ENGLISH

PART 1

ПРИДНЕСТРОВСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ

Им. Т. Г. ШЕВЧЕНКО

Рыбницкий филиал

Кафедра иностранных языков

ORAL AND WRITTEN PRACTIC IN MODERN ENGLISH

PART 1

Учебное пособие

Рыбница, 2012

УДК 811.111(075.8)

ББК 81.2 Англ.

О68

Составитель:

Н. Л. Мартынюк, преподаватель кафедры иностранных языков филиала ПГУ им. Т. Г. Шевченко в г. Рыбница

Рецензенты:

Г. А. Батыр, преподаватель английского языка высшей квалификационной категории гимназии № 1 г. Рыбница

Ю. Ю. Волкова, ст. преподаватель кафедры иностранных языков филиала ПГУ им. Т. Г. Шевченко в г. Рыбница

O68 Оral and written practice in modern English:

Учебное пособие для студентов 1 курса / сост. Н. Л. Мартынюк – Рыбница, 2012. – 63 с.

Данное пособие предназначено для студентов 1 курса специальности «Иностранный язык» с дополнительной специальностью «Иностранный язык» (050303.65).

Пособие построено на принципах современной коммуникативной концепции обучения иностранному языку и ставит целью выработку практических навыков во всех видах речевой деятельности, обучение устной речи на основе автоматизированных речевых навыков и обогащение словарного запаса студентов 1 курса.

Пособие состоит из двух тематических разделов (English in the World and Appearance) с системой упражнений на развитие навыков чтения, аудирования, письма, говорения, а также грамматических навыков.

Каждый раздел пособия включает тематический словарь и тематические тексты.

УДК 811.111(075.8)

ББК 81.2 Англ.

Рекомендовано Научно-методическим советом ПГУ им. Т. Г. Шевченко

© Составление:

Мартынюк Н. Л., 2012

Contents

Предисловие………………………………………………………………………………………..5

English in the World ……………………………………………………………………………….6

I. Topical vocabulary…………………………………………………………………….....6

II. Text I “The Language of Shakespeare”………………………………………………....10

III. Text II “English has no Equals”………………………………………………………...12

Text III “English in the World” ………………………………………………………...14

IV. Text IV “Basic Characteristics of the English language”………………………………18

V. Text V “Are you happy with the Way you are Taught English?”………………………19

VI. Vocabulary and Speech Exercises………………………………………………………26

VII. Discussion Points………………………………………………………………………..27

Appearance…………………………………………………………………………………….......29

I. Topical vocabulary…………………………………………………………………….29

II. Vocabulary and Pre-reading Work…………………………………………………….35

III. Vocabulary and Speech Exercises……………………………………………………..43

IV. Text I “A Visit to the Country”………………………………………………………..49

V. Text II “Mr. Rochester’sVisitors”……………………………………………………..52

VI. Text III “Mona Lisa”…………………………………………………………………..55

VII. Text IV “Why do People Decorate their Bodies?”…………………………………….58

VIII. Text V “What do Men really Think of Cosmetic surgery?”…………………………..60

Список использованной литературы………………………………………………………….65

Предисловие

Данное учебное пособие предназначено для студентов 1 курса университета, факультетов иностранных языков, изучающих английский язык как специальность, а также может быть полезно для всех лиц, желающих приобрести навыки вербальной коммуникации в рамках, представленных в пособии тем: “English in the world” и “Appearance”. Пособие является 1-й частью серии учебных пособий, обеспечивающих практический курс английского языка для студентов 1-го курса университета специальности «Иностранный язык» с дополнительной специальностью «Иностранный язык».

Основная цель пособия – обучение устной речи в рамках тем: “English in the world” и “Appearance”, на основе развития необходимых автоматизированных речевых навыков, развитие техники чтения и умения понимать английский текст, содержащий усвоенную ранее лексику и грамматику, а также развитие навыков письменной речи и аудирования.

Пособие состоит из двух разделов: 1) “English in the World”; 2) “Appearance”. Единицей организации и планирования материала служит тематический комплекс. В начале каждого раздела дается тематический словарь (Topical Vocabulary) для использования в упражнениях по теме раздела. Система упражнений (Vocabulary and Speech Exercises) носит уровневый характер, предусматривает повторяемость лексических единиц и их использование в различных коммуникативных ситуациях (Discussion Points), что доводит их употребление в свободной речи до уровня приобретенного навыка.

Каждый раздел пособия содержит тематический текстовый материал, насыщенный необходимой лексикой и разговорными конструкциями. Перед текстами помещены фонетические упражнения(Pre-reading exercises)способствующие развитию навыков чтения и упражнения на отработку лексических единиц (Vocabulary and Pre-reading Work). С целью отработки навыка ознакомительного чтения в пособие включены подразделы: Skim Reading Task, Believe it or not, Info Box; изучающего чтения – Reading for Detail.

После текстов представлены грамматические упражнения (Grammar), построенные на лексическом материале раздела и имеющие целью закрепление грамматических явлений, встречающихся в тексте, а также предлагаются задания на закрепление правописания лексических единиц и отработку навыков письменной речи (Writing, Dictation, Spelling and punctuation).

В подразделе Word Guide вводятся и отрабатываются в системе упражнений новые идиоматические выражения. Для овладения навыками понимания звучащей речи в пособии представлен подраздел Listening. Контроль понимания речевого сообщения осуществляется после каждого прослушивания.

В пособии представлен достаточный материал для работы по совершенствованию произносительных навыков и овладению навыками говорения: пословицы и поговорки, афоризмы, стихотворения, загадки, схемы и картинки.

Материал, представленный в пособии, обеспечивает следующий уровень речевых навыков и умений:

- в области говорения: умение свободного монологического высказывания и диалогического общения в рамках, включенных в пособие тем;

- в области чтения: умение практического владения ознакомительным и изучающим чтением;

- в области аудирования: умение осмысления и понимания звукового сообщения, осмысления общей идеи сообщения;

- в области письменной речи: умение правильной графической фиксации речи в пределах пройденной тематики и умение выражения мыслей в письменной форме.

ENGLISH IN THE WORLD

“He who doesn’t know a foreign language knows nothing about his own.”

Goethe

“Language is the Treasure of a Nation.”

“Men govern nothing with more difficulty than their tongues, and can moderate their desires more than their words.”

Spinoza

Section I

Topical Vocabulary

1) Angles and Saxons	Англы и Саксы
to influence influence	влиять влияние
throughout	на протяжении
to belong	принадлежать
epoch	эпоха
to replace	заменять
tribe	племя
to invade	вторгаться, захватывать
dialect	диалект
to be related	относиться
to survive	сохраниться, продолжить существовать
to go back to	происходить от
to impose	навязывать
to suffer	испытывать, претерпевать
2) equal	быть равным
to be interested in smth	интересоваться чем-то
origin of words	происхождение слов
mail	переписка
outlook	мировоззрение
cables	телеграмма
truly	несомненно, в самом деле
periodicals	периодические издания
native speaker	носитель языка
condition	состояние
medium	передающая среда
to borrow	заимствовать
to store	сохранять, накоплять
business deal	деловое соглашение, сделка
directly	непосредственно
to conduct	проводить
remarkable	замечательный
glamour	шарм, обаяние, привлекательность
to land	высаживаться на берег
Christianity	Христианство
to exist	существовать
broadcasting company	радиотрансляционная компания
at least	по меньшей мере
to transmit	передавать
barely	почти
audience	публика, зрители, аудитория
former	бывший, давний
to exceed	превышать, выходить за пределы
3) to require	требовать
effort	усилие
recent	недавний
establishment	создание, учреждение
mother tongue	родной язык
settlement	поселение
to assist	помогать
native language	родной язык
bilingual society	двуязычное общество
to be forced to do smth	быть вынужденным сделать что-либо
entire	целый, весь
survey	опрос, анкетирование
range of use	область употребления
reinforce	укреплять, усиливать
prominent	заметный, выдающийся
estimate	оценка
retrieval system	поисковая система
4) simplicity	упрощенность, простота
inflection	окончание
singular	единственное число
plural	множественное число
tense	время глагола
person	лицо
to simplify	упрощать
verb	глагол
adjective	прилагательное
according to	согласно чему-либо
noun	существительное
flexibility	гибкость
loss	утрата
preposition	предлог
to involve	касаться, затрагивать
admission	допущение, принятие
creation	формирование
compound	сложное слово
derivative	производное слово
to contribute	способствовать
to reverse	изменять на противоположное
purist	сторонник очищения литературного языка
to resist	противостоять
arrival	принятие
doubt	сомнение
proposition	утверждение, высказывание
to die out	вымирать, отмирать
5) interpreter	переводчик
to feel about smth	иметь желание сделать что-то
drill	упражнение
in isolation	изолированно
to practice	практиковать
vocabulary	словарный запас
at a time	за раз
by heart	наизусть
to memorize	запоминать
to be related to smth	относиться к чему-либо
to be connected with	быть связанным с
phrasal verb	фразовый глагол
to cope with smth	справиться с чем-либо
to keep oneself up-to-date with smth	быть в курсе событий
idiom	идиоматическое выражение
to laugh at	смеяться над
old-fashioned	устаревший
average	средний, обычный
expression	выражение
to make sure	убедиться
pronunciation	произношение
to find hard	считать трудным
intonation	интонация
to get smth wrong	неправильно что-то понять
rude	грубый
formal (informal) language	язык официального (неофициального) общения
to ask for smth	просить (спрашивать) о чем-то
to be polite	быть вежливым
context	контекст
to look words up in the dictionary	смотреть слова в словаре
to make a note of smth	записать что-то
to be disappointed	быть разочарованным
to be proud of smth	гордиться чем-либо
to get an idea of smth	получить представление о чем-то
feature	черта
ways of behaviour	манеры поведения
linguistic studies	лингвистические исследования
6) an acquired language	приобретенный язык
to master a foreign language	овладеть иностранным языком
to develop language skills	развивать языковые навыки
dialect	диалект
accent	акцент
slang	сленг
jargon	жаргон
fluency	беглость
accuracy of speech	правильность речь
to have a good command of the language	хорошо владеть языком
to practice the language	практиковать язык
be good at languages	хорошо владеет иностранными языками
to be quite at home with the language	хорошо владеет языком
to speak a language well (fluently, fairly well, abominably)	говорить на языке хорошо (бегло, довольно хорошо, отвратительно)
to speak poor English	плохо говорить на английском
to speak broken English	говорить на ломаном английском
to speak with a strong accent	говорить с сильным акцентом
to be bilingual	быть «билингвом» (владеть двумя языками как «родным»)
gift for languages	склонность к языкам

Section II

Ex.1. Analyze the Indo-European language family tree scheme and answer the following questions.

1) What group of languages does the Russian (English) language belong to?

2) What group of languages does your native language belong to?

THE INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGE FAMILY TREE SCHEME

INDO-EUROPEAN

1) HELLENIC – ATTIC GREEK – KOINE – MODERN GREEK

2) ITALIC – LATIN: Spanish, Moldavian, Romanian, Italian, Portuguese, French

1. GERMANIC: Old English – English, Scandinavian, Dutch, Flemish, German

3) CELTIC – IRISH GAELIC: Erse, Irish, Welsh

4) Albanian

5) Armenian

6) BALTO-SLAVIC: Lithuanian, Serbo-Groatian, Czecho-Slovak, Russian, Polish, Bulgarian, Slovak, Ukrainian, Byelorussian

7) INDO-IRANIAN: SANSCRIT: Hindi

Bengali

OLD PERSIAN – MODERN PERSIAN – Persian

Skim Reading Task

Ex.2. Read the following text and tell about the stages of the development of the English language.

From the History of the English Language

Long ago, only few languages were spoken. One of them was Indo-European. Experts believe that the people in Central and Northern Europe spoke Indo-European around 5000 B.C. Later, as some of the people moved to other parts of Europe and to India, new languages developed. All these languages are now part of the Indo-European family.

One language in the Indo-European family is English. English is hundreds of years old. However, the English we speak today is not the same as the English of long ago. The language has changed and developed over the years.

Around 500 B.C. people called Celts moved to Britain. They came from Central and Western Europe. Their language, Celtic, became the language of Britain.

In 43 A.D. Romans arrived in Britain. They spoke a different language, Latin. However Latin did not affect Celtic much. Only a few Latin words entered the Celtic language. Some examples are candle, master, port.

The Romans left Britain in the 400s. Soon after, in 449, Britain was invaded by three Germanic tribes called the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. Because they came from different places, they all spoke different versions of the same language. After they arrived in Britain, they started to speak the same language, Old English, which replaced Celtic. Even the name Britain was changed to Angle land. Old English lasted past the year 1000.

In 1006, French people called Normans conquered England. By 1400, thousands of French words had entered the English language. Examples are colour, dinner, government. The new language, called Middle English lasted from about 1100 to 1500.

No one knows exactly why, but around 1500 English vowel sounds began to change. For example, the sound of sweet changed from swete to sweet. Word spelling, however, stopped changing. With the invention of the printing press, around 1450, people started to use standard spellings for the words. The language spoken after 1500 became known as Modern English.

Modern English is the English that we use today. The language continues to grow and to incorporate new words constantly, especially words related to science and technology.

Pre-reading Work

Ex.3. Transcribe and learn to read the following words and word combinations:

Indo-European, Shakespeare, throughout, epoch, Germanic origin, the Celtic language, Celts, the Central and Western Europe, Irish and Welsh, the Roman period, Latin, the Angles, the Saxons, the Jutes, Dutch, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, the Norman Conquest, William the Conqueror, science.

Ex.4. Read and translate the following text:

Text I

The Language of Shakespeare

The English language belongs to the Indo-European family and it is very old. It has changed very much throughout the centuries. If you had an opportunity to read Shakespeare, you could obviously notice the difference the English language spoken today and the one of his epoch.

Throughout history, other languages have influenced English. Though initially of Germanic origin, it has been in fact replaced around 500 B.C. by the Celtic language. Celts moved to Britain from the Central and Western Europe. The Celtic language evolved into the Irish and Welsh languages that are spoken today in some parts of the United Kingdom.

During the Roman period, A.D. – 43-400, Latin influenced the Celtic language, and some Latin words entered the Celtic language.

In 449 the Germanic tribes – the Angles, the Saxons and the Jutes, invaded Britain. All spoke dialects of a language that scholars call West Germanic. Other current West Germanic languages, along with English are Dutch and German. West Germanic was closely related to North Germanic, which survived today in the Scandinavian languages such as Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish. Originally, both West Germanic and North Germanic were the same language, called Germanic. They all spoke Old English, which replaced Celtic. Old English was spoken until the year 1000.The name term English goes back to the name of one of the Germanic tribes – the Angles.

During the Norman Conquest of 1066, William the Conqueror imposed a new government, and tried to impose on Britain the conquerors’ French. From then until about 1475, the language is called Middle English. During that time English was very much under the influence of French and thousands of French words entered the language.

Around the 1475 the English language began to change. A lot of sounds changed their pronunciation and spelling changed as well. Thus, the Modern English appeared. It suffered many changes since 1500 and it continues to develop. Development of science, technology and society in general brings new valuable additions to the language nowadays.

Ex.5. Pick out from the text the names of languages. Are all of them spoken nowadays?

Ex.6. What periods in the development of the English language do these dates refer to?

1475, 449, 500, 1500, 43-400, 1000

Ex.7. Match each group of word combinations with the period of the English language development:

1) Of Germanic origin, replaced, evolved into Irish and Welsh	a) Later changes in the English language
2) To impose French, Middle English, to be under the influence of French, numerous borrowings from French	b) The Norman Conquest
3) To change pronunciation and spelling, the Modern English, to suffer changes, to bring new additions	c) The Roman period
4) The influence of Latin on the Celtic language, many Latin words	d) The influence of the West Germanic languages
5) The Germanic tribes, to invade Britain, to speak dialects, to be closely related to, the Scandinavian languages, the same language, to replace Celtic	e) The influence of the Celtic language

Ex.8. Translate the following sentences into English making use of the topical vocabulary:

1) На протяжении своего развития английский язык претерпевал множество изменений, как в фонетике, так и в орфографии. 2) Многие европейские языки оказали влияние на английский язык. 3) В средние века на территории Великобритании проживало много племен, и существовало множество диалектов. 4) Английский язык относится к германской группе языков. 5) В течение долгого времени английский язык находился под влиянием французского языка. 6) Примерно в 500 г до н.э. язык, существовавший на территории Великобритании, был заменен Кельтским языком. 7) Период Нормандского завоевания можно назвать эпохойвлияния французского языка на английский. 8) Многие французские слова сохранились в английском языке до сих пор. 9) Многие новые слова относятся к сфере науки и технологии. 10) В 449 г. германские племена захватили Британию. 11) Название английского языка восходит к названию одного из германских племен – Англов. 12) Племена, которые завоевывали территорию Великобритании, навязывали местному населению свой язык.

Ex.9. Answer the questions on the text:

1) What are the periods of evolution of the English language called?

2) What languages influenced English during each of the periods?

3) What are the languages spoken on the territory of the United Kingdom today?

4) Why is English called the language of Shakespeare?

5) Why are languages in continuous change?

Ex.10. Retell the text using the following plan:

1) General characteristics of the English language.

2) The influence of the Celtic language on English.

3) The influence of the Latin language on English.

4) The influence of the West Germanic languages on English.

5) Changes in the English language during the Norman Conquest.

6) Later changes in the English language.

Ex.11. Read the Info Box. Try to recognize Old English and Middle English words in the passages given as examples, and provide their Modern English equivalents. How much can you understand out of these passages?

Info Box

Old English Period

The earliest Old English records date back from about the year 650. most surviving Old English manuscripts, however, are from the tenth and eleven centuries, including the single surviving manuscript of the epic poem Beowulf.

The English of these times is much different from that of today. The extract below is taken from records of English written documents of old times. The first lines of the Lord’s Prayer as written in the southwest of England about the year 1000 says: Faeder ure, thu the eart on heofenum, si thin nama gehalgod…

Middle English Period

Chaucer wrote during the Middle English period and died in the year 1400, the English is much more easily recognizable as the language we speak today. See below the famous opening couplet of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales:

What that Aprille with his shoures sote,

The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote.

Shakespeare, like Chaucer, wrote in the London dialect of English, so did other writers of his time. It is important to realize that more current editions of Shakespeare do not keep the original spellings. Here is a famous line from Hamlet as found in an edition printed in 1604 (the second Quarto edition: O that this too too sallied flesh would melt…)

Ex.12. Express your point of view on the following statement. Give reasons for your answer.

“Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” (Rita Mae Brown)

Section III

Pre-reading exercises:

Ex.1. Translate and transcribe the following words:

Equal, foreign, success, tongue, technical, scientific, glamour, audience

Ex.2. Practice the pronunciation of the following words.

[o]	[o:]	[ʌ]	[ә:]	[i:]	[iә]
belong	abroad	nothing	word	people	appear
almost	author	touched	world	speaker	hear
origin	talking	other	learn	deal	nearly
borrow	brought	some	third	least
colony	store	among	first	sea
	‘broadcasting	mother	church	tea
	‘audience	tongue		ex’ceed
		become		between
		company		medium
		us
		studying
		con’duct
		country

Ex.3. Read the following word combinations. Mind linking “r” at the juncture.

The answer is, there is, we are all interested, appear and die, are in English, the air and sea

Ex.4. Read and translate the text.

Text II

English Has no Equals!

Language belongs to each of us. Everyone uses words. What is it about the language that makes people so curious? The answer is that there is almost nothing in our lives that is not touched by language. We live in and by language. We all speak and we all listen: so we are all interested in the origin of words, in how they appear and die.

Nowadays it’s especially important to know foreign languages. Some people learn languages because they need them for their work, others travel abroad, for the third studying foreign languages is a hobby. Everyone, who knows foreign languages can speak to people from other countries, read foreign authors in the original, which makes your outlook wider. Knowledge of foreign languages helps us to develop friendship and understanding among people.

“Do you speak English?” – With this phrase begins the conversation between two people, who speak different languages and want to find a common language. It’s very good when you hear: “Yes, I do”, and start talking. English today is more widely spoken and written, than any other language has ever been. It has become the language of the planet, the first truly global language.

England’s history helps to understand the present condition of English. Many English words were borrowed from the language of Angles and Saxons. Hundreds of French words came into English. Many new words were brought by traders and travelers. These words came from all parts of the world: “umbrella” – from Italian, “skates” – from Dutch, “tea” – from Chinese, “cigar” – from Spanish. Some words came into English directly from Latin, which was the language of the church and the universities in the Middle Ages.

The rise of English is a remarkable success story. When Julius Caesar landed in Britain nearly two thousand years ago, English did not exist. Today English is used by at least 750 million people, and barely half of those speak it as a mother tongue. The native speakers of English live in Great Britain, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A lot of people speak English in China, Japan, India, Africa and other countries. As a second language it is used in the former British and US colonies. It is one of six official languages of the United Nations Organization.

Three-quarters of the world’s mail, and its telexes and cables, are in English. So are more than half the world’s technical and scientific periodicals. English is the medium for 80 per cent of the information stored in the world’s computers. Nearly half of all business deals in Europe are conducted in English. It is the language of sports and glamour: the official language of the Olympics and the Miss Universe Competition. English is the official voice of the air and sea, and of Christianity. The largest broadcasting companies in the world (CBS, NBS, ABC, BBC) transmit in English to audiences that regularly exceed one hundred million.

English has no equals! Dispute it if you can!

Vocabulary and Speech Exercises:

Ex.1. Pick out from the text all the proper names, transcribe and learn them.

Ex.2. Translate the following words and word combinations and reproduce the sentences in which they were used in the text:

Иностранные языки, Организация Объединенных Наций, путешествовать за границу, трансляционные компании, читать иностранных авторов в оригинале, замечательная история успеха, язык церкви и университетов, заимствовать слова, особенно важно, Юлий Цезарь, по меньшей мере, три четвертых мировой корреспонденции, начать разговор, научные периодические издания, язык моды, конкурс «Мисс Вселенная», язык Англов и Саксов, торговцы и путешественники, Средние Века, деловое соглашение, расширять кругозор, развивать дружбу и понимание, общий язык, почти половина из них, родной язык, язык Христианства, интересоваться происхождением слов, принадлежать каждому из нас, найти общий язык, всемирный язык, современное состояние, все части света, бывшие британские колонии, телексы и телеграммы, превышать сто миллионов.

Ex.3. Find in the text the synonyms for the following words:

Fashion, composer, newspapers and magazines, luck, public (n), point of view, identical, instrumentality, to conserve, previous, to argue, to surpass

Ex.4. Translate the following sentences into English making use of the vocabulary:

1) На каких языках говорят в бывших колониях США и Британии? 2) Английский язык – язык моды и Христианства. 3) Общение помогает развивать дружбу и понимание среди наций. 4) Современное состояние языка не такое, как в средние века. 5) Многие радиотрансляционные компаниивещают на английском языке. 6) В нашей республике три официальных языка: молдавский, русский и украинский. 7) В библиотеке нашего университета можно почитать технические и научные периодические издания. 8) Аудитория этого канала превышает 50 тысяч человек. Почти половина из них – дети. 9) На каком языке говорят представители стран, входящих в ООН? 10) Чтение периодических изданийрасширяет кругозор. 11) Мне интереснопроисхождение слов разных языков. 12) Многие деловые сделки в современном мире проводятся на английском языке. 13) Все люди имеют равные права. 14) Много слов было заимствовано из французского языка. 15) Вы читаете зарубежных авторов в оригинале? – Да, я трачу на чтение 2 часа в день. 16) Эта замечательная книга принадлежит мне.

Ex.5. Spell and transcribe the four forms of the following verbs:

Belong, use, make, touch, live, speak, listen, appear, die, learn, travel, know, read, help, begin, start, become, borrow, come, be, bring, land, exist, transmit, conduct, exceed, have.

Ex.6. Compose sentences of the following words making use of the Passive Voice:

e. g. English is spoken by many people nowadays – Present Simple Passive Voice. В настоящее время на английском говорят много людей.

1) language	is	touch
2) new poems	use
3) discovery channel	are	bring
4) this author	listen
5) business deals	was	learn
6) unknown words	know
7) the matter	were	make
8) new periodicals	start
9) business talks	will be	transmit
10) this dialect	conduct
11) this magazine	must be	speak
12) the question	read
13) this noise	can be	borrow

Ex.7. Answer the questions on the text:

1) Why do people learn foreign languages?

2) What makes your outlook wider?

3) In what way does knowledge of foreign languages help people?

4) Does knowledge of foreign languages or common traditions help people to develop friendship and understanding among people?

5) What language is considered to be common nowadays?

6) Is English or Mandarin Chinese the language of the planet?

7) What language can you start speaking when you come to a foreign country? What will be the first phrase?

8) What helps to understand the present condition of English?

9) Did English borrow words from the language of Angles and Saxons or Normans?

10) People of what professions brought new words to the vocabulary of the English language?

11) What was the language of the church and the universities in the Middle Ages?

12) Is the rise of English a remarkable success story?

13) When Julius Caesar landed in Britain the population there spoke English, didn’t it?

14) When did Julius Caesar land in Britain?

15) What is the number of people that use English as a mother tongue?

16) Where do the native speakers of English live?

17) Where is the English language used as a second language?

18) How many official languages are there in the United Nations Organization?

19) What language is mostly used for the half of the world’s technical and scientific periodicals?

20) In what way is English helpful for you to look for information in the Internet?

21) Are half of all business deals in Europe conducted in English or in Japanese?

22) What is the language of sports, glamour, Olympics and the Miss Universe Competition?

23) What language is used to send a signal of distress on board a plane or ship?

24) What is the number of audience to which broadcasting is transmitted in English?

25) What are the largest broadcasting companies?

Ex.8. Prepare the retelling of the text.

Text III

Pre-reading exercises:

Ex.1. Transcribe the following words and practice to read them:

To require, effort, to realize, recent, for example, nation, tongue, above, growth, century, society, bilingual, forced, purpose, entire, incredibly, enough, survey, to reinforce, either, further, scientist, retrieval, to surround, plant, potato, tobacco, tomato, musician, among, opera, operetta, piano.

English in the World

Today, when English is one of the main languages in the world, it requires an effort of the imagination to realize that this is a relatively recent thing – that in Shakespeare’s time, for example only a few million people spoke English, and the language was thought to be not very important by the other nations of Europe, and was unknown to the rest of the world.

English has become a world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outside England, in all the continents of the world. This exporting of English began in the seventeenth century, with the first settlements in the North America. Above all, it is the great growth of population in the United States, assisted by massive immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that has given the English language its present standing in the world.

People who speak English fall into one of three groups: those who have learned it as their native language; those who have learned it as a second language in a society that is mainly bilingual; and those who are forced to use it for a practical purpose – administrative, professional or educational. One person in seven in the world’s entire population belongs to one of these three groups. Incredibly enough, 75% of the world’s mail and 60% of the world’s telephone calls are in English.

Surveys of range of use of English carried out by UNESCO and other world organizations reinforce the general statistic impression. English is used as official or semi-official language in over 60 countries, and has a prominent place in a further 20. It is either dominant or well established in all 6 continents. According to conservative estimates, mother-tongue speakers have now reached 300 million, a further 300 million use it as a second language; and a further 100 million use it as a foreign language. Over two thirds of the world’s scientists write in English. Of all the information in the world’s electronic retrieval systems, 80% is stored in English. Over 50 million children study English as an additional language at primary level; over 80 million study it at secondary level (these figures exclude China). English radio programmes are received by over 50 million in 120 countries.

The English language surrounds us like a sea, and like the waters of a deep sea it is full of mysteries. English is and has always been constantly changing. Some words die, some change their meaning and all the time new words appear in the language.

There are several ways to add new words to the language. One of them is by borrowing words from other languages. In English there are many words that are borrowed from Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and other languages. When Columbus came back from the South America he brought home to Spain new plants – potatoes, tomatoes and tobacco. With the plants he brought their names. This is how these words appeared in Spanish and later were borrowed from it by the English language.

The words that are borrowed tell us about the countries they have come from. For example, many Italian words, that are now a part of English (opera, operetta, piano), have to do with music. This is natural as Italian musicians have always been among the most famous in the world. Many of the words that people borrow from other languages are names of food.

Vocabulary and Speech Exercises:

Дата добавления: 2015-10-23