Practical Tasks

Task 1. Take a look at the word list below and get prepared to work with Video 9.1.

to draw up (plans)	to bring something to an end
to top up somebody’s savings	to be entitled to something
decent retirement
means testing (tested) system of social benefits

Task 2. Watch Video 9.1 and say what genre it is. Watch the clip again and say what the numbers in the box stand for.

£6 bln £97.65 £140 £156.15 £132

Task 3. Watch Video 9.1, fill in the gaps below to analyse grammatical features of the sentences you have restored.

1. Ministers …1-3… plans …4…

2. The government says its aim …1-3…

3. …1-3…. under the overhaul every pensioner will be entitled …4...

4. …1… means testing to an end …2… produce…3…

Task 4. Watch Video 9.2, answer the questions below, do the required tasks.

1. What genre is the piece?

2. What sphere of life does it reflect?

3. How is it linked with Video 9.1? And with Audio 7.2?

4. Identify special terms in the clip, translate them into Russian.

5. Write down all numbers you came across in the clip.

Task 5. Take a look at the word list below and get ready to work with Video 9.3.

Fire and Rescue Service

derailment

to be precariously balanced over (something)

Task 6. Watch Video 9.3 and answer the questions.

1. What genre is the video?

2. How many parts can you divide the piece into? What is the criteria for this?

3. How does the news presenter cope to maintain such a high tempo of reading the news?

Task 7. Watch Video 9.3 again. What grammatical tenses are used in the piece? In some cases traditional grammatical rules are broken. Why is it the case? Fill in the gaps in the sentences below.

1. Let’s just bring you some breaking news that …1-2… in to us from Strathclyde Fire and Rescue. They …3-4… tonight they …5-6… the …7… of a train that was …8… to Oban in Scotland. Two …9…, we …10-11…, are precariously balanced over a …11-13…. We …14-15… this is in a …16-17…. Police say the …18-19… near Somefalls.

2.We …1-3… to get some more information about this …4-5….

3. But we …1-2…, as you can see there, the …3-4… are precariously balanced.

4.We …1-2… the impression that certainly, this line …3-4…and these train carriages …5-6...over there.

Task 8. Make up a list of words typical of spontaneous discourse (e.g. pause fillers, repetitions, etc.) you came across in Video 9.3 and write them down.

Task 9. How does the journalist pass over to reading the next news item. What word does he use?

Task 10. Watch Video 9.4, determine its genre. Listen closely to the reporter’s comment to identify words typical of spontaneous talk. What are they? Fill in the gaps in the sentences below to get the idea.

1. Last week she did have to miss out on her 85th birthday party held at …1… …2… because she was suffering from the flu. Now we understand she hasn’t …3… recovered …4… from that illness yet.

2. Lady Thatcher’s …1… been in good health over the years. She’s suffered …2… minor strokes, but …3… she has been attending public events like the recent visit of the Pope.

Task 11. Why does the reporter begin her piece with We understand she hasn’t…? What does the verb understand imply here?

Task 12. What grammatical constructions can you identify in Video 9.4? Which of themaretypical of media discourse? Fill in the gaps in the sentences below to get the idea.

1. They recommended that she come into hospital really as a precautionary measure for checks. Now a spokesman has said that she is not suffering from a serious condition. …1-4… that she stays in overnight. But …5-7… that she will be allowed home in a day or so.

2. So …1-3… she will recover from this illness, …4-6… flu infection that she has suffered from last week, as I say.

Task 13. Watch Video 9.4 againandfind several colloquial words in it. Write them down.

Task 14. What grammatical tense is widely used in Video 9.4? What is the role of the word meanwhile in this piece?

Task 15. Prove that Video 9.4 is emotionally charged (find several lexical and grammatical means to state it).

Task 16. Watch Video 9.5, determine its genre. Answer the questions below and do the required tasks.

1. What is the idea of the clip?

2. Where was the report filed? In what county? (Transcribe the lead to get the idea).

3. Identify all proper names in the clip.

Task 17. Finish the sentences below using the information of Video 9.5.

1. Her Majesty arrived in very different circumstances from …

2. King John was a …1…, arguably one of the country’s …2…

3. He was forced to give a Royal approval to a treaty …

4. Magna Carta has been much …

5. – In 1215, you know, the monarchy …

6. – Those barons came very near to …

7. … was shown a symbol of Magna Carta’s legacy – the jury system – trial by one’s peers rather …

8. – For those who drafted the US Constitution the significance …

9. – Its influence helped shape a political system that enshrines …1…, …2…

10. But the fact that fading words on 13^th century’s patchment can still inspire these things suggest …

Task 18. Watch Video 9.6, identifyits genre, determine its idea. Find all realia in the piece.

Task 19. What do the numbers in the box stand for? Restore the sentences in which they are used (in Video 9.6).

1215 800 1216 2/3 13

Task 20. Fill in the gaps in the sentences below, translate them into Russian.

1. It was actually the greatest …1… in the history of the …2…, apart from the …3… of Charles I.

2. And …1-2… itself, that thing that was …3-4… years ago was a compete …5….

3. It was intended to end a …1-2… between the …3-5… and it led not only to its renewal but actually to a …6-7….

4. The …1-2… of …3…, which is the …4-5… we’re celebrating, is only the …6-7… of the lengths of …8….

5. You …1-2… everything that’s …3-4…, that’s …5…, that’s …6….

6. And instead you …1-2… with a classic …3-4… – nobody …5-6… what they want, everybody’s …7-10… a little bit but everybody …11-12… – the …13… get something, the …14… get something, the …15…gets something, the …16-17… get something, the …18… get something.

7. I think if the …1-2… of …3… …4-8… we wouldn’t have a …9….

8. We’d have a …1-3…, a bit like …4….

9. And the importance of those years of the …1-2… really is that they …3-4…, that they …5-7… of the …8-10… into which, of course, …11… and the rest of the …12-13… were eventually …14….

Task 20. How does Video 9.5 overlap with Video 9.6?

Task 21. Watch Video 9.7, highlight its central idea. Use the gapped questions to guide younin your answers.

1. What ……?

2. Why……?

3. Editor-in-Chief’s view ……?

4. Critics say (what?) ……?

Task 22. Fill in the gaps in the sentences below. Make linguistic analysis of the restored sentences.

What does an idiom to cut to the chase mean? Find its Russian equivalent.

1. It came …… the presses this morning.

2. …1… is aimed at people who are …2-3… but still want to read a quality newspaper.

3. So, …1-3…, stories in here will …4-7….

4. But at 20p it’s also …1-2… than its …3… paper.

5. It …1… to the question, if this one is …2…, will it be …3-5… of that one?

6. “No… Both papers are...1… for...2… different …3…, they are in …4-5… parts of the...6…”

7. But The Independent, now …1… at a pound, …2-3… its circulation …4… steadily.

8. The editor says that makes this new offering …1-2…, something …3-5… could not be said of footballers.

Task 21. Do you know what the following names mean: the FT, FTSE, Nikkei?

Now watch Video 9.8 to get its idea.

Task 22. Watch Video 9.8 and close the gaps below.

1. The FT’s pages are of … colour [use two adjectives denoting two notions].

2. The FT’s purchase is a … asset.

3. The FT’s journalists … about the buyer’s identity.

4. – In down to the fact, of course, that …1… over here is named after...2….

5. Pierson doesn’t open its books to ….

6. … Its readership, predominantly …1… with lots of money to spend.

7. But the FT is a …1…. It introduced a...2… in 2007.

8. Long time editor Lione Barber doesn’t expect a ….

Task 23. Watch Video 9.8 again and restore the three dialogues of the report in writing.

Task 22. Watch Video 9.9 and transcribe it.What genre is it?

Task 23. What can you say about Videos 9.7 – 9.9 in terms of their content?

Task 24. Watch Video 9.10 and answer the questions.

1. What genre is the clip?

2. What problem is being discussed?

3. What are the panelists’ posts?

Unit 10

BROADCAST NEWS MEDIA DISCOURSE: LEXICAL FEATURES

English news broadcast media discourse is characterised by lexical features similar to those of print media discourse. These features fall into two large groups: standardising and expressive ones.

Standardising lexical units of English news broadcast media discourse list:

- neutral literary lexical units;

- book style words (or bookish words);

- special words referring to a particular sphere of use (business, politics, law, military, science, education, ecology, culture, sports), including the names of organisations, establishments, parties and other associations in their full or abbreviated form;

- neologisms;

- culturally marked words (realia);

-clichés (they take an intermediate position between idioms and free collocations)1:

to be too little too late – слишком поздно и в недостаточном объеме

to be on the increase – увеличиваться

to be under threat – быть под угрозой

to claim lives – стоить жизней (вести к потерям)

to go ahead – продолжать

in earnest – всерьез, старательно

to lag behind – отставать, запаздывать, волочиться

to make one`s way – двигаться вперед

to make headlines – стать объектом внимания прессы / попасть в газеты

to pin hopes on – возлагать надежды на

to pose threat – представлять угрозу

to take to the streets – выйти на улицу (для выражения протеста, несогласия)

safe heaven – надежное, безопасное место

to voice concern – высказывать озабоченность

in the run up (to) – в преддверии чего-л

in the wake of – по пятам, следом / в кильватере

Expressive lexical units English news broadcast media discourse list idioms, colloquial words (including phrasal verbs; colloquial idioms, slang and vulgar words, shortened words), intensifiers and emotively charged literary words (epithets, metaphors, similes, etc.).

Proverbs are of limited use in English broadcast news media discourse, being considered to be trite and banal expressions. The so-called deformed proverbs1, however, can be found in television and radio discourse. For example, the proverb to make hay while the sun shines can be changed either into while the sun is shining or making hay out of something:

a) But the Conservatives are bound to do whatever they can while the sun is shining (Sky News);

b) The Tories should be making hay out of it (Sky News).

Sometimes both parts of a proverb undergo changes, being subject to transformation or even a total replacement:

a) A curry aday keeps arthritis at bay (Sky New s);

b) This is a haystack. Now try to find a needle (Sky News).

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14