Imrove your communication skills

Ж.В. Кургузенкова
Л.В. Кривошлыкова

IMPROVE YOUR 
COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Учебное пособие для гуманитарных специальностей

Москва
Издательство «ФЛИНТА»
2020

УДК 811.111’271(075.8)
ББК 81.432.1-5я73
К93

Р е ц е н з е н т
д-р филол. наук, проф. кафедры английского языка факультета 
иностранных языков Московского государственного областного 
социально-гуманитарного института Л.Н. Лунькова

К93 

Кургузенкова Ж.В.
Imrove your communication skills [Электронный ресурс] : 
учебное пособие для гуманитарных специальностей / Ж.В. 
Кургузенкова, Л.В. Кривошлыкова. — М. : ФЛИНТА, 2020. — 
112 с.
ISBN 978-5-9765-4275-4
Учебное 
пособие 
предназначается 
для 
студентов, 
обучающихся на различных гуманитарных специальностях, с 
уровнем 
владения  английским 
языком 
не 
ниже 
уровня 
Intermediate. 
Тематика 
текстов, 
выступающих 
в 
качестве 
основного 
информационного 
ресурса, весьма разнообразна и 
современна: это проблемы добра и зла, смена пола, язык тела, 
межличностные отношения, глобализация и др. Пособие состоит из 
12 
уроков, 
включающих 
тексты 
из 
современных 
специализированных зарубежных изданий, все упражнения составлены таким образом, чтобы расширить и идиоматизировать 
словарный запас студентов-гуманитариев, научить их вести беседу 
с опорой на базовый тематический словарь.
Для 
аудиторной 
и 
самостоятельной 
работы 
студентовпсихологов, социологов, управленцев, а также для работы по 
программе 
«Переводчик 
в 
сфере 
профессиональной 
коммуникации».

УДК 811.111’271(075.8)
ББК 81.432.1-5я73

ISBN 978-5-9765-4275-4 
© Кургузенкова Ж.В., Кривошлыкова Л.В.,
 
 
2020
© Издательство «ФЛИНТА», 2020

СОДЕРЖАНИЕ

Предисловие  ....................................................................................................4

UNIT 1. People and Relationships  ...................................................................6

UNIT 2. Transformation in Family Relationships During Adolescence  ........15

UNIT 3. Home Schooling: Advantages vs. Disadvantages  ............................25

UNIT 4. Men and Women. Spot the Difference  .............................................34

UNIT 5. Taking on a New Lease of Life?!  .....................................................42

UNIT 6. Philip Zimbardo  ...............................................................................51

UNIT 7. Eysenck’s Personality Scales  ...........................................................58

UNIT 8. The Role of the Individual in World History  ...................................68

UNIT 9. The Psychology of Globalization  .....................................................79

UNIT 10. Why Do People Lie? How to Recognize a Lie?  ............................87

UNIT 11. Body Language  ..............................................................................94

UNIT 12. Generation Gap  ............................................................................102

Литература  ................................................................................................... 111
Использованные интернет-ресурсы  .......................................................... 111

ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ

Учебное пособие “Improve your communication skills” 
предназначенo, прежде всего, для студентов, обучающихся по 
направлению подготовки «Психология». Данное пособие, разработанное Ж.В. Кургузенковой и Л.В. Кривошлыковой, написано в соответствии с требованиями ФГОС ВПО к результатам 
освоения основных образовательных программ, а именно направлено на формирование у студентов-психологов следующей 
общекультурной компетенции (ОК-3): владение культурой научного мышления, обобщением, анализом и синтезом фактов и теоретических положений, а также владение иностранным языком 
в объеме, необходимом для работы с профессиональной литературой; навыкам взаимодействия и общения; организационноуправленческими навыками в профессиональной и социальной 
деятельности; нормами взаимодействия и сотрудничества; толерантностью, социальной мобильностью.
Данное учебное пособие может быть также использовано 
для проведения занятий по дисциплине «Иностранный язык 
 (английский)» со студентами, обучающимися по широкому 
спектру гуманитарных специальностей (социология, педагогика, связи с общественностью, зарубежное регионоведение).
Пособие состоит из 12 уроков, которые включают в себя 
аутентичный текст, комментарии к каждой главе, лексические 
упражнения, а также ситуации для обсуждения.
Несомненным достоинством данного учебного пособия является предложенный авторами корпус упражнений, направленных на развитие коммуникативных навыков учащихся. Каждый 
урок включает список из 12 заданий, направленных прежде всего на расширение словарного запаса учащихся, приобретение 
коммуникативных навыков в рамках заданных ситуаций. Достижению поставленных задач прежде всего способствуют сами 
тексты, выбранные авторами.
Подборка текстов в данном учебном пособии выгодно отличает его от других аналогичных изданий широтой охвата тем, 

актуальных для обучения широкого круга лиц, желающих связать свою будущую профессию с общением и/или управлением 
персоналом.
Тексты обусловили направленность всего корпуса упражнений, а именно: 1) поиск соответствия между термином и его 
определением; 2) поиск английских эквивалентов в тексте с 
целью выделения основного вокабуляра прочитанной статьи; 
3) работа с основным вокабуляром путем заполнения пропусков 
нужной лексической единицей; 4) поиск синонимов; 5) перевод 
с русского языка на английский с использованием основного 
вокабуляра; 6) воспроизведение ситуаций из текста, в которых 
фигурировал выделенный вокабуляр; 7) ответы на вопросы; 
8) беседа в рамках заданных ситуаций; 9) написание эссе на заданную тему; 10) пересказ текста.
Таким образом, учитывая тот факт, что одной из важнейших 
проблем методики преподавания иностранного языка является 
проблема оптимизации коммуникативного процесса, считаем, 
что данное пособие способствует работе с оригинальным текстом, активизирует речевую коммуникацию, а также оказывает 
воздействие на эмоциональную сферу студента, стимулирует 
его мыслительную деятельность, помогая сформировать коммуникативную компетенцию.

UNIT 1

People and Relationships

Relationship is defi ned as a state of connectedness between 
people. Although in today’s society with its crazy rhythm of 
everyday life, when people tend to live in densely populated 
megapolises, spending most of their time in the offi ce and hardly 
knowing their neighbor’s name, we still fi nd ourselves in some kind 
of a relationship — with friends, family, or colleagues.
Family relationships are the fi rst people’s relationships to enter into. 
Parents and relatives infl uence our emotional development by creating 
a model that we are sometimes bound to follow all our life, often 
subconsciously. People who have grown up in large happy families 
usually feel more emotionally secure than those, whose parents had 
gone through a divorce. For sure you know quite a few attractive and 
successful women who remain single for some “mysterious” reason. 
They often turn out to be victims of their past. Deep inside they 
cannot overcome the fear of being abandoned, that comes from their 
childhood, when one or both of their parents left them or just did not 
pay enough attention. A well-established young man can be scared of 
a commitment in a relationship as his parents’ family model failed to 
convince him that getting married makes one happy.
In daycare, at school, then in the offi ce we spend a lot of time 
among fellow students and coworkers. We learn to maintain business 
relationships, to work in a team environment, then form smaller 
groups of like-minded people and fi nally select some of them as our 
friends.
What is a true friendship? How does it start? Are we destined to 
become friends with certain people or can we actually plan whom to 
be friends with?

“Everybody’s friend is nobody’s”, said Arthur Schopenhauer. 
Unlike a companionship based on belonging to the same team or 
group, friendship is a very personal and selective type of people’s 
relationships. It calls for trust, sincerity, and emotional bonds. It’s 
not without reason that we call our friends our alter ego.
Sociologists believe that most of the people are looking for 
similarity of views, social status, and interests when choosing 
friends. No wonder that our friends are often people of the same 
age, sex, and education. Another important factor is joint activity 
and solidarity. This is the reason why many of us befriend their 
colleagues and people who work in the same fi eld.
Another underestimated common prerequisite for friendship is 
geographical proximity. If our friends move out of town or overseas, it 
is a very common reason why friendship falls apart. Maintaining a long 
distance friendship is a challenge, and not many of us pass this test.
Most people would agree that a friend is someone who would 
always listen and understand. “Understanding” in this context 
implies a lot of meanings — compassion, sympathy, and emotional 
closeness. It’s a process when your friend deciphers your emotional 
state, shares your feelings, identifi es himself / herself with you.
“Friendship is like money, easier made than kept”, said Samuel 
Butler. To maintain friendship we have to make an effort. Friendship 
can be time consuming and might require some sacrifi ce from our 
part — staying up all night comforting a girlfriend after a hard 
breakup, canceling you hairdresser’s appointment to babysit your 
friends’ kids, or taking care of someone’s pets. But friendship 
rewards us with a warm feeling of being there for someone, being 
important, being part of someone’s life.
The number of single people is growing every day, making modern 
psychologists question the need for a serious relationship between 
men and women. People are getting more and more self-suffi cient and 
don’t seem to need a life partner any longer. Now, when successful 
career and professional self-realization have become priority for fresh 
graduates, when taking maternity leave will take away your chances 
of ever catching up with your more successful and commitment-free 

coworkers, most people tend to delay settling down or even moving in 
with someone until their late thirties. And by this time many of them 
are so much used to living independently, that they fi nd a mere thought 
of living with someone or considering any kind of commitment 
repulsive. “I am not a marrying type. I am missing the bride gene”, 
says Carrie Bradshow in the “Sex and the City”, who has become a 
role model for many single women around the world.
It’s a reality we have to acknowledge — people become more 
and more alienated, introverted and scared of getting closer to each 
other. Does it seem familiar? Each gender is trying to make contact 
with the other side, but is becoming trapped and confused in the 
process. Like a beast who has come too close to a hot-wired electric 
fence, we’ve seen both men and women jump back and retreat from 
the opposite sex, because they are afraid of risking the potential pain 
of rejection. So they keep their distance.
However, psychological studies reveal that people who manage 
to maintain healthy relationships really have more happiness and 
less stress. There are simple ways to make relationships healthy, 
even though each one is different... boyfriends, girlfriends, parents, 
siblings, friends, colleagues, professors, roommates, and classmates.

WORDS AND WORD COMBINATIONS

dense — containing a lot of things or people close together
bound — feeling that you should do something because you are 
expected to, or because it is morally right, even if you do not really 
want to do it (be/feel bound to do something)
subconscious — relating to thoughts or feelings that you have but do 
not think about, or do not realize you have
divorce — to take legal action to end your marriage. (If two people 
agree to stop living together, but do not legally end their marriage, 
they separate)
turn out — to be discovered to be something, have something, etc.
abandon — to leave someone when you should stay with them and 
look after them
scared — frightened, or worried (scared of (doing) something)

commitment — a duty or responsibility that you have accepted
convince — to make someone believe that something is true
destined — certain to do smth., or certain to happen in the future 
(destined for, destined to do something)
trust — a feeling of confi dence in someone that shows you believe they 
are honest, fair, and reliable
sincerity — an honest way of behaving that shows that you really mean 
what you say or do
bonds — something that gives people or groups a reason to love one 
another or feel they have a duty to one another
befriend — to become the friend of someone and treat them in a kind way
underestimate — to think that someone has less power or ability than 
they really have
prerequisite — something that must exist or happen before something 
else is possible
proximity — how near something is to another thing, especially in 
distance or time
fall apart — if something such as an organization, agreement, or 
relationship falls apart, it no longer continues
compassion — a feeling of sympathy for someone who is in a bad 
situation because you understand and care about them
decipher — to succeed in understanding the meaning of something 
written in a secret system of letters or symbols called a code, to 
understand something mysterious or confusing
maintain — to make something stay the same
consume — to use a supply of something such as time, energy, or fuel
self-suffi cient — able to provide everything that you need by yourself, 
without help from other people
maternity leave — time before and after the birth of a baby when a 
woman is allowed to be away from her job
repulsive — someone or something that is repulsive is so unpleasant 
that you feel slightly ill when you see them or think about them
alienate — to make someone feel that they do not belong in a place or 
group
trapped — unable to change a bad situation or way of thinking

retreat — to avoid a dangerous, unpleasant, or embarrassing situation, 
especially by moving away from it
sibling — your siblings are your brothers and sisters

WORD STUDY

Exercise 1. Match the term and its defi nitions.

1
self-suffi cient 
a
unable to change a bad situation 
or way of thinking

2
decipher
b
how near something is to another 
thing, especially in distance or 
time

3
trapped 
c
something that must exist or 
happen before something else is 
possible

4
bound 
d
able to provide everything that 
you need by yourself, without 
help from other people

5
retreat 
e
to make someone feel that they 
do not belong in a place or group

6
maintain 
f
to understand something 
mysterious or confusing

7
prerequisite 
g
a feeling of sympathy for 
someone who is in a bad situation 
because you understand and care 
about them

8
compassion 
h
feeling that you should do 
something because you are 
expected to, or because it is 
morally right, even if you do not 
really want to do it