Life in the USA. Практикум по чтению лингвострановедческих текстов

                    А.Ф. Артемова
                    Е.О. Леонович



LIFE IN THE USA
Практикум по чтению лингвострановедческих текстов





Учебное пособие




2-е издание, стереотипное








Москва Издательство «ФЛИНТА» 2019

                УДК 811.111(075.8)
                ББК 81.2я73
                А86








          Артемова А.Ф.
     А86         Life in the USA. Практикум по чтению лингвострановедческих
          текстов: учеб. пособие / А.Ф. Артемова, Е.О. Леонович. — 2-е изд., стер. — М. : ФЛИНТА, 2019. — 241 с.

             ISBN 978-5-9765-4336-2

              В пособие входят оригинальные страноведческие материалы (реклама, объявления, афиши, информационные бюллетени, описание бытовых приборов и др.), отражающие различные стороны жизни в США. Пособие также содержит страноведческие комментарии и ключи ко многим упражнениям.
              Книга включает тексты по следующим темам: «Американские газеты», «Политика», «Путешествия и туризм», «Развлечения», «Словари и энцикло-педии» и др.
              Для студентов языковых вузов, лингвистических факультетов университетов, учащихся старших классов школ с углубленным изучением английского языка, а также для всех, кто хотел бы усовершенствовать навыки чтения на английском языке и узнать больше о жизни в США.

УДК 811.111(075.8)
ББК 81.2я73

          ISBN 978-5-9765-4336-2

© Артемова А.Ф., Леонович Е.О., 2019
© Издательство «ФЛИНТА», 2019

    CONTENTS




ВВЕДЕНИЕ

5

Section 3
                             FACT SHEETS

Section 1
READING AND UNDERSTANDING
AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS

3.1. Fitness Exercises..................... 59

3.2.  Coffee Makers......................... 61
3.3.  Washing Machine Instructions........... 63
3.4.  Cars.................................. 65

  1.1. Editorial........................... 11
  1.2. Worship Directory................... 13
  1.3. Classified Ads...................... 15
  1.4. Volunteers.......................... 17
  1.5. Sport Advertisements................ 19
  1.6. Auctions............................ 21
  1.7. Lunches............................. 23
  1.8. Book Reviews and Best-Sellers List... 25
  1.9. Calendar............................ 27
 1.10.  Valentine Ad, Astrology............ 29
 1.11.  Weather............................ 31


Section 2
POLITICS AND PUBLIC ACTIVITIES

  2.1. The Constitution of the United States

Section 4
TRAVEL AND TOURISM


  4.1. Potomac River Cruises............. 69
  4.2. Travelers Tips for the Gulf....... 71
  4.3. Hotels............................ 73
  4.4. Amtrak’s Timetable................ 75
  4.5. Baggage........................... 77
  4.6. Subway Timetable.................. 79
  4.7. Rockefeller Center at a Glance..... 81
  4.8. Howard Johnson Inn................ 83
  4.9. Washington-Arlington Cemetery Tour.... 85
4.10. Maryland: Calendar of Events (I)... 87
4.11. Maryland: Calendar of Events (II)... 89

     of America (the opening sections).. 35
2.2. Amendments to the Constitution of the USA................................ 37
2.3. The Clinton Administration........ 39
2.4. US Permanent Representative to the United Nations.................. 41
2.5. Voter Registration Application..... 43
2.6. Men Age 18 through 25 Must
     Register with the Selective Service System............................ 45
2.7. Memorandum to the People of Central City........................... 47
2.8. City Government Offices........... 49
2.9. Notice of Public Hearing.........  51
2.10. Congresswoman Norton Speaks Out On:................................ 53
2.11. Ann Arundel County Department of Social Services..................... 55

Section 5
CONSUMER GOODS AND SERVICES


  5.1. Televisions...................... 93
  5.2. Video Recorders.................. 95
  5.3. Electric Appliances.............. 97
  5.4. Chain Restaurants................ 99
  5.5. Electrical Equipment............ 101
  5.6. National Classified Advertising.. 103
  5.7. Sale............................ 105


Section 6
ENTERTAINMENT

  6.1. Radio & Television.............. 109
  6.2. What’s On (I)................... Ill

6.3. What’s On (II).................... 113
6.4. What’s On (III) .................. 115
6.5. What’s On (IV).................... 117
6.6. What’s On (V)..................... 119
6.7. Movie Directory................... 121
6.8. The Frick Collection.............. 123
6.9. The Arts.......................... 125

9.12. Who Must Register............... 177
9.13. In Your Community............... 179
9.14. Braun Hairdryer................. 181


Section 10
WORKAND STUDY

Section 7
FOOD


  7.1. McDonald’s...................... 129
  7.2. The Menu........................ 131
  7.3. You’re Invited.................. 133
  7.4. Herb & Spice Chart.............. 135
  7.5. Useful Hints.................... 137
  7.6. One Hour Stew................... 139
  7.7. Lactose Intolerance............. 141

Section 8
DICTIONARIES AND ENCYCLOPAEDIAS

  8.1. Checking Words and Pronunciation ... 145
  8.2. Dictionary Extract.............. 147
  8.3. Bicycle.......................   149
  8.4. Finding Words in a Dictionary.... 151

Section 9
DAILY LIFE AND HOME CHORES

  9.1. Mover’s Guide................... 155
  9.2. Change of Address Form: Instruction ... 157
  9.3. Yellow Pages.................... 159
  9.4. Why Should I Have an Access Card? .... 161
  9.5. Are Computers Dangerous?......... 163
  9.6. Reporting Accidents............. 165
  9.7. Cathedral Volunteers............ 167
  9.8. What You Need to Know About Sexual Harassment.............. 169
  9.9. Food & Diet..................... 171
9.10. Application for Membership........ 173
9.11. Driving under the Influence....... 175

10.1 . Schedule of Work Hours........ 185
10.2 . Rules of Employee Conduct..... 187
10.3 . New Employee First Day Check List.... 189
10.4 . Employee Housing Rental Agreement............................ 191
10.5 . Absenteeism/Attendance........ 193
10.6 . Dress Code.................... 195
10.7 . Assessment Form............... 197


Section 11
MONEY AND INSURANCE


11.1. Income Tax Return................. 201
11.2. Insurance......................... 203
11.3. Checking Statement................ 205
11.4. Federal Law — Cash Transactions over $10,000 ........................... 207
11.5. Regulation and Disclosure......... 209
11.6. “First” Visa Check Card........... 211
11.7. How to Make Money Working
       Freelance for Translation Companies ... 213


Section 12
MAPS AND PLANS


12.1. Virginia..................... 217
12.2. The Mall..................... 219
12.3. Bird-in-Hand Bake Shop....... 221
12.4. Eby’s Pequea Farm............ 223
12.5. Area Map..................... 225



GENERAL NOTES...................... 226
NOTES TO SECTIONS.................. 230
KEYS ..............:............... 237

ВВЕДЕНИЕ

    Как правило, существующие учебные пособия по чтению на английском языке (включая пособия по аналитическому чтению) в основе своей представляют собрания либо коротких рассказов, либо отрывков из различных художественных произведений, т. е. ориентируют обучаемого на знакомство в первую очередь с образцами литературных произведений.
    Актуальность настоящего пособия определяется тем, что оно вводит в учебный процесс не литературные, художественные или публицистические и научные тексты, а образцы — примеры тех текстов, с которыми повседневно сталкиваются в своей жизни миллионы американцев. Инструкции по пользованию бытовыми приборами и листовки избирательных кампаний, расписания поездов и прогноз погоды, программы ТВ и радиопередач, меню ресторанов и кафе, туристские брошюры, объявления и реклама, таможенные декларации и дорожные указатели, каталоги и проспекты, карты, схемы — с этими и еще с сотнями подобных текстов ежедневно имеют дело жители Соединенных Штатов.
    В пособии впервые делается попытка собрать

подобный материал и применить его в практике преподавания. Пособие выполняет задачу восполнить серьезный пробел в учебной литературе по чтению на английском языке и обеспечивает встречу студентов, во-первых, с новыми источниками, являющимися носителями страноведческой информации, и, во-вторых, предъявляет эту информацию в той форме, в которой она существует в реальной жизни. Кроме того, многие отдельно взятые тексты имеют и познавательный интерес и могут служить отправной точкой для более детального обсуждения тем страноведческого характера.
    Предлагаемое учебное пособие в большей части отражает реалии США, хотя в ряде разделов используются и британские реалии.

Введение

6

NOTES FOR TEACHERS

    «Практикум по чтению лингвострановедческих текстов» provides a wide range of

reading skills and activities, including information extraction, skimming and scanning.

1. SKIMMING

     If you want to find information quickly, see what the text is about, check if it contains the information you need or simply find out if it is interesting, then you will have to skim it. Skimming is a way of reading a text quickly to get a general understanding. One of the easiest ways to skim-read is to look at the centre section of a text and then to run your eyes down the centre area, letting them move around .the page. Remember. skimming is not reading every word, but reading very quickly to get general ideas about a text. Skim-reading cannot replace careful reading.
     You may ask your students to try this exercise: take

a text (it may be a news report or a reference article about some writer taken from the book cover or from an encyclopaedia; its length shouldn’t exceed 150-170 words). Skim it for about 20 seconds. Now close the text and try to write down as many things as you remember about the text. When you have done that, talk about the text with the person sitting next to you — check the words you have written down and see if you can remember anything else. You will be surprised at how many words and pieces of information you have remembered after just 20 seconds!

2. SCANNING

    Scanning is a way of reading a text to get a piece of information — a date or a name etc. — or a way of finding out if a text contains the information you need (for example, you are reading a text on cooking and you want to know if it tells you how to make bread). Scanning is very useful for finding information in indexes, catalogues and contents pages in books. To scan a text you can either:
a)  use the same way as skimming - looking at the centre section and letting your eyes move about over the page until you see the name or piece of information you are looking for;
b)  read the text as quickly as possible (from left to right) just looking for the information you need. There is no need to stop for words you don’t understand or at this stage to worry about the meaning because you are only looking for a single piece of information.
    Another exercise you can give your students.
Look at the list of TV programmes for the ABC, CBS and NBC. Scan the programmes to find the information needed to complete the exercise.
a)  When can you hear the “Local News”?
b)  Write down the starting times of these programmes: Beverly Hills, 90210;
    The West Wing;

     Law & Order;
     Late Show with David Letterman.
c)  You switch on the TV at the following times. What programmes do you have? 10.30, 8.00, 11.00, 12.00 d) How many times can you have “Local Programming”?
     The following are suggestions for exploiting the texts in class for individual reading practice and group work which we have found useful.

     1. Pre-reading activities
     Learners may be prepared for the text in various ways. Some possibilities:
a)  Learners are encouraged to form certain expectations about the text based on clues from accompanying pictures or photographs.
b)  Necessary or helpful background information is provided or recalled, e.g. What do you know about... ? Do you remember... ?
c)  Learners reorder a list of jumbled sentences which contain the main points from the text.
d)  A broadly-similar type of text which introduces key vocabulary and expressions is studied beforehand.
e)  A listening text on the same topic is presented.

Введение

7

f)  Learners first read a similar text in their mother tongue; the two versions are compared.
g)  Learners are given the theme of the text. They try to anticipate some of the main points and offer their own ideas in a pre-reading discussion.
h)  Key words are supplied and learners try to guess what the text might be about.

    2. While-reading activities
a)  Deducing meaning — analogy, context, word formation, previous knowledge, etc.
b)  Questioning: multiple-choice, true/ false, Wh-questions, etc.
c)  Recognizing — the main idea in each paragraph, quotes from the text (e.g. Where in the text does it say:             all the words relating to a particular
    theme in the text, grammatical features.
d)  Ordering: jumbled paragraphs or sentences; a jumbled sequence of pictures associated with the text; two distinct texts which are jumbled and presented together.
e)  Following instructions.
f)  Comparing.
g)  Note-taking.
h)  Completing: expanding a short headline into a complete sentence, finishing an incomplete sentence or paragraph, correcting mistakes or contradictions in a text, doing a crossword, filling in a questionnaire.
i)  Decision-making: reading a travel brochure and choosing the most suitable holiday with particular interests.

    3. Post-reading activities
    Learners may be asked:
a)  to express their views on the subject of the text and relate it to their own experience.

b)  to create a similar text modelled on the one just read, undertake a project on the theme of the text.
c)  to recreate the text, e.g. reconstruct it from key words, write a summary.
d)  to exploit the text for grammar and vocabulary learning, e.g. find verbs to correspond to selected adjectives or nouns, find synonyms and antonyms for words, etc. *
    Some of the exercises in this book lend themselves to being used as group reading exercises which automatically generate group discussion, questions and communication. Some of the ways in which we have used the texts are listed below:
a)  each group has the same text with different parts or items of information missing. Students have to answer as many questions as possible using the information available to their group.
b)  it is possible to give the full texts and answers and set the task of framing the questions, based on the text, which would provide the given answers.
c)  timed exercises. By giving the group a time limit within which the various tasks and exercises have to be completed, the teacher can, by keeping the record of the times, check the competence and general reading ability of the students and at the same time make the texts more challenging and motivating.
    Each section of the given book covers aspects of vocabulary work, and teachers can obviously add to these sections and extend the range of vocabulary covered according to the needs and competence of their students.

1 Taken from J. Shells. Communication in the Modem Languages Classroom. Council of Europe Press, 1993.

Section 1


        READING AND UNDERSTANDING AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS


           1.1. Editorial
           1.2. Worship Directory
           1.3. Classified Ads
           1.4. Volunteers
           1.5. Sport Advertisements
           1.6. Auctions
           1.7. Lunches
           1.8. Book Reviews and Best-Sellers List
           1.9. Calendar
           1.10. Valentine Ad, Astrology
           1.11. Weather

Section 1

Guys are scum; just look at how they do laundry

I have here a letter from Alison Schuler of Albuquerque, N.M.
(motto: “The City That Is Probably Spelled Wrong”). Ms. Schuler is concerned about the issue of How Guys Do Laundry. She relates the

A single-sock load would not be out of the question, for a guy. A guy might well choose to wash only the really dirty part of the sock.

Dave Barry

Knight-Ridder Newspapers

following anecdote:
    “My husband announced one morning that he had discovered the previous night, on the eve of a two-day business trip, that he was out of underwear. Why he told me, I do not know. I never tell HIM when I’M out of

underwear. Anyway, he decided to remedy the situation in true guy fashion, by washing exactly three sets of underwear, thus disregarding the bulging hamper full of the rest of his underwear, which, presumably, would wash itself during his absence.”
     Ms. Schuler’s letter serves to remind us of the importance of not engaging in sexist stereotyping. We must never make blanket genderbased statements such as: “Men always hog the blanket.” Just because Ms. Schuler’s husband doesn’t do the laundry, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t millions upon millions of males who DO do the laundry, then hang it out to dry under the three suns of the Planet Xoomar, where they live. Most males here on Earth, however, do not do any more laundry than they absolutely have to. A single-sock load would not be out of the question, for a guy. A guy might well choose to wash ONLY THE REALLY DIRTY PART OF THE SOCK.
     At first glance, this behavior might seem to be reprehensible, but in fact there’s a simple, logical explanation for it: Men are worthless scum.
     No, seriously, the explanation is that many men are AFRAID to do laundry, especially laundry

belonging to people of other genders, because they (the males) might get into Big Trouble. I know I would. In our household we have a lot of sensitive garments with laundering-instruction tags full of strict instructions like:
    DO NOT MACHINE WASH. DO NOT USE BLEACH. DO NOT USE HOT WATER. DO NOT USE WARM WATER. DO NOT USE ANY WATER. DO NOT TOUCH THIS GARMENT WITHOUT SURGICAL GLOVES. PUT THIS GARMENT DOWN IMMEDIATELY, YOU CLUMSY OAF.
    I’m intimidated by these instructions. I developed my laundering skills in college, where I used what laundry scientists call the Pile System, wherein you put your dirty undershorts on the floor until they form a waist-high pile, thus subjecting the bottom shorts to intense heat and pressure that causes them to become, over several months, clean enough to wear if you’re desperate and spray them with Right Guard brand deodorant.
    As a married person, I use the Hamper System, which is similar to the Pile System except that the clothes really do get clean, thanks to magical hamper rays.
    No, I of course realize that hamperized clothes are cleaned by a person such as my wife, Beth, or Alison Schuler of Albuquerque, N.M. But I also know that Beth follows a complex procedure involving sorting and pre-soaking and 27 different combinations of water temperatures and chemical compounds such as fabric softener, stain remover, fabric hardener, cream rinse, plutonium, etc. Beth wouldn’t LET me do her laundry unless I underwent years of training, because she assumes I’d screw it up and cause our garments to shrink down to cute little Tinkerbell clothes, or transmaterialize in the

dryer, similar to what happened to that unfortunate man in the movie “The Fly,” so we’d wind up with, for example, a brassiere that had pant legs.
    Beth’s reluctance to let me near the laundry is typical of the vast majority of American women, according to a nationwide survey of several other women I know. A typical reaction came from my research department, Judi Smith, who gave the following statement regarding her husband, Tim, a Ph.D. college professor.
    “I don’t trust him to do my laundry at ALL, unless I’ve sorted it first and given him strict instructions before each and every load, because otherwise everything we own would be mauve or gray... He puts his clothes away damp. He can’t put away anyone else’s clothes, because he can’t fold. I mean, the man can’t fold a TOWEL for God’s sake. Somehow, he can’t get the comers to match up. A HAND towel, even.”
    I repeated Judi’s statement to Beth, who emitted the bitter humorless laugh of a woman who has more than once watched her husband turn a basic shirt into a prizewinning origami project.
    I’m not defending men here. I’m just saying that a lot of us view ourselves as laundry-impaired, and we’ll probably continue to do so as long as women roll their eyes and shove us away from the washing machine when we’re about to, for example, wash our delicate silks in the same load as our boat cover. So I’m saying to women: Teach us to launder. We are willing to learn, really, just as soon as the play-offs are over. Give us a chance to show what we are capable of. And definitely buy stock in whatever company makes Right Guard.