Английский язык. Агабек (Агабекян И. П.), страница 33

For example, one is likely to usesomewhat more formal language when talking to superi­ors. While the informal «Hello» is an acceptable greet­ing from employee to employer, the employee is moreapt to say «Hello, Mr. Ferguson*, while the employermay reply «Hello, Jim*.275Английский языкCertain other forms of politeness are observed on so­cial occasions. Women may wear hats in church, in res­taurants, and often when attending luncheons in publicplaces and other public social functions expect those thattake place in the evening.

Men who do wear hats ordi­narily remove them in elevators, churches, restaurants,private homes, business offices — in fact, in most publicsituations when they wish to show respect.Приложение 2WILLIAM SHAKESPEAREThe last half of the XVI and the beginning of theXVII centuries are known as the golden age of Englishliterature. It was t h e time of the English Renaissance,and sometimes it is even called «the age of Shakespeare*.William Shakespeare, the greatest and most famous ofEnglish writers, and probably the greatest playwrightwho has ever lived, was born in Straford-on-Avon. Weknow very little about his life. The things that we knowabout Shakespeare's life begin with the date when hewas baptised in t h e church of Stratford, on April 26,1564, when he was only a few days old.

So he is believedto have been born on April 2 3 .Though little is known about William's childhood,there is every reason to believe that he was educated atthe local Grammar School. When little over eighteen hemarried Anne Halthaway of Shottery.William lived in Stratford until he was about twentyone, when he went to London. We do not know why heleft Stratf ord-on-Avon.There is a story that Shakespeare's first job in Londonwas holding rich men's horses at the theatre door. Butnobody can be sure that this story is true.Later, Shakespeare became an actor and a member ofone of the chief a c t i n g companies. Soon he began to277Английский языкПриложение 2write Plays for this company and in a few years becamea well-known author.Shakespeare's experience as an actor (although heusually acted only small parts, like the Ghost in Hamlet)helped him greatly in the writing of his plays. H i s knowl­edge of the stage and his poetical genius made his playsthe most wonderful ones ever written.Shakespeare's wrote 37 plays.

Among them there aredeep tragedies, such as Hamlet, King Lear, Othello,Macbeth, light comedies, such as All's Well That EndsWell, Twelfth Night, historical dramas, such as HenryIV, Richard III.Most of Shakespeare's plays were not published in hislifetime. So some of them may have been lost in the firewhen the «Globe» burned down in 1 6 1 3 .Shakespeare's spent the last years of his life at Strat­ford, where he died in 1616.

He was buried in the churchof Stratford. A monument was erected to the memory ofthe great playwright in the Poets Corner in WestminsterAbbey.CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUSIn the fifteenth century people knew only three conti­nents: Europe, Asia and Africa. They knew nothing aboutsuch a big continent as America.The man who was t h o u g h t to be the discoverer ofAmerica was born in 1451 in Italy. H i s name was Chris­topher Columbus. He probably worked as a weaver be­fore g o i n g to sea.At that time the life of a sailor was full of adventureand danger, so Columbus had many exciting experienc­es.

Once during a battle with a vessel off the coast ofPortugal, he had to leave his boat and swim to t h e shorea long distance away. He afterwards lived in Portugal anumber of years, and while there, he married the daugh­ter of a sea captain. For some time he earned his living,partly by making sea voyages, and partly by drawingmaps and selling them.Knowing that the earth was round, he decided to reachIndia by sailing to the west. It was very difficult forhim to organise his expedition as nobody wanted to helphim.

Many years after, the Spanish government gavehim some money for his expedition.In 1 4 9 2 he sailed with three small ships i n t o the At­lantic Ocean. They had been sailing for more than t w omonths. At last they saw land.When they landed they saw strange trees and flow­ers. Men and women with olive coloured skins gathered278279Английский языкaround them and looked at them with great surprise.Columbus was certain that the lands he discoveredwere part of India, and he called these islands the WestIndies. The people living there have been called Indianssince then, though they have nothing in common withthe real Indians — inhabitants of India.His last voyage was made in 1 5 0 2 - 1 5 0 4 .

After that,seriously ill, he remained in Spain until his death. Hedied believing that Cuba was part of Asia.Приложение 2ACID RAINSEvery year more and more plants and animals disap­pear never to be seen again. Strangely, it is the mostintelligent but most thoughtless animal that is causingmost of the problems — man.

Nature is very carefullybalanced and if t h i s balance is disturbed, animals candisappear alarmingly fast. Every day, thousands of spe­cies of animals draw closer to extinction.In many .lakes fish are dying. Fishermen are worriedbecause every year there are fewer fish and some lakeshave no fish at all. Scientists are beginning to get wor­ried too. W h a t is killing the fish?The problem is acid rain. Acid rain is a kind of airpollution. It is caused by factories that burn coal or oilor gas. These factories send smoke high into the air. Thewind often carries the smoke far from the factories. Someof the harmful substances in the smoke may come downwith the rain hundreds of miles away.The rain in many places i s n ' t natural and clean anymore.

It's full of acid chemicals. When it falls in lakes,it changes them too. The lakes become more acidic. Acidwater is like vinegar or lemon juice. It hurts when itg e t s in your eyes. It also kills t h e plants and animalsthat usually live in lake water. That is why the fish aredying in lakes.281Английский языкBut dead fish may be just the beginning of the prob­lem.

Scientists are finding other effects of acid rain. Insome large areas trees are dying. N o t just one tree hereand there, but whole forests. At first scientists couldn'tunderstand why. There were no bugs or diseases in thesetrees. The weather was not dry. But now they thinkthat the rain was the cause. Acid rain is making theearth more acidic in these areas.

Some kinds of treescannot live in the soil that is very acidic.Приложение 2THE STARS AND STRIPESThe history of Old Glory goes back to early colonialdays. The first banner used in the colonies was, of course,the standard English flag, consisting of a red cross on awhite field. The flags of the separate colonies followedthe same lines except that occasionally a pine tree, or ahemisphere, was figured in the upper left quarter of thecross.The beginning of the Revolution brought a flood ofsuggestions as to the design for a new standard. But itwas not until J u n e 14, 1777, that official action wastaken, when the Continental Congress passed a resolutionfixing the design as thirteen alternate red and whitestripes, and thirteen white stars on a blue field.

Eachstar and each stripe represented a state. As each newstate was admitted to t h e Union, a star and a stripe wereadded, but it was soon realized that the addition of manymore stripes would make the flag too bulky. Consequent­ly, after having been increased to fifteen, the numberof bars was reduced to the original number. But thenumber of s t a r s steadily increased, until the presentnumber of 50 equals the same number of s t a t e s .

Thestory goes that B e t t y Ross sewed the first flag, and itwas at her s u g g e s t i o n that five-pointed, instead of sixpointed, stars were used.283Английский языкWhile controversy continues as to why Congress se­lected this design, there is good reason to believe thatthe coat of arms of the Washington family, which con­tains both stars and stripes, furnished the inspiration.It is interesting to note that, prior to the adoption of anofficial flag, a banner frequently used bore the figure ofa rattlesnake, coiled to strike, with the motto, «Don»ttread on me.»Приложение 2WHAT QUALITY MEANSEven the dictionary finds it difficult to explain t h emeaning of the word quality. It has to use other wordslike excellence. W h y is quality so hard to define? Is itbecause it is such an abstract word and can mean somany different things? Or because i t s meaning dependsso much on what it describes? How can you define highquality when applied to the t h i n g s you buy, for example,a pop record, a pair of shoes, a meal in a restaurant?You'll probably have three different definitions of qualityfor the three different things.

Quality is also hard todefine because it can be such a subjective word — itmeans quite different things to different people, evenwhen t h e y u s e t h e word to describe the same t i l i n g .A Pink Floyd album may in your view have quality, b u tyour friend may consider that the same album is a wasteof good money. Yet .another problem is that the meaningof quality c h a n g e s over the years. Things which y o uthink have quality may not be seen in the same way byolder people. J u s t ask your grandmother what she thinksof the Stones? For example, consider the two ads. Bothadvertise clothes for men.

Advertisers stress the pointswhich they think sell quality to prospective buyers. Theselling points that are stressed in 1897 ad are durability,craftsmanship, dependability, tradition. W h a t about theideas of quality in the present-day ad? Present-day ads285Английский языкdo not talk about tradition or craftsmanship, dependabilityor durability.They stress the virtues of newness, of being different,sometimes of being way out. Cheapness may be empha­sized too, the fact that almost everyone can afford theproduct.