The Linguistic Culture-2 (british media) (1157929), страница 7
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t is reported in numerous books and Highland games programs, that King MalcolmIII of Scotland, in the 11th century, summoned contestants to a foot race to the summit of CraigChoinnich . King Malcolm created this foot race in order to find the fastest runner in the land tobe his royal messenger. Some have seen in this apocryphal event the origin of today's modernHighland games.During various times of English occupation, from before the Wars of Independence to thesuppression after the Jacobite wars, the men of Scotland were forbidden to bear or train witharms, in an attempt to prevent another popular Scottish uprising.
Scots continued to train for war;they simply did so with the implements of war replaced with the implements of the Highlandgames. Certain aspects of the games are so well known as to have become emblematic ofScotland, such as the bagpipes, the kilt, and the heavy events, especially the caber toss. Whilecentred on competitions in piping and drumming, dancing, and Scottish heavy athletics, thegames also include entertainment and exhibits related to other aspects of Scottish and Gaelicculture.
In the Highlands families or clans started the Games hundreds years ago. Some of thesports are international: the high jump and the long jump, for example. But other sports happenonly at the Highland Games. One is tossing the Caber. “Tossing” means thowing, and the caberis a long, heavy piece of wood. In tossing the caber you lift the caber(it can be five or six metrestall) and then you throw it as further as you could. Scottish hammer throw: This event is similarto the hammer throw as seen in modern-day track and field competitions, though with somedifferences. In the Scottish event, a round metal ball (weighing 16 or 22 lb for men or 12 or 16 lbfor women) is attached to the end of a shaft about 4 feet in length and made out of wood,bamboo, rattan, or plastic.
With the feet in a fixed position, the hammer is whirled about one'shead and thrown for distance over the shoulder. Hammer throwers sometimes employ speciallydesigned footwear with flat blades to dig into the turf to maintain their balance and resist thecentrifugal forces of the implement as it is whirled about the head. This substantially increasesthe distance attainable in the throw.1.
Answer the following questions1. What plays written by W.Shakespeare do you know?2. When is Guy Fawkes night celebrated?3. Which more recent modern rock groups do you know?4. What events take place at Scottish Highland Games?1. Many of the more recent successful forms, subgenres, and artists of rock and pop musichave originated or found their greatest success in the UK.3.Choose the correct one from the three possibilities1. An Englishman`s home is his … a)security b)castlec)mansion2.
Many …. make light work. a) servants b) hands c) cooks3.Birds of a … flock together. a)family b)cage c)feather2. Однако, большинство английских сказок существовали только в устной форме.3. Сказки с одинаковыми сюжетами героями можно обнаружить практически во всехкультурах.4.Баллады можно считать богатым источником информации об истории, общественнойжизни, чувствах и ценностях англичан.5.
Фольклор является неотъемлемой частью британской культуры.TheatreFrom its formation in 1707, the United Kingdom has had a vibrant tradition of theatre,much of it inherited from England and Scotland. Theatre was introduced from Europe to Englandby the Romans and auditoriums were constructed across the country for this purpose. By themedieval period theatre had developed with the mummers' plays, a form of early street theatreassociated with the Morris dance, concentrating on themes such as Saint George and the Dragonand Robin Hood.
These were folk tales re-telling old stories, and the actors travelled from townto town performing these for their audiences in return for money and hospitality. The medievalmystery plays and morality plays, which dealt with Christian themes, were performed atreligious festivals. The reign of Elizabeth I in the late 16th and early 17th century saw aflowering of the drama and all the arts. Perhaps the most famous playwright in the world,William Shakespeare, wrote around 40 plays that are still performed in theatres across the worldto this day. They include tragedies, such as Hamlet (1603), Othello (1604), and King Lear(1605); comedies, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream (1594—96) and Twelfth Night (1602);and history plays, such as Henry IV, part 1—2.
The Elizabethan age is sometimes nicknamed"the age of Shakespeare" for the amount of influence he held over the era. Other importantElizabethan and 17th-century playwrights include Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and JohnWebster.During the Interregnum 1642—1660, English theatres were kept closed by the Puritans forreligious and ideological reasons.
When the London theatres opened again with the Restorationof the monarchy in 1660, they flourished under the personal interest and support of Charles II.Wide and socially mixed audiences were attracted by topical writing and by the introduction ofthe first professional actresses (in Shakespeare's time, all female roles had been played by boys).New genres of the Restoration were heroic drama, pathetic drama, and Restoration comedy. TheRestoration plays that have best retained the interest of producers and audiences today are thecomedies, such as William Wycherley's The Country Wife (1676), The Rover (1677) by the firstprofessional woman playwright, Aphra Behn, John Vanbrugh's The Relapse (1696), and WilliamCongreve's The Way of the World (1700).
Restoration comedy is famous or notorious for itssexual explicitness, a quality encouraged by Charles II (1660–1685) personally and by the rakisharistocratic ethos of his court.In the 18th century, the highbrow and provocative Restoration comedy lost favour, to bereplaced by sentimental comedy, domestic tragedy such as George Lillo's The London Merchant(1731), and by an overwhelming interest in Italian opera. Popular entertainment became moreimportant in this period than ever before, with fair-booth burlesque and mixed forms that are theancestors of the English music hall. These forms flourished at the expense of legitimate Englishdrama, which went into a long period of decline.
By the early 19th century it was no longerrepresented by stage plays at all, but by the closet drama, plays written to be privately read in a"closet" (a small domestic room).A change came in the late 19th century with the plays on the London stage by the IrishmenGeorge Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde and the Norwegian Henrik Ibsen, all of whom influenceddomestic English drama and vitalised it again.Today the West End of London has a large number of theatres, particularly centred aroundShaftesbury Avenue. A prolific composer of the 20th century Andrew Lloyd Webber hasdominated the West End for a number of years and his musicals have travelled to Broadway inNew York and around the world, as well as being turned into films.The Royal Shakespeare Company operates out of Shakespeare's birthplace Stratford-uponAvon in England, producing mainly but not exclusively Shakespeare's plays.Important modern playwrights include Alan Ayckbourn, John Osborne, Harold Pinter, TomStoppard, and Arnold Wesker.Popular British HolidaysGuy Fawkes Day aka Bonfire Night - November 5 th .
This popular British rhyme is oftenPPspoken on Bonfire Night, in memory of the Gunpowder Plot: Remember, remember the 5th ofNovemberGunpowder, treason and plot. I see no reason that gunpowder treasonShouldeverbeSECTION 2forgotten.INTRODUCINGTHEUSAIt is common to say that the USA is the country with a short history but vast, abundantgeography and diverse population. Only five hundred years ago the USA was a wilderness,inhabited by Indian tribes. After the discovery of America by Europeans the immigrants fromEurope and then almost all over the world streamed to the new continent seeking happier life andso-called “American Dream.” As a result of the mass immigration, the struggle of the youngnation for independence from former motherland Britain, formation of the new country withdemocratic rights and great opportunities, the acquisition of thenew territories, fastdevelopment of industry and agriculture, the USA turned into a superpower with the strongeconomy, the most advanced and innovative technologies, diverse national culture and arts ,influencing the other countries of the globe.
The life of the USA is so complex, controversialand dynamic that it would be impossible to present all its aspects in every detail. However, wehope that the materials collected from many different sources and included into this textbookmay help the students see the American historical formation and political structure, educationand science, cultural and lifestyle peculiarities with better understanding.CHAPTERI Some First Significant Stages of the USA HistoryPart I. The First Explorers and Settlers of America.Read and translate the following words and word combinations:to establish settlementsto be bound to …to set up coloniesa cargo of …to colonize(v.)-colonization(n)to be far-flung-fromhostilityto share the pieto be on the declineto buy for trinketsto squatunobviousto be doomed to…outright mass exterminationto cede a territorybarren landindentured servitudeforced relocation of peopleto enact a lawto be recapturedto be ill preparedrugged existenceto be engulfedto be distresseda joint-stock companyto be besetto be economic” white elephant”to perisha nightmareto thriveto become driftersa mutinyHow did American history begin? For thousands of years America lay unknown toEuropeans beyond the Atlantic Ocean.
The very first discovery of the continent is supposed tohave been made by Norsemen from Greenland who reached the New World and encamped there.The actual material on the voyages is very small and covered with mystery. But the voyage ofThor Heyerdahl’s papyrus craft, Ra 11, did demonstrate that ancient sailors could have crossedthe Atlantic ocean even before the Christian era. Both archeological evidence and ancient sagasdo reveal the activities of courageous Norsemen who reached North America around year 1100.An old Scandinavian saga tells that the Norsemen found there a lot of grapes and grape vines.They filled their ships with grapes and a cargo of timber and sailed away, naming the countryVinland.
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