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The Gandharvas (celestial singers and musicians), whofigure in Sanskrit poetry, were fairies, as were the Hathors, or female genii, of ancient Egypt (seealso my Egypt Chapter), who appeared at the birth of a child and predicted the child's future.The traditional characteristics of fairies are depicted in European literature in such worksas Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet (in Mercutio's "QueenMab" speech); The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser; L'Allegro and Comus by John Milton;Contes de ma mиre l'oye, known in English as Tales of Mother Goose, by Charles Perrault;Kinder-und Hausmдrchen, known in English as Grimm's Fairy Tales, by the brothers JacobLudwig Karl Grimm and Wilhelm Karl Grimm; a fairy-tale series by Andrew Lang, for example,The Blue Fairy Tale Book and The Red Fairy Tale Book; and representative collections of Irishstories such as Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland by Thomas Crofton Crokerand Irish Fairy Tales by William Butler Yeats.
Croker has described fairies as being "a fewinches high, airy and almost transparent in body; so delicate in their form that a dewdrop, whenthey chance to dance on it, trembles, indeed, but never breaks."In folklore fairies are generally considered beneficent toward humans. They aresensitive and capricious, however, and often inclined to play pranks; so if their resentment is notto be aroused, they must be spoken well of and always treated with deference.Bad fairies are thought to be responsible for such misfortunes as the bewitching ofchildren, the substitution of ugly fairy babies, known as changelings, for human infants, and thesudden death of cattleA fairy tale is a particular type of folktale, part of the oral narrative tradition that, in England,flourished until about the 17th century. However, the English fairy tale nearly disappeared asFrench and German fairy tales gained popularity, and then as the genre itself fell into disreputebecause of changing social conditions in England.
However, in the 19th century, often describedas the golden age of the fairy tale, folklorists such as Andrew Lang and Joseph Jacobs begancollecting folk and fairy tales throughout Britain, thus reclaiming, at least to some extent, theuniquely English oral narrative characterized by its humour and homespun quality. At the sametime, many British authors began writing literary fairy tales, among them George Cruikshank,who sermonized the tales; a number of women such as Mary Louisa Molesworth, whomodernized traditional tales; women like Jean Ingelow who wrote book length tales, and finally,George MacDonald, foremost of the fairy tale writers, who infused his tales with a spiritualquality unique among his peers. Thus began a rich, new fairy tale tradition in England.English fairy tales plays an important role in forming of the national English character.They reflect traditions, customs and system of values of English people.National traditions are preserved in English folklore and English nation is considered tobe very conservative one.
You cannot really imagine Britain without all its traditions, thisintegral feature of social and private life of the people living on the British Isles that has alwaysbeen an important part of their life and work.To conclude it`s important to point out that British folklore include traditions, customs,beliefs and system of values of a particular nation. In fact, nations, as we conceive them, arefounded upon a consciousness of common interests and ideas, which are the result of long andcomplicated historical, social and economic experience.Folklore has many cultural aspects. Firstly, folklore can also serve to validate a culture(romantic nationalism), as well as transmit a culture's morals and values. Folklore can also beused to assert social pressures, or relive them, in the case of humor and carnival.In addition, folklorists study folklore with the system of traditions, values as an essentialpart of British culture.1.
Answer to the following questions:1. In what century scholars began to collect and study the national folklore?2. The influences of which cultures the British folklore is known to have?3. When the term ballad was used in it`s present sense?4. What are the main classes of ballad?5. What is one of the oldest printed fairy tales in England?6. What important information does the British folklore contain?7. What English fairy tales and legends do you know?1. Render the following sentences into Russian1. A great deal of folklore and local legends has been lost because they are not passed byword of mouth as much as they used to be.2.
Many of them still feel strongly about the monarchy because it adds a great deal of colourto their life.3. One remarkable feature of the old ballad consists in its half curious, half familiartreatment of the supernatural.4. It is quite remarkable that ballads taken down or recorded from singers separated bycenturies in time and by hundreds of kilometers in distance, should be both different andyet recognizably the same.5. The time that produced the ballad was wholly before the diffusion of books: with theprinting press the office of the minstrel disappeared.2.
Render the following sentences into English:1.Главная причина уникальности культуры Великобритании, очевидно, лежит наповерхности.2. 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.SECTION 2INTRODUCINGTHEUSAIt 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. Another saga tells about a group of the Vikings who spent a winter in Vinland butfailed to establish peace with the natives and returned to Greenland with their son , the firstEuropean born in what is now America.It is well known that the Italian navigator ChristopherColumbus (1451-1506) rediscovered the “New World” in 1492 byaccident while looking for a shorter route to the spice places inAsia. An all-water route to the Indies might reduce the cost ofOriental products, inflated by various middlemen along thetraditional land-sea way.
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