a) The standard way to refer to a citizen of the United States is as an American.
b) The federal government is composed of three branches: legislative (the Congress), executive (the President and the Cabinet), and judicial (the Supreme Court).
c) The United States of America (or the United States, the U.S., the USA or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. Washington D.C. is the capital of the country.
d) The United States has had a two-party system for most of its history. The Republican Party is considered conservative, and the Democratic Party is liberal.
e) The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic ocean. On July 4, 1776, they issued the Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed their independence from Great Britain.
f) The leadership role taken by the United States and its allies in the UN-sanctioned Gulf War, under President George H. W. Bush, and the Yugoslav wars, under President Bill Clinton, helped to preserve its position as a superpower.
g) In the 19th century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii.
h) The United States is the world’s oldest federation. The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the U.S Constitution.
► 2. In the last decade of the 20th century the “Celebrate the Century” stamp series was issued to commemorate the most significant people, events, and achievements of the 20th century. Below are the names or the contents of 20 stamps referring to various decades.
Find two stamps for each decade. For example: 1990s – s) and t).
1900s - 1940s - 1970 s-
1920s - 1950 s- 1980 s-
1930s - 1960 s- 1990 s-
| a) disco music appeared;
b) one third of the working people in the U.S. were women and millions of women served as volunteers;
c) Charles Lindberg performed the first non-stop solo trans-Atlantic flight;
d) Barbie doll sales reached 5.000.000 dolls by the beginning of that decade;
e) videocassette recorders for home use appeared;
f) improving the quality of education: setting high standards, reducing class size, supporting teachers, access to new technology;
g) commercial television began;
h) drive-in theatres attracted many Americans;
i) jazz spread all over the USA;
(Keys are after exercise 4)
| j) the low-priced 4-cylinder 20- horsepower Model T Ford made the automobile affordable for average American;
k) Martin Luther King delivered his speech “I Have a Dream”;
l) the first space shuttle “Columbia” was launched;
m) film “Titanic” was shown all over the world;
n) Berlin Wall falls;
o) rock’n’roll appeared;
p) “Gone with the Wind” was written by Margaret Mitchell;
q) the Wright brothers made the first controlled flight in an airplane;
r) the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was built;
s) Steven Spielberg directed the film “Jurassic Park”;
t) extreme sports appeared.
|
► 3. Classify the following statements and expressions according to the titles of the table below:
| Native Americans
| Outstanding people
| Culture
| Languages
| Science and technology
| Attractions
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| - The Empire State Building;
- Jack London;
- African American culture contributed greatly to the American culture;
- Theodore Dreiser;
- Chinese (2.3 million speakers);
- after World War II rocketry and computer sciences developed rapidly;
- the largest Indian tribe is the Navajo, living in the south-west;
- Marilyn Monroe;
- Martin Luther King;
- Hollywood;
- the Grand Canyon;
- the core of the American culture is a western culture which developed from the traditions of Western European migrants;
| - Ernest Hemingway;
- Spanish (32.2 million speakers);
in the early 20th century the first assembly line and airplane appeared;
- Walt Disney;
- George Washington;
- Americans are a multicultural nation;
- English (216.2 million speakers);
- a leader in scientific research and technological innovation since the late 19th century;
- the first people began arriving in America about 40,000 years ago;
- Abraham Lincoln;
- the Yellowstone National Park;
- Louis Armstrong.
|
► 4. Do you agree or disagree with the statements about Americans?
| - -
| -
|
| +
| + +
|
| strongly disagree
| disagree
| don’t know
| agree
| strongly agree
|
| 1.Americans want more than anything to be
successful.
2. They work very hard.
3. Most people in America have two or three
holidays a year.
4. The colonists brought from England the
ideal of a simple, good and godly life.
5. Americans think the best government is
one that leaves men to prosper
unhampered.
6.Americans are extremely hospitable
people.
| 7. American values remained unchanged
in the course of its history.
8. Many Americans are impressed with
size: to them “bigger” and “better” seem
to mean the same.
9. Americans differ from Europeans in that
we descended from those who stayed,
and they from those who moved away.
10. Wall Street is the center of the
American finance business.
|
Keys to ►2: 1900s – j,q 1940s – g,b 1970s – a,e
1920s- I,c 1950s – o,h 1980s – n,l
1930s - p,r 1960s – k,d 1990s –m,f,s,t
► 5. Answer the following questions about the United States of America:
| 1)What continent, Africa, Asia or America,
is the USA located in?
2)What is the capital of the United States?
3)Is the USA a monarchy or a federal
constitutional republic?
4)What happened on July 4, 1776?
5)What are the main political parties in the
USA?
| 6)How many states does the USA consist
of?
7)Who is the current President of the USA?
8)What attractions do you know in the USA?
9)What outstanding Americans do you
know?
|
| If you haven’t understood the question, ask to repeat:
|
 Sorry?
Pardon me?
Come again?
I didn’t quite catch what you’ve said.
Could you repeat, please?
Could you explain a little further?
| What do you mean?
Am I right to understand that …
Are you saying that …
Excuse my interrupting you but …
Sorry for breaking you …
Sorry for troubling you …
|
| When you need time to think, you say:
|
| Thank you for your question.
Let me see …
Well, I think …
Let’s put it this way …
I’ll have to think about that.
How shall I put it?
| The best way I can answer that is…
That’s a good question …
That’s a difficult question …
If my memory serves me right, …
Just a moment, please.
|
| When you don’t want to answer a question, you say:
|
| I am sorry but it is a personal question.
I’d rather not answer.
|
| When you ask somebody for an opinion, you say:
|
| What would you say to …?
What’s your opinion of …?
What do you think of …?
| How do you find …?
How do you feel about?
What is your attitude to …?
|
| When you express your opinion, you say:
|
| As for me …
To tell you the truth …
I would say that …
Frankly speaking …
Honestly …
I suppose …
I feel …
| I believe …
As far as I’m concerned …
As I see it …
In my opinion …
If you want my opinion, …
In my view …
|
| When you need to clarify what you’ve said, you say:
|
| In other words …
Let me paraphrase that.
Actually what I mean is …
| Actually what I am talking about is …
The matter is …
Let me put it differently.
|
| + When you agree, you say:
| - When you disagree, you say:
|
| Yes, that’s right.
Of course!
Certainly!
Exactly!
Just so.
It’s true.
I see your point.
I quite agree with you here.
I couldn’t agree more.
I think so, too.
I also think that …
I should think so.
That’s fine with me.
It’s just what I was thinking.
| On the contrary.
Of course not!
Certainly not!
Just the other way round.
I don’t think so.
I don’t agree at all.
Not that I would agree.
That’s not the point.
You can’t say that.
That’s wrong.
Rubbish.
 Nonsense.
You must be crazy.
|
| When you are not sure, you say:
|
| Yes, but …
On the other hand, …
I’m afraid I don’t agree.
I don’t think you are right.
Yes, that’s quite true but …
| I’m not quite sure.
What would you say to the fact that …?
I doubt if …
The chances of … are rather slim.
|
| When you react to the news, you say:
|
| to show polite interest:
| to show joy:
|
| Oh, really!
How interesting, indeed.
I see.
How nice.
| Wonderful! Great!
That’s good news!
How nice, indeed!
|
| to show surprise:
| to show regret:
|
| Oh, really!
Really?
I can’t believe it!
You don’t say that!
I’m surprised!
| Oh, I’m (so) sorry.
Well, it’s a pity, indeed.
That’s bad news.
|
| When you start a presentation, you say:
| When you signpost your presentation, you say:
|
 This morning I’d like to review …
The subject (topic) of this presentation is …
What I am going to explain this afternoon is …
What I’ll be proposing in my presentation is …
| I’ll be developing three main points.
First, I’ll give you … Second, … Lastly, …
Firstly, I’d like to … Secondly, we can … And I’ll finish with …
My presentation will be in two main parts.
In the first part I’ll … And then I’ll …
|
| When you start a new part of the presentation, you say:
| When you explain something in your presentation, you say:
|
| I’ll begin by … Let’s start with …
If I could now turn to …
My next point is … Now, turning to …
Let me now move to …
So that’s the general picture for … and now let’s look at …
That completes my overview of … so now I’d like to move on to …
| The main explanation for this is …
A particular reason is …
A key problem is …
There are two reasons (explanations) for this.
This can be explained by two factors.
First (ly), … Second (ly), …
One reason for this is … Another reason is …
This is due to … and also to …
|
| When you build up a conclusion in your presentation, you say:
| When you answer the questions on your presentation, you say:
|
| So, to summarize (to sum up) …
At this stage I’d like to go over (to run through) …
So, as we have seen in this presentation today, …
As I have explained, …
I have a copy (a handout, a calculation, a document) which I’ll be passing now.
In the folder which I’ll be distributing you’ll see …
I’d be happy to answer any questions.
I would welcome any comments (suggestions).
Thank you for your attention.
| Yes, I quite see your point.
That’s an accurate observation.
However, …
But the company …
On the other hand, if we consider …
But the evidence is there that …
I’m afraid I’m not the right person to answer that. Mr. Black is a much better person to answer that.
I’m not sure this is the right place (time) to discuss this particular question.
Could we leave that till later?
|
| ТАБЛИЦА НЕПРАВИЛЬНЫХ ГЛАГОЛОВ
|
| Инфинитив
| Past Simple
| Past Participle
| Перевод
|
| be
| was / were
| been
| быть
|
| become
| became
| become
| становиться
|
| begin
| began
| begun
| начинать
|
| break
| broke
| broken
| ломать
|
| bring
| brought
| brought
| приносить
|
| build
| built
| built
| строить
|
| burst
| burst
| burst
| разрываться
|
| buy
| bought
| bought
| покупать
|
| catch
| caught
| caught
| ловить
|
| choose
| chose
| chosen
| выбирать
|
| come
| came
| come
| приходить
|
| cost
| cost
| cost
| стоить
|
| cut
| cut
| cut
| резать
|
| deal
| dealt
| dealt
| иметь дело
|
| do
| did
| done
| делать
|
| draw
| drew
| drawn
| рисовать, тащить
|
| drink
| drank
| drunk
| пить
|
| drive
| drove
| driven
| ехать
|
| eat
| ate
| eaten
| кушать
|
| fall
| fell
| fallen
| падать
|
| feed
| fed
| fed
| кормить
|
| feel
| felt
| felt
| чувствовать
|
| fight
| fought
| fought
| бороться
|
| find
| found
| found
| находить
|
| forget
| forgot
| forgotten
| забывать
|
| forgive
| forgave
| forgiven
| прощать
|
| freeze
| froze
| frozen
| замерзать
|
| get
| got
| got
| получать, становиться
|
| give
| gave
| given
| давать
|
| go
| went
| gone
| идти, ехать
|
| grow
| grew
| grown
| расти
|
| hang
| hung
| hung
| висеть, вешать
|
| have
| had
| had
| иметь
|
| hear
| heard
| heard
| слышать
|
| hide
| hid
| hid / hidden
| прятать
|
| hit
| hit
| hit
| ударять
|
| hold
| held
| held
| держать
|
| keep
| kept
| kept
| хранить
|
| know
| knew
| known
| знать
|
| lay
| laid
| laid
| класть
|
| lead
| led
| led
| вести
|
| leave
| left
| left
| уезжать
|
| lend
| lent
| lent
| давать взаймы
|
| let
| let
| let
| позволять
|
| lie
| lay
| lain
| лежать
|
| light
| lit
| lit
| освещать
|
| lose
| lost
| lost
| терять
|
| make
| made
| made
| делать, заставлять
|
| mean
| meant
| meant
| значить
|
| meet
| met
| met
| встречать
|
| pay
| paid
| paid
| платить
|
| put
| put
| put
| класть
|
| read
| read
| read
| читать
|
| ride
| rode
| ridden
| ездить верхом
|
| ring
| rang
| rung
| звонить
|
| rise
| rose
| risen
| подниматься
|
| run
| ran
| run
| бежать
|
| say
| said
| said
| сказать
|
| see
| saw
| seen
| видеть
|
| seek
| sought
| sought
| искать
|
| sell
| sold
| sold
| продавать
|
| send
| sent
| sent
| посылать
|
| set
| set
| set
| заходить
|
| shake
| shook
| shaken
| трясти
|
| shine
| shone
| shone
| светить
|
| shoot
| shot
| shot
| стрелять
|
| show
| showed
| shown
| показывать
|
| shut
| shut
| shut
| закрывать
|
| sing
| sang
| sung
| петь
|
| sink
| sank
| sunk
| тонуть
|
| sit
| sat
| sat
| сидеть
|
| sleep
| slept
| slept
| спать
|
| speak
| spoke
| spoken
| говорить
|
| spend
| spent
| spent
| тратить
|
| spread
| spread
| spread
| распространяться
|
| stand
| stood
| stood
| стоять
|
| steal
| stole
| stolen
| красть
|
| stick
| stuck
| stuck
| клеить
|
| strike
| struck
| struck
| ударять
|
| swear
| swore
| sworn
| клясться
|
| sweep
| swept
| swept
| мести
|
| swim
| swam
| swum
| плавать
|
| swing
| swung
| swung
| качать
|
| take
| took
| taken
| брать
|
| teach
| taught
| taught
| обучать
|
| tear
| tore
| torn
| рвать
|
| tell
| told
| told
| рассказывать
|
| think
| thought
| thought
| думать
|
| throw
| threw
| thrown
| бросать
|
| understand
| understood
| understood
| понимать
|
| wake
| woke / waked
| woken / waked
| будить
|
| wear
| wore
| worn
| носить
|
| win
| won
| won
| выигрывать
|
| write
| wrote
| written
| писать
|
|
|
|
|
|
