The following list of English words and phrases and their Russian equivalents may help you understand the contents of the suggested episode.1. the Orkney Islands – Оркнейские острова 2. mound – насыпь 3. Neolithic sites – постройки периода неолита 4. Scara Brae – Скара Брей (деревня, расположенная на западном побережье главного острова архипелага) 5. stout resistance from – хорошая защита от 6. drains underneath – дренажные сливы 7. bone necklaces – костяные ожерелья 8. rudimentary tools – простейшие орудия труда 9. sophisticated society – разумно устроенное общество 10. tomb raiders – расхитители гробниц 11. passage way – канал 12. stable environment – привычная среда обитания
1. What are the Orkney Islands famous for? 2. The Romans supposed Stone Age Britain to be a land inhabited by a hostile barbarians, but the author of the film argues, that the civilization of this period in Britain was thousands of years older and more sophisticated than that of the Roman’s. Whose point of view do you support? What evidence of rather developed civilization can be seen in the Stone Age village Scara Brae? 3. How did the climate warming influence the occupations of the Stone Age people? 4. What can you say about the social structure in the Stone Age Britain? 5. What happened in 2500 BC?
XI. Summarize the text “Druid” using the following phrases. 1. The article (text) is head-lined … The head-line of the article (I have read) is … 2. The author of the article (text) is … The article is written by … 3. It is (was) published in … It is (was) printed in … 4. The main idea of the article (text) is … The article is about … The article is devoted to … The article deals with … The article touches upon … The article presents some data which illustrate … 5. The purpose of the article is to give the reader some information on …; … is to compare (to determine) … The aim of the article is to provide the reader with some material (data) on … 6. The author starts by telling the readers (about, that) … The author writes (states, stresses, thinks, points out) that … The article describes … According to the article (text) … Further the author reports (says) that … 7. The article is (can be) divided into 5 (7-8) parts. The first part deals with … The second part is about … The third part touches upon … The fourth part of the article includes the fact on … 8. The author comes to the conclusion that … The author concludes with the analysis … 9. I found the article (text) interesting (important, dull, of no value, easy, (too) hard to understand …). Druid
Druids were the members of the learned class among ancient Celts. They seem to have frequented oak forests and acted as priests, teachers and judges. The earliest known records of the Druids come from the 3rd century BC. According to Julius Caesar, who is the principal source of information about the Druids, there were two groups of men in Gaul,1 that were held in honour – the Druids and the noblemen (equites). Caesar related,2 that the Druids took charge of public and private sacrifices and many young men went to them for instruction. They judged all public and private quarrels and decreed penalties3. If anyone disobeyed their decree he was barred from sacrifice, which was considered the gravest of punishments. One Druid was made the chief; upon his death another was appointed. If, however, several were equal in merit, the Druids voted, although they sometimes resorted to armed violence. Once a year the Druids assembled at a sacred place in the territory of the Carnutes, which was believed to be the centre of all Gaul and all legal disputes were there submitted to the judgment of the Druids. Caesar also recorded, that the Druids abstained from warfare and paid no tribute. Attracted by those privileges, many joined the order voluntarily or were sent by their families. They studied ancient verse, natural philosophy, astronomy and the lore of the gods4, some spending as much as 20 years in training. The Druids' principal doctrine was that the soul was immortal and passed at death from one person into another. The Druids offered human sacrifices for those, who were gravely sick or in danger of death in battle. Huge wickerwork images were filled with living men and then burned. Although the Druids preferred to sacrifice criminals, they would choose innocent victims if necessary. Caesar is the chief authority, but he may have received some of his knowledge from the Stoic philosopher Poseidonius, whose account is often confirmed by early medieval Irish sagas. Caesar's description of the annual assembly of the Druids and their election of an arch-Druid is also confirmed by an Irish saga. In the early period Druidic rites were held in clearings in the forest. Sacred buildings were used only later under Roman influence. The Druids were suppressed in Gaul by the Romans under Tiberius (reigned AD 14-37) and probably in Britain a little later. In Ireland they lost their priestly functions after the coming of Christianity and survived as poets, historians and judges. Many scholars believe that the Hindu Brahman in the East and the Celtic Druid in the West were lateral survivals of an ancient Indo-European priesthood.
From Encyclopedia Britannica, 2004
Notes:
1 Gaul [gO:l] – (Latin: Gallia) was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland and the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of the Gaulish language (an early variety of Celtic) native to Gaul. Archaeologically, the Gauls were bearers of the La Tène culture. 2 to relate – зд. рассказывать 3 penalty – наказание 4 the lore of the gods – эзотерическое учение друидов
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