Culture shock

Good manners are always good manners. That's what Miranda Ingram, who is English, thought, until she married Alexander, who is Russian.

When I first met Alexander and he said to me, in Russian, 'Nalei mnye chai - pour me some tea', I got angry and answered, 'Pour it yourself. Translated into English, without a 'Could you...?' and a 'please', it sounded really rude to me. But in Russian it was fine - you don't have to add any polite words.

However, when I took Alexander home to meet my parents in the UK, I had to give him an intensive course in ‘pleases and thank yous’ (which he thought were completely unnecessary), and to teach him to say ‘sorry’ even if someone else stepped on his toe, and to smile, smile, smile.

Another thing that Alexander just couldn't understand was why people said things like, ‘Would you mind passing me the salt, please?’ He said, 'Ifs only the salt, for goodness sake! What do you say in English if you want a real favour?'

He also watched in amazement when, at a dinner party in England, we swallowed some really disgusting food and I said, 'Mmm...delicious'. In Russia, people are much more direct. The first time Alexander's mother came to our house for dinner in Moscow, she told me that my soup needed more flavouring. Afterwards when we argued about it my husband said, 'Do you prefer your dinner guests to lie?'

Alexander complained that in England he felt 'like the village idiot because in Russia if you smile all the time people think that you are mad. In fact, this is exactly what my husband's friends thought of me the first time I went to Russia because I smiled at everyone, and translated every 'please' and 'thank you' from English into Russian!

At home we now have an agreement. If we're speaking Russian, he can say 'Pour me some tea', and just make a noise like a grunt when I give it to him. But when we're speaking English, he has to add a 'please' a 'thank you', and a smile.

Задание 22. Отметьте буквой T те предложения, которые согласуются с текстом.

The English have very good manners.

The English and Russian idea of good manners is different.

The English are polite but insincere.

The Russians are very rude and unfriendly.

Задание 23. Прочитайте предложения и напишите T (True) напротив верных и F (False) напротив неверных.

1. Miranda got angry because her husband asked her to make the tea.

2. Miranda had to teach him to say sorry when something wasn’t his fault.

3. Miranda’s husband thinks English people are too polite.

4. Alexander wasn’t surprised when people said they liked the food at the dinner party.

5. The food was delicious.

6. Miranda didn’t mind when her mother-in-law criticized her cooking.

7. Alexander thought his mother was right.

8. In Russia it isn’t normal to smile all the time when you speak to someone.

9. His Russian friends thought Miranda was very friendly because she smiled a lot.

10. Alexander never says thank you for his tea he and Miranda are speaking in Russian.

Задание 24. Заполните пропуски глаголами из текста.

1. __________ on someone’s foot or toe (by accident)

2. __________ some wine into a glass or tea into a cup

3. __________ a noise, like a grunt

4. __________ food (so that it goes from your mouth to your stomach)

5. __________ a word from English into Russian

Задание 25. Ответьте на вопрос (5 предложений).

Are people in your country more like Miranda or Alexander?

Useful phrases:

I think that in my country people are more like …

In my country people …

In my country people don’t …

In my country people never …

Задание 26. Прочитайте следующие ситуации. Напишите, как ведут себя люди в России в сходной ситуации.

Образец: In my country, we don’t kiss people when we meet them for the first time.

GOOD MANNERS? BAD MANNERS?

Greeting people

- kiss people on both cheeks when you meet them for the first time

- call older people by their first names

- use more formal language when speaking to an older person

In a restaurant

- let your children run around and be noisy

- be very affectionate to your partner

- talk on your mobile

Men and women – a man’s role

- pay for a woman on the first date

- wait for a woman to go through the door first

- make sure a woman gets home safely at night

Driving

- always spot at a pedestrian crossing

- hoot at someone who’s driving slowly

- drive with your window down and your music playing

Visiting people

- take a present if you are invited to dinner at someone’s house

- arrive more than 10 minutes late for a lunch or dinner

- smoke in a house where the owners don’t smoke

– GRAMMAR

Задание 27. Вставьте модальные глаголы may или can.

1. I __ finish the work tomorrow if no one bothers me any more. 2. __ we come and see you next Sunday at three o'clock in the afternoon? 3. What time is it? — It __ be about six o'clock, but I am not sure. 4. Only a person who knows the language very well __ answer such a question. 5. __ I come in? 6. Let me look at your exercises. I __ be able to help you. 7. I __ not swim, because until this year the doctor did not allow me to be more than two minutes in the water. But this year he says I __ stay in for fifteen minutes if I like, so I am going to learn to swim. 8. Libraries are quite free, and any one who likes __ get books there. 9. I __ come and see you tomorrow if I have time. 10. Take your raincoat with you: it __ rain today. 11. Do you think you __ do that?

Задание 28. Вставьте модальные глаголы to have to или to be to.

1. She __ to send a telegram because it was too late to send a letter. 2. They decided that she __ to send them a telegram every tenth day. 3. You __ to learn all the new words for the next lesson. 4. Do you know this man? He __ to be our new teacher of history. 5. Who __ to go to the library to get the new books? — I was, but I couldn't because I __ to finish some work at the phonetic laboratory. 6. It is raining. You __ to put on your raincoat. 7. "The patient __ to stay in bed for a few days," ordered the doctor. 8. The child had stomach trouble and __ to take castor oil. 9. I told her she __ to open the window for a while every day. 10. The agreement was that if Johnny White could not repay the money he had borrowed, then Luke Flint __ to have the right to sell the land. 11. If I don't ring up before six o'clock, then you __ to go to the concert hall alone and wait for me at the entrance. Is that clear? 12. The planters __ to gather their cotton at once, as they had been warned that heavy rains were expected. 13. I __ to wear glasses as my eyesight is very weak. 14. Johnny White __ to borrow from Luke Flint at a high interest, for there was no one else in the district who lent money. 15. "Cheating is a very nasty thing,"' said the teacher, "and we __ to get rid of it."

Задание 29. Перефразируйте следующие пред­ложения, употребляя модальный глагол need.

E.g. 1) It is not necessary to go there. You need not go there.

2) It was not necessary to go there. You need not have gone there.

1. There was no necessity for her to do it herself. 2. There is no reason for you to worry: he is as strong as a horse. 3. There is no need for you to be here. 4. Is it necessary for us to go there? 5. Why did you mention all these figures? The situation was clear. 6. It was not necessary for you to remind me about her birthday. I remember the date very well. 7. Why do you want to do it all today? 8. It was not necessary for mother to cook this enormous dinner: we have brought all the food the children may want. 9. It is not necessary to take the six-thirty train. A later train will do as well.

Дата добавления: 2014-10-15