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Translate into Russian.
1. Cricket cannot rival football in excitement. 2. The garden path was edged with plants. 3. Bring the two edges together and fasten them securely. 4. Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU’s income. 5. Complete absorption in sport interfered with his studies. 6. Most countries have enthusiastically embraced the concept of high-speed railways. 7. Each witness has a different version of what happened. 8. He has been described variously as a saint, hero and thief. 9. There are now several varieties of spaniel. 10. We applaud the president’s insistence on tougher environmental laws. 11. The insistent buzz of the telephone was driving me mad. 12. I wish he wouldn’t ask such embarrassing questions. 13. The court case was a huge embarrassment to the company. 14. He was embarrassed about the nature of his illness. 15.Each child will be helped according to his or her needs.
| WORD BUILDING |
47. Make new words according to the patterns of word building. Translate them into Russian.
| 1. | question | to question | спрашивать, допрашивать, задавать вопросы |
| mushroom | |||
| top | |||
| lace | |||
| hammer | |||
| own | |||
| target | |||
| 2. | power | empowerment | (у)полномочие, предоставление полномочий |
| body | |||
| embarrass | |||
| 3. | number | (to) outnumber | превосходить численно |
| burst | |||
| come | |||
| 4. | English- | English-based | с опорой на английский язык |
| home- | |||
| London- | |||
| school- | |||
| knowledge- |
| TEXT 2. |
Cross-cultural Notes:
6. The Queen and I –a novel written in 1992 by the British writer Sue Townsend. It describes the Queen’s nightmare: when a Republican party wins the General Election, their first act is to strip the royal family of their assets and titles and send them to live in a two-bedroomed semi-detached house in the Midlands. Exchanging servants for a social worker, the Queen and her family learn what it means to be poor.
7. Crawfie –the Queen’s governess.
8. posh(adj.)–for or typical of people of high social class. Sometimes used with a derogatory meaning.
Poshos
(From The Queen and I by Sue Townsend. Abridged.)
The Queen looked at Number Nine Hellebore Close and shuddered. The street sign at the entrance to the Close had lost five black metal letters. HELL CLOSE it now said. The Queen thought, “Yes, it is Hell, it must be, because I’ve never seen anything like it in the whole of my life.”
She had visited many council estates – had opened community centres, had driven through the cheering crowds, alighted from the car, walked on red carpets, been greeted by tongue-tied dignitaries, pulled a cord, signed the visitors’ book. Then, carpet, car, drive to helicopter and up, up and away. She’d seen the odd documentary on BBC2 about urban poverty, heard unattractive poor people talk in broken sentences about their dreadful lives, but she’d regarded such programmes as sociological curiosities so far away that it didn’t really matter.
It stank. Somebody in the Close was burning car tyres. Not one house in the Close had its full complement of windows. Gardens were full of rubbish, black plastic bags had been split by dogs, televisions flickered and blared. A man lay under a wreck of a car which was jacked up on bricks. Other men squatted close by, aiming torches and watching, men with outdated haircuts and tattoos, their cigarettes cupped in their hands. A woman in white stilettos ran down the road after a boy toddler, naked apart from his vest.
‘Now gerrin’ and stay in,’ she screamed. ‘’Oo left the bleedin’ door open?’ she demanded of other, unseen children.
The Queen was reminded of the stories that Crawfie would tell her in the nursery. Of goblins and witches, of strange lands populated by sinister people. The Queen would beg her governess to stop, but she never would. The Queen thought, Crawfie knew. She knew. She was preparing me for Hell Close.
* * *
The Threadgolds watched as a shadowy figure ordered a tall man out of the van. Was she a foreigner? It wasn’t English she was talking, was it? But as their ears became more accustomed they realized it was English, but posh English, really posh.
‘Tone, why they moved a posho in Hell Close?’ asked Beverley.
‘Dunno,’ replied Tony. ‘Seen her somewhere before. Is she Dr. Khan’s receptionist?’
‘No,’ said Beverley, ‘definitely not.’
‘Christ, just our bleedin’ luck to have poshos nex’ door.’
Prince Philip stared speechlessly at Number Nine. A street light flickered into life, casting a theatrical glow over his dilapidated future home. The driver let down the ramp at the back of the van and went inside. He’d never seen such lovely stuff – not in twenty-one years of removals. The dog in the cage at the back started to growl.
‘They’ve got a dog,’ said Tony.
‘So long as they keep it under control,’ said Beverley.
Tony squeezed his wife’s shoulder. She was a good kid, he thought. Tolerant like.
Prince Philip spoke. ‘It’s abso-bloody-lutely impossible. I refuse. I’d sooner live in a bloody ditch. And that bloody light will send me mad.’ He shouted up at the light, then took hold of its post and shook it violently from side to side.
Beverley said, ‘I got it. He’s a loony, one of them that’s been let out to die in the community.’
‘You might be right, Bev,’ said Tony. They turned to go back into their house when the Queen addressed them.
‘Excuse me, but would you have an axe I could borrow?’
‘An ix?’ repeated Tony.
‘Yes, an axe.’ The Queen came to their front gate.
‘I dunno what an ix is,’ Tony said.
‘You don’t know what an axe is? One uses it for chopping wood.’
The Queen was growing impatient. She had made a simple request; her new neighbours were obviously morons. She was aware that educational standards had fallen, but not to know what an axe was... It was a scandal.
‘I need an implement of some kind to gain access to my house.’
‘Arse?’
‘House!’
The driver volunteered his services as translator. His hours talking to the Queen had given him a new found linguistic confidence.
‘This lady wants to know if you’ve got an axe.’
‘Yeah, I got an axe, but I ain’t ‘anding it over to ‘im,’ said Tony, pointing at Philip. The Queen came down the garden path towards the Threadgolds and the light from their hall illuminated her face. Beverley gasped and curtsied clumsily. Tony reeled back and clutched the lintel of the front door for support before saying, ‘I’ll geddit.’
Left alone, Beverley burst into tears. ‘It was the shock,’ she said later as she and Tony lay in bed unable to sleep. ‘I mean, who would believe it? I still don’t believe it, Tone.’
‘Nor do I, Bev. I mean, the Queen next door. We’ll put in for a transfer, eh?’
Slightly comforted, Beverley went to sleep.
| COMPREHENSION EXERCISES |
48. Give the English for:
поёжиться; лишившийся (от волнения) дара речи; документальный фильм; автомобильные шины; сидеть на корточках; зловещий; уличный фонарь; обветшалый, полуразвалившийся; неловко сделать реверанс; слегка успокоенный (-ая).
49. Find the Russian for:
council estates; urban poverty; talk in broken sentences; full complement of windows; a woman in white stilettos; toddler; vest; a loony; burst into tears; the Queen next door.