книги / Модели речевой коммуникации. Устная речевая практика английского языка для студентов-переводчиков

You may consult me whenever you want to.

Ms. Nita: Thank you, Sir. If you don’t mind, may I know the date of the meeting?

Mr. David: Most probably it will be the 25th. Ms. Nita: OK, Sir.

[All passages adapted from: https://www.eslfast.com/robot/topics/smalltalk/smalltalk08.htm; https://www.linguahouse.com/learning-english/general- english/apologies-excuses-and-promises; https://www.englishpractice.com/improve/apologizing-sample- conversations/; https://bahasainggrisonlines.blogspot.ru/2013/03/making-request- in-english-conversations.htm)]

Topic 2. Life Stages

Task 1. Get familiar with the quotes about the human life cycle and comment, express your views on the statements.

«The first half of life consists of the capacity to enjoy without the chance; the last half consists of the chance without the capacity.» (Mark Twain)

«The older I grow the more earnestly I feel that the few joys of childhood are the best that life has to give.» (Ellen Glasgow)

«Childhood means simplicity. Look at the world with the child's eye - it is very beautiful.» (Kailash Satyarthi)

«A happy childhood? is the worst possible preparation for life.» (Kinky Friedman)

«All of us are products of our childhood.» (Michael Jackson)

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«Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.» (Albert Einstein)

«Adulthood is not an age, but a stage of knowledge of self.» (John Fowles)

«With adulthood comes responsibility.» (Mary Lydon Simonsen) «To me - old age is always ten years older than I am.» (Bernard M. Baruch)

«Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator.» (Confucius)

[All passages adapted from: http://www.institute4learning.com/2012/08/21/4-great-quotes- about-the-human-life-cycle/; http://www.wiseoldsayings.com]

Phrases to express your views on statements:

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Task 2. Write an essay about your life cycle; in your essay try to give answers to the following questions: What stage are you in now? What stages have you already passed? What are the essential moments, achievements and challenges of each life stage in a human life?

Topic 3. Family. Relations in Family: Parents - Children,

Siblings, Relatives

Task 1. Dialogue - Talk with your partner about what associations, memories come to your mind and what values are connected with such terms as family, siblings, relatives.

Task 2. Read the passages from the report «How parent-child relations have changed today?» by Steven Mintz Ph.D., professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin, and prepare your critical review on this issue.

How parent-child relations have changed today?

In recent years, the relationship between parents and children has profoundly changed.

For one thing, the decision about whether or not to have children is voluntary. Electing not to have children is no longer stigmatized in the way it was. “Child-free” adults are no longer casually dismissed as shallow and self-absorbed.

As a result, for most adults, the decision to have a child is deliberate and purposeful. Having a child represents a selfconscious decision to become a mother or father and to assume the responsibilities that parenting entails.

Parenting itself has become problematic in a way that differs sharply from the past. In today’s society, it is impossible to raise a child unselfconsciously […]

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Lacking the clear and authoritative guidelines set by earlier childrearing experts like Dr. Benjamin Spock, moms and dads must decide whether to be strict or lenient, achievement and performance focused or indulgent, pushy or laid back. Today’s parents receive sharply conflicting messages about whether or not to prioritize academics and other accomplishments or, instead, give their children free time, freedom, and free range to explore their environment. […]

Equally important is a profound reversal in parental expectations. Early in time, parents expected their children to love them. Today, in stark contrast, parents seek to ensure that their children love them. To that end, many seek to ensure that their children are happy and never bored.

As mothers and fathers devote more time to work, a sense of guilt also colors parent-child relations. Even though recent research indicates that parents actually spend more face-to-face time with their children than did their 1950s counterparts, mothers and fathers worry that they are not able to provide the kind of safe, secure childhood they themselves enjoyed, involving a great deal of free unstructured play with neighborhood friends. Consequently, many overcompensate.

Underlying the shift in parent-child relationships are a raft of historic shifts. Delayed parenthood, better educated parents, and reduced birthrates all lead parents to increase their fixation upon individual children. In a society in which marital relationships have grown much more fragile, many parents look to their children as a source of permanent attachment and emotional fulfillment. The increase in single parenthood and two-earner households has also altered parent-child relations, since children in these settings must take on greater responsibility for self-care and for helping out than did those in homes with full-time mothers.

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Perhaps the biggest force for change in parent-child relationships lies in parents’ worries about their ability to transmit their class status to their children. As the economy has grown more competitive and entrepreneurial, many parents seek to give their child a leg up, and as a result invest more time and resources in enrichment activities: reading to their children, conversing with them, and providing toys and activities aimed at enhancing their development. […]

For all the disdainful talk about hovering, overinvolved, and overprotective helicopter parents, the fact is that parents today are, on average, closer to their adult children than in the past. Parentchild hierarchy has given way, to a remarkable extent, to a relationship that is closer, more intimate, and more egalitarian than ever existed in the past. If it has become harder for some children to cut the umbilical cord and establish an independent identity, and if it has become more difficult for some parents to let go and grant their kids a fully autonomous life, for most, the ongoing bond between child and parent proves to be a crucial source of meaning and personal happiness.

[All passages adapted from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-prime- life/201504/how-parent-child-relations-have-changed]

Vocabulary:

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Task 3. Read a funny sibling story given below and discuss with your groupmate your funny or memorable sibling stories, then share your stories with the whole group.

“My brother once sleep walked all the way to school, in the middle of the night. Well over a mile away from our house... He got to the door, which was still locked. At that point, he woke up and pretty much freaked out ... I would imagine being outside, in public, wearing your jammies, and finding yourself on the school's doorstep at first light, would be pretty disconcerting… He stayed home that day.”

[The passage adapted from: http://www.tdpri.com/threads/funny- brother-sister-stories.423120/]

Topic 4. Character and Personality: Character Features,

Outlook, Clothes, Hobbies

Task 1: Discuss with your groupmates the following questions (use the vocabulary given below): Can good looks be a guarantee of success in life? Can character be such a guarantee? What tells you most about a person? What kinds of people attract attention?

Vocabulary:

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To make a positive/ negative impression on somebody

To decide your first impression on someone’s appearance

Task 2. Choose 1 of the 2 stories, retell the story based on the keywords that are most important and meaningful to you (tell the main idea of the story and show your attitude to the problems highlighted in the story)

Story 1: All the Difference in the World

Every Sunday morning, I take a light jog around a park near my home. There’s a lake located in one corner of the park. Each time I jog by this lake, I see the same elderly woman sitting at the water’s edge with a small metal cage sitting beside her.

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This past Sunday my curiosity got the best of me, so I stopped jogging and walked over to her. As I got closer, I realized that the metal cage was in fact a small trap. There were three turtles, unharmed, slowly walking around the base of the trap. She had a fourth turtle in her lap that she was carefully scrubbing with a spongy brush.

“Hello,” I said. “I see you here every Sunday morning. If you don’t mind my nosiness, I’d love to know what you’re doing with these turtles.”

She smiled. “I’m cleaning off their shells,” she replied. “Anything on a turtle’s shell, like algae or scum, reduces the turtle’s ability to absorb heat and impedes its ability to swim. It can also corrode and weaken the shell over time.”

“Wow! That’s really nice of you!” I exclaimed.

She went on: “I spend a couple of hours each Sunday morning, relaxing by this lake and helping these little guys out. It’s my own strange way of making a difference.”

“But don’t most freshwater turtles live their whole lives with algae and scum hanging from their shells?” I asked.

“Yep, sadly, they do,” she replied.

I scratched my head. “Well then, don’t you think your time could be better spent? I mean, I think your efforts are kind and all, but there are freshwater turtles living in lakes all around the world. And 99% of these turtles don’t have kind people like you to help them clean off their shells. So, no offense… but how exactly are your localized efforts here truly making a difference?”

The woman giggled aloud. She then looked down at the turtle in her lap, scrubbed off the last piece of algae from its shell, and said, “Sweetie, if this little guy could talk, he’d tell you I just made all the difference in the world.”

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