Учебно-методическое пособие

PRACTICAL ENGLISH

ПРАКТИЧЕСКИЙ КУРС

АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Нижний Новгород

Федеральное агентство по образованию

УНИВЕРСИТЕТ РОССИЙСКОЙ АКАДЕМИИ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

Нижегородский филиал

Н.А. Паршина

PRACTICAL ENGLISH

ПРАКТИЧЕСКИЙ КУРС АНГЛИЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА

Учебно-методическое пособие

Нижний Новгород

81.2 Англ.

П-68

Practical English.Практический курс английского языка. Учебное пособие/ Сост. Паршина Н.А. – Нижний Новгород: НФ УРАО, 2006 – С.

Рецензент: к.ф.н., доцент, зав.каф. английского языка Высшей Школы Экономики (г. Нижний Новгород) Н.И. Смирнова

Учебное пособие адресовано студентам неязыковых специальностей Нижегородского филиала УРАО, изучающим дисциплину «Практический курс английского языка».

ISBN

Ó НФ УРАО, 2007

Ó Н.А. Паршина, 2007

Предисловие

Настоящее учебное пособие «Practical English» предназначено для студентов неязыковых факультетов Нижегородского филиала Университета Российской академии образования. Он состоит из двадцати занятий (Units), в которых представлены тексты с ключевыми словами и выражениями для разговорной речи, их переводом и способом употребления.

К каждому тексту прилагаются вопросы, ответив на которые, студент сможет самостоятельно изложить содержание текста на английском языке.

Используя данное учебное пособие на занятиях, преподаватель имеет возможность творчески подойти к изложению грамматического и лексического материала, принимая во внимание базовый уровень владения английским языком студентов. Тем самым преподаватель реализует индивидуальный подход к обучаемому, то есть не подводит всех под один уровень владения иностранным языком, а повышает уровень каждого студента.

Кроме того, чтение текстов и выполнение упражнений поможет студентам значительно увеличить словарный запас, приобрести навыки устной речи и перевода.

Желаю успеха!

к.п.н., доц. каф. журналистики НФ УРАО

Н.А. Паршина

Content

Содержание

UNIT 1.

Тема: Глагол To Be в Present, Past, Future Tenses

Text: "Miss Clara Flight."

Miss Clara Flight is a pretty girl with a good figure and an interesting face. She is always well dressed. Miss Flight is a secretary in an office in London. She is a shorthand typist and a hard-working girl. Clara is fond of music and films. She is a regular cinema-goer and she would like to be a film star.

Mr. Geoffry Baxter is a manager of a big London travel agency. Mr. Horace Hawk and Miss Clara Flight are employees of the firm. Miss Flight is Mr. Baxter’s secretary. Mr. Hawk is a clerk in the publicity department. Unfortunately for Mr. Hawk, Mr. Baxter is of the opinion that Mr. Hawk’s advertisements are of no use in business, because they are too melancholy. Mr. Hawk’s life is not easy. It is the life of a genius forced to work in an office.

Mr. Baxter has a fiancée. Her name is Alice Elliot. She is a University student. She is an undergraduate at Cambridge University. Her subject is sociology. Alice has a very interesting and original personality and she is a brilliant talker. She can talk about anything and everything. She can dance all the modern dances. She can make friends and influence people without much difficulty.

Mr. Baxter is very proud of his fiancée but he is a little worried. He cannot talk with easy about anything interesting, he cannot dance the modern dances. Besides he is not very musical. What can he do? Who can help poor Mr. Baxter?

Answer the following questions:

1) How does Clara Flight look like? Where does she work?

2) What is Mr. Baxter?

3) Why is Mr. Hawk’s life is not easy?

4) Where does Alice study?

5) What can Alice do well?

6) Why can Alice make friends and influence people without much difficulty?

7) Why is Mr. Baxter worried?

UNIT 2.

Тема: Устойчивые выражения с глаголом to be

Text: "An English Family".

The Comfords live in Rugby at 28 Coronation Street. John Comford is a rich businessman of about fifty. He's tall and dark. He wears dark suits but at weekends he wears casual clothes. He usually gets up at six, does some exercises and goes to the office. He never gets back before ten o'clock at night, so he doesn't see much of his family. He is interested in collecting pictures of horses. At the moment he is travelling on business in America because he's opening an office over there next year.

Sarah, Mr Comford's wife, is forty-five. She is an attractive woman with blond hair and soft blue eyes. She is kind and gentle, very practical and full of common sense. Sarah is a housewife. She looks after the house and the family.

The Comfords have two children: a son and a daughter. Their son's name is Steve. He is 22. He is a clever young man. He works at a design office. He is a very outdoor person - he is a keen sailor and a member of the local yacht club. When he has a chance, Steve and his friends go down to the coast for the weekend, camping there and sailing in competitions. He plays football sometimes for a Rugby team, but prefers watching the games - either on television or at the local ground where he goes with his father sometimes.

Steve has a number of close friends and a beautiful girl-friend, Pauline by name. Pauline studies at a Teachers' Training College. Steve and Pauline often go out for the evening to the cinema or else they go skating at the Rugby skating rink. Pauline is a very good skater and she's trying to teach Steve how to skate well. Both Steve and Pauline are very friendly and sociable. Sometimes Steve takes Pauline to a pub where they meet some of their friends and sit and chat for an hour or so. Sometimes they go dancing at the Mecca Ballroom. Steve is very fond of Pauline. They are going to get married in a year.

Steve's sister, Alice, is a lovely, quiet, serious girl. She goes to grammar school. She is a bright girl and does very well at school. Alice reads a lot, she is fond of music. She is good at drawing. She takes lessons in drawing at the local art school.

Sarah's mother, Grandma, as the children call her, also lives with them. She is in her late sixties. Her kind face is wrinkled, her hair is gray, but she is still quite young in spirit. She likes reading and gardening and she often goes for long walks. She's a very active person. Either she's making something or mending something or doing something to entertain herself. She's extremely generous but not very tolerant with the people who don't agree with her.

Answer the following questions:

1) Where do the Comfords live?

2) What is John Comford?

3) How old is Steve? Where does he work?

4) Where does Pauline study?

5) How do they spend evenings?

6) Where do Steve and Pauline go out in the evenings?

7) What is Alice good in?

8) How does Grandmother entertain herself?

UNIT 3.

Тема: Present Simple. Особенности употребления Present Simple. Порядок слов в предложении. Вопросительная форма глагола

Text: "Settling Down in England".

My name is Martin Andersen. My wife and I are Danish. As a matter of fact, many of my ancestors were English: I was born in England and was originally of British nationality. I lost my parents when I was a baby and lived in Denmark with my Grandmother, so that Danish is really my native language.

We arrived in England last February at five o'clock on a Wednesday morning. We were both sick on the journey. To make matters worse, I left my camera on the ship. Few visitors experienced such an unfortunate beginning to their stay, and we certainly wanted to go straight home again.

We stayed for a week in a hotel, and were then lucky enough to find a house in the suburbs of London. It is not so convenient as our flat in Copenhagen, but it is less expensive. I am studying at the local Technical College and, in addition, often attend public lectures at the University of London on as many subjects as possible, chiefly to improve my English. I am an engineer and have worked for several years in a factory. Our two children have joined us. My wife is working as a part-time nurse at a hospital.

Most of our neighbors are kind, but often ask dull questions, such as,“What is the weather like in Denmark?” or “What kind of games do you play?”

We have made a few close friends, who often invite us to their homes. One of them even fetches us in his car on Sunday mornings and brings us back in the evenings. He speaks Swedish and has an elderly Swedish housekeeper, so we chat for hours in a language that is in some ways similar to our own.

Our children can already speak English more fluently than we can, and are always making fun of our mistakes, but spelling causes all of us many headaches.

(From "First Certificate in English Course for Foreign Students" by Ona Low)

Vocabulary

Word Combinations

Answer the following questions:

1) Why did Martin come to live in Denmark?

2) When did he and his wife arrive in England?

3) Where did they live in London?

4) Where did Martin study?

5) What did his wife do?

6) Were the children still in Denmark?

7) Had the family any friends in London?

UNIT 4.

Тема: Past Simple Tense. Continuous Tenses

Text I: “A Lonely Evening.”

By the time she had finished tidying up, Bill was almost ready to go. He was looking for his gloves.

"You needn't worry about me, Mum," he declared. "If the fog thickens, Harold will put me up for the night. In that case, I promise I'll give you a ring as soon as we decide. I give you my word I'll take no risks."

"I hope not," she said. "I shall be waiting up till you call."

"I'll see," he said affectionately. "How about your dropping in to see Aunt Maggie when I've gone? She'll be only too pleased."

He kissed her good-bye and moved off noisily down the road. He turned, waved and disappeared into the mist. She had always enjoyed being alone. Bill had repaired the wireless so she could listen to it. And inevitably there was a pile of washing that needed ironing; there were clothes to be mended and patched, socks to be darned.

"By the time Bill returns, I'll have done the whole work," she thought. She couldn't get rid of the feeling that her son was in danger.

"It's absurd to be having such fancies," she said to herself. "I've obviously overworked and am tired out. I could do with a sleep. I shall feel better when I wake up."

She made up the fire with a few logs of wood and lay back in the rocking chair. She had never thought she would feel so lonely. The clock ticked rhythmically, her eyes closed, and she slept peacefully.

She woke up with a sick feeling of dread. The room was in darkness. Before turning on the light, she came up to the window. She could see almost nothing through the yellow fog.

Her uneasy feeling of coming catastrophe was increasing; she pulled herself together firmly and went to stoke the fire. Heavy steps were approaching the house; there was a single commanding knock. She went to open the door. On the threshold stood a tall grave-faced policeman.

(From "First Certificate in English Course for Foreign Students" by Ona Low)

Vocabulary

Word Combinations

Answer the following questions:

1) What was Bill’s mother doing while he was getting ready to go?

2) What did the mother feel about her son’s going away?

3) What did he promise to do?

4) How was the mother going to spend the evening?

5) What did she feel worry?

6) What was the weather like when she woke up?

7) Who came to visit her?

Text II. “ The Wilsons` Party. “

Mr. and Mrs Wilson invited all their friends and neighbours to a party last night. They stayed home all day yesterday and prepared for the party.

In the morning the Wilsons worked outside. Their daughter Margaret cleaned the yard. Their son Bob pained the fence. Mrs Wilson planted flowers in the garden and Mr Wilson fixed their broken front steps.

In the afternoon the Wilsons worked inside the house. Margaret washed the floors and vacuumed the living-room carpet. Bob dusted the furniture and cleaned the basement. Mr and Mrs Wilsons stayed in the kitchen all afternoon. He cooked spaghetti for dinner and she baked apple pies for desert.

The Wilsons finished all their work at 6 o`clock. Their house looked beautiful inside and out!

Everybody enjoyed the Wilsons` party last night. The guests arrived at about 7.30. After they arrived, they all sat in the living-room. They ate cheese and crackers, drank wine and talked. Some people talked about their children. Other people talked about the weatherand Arts.

The Wilsons served dinner in the dining-room at 9.00. Everybody enjoyed the meal very much. They liked Mr Wilson`s spaghetti and they " loved" Mrs Wilson`s apple pie. In fact everybody asked for seconds.

After dinner they sat in the living-room again. First Bob Wilson played the piano and his sister Margaret sang. Then Mr and Mrs Wilson showed slides of their trip to Hawaii. After that they turned on the stereo and everybody danced. As you can see, the Wilsons` guests enjoyed the party very much. In fact, nobody wanted to go home.

Answer the following questions:

1) When did the Wilsons have a party?

2) How did they prepare for the party?

3) What time did the guests arrive?

4) What did they do in the living-room?

5) What was the menu?

6) How did Bob and Margaret entertain the guests?

7) What slides did the Wilsons show to their guests?

UNIT 5.

Тема: Perfect Tenses

Text: “A Dangerous Place.”

Paula had always wanted to go to New York and now she had the chance at last. She was a journalist, and her newspaper was sending her there to do a series of articles on the city. But before she left her home in London, several friends warned her to be careful and.not to go out alone at night in New York. "It's a dangerous place. People get robbed or even killed in broad daylight!" they told her.

But when she got there, the only thing she was afraid of was exhaustion. It was such an exciting city that she never got any sleep. It took her two weeks to do the articles and she had to interview a lot of people. But she enjoyed every minute of it. She completely forgot all her friends' warnings until the day she went back, to London. It all began in a bar.

She was having lunch there when she suddenly felt someone watching her. She looked up and noticed a man sitting at a table opposite her. He was staring at her, but looked away. She noticed that he had a scar on his cheek. He was about 30 and had short, curly hair. Paula was not worried at all. She had to go to an airline office to re-book her flight home. She wanted an afternoon flight instead of a morning one, as originally planned.

On her way there, she stopped to look at something in a shop-window. To her surprise she saw the man follow her. She could see his reflection in the glass. He had stopped just behind her. Suddenly she felt afraid. She walked on. Then she stopped and looked behind her again. But this time she could not see him.

Just then she noticed she had come to the airline office. She went in and after she had finished her business, decided to phone a friend from a telephone booth there. She was carrying a small, portable but very expensive tape-recorder. It was in a black case in which she kept her money and passport as well. But the booth was sо small that she had to leave the case outside.

When she came out, it had disappeared. Then she saw the red-haired man hurrying out of the office. He had the case in his hand. She shouted but it was too late.

(From "Interaction" by Robert O'Neill)

Vocabulary

Word Combinations

Answer the following questions:

1) What was Paula by profession?

2) Who gave her a chance to visit New York?

3) What did her friends warn her about?

4) How long did it take her to do her job in New York?

5) What did she decide to do after she had finished her business at the airline office?

6) Why did she leave the case outside?

7) Why couldn`t she stop the man?

Dialogue: At the Police Station

Paula: I want to report a theft.

Policeman: A theft?

Paula: Yes, a red-haired man stole my tape-recorder, money and…

Policeman: Yeah, yeah! Not so fast.I have to write all this down. Now… what was the thing?

Paula: A tape-recorder and, more important than that, my money and…

Policeman: Was it expensive,lady?

Paula: Sorry? Was it… what?

Policeman: Don`t shout! Just keep calm! Was your tape-recorder expensive?

Paula: I don`t really know. About 200 pounds.

Policeman: 200 what?

Paula: Pounds! English money! But look! I`m far more interested in my passport and money!

Policeman: What`s that got to do with it? I thought you said it was about your tape-recorder!

UNIT 6.

Тема: Модальные глаголы. Modal verbs and their equivalents

Text: “My Daughter is Not For You.”

On the afternoon of September 29 I made this entry in my note-book:

"This morning at 2 a.m. I Finally identified Bacillus C.

It is Brucella melitensis, a bacillus which David Bruce isolated in 1886 during an outbreak of fever in Malta caused by the milk of infected goats. According to the text-books this bacillus could be transmitted only by goats and was only of historical interest. This belief is incorrect. Brucella melitensis is the causal organism of the recent epidemic here. I suspect it is transmitted by the milk of cows. Should this be so, the importance of this discovery is very great.

I threw down the pen and hurried to the station to catch my train to Winton. We were meeting at three o’clock.

All that summer we grew more and more attached to each other. Jean felt we must not meet. No nightmare was more terrible to her than my religion. But we couldn't say good-bye. We were hopelessly in love.'

I found her in a quiet cafe near the Central Station. I told her of my success, of how important the discovery was. She smiled gently. But there remained a troubled look on her face. She was to begin her Degree Examination on the next day. It would last five days. Suddenly I felt ashamed. I could have helped her to prepare for the examination. I saw that she was seriously worried. I felt a selfish brute.

"You'll be all right," I said encouragingly.

On our way to the station I stopped at a shop. I went in and bought a green necklace. At the station I gave her the necklace.

"That's for good luck," I said. "Green is my lucky colour."

Her face lit up with pleasure. I fastened the necklace around her neck and, careless of the passing crowds, took her in my arms and kissed her.

As I turned away, I saw a tall figure staring at me with horror. With a sinking heart I recognized Miss Beth Dearie. She had seen the necklace, and the kiss...

On the following Monday I found, out that Jean had not passed her examination. She had failed.

Although she had warned me not to do so. I felt I must telephone her at once. I called the number in Blairhill, but a woman's voice, almost certainly her mother's, answered that Miss Jean was not there.

All that day I felt restless and depressed. After supper Katie, the maid, tapped upon my door.

"There's a gentleman to see you, sir."

I was surprised. I was not used to visitors.

"Show him in," I said. The door opened and...Daniel Law came into the room:

"I hope I am not intruding, Doctor. I should like to speak to you."

"Why... certainly."

He sat down. He wore his best dark suit.

"Doctor," he began quietly, "it was not an easy step for me to come here." He paused. "You have been seeing much of my daughter lately. Am I right?"

I turned extremely red. "Yes, you are. I have," I said.

"May I ask you why?"

"Well... I'm very fond of her."

"We are fond of her too, Doctor. You will, therefore; understand how great was our disappointment when we learned today that she had failed. And the main reason was that, instead of working, she was wasting her time with you." I was silent.

"Of course my wife and I have spoken to her. She will try again to pass the exam after some months of hard study. But there is a more serious question that worries us. I know little of your relations with my daughter. I am grateful to Miss Dearie for the little information I have. But I think your relations have gone far enough."

"I don't understand," I said quickly. "Why do you object to my knowing your daughter?"

"Doctor, " he said firmly, "I hope that one day my daughter will marry and be happy. But she will never find happiness with a man of another religion."

" I don`t agree with you," I said. "People are born in different families. We must be tolerant."

He shook his head with a cold and strange smile as if he knew well what God liked and what he wanted.

"You are young and inexperienced. There is only one true religion. It`s the religion of my daughter."

He saw signs of protest in my face and his tone grew harsh. "You must understand, that my daughter is not for you. There is a man in our community who will marry her. I`m speaking of Malcolm Hodden. At present he is a teacher but one day he will be a clergyman. He is the right man for my daughter."

There was a short silence. He rose, buttoned his coat and said: "I`m glad that our conversation has been useful, Doctor. We must learn to submit to God."

He left the room. I didn`t move for a long time. Full of pain and angry love I thought of Jean.

TEST