Иностранный язык: Контрольные работы по английскому...
TRANSCRIPT
Ф Е Д Е РАЛ Ь Н О Е АГ Е Н С ТВ О П О О БРАЗО ВАН И Ю В О РО Н Е Ж С КИ Й Г О С У Д АРС ТВ Е Н Н Ы Й УН И В Е РС И ТЕ Т
И Н О С ТРАН Н Ы Й ЯЗЫ К контрол ьные работы по английскому языку
д ля сту д енто в 3-4 к у рса зао чно го о тд еления
исто рическ о го ф ак у л ьтета п о сп ециально сти 030401 – И сто рия
ГСЭ.Ф .01 – И но странный язык
В О РО Н Е Ж - 2005
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У т верж д ен о н а у чн о-м ет од ическим совет ом ист орического ф а ку льт ет а № 10 от 23.06.2005 г. С остав ител и: М артемьянов а Н .В ., Ш ирш иков а Е .А. Контрол ьные работы подготов л ены на кафедре странов едения и иностранных языков исторического факул ьтета Воронеж ского государств енного унив ерситета. Рекомендую тся дл я студентов 3 - 4 курса заочного отдел ения.
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К О НТРО ЛЬН АЯ РАБ ОТА № 1. Гра м м а т ика : Н еличн ые ф ормы гла гола Ин ф ин ит ив (The Infinitive) Формы ин ф ин ит ива
Indefinite Continuous Perfect Active to write to be writing to have written Passive to be written - to have been
written П р и м е ч а н и я : Частиц а ‘to’ не став ится 1) после модал ьных глаголов must, can/could, may/might, need; 2) посл е глаголов : to make – застав л ять; to let – разреш ать; 3) после в ыраж ений: had better - л учш е бы; would rather, would sooner – предпочел бы. I. Пост а вьт е ин ф ин ит ив в след у ющих пред лож ен иях в под ход ящу ю по смыслу ф орм у . Вст а вьт е ча ст ицу ‘to’ т а м , гд е э т о н еобход им о. James Smith decided (to dedicate) his book to his friend. 2. Some important decisions must (to take) soon. 3. Let me (to defend) my pint of view. 4. There was one more announcement (to make). 5. Let us (to get in touch) with linguists in Moscow. 6. Do you want (to make) John (to do) it? 7. You’d better (to translate) this text yourself. II. Вст а вьт е под ходящу ю по смыслу ф орм у ин ф ин ит ива :A)Passive or Active, B) Indefinite or Perfect. A. 1. The lecturer wants … The student wants … (to understand, to be understood). 2. We expected the meeting … next month. He expected … the attention of the audience (to hold, to be held). 3. Some changes had … He wanted … some changes in the project (to make, to be made). 4. There were a lot of things … He was nowhere … (to see, to be seen). B. 1. It’s good … work for the day (to finish, to have finished). 2. She admits … the same mistake in her previous paper (to make, to have made). 3. He was sorry not … the idea earlier (to give up, to have given up). 4. Many nations claim … defending democracy(to be, to have been). 5. She confessed … the man before (to see, to have seen). 6. The negotiations seem … to an end (to come, to have come). 7. The relations between the two countries seem … the lowest point (to reach, to have reached).
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У П ОТРЕБЛЕ Н ИЕ И С П О С О Б Ы ПЕРЕВО ДА ИНФИНИТИВА . И нфинитив употребл яется в английском предл ож ении в ц елом ряде
функц ий:
И н ф ин итив – п од л е ж ащ е е To make mistakes is easy. О ш ибки д е лать л егк о . It is easy to make mistakes. И нф инитив – д о п о лнение He asked us to help. О н просил нас п о мо чь . We found it difficult to help him. Н ам было трудно п о мо чь ему.
И н ф ин итив – оп ре д е л е н ие He is an example to be followed. Вот пример, которому надо сле д о в ать . The examples to be found in примеры, которые со д ерж атся (мо ж но this paper are interesting. найти) в этой статье, интересны.
И н ф ин итив – часть ск азуе м ого Our plan was to introduce new Н аш план закл ю чается в том, что бы methods of research. в в ести но в ые методы исследов ания. They must continue their research. О ни дол ж ны п ро д о л ж ить св ое иссл едов ание.
И н ф ин итив – обстояте л ьств о He stopped for a minute to rest. О н останов ил ся на минуту, что бы о тд о хну ть . We were too tired to discuss М ы слишк о м устал и, что бы the matter. о бсу ж д ать этот в опрос. You are old enough to earn Ты уж е д о стато чно в зрослый, your own living. что бы самому зарабатыв ать на ж изнь. I. Перевед ит е след у ющие пред лож ен ия н а ру сский язык, обра ща я вн им а н ие н а ра зличн ые ф у н кции ин ф ин ит ива . Н а зовит е ф у н кции ин ф ин ит ива . 1. Their intention is to collect funds to fight the disease. 2. The lawyer’s advice was to talk as little as possible. 3. The right solution is to hold an open discussion between the parties concerned. 4. He was too excited to explain his position clearly. 5. The student was clever enough to solve any mathematical problem. 6. Their mutual respect was deep enough to encourage them for future cooperation.
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7. The purpose of education is to encourage people to be individuals. 8. The student got a job to earn money for his trip to the Far East. 9. His desire was to make a career in politics. 10. The task of the City Council is to improve standards of living. 11. It was impossible to explain what he meant. 12. To make a choice between these two proposals was quite difficult. 13. It takes him nearly an hour to get to work. 14. He advised us not to say anything about the incident. 15. He agreed to follow their example. II. П еревед ит е пред лож ен ия н а а н глийский язык. 1. С егодня нуж но обсудить ряд в опросов . 2. М не нуж но сообщ ить в ам кое-что в аж ное. 3. Трудно избеж ать ош ибок. 4. С ним трудно иметь дело (to deal with). 5. Э та тема сл иш ком скучна, чтобы ее так дол го обсуж дать. 6. Э тот фактор достаточно в аж ен, чтобы принять в о в нимание. 7. П ерв ое, что нуж но сделать, это научиться пол ьзов аться слов арем. 8. Будущ им ученым нуж но разв ив ать прив ычку быстрого чтения.
О Б Ъ Е К ТН АЯ К О Н СТРУ К Ц ИЯ С ИНФИН ИТИВО М The want him to become a journalist. О ни хотят, чтобы он стал ж урнал истом. I consider them to be Я считаю , что они хорош ие good specialists. спец иал исты. He heard them discuss their О н слыш ал , как они обсуж дал и рlan. св ой план. I.Перевед ит е пред лож ен ия н а ру сский язык. 1. I heard him mention my name. 2. They saw the plane take off. 3. We expect writers to deal with the issues of the modern world. 4. They believed him to be honored by the invitation to the international congress. 5. They do not expect the President to cut taxes as he promised. 6. We assume these truths to be self-evident. 7. The local authorities did not want their housing scheme to fail. 8. They find the experience of this conference to have been a remarkable one. II. П еревед ит е пред лож ен ия н а а н глийский язык. 1. М ы бы хотел и, чтобы у в ас было собств енное мнение. 2. Э ти события застав ил и президента в ыступить с речью . 3. Что застав ил о испанц ев проголосов ать за соц иал истов ? 4. Угроза ядерной в ойны застав ил а политиков преодол еть разногласия (to overcome disagreement of opinions).5. Э ти дов оды застав ил и нас изменить перв оначал ьный план действ ий. 6. М ы хотим, чтобы он пол учил хорош ее образов ание. 7. О ни ож идал и, что этот эксперимент окаж ется удачным. 8. Ученый полагает, что это дов ол ьно редкое яв л ение. 9. Е го политический опыт позв ол ил ему объединить л ю дей.
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10. М ы знаем, что Бернард Ш оу был очень остроумным челов еком. 11. Я в сегда считал их св оими друзьями.
С У Б Ъ Е К ТИВН Ы Й ИНФИН ИТИВН Ы Й О БО РОТ (слож н ое под леж а щее)
С убъектив ный инфинитив ный оборот состоит из: С ущ еств ител ьного (в общ ем надеж е) инфинитив , стоящ ий ил и местоимения (в именител ьном + посл е сказуемого падеж е)
He is said to know several Го в о рят, что он знает нескол ько foreign languages. иностранных языков . He seems to know little about По -в ид имо му , он мало знает об research work. иссл едов ател ьской работе. All our afforts proved (to be) Ок азало сь , что в се наш и усил ия useless. беспол езны. He is likely to arrive in the Веро ятно , он придет в ечером. evening. I. Перевед ит е пред лож ен ия н а ру сский язык. 1. The President is believed to be in London now. 2. She is supposed to be an experienced secretary. 3. The computer is expected to save the scientists a lot of time. 4. The material loss (материал ьный ущ ерб) was estimated to be more than 1mln dollars. 5. This discovery is considered to be the result of a long and thorough investigation. 6. These phenomena are believed to be interdependent. 7. The expedition is reported to be moving north. 8. This man is said to be a good psychologist. 9. The talks are reported to be in progress. 10. The head of the expedition was held to be responsible for the accident. II. П еревед ит е пред лож ен ия н а а н глийский язык. 1. И зв естно, что наука значител ьно изменила услов ия ж изни сов ременного челов ека. 2. С читается, что Л еонардо да В инчи сконструиров ал перв ый л ифт. 3. Г ов орят, что этот пол итический деятел ь добился бол ьш их успехов . Г ов орят, что он достаточно умен, чтобы прав ил ьно оц енить ситуац ию . О ж идается, что они в озобнов ят испытания на следую щ ей недел е. 6. С ообщ аю т, что президент уж е прибыл в стол иц у. 7. С туденты обязател ьно примут участие в конференц ии. 8. Э ти ученые нав ерняка опубл икую т резул ьтаты св оих иссл едов аний в ж урнал е. 9. Возмож но, он представ ит св ой реферат тол ько к начал у конгресса. 10. Е дв а л и они успею т реш ить в се пробл емы за недел ю .
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Выполн ит е след у ющие за д а н ия: П рочтите и перев едите в се тексты контрол ьного задания. О дин из текстов (по в ыбору) перев едите письменно. П остав ьте (письменно) к каж дому тексту по 7-10 в опросов , охв атыв аю щ их основ ное содерж ание текста. О тв етьте на постав л енные в опросы (устно). TEXT 1. Crusades 1. In the near east until recently, Europeans were often known as “Francs”, a
reference to the French and German warriors who participated in the Crusades.
These eight extraordinary missions, which took place over the course of two
centuries, marked the beginning “Europe’s long and victorious assault on the
world”. The goal of the Crusades was the liberation of Jerusalem, which had been
captured by Islamic forces in 638. Although Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in
1099 the Christian colonies they set up in the Levant proved to be fragile
kingdoms and were soon recaptured.
2. Like many other episodes in human history, the Crusades had significant
side effects. One was a heightened animosity between Christendom and Islam in
the Middle East, which eventually cut Europeans off from land routes to India and
China. The need for new avenues of trade with the Far East led to the seafaring
explorations of the Age of Discovery.
3. Another consequence was a fatal weakening of Byzantium, which never
recovered from a brutal sacking by Crusaders in 1204. Western Europe had
rediscovered some of the lost learning of ancient Greece in translations made by
Arab philosophers. A steady exodus of Hellenic scholars from the decaying
empire brought westward the more, detailed knowledge of antiquity that
eventually fueled the revival of classical learning known as the Renaissance. In the
Middle Ages scholars from all over the Europe made pilgrimages to the schools
and libraries of Cordoba and Madrid to study Arabic literature, astronomy and
medicine.
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TEXT 2. 1. The Hundred Years’ War was followed by a long power struggle(1455-85)
for the English Crown between the two branches of the royal family, which Walter
Scott later called the Wars o the Roses.
2. The man who ended the war and united the two royal houses and their
supporters was Henry Tudor, duke of Richmond, who became King Henry VII
giving origin to the Tudor dynasty (1485-1603).
3. Henry avoided quarrels with neighbors and made important trade
agreements with European countries. He was careful to keep the friendship of the
merchant and lesser gentry classes who produced most of the nation’s wealth. Like
him they wanted peace and prosperity. He understood earlier than most people that
England’s future wealth would depend on international trade and he built a large
fleet of merchant ships. Henry VII built the foundations of a wealthy nation state
and a powerful monarchy.
4. He sent his seamen to explore the Atlantic coast of North America soon
after Columbus’s great discovery. But England did not start colonizing the new
continent until the early seventeenth century when it had become strong enough.
5. In the 1530s, henry VIII, wasteful and ambitious, broke away from Rome,
and Parliament made him head of the Church of England. An English Bible was
placed in every church for people to read. After a careful survey of Church
property Henry VIII closed 560 monasteries and took over their land and wealth.
He sold much of their lands to the rising classes of landowners and merchants – to
boost his popularity with them. England became politically a Protestant country,
even though the religion was in fact still Catholic. Nevertheless, Henry made the
Church in England truly English.
6. It was Henry’s creation of the Royal Navy that enabled England to realize
her imperialistic ambitions under Elizabeth. He had spent a lot of money on
warships and guns, making English guns the best in Europe.
7. Elizabeth I(1558-1603) was the first of three long-reigning queens in British
history (the other two are Queen Victoria, 1837-1901, and Queen Elizabeth II ,
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succeeded in 1952). Her reign is considered by many as the Golden Age of
English history, whose symbols were Sir Francis Drake and William Shakespeare.
8. The discovery of America placed England at the center of the word’s trading
routes, and brilliant naval commanders (especially Sir Francis Drake and Sir
Walter Raleigh) enabled England to dominate these trade routes.
9. Elizabeth and her advisers considered trade the most important foreign
policy matter, as Henry VII had done. For them England’s greatest trade rival was
also its greatest enemy. This idea remained the basis of England’s foreign policy
until the nineteenth century. A number of companies were established to trade
with various regions of the world. The Moscow Company had been developing
profitable trade with Russia. The East India Company was founded to trade with
the East Indies (Indonesia); competing with the Dutch and later with the French it
soon began to operate in India, Persia and even in Japan. The Africa Company
began selling slaves to the Spanish in America. And several others.
10. Elizabeth followed two policies. She encouraged English sailors to attack
and destroy Spanish ships bringing treasures back from America, and the treasure
was shared with the queen. She also encouraged English traders to settle abroad
and to create colonies. This second policy led directly to Britain’s colonial empire
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
TEXT 3 1. William III had to do much to secure his hold, not only upon England but
upon Scotland and Ireland. In 1689 James II landed in Ireland, where he had an
army ready to hand, and was easily able to stir up a national rising of the native
Catholics against the Protestant “ garrison”. In July 1690 William defeated James
at the battle of Boyne. This event has been celebrated since by Orangemen, as
Protestants of Northern Ireland belonging to the Orange Order call themselves.
2. In October 1691 the last Irish general surrendered at Limerick after a
brilliant but hopeless struggle. As a condition of surrender William promised
religious toleration for the Irish Catholics, a promise that was immediately broken
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by the passing of severe Penal Laws which deprived them of all civil and religious
rights. The new conquest of Ireland was followed by fresh confiscations of land,
and henceforward the country was ruled more brutally and open than ever before
as a colony existing for the exclusive benefit of the English.
3. In Scotland the new regime was accepted without much opposition.
Protestants in Scotland welcomed the expulsion of James, and by 1692 William
III’s sovereignty was undisputed throughout the British Isles.
4. After William of Orange and Mary had been declared king and queen,
Parliament added to the laws of the constitution. The Triennial Act, 1694, obliged
the king to summon Parliament at least every three years. The Act of Settlement,
1701, included rules which, had they not become a dead letter, would have made
government chaotic and strangled cabinet government, as the British were to know
it, in its cradle.
5. No person who had an office or place of profit under the king could serve as
a member of the House of Commons. All matters relating to the governing of the
kingdom which were the responsibility of the Privy Council were to be transacted
there, and all resolutions taken thereupon were to be signed by the individual
responsible.
6. This would have involved a subordination of the administration to the
legislature which would have made impossible development of a cabinet system
by which the servants of the king exercise his prerogatives – the essential
executive powers on which the life of the state depends – because they are
members of the House of Commons and are supported by a majority of it in the
implementation of a policy approved by the country, if necessary at a general
election.
7. The Septennial Act, 1715, increased the normal term of Parliament’s
existence from three to seven years and made it possible for the government in
office to nurse the constituencies on which its power depended.
8. Looking back, we can see that in the eighteenth century Britain collaboration
between the king’s ministers and the representatives of his people was a better
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instrument of government than the uncontrolled power of a legislature or
continuous friction between an independent royal executive and an irresponsible
legislature.
К О НТРО ЛЬН АЯ РАБ ОТА № 2. Гра м м а т ика : Н еличн ые ф ормы гла гола Прича ст ие (The Participle), геру н д ий (The Gerund).
ПРИЧ АС ТИЕ (The PARTICIPLE) Формы прича ст ий
Participle I Participle II Perfect participle
Active writing - having written Passive being written written having been
written П ричастие в предлож ении мож ет быть 1) определ ением; 2) обстоятел ьств ом; 3) частью сказуемого. A person writing reports Чел ов ек, п ере д ающий реп о ртаж и from abroad is called a из-за ру беж а,- иностранный foreign correspondent. корреспондент. Writing his report, the correspondent Рабо тая над реп о ртаж ем, covered the latest developments корреспондент осв етил последние in his country. достиж ения в стране. Having written his report, Нап исав св о й реп о ртаж , он he posted it. отправ ил его по почте. The report written by an expert О тчет, нап исанный сп ециалисто м, was of great interest. представ л ял бол ьш ой интерес. Written by an expert, the report Так к ак о тчет был нап исан could be trusted. сп ециалисто м, ему мож но было в ерить. If confirmed, these facts can be of Е сли эти ф акты п о д тв ерд ятся, great value. они могут оказаться очень ц енными.
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When offered help, they accepted К о гд а им п ре д л о ж или п о мо щь , it eagerly. они принял и ее с готов ностью . I. П еревед ит е н а ру сский язык.
A. 1. The man speaking to the students is the head of the Department. 2. At the entrance you will be met by the man holding a folded newspaper. 3. The article being typed now, will be published tomorrow. 4. All the roads leading to the centre of the city were blocked by trucks. 5. We got a letter from him saying that he would stay in Africa for another month. 6. The child was frightened by an approaching train. 7. The men working on the construction site were in some danger. 8. Being unable to help, I went home. 9. Having completed their tests, the students handed them in. 10. Having spent all the money he started looking for work.
B. 1. Most of the scientists invited to the conference were leading specialists in various branches of economics. 2. Science is knowledge arranged in an orderly manner. 3. Experiments is a test carried out to gain new knowledge. 4. The number of electronic computers used in any given field of human activity is an indication of the degree of its modernity. 5. Many superstitions have been built round the supposed power of dreams to foretell the future. 6. These measures implemented by the government raised the standard of living. 7. Thinking expresses itself in words spoken or written. 8. In some countries there is tax on things sold in the shops.
II. П еревед ит е пред лож ен ия н а а н глийский язык. 1. Чел ов ек, отв етив ш ий на наш и в опросы, оказался профессором С анкт-П етербургского унив ерситета. 2. Ученые, пригласив ш ие нас на конференц ию , яв л яю тся в едущ ими спец иал истами в области экспериментал ьной психологии. 3. О ни избрали путь, в едущ ий к быстрому успеху. 4. О ни пош л и по пути, прив едш ему их к успеху. 5. Л ю ди, работаю щ ие на этом зав оде, пол ьзую тся компью терной техникой. 6. Л ю ди, работав ш ие на этой строител ьной площ адке, уехал и на С ев ер. 7. О н получил письмо от кол л еги, в котором гов орилось, что съезд состоится в мае.
О Б Ъ Е К ТН АЯ ПРИЧ АС ТН АЯ К О Н С ТРУ К Ц ИЯ We saw him passing the documents М ы в идел и, к ак о н п ере д ав ал to the secretary. документы секретарю . We heard our colleagues discussing М ы слыш ал и, к ак наши к о л - the agenda of the conference. л еги о бсу ж д али пов естку дня. They saw their luggage brought О ни в идел и, что(как) в несли in. их багаж . П еревед ит е пред лож ен ия.
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1. We watched the planes landing and taking off. 2. We heard the engine roaring and the plane started. 3. When we came back we found them still arguing. 4. He was pleased to hear his words quoted several times in the President’s speech. 5. You could hear the loudness of the teacher’s voice changing according to what he was talking about. 6. He wanted his paper published as soon as possible.
ГЕРУ Н ДИЙ (THE GERUND) Формы геру н д ия
Indefinite Perfect
Active asking having asked Passive being asked having been asked
John’s coming so late Всех удив ил о то, что Дж о н п ришел surprised everybody. так поздно. Do you mind my joining Вы не в озраж аете, если я п рисо е д и- the discussion. нюсь к д иск у ссии. In discussing this problem they При о бсу ж д ении/о бсу ж д ая эту touched upon new methods пробл ему, они коснул ись нов ых ме of research. тодов исследов ания. The teacher introduced a new Учител ь в в одил нов ый материал subject by asking questions зад ав ая в о ро сы, св язанные с ним. related to it. Upon/on completing his research Зак о нчив св ое исследов ание, он he published two papers. опубл иков ал дв е работы. They had a number of reasons У них был ряд причин дл я того, for questioning his theory. что бы со мне в аться в его теории. Before answering our question Преж д е чем о тв етить на наш he made clear his point of view. в опрос, он разъяснил св ою точку зрения. Discussion provides a valuable Д искуссия дает ц енную в озмож - means of uncovering errors. ность о бнару ж ив ать о шибк и. I. Н а й д ит е сочет а н ия The Gerund с пред логом . П еревед ит е пред лож ен ия н а ру сский язык.
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1. One usually becomes aware of the problem by asking why or how some process works. 2. Asking “why” is a useful stimulus towards imagining what the cause or purpose of a process may be. 3. “How” is also a useful question in provoking thought about the mechanism of a process. 4. The custom of having lunch and afternoon tea in groups at the laboratory gives opportunities for informal discussions. 5. Before going on to the next section of the text the lecturer asked one of the students to read through the paragraph again. 6. Nowadays you can’t work out a new theory without discussing it with other people. 7. Before drawing conclusions one must carefully examine all the facts. 8. By working day and night he succeeded in finishing the paper in time. 9. People are afraid of having time to think, so they go to the cinema, watch TV, go to a football match. 10. Reports can cause suffering to individuals by publishing details about their private lives. II. П еревед ит е пред лож ен ия н а а н глийский язык, обра ща я вн им а н ие н а у потреблен ие геру н д ия. 1. П ож алуйста, перестаньте разгов арив ать. Я не слыш у, что он гов орит. 2.
Хотя было очень поздно, он продол ж ал работать над докладом, который он
собирался сделать на сл едую щ ий день. 3. О ни начал и работать ров но в
дев ять. 4. Я думаю , мы мож ем продол ж ить обсуж дение этого в опроса. 5. О н
продол ж ал читать книгу, пока не наш ел нуж ное место. 6. Вы не в озраж аете,
если я прив еду с собой друга? 7. Я узнал этого чел ов ека, как тол ько она
закончила его описание. 8. Я не буду в озраж ать, есл и в ы помож ете ему в
работе. 9. Ты не в озраж аеш ь, есл и мы потанц уем ещ е немного,
Выполн ит е след у ющие за д а н ия:
1. П рочтите и перев едите тексты контрол ьного задания. О дин из
текстов (по в ыбору) перев едите письменно.
2. Выпиш ите из текстов предл ож ения, в которых имею тся нел ичные
формы глагола. О предел ите их функц ии и перев едите предл ож ения
на русский язык.
3. Выпиш ите предлож ения, в которых есть Participle II (причастие
прош едш его в ремени). О предел ите функц ию причастия II и
перев едите предл ож ения на русский язык.
4. Задайте к каж дому тексту по 5 в опросов , охв атыв аю щ их основ ное
содерж ание текста (письменно).
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TEXT 1 1. The 14th of April, 1865, was a tragic day in the history of the United States. For on the evening of that day, President Lincoln went to Ford’s Theatre in Washington to see a play which was popular at the time – and never returned. 2. The theatre party for that evening had been planned by Mrs. Lincoln. The President usually enjoyed going to the theatre and went very often – but this evening he had no wish to go. He had felt very tired all day and looked upset. He finally decided to go, however, because it had been announced in the newspapers that the President would be present at Ford’s Theatre. 3. The President and his party arrived at the theatre when the play had already begun. When he appeared in the box, the audience greeted him with a storm of applause and the performance was interrupted for a moment. Then the play went on, and the President enjoyed it. He didn’t know that his life was in danger. 4. At about ten o’clock an actor named John Booth came into the theatre and walked directly towards Lincoln’s box. He noiselessly opened the door, and approaching the President so that his gun was only a short distance from his head, calmly took aim and fired. The President fell forward in his chair. Booth immediately jumped from the box to the stage. 5. The audience saw him to do this, but they thought that it was all part of the play, when suddenly they heard a woman’s voice cry out: 6. “The President has been killed.” It was Mrs. Lincoln. Immediately a young doctor from the audience hurried to the President’s box. After he had examined Lincoln, he said that the President had only a few hours to live. 7. Lincoln was lifted from his chair and carried to a house opposite the theatre, where he remained until his death the next morning. When he died, one of the people in the room at the said: “Now he belongs to the ages.” 8. These words have since become famous. TEXT 2 1. Alfred Nobel, the great Swedish inventor and industrialist, was a man of contrasts. He was a son of a bankrupt, but became a millionaire; a scientist with a love of literature, an industrialist who managed to remain idealist. He made a fortune but lived a simple life, and although cheerful in company, he was often sad in private. A lover of mankind, he never had a wife or family; a patriotic son of his native land, he died alone on foreign soil. 2. He invented a new explosive, dynamite, to improve the peacetime industries of mining and road building, but saw it used as a weapon of war to kill and injure his fellow-men. 3. During his useful life he often felt he was useless. ”Alfred Nobel”, he once wrote of himself,” ought to have been put to death by a kind doctor as soon as, with a cry, he entered life”. World famous for his work, he was never personally well-known, for throughout his life he avoided publicity. ”I do not see”, he once
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said, “ that I have deserved any fame and I have no taste for it”. But since his death his name has brought fame and glory to others. 4. He was born in Stockholm on October 21, 1833, but moved to Russia with his parents in 1843, where his father, Immanuel, made a strong position for himself in the engineering industry. Immanuel Nobel invented the landmine and made a lot of money from government orders for it during the Crimean War, but went bankrupt soon after. 5. Most of the family returned to Sweden in 1859, where Alfred rejoined them in 1863, beginning his own study of explosives in his father’s laboratory. He had never been to school or university but had studied privately and by the time he was twenty was a skillful chemist and excellent linguist, speaking Swedish, Russian, German, French and English. Like his father, Alfred Nobel was imaginative and inventive, but had better luck in business and showed more financial sense. 6. He was quick to see industrial openings for his scientific inventions and he built up over eighty companies in twenty countries. Indeed, his greatness lay in his outstanding ability to combine the qualities of an original scientist with those of a forward looking industrialist. 7. But Nobel’s main concern was never with making money or even with making scientific discoveries. Seldom happy, he was always searching for a meaning of life, and from his youth had taken a serious interest in literature and philosophy. 8. Perhaps because he could not find ordinary human love – he never married – he came to care deeply about the whole of mankind. He was always generous to the poor:”I’d rather take care of the stomach of the living than the glory of the dead in the form of stone memorials”, he once said. His greatest wish, however, was to see the end to wars, and he spent much time and money working for this cause until his death in Italy in 1896. 9. His famous will, in which he left money to provide prizes for outstanding work in physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine, literature and peace, is a memorial to his interests and ideals. And so, the man who felt he should have died at birth is remembered and respected long after his death. TEXT 3 1. The colonists had finished building their homes before winter came. The winter was very frosty. Blinding snow fell and covered the forests. Great cakes of ice blocked the river, and the colonists could not go to the mainland for fire – wood. 2. Soon it grew so cold that most of the French wished they had never come there. They suffered from cold and hunger. There was nothing to eat but salt meat and dries vegetables. Thirty-five of the seventy-nine Frenchmen died before spring. 3. In the spring of 1605 the colonists decided to move to a Scotia. The houses they built there were more suitable for sheltering them in any weather.
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4. The settlers had plenty of time to prepare themselves for next winter. Gardens were started. Champlain dug a trench which he filled with water. Fish caught in the sea were put there alive and kept until needed. A ship loaded with flour, fruit, jellies, species, and other dainties arrived from France. 5. Then Champlain thought of a kind of game to cheer the men during the long, dreary winter. He formed the fifteen principal men in the colony into a club which he named the “Order of Mirth”. The Order was to provide fun as well as good food for the rest. Each member in turn was Grand Master for a day. It was his business to furnish the meals for the day. Fresh meat was to form the chief part of the meal, because Champlain new that it would keep the men from getting sick.. 6. Each Grand Master tried to outdo the others in setting good meals. By hunting or fishing or buying from the Indians, the Grand Master fed the colonists with roast duck and goose, rabbits, deer meat, and fish of all kinds. At noon the Grand Master for the day strode into the room, the collar of the order around his neck, the staff of the Order in his hand, and a napkin on his shoulder. The other members, each carrying a dish, marched behind him singing. 7. The men had a gay time at their meals, telling funny stories, and singing their favourite songs. The Indians must have enjoyed this fun, too, for they often came in and sat on the floor. During the meal, the French would give them white men’s bread, which they liked more than anything else. 8. After the evening meal the Grand Master turned over the collar and staff to the Grand Master for the next day. Good food, fun, and a mild winter kept away illness. The second winter in America was much more pleasant, and all of the party lived through it. 9. Sad news arrived from France in the spring. The settlers were greatly surprised when they were ordered to sail back to France. They had to leave America. Прочит а й т е и перевед ит е т екст . Под гот овьт е ра сска з о своей бу д у щей проф ессии.
My Future Profession If you ask me why of all humanities I have chosen History, my answer will be:
it interests me as a science because it helps one to understand and explain the processes going on in various aspects of human history. It also helps one to foresee the course of events in the future. But no one can really study any particular period of history unless he knows a lot about what preceded it, and what came after it.
If one casts a retrospective look at the historical past, one can see that the entire history of human society is that of wars and struggle for power. Wars, except just ones, were always waged for the purpose of conquering other lands and peoples. All the monarchs brutally oppressed their own people, and enslaved and plundered the conquered nations. But, in the course of time, some empires and monarchies gradually came down to a downfall. As a result of democratic revolutions, some monarchs were overthrown and republics were proclaimed.
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I suppose we’ll soon discuss all these points at our seminars. There are many historical subjects in our programme. When we are through
with Ancient History, we’ll pass over to the study of the Middle Ages. As to Russian History, I think, we’ll start learning the pre-revolutionary period (the period of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century) next year, but not until we are through with the feudal period. When I am in my third year, I wish to devote myself to the special study of Modern and Contemporary History to which I am greatly attracted.
It was shortly before leaving school that I made up my mind to enter this faculty and take up History seriously as my future speciality. Whether I’ll make a very good teacher or a research worker remains to be seen, But I’m sure that eventually I’ll become quite knowledgeable in the field of History and perhaps social sciences. К О НТРО ЛЬН АЯ РАБОТА № 3
THE BIRTH OF PARLIAMENT 1. Read the text. Look up new words in the vocabulary. The New Wealthy Classes Britain had always been famous for its wool, much of it was exported. In order to improve the manufacture of woollen cloth, William I encouraged Flemish weavers and other skilled workers from Normandy to settle in Britain. Various other industries and crafts began to develop in old and new towns. By 1250 most of England’s towns were established. Many towns stood on land belonging to feudal lords. To balance the power of local nobility, the kings gave (sold) ‘charters of freedom’ to many towns, freeing the inhabitants from feudal duties to the local lord. The town’s life, courts and economy were controlled by town merchants who formed a wealthy and influential class. Two new landed classes developed in the country. They were ‘freeman farmers’ who rented landlords’ land and bit by bit added to their holdings, and ‘gentleman farmers’ or ‘landed gentry’, that is the knights who devoted themselves to farming. Kings Need Money By the late thirteenth century the king could only raise most of his income by taxation. And taxes could be raised with the agreement of those wealthy enough to be taxed – the merchants in towns and the landed gentry and other wealthy freemen in the country. These were the two classes of people who produced and controlled England’s wealth. There was an increasing necessity in a ‘representative institution’ whose members chosen by the shires and towns would link the king with these classes.
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The Great Charter In 1215, King John was forced by the powerful barons to sign Magna Carta, the Great Charter, which promised all ‘freemen’ protection from his officers and the right to a fair and legal trial. It also contained a list of imitations to the king’s power. A committee of lords was established to make sure that John kept his promise. For many centuries this document6 was an important symbol of political freedom. A Real Parliament Edward I (1272 – 1307) brought together the first real parliament. In 1295 he commanded each shire and town to send two representatives to what became known as the Model Parliament. There the barons and the high clergy were present together with the knights and burgesses representing the shires and towns (or boroughs). The’ House of Commons’ as a separate chamber resulted from the unofficial meetings of these knights and burgesses. The person chosen to ‘speak’ for these ‘commoners’ in Parliament became known as the Speaker. In the fourteenth century the House of Lords and the House of Commons became separate chambers. 2. Read the following phrases. Find them in the text. Translate them into Russian. To improve the manufacture of woollen cloth; new landed classes; to increase one’s holding; to raise the royal income by taxation; those wealthy enough to be taxed; to produce and control England’s wealth; necessity in a representative institution; forced to sign the Charter; the right to a fair and legal trial; the origins of Parliament; to make political decisions. 3. Comprehension check. Answer the following questions.
1. What factor caused the revival of old towns and the building of new ones in the Middle Ages?
2. What class of people controlled the growing industries? 3. What new classes developed in the country? 4. How could the king raise his income? 5. What is the significance of the Great Charter? 6. What kind of body was established by ‘committee’ and the ‘advisory
council’? 7. Why do you think the knights, freeman farmers and merchants kept together
and held separate meetings?? 8. What was the role of the speaker? 9. Which do you think was more powerful, Parliament or the king?
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4. Match a verb in A with a noun in B A B Choose land Make taxes Produce decisions Increase the manufacture Control wealth Improve the economy rent a holding raise a document sign the Speaker send a support 5. Put a preposition in each gap.
The share _____ the king’s income coming _____ the lands held _____ the lords
_____ the feudal system gradually went down. The king depended more and more
_____ taxes. But taxes could be raised _____ the agreement _____ the rich
classes. The wealth _____ the nation was produced _____ them.
The Great Charter signed _____ King John contained a number _____ limitations
_____ the king’s power. The aim ____ the committee was to make sure John did
not go _____ his rights _____ feudal lord.
_____ 1258 Henry III was forced to agree _____ the idea _____ an advisory
council established _____ the nobles _____ the leadership _____ S.de Montfort. It
was a first step _____ parliamentary principle.
6. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense and voice. Underline them in your notebooks. William I (to know) that England always (to be) famous for its wool. He (to hope)
that the skilled workers he (to invite) from the mainland (to help) develop
industries in English towns. The merchants (to become) the richest class in towns.
In the countryside the gentleman farmers and the freeman farmers became the
wealthy class who (to produce) most of the corn and other foods.
King John (to sign) Magna Carta which (to write) by the nobles and (to contain)
some limitations to the king’s power. The committee that the barons (to establish)
(to be) to make sure that John (to keep) his promise.
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7. Change the following sentences to passive.
The Tudors rarely assembled Parliament. But they did not dissolve the House of
Commons as they needed the money of the merchants and landowners. And the
latter supported the Tudor monarchs.
The first Stuarts absolutely ignored Parliament. The parliamentary forces defeated
Charles I. They tried and executed him. They restored the monarchy after
Cromwell’s death. But Parliament secured its supremacy over the monarch in the
Bill of Rights, which the king accepted. During the seventeenth century they
transformed the absolute monarchy in Britain into a parliamentary monarchy.
People consider Britain to be the Mother of Parliaments.
8. Write questions to these answers.
1. It was produced by the merchants and landowning farmers. 2. Only these classes could do it. 3. Because the Charter gave certain rights to ‘all freemen’ and contained
certain limitations to the royal power. 4. No, it wasn’t. It was only called ‘parliament’. 5. Because many of its members were chosen by towns and shires. 6. Because this chamber consisted of the representatives of ‘common people’.
9. Summarize the text according to the following suggestions.
1. The revival of towns in the Middle Ages. 2. The new wealthy classes in town and country. 3. The barons’ first challenge to the king’s absolute power. 4. The Great Charter: a symbol of political freedom. 5. Simon de Montfort’s council: a first step towards parliamentary principle. 6. Edward I’s Model Parliament. 7. Its division into two separate chambers.
К О НТРО ЛЬН АЯ РАБОТА № 4 1. Read and translate the text.
History and Historiography History, in its broadest sense, is the totality of all past events, although a
more realistic definition would limit it to the known past. Historiography is the
written record of what is known of human lives and societies in the past and how
historians have attempted to understand and interpret them. The term
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historiography also refers to the theory and history of historical writing. Of all the
fields of serious study and literary effort, history may be the hardest to define
precisely, because the attempt to uncover past events and formulate an intelligible
account of them necessarily involves the use and influence of many auxiliary
disciplines and literary forms. The concern of all serious historians has been to
collect and record facts about the human past and often to discover new facts to
fill up as many gaps as possible in our historical knowledge.
Except for the special circumstance in which historians record events they
themselves have witnessed, historical facts can only be known through
intermediary sources. These include testimony from living witnesses; narrative
records, such as previous histories, memoirs, letters, and imaginative literature;
The legal and financial records of courts, legislatures, religious institutions, or
businesses; and the unwritten information derived from the physical remains of
past civilizations, such as architecture, arts and crafts, burial grounds, and
cultivated land. All these, and many more sources of information provide the
evidence from which the historian deciphers historical facts. The relation between
evidence and fact, however, is rarely simple and direct. The evidence may be
biased or mistaken, fragmentary, or nearly unintelligible after long periods of
linguistic change. Historians, therefore, have known that the information requires
careful attention and they have to assess their evidence with a critical eye. All
have tried to discover in the facts patterns of meaning addressed to the enduring
questions of human life.
Before the late 18th century, historiography or the writing of history did not
stand at the center of any civilization. History was almost never an important part
of regular education, and it never claimed to provide and interpretation of human
life as a whole. This was more appropriately the function of religion, of
philosophy, even perhaps of poetry and other imaginative literature. The
historian’s education was that of any cultivated man: careful reading of general
literature, followed by the study of rhetoric, the art of fluent and persuasive use of
language that dominated ancient higher education. The ideal historian would
23
combine rigorous truthfulness and freedom from bias with the gift of developed
expression. As examples of literary art, early historical accounts are interesting
and dramatically unified, though sometimes at the expense of truth or verifiability
of evidence. Impartiality was at least a goal, if it was not always achieved. Many
of these works set standards for historical writing in their lands and beyond their
bounds. The complex relation between literary art and historiography has been
and continues to be a subject of serious debate.
Modern historians aim to reconstruct a record of human activities and to
achieve a more profound understanding of them. This conception is quite recent,
dating from the late 18th and early 19th centuries when history aligned with other
modern sciences as an independent academic discipline with its own critical
method and approach, requiring rigorous preparation. The combination of the
neutral non-partisan approach to the sources with the acute realization that all
observers are the products of their specific time and place and are thus necessarily
subjective recorders promised to break history’s ancient connection to the intuitive
literary arts.
The purpose of history as a serious endeavour to understand human life can
never be fulfilled by the mere shifting of evidence for facts. Fact-finding is only
the foundation for the selection, arrangement, and explanation that constitute
historical interpretation. The process of interpretation informs all aspects of
historical inquiry, beginning with the selection of a subject for investigation,
because the very choice of a particular event or society or institution is itself an act
of judgement that asserts the importance of the subject. Once chosen, the subject
itself suggests a provisional model of hypothesis that guides research and helps the
historian to assess and classify the available evidence and to present a detailed and
coherent account of the subject. The historian must respect the facts, avoid
ignorance and error as far as possible, and create a convincing, intellectually
satisfying interpretation.
Furthermore, in the 20th century the scope of history has expanded
immeasurably, in time, as archaeology and anthropology have provided
24
knowledge of earlier ages, and in breadth, as field of inquiry entirely unknown in
the past (such as economic history, psychohistory, history of ideas, of family
structures, and of peasant societies) have emerged and refined their methods and
goals. To many scholars, national history has come to seem an outmoded, culture-
bounded approach, although history written on thoroughly international
assumptions is extremely difficult to achieve.
2. Answer the following questions:
1. What is the difference between the notions “ history” and “ historiography”? 2. How can you specify literature and historiography? How can we assess
early writings of history from literary point of view and from the point of view of their verifiability?
3. What kind of sources can historians use? 4. What qualities and attitudes are necessary to make history a serious
endeavour? What should every historian try to avoid? 5. Has history always been an independent science? Did Greek and Roman
historians get a special rigorous education? 6. How did history change in the 20th century?
3.Find in the text English equivalents of: за счет чего-то; в спомогател ьные источники; оц енив ать; показания св идетел ей; беспристрастность; запол нять пробелы; расш ифров ыв ать; понятный, в разумител ьный; тол ков ать; убедител ьный; в ыразител ьность; доказыв ать; ош ибка; исследов ание; подход; сочетать; станов иться в один ряд. 4. Give Russian equivalents of: rigorous truthfulness; to present prose of striking style; the art of persuasive use of language; to align with smth; to avoid ignorance; intermediary sources; to decipher historical facts; assess the evidence with a critical eye; immeasurably; investigation; assumption. 5. Complete the text translating Russian word combinations. Use the
prompts in the box:
gift of developed expression, rigorous truthfulness, in its broadest sense, a provisional model, to present a detailed and coherent account, hypothesis, to interpret, to define it, was regarded, a cultivated man, to assess, to keep in mind, endeavour, to limit, to combine, by mere shifting of evidence, the art of fluent and persuasive use of language, prose of striking style, available evidence, freedom from bias, to avoid ignorance and error
25
History (в ш ироком смысл е) is the totality of all past facts. (Чтобы дать ей определ ение) more realistically we should (ограничить) it to the known past. We must (помнить) that the purpose of history as a serious (устремление, ц ел ь) (объяснить) human life cannot be fulfilled (простой перестанов кой данных) for facts. The chosen subject suggests (гипотезу) or (предполож ител ьную в ременную модел ь) that guides the research and helps the historian (оц енить) and classify (имею щ иеся факты, данные) and (представ ить четкое и св язное сообщ ение). The historian must (избегать некомпетентности и ош ибки) as far as possible.
Until modern times history (рассматрив алась) as a special kind of literature. Historian’s education was that of any (кул ьтурного челов ека): careful reading of serious literature, (искусств о гов орить кратко и убедител ьно). The ideal historian should (сочетать) (строгую точность) and (объектив ность) with (разв итым даром в ыразител ьности). Many works devoted to earlier history present (произв едения, написанные ярким в ыразител ьным языком).
6. Complete the table. Give the missing form of the words below. The first example has been done for you.
NOUN ADJECTIVE
possibility possible history totality
imaginative religious
evidence important
freedom influence
subjective attention education
7. The words in the sentences below are jumbled up. Rewrite the sentences, putting the words in the right order.
1. The attempt past involves of disciplines to uncover the use many events auxiliary.
2. though evidence Early of interesting accounts are at the expense of sometimes historical verifiability.
3. The relation has been serious a subject between of literary debate art historiography and.
4. with modern academic History sciences an discipline aligned other as independent.
5. the scope has expanded of the 20th immeasurably In century history.
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8. Summarize the text. 9. Be ready to speak about your scientific work. Use the following prompts.
My scientific work I specialize in Ancient History/the Middle Ages/Modern
History/Contemporary History/Russian History. My supervisor is … . My scientific work is called … . The subject of the investigation is … . The main aim of the paper is … . Our task is to study … . An important problem arises in connection with the study of … . It is … . … was subjected to thorough investigation. The sources I used in my work are … . The information was derived from … . On this question there is an enormous literature: … .
There are … chapters in my work. The first chapter is devoted to… . The second chapter concerns … . The third chapter deals with … . We must conclude that … ./From this we can conclude … ./We thus arrived
at the following conclusion … . ПРИЛОЖЕН ИЕ 1 Тексты д ля реф ерирова н ия. 1. Blunkett vows to curb gun crime
David Blunkett has promised tough action to tackle gun crime in the wake
of the murder of jeweller Marion Bates.
The home secretary used his keynote speech to the last day of the Labour
conference in Bournemouth to pay tribute to Mrs Bates. She was gunned down
during a robbery at her Nottinghamshire shop on Tuesday while trying to protect
her daughter.
Mr Blunkett pledged support to the police in the battle against gun crime
saying: “My heart goes out to her family. I want the experience of the
Metropolitan Police in London with Operation Trident – dealing with gang
warfare, guns and drugs – to be spread across the country. If we can do that, I
think we can take these people on and beat them.”
Mrs Bates leapt in front of her daughter as one of the two young criminals
aimed a handgun at the 34-year-old and demanded gems from the family shop.
Mrs Bates’s husband of 42 years, who is 64, suffered head injuries in the struggle.
Mr Bates said of his wife: “She was a brave woman, not at all foolhardy. She was
protecting her daughter, like every mother.”
27
As the attackers ran off an Asian van driver parked close to the jewellery
shop ran into the road in an attempt to stop them, and a pedestrian later tried to
pull one of the attackers to the ground as they drove past him.
Police are now hunting the criminals and are appealing for witnesses to the
incident in Nottinghamshire, near the junction with Easterly Road.
2. Helicopter was shot down, US says
A US Black Hawk helicopter which crashed in Iraq on Friday (7 November
2003) killing all six people on board was shot down, a senior American
commander has said.
The attack happened near Tikrit, a hotbed of resistance to US-led forces. In
response, American jets dropped bombs around the crash scene and troops raided
several Tikrit neighbourhoods. The soldiers died – and another was wounded –
when their armoured vehicle hit a roadside bomb.
US officials did not confirm for nearly 24 hours that the Black Hawk was
shot down, as opposed to being brought down by mechanical failure. “We do
believe it was brought down by ground fire,” Lieutenant-Colonel Steve Russel
told Reuters news agency on Saturday.
Hours after the crash, F16 jets dropped three bombs in the area and early on
Saturday morning troops backed by armoured vehicles swept through Tikrit,
destroying several abandoned buildings the US believes were used by insurgents.
“This is to remind the town that we have teeth and claws and we will use them,”
Colonel Russell said. “We are targeting those areas where we have had attacks on
coalition forces. We want to eliminate those threats.”
A curfew lifted for the Muslin holy month of Ramadan was also reimposed.
The downing of the Black Hawk was the third attack on a US helicopter in two
weeks.
3. Blair calls for reform in Europe
Prime Minister Tony Blair has called for European countries to press ahead
with reforms to improve their competitiveness.
28
Speaking to the CBI conference he said Europe risked being left behind if it
did not adapt. Mr Blair defended the government’s economic record, saying that
the UK had weathered the recent economic downturn better than many other
countries. And he said that Britain should “keep the option open” of joining the
euro.
“We need to put jobs and competitiveness right at the heart of Europe’s
economy. We need further reform of Europe’s labour markets,” Mr Blair said. He
supported a new European constitution, but sought to assure business leaders that
he would fight to protect UK interests. “On the matters of tax, social security and
the EU budget, we oppose any move away from unanimity,” he said. “Within
Europe Britain is a low-tax country and I am adamant that we will remain that
way.”
Mr Blair defended his close relations with the US, ahead of president
Bush’s visit to the UK. “Whatever others may say, most people know that our
alliance with America and our position in Europe gives us unparalleled purchase
on international affairs for a country our size,” he said. British business is
particularly vulnerable to any tariff barriers from the US, the CBI said, since it is
so heavily involved in the market.
4. Trapped Russian miners rescued
Novoshakhtinsk – In a dramatic rescue effort, 11 of 13 miners trapped for
nearly six days in a flooded coalmine in southern Russia have been brought to the
surface.
The miners, who have been without food, water, sunlight or communication
since Thursday, emerged from the mine half a mile underground wrapped in
blankets and still wearing hardhats. They were greeted with cheers from onlookers
as they passed be tearful family members and were taken by ambulance to the
hospital.
“The mood here is euphoric… This is being looked upon as a miracle in this
small Russian town,” CNN’s Ryan Chilcote reported from outside the mine.
29
Police said the 10 miners were lifted to the surface shortly after 11 a.m. All
appeared to be in relatively good condition. “Some of them are walking out on
their own,” Chilcote said. The body of one miner who died is also being extracted,
and another miner is still missing, officials said. The missing man had earlier
wandered away from the group.
“This has real been quite an ordeal,” Chilcote said. “This has been a real
matter of pride and dignity for the Russian people.” Rescue workers have been
laboring since Thursday to save the miners, who are some 700 meters
underground and are believed to have taken refuge from the rising, icy waters in
an air pocket. Earlier Wednesday, rescuers drilled a small hole into the mine
where they believed the miners were located. The rescuers had tunneled through
the solid rock from an adjacent mine, using explosives, drilling and digging
equipment, toward the men’s presumed position. The Interfax News Agency
reported as many as 800 people were taking part in the rescue effort. As one
Russian mining crisis was nearing an end, another was unfolding on the other side
of the vast country. At least three people have been killed by an explosion in a
mine in far eastern Russia.
5. US on alert for cargo plane attack
Terrorists may be planning to hijack cargo planes overseas and crash them
into targets in America, says the authorities in Washington.
The warning has come from a single source, and is not yet corroborated, but
US officials are taking it seriously. Local and state authorities – and those
responsible for safety at nuclear plants, bridges and dams – have been warned of
the potential threat. It comes as US diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia were
closed following “ credible evidence” of a threat.
The US is also warning its journalists in Afghanistan that Taleban
insurgents may be planning to kidnap them in order to put pressure on America to
release prisoners. “The US intelligence community remains concerned about al-
Qaeda’s interest in carrying out attacks on us overseas,” said Homeland Security
spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
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Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told American media on
Friday that a single source from overseas had warned of plans to seize cargo
planes. “ It has not yet been corroborated,” said one. “We’re in the process of
trying to corroborate this information. We also remain concerned about threats to
the aviation industry and the use of cargo planes to carry out attacks on critical
infrastructure.” Both the Homeland Security and the FBI posted an advisory to
local and state authorities, and to officials at nuclear plants, bridges and dams.
In Riyadh, the US embassy said it had “ credible information that terrorists
in Saudi Arabia have moved from the planning to operational phase of planned
attacks in the kingdom.” The statement said: “The embassy strongly urges all
American citizens in the kingdom to be especially vigilant when in any area that is
perceived to be American or Western.”
US nationals in Saudi Arabia say they have been on a high state of alert
since May, when 35 people were killed in suicide attacks on a Western compound
in Riyadh. “We’re very much on guard, very much aware of what’s going on.I’m
extremely wary,” David Castillo, vice-president of a telecoms company in Saudy
Arabia, told Reuters news agency.
Britain, Canada and Australia last month issued similar alerts, which
angered Saudi officials, who say they have made important strides in fighting
terror inside the country.
6. UN’s clarion call for great apes
The clock now stands at one minute to midnight for the world’s four great
ape species, the United Nations says.
It is launching an appeal for $25m, the minimum it says is needed to avert
their extinction within a few decades.
All the apes – gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos (pygmy chimps), and
orangutans – face a very high risk of extinction within 50 years at most, the UN
says. It hopes to establish areas where ape populations can stabilize or even grow,
if it manages to raise enough money.
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Dr Klaus Toepfer, Unep’s executive director, said: “$25 million is the bare
minimum we need, the equivalent of providing a dying man with bread and water.
“The great apes share more than 96% of their DNA with humans. If we lose any
great ape species we will be destroying a bridge to our own origins, and with it
part of our own humanity.” Unesco’s director-general, Koichiro Matsuura, said:
“Vreat apes form a unique bridge to the natural world. The forests they inhabit are
a vital resource for humans everywhere.”
Unesco says research suggests the western chimpanzee has already
disappeared from Benin, Togo and Gambia, and could soon vanish from another
west African country, Senegal. There are only about 400 chimpanzees left there,
slightly more in Ghana, and fewer than 200 in Guinea-Bissau. The main threats to
all the apes are of human origin: war, poaching, and the live animal trade.
Encroachment into the forests is increasing, and outright forest destruction leaves
them no hiding place. Only about 600 orangutans survive in Uganda, Rwanda and
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Samy Mancoto of Unesco said: “We cannot just put up fences to try and
separate the apes from people. The apes play a key role in maintaining the health
and diversity of tropical forests, which people depend upon. They disperse seeds
throughout the forests, for example, and create light gaps in the forest canopy
which allow seedlings to grow and replenish the ecosystem.”
7. Europe puts France up for reactor
The European Union has chosen France as its preferred location for a
nuclear reactor that scientists hope will revolutionise world power production.
It will cost billions to build the fusion machine which releases energy in a
similar way to the Sun’s furnaces. Scientists say the new reactor will be the first
such prototype to give out a lot more power than it consumes. International
partners in the immense engineering project include the US, China, Japan, Russia
and Korea.
A final decision on the siting of the International Thermonuclear
Experimental Reactor (Iter) should come in December at a meeting of officials
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involved in its planning. The Iter project is the latest stage in the decades-long
quest to develop fusion power.
In conventional nuclear power plants, heavy atoms are split to release
energy. But in a fusion reactor, energy is harnessed by forcing the nuclei of light
atoms together – the same process that takes place at the core of the Sun and
makes it shine. Advocates say commercial fusion plants of the future could be
cheap to run and environmentally friendly, with much less radioactive waste
produced.
To use fusion reactions as an energy source, it is necessary to heat a gas to
temperatures exceeding 100 million Celsius – many times hotter than the centre of
the Sun. At these temperatures, the gas becomes a plasma. Under these conditions,
the plasma particles, from deuterium to tritium, fuse to form helium and high
speed neutrons.
The fuels used are virtually inexhaustible. Deuterium and tritium are both
isotopes of hydrogen. Deuterium is extracted from water and tritium is
manufactured from a light metal, lithium, which is found all over the world. One
kilogram would produce the same amount of energy as 10,000,000 kg of fossil
fuel. Iter would be the world’s largest international cooperative research and
development project after the International Space Station.
8. Chelsea tycoon “spat on Russia”
The mayor of Moscow has reportedly condemned the purchase of London
football club Chelsea by Russian businessman Roman Abramovich.
According to Echo Moskvy radio, Yuriy Luzhkov said Mr Abramovich had
“ spat on Russia” by buying the British club for a huge sum of money and leaving
Russian football clubs in need.
Billionaire Mr Abramovich, 36, is also the governor of the Siberian
province of Chukotka. He paid nearly £60m ($97m) to buy 94% of Chelsea earlier
this month (July, 2003) and is attempting to buy the remaining shares. He has
since pledged to clear the club’s debts and spent £37m on payers.
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A spokesman for Russian oil company Sibneft, of which Mr Abramovich
owns about half, said the tycoon had carefully considered Russian teams before
investing abroad. “He looked at several Russian teams aver the last couple of
years, but there were no deals available that met his requirements,” said John
Mann.
Mr Abramovich’s riches have breathed new life into a moribund transfer
market, with endless press speculation over which player might be next on
Ghelsea’s shopping list. The club’s holding company, Chelsea Village, is due to
leave London’s Alternative Investment Market on 22 August.
The Finantial Services Authority has launched an inquiry into Chelsea’s
shareholdings in the run-up to Mr Abramovich’s takeover.
The FSA said last week it had information to suggest publicly disclosed
shareholdings in Chelsea Village might have been inaccurate and the market could
have been misled about the company’s true ownership.
9. N Korea accused over drugs haul
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has expressed concern over
North Korea’s possible role in trafficking drugs to Australia.
Mr Downer’s comments came after an official from North Korea’s ruling
Worker’s Party was found on board a state-owned ship accused of brining A$80m
(US$50m) worth of heroin into Australia.
“Whilst we can’t prove that the government made the decision to send this
ship… we are concerned that instrumentalities of the government may have been
involved in this,” Mr Downer said. “We are concerned because the ship is Korean-
owned and it’s a totalitarian state, so in effect it is government-owned,” he added.
Mr Downer said he had arranged a meeting with North Korea’s ambassador to
Australia, Chon Jae-hong, to discuss the issue.
Australian intelligence services raided the Pong Su freighter last month, off
the country’s east coast. The Australian forces seized the heroin and arrested
approximately 30 crew members, most of whom are now awaiting trial in
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Melbourne. This is not the first time North Korea has been accused of
supplementing its failing economy by trafficking drugs.
Japanese officials have repeatedly accused Pyongyang of bringing drugs
into their country. In March, Japanese coast guards discovered drugs in a fishing
boat which had travelled From North Korea.
10. Russia’s richest man held for fraud
A Moscow court has ordered the head of Russian oil giant Yukos, Mikhail
Khodorkovsky, to be kept in prison after he was charged with offences including
defrauding the state out of $1bn.
The move came hours after his dramatic arrest at a Siberian airport by
agents of the security police (FSB). Mr Khodorkovsky, who is believed to be
Russia’s richest man, was flown back to Moscow for questioning and charged
with several offences, including tax evasion and fraud.
Critics say the investigation into his company is an attempt by the Kremlin
to assert its power over business tycoons and keep them out of Russian politics.
Prosecutors argued that his detention was necessary because he had ignored a
summons for questioning on Friday. They have been investigating allegations of
tax evasion and theft of state property by Yukos executives. Yukos rejected the
prosecutors’ claims that Mr Khodorkovsky had ignored the summons.
Mr Khodorkovsky, who has an estimated personal fortune of $8bn, has
already been summoned and interrogated by prosecutors twice over the case.
Police first raided Yukos offices in Moscow in July, spending nearly 17 hours
searching through computer archives. Prosecutors have also searched companies
owned by Yukos, the homes of shareholders.
Many Russians say the case is politically-motivated, but President Vladimir
Putin has denied the charges. Mr Khodorkovsky, who made his fortune trough
controversial privatizations in the 1990s, has funded several political parties
opposed to the Russian president. Some analysts say he was arrested after
breaking what they say was a tacit agreement with the Kremlin to stay out of
politics in return for avoiding investigation of his financial affairs.
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A lawyer of the jailed Russian tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is planning
to take the case to the United Nations. “This case has all the elements of human
rights violations, including the violation of the European Convention of human
rights, to which Russia is the signatory,” he said. The lawyer said that such an
appeal would be filed within weeks and the media would be informed about all
future developments.
The crackdown on Yukos and its boss has stirred fears of a wider
confrontation between the Kremlin and big businesses in Russia. In October,
Russian prosecutors froze more than 40% of Yukos’ shares, unnerving foreign
investors and triggering a slump on the Russian stock market. The White House
has saig the affair raised “ some serious concerns about the state of rule of law and
the business and investment climate in Russia.”
ПРИЛОЖЕН ИЕ 2 Тексты д ля чт ен ия и перевод а . Read and translate the story. Pompey was one of the greatest Roman soldiers, a talented state man and a
diplomat. In the 60’s of the 1st century B.C., he played a leading role in the
political life of Rome. While the Romans were suffering under the rule of Sulta,
he was away in Africa, defeating the enemies of Rome. Six years later Pompey
suppressed an uprising of gladiators.
Gladiators were people who were given arms and made to fight against each other
in the arena for the amusement of the spectators. In later years they were forced to
fight for their lives against wild animals. Many of the gladiators were Gauls and
barbarians. There were schools in Rome where they were trained.
One day a number of men ran from one of the schools and encamped on Mount
Vesuvius. Here they were joined by other gladiators and slaves and became a great
force. They easily defeated the Toman army which was sent by the Senate to fight
against them. It was Pompey who finally put down the revolt: by his order tens of
thousands of slaves were captured and put to death.
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After his victorious campaigns in the East, which led to complete Roman
domination over Asia Minor, he returned to Rome and formed the first triumvirate
together with Caesar and Crassus. But he had never expected that Caesar would
soon become his enemy and defeat him.
Read, translate, entitle the text, and get its main idea.
For the phenomenon as complex as democracy, its first appearance is remarkably
easy to pinpoint: the city-state of Athens in the fifth century B.C. Periclean
Athens, named for its most celebrated leader, inspired generations of later political
theorists and statesmen. Yet many aspects of Athenian democracy appear strange
and unfamiliar to modern eyes,
The central political institution in Athens of the sixth and fifth century B.C. was
the assembly, usually composed of 5,000 to 6,000 members, and open to all adult
male citizens. (Women, slaves and foreigners were excluded). By simple majority
vote, the Assembly could decide virtually any domestic issue without any legal
restrictions. Trials were conducted by juries of 501 citizens who also decided guilt
or innocence majority vote.
Perhaps most remarkably, the leaders of the Assembly were not elected, but
chosen by lot, since Athenians believed that any citizen was capable of holding
public office. Not that there were many such offices to fill:
Generals were elected for one-year terms, but otherwise Periclean Athens lacked
any recognizable executive institutions such as president, prime minister, Cabinet
or permanent civil service. The weight of decision-making fell almost exclusively
upon the citizen-members of the Assembly – a burden of public service that most
people today would find unacceptable.
Without constitutional limits, the Athens of Pericles was prone to factionalism and
manipulation by shrewd or eloquent orators. It was democratic Athens, after all,
which condemned to death the philosopher Socrates – thereby earning the undying
enmity of Socrates’ most celebrated pupil and fervent antidemocratic, Plato.
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Despite its enemies and weaknesses, Athenian democracy was no fragile flower. It
endured for approximately 200 years – surviving even defeat in the Peloponnesian
War in 404 BC at the hands of its archrival, Sparta.
Translate the following.
I.
More than seven hundred years ago Celts came to Britain from Europe. They
mixed in with the people who were already there. All who lived in Britain were
called Britons. They divided into groups called tribes. Each tribe had its king or
queen. The Romans attacked Britain in 55BC. Consul Julius Caesar had brought
the army of 10,000 men. The Britons fought desperately, but they were much
weaker than the well trained Romans, and soon fled. After the victory Julius
Caesar soon left Britain. The real invasion took place only in AD 43, when the
Roman Emperor, Claudius decided to make Britain part of the Roman Empire. An
Army of 40,000 Roman soldiers landed in Britain (Kent).
Britain became part of a huge Roman Empire, which stretched frojm what is
now the north of England to the Red Sea. Many Britons had to accept the Roman
way of life, though some of them tried to resist the enemies. The fighting
continued for almost twenty years after the Roman invasion. The Romans won
many victories, and it was clear that nothing could stop them.
But in AD 60, the Iceni tribe led by their queen, Boadicea, revolted.
II.
In 383 the Roman legions began to leave Britain to fight in Gaul(France)
against the Barbarian tribes who were invading the Roman Empire. By 407 there
were not enough Roman soldiers to defend Britons from Picts and Scots, fierce
tribes from the North.
The British chiefs asked Anglo-Saxon soldiers to come from Germany to help
them.
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Anglo-Saxons were strong and well trained, they defeated Picts and Scots, but
when afterwards Britons asked them to leave they refused to do it and stayed.
After about one hundred and fifty years of fighting Britons had either been
forced to Wales or had become slaves.
Anglo-Saxons founded a lot of kingdoms: Kent, Essex, Wessex, Merica,
Northumbria.
In 789 more than three hundred years after the Anglo9-Saxons had settled in
Britain, the Vikings began to attack the British Isles. They came from Norway,
Sweden, and Denmark. The winters there were long and cold and the soil was
poor, so Britain was a rich prize for them. They made a big army. The Anglo-
Saxon kingdoms couldn’t resist the Vikings, and soon only the kingdom of
Wessex remained free of them – the King of Wessex was Alfred the Great.
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С остав ител и: Н атал ия В ладимиров на М артемьянов а Е катерина Ал ександров на Ш ирш иков а Редактор Бунина Т .Д .
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