3. Before perestroika due to the lack of communication Russian was taught as Latin or any other dead language. ( )
4. Nowadays the number of British students interested in the Russian language and culture is increasing. ( )
5. Most British students who have chosen to learn Russian are fully aware of why they need it. ( )
You will hear the episode again. This time for items 6 -10 choose the best answer A, B, C or D.
6. Just before the period of ‘glastnost’ and perestroika the Russian language
A. was very popular among general public in the United Kingdom.
B. was admired by the students at Birmingham University.
C. was not as popular as Russian literature and culture.
D. was not an object of intense interest in Britain.
7. After the collapse of the Soviet Union the number of British students who did Russian has
A. dramatically increased.
B. remained the same.
C. declined.
8. Before people start learning Russian they think that the main problem is going to be
A. its case system.
B. its alphabet.
C. its verb aspects.
D. its verbs of motion.
9. The Russian vocabulary is not easy to learn because
A. it bears no resemblance to the English words.
B. learners cannot guess the meaning of Russian verb aspects.
C. Russian has a complicated semantic structure.
10. British students find Russian grammar difficult to master since
A. the case system in Russian is very complex.
B. they did not study Latin, which could have helped.
C. it is different from the grammar of Germanic languages.
D. they do not know the basic principles of the language.
Items 11 - 20 are based on episode 2. You will hear a woman talking about English pubs. For questions 11-17 decide whether the statements are TRUE (A) or FALSE (B).
11. The tradition of a public place where one can buy food and drinks came with the Romans.
( )
12. The first beer houses appeared in England in the 19th century.
( )
13. When people come in a pub they must order a drink.
( )
14. Families are allowed in pubs throughout the day.
( )
15. People today prefer not to take their children to pubs.
( )
16. Most modern pubs have special staff to look after children in the garden, while their parents are drinking beer inside. ( )
17. Special organizations are set up in Britain to protect pub regulars. ( )
You will hear the episode again. This time for items 18 -20 choose the best answer A, B or C.
According to the speaker:
18. Nowadays in England pubs are
A. the focus of social life.
B. very popular.
C. not very popular.
19. In a traditional English pub you can't get
A. roast meat.
B. lager.
C. fried potatoes.
20. British people come to a pub to
A. participate in political debates.
B. understand that life is good.
C. criticise life.
TRANSFER ALL YOUR ANSWERS TO YOUR ANSWER SHEET
LISTENING COMPREHENSION
ANSWER SHEET
ID NUMBER
| Episode 1 | ||||||||
| 1 | A | B | C | |||||
| 2 | A | B | C | |||||
| 3 | A | B | C | |||||
| 4 | A | B | C | |||||
| 5 | A | B | C | |||||
| 6 | A | B | C | D | ||||
| 7 | A | B | C | D | ||||
| 8 | A | B | C | D | ||||
| 9 | A | B | C | D | ||||
| 10 | A | B | C | D | ||||
| Episode 2 | ||||||||
| 11 | A | B | ||||||
| 12 | A | B | ||||||
| 13 | A | B | ||||||
| 14 | A | B | ||||||
| 15 | A | B | ||||||
| 16 | A | B | ||||||
| 17 | A | B | ||||||
| 18 | A | B | C | |||||
| 19 | A | B | C | |||||
| 20 | A | B | C | |||||
Tapescript
Episode 1
Russian is also studied in England. One of the most well known centers for the teaching of Russian is Birmingham University.
Michael Pushkin:
Russian studies at Birmingham University began in 1917, as it happens. The Centre for Russian and East European Studies was founded in 1963 towards the end of the famous Khrushchev Thaw when a number of such centres specializing in the social sciences, as well as language, literature, culture, were established in Britain. In the 1960s Russian was fairly popular I would say at university. During the 1970s there was some considerable decline in interest , which may have been to do with a lack of interest in what was happening in the Soviet Union at the time. As soon as the period of glasnost and perestroika began, there was a great interest in this country among the public in general in Mikhail Gorbachev. Then we began to get a much larger number of students interested in coming to do Russian. After the collapse of the Soviet Union numbers started to go down again. And yet more recently, they began to go up again as a result of, perhaps, something to do with the stabilization of the situation in Russia in the last few years. So Russian studies seem to go on a historical zigzag, you might say.
Julian Moss:
Oh, yeah, it’s exotic, and people think it’s hard. And quite a few people really understand why you’d want to study Russian – this strange country over in the east where it always snows. Why would you want to learn that language? Before they start learning Russian, they think the alphabet is going to be really difficult. But after two or three days they see the alphabet isn’t the problem at all. The main problems, I’d say, are in the grammar and the vocabulary - the grammar because it’s an inflected language with all the different endings – that’s something that we are not just used to in English. If the student has studied, say, Latin or German, they’ve got some idea of it. But otherwise, they are not really sure. There are bits of grammar - verb aspects, all sorts of verbs of motion, they find difficult. And the vocabulary . Because Russian is a Slavonic language, it’s… - A lot of the vocabulary is quite a long away from English. So it’s not easy to guess, and they find it quite difficult to learn.
Student:
I think probably just the fact that because it’s such a different language, the semantic structure is very difficult. I find that really hard because I’ve learned other languages like French and Spanish before. And because you know the principles of the language already, it’s quite easy. But with Russian, obviously, we don’t have a case system in English. And also, quite often I write things , I’ll translate it as though just from English into Russian. But it won’t make sense to a Russian person at all.
Episode 2
Pubs are a very English concept. When the Romans conquered England some two thousand years ago, they opened the first taverns to sell wine and food. The epochs rolled on, but the tradition of a public place for the sale of different types of warming drink has remained. During the Middle Ages there were houses selling ale, then beer houses and roadside inns. The name pub, which is a shortened form of “public house”, only appeared in the nineteenth century.
Rachel:
When people come to a pub, they drink. They drink quite a lot. It changes. I mean, you get different types of people come out on different types of night. So, for example, there’s a traditional male drinking period which usually takes place in the sort of later afternoon and then, once you get into sort of seven o’clock, you tend to get people who come out as either couples or families that come out to dinner. And again, I’ve experienced the fact that lots of families will bring their children out now to public house, whereas that wasn’t something that was experienced. It used to be quite traditionally either a male or a couple environment. But you’re seeing much more now the influence of family and the orientation is towards the family.
You have to have a special license – so, whilst food is being served, if you have a restaurant area, then you are allowed to serve children. If it’s a drinking area with a bar, then you are not allowed to serve children in that area. But if you have a license to have children on your premises,- yes. You find lots of pubs now have gardens, like we have, where the children can actually play out in the garden and enjoy that environment.
I think it’s much less than it used to be. If you came to England, perhaps, thirty-forty years ago, the whole focus of social life was in public houses, whereas now it’s not anymore. And in truth, a lot of public houses have to really fight hard to get people to come in and to attract custom. But I think that has also to do with the fact that our eating habits and our social habits have changed now, as well. You don’t have families in the same way – you know, that they don’t all live in the same area. Lots of people live in different parts of the country. So it’s changed quite considerably.
A traditional English pub is focused on ale and probably good food, I’d say. Strong food, like the traditional Sunday roasts, the steak and kidney puddings – that type of thing. That’s traditional type of pub. And there you tend to drink more ales, whereas if you go to some of the more fashionable clubs and restaurant-type things, then the focus is probably more on the spirits than it is on the ales, and things like lagers are used there.
***
Today, English pubs are a place where people go to talk. In smaller villages, the pub is the main center for the society and its cultural life. English pubs, as opposed to European cafes are places of peace and bring a quiet calm to the souls of their guests. With their arguments, conversations and philosophical discussions, those sitting in a café start to understand that not all is right under the sun, whereas sitting with your friends over a beer in a pub, you become convinced that actually the world is not so bad after all.
Each pub has its own history, its own name, it’s sign over the door, all of which tell you much about the place itself. Each has its own regulars, who meet here to talk, chat, exchange the latest news, play games or simply to eat and drink in good company. Pubs are so dear to English hearts that today there are even special organizations set up to protect them.
Rachel:
Every single day! We have people who come here whether it’s raining, floods, whether the end of the world is coming, they will come here. If they had three minutes to live, they’d come here. But, you know, that’s the nature of public houses in England. It’s quite a strong tradition of comradery and being together.
KEYS
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| B | C | C | A | B | D | C | B | A | A |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
| A | B | A | A | B | B | B | C | B | B |
4.2.5. Конкурс устной речи (Speaking)