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Ex.1 Find English equivalents in the text:

прославленный город науки, низкий берег, через реки построены мосты, был окружен, на разговорном языке, за счет величественных строений, дополняет великолепие, коммерческие здания, золотое сердце, в изоляции, признано, самый главный в Европе, выбор пал, составные части, великолепно расписанный потолок, носит имя.

Ex.2 Translate the following word combinations into Russian:

designed by Christopher Wren, large-scale work, with great pomp, semicircular chamber, seating 4,000 persons, beautiful walk known, one of the glories of Oxford, foundation stone, one of the memorable institution of the city, foundation goes back to 1478.

Ex.3 Find all the adjectives characterizing Oxford.

Ex.4 Complete the sentences define the tense form of the predicate in each sentence. Translate into Russian:

1.The rivers are spanned by … .

2.It is made beautiful by … .

3.It has a “golden heart” – an area … .

4.They are mixed … .

5.The first group of scholars … .

6.The buildings of the university … .

Ex.5 Find some more sentences with the passive predicate and translate them into Russian.

Ex.6 Answer the questions:

1.What city is Oxford?

2.What bridges are the rivers spanned?

3.What length does the principal river have?

4.What is a “golden heart”?

5.What is “university”?

6.What does the Sheldonian Theatre look like?

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7.What is Christ Church?

8.What is Christ Church famous for?

9.What else is Oxford famous for?

Ex.7 Retell the text.

Cambridge

Proper and Geographical Names:

Cambridge [

East Anglia [

River Cam [

Castle Hill [

St Benet’s Church [

Harold [

Hugh de Balsham of Ely [

Peterhouse [

Trinity College [

King’s College [

St John’s College [

Christopher Wren [

Grinling Gibbous [

Henry VI [

Eton [

Wars of the Roses [

Oxford [

Cambridge. The Ancient buildings of Colleges.

Cambridge lies in the flat lands of East Anglia. It stands on the River Cam.

The Cam has several bridges over it. That’s why the city is called Cambridge.

The River Cam was important because it was navigable. Later, where four Roman roads crossed, a Roman settlement developed on a site near Castle Hill. An Anglo-Saxon settlement in the same neighbourhood followed – the tower and nave of St Benet’s Church near the Market Place are Saxon work. The Danes set up a base here in 875 during their conquest of East Anglia. In 1068, shortly after the Norman defeat of Harold, the Conqueror built a castle which still exists.

In 1278 Cambridge was a prosperous town with 534 houses and then, in 1284, Hugh de Balsham of Ely, founded Peterhouse, the first college, and since then the history of Cambridge has become the history of Cambridge and of

Cambridge University. Now when we say Cambridge, we mean “University City”, because Cambridge is world-famous for its university. It consists of twenty-nine colleges and many of them are grouped together. Each group of colleges has its own green court with beautiful lawns and bright flowers. It has also chapels, halls and libraries.

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There are some unique colleges such as Trinity College, King’s College and St John’s College.

Trinity College is unique among the colleges. It is the largest of the Cambridge colleges and under one foundation it embraces two Halls, seven Hostels, and one Hostel-Inn. There is a court there, too.

The Great Court of Trinity College is the largest university court in the world. It was built between 1593 and 1615. Sir Christopher Wren designed one of its noblest features, the Library. It was completed in 1695 and contains limewood carvings by Grinling Gibbons.

Cambridge. King’s College.

The first stone of King’s College was laid by Henry VI in 1441. He decided to build the most magnificent college which was to be linked to the school he had founded at Eton. The work was interrupted by the Wars of the Roses and was abandoned in 1461, when Henry lost his throne. Work on the College began again in 1723.

At both Oxford and Cambridge, which for centuries remained England’s only universities, the medieval students enrolled at about the age of fourteen and often stayed until they were twenty-one or more. As on the Continent, the full programme consisted of grammar, logic and rhetoric as well as arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy. These seven subject composed the seven-year course which led to a degree of B.A. or M.A.

Oxford and Cambridge remain a centre of education chiefly for the privileged.

Vocabulary

аncient – древний site – место

neighbourhood – район, соседи conquest – завоевание

defeat – поражение, наносить поражение castle – замок

prosperous – преуспевающий court – корт, двор, суд

lawn – газон chapel – церковь among – среди

embrace – охватывать, вмещать

Hostel – общежитие, молодежная гостиница

Hostel-Inn – гостиница noble – благородный limewood – липовый лес

carving(s) – резьба, резное изделие

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magnificent – великолепный

to link – связывать, соединять, примыкать to abandone – покидать, прекращать medieval – средневековый

enroll – зачислять, записывать to compose – сочинять, состоять privilege – привилегия

Ex.1 Give Russian equivalents of the following word-combinations:

flat lands, navigable, in the same neighbourhood, set up a base, shortly after, a prosperous town, world-famous for, green court, beautiful lawns, unique colleges, noblest features, the most magnificent college, for centuries, medieval students, at about the age of fourteen, as well as.

Ex.2 Give English equivalents of the following Russian words and words combinations:

равнины, город называется, где скрестились четыре романские дороги, поселок развивался, датчане обосновались, вскоре после нормандского поражения, который все еще существует, процветающий город, зеленый корт, прекрасные газоны, церкви, уникальные колледжи, резные украшения из липы, великолепный колледж, работа была прекращена, средневековые студенты, риторика, арифметика, геометрия.

Ex.3 Complete the sentences and translate them into Russian:

1.That’s why the city … .

2.It consists of twenty-nine colleges and … .

3.It was built … .

4.It was completed … .

5.The first stone … .

6.The work was interrupted … .

Ex.4 Change the sentences in ex.3 without using the Passive Voice.

Ex.5 Answer the following questions:

1.Where does Cambridge stand?

2.Why is it called Cambridge?

3.Why was the River Cam important?

4.When did Cambridge become a prosperous town?

5.What do we mean we now say Cambridge?

6.What unique colleges are there in Cambridge?

7.Why are they unique?

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8. What another great University City of Great Britain do you know?

Ex.6 Retell the text.

Ex.7 Speak about any other world-famous universities you know.

The British people as they are

Great Britain is an island on the outer edge of the European continent, and its geographical situation has produced a certain insular spirit among its inhabitants, who tend, a little more perhaps than other people, to regard their own community as the centre of the world. The insularity produces a certain particularism among the numerous groups of whom the whole community is composed. The British look on foreigners in general with contempt and think that nothing is as well done elsewhere as in their own country. The British people have also been known as superior, snobbish, aloof, hypocritical and unsociable.

These characteristics have been noted by people from all over the world, but are they typical of all the Britons? The ordinary Briton was seen to be friendly and sociable. There are indeed two nations, with basically different outlooks and characters, in Britain. The two nations are defined simply as the rich and the poor. The traditional opinion about the British, or the English in earlier centuries, was based on the habits of those Britons who could afford to travel, the diplomats and merchants. English vanity and arrogance grew as England fought off the competition from other European countries and became the world’s leading nation, going on to industrialize rapidly.

Englishmen tend to be rather conservative, they love familiar things. They are hostile, or at least bored, when they hear any suggestion that some modification of their habits, or the introduction of something new and unknown into their lives, might be to their advantage. This conservatism, on a national scale, may be illustrated by reference to the public attitude to the monarchy, an institution which is held in affection and reverence by nearly all English people.

Britain is supposed to be the land of law and order. Part of the British sense for law and orderliness is a love of precedent. For an Englishman, the best of all reasons for doing something in a certain way is that it has always been done in that way.

The Britons are practical and realistic; they are infatuated with common sense. They are not misled by romantic delusions.

The English sense and feeling for privacy is notorious. England is the land of brick fences and stone walls (often with glass embedded along the top), of hedges, of thick draperies at all the windows, and reluctant introductions, but nothing is stable now. English people rarely shake hands except when being introduced to someone for the first time. They hardly ever shake hands with