Text 1. My english studies
Контрольная работа по дисциплине «Иностранный язык»
Семестр 2 курс
Тема 1: Is it difficult to learn English?
Упражнение 1. Ответьте на следующие вопросы (воспользуйтесь словарем, если это необходимо).
1. How long have you been studying English?
2. Do you like your English lessons?
3. How much time a day do you learn English?
4. What is the purpose of your English course?
Упражнение 2. Прочитайте и выучите слова.
intensive studies - интенсивное обучение
foreign language - иностранный язык
foreigner - иностранец
high level of knowledge - высокий уровень знаний
dialogue - диалог
exercise - упражнение
text - текст
language - язык
word - слово
homework - домашняя работа
home task - домашнее задание
practice - упражнять(ся)
communicate - общаться
knowledge - знание
learn - учить, узнавать
study - учить(ся)
read - читать
translate - переводить
pronounce - произносить
it takes me ... - занимать (о времени)
speak to - говорить с
communicate with - общаться с
answer the questions - отвечать на вопросы
make up dialogues - составлять диалоги
do grammar exercises - делать грамматические упражнения
speak on different topics - высказываться по различным темам
discuss books - обсуждать книги
translate from English into Russian - переводить с английского на русский
get ready for - готовиться к
dictionary - словарь
work hard at - усердно работать над
Упражнение 3. Совместите слова и их значения.
1. dialogue
2. text
3. homework
4. communicate
5. knowledge
6. discuss books
a) speak with somebody
b) information, which you have learnt
c) speak about the book after reading it
d) task which you do at home
e) conversation between two people
f) a number of connected sentences
Упражнение 4. Ответьте на вопросы.
- Do you like to learn English?
- Why do you learn English?
- What do you do at the English lessons?
- How long does it take you to do homework?
- What are you good at?
Упражнение 5. Прочитайте и переведите тексты.
TEXT 1. MY ENGLISH STUDIES
Learning a foreign language is not an easy thing. It is a long and slow process that takes a lot of time and efforts. We began studying English in the fourth form of the secondary school. We started with the ABC, transcription and sounds. Then we learnt some English words, conversational phrases and dialogues by heart, read and translated easy texts.
From lesson to lesson we improved our knowledge, learnt more and more new words, grammatical structures and put them into practice of speaking. We enjoyed our English classes and prepared carefully for them. At home we tried to listen to different educational programmes over the radio, watched English films on TV.
Soon we were able not only to read and translate texts but to discuss their contents in English, to communicate with one another making useful statements in real-life situations. I want to know foreign languages because I have always been interested in foreign countries, their cultures and peoples. I want to learn English in particular not only because it is the language of such great countries as the USA and Great Britain, but also because it has become the international language, the language of progressive science and engineering. To know English today is absolutely necessary for every educated man, for every good specialist.
TEXT 2. ENGLISH AS A WORLD LANGUAGE
It is only in the course of the last hundred years that English has become a world language. In Shakespeare's time it was a "provincial" language of secondary importance with only 6 million native speakers. Nowadays English has become the world's most important language in politics, science, trade and cultural relations. In a number of speakers (400 million) it is second only to Chinese. It is the official language of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the United States of America, of Australia and New Zealand. English is used as one of the official languages in Canada, the Republic of South Africa and the Irish Republic. It is also spoken as a second language by many people in India, Pakistan, numerous countries in Africa. The number of second-language speakers may soon exceed the number of native speakers, if it has not done so already.
Even more English is studied widely and used as a foreign language. In this respect it acquired an international status. It is used for communication across frontiers, listening to broadcasts, reading books and newspapers, in commerce and travel. Half of the world's scientific literature is in English. English is associated with technological and economic development of the great manufacturing countries and it is the principal language of international aid. It is the language of automation and computer technology. It is not only the universal language of international aviation, shipping and sport, it is to a considerable degree the universal language of literacy and public communication. It is the major language of diplomacy, and is the most frequently used language both in the debates in the United Nations and in the general conduct of the UN business.
English has become a world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outside England, in all the countries of the world. This exporting of English began in the seventeenth century, with the first settlements in North America. Above all, it is the great growth of population in the United States, assisted by massive immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that has given the English language its modern position in the world.
Упражнение 6.Прочитайте текст № 1 и ответьте на вопросы:
1. Is it easy to learn foreign languages?
2. When did you begin learning English?
3. What was the process of learning?
4. How long did it take you to get ready for your English lesson?
5. Can you speak English well?
6. How can you improve your English?
7. Can you read English books in the original?
8. Have you got any English books and dictionaries at home?
9. Why do you want to learn English?