Task 1. Make a project about the life of typical Russian, British and American family
Task 2. Speak on these problems.
1) The Russian, British and American living standards.
2) Welfare and poverty problems in these countries.
3) “New morality” of the young people.
4) Dependence of the young people on their parents.
5) Women and their role in the society.
a) women’s work;
b) women’s movement.
6) How do you explain such definition: “superwoman” and “supermother”.
Part IX
HOBBIES AND PASTIMES
Цель – развитие межкультурной компетенции, формирование представлений о свободном времяпрепровождении в России, Америке и Великобритании.
Working hours are shorter, holidays are longer and people have more time off now than ever before. What do they do with it?
In both Britain and America, people watch TV for many hours every week. In America there is a very big choice. Many cities have twenty or more channels, sometimes going for twenty-four hours a day. In Britain there are many new channels but most people prefer to watch the four old ones: BBC 1, BBC 2, ITV and Channel 4.
Many well-off Americans have a "camper" or "trailer" which they can use for weekends away. Some have holiday house in the country, and spend as much time as possible on outside activities like fishing and water-skiing.
Fewer British people have caravans or second homes, but many have gardens where they spend a lot of their free time. Home owners often take time doing jobs round the house. They paint, put up wallpaper, build cupboards and even make furniture. There are a lot of DIY (Do it Yourself) shops all over the country selling everything they need.
But for some, time off means music and dancing. In London and New York, one or two new nightclubs open every week. Some close again after a night or two, but some, like Stringfellows in London, go on, and on, and on…
The Exercise Craze
Everybody’s doing it, old and young, men and women. They're running, dancing, jumping up and down, bending and stretching. Exercise is in fashion. Everybody wants to be fit, feel good, look slim and stay young.
It started with running. Millions of Americans put on their new white "trainer” shoes and fashionable tracksuits and ran through the parks or along the streets for half an hour a day. Then the runners got the marathon craze. Popular marathons are now held everywhere. Lots of people want to see if they can run 42 kms and do it faster than everyone else. The big city marathons, in London and New York, are important sporting events. Television cameras and newspapers report them in detail. Some remarkable people take part in the marathons: seventy-five-year-old grandfathers and nine-year-old grandchildren, and even disabled people in wheelchairs.
But marathons are not for everyone. Some prefer to get fit at home. For them, there’s a big choice of books, cassettes and video programmes with music and instructions, one of the most popular of these home exercise programmes is called aerobics Bend down and touch your toes. You can do it too.
Taking exercise is only one part of keeping fit. You've got to get slim, too. Books and magazines about slimming are bestsellers these days. Some people eat nothing but fruit for two or three days a week, sounds terrible. Why not forget about keeping fit, sit down and have another chocolate biscuit?
Sport in Britain
The British are a sporting nation. Like everyone else they love football - in fact, they invented it. Most British towns and cities have a football team. Every year, each team plays in the Football Association competition. The two best teams play in the Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in London. Some fans pay up to E250 for a ticket for the Cup Final. It is one of the biggest sporting events of the year.
Cricket is a typically British game. The only other countries that play are Pakistan, India, the West Indies, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Cricket is a summer game, lovely to watch from under old trees on a village "green". It looks slow, but it can be exciting if you understand what's going on. There are eleven men in each team. One man, (“the bowler”) throws the ball, and a "batsman" hits it with his bat.
Cricket is a very long game. The big international matches go on for five days. But in the real English way, the players always stop for tea.
Tennis is another popular game in Britain. Every summer, in June, the biggest international tennis tournament takes place at Wimbledon, a suburb of London. There are strawberries and cream for sale, and everyone hopes the rain will stay away.
Many British people who live near the sea, a lake or a river enjoy sailing. If you are really enthusiastic, and rich enough to buy your own boat, you can take part in one of the annual sailing races or “regattas” at Cowes, near Portsmouth, for example, or at the Henley on the river Thames.
Sport in the USA
Baseball is the most popular summer sport in America. The first American baseball match was in 1839 in New York, but some people think that baseball comes from a much older game called rounders, played in Europe for many years.
To play baseball, you need two teams of nine players. The "pitcher" throws the ball, and the "batter" hits it with a bat. Americans start playing baseball young. There are "leagues" which children of eight can join. The top players become big stars and earn a lot of money every year.
Americans play tennis, hockey and most other international sports, but they do not play football in the same way as the rest of the world. American football is a very different game. The players can run with the ball, touch and push each other. The field looks different, and even the ball is a different shape. Players wear special clothes for American football, with helmets on their heads, because the game can be dangerous. Like international football teams, American teams have eleven players.
Basketball is another popular game in America. Only five people play in each team. One American basketball team, the Harlem Globetrotters, are famous all over the world. These extraordinary sportsmen, all very tall, have shown the world that sport can be funny as well as exciting.
Americans love winter sports, and ice hockey is a great favourite. This game, the national sport of Canada, is very fast, and can be dangerous. So if you play ice hockey, remember to wear your helmet!
Pubs
Pubs are an important part of life in Britain, but they are not open to everyone Children under the age of fourteen cannot go into most pubs, and you cannot buy alcoholic drink in a pub until you are eighteen.
Some people go to the same pub every day. They meet the same friends every time, and sometimes they do business there. In the country the pub is the centre of village life. Everyone meets there to hear the village news. In the cities pubs often have their own special character. You can find pubs where most people are Irish or African or American. There are actors’ pubs and miners’ pubs, fishermen's pubs and lawyers’ pubs, pubs with loud music where everyone is young, and quiet pubs where most people are old.
You can buy most kinds of drink in a pub: beer, lager, all kinds of wine, spirits, liqueurs, fruit juice and soft drinks. Beer is (the most popular drink, and there are many different kinds. You ask for beer by the "pint" (a little more than half a litre) or the "half pint". When people buy beer they ask for "bitter" (strong beer), "mild" (less strong), or lager. People just say the name of the maker: "A half of Double Diamond, please." Or "Two halves of Export, please." Many pubs sell hot and cold food (called "pub grub"). It is often good and is cheaper than most restaurant food.
Most pubs do not sell hot drinks like tea and coffee, but more of them are doing it now. Doctors and policemen say that British people drink too much alcohol. They want people to drink more soft drinks and less beer and wine. The pub owners are beginning to listen to them.