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A nation is a group of people who share common history and usually a language and usually, not always live at the same area. Culture can be described as our everyday life: how we communicate, what makes us happy and sad. It also includes our language, religion, traditions, behavior, way of life - in other words, what we do each day.
People that belong to various nations may differ and they always differ from one another. For example, the Germans are regarded as scientifically-minded and industrious, they're always considered solid, intelligent, mathematical, extremely nationalistic, arrogant and even aggressive. And, for instance, Jews are believed to be mercenary, industrious, shrewd, loyal to family, religious. There is a big amount of examples we can list about national character of different people.
Proving the difference of the national stereotypes let's compare Russian and English nations. There are a lot of features that vary. The Russians are industrious, tough, brave, progressive and suspicious. They are always considered to be nationalistic, over - patriotic (because of this reason they're good soldiers), they are willing to respect opinion of other people. Speaking about Englishmen, we may note that they're reserved, tradition-loving, courteous, honest, extremely nationalistic and etc. They have a specific sense of humor. They say that they can't understand Russian jokes and anecdotes not only because of the different meanings of the words, but because of their humor is more delicate.
Looking at these features of the Russians and the Englishmen it is not hard to mark out the differences. The Englishmen are reserved, but the Russians are open-hearted and communicative. The Englishmen are tradition - loving and the Russians, don't keep their traditions in such a degree.
There is a great majority of factors that influence the nations stereotype and its people's character. People that live in the southern countries have less problems than those who live in the North and because of this they're more cheerful and artistic. The history also has a great influence on the national character. The peoples in Asia are revengeful because their forefathers often were at war with others. In Africa many countries were colonies of the Great Britain, Holland, Spain and so on and they (Africans) were the slaves and because of this they're still hard-working and industrious. The National Character exists. It is not a myth, it's a reality. But the National Character doesn't describe the character of every person, it describes the character of people of nation in general. Every person has its own character, but according to the person's belonging to some nation many traits of character are similar and these features may be explained as the national character.
From http://www.study-English.info
3. Read the text again and complete the chart below:
The Germans are regarded as | scientifically-minded and industrious, solid, intelligent, extremely nationalistic, arrogant and even aggressive. |
Jews are believed to be… | |
The Russians are… | |
The Englishmen are… | |
People living in the southern countries… | |
The peoples in Asia are… | |
The people from Africa are… | |
The National Character describes… |
Essential Vocabulary
communicate | говорить, сообщать; общаться |
industrious | прилежный, работящий, старательный, трудолюбивый, усердный |
solid | прочный, крепкий; надёжный, солидный |
arrogant | 1) заносчивый, высокомерный, надменный 2) самонадеянный, преувеличивающий свои возможности |
mercenary | корыстный |
shrewd | сообразительный, быстро и легко схватывающий; проницательный, прозорливый; умный, рассудительный |
loyal | верный, преданный; лояльный; верноподданный |
stereotype | стереотип (стандартизированный образ) |
compare | сравнивать, ставить наравне, уподоблять |
feature | особенность, характерная черта; деталь, признак, свойство |
vary | разниться, отличаться, различаться, расходиться |
tough | трудный, несговорчивый, упрямый; не идущий на компромиссы; непокорный, несдержанный; грубый |
suspicious | подозрительный, недоверчивый |
note | 1) замечать, обращать внимание; 2) упоминать, отмечать |
reserved | скрытный, сдержанный, замкнутый, необщительный, неразговорчивый |
courteous | вежливый, обходительный, учтивый, любезный |
mark out | выделять, предназначать |
majority | большинство |
influence (on) | оказывать влияние, воздействовать, влиять |
revengeful | мстительный, жаждущий мщения |
slave | невольник, раб |
exist | существовать |
describe | описывать, рассказывать, изображать; характеризовать |
character | характер, темперамент, нрав |
delicate | 1) изысканный, тонкий, утончённый; 2) вежливый, деликатный, учтивый |
share | делить, распределять; разделять |
include | заключать, включать в себя, содержать в себе |
specific | особенный, особый, специфический; характерный; своеобразный; необычный; индивидуальный |
4. Use dictionaries to study the meaning of the following vocabulary items:
stereotype, feature, character.
1. write out common collocations with them.
2. Find derivatives formed from feature, character.
5. Match the words with their definitions. There are two extra definitions:
1. communicate | a. attractive and thin, small, light, or graceful |
2. specific | b. to be real, or to appear in the real world |
3. majority | c. feeling that someone or something cannot be trusted |
4. describe | d. to express thoughts, feelings, or information to another person, for example by speaking or writing |
5. delicate | e. an important part or aspect of something |
6. exist | f. most of the people or things in a group |
7. revengeful | g. to make someone or something part of a group, set, or collection of things |
8. suspicious | h. polite, especially in a formal way |
9. loyal | i. to use or to have something at the same time as someone else |
10. tough | j. involving or relating to only one particular thing or type of thing |
11. include | k. strong and able to deal with difficult situations or pain |
12. courteous | l. to give details about what someone or something is like |
13. share | m. something that you do to hurt or punish someone because they have hurt you or someone else |
14. mark out | n. willing to support, work for, or be a friend to someone, even in difficult times |
o. the qualities that make up someone's personality | |
p. to show that someone or something is different from others |
6. Fill in the blanks with words from the word-box. There are two extra vocabulary items:
industrious | reserved | arrogant |
vary | note | solid |
compare | influence |
1. They threatened. I was _________ enough to ignore them.
2. Liz __________ the changes with satisfaction.
3. Would the evidence be __________ enough to convince a jury?
4. I'm trying to ________ the children's diet a little.
5. Gray’s __________ in the relationship realm is a lot like Dr. Benjamin Spock’s in child rearing.
6. The results are then ______________ to the results of previous studies.
7. Supply the necessary derivative/compound related to the italicized word the complete each sentence.
mercenary | His ________ caused a lot of problems. |
slave | By _______ away for two hours, I at last got the cooker clean. |
shrewd | The ingenuousness and the _______ of the question shocked him. |
industrious | Nora was writing away _________, but she sprang to her feet as he entered. |
reserved | We all have __________ of strength that we don't realize we have. |
8. Paraphrase the following sentences using your active vocabulary:
1. They talked with each other via email.
2. We can start by correlating the work of the historian with the work of the politician.
3. People's reactions to the drug can be widely different.
4. There is no evidence that there is life on other planets.
5. We have to accept the decision of most people.
6. The money will be divided between 30 different environmental organizations.
7. His valid arguments helped me to make a decision.
8. I have hitherto not had occasion to portray his appearance.
9. I like the man himself, polite, anxious to be of use, and extraordinarily gentle to everyone except his wife.
10. The combination is a five-piece one, comprising piano, saxophone, trumpet, banjo and drums.
Дата публикования: 2014-11-02; Прочитано: 2916 | Нарушение авторского права страницы | Мы поможем в написании вашей работы!