Методичка ДВГУПС_About Myself, University 1-2
.pdf22.Do you remember any cases when you were surprised with yourself?
23.Do you remember yourself as a child? What kind of child were you?
7. Write a short composition about yourself. Tell us a little about your likes and dislikes, your interests, your personality traits, your achievements and dreams.
UNIT 2
I. Text. My family
Hi, again. As you already know, my name is Andrey. Now I’d like to tell you about my family. On the whole, our family is large. There are three generations there. They are my great-grandmother, my grandparents and my parents. My father has a brother – he’s my uncle, my mother has two sisters – my aunts; they have their children – my cousins. Besides, there are many in-laws in the family. I don’t have any nephews or nieces, but I have a brother.
I don’t see all my relatives very often – mostly on some special occasions. The last happy event was my cousin’s wedding the previous year, it gathered all our family.
But speaking about a family we usually mean our blood relations, i.e. mother, father, sisters or brothers. My parents are rather young. My father is 39, my mother is 37. My mother’s name is Tatyana Petrovna. She’s an accountant in a big trading company. She has to work hard and must be very attentive, so she comes home very tired and I do my best to help her. I’m proud of my mother and love her very much. She’s smart and good-looking. My father’s name is Aleksey Ivanovitch. He is an engineer. He’s clever, industrious, but a bit absentminded sometimes. He has a perfect sense of humour. He has his own way in everything, and I respect him for that. My grandmother Lydia Stepanovna (my mother’s mother) also lives with us. She’s in her late sixties, but she’s quite young in spirit. She likes reading and gardening. She’s a very active person. She’s either mending something or making something or doing something to entertain herself.
There’s no one we call the head of the family, but my granny’s advice and opinion are very important in any decision we take.
I have a brother called Dima. We are very much the same in character and appearance, only he is four years my junior. But in spite of the age difference we’re very close. We have common interests – we both like sport, reading and computer, but I should say he is too inconsistent and rarely does his best. In other words, he is not bad, when he makes an effort. He is very energetic. It takes him half an hour to do his homework and then he rushes out to play football because he is crazy about it. There is one more member of the family. Our dog is the most important person in our house. Rex is a sheep-dog. He is very
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gallant and devoted to his masters. He does not like to stay alone when we are out, but whenever we return he meets us with such a joy and energy that make our spirits bright.
I don’t think that our family is an ideal one, but it is a very stable, ordinary family. We are very close; often take care of one another when someone has a problem. We support each other, we are helpful when we have some difficulties, and though sometimes we have some rows, we always try to find a compromise.
Active vocabulary
1.generation – поколение
2.relative = relation – родственник
close (near) relative – близкий родственник distant relative – дальний родственник blood relative – кровный родственник
3.in-law – родня со стороны жены или мужа mother-in-law – теща, свекровь father-in-law – тесть, свекор daughter-in-law – невестка, сноха son-in-law – зять
sister-in-law – невестка, золовка brother-in-law – зять, шурин
4.accountant = book-keeper – бухгалтер
5.industrious = hard-working – трудолюбивый
6.absent-minded – рассеянный
7.be in one’s early (last, late) sixties, etc. – быть слегка за 60, (между 60 и 70,
под 70)
8.wedding – свадьба
9.be 5 (6, 7 …) years smb’s junior (senior) – быть на 5 (6, 7…) лет младше
(старше) кого-либо
10.have rows = to quarrel – ссориться
11.be a pensioner = be retired – быть на пенсии
12.an only child – единственный ребенок
13.twins – близнецы
14.orphan – сирота
15.step-mother – мачеха step-father – отчим
16.half sister (brother) – сводная сестра (брат)
17.foster parents – приемные родители
18.adopted children – приемные дети
19.be married (to smb.) – быть женатым (замужем) (за кем-то)
20.get married – выходить замуж ( жениться )
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21.divorce smb. – развестись с кем-то be divorced – быть в разводе
22.be single – быть неженатым (незамужем)
23.bachelor – холостяк
24.widow – вдова
25.widower – вдовец
26.take after smb. = be like smb. = resemble smb.– быть похожим на кого-то
(пойти в кого-то)
27.housewife = homemaker (Am.E.) – домохозяйка
Comprehension questions
1.How many generations are there in Andrey’s family?
2.Do they often meet each other?
3.What events can bring all the relatives together?
4.What do Andrey’s parents do?
5.How old are they?
6.Does his grandmother still work?
7.What does she enjoy doing?
8.Who’s the head of his family?
9.Does Andrey have a younger or an elder brother?
10.How many years is he Dima’s senior?
11.Do they have common interests? What are they?
12.What doesn’t Andrey like in Dima’s character?
13.Do they have a pet in their family?
14.The family have rows sometimes, don’t they?
15.Does Andrey love his family?
II. VOCABULARY PRACTICE EXERCISES
1.Give English equivalents to the following words and wordcombinations:
три поколения семьи, родня со стороны мужа или жены, близкие родст- венники, дальние родственники, кровные родственники, встречаться по особым случаям, делать все возможное, немного рассеянный человек, иметь прекрасное чувство юмора, уважать за что-либо, бабушке за шесть- десят, быть молодым по духу, глава семьи, принимать решения, быть по- хожим по характеру и по внешности, быть на четыре года младше, прила- гать усилия, быть преданным кому-либо, повышать настроение, ссориться, находить компромисс.
2.Give Russian equivalents to the following words and wordcombinations:
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close relatives, distant relatives, blood relatives, industrious person, absentminded person, be in one’s late thirties, be three years smb’s senior, be four years smb’s junior, be retired, have one’s own way in everything, be young in spirit, entertain oneself, in spite of the age difference, have common interests, be inconsistent, rush out to play football, stay alone, make smb’s spirits bright.
3.Complete the sentences using your active vocabulary
1.My grandmother and I are the people of different … .
2.Anton is the son of my father’s uncle – he’s my … relative.
3.We keep in touch with all our … relatives.
4.My husband’s mother is my …, his father is my … .
5.My father is 39 years old, in other words he’s … .
6.My cousin got married last month, all relatives were invited to … .
7.I’m 17 years old, my brother is 14, so he’s 3 years my … .
8.Pete and Michael are as like as two peas, they are … .
9.Ivan is my mother’s son by her first marriage, he’s my … .
10.My uncle Nick has never been married, he’s an old … .
11.As my sister’s children are too small now, she doesn’t work, she’s a … .
12.My brother is very tall and very thin, everybody says he … our greatgrandfather.
4.Insert prepositions where necessary.
1.We are 4 … our family.
2.We meet our relatives … some special occasions.
3.My cousin got married … last year.
4.My mother is a doctor … profession.
5.My friend’s father works … the railway.
6.My brother goes … school. He’s … the 7th grade.
7.My parents are … their late thirties.
8.My granny is quite young … spirit.
9.They are twins, but … spite … this they are very different.
10.My brother is crazy … football.
11.I take … my mother – I’m fair-haired and blue-eyed.
12.I always take care … my younger sister.
13.Our dog is devoted … all the members of the family.
III. SPEECH PRACTICE EXERCISES
1. Explain the meaning of the following words
Aunt, uncle, step-mother, orphan, father-in-law, brother-in-law, cousin, nephew, niece, grandmother, foster parents, adopted child, bachelor, widow, widower.
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2. Read the interview about a Canadian family. Use the questions to write your own passage about a typical Russian family
Q: Hello.
Hello.
Q: Could you say a few words about yourself?
My name is Caitlin Murphy. I’m from Toronto, Canada. I’m twenty five years old. I live in Toronto.
Q: Caitlin, could you describe a typical Canadian family?
The typical Canadian family consists of two parents and usually two children. The children are typically about 5 years apart in age, and parents are usually about thirty years old when they have their children.
Q: What age do people usually get married at?
These days people try to get education first, that’s why they usually get married several years after they graduate from university. So if people finish university at the age of twenty two, usually they get married at about the age of twenty eight.
Q: Do the young take into account their parents’ opinion, when they are going to get married?
Usually people choose their own spouse. Arranged marriage is very uncommon.
Q: Is it uncommon, when married children live with their parents?
It happens often after people first get married, but they live with their parents for some time, perhaps, they are waiting for their house to be built or something like this, and then they will live with their parents, but it’s not common for people to live with their parents for a very long time.
Q: Is divorce a common thing nowadays?
Approximately, fifty percent of marriages end up in divorce.
Q: What age do young people usually move out of their parents’ house?
Usually people move out of their parents’ house in Canada, when they’re in their late teenage years, or the early adult years. Usually a lot of people move away to go to school. It is not typical that somebody would be in their twenties and still living with their parents, because it is possible to find affordable accommodation, so people generally don’t wish to live at their parents’ at an older age.
Q: Do grandparents normally live together with their children and grandchil- dren?
It is not typical for grandparents to live with their children and grandchildren, except in case of recent immigrants, who come to Canada and they all live together as it’s typical in their culture.
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3. Read the following micro-dialogues. Reproduce them. Make up your own ones.
1.– Well, Sam, I’ll tell you how it is. You see, I married a widow and this widow had a daughter. Then my father, being a widower, married our daughter, so you see, my father is my son-in-law.
– Yes, I see.
– Then, again, my step-daughter is my step-mother, isn’t she? Well, then her mother is my grandmother, isn’t she? I’m married to her, ain’t I? So that makes me my own grandfather, doesn’t it?
2.– Hi, Alan! How are you?
–Not bad, Jane, thanks. And you? How’s your family?
–Oh, we are surviving! My husband’s away on a business trip, which leaves me running the house and looking after the kids on my own.
–That’s tough. It takes a lot out of you, doesn’t it?
–You’re not kidding. I tell you, at 9.00 in the evening I just collapse into an armchair in front of the telly. Still, Dave’s back soon, thank goodness.
3. – How are your daughters, Mrs. Adams?
– Thank you, everything’s OK. Julie has just been made a managing director of their company. She’s certainly the carrier girl of the family.
– And how’s Jane and her kids?
– She’s a happy housewife. You see, four children fill up almost all her time.
4. – We’re having a house-warming party on the 12th. Can you come?
– Yes, you bet. We’d love to! But I didn’t know you’d moved.
– Yes, two weeks ago. This flat is much bigger than the old one. A huge kitchen and 3 big rooms.
– It sounds wonderful.
– Yes,but there’s much more housework to do!
– That’s a drag!
5. – Do you have a flat of your own?
–No, I rent a flat.
–But flats are so expensive to rent.
–Yes, but I prefer to lead an independent life. My parents’ flat is rather spacious, but I found a flat as soon as I started my job.
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4. Read and translate the following text.
How We Kept Mother’s Day
(after S. Leacock)
We decided to have a special celebration of Mother’s Day. We thought it a fine idea. It made us realize how much Mother had done for us for years, and all the efforts and sacrifices that she had made for our sake.
So we decided that we’d do everything we could to make Mother happy. Father decided to take a holiday from his office and my sister and I stayed home from college and Mary and my brother stayed home from High School.
Our plan was to make the day a big holiday. So we decided to decorate the house with flowers. We asked Mother to arrange the decoration because she always does it on holidays.
Well, after breakfast we had it arranged as a surprise for Mother that we would hire a motor car and take her for a beautiful drive away into the country. Mother is never able to go to the country, because she is busy in the house all the time.
We asked mother to cut some sandwiches and make up a sort of lunch in case we get hungry. Mother picked it all up in a basket for us ready to go to the car.
When the car came to the door, it turned out that there was no room in it for us all. Father said he could stay at home, he said that there was a lot of work in the garden that he could do. He wanted us to go right ahead and be happy. Of course, we didn’t want to let Father stay at home.
So in the end it was decided that Mother would stay home and have a lovely restful day round the house and make the dinner. Mother doesn’t like fishing, and also it was a little cold and fresh out of doors and Father was rather afraid that Mother might take cold if she came. We said good-bye to Mother and drove away. Mother stood and watched us as long as she could see us.
We had a very happy day up among the hills. It was quite late when we came back, but Mother had guessed that we would be late, so she kept the dinner so as to have it just nicely ready and hot for us. She had to get up and down a good bit during the meal fetching things back and forward. The dinner lasted a long while, and when it was over all of us wanted to help to clear away and wash the dishes. But Mother said that she would do it herself and so we let her.
It was quite late when it was all over, and when we all kissed Mother before going to bed she said it had been the most wonderful day in her life and I think there were tears in her eyes.
5. Speak about the following questions in a form of a dialogue or prepare a 2-3 minutes’ talk about them.
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How are holidays celebrated in your family? Do you have any special traditions?
Do you remember any funny episodes, connected with a holiday celebration?
6. Translate the sentences from Russian into English
1.У меня много близких и дальних родственников. Мои бабушка и де- душка умерли, но у меня есть четыре тети и множество двоюродных братьев и сестер.
2.У Джона не очень большая семья: он сам, его жена Линда и трое очаровательных детишек – двух, пяти и семи лет. Кроме того, вместе с ними живет мать его жены – его теща. Она прекрасная бабушка для своих внуков и всегда присматривает за ними, когда родителей нет дома.
3.Ты читал “Сагу о Форсайтах” Джона Голсуорси, – Нет, я только слы- шал об этом романе. – А я его сейчас читаю, и мне он нравится, хотя ино-
гда я путаюсь (to get confused, to fail to understand) в родственных отноше-
ниях между героями. У некоторых из них одинаковые имена, поэтому ино- гда трудно сразу сказать, кто из них прадед, кто дед, внук или правнук. Ведь в романе описаны несколько поколений семейства Форсайтов.
4.Семья моего друга – пример того, как разные поколения могут не- плохо ужиться (to get along fine with smb). В их 4-комнатной квартире жи- вут и дети, и их родители, и дедушка с бабушкой, да еще и кошка с соба- кой. – А мне все-таки кажется, что жить так очень трудно. Нужно жить от- дельно. Но встречаться чаще и помогать друг другу.
5.Я не знала, что твой брат женат. – Да, Виктор и Лена женаты уже два года. У них даже есть годовалая дочка – моя маленькая племянница.
6.По традиции наша семья собирается в полном составе первого ян- варя. Мы накрываем стол, дарим подарки, обмениваемся новостями. Та- кие семейные встречи особенно нравятся нашим детям.
7.Prepare a 2-3 minutes’ talk on the following topics or discuss these topics in a group of 2-3 students
1.How do you understand “a typical family”?
2.Advantages and disadvantages of being an only child.
3.Problems of young families.
4.Problems of large families.
5.Advantages and disadvantages of living with parents or living separately.
6.Are there any special traditions in your family?
7.Do you keep in touch with your aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, grandparents?
8.Would you like your own family to be like your parents’?
9.Do you know any interesting stories about your family’s history?
10.Do you know anything about your ancestors?
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UNIT 3
I. Text. Our University
Hello again! Now let me tell you about my university – Far Eastern State Transportation University. I am really glad to study here. It is one of the best country’s higher educational institutions.
Our University is quite large and old. It was founded in 1939 as Khabarovsk Railway Engineering Institute. In those days the institute had only 3 faculties: the Mechanical, the Railway Engineering and the Operational faculties. Since that time the institute has undergone many structural changes and grown into a large modern institution of higher learning. In 1977 it received a university status.
The university is well known for its high standards of education and research. It trains competent and creative specialists for different branches of engineering, transportation and economy of our country.
Our university is a large school where about 15 thousand students study currently. Most of them are full-time students, like me; there are also many parttime and extra-mural students. Besides, there are many post-graduate students, who carry out independent research work and conduct classes or deliver lectures as well.
Every year about 2 thousand people are enrolled in the university. Young people who are interested in science and technology may enter the Institute of Traction and Rolling Stock, the Institute of Operation, Automation and Telecommunication, the Institute of Transport and Civil Engineering, the Power Engineering Institute, the Faculty of Natural Sciences, the Aeronautical Engineering Faculty. The Institute of Economics trains economists, accountants and other specialists in finance, management and commerce. The Humanitarian Faculty prepares specialists in social service, psychology, tourism management.
The course of training at the university lasts 5 – 6 years. The academic year is 9 months or 2 semesters of 4 and a half months each. Studies usually begin in September and end in June. Students take exams at the end of each semester. Twice a year students have vacations.
During the first two years the students study general engineering subjects, such as higher mathematics, physics, chemistry, basics of computer engineering, social sciences and the humanities. In the third year the students begin to take specialized courses. Great importance is given to practical training. Students work in well-equipped laboratories and shops, computer centres of the university and in the fourth and fifth years they work at railway and industrial enterprises of the Khabarovsk Territory.
More than 600 highly-qualified professors and instructors work at 50 departments of the university. Teaching is only part of their activity; they are in-
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volved in scientific work. Gifted students also take part in research activities under their tutors’ guidance.
Our university covers a large territory. On the campus there are three buildings for classes, six hostels, sport facilities, residential houses for teachers, a cafeteria and a polyclinic for teachers and students, a club house.
Higher education is not free now. Most of the students have to pay for their tuition. Those students, who pass their entrance examinations well, study free of charge.
It’s very interesting to study at the university. You have a chance not only to get a higher education but also to make a lot of friends and develop your special talents.
Active vocabulary
1.education – образование
secondary education – среднее образование higher education – высшее образование
vocational training – профессионально-техническое образование
2.higher educational institution, institution of higher learning – высшее
учебное заведение
3.found (establish, set up ) a university – основать университет
4.research – исследование, научно-исследовательская работа research activities – научная деятельность
5.train – учить, обучать, готовить (специалистов)
6.teach somebody – учить, обучать кого-либо
teach something – учить чему-либо, преподавать что-либо
7.learn – учиться, учить что-либо, узнавать (= to find out) learn by heart – учить наизусть
learn by rote – зубрить
8.study – изучать, заниматься, учиться
study for an examination – готовиться к экзамену syn.: sit for an examination,
read for an examination revise for an examination
9.study hard – упорно, напряженно учиться
study by fits and starts – учиться урывками, нерегулярно
10.full-time student – студент, занимающийся на дневном отделении part-time student – студент, занимающийся без отрыва от производ-
ства
11.apply for admission – подавать заявление о приеме
12.applicant – абитуриент
13.get enrolled (in) = to be enrolled (in) – быть зачисленным (в)
14.be admitted = be accepted (at) – быть принятым
15.be expelled from = be dismissed from – быть отчисленным (из)
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