Text b “Students’ Life”
1. In two weeks I shall finish my first year at Cambridge, Let me tell you something about students’ life and my impressions of it. The students are mainly English, but there are many others, particularly so in the block of rooms in which I live, for my neighbours include a Chinese studying law, an Indian studying English, a Canadian studying history and a Frenchman studying science.
The rooms have a pleasant outlook over the College gardens. There is a very small gas-stove on which we make coffee or tea. It is a popular tradition here to invite friends in the afternoon for tea and hot buttered toast and jam. To each room there is a manservant who with a woman servant, known as a "bedder", keep it clean.
2. What are students "sconced" for?
In the old days when Colleges were religious institutions the students were clergymen*, and their life was much more strict and disciplined than now. Friendship with young ladies was not allowed and the only women inside the college were washerwomen. The legend is that these had to be "old and ugly".
The students eat their meals in the College dining-hall. At some Colleges there is an interesting tradition. It is known as "sconcing". If a student comes late to dinner or he is not correctly dressed, or if he breaks one of the laws of behaviour, then the senior student orders him to be sconced.
3.What do the so-called "Bulldogs" do if a student whom they come up to. runs away?
The students can stay out till twelve o'clock. Each evening a proctor with two assistants, called 'Bulldogs', walks about the town keeping an eye on the students behaviour. If he sees a student breaking a rule he will cons up to him and say, 'Are you a member of the University, sir?, and if a student runs away, then the 'Bulldogs' run after him, and if they catch him (they are chosen, it is said, because they are good runners), fine him.
Apart from fines a student may be dismissed from the University for one term.
4.What students’ societies are there at Cambridge and which is the stoat popular one?
We attend our lectures in the morning and in the afternoon we are free.
I usually work in my room or take part in some sport. The most popular sport is rowing.
There are over a hundred societies and clubs. There are religious societies and society for those who don't believe, political, sporting and dramatic societies. There is even one for people with beard. Perhaps the most popular is the Debating society at which students debate political and other questions with famous politicians and writers.
The walk into the country, the talks, the games, and the work, the traditions and the customs - all are part of the student’s life which would be poorer if any of them was lost.
Ex:4 Read and learn these dialogues by heart.
Dialogue 1
- Lena could you give me your lecture notes?
- With pleasure. when will you take them?
- Could you bring them tomorrow? I need them for a couple of days.
- Certainly.
Dialogue 2
- Can I have a word with you, Mr. Smith?
- Yes, what is the problem?
- May I miss your lecture tomorrow? I must meet my parents.
- Sorry, you can't.
Dialogue 3
- Will you do something for me, Mr. Brown?
- Gladly, Miss Green. What is it?
-.Could you leave this note at the Grand Hotel on you rway home?
- Certainly. I'll do it without fail.
- I'm very much obliged to you.
- Not at all.
Ex:5 Read and translate Text C and put as many questions as possible.
Text C
“Some University Customs”
British universities usually keep to the customs of the past. At Oxford University, for example, all the students wear long black gowns and students caps - mortar-boards. Without his or her gown no student is allowed to call on a tutor, to have dinner in the college dining- hall or to attend a lecture - where the gowns are rolled up and used as cushions.
It is interesting to know that in the past especially in the 14th century there were a great number of quarrels between townsmen and students, so-called "Town and Gown" battles.
The University was anxious to be independent of the Town, and the Town was anxious for authority over the new student population. The biggest
quarrel broke out in 1354 which turned into a three day fight during which many students were killed.
A story is told from generation to generation at Oxford University, it is a story of an old custom which is kept up to now. Every Christmas day a roast boar head is carried with great ceremony to the table at which the tutors sit. The story of this custom goes back to the early years of the 16th century and celebrates the fight between a student of the college and a wild boar near the college. The student killed the boar by thrusting down its throat a copy of Aristotle which he was reading at that time, saying as he did so, "That's Greek."
At some Cambridge Colleges there is a curious custom in relation to dining
in hall. It is known as "sconcing". If a student should come late to dinner or not be correctly dressed, or if he should break one of the little unwritten laws of behavior, then the senior student present may order him to be "sconced". The Butler brings in a large silver cup, known as "Sconce Cup" , filled with beer which he places in front of the offender who must drink it in one attempt without taking the cup from his lips (it holds two and a half pints). If he succeeds, then the senior student pays for it, if not, the cup is passed round the table at the expense of the student who has been "sconced". No one seems to know the origin of the custom, but one can notice there is a sporting side to this rather odd punishment.
At Cambridge to each student's room there is a man-servant who with a woman servant, known as a "Bedder", keeps it clean and attends to the needs of the students living there. These men are known as "Gyps" and take a great interest in their "gentlemen".
Ex:6 Read and translate Text D. Speak about the academic year in England.
Text D
“The academic year in England”
The academic year in England is divided into three terms, which usually run from the beginning of October to the middle of December, from the middle of January to the end of March and from the middle of April to the end of June or the beginning of July.
Each term is crowded with activity and the vacations between the terms - a month at Christmas, a month at Easter, and three or four months in summer - are mainly periods of private study. Terminal examinations are held at the end of the autumn, spring and summer terms. Final examinations are taken at the end of the course of studies. If a student fails in an examination he may be allowed to take the exam again. Only two re-examinations are usually allowed. For a break of discipline a student can be fined a sum of money, for a serious offense he may be expelled from the university.
A person studying for a degree at a British university is called an undergraduate, one who has taken a degree is called a graduate.
At Cambridge a degree examination is called Tripos. In the past, when the student went for his degree examination it took him some time to show his knowledge of three subjects (Grammar, Logic and Rhetoric). So he was allowed to bring a small stool or "Tripos" to sit on, and to this day the degree examinations at Cambridge are called "Tripos" examinations.
The first degree at a university is B. A. or B. Sc. which stands for Bachelor
of Arts, or of Science. M. A. or M. Sc. denotes Master of Arts, or of Science. One can become a B. A. after three years of hard studying, and an M A. at the end of five years.
Education of University standard is also given in other institutions such as colleges of technology and agricultural colleges, which prepare their students for degrees or diplomas in their own fields.