Ответы на билеты по Страноведение на тему Великобритания и Америка

II. How do you understand the phrase “keep up with the Joneses”. Does it a Russian equivalent? Is this idea popular in your country?
This means having the same financial situation of a neighbor. This idea is also popular in Russia.
III. Why did Los Angeles, Tucson, Phoenix grow so much in population? What other cities in the USA and your country which development has grown rapidly, do you know? Why have these places become so popular?
This is the megapolisies. A megapolis or metropolis is a large city or urban agglomeration, which is an important economic, political and cultural center for a country or region, as well as an important center of regional or international infrastructure, as well as important technologies such as television, communications.
The metropolis offers its residents all the services, in contrast to what happens in other types of settlements (such as a colony, village, city). In turn, in economic activities that are developed here, there is a higher level of complexity.
IV. Find out more about regions’ stereotypes and characteristics of their people. What region is more to your liking?
I like Virginia. Virginia resident highly likely:
- angry when people confuse Virginia and West Virginia;
- slightly arrogant;
- it will be fierce to deny that he speaks with an accent;
- can skin the deer in less than 2 minutes;
- considers himself a terrific historian, loves historical reconstruction;
- refuses to accept the fact that the Civil War is over;
- loves to spend holidays, hiding in the caves
- proud of its mountains (and God forbid you call them hills!);
- knows a person who can get him first-class tobacco;
- the same person who panics at the sight of a pair of fallen snowflakes and runs to empty the shelves of nearby stores (and then the storm is).
V. What “rags-to-riches” stories do you know? Give a short summary of them. Characterize the main heroes, explain the main ideas.
The American industrialist, the founder of Carnegie Steel, a company that produced more steel than all British enterprises at the time, was born into a poor weaver family in Scotland. He grew up in poverty. The whole family was huddled in one room, often there was nothing to eat and had to go to bed on an empty stomach.
Looking for a better life, the Carnegie family moved to the United States. The first job (in a cotton factory in Pittsburgh) Andrew found in 13 years. For 12 hours a day, he changed coils with threads on machines, earning $ 2 a week.
His next job was to be a telegraph post with a salary of $ 2.5 a week. The authorities assessed the guy's zeal, and soon he was appointed as an operator. The promotion brought an increase in earnings up to 4 dollars a week.
Colonel James Anderson, who every Saturday night opened access to his personal library of 400 volumes to working boys, made a great contribution to Carnegie’s education and stimulated his love of reading.
Working on the railroad, Andrew learned a lot about industry and business in general. He began to invest money in stocks of steel and oil refineries, this occupation helped him to improve his financial situation and invest money in his business. By 1889, Carnegie Steel had become the largest company in the industry.
In 1901, Carnegie sold his business to JP Morgan for $ 480 million, settled in a castle in Scotland and became a philanthropist. He donated large sums of money to the New York Public Library, sponsored the creation of a technology institute in Pittsburgh, which is now known as Carnegie-Mellon University, and the Carnegie Institution in Washington, and created several funds of various types.
In my opinion, his success is connected with his curiosity, diligence, erudition and purposefulness.
VI. Describe the most important aspects of the American character.
Let us try to present the dominant features of the American national character as a list of characteristics, explaining each of the distinguished features with a brief commentary revealing its content.
1. Independence. Americans are accustomed to perceive themselves as individuals, capable of bearing responsibility for their lives. At the same time, Americans believe that people all over the world perceive themselves to be the same. To the representatives of other cultures, where the sense of the collective is developed, the Americans treat as weak, indecisive, overly dependent. The ideal of Americans is a free man to whom no one can dictate what to do. They are convinced that the person best takes care of their own interests.
2. Individualism. American society is individualistic in nature. Interests of the individual prevail over the interests of the team, friendly circle and even family.
American individualism is manifested in the use of personal pronouns; Americans say “my family”, “my college”, “my country” (cf. among the Russians, “our family”, “our institute”, “our country”).
3. Independence of judgment and behavior. The American is self-sufficient in everything, independence, he is used to self-reliance. Seeking help from others is undesirable: it is considered shameful, a demonstration of weakness. The team is not made to count on the help of colleagues.
4. Diligence, good faith. An important value for American society is activity. A person should be noticeable by his intense activity, it is she who will lead him to success. In this sense, the Russian character is more contemplative than activity.
5. Desire and success. The happiness of an American is in his social, material, career successes. Since childhood, Americans are taught: you must be successful, you must be a winner. Happiness for an American is a success, and an American should be happy, that is, simply must be successful.
6. Practicality, pragmatism. Americans are carefully monitoring compliance benefits. They vigilantly monitor advertising and will not miss sales. The phrase “We must wait for the sale” sounds not as a recognition of poverty, but as a demonstration of practicality. People with high incomes do not hesitate to report that the item was bought at a sale.
VII. Pick up a couple of characteristic traits of the Americans both positive and negative and illustrate them in front of the class.
Positive:
Patriotism
Americans are great patriots of their country. In the country, the cult of the American flag, the national anthem. Americans hang a national flag on their homes as a sign that they support the government or the president. The flag is depicted by Americans on T-shirts, a variety of other items.
American patriotism is close to ethnocentrism, it is based on pride in everything American, which American absorbs with mother's milk.
Negative:
Neglect of losers and love of winners
For Americans, the admiration of the winners is characteristic. Americans sincerely admire the winners of various competitions, including absurd ones - to the farthest spittle, to the longest nails, to beckoning pigs from long distances,
The Protestant religion teaches that God is hard-working, many who have achieved, who are successful, winners.
The loser, the loser - is a man of the lower class, causing neglect, if not contempt. He is not spared, as he himself. Losing, not winning is shameful, shameful. The words looser, outsider contain an explicit disregard. However, Americans usually do not express their attitude to losers.
2. The land of diversity
I. Answer the questions:
1) What does the land of diversity mean?
The land of diversity means a country of oldest civilization in the world where people of many ethnic groups live together for years. In spite of being related from different cultures, traditions, religions and languages; people here respect each other and live together with lots of love and feeling of brotherhood.
2) How can “the structured lives” of the Americans be observed?
Although Americans are informal people, they have structured lives. Time schedules are generally important. They have structured schedule of the day, dress code for all occasions, the rules of conduct in certain cases.
3) How does a person usually behave when they are on a visit?
If invited to someone’s home, you should arrive promptly, especially if invited for a meal. The meal is generally served first and guests socialize with their hosts afterwards. Unless your host tells you to dress formally, assume your visit (and clothing) will be informal. If refreshments are served during a casual visit, it is polite but not necessary to accept them.
It is not necessary to take a gift to the hosts when invited to their home, but a gift would not be improper. If you stay for a few days, a small gift or a letter of thanks is appropriate. During a longer visit, you may be asked to help a little in a home by keeping your room clean and making your bed. If you stay for several weeks, you will be considered part of the family and will generally be expected to help in the home as any other family member.
4) What is important for the Americans when they mix up?
Americans generally stand at least two feet away from one another; this distance is called personal space and is important to most Americans.
5) Is the direct eye contact necessary?
Direct eye contact is not necessary for the duration of a conversation, but avoiding it may indicate the speaker is not sincere or the listener is not interested.
6) Why can the Americans share their points of view about any subject openly?
Freedom of speech is carefully protected by the people and the constitution.
7) Is independence important? How can it be observed?
Independence is important. In fact, independence is a basic value in the United States. Young people work to achieve financial independence from their parents. Extended families generally do not live together. The nation’s foreign policy is based on a belief that people should have freedom and independence. Political debates in the country often focus on the rights of the individual.
8) Will the Americans be offended if you disagree with them? Why?
No, Americans will not be offended if somebody disagree with them, because
it is often a sign of strength, ambition, and intelligence to ask questions or challenge opinions.
9) What does The American Dream mean?
The American Dream is an expression often used to designate the vital ideals of US residents. It means that material well-being and high status can be achieved by everyone with diligence, honesty, purposefulness and diligence.
10) What are the characteristic features of their appearance?
Clothing habits are a matter of personal preference in the United States. Although fashion trends are important, a person usually feels free to wear whatever he or she wants. Naturally, there are cultural limitations on one’s attire depending on the situation. For example, business people in large urban areas are likely to wear suits and dresses, while clothing in rural areas is less formal. Americans like to dress casually, however, when they are not working, and they may even wear tattered clothing in public. Short pants and recreational clothing are often worn in public. In business situations, men should wear suits with neckties and women are often expected to wear dresses, skirts or nice slacks.
11) What can you say about the distribution of the population?
The population of the United States is the third largest (about 250 million). Eighty percent of America’s population is white, which includes people of European, Middle Eastern and Hispanic origins. Other racial groups include blacks (12 %), Asians (3%), and Native Americans (1%). As a minority, Hispanics, which can be of any race, comprise 9% of the total population. Each minority is represented by many smaller groups with origins in nearly every country around the world. Asians are the fastest-growing minority, mostly due to immigration.
12) Do they have racial tensions?
Racial tensions, particularly in large urban areas and some southern states, have erupted into violence throughout the country’s history. As a result of the 1960s civil rights movement many people recognized the inequalities favouring whites over other ethnic groups. Since that time, many things have been accomplished to extend equality to all. However, Americans generally agree there is still much to be done.

13) Is the American English different from the British variant of it?
American English is very different from other forms of English spoken around the world. One of the first things you will notice in the United States is the American usage of English does not conform to strict rules. Even among well-educated Americans, spoken English is very flexible and popular idioms are common – another example of American informality.
14) Are there a lot of dialects in the USA? Why?
There are not a lot of dialects in the USA. Throughout the country only a few minor dialectal variations exist. Except for some differences in pronunciation, Americans speak a uniform language.
15) Characterize the pronunciation of American English. Are there any regional variations? Are there different accents in your country? Find out more about them.
In areas such as New England, the “r” may be dropped from the end of a word; in the South, English is spoken at a slower pace that leads to different vowel pronunciations. In general, Americans draw out their sounds, rather than speaking in concise, clipped syllables. Some ethnic groups also have their own variety of English, especially in large urban areas.
No, in my country there are no dialects, in some regions this word differs from vowels in words.
II. Give English\Russian equivalents to the following:
A land of diversity – земля разнообразия, schedule - график, structured lives – упорядоченная (регламентированная) жизнь, improper – неподходящий, неприличный, appropriate - подходящий, personal space – личное пространство, to beckon – манить, кивать, sincere - искренний, a casual posture -случайная поза, offensive - наступление, accomplish -достижение/