Сulture of the USA



Сulture of the USA

Lead-in

Complete the abstract below with the words and phrases from the box.

| language trouble foreigners |

| |

|ideas attitudes motivates |

On understanding

Most Americans see themselves as open, frank, and fairly friendly. If you ask them a question they will answer it. They have nothing to hide. They cannot understand why people from other countries should have any difficulty understanding them. Unless, of course, there are ……… problems.

Still, most ……… do have ……… understanding Americans. Even if they have a good command of English, most foreigners have at least some difficulty understanding what the Americans they encounter are thinking and feeling. What ……… and ……… underlie their actions? What ……… them? What makes them talk and act the way they do?

How do you see Americans? Make a list of qualities that you think are typical of them. Discuss with your group mates.

Text 1

From Sea to Shining Sea

The United States owes much of its national culture, character and wealth to its good fortune in having such a large and varied landmass to inhabit and cultivate. Yet the country still exhibits marks of regional identity, and one way Americans cope with the size of their country is to think of themselves as linked geographically by certain traits. Regional differences make themselves visible through preferences in cuisine, varieties of American speech, and in less tangible ways, such as attitudes and outlooks.

New England. The smallest region, New England has not been blessed with rich farmland or a mild climate. Yet from the 17th century until well into the 19th, New England was the country's cultural and economic center. New Englanders found it difficult to farm the land and many settlers turned to other pursuits. The mainstays of the region became shipbuilding, fishing, and trade. Thus, New Englanders gained a reputation for hard work, shrewdness, thrift, and ingenuity.

New England also supported a vibrant cultural life. Education is another of the region's strongest legacies. Its cluster of top-ranking universities and colleges - including Harvard, Yale, Brown, Williams - is unequaled by any other region.

Middle Atlantic. If New England provided the brains and dollars for 19th-century American expansion, the Middle Atlantic states provided the muscle. The region's largest states, New York and Pennsylvania, became centers of heavy industry. As heavy industry spread throughout the region, rivers such as the Hudson and Delaware were transformed into vital shipping lanes. Cities on waterways - New York on the Hudson, Philadelphia on the Delaware, Baltimore on Chesapeake Bay - grew dramatically. New York is still the nation's largest city, its financial hub, and its cultural center.

The South. The South is perhaps the most distinctive and colorful American region. The American Civil War devastated the South socially and economically. Nevertheless, it retained its unmistakable identity.

Especially in coastal areas, southern settlers grew wealthy by raising and selling cotton and tobacco, which required the work of many laborers and eventually spread slavery throughout the South. The abolition of slavery after the war though failed to provide African Americans with political or economic equality: southern towns and cities legalized and refined the practice of racial segregation. It took a long effort by African Americans and their supporters to end segregation. In the meantime, however, the South could contribute with pride to the 20th-century cultural heritage its regional outpouring of outstanding literature, music and dance geniuses.

The Midwest. The Midwest is a cultural crossroads. Starting in the early 1800s easterners moved there in search of better farmland. The region's fertile soil made it possible for farmers to produce abundant harvests of cereal crops, so the region was soon known as the nation's "breadbasket." The Mississippi River has acted as a regional lifeline and also inspired a classic American book, written by a native Missourian, Samuel Clemens, who took the pseudonym Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Midwesterners are praised as being open, friendly, and straightforward. Their politics tend to be cautious, but the caution is sometimes peppered with protest. The Midwest gave birth to one of America's two major political parties, the Republican Party, which was formed to oppose the spread of slavery into new states.

The Southwest. The Southwest differs from the adjoining Midwest in weather (drier), population (less dense), and ethnicity (Spanish-American and Native-American). Outside the cities, the region is a land of open spaces, much of which is desert. The magnificent Grand Canyon is located in this region, and it is also place for dozens of Indian reservations, including the Navajo Reservation, home of the most populous American Indian tribe.

Parts of the Southwest once belonged to Mexico and its Mexican heritage continues to have a strong influence on the region, which is a convenient place to settle for immigrants (legal or illegal) from the south. Population growth in the hot Southwest has depended on two human artifacts: the dam and the air conditioner. Dams on the Colorado and other rivers have brought water to once-small towns such as Las Vegas, Phoenix and Albuquerque, allowing them to become metropolises.

The West. Americans have long regarded the West as the last frontier. The West is a region of scenic beauty on a grand scale. All of its 11 states are partly mountainous, and the ranges are the sources of startling contrasts. In much of the West the population is sparse, and the federal government owns and manages millions of hectares of undeveloped land. Americans use these areas for recreational and commercial activities, such as fishing, camping, lumbering, and mining.

Los Angeles - and Southern California as a whole - bears the stamp of its large Mexican-American population. Now the second largest city in the nation, Los Angeles is best known as the home of the Hollywood film industry. Fueled by the growth of Los Angeles and the "Silicon Valley", California has become the most populous of all the states.

Western cities are known for their tolerance. Perhaps because so many westerners have moved there from other regions to make a new start, as a rule, interpersonal relations are marked by a live-and-let-live attitude.

Today the trend is toward multiculturalism, not assimilation. The old "melting pot" metaphor is giving way to new metaphors such as "salad bowl" and "mosaic", mixtures of various ingredients that keep their individual characteristics. Immigrant populations within the United States are not being blended together in one "pot", but rather they are transforming American Society into a truly multicultural mosaic.

Learn from it

Vocabulary

good fortune – удача, счастливая случайность; have good fortune in doing smth;

identity (n) – самосознание; national identity, regional identity;

pursuit (n) - занятие, стремление; turn to other pursuits, pursuit of happiness;

shrewdness (n) – проницательность; natural shrewdness, rare shrewdness;

ingenuity (n) – изобретательность; it requires ingenuity, ingenuity of a plan;

vibrant (adj) – динамичный; vibrant cultural life, vibrant competition;

hub (n) – центр, узел; financial hub, technology hub, hub of the universe;

abolition (n) – отмена; abolition of slavery, abolition of capital punishment;

contribute (v) – вносить, делать вклад; contribute to…;

abundant (adj) – изобильный; abundant harvest, abundant natural resources;

straightforward (adj) – прямолинейный; straightforward reply;

caution (n) – осторожность, предусмотрительность; act with caution;

ethnicity (n) – принадлежность к этнической группе; mixed ethnicity;

sparse (adj) – редкий, неплотный; sparse population, sparse wood;

recreational (adj) – развлекательный, относящийся к активному отдыху; recreational activities, recreational area.

Practice

1. Read the text once again and restore the context of the words from Vocabulary section above.

2. Work with a partner to make up your own sentences with the words from Vocabulary section.

3. Complete the table forming parts of speech.

|Noun |Verb |Adjective |Adverb |

|caution | | | |

| |contribute | | |

| | |abundant | |

|ingenuity | | | |

|abolition | | | |

4. Match the opposites. Make up collocations with these words.

|sparse |intolerant |

|good fortune |dense |

|differences |illegal |

|legal |misfortune |

|tolerant |similarities |

5. Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases:

← “melting pot”

← assimilation

← live-and-let-live attitude

← segregation

← heritage

← cultural crossroads

6. Translate these sentences into English using Vocabulary.

1) США были традиционно известны как смешение культур разных народов. Однако многие народы не потеряли своей индивидуальности, поэтому можно говорить и о культурном разнообразии.

2) Нью-Йорк – удивительный, яркий город. Это не только финансовый центр США и всего мира, но и город, живущий динамичной культурной жизнью.

3) Западные штаты США привлекают американцев и туристов своей поразительной красотой и возможностью активно отдохнуть на природе.

4) Южные штаты США больше всего пострадали во время рабства и последующих за его отменой лет расовой сегрегации. Тем не менее, культурное наследие этого региона является гордостью всей страны.

5) Восточное побережье Америки и Лос-Анджелес – самые густонаселенные районы США.

6) Многие американцы в свое время переехали на запад страны, на ее последний рубеж, чтобы начать жизнь с чистого листа.

Speak about it

1. Discuss these points in small groups.

• How is the size of the USA reflected in the way Americans perceive their national identity?

• Characterize the six regions mentioned in the text.

• What regional differences are mentioned in the texts (e.g. cuisine)? Choose one and expand on it. Search for more examples in the web.

• Why can we say that the South is probably the most distinctive American region?

• Do you think that segregation policy shaped cultural identity of the southerners? In what ways?

• Does the existence of Indian reservations serve an example of multiculturalism or assimilation, or none of these two? Prove your point.

• Comment on the notion of “the last frontier”.

• In your opinion, which major factors determine national culture, especially in large countries like the USA and Russia?

• Comment on the terms of “melting pot” and “salad bowl”.

2. Read the quote and discuss it with a partner.

For most, being an American means being a monolingual English speaker with little knowledge of our history. Values and beliefs vary much throughout the country some are godless, most are god-fearing and some are apathetic or agnostic. Some politically motivated, others financially driven yet all of us have a unique quality that makes us American….Here is my answer… we are independent thinkers longing to belong to a group…any group. Our greatness though comes from being in one group….

@eslconsult

Text 2

From “Stephen Fry in America”, by Stephen Fry

Fifty states. Fifty cultures, societies, accents, cuisines, landscapes and more. I shall never be able to think of America in quite the same way again. I cannot claim to have done more than scratch the surface of this enormous land, but the scope of my adventures and the variety of people I’ve met have convinced me that it is almost as meaningless to call someone American without specifying their state as it is to call them European without specifying their country. The great metropolitan areas stand on their own as unique entities, but journeying through the rest of the United States I found that statehood mattered and that locality and terroir, as the French would say, seared its brand into everything and everyone.

I loved America before this trip and I love it now more than ever. The obvious characteristics that we celebrate and bemoan - the brashness, the vulgarity, the worship of money, the gun obsession, the distressing religiosity, the ignorance of the rest of the world, the deafness to linguistic nuance, the lack of banter, the whining self-regard, the blame culture, the junk food and the strip malls - yes, these are all to be found, but alongside we encounter the hope, the self-belief, the optimism, the warmth, consideration, kindness, sharpness of wits, will power, pride, wry self-awareness, independence, openness, generosity and charm. There is nothing you and I can observe about America that most Americans haven’t observed for themselves. I met very few fools on my travels, save perhaps the British I encountered who thought themselves naturally superior: I still shiver with embarrassment at the memory of their imbecile arrogance. America is not perfect, and I do not love Britain any less for loving America more. As all travellers know, the experience of a foreign country teaches about your own.

Learn from it

Vocabulary

scope (n) – масштаб, размах; scope of adventures;

specify (v) – уточнить; specify country or state, specify details;

celebrate (v) – праздновать, чествовать; celebrate characteristics or traits, celebrate culture;

worship (v, n) – поклоняться, поклонение; worship god, place of worship;

obsession (n) – одержимость; gun obsession, have an obsession with…;

ignorance (n) – невежество, незнание; total ignorance, ignorance is bliss;

encounter (v) – встретить(ся), столкнуться; encounter people, encounter difficulties or problems;

consideration (n) – внимательность, уважение; display or show great consideration for…;

superior (adj) – превосходящий другого, лучше; naturally superior, be superior to smb in smth;

embarrassment (n) – смущение; shiver with embarrassment, to my embarrassment.

Practice

1. Read the text once again and restore the context of the words from Vocabulary section above.

2. Work with a partner to make up your own sentences with the words from Vocabulary section.

3. Complete the table forming parts of speech.

|Noun |Verb |Adjective |Adverb |

|embarrassment | | | |

| |encounter | | |

| | |warm | |

|pride | | | |

| | |open | |

4. Match to make collocations. Use the collocations in your own sentences.

|stand |obsession |

|gun |superior |

|junk |on their own |

|strip |mall |

|think oneself |food |

5. Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases:

← brashness

← vulgarity

← banter

← sharpness of wits

← self-awareness

6. Translate these sentences into English using Vocabulary.

1) Называть кого-то американцем, не уточняя штат проживания, почти так же бессмысленно, как и называть кого-то европейцем, не уточняя страны.

2) Традиционно британцы считают, что они превосходят американцев в уме и чувстве юмора.

3) К сожалению, жители США известны своим невежеством в отношении окружающего их мира за пределами границ их страны.

4) Меньше знаешь – лучше спишь.

5) Американцы, как и любой другой народ, могут обладать совершенно разными чертами. Некоторые чрезмерно религиозны, другие одержимы оружием, а кто-то поклоняется деньгам.

6) В своем путешествии Стивен Фрай повстречал открытых, независимых, гордых, внимательных, добрых и щедрых американцев.

Speak about it

1. In his closing part to the book “Stephen Fry in America” Mr. Fry gives a list of “obvious characteristics that we celebrate and bemoan” in Americans. Complete these characteristics.

“… the brashness, the vulgarity, the worship of ___________, the ______ obsession, the distressing religiosity, the _______________ of the rest of the world, the deafness to linguistic nuance, the lack of __________, the whining self-regard, the __________ culture, the ________ food and the strip malls…

… but alongside we encounter the hope, the self-__________, the optimism, the warmth, ________________, kindness, sharpness of wits, _________ power, pride, wry self-_______________, independence, openness, generosity and __________…”

2. Put the characteristics mentioned in the passage above into three columns. In small groups think of examples to illustrate these traits. Share your ideas in a whole-class discussion.

|Positive |Negative |Neutral |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

Text 3

When teachers in the USA are working with groups of foreign students who are close to their graduation and get ready to go home, they sometimes ask them to make lists of those aspects of American life they would and would not like to take home with them. Some of the many items the students usually call out are these:

|Would take home |Would not take home |

|Opportunity for individuals to succeed in life |Excessive individualism |

|Efficiency of organizations |Weak family ties |

|Hard work and productivity |Treatment of older people |

|Freedom to express opinions openly |Materialism |

|General sense of freedom |Competitiveness |

| |Rapid pace of life |

| |Divorce |

| |“Free” male-female relations |

| |Impersonality |

Finally, the students are asked to study the two lists and see if they notice any connections between them. Here are their observations:

“Organizations are efficient because of impersonality and rapid pace.”

“Maybe it’s materialism that leads people to work so hard.”

“Individualism goes with the sense of freedom.”

“There would not be so much possibility for individuals to succeed if family ties were stronger, if people had to stay with their parents. People would not move around so much to get better jobs. Maybe even divorce is related to that.”

And so on. Most of the items on the don’t-want list are related to items on the do-want list. So it is with the various aspects of what we call “culture”. They fit together and overlap. It is not possible to take one or two aspects of a culture and transplant them somewhere else, as they simply won’t fit.

Learn from it

Vocabulary

succeed (v) – преуспеть; succeed in business or life, succeed through smb’s help;

efficiency (n) – эффективность, действенность; working efficiency, high efficiency, improve efficiency;

express (v) – выражать; express opinions, express doubts;

excessive (adj) – чрезмерный; excessive use of…, to an excessive degree;

ties (n) – узы, связь; family ties, close ties;

treatment (n) – отношение; treatment of older people, ill-treatment, kindly treatment;

competitiveness (n) – дух соперничества;

pace (n) – ритм, скорость; pace of life, at a quick pace, at a slow pace;

impersonality (n) – беспристрастность, безличность.

Practice

1. Read the text once again and restore the context of the words from Vocabulary section above.

2. Work with a partner to make up your own sentences with the words from Vocabulary section.

3. Complete the table forming parts of speech.

|Noun |Verb |Adjective |Adverb |

|impersonality | | | |

| | |excessive | |

|treatment | | | |

|competitiveness | | | |

4. Match to make collocations. Use the collocations in your own sentences.

|close to |of life |

|pace |together |

|family |graduation |

|notice |ties |

|fit |connections |

5. Fill in the blanks with the words from the box.

| |

|expressed competitive efficiency overlaps succeed impersonal |

1. She has a reputation for being a fiercely ……… player.

2. If you want to ……… in business, think big.

3. The new technology is aimed at improving ……… and customer service.

4. His manner of dealing with people was cold and ……….

5. The opinions ……… in this book are purely my own.

6. There are many ……… between the approaches.

6. Render these situations into English. Try to use Vocabulary where suitable.

1) Американцы часто говорят, что у них нет культуры. Если у них спросить про "aмериканскую культуру", они вряд-ли смогут что-то ответить, или даже станут отрицать существование американской культуры.

2) Самая важная вещь, которую надо понять про американцев, это их "поклонение" индивидуализму. Их с детства воспитывают так, чтоб они воспринимали себя отдельными самостоятельными личностями, ответственными за свои поступки, ситуации в жизни и за свою судьбу.

3) Немаловажным для американцев является личное пространство (privacy). Американцы предусматривают, что каждый человек нуждается в личном времени и в личном пространстве, каждому нужно "побыть наедине с собой".

4) Американцы твердо убеждены, что все люди (или по крайней мере все американцы) - равны, никто не рождается "выше" кого-то другого и каждый ответственен за свою собственную жизнь.

5) "Было бы желание, а возможность найдется" ("Where there's a will, there's a way"), - говорят американцы. Любой человек может сделать свою жизнь лучше и добиться успехов, имея сильную мотивацию.

6) Для американцев время - это "ресурс". "Время - деньги". Поэтому американцы восхищаются людьми с хорошей организацией и навыками правильного распределения времени (good organization and time-management skills).

7) "Он трудолюбивый", или "Она выполняет свою работу", - говорят американцы в качестве похвалы. Эти выражения показывают восхищение к людям добивающимся успеха (achievers).

8) Американцы любят действие (action), они считают, что надо все время что-то делать. Обычно их не удовлетворяет просто сидеть часами и разговаривать с другими людьми.

Speak about it

1. Do you agree or disagree with the observations of students noted in the text? Prove your point.

• Organizations are efficient because of impersonality and rapid pace.

• Materialism leads people to work hard.

• Individualism goes with the sense of freedom.

• There would not be so much possibility for individuals to succeed if family ties were stronger.

2. Which characteristics of American culture do you like? Which do you dislike? Make your own lists. Be ready to support your opinion with arguments. Share your views in a round-table talk.

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