Before reading the text, name the English traditions you know
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| TRADITIONS AND WAYS Before reading the text, name the English traditions you know. Expand upon one of them. Read the text and say what it adds to your knowledge. English Traditions London has preserved its old ceremonies and traditions to a greater extent than any other city in England. Most of these traditions have been kept up without interruption since the thirteenth century. Foreigners coming to London are impressed by quite a number of ceremonies, which seem to be incompatible with the modern traffic and technical conditions of a highly developed country. Uniforms are rather characteristic of this fact. When one sees the warders at the Tower of London with their funny hats and unusual dresses with royal monograms, one feels carried back to the age of Queen Elizabeth I. Even in the unromantic everyday life of English businessmen we can see the same formal traditions. In the City of London there may be seen a number of men in top-hats. These are the bank messengers who had to put on these hats according to traditions. The same tradition makes the Eton boys (the boys of Eton College which was founded in 1440 by Henry VI) put on a silk hat, a very short jacket and long trousers. A regiment of the Guards division marching towards Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour (an annual ceremony held on the Official Birthday of the Queen, the second Saturday in June) All of you, of course, have seen English films and noticed official black dresses and white wigs of judges and advocates, though wigs have not been used for nearly two hundred years in other countries. One of the most impressive and popular ceremonies is «Changing the Guard», which takes place at Buckingham Palace every day, including Sunday, at 11. 30. The uniform of the guards is extremely coloured – red tunics, blue trousers and bearskin caps, and they always attract London sightseers. Another formal display is the «Ceremony of Keys» which takes place every night at 9. 53 p. m. when the Chief Warder of the Tower of London lights a candle lantern and carrying the keys makes his way with the Escort to the gates of the Tower and locks them. This ceremony takes place every night without interruption. It is said that on the night of April 16, 1941 air bombing stopped the ceremony, knocking out members of the Escort. Despite this the duty was completed. Strange as they may seem to a modern European or American, nobody in London sees anything remarkable in these old traditions which mix harmoniously with the city everyday life. References Eton College ['Jtn'kPlIG] – Итонский колледж (одна из старейших и известнейших частных школ для мальчиков в Виндзоре; основана в 1440 году; в ней учатся, в основном, дети из аристократических и богатых семей; из Итонского колледжа вышли многие премьер-министры Великобритании) Henry VI ['henrI Dq'siksT] – Генрих VI (король Англии и Франции с 1429 года; известен как покровитель искусств и литературы и основатель Итонского колледжа и Королевского колледжа в Кембридже; во время его правления началась Война Алой и Белой розы; низложен в 1461 году Эдвардом, герцогом Йоркским; в 1471-м заключен в Тауэр и убит во время молитвы, предположительно будущим Ричардом III) (the) Changing (of) the Guard ["tSeInGIN (qv) Dq 'gRd] – формальная церемония смены караула у Букингемского дворца, официальной резиденции королевы, а также у здания Королевской конной гвардии на Уайтхолле; проводится каждое утро Buckingham Palace ["bAkINqm 'pxlIs] – Букингемский дворец (официальная резиденция королевы в Лондоне с 1837 года; построен в 1703 году герцогом Букингемским) the Chief Warder ["tSJf'wLdq] – начальник стражи в лондонском Тауэре, состоящей из стражников в специальной форме, напоминающей одежду средневекового крестьянина-йомена; его часто называют «бифитер» Vocabulary
Read the text and list the Gods giving their names to the months and weekdays. The Names of the Months The English names of the month are of Latin origin. The ruler of Rome, Julius Caesar, arranged the year in six month of 31 days and six of 30 days. The first month of the year in those days was March. December was the tenth, January the eleventh and February the twelfth. It was King Charles IX of France who, in January 1563, decided that the year should begin of January Ist. January was named after Janus, the god of Time and War, February after Februs, in honour of whom, in ancient Rome, a great festival «Febra» was celebrated. March was called after Mars, the god of War. April got its name from the Latin word aperire, which means «to open». It is the month when the earth opens itself and nature returns to life. May was named after goddess Maia, the daughter of Atlas and mother of Mercury. June takes its name from Juno, the wife of Jupiter. July was named after Julius Caesar. The month of August took its name from Augustus, the first Roman emperor. September, October, November and December are the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th months in the Jullian calendar and they were given their names by the number they represent. The Days of the Week It is interesting to know how the names of the week came to have such names. These names are very old: people chose them long, long ago in the days when they worshipped a different god each day. Sunday was the Sun's day and the next day was the Moon's day of Monday. Tuesday was called after Tieu, the god of war. Wednesday was Woden's day, one highest god of the Teutonic peoples. Thor was the thunder god, his day was called Thor's day, or Thursday. His wife insisted on having a special day of her own. Her name was Freya, so her day came to be called Friday. Saturn was the Roman god of the fields, his day was Saturn's day, or Saturday. Exercises Discussion Compare the origin of the names of the months and weekdays in English with those in Russian. Read the text and say whether it is of historical, scientific or political character. Greenwich Mean Time How did the name of a pleasant part of London situated by the River Thames become synonymous with international time keeping? The reasons go back into history. Thousands of years ago, people had no reason to divide their lives into hours and minutes. Their time was the movement of the sun, which created day and night, and the rhythm of the seasons. Gradually, a 24-hour cycle was introduced, based on the point when the sun was in the middle of the sky which became midday. But, because the earth rotates, midday in one town might be twenty minutes after midday in another town a hundred miles away. So each area of the world kept its own time. The obvious solution – a national standard time, so that every town could set their watches and clocks by it. The electric telegraph was the key to success, for a simultaneous signal could be sent along it to any part of the country. So, in 1852, the first signal went out from the astronomers of Britain's Royal Observatory which was then situated at Greenwich. From then on, Britain followed Greenwich Mean Time. Greenwich, famous for its meridian and the National Maritime Museum, is located down river from London The «Mean» refers to something which is in the middle – an average. When the noonday sun at its highest point was directly over a particular place (the Meridian Line in Greenwich), the astronomers defined this as noon, Greenwich Time. This Greenwich Time was used for the whole country, so it became the «Mean» by which time was calculated in Britain. Britain managed quite well with Greenwich Mean Time, but the development of many different national times around the world meant that a country could still be out of step with its neighbours. So in 1912 an international conference decided that Greenwich Mean Time would be used throughout the world. In 1948 the Royal Observatory was moved away from the London air to a Village in the South of England called Herstmonceux. Instead of changing the G in GMT to an. H, the astronomers simply added 81 seconds to their calculations. References Greenwhich Mean Time ['grenIG'mJn"taIm] – среднее время по Гринвичу Greenwhich ['grenIG] -Гринвич (южный пригород Лондона) the Royal Observatory ["rOIql qb'zE:vqtrI] – Королевская Обсерватория Vocabulary
Exercises Comprehension Supply answers to the following questions. 1. When and where was it decided that GMT would be used throughout the world? Why? 2. What do the astronomers have to do now as a result of the change of place of the Royal Observatory? Before reading the text, define the English character as you see it. Read the text and describe the author's idea of the English character. Compare the two descriptions. English Character One of the most striking features of English life is the self-discipline and courtesy of people of all classes. There is little noisy behaviour, and practically no loud disputing in the street. People do not rush excitedly for seats in buses or trains, but take their seats in queues at bus stop in a quiet and orderly manner. Englishmen are naturally polite and are never tired in saying «Thank you», «I'm sorry», «Beg your pardon». If you follow anyone who is entering a building or a room, he will hold a door open for you. Many foreigners have commented on a remarkable politeness of the English people. English people don't like displaying their emotions even in dangerous and tragic situations, and ordinary people seem to remain good-tempered and cheerful under difficulties. An illustration of the English national character – reserved and friendly The Englishman does not like any boasting or showing off in manners, dress or speech. Sometimes he conceals his knowledge: a linguist, for example, may not mention his understanding of a foreigner's language. The Englishman prefers his own house to an apartment in a block of flats;;, because he doesn't wish his doing to be overlooked by his neighbours. «An Englishman's house is his castle». Many Englishmen help their wives at home in many ways. They clean the windows on Saturday afternoon, they often wash up the dishes after supper in the evening. Sunday is a very quiet day in London. All the shops are closed, and so are the theatres and most of the cinemas. Londoners like to get out of town on Sundays. The sea is not far -only fifty or sixty miles away and people like to go down to the sea in summer or somewhere to the country for skiing in winter. Vocabulary
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