Пособие по обучению практике устной и письменной речи (начальный этап) на английском языке Под ред. О. В. Серкиной
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987-2718 1.19. a) Sometimes we read to answer a question. In this case the title is a question. Before you read, think about what you already know regarding this question. That way you prepare your mind to receive new facts. Look at the common North American names below. What do you think they mean? Make a guess about each name. Then read the essay to see if you are right. MacDonald Robertson Long Baker O’Bryan Clark Cooper Hill b) After reading the text, think of the Russian names of the origins similar to those mentioned in the text. Discuss them in class. What is the Meaning of North American Last Names? By B.Dominski Everyone in the United Stated and Canada has a last name. There are over one and a half million last names just in the United States. Where do these names come from? A large number of last names come from Great Britain. They are of English, Scottish, Welsh, or Irish origin. Many derive from the occupations of ancestors, like Carpenter, Cook, Clark (clerk or scholar), and Fletcher (maker of arrows). The most common surname in North America is Smith. Smith derives from ‘blacksmith”, the worker who used to make iron shoes for horses. Smiths also made swards for soldiers, and metal implements. Cooper means “barrel maker”, important work in olden (=old) times when wooden barrels were means of packaging. Some family names derive from the custom of naming a man by referring to his father. Johnson and Peterson mean “son of John”, “son of Peter”, Mac and Fitz also mean ‘son of” as in Fitzgerald or MacDonald. The O’ in many Irish surnames, like O’Hara or O’Grady, means ‘grandson of.” Some last names refer to a place or object connected with an ancestor’s home, such as Hill, Field, Church, or Street. Others derive from nicknames describing personal appearance or qualities, such as Short, Big, Smart, Strong, or Longfellow. Long ago there were no surnames. People used to talk about their neighbours. Sometimes they were confused. “Do you mean David from the river?” “No, I mean David, the strong one.” “Oh, David, Erick’s son.” “No, not David, Erick’s son. David, John’s son!” With time the descriptions became last names: River, Strong, Erickson, Johnson. The United States and Canada are countries of immigrants, so many last names are not British. Their origins are Arabic, Chinese, Filipino, French, German, Hungarian, Indonesian, Israeli, Japanese, Polish, Serbian, Spanish, and Swiss, to name just a few. Many of these surnames also have meanings, like the Spanish Rodriguez (‘son of Rodrigo’) and the French Dupont (‘from the bridge’). The ancestors of most Black Americans were brought from Africa and forced to work as slaves. They lost their African names. American slaves became free in 1865. Many chose their new names, like Jones or Lincoln. Some took African names such as Cudjo for a boy or Juba for a girl, both meaning “born on Tuesday.” Often people do not know the meaning of their names. Sometimes immigrants came from Canada and the United States, and the officials at the border could not understand their names. So they had to invent new names to put on the documents. Nowadays this seems wrong. In North America today there is more respect for the diversity of cultures. 1.20. Answer the questions about the text in the previous activity and do the assignments. 1. What last names mean son of someone? grandson of someone? 2. What other meanings do surnames have? 3. Why did people start using surnames? 4. When did some ancestors of Black Americans choose their names? What names did they choose? Why? 5. What happened at the border to the names of many immigrants in the past? What do Americans and Canadians think of this today? 6. Try to explain the origin of the following surnames: Robinson MacGregor Hunter Armstrong Martínes Lightfoot Stone O’Donnell 7. What diverse groups of people live in Russia? Can you explain the origin of some of their surnames?
Ask yourself: “Who am I?” You think of your name. Your name is part of your identity. Its sound and meaning come from your family, language and culture. Sometimes people keep their names when they come to study or work in a new culture. Sometimes they change their names, or simply pronounce them differently. Read about the following people who came to study or work in the United State and Canada. Situation 1. My name is Loi Nguen, and I’m from Viet Nam. Some people tell me to anglicize my name. They tell me to call myself Larry or Lance. But I don’t want to. My family gave me my name. I am the same person wherever I go. When I meet someone new, I say my name slowly and clearly. I repeat it several times until people understand. Some of my classmates have made a joke about my name. I study law, so they say I’m going to be a loiyer. I don’t care. Let them laugh. Situation 2. I’m Jacqueline Matahnbat from Thailand, and I am a student in microbiology. Jacqueline is the name I use here in North America. I always liked that name and enjoy using it. I use my real name, Molvipah, with my family and people from my culture. It is hard for people to say it in English. So I decided to change it. I didn’t like the way people looked at me during introductions. They made faces when they tried to pronounce my name. They never said it right. In English I am Jacqueline. Situation 3. Hi, I am Jesús Jiménes García from Nicaragua. With my English friends, I am ‘Joe’. I never chose to change my name. It just happened. For my friends it was difficult to say Jesús. They said it was like swearing. In English it sounds disrespectful to say “Jesus”. That is not true in my culture. But now I call myself Joe, and I use only last name, Jiménes, the one from my father. I think it will be easier to get a job with that name. Situation 4. My name is Malika and I am from India. In the region I come from, we have only one name. We do not need a first and a last name. This caused problems here at first because North Americans think everyone must have a first and last name. So I invented a new name for myself: V. Malika. The “V” stands for Victory, one of my favourite English words. I sign that for official names. With most people here, I say I am Vicki. My real friends and family call me Malika. Situation 5. I’m Hans Warren, a Swiss professor working in the United States. I work at a university laboratory. This work is interesting, but I have trouble with the casual American ways. The technicians do not treat me with respect. They call me Hans all the time, often in front of the students. Even some students don’t call me Mr. Warren, much less Doctor or Professor! I spoke up one day at a lab meeting. I explained about the importance of respect in the workplace. But nobody got the point. Afterwards, I asked another professor about it. She said: “Oh, we know you like to be formal, but we take that with a grain of salt!”
1. How many of the students use their real names in an English-speaking country? How many use a different name? 2. Who chose to change to a different name? Why? 3. What do you think of this decision? 4. Who uses a different name because it “just happened”? 5. Who had only one name before coming to North America? Why? 6. Why is Hans unhappy at work? In your opinion, what should Hans do to improve his communication with Americans? Does the similar problem exist in Russia? 7. How many names do you have? 8. Do you know any North American names that seem difficult or strange to people in your culture? Any Russian names with similar stories? Which ones? Why? 9. Choose the statement you agree with and explain why:
1.23. Read the text about some issues with using names. Discuss the text in the form of a dialogue with a partner. Compare the traditions described for other cultures with the tradition of addressing people in Russia: Use the following expressions: In my opinion, From my point of view, If you ask me As far as I am able to judge I don’t think That’s not a good/ bad idea that The first transaction between even ordinary citizens – and the first chance to make an impression for better or worse - is, of course, an exchange of names. In America there usually is not very much to get wrong. And even if you do, so what? Not so elsewhere. Especially in the Eastern Hemisphere, where name frequently denotes social rank or family status, a mistake can be an outright insult. So can switching to a given name without the other person’s permission, even when you think the situation calls for it. “What would you like me to call you?” is always the opening line of one overseas deputy director for an international telecommunications corporation. “Better to ask several times,” he advises, “than to get it wrong. Even then, I err on the side of formality until asked to “Call me Joe”.” Another frequent traveler insists his company provide him with a list of key people he will meet, country by country, surnames underlined, to be memorized on the flight over. Just when you think you have broken the international name code, they switch the rules on you. Take Latin America. Most people’s names are a combination of the father’s and mother’s names with only the father’s name used in conversation. In the Spanish-speaking countries the father’s name comes first. Hence, Carlos Mendoza-Miller is called Mr. Mendoza. But in Portuguese-speaking Brazil it is the other way round, with the mother’s name first. In the Orient the Chinese system of putting a surname first, a given name last does not always apply. The Taiwanese, many of whom were educated in missionary schools, often have a Christian first name, which comes before any of the others – as in Tommy Ho Chin, who should be called Mr. Ho or, to his friends, Tommy Ho. Also, given names are often officially changed to initials, and Y.Y. Lang is Y.Y.; never mind what is stands for. In Korea, which of a man’s names takes a Mr. is determined by whether he is his father’s first or second son. Although in Thailand names run backwards, in Chinese style, the Mr. is put with the given name, and to a Thai it is just as important to be called by his given name as it is for a Japanese to be addressed by his surname. With the latter, incidentally, you can in a very friendly relationship respond to his using your first name by dropping the Mr. and adding san to his last name, as in Ishikawa-san. But the safest course remains: ask. 1.24. Read the poem, translate it and express your opinion about it. Learn the poem by heart. Have you heard about Emily Dickinson before? Try to find out some information about her and present it to class. I’m Nobody. Who Are You? I’m Nobody. Who are you? Are you Nobody too? Then there’s a pair of us! Don’t tell. They’d banish us – you know. - send (us) away How dreary to be Somebody. - dull, depressing How public, like a frog, Who tells his name the livelong day To an admiring bog! - wet, marshy place WRITING 1.25. Look at the chart and guess the full names for these common English nicknames and write them down. 1. Joe ___________ 7. Ginny _______________ 2. Dot (Dottie) ____ 8. Barbie _______________ 3. Tony __________ 9. Bob _________________ 4. Chris __________ 10. Chuck ______________ 5. Mike __________ 11. Jess ________________ 6. Nick __________ 12. Dick ________________ 1.26. What nicknames are used for these names? Can you guess? 1. Edward _______________ 6. Frederick ______________ 2. Patricia _______________ 7. Samuel ________________ 3. Ann __________________ 8. Jennifer ________________ 4. Stephen _______________ 9. Matthew _______________ 5. Nickolas ______________ 10. Megan ________________ 1.27. Write five or more sentences about your name in Russian. Is the last name written first? Do you have a nickname? What is the origin of your name? Does your name have a religious meaning? Does it refer to a place, an animal, or an occupation? Your class may decide to combine all the papers into a class name list. 1.28. What do you think about women keeping their maiden names after marriage? Write your opinion in five-ten sentences. Compare your opinions with those of your partners and discuss them as a class. 1.29. a) Match the words with the parts of the business card. b) Make up your business card. You can invent your job and the company you work for. Address ___ telephone number ___ Company name ____ fax number _________ Zip code (BrE postcode) ____ job title ____________ e-mail address ____________ web site ____________ Area code ________________
Unit 2.  People Around Me. My Family and Myself.The we of me. Carson McCullers Recommended grammar: Possessives. Adjectives and Adverbs. Prepositions of time and place. Auxiliaries. BUILDING-UP YOUR VOCABULARY
b) Make up a story, explaining the meanings of all the words from the chart. You can start the story like in the model below. When two persons are married, the man is called the husband, the woman becomes his wife. When a child is born in the family, the father and the mother of the child are called parents. A family usually consists of a father, a mother and children – sons and daughters or both …
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