Раздел 3.3.

3.3.1. Прочитайте текст и определите, к какой возрастной категории относится автор повествования:

Notes:

1. we would wake up – мы бывало просыпались

2. at the bottom of the bed – в ногах кровати

3. in the years up until then – в предыдущие годы до этого возраста

4. dip in - зачерпнуть

5. a sit-down meal – застольe

Christmas at my parent’s house was quite a big event, I mean for the children especially, and I remember when I was very small it was so exciting. We would wake up at 6 o’clock or earlier on Christmas morning, and immediately look at the bottom of the bed, where there would be a pillow case, not a stocking (which was good because you can get more presents into a pillow case) at the bottom of the bed, which supposedly Father Christmas had brought. It was full of little present and fruit and nuts and all kinds of little things. Mine was always very exciting, I think my mum had very original ideas, I don’t remember when we stopped getting them, I suppose I was about fifteen, but in the years up until then we used to get them, in some form. However, towards the end they got smaller and smaller, so that in the end it was just a sock, maybe with an orange and a walnut in it.

As I got older, the big parties used to be on Christmas Eve, on the 24^th, when all my cousins would come around – actually, four cousins, a boy and three girls – and maybe some of their respective boyfriends and girlfriends, and my two brothers with their girlfriends. It would start at maybe 8 o’clock in the evening, and we’d make a big punch, which consisted of red wine, vodka, orange juice and fruit, and put it in the hall so people could dip in and have a drink if they wanted to. We would also have a cold buffet with crisps, chicken, sausages and quiche, so it wasn’t a sit-down meal but just snacks really. When everyone had had enough punch to drink, we started playing games, just silly party games that people play in England. For example, we used to play “pass the orange”, where you have two teams, and you all stand in a line and have to pass the orange under your chin to the next person, who would take it under their chin. It sounds really boring, but for some reason it gets really funny, because it’s quite difficult, as the orange tends to travel down your chest. Then we would also play charades, where again you have two teams and you think of a film, a book, a play or a TV program, and you give the title to the other team who then have to act it. It’s quite simple but also quite difficult, as there are lots of different signs you can use, but you mustn’t speak. That would go on all evening.

After that, there’s Christmas Day, the 25^th, which is supposed to be the big day, the big event. While the turkey was being cooked in the morning, everyone would open their presents, and then usually hang around in the kitchen and annoy my mum who’d be trying to cook. We would have a turkey with bacon on the top, which was really nice, and sausages, stuffing – two kinds of stuffing, chestnut stuffing and a kind of sage and onion stuffing – roast potatoes, sprouts, gravy, and bread sauce, which my cousin really liked. Afterwards, we’d have Christmas pudding, which is an incredibly rich, very sweet, very heavy pudding made from all kinds of dried fruit, like raisins and sultanas, with a lot of alcohol in it. You pour brandy over the top and set fire to it, so it comes into the room alight, on fire, and then you eat it with brandy butter, which is made of butter, sugar and brandy, I think, all mixed up. We also had mince pies, which are small dried fruit-filled pies. So it’s an incredibly heavy meal. Everyone eats that for about an hour, and then we have to watch the Queen’s speech, which I think is at two o’clock, and a kind of tradition. My father insists that we all have to sit down and watch the Queen as she speaks for five or ten minutes about the year that’s gone by, and than, usually, everyone just carries on watching television all afternoon.

The Christmas weather in England is so uninspiring, either rainy or cold, so after such a huge meal people just sit down, flop in front of the television and watch old films until evening. When evening comes, we have tea. We have a cup of tea and some Christmas cake – a very rich, heavy cake which my aunty Patty always makes, with sultanas, raisins, nuts, cherries and all kinds of dried fruit in it. After that, nobody does anything other than maybe open a few more presents, if there are any left, or play with the children, to keep them entertained until it’s time for them to go to bed.

3.3.2. Письменно переведите текст со словарём.

3.3.3. Выберите заголовок, наиболее соответствующий содержанию текста:

1. Christmas Presents

2. Christmas Eve

3. Christmas

4. Christmas Meals

3.3.4. Ролевая игра. В международном студенческом лагере вы оказались в одной комнате со студентами из разных стран. Расспросите друг друга о традициях и обычаях народов ваших стран.

БЛОК 4

* Грамматика: модальные глаголы: can, may, must, need и их эквиваленты

* Словообразование

* Текст: English Cuisine And National Character