Ex. 13. Listen to the dialogues and make your own ones.
² Dialogue 1. THE WEATHER (44)
Foreigners are often amused that the English spend so much time discussing the weather. The reason for this is not simply that our weather is interesting and variable, but that the English are reluctant to converse about personal matters with people who are not friends. Mentioning the weather can be a useful and inoffensive way of starting a conversation with a stranger at a bus-stop or in a train.
1
A ˈFairly ˋmild for the ˌtime of ˏyear.
B ˎYes. ˈQuite ˈdifferent from the ˎforecast.
A ˈThey[1] ˈsay we’re ˈin for ˎsnow[2].
B ˈLet’s ˈhope it ˈkeeps ˋfine for the ˌweekˏend.
2
A It ˈseems to be ˈclearing ˋup.
B It ˈmakes a ˎchange, ˎdoesn’t it ?
A Apˈparently it’s ˈgoing to ˈturn ˎcolder.
B →Still, aˈnother ˈmonth should ˈsee us ˈthrough the →worst of it[3].
3
A ˈNice and ˋbright this ˏmorning.
B ˎYes. ˈMuch ˈbetter than ˎyesterday.
A The ˈwind’ll ˈprobably ˈget ˋup ˏlater.
B As ˈlong as it ˈdoesn’t →rain[4].
A It’s ˈgood to ˈsee the ˎsun again.
B A ˈbig imˎprovement on ˈwhat we’ve ˈbeen ˅ having.
A It’s supˈposed to ˈcloud ˎover this ˈafterˎnoon.
B I ˈdidn’t ˈthink it would →last
ADDITIONAL TEXTS
TEXT 1. GROUNDHOG DAY
Complete the text with the words:
celebrated; festival; popular; foretells; winter; longer; publisher; American, brought; tradition; believed;
Groundhog Day, a Canadian and 1._____________ tradition, is the day (February 2) when the groundhog, or woodchuck, comes out of his hole after winter hibernation to look for his shadow. He 2. _______six more weeks of bad weather if he sees it. Spring is coming if he cannot see his shadow because of clouds. He supposedly goes back into his hole if more bad weather is coming and stays above ground if spring is near. This 3. _____________ is from an old European belief that if it is sunny on Candlemas Day, then the 4. _______________ would remain another six weeks. Candlemas Day was 5. _________ on February second and commemorated the purification of the Virgin Mary. Candles for sacred uses were blessed on this day.
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If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
winter will have another flight;
But if Candlemas Day be cloudy and rain,
winter has gone not to come again.
The Germans 6._____________ that an animal (a hedgehog) frightened by his shadow on Candlemas Day would foretell cold weather for other six weeks. This belief was 7. _____________ to America during the eighteenth century by German settlers. These settlers adopted the groundhog as their weather predicator.
This lore grew 8. _________________ in the United States during the late eighteen hundreds due to the efforts of Clymer H. Freas, a newspaper editor, and W. Smith, an American congressman and newspaper 9. _________________. They organized and popularized a yearly 10. ______________ in Punxsutawney [ˌpəngksəˈtɔ:nı], Pennsylvania in which a groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil was used to foretell how much 11.______winter would last. This very popular event is still being held and is called Groundhog Day. In Canada the name of the groundhog that is used to predict the length of winter is Wiarton Willy.
TEXT 2. BRITISH HUMOUR
Read and translate the text and do the task.
The British sense of humour is often a source of mystification for other nations, and visitors to Britain may claim that our humour is incomprehensible; however, possessing 'a sense of humour' is usually regarded as a favourite virtue of the British.
It is difficult to determine the exact components of our 'sense of humour', but it may be loosely defined as an attitude of mind which is readily responsive to the incongruous and ridiculous. Thus the humorous qualities of Dickens' novels lie in the fact that many of his characters are 'larger than life' - their appearance and personal qualities are highly exaggerated. This is also true today of many of our favourite television comedies, where the lead characters are often wonderfully eccentric and 'over the top' - for example, the ever popular Mr Bean, played by Rowan Atkinson.
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Bawdy and slapstick comedy, which can trace their roots back to Chaucer and Shakespeare, have continued through the early films of Charlie Chaplin and the 'Carry On' film series of the 1960s and 1970s to TV series of today.
More subtle humour can be found in the satire of Thackeray, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, which highlights the faults and weaknesses of the society of the period, and is found today in some popular television comedy series'. British humour also has an everpresent but hard to define appreciation of the absurd.
Recent British comedy films have enjoyed international critical acclaim.
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