Номер 4, страница 266 - гдз по английскому языку 11 класс учебник Юхнель, Демченко

4. a) Read the article and say what made the author unhappy and why the author decided to write this article.

Recently I was reading about a brand new guide to the UK, published in another country and ended up wondering where they did their research. I just couldn’t recognise my country from what they said.

It seems that there is one stereotype that refuses to die. At 4 p.m. sharp, right across the land, the entire country stops for this age-old ritual of tea, sandwiches and cakes. According to the above-mentioned guide, that is true. I must admit that most British people I know can’t get through the day without several cups of tea, but I have never known anyone make afternoon tea. Not once.

Inspired by this idea I searched the net far and wide to find the most common stereotypes about Nationalities.

Stereotypes about cultures or nationalities can be a source of pride, anger or simply bad jokes. Some people say that stereotypes don’t develop in vacuum.

Such stereotypes mostly concern appearance, language, food, habits, psychological traits, attitudes, values, etc.

But why judge, before we know what
we are talking about?

Please take everything below with a grain of salt (скептически); as I only summed up what others wrote on the Internet. I tried to strike a balance between positive and negative national or personality traits – but sometimes it was very difficult, due to lack of positive stereotypes.

It issaid that Americans are arrogant; assertive; open-minded; materialistic; ambitious; progressive; efficient; straight-forward; practical; fast food eaters; war mongers; God is with us!

It isbelieved that Australians are nature lovers; surf all day – drink all night; sometimes shallow but honest; open-minded; love to joke; sports lovers; meat eaters.

It isexpected that all Brazilians are impulsive; most women are super-models, most men are machos; always late; carnival addicts; soccer and coffee lovers; bean and meat eaters; beach and sun-worshipers; inventive and constructive people; family-and community-oriented.

It isbelieved that Canadians are submissive, agreeable; modest; open-minded; progressive; efficient; straightforward; polite; respectful; anxious; law-abiding; caring for handicapped / elderly / minorities; tolerant; multi-lingual; don’t like successful people; anti-American; passive; boring.

It issaid that Chinese are hardworking, fast-learners; open-minded; ambitious; progressive; efficient; materialistic; do kung fu; great at mathematics; terrible drivers; arrogant; assertive; pirate and copy everything; don’t value contracts; drink green tea; eat everything that lives – even rhino horns and sea cucumbers; business-oriented.

Please feel free to comment and to add your own experiences. Maybe we can all help to put some of the worst stereotypes to rest.

b) Work in groups of three. Choose one of the nationalities described in the article and discuss:

1. why these character traits might be true;
2. why it is dangerous to think that all people have the same character traits.

4. a) Прочитайте статью и скажите, что расстроило автора и почему автор решил написать эту статью.

Ответ: The author was unhappy because they read a new guide to the UK which described their country with stereotypes they couldn't recognise, particularly the one about the entire country stopping for afternoon tea at 4 p.m. This experience inspired the author to research and write an article about the most common stereotypes about different nationalities.

Перевод: Автор был расстроен, потому что прочитал новый путеводитель по Великобритании, в котором его страна описывалась с помощью стереотипов, которые он не мог узнать, в частности, о том, что вся страна останавливается для послеобеденного чая в 4 часа дня. Этот опыт вдохновил автора на исследование и написание статьи о самых распространенных стереотипах о разных национальностях.