Тема урока «Известные деятели культуры и науки США»

Задание 2. Прочитайте тексты, выучите новые слова и выражения к текстам.

Famous People of the USA

       The United States of America is one of the largest countries in the world. It is also one of the most important English-speaking countries. With the population over 300 million people, the country has a great number of famous and outstanding people.

       The first people to be mentioned are, of course, numerous presidents of the USA. People have always admired two of them in a special way. It was the first president of the country — George Washington and the sixteenth president — Abraham Lincoln.

       Except the celebrities in politics the USA had many other people to admire. Among them, the most beautiful woman in the world — Marilyn Monroe, the king of rock-n-roll — Elvis Presley, one of the best known human rights activist — Martin Luther King, the father of Disney cartoons — Walt Disney, the creator of electric lamps — Thomas Edison, a well-known writer of short stories – O. Henry and many others.

       Almost all American celebrities have something important in common. They all believed in what they were doing and knew that only hard work can bring success. It would be wrong to say that the USA is proud only by its former famous people, as it still has lots of world-known and respected celebrities. For example, the country has some outstanding sportsmen, among them Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Jesse Owens and many others.

       As for the musicians, the USA can be proud by such voices as Tina Turner, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and others.

       There are also some famous explorers among the Americans and one of them is especially popular, as he has become the first man on the moon. It’s a famous astronaut Neil Armstrong. The words which he said while stepped on the Moon entered a history: “That’s one small step for a man, and one giant leap for mankind.”

Ernest Hemingway

       Oak Park is a suburb of Chicago. There Ernest Hemingway, the second child of the local doctor was born on July 21 in 1899. In 1917 the USA entered World War I. Hemingway tried to enlist but was rejected because of his poor eyesight. For six months he worked as a reporter in the “Kansas City Star”, one of the biggest newspapers in the Middle West.

       Then he found a way to leave for Europe with American Red Cross and served on the Italian front. He was wounded, went to hospital in Milan, was decorated by the Italian Government and returned to America in 1919. In 1929, when he was thirty, his book “A Farewell to Arms” appeared bringing him great success. To some degree the book describes the events of World War I in which he took part. In the summer of 1936 the Spanish Civil War broke out.

       Hemingway sailed for Spain to support the Republicans. During World War II he was a war correspondent first in China and then in Europe. In 1954 Ernest Hemingway was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Among his best works are “A Farewell to Arms”, “The Green Hills of Africa”, “The Old Man and the Sea”. Very often the books reflect the events that he himself witnessed. He died at his home in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 2 in 1961.

 

Слова к тексту:

a suburb – пригород

to reject - отклонять

eyesight –зрение

to serve - служить

to support - поддерживать

to award – присуждать

to witness - свидетельствовать

OHenry

       OHenrys real name was William Sydney Porter. He was born in Greensboro, a little town in North Carolina in 1862. OHenry is one of the most widely published American authors. His works have been translated into nearly every language. He has been called “the American Maupassant” and is ranked among the worlds outstanding short-story writers. The best of these were published in books: “Cabbages and Kings”, “The Four Million”, “Heart of the West”, “The Voice of the City” and others.

       The works of OHenry reflect a specific period in American literature — the turn of the century. OHenrys comments on society had considerable force. His credo was — art should be true, democratic, it should address contemporary life and embrace all aspects of life. OHenry was an outstanding humourist. Не worked out and enriched all the types of the short story: the anecdote, the adventure story, tales and sketches. He was very famous for his stories of city life. OHenry wrote about 150 stories with New York background.

       OHenry could work out a plot that wouldkeep the reader in suspense up to the surprising end. He was a born writer of great talent. The conversation is witty, humorous, and often exact and precise. His works have considerable influence on American literature. His love for humanity, for the common people, his critical attitude towards injustice attract readers to this day.

Mark Twain

       Mark Twain is a famous American writer and a journalist. His real name was Samuel Clemens. He was born in 1835 in Florida. Mark Twain started his literary career rather late. He worked as a journalist in newspapers in Nevada and California during the years of the Civil War. His father died when the boy was only 12 years old. Twain had to start working with his brother. In 1857 he became a sailor on the Mississippi.

       After the Civil War he worked as a reporter for the “Territorial Enterprise” in Virginia City. His witty style, characterizing all his following works, was formed during his work in that newspaper. Soon after his first stories had been published he received the fame of the first humorist of America. “The Gilded Age”, “My Watch”, “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” appeared during this period in Twains literary career.

       The characteristic features of American comical folklore found their place in Twains creative works. He ignores all the rules of the “true” art and laughs at the European civilization. As the Americans of his times he believes in democratic America, creating a new culture, ignoring all previous experience of mankind. His removal to New York and his marriage to a daughter of a coal tycoon changed a lot in his life. He tried to become a businessman, but ruined himself and had to deliver lectures. In the 1870s he wrote “Life on Mississippi”, and in 1885 — “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. “The Prince and the Pauper”, and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court” were also published during this time.

       In his works of that period Mark Twain showed racial prejudices, clash of humanism with antihuman materialism of bourgeois world. His works of the period greatly influenced American literature. The last period of his creative work is the time of pamphlet, which became his most favourite genre.