Unit one

Topic: Family Background

Grammar: The verbs “to be”, “to have”.

Personal, Possessive and Reflexive Pronouns.

Part I Preliminary Exercises

Exercise 1. Transcribe and pronounce:

Far-Eastern, University, high, entrance, successfully, married, wedding, cousin.

Exercise 2. Read and translate the words formed by different suffixes and prefixes:

institution, education, higher, ancestor, careless, generation, relation, engagement, childhood, childless, friendship, teenager, overcrowded, bachelor, competition, unmarried, leadership, examination, beginner, amusement, Christian, unsuccessfully, punishment, pensioner.

What other words do you know which are formed by the same suffixes and prefixes?

Exercise 3. Give the original forms of the words given below and translate them:

overcrowded, marriage, spoiled, unexpected, divorced, stabilization, punishment, department, communication, comfortable, lecturer, building, electrician, supermarket, assistant.

Words and word combinations to be remembered:

relations / relatives (n) — родственники

near / distant relations — близкие / дальние родственники

uncle, aunt (n) — дядя, тетя

nephew, niece (n) — племянник, племянница

twins (n) — близнецы

in-laws (n) — родственники жены / мужа

single / unmarried (a) — неженатый / холостой

bachelor (n) — холостяк

engagement (n) — обручение, помолвка

marry (v) — жениться, выходить замуж

marriage (n) — замужество

wedding (n) — свадьба

bride, bridegroom (n) — невеста, жених (в день свадьбы)

fiancé, fiancée (n) — невеста, жених (после помолвки)

honeymoon (n) — медовый месяц

a newly-married couple — новобрачные

divorce (v) — разводиться

widow, widower (n) — вдова, вдовец

attend nursery / school /University — посещать детский сад /школу /университет

the only child — единственный ребенок

grow up (v) — расти

bring up / raise (v) — воспитывать

look after (v) — заботиться, приглядывать

a grown-up (n) — взрослый

spouse (n) — супруг (а)

ancestor (n) — предок

generation (n) — поколение

Read the text and tell about your family relations.

Text a. Family Relations

Your father and mother are husband and wife. They are your parents. They have children. The boys are their sons, and the girls are their daughters. Your father’s and mother’s parents are your grandparents. Your father’s and mother’s sisters and brothers are your aunts and uncles. Their sons and daughters are your cousins. All of them are your relatives or relations. If you are married, your wife’s (husband’s) relatives are your “in–laws”. For instance, mother–in–law, son-in–law, etc.

Read and translate the text.

Text b. Biography

Mr. Leonard Morris is an Englishman in his mid thirties. He is tall and thin and has a rather long, narrow face, blue eyes and blond hair. He wrote an article on the English education system for a German newspaper. A reporter from the newspaper asked him to give a biographical sketch. Here it is:

“My name is Leonard Stephen Morris. It is usual for British people to have two first names. I was born in 1970 in Exford, an industrial town in the Midlands of England. My parents are still alive and live in Exford – like most of my near relatives. My father is an electrician at a big electrical engineering plant. My mother is a nurse, but she works only part time. I have one brother and one sister. They are twins, by the way. My brother is a bachelor and lives with my parents. He is the manager of a big supermarket in Exford. My sister is married and has two children. My nephew, David, is five years old. He starts school this September. My niece, Margaret, is three. My sister is a housewife. She used to work ¹ as a typist, but now she has to² stay at home and look after the house and children. My sister would like to³ work, but there are very few nurseries in the region they live. My brother-in-law is a doctor.

As for⁴ my education, I went to state primary and grammar schools. Then I went to the University of Leeds. I graduated from it in 1993 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Then I took a post-graduate course⁵ and got the Master’s degree.

I was very active at school and the University. I was a member of a number of students’ clubs and societies – the Film Club, Jazz Club, English Society and so on. I also played cricket and tennis.

When I studied I got a grant and my parents helped me, of course. And I worked during vacation. On Christmas I worked at the Post office as a temporary postman; in summer I did various jobs: I worked as a clerk in an office, a shop assistant, a bricklayer.

At present⁶ I am a deputy headmaster of a comprehensive school in Coventry.

My wife teaches French and German at the same school. We got married in 1994. We have 2 children. They live in summer with my mother-in-law. She is a widow and an old-age pensioner and likes looking after her grandchildren.”

Notes to the text:

1) бывало/часто работала 4) что касается

2) приходится 5) аспирантура

3) хотела бы 6) в настоящее время