Практический курс английского языка 2 курс
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КЛЮЧИ , 2 курс-аракин
| Ex. XV c), p. 259
The British Character The national character dies hard wherever you go. And to no other nation does that apply to a greater degree/extent than to the English whose nature seems to have a sort of patent for constancy. Its stability and permanence is their most obvious/noticeable feature. They are less liable to bow to newfangled trends and transient fashions than other nations. However, one must emphasize /However, it is noteworthy that for all its stability the English national character is made up/composed of contradictory and even paradoxical traits, some of which strike the eye/leap to the eye whereas others are hardly discernible. So any generalizations concerning the English can be disputed. A materialistic nation — who ever will question that? — the English have nevertheless given the world generously of mystics, poets and idealists. A nation of colonists, they display an ardent devotion to their own country and home. Tireless seamen and explorers, they are at the same time keen on gardening. Owing to their inquisitiveness they have learnt the best of what other countries possess, but they have remained faithful to their own. While admiring French cuisine/Though they admire French cooking, the English will not imitate it at home. Law-abiding in the extreme though they are, they adore reading about crimes and violence. An epitome of conformity/ The picture of conformism, they are at the same time out-and- out/inveterate individualists and there are plenty of eccentrics among them. To all these paradoxes one should probably add another: paradoxical as it is/for all its paradoxicality the English character is seldom enigmatic or unpredictable. * * * I am not claiming/pretending that the English have never changed. Changes take place all the time./There are always changes. But these differences, so noticeable outwardly/on the outside, do not penetrate deep and reach to the roots. For better or for worse, the primordial features of the English nature still remain a sort of common denominator and exert a deep influence on the national character and general lifestyle. жүктеу/скачать 1,21 Mb. Достарыңызбен бөлісу:
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