Practise the pronunciation of the following words from TEXT A
looking at their translations for understanding:
| 1) e`conomist | |
| 2) de`signed | – предназначенный |
| 3) res`ponsiveness | – ответная реакция |
| 4) `major | – главный |
| 5) inde`pendent | – независимый, самостоятельный |
| 6) `tongue | – язык |
| 7) `cultural | |
| 8) `purpose | – цель |
| 9) ap`proximately | – приблизительно |
| 10) ex`ception | – исключение |
| 11) `widespread | – распространенный |
| 12) im`portant | – важный |
| 13) `scien`tific | – научный |
| 14) skills | – навыки, умения |
Practise reading:
1) for classroom use
for classroom use and independent study
is designed for classroom use and independent study
2) the largest vocabulary
has the largest vocabulary
English has the largest vocabulary
3) a foreign language
to know a foreign language
for a specialist to know a foreign language
it is important for a specialist to know a foreign language
Study carefully the meanings of the following phrases and word combinations to avoid any difficulty in understanding TEXT A:
1) is designed both for ... and – предназначенный как для ... так и ...
2) much depends on ... – многое зависит от...
3) exceptions to any rule – исключения из любого правила
4) the tense system is also – система грамматических времен
complicated глагола также сложна
5) this book aims to help ... – эта книга ставит своей целью
помочь …
6) restricted English – специальный (для ограниченной
сферы употребления) английский
7) understand English as it – понимать тот английский, который
appears in ... появляется в ...
8) to guess the meaning – угадать значение
TEXT A
The English We Learn
This is a book of English for economists. There are different exercises in it on translation, reading, speaking and writing. This book is designed both for classroom and independent study.
There are many words in English. It is not easy to remember all of them. Learning English is sometimes easy and sometimes difficult for you. Much depends on your interest and responsiveness. Certainly, there are a few students in your group who know English rather well. Do your best1 to catch up with them2.
English is one of the major languages in the world. There are many countries in which English is spoken. People use English as their mother tongue or as a second language for cultural and professional purposes. English has the largest vocabulary with approximately 800 000 words, including many thousands of terms and phrases in the world of economics, finance and credit, banking, management of money, marketing and business accounting.
English is one of those languages which for many seems easy in the beginning. It has very few endings, many nouns and verbs have the same form (for example, “to take a swim” “to swim in the river”). But English is by no means3 an easy language to learn. There is the problem of spelling and pronunciation, of the large number of exceptions to any rule, it is very idiomatic and prepositions are terrible. The tense system is also very complicated. Geographically, English is the most widespread language on Earth, second only to Chinese in the number of people who speak it.
It is important for a specialist to know a foreign language. This textbook aims to help students of economics understand English as it appears in various scientific publications and discussions. This book is concerned4 with the language for special purposes, a sort of restricted English which has restricted vocabulary and grammar.
Better language skills depend on your ability to pay attention5 to structural differences between English and Russian, on your ability to sometimes guess the meaning of words in context.
Notes on idiomatic uses of words:
| 1) to do one’s best | – сделать все возможное |
| 2) to catch up with somebody | – нагонять/догонять кого-либо |
| 3) by no means | – ни в коем случае/никоим образом |
| 4) to be concerned with | – иметь дело с чем-либо/касаться чего-либо |
| 5) to pay attention to | – обращать внимание на ... |
COMPREHENSION CHECK
Exercise 1. True or false? Follow the model working in pairs.
Is this statement true/ false?
Model: Yes, it is true/ false.
No, it isn’t true/ false.
1. Learning English is always easy.
2. English is spoken only in Great Britain.
3. English vocabulary is very large.
4. People often use English as a second language.
5. When learning English it is not important to pay attention to
structural differences between English and Russian.