И. А. Фомченкова, Н. А. Шайдорова
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Vocabulary tasks
1. На свадьбе А: Я никогда еще не была на свадьбе! В: Правда? А я уже была на одной. Помнишь моего двоюродного брата Брена? А: я помню мальчика, которого я видела у твоей тети Поли несколько лет назад. Он – ее младший сын, не так ли? В: Да. Но он уже не мальчик. Он вырос и превратился в красивого молодого человека. И ему сейчас за двадцать. А: Правда? В: Да. И недавно он женился. Я была приглашена на венчание. А: На ком он женился? В: Он женился на девушке на три года моложе его. Хорошенькая блондинка, зеленоглазая, и видно, что у нее хороший характер. А: Они женились по любви? В: Да. Брен влюбился в нее, когда она еще заканчивала школу. Поэтому им пришлось ждать, пока она достигнет нужного возраста. А: Итак, он теперь семейный человек. Надеюсь, они будут счастливы. А кто был на свадьбе? В: О, там было много народа. Все наши родственники, и большинство их друзей. И знаешь, у Джессики (так зовут жену Брена) есть брат. Он очень симпатичный. А: Почему ты говоришь о нем? Я полагаю, ты влюбилась в него, Эллис? В: Пока нет. Но, сказать по правде, он – самый лучший парень из всех, кого я до сих пор встречала. Он добрый и великодушный. У него сильный характер. А: Ты встречаешься с ним? В: У нас было уже два свидания с ним, и завтра мы собираемся с ним в театр. А: Ну что ж, удачи! LOVING means ‘feeling love, warmly affectionate’. It describes a deep and sincere feeling, not necessarily displayed to be seen. E.g. a loving and supporting husband; a loving daughter. AFFECTIONATE expresses full affections, tenderness; shows that you love someone, especially by touching and kissing them. E.g. affectionate to his sister; she is sweet and affectionate. DOTING means ‘showing a lot of love towards someone, especially someone younger; very often foolish and excessively fond, blind’. It stresses the speakers negative attitude, even stronger than the word fond when the latter is used attributively. Doting is not used predicatively. E.g. doting parents. FOND means ‘affectionate and tender; in an overly indulging way’; it describes someone who is enjoying someone’s companionship; it shows someone’s self-centered love; foolish credulous. E.g. A fond mother spoils her child. Absence makes the heart fonder. He is fond of music/books, etc. DEVOTED means very loving and loyal and faithful towards someone; zealous or ardent in loyalty or affection. E.g. a devoted friend; she is devoted to her husband. All the synonyms also mean ‘expressing love’ in the way described above. E.g. a loving act; an affectionate embrace; a fond look; devoted wooing; doting eyes. III. Use these words in the sentences of your own. MARRIAGE Before you read
Reading tasks
Getting Engaged In Britain the custom of becoming engaged is still generally retained, though many young people dispense with it, and the number of such couples is increasing. As a rule, an engagement is announced as soon as a girl has accepted a proposal of marriage, but in some cases it is done a good time afterwards. Rules of etiquette dictate that the girls parents should be the fist to hear the news; in practice, however, it is often the couple’s friends who are taken into confidence before either of the parents. If a man has not yet met his future in-laws he does so at the fist opportunity, whereas his parents usually write them a friendly letter. When a girl accepts a proposal, the man generally gives her a ring in token of the betrothal. It is worn on the third finger of the left hand before marriage and together with the wedding ring after it. Engagement rings range from expensive diamond rings to rings with Victorian semi-precious stones costing a few pounds. In most cases the engagement itself amounts only to announcement being made to the parents on both sides and to friends and relations, but some people arranges an engagement party, and among the better-off people it is customary to put an announcement in the newspaper. Sometimes the young people have a talk with parents about their future plans, but as today they enjoy a greater degree of financial independence than they used to, they are able to decide these matters for themselves. In some families, where the family ties are still strong and each member is more economically dependent upon the rest, things are rather different. Quite often the couple will have no option but to live after marriage with either girl’s or man’s people. Housing shortage in Britain is still acute, and the rents are very high. It is extremely difficult to get unfurnished accommodation, whereas a furnished room, which is easier to get, costs a great deal for rent. In any case the young people may prefer to live with the parents in order to have a chance to save up for things for their future home. The period of engagement is usually short, three or four months, but this is entirely a matter of choice and circumstances.
Division of Responsibilities The rules are not absolutely hard and fast, but generally they are as follows: The Brides Parents are responsible for the press announcements, the brides dress and trousseau, flowers in the church, the reception, cars taking the bride and her father, mother anв any other close members of her family to the church and photographers’ fees. The Bridegroom pays for the ring and the wedding license, fees to the clergyman. He will pay for the bouquet for his bride and bouquets for the bridesmaids, buttonholes for his best man and ushers. He pays for the cars which take himself and the best man to the church and the car in which he and his bride will drive from the church to the reception. The groom is expected to give a small present to each of the bridesmaids. Giving Away the Bride. The bride’s father gives her away or, if he is dead or cannot be present at the ceremony, his p[lace is taken by her brother or a close relative, or even a great family friend. The Bridesmaids are usually the sisters, near relatives and close girl friends of the bride, and sisters of the groom. The number is purely a matter of choice but usually does not exceed six. There may be two small page-boys and four grown-up maids, or child attendants only. The Best Man is a brother, relative or close friend of the groom, and his main duty, apart from giving moral support before the wedding, is to hand the wedding ring to the groom in the church. The Bridegroom’s Clothes. When the bride is in white, the bridegroom wears morning dress with white carnation in his buttonhole (without fern or silver paper). The Ceremony The parents and close relatives of the bride and groom arrive a few minutes before the bride. The bridegroom and his best man should be in their places at least ten minutes before the service starts. The bridesmaids and pages wait in the church porch with whoever is to arrange the bride’s veil before she goes up the aisle. The bride by tradition, arrives a couple of minutes late but this should not be exaggerated. She arrives with whoever id giving her away. The verger signals to the organist to start playing, and the bride moves up the aisle with her veil over her face. She goes in on her father’s right arm, and bridesmaids follow her according to the plan at the rehearsal the day before. The bridesmaids and ushers go to their places in the front pews during the ceremony, except for the chief bridesmaid who usually stands behind the bride and holds her bouquet. After the ceremony the couple go into the vestry to sign the register with their parents, best man, bridesmaids and perhaps a close relation such as a grandmother. The bride throws back her veil or removes the front piece, the verger gives a signal to the organist and the bride and groom walk down the aisle followed by their parents. The bride’s mother walks down the aisle on the left arm of the bridegroom’s father and the bridegroom’s mother walks down on the left arm of the bride’s father (or whoever has given the bride away). Guests wait until the wedding procession has passed them before leaving to go on to the reception. The Reception The bride’s parents stand first in the receiving line, followed by groom’s parents and the bride and groom. Guests line up outside the reception room and give their names to the major-domo who will announce them. They need only shake hands and say “How do you do?” to the parents. Adding perhaps a word about how lovely the bride is or how well the ceremony went. The bride introduces to her husband any friends that he may not already know, and vice versa. The important parts of the reception are the cutting of the cake and the toast to the bride and groom. These should never be any long speeches/ when all the guests have been received, the major-domo requests silence and the bride cuts the cake, with her husbands hand upon hers. morning dress – of a man’s clothes; top hat, a tie, a black or grey tail coat, waist-coat, striped trousers and black shoes evening dress – all black, with normally a white/ black bow tie aisle – passage in a church pew – long bench with a back, usually fixed to the floor, in a church III. Compose a dialogue discussing the problem of preparation to the wedding party. Consider one of the following situations: you are invited to an English wedding ceremony; your English friend is invited to a Russian wedding party and ask you some questions; you and your fiancé/fiancée plan a ‘quiet’ wedding, etc. IV. Read about some of the customs and superstitions associated with the marriage ceremony, explain the origin of some of them and compare them with ours. Most customs connected with the wedding ceremony go back thousands of years. The bride, when she puts on her white dress, is wearing the sacred colour of the Greeks for whom marriage was a sacrament, or ‘mystery’. Like a modern bride, the ancient Greek bride wore a veil and a crown, and was carried over the threshold. In the rhyme, ‘something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue’, blue stands for truth, as in ‘True blue’. White is for purity. Blue and white are considered to be the lucky colours for a wedding. Throwing rice or some grains (a symbol of harvest) has always been usual at wedding, and it signifies fertility, in Roman times nuts were thrown for the same reason. Fruits, figs, and the scattering pomegranate seeds are all symbols of fertility which have been practiced at weddings in different countries. Good and bad luck. The choice of date is important. May is traditionally unlucky for weddings, because in ancient Rome, this was a month for remembering the dead and ill-omened time for lovers. In contrast to this, there exists the Christian belief that you shouldn’t marry in Lent. The bridegroom shouldn’t see the bride on the wedding day until he meets her at the altar. Pearls and opals are supposed to be unlucky. The wedding ring shouldn’t be tried on before the ceremony. It’s unlucky to meet a pig on your way to church. A small spider on the wedding dress means money. If there is a cat in the house, the bride must feed it personally on her wedding day. On the other hand, the bride may feel that, what with one thing and another, if she has chosen the right man, it wouldn’t matter much if she got married in green, on Friday, May the 13th, wearing a necklace of pearls and opals. V. Explain the meaning of the bold type words and expressions. VI. Read the text and ask 5-6 questions to its content. Pay attention to the general slant of the text. On Marriage By G.Mikes Marriage is different from love. It is a good institution but I must add that a lot depends on the person you are married to. There is no such thing as a good wife and a good husband – there is only a good wife to Mr.A. or a good husband to Mrs.B. If a credulous and gullible woman marries a pathological liar, they may live together happily to the end of their days – one telling lies, the other believing them. A man who cannot live without constant admiration should marry a “God, you are wonderful” type of woman. If he is unable to make up his mind, he is right in wedding a dictator. One dictator may prosper in a marriage: two are too many. The way to matrimonial happiness is barred to no one. It is all the matter of choice. One should look for perfection; one should look for the complementary half of a very imperfect other half. If someone buys a refrigerator, it never occurs to him that it is bad refrigerator because he cannot play gramophone records on it; nor does he blame his hat for not being suitable for use as a flower-vase. But many people who are very fond of their stomach marry their cook or a cook – and then blame her for being less radiantly intelligent and witty than George Sand. Or a man may be anxious to show off his wife’s beauty and elegance, marry a mannequin and be surprised to discover in six months that she has no balanced views on the international situation. Another marries a girl only and exclusively because she is seventeen and is much surprised fifteen years latter to find that she is not seventeen any more. Or again if you marry a female book-worm who knows all about gold standards, Praxiteles and Kepler’s laws of planetary motions, you must not blame her for being somewhat less beautiful and temperamental than Marylin Monroe. And if ladies marry a title or a bank account, they must not blame their husbands for not being romantic heroes of the Errol Flynn type. You should know what you are buying. And as long as you do not play records on your refrigerator and do not put bunches of chrysanthemums into your hat, you have a reasonable chance of so-called happiness. VII. Discuss the problem of marriage and cohabitation. Can you give any arguments for the establishment of marriage now that the number of couples living together without a marriage license is increasing? |
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