Culture shock.

Good manners are always good manners. That's what Miranda Ingram, who is English, thought, until she married Alexander, who is Russian.

When I first met Alexander and he said to me, in Russian, 'Nalei mnye chai - pour me some tea', I got angry and answered, 'Pour it yourself. Translated into English, without a 'Could you...?' and a 'please', it sounded really rude to me. But in Russian it was fine - you don't have to add any polite words.

However, when I took Alexander home to meet my parents in the UK, I had to give him an intensive course in ‘pleases and thank yous’ (which he thought were completely unnecessary), and to teach him to say ‘sorry’ even if someone else stepped on his toe, and to smile, smile, smile.

Another thing that Alexander just couldn't understand was why people said things like, ‘Would you mind passing me the salt, please?’ He said, 'Ifs only the salt, for goodness sake! What do you say in English if you want a real favour?'

He also watched in amazement when, at a dinner party in England, we swallowed some really disgusting food and I said, 'Mmm...delicious'. In Russia, people are much more direct. The first time Alexander's mother came to our house for dinner in Moscow, she told me that my soup needed more flavouring. Afterwards when we argued about it my husband said, 'Do you prefer your dinner guests to lie?'

Alexander complained that in England he felt 'like the village idiot because in Russia if you smile all the time people think that you are mad. In fact, this is exactly what my husband's friends thought of me the first time I went to Russia because I smiled at everyone, and translated every 'please' and 'thank you' from English into Russian!

At home we now have an agreement. If we're speaking Russian, he can say 'Pour me some tea', and just make a noise like a grunt when I give it to him. But when we're speaking English, he has to add a 'please' a 'thank you', and a smile.

Задание 22. Отметьте буквой T те предложения, которые согласуются с текстом.

The English have very good manners.

The English and Russian idea of good manners is different.

The English are polite but insincere.

The Russians are very rude and unfriendly.

Задание 23. Прочитайте предложения и напишите T (True) напротив верных и F (False) напротив неверных.

1. Miranda got angry because her husband asked her to make the tea.

2. Miranda had to teach him to say sorry when something wasn’t his fault.

3. Miranda’s husband thinks English people are too polite.

4. Alexander wasn’t surprised when people said they liked the food at the dinner party.

5. The food was delicious.

6. Miranda didn’t mind when her mother-in-law criticized her cooking.

7. Alexander thought his mother was right.

8. In Russia it isn’t normal to smile all the time when you speak to someone.

9. His Russian friends thought Miranda was very friendly because she smiled a lot.

10. Alexander never says thank you for his tea he and Miranda are speaking in Russian.

Задание 24. Заполните пропуски глаголами из текста.

1. __________ on someone’s foot or toe (by accident)

2. __________ some wine into a glass or tea into a cup

3. __________ a noise, like a grunt

4. __________ food (so that it goes from your mouth to your stomach)

5. __________ a word from English into Russian

Задание 25. Ответьте на вопрос (5 предложений).

Are people in your country more like Miranda or Alexander?

Useful phrases:

I think that in my country people are more like …

In my country people …

In my country people don’t …

In my country people never …

Задание 26. Прочитайте следующие ситуации. Напишите, как ведут себя люди в России в сходной ситуации.

Образец: In my country, we don’t kiss people when we meet them for the first time.