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Базовый курс английского языка - Эккерсли К.Э.

Эккерсли К.Э. Базовый курс английского языка — М.: Лист Нью, 2002. — 704 c.
ISBN 5-7871-0174-X
Скачать (прямая ссылка): bazoviykursangliyskogo2003.djvu
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1 The Charing Cross is one of a series that Edward I had built at every place where the body of his wife Eleanor (who had died in Scotland) rested on its last journey to Westminster.
2 Cranmer in 1556.
419И
Day,1 1354, a quarrel broke out in an inn between some students and some townsmen. Others joined in, and soon the bells of St. Martin's Church (the church of the townsmen) were ringing to gather the townsmen together. The Chancellor (that is the head of the University) tried to stop the fighting but he was shot at and had to retreat. So the bells of St. Mary's (the church of the students) were rung to collect the students together, and they shot at the townsmen with bows and arrows. Two thousand people from the countryside round Oxford came into the city to help the townsmen; colleges were attacked and the battle went on for three days. The King, Edward III, was at Woodstock, about eight miles from Oxford, and he ordered the Chancellor of the University and the Mayor of Oxford to appear before him. He decided that the townspeople had been in the wrong and ordered the Mayor and the chief citizens of Oxford to attend the Church of St. Mary's every St. Scholastica's Day for a service in memory of the students who had been killed in the fighting, and to pay an offering of forty pence. And for nearly 500 years,2 every St. Scholastica's Day the Mayor and chief citizens of Oxford went to St. Mary's and paid the forty pence."
The morning after this chat with John, I was very forcibly reminded of another old Oxford tradition. I was awakened at five o'clock in the morning by a terrible noise in St. Giles outside the college, the noise of hundreds of people. Half-awake, I thought for a moment that another St. Scholastica's riot had broken out, and quickly dressed and went outside to see what was happening. I discovered that it was St. Giles' Fair. This has taken place at the beginning of September ever since the 12th century. The whole appearance of St. Giles was quite changed. Preparations for the fair mustn't begin before 5 a.m. At five o'clock the entrances to St. Giles are closed to traffic. I looked out, and there, waiting to rush in, was a stream of carts, cars, wagons, roundabouts, swings, coconut-stalls, strong men, and "all the fun of the fair". It's all very noisy and jolly and you'd probably think it was rather silly-but it's great fun while it lasts.
It's all these contrasts in Oxford that make the place so fascinating. Oxford doesn't live only in the past; you feel there is a sense of conti-
1 February 10th.
2 The custom was ended in 1826
nuity all through its history. To go from Magdalen Bridge, where the lovely Tower stands like a guardian of the city, through Radcliffe Square, the heart of the University, past the great Bodleian Library (to which a copy of every book published in Great Britain has to be sent) and on to the fine new science buildings of the Clarendon Laboratories, is to pass through streets where the Middle Ages, the 18th century and the modern world rub shoulders. We visited New College, which, in spite of its name is one of the oldest colleges.1 And in New College I saw one of the most moving things I have seen in Oxford, moving because it seemed to me to express so well the noble, generous spirit of Oxford. It was a war-memorial that said:
In memory of the men of this College who, coming from a foreign land, entered into the inheritance of this place and, returning, fought and died for their country in the war 1914-1919.
Prinz Wolrad-Friedrich zu Waldeck-Pyrmont Freiherr Wilhelm von Sell: Erwin Beit von Speyer.
The men to whom that memorial was raised were Germans who had fought against England.
The beauty of these buildings and the peace of the colleges and the loveliness of the gardens these are the things 1 shall never forget. I'm afraid my letter has wandered on at great length, but I can't finish without-as my friend Hob would say-telling you a story that I had from John. I happened to say to him as we walked through one of the gardens, "I wonder how they get these lovely lawns." John said, "That's what an American visitor asked one of the gardeners here. He said he'd like to have a lawn like that in his big house in America. 'Oh, it's quite easy,' said the gardener, 'you just roll them and cut them and roll them and cut them. That's all.' 'And how long do you do that?' said the American.
'Oh,' said the gardener, 'for about five hundred years'."
There's lots more I'd like to tell you about Oxford, but that must wait until I see you again.
Love to you all, OLAF.
1 It was started in 1380.
421 ¦
УПРАЖНЕНИЯ
1. Придумайте предложения со следующими словами: photograph, imagination, income, expenditure, thread, needle,
celebrate, event, medieval, monument, quarrel, retreat, tradition, half-awake, riot, fair (noun), fascinating, publish, noble
2. Ответьте на вопросы:
1. Why do some undergraduates get up early on May 1 st?
2. Why does Olaf say that Robert de Eglesfield must have had a "lively imagination"?
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