Лекции по "Английскому языку"

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 1

Read the following text. Compile a list of the phraseological units used in it. Translate them into Russian by phraseological units (if possible) or by free word-groups. On what principle are all these idioms selected? Give at least fifteen examples of your own to illustrate the phraseological units in your list.

If you feel under the weather, you don't feel very well, and if you make heavy weather of something, you make it more difficult than it needs to be. Someone with a sunny disposition is always cheerful and happy, but a person with his head in the clouds does not pay much attention to what is going on around him. To have a place in the sun is to enjoy a favourable position, and to go everywhere under the sun is to travel all over the world. Someone who is under a cloud is in disgrace or under suspicion, and a person who is snowed under with work is overwhelmed with it.

When you break the ice, you get to know someone better, but if you cut no ice with someone, you have no effect on them. To keep something on ice or in cold storage is to reserve it for the future, and to skate on thin ice is to be in a dangerous or risky situation. If something is in the wind, it is being secretly planned, and if you have the wind up, you became frightened. To throw caution to the winds is to abandon it and act recklessly, but to see how the wind blows is to find out how people are thinking before you act. If you take the wind out of someone's sails, you gain the advantage over him or her by saying or doing something first. To save something for a rainy day is to put some money aside for when it is needed. To do something come rain or shine is to do it whatever the circumstances. Finally, everyone knows that it never rains but it pours, that problems and difficulties always come together. But every cloud has a silver lining — every misfortune has a good side.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 2

Read the following text. Compile a list of the phraseological units used in it. Classify them according to Academician Vinogradov's classification system for phraseological units. Bear in mind that some of the examples explained in the text do not represent phraseology, but simply words with transferred meanings. So be careful in your choice. Give at least fifteen examples of your own to illustrate the phraseological units in your list.

English has many colloquial expressions to do with parts of the human body — from head to toe! Here are some of the commonest ones.

To keep your head is to remain calm, but to lose it is to panic and do something foolish. If something is above or over your head, it is too difficult for you to understand. An egg-head is an intellectual, and someone who has their head screwed on, is very sensible.

If you split hairs, you are very pedantic, but if you don't turn a hair you are very calm. To pay through the nose is to pay a very high price for something, but if you turn up your nose at something you despise it. If you are all ears, you listen very attentively, and if you keep your ear to the ground, you listen and watch out for signs of future events. To see eye to eye with someone is to agree with them, and if you don't bat an eyelid, you show no surprise or excitement.

If you are down in the mouth, you're rather depressed. A stiff upper lip is the traditionally British quality of not showing any emotions in times of trouble. To have your tongue in your cheek is to say one thing and mean something else. To have a sweet tooth is to have a taste for sweet food, and to do something by the skin of your teeth is to just manage to do it.

To stick your neck out is to do something risky or dangerous, and to keep someone at arm's length is to avoid getting too friendly with them. To be high-handed is to behave in a superior fashion, but to lend someone a hand is to help them. If you have a finger in every pie, you are involved in a lot of different projects, and if you have green fingers, you are very good at gardening. To be all fingers and thumbs is to be very clumsy, and to be under someone's thumb is to be under their influence. If you pull someone's leg, you tease them, and if you haven't a leg to stand on, you have no reason or justification for what you do. To put your foot down is to insist on something and to fall on your feet is to be very fortunate. To find your feet is to become used to a new situation, but to get cold feet is to become frightened or nervous about something. If you put your foot in it, you say or do something to upset or annoy someone else, and if you tread on someone's toes you do the same without meaning to.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 3

In the texts of practical assignments 1 and 2 find examples of phraseological synonyms and antonyms.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 4

Complete the following sentences, using the phraseological units given in the list below. Translate them into Russian.

to take the rough with the smooth; between the devil and the deep sea; to take the plunge; in the same boat; to paddle one's own canoe; to burn one's boats

1. If I pay my rent, I won't have any money to buy food. I'm between __. 2. It's no use grumbling about your problems — we're all __. 3. He's sold his house and his business to go to Australia, so he's really __. 4. She prefers not to rely on anyone else, she likes to __. 5. They didn't know whether to get married or not, but they finally __.6. You can't expect everything to go right all the time, you must learn to __.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 5

Complete the following similes. Translate the phraseological units into Russian. If necessary, use your dictionary.

A. as black as as green as as cold as as white as as old as as changeable as as safe as as brown as as clean as as dull as

B. as a lion as a lamb as a mouse as a cat as a kitten as an eel as an owl as a wolf as a cricket as a bee

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 6

Complete the following sentences, using the words from the list below: ice, beetroot, mule, feather, sheet, toast, clockwork, bee, rail, peacock. Translate the phraseological units into Russian.

1. She was so embarrassed that she went as red as a __. 2. I can carry the suitcase easily; it's as light as a __. 3. The room is as warm as __. 4. My sister does so many things that she's always as busy as a __. 5. He is as proud as a __ of his new car. 6. It's as cold as __ in that office. 7. Once he's made up his mind, he'll never change it, he's as stubborn as a __. 8. She was so frightened that her face went as white as a __. 9. The postman always calls at 8 o'clock, he's as regular as __. 10. However much he eats, he's always as thin as a __.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 7

In the examples given below identify the phraseological units and classify them on the semantic principle.

1. The operation started badly and everyone was in a temper throughout. 2. I know a man who would love meeting you. The perfect nut for you to crack your teeth on. 3. I wish I had you for Maths (my favourite subject). But alas, we cannot have our cake and eat it too. 4. He said: "Well, never mind, Nurse. Don't make such heavy weather about it." 5. Did you know that 50% of the time I've been barking up all the wrong trees. 6. However, while appreciating that the best way to deal with a bully is to bully back, I never quite had the nerve. 7. What is it — First Aid? All you need know is how to treat shock and how to stop haemorrhage, which I've drummed into you till I'm blue in the face. 8. Don't let them (pupils) lead you by the nose. 9. But I thought he was afraid I might take him at his word. 10. Ruth made no bones about the time she was accustomed to have her dinner. 11. Poor Eleanor — what a mess she made of her life, marrying that man Grey! 12. There was a list of diets up in the kitchen, but Auntie had it all at her finger-tips. 13. "Bob, give me a hand with the screen," Diana said. "Now be very careful, won't you, sweetie?" 14. My common sense tells me that I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. 15. She thought, he's obviously a very sensitive man, he can read between the lines. 16. Oh, said Arthur, someone might've bought the things cheap at an auction and put them by for a rainy day. 17. "I played like a fool," said Guy, breaking a silence. "I'm feeling a bit under the weather."

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 8

In the examples given below identify the phraseological units and classify them on the structural principle. Translate the phraseological units into Russian.

1. Ella Friedenberg thinks she's Freud, but actually she's Peeping Tom. 2. What it symbolized was a fact of banking-corporate life: You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. 3. There was a man I cared about, and this afternoon he told me out of a clear sky that he was poor as a church mouse. 4. Finally he asked me out of the blue if I could drive a car. 5. But Nelson did not believe in letting the grass grow under his feet and applied for the headmastership of a Mission School that was being started in New Guinea. 6. He took his ideas from "Daily Telegraph" and the books in prep-school library, and his guiding rule in life was to play safe. 7. By God! I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much these days to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish. 8. Then I got a shock that stiffened me from head to toe.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 9

Read the following jokes. Classify the italicized wordgroups, using Professor Smirnitsky's classification system for phraseological units.

Out of the Fire Into the Frying Pan

A fighter pilot bailed out of his aircraft which had suddenly caught fire. He safely landed in an orchard on an apple tree and climbed down without a scratch, but a few minutes later he was taken to hospital. The gardener's fierce and vigilant dog had been waiting for him under the tree.

More Precise

Two aviation meteorologists were engaged in shop talk. "No, I don't watch the TV weather commentary. I reckon you get better weather on the radio," said one of them thoughtfully.

 

PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 10

Group the following italicized phraseological units, using Professor Koonin's classification system. Translate them into Russian.

1. Margot brightened "Now you are talking! That would be a step up for women's lib (= liberation)." 2. Why was I more interested in the one black sheep than in all the white lambs in my care? 3. To the young, cliches seem freshly minted. Hitch your wagon to the star! 4. Out of sight out of mind. Anyway it'll do you good to have a rest from me. 5. In a sense it could be said that the ice was broken between us. 6. Rose Waterford smothered a giggle, but the others preserved a stony silence. Mrs. Forrester's smile froze on her lips. Albert had dropped a brick. 7. "The fact is that Albert Forrester has made you all look a lot of damned fools." "All," said Clifford Boyleston. "We're all in the same boat." 8. It's no good crying over spilt milk. 9. Like many serious patriots, in her inability to know for certain which way the cat would jump she held her political opinions in suspense. 10. "How long do you want to go for? For always?" "Yes, for always." "Oh, my God!" 11. That also was a gentleman's paper, but it had bees in its bonnet. Bees in bonnets were respectable things, but personally Soames did not care for them.