How an American Library is organized

Librarian: Is there anything else you’d like to know?

Sasha: Yes. I would be very grateful if you could show me where to find the books about these people.

Librarian: Sure. If you follow me, I`ll show you how our library is organized. Everything that we have in our library you can find listed on our computer system.

Sasha: Really? How does it work? How can I find the books I’m looking for?

Librarian: Just type in the name of the author or the name of the book and the computer will tell you where the book is located in the library. It will also give you a short description of the book.

Sasha: How convenient!

 

former – бывший, прежний

female – женский

fascinating – очаровательный

grateful – благодарный

 

a) Discuss the differences on the rules of American and Russian museums.

b) Say what new information you’ve learn about using libraries in the USA.

c) Imagine that you are in one of American museum (library). What do you want to learn about it?

d) Make a small report about importance of libraries & museums in people’s life.

 

 

25. Read the following texts:

 

Georgia O`Keefe

(1887-1986)

Georgia O`Keefe was a popular American painter. She was born in Wisconsin. She was the child of an Irish father and Hungarian-Dutch mother.

Georgia O`Keefe had an unique style of painting. She took natural objects such as flowers and painted them in their simplest form. She often painted close-ups of her subjects.

She loved the deserts in the state of New Mexico so much that she moved there in 1946. Cows skulls and other bare bones found in the desert became common subjects in her paintings. Other subjects included rocks, clouds, and the horizon lines of the desert.

Paintings by Georgia O`Keefe can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

 

Norman Rockwell

(1894-1978)

Norman Rockwell was a very popular American illustrator. He usually painted events in small American towns or American family life. Many of his paintings tell funny stories. He even did illustrations for editions of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Since his death, Rockwell’s paintings have become valuable collector’s items.

 

unique – уникальный

close-ups – крупный план

deserts – пустыня, необитаемое место

skull – череп

bare – голый

bones – кость

common – обыкновенный, общий

horizon – горизонт

illustrator – иллюстратор

editions – издание

valuable – ценный, дорогой

items – отдельный предмет

 

a) Say what is characteristic to G.O`Keefe`s paintings.

b) Exchange this information with your classmates.

c) Say if the text about Norman Rockwell is new to you

d) Say whether you will go the Metropolitan Museum to see pictures of the painter Georgia O`Keefe if you come to New York or not.

e) Say what pictures of Russian painters attract you most of all.

f) Say whether you know other painters of English-speaking countries. Share your opinions about them if you know.

 

26. Read the following texts:

                              Ernest Hemingway

                                 (1899-1961)

Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, in 1899. He was one of Hollywood’s favorite authors. His books, The Old Man and the Sea, The Sun Also Rises, and A Farewell to Arms were made into films. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. As a hunter, fisherman, boxer, soldier, was correspondent, and author, Hemingway led a life of action.

Hemingway wrote six novels and more than 50 short stories. His early short fiction was greatly influenced by his outdoor life in the American mid-west.

 

Emily Dickinson

(1803-1886)

Emily Dickinson was an American poet. She is now recognized as one of the greatest poets of 19-th century America.

Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. She lived there her whole life. She led an isolated life. Her life experiences were very limited, but still her poems deal with the general problems and concerns of the time in which she lived.

Only 7 of more than 1000 her poems were published during her lifetime. They were published anonymously.

 

 Robert Lee Frost

(1874-1963)

Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, but spent most of his life in New England. New England greatly influenced his poetry. Robert Frost used simple words and ideas in his writing, but his poems were often very profound. He won Pulitzer Prizes in 1924, 1931, 1937 and 1943. The United States government awarded him a medal "in recognition of his poetry, which has enriched the culture of the United States and the philosophy of the world."

 

New Words

soldier – солдат

fiction – художественная литература

short fiction – короткие рассказы

to recognize – признавать. узнавать

to isolate – изолировать, обособлять

to deal (with) – иметь дело, рассматривать (вопрос)

anonymous – анонимный, безымянный

anonymously – анонимно

 

a) Add some more information about E. Hemingway, which you’ve learned from your literature lessons.

      b) Say what attracts you in E. Dickinson’s poetry. Say if you’ve read some of her verses in Russian.

c) Many R. Frost`s poems were translated into Russian. Say if you’ve read some of them, exchange your opinion with your classmates.

d) Say what other poets of English-speaking countries you know. Tell something about them. If you know recite one of their poem (verse) in Russian (English).

  27. Read the text: