Great Britain

Vocabulary

repertory theatre – театр с постоянной труппой и с определенным репертуаром

(owned) municipally – зд. принадлежат городу

subsidized companies – субсидируемые труппы

contemporaries – современники

Sloane Square – a fashionable, expensive place to live in London

Sir Laurence Olivier

Sir John Gielgud

Sir Alec Guinness

Sir Michael Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave

Sir Ian McKellen

Dame JudyDench

Dame Maggie Smith

Sir Peter Hall

Trevor Nunn

Jonathan Miller

Terry Hands

Harold Pinter

Tom Stoppard

“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead”

Caryl Churchill

Peter Shaffer

“Amadeus”

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber 
 

4. Music

      People in Britain are interested in a wide range of music, from classical to different forms of rock and pop music.

      Classical music in Britain is a minority [mai`noriti] interest. Few classical musicians, whether British or foreign, become well-known to the general public. Despite this, thousands of British people are dedicated musicians. Seasons of orchestral and choral [`korзl] concerts are promoted [prз`moutid] – организуются – every year in many large towns and cities.

      The leading symphony orchestras are the London Philharmonic [,fila:`monik], the London Symphony, the Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and many others. There are also chamber [`t∫eimbз] orchestras such as the English Chamber Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

      Regular seasons of opera and ballet are held at the Royal Opera House at Covent [`kovзnt] Garden, London.

      While Britain’s classical music performances compared well with top international standards, it is in the field of popular music that Britain achieved a particular pre-eminence [pri(:)`eminзns]. In the 1960s, British artists had a great influence on the development of music in the modern, or ‘pop’ idiom [`idiзm] – средство выражения в искусстве. The Beatles and other British groups were responsible for several innovations [,inou`vei∫зnz] which were then adopted by popular musicians in the USA and the rest of the world. These included the writing of words and music by performers themselves, and more active audience participation. Since 1960s, popular music in Britain has been an enormous and profitable [`profitзbl] industry. The Beatles were awarded the honour of MBE (Members of the British Empire) for their services to British exports. Britain remains at the forefront [`fo:frΛnt] – важнейшее место, центр деятельности – of pop music.

Vocabulary

Symphony – симфонический

Philharmonic – филармонический

Covent Garden – Ковент-Гарден

pre-eminence – превосходство

innovations – новшество 
 

5. Literature

      Although the British are comparatively uninterested in formal education, and although they watch a lot of television, they are nonetheless enthusiastic [in,θju:zi`æstik] readers.

      Many people in the literary world say that British literature lost its way at the end of the twentieth century. A lot of the exciting new literature written in English and published in Britain in recent years has been written by people from outside Britain. The Booker Prize is the most important prize in Britain for a work of fiction. But most of its winners are writers from former British colonies such as Canada, India, Ireland.

      Although many of the best ‘serious’  British writers manage to be popular as well as profound [prз`faund] – глубокий, the vast majority of the books that are read in Britain could not be classified as ‘serious’ literature. Britain is the home of what might be called ‘middlebrow’ [au] literature. That is, mid-way between serious, or ‘highbrow’ literature and popular, or ‘pulp’ [pΛlp] – низкопробная, дешевая – fiction. For example, the distinctly – зд. типично – British genre [`3a:nrз] of detective fiction is regarded as entertainment rather than literature – but it is entertainment for intelligent readers.

      There are many British authors, mostly female, who write novels which are sometimes classified as ‘romances’  [rou`mænsiz] – романтические истории – but which are actually deeper  and more serious than that term often implies. The list includes such writers as Daphne [`dæfni] Du Maurier [d(j)u:`mo:ri,ei], Mary Stewart [`stju:зt],  Victoria Holt and some others.  And yet they continued to be read, year after year, by hundreds of thousands of people.

      The British publisher which sells more books than any other is Miller & Boon, whose books are simple stories about romance, where she is young and pretty, he is tall, dark and handsome, with a very firm jaw; whatever happens during the story, they end up in each other’s arms – forever.

      At the end of the twentieth century, poetry is still popular in Britain. Books of poetry sell in comparatively large numbers. Many poets are asked to do readings of their work on radio and at arts festivals.

Vocabulary

The Booker Prize – «Букеровская премия»

genre – жанр

Daphne Du Maurier

Mary Stewart

Victoria Holt  
 

6. The fine arts

      Painting and sculpture are not as widely popular as music in Britain. Small private art galleries, where people might look at paintings with a view to buying them are rare. Nevertheless, London is one of the main centers of  international collector’s world. The two major auction [`o:k∫зn] houses of Sotheby’s [`sΛðзbiz] and Christie’s [`kristiz] are world-famous.

      The major museums in London are British Museum (the national collection of antiquities [æn`tikwitiz]), the Victoria and Albert Museum, which houses the world’s largest display of the decorative [`dekзrзtiv] arts, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. There are numerous other small, specialist museums in London and throughout the rest of the country. Most of major museums publish guides to their collections, pointing out their most highly-prized exhibits [ig`zibits], which are often illustrated in the guides.

      Art galleries in London which house permanent collections include the National Gallery, the adjoining National Portrait Gallery, and the Tate Britain, which is the nation’s [ei] gallery of British art from 1500 to the present day. These galleries also hold special temporary exhibitions. The Hayward [`heiwзd] Gallery and the Royal Academy put on a series of shows, some of which are extremely popular. The Royal Academy  is famous for its annual [`ænjuзl] Summer Exhibition. Outside London there is a Burrell [`bΛrзl] Collection near Glasgow and the Tate Galleries in Liverpool and St Ives. Most major towns and cities have their own museums and art galleries.

Vocabulary

auction house – аукцион

Sotheby’s and Christie’s – large auction houses with branches in London and New York, where valuable paintings, furniture, etc., are sold

antiquity – древность, старина

Hayward Gallery – an art gallery on London’s South Bank

Burrell Collection – an art collection in Glasgow, given to the city by Sir William Burrell

St Ives – a small town on the coast of Cornwall, popular with tourists and painters