Table Of ContentРецензент: д. филол. н., профессор
В.Б. Кашкин
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Воронеж 2012
От автора
Элективный курс “History of Mysterious Britain ” рекомендован
для учащихся 10-11 классов профильных классов
общеобразовательных школ или для студентов языковых
факультетов. Этот курс расширит кругозор учащихся (студентов) и
создаст положительную мотивацию для изучения английского
языка. Тексты для чтения взяты из следующих источников “An
Illustrated History of Britain” под редакцией David McDowall,
“History and Culture of Britain” авторы Шарова Н.А. и Еремеев Я.Н.
и др. (см. сноски после тексов).
Следует отметить, что представленные в курсе тексты имеют
предтекстовые, текстовые и послетекстовые задания. В целях
подготовки учащихся к ЕГЭ использованы задания к текстам,
подобные представленным в демонстрационном варианте ЕГЭ
2009г. Английский язык – 11класс раздел 2 (чтение).
В элективном курсе представлена информация об истории
Британии. С целью снятия трудностей у учащихся, представленные
тексты – сокращенный вариант аутентичных текстов (abridged
texts). В конце элективного курса представлены вопросы для
проверки учащихся (checking task).
Рецензент: д. филол. н., профессор
В.Б. Кашкин
Дизайн обложки А.Н. Филонов
2
Contents
Unit I..........................................................................................................4
The Celts.................................................................................................4
Roman Britain ........................................................................................8
The Saxon invasion..............................................................................11
The Vikings..........................................................................................13
King Alfred the Great...........................................................................14
Unit II ......................................................................................................16
The Norman Conquest .........................................................................16
The beginning of Parliament................................................................19
The Wars of the Roses .........................................................................21
Unit III.....................................................................................................23
King HуnryVIII....................................................................................23
Queen Elizabeth. ..................................................................................28
Unit IV.....................................................................................................30
The Stuarts...........................................................................................30
Britain in the 18th century....................................................................33
Napoleonic Wars..................................................................................36
Queen Victoria. ....................................................................................39
Unit V......................................................................................................42
th
The 20 century....................................................................................42
Margaret Thatcher................................................................................46
Elizabeth II...........................................................................................49
Checking task..........................................................................................52
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Unit I
The Celts
I) Before reading:
What do you know about the Celts?
The Tasks
II) While-reading tasks
1. Put the events in the right order
a. The Celtic tribes expended their dominance into Ireland, northern
Italy, parts of Spain.
b. The Celts consisted of dozens and dozens of individual Celtic
tribes
c. The Celts of the main continents were largely ruled by the
chieftain of their individual tribe
d. The druids were the high priests of the Celtic pagan religion
e. The ancient Celts lived in scattered villages without fortified walls.
Questions.
1. What was Celtic written language?
2. What Celts formed kingships and kingdoms?
3. When did the Celts expend their dominance into Ireland and
northern Italy?
4. What did the Celts look like?
5. What did the Celtic women and men wear?
6. What did the primeval Celts believe in?
7. Who were the druids?
The Celts have been called the “Fathers of Europe”, that is north of
the Greco-Roman Mediterranean. Long before the Germanic invasions
of the 400s A.D, the Romans considered the Celts as the principal
barbarians north of the Alps.
4
The Celts had no written language, so we must depend on archaeology,
Greek and Roman writers from antiquity, and early Irish monks to tell us
the story of the primeval Celts.
Some modern writers have even called the land of the Celts an
ancient “Celtic Empire” across Europe.
But it was not an empire in the same sense as the Roman
Empire.The Celts consisted of dozens, and dozens, and dozens of
individual Celtic tribes, each acting independently and on their own.
Sometimes these tribes would join together against a common enemy, as
when the Celtic chieftain Vercingetorix was pitted against the Roman
legions of Julius Caesar in Gaul. And combined Celtic tribes could field
an army of 100,000 warriors.
An important distinction should be made here, between the Celts
of Ireland and their Celtic cousins on the mainland of Europe, the latter
whom we shall call the “continental Celts”. The Celts of Ireland were
able to form kingships and kingdoms, and had a stronger sense of Celtic
Unity that has lasted.
The Celts of this period were a Bronze Age people, although
before long they became the first people north of the Mediterranean
civilizations to use iron, giving the Celts a superior position in weapons
and tools in their geographic region.
From about 400-100 B.C., a period called the La Tene Celtic
civilization; the Celtic tribes expanded their dominance into Ireland,
northern Italy, parts of Spain, parts of Belgium, Bosnia in the Balkans,
and had some presence in southern Scandinavia. This time period is
when the Romans began to be a powerhouse in the Mediterranean world.
The Celts on the main continent were largely ruled by the chieftain
of their individual tribe. Some chieftains were elected by the free men
of the tribe for a limited term of office.
Here are some of the names of ancient Celtic chieftains, to get an
idea of what the old Celtic names sounded like: Orgetorix, Sinorix,
Dunmorix, Cartismandua (a woman), Prasutagus, Clondicus, Luernios,
Ariamnes, and Adiatorix. The “rix” ending to the Celtic name signified
that the person was a supreme chieftain. The great names of the Gaulish
chieftain Vercingetorix and Boadicea, the female chieftain of Celtic
Briton, will come up later in our story.
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Classical writers said that the Celts were taller than the Romans,
more muscular, had fair skin, and blonde hair was common. They were
fond of feasting, were high-spirited, and in general liked excitement.
The ancient Celts lived in scattered villages without fortified walls.
In wartime, they would build hill forts for protection. Their homes were
circular and made of wood with thatched domelike roofs. They had little
furniture, and ate and drank out of earthen dishes and goblets. They slept
on beds of straw.
Agriculture was a major activity of the Celts of old, with many of
them owning private farmlands. They produced mostly wheat for bread.
The Celtic women wore a simple long garment with a cloak. The
men wore trousers (sometimes knee length), a sleeved tunic reaching the
thigh, a cloak, and sandals or boots. A metal piece of jewelry for around
the neck called torc (torques) was quite popular. Men wore droopy
moustaches, sometimes beard, and often long hair, all of this in contrast
to the contemporary Romans. Women enjoyed painting their bodies, and
some tribes of Celtic warriors went into battle stark naked and painted
all over in bright blue.
The basic social structure was threefold: the chieftain, the warrior
aristocracy, and the freeman farmers. Women had a lower place, but
some women were able to attain the position of chieftain, which was
unknown in other cultures of the period.
The primeval Celts believed in the immortality of the soul, and had
a host of divinities they gave homage to-over 370 such gods and
goddesses have been documented.
The druids were the high priests of the Celtic pagan religion. They
led the pagan rituals and ceremonies, offered sacrifices, engaged in
fortune-telling.
The oak tree was sacred to the druids, and rituals were often
performed in oak groves.
The Celts followed a lunar calendar and the full moon had
importance. The bull was a sacred animal. One major Celtic festival was
Beltaine on May 1 (May Day), which celebrated crop planting and
fertility.
By 100 B.C. two things were happening on mainland Europe that
was very important to the Celts there. First, the Romans were beginning
to look northward, hungry for conquest. The Germanic tribes to the far
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north were looking southward and westward, also hungry for conquest.
The continental Celts were sandwiched in between by hostile invaders.
This vibrant culture was wiped out of Europe and the Celts were driven
to the Atlantic fringes by the legions of Rome. They became the eternal
victims, the romantic underdogs of history.
(From Celts. Ed. by Raftery Joseph, Dublin: 1964)
Post-reading task.
Divide the text into … parts, give titles to each part and retell the text.
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Roman Britain
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Describe the political and social situation on the British Isles by
the time of the Roman Invasion.
What were the Roman interests in Britain?
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Прочитайте текст и заполните пропуски 1-6 частями
предложений, обозначенными буквами А-F одна из частей A-F
лишняя. Занесите букву, обозначающую соответствующую часть
предложения в таблицу.
A. Who were much better trained defeated the Celts in several
battles.
B. when finally defeated by the Romans
C. because they had a better trained army and because Celtic
tribes fought among themselves
D. which ran from Dover to London, then to Chester and into
Wales
E. which were built with stone as well as wood
F. which contained many rooms with mosaic floors and central
heating
st
The Romans conquered Britain in the 1 century AD. Britain was a
province of the Roman Empire for about four centuries.
In 55 B.C. a Roman army of 10,000 men crossed the Channel and
invaded Britain. The Celts made a great impression on the Romans who
saw them for the first time in battle. On the occasion of the battle their
hair and moustaches were dyed red and their legs and arms were painted
blue. With loud shouts they attacked the Romans in chariots and on foot
and the well-armed invincible Romans less than one of the greatest of
that time had to return to Gaul.
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In the next year, 54 B.C. Caesar again came to Britain, this time
with larger forces (25,000 men). The Romans who had better arms and
armour and …
But it was not until almost a century later, in AD 43 that a Roman
army actually occupied Britain. The Romans were determined to
conquer the whole island.
British Queen Boadicea headed a revolt against the Romans and
destroyed Camulodunum and Londinium. There was neither mercy nor
hope. Everyone Roman or Romanized was massacred and everything
was destroyed. She took poison …
The Romans had little difficulty, apart from Boadicea’s revolt…
The Romans considered the Celts as war-mad, high spirited and
quick for battle, a description some would still give the Scots, Irish and
Welsh today.
Roman control of Britain came to an end as the empire began to
collapse. The first signs were the attacks by Celts of Caledonia in AD
367.
The Romans left about twenty large towns of about 5,000
inhabitants and almost one hundred smaller ones, and had planned
streets, markets and shops. They were connected by roads which were so
well built that they survived when later roads broke up. These roads
continued to be used long after the Romans left and became the main
roads of modern Britain.
York, Gloucester, Lincoln and London became the Chief Roman
towns; there were also about 50 other smaller towns.
The rich merchants and officials had luxurious houses … Every
Roman town had a good supply of pure water. Temples and public baths
could be found in most towns.
The noble Celts adopted the mode of life of their conquerors. They
lived in rich houses and they dressed as Romans.
The Celts went on living in their tiny huts, they spoke their Celtic
tongue and they did not understand the language of their rulers.
The Romans ruled Britain for 500 years and they gave the Britons
their first written historical description. They recorded their versions of
what was happening and the names of people who were making it
happen.
(From “History and culture of Britain” by Еремеев Я.Н. Шарова
Н.А., Voronezh, 2005)
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Describe:
1) the Roman Conquest of Britain
2) Roman influence in Britain.
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