Read the text “Wales: history of a nation” and

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 619.

a) Provide proper Russian variants for the underlined English phrases in the text.

b) In the text find the words denoting “taking control over smth. using military force”.Explain the difference between them.

c) Single out the most important periods and events & be ready to answer the teacher's questions.

Wales: history of a nation

ANCIENT WALES: During the last ice age people hunted reindeer (северный олень) and mammoth (мамонт) in what is now Wales. When the ice age ended around 10,000 BC new animals appeared in Wales, such as red deer and wild boar. Stone Age (каменный век) hunters hunted them both. They also gathered plants for food.

In about 4,000 BC farming was introduced into Wales, although the people still used stone tools. About 2,000 BC people learned to use bronze. Then, about 600 BC Celts migrated to Wales, bringing iron tools and weapons with them. The Celts were a warlike (воинственный) people and they built many hill forts across Wales. However, they were also skilled craftsmen (ремесленник) with iron, bronze and gold.

In 43 AD the Romans invaded (завоевали) Southeast England. They began the conquest of Wales about 50 AD, but it took several decades. In 78 AD the Romans captured Anglesey, the headquarters of the Celtic priests, the Druids. That effectively ended Celtic resistance. (сопротивление)

Afterwards Wales was firmly under Roman rule. The Romans created a network of forts across Wales to control the Celtic tribes. Sometimes towns grew up outside the forts as the soldiers provided a market for the townspeople's goods.

Christianity arrived in Wales in the 3rd century.

In the 4th century the Roman Empire went into decline (пришла в упадок).The last Roman soldiers left Britain in 407 AD. Afterwards the Roman way of life slowly vanished. Wales split into separate kingdoms.

WALES IN THE MIDDLE AGES: Meanwhile the Saxons invaded eastern England. They marched westwards and by the 7th century AD they had reached the borders of Wales. Centuries of fighting between the Welsh and Saxons followed.

Then in the 9th century the Vikings began attacking Wales. А man named Rhodri ap Merfyn or Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great) became king of Gwynedd in the northeast. The Vikings continued to attack Wales, at intervals, until the end of the 10th century.

When William the Conqueror became king of England in 1066 he did not attempt to conquer Wales. However he did grant land along the English-Welsh border to powerful Norman lords. These lords sometimes encroached (вторгались) on Welsh territory of their own accord.

During the reign of William II (1087-1100) the Normans continued their attacks on Wales. However the Welsh resisted bitterly and most of Wales remained independent.

In those parts of Wales they controlled the English lords created towns. The most important was Cardiff. To us these early Welsh towns would seem tiny. They often only had several hundred inhabitants. The English lords also founded many monasteries in Wales.

In the mid-13th century one man managed to make himself ruler of most of Wales. In 1255 Llewellyn became king of Gwynedd. The Welsh kingdoms of Powys, Deheubarth and Glamorgan recognized Llewellyn as their lord. In 1267 King Henry III of England made the Treaty of Montgomery with Llewellyn. According to the treaty Llewellyn was made Prince of Wales. However he agreed to become the English king's vassal. (вассал)

In 1272 Edward I became king of England. He was determined to rule all of Great Britain. Since Llewellyn was his vassal Edward summoned him to do homage. In 1277 Llewellyn was forced to submit and to surrender (отдал) some territory to the English. However in 1282 the Welsh rebelled (восстали).The rebellion was crushed, Llewellyn and many other people executed.

Edward was now ruler of Wales. English law was imposed upon the Welsh and Edward built a network of castles to control the people. Alongside the castles Edward created new towns.

In 1294 the Welsh rose in rebellion. However the rebellion was crushed in 1295. Yet in 1301 to try and gain the loyalty (верность) of the Welsh Edward made his son, who also called Edward, Prince of Wales.

In 1348-49 Wales, like the rest of Europe, was devastated by the Black Death, which probably killed one third of the population.

In the late 15th century towns and trade in Wales flourished (процветало). Much of the countryside also grew more prosperous. (процветающий)

Then in 1485 Henry Tudor landed with an army at Milford Haven. He marched through Wales into England and after the battle of Bosworth he became king.

WALES IN THE 16th CENTURY AND 17th CENTURY: The 16th century brought religious changes to Wales. In 1517 Martin Luther, a German, started the Reformation.He demanded changes in Christian belief and practices. In 1534 Henry VIII broke with the Pope and made himself head of the church in England and Wales.

In 1536 Henry dissolved (распустил) the smaller monasteries in Wales. The rest were dissolved in 1539. Meanwhile Protestant ideas were spreading through Wales.

In 1553 Henry's daughter Mary became queen. She tried to undo the changes in religion and restore the old Catholic religion.

However when Mary died in 1558 her sister Elizabeth became queen. Things changed again. Elizabeth re-introduced Protestantism. In 1588 the Bible was translated into Welsh.

While all the religious changes were happening another change took place in Wales. In 1536 the English parliament passed an act of Union. As a result Wales was united with England. The Welsh were given equal citizenship (гражданство) and were allowed to send MPs to parliament. English law came into force throughout Wales.

Meanwhile, during the 16th century Wales was gradually growing richer. Most people made their living from farming and cattle herding (скотоводство) was very important. However trade and industry continued to grow. Wales exported more and more wool (шерсть) and woollen cloth. Meanwhile coal mining flourished. The Welsh iron industry also grew.

WALES IN THE 18th CENTURY: In the early 18th century Wales continued to grow more prosperous and a number of splendid mansions were built.

Many charity schools were founded in Wales. They were given a tremendous boost by a man named Griffith Jones (1683-1761). He created circulating schools. These were mobile schools. Teachers would set up a school in one place for 3 or 6 months then move on. The movement helped to create widespread literacy (грамотность) in Wales.

Also in the 18th century Wales underwent a religious revival (возрождение). In 1735 the Welsh Methodists were created by Howel Harris (1714-1773) and Daniel Rowland (1713-1790).

In the mid-18th century Wales was still very much a rural (сельский) society. Welsh towns were very small, even by the standards of the time and the vast majority of people lived in the countryside. Most people lived by farming. However at the end of the 18th century all that began to change. The industrial revolution transformed everyday life. People went to work in the towns.

WALES IN THE 19th CENTURY: In the 19th century coal mining, iron working and other metal industries in Wales, such as copper, zinc and tin plating boomed.

The population of Wales grew rapidly despite emigration. Welsh towns grew very quickly but in the early 19th century they were dirty and overcrowded.

There was also unrest (беспорядки) in the Welsh countryside. There were riots (восстания) in the years 1842-1844 known as the Rebecca riots. Men dressed as women and called themselves Daughters of Rebecca. The target of their rage were tollgates (шлагбаум). (Many roads in Wales were owned by Turnpike Trusts and you had to pay a toll to use them). However later in the 19th century things improved. Wales rose and towns became cleaner.

Furthermore in the 1840s railways were built across Wales. They made it much easier for visitors to reach Wales. Tourism became an important Welsh industry.

WALES IN THE 20th CENTURY: The 1920s and 1930s were years of hardship (трудности) for Wales. There was mass unemployment (безработица) at that time.

The traditional Welsh industries such as coal and iron and steel continued to decline and more and more collieries (шахты) were closed.

Fortunately new, light industries (легкая промышленность) came to Wales. In 1976 the Welsh Development Agency was formed to encourage (стимулировать) industry to move to Wales. The Welsh tourist industry also grew more and more important. Other service industries also grew in importance.

In 1993 the Welsh Language Act confirmed (подтвердил) equal status of Welsh and English.

In 1999 the new Welsh Assembly opened. In 2011 the people of Wales voted that the Welsh Assembly should be allowed to pass laws (принимать законы) without permission from Westminster.

3. Read about the Welsh Icons (= the most important things and people) and explain why the Welsh value them so much summing up every part in 3-4 sentences (MAKE USE OF CLAUSES AND PARTICIPIAL CONSTRUCTIONS).

St David of Wales or Dewi Sant, was a saint of the Celtic Church. David became the Abbot of St David's and died on 1st March 589. Many miracles (чудеса) were attributed (приписывались) to him. One miracle often recounted is that once when Dewi was preaching (проповедовал) to a crowd at Llandewi Brefi those on the outer edges could not hear, so he spread a handkerchief (платок) on the ground, and stood on it to preach, whereupon the ground rose under him, and all could hear. He was buried (захоронен) in what is today St David's Cathedral in Pembrokeshire. His holiness (святость) was such that medieval pilgrims equated two pilgrimages to St David's were worth one pilgrimage to Rome - a great saving in journeying at that time! Fifty churches in South Wales alone bear his name. March 1st , St David's Day, is now the traditional day of the Welsh. March 1 is the date given for the death of Dewi Sant, was celebrated as a religious festival up until the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. In the 18th century it became a national festival among the Welsh, and continues as such to this day. The celebration usually means singing and eating. St. David's Day meetings in Wales are not the boisterous celebrations of that accompany say St Patrick's Day in Ireland, but that may be because Welsh nationalism is kept in check.The singing of traditional songs followed by a Te Bach, tea with teisen bach and bara brith. The Red Dragon, is flown as a flag or worn as a pin or pendant, and leeks are worn, and sometimes eaten. St David's Day is now celebrated by Welsh people all over the world.

The harp is regarded as the national instrument of Wales. The harp has been used through the ages as an accompaniment to folk-singing and dancing and as a solo instrument. Some manuscript sources provide information about the harp and its music around the medieval (средневековый) period in Wales. By the end of the 18th century, the triple harp - so called because it had three rows of strings - was widely known as the Welsh harp because of its popularity in Wales. Although generally thought to have been invented in Wales it was, in fact, a baroque instrumentdevised in Italy about 100 years earlier.

The connection between Wales and the leek is obscure (неясный). Most authors trying to trace the link come up with one or other of the legends that show it was used by the Welsh as a cap badge in battles. One version is that St David advised the Britons on the eve of (накануне) a battle with the Saxons, to wear leeks in their caps so that they could easily distinguish friend from foe (неприятель). This apparently helped to secure a great victory. Another version has the same thing happening at the Battle of Agincourt, when Welsh archers (лучники) fought with Henry V against the French. The leeks in their caps distinguished (отличали) them from their enemies. (враги) In any event the leek is firmly associated with the Welsh today. Leeks are worn on St David's Day. It is still a surviving tradition that soldiers in the Welsh regiments eat a raw leek on St David's Day.

If the link between the leek and the Welsh is obscure, how about the Daffodil. Possibly the reason why the daffodil is used as an emblem is that the word for daffodil and for leek are the same in Welsh (Cenhinen = Leek, Cenhinen Pedr = Daffodil). This confusion means that both have been adopted as national emblems. It is said by some that the daffodil is encouraged more by the English government, as it does not have the nationalistic overtones that the leek has, with its association with the defeat of Saxons.