Fill in the chart with family words. Translate them into Russian

Noun	Verb	Adjective	Adverb
	secure
		busy
			greatly
		real
dimension
	tend
		mortal

Translate the passages of the text in written form beginning from “ Some people claim ” up to “ you think so? ”.

Write a short summary of the text of no more than 250 words using the guidelines on page6.

Unit III. CULTURES

Text 1. SUPERSTITIONS AND PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOUR ACROSS CULTURES

1. Answer these questions:

- What is human behavior affected by?

- Does human behavior differs from culture to culture? Why?

- What is a "national character"?

Read the text and check if you were right.

SUPERSTITIONS AND PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOUR ACROSS CULTURES

Human behavior is affected by both genetic inheritance and experience. The ways in which people develop arc shaped by social experience and circumstances within the context of their inherited genetic potential. The scientific question is just how experience and hereditary potential interact in producing human behavior.

Every culture includes a somewhat different web of patterns and meanings: ways of earning a living and doing business, systems of trade and government, traditions in clothing, foods and arts, expectations for behavior, attitudes toward other cultures, superstitions, beliefs and values about all of these activities. Within a large society, there may be many groups, with distinctly different subcultures associated with region, ethnic origin, or social class. If a single culture is dominant in a large region, its values may be considered correct and may be promoted—not only by families and religious groups but also by social institutions. Some subcultures may arise among special social categories (such as business executives and criminals), some of which may cross national boundaries (such as musicians and scientists).

What is considered to be acceptable human behavior varies from culture to culture and from time period to time period. Every social group has generally accepted ranges of behavior for its members, with perhaps some specific standards for subgroups, such as adults and children, females and males, artists and athletes. Unusual behaviors’ may be considered either merely amusing, or distasteful, or punishably criminal. Some normal behavior in one culture may be considered unacceptable in another. For example, aggressively competitive behavior is considered rude in highly cooperative cultures. Conversely, in some subcultures of a highly competitive society, such as that of the United States, a lack of interest in competition may be regarded as being out of step. Although the world has a wide diversity of cultural traditions, there are some kinds of behavior (such as incest, violence against kin. theft, and rape) that are considered unacceptable in almost all of them.

Each nation has its own character, the French arc not like the English, and the D0utch not like the Germans. However, the attempt to define what makes each of the characters distinct will provide massive difficulties. The idea of a 'national character' is based on the assumption that people from one nation share basic common behavioral patterns and personality traits, differentiable from other nations. The concept has however been often criticized, and is often only fueled by perceptions of the one nation towards the other, resulting in a number of attributes that one nation apparently displays: the Germans are orderly, hard-working and humorless... However, findings in that field have been often contradictory, particularly from highly diversified cultures. The methodological difficulties may be one of the reasons why the term 'national character' has widely been replaced with 'basic personality' or 'social character' in modern literature.

The two later concepts, although also often deemed as equally unreliable, stem from the idea that the child is being subject to cultural influence during his early stages, and hence develops a 'basic personality' similar in various cultures.

Vocabulary Notes

Superstitions – суеверия

Inheritance – наследственность

To be acceptable – приемлемый

Boundary – граница

Behavior – поведение

Suspicious – подозрительный

Distrust – недоверие

Much in common –много общего

To get up on a wrong side – встать не с той ноги

Incest –кровосмешение

Rape/violence –насилие