Иностранный язык. Мартемьянова Н.В - 45 стр.

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Reading and speaking
TEXT 9
I Read and translate the text with the help of the dictionary.

THE CLASSICS
But the literary bequests of antiquity , Greek as well as Latin, were of far more importance
than architectural, and indeed than all the artistic remains which it had left. They were held in
the most absolute sense to be springs of all knowledge. The literary conditions of that age of
great discoveries have often been set forth; no more can here be attempted than to point out a
few less-known features of the picture.
Great as was the influence of the old writers on the Italian mind in the 14th century and
before, yet that influence was due rather to the wide diffusion of what had long been known
than to the discovery of much
that was new. The most popular Latin poets, historians, orators and letter-writers, together
with the number of Latin translations of single works of Aristotle, Plutarch, and a few other
Greek authors, constituted the treasure from which a few favoured individuals in the time of
Petrarch and Boccaccio drew their inspiration. The former, as is well known, owned and kept
with religious care a Greek Homer, which he was unable to read. A complete Latin
translation of the Iliad and Odyssey, though a very bad one, was made at Petrarch's
suggestion, and with Boccaccio's help, by a Calabrian Greek, Leonzio Pilato. But with the
15th century began the long list of new discoveries, the systematic creation of libraries by
means of copies, and the rapid multiplication of translations from the Greek.

II Roleplay
You are a famous scientist in antiquity. Mark the following statements as true or false,
according to the contents of the article.
1. The most important heritage of antiquity in Italy was architecture.
2. The Greek and Latin writers’ influence on the Italian mind in the 14th century was great
due to the discovery of new conception.
3. Only some privileged Latin writers can draw their inspiration from the ancient treasure.
4. Petrarch worshiped Homer as he could read Homer’s works in the original.
5. A complete Latin translation of Homer’s Iliad was not a good one.
6. The 15th century saw a real boom in the field of translation from Greek in Italy.

ADDITIONAL TEXTS
THE REASON FOR THE HUDRED YEAR WAR
Flanders had grown to be the industrial center of northern Europe and had become extremely
wealthy through its cloth manufacture. It could not produce
enough wool to satisfy its market and imported fine fleece from England. England depended
upon this trade for its foreign exchange. During the 1200's, the upper class English had
adopted Norman fashions and switched from beer to wine, (note that beer and wine were very
important elements in the medieval diet). Both contain vitamin and yeast complexes that the
medieval diet, especially during the winter, did not provide. Besides, the preservation of food
was a difficult matter in that era, and the alcohol in beer and wine represented a large number
of calories stored in an inexpensive and effective fashion. People did get drunk during the
Middle Ages, but most could not afford to do so. Beer and wine were valued as food and
were priced accordingly.
The problem was that England could not grow grapes to produce the wine that many of the
English now favored and had to import it. A triangular trade arose in which English fleece
was exchanged for Flemish cloth, which was then taken to southern France and exchanged