A more subtle misunderstanding often takes place over and over again when business people coming from different cultures meet at conferences, because, being there for a friendly discussion, they feel ill at ease with their foreign colleagues and cannot understand why. A little quiet observation soon reveals why this is. We each come from a culture that has an unwritten 'standing rule'. This rule states that when we are engaged in normal conversation we should stand at a particular distance from our companions. We learn this slowly as we grow up and we acquire a 'comfortable standing distance' without ever realizing it. It is automatic for us to settle into this distance and, by the time we are sophisticated adults, we do so effortlessly and unconsciously. The catch is that our colleagues, who have done the same thing, may come from a culture that has arrived at a different comfort-distance from our own.

Take, for example, an important diplomatic meeting between British and Arab officials who have gathered to discuss the price of oil, or peace in the Middle East. The British come from a 'fingertips' culture - that is to say, one that makes people feel comfortable only when they are standing at about arm's reach from their companions. The Arabs come from an 'elbow' culture -one that only feels comfortable when standing twice as close, at about half-arm's length.

As the discussions begin in earnest, the Arabs advance until they are only half an arm away from the British officials. Now the Arabs feel comfortable. But the British feel threatened: the Arabs seem to be bearing down on them aggressively. So they move back until they are at full-arm distance. Now the British feel at ease but the Arabs feel rejected. So they move in close again until they are, once more, feeling comfortable. Again, the British feel threatened and withdraw a little further. And all around the room, at diplomatic meetings of this kind, one can observe retreating British officials pinned to the walls by advancing Arabs, both sides feeling ill at ease without knowing quite why and with the friendly discussions needlessly disrupted.

12. Combine the following sentences to make one complete statement. Make any changes you think necessary, but do not change the sense of the original. Refer to the passage when you have finished the exercise.

    Business people come from different cultures. They meet at conferences. A subtle misunderstanding often takes place at the conferences. Even though they are at the conferences for a friendly discussion they feel ill at ease. They cannot understand why they fell ill at ease with their foreign colleagues. (paragraph 1)

13. Find sentences with a) subordinate clauses; b) “one”; c) –ing – forms. Analyze them and suggest different ways of their translation.

14. Translate the text in writing.

15. Before reading the text translate the following words into Russian.

1. origin; original; originally; originate; originator

2. relative; relatively; relativism; relate; relation; relationship

3. evolution; evolutionary, evolutionism; evolutionist; evolve

4. creation; create; creator; creative; creativity

5. art; artifact; artificial; artist; artistic

6. definite; define; definition; indefinite

7. history; historic; historical; historian

8. move; movement; motion

9. analogy; analogical; analogous; analogue

10. approximate; approximately; approximation

16. Match word-combinations on the left with their English equivalents on the right.

1. поиски начала                                  a) endless chain of transformations

2. бесконечная цепь превращений        b) the former…, the latter

3. следствие предшествующего развития c) searches for the origin

4. происхождение жизни                      d) pictorial art

5. человеческий род                             e) favourable position

6. благоприятное положение                f) primitive songs

7. первые … последние (из упомянутых) g) the origin of life

8. первобытные песни                          h) inquisitive mind

9. изобразительное искусство               i) human race

10.пытливый ум                                   j) the consequence of the previous

development

17. Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Современное (то есть относящееся к последним двум столетиям) искусство коренных австралийцев или африканцев все же совсем иное, чем у людей каменного века.

2. Примерно с середины XIX века началась серия открытий, ставших возможными благодаря развитию научной археологии.

3. Казалось бы, у первобытного человеческого общества, которое даже еще не возделывало землю и не приручало животных, не должно быть никакого искусства; между тем оно было – доказательство налицо.

4. Значит искусство – один из самых древних атрибутов человеческого существования.

5. Искусство старше, чем государство и собственность, старше всех тех сложных взаимоотношений и чувств, в том числе чувства личности, индивидуальности, которые складывались позже, в развитом человеческом коллективе.

18. Translate the text into English.