I'm going to walk to my office. On the way I'll drop into the post office to send a telegram to my mother. In other words, I'm going to KILL TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE. The great Italian singer Pavarotti is on tour in our city. Difficult as it is, I'll try to get tickets for his performance. I'll do everything possible and use all my connections. In other words, I will LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED. When my friend went to live in the United States, he didn't feel comfortable there. As he didn't know English very well, he didn't understand the customs. In other words, he felt like A FISH OUT OF WATER. When the criminal was released from prison, he decided to start a new, honest life. In other words, he wanted to TURN OVER A NEW LEAF. When I asked Grant to tell me the truth, no matter how shocking it was, he avoided getting to the point and started to speak about irrelevant things. In other words, he was BEATING AROUND If you want to buy a new car, you'll have THE BUSH. to work hard. Figuratively speaking, you'll have to KEEP YOUR NOSE TO THE GRINDSTONE. I rarely go to the theater. In other words, I go ONCE IN A BLUE MOON. We decided to buy our teacher a present. We purchased a nice tie and planned to give it to him on his birthday. Somehow, he found out about it because one of us LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG by asking him about his taste in ties. You have a good voice; please sing something for us. Don't be too modest. In other words, DON'T HIDE YOUR LIGHT UNDER A BUSHEL. John won a high-school chess competition once, but always lost after that. So his victory was purely accidental. It was just A FLASH IN THE PAN. Jack got up in the morning in an angry mood. In other words, HE GOT UP ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE BED. George was very selfish. He always put his own interests first. In other words, he was constantly LOOKING OUT FOR NUMBER ONE. Little Sam stole his friend's bicycle. Then he had pricks of conscience and decided to confess. He wanted to MAKE A CLEAN BREAST OF IT. My old aunt always exaggerated the seriousness of her illnesses. Whenever she had a cold, she thought she was dying. In other words, she MADE A MOUNTAIN OUT OF A MOLEHILL. Prince Charles is a wealthy person be- family. In other words, HE WAS BORN WITH A When John was guilty of something, he always blamed others. He never took the responsibility on himself. In other words, he was always PASSING THE BUCK. SILVER SPOON IN HIS MOUTH. Brian was a workaholic; he worked too long and overextended himself. In other words, HE BURNT THE CANDLE AT BOTH ENDS. Elliot is very active in all kinds of clubs and societies in his high school. His mother often. reproaches him for that. "You are participating in too many activities," she said. In other words, YOU'RE SPREADING YOURSELF TOO THIN. Let's talk frankly, calling things by their real names. In other words, LET'S CALL A SPADE A SPADE. Jane and I used to be madly in love with each other. Recently when we met she seemed. not to notice me at all. In other words, SHE GAVE ME THE COLD SHOULDER. A summing up And, of course, a good way to sum up your work on cultural literacy is to hold quiz-like competitions with questions on the most troublesome items of the List. I think that the authors of future textbooks of English for Russian students should take a look at the List in order to make their books more true to life and literate in the general sense of the word. P.S. I have just received the latest issue of Newsweek magazine. On the last page there is Ghali, Secretary General of the United Naan interview with Egypt's Boutros Boutrostions. The interview is entitled "An Ounce of Prevention." From my memory I extract the whole proverb-An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure-and realize for the umpteenth time the importance of being culturally literate. T HE CITY OF ATLANTA'S ORIGINAL SOURCE OF STRENGTH WAS ITS GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION IN THE NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION NET WORK. Beginning as the terminus of a railroad linking lines to Charleston and Savannah with a route to Tennessee and the southern interior, it grew into the center of a southeastern railroad network. By 1920 it had become the "Gate City of the South." As the twentieth century progressed, it continued this supremacy with the construction of the best interstate highway connections in the southeast, and also became the primary transfer point in the region for air passengers. So many airline routes to southern cities have connections in Atlanta that it is often said, "When you die and go to heaven, you must pass through Atlanta." The romantic image of the city as "the Capital of the Lost Cause" can be found in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind, in the monumental carving of the Confederacy at Stone Mountain, in the diorama of the battle of Atlanta at the Cyclorama, and in the dress and decor at a few popular tourist restaurants. Otherwise, however, few traces of the Old South can be found in this "Capital of the New South," where the prominent symbols are commercial: railroad stations, warehouses, hotels, and office buildings. Educational institutions and cultural life have grown with the city. The Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and Emory University are among the prominent educational institutions located in or near Atlanta, along with a number of musical and arts centers. Only a few American cities are as well represented in professional sports; Atlanta's teams include the Hawks (basketball), the Braves (baseball), and the Falcons (football). Atlanta is a thriving convention city, and many national corporations (Coca Cola, CNN, and Delta Airlines, among many others) have offices there. These features lead business leaders to dream about Atlanta being "The World's Next Great City." Atlanta City for the Future (TRANSCRIPT OF THE RECORDED DISK) Two old college friends from Columbia University meet in Atlanta on a Friday afternoon in late November. They are going to spend the weekend together, and on Monday, Wendy, who works in Tenafly, New Jersey, as a local news reporter, will have a job interview' at CNN. Her friend Laura, who works in Washington, D. C., has already arrived at Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta. She is waiting at the gate for Wendy's flight to arrive from New Jersey. Wendy: Laura! Oh, I'm so glad to see you! Laura: Oh, Wendy, how good to see you. What happened to your flight? Wendy: Oh, it was delayed two hours because of a snowstorm. I thought we'd never get off the ground. I need warmth and sunshine! Laura: Well, you'll get sunshine here, but not warmth. According to the paper, this is the coldest Atlanta has been. Wendy: And I thought I was coming to the South! They proceed through the airport on their way to the tram,' which will take them to the baggage area. Boarding the tram, they hear... Laura: Did you hear that? Sounds like something from a science-fiction movie. They find Wendy's bags, hail a taxi, and head for their hotel in downtown Atlanta. After registering at the desk, they look around the lobby. Wendy: Oh look! There's the information desk. Let's see if they have any tours. Laura: A tour of the city would be nice. It'll give you a better chance to see the place before Monday. Desk clerk: Hi! Welcome to Atlanta. How may I help you? Wendy: We're interested in a city tour. Desk clerk: We have several. I recommend this tour, the Spirit of Atlanta. There are two choices. One starts in the morning and one starts about 1 p.m. Mark Bishop is the tour director-he takes only 4 or 5 passengers, and it's a very personal tour. Wendy: What time is the first tour? Desk clerk: It's at 8:30. CYNTHIA MALEUN Laura: Oh! I wanted to sleep in." Wendy: You have plenty of time to sleep at home-let's do it. Desk clerk: That will be $25.00 each. Wendy: Whew!10 Tour prices here are as expensive as in New York. I hope it's a good one. They pay for the tour, check into their room," and go out for dinner. The next morning we find them waiting in the lobby for the tour to begin. Laura: Wendy, I see you brought your camera. Wendy: Yes, I promised my parents I'd take lots of pictures. They're thinking of "2 coming to Atlanta for the '96 Olympics. Laura: Oh! That would be fun. And if you get the job, I could come back and stay with you. Mark: Good morning, ladies. You must be on my tour. Wendy: My mother's a real fan of Gone with the Wind. She'd love to see it. They reboard the van and head southeast, passing a round building and Zoo Atlanta. Mark: That's the Cyclorama. The building contains a painting of the Battle of Atlanta that's 40 feet high and 358 feet in circumference. You can actually sit and watch as the painting revolves around you and tells the story of the battle. I highly recommend you see this before leaving Atlanta. The van is off again, and the group travels north towards Auburn Street, where the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center and Memorial are located. Mark: We will be stopping here so you can stretch your legs27 and visit the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center. On the corner of Auburn Street is the Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. King preached. We'll meet back here28 in half an hour. Laura: I didn't realize there would be so much to see in this city. Wendy: Let's go into the center. Laura: Wait! Look at the statue. Isn't that the famous scene from the movie Roots,29 where the father holds up his son to the heavens? Wendy: Oh, yes, I want to get a picture of that. Laura: Oh, look! There's Martin Luther King's tomb. It looks so cold and lonely without the waterfall turned on. Wendy: I bet 30 in the spring and summer it's a lovely park. As they enter the Center, they see a display of photographs and artifacts related to the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. Afterwards, they walk down the street and see the house where he was born. Laura: This is certainly an interesting historical site. Wendy: Yes, within a couple of blocks there are the house where he was born, the church where he preached, and his gravesite, all together right here.31 They reboard the van, and continue past the Atlanta Stadium, which is home to the Atlanta Braves baseball team, and the proposed site of the Olympic Stadium. They travel through the midtown section of Atlanta, past the Fox Theatre and Margaret Mitchell's house. |