British stereoty­pes and an essay Lovely cover, lousy book

1STUB 07.04.2014

All-day test in English, spring 2014

TASK 1B

There are many typical British stereotypes floating around, especially these days where the UK is such a famous and discussed country. The most widely known stereotype revolving around the British is the one where they drink tea, a lot. British people are almost expected to drink a cup of tea, or fifteen, in the morning and especially in the afternoon.

They prefer taking tea breaks, not coffee breaks (Hudson, 2013). This is one of the first stereotypes that comes to mind when thinking about what’s typically British. Although there are many false stereotypes out there, I’d say it’s reasonable to conclude with the fact that; yes, British people do drink a lot of tea.

Each Brit consumes 1.89 kg of tea per year, according to 2009 figures. (Today I learned something NEW, 2012) They highly dislike and disagree with many stereotypes, but most of them do agree upon this one, probably because they feel guilty in charge.

Another stereotype is that British people love talking about the weather. Whether it’s raining (which it normally does in the UK, according to some other stereotypes), sunny or clouded, they will somehow manage to squeeze in a comment about the weather in every conversation.

This is a stereotype that many British people do agree with, claiming that if we had the same turbulent weather where it’s snowing one day and it is 68 °F the next, we would most definitely talk about it.

There are many stereotypes out there, some may be true and some are false, but in general stereotypes are inevitable, so it is important to take it with a pinch of salt and not let it get to us.

TASK 2C

Lovely cover, lousy book

Moving to the USA on your own to study for a few years is scary enough as it is, leaving your family behind and all, but moving to Los Angeles – one of the greatest cities in the USA, is frankly horrifying. It’s horrifying, but in a way; thrilling.

At the age of seventeen, I decided that I wanted to wander off on my own and not depend on anyone else but myself. And that is exactly what I did. I packed my bags, gave my horribly overprotective mom a big hug, who would not let go of me before I promised that I would call her at every chance I got.

I assured her that I would, only to set her mind at ease. As I closed the door behind me butterflies had claimed their rightful position in my stomach and the adrenaline was excessively pumping through my veins. The plane took off and a few hours later I found myself in Los Angeles.

There I was, walking down in the middle of the famous boulevard in Hollywood with palms on each side, studying everything with big eyes and a muscle-pulling grin, oblivious to the people giving weird looks in my direction. Cars honking and drivers yelling at me to get out of the way quickly snapped me out of my trance.

Getting hit by a car before meeting any celebrities would be unfortunate, so I decided it was best to use the sidewalk and not let myself get too carried away.

So there I was, on the sidewalk next to the beautiful boulevard in Hollywood, and I found myself intensively looking for Oscar-winning celebrities walking their dogs with huge jackets and sunglasses to avoid drawing attention. The thought of being able to casually meet celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio (except he’s never won an Oscar) and Brad Pitt on the street, was simply agitating. Get a grip, I thought to myself as I had to control my sudden urges to squeal like a little schoolgirl receiving a pony for her birthday.

It was him. I could smell it.

I knew what I had to do; I casually started crossing the street, trying to catch up with him. He didn’t turn his head, but you’d think he saw me because he started walking faster. There was no way I was going to let the most handsome man on earth slip through my fingers, so I picked up his speed and just as I was about to call out “Leo!” he kicked the leg of a woman in front of him and desperately grabbed something from her hands as she fell to the ground.