Учебно-методическое пособие для аспирантов

Understanding History

What can the past tell us about the problems of today? By studying the past, we can see how previous cultures dealt with similar problems. We can understand the effects of their actions, and we can make judgments about how our actions might affect the future.

In our multicultural world we must understand the history of other cultures in order to solve problems together. By studying the past we can see the roots of the present and we can better understand our world neighbours. Learning about the past gives us a framework for making decisions about the issues that wee face today. It also helps us understand how our actions will affect the people of tomorrow.

History has been called a conversation between the present and the past. People of the past communicate with people of today through the writing, artifacts and structures they leave behind.

Every generation sees the world differently. And because each generation and each individual looks at things from a new point of view, history is always open to different interpretations.

History also has been compared to a jigsaw puzzle. Some pieces of the puzzle have been lost forever. Pieces once considered lost have now been found. The available pieces can be fitted together in many ways. Each generation of historians tries to put together the available pieces of the puzzle and to interpret the picture that emerges. In doing so we hope to understand not only what happened in the past, but how it happened and why it happened.

History – record of the events of human societies. The earliest surviving historical records are the inscriptions denoting the achievements of Egyptian and Babylonian Kings. As a literary form historical writing or historiography began with the Greek Herodotus in the 5^th century BC, who was first to pass beyond the limits of a purely national outlook. A generation later, Thucydides brought to history a strong sense of the political and military ambitions of his native Athens. His close account of the Peloponnesian War was continued by Xenophon. Later Greek history and Roman history tended toward rhetoric.

Medieval history was dominated by a religious philosophy sustained by the Christian church. English chroniclers of this period are Bede, William Malmesbury and Matthew Paris.

The Renaissance revived historical writing and the study of history both by restoring classical models and by creating the science of textual criticism.

A product of new secular spirit was Machiavelli’s History of Florence 1520-23. This critical approach continued into the 17^th century. The 18^th century Enlightenment disposed of the attempt to explain history in theological terms and an interpretive masterpiece was produced by Edward Gibbon.

An attempt to formulate historical method and a philosophy of history, that of the Italian Giovanni Vico, remained almost unknown until the 19^th century Romanticism left its mark on 19^th-century historical writing in the tendency to exalt the contribution of the individual “hero”, and in the introduction of a more colourful and dramatic style and treatment, variously illustrated in the works of the French historican Jules Michelet (1798-1874) and the British writers Carlyle and Macaulay.

During the 20^th century the study of history has been revolutionized, partly through the contributions of other disciplines, such as the sciences and anthropology. The deciphering of the Egyptian and Babylonian inscriptions was of great importance. Researchers and archaeologists have traced developments in prehistory and have revealed forgotten civilizations such as that of Crete. Anthropological studies of primitive Society and religion, which began with James Frazer’s Golden Bough 1890, have attempted to analyse the bases of later forms of social organizations and belief. The changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution and the accompanying perception of economics as a science forced historians to turn their attention to economic questions.

Contemporary historians make a distinction between historical evidence or records, historical writing and historical method or approaches to the study of history. Contemporary historians make extensive use of statistics, population figures and primary records to justify historical arguments. Historians do not just collect facts, they examine the information they collect and then decide how to interpret it.
The reports are often made in the form of presentations. Further you will find information on how to make your presentation effective.
Making an Effective Presentation
A presentation is a report one gives to an audience. It can be a short report, a long analysis, a narrative of any length, formal, or informal. Whether oral or written, the presentation format should be clear and organized.

Simplicity, clarity and brevity are characteristic features of perfect presentation. The best presenters take the view that presenting is not formalized public speaking, it is a dynamic way of dealing with people.

If you want to be effective you are to maintain the delicate balance and proportion dealing with the three essential elements of presenting: presenter – audience – message.

Thus, you are to study how to do it.

1. Work on your image. Perceptions are sometimes more powerful than facts! First impressions influence the audience’s attitudes to you. Wear an outfit that you know and love, not something new or fussy to feel comfortable.

2. Know your audience, their background and their motives. The factor of the listener is one of the most important parameters of effective communication. The golden rule of public speaking is that you should always keep your audience in mind. The best advice which can be given by an experienced presenter is: make your language natural and comprehensive for the audience.

3. Define your objective and analyze the communication situation. This will help you decide on the vocabulary and style you use in your presentation. Lexical expressive means help you personalize your message, reveal your attitudes.

4. Being an oral form of communication, presentation is to be well structured. The traditional and generally accepted structure of a speech contains the following elements:

• 
  introduction, in which the speaker grabs the attention of the audience, introduces the subject, his purpose and himself to the audience;
  
• 
  the body of the speech, which contains a summary of the major ideas and information that supports and clarifies the ideas;
  
• 
  conclusion (close), which contains a summary or a conclusion from the information presented and which helps the speaker to end his speech gracefully.
  

• 
  use body language;
  
• 
  keep eye contact with one person;
  
• 
  shift your eye contact;
  
• 
  smile from time to time;
  
• 
  use a variety of gestures;
  
• 
  keep fingering your spectacles;
  
• 
  read your talk;
  
• 
  talk to your notes, the blackboard or your visual aids;
  
• 
  stand with your back to a wall or curtain to minimize distractions;
  
• 
  keep visual aids covered until you need them;
  
• 
  walk up and down;
  
• 
  overrun your time;
  
• 
  finish before you are expected to;
  
• 
  stand in front of the window;
  
• 
  if you distribute something to be looked at, stop talking till everyone has examined it;
  
• 
  lean forward facing the audience;
  
• 
  start summarizing what you are going to say, then say it, and end by summarizing it again;
  
• 
  laugh at your own jokes;
  
• 
  smoke;
  
• 
  make your audience roll in the aisle with your jokes;
  
• 
  wear whatever you feel comfortable and self-assured in;
  
• 
  talk with ease;
  
• 
  prepare your speech in advance and rehearse it in the bath.
  

There is а debate going оn in some colleges and universities today about the importance of а foreign language requirement. At some of these institutions, students mау choose between а second language and mathematics – or some other discipline.

When you live in the U.S., knowledge of а foreign language is helpful but not necessary for survival. From some students’ point of view, saying “bonjour” instead of “hello” when they might spend а couple of weeks vacation in France over the course of а lifetime hardly merits a big investment in time and effort. Neither does learning а Spanish dialogue to take а trip South of the Border.

It is important, therefore, to define the benefits of learning а foreign language. In the first place, students should bе made aware that in the U.S. alone, over 30% of the population is Spanish-speaking or of Hispanic origin. Learning French enables one to communicate in parts of Europe, Canada, and Africa. Chinese and Arabic cover over half the people in the world!

1. 
   To live is to work.
   

2. 
   This method is not accurate enough to give reliable results.
   

3. 
   The discussion was prolonged so as to make all disputable points clear.
   

4. 
   The difficulty will be to obtain the required data.
   

5. 
   This theory is about to be proved.
   

6. 
   The problem to be considered next is very important.
   

7. 
   She was the last to join the group.
   

8. 
   He is always the first to make the report.
   

9. 
   There are many examples to support this theory.
   

10. 
    For a graduate to continue his studies, there should be motivation.
    

11. 
    It is for a supervisor to decide whether the work is ready for discussion.
    

12. 
    It is necessary for the results to be systematised.
    

13. 
    I know him to complete this stage of the experiment soon.
    

I know you to work hard.

Я знаю, что вы усердно работаете.

I know you to have worked hard.

Я знаю, что вы усердно работали.

14. 
    This postgraduate student is known to work hard.
    

Этот аспирант, как известно, много работает.

15. 
    He seems to know this theory well.
    

16. 
    They are likely to participate in the conference.
    

17. 
    These pressing problems are unlikely to be discussed at the symposium.
    

18. 
    His plans have never been thought to come true.
    

19. 
    There seems to be some confusion of terms in this chapter.
    

1. 
   Students often work in teams and with their professors to investigate emerging issues.
   
2. 
   To acquire this skill you need to read and write a lot.
   
3. 
   It is such a small error as to be easily neglected.
   
4. 
   In the 19^th century more universities were established to respond to the greatly increased demand for educated people.
   
5. 
   These university colleges were the last to be granted charters as full universities, with the right to confer degrees on their own account.
   
6. 
   If you are a PhD student who is dissatisfied with the supervision you should seek as a first priority for this to be resolved.
   
7. 
   To encourage a broad-ranging discussion, go to tutorials with a list of topics to be proposed.
   
8. 
   Use advanced search functions on the computer so as to find an appropriate topic.
   
9. 
   Use is to be made of the data obtained.
   
10. 
    The discussion of too many details does not seem to be desirable, since it is likely to obscure the fundamentally important points.
    
11. 
    The question is how closely these data represent the results to be obtained in practice.
    
12. 
    Master of Philosophy qualification requires you to critically investigate and show a comprehensive understanding of appropriate research
    methods.
    
13. 
    He does not appear to know the name of the scientist.
    
14. 
    Students were expected to show originality in the application of
    knowledge and problem-solving.
    
15. 
    These measures appear to be primarily rooted in prestige and competitiveness but there is also the awareness that the impact of research is global.
    

1. 
   Это простое явление довольно легко объяснить.
   
2. 
   Помочь аспиранту справиться с учебой в аспирантуре более успешно – основная цель научного руководства.
   
3. 
   Этот метод был слишком сложен, чтобы распространять его на другие исследования.
   
4. 
   Особое внимание уделяется подготовке исследователей с целью изучения вопросов промышленного, коммерческого и социального секторов.
   
5. 
   Цель вот-вот будет достигнута.
   
6. 
   Научную статью довольно сложно понять без соответствующих знаний.
   
7. 
   Объяснение оказалось убедительным.
   
8. 
   Нас обязали сдать экзамены до конца учебного года.
   
9. 
   Научный метод требует исключить гипотезу, если экспериментальные данные противоречат предположениям.
   
10. 
    Работодатели ждут, что аспиранты продемонстрируют навыки, которые выходят за рамки традиционно изучаемых дисциплин.
    
11. 
    Вероятно, они ожидали более убедительных результатов эксперимента.
    
12. 
    Ожидалось, что результат совпадет с теоретическими предпосылками.
    
13. 
    Подтвердить выдвинутые исследователями гипотезы, значит получить ответы на поставленные вопросы.
    
14. 
    Чтобы получить должность профессора, часто приходится переходить в другой университет.
    
15. 
    Сообщалось, что их совместные усилия не привели к каким-либо определенным результатам.