1.

1
1) sheltering in a secluded – прятаться, укрываться в скрытом (месте);
2) afflicting – поражающих;
3) conceived – озарён идеей;
4) vernacular – родной;
5) exemplifies – be a typical example of;
6) fondness – любовь;
7) to allude – намекать на чувство;
8) lovesick – томящийся от любви;
9) plague-ridden – охваченный чумой;
10) chores – хлопоты;
11)fortnight – две недели;
12) charged – был уполномочен;

1.2
a) ‘The Decameron’ was written by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni
Boccaccio
b) The book title means (translating from the Greek Language) “ten-day[event]”,
referring to the period of time in which the characters of the frame story tell their
tales
c) The book is telling us about the time of the Black Death and about a group of
people who have fled to a deserted villa in the countryside of Fiesola. They were
telling a story each night, except only one day for chores. Each of the ten
characters is charged as King or Queen of the company for one day. This charge
gives him/her an opportunity to choose with which theme a story would be told.
d) The main characters were seven young women and three young men among them
were Dioneo, who had the right to tell a tale on any topic he wishes because of his
sense of humor.
e) The main rule of storytelling was to tell a tale on theme which was chosen by
King or Queen
f) There was only one person who could tell a story on any theme he wanted. And it
was Dioneo, he usually told the tenth tale each day, but the right of storytelling
any kind of story he got due to his wit.
g) Interludes usually include transcriptions of Italian folk song.
h) As for me, the most interesting basic plot of the story would be an adventures of
traveling merchants. Maybe it’s because of my fondness to adventures books.
 1.3
Yeah, I think we’re experiencing the same situation as The Decameron characters.
Isolated in our houses like in “a deserted villa in the countryside of Fiesola”.

I think we can use Boccaccio’s lesson nowadays much easier. Not to gather in groups in
real life, but there are a lot of possibilities to spent your time in the Internet, where you
actually can speak with other people who is boring too and spend your time with fun.
Futhermore, people can practice their oratory skills by telling stories in such kind of
programs as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype and etc. Maybe it sounds easy for me to
endure all kinds of human qualities in the Internet, because of my type of temperament.
But for a creative and sociable person it’s really hard to be isolated from the outside
world, so I think the answer on this question rather depends on the person.