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Московский государственный областной университет

Институт лингвистики и межкультурной коммуникации


Кафедра теории и практики английского языка

А.И. Аевская, Н.А. Скитина

Guided Reading
практические задания к сборнику современных рассказов на
английском языке

Москва - 2014
Рекомендовано кафедрой
теории и практики английского языка
ИЛиМК МГОУ

Рецензенты:

Соловьева Н.В., кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры


английской филологии института лингвистики и межкультурной
коммуникации МГОУ;

Воробьева Н.М., кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры


"Иностранные языки-4", Финансовый университет при Правительстве
Российской Федерации;

Аевская А.И., Скитина Н.А.


Guided Reading (практические задания к сборнику современных рассказов
на английском языке). – М.: Изд-во МГОУ, 2014.

Настоящее пособие представляет собой сборник коммуникативно-


ориентированных заданий по развитию устной речи и расширению
словарного запаса на основе сборника рассказов современных
американских и британских писателей. Пособие ставит соей задачей не
только совершенствование речевых навыков, но и знакомство с
творчеством писателей, расширение лингвострановедческой компетенции.

© Аевская А.И., Скитина Н.А.

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ПРЕДИСЛОВИЕ
Учебное пособие по домашнему чтению адресовано студентам романо-
германского факультета, изучающим английский язык.
Пособие соответствует программе подготовки бакалавров по дисциплине
«Практический курс иностранного языка» и применяется на занятиях по
домашнему чтению.
Пособие состоит из одиннадцати разделов, каждый из которых рассчитан
на одну/две неделю (две недели, если в разделе два рассказа одного
писателя) изучения и последующего обсуждения в аудитории.
Задача пособия – облегчить и организовать работу студентов при чтении
оригинальной литературы на иностранном языке.
Пособие способствует формированию у студентов профессионально
значимых компетенций определяемых Государственным образовательным
стандартом высшего профессионального образования.
В пособии предлагаются сведения об авторе и поурочные разработки.
Каждый раздел содержит лингвострановедческий комментарий, активный
словарь и задания для проверки понимания прочитанного и развития
навыков устной речи и письма. Рекомендуется знакомство с текстом и
выполнение отдельных видов упражнений выделять в качестве домашнего
задания с последующей проверкой в аудитории. Аудиторные задания
предполагают перевод и перефразирование отдельных трудных отрывков
текста, комментарий по поводу различных идей, высказанных автором или
персонажами рассказа, обсуждение вопросов и проблем, выходящих за
рамки текста рассказа. Выделенный для активного усвоения словарь
проверяется в переводах. На заключительном уроке предлагается
проведение общего обсуждения рассказа и затронутых в нем проблем по
вопросам, предложенным в пособии.
Работа с пособием способствует развитию у студентов аналитической,
коммуникативной, лингвострановедческой компетенций.

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Содержание

I. Roald Dahl 5
1.1 The Hitchhiker 6
1.2 The Umbrella Man 11
II. Katherine Mansfield 16
2.1 Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding 18
2.2 How the Pearl Button was Kidnapped 22
III. Rose Tremain 26
3.1 The Bellows of the Fire 28
IV. Bernard MacLaverty 33
4.1 The Miraculous Candidate 35
V. Ishani Kar-Purkayastha 39
5.1 The Sky is Always Yours 39
VI. John Waddington-Feather 44
6.1 The High Master and Little Billy Clough 45
VII. John Kendrick Bangs 50
7.1 The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall 53
VIII. Truman Capote 57
8.1 A Christmas Memory 59
8.2 A Diamond Guitar 65
IX. Ernest Hemingway 73
9.1 The Light of the World 76
9.2 The Capital of the World 80
X. James Thurber 85
10.1 The Catbird Seat 87
XI. Virginia Woolf 94
11.1 The Man Who Loved His Kind 97
11.2 The New Dress 101
Questions about the authors 106

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I. Roald Dahl: His Life and Work.

Read the text and then answer the questions that follow it.

Roald Dahl was born on 13th September, 1916 in Llandaff, South Wales. Dahl's
parents were Norwegian. His father died while Roald was still a child.

Dahl attended Llandaff Cathedral School for just two years. Then from the ages
of nine to thirteen he attended St. Peter's Preparatory School in Weston–super–
Mare, England. He did not enjoy the school because many of the teachers were
cruel and often caned the students. Dahl was good at cricket and swimming, but
he performed poorly in class. One of his main hobbies was reading, and some of
his favourite novelists were the adventure writers Rudyard Kipling and H. Rider
Haggard.

When Dahl was thirteen his family moved to Kent in England, and he was sent
to Repton Public School. Sadly, Repton was even harsher than his old school.
The headmaster enjoyed beating children and the older students used the
younger ones as servants. However, there was one good thing about the school.
Every few months, the chocolate company, Cadburys, sent boxes of chocolates
to Repton for the students to test. This happy memory gave Dahl the idea for his
most famous novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

After school, Dahl decided that he wanted to travel. He got a job with the Shell
Oil Company and two years later was sent to East Africa. In his autobiography,
Going Solo, he recounts some of the exciting adventures there, including the
time a black mamba entered his friend's house and a snake catcher had to be
called in.

In 1939, World War II started. Dahl joined the RAF (Royal Air Force) and
learned to fly warplanes. Unfortunately, on his first flight into enemy territory he
ran out of fuel and crashed in the Libyan desert. He fractured his skull but
managed to crawl out of the burning plane.

Dahl started writing in the 1940s while based in the USA. His first story was a
newspaper account of his air crash. In 1945 he moved back home but in the
early fifties returned to America, where he met his first wife, the actress Patricia
Neal. They had five children together but got divorced in 1983. Dahl remarried
soon after. The last years of his life were very happy and he wrote some of his
best books during this period: The BFG, The Witches and Matilda. Roald Dahl
died on 23rd November 1990 in Oxford, England.

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Questions

1. How old was Roald Dahl when he died?


2. How many schools did he attend?
3. How many times was he married?
4. How many children did he have?
5. Complete the following timeline of Dahl's life (fill in all the blanks!):

1916 Dahl was born in South Wales


1923-25  
  St Peter's Preparatory School, Weston-super-Mare
1934-39 Shell Oil, London
1936-39  
1939  
1941 Published a newspaper story in the USA
1945  
  Got married to ...
   
   

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = wicked, liking to hurt people


b) ___________ = a story about a person’s own life
c) ___________ = someone who fights against you
d) ___________ = an area of land controlled by soldiers
e) ___________ = cracked
f) ___________ = ended their marriage
g) ___________ = got married again

1.1 The Hitchhiker

Vocabulary

wheelbase (n.) колесная база (расстояние между


колесами)
injection (n) инжектор
acceleration (n.) [əkˌselə'reɪʃ(ə)n] ускорение, разгон

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body (n.) кузов
fine (adj.) изысканный
aerial (n) антенна
pop up (ph.v.) появляться
growl (v.) [graul] рычать
grunt (v.) ворчать, хрюкать
haymaking (n.) сенокос
buttercup (n) лютик
thumb a lift «голосовать»
blank (adj.) белый, бледный
mug (n.) зд. болван, балбес
flat out (adv.) на максимальной скорости
leap (v.) прыгать, перепрыгивать
sting (stung,stung) жалить, жечь
slack off (ph.v.) снижать скорость, ослаблять
lamely (adv.) нескладно, запинаясь
prop stand подпорка, подставка
keep mum помалкивать
goggles (n.) защитные очки
smouldering (adj.) тлеющий
dash (v.) рвануть, мчаться
gob of spit плевок
snap (v.) резко говорить
dreaded (adj.) [dredɪd] страшный, ужасный
fish (v) искать на ощупь
spell (n.) промежуток времени, срок, период
smack (v.) причмокивать, смаковать
clink (n.) разг. тюрьма
hefty (adj.) большой, изрядный
summons (n.) судебная повестка
daft (adj.) глупый, безрассудный
smith (n.) кузнец
snort (v.) фыркать
cardsharper (n.) карточный шулер
racket (n.) мошенничество
flabbergasted (adj.) ['flæbəgɑːstid] изумленный, ошарашенный
huffily (adv.) обиженно, раздраженно
nick (v.) разг. стащить, стибрить
stubby (adj.) зд. маленький
coarse (adj.) грубый
lift money красть деньги
amateur (n) ['æmətə] любитель, не профессионал
swerve (v.) [swɜːv] сворачивать в сторону

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Find English equivalents for the following expressions.

Максимальная скорость, появляться, машина рванула, сделанная под


копирку копия, настоящая кожа, остановиться у дороги, сидеть смирно и
молчать, толстые руки, спешить домой, искать в кармане, битком набитая
машина, получить повестку в суд, колоссальный штраф, любопытная
Варвара, наблюдать за чем-то краем глаза, фокусник, ювелир, засучить
рукав, карманник.
Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1. The radio aerial popped …. when I switched …. the radio, and disappeared
when I switched it …. .

2. The engine growled and grunted impatiently …. slow speeds, but at sixty
miles an hour the growling stopped and the motor began to purr ……
pleasure.

3. I was driving …… to London ….. myself.

4. I was whispering along …. 70 mph, leaning ………. comfortably in my seat.

5. I think we can squeeze ….. one more.

6. The hitchhiker poked his head …………. the open window.

7. His ears were slightly pointed …….. the top.

8. What part of London are you heading ……?

9. The secret of life is to become good …. something that is very hard to do.

10.The big car leaped ………….. as though she’d been stung.

11.Don’t slack ……!

12.He pulled to the side of the road and I pulled ….. behind him.

13.Watch …… for this man!

14.Perhaps your house is ….. fire?

15.I was watching him ….. of the corner of my eye.

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Match the adjectives to the nouns.

skilled, crummy, sainted, blue, enormous, guilty, meaty, mocking, speed, breast,
license, carbon, hod, fancy, whopping, crafty, peculiar, plain, deep, miserable,
brass, ratty, superior, decent, delicate
……………………… buckle ……………………… suck
……………………… fine ……………………… eyes
……………………… quality ……………………… clothes
……………………… carrier ……………………… look
……………………… racket ……………………… car
……………………… trade ……………………… copy
……………………… memory ……………………… plate
……………………… voice ……………………… limit
……………………… pocket ……………………… fingers
……………………… aunt ……………………… jobs
……………………… red face ……………………… hand
……………………… trade
……………………… schoolboys

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = someone who does something because they enjoy it instead


of as a job
b) ___________ = make frightening or unfriendly low noise
c) ___________ = very surprised or shocked
d) ___________ = special glasses that protect your eyes
e) ___________ = a plant with small bright yellow flowers
f) ___________ = to make a sudden loud noise through your nose
g)___________ = a lot of money

Comprehension

1. What kind of car does the narrator drive?


2. Why does the narrator pick up the hitchhiker?
3. Where did the hitchhiker want to go?
4. Why does the hitchhiker want the narrator to speed his car?
5. What does the policeman do that the narrator and the hitchhiker find so rude?
6. What did the policeman say might happen to the narrator?
7. What is hitchhiker’s job?
8. Why won’t the hitchhiker steal anything from the narrator?

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Discussion

 Which words does the narrator use to describe his car? What does it tell us
about the narrator’s personality?
 Search the story for descriptions of the hitchhiker and the policeman.

The hitchhiker The Policeman


Appearance

Personality

Actions

Speech

 The hitchhiker’s dialect (non-standard English) contrasts with the driver’s


dialect (standard English). What do such differences tell you about?

 A ‘fingersmith’ is a superior kind of pickpocket. Do you approve of the


hitchhiker more or less because he is so professional?

Render the following sentences into English:

1. Говорят, что «голосовать» на дороге в Европе безопасно, к тому же вас


подвезут бесплатно, но мне всегда страшно, что водитель может
оказаться воришкой и стащить у меня бумажник. Мне кажется,
осторожность никогда не помешает!
2. Полиция всегда появляется на дороге неожиданно, поэтому водители
предупреждают друг друга, мигая фарами.
3. Мой младший брат во время всего разговора помалкивал, хотя он был
виноват больше, чем я.

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4. Ни карточный шулер, ни вор-карманник не могли объяснить полиции,
откуда у них столько кошельков.
5. Своими изысканными манерами и умными словами ты никого не
удивишь здесь, а только насмешишь. Они ведь всю жизнь прожили в
деревне!
6. Дилеры всегда говорят, что у их машин отличный разгон и прекрасные
ходовые свойства. Но зачем машине набирать скорость 220 км/ч, если
максимальная разрешенная скорость – 90 км/ч?
7. Ученик говорил резко, отрывисто, и не все поняли, что же он имел в
виду. На дополнительные вопросы он не ответил и завалил зачёт.
8. Полицейский оштрафовал нарушителя на внушительную сумму, а через
неделю он получил еще и повестку в суд. Никто не верил в его вину, но
помощь адвоката ему понадобилась.
9. Друзья попытались пожарить картошку на тлеющих углях, но
отвлеклись и сожгли ее.
10.Грубые манеры, запинающаяся, неубедительная речь – вот причины, по
которым его не приняли на работу.

1.2 The Umbrella Man

Vocabulary

suspicious (adj.) [sə'spɪʃəs] подозрительный


poke (v.) расковырять, проделать (дырку)
poke around высматривать, выискивать
scrape (n.) неприятность
go to pieces сломиться, не выдерживают нервы
stammer (v.) заикаться
simper (v.) притворно или глупо улыбаться
foul (adj.) [faul] грязный, подлый
bat (v.) зд. хлопать (глазами, ресницами)
sternly (adv.) [stɜːnli] строго, безжалостно
summon (v.) ['sʌmən] вызвать, позвать
melt (v.) таять, плавиться
tempt (v.) соблазнять, привлекать
clasp (n.) [klɑːsp] застежка
sideways (adv.) боком, сбоку
bow (n.) [bau] поклон

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titled (adj.) ['taɪtld] титулованный
dodge (v.) [dɔʤ] увертываться, уклоняться (от удара)
nimbly (adv.) ['nɪmblɪ] проворно, ловко, легко
still (adj.) неподвижный
stiff (adj.) окостеневший
bustle (v.) торопиться, спешить
sidestep (v.) уступать дорогу, отходить
be up to something замышлять что-то, задумывать
scuttle (v.) ['skʌtl] поспешно бежать, удирать
pelt down колотить, лить, барабанить (о
дожде)
snug (adj.) уютный, защищенный от непогоды
plate glass зеркальное стекло
huddle (v.) жаться друг к другу
in the first place вообще
clutch (v.) схватить, сжать
tumbler (n.) ['tʌmblə] бокал без ножки
counter (n.) прилавок
scurry (v.) ['skʌrɪ] бежать стремглав
trot (v.) спешить, торопиться

Find English equivalents for the following expressions.

Попасть в неприятность, говорящий изысканно, запломбировать зуб,


промокнуть до ниточки, искать на ощупь, обманщик (ловкач), вконец
загнать кого-л., наглый лжец, продвигаться незаметно (продираться).

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1. I’m going to tell you about a funny thing that happened … my mother and
me yesterday evening.

2. We stood on the pavement …… the rain.

3. He was sheltering ….. an umbrella.

4. When she cuts top …. a boiled egg she pokes ……… inside it with her
spoon.

5. I’ve got myself …… a bit of a scrape.

6. My mother’s chin was up and she was staring down …. him along the full
length of her nose.
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7. Most people go ….. pieces completely when she gives it to them.

8. I’m not …. the habit of stopping ladies in the street and telling them my
troubles.

9. I saw my mother’s hand feeling ….. the clasp of her purse.

10.She fished ….. her purse and took ….. a pound note.

11.We watched the little man as he dodged …. and ….. of the traffic.

12.We had to walk fast to keep ……. …….. him.

13.The rain was pelting …… harder than ever now.

14.He said he was too tired to walk any further and he’s practically running us
….. our feet.

15.He was edging his way ……… the crowd towards the bar.

16.The barman didn’t give him any change ……. the pound.

17.We watched him as he proceeded to exchange his new umbrella ……..


another pound note.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

Neat, smallish, wrinkly, great, barefaced, bushy, plate-glass, boiled, sideways,


titled, white, small, frosty-nosed, golden.

……………………… liar ……………………… window


……………………… look ……………………… tumbler
……………………… whisky ……………………… person
……………………… moustache ……………………… eyebrows
……………………… heavens ……………………… favour
……………………… face ……………………… stare
……………………… egg ……………………… rule

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = move fairly fast taking small quick steps


b) ___________ = order someone to come to you
c) ___________ = very warm and comfortable, esp. because you are protected
from cold weather
d) ___________ =cheater, deceiver

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e) ___________ = a drinking glass with straight sides

Find the right order of the story.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15

a) They watched through the pub window.

b) Just before leaving the pub, the man casually took one of the umbrellas
hanging on the coat-rack.

c) They saw the man pay his drink with a £1 note.

d) The lady thought it was better to simply give him the taxi-fare.

e) Finally they saw him enter a pub.

f) After the dentist and the café, the two women wanted to go home.

g) They quickly followed him as he ran through the rainy streets.

h) He wanted to sell them his umbrella in return for taxi-fare back to his
home.

i) He added that he was too old to walk home.

j) But the man insisted that they take the umbrella.

k) He didn’t look as if he was trying to get a taxi either.

l) The two women couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the man
quickly cross the street and hurry away.

m) As the rain was pouring, they wanted to take a taxi.

n) Then they understood the trick.

o) Suddenly a man with an umbrella came up to them.

Discussion

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 Consider the way the mother is presented in this story through what she says
and does.

 What are the similarities of con men in The Hitchhiker and The Umbrella
Man?

Render the following sentences into English:

1. Болельщики наблюдали, как боксер уклоняется от ударов и как это злит


его противника. Почему и правда не избежать удара, когда это
возможно?
2. Деловой партнер вежливо поклонился нам, мы поклонились ему
согласно китайскому обычаю, но, тем не менее, вся делегация казалась
нам подозрительной.
3. В этом уютном и защищенном от непогоды кафе всегда много
посетителей. Здесь можно заказать как полноценный обед, так и
вкуснейшие десерты.
4. Маленький человечек побежал стремглав, услышав звук подходящего
поезда. Он размахивал большими чемоданами и неловко обегал
прохожих.
5. На вашем месте я бы вызвал этого сотрудника в кабинет управляющего.
А если такое повторится еще раз, лишил бы его премии.
6. Зачем вообще упоминать о таких вещах? У каждой семьи есть свои
скелеты в шкафу, даже у такой титулованной, как эта!
7. Видя дорогие платья на витринах магазинов, моя сестра испытывает
непреодолимое искушение. Она мне всегда говорит, хлопая красивыми
глазами: «Если бы у меня было больше денег, я бы одевалась лучше
голливудских звезд».
8. - Знаешь, в чем недостаток бокалов без ножки?
- Нельзя недопить до дна! Впрочем, полный бокал мало кто наливает в
наши дни.
9. Вчера весь вечер лил дождь, и мы с супругой не могли пойти в парк,
чтобы встретить очередную годовщину знакомства. Я помню, как 20
лет назад покупал кофе и увидел милую девушку. Я не смог с ней
заговорить, а только глупо улыбался.
10. – Ты слышал, что за сквернословие (нецензурную брань) в
общественном месте положен большой штраф?

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– Я-то знаю, жаль только, что об этом не знают соседи и их друзья по
даче.

II. Katherine Mansfield: Her Life and Work.

Read the text and then answer the questions that follow it.

In 1888 on 14th October in a small town of Thorndorn Katherine Mansfield was


born with the birth name Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp. Being a daughter of
affluent parents she would be noted beyond the lifestyle of her upper-middle
class neighborhood. Mansfield had three older sisters and a younger brother.

By 1902 her farther, realizing his daughter’s many talents, sent her to Queen’s
College in London for the next three years. The school magazine published
many of her stories and poems and she eventually became its editor. Described
by her teachers as being rebellious and full of ideas she was considered to be a
girl of great vitality, impulsive and strong will.

On her return to New Zealand in 1906 she expressed dismay being home in a
letter to her school friend. “The idea of sitting and waiting for a husband is
absolutely revolting. I just long for the power of circumstances!” She was
accomplished at playing the cello, gifted in writing short stories and poetry. By
18 she had taken on the penname of Katherine Mansfield. In 1908, determined
to become a writer, she pleaded her father to allow her to go to London. “I feel
absolutely ill with grief and sadness here! It’s a nightmare! I don’t understand
how people may wish to live here!”

She left Wellington for the last time and arrived in London intent on literary
career. There she lead an erratic, bohemian existence, which she later described
as a wasted period, publishing one story and one poem in fifteen months. After
an unhappy marriage in 1909 to George Brown, whom she left a few days after
the wedding, Mansfield toured for a while as an extra in opera. Before the
marriage she had an affair with Garnett Trowell, a musician, and became
pregnant. In Bavaria, where Mansfield spent some time, she suffered a
miscarriage. During her stay in Germany she wrote satirical sketches of German
characters, which were published in 1911 under the title In a German Pension.

In 1912 Mansfield met John Middleton Murry, who edited her stories. Her story
“The Woman at the Store” was chosen as the first one published in the
magazine. That year she visited Manet and Post-Impressionists exhibition. “It
told me about writing that was queer: a kind of freedom or rather a shaking

16
freedom.” It provided the stimulus she was searching for and gave her the
courage to write in the manner she had never thought of before.

After divorcing her first husband in 1918, Mansfield married Murry. In the same
year she was found to have tuberculosis.

Mansfield worked tirelessly to refine the technique of impressionist writing.


Ironically, she was to find all the material she needed for her stories in her early
life with her family in New Zealand. She drew on her past for many of her
themes, especially those which highlighted the price paid by a woman in
marriage and the plight of a woman on her own in an unfriendly world.

Katherine Mansfield died on 9 January 1923 in Fontainebleau, France.

Questions

1. How old was Katherine Mansfield when she died?


2. How many times was she married?
3. How many children did she have?
4. What musical instrument did she play?
5. Complete the following timeline of Mansfield's life (fill in all the blanks!):

1888 Mansfield was born in Thorndorn, New Zealand


1902  
  Returned to New Zealand
Had taken on the penname of Katherine Mansfield
1908  
1909  
Published satirical sketches on German Characters
1912  
 1918 Got married to ...
   

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = disgusting
b) ___________ = having a lot of money
c) ___________ = to desire

17
d) ___________ = fear, worry, sadness
e) ___________ = behaving in an unacceptable way, undisciplined
f) ___________ = very good at something
g) ___________ = unpredictable, bizarre
h) ___________ = a person who plays an unimportant part in a play, film
i) ___________ = difficult situation that is full of problems
j) ___________ = improve, make something better
k) ___________ = pseudonym
2.1 Frau Brechenmacher Attends a Wedding

Vocabulary

stitch (n.) стежок, строчка, шов


fetch (v.) сходить и принести
crease (n.) [kriːs] загиб, складка
drag (v.) тащить
wind (wound/wound) [waɪnd]/ наматывать, обматывать
[waund]
knot (n.) [nɔt] узел
resolution (n.) решение, намерение
tuck (v.) [tʌk] засовывать, прятать
bodice (n.) ['bɔdɪs] корсаж
medal (n.) образок
strain (v.) натягивать, растягивать
tug (n.) [tʌg] рывок, тянущее усилие
slam (v.) захлопывать, со стуком закрывать
flurry (v.) ['flʌrɪ] волновать, будоражить
muddled (adj.) сбитый с толку, смущенный
cinders (n.) ['sɪndəz] зола, пепел
strew (strewed/strewn) [struː] посыпать, усыпать, расстилать
festive (adj.) праздничный
wreath (adj.) [riːθ] венок, гирлянда, завиток
twig (n.) веточка, прут
overawed (adj.) полный благоговения
banister (n.) перилла
acclamation (n.) шумное одобрение, одобрительные
отзывы
remainder (n.) остаток, оставшаяся часть
precedence (n.) ['presɪd(ə)n(t)s] превосходство, более высокое
положение
perch (v.) [pɜːʧ] усесться, взгромоздиться
crumpled (adj.) мятый
stench (n.) вонь, зловоние

18
fill out округляться, толстеть
petticoat (n.) (нижняя) юбка
beer mug пивная кружка
mumble (v.) бормотать
froth (n.) [frɔθ] пена
lodge (v.) поселить, сдавать квартиру
saliva (n.) [sə'laɪvə] слюна
splutter (v.) разбрызгиваться
assent (v.) [ə'sent] соглашаться
wedge (v.) втискиваться
wrench (v.) [ren(t)ʃ] вырывать
cradle (n.) люлька
dandle (v.) качать на руках (ребенка)
heave (v.) [hiːv] подниматься, вздыматься
stumble (v.) идти спотыкаясь, ковылять
forsaken (adj.) брошенный, покинутый
smear (v.) намазывать, размазывать
wriggle (v.) изгибать, извиваться
worsted[ ‘wustId] socks шерстяные носки
lurch (v.) идти шатаясь

Find English equivalents for the following expressions.

Полировать пуговицы, не ложиться спать, засиживаться допоздна,


стряхнуть снег с ботинок, отсутствующая улыбка, звон бокалов,
рожденный вне брака ребенок, важно кивать, затрещина в ухо, толкать в
бок.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1. Then she ran …… his best shirt ……. a hot iron.

2. You must look ……… the children and not sit ….. later than half past eight.

3. Rosa drew …….. both corners of her mouth.

4. Rosa dragged it …. her mother’s shoulder and wound it carefully ………. her
own, tying the two ends …… a knot.

5. He stood in the kitchen puffing himself …. .

6. There were fences to cling ….. .

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7. Herr Brechebmacher’s colleagues greeted him ….. acclamation.

8. The bride was in a white dress trimmed …… stripes and bows of coloured
ribbon, giving her the appearance of an iced cake.

9. Their parents and relations sat with a fine regard ….. dignity and precedence.

10.A girl in a crumpled muslin dress with a wreath of forget –me-nots perched
….. on a stool ….. the bride’s right hand.

11.Her husband dug her ….. the ribs.

12.The Frau wedged ….. between these two fat old women.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

tin, satin, vacant, fir, festive, official, silk, waist, little, roughened, crumpled,
free-born, plain, nervous, worsted

……………………… twigs ……………………… girl


……………………… necktie ………………………
handkerchief
……………………… tug ……………………… socks
……………………… dress ……………………… buckle
……………………… basin ……………………… tremor
……………………… smell ……………………… smile
……………………… buttons ……………………… child
……………………… hands

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = very seriously


b) ___________ = hit
c) ___________ = bad smell
d) ___________ = a thin skirt, which is worn under a skirt or dress
e) ___________ = give you a place to stay

Comprehension

a) How many children did the Frau have?

b) In what season does the story take place? How do you know?

20
c) What was Herr Brechebmacher’s job?

d) How did the Frau train her little girl for female servitude?

e) Why did Herr Brechebmacher ask his wife to go and dress in the passage?

f) What did Herr Brechebmacher present to the newly-weds?

g) What feelings did Frau Brechebmacher have toward the bride? Was she
happy for her?

h) Why did the Frau think that everybody was laughing at her?

Discussion

 What did the Frau mean when she asked the question: “What is it all for?”

 What does black shawl symbolize in the story?

 Katherine Mansfield is one of the first writers in the twentieth century to


address straightforwardly the anger of women at the injustice of their
treatment. What is the position of women in our country? Has it changed
anyhow within the time? How?

Render the following sentences into English:

1. Корсажи, нижние юбки и длинные перчатки снова входят в моду!


Наверное, нашим бабушкам интересно видеть, как вещи их эпохи
обретают второе дыхание.

2. Не видев Антона целых 8 лет, сестра заметила, какой грузной стала его
походка и как округлились у него щеки. В кресло он не просто сел, а
взгромоздился. Он стал совсем другим: важно и много говорил, кивал
богатым друзьям, изредка поглядывая на Инну.

3. Качая на руках дочку, мать пыталась готовить ужин. Несмотря на


канун Рождества, настроение у нее было далеко не праздничное:
решение мужа о переезде в другой город не давало ей покоя.

4. Жильцы старого дома, уже второй месяц страдавшие от зловония из-за


воды, стоявшей в подвале, взывали к коммунальным службам.

21
5. Моя бабушка, воспитанная по старым порядкам, заставляла меня в
детстве заниматься рукоделием. Тогда я и подумать не могла, как мне
это пригодится! Я прекрасно вышиваю и всегда сама делаю стежки на
порвавшейся одежде.

6. Моя подруга хоть и младше меня на два года, но занимает более


высокую должность. Мне кажется, ее характер испортился после
повышения.

7. Когда родители ушли, ребенок почувствовал себя покинутым и


заплакал. Увидев старшего брата, он успокоился.

8. Котенок прыгал и тянул штору за шнурок. Как хорошо, что хозяин,


благоговевший перед дорогими шторами, не видел этого!

9. Я забрызгал брюки грязью, пока добрался до работы. Жена всегда


говорила, что темный цвет одежды практичнее!

10. Ты не потеряла мамин образок, правда? Он ей дорог, будь осторожнее


с ее вещами!

2.2 How the Pearl Button was Kidnapped

Before you read the story you should know that in 1907 nineteen-year-old
Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp went on a camping trip through the Urewera
district and recorded in her diaries her impressions of Maori, whose distance
from colonial bourgeois culture she found deeply attractive.  She preferred the
Maori of “the utter backblocks” to the Anglicized Maori whom she encountered
nearer civilization. In her early story, “How Pearl Button Was Kidnapped”
(1912), Maori figure as romantic people unlike those leading a colonial
bourgeois life. It’s vague in the story who the kidnappers of the white child
might be: gypsies or Maori. Mansfield herself, in London, dressed in a fashion
described as both Maori and gypsy.

Vocabulary

pinafore (n.) [ˈpɪnəfɔ:] передник (особенно детский)


frill (n.) оборка
flax (n.) лен
fern (n.) папоротник
slip (v.) скользить
bend (v.) наклоняться

22
dangle (v.) болтаться, свободно свисать
bury (v.) прятать, скрывать, погружаться
feather (n.) перо
flick (v.) слегка ударять, бросить резким
движением
hobble (v.) качаться
spill/spilt/spilt проливать
pat (v.) похлопывать
whip (n.) хлыст
cart (n.) телега, повозка
briar (n.) шиповник
purr (v.) мурлыкать, урчать
paddock (n.) загон, огороженный участок земли
coax (v.) убеждать
foam (n.) пена
shriek (v.) визжать, пронзительно кричать
dabble (v.) брызгаться
paddle (v.) плескаться

Find English equivalents for the following expressions.

Петляющая дорога, распущенные волосы, мелководье, плескаться в воде,


деревянное ограждение.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1. The winds blew Pearl Button’s pinafore frill ….. her mouth and they blew
the street dust all …. the House of Boxes.

2. So Pearl got down from the gate and she slipped out …. the road.

3. “You tired?” asked one of the women, bending ….. to Pearl.

4. The woman who had carried Pearl took ….. her hair ribbon and shook her
hair loose.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

dusty, sunshiny, wood, hair, windy, feather, shallow

……………………… legs ……………………… ribbon


……………………… day ……………………… fences
……………………… road ……………………… water
……………………… mats

23
Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = long narrow piece of cloth used as a fastening or decoration


b) ___________ = soft covering on a bird’s body
c) ___________ = a very hard rock/ a small colored glass balls used by children
to play a game
d) ___________ = a long thin piece of leather or rope fastened to a handle
e) ___________ = a mass of small bubbles that are formed when air and liquid
are mixed together
Find the right order of this summary:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

a) A man across the room rolls a peach towards her. Pearl asks if she may eat it.
b) Below, the big piece of blue water creeps over the land.
c) But when they stop on a hilltop Pearl’s happiness ends abruptly.
d) Looking towards the land, Pearl Button sees men in blue coats who have
come to take her back to the House of Boxes.
e) One of the women takes the ribbon from Pearl Button’s hair and shakes it
loose. They kiss her on the neck.
f) Pearl Button pops off and rolls free and is lost.
g) Pearl is scared to walk on the sand but is coaxed by the women.
h) She eats it and spoils her clothes with the juice. Nobody seems to mind.
i) The people journey to the sea in carts. During the trip, Pearl cuddles in the
arms of one of the women.
j) The people laugh but Pearl Button cannot hear it.
k) The women bring her to a log room full of people, with a feeling of great
vitality and freedom.
l) Two gypsy women in flamboyant dress arrive and entice Pearl Button away
with them.

Comprehension

a) What do the two fat women look like?

24
b) What does Pearl Button look like? Are Pearl and the two women of the same
culture? Prove it.

c) What do you learn about Perl’s mother? Why was Pearl alone?

d) What kind of attention does Pearl get from a bunch of strangers?

e) Why is the girl apprehensive of the sea?

f) Who are the little men in blue coats?

g) Did the women mean to harm the girl?

Discussion

 Mansfield introduces us to the pacific island culture and emphasises their


friendly nature. Find such examples in the story.

 The house of boxes symbolizes the constrictions of life. What does the sea
symbolize in the story?

Render the following sentences into English:

1. Воробьи весело плескались в луже, но все же поглядывали по


сторонам, готовые разлететься в случае опасности.

2. Если у животного идет пена изо рта, его надо срочно отвезти к
ветеринару.

3. В коридоре болтается провод! Почему ты до сих пор не вызвал


мастера? Я ведь просила тебя об этом, не так ли?

4. - Ты ведь не веришь в легенду, что папоротник цветет в полночь один


раз в год?

- Да, не верю. Но какая это красивая легенда!

5. Сейчас очень популярен чай с шиповником. Говорят, что он помогает


людям с сердечными заболеваниями. Кроме того, благодаря ему
снижается давление.

6. Мальчик резко бросил мяч и попал в старшего брата. Он сказал, что не


хотел никого задеть.

25
7. Еще 20 лет назад передник был обязательным атрибутом одежды у
школьниц. Коричневый был для постоянной носки, а белый – часть
праздничной формы.

8. У меня уже несколько лет есть такая мечта – завести ослика или пони.
Я даже знаю, где буду его держать – у нас есть отличный загон.
Проблема только в том, что содержание такого животного недешево
обходится!

9. Мне кажется, твой попугай не здоров – посмотри, как много перьев


выпало из хвоста! Еще и сидит он сгорбившись!

10. Дрессировщик так громко и часто щелкал хлыстом, что напугал


ребенка, сидевшего в первом ряду.

III. Rose Tremain: Her life and Work

Read the text and then answer the questions that follow it.

Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on August 2, 1943 in London
and attended Francis Holland School, then Crofton Grange School from 1954 to
1961; the Sorbonne from 1961–1962; and graduated from the University of East
Anglia in 1965, where she taught creative writing from 1988 to 1995.

She married Jon Tremain in 1971 and they had one daughter, Eleanor, born in
1972, who became an actress. The marriage lasted about five years. Her second
marriage, to theatre director Jonathan Dudley, in 1982, lasted about nine years.

Now Rose Tremain lives in North London and Norwich, with the biographer
Richard Holmes (she’s has been with Richard Holmes since 1992). Her books
have won many prizes. When Rose Tremain won the 2008 Orange Prize for The
Road Home, her overriding emotion was relief.

‘I’ve got very near to winning these big prizes in the past and I’ve never won
them,’ she says with a laugh in her Norfolk house, which on this particularly
gloomy afternoon is flooded in grey, milky light.

Tremain says that her husband and she write in separate corners of the house and
she adds that she always knew she’d be a writer.

26
She even produced little stories when she was a child and implies that writing is
a form of sanctuary. ‘I was very lucky - I knew what I wanted to do as a kid. If
ever I quarreled with friends, I’d get over it by going to write instead.’ This love
to writing might have been triggered by her “exile” to boarding school at the age
of eleven, after her parents split up and her mother married someone else and
they moved out of London. At a stroke, she lost her father, her house, all her
school friends and also – and worst of all - her beloved Nanny who had cared for
her all her life till then. ‘So perhaps my interest in “place and belonging” subject
stems from that – from an acute fear of losing all that is precious to me from one
day to the next and finding myself once again in a world whose rules are hard to
comprehend. But I note that exile almost invariably involves a journey of some
kind, both internal and external, and of course the journey is an elementally
good starting point for a novel, mirroring the act of embarkation on the book,
freighted with possibility but also with a high degree of danger.”

In a sense, her writing has always been informed by people trying to find
somewhere they belong.

Questions

1. How old is Rose Tremain now?

2. How many times was she married? What is her husband’s job?

3. Does she have any children?

4. What does she usually write in her stories about?


5. Complete the following timeline of Tremain's life (fill in all the blanks!):

1943
1956  Her parents…
 1965
1971
1972  Her daughter was born
1988  
1992 Got married to …..
2008  

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

27
a) ___________ = dark, dreary
b) ___________ = severe, intense
c) ___________ = living in a foreign country because you can’t live in your own
one, usually for political reasons
d) ___________ = the most important, supreme
e) ___________ = a place where people who are in danger from other people
can go to be safe
f) ___________ = originated, caused by
g) ___________ = constantly
h) ___________ = start, beginning
i) ___________ = burdened with

The Bellows of the Fire

Pre-reading activity

 What does this title mean to you?


 Read the beginning of this story. Could you say anything about the narrator?

The two things I cared about most in the world until this morning were my dog,
Whisper, and the bungalow under the viaduct.

 Now read this excerpt from the story and say what you have learned about the narrator and who the
narrator is talking to? What can you say about this person?

“You can be the bellows of the fire, Susie. That means you have to blow on it and
your breath keeps it going.” This didn’t seem like a nice job to me. Blowing out
cake candles was horrible enough. So I thought, I’m not going to breathe on their
fire. I’m going to be absolutely quiet and hardly breathe at all. I’m going to be as
silent as a stone.

Vocabulary

viaduct (n.) ['vaɪədʌkt]  виадук, мост через овраг, ущелье,


железнодорожный путь
bellows (n.) ['beləuz] воздуходувные мехи, кузнечные мехи
blob (n.) капля, маленький шарик
flap (n.) створка, заслонка
weed (n.) сорняк
stop on останавливаться, медлить

28
roam (v.) бродить, странствовать
drown (v.) тонуть
long for sth. желать сильно
bag (v.) зд. сделать своей собственностью
bags детск.;разг.; чур!Чур-чура!
Bags light the fire! Чур, я разжигаю огонь!
misery (n.) страдание, невзгода, нужда
puny (adj.) ['pjuːnɪ] маленький, тривиальный
crappy (adj.) дрянной, паршивый
arcade (n.) пассаж, ярусный торговый центр
fire raiser разг. поджигатель
Girl Guide девочка-скаут
track sb. down следить за кем-л.
burn to the ground сжечь до основания
save one’s breath беречь слова, не иметь желания
говорить
despise (v.) презирать
arsonist (n.) поджигатель
to be on the safe side на всякий случай

Find English equivalents for the following expressions.

Уходить к морю, мечтательный, заранее, разжигать костер, отвечать за


приготовление еды, целую вечность, задувать свечи, жалкий человек,
мерзкая страна, ускользать, этническое меньшинство, почтовый ящик c
клапаном, не любить клубы, организовывать прослушивание.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1. The two things I cared ….. most in the world until this morning were my
dog, Whisper, and the bungalow ……. the viaduct.

2. …..rainy days, I hardly stop ….. the viaduct to look at the bungalow, because
down there in the mist and drizzle it looks a bit sorry ….. itself.

3. The sea is second … my list of places I like, except that the sea does
something to me: it makes me long …. things.

4. But …. the car, ….. the way to Dartmoor, my brothers bagged all the good
jobs ….. advance.

5. Bags be ….. charge of cooking!

29
6. Noise and mess spills ….. all over the puny little gardens and all over the
street.

7. Seven fires had been raised and the bingo Palace had burned … the ground.

8. The TV company came ….. here months ago.

9. I knew I’d made an impression … the person who had asked me to read it.

10.You just have to work at it all, slowly and carefully, like Dad made that fire
catch on Dartmoor … the rain, one stick …. a time.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

crappy, one-person, puny, miserable, letter-box, hideous, modern, ethnic, acting

……………………… person ……………………… house


……………………… gardens ……………………… flap
……………………… panda ……………………… country
……………………… shopping ……………………… experience
arcade
……………………… minority

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = to refrain from talking, explaining or arguing


b) ___________ = a house which has only one level, and no stairs
c) ___________ = device used for blowing air into a fire in order to make it burn
better
d) ___________ = a person who sets fire
e) ___________ = a short performance by an actor, dancer, musician so that a
director can decide if they are good enough for a play, film or orchestra

In which context do you come across these props? Reconstruct the story with
the help of these props.

viaduct bungalow sea fire

script letter stick

Comprehension

a) What are the two things Susie cares most about? Why?

b) Why doesn’t Susie go to the bungalow in the winter?


30
c) What would she like to add to the garden? Why?

d) What impact does the sea make on Susie? Do you feel the same near the sea?

e) What do you learn about Susie’s family: her mum, dad, brothers?

f) Why did she remember her sixth birthday best of all? How old is she now?

g) Where does she live? What kinds of people live there? Does Susie feel that
she belongs to this community? Prove it.

h) What is the plot of the film where Susie is going to play? Who are its
characters? What is Susie’s role? Does it appeal to her? Does Susie have any
acting experience?

i) What lesson did Susie’s father teach her on Dartmoor?

Discussion
 Talk about Susie from the point of view of another member of the family.
 Why didn’t Susie want to be the bellows of fire at the age of six? Has she
changed her opinion?
 What is the symbol of the bellows and of the fire?
 Rose Tremain’s idea of “place and belonging” is depicted from teenager’s
point of view. What does the narrator feel about place and belonging to this
place? What about you? What do you think about the place where you live
now? Do you belong to it? Do you wish to escape it?
 It dawned on Susie that never before she had longed for something she could
actually have. The film gave her a real stimulus and she understood what she
wanted from her life. Do you think she will achieve success?
 Can you work “slowly and carefully like Susie's Dad made that fire catch on
Dartmoor in the rain, one stick at a time”?

Render the following sentences into English:

1. Моя сестра любит путешествовать, а еще она обожает носить


национальную одежду других стран. В нашем фотоальбоме она уже
«примерила» сарафан Германии, платья Франции и Англии и даже
японское кимоно!

2. На всякий случай позвони маме и скажи, что задержишься! Если ты не


позвонишь, то мама и бабушка будут волноваться!

31
3. Что за неинтересная идея! Давайте лучше все вместе подумаем над
гербом для нашей школы!

4. Полиция следит за преступником целый месяц, но веских улик у нее


пока нет.

5. Мой участок выглядит таким неухоженным! Если бы мы чаще пололи


сорняки, то его вид был бы совершенно другим!

6. - Эти соревнования причинили мне только страдания. Я столько


готовился, но занял только 13 место.
- Не вешай нос! Твое выступление тоже очень понравилось залу, тебе
все аплодировали! Кроме того, теперь ты наверняка знаешь теперь свои
слабые стороны!

7. Не говори зря, лучше побереги слова - я знаю, что у Ксении плохой


аттестат, но уже ничего не изменить. Нечего лить слезы над пролитым
молоком.

8. Вчера мама испортила мне платье! Она капнула маленькой капелькой


красной краски на подол!

9. Ты только взгляни на этот канатный мост через ущелье! Какой он


ветхий! Жители не пользовались им лет 20, он может рассыпаться в
любой момент!

10.Мой старший брат хотел получить велосипед в День рождения. Мы


всей семьей ходили в спортивный магазин и выбирали для него самый
быстрый и удобный!

32
IV. Bernard MacLaverty: His Life and Work

Read the text and then answer the questions that follow it.

Bernard MacLaverty was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 14 September


1942, and lived there until 1975 when he moved to Scotland with his wife,
Madeline, and four children (Ciara, Claire, John, and Jude).

MacLaverty has lived nearly half his life in Scotland. But the inspiration for
nearly all of his writing comes from his early life in the forties, fifties and
sixties, when he grew up in North Belfast.

One of the best things for a young boy growing up in North Belfast was that he
could climb up on the big basalt shoulders of the Cave hill and make the world
look small and less significant. For a young MacLaverty and a spirited gang of
friends North Belfast proved to be an adventure playground, and a place for
cementing friendships that have lasted a lifetime.

MacLaverty grew up in the quiet, residential street of Atlantic Avenue. His


father, Johnny, was a commercial artist. But MacLaverty's father died when he
was twelve, which led to a big change in family life. MacLaverty's books often
deal with twelve-year-old boys in difficult circumstances, a theme that may
recall his own difficulties in dealing with his father's death.

MacLaverty attended St Malachy's College, the favoured place for the education
of bright, young Catholic boys who passed the 11-Plus. However, in his most
recent book, The Anatomy School, MacLaverty is scathing about his time at St
Malachy's. He criticises the quality of the teaching, the oppressive atmosphere
and the staff's attitudes towards the pupils.

But in the late Fifties, MacLaverty and his friends had other distractions from
school and study. Skiffle music was the big beat that the kids were going for.

In 1960, MacLaverty went to Queen's University - but not as a student. His A-


level results were disappointing, so worked as a lab technician in the Anatomy
department, preparing slide samples of human and animal tissue for microscopic

33
study. But while he was working in the labs, MacLaverty was sharpening his
skills as a writer...

Encouraged by Professor Jack Prichard, head of the anatomy dept, MacLaverty


spent less time with cadavers and more time with his developing body of work.
And for the first time, his short stories were published in the university
magazines.

But although MacLaverty was uncertain about his writing ability, his work was
beginning to attract the attention of others - including Phillip Hobsbaum, a
lecturer in English at Queens. He ran a writer's course for some of his most
promising students and asked the young lab technician to join. In 1970, when he
was in his late twenties, MacLaverty finally hung up his white coat and enrolled
to study English literature in Queens. He eventually qualified as a teacher.

1975, MacLaverty and his family moved to Scotland to escape an increasingly


violent Belfast.

MacLaverty taught in Edinburgh for three years before taking up another


teaching post on the isolated Isle of Islay, off the west coast of Scotland. During
this period, he finished his first two novels - Lamb and Cal. Both novels were
later turned into successful films.

In 1981, he gave up teaching to become a full-time writer - a risky move for a


man with a young family of four to support. After eight years on Islay,
MacLaverty and his family moved to Glasgow.

MacLaverty's love of Ireland still persists - though when asked what his idea of
earthly paradise would be, his answer encompassed both Ireland and Scotland.

Questions

1. How old is Bernard MacLaverty now?

2. Where was he born? Why did he leave his motherland?

3. Where did he spend most of his life?

4. Where does he live now?

5. Was he a diligent student? Did he enter any higher institutions?

34
6. What was his childhood like?

7. Where were his first short stories published?

8. What qualification did he get in the end?

9. What is his current job?

10. Complete the following timeline of MacLaverty's life (fill in all the blanks!):

1942
19  His father died
 1960
1970
1975  Moved to Scotland
1981  

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = something that turns your attention away from something you
want to concentrate on
b) ___________ = corpse
c) ___________ = difficult to bear
d) ___________ = officially join and pay a fee for it
e) ___________ = criticize or denounce something severely

4.1 The Miraculous Candidate


Vocabulary

sanctity (n.) святость, безгрешность


tingling (n.) покалывание, трепет, дрожь
sensation (n.) ощущение, восприятие
sole (n.) подошва, ступня
fervently (adv.) ['fɜːv(ə)ntlɪ] горячо, пылко, пламенно
fence (v.) фехтовать
spit (v.) плевать
medal (n.) образок
lapel (n.) лацкан, отворот
blether (v.) ['bleðə] болтать вздор, пороть чушь,
трещать
shuffle (v.) волочить ноги, шаркать
35
file (v.) идти гуськом, передвигаться
колонной
fountain-pen ['fauntɪnpen] авторучка
groove (n.) углубление, ямка
ink-well чернильница
biro ['baɪərəu(pen)] шариковая ручка
waggle (v.) помахивать
invigilator (n.) [ınʹvıdʒıleıtə] наблюдатель (следящий за
учащимися во время экзамена)
squeak (v.) скрипеть
flick back смахнуть, стряхнуть
stringy hair ['strɪŋɪ] тонкие, свисающие прядями волосы
cloven hoof  ['kləuv(ə)n] раздвоенное копыто; дьявол, сатана
marrow (n.) спинной мозг
whirlpool (v.) крутить, затягивать в водоворот
mass (n.) литургия, месса
communion (n.) причастие, евхаристия
frantically судорожно
doodle (v.) машинально рисовать или чертить
be stuck быть в затруднении
summon up (v.) собирать, мобилизовать
the sum total of oneself всего самого себя, все свои силы
limb (n.) конечность (человека или
животного)
throb (v.) сильно биться, пульсировать
stammer (v.) заикаться
clip-board планшет с зажимом для бумаги
well up наворачиваться (о слезах)
plump (v.) плюхаться, шлепаться
skin (v.) ссадить, содрать кужу
tubular (adj.) ['t(j)uːbjələ]  трубчатый, в форме трубы
hunker (v.) сидеть на корточках

Find English equivalents for the following expressions.

Маленькая путаница, сильная, неистовая молитва, держать в рамках,


свойства хлорида натрия (каменная соль), взяться за перо, начать писать,
блестяще.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1. Now …. the morning of his Science exam he felt his stomach light and
wooly, as if he had eaten feathers ….. breakfast.

36
2. Some of the boys fenced …… new yellow rulers or sat drumming them ….
their knees.
3. Senior and ‘A’ levels stood …. groups all looking very pale, one turned now
and again to spit …… his shoulder to show that he didn’t care.
4. She had also pinned a Holy Ghost medal …… his lapel where it wouldn’t be
seen.
5. The doors were opened and they all filed … their places.
6. One of the boys who couldn’t do any of the questions drew a face …. biro on
his finger and put it …. through the hole and waggled it … John.
7. The invigilator held up a brown paper parcel and pointed … to the unbroken
seal.
8. St Joseph was so close to God that sometimes when he prayed he was lifted
up …. the ground.
9. It was all he was fit …., God help him – the one line.
10.Others sat sucking their pens or doodling …. their rough-work sheets.
11.He had no control …… his limbs.
12.The invigilator hunkered …. beside him and whispered confidentially.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

unbroken, wee, shining, stringy, fine, white, rough-work, cloven, tiled, Holy,
alarming, light and wooly

……………………… heat ……………………… damp


……………………… sheets ……………………… floor
……………………… tissue pages ……………………… mix-up
……………………… hair ……………………… hoof
……………………… symptoms ……………………… Ghost
……………………… stomach ……………………… seal

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = walk without lifting your feet properly


b) ___________ = the Christian ceremony in which people eat bread and drink
wine as a symbol of Christ’s death and resurrection
c) ___________ = draw something when you are bored or thinking about
something else
d) ___________ = speak with difficulty, hesitating and repeating words or
sounds
e) ___________ = tears come up to your eyes

Comprehension

37
1. Why was John worried about the effects of his sanctity?
2. What did John’s grandmother do every Sunday night? 
3. Why is St Joseph of Cupertino the patron saint of exams?
4. How did John feel on the morning of his Science exam?
5. What did Granny give him on the day of the exam?
6. What had he been promised if he passed the exam?
7. What was strange about the invigilator?
8. What was John’s reaction when he saw the exam questions?
9. What were the other boys doing?
10.What did John do?
11.Why did the invigilator think that John was cheating?
12.How did John get back to his seat?
13.Why did the invigilator apologise?
14.Why was John offered extra time to finish the exam?
15.What was different about John’s final prayer?

Discussion

 Are you well versed in the lives of the saints? Find out more facts about the
catholic St Joseph of Cupertino. Who is an orthodox saint for examinations?
What do you know about him?
 The saying goes “God helps those who help themselves”. How is it
illustrated in the story? Give examples.
 How do you approach exams? Can you come up with some exam guidelines?

Render the following sentences into English:

1. У меня часто возникает ощущение покалывания в ладонях, но больше


меня ничто не беспокоит. Я не знаю, стоит ли идти к доктору с такой
жалобой.

2. Чернильница была пустой, и учитель прервал проверку контрольных,


чтобы перелить чернила из пузырька.

3. Продавец заикался, но мне было ясно, что он пытается сказать, что


чернильниц у них в продаже и не было никогда, а были только авторучки.

4. Студент долго собирался с духом перед ответом на билет. Он ответил


на «отлично» и смог решить самую трудную задачу.

38
5. Лавочка была занята усталыми пассажирами, и мне пришлось сесть на
корочки. Поезд прибыл вовремя, но там тоже не было свободных мест.

6. Официантка смахивала крошки со стола, а воробьи весело щебетали и


клевали хлеб и семечки.

7. Мой муж всегда был ярым сторонником правых, и я была невероятно


удивлена, когда он раскритиковал их позицию в отношении импорта нефти.

8. Меня раздражает твоя шаркающая походка! Тебе 18 лет и ты


занимаешься танцами, так почему позволяешь себе так некрасиво
передвигать ноги?

9. Моя семья в затруднении – мы так и не решили, потратить ли деньги


на поездку к морю или отложить на покупку машины. Как жаль, что не
хватает одновременно на оба желания!

10.У меня лихорадочно бился пульс, а в голове была только одна мысль:
«Я должен успеть, я должен прибыть первым!»

V. Ishani Kar-Purkayastha: His Life and Work

Not much is known about Ishani Kar Purkayastha because she isn’t a fulltime
writer. She works in London as a doctor in the field of public health. She has
won commendations for her writing from the jury of the STA and the Guardian
Young Travel Writer Award. Ishani has also won the 2010 Lancet Wakley Prize
for her essay, 'An Epidemic of Loneliness'.

5.1 The Sky is Always Yours

Pre-reading activity

 What does the title of the story mean to you?


 What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘immigration’?
 Do you have a positive or negative image of immigration?
 Do you think immigrants get a raw deal in the countries they live in?
 Would you report an illegal immigrant to the police?
 What are the benefits of immigration?
 Put these reasons for immigration in order of priority for you:
39
a)
financially secured future
b)
high standard of living
c)
education
d)
political reasons
e)
soul mate
f)
health reasons
g)
religious tolerance
h)
armed conflicts
i)
start of a series: a chain of events. The first person immigrates and sends
“Happily Settled” information to his loved ones living in the native
country. And then others also immigrate to the same country (or probably
a better one) to enhance their future prospects.
 Read the extract from the story and say what made the narrator immigrate.

Of course, I have never said a word. Not even to Amal’s father. Instead I
have capitulated to Amal’s needs. When, in the summer, Delhi got too hot for
him to study, I persuaded Amal’s father to buy him an air-cooler. When, in
the winter, Delhi got too cold, we bought him a heater. When he needed
money for the college excursion, we found it.

Vocabulary

yearn (v.) [jɜːn] томиться, очень сильно хотеть


firsthand (adj.) по собственному опыту
surmise (v.) предполагать, высказывать догадку
scholar (n.) ученый (обычно гуманитарий)
affection (n.) любовь, привязанность
regular (n.) постоянный клиент, завсегдатай
inundate (v.) ['ɪnʌndeɪt] затоплять, наводнять
detergent (n.) моющее средство
graft (v.) разг. работать
infinitely (adv.) очень, чрезмерно
hubbub (n.) шум, гам
tout (v.) назойливо расхваливать, зазывать
borough [‘bʌrə] (n.) городок
swarms (n.) куча, масса
fret (v.) беспокоиться, волноваться,
раздражаться
dither [‘dɪɚə] (v.) находиться в крайнем возбуждении
veer (v.) менять направление

40
inconspicuously (adv.) неприметно
reams (n.) [riːm] большое количество, куча
squat (v.) селиться самовольно на чужой
земле
dissect (v.) анализировать, разбирать
критически
indignity (n.) унижение
commemorate (v.) почтить память, отметить,
праздновать
overarching (adj.) всеохватывающий, всеобъемлющий
ambler (n.) иноходец
bevy (n.) группа
whim (n.) прихоть, причуда
chivy along ['ʧɪvɪ] подгонять, подстегивать
frivolous (adj.) легкомысленный, ветреный
reciprocate (v.) отвечать взаимностью
lithe (adj.) [laɪð] гибкий
evolve (v.) развиваться, изменяться
console (v.) утешать
stack up зарабатывать
distraught (adj.) [dɪ'strɔːt]  обезумевший, потерявший рассудок
entitle (v.) давать право на что-л.
recede (v.) удаляться

Find English equivalents for the following expressions.

Чувствовать нутром, пешеходный переход (оснащен светофором, который


включается с помощью специальной кнопки), верить на слово, от рассвета
до заката, одетые в сари продавцы, сделать разворот (повернуть на 180
градусов), ее волнует мое дело, безупречно чистый.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1) Despite the passing years, I still have not adjusted ….. the climate.

2) Lately both my children, Amal in particular, have been complaining bitterly


….. the Delhi heat.

3) Never interested … having his own children, but circumstance has moulded
him …… a surrogate parent.

4) On the plus side, I have never been short … shifts.

41
5) Amal’s father also grafts ….. children.

6) As I finalize the ingredients for tonight’s meal, I veer …….. the greengrocer.

7) Lucy cares ….. my cause.

8) I knew I had no leg to stand ….. .

9) My head had been pounding from how easily the verdict had tripped …. the
judge’s tongue.

10) The south bank of the Thames is basking …. warmth.

11) In their uniforms, entitled to stroll and sit on benches, …. a par with the
natives.

12) Today I was leaving ….. the airport.

13) The plane is pulling ….. .

14) Am I entitled …. a glimpse of my son?

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

petty, big, fussy, barren, pink, pelican, intricate, overarching, head-turning,


weary

……………………… jealousy ……………………… tastes


……………………… crossings ……………………… blossom
……………………… trees ……………………… shot
……………………… eater ……………………… concern
……………………… girl ……………………… face

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = vex, worry

b) ___________ try to sell or convince people that something is very good

с) ___________ = analyse

d) ___________ = celebrate

42
e) ___________ = keep telling somebody to do something that they don’t want
to do

Comprehension

1. How long has the narrator been in England? Whose initiative was it to
immigrate? Why did they overstay?
2. How many children has she got? How long hasn’t she seen them? What can
you say about them?
3. Who is Bhaiya? What can you say about him?
4. What do Amal’s parent do to earn a living? How do they feel about it? Why
don’t they complain about their destiny?
5. What makes the little London Borough of- feel like home, like a mini-India?
6. Why is Amal coming to London?
7. Who is Lucy? What role does she play in this story?
8. Why can’t the narrator see her son at the airport?

Discussion

 What did the narrator mean by “always look up because wherever you are,
the sky is always yours”?
 Why does the situation at the airport (“Give my love to Amal, I say. He nods.
And Anu … my … He struggles with his sentence”) give the narrator strength
to peel herself away from her husband, Lucy and England?

Render the following sentences into English:

1. Продавец на рынке громко расхваливал свой товар, но этим он только


отпугивал немногочисленных покупателей.

2. Не проявляй так открыто свою любовь к машинам! Если бы у нас были


деньги, мы бы немедленно купили такую дорогую модель, но мы ведь
не семья миллионеров.

3. Из-за внезапных прихотей Джейн нам то и дело приходилось


останавливаться то у одного, то у другого магазинчика или лавки.
Продавцы знали Джейн, ведь она была постоянной клиенткой.

4. Когда мы строили дом, нам все время приходилось подгонять


строителей, которые не стремились уложиться в срок.

43
5. Фигурист обязательно должен быть гибким, иначе ему не удастся
выполнять все элементы, необходимые для победы. Фигурное катание
развивается все быстрее, но большинство связок не изменилось с
середины 20 века.

6. Никто никогда не хочет работать на складе, так как это тяжелая работа.

7. Когда умер отец, сын утешал мать и помогал ей во всем. Только


благодаря заботе сына она смогла пережить такую потерю и остаться
такой же доброй и отзывчивой женщиной.

8. Моя сестренка собралась замуж и уже объявила всем о своем желании.


Но мало кто верит, что это произойдет, так как она не настолько
легкомысленна, чтобы так быстро выйти замуж.

9. После сильного дождя поле было затоплено и урожай погиб.


Руководство района собирается закупить технику, предсказывающую
изменения в погоде.

10. Наоми Кэмпбелл постоянно унижали в школе, так как она была самой
уродливой и тихой девочкой. Но какая красивая и стройная женщина
она теперь!

VI. John Waddington-Feather: His Life and Work.

Read the text and then answer the questions that follow it.

An Anglican priest, John Waddington-Feather is a retired schoolmaster and


author who belongs to the West Yorkshire 'school' of writers. His children's
novel, Quill's adventures in Grozzieland, was nominated for the Carnegie
Medal in 1989, and his verse-play, Garlic Lane, won the Burton Award in
1999. In 2002 he was awarded the American DeWitt Romig Prize for his poetry.

Born in 1933 in Keighley, he attended Keighley Boys' Grammar School and


graduated in English at Leeds University in 1954. After university, he served in
the Intelligence Corps, where he gained his wings as a paratrooper. A keen
sportsman in his youth, he played rugby in both codes and won a county cap for
Sussex.

He now lives in Shrewsbury where he taught, and has ministered in the prison
there for the past thirty years.
44
Questions

1) How old is Waddington-Feather now?


2) What were his occupations?

3) Complete the following timeline of John Waddington's life (fill in all the blanks!):

1933
1954 graduated in English at Leeds university
 1989
1999
2002  

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ =formally suggest someone as a candidate for a job, an award


b) ___________ =a soldier who is trained to be dropped by parachute into battle
or into enemy territory

c) ___________ =to be enthusiastic about something, like doing something

d) ___________ =to perform religious functions in a church

6.1 The High Master and Little Billy Clough

Pre-reading activity

Talk about the following statements in pairs/groups. Do you agree with them?

 In my country, an accent can tell us if someone is intelligent or not.


 There are accents in my own language that I hate listening to.

 Having the right accent is important for business success.

 People with regional accents are considered to be hardworking.

 People with regional accents will face prejudice in business.

In pairs / groups, talk about the following English accents. What are your
experiences of listening to these accents? Which do you like or dislike?

45
 Queen’s English (RP)  Chinese English
 Regional British accents  Spanish English
 Standard American  French English

 Australian English  Russian English

The story you are going to read looks into the issue of accents and their
effect on our life. Yorkshire accent is in the centre of its attention. You may
find a lot of videos on the Internet to make it clear what the Yorkshire
accent is like.

Here are some tips on how to speak with the Yorkshire accent:

 "Oh" sounds are pronounced "or." for example, No would be pronounced


"nor" But please, please remember that there is no emphasis on the 'R' - if
you say it like that, you'll sound Irish.
 Yorkshire folk always say "aye" for yes, and "nay or nah" for no.

 All use of "the" and "to" is replaced with "t'." EG: "I'm going into the
woods"/Ah'm goin' int' woods" (note: the g and the end of "ing" is also
dropped.)

 "Nah then" is a perfectly acceptable, and very friendly way to greet


someone. Another common greeting is "Ey up, how's tha doin?"

 The 'th' at the end of 'with' is dropped. 'I was going with him'/I wa' goin' wi'
'im." This also applies to "was"

 "H" sounds are commonly dropped. Him/Her = 'im/'er.

 The letter T is always dropped at the end of words eg- that becomes tha

 Another Yorkshire vowel tendency is to pronounce the U sound as...


something very U-like. Cup, come, etc might be pronounced elsewhere as
'cap', 'camm'. In Yorkshire? 'Cup', 'cumm'. A real back vowel. The "u" sound
in "up", "butter", "bus", etc, which is parodied in the phrase "oop north".
It's /ʊ/

Vocabulary

46
forbear (n.) прародитель, предок

lay down закладывать, начинать

tycoon (n.) промышленный или финансовый


магнат

stocky (adj.) приземистый

bluff (adj.) широколицый

canny (adj.) умный, проницательный

merchant (n.) торговец

down-to-earth (adj.) разумный, практичный

hard-headed (adj.) расчетливый, упрямый

as they come разг.удивительно, исключительно

lah-di-dah манерный, жеманный, с претензией


на аристократизм

edge (n.) раздражение

finesse (n.) тонкость, изящество

apprentice (n.) ученик, подмастерье

make sth. tick управлять, заставлять работать

pack off выпроваживать, прогонять

shibboleth (n.) шибболет, особенность поведения,


внешнего вида, языка, которая
позволяет определить
принадлежность человека к
определенному слою или классу
людей

pigeonhole (v.) навешивать ярлыки (предвзято)

old boy net круг бывших однокашников, узы

47
старой дружбы (широко
используется бывшими
выпускниками привилегированных
частных средних школ)

crunch (n.) критический, решающий момент

laugh sth. off отшучиваться

irk (v.) докучать, надоедать

iron out сглаживать, улаживать

mangle (v.) искажать

nag (v.) ворчать, придираться

follow suit следовать чьему-л. примеру

pull strings пустить в ход связи

apprehensive (adj.) испытывающий тревогу, полный


страха

cut-glass (adj.) безукоризненный, правильный

fare (v.) преуспевать

Find English equivalents for the following expressions.

Выделять, поселенцы, обманывать (втереть очки), насквозь (до конца,


полностью), ухватить основы чего-л., завидный жених, говорить
превосходно.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1) The dialects of the farmlands in the North and East of the country are derived
….. the Angle and Danish-Viking settlers.

2) As Billy grew …. he modeled himself … his dad and spoke ‘broad’.

3) All upper-crustians spoke well, from the royal family … .

48
4) They had passed it …. as a joke but there was no escaping their sinister
undertone.

5) She nagged and nagged …. Clifford till he gave … and they selected a top-
drawer, public school down South.

6) He had enough of his dad in him to carry it …. and he settled …. nicely.

7) We pride ourselves here … how our boys speak.

8) The High Master was asked how Billy was faring …. his speech.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

top-drawer, sound, sinister, flat, cut-glass, clean-cut, upper-crustian, mangled,


smug

……………………… society ……………………… education


……………………… undertone ……………………… vowels
……………………… consonants ……………………… public school
……………………… Yorkshire ……………………… voice
……………………… smile

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = practical
b) ___________ = a person who is successful in business

c) ___________ = ancestor

d) ___________ = from upper classes of society

Comprehension

1) Where did Danish-Viking settlers come from?


2) Where did Norse-Viking traders come from?
3) Why is there a potential tycoon in every Yorkshire man?
4) What industry did Clifford work in?
5) When did he leave school?
6) What age did Clifford get married? Who was his wife? Did she differ much
from her husband?
7) Who did Billy go after in his manner of speaking? How did Billy’s mother
treat it?

49
8) How old was Billy when he was sent to a very select school in Berkshire?
Was it hard to get Billy signed in there?
9) What was the High Master mostly proud of at his school?

Discussion

 Why do you think in the end the high Master started speaking with the
Yorkshire accent? What message did the author want to make ending the
story this way?
 Why was it so important for Billy’s mother to teach her son to speak upper-
crustian English?
 Do you look down on people who are from Odessa, Uzbekistan and other
former Soviet republics?

Render the following sentences into English:

1. У этого приземистого и широколицего парня явные задатки будущего


магната. Если он сейчас с таким оживлением говорит о продаже и
покупке земли и недвижимости, то в будущем он наверняка займет
место под солнцем.

2. Майклу надоело, что его друг отшучивается на серьезные просьбы и не


отвечает прямо, и он перестал с ним общаться.

3. - Психологи советуют пытаться сглаживать трудности и не идти


напролом. Но я не согласна, так как иногда только напором можно
разрешить вопрос. – Я тоже не согласна.
Но они психологи, они знают лучше, чем мы!

4. Коллега всегда придирается к моим отчетам, хотя она сама показывала


мне, как их делать! Мне кажется, она просто завидует мне, так как моя
работа интереснее, чем ее.

5. Андрея не взяли в сборную по баскетболу, потому что в критический


момент он всегда терялся и не мог продолжать игру. Ах, если бы он
только мог собираться с духом!

6. Я никогда не покупаю эту желтую газету! Редакция постоянно


искажает факты и подает их аксиому.

7. С ней трудно иметь дело – посмотри, какая она расчетливая и упрямая!


Никогда прежде она не шла на компромисс, чем вредила не только
окружающим, но и себе.
50
8. Мой брат долго выпроваживал из дома этого наглого продавца
сломанной техники. Больше никогда не буду открывать дверь
посторонним людям!

9. - Ты знаешь, что этот студент преуспевает в бизнесе?


- Неудивительно, ведь еще его предки владели магазином в центре
города!

10. Моя одноклассница устроилась на работу в посольство только


благодаря связям своей мамы. Почему она не поступила честно, я не
знаю.

VII. John Kendrick Bangs: His Life and work.

Read the text and then answer the questions that follow it.

John Kendrick Bangs was born in Yonkers, New York, in May, 1862. His
father, Francis N. Bangs, was a prominent New York lawyer, in fact, one of the
most prominent lawyers the New York bar has ever known.

In 1883, after receiving such an education as any New York boy of a well-to-do
family, young Bangs was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy
from the School of Political Science of Columbia University, New York. For a
year and a half afterward he studied law in his father's office. Gradually his
fondness for literature smothered his zeal as a student of law. So, between dips
into his father's dry volumes, he wrote little sketches in his characteristic vein.
These tentative works introduced him favorably to the managers of “Life”, and,
late in 1884, he became associated with Mr. Mitchell in the editorship of that
entertaining periodical. In addition to his editorial work he undertook to
maintain the attractive "By the Way" page, and to this valuable feature of life he
contributed an extraordinary amount of original matter.

In 1887, while still connected with “Life”, and shortly after his marriage, young
Bangs went abroad, and during this absence from editorial work his first book,
"Roger Camorden, a Strange Story," was published. It was an unusual and very
promising tale of hallucination, and its success was encouraging. That same
year, in collaboration with his friend and class-mate, Frank Dempster Sherman,
he produced a series of satirical and humorous pieces.

Soon afterward he resigned from “Life”, in order to devote more time to larger
work.

51
The first product of the rising author's independent career was a travesty on "The
Taming of the Shrew" called "Katherine". It followed the Shakespearean
construction rather closely, and, with its many quips and gags and jolly songs,
made a first-rate libretto for a comic opera. The popularity of the travesty
advertised the fame of Bangs from one end of Manhattan Island to the other.
The following year, for the same organization, he wrote another travesty,
"Mephistopheles, a Profanation "; and this, too, won much popularity and
further brightened its author's name.

The happy results of his experience as the father of three boys were noticeable in
the book which Mr. Bangs published in 1891, "Tiddledywink Tales," the first of
a series of amusing stories for children.

A novel, "Toppleton's Client," appeared in 1893, and in that year also appeared
his first widely successful work, "Coffee and Repartee," a collection of Idiot
papers. Those were not enthusiastic literary days, and yet in a few years fifty
thousand copies of the little book were sold. "Coffee and Repartee" was
followed at regular intervals by "The Water-Ghost," "The Idiot," "Mr. Bona-
parte of Corsica," and by the other books whose names have at sometime, been
on every liberal reader's tongue,

In 1894 Mr. Bangs was nominated by the Democrats for Mayor of Yonkers, but
he didn’t win. Mr. Bangs spoke of that defeat as the greatest blessing that he
ever met. '' In later years," he says, ''when I saw how I would have been forced
to abandon my chosen profession for politics, when I learned that the mayoralty
would have taken every moment of my time, I was glad that I had been
defeated.”

In 1903 Agnes Hyde Bangs, his wife with whom he had three sons, died. Bangs
then married Mary Gray. In 1907 they moved from Yonkers to Ogunquit,
Maine. John Kendrick Bangs died from stomach cancer in 1922 at age fifty-
nine. Mr. Bangs said that he had his own medicine to cure this disease. He
firmly believed that humor sweetens life. "Show me a man who does not
appreciate humor," he said once, "and I will show you a man who is morbid,
cynical, unresponsive to every fine impulse of nature. Such a man is worse than
a pessimist, and more to be pitied.”

Questions

1) How old was John Kendrick Bangs when he died?


2) Where was John Kendrick Bangs born?
3) Who was Bangs’s father?
4) How long did he study law at his father’s office? Why so little?
52
5) How did it happen that John Kendrick Bangs was noticed by the managers of
“Life”?
6) When was his first book published? Was it success? What was it about?
7) What did John Kendrick Bangs write when he became a full-time writer?
What were his works about? Did they win him recognition?
8) Why was John Kendrick Bangs glad that he was defeated at the elections for
Mayor?
9) Complete the following timeline of John Waddington's life (fill in all the blanks!):

1862
graduated from the School of Political Science of Columbia
1883
University
 1884
his first book, "Roger Camorden, a Strange Story," was
1887
published
1891  
1893
1894 nominated by the Democrats for Mayor of Yonkers
1903
1907
1922

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = law company


b) ___________ = great enthusiasm
c) ___________ = stifle, kill
d) ___________ = not certain, made as a first step
e) ___________ = in a particular style
f) ___________ = caricature
g) ___________ = bring somebody under control
h) ___________ = a scold, an angry woman
i) ___________ = a remark, that is intended to be amusing or clever
j) ___________ = a joke
k) ___________ = sick, unhealthy

53
7.1 The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall

Pre-reading activity

 Ghost stories have been with humankind for thousands of years.  There are
written accounts from the Chinese and Greeks, for example, which make up
some of the earliest writings of hauntings.  But do people in our modern,
well-educated civilization actually believe in ghosts? Do you know any ghost
stories, or stories about the strange and supernatural?  Get into pairs, and
briefly tell a story about ghosts or the supernatural.
 Do you believe in ghosts? How about other monsters, like vampires or
mummies? Why/not?
 Do you know anyone who has seen, or think he/she has seen, a ghost?  If yes,
please explain.
 What would you do if you saw a ghost?
 How much do you think TV and movies affect your opinions and beliefs?
Please explain.
 What are some of your favorite ghost and/or horror movies from Hollywood?
Why do you like them so much?

Vocabulary

haunted (adj.) населенный призраками


afflict (v.) причинять боль; беспокоить
sine qua non [‘sɪnɪkweɪ:n’ɔn] лат. то, без чего нельзя обойтись,
необходимый
spectral (adj.) призрачный, нереальный
avail (n.) выгода, польза
saturated (adj.) пропитанный водой
calk (v.) подковывать, прибивать
hemp (n.) зд. пенька
tar (n.) смола, гудрон
proprietor (n.) собственник
precaution (n.) мера предосторожности
suffice (v.) быть достаточным, хватать
aqueous (adj.) [‘eɪkwɪəs] водный, водянистый
swoon (v.) падать в обморок
felicitate upon sth. поздравлять с чем-л.
foil (v.) расстраивать, разрушать планы
cavernous eyes запавшие глаза
come to придти в сознание

54
daunt (v.) устрашать, запугивать
apparition (n.) видение, призрак
get a ducking сильно промокнуть
ward off держать кого-л. на расстоянии
asperity (n.) решимость
infernal (adj.) адский
disagreeable (adj.) неприятный
nay нет
indignation (n.) негодование
repartee (n.) остроумный ответ
impertinence дерзость, нахальство
inexorable (adj.) неумолимый, безжалостный
spectre (n.) привидение, призрак
spite (v.) донимать, раздражать
allotted time выделенное время
divulge (v.) разглашать, раскрывать
douse (v.) заливать, смачивать
wager (n.) пари, ставка
obliterate (v.) стирать, удалять
onslaught (n.) стремительная атака, нападение
evaporate (v.) испаряться
withering (adj.) иссушающий
wellnigh [ˈwelnaɪ] (adv.) возвыш. почти
ingenious (adj.) изобретательный, находчивый
don (v.) уст. надевать
jersey (n.) свитер, вязаная кофта
tormentor (n.) мучитель
rivulet [ rɪvjʊlɪt] ручеёк, речушка
delectable поэт. прелестный, восхитительный
beseech (v.) умолять, заклинать
snowdrift (n.) снежный сугроб
fetters (n.) ножные кандалы, плен
congeal [kənˈdʒi:l ](v.) замораживать

Find English equivalents for the following expressions.

Сделать все возможное, просачиваться в комнату, неразбавленный виски,


промокнуть до нитки, находчивый наследник, обсудить что-л. подробно,
онеметь (окоченеть), прекрасный пол.

55
Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

The ghost didn’t content itself ….. merely appearing at the bedside of the
afflicted person who saw it, but persisted … remaining there for one mortal hour
before it would disappear.
And then he swooned …. and was found later saturated …. seawater and fright.
The only thing he could do to ward …. the evil effects of his encounter was to
swallow ten two-grain quinine pills.
Harrowby Hall was closed, and the heir … the estate was in London.
He was felicitating himself … the ingenuity of his plan.
I think we would better sit down here on this snowdrift and talk matters …. .

Match the adjectives to the nouns.


fair, bony, ingenious, delectable, infernal, icy, withering, undiluted
……………………… fetters ……………………… visits
……………………… degree ……………………… sex
……………………… fate ……………………… heir
……………………… whiskey ……………………… fingers

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________ = ghostly, phantasmal


b) ___________ = owner
c) ___________ = to frighten, intimidate
d) ___________ = sight, ghost
e) ___________ = annoy, offend
f) ___________ = hellish, diabolical
g) ___________ = soaked
h) ___________ = creative, inventive
i) ___________ = implore, beg

Comprehension
1) What was the problem with Harrowby Hall?
2) When did the ghost appear? How long did it remain?
3) What did the owners of Harrowby Hall undertake to rid of the dewy lady?
4) What did the ghost look like?
5) Why was she doomed to be the Water Ghost?

56
6) What made her commit suicide?
7) What did she do if there was no one in the guest chamber?
8) Why was it not possible to stay dry in the ghost’s presence?
9) What did Henry Hartwick Oglethorpe implore the ghost to do?
10) Who was the last heir to the estate?
11) How was the heir’s life affected by the regular ghost’s appearance?
12) What ideas did the heir come up with to get rid of the ghost? Which idea
did he finally decide on? Did it work well?
13) How was the ghost finally conquered?

Discussion

 Do you think the Water Ghost will remain an icy work of art forever?
 Do ghost stories possess a grain of truth? How about fairy tales? Why/not?
 Why do some people believe in the paranormal? Might it provide a means of
escape from the mundane?
 Do you agree or disagree? If a person has unfinished business when they die,
he/she will become a ghost. Why?

Render the following sentences into English:

1. Учителя склонны принимать остроумные ответы за нахальство. Как


правило, у них отсутствует чувство юмора и они слишком
строги.

2. Английские замки больше других населены привидениями. Призрак –


это то, без чего не может обойтись ни одно старинное здание.

3. Только благодаря спасательному жилету мой одноклассник не утонул,


когда круизный лайнер, на котором он плыл в Испанию,
перевернулся. Меры предосторожности не бывают излишни, в чем
мой друг теперь уверен на 100%.

4. Когда Давыдов играет на сцене, его голос полон резкости


(решимости), но в жизни он очень мягкий и спокойный человек.
Всегда интересно видеть, как человек преображается в игре!

5. Болезнь папы расстроила мои планы. На выходные мы собирались


уехать из города, а вместо этого нам пришлось два дня ждать в
больнице.

6. Тебе не следовало класть свитер на мокрое полотенце! Что ты теперь


наденешь, ведь свитер в воде (впитал воду)?

57
7. На торгах собственник заявил, что не намерен уступать в цене. Его
слова расстроили мои планы, так как у меня не хватало денег на всю
коллекцию картин.

8. Катерина умоляла Генриха о пощаде, но он был непреклонен. На


казнь ее несли, поскольку она упала в обморок, когда услышала
приговор.

9. Мы поняли, что она не спала по ее запавшим глазам и бледному цвету


кожи.

10. Мой энтузиазм испарился, когда я осознал, какую долгую и сложную


работу мне придется проделать. Конечно, мне не было достаточно
двух тренировок в неделю, но ездить в зал каждый день и успевать
делать другие дела мне было явно не по силам.

VIII. Truman Capote: His Life and Work

Read the text and then answer the questions that follow it.

Truman Capote ['trumən kə'pəuti:] was born in New Orleans in 1924 and was
raised in various parts of the South. His parents divorced when he was only four
and he was brought up by his mother’s relatives. He formed a close link with
Nanny Rumbley Faulk who was his mother’s distant relative.

Capote started writing pieces of fiction at the age of 11; he was given the
nickname Bulldog, pun of "Bulldog Truman" to the fictional detective Bulldog
Drummond popular in films of the mid-1930s.

When his mother eventually remarried and summoned the adolescent Truman to
her homes in Connecticut and New York, she changed his legal surname from
Persons to the name of her second husband, Joe Capote, a Cuban. The physically
odd boy – whose startlingly obvious effeminacy of voice and manner greatly
distressed his mother – attended good Northern schools where he performed
poorly in virtually all subjects but reading and writing.

58
He left school when he was fifteen and determined on a writer’s career, he also
decided against a college education. Capote started working for the New Yorker
which was his first – and last – regular job.

Recognition came to him in 1936 when he wrote an early work from The
Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

One of his short stories, Miriam, attracted attention of Bennett Cerf who Capote
concluded a treaty with. The writer was charged a $1,500 fee and began Other
Voices, Other Rooms. In 1948 the novel was published to international critical
acclaim, assuring Capote a place among the prominent postwar American
writers. The main character of the novel, Idabel, is the prototype of his neighbor
and best friend Harper Lee. By-turn, Capote was Lee’s inspiration for Dill
Harris in her Pulitzer-prize winning novel “To kill a mocking bird”.

In 1959 Truman Capote’s eye catches a headline in a newspaper about cruel


murder and here a new round of his life starts.

Lee Harper was Capote’s help in research for writing In Cold Blood (1966). A
common journalistic research absorbed several years of his life. Capote never
finished another novel after In Cold Blood.

In 1958 the collection Breakfast at Tiffany’s: A Short Novel and Three Stories
was published. Holly Golightly was Capote’s favorite personage; he based the
character of Holly on several different women who were all either his friends or
surroundings.

In 1978 Truman Capote started publishing short pieces to Warhol’s Interview


magazine, all these pieces were the basis for Music for Chameleons which was
published in 1980.

On a par with Ernest Hemingway Capote is a master of short stories, these two
writers managed to become American household names. Capote left not only a
crime narrative but also a quantity of early fiction: three brief novels and a
handful of short stories.

In 1980 the writer became fairly reclusive, he suffered from hallucinations.

In 1984 Capote died from liver cancer.

Questions

59
1. When and where was Truman Capote born? Was his childhood happy?
2. Which schools did he attend?
3. Was he married? What was the reason for it?
4. Enumerate his most outstanding works.
5. Complete the following timeline of Truman Capote’s life:
1924

He begins writing the first pieces of prose

1936

1939

1948

He starts a journalistic research about the


unexplained murder of the Clutter family in rural
Holcomb, Kansas.

In Cold Blood is published

Music for Chameleons is published

1984

8.1 A Christmas Memory

 Is the story anyhow connected with Capote’s childhood?


 What kind of story is it:
interesting/boring/touching/ordinary/banal/bizzare? Why do you think so?
 Why is an indefinite article used in the title?
 Is the story symbolistic?

Vocabulary

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rocking chair (n.) кресло-качалка
to commence [kə'men(t)s] (v.) начинать, начинаться
sprightly (adj., adv.) радостный, веселый, оживленный
timid ['tɪmɪd] (adj.) робкий
in memory of в память о
buggy ['bʌgɪ] (n.) детская коляска; тележка
cartwheel ['kɑːtwiːl] колесо тележки
dilapidated [dɪ'læpɪdeɪtɪd] (adj.) ветхий, обветшалый
Pecan tree (n.) орех пекан
wicker ['wɪkə] (n.,v.) лоза
unraveled (adj.) распутанный, вышедший из строя
fern [fɜːn] (n.) папоротник
fishing pole (n.) удочка
truck (n.) тележка
to haul (v.) перевозить
distemper (n.) собачья чумка
to trot (beside) (v.) идти, бежать рядом
to hull [hʌl] (v.) очищать от шелухи/скорлупы
mound [maund] (n.,v.) насыпь
ivory ['aɪv(ə)rɪ] (n.) слоновая кость
to sneak (v.) давать украдкой
mite (n.) маленький кусочек, немножко чего-то
to mingle with (v.) смешиваться
to toss (v.) зд. ставить
ginger (n.) имбирь, корень имбиря
flavouring (n.) приправа, специя
skinflint (adj., n.) скупой; мизерный
sacrilegious [səkrı'lıʤəs] (adj.) кощунственный, святотатственный
to conduct [kən'dʌkt] (v.) вести, проводить
Stereopticon [ˌstɛrɪ'ɒptɪk(ə)n] (n.) диапроектор
rummage ['rʌmɪʤ] (n.) хлам
to take in (v.) зд. собирать, запасать (деньги)
loose [luːs] (adj.,v.,n.) плохо прикрепленный, шатающийся
to withdraw [wɪð'drɔː] (v.) извлекать, вытаскивать
hoe [həu] (n.,v.) мотыга
pebble (n.) галька, булыжник
to wallow in (v.) наслаждаться (чем-то плохим)
on the safe side на всякий случай, для пущей верности
on errand по поручению, заданию
odour ['əudə] (n.) запах, аромат

knife grinder ['graɪndə] точильщик ножей

to garland ['gɑːlənd] (v.,n.) украшать гирляндами

Find English equivalents of the following word combinations in the text:

61
пользоваться косметикой; загорелое лицо; воодушевлять; распродавать
ненужные вещи; волосы, обесцвеченные перекисью; коротко остриженные
волосы; идти рядом, жаться к кому-либо; приступ жадности; трава по пояс;
разматывать воздушный змей; размашистый, неразборчивый почерк;
щекотать пальцы; везти тележку; дразнящий аромат; терять счет;
подержанный свитер.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary:

1. We feel our kites twitching … the string as they swim into the wind.
2. If you start practicing Maths every day, you may get a head … figures.
3. I never took pride… my charity work as all good must be heartfelt.
4. If I were his wife, I would never let him wallow … grief.
5. Wealth and fame have never had power … me.
6. The criminal escaped from prison and managed to leave the city mingling
… the crowd.
7. The shop assistant was discontent with being paid … dimes and pennies.
8. The dog squatted … the foot of the tree scenting the polecat.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

youthful, remarkable, sherry-coloured, distant, fruitcake, skinflint, sour, brimful,


dead-tired, whispery, nose-tingling, gnawable, profitable, hateful, dust-cloud,
safety, pearl-handled

………………... beef bone ……………..……


shudders

…………….…… relatives ………………….. illness

…………………. eyes ………………….. heap

……………..….. knife .………………… face

………………… enterprise …………………… sums

………………… weather …………………… odour

………………… disposition …………………… bowl

………………… whoosh …………………… voice

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………………… pin

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ___________________ = a small vehicle in which a baby can lie as it is


pushed along
b) ___________________ = without a label
c) ___________________ = to fill with or spread through
d) ___________________ = too bright, showy
e) ___________________ = little by little, slowly
f) ___________________ = stuff used for seasoning food
g) ___________________ = to scowl, to have an angry look on one’s face

Find other ways of expressing the following.

1.. … as though officially inaugurating the Christmas time of year that


exhilarates her imagination and fuels the blaze of her heart…

2. The door opens. Our hearts overturn.

3. It’s just that we enter any contest we hear about.

4. Besides, a person my age shouldn’t squander their eyes.

5. And, as we sit counting pennies, it is as though we were back tabulating dead


flies.

6. Potent with eyes that scold, tongues that scald.

7. Well, I can’t sleep a hoot. My mind’s jumping like a jack rabbit.

8. …her breath smoking the windowpane…

Match the active words with their synonyms:

1. to irritate

2. tanned

63
3. to put into the fire

4. to take pictures

5. closely cropped

6. a pile

7. to bustle about

Write the correct form of the word in the blank spaces.

Noun Verb Adjective

- faithful

to dilapidate

purpose

relative

carefree

to scald

Use the following in the situations of your own.

waist-high grass; hot-weather moons; joined sighs; hand-picked blackberries;


rapid-running water; bugle-blowing prison; spooky feeling; Satan-tilted eyes
Find the right order of the story.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

a) Mr. Haha’s café is a dangerous place and even Queenie sticks by.
b) The friends find a wonderful Christmas tree and bring it home.

64
c) The friends look out of the window and see it is fruitcake weather.
d) The aunt is happy and thinks she has seen the Lord. She shares her
impression with Buddy.
e) They unwrap the presents and the boy is disappointed.
f) Queenie dies and the aunt remains alone.
g) The friends recollect the people they are going to bake cakes for.
h) To be on the safe side the friends toss a thirteenth penny out the window.
i) They find things to go to the orchard.
j) The two relatives scold the friends and drive the boy’s aunt to tears.
k) Celebrating the purchase the friends taste whiskey and provoke other
people’s anger.
l) Buddy and the aunt make presents and Christmas-tree decorations.
m) Buddy feels his aunt has passed away long before getting a piece of news.
n) Mr. Haha turns out to be a pleasant person and gives the friend the bottle
for free.
o) The friends remove the purse hidden under the floor and count the money.
p) Buddy is taken to military school; he is unhappy and misses home.

Comprehension

1. When does the situation take place?

2. Why is fruitcake season so important both for the boy and his aunt? Does
joint action help unite people?

3. Why do they send cakes to people they have never met or met just once or
twice in their life?

4. Why does Buddy at the beginning say his aunt is still a child?

5. What makes Mr. Haha give the friends whisky for free?

6. Does Buddy have a premonition of his aunt’s dying?

7. Why does the narrator mention the kites and the sky so many times?

8. Was the story written from the point of view of a child or a grown-up? What
confirms it?

9. Can you ground the fact the boy disliked other relatives? Does the boy
mention their names?

Translate the following sentences into English.


65
1. Почувствовав дразнящий аромат кафе, гости спешили зайти и
сделать заказ.
2. Другие родственники, также живущие в доме, плохо к нам
относились и часто бранили.
3. Ни сестра, ни брат никогда не видели прежде такого богатства: это
были и пирожки с грибами, и ванильное мороженое, и разные
салаты.
4. Пощекотав мне шею тонкой травинкой, мальчик убежал.
5. Отец отправился к соседям по тому же поручению: нам нужно было
позвонить родственникам, а мы так и не установили телефон.
6. На его лице действительно были шрамы, это не был миф! И от этого
он выглядел еще более устрашающе.
7. Наша просьба отрезвила хозяина, и он перестал улыбаться.
8. После чашки крепкого кофе я почувствовал себя более оживленно и
распрямил плечи.
9. Вор выхватил нож, украшенный жемчугом, и приставил его к горлу
прохожего.
10.В приступе жадности он не захотел поделиться деньгами с братом,
но совесть не
позволила ему забрать все себе.

8.2 A Diamond Guitar

 Do you believe the guitar was really diamond? Why did Tico Feo claim it
was diamond?
 Why did Mr. Schaeffer not let anyone play the guitar after Tico Feo’s
escape?

Vocabulary

barb (n.,v.) шип, колючка


tar paper ['tɑːˌpeɪpə] (n.) толь (кровельный материал)
pine (pine tree) (n.) cосна
сot(s) (n.) нары
to look up to smb (v.) глубоко уважать кого-либо
lanky (adj.) долговязый
pulled-out (adj.) вытянутый

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attenuated [ə'tenjueɪtɪd] (adj.) худой, исхудавший
truck (n.,v.) грузовик
handcuff ['hæn(d)kʌf] (n.,v.) наручники; надевать наручники
to mope around (v.) бродить, слоняться без дела
to lag (v.) плестись, медленно тащиться
to stud with (v.) усеивать, усыпать
nimble ['nɪmbl] (adj.) шустрый, проворный
eternity [ɪ'tɜːnətɪ] (n.) вечность
to rot away (v.) зд. выцветать
stale [steɪl] (adj.,v.) несвежий, затхлый
advent ['ædvənt] (n.) пришествие Христа (здесь –
появление в тюрьме Тико Фео)
garish ['geərɪʃ] (adj.) ослепительный
freighter ['freɪtə] (n.) грузовой корабль, грузовой самолет
rosary ['rəuz(ə)rɪ] (n.) четки
to whimper [wɪmpə] (v.) хныкать, ныть
to lean on (v.) зд. рассчитывать на/получать
помощь
thread [θred] (n.,v.) нить; тонкая струйка
ether ['iːθə] (n.) эфир
to churn [ʧɜːn] (v.,n.) перемешивать, трясти
to churn up бередить душу
to screech (v.,n.) пронзительный крик, кричать
пронзительно
to bullfight (v.,n.) бой быков; участвовать в корриде
to keep after smb (v.) не давать покоя
to tantalize (v.) дразнить, мучить

67
to saunter about (v.) прогуливаться
firecracker ['faɪəˌkrækə] (n.) фейерверк, шутиха
meticulously [mə'tɪkjələslɪ] (adv.) дотошно, тщательно, мелочно
tricky (adj.) хитрый, коварный
to grudge (v.,n.) испытывать неприязнь; смотреть с
завистью
Find English equivalents of the following word combinations in the text:

приглаживать волосы; очищать от кожуры; большая (пузатая) печка;


скрутить/свернуть сигарету; земной блеск; высоко ценить (карту); ни
капли лишнего жира; быть приговоренным к 99 годам в тюрьме; носить
крестик на шее; погруженный в себя; изрезанная колеями дорога;
назначить сигнал; по неизвестной причине; никогда не видевший моря (так
же о странах, не имеющих выхода к морю); кидать шапки в воздух; с
большими, как у борова, щеками.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1. The journalist didn’t recognize her voice … its Hungarian accent.

2. Both party of the right and left look … … this politician. He is said to be
extremely honest with his electors.

3. The boy handcuffed … the policeman looked miserable.

4. Tico Feo was sentenced to two years in prison for cutting … a man’s ear.

5. At night the sky was studded … stars and we watched the fall of the brightest
of them.

7. Stop picking … the cat’s whiskers!

8. The witch was believed to have put a curse … the house. No one inhabited it
and local children never tried to get in through the windows.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

68
rutted, silvering, dull, nimble, worldly, pocket, subtle, smooth, gigolo, tricky,
pulled-out, glass, gold, tropic, gloomy, long swaying, jingling, winter-stiffened,
falling-asleep, skimming

………………… teeth ……………………. man

………………… face …………………….. eyes

………………… diamonds …………………….. road

………………… face …………………….. glitter

………………… crust …………………….. hair

………………… grace …………………….. voice

………………… fingers …………………….. mirror

………………… coins …………………….. grace

………………… wind …………………….. fingers

………………… reasons …………………….. eyes

………………… wind …………………….. lightness

………………… rooms …………………….. crust

………………… colour

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) _________________ = thin, emaciated


b) _________________ = foppish, dandyish (walk, dresser, appearance)
c) _________________ = a plank bed for prisoners
d) _________________ = one feels offended, ashamed or embarrassed
e) _________________ = children make unhappy sounds of fear, discontent
or anger when they are ready to cry
f) _________________ = in a thorough way
g) _________________ = quick and adroit

• What nouns can be used with the following verbs?

69
show; hang; wear; arouse

• Give all the derivatives of the following.

proud; eternity; adventure; greed; vain; occupy; freeze

• What phrases with the following words do you know?

face; pain; road; age; tremble; deserve

• What nouns can be used with the following adjectives?

garish; shallow; heavy; attenuated; subtle; nimble

• Give all the possible Russian equivalents to the following words.

mark; comfort; draw

Explain and expand on the following.

1. For many days Tico Feo had been drawn into himself – silent as a robber
waiting in the shadows.

2. A razory stone ripped open the palm of his hand as he slid off the slippery
embankment into the water.

3. He had the tricky eyes of a cardsharp; you could not really tell where he
was looking.

4. There was a squeezing in Mr. Schaeffer’s heart; he could not speak.

5. He rolled a cigarette … and the smoke from his cigarette lingered in the
cold, darkening air.

What do the following statements mean? Decode them and say which one you
agree with.

***

Friendship is a pretty full-time occupation if you really are friendly with somebody. You can’t
have too many friends because then you are just not really friends.

T.Capote

***

70
I don’t trust him. We are friends.

Bertolt Brecht

***

Sometimes your closest friend is your greatest enemy.

Jason Fon

Please, divide the following words connected with positive and negative
aspects of friendship into two columns. Translate the words and learn them.
Make three sentences with positive characteristics and also three with
negative ones.

How can you characterize Tico Feo?

one’s heart desire loyal kindred spirits welcoming

intimate dishonest unfaithful

devoted critical well-matched mean

artful bosom supportive

A B

71
Comprehension

1. Why does Tico Feo become Mr. Schaeffer’s friend? Do you believe he was a
loyal friend to him?

2. Is life of prisoners there light and happy?

3. Why does Tico Feo seem so childish to Mr. Schaeffer? Is Mr. Schaeffer right
in his judgment?

4. When does Mr. Schaeffer understand Tico Feo’s true intentions?

5. Why did Tico Feo choose Mr. Schaeffer to complete the plan? Was there
anybody more suitable for it?

6. Why did the guard declare Mr. Schaeffer was trying to prevent the escape?

7. The guitar is an important item in the story. How many times was the word
“guitar” mentioned? What does it mean? Why does Mr. Schaeffer keep it so
carefully?

Discussion

 When did you understand that Tico Feo used Mr. Schaeffer as a blind
smokescreen?
 Why did Mr. Schaeffer not understand the real plan till the escape?
Was he embarrassed/shocked/confused afterwards?
 Do you think it is right to make friends in prison? Do you know three
postulates of prisoners’ life towards each other?
 Scan the story again for descriptions of Tico Feo and Mr. Schaeffer.
Give quotations from the text!

Mr. Schaeffer Tico Feo

Appearance

72
Personality

Actions

Speech

Render the following sentences into English.

1. С самого старта Ян отстал от группы и уже не мог их догнать.


Первым прибежал Александр, считавшийся самым проворным в
команде.
2. Я не хочу, чтобы ты испытывал неприязнь к своему более
удачливому брату. Вы оба работали очень усердно, но ему повезло.
3. Сотрудник таможни дотошно проверял багаж пассажиров, надеясь
не пропустить никого на борт с жидкостью или детским питанием.
4. Клайд жалобно просил детектива не пристегивать его наручниками.
Ах, если бы не тот роковой вечер, когда погибла Роберта! Если бы
только можно было все вернуть и изменить!
5. Бабушка задумчиво перебирала чётки в руках и вспоминала
вчерашний разговор с сыном. Никто из них никогда не верил, что
Марта сможет вылечиться и снова начать ходить.
6. Первый канал сообщил, что грузовой самолет был вчера сбит в
горах. Пока дипломатические миссии не дают никаких
комментариев. Представители российской стороны полагают, что
Македония в условиях плохой видимости приняла грузовой самолет
за истребитель.
7. 7.Полдня ребенок слоняется без дела! Почему ты с ней не поиграешь
или не почитаешь ей?

73
8. Горничная распахнула шторы, и ослепляющий белый свет залил
комнату. Было 9 часов утра, но постоялец уже выехал, оставив
скромные чаевые на тумбочке.
9. Этот сорванец не дает мне покоя уже вторую неделю! Вчера он
разлил томатный сок на пол, и до сих пор пол липкий. А сейчас он
бегает по дому с пронзительным криком и гоняет кота.
10.Мы раскрошили черствый хлеб птицам и наблюдали, как они
подлетают к кормушке и клюют кусочки.

IX. Ernest Hemingway: His Life and Work

He was married four times and also had a lot of love affairs. He was a great
writer, a hard drinker, a hunter, a fisherman, a soldier and a traveler, a person
who proved all his life that he was a man worthy of that name. He proved it. To
live longer was of no interest for him.

Read the text and then answer the questions that follow it.

Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago in 1899.
His father was a doctor and his mother was a musician. Hemingway was the
second of six children. His parents were well-educated and respected in the
conservative community. Hemingway disliked his name and said he associated
it with a naïve and foolish character of Oscar Wilde “The importance to be
Ernest”.

In childhood mother made him learn to play the cello and later he confessed that
he hated her. Hemingway preferred his father’s society who taught him to hunt
and fish and often took the boy with when left the city. From 1913 until 1917,
Hemingway attended Oak Park and River Forest High School. As a senior
student he didn’t play the cello any more. He was much more interested in
sports, especially boxing.

Ernest did not go to the University although his parents believed it was better
for him. Instead in 1917 he joined the Kansas City Star as a cub reporter as poor
eyesight did not let him go to the front. The following year he volunteered to
work as an ambulance driver on the Italian front. He was trying to save a
wounded sharpshooter when the Austrians fired at him and killed the sniper.
Hemingway was badly wounded but twice decorated for his services. He

74
returned to America in 1919 and married in 1921. His wife Hadley Richardson
was 8 years senior.

In 1922 he reported on the Greco-Turkish War, then two years later resigned
from journalism to devote himself to writing. The couple settled in Paris where
Hemingway renewed his earlier friendship with such fellow-American
expatriates as Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein. Their criticism and
encouragement were to play a valuable part in the formation of his style.

Hemingway’s first two published works were Three Stories and Ten Poems and
In Our Time. He sent to his parents In Our Time but his father was only angry
with Ernest and the book.

Hemingway’s international reputation was firmly secured by his next three


books: Fiesta (1926), Men without Women (1927) and A Farewell to Arms
(1929).

In 1927 Hemingway married again, Pauline Pfeiffer was his second spouse. The
marriage produced two sons, Patrick and Gregory.

In 1933 Hemingway and Pauline went on safari to East Africa. The 10-week trip
provided material for Green hills of Africa and for the short story The Snows of
Kilimanjaro.

He visited Spain during the Civil War and described his experiences in For
whom the Bell Tolls (1940). At the same time Hemingway divorces Pauline and
in 1947 marries Martha Gellhorn, a journalist, who had also worked for Vogue
in Paris. Martha was ambitious and self-reliant and did not change her family
name to her husband’s.

During World War II Hemingway patrolled the sea coast on his famous Pilar. In
1947 he was awarded a Bronze Star for his bravery during the War.

In 1948 in Venice the writer fell in love with a 19-year-old Adriana Ivancich.
The girl was the prototype of Renata in the novel Across the River and Into the
Trees.

In 1952 Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize and in 1954 he was awarded a Nobel
Prize for Literature, following the publication of The Old Man and The Sea.

75
In summer 1961 Ernest Hemingway committed a suicide. The press announced
that his death had been accidental.

Questions

1. When and where was Ernest Hemingway born?

2. Why did he dislike his name?

3. Was he an industrious student? Did he enter the University? Why?

4. What are his famous works? When were his first works published?

5. How can you characterize his laconic style? (There is a special term! If you
don’t know it, do all the exercises attentively, there will be the answer!)

6. Did he serve in the Army? What contribution did he make to the victory in
World War II?

7. What novel did he write experiencing the civil war in Spain?

8. Who was Ernest Hemingway’s favorite writer? (Hemingway loved all men’s
activities, such as hunting, traveling and in childhood he read lots of stories
about them. Who of American writers wrote about Gold Rush and all mentioned
above things?)

9. What Prizes was he awarded and when?

10. Did his ability to play the cello help him in writing any piece of fiction?

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) _______________ a novice at something, usually journalism


b) _______________ to vacate a position
c) _______________ to award with an order or medal
d) _______________ self-confident, knowing one’s own worth
e) _______________ courage, valour

Complete the following timeline of Ernest Hemingway’s life!

76
1899

1913-1917

Hemingway returns to America.

He marries Hadley Richardson.

1926

1927

The Hemingways go on safari to East Africa.

Hemingway reports on the Spanish Civil War, he


meets there his third wife.

1946

1947

He is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

1961

9.1 The Light of the World

 The story is simple, the author used the same words and a lot of phrases
were repeated many times within the course of the story. Can you name
them?
 Did the story impress you? Do you think the characters are frank with
themselves and the surroundings?
 What is the Light in the story? Love/friendship/truth?

Vocabulary

spatula ['spætjulə] (n.) кухонная лопатка

77
punk (n.) неопытный молодой человек

sawdust ['sɔːdʌst] (n.) опилки

lumberman ['lʌmbəmən] (амер.) (n.) лесоруб

a peroxide blonde крашеная блондинка

Don’t be fresh! Не будь таким дерзким!


(нахальным)

spitfire ['spɪtˌfaɪə] (n.,adj.) вспыльчивый, раздражительный

stagey (adj.) театральный

dinge [dɪndʒ] чернокожий (оскорбление)

to lick (v.) разг. поколотить, избить

Find English equivalents for the following expressions:

относиться с почтением к кому-либо; заносчиво ответить; замерзать по


краям; затхлый запах; кивком головы указать на кого-либо; вызвать
воспоминания; сказать в театральной манере; открыть бутылку кухонной
лопаткой; застать врасплох; по чистому везению; подлый лгун.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1. The man slid the beer … me and asked the other girl what she was going to
drink.

2. Please, stop interfering … my business! You have your family to support and
give advice!

3. The detective has sworn the girl … silence, she was radiant with joy and
happy about all secrecy and her important mission.

4. Walking side … side in Neskuchny Garden the poets were discussing the last
poetry contest.

5. The smoke … the stove filled the kitchen, it smelled of meat and garlic.

6. Ask the bartender to cut the bottle … if the lid is broken.


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7. Picking … the best pieces from the plate the man looked miserable. His
behavior annoyed the guests but the waiters pretended not to be noticing.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

stale, bashful, high, stagey, free-lunch, window, peroxide, smooth

…………………. voice ……………….. blonde

…………………. ticket ……………….. smoke

…………………. way ……………….. bowl

…………………. lumberjack .………………. skin

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) ______________ = a person serving drinks at a bar

b) ______________ = usual, common

c) ______________ = a fine, strong, soft lustrous fibre produced by silkworms

d) ______________ = a boy or young man

e) ______________ = skin of animal’s body

Please, comment on the quote.

If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that
he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it
being above water.

E.Hemingway

Comprehension

a) The story abounds in dialogues, they are short and coded. What is their role in
the story?

b) Who are the young lads and what are they doing in the country?

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c) Why does the conversation begin? How can you characterize the cook and the
two prostitutes?

d) What is your attitude to the conflict between the women? Who do you
sympathize with?

e) Was any of the women really in love with Steve Ketchel?

f) Is Hemingway’s attitude to the characters and the conflict expressed?

Additional questions

 The author repeats the prostitute was nice and had a lovely voice. Why
does he repeat it? Why does he rivet our attention to it? Remember that
Hemingway like Chekhov never used an excess word in his works of
literature!
 Who of German contemporaries also described prostitutes as wise and
kind women?

Render the following sentences into English.

1. Официант вежливо говорил со вспыльчивым клиентом. Он долго


объяснял, что у них в меню никогда не было никаких вегетарианских
блюд.
2. Кухарка переворачивала котлеты лопаткой и ругалась с экономкой. У
них обеих был плохой характер, но открыто они прежде не ссорились.
3. К густому фасолевому супу и овощному рагу гостям подавали
бесплатный салат и напиток на выбор.
4. Запах в кабинете спёртый, здесь не открывали окно с утра. Проветри,
пожалуйста, этот и 23 кабинет!
5. Маленький ребенок очень стеснителен, он отказывается разговаривать
со взрослыми и играть с другими детьми.
6. Бармен ловко открыл бутылку виски и смешал коктейль. Эллен,
никогда прежде не пробовавшая коктейли, удивилась, что у алкоголя
может быть такой мягкий и приятный вкус.
7. Вчера секретарь рассказала мне, что ранний приезд руководителя
застал врасплох весь отдел. Должно быть, еще никто не подготовил ни
отчетность, ни презентацию.
8. К разговору присоединилась крашеная блондинка – привлекательная
женщина с большими серыми глазами и курносым носом. Она громко
доказывала правоту Маргарет и стучала длинными, выкрашенными в
яркий красный цвет ногтями по столу.

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9. Когда-то у мальчика был мишка, набитый опилками. Сейчас мягкие
игрушки делают из современных материалов, которые прочнее и
лучше.
10. Крестоносец дал клятву оставаться верным престолу и церкви и не
щадить ее врагов.

9.2 The Capital of the World

 Do you think bullfighting is a kind of sport? What is your attitude to it?


 Could Paco become a famous bullfighter? What qualities does one need to
become a matador?
 Can you name famous people supporting and opposing bullfighting?

Vocabulary

´bullfighting (n.) коррида

matador ['mætədɔː] (n.) тореадор, наносящий быку


последний, смертельный удар

banderillero [ˌbandərɪl'jɛrəʊ] (n.) тореро, вонзающий в быка


бандерильи

torero [tə'reɪrəu] (n.) тореро

picador ['pɪkədɔː] (n.) пикадор (всадник)

squadron (sqaudron) ['skwɔdr(ə)n] (n.) эскадрон, артиллерийский дивизион

chambermaid (n.) горничная в гостинице

apiece (adv.) каждый, на каждого

vogue [vəug] (n.) известность, популярность

atrocious [ə'trəuʃəs] (adj.) жестокий, ужасающий

meticulous [mə'tɪkjələs] (adj.) мелочный, щепетильный

withers ['wɪðəz] pl. (n.) загривок

dissipation (n.) зд. разгульный образ жизни

overdue (adj.) опаздывающий


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barbarity [bɑː'bærɪtɪ] (n.) жестокость

to guzzle (v.) есть/пить с жадностью

to sight (v.,n.) высмотреть, увидеть

to splinter (v.,n.) разбиваться, раскалываться

pommel ['pʌm(ə)l] (n.) головка (эфеса шпаги)

'insolence (n.) презрение, оскорбительное


высокомерие

suave [swɑːv] (adj.) учтивый, вежливый

bootblack ['buːtblæk] (n.) чистильщик сапог

muzzle (n.,v.) морда животного

bayonet ['beɪənɪt] (n.,v.) штык

breviary ['briːvɪərɪ] (n.) требник (книга с молитвами для


треб)

bolster (n.,v.) подушечка

femoral artery бедренная артерия

contrition [kən'trɪʃ(ə)n] (n.) раскаяние

Find English equivalents for the following expressions:

постоянная работа; уменьшительное от имени; оставаться на работе;


читать покаянную молитву; ястребиное лицо; золотистый парчовый
пиджак; сжимать шпагу; читать молитвы (перебирая чётки); недолгая
популярность; лицо с родимым пятном; быстрый как кошка; разместить
объявление; топать ногами (в знак неодобрения); работающий всю ночь
пункт первой медицинской помощи; колонка частных объявлений;
потерять мужество, струсить; прислуживать за столом.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

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1. The necessity … wage reform was obvious although the Union of state
employers was not ready to discuss it with the trade union.

2. Mother still feeling dizzy held … … Emy … the arm. She asked about granny
and wanted me to pick up the children from school.

3. The peasant children lost their way in the forest and huddled … trying to keep
warm. They watched the night coming and feared the wild animals.

4. … her debut as a cheerleader the girl was nervous and awkward. Having
rehearsed the dance many times she found it too quick and uncoordinated.

5. A new miracle cure will help you be fast … your feet. Taking only one pill
per day you will become vigorous and active.

6. To insert an advertisement … the personal columns one must provide their


passport.

7. The younger son taking … the business was too frivolous and spendthrift.
Although there were many well-to-do guests living … the pension nobody
wanted to see any changes and pay more for poor service.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

good, unbelievable, splintered-tipped, birth-marked, alcoholic, decent, short,


second-rate, atrocious, unpuzzled, amateur, old-fashioned, primitive, steady,
personal, elegant and graceful

………..………… client ……................….. job

………..………… matador ………………. wound

………..………… pass ………………... style

…………...……… conditions ……………… place

…………………… vogue ……………….. smile

…………………… efficiency ……………….. name

…………………… horns ………......….. triumph

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…………………… fight ………….. auctioneer

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) _______________ = behaviour showing high moral qualities

b) _______________ = available in large quantities

c) _______________ = very evil or cruel

d) _______________ = behaviour showing that one is not brave enough

e) _______________ = to make things spread in different directions

f) _______________ = tending to argue with people

Are the following statements true or false?

1. In Madrid people start work early.


2. They finish work at eight in the evening.
3. The shops close for several hours in the middle of the day.
4. People always have a siesta.
5. They don’t eat much during the day.
6. They have their main meal in the evening.
7. Madrid is bigger than London.
8. It has no traffic problems.
9. The public transport system is good.

Compare Madrid to your city! These headings will help you:

- The time of day that things happen - Shops


- Food - Safety
- People - Driving
- Where people live - Public transport
- Cost of living - Weather

Comprehension

1. Where did Paco come from to Madrid?

2. Why did he like his work? Was he romantic about it?

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3. Who lived at the pension and who above all attracted Paco’s attention?

4. Why did Paco crave for a career of a bullfighter? Was he unaware of reality in
bull ring?

5. Why did the dishwasher suggest playing bullfighting? Did the dishwasher’s
persuasions convince Paco?

6. Paco died at a dangerous imitation of a bullfighter’s work. Wasn’t that the


irony of fate?

7. What went wrong with the boys’ game? Why was Paco careless enough to be
wounded?

8. What changed after Paco’s death? Why is activity of the surroundings shown
in the course of the whole story?

9. Why does Hemingway mention Greta Garbo’s film several times? Why does
he say Paco had no time to be disappointed in the film?

Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Средневековье известно своей невероятной жестокостью и


разгульным образом жизни монарших особ.
2. Оскорбительное высокомерие брата султана обидело и гостей, и его
семью. Каждый раз надеясь произвести впечатление, Ахмед,
бывший умным и незлым человеком, удивлял рыцарей и весь двор.
3. Это порядочный клиент, он всегда оставляет чаевые и не грубит
персоналу!
4. Священник перебирал чётки и беседовал с прихожанкой. Она
рассказывала о грехах и спрашивала, как ей искупить их.
5. Когда я потерял пакет документов, коллега посоветовала мне
разместить объявление в газете. С тех пор мне позвонило много
людей, а ведь я не верил, что хоть кто-то в наши дни просматривает
колонки частных объявлений.
6. Говорят, именно Коко Шанель ввела в моду короткое черное платье.
Модницы со всего света и сегодня надевают этот элегантный наряд,
чтобы выглядеть красиво, но скромно.
7. Эта семья жила в жалких условиях два года, в том доме не было ни
воды, ни газа, но потом они переехали в двухуровневую квартиру,
которая им сначала показалась необъятной.

85
8. Чистильщик сапог сидел рядом с художником и уличным
музыкантом. Они только обсудили газетную статью и смеялись над
шуткой музыканта, утверждавшего, что это утка.
9. Современные музыканты недолго популярны, их песни однообразны
и скучны. Но если распадается одна группа, появляется тут же пять
ее солистов-участников с таким же репертуаром и таким же стилем.
10.Охота на ведьм продолжилась, когда церковь заявила, что
рыжеволосые женщины и люди с родимыми пятнами на лице
являются помощниками дьявола. Только годы спустя эти ужасные
обычаи изжили себя, а население смогло вздохнуть спокойно.

X. James Thurber: His Life and Work

James Grover Thurber was born in Columbus, Ohio, on 8 December, 1894. His
parents were Charles L. Thurber and Mary Agnes (Mame) Fisher Thurber.

He had two brothers one of whom playing a game of William Tell shot him in
the eye with an arrow due to which Thurber lost his eye. The injury was
complicated and Thurber could never recover and later it brought blindness.
Like many of the blind Thurber had a lively imagination which helped him in
writing.

From 1913 to 1918, Thurber attended the Ohio State University but he did not
get a degree on account of his disease. Only in 1995 he was posthumously
awarded a degree.

From 1918 to 1920 Thurber worked as a code clerk for the State Department in
Washington, D.C., and then in France, Paris. He returned to Columbus and
started his writing career. From 1921 to 1924 he worked as a reporter for the
Columbus Dispatch.

In 1922 he married Althea Adams and the marriage produced a daughter.


Anyway, the marriage was not happy and the couple separated. The writer
dedicated some stories to domestic discord.

In 1935 Thurber married Helen Wismer. Later Thurber remarked: “I hate


women because they always know where things are”. He also noticed that
women were wiser than men because they knew less and understood more.

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In 1927 he was appointed to a position of an editor of the New Yorker and three
years later he started a career as a cartoonist. Because of poor eyesight his
pictures had its idiosyncratic characteristics; Thurber drew them on large sheets
of paper with a crayon. Later they were painted for more seeing imagery.

Thurber wrote short stories (many of them were published in The New Yorker),
some prose for the New Yorker, fables, a hit comic drama The Male Animal
(1940), numerous humorous essays, the most famous of which are: The Secret
Life of Walter Mitty (1939), The Rabbits Who Caused All the Trouble (1939),
The Catbird Seat (1942), The Scotty Who Knew Too Much (1939).

His stories included several book-length fairy tales, such as The White Deer
(1945), The 13 Clocks (1950) and The Wonderful O (1957).

In 1947 Thurber wrote a five-part New Yorker series where he tried to explain
the radio soap opera phenomenon.

In 1961 Thurber had pneumonia and died from its complications.

Please, answer the questions:

1) Where and when was James Thurber born? When did he die?

2) What were his occupations?

3) Do you know any of his quotes?

4) What are his most famous works?


Complete the following timeline of James Thurber’s life.

1894

attended the Ohio State University

worked for the State Department in Washington

1921-
1924

1927

started a career as a cartoonist

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wrote a series about soap opera phenomenon

1961

10.1 The Catbird Seat

 What does the idiomatic phrase in the title mean?


 Do you know who was the first to use this expression in literature
(recorded occurrence)?

Vocabulary

catbird seat enviable/advantageous position

to rub out (v.) ликвидировать

to resent (v.) раздражать; негодовать

imprecision [ˌɪmprɪ'sɪʒ(ə)n] (n.) неточность

fallible ['fæləbl] (adj.) склонный совершать ошибки

to profane [prəˈfeɪn] (v.,adj.) оскорблять, осквернять (святыню)

peccadillo [ˌpekə'dɪləu] (n.) грешок

to squirm [skwɜːm] (v.) корчиться, кривиться

to bait (v.) не давать покоя, травить

gibberish ['ʤɪb(ə)rɪʃ] (n.) невнятная, бессвязная речь

to go on a/the rampage неистовствовать

batter (n.) отбивающий в бейсболе

to dismiss smth. перестать думать о чем-либо,


выбросить из головы

blatant ['bleɪt(ə)nt] (adj.) зд. явный

to stalk out (v.) зд. гордо уходить, покидать

to embolden (v.) содействовать, стимулировать


88
to bray at smb. (v.) кричать, вопить

memo (n.) служебная записка; приказ

red-letter day праздничный, счастливый день

to brag to smb. (v.) хвастаться, хвалиться

to drag a red herring across the path намеренно вводить в заблуждение,


(idiomatic expression) сбивать с толку

ducky (n., adj.) разг. чудо, прелесть; прелестный

attendant (n.) обслуживающее лицо

to jabber (v.,n.) болтать, трещать; нести вздор

toddy (n.) пунш

andiron ['ændaɪən] (n.) подставка для дров в камине

dope (n.,v.) разг. травка, наркотик

highball (n.) разг. виски с содовой и льдом

buzzard (n.) разг. сквалыга, скряга

to snort (v.,adj.) фыркать (выражая недовольство)

windbag (n.) болтун, пустозвон

imprecation [ˌɪmprɪ'keɪʃ(ə)n] (n.) проклятие

tangled (adj.) сложный для понимания

hubbub ['hʌbʌb] (n.) шум, гам

Find English equivalents for the following expressions:

раскатистый смех; уникальные, необыкновенные достижения; добираться


до истины; принять за кого-либо; прийти к заключению; идти обычным
шагом; принимать наркотики, курить траву; потушить сигарету в
пепельнице; вертеть в руках очки; подрывать благополучие фирмы;
вызвать кого-либо на ковер; высовывать язык; точить карандаш; сводить
кого-либо с ума, досаждать; подрывать фундамент; объяснять, не повышая

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голоса; требовать смертной казни (о прокуроре); проверять, заточен ли
нож; приложить указательный палец к губам; чокаться бокалами; приход к
власти; составить план; хорошая память на даты; идея созрела; писать
докладную, сообщать о чем-либо.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1. Polite people usually are not charged … aggression and rude behaviour.

2. Go … all the questions carefully before writing the answers.

3. The sportsman was swinging … the ball when the net tilted to the left.

4. Mortimer won his simple case … his employer and was paid the terminal
wage.

5. The applicants are supposed to write all the answers in the exam in a pencil to
rub … the mistakes easily.

6. Baiting … the neighbors in the communal flat the old man had not a clear
objective but amusement.

7. Her shock was wearing … and the relations never mentioned again her
husband’s loss.

8. His classmates always tricked him … They thought he was an ordinary boy
and could not see why he studied at private school.

9. The policeman was making … John when the alarm went off and they were
both red lit in the store.

10. The clergyman praised the lay brother’s speech … its ardour and sincerity.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

indispensable, lay, unruly, considerable, polite, temperate, ducky, exemplary,


faint, studious, obscene, painstaking, persistent, severe, dry, efficient, popping,
unseemly

……………………... risks ………….. apartment

……………………… habits …………….. witness

……………………… worker ………………. part


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……………………… mind …………….. attempt

……………………… eyes ………… concentration

……………………… breakdown …………….. manner

……………………… woman ……………….. hand

……………………… hand …………….. manner

……………………… smile …………….. tolerance

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) __________________ = a small plate for tobacco ash and cigarette ends

b) __________________ = to push somebody or something roughly

c) __________________ = to walk quietly on one’s toes

d) __________________ = a coloured substance in a form of a small stick that


women put on their lips

e) _________________ = the use of clever methods to get what you want,


especially methods that involve tricking or cheating people

f) _________________ = dull and boring

g) _________________ = a bad part of someone’s character

h) _________________ = slightly drunk

Find other ways of expressing the following.

1. She had begun chipping at the cornices of the firm’s edifice.

2. She was swinging at the foundation stones with a pickaxe.

3. Are you lifting the oxcart out of the ditch?

4. A gavel rapped in Mr. Martin’s mind…

5. He had received no blue memo from the enchanted Mr. Fitweiler.

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6. The procedure would have made an awkward loop in the straight thread of his
casualness.

7. I’ll be coked to the gills when I bump that old buzzard off!

8. The walk had worn off all effects of the whiskey.

• What nouns can be used with the following verbs?

keep; take; commit; hold; resent

• Give all the derivatives of the following.

prepare; bewildered; elated; appall; profane; astonish

• What phrases with the following words do you know?

hand; commit; charge; conclusion; voice; head; rage; lay

• What nouns can be used with the following adjectives?

neat; persistent; faint; temperate; vague; painstaking

• Give all the possible Russian equivalents to the following words.

strain; blow; hand; charge; case

Find the right order of the story. Remember about flashback!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

a) Mr. Martin reviews his case against Mrs. Ulgine Barrows.


b) Mr. Martin calls on Mrs. Barrows.
c) The staff take Mrs. Barrows away and Mr. Martin assumes his
usual air.
d) Mr. Martin decides to leave his gloves on. He clinks his highball
against Mrs. Barrows’s.
e) Indignant Mrs. Barrows arrives at work at an earlier hour and
reports to Mr. Fitweiler.
f) Mr. Martin buys the pack of Camels and receives evidence nobody
has paid heightened attention to his figure.
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g) Mrs. Barrows meets Mr. Fitweiler at a party and works upon him a
monstrous magic.
h) Mrs. Barrows bursts into Mr. Fitweiler's office and shouts at Mr.
Martin.
i) Mr. Martin pretends to dislike his boss and Mrs. Barrows takes his
joke in all good faith.
j) Mr. Fitweiler questions Mrs. Barrows’s honesty and calls Mr.
Martin on the carper.
k) Mr. Martin’s colleagues are forced to resign.
l) Mrs. Barrows prepares a reorganization of Mr. Martin’s filing
department.
m) Mr. Martin tries the knife against his wrist and sees it’s blunt.

Style

• James Thurber presents Mr. Martin as a very refined character. Thurber


mentions that the phrase “to rub out” pleased Mr. Martin as he was going to
correct Mr. Fitweiler’s mistake. Thurber shows Mr. Martin's acting – Mr. Martin
called on Mrs. Barrows and looked like an arrant knave; seeing his boss Mr.
Martin, “neat, quiet, attentive” was an exemplary employee.

What stylistic devices are used in Mr. Martin’s speech and descriptions? Scan
the story attentively and highlight the most important phrases.

• Mr. Martin is shown as a perfect employee – with “temperate habits” and


twenty-two years in his department. Please, make quotations (“I demand the
death penalty…”; “Each of these files plays an indispensable part…”) that
confirm Mr. Martin thinks as an employee, not as an ordinary man. Also
remember that Mr. Martin is extremely accurate about dates and time!

Comprehension

The struggle

In the story Mrs. Barrows clashes with Mr. Martin, the team (the people who
were fired under her pressure and those who were supposed to be fired later) and
Mr. Fitweiler. Everyone except for the bewitched Mr. Fitweiler is aware of the
situation. Although Mr. Martin is the quietest and unremarkable employee, he
manages to implement his plan.

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Mr. Martin <=> Mrs. Barrows <=>the team

||

Mr. Fitweiler

a) Who are the main characters of the story? How can you characterize
them?
b) How did Mrs. Barrows get a position in the company?
c) Why was Mr. Martin so anxious and puzzled all the time?
d) What was Mr. Martin’s first plan? How did he change it?
e) When did Mr. Martin understand Mrs. Barrows was going to liquidate his
filing department?
f) Did Mr. Martin fulfill his plan up to scratch?
g) Why did nobody believe Mrs. Barrows?
h) Did Mrs. Barrows understand Mr. Martin’s trick?
i) Who of the two characters is more resourceful and calculating – Mr.
Martin or Mrs. Barrows?
j) Women are considered to be rancorous and vengeful. In our story a man
carries a tricky plan out. What do you think about it? And why did a man
turn out to be smarter than a woman?

Additional questions

Franklin D. Roosevelt once noticed: “I am not the smartest fellow in the world,
but I can sure pick smart colleagues”.

Wasn’t that Mrs. Barrrows’s principle?

Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Судья негодовал и не мог понять, что значит эта невнятная речь,


пока прокурор не объяснил, что свидетель родом из Нижней
Саксонии и это его родной диалект.
2. Девушки посмели осквернить (оскорбить) этот величественный храм
своим присутствием и своими песнями, за что поплатились двумя
годами тюрьмы.

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3. Музыкант легко выбросил из головы неправильный мотив и разучил
второй этюд. Композиции, трудные для понимания другим, ему
прекрасно удавались.
4. Вспоминая грешки спортсменок, тренер расстраивалась все больше и
больше: все элементы были проработаны много раз, но выступление
все равно было неудачным.
5. Хвастаясь своим новым автомобилем, Билл никому не сказал его
цену. Для него важнее было пустить пыль в глаза, чем совершить
выгодную покупку.
6. Герцог и герцогиня чокнулись бокалами с гостями и вышли на
балкон. Красочный фейерверк был дан в честь рождения наследника,
которого ожидала вся семья.
7. Служебная записка была передана лично в руки начальнику отдела,
он подписал ее и поручил секретарю уладить вопрос.
8. Непрофессиональный диагноз стал причиной неправильного
лечения. Если бы она вовремя обратилась к врачу, то болезнь не
прогрессировала бы так быстро.
9. Ребенок показывал язык сестре и выглядел смешно. Он гримасничал
и, казалось, получал от этого удовольствие.
10.Преступник намеренно вводил следствие в заблуждение, надеясь,
что улики против него так и не будут представлены. Свое алиби он
считал железным и был уверен, что в этот раз полиция останется ни
с чем.

XI. Virginia Woolf: Her Life and Work

If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people.

Virginia Woolf

Read the text and then answer the questions that follow it.

Adeline Virginia Woolf [wulf] was born in London, 25 January 1882. Her
father, Leslie Stephen was an author, historian, and critic. He edited the
Dictionary of National Biography; this work influenced Virginia’s future
biographies. Virginia’s mother was a model for painters. The family was large
because for both spouses it was the second marriage; together Leslie Stephen
and Julia Stephen had four children.

Virginia was educated by her parents; the Victorian literary society influenced
the family much as there were many outstanding people among their guests.

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The girl was only thirteen when her mother died and her half-sister Stella had to
run the house. Two years later Stella passed away and now elder Vanessa had to
be busy with domestic chores. Virginia suffered but found strength to take
courses of study.

In 1900 Virginia Woolf started writing professionally for the Times Literary
Supplement.

In 1904 Leslie Stephen dies and Virginia suffered a breakdown.

Virginia was fond of her sister Vanessa and they promised each other never to
get married. However, in 1907 Vanessa accepted Clive Bell’s proposal. Despite
her critical attitude to Jews in 1912 Virginia married Leonard Woolf. Her
marriage was a happy and long one, which is confirmed by the notes in her
diary. However, during their engagement she addressed him “penniless Jew”.

The couple founded family business – the Hogarth Press which published
Woolf’s works. In 1925 her first novel The Voyage Out was published. Woolf’s
works are best known for their stream of consciousness and disclosure of
psychological motives of the characters.

In 1927 Woolf finished To the Lighthouse where she showed the struggle in the
creative process.

Woolf was a member of the Bloomsbury Group – it included writers and artists.
There were such famous and outstanding people as Duncan Grant, Roger Fry,
Clive Bell. The morality of the Group was rather liberal and loyalty to the
spouse was not a common fact. Woolf started a relationship with Vita Sackville-
West and reflected it in Orlando (1928).

In Mrs. Dalloway (1925) Virginia Woolf describes Clarissa Dalloway and her
attempts to organize a party. Clarissa Dalloway is also the main character of
some of Woolf’s short stories.

Her next work was The Waves (1931). Flush: A Biography (1933) is partly
Virginia’s autobiography, it was written from the dog’s point of view. Between
The Acts (1941) was Woolf’s last work.

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And though she is best known as a novelist, Virginia Woolf is also a master of
short stories. In almost fifty sketches Woolf managed to update the narrative
models of her day with avant-garde style that distinguished her classic novels.

Her most known short stories are: Monday or Tuesday (1922); A Haunted
House and Other Short Stories (1944); Kew Gardens (1918).

All her life she suffered nervous disorder and often fell into a depression. During
the Blitz her London home was demolished, she could not concentrate on her
work, as she wrote in her last note to her husband. Woolf committed a suicide;
she drowned into the River Ouse.

Questions

1. Was the atmosphere of young Woolf’s house creative? What influenced


her future works?
2. What group was she a member of? Who was among her numerous
friends?
3. What were the reasons for her frequent breakdowns?
4. When did she start writing professionally? What are her most known
works?
5. Complete the following timeline of Virginia Woolf’s life.

1882 Woolf was born in London

1895 1
1. started writing professionally 1

married Leonard Woolf

1925

1927

1931

The Man Who Loved His Kind

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• The title of the story can be interpreted in some ways. Think about the
meanings of the word kind and answer what Prickett Ellis loved – the human
kind/ his character/ descent.

• Prickett has prick in its root; it means to pierce sharply. All the time Prickett
Ellis says what he thinks; his speech hurts Miss O’Keefe’s feelings. Is Prickett
Ellis a speaking name?
Vocabulary

to cast a glance бросить быстрый взгляд


the Bar адвокатская практика
swell (n.) разг. важная персона
knobbly ['nɔblɪ] (adj.) покрытый бугорками
chubby ['ʧʌbɪ] (adj.) круглолицый, полнощекий
prejudice ['preʤədɪs] (n.) предубеждение, предвзятое мнение
to take up with (v.) быть занятым чем-либо/кем-либо
to bristle (v.) рассердиться
to grate (v.) возмущать(ся), сердить(ся)
unkempt (adj.) неопрятный, растрепанный,
неряшливый
to conduct one’s case вести судебное дело
to pit against (v.) бороться, противостоять
to clamour (v.,n.) требовать
railings (pl.) (n.) ограда; перила
to massacre ['mæsəkə] (v.,n.) прям. и перен. убивать (с особенной
жестокостью)
to decapitate [dɪ'kæpɪteɪt] (v.) обезглавливать
caustic ['kɔːstɪk] (adj.) язвительный, колкий
conceit [kən'siːt] (n.) заносчивость, тщеславие
blasphemy (n.) богохульство

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muddled (adj.) смущенный, пораженный
muddy (adj.,v.) зд. смутившийся, растерявшийся
Find English equivalents for the following expressions:

с резкими манерами; не умеющий что-либо делать (зд. – скрывать свои


чувства); посмотреть прямо в глаза; получить стипендию университета;
поддерживать форму физическими упражнениями; заговорить высоким
голосом; ни капли не измениться; рассказать об ужасе; дом, полный
людей; кривить губы; книги в хорошем переплете; незаметно уйти,
выскользнуть; рассматривать картины.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary.

1. Spring is drawing … and soon the gardens will be filled with birds’
singing.
2. The guerillas were slinking … the path and listening to the noise.
3. The rain was pouring down; she had matches but could not strike one …
the box – everything was wringing wet.
4. The boy sticks … in the class due to his brilliant mind and abilities for
exact sciences.
5. All the gymnasium students who were late were shut … … the classes.

Match the adjectives to the nouns.

filthy, plain, ordinary, appalling, pompous, shaven, complete, small,


disagreeable, hostile, shag, disillusioning, unsophisticated

………………… people …………….. little boy

………………… entertainment ……………….. silence

………………… population ……………….. feeling

……………………tobacco …………….. evening

……………………token ……………….. man

………………….. slum …………….. cheeks

……………………man

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Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a) _________________ = poor, scant; not enough

b) _________________ = something you do for someone or give them as a way


of showing your feelings towards them

c) _________________ = to move in a hurried way, to do something


energetically

d) _________________ = a pipe through which waste liquid flows away

e) _________________ = to rock slightly from side to side

f) _________________ = too confident, someone behaving in a proud,


unpleasant way

Find the following sentences in the text. Explain the words and word
combinations in italics.

1. Not when people all day long wanted your help, fairly clamoured for help.
2. Dalloway was married, gave parties; wasn’t his sort at all.
3. …just the same knobbly, chubby little boy then, with prejudices sticking
out all over him…
4. He felt that these people whom he despised made him stand and deliver
and justify himself.
5. It was unpleasant that the sense of his goodness should boil within him.
6. …instead of picking her thorn out he had rubbed it in…

Paraphrase the following expressions using active word combinations and use
them in sentences of your own.

1. to swing from side to side (about lamps); 2. to recognize quickly; 3. to


become stronger or more intense (when we talk about wrinkles or lines on one’s
face); 4. to look dishevelled/slovenly; 5. to look at someone angrily; 6. to start
suddenly (about a revolution); 7. below standard.

Comprehension

1. Was the meeting of the two classmates unexpected? Did they recognize
each other immediately?
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2. Why did Prickett Ellis decide to visit Mr. Dalloway? What were the
reasons not to go?
3. Did Prickett Ellis feel at ease? Were there his friends among the guests?
4. Why did Miss O’Keefe behave in such an abrupt way?
5. Miss O’Keefe remembered all the time the incident with the poor woman
and the children; she was not able to dismiss it but still she is represented
as a callous, selfish woman. Why is it so?
6. Although Prickett Ellis helps people for free, all the time he thinks and
speaks about his doings and despises the others for not being as
sympathetic as he is. Is he really so good and not indifferent? Can you
characterize him in a few words?
7. Did Prickett Ellis and Miss O’Keefe understand each other?

Questions

1. What struck you most about the story? Is the end of the story predictable?
2. What is the message of the story? (social/moral/political)
3. Where is the conflict in the story?

Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Научное открытие разрушило старое предубеждение. Ученые


надеются провести еще один ряд экспериментов, чтобы подтвердить
догадки.
2. Никто из ее сестер и братьев не получил стипендию университета,
поэтому она достаточно язвительно отзывалась об экзаменах и
приемной кампании.
3. Его адвокатская практика с каждым годом становилась меньше –
клиенты уходили к более молодым и перспективным юристам.
4. Неопрятный внешний вид продавца-хиппи отталкивал посетителей.
5. Из-за своего тщеславия, высокомерия и скандального поведения
актриса не смогла получить роль. Ее потрясло, с какой легкостью и
твердостью именитый режиссер отказал ей.
6. Священник рассердился на нерадивого ученика и поручил ему
больше заданий, чем обычно. Чтобы закончить икону, ученик
остался в мастерской и работал до вечера.
7. В универсальном магазине мужчина выбрал самый дешевый табак и
расплатился мелочью. Его жена сказала, что прежде он не курил.
8. Богохульства и проклятия старика, ругавшегося на итальянском
языке, слышала вся улица. Два бравых полицейских собирались
оштрафовать его, но юркий нищий исчез в проходе между домами.

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9. «В пятницу администрация принимает важную персону –
представителя дипломатической миссии Ирана, и я буду освещать
это событие вселенского масштаба», - иронично рассказывал Ян.
10.Во время Великой Депрессии она боролась с трудностями и сама
обеспечивала семью. Теперь же ей надоело, что брат и сестры ждут
ее помощи и так сильно зависят от нее, не пытаясь ничего изменить
самостоятельно.

11.2 The New Dress

 What makes Mabel Waring suffer at the party? Was the dress the only
reason for that?
 Do you think Mabel Waring belonged in that society?

Vocabulary

conviction [kən'vɪkʃ(ə)n] (n.) убежденность

to beat smth. off (v.) игнорировать, отмахиваться

paltry ['pɔːltrɪ] (adj.) мелочный; жалкий

to chastise [ʧæs'taɪz] (v.) жестоко критиковать

dummy ['dʌmɪ] (n.,adj.) манекен

to annul [ə'nʌl] (v.) отменить; заглушить (боль)

to hoist (v.) подняться откуда-либо

meagre ['miːgə] (adj.) чахлый, изнуренный

vice (n.) порок, зло

petty-minded (adj.) обывательский

dowdy ['daudɪ] (n.,adj.) безвкусно одетая женщина;


немодный, неэлегантный

dingy ['dɪnʤɪ] (adj.) грязный

to slink (v.) идти крадучись

mongrel ['mʌŋgr(ə)l] (n.,adj.) дворняжка, нечистокровный

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malice ['mælɪs] (n.) злоба

veneer (of smth.) (n.,v.) внешний лоск, видимость

pertly (adv.) оживленно, бойко

to vacillate ['væs(ə)leɪt] (v.) колебаться

to fructify (v.) плодоносить

to bear down upon smb. устремиться к кому-либо

to squint at (v.) смотреть искоса, смотреть украдкой

cormorant ['kɔːm(ə)rənt] (n.) большой баклан (зоол.)

penance ['penən(t)s] (n.,v.) раскаяние, покаяние

deplorable [dɪ'plɔːrəbl] (adj.) плачевный, прискорбный

Find English equivalents for the following expressions:

по последней моде; вступить в неравный брак; от стыда; совершенно не


зависеть от кого-либо; не иметь в мыслях; мелкий чиновник; потертый на
краях ступеней линолеум; зд. получить хотя бы каплю сочувствия;
перебиваться с хлеба на воду.

Fill in the correct preposition/particle where necessary:

1. People around were looking her … which made her feel even more
nervous.
2. … shame the boy blushed and couldn’t say a word.
3. It was raining heavily and Michael pulled his pointed hat … his eyes.
4. Trying to beat the attack … the citizens were drawing back with
annoyance.
5. Sticking … her decision and ignoring her neighbor’s tricks were the best
things to do at their cold war.
6. The fortune-teller bore … … the girl who looked perplexed and sad.

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Match the adjectives to the nouns.

water-sprinkled; permanent; appalling; wobbly; profound; beaten; domestic;


fundamental; vacillating; fantastic; water-veined; divine

………….………. dissatisfaction ………………………….creature

………….………. tragedy …………………………. moment

………………….. voice ………………………….mongrel

……………...….. inadequacy ………………………......blood

…………….…… appearance ………………………. character

……………..……... kindness …………………………. job

Find words in the text with the following meanings:

a)___________________ = old and in poor condition

b) ___________________ = weakness in someone’s character

c) ___________________ = unable to make intelligent decisions, stupid


or foolish

d) ___________________ = junior official

e) ___________________ = an occasion in which one feels embarrassed


or ashamed

f) ___________________ = extremely unpleasant, repulsive

g) ___________________ = typical of a woman rather than a man or a


girl

Find the following sentences in the text. Explain and expand on the following.

1. She felt like a dressmaker’s dummy standing there, for young people to
stick pins into.
2. Charles said nothing of the kind, of course. He was malice itself.
3. But in her yellow dress tonight she could not wring out one drop more;
she wanted it all, all for herself.

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4. They petered out respectably in seaside resorts; every watering-place had
one of her aunts even now asleep in some lodging with the front windows
not quite facing the sea.
5. Then in the midst of this creeping, crawling life, suddenly she was on the
crest of a wave.
6. And for ever after she would be perfectly clear about Charles Burt and
Miss Milan and this room…

Comprehension

1) Did Mabel have her dress sewn especially for the party at Mrs. Dalloway?
Did Mabel want to look fashionable? Where did she find the outline of
her dress?
2) Do you believe the old-fashioned dress was the real reason for her
disappointment? Did Mabel not exaggerate the surroundings’ attention to
her?
3) How can you characterize Mabel? She was a romantic person, wasn’t
she? Please, quote from the text!
4) What does the dress symbolize in the story? Do the flies (the
surroundings) mean anything? Do Mabel and the dress have anything in
common?
5) Why was Charles Burt’s support so important to Mabel? She knew he was
against her but asked him for help, why is it so?
6) Did she want to change her life – “she would go to the London Library;
she would be called Sister Somebody”?
7) Why is the repetition (“wrapped herself, round and round and round”)
used at the end of the story?

Questions

1. Have you ever found yourself in the described situation? What should a
person do in such a situation?
2. Do you think Mabel was right considering the people hostile and even
aggressive to her?

Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Все время до суда эта маленькая семья жила твердой верой матери и
убеждениями Клайда в письмах о своей невиновности.
2. Показная любезность клерка и его рьяное желание помочь
оттолкнули робкого клиента.

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3. Каждый раз проходя мимо витрин, Гортензия замирала у манекена в
модной шубке.
4. Бросив беглый взгляд на туриста, мошенник решил, что кошелек и
камера станут легкой добычей.
5. Тот факт, что костюмы для спектакля не соответствовали
исторической реальности, газета назвала печальным (прискорбным).
6. Ребенок хотел выскользнуть из дома во двор, но мать вовремя
заметила это.
7. Главным своим недостатком мужчина назвал нерешительность.
8. Мы пытались спасти чахлый цветок, но ни солнце, ни теплый воздух
не помогли.
9. Как посчитала Мейбел, ее платье было самым безвкусным.
10.Обывательские взгляды брата испугали Анну, и она даже не стала
пытаться убедить его, что он не прав.

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Questions about the authors.

We hope you not only remembered different facts about the writers and their
style/technique/themes/characters but also enjoyed the stories! To check your
memory skills, knowledge and ability to guess you can answer the following
questions. Good luck!

1. Chekhov had a great influence on this writer’s works. He (or she?)


incorporated some Chekhov’s techniques into his/her writing. You may
guess immediately: this writer’s stories are short, the author’s attitude is
not expressed, and there is a space for the reader.
2. The writer is famous not only for his children’s fiction but also for
macabre short stories with a black sense of humour. As a rule, his stories
have an unpredictable ending.
3. There are not so many people to become experts in two fields. He
managed to become skilled both in writing and sketches for cartoons. No
wonder – he collaborated with the New Yorker and amazing at the same
time – the writer was purblind.
4. Writing is above all for this writer. In her childhood she was sent to
boarding school which was a hard blow to the girl who lost the family,
father and the surroundings all of a sudden. Writing helped the girl
overcome the loss and adapt to new life. She is a historical novelist.
5. His first short stories were published in the university magazines. Before
he became a full-time writer he worked as a teacher. He adapted some of
his works for the screen himself.
6. Love, war, loss were his main themes. His economical style is
recognizable all over the world, it influenced 20-th century fiction; there
were many attempts to copy his style but no successful ones.
7. Her modernist works had different ratings; with the help of stream-of-
consciousness she exposes real traits of her characters, their thoughts and
deeds and emotional motives.
8. 20 films and television dramas have been produced from his novels,
stories and screenplays. A special feature of his writing is an interweaving
of fiction and documentary. Of course, there are some autobiographical
stories and some characters taken from his surroundings. It is up to the
reader to decide whether he was a writer and a journalist or a journalist
with a writer’s gift.
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