Comprehension Check
1. What was the main advantage of being at college?
2. Why did Ruth consider herself rich?
3. What did Ruth like about working in the library?
4. What did Ruth do while reading?
5. How did Ruth change her image?
6. When did Ruth leave for the university?
7. How did Ruth spend her day in the college?
8. Why did Ruth and Anthea become friends?
9. What sort of questions would Anthea ask?
10. What change took place at the end of the second year in Ruth?
11. What did Ruth do to find a new style of life?
12. When did Anthea say that she was not sure whether Ruth was all there?
13. What kind of gesture accompanied Anthea's words and what did it imply?
14. What did Richard Hirst look like?
15. What kind of responsibilities did Richard have?
16. What kind of lifestyle did Richard have?
17. What did Richard speak of into Ruth's ear?
18. What did Ruth think and do?
EXERCISES
Exercise 1
Find in the text words denoting:
— a short piece of writing on one particular subject that is written by a student;
— a class, usually at college or university, where the teacher and the students discuss a particular topic or subject;
— a long essay that a student does as part of a degree;
— financial aid that the government gives to an individual or to an organisation for a particular purpose such as education, welfare, home, improvements;
— a student at a university or college who has not yet taken his or her first degree;
— a person who has a first degree from a university and who is doing research at a more advanced level;
— someone who has left school or college before they have finished their studies;
— a long piece of written research done for a higher university degree, especially a PhD*;
— money given to a student to help pay for the cost of his or her education;
— a regular meeting in which a tutor and a small group of students discuss a subject as part of the students' course of study;
— a block of flats where students live;
— a person who travels to work in town every day, especially by train;
— a large dining hall in a university.
* PhD — doctor of Philosophy (an academic degree, approximately equal to "кандидат наук" in Russia).
Exercise 4
Pick out from the text 1) nouns, denoting different types of classes at the university; 2) nouns, denoting money support for students; 3) nouns, denoting types of written works done by students.
Exercise 5
Give the English equivalents for the following and use them in sentences of your own.
A.
Получать стипендию; студенческое общежитие; страсть к чтению; читать за едой; делать пометки; придерживаться чего-либо; семинар; немедленные результаты; тема дипломной работы; учиться в аспирантуре; последовать совету кого-либо; выиграть стипендию; работать над диссертацией; иметь значение для кого-либо; признавать; по образованию; не ложиться спать целую ночь; поглощать (знания, информацию); достойный подражания.
В.
Не волноваться о деньгах; вместе жить в квартире с кем-либо; огромное удовольствие; встречать день; помятое лицо; ноги в шлёпанцах; испортить утро; войти в привычку; пойти куда-нибудь; подружиться; безошибочно; скучать; состоять из чего-либо; требовать; вызывать чувства; принуждать к чему-либо; влюбиться; иметь успех у кого-либо.
Exercise 8
Complete the sentences choosing the appropriate word or phrase from the list. Change their form if necessary.
To have no worries about something; in one's own eyes; a hall of residence; read through one's meals; to adhere to something; to be at one with somebody; to go out; to make friends; to find one's way to somebody.; to get rid of something; to need somebody's company; beside the point; to be on one's guard; on three counts; no end to something; the concern of somebody.
1. A communicative person ... with other people very quickly and feels at ease in any company.
2. It is important ... a definite style when choosing clothes; otherwise one risks looking strange.
3. Police ask people ... when strangers approach them, try to make contact with them or ask favours of them.
4. Sharing a room with other people, one has ... all bad habits: smoking, scattering things here and there, coming late.
5. Having passed the exam, she grew .... The exam was very difficult and being through with it meant success.
6. The teacher tried... a little boy in primary school; she spoke with him, made him speak and play too, but he remained aloof and constrained.
7. The child seemed not ... ; he liked to stay all by himself, with no companions to play with.
8. Most British students live either in ... or share flats with other students.
9. In the evening most British students .... They go to pubs, discos or just walk around with their friends.
10. Doctors do not recommend.... It may lead to indigestion.
11. The athlete's physical power was almost.... It was his mental discipline that really made him a champion.
12. There was ... her friend's advice: she always had new ideas and poured them out incessantly.
13. Her success rested ...: she was President of Students' Society, she had only excellent marks and she won a scholarship from the British Council.
14. Hurrying up to the university in the morning, she ... all the rest of the students: she was an integral part of this moving mass.
15. His constant failures soon became ... every lecturer. Nobody knew what to do in a situation like this.
16. She ... domestic chores: her mother and grandmother did everything in the house.
Exercise 9 Put in the missing prepositions.
1. The teacher demanded that the students should take notes ... coloured ball-point pens.
2. Being a psychologist... training, Richard devoted his life to solving other people's problems.
3. Not everyone likes to share a flat ... somebody: it disturbs one's privacy.
4. Working... her thesis, Ruth learned many interesting facts.
5. The mother always grumbled when her daughter was reading ... her meals.
6. The commuters were at one ... the bus stop, and every person felt as if he or she were an integral part of the crowd.
7. Ruth could not understand why a certain restlessness came ... her.
8. Ruth did not have any worries ... money, because she lived at home with her parents.
9. It was very easy to choose subjects ... dissertations; the professor offered a long list of topics.
10. She would never sit down ... her meal without a book, which, of course, was a bad habit.
11. One day the lecturer returned Ruth's essay with an inscription ... the bottom.
12. Ruth's greed ... books kept her working in the library until nine o'clock.
13. As there was a kettle in the Common Room, some students took ... bringing tea and coffee.
14. The girls were bored ... each other, because they were too different.
15. A lot of students at the university were ... grants, which meant that their studies were subsidized by the government.
16. The girl decided that she would adhere ... a classical style of dressing; she thought it suited her better.
17. Those who win scholarships from the British Council are usually entitled ... half a year abroad.
18. Ruth remembered the day when she met Richard Hirst ... the rest of her life.
19. The girl's talks always consisted ... stories, reminiscences and gossip.
20. Richard congratulated all students ... all possible occasions, as he was a student counsellor.