My Oxford

Before reading

7. Look through the text and say what was Naomi’s attitude to her University.

Naomi Wolf – New College 1985 and 2011 The American author tells John Garth how she hated Oxford in the 1980s – but came back to find it transformed Naomi Wolf (photo: Andre Lambertson)

While reading.

8. Fill in the gaps in the interview with these questions. You have one extra question that you do not need to use.

A. Why did you come back in 2011?

B. Why did you apply to Oxford?

C. What did you study?

D. What kind of student were you in your twenties?

E. What have you taken away from your time at Oxford?

F. What were your impressions of Oxford at that time?

G. Were you involved in student politics?

H. Do you feel Oxford has changed?

1. ________________________________

Even as a young American girl I had a clear sense that Oxford was the origin and the centre of the English literary tradition. I graduated from Yale in 1984 and applied for a Rhodes Scholarship.

2. ________________________________

19th-century English literature, focusing on women novelists. I didn’t finish my doctoral thesis, though a lot of the thinking went into my first book, The Beauty Myth.

3. ________________________________

There was a very strict class-system. It was a system that had no place for you no matter how smart or promising you might be. I didn’t feel energised intellectually.

4. ________________________________

I spent most of my time in the common room at Oriel – where my boyfriend and a lot of my male friends were – chain-smoking and complaining about the weather.

5. ________________________________

I come from an academic family, so not having finished my doctorate felt as if I stopped working hard in some very great way. With Dr Stefano-Maria Evangelista at Trinity, I’ve been working on the topic people laughed at 23 years ago: the origin of discourses about sexuality in the nineteenth century. When I’m not working, I pack everything I can into every day: punting, student productions – I just can’t get enough.

6. ________________________________

It was always beautiful and impressive but it is now much more lively intellectually, more inclusive and diverse. It’s the best educational experience I’ve ever had. A more diverse student body has boosted intellectual life here to a much more exciting level. I used to feel Oxford was a beautiful artefact of contemporary life; now I feel it’s this fantastic whirlpool of ideas at the centre. I want to encourage my daughter to apply to Oxford because the level of teaching is outstanding compared to any university I’ve been to. Some lectures were great, some were not; but now I’m proud from how much I’ve learned in 50 minutes. And the people who are presenting this are the best of the best of the academic world drawn from the international community.

7. ________________________________

What Oxford taught me, even in the Eighties, is that as long as you’re asking a good question in a rigorous way, nothing is impossible. I like to write and lecture in the Oxford conversational style, which is anecdotal, funny and sophisticated; we really don’t have that tradition in the United States. Finally, now that I’m back in Oxford and it’s such a transformed place, it’s affecting me creatively, and I’ve gone back to writing fiction and poetry as well as non-fiction.

(Adapted from: OXFORD TODAY MAGAZINE Volume 24 No 2 | Hilary 2012)

9. A lot of English verbs need a definite preposition to be used after them. Match the verbs with prepositions that go with them. Use the text to help you when necessary.

on × 2 from × 2 – at for

1. to graduate … the university

2. to apply … a job/scholarship

3. to focus … something

4. to come … a large/small family

5. to laugh … something

6. to work … the topic

7. to affect … something

10. Make up a few true sentences about yourself and 1 false one using phrases from Ex. 2. Work in pairs. Read the sentences to your partner. Can he/she guess which one is not true? Swap the roles.

11. Match the adjectives from the text with their opposites. Think of their Russian equivalents.

1. beautiful

2. impressive

3. diverse

4. exciting

5. contemporary

6. anecdotal

7. sophisticated

1. ugly

2. boring

3. similar

4. unimportant

5. old

6. clear, simple

7. scientific

12. Make up a similar interview with your partner. Discuss the differences between school and university life. Possible topics of discussion: schedule, free time, subjects, people.

Listening 2

13. Practise the pronunciation of the following words

devote [di'vəut]

provide [prə'vaid]

theoretical [θɪəˈrɛtɪkl]

chemistry ['kemistri]

well-balanced ['wel'bælənst]

curriculum [kə'rɪkjələm]

Edinburgh [ˈɛdɪnbərə]

poke fun ['pouk 'f˄n]

occasionally [əˈkeɪʒnəlɪ]

principal ['principəl]

John Knox ['dʒɔn 'noks]

preacher ['prɪ: ʧə]

manufacturer [ˌmænjʊˈfæktʃərəʳ]

ceremony [ˈserɪmənɪ]

bow-tie['bəutai]

confirm [kən'fə:m]