МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ РЕСПУБЛИКИ БЕЛАРУСЬ

УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ

«БАРАНОВИЧСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»

Ю. В. МАСЛОВ, М. Е. МАСЛОВА, Т. А. СЕЛЕЗНЁВА

ЧИТАЕМ И АНАЛИЗИРУЕМ КОРОТКИЕ РАССКАЗЫ

SHORT STORIES TO READ ANALYTICALLY

Учебно-методическое пособие для студентов языковых специальностей

Рекомендовано к печати научно-методическим советом университета

Барановичи

РИО БарГУ

2010

УДК 811.111(075.8)

ББК 81.2Англ-923

М31

Авторы-составители:

Ю. В. Маслов, М. Е. Маслова, Т. А. Селезнёва

Рецензенты:

И. М. Андреасян, кандидат педагогических наук, профессор кафедры методики МГЛУ;

В. К. Коновалик, магистр педагогических наук, старший преподаватель кафедры теории и практики английского языка БарГУ

М31

Маслов, Ю. В. Читаем и анализируем короткие рассказы = Short Stories to Read Analytically [Текст] : учеб.-метод. пособие для судентов яз. специальностей / авт.-сост.: Ю. В. Маслов, М. Е. Маслова, Т. А. Селезнёва. — Барановичи : РИО БарГУ, 2010. — 252, [4] с. : ил. — 110 экз. — ISBN 978-985-498-379-0.

Материал пособия — аутентичные художественные тексты и пошаговая система заданий — может быть эффективно использован для развития умений чтения, говорения и интерпретации текста на начальном уровне. Особенностью издания является наличие разнообразных письменных заданий, а также широкий спектр представленных авторов — от классики до современности. Предназначено для студентов для специальностей 1-02 03 06 Иностранные языки (английский, немецкий), 1-02 03 06-01 Английский язык. Немецкий язык, 1-02 03 07 Иностранный язык (английский). Табл. 4. Рис. 26.

УДК 811.111(075.8)

ББК 81.2Англ-923

I SBN 978-985-498-379-0 © БарГУ, 2010

Introduction

This collection contains a number of stories belonging to different writers and styles. As far as we see it, the stories are united by three thematic bases “School and University Life”, ”Sports and Athletes”, “The English Speaking World”. Each text is provided with a range of exercises which will help to understand the stories better.

You will find a biographical brief about the authors accompanying each story as well as three types of assignments.

Pre-Reading assignments can help, at the preliminary stage, to get prepared to anticipate and discuss the main problems depicted in the story.

Reading assignments help the reader to learn the details, decipher the author’s message, and understand the general design of the story.

Post-Reading assignments push students — gently! — to the furthest limits of their creativity.

We hope this book will motivate learners to continue their travel through the world of English and American literature with great enjoyment and pleasure.

Предисловие

Сборник объединяет рассказы разных авторов и различных стилей. В общих чертах, рассказы можно разделить на три группы — «Школьная и университетская жизнь», «Спорт и спортсмены» и «Мир английского языка». Каждый из рассказов сопровождается заданиями, которые помогают понять его содержание наилучшим образом.

Краткая биография автора предшествует серии заданий из трех частей.

Предтекстовые задания выполняются на начальном этапе работы и подготавливают читателя к восприятию основной проблематики рассказа.

Задания, выполняемые в процессе чтения, позволяют прояснить детали, раскрыть замысел автора и глубже понять внутреннюю структуру повествования.

Послетекстовые задания служат цели подтолкнуть — не слишком явно! — студентов к тому, чтобы по-настоящему проявить творческие способности.

Мы надеемся, что работа с этой книгой будет мотивировать студентов к продолжению увлекательного путешествия в мир английской и американской литературы.

SCHOOL

THINKING AHEAD

School life is by all means a test. First and for most it is a test of knowledge and learning abilities. But it is quite often a test of one’s personalities and character. Which test does the story focus on ? And who is on test ?

A WORD ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Roberta Wiegand is a modern American author who specializes in writing fiction for children and young adults. She regularly contributes to several notable publications for teenagers including the well-known Cricket magazine. Her stories are noted for their warm humor.

PRE-READING ACTIVITIES

1. In small groups, discuss this great annual event — the start of the academic year and the feelings connected with it — expectation, anticipation, joy, fear…

2. Decide whether a teacher’s appearance plays any role in teacher-student relationship. Can an attractive and smartly-dressed teacher motivate students to study (or vice versa) ?

3. Discuss the problem of student pranks and teachers’ attitude to them. Prove/disprove the idea that a teacher’s relation to a student joke can make or break friendship between them.

READING ACTIVITIES

4. Read the opening paragraphs and comment on the mood the author creates. Do you think this mood will prevail throughout the whole story ?

Early in October school began as usual in Ponder’s Mill. Sarah and Lilly walked up the hill together, wearing their new school clothes. Yellow leaves from the elms along Main Street fell on the girls’ heads and whirled in gentle circles around their feet.

Sarah and Lilly were beginning the fifth grade. The brick schoolhouse had four grades on each of its three floors. The higher the grade went, the higher up in the schoolhouse the classroom was. So now, for the first time, the girls would be in a room on the second storey.

“Do you think the new teacher will be nice ?” Lilly asked.

Sarah started every year by liking the teacher she was used to better than the new one. This year there was a special mystery because the regular fifth-grade teacher had moved away. No one knew anything about her replacement.

“I hope so,” said Sarah. “But it will be worth having a new teacher to be in one of the rooms with a fire escape.”

“You bet,” Lilly agreed. “That’ll be fun.”

The fire escapes were two big metal tubes. They started in one room on each of the upper floors. They sloped from the school building to the ground outside. Whenever there was a fire drill, Mr. Bostrum, the principal, rang the bell in the tower. Then all the children on the second and third floors hurried into a room with a fire escape in it. One by one they sat down at the top opening of the metal chute and pushed off. They whizzed down the giant slides and quickly emptied the top floors of the school. On the second floor, the fire escape began in the fifth-grade room.

All the upstairs pupils in the school learned how to use the tubes and thought they were fun. But Mr. Bostrum only clanged the bell two or three times a year. Everyone agreed that it would be a shame to waste such great slides by using them just during fire drills. So sometimes, when the teacher wasn’t looking, one of the children disappeared down a chute.

Now Sarah would have her turn in a fire escape room. Sarah and Lilly hang their jackets on hooks in the dark, wood-lined hall. The first thing they noticed was the new sign mounted on their classroom door. M. EMERSON, FIFTH GRADE was printed on it.

“She sounds old, don’t you think ?” Sarah guessed.

“And maybe mean, too.”

Lilly gave a little shudder. They exchanged worried looks. Then they crossed their fingers for luck and went timidly inside. But the teacher wasn’t there yet. It was still ten minutes early. The other pupils were gathered around the top of the metal tube at the back of the room. They were talking in whispers. They motioned to the girls to join them.

Pete Robbins, who was the biggest boy in their class, said, “We’ve got this plan, see. Whenever the new teacher goes to the blackboard and turns her back, some of us will go down the chute. As many as can before she figures it out. Maybe she doesn’t even know about the slide yet.”

Sarah thought it was risky, but she had to admit, it was a great temptation. At least they’d find right way what the new teacher was like.