Reading

1. Skimming

1. Read the story and render the plot of it in brief.

2. Prove that it is a piece of fiction, give illustration of the most typical features of this style.

3. Define the theme of the story, comment on the title and say how it is related to the whole story. (Is it a means of foreshadowing or a means of cohesion? Is it focusing the reader’s attention on a detail or what?)

2. Scanning

Scan (look into) the text for right answers to the following questions.

1. How did Mr. Nuttel find himself in a rural place where he didn’t know anybody?

2. His sister gave him some letters of introduction, didn’t she? What for?

3. Who met him at Mrs. Sappleton’s?

4. What did the niece tell him about her aunt’s tragedy?

5. Why was it a chill shock of fear to Framton when he saw three figures walking across the lawn towards the open window? What words from the text characterize his emotional state and reaction?

6. Can you prove that the young lady was very good at inventing stories and did it artistically?

3. Close reading

1. Read the text again and define the general tone in which the story is narrated (matter-of-fact, ironical, humorous, serious, mock-serious, etc.). Prove your viewpoint.

2. Say if the plot is simple or complex, comment on the plot structure.

3. Comment on the word-combinations and sentences given below from stylistic point of view and their role in creating the ironical atmosphere.

a) ... duly flatter the niece at the moment without unduly discounting the aunt that was to come.

b) Some of them were quite nice. Framton wondered whether Mrs. Sappleton ...came into the nice division.

c) ... the aunt bustled into the room ... she rattled on cheerfully.

d) Framton who laboured under the tolerably wide spread delusion total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail...

4. Define means of producing a humorous effect used in the text (deliberate exaggeration, unexpected comparison, words which do not belong in the situation, etc.).

D Critical reading

1. Do you find the story entertaining? Say how it appeals to your sense of imagination?

2. If it were up to you how would you change the end of the story? word study

1. Match the two columns.

bog 2) bustle 3) delusion 4) ailment 5) infirmity 6) romance 7) marsh 8) flatter 9) self-possessed

calm, acting in a quiet but confident manner a piece of wet, soft ground praise too much or insincerely move quickly and noisily an illness or sickness the state of being weak an exaggerated description, a grotesque falsehood low-lying wet land a strong belief in smth that does not exist

2. Choose the synonyms from B of the words from A.

A	B
endeavour dusk shiver grab presently scarcity stray	shortage tremble, shake, shudder twilight effort, attempt snatch, seize wander soon

3. Say what stylistic stratum each word (or word-combination) belongs to: bookish or colloquial.

1) put up with, 2) endeavour, 3) migrate, 4) retreat, 5) communion, ­

6) habitation, 7) break off, 8) bolt out, 9) make a mess, 10) dash off.

4. Use an English-English dictionary to explain the meanings of the following words:

1) noiselessly; 2) tolerably; 3) ghastly; 4) briskly; 5) falteringly; 6) hardly

5. Find English equivalents for the following words and phrases from the text.

тем временем; рекомендательные письма; самоуверенная дама; что-то неопределимое; имеет к этому какое-то отношение; застекленная раздвижная дверь-окно, выходящая на лужайку; ненадежный участок болота; широко распространенное заблуждение; незнакомые и малознакомые люди.

6. Say this in Russian.

on the matter of diet; not so much in agreement; sympathetic comprehension; in a chill shock of nameless fear; imminent collision; dashed off without a word of good-bye; the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming; at short notice.