Guided Summary

Fill in any appropriate word(s) to complete the summary of the Reading Passage’s main ideas and key points.

The world is now becoming a «global village» and English is becoming (1) ___________________ . Throughout its history, English has been (2) _________ . In contrast to French and Spanish, English does not (3) _________ . After the French conquered the English, English changed in two ways: (4) ______________

and (5) _________ . The vocabulary of American English developed from sources such as (6) ________ . An American writer, H.L. Mencken believes that the language of immigrants (7) _____________ .

Unit 5 a legacy from will shakespeare

1. Before Reading Tasks

a. What kind of newspaper is «The Times»?

b. What do you know about William Shakespeare? When and where did he live? What was he famous for?

c. Words in Context

Choose the meaning of the underlined word or expression based on its use in the sentence.

1. The book belonged to a distant cousin in London who left no will.

a. a wish b. an official document c. a modal verb.

2. The woman had no idea of the book’s significance when a solicitor contacted her out of the blue a month ago.

a. unexpectedly b. finally c. at once

3. Friends and family were sure it was a replica.

a. an original edition b. a close copy c. a fake

4. Apart from six copied in private hands all are held in institutions.

a. except for b. including c. before

5. He was responding … for help in locating the next of kin.

a. closest relative b. distant relation c. cousin

6. It was difficult to track down Mrs. Humphries.

a. to chase b. to find c. to take to the police

7. She befriended her neighbor because she felt sorry for her.

a. to act as a friend b. to look after c. to quarrel

8. The woman fell out with her stepdaughter.

a. to visit b. to quarrel c. to live separately

Read the Following Article.

A Legacy From Will Shakespeare

Housewife to make millions after being left first edition of Bard’s plays by a lost relative, writes Dalya Alberge

The Play’s the Thing

The First Folio was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare’s death, by the actors John Heminge and Henry Condell. It contains 36 plays, 18 printed for the first time, and was an immediate success. It sold for between 15 shillings and &1. It was thought Shakespeare took no interest in the printing but recent research shows that he and his company, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, intended to have his plays printed. Nineteen plays had appeared in quarto by 1622. The First Folio added another 18. A handful of plays were excluded; they were known not to be wholly by Shakespeare.

A housewife has inherited one of the most important books in English literature from a relative whom she never knew existed.

The previously unrecorded first edition of Shakespeare’s plays, the 1623 First Folio of the Comedies, Histories and Tragedies, belonged to a distant cousin in London who left no will.

Anne Humphries, 48, from Stockport, near Manchester, whose husband runs an aluminium recycling company, had no idea of the book’s significance when a solicitor contacted her out of the blue a month ago.

She was told that she was the nearest relative and had inherited a book, that it was a «First Folio of Shakespeare’s plays, presumed to be a facsimile edition». Mrs. Humphries said: «I had no idea what it was».

Friends and family were sure it was a replica. She took it to Bloomsbury Auctions in London to find out more and was astonished to be told that it was an original, one of only six copies in private hands.

Justin Phillips, the specialist at Bloomsbury Auctions, said: «Whenever someone phones up and says they’ve got a 1623 Shakespeare, you automatically think it’s a facsimile edition of the 19^th century, which are fairly common and sell for &200. But this time someone turned with the real thing».

«The First Folio is incomparably the most important work in the English language. Colleagues who’ve been working for 20 years have never handled one. The importance cannot be overstated».

It will be auctioned on October 7. In 2001, a complete version sold for & 4.1 million, a record for a 17^th-century book at auction. Most copies have some defects. This one is missing 40 leaves, including most of the first play, the Tempest, and the title, with the famous engraved picture of Shakespeare – wear and tear over 300 years. Mrs. Humphries said: «It’s just incredible. We feel so privileged. Your heart wants to keep it, but your head tells you it would be nice for a wider audience to have the benefit of something so important. I hope it will go to a museum or a university».

The First Folio is the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays. Barely more than 600 copies were printed and fewer than 300 survive, in a complete or fragmentary state. Apart from six copies in private hands, all are held in institutions. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington has about 82. Bloomsbury’s specialists went through Mrs. Humphries’s First Folio leaf by leaf, checking against copies in the British Library.

Mr. Phillips said: «For many, its fascination lies in the fact that a number of the plays contained within it were copied from the actor’s play manuscripts by the printers, and so it brings one as close as possible to the intoxicating atmosphere of the Elizabethan and Jacobean theatrical scene».

Mrs. Humphries was traced with some difficulty by a genealogist, Mark Feltham. He was responding to the treasury Solicitor’s advertisement for help in locating the next of kin.

Mrs. Humphries’s solicitor, John Brennan of Nightingale’s in Stockport, Cheshire, said: «When any estate goes to the Crown, on the basis of «no next of kin», they will do the records search and come up with a blood next of kin. The Treasury Solicitor takes out probate for the Crown and administers the estate. Mrs. Humphries said of her long-lost relative: «I’d not even heard of her. I don’t know anything about her».

The genealogist discovered that the woman, an only child, was born in 1917 and had been married to a tailor’s cutter. He died in 1978. They had lived at the same address in Tottenham, North London, for at least 44 years. «It was very difficult to track down Mrs. Humphries. The deceased was an only child. Her father was an only child. Her mother had a sister, who had two children. So Mrs. Humphries was the first cousin once removed of the deceased».

How her relative acquired a First Folio remains a mystery.

Pauline Johnson, who was the relative’s neighbour for 46 years was astonished to hear of the First Folio’s existence because she had never noticed books in the woman’s house.

She befriended her neighbour because she felt sorry for her: «I didn’t like her. She was difficult».

The woman lived in a terraced house and fell out with her stepdaughter, Maureen Cook. Ms. Cook told The Times yesterday that it was painful to hear of the First Folio going to someone else.

She believes that it may have been owned by her grandfather, a valet with a keen love of books. The problem, she said, was that her stepmother was not a blood relative. In refusing to draw up a will, she had ensured that the Shakespeare book did not pass to Ms. Cook.

(«The Times» 24. 09. 04)