II. Paraphrase or Explain:

1. "I suppose I shouldn't have been taken in by him if I hadn't been as worthless as he" (p. 126)

2. "He told her nothing of his work, but even in the old days he had been reticent on this: he was not by nature expansive.”

III. Find the situations in which the new words are used in the text.

IV. Read and translate the passage on pp. 129-130.

"His voice was weary ... he could not forgive himself.”

V. Questions and Topic to Discuss:

1. Gather all the information about the convent, the nuns and their work. What are the things that struck Kitty there?

2. Speak about what Kitty came to know about her own husband. Did she change her opinion of him? Why had she been blind to his merits?

3. Kitty talks to Walter about their future and past. Speak about Walter's new attitude to her and her decision to work at the convent.

4. Speak about the work Kitty was to do at the convent and the way she overcame herself when she had something repulsive to deal with.

Assignment № 6.

pp. 138-164

I. Vocabulary:

1. conviction (n.) (p. 138), to convict (v.)

2. to love somebody to distraction (p. 142)

3. to distract one's mind (p. 143)

4. to yearn for somebody (p. 143)

5. to attach importance to something (p. 147)

6. to be a blow (a wound) to one's vanity (p. 147)

7. sensitive (adj.) (p. 148), sensitiveness (n.) (p. 162)

8. to throw everything to the winds (p. 148)

9. to be seized with terror (horror, panic, etc.) (p. 151) (p.153)

10. to be overwhelmed with joy (p. 155)

11. vindictive (adj.) (p. 156)

12. petty (adj.) (p.156)

13. to summon up one's resolution (courage) etc. (p. 160)

14. to make a hash of things (p. 163)

II. Paraphrase or Explain:

1. It is not a thing to advertise. I do not know that it would greatly add to my chances of promotion in the service (p. 148)

2. I feel Eke some one who has lived all his life by a duck-pond and suddenly is shown the sea. It makes me a little breathless and yet it fills me with slation.

3. I shouldn’t have thought you were the sort of person to put yourself out for a few stuffy nuns and a parcel of Chinese brats (p. 163)

III. Questions and Topic to Discuss:

1. Kitty comes to know the nuns better. Speak about sister St. Joseph's traits making her different from a typical nun. What did Kitty learn from her about the Mother Superior? What did she find striking about that woman's life and personality? Why did she feel a wall between them and herself?

2. Compare what Sister St_. Joseph told Kitty about Waddington's private life with what he told Kitty himself. What new light does the information throw on Waddington's personality? Whom is he contrasted to in the novel?

3. Kitty feels free from Townsend. Speak about her reaction to the discovery. What do you think helped her to get freed of him?

4. Kitty comes to know that she is going to become a mother. Why was she seized with terror? Compare her feelings with the way the nuns felt about it.

5. Kitty breaks the news to Walter. Speak about her inner-struggle when Walter asked her about the children's father. Why could she not bring herself to tell him a lie? Point out facts showing that Walter's attitude to her somewhat changed after the talk. Account for the change.

6. Walter insists on Kitty's leaving Mei-tan-fu. Give his reason. Comment upon what he told her about his aim in having brought her there. Do you think him vindictive?

7. Speak about a change in Kitty's personality brought by her life in Mei-tan-fu. Point out her utterances showing that the change was not too deep.

8. Compare what Kitty had thought about her own unfaithfulness before she knew she was with child and after it: "That sort of thing doesn't mean very much to a woman when it's over. I think women have never understood the attitude the men took up" (Ch. XLVI, p. 126) and: It was singular that men attached so much importance to their wives "faithfulness" (Ch. LVII, p. 162). Give your opinion on the point.