7.Why did Sylvia break off her engagement? Was she frightened by the vision?

8.What did the narrator do when he learnt about Charles Crawley’s death?

9.Why wasn’t the narrator the best kind of husband?

10.What could his jealousy have led to?

11.What stopped him from committing a murder?

12.What sort of feeling is jealousy? What provokes it?

13.Does jealousy inevitably accompany marriages for love?

14.How can people fight this feeling?

Lost In The Post

After A. Philips

Ainsley, a post-office sorter, turned the envelope over and over in his hands. The letter was addressed to his wife and had an Australian stamp.

Ainsley knew that the sender was Dicky Soames, his wife's cousin. It was the second letter Ainsley received after Dicky's departure. The first letter had come six months before, he did not read it and threw it into the fire. No man ever had less reason for jealousy than Ainsley. His wife was frank as the day, a splendid housekeeper, a very good mother to their two children. He knew that Dicky Soames had been fond of Adela and the fact that Dicky Soames had years back gone away to join his and Adela's uncle made no difference to him. He was afraid that some day Dicky would return and take Adela from him.

Ainsley did not take the letter when he was at work as his fellow-workers could see him do it. So when the working hours were over he went out of the post-office together with his fellow workers, then he returned to take the letter addressed to his wife. As the door of the post-office was locked, he had to get in through a window. When he was getting out of the window the postmaster saw him. He got angry and dismissed Ainsley. So another man was hired and Ainsley became unemployed. Their life became hard, they had to borrow money from their friends.

Several months had passed. One afternoon when Ainsley came home he saw the familiar face of Dicky Soames. "So he had turned up," Ainsley thought to himself.

Dicky Soames said he was delighted to see Ainsley. "I have missed all of you so much," he added with a friendly smile.

Ainsley looked at his wife. "Uncle Tom has died," she explained, "and Dicky has come into his money". "Congratulation," said Ainsley, "you are lucky."

Adela turned to Dicky. "Tell Arthur the rest," she said quietly. "Well, you see," said Dicky, "Uncle Tom had something over sixty thousand and he wished Adela to have half. But he got angry with you because Adela never answered the two letters I wrote to her for him. Then he changed his will and left her money to hospitals. I asked him not to do it, but he wouldn't listen to me!" Ainsley turned pale. "So those two letters were worth reading after all," he thought to himself. For some time everybody kept silence. Then Dicky Soames broke the silence, "It's strange about those two letters. I've often wondered why you didn't answer them?" Adela got up, came up to her husband and said, taking him by the hand. "The letters were evidently lost." At that moment Ansley realized that she knew everything.

Answer thefollowing questions.

1.What is the message of this story?

2.Can we call Adela wise?

3.Can jealousy be cured?

4.Is it difficult to live with a person who is jealous?

Marriages with foreigners have recently become very popular in Russia. There are even specially established international dating agencies for this purpose. Do you believe that such marriages can be successful? What can actually secure their success? If you were married to a foreigner what culture, traditions and religion would you follow? In what way would you bring up your children?

Mixed Marriages: Pros And Cons

The world is getting smaller. People travel from one part of it to another in a matter of hours. And increasingly, men and women from different nationalities, cultures and races meet, marry and have children. This is a fact of life now; it will always continue to be one. Mixed marriages are not something which one thinks about as strange any longer; they have become commonplace.

Strangely enough, however, when one talks to partners in mixed marriages, often it is not the very extreme example, such as a Japanese woman married to a British man, where one finds complications and problems. Real problems of understanding can occur within the same language group, such as the British and Americans, or similar culture groups, such as the Scandinavians and the Germans.

We have spoken to several mixed couples and have come up with some rather surpris­ ing conclusions. When couples are from very obviously different backgrounds, each person is very careful, or tends to be very careful, to try to understand what the other is saying or what the other person feels, or thinks. When there are apparent similarities, however, such as the same language or similar culture backgrounds, the couples tend to assume they already understand each other, when in fact on very many different points they don't understand each other at all. This is what leads to problems.

Compatibility... What is it? It is a term used when different ideas or systems can exist or work together. Can it be applied when we speak about people? Yes, it can. Moreover, it's very important. Psychologists say that compatible people are likely to have a good relationship because of being similar.

Compatibility

Do we really like people who are similar to ourselves or do "opposites attract"? There is a great deal of evidence that we prefer people who share our beliefs, attitudes and values. We tend to forget that some of our friends whom we consider very different from ourselves are often quite similar to us in terms of such variables as age, religion, education and socioeconomic class. Hundreds of statistical studies show that husbands and wives are respect to physical characteristics like height and eye colour and psychological characte­ ristics. Thus most evidence indicate that liking is correlated with similarity on most dimentions.

The sayings that "opposites attract" may apply mainly to certain complementary traits. To take the most obvious example, one partner may be quite dominant and thus require someone who is relatively more submissive. A person with strong preferences may do best with someone who is more flexible.

One of the compelling reasons for liking people is their liking for us. We tend to like people who like us and to reject those who reject us.

Different Tastes

When Hollywood actress Tatum O’Neal and tennis "superbrat" John McEnroe first teamed up, friends on both sides were surprised. The immediate reaction from everyone was, in McEnroe's famous phrase, "You can't be serious".

Today they are happily married with three children, despite their many differences. She hates New York in winter. He likes it. She’s keen on antiques, he prefers modem furni­ ture. While he adores steak and lobster, she'd rather have chicken and fish.

Even their personalities are different. He is a bit of a hermit and enjoys staying at home, whereas she is fond of going out at night. He can’t stand any invasion of his privacy, she quite enjoys the attention of the press. He is dependent on her and sometimes lacking in self-confidence, and she is self-sufficient and confident.

But their differences end there. Like McEnroe, Tatum is also famous for her temper tantrums. Says Tatum: "John and I have some beautiful fights. He gets angry and says: "You know who you are? The female John McEnroe. And you’ve got all his worst qualities!"

to team up - to join together

a hermit - someone who likes to live completely alone temper tantrums - sudden attacks of childish anger

Different But Together

Mr. and Mrs. Child just don't think alike. "It's too hot in here," he says.

"No, it's too cold," she answers.

"We are going to the country tomorrow," Mrs. Child says.

"No, we are not. We are staying in the city," Mr. Child answers.

The house is too small for her. It's too big for him. She wants to spend the holiday in Spain. He wants to spend money on a new car. She wants to have a garden., He says a garden is too much work.

She wants to get to places early. He is always late. He loses everything. She finds it. She begins to read the newspaper when he finishes it. He opens the window when she

goes to bed. She closes the window when she gets up.

She says: "Oh, dear! This dress is too expensive. I can't buy it." He answers: "No, it doesn’t. I’ll give it to you for your birthday."

"Oh, I'm old and not pretty any more," she cries. "No, you look as young and pretty as ever to me." "John," she smiles, "you really like me, don't you?" "No," he laughs, "I love you."

Answer thefollowing questions.

1. Which of the following, do you think, are important aspects in a friendship or a steady relationship?

To have similar:

-tastes in music;

-tastes in food;

-habits and routines;

-hobbies and interests;

-opinions;

-backgrounds.

2.What are the chances of people with different tastes and personalities staying

together?

3. Do you know of any other unusual couples?

RENDERING

Render the texts into English.

Свадьба, которая не состоялась

Двенадцать тысяч молодых людей приняли участие в конкурсе, устроенном одной из английских фирм. Фирма была полна решимости найти «идеальную пару Великобритании». Все, кто принимали участие в конкурсе, должны были заполнить специальные бланки с вопросами о возрасте, цвете волос, глаз и т.д. Выбрать девушку и молодого человека для «идеальной пары» должна была «электронная сваха» - компьютер.

Фирма обещала оплатить их поездку в Париж, знакомство с достопримечатель­ ностями, посещение театров.

Наконец наступил день, когда результаты выбора компьютера стали известны: «идеальной парой» стали 19-летняя секретарша Анна и владелец небольшого магази­ на Дерек. Молодые люди встретились, после чего Анна сказала, что Дерек ни в чем не походит на человека, за которого она хотела бы выйти замуж. Дерек же сказал, что Анна очень милая девушка, но... надо узнать её ближе. Молодые люди поехали в Париж. Вернувшись же в Лондон, они распрощались с тем, чтобы вообще больше никогда не встретиться. «Вообще Дерек - хороший парень, но он не для меня», - ска­ зала девушка, а молодой человек добавил: «Анна хорошая и славная, но я никогда не смог бы полюбить её».

Итак, компьютер ошибся. Теоретически всё было правильно, не хватало только любви.

PSYCHOLOGISTS SAY...

Мы с тобой два полюса

По законам физики разнополярные заряды притягиваются, а однополярные - от­ талкиваются. Но работает ли это в отношении людей? С кем легче ужиться - со своей точной копией или же с полной противоположностью? С кем получится построить надежный союз?

Когда двое людей соединяются в пару, это чем-то напоминает химический экс­ перимент: никогда точно не известно, какой будет реакция и что получится в итоге. Кому-то удается создать крепкую семью, а кому-то нет. Почему так происходит и можно ли просчитать результат заранее?

Очевидно, что браки, где муж и жена одинаковы на сто процентов, имеют как свои плюсы, так и минусы.

Брак с «однополюсным партнёром» обычно создаёт эмоциональную, душевную и физическую близость.

«Однополюсный брак» делает отношения прозрачными: поведение супруга вам понятно до мелочей, вы с лёгкостью можете спрогнозировать его реакцию. Но данное обстоятельство имеет и оборотную сторону: ваш партнёр тоже прекрасно знает вас и может вами манипулировать.