Star signs

Element signs are very general, so there are twelve STAR signs (three for FIRE, three for EARTH, etc.).

Mar 21 - Apr 20 FIRE Sign ARIES people like dangerous sport and modern life. They think and talk quickly. They are often angry and bad-tempered but they are energetic/bossy, warm, generous, sensitive and artistic. They don't like big changes in their lives.

Apr 21 - May 21 EARTH Sign TAURUS people are kind and friendly. They work slowly but they are hard-working. They are very interested in food, but they are careful with their money and they are interested in business and families. They like working in the garden very much. They are usually happy but they are often jealous.

May 22 - June 21 AIR Sign GEMINI people are clever, witty, very talkative, changeable. They do lots of things well and they work quickly, but they don't like working hard. They like traveling and writing very much. They are interested in books, people and ideas. They are often funny.

June 22 - July 23 WATER Sign CANCER-people are humorous, conservative, often happy, anxious. They are very good businessmen. They are very interested in their families and they don't like being alone. They are interested in the sea and history. They have got a lot of imagination and they are often afraid and shy.

July 24 - Aug 23 FIRE Sign LEO people are very honest and independent but they think they are wonderful. They like going to expensive restaurants very much. They are ambitious, bossy, they like controlling other people, but they don't listen very carefully to other people. They are either tidy or very untidy. They are passionate and generous.

Aug 24 - Sept 23 EARTH Sign VIRGO people are very logical and they work hard and very carefully. They are interested in science and nature. They don't like big or small changes in their lives and they are romantic, they are practical but they’re very honest. They are punctual and critical.

Sept 24 - Oct 23 AIR Sign LIBRA people are very romantic, pleasant and charming. They are very interested in other people. They like dancing and they are fond of art, sport and animals. They don't like big changes in their lives. They are friendly, energetic (but also lazy), argumentative.

Oct 23 - Nov 22 WATER Sign SCORPIO people are often very intelligent and very ambitious, but they aren't very honest. They are brave, sometimes violent, extremist, possessive, and passionate. They don't like working with other people. They aren't very interested in their families but they don't often change their friends. They are often very religious.

Nov 23 - Dec 21 FIRE Sign SAGITTARIUS people don't like sitting and doing nothing. They like playing sports very much and living dangerously. They listen well to other people and they are good teachers. They like traveling. They aren't careful with their money. They are talkative, self-confident and cheerful.

Dec 22 - Jan 20 EARTH Sign CAPRICORN people are very ambitious and they work very hard. They don't like talking and they don't listen well to other people. They don't like going to expensive restaurants. They don't like playing sports very much. They are conservative, polite, serious, sociable but shy. They are interested in home, politics, and people.

Jan 21 - Feb 19 AIR Sign AQUARIUS people like modern life very much. They like crowds and new ideas and they often change their ideas. They are interested in sport and politics.

They are romantic, but they are very independent. They are tolerant, sociable but unstable. They are often brilliant or mad.

Feb 20 - Mar 20 WATER Sign PISCES people are always very happy or very unhappy. They are sensitive, emotional, imaginative, artistic, and depressive. They are very interested in other people and like helping other people very much. They aren't very interested in their families. They are very interested in themselves. They don't work very well and they are often lazy.

Answer the questions

1. Tell whether you believe in horoscopes or not. Give your reasons and examples.

2. How is a person’s character formed?

3. What people are good to deal with?

4. What traits of character do you appreciate most? Why?

5. What do you think is more important: beauty or character?

Ex.2. Find the English equivalents in the text

1. согласно знакам зодиака; 2. нетерпимы к людям; 3. любит работать один; 4. двенадцать звездных знаков; 5. опасный спорт; 6. изменения в жизни; 7. остроумный; 8. переменчивый; 9. интересоваться книгами; 10. амбициозный и властный; 11. внимательно слушать других; 12. увлекаться искусством; 13. сидеть и ничего не делать; 14. вежливый; 15. современная жизнь; 16. чувствительный.

Ex. 3. Which words could describe the following people?

a) absent-minded – рассеянный

b) bad-tempered – злой, раздражительный

c) shy – стеснительный, тихий

d) greedy - жадный

e) hot-tempered – вспыльчивый

f) stupid – глупый

g) selfish - эгоистичный

h) stubborn – упрямый

i) single-minded – целеустремленный

j) pigeon-toed – косолапый

k) sociable - общительный

1.- Look, I’m telling you for the last time, I know about it. If you do it this way, it’ll break.

- I know perfectly well what I’m doing, and I don’t need any advice from you!!!

2. He said what? I’ll kill him? The swine! How dare he!

3. I assure you, I’m going to be a president one day. I do everything for this.

4. Now where did I put that purse? Let me think. Just now I was in here…

5. I can’t go to that party. There will be too many people there. I’m afraid no one will talk to me.

6. - You see, you put the clothes in, shut the door, set this dial to the programme you want, and start the wash.

- Oh, it looks terribly complicated. I don’t understand how to use it.

7. I can’t help laughing looking at him. He is so bow-legged.

8. Their children like to communicate with other people very much.

9. My cosine is very egoistical and interested only in himself.

10. She is always shouting at her husband.

11. This man will never give you even rotten apple.

Ex.4. Fill the gabs with the word combinations in the sentences and translate them.

1. be tired dog = be extremely tired.

2. chicken out = be afraid, to too scared to take part in something.

3. outfox = be cleverer than someone, be craftier, outsmart.

4. pig out = eat a lot; overindulge in eating.

5. rat on = reveal someone’s guilt, give evidence against someone. (Very negative).

6. weasel out = evade; get out of a promise, task, or obligation in a sneaky and underhanded way.

7. wolf down = eat something quickly and ravenously.

Note on usage: all verbs are slangy, colloquial, and informal with the exception of “outfox” which is more literary. None of them is offensive.

1. “He was going to go skydiving, but at the last minute, before the plane took off, he ____________.”

2. “Jerry always promises to help clean the garage, but then at the last minute he makes some excuses and _______________________.”

3. “I’ve worked 20 hours without a break and I’m _____________.”

4. “During their chess game, John used some tricky moves, but his opponent at last _________him.”

5. “The teacher was angry and demanded to know who had drawn the caricature of her on the board, but no one in the class ______________ the artist.”

6. “I was so hungry I ________________ 3 hamburgers in ten minutes.”

7. “Man, I came home and ate a whole pizza. I really____________.”

Ex. 5. Try to unscramble the following words

hys _____ gnary ________ breva _________ hsenot _________

studip ___________ gnimrahc __________ resnopsileb ____________ usspiicous _________ litepo _________

Ex. 6. Complete the text with words below

hard-working intelligent shy self-confident sociable communicative polite

Some day Alan was very ______. He couldn’t even come up to the person to ask the way. He was not ___________ at all. He had no friends. But he was really ___________ (sometimes he seemed to know everything) and ___________. But one day he met a girl who was an exact antithesis (совершенная противоположность) of him. She was very ________________ . She always knew what to do. She had a lot of friends and acquaintances, so she was very __________. She had an exiting work and was very ___________. When people saw this couple they say, “It’s true, extremes meet”!

Ex. 7. Find antonyms

stupid

greedy

polite

bad-tempered

cheerful

brave

reliable

kind

intelligent

rude

angry

coward

generous

sad

calm

unreliable

hard-working lazy

Ex. 8. Work with this quiz with a partner and check weather you see yourself as others see you.

DO OTHER PEOPLE SEE YOU AS YOU SEE YOURSELF?

It is no good looking into a mirror if you wish to see the person who is really you. The only real test is to see yourself in the same way as other people see you. The following quiz has been psychologically developed to help you to do exactly that.

1. When do you feel your best:

a) soon after waking up?

b)during the afternoon and early evening?

c) before you go to bed?

2. How do you walk?

a) quite fast, with long, swinging steps

b) quite fast, but with short, quick steps?

c) not very fast, with your head up, looking at the world?

d) not very fast, with your head down?

e) very slowly?

3. When you are talking to people, do you:

a) stand with your arms folded?

b) stand with your hands together in front of you?

c) stand with one or both hands on your hips?

d) touch the person you are talking to?

c) touch your ear or chin or smooth your hair?

f) have something like a pencil or a cigarette in your hands?

4. When you are relaxing, do you sit with:

a) your knees bent and your legs together?

b) your legs crossed or wrapped round each other?

c) your legs stretched out in front of you?

d) with one leg curled up underneath you?

5. When you find something very funny, how do you react? Do you:

a) give a loud, appreciative laugh?

b) laugh, but not very loudly?

c) laugh softly, under your breath?

d) give a very big smile?

c) smile slowly?

6. When you go to a party, do you:

a) make so much noise as you enter that everybody notices you?

b) walk in quietly, looking for someone you know?

c) hope that nobody will see you walking in, so you can remain unnoticed?

7. When you are interrupted while you are working hard, concentrating on something, do you:

a) feel pleased to be interrupted?

b) feel very irritated?

c) feel neither of these reactions very strongly?

8. Which of the following colors do you like mostly:

a) red or orange?

b) white?

c) black?

d) dark blue or purple?

e) yellow or light blue?

f) brown, grey or violet?

g) green?

9. Just before you go to sleep, when you are lying in bed, do you lie:

a) flat out on your back?

b) stretched out on your front?

c) on your side?

d) with your head under one arm?

e) with your head under the bedclothes?

10. Do you often dream that you are:

a) falling?

b) fighting?

c) looking for something or someone?

d) taking your clothes off or with nothing on at all?

e) flying or floating?

f) do you dream rarely?

g) do you usually have nice pleasant dreams?

Now count your scores with the help of this key.

1. a) 2. b) 4 c) 6

2. a) 6 b) 4 c) 7 d) 2 e) 1

3. a) 4 b) 2 c) 5 d) 7 e) 6 f) 1

4. a) 4 b) 6 c) 2 d) 7

5. a) 6 b) 4 c) 3 d) 5 e) 2

6. a) 6 b) 4 c) 2

7. a) 6 b) 2 c) 4

8. a) 6 b) 2 c) 7 d) 3 e) 5 f) 1 g) 4

9. a) 7 b) 6 c) 4 d) 2 e) 1

10 a) 4 b) 2 c) 3 d) 7 e) 5 f) 6 g) 1

What it means:

Over 60: others see you as someone they should 'handle with care', vain, self-centered and extremely dominant. They may admire you and wish they could be more like you, but they are certainly afraid of you. They don't always trust you and hesitate to become too deeply involved with you.

From 51-60: Your friends see you as an exciting, highly changeable, rather impulsive personality; a natural leader, quick to make decisions (though not always the right ones). They see you as brave and adventurous person, someone who will try anything - well, almost anything - once; someone who takes a chance and enjoys an adventure. They enjoy being in your company because of the excitement you radiate.

From 32 to 50: Others see you as fresh, lively, charming, amusing and always interesting; someone who is constantly the centre of attention, but sufficiently well-balanced not to let it go to your head. They see you also as kind, considerate and understanding, someone who will cheer them up or help them out as the situation requires.

Ex. 9. Speaking practice

Tell your classmates about your character according to Chinese horoscope. Say what you are agree and disagree with. Let your classmates decide whether you are right or not.

Ex. 10. Writing practice

Write a one page essay about your best friend character. What traits do you like? What would you like to change?

Supplementary reading

CHARACTER THROUGH HANDWRITING

More and more psychologists and handwriting experts begin to think that your handwriting can tell a lot about your character So, every time when you lake a pen you must know that you give yourself away.

You may think that you can deceive the experts by changing your handwriting. But you will still give yourself away, they say. Whether you write fast, slowly and carefully, left-handed or right-handed, they can tell the sort of person you are.

It is size, pressure and slant that give you away. These three factors can reveal your intelligence, your imagination and your strength of personality and how good you would be for this or that job.

Size is an indicator of how important you think you are. If your capital letters are very large, you think much of yourself. If the capital letters are small, you could be in the wrong job. Small capital letters are a sign of nervous people who agree with everybody. Big writing means you have a big heart, you are friendly.

Pressure gives you away too. That is the way you press down on your pen. The harder you press, the harder you will work. And you are also more energetic and take the initiative more often. If you don't press too hard, it means that your work is not very important to you.

Slant shows whether you are happy and carefree or disturbed by different problems. If your writing slopes backwards, it could show that you are very emotional. And if some of your letters go one way and some another, it almost certainly means that there is something wrong in your relations with friends and relatives.

The experts now say that they can even spot different diseases in a patient's writing style.

Discussion questions and problems

1. Do you believe that it is possible to know a person's character through his handwriting? Give examples.

2. Study handwriting of your classmates and compare what you know about these people with what is said by experts in the text. Discuss the results in the class.

BALZAC AND HIS HANDWRITING

Honore de Balzac, a famous French writer, was a man of great talent. He wrote many novels which were translated into different languages and became known all over the world. But Balzac himself was proud of his ability of telling the character and behavior of a person by his or her handwriting. According to his words he could always tell everybody's character.

One day a woman, friend of Balzac, brought him a young boy's exercise-book. She showed it to him and asked him to try and tell her what Balzac thought of the boy's character. The woman said that the boy was not her son and that Balzac might tell her the truth. Balzac studied the handwriting for a few minutes and then said: "Everything is quite clear to me. I shall tell you the truth. This is a stupid and lazy fellow". "But this is a page from your own exercise-book, which you used when you were a boy", said the woman smiling.

Dialogues

She: When did you first know you loved me?

He: When I began to get mad when people said that you were brainless and unattractive.

Mrs. Newrich: And the portrait will be really pretty?

Artist: Of course! You won’t know yourself.

Peck: Do you think you can make a good portrait of my wife?

Artist: My friend, I can make it so life-like you’ll jump every time you see it.

Nick: Is your wife as pretty as ever?

Jack: Yes, indeed! Only it takes her half an hour longer.