Mind your skin!

We have become very conscious of conservation these days. A lot of people won't buy any goods made from animal skin (skins of animals). In many parts of the world, it is now unthinkable for a person to dress in a leopard-skin coat (a coat made of the skin of a leopard). We realize that the earth’s wildlife (the wildlife of the earth) needs protection. This affects such things as children’s clothes (clothing worn by children) and ladies’ coats (coats worn by ladies). If an actress’s fur coat (a fur coat worn by an actress) attracts admiration these days, it is probably created from man-made materials. Of course, we still farm animals for their skins, but the notice I saw in a shop recently must have been the crocodiles’ revenge (the revenge of the crocodiles). It was selling crocodile-skin bags (bags made of crocodile skin) and offering the following service: ‘Customers’ skins (skins of customers) made up’!

TASK 14. Revision: The Noun. Translate into English paying special attention to the use of nouns in plural and in the possessive case.

1. I’m sick and tired of (fed up with) all the useful advice (that) my friends and acquaintances give me. They advise me to pull myself together and hope for the better. But I don’t have any money at all and don’t know where to take it, as for two months I have failed to find a decent job. Why can’t anyone offer me a real way out of this situation instead of empty words?

2. I don’t feel like going anywhere in this wretched weather. I’d rather lie on the sofa with a good book in my hands. Let’s stay at home. What do we need this lecture for? – I don’t agree with you at all. We don’t often have lectures of such scientists as Professor Scott. For goodness’ sake, hurry up, otherwise we’ll be late.

3. Whose clothes are these and why are they not in the wardrobe? Why don’t you ever tidy your room? I can’t understand how it has happened that we have such a slop in our family. – Don’t be angry, mum. Granny told me that you had the same bad habits in your childhood as I have now, but that all passed with awkward age.

4. I ((had) always admired Professor Stevenson’s encyclopaedic knowledge. He fluently spoke seven foreign languages, knew a lot about the history of European peoples, and could cite Latin and Greek poets. He had always been interested in politics and he was considered to be an expert in foreign (international) relations. He could recognize classical music pieces from the first notes and dispute about literature for hours. And his speciality was nuclear physics whose study he devoted all his life.

5. Who are those two pretty girls talking with old Mrs. Barlow’s nephew? – They are Jill and Sam Greenbaum’ daughters. I would recognize them not even knowing (without even knowing) who they are; they are their parents’ spitting image.

6. Doctor Mason, do you know Miss Leider? – Yes, I met her at your aunt’s. She is the daughter of the Leiders who came to our town last year, isn’t she? – No, she is their niece.

7. Did you have a good journey, Uncle Ted? – Is it possible to have a good journey on a road like this? This two hours’ journey nearly killed me! But for your parents’ 50th wedding anniversary, I would have never taken this trip!

8. Are you sure Steve Baker’s article will be published in all tomorrow’s papers? – I’m sure it will. His boss’s interview was so shocking that all journalists’ interest is now attracted to Steve’s suggestions how to solve the problem of ‘hot-house effect’. His article is sure to be published in all major papers.

9. Do you think a five-minutes’ talk can change the whole person’s life? – Undoubtedly, if it happens in the right place at the right time and with the right person. It was like that with my father. He met my mum at the bus stop when he was hurrying to university. They spoke for even less that 5 minutes but my mother’s eyes impressed my dad so much that he had been looking for her for ten years. When they met again, they never parted.