Английский язык. Практикум по домашнему чтению (к рассказам Дж. Арчера и Р. Даля)

8. Which of the criminal cases were mentioned in the story? Define the meaning of each one.

9. Draw the sketch of the Foreman’s personality according to the pattern:

Tips

•reckless – doing smth dangerous without thinking about the harm you could do to others

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•sensible – showing good judgment

•strong-willed – determined to do what you want

•unconventional – behaving in the way that is different from the way people usually behave

•irresponsible – not thinking about the negative results of what you do

•selfish – caring only about yourself and not about the other people

10.-Describe the Foreman’s relations with his wife and their attitudes to each other in different life situations.

11.Collect the words from the text and describe the main hero’s daily routine at the office.

12.Are these words about starting or finishing a job? Specify the meaning of these words, consult a dictionary.

•to employ

•to lay off

•to take on extra staff

•to dismiss

•to hire

•to be made redundant

•to sack

•to fire

•to resign

•to retire

13.Why do you think the main hero was replaced by someone else in his position? Did he regret it? Did he quickly manage to find another job?

14.Recall the situation from the text where the following phrases occurred.

1)I was hardly in the position to complain

2)I might be second or even third in her estimation

3)she hadn’t been left with a lot of choice

4)a man who had reached that magic age somewhere between the sought after and the available

5)I wouldn’t have given it a second thought

6)that lame excuse could hardly cover my staying on for a drink

7)it’s a fair exchange

8)no one gave me a second glance

9)an argument Carla often fell back when…

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10)my choice didn’t show a great deal of imagination

11)I would be aware of the slightest intrusion

12)displayed a flattering picture of Carla

13)it was no longer before he stopped trying to disguise his impatience

14)when the blow came it had double the impact

15)asked for the keys of my Rover

16)he knew that ‘No’ would damn him and ‘Yes’ would hang him

17)his trump card was still to come

18)Only one less than Bluebeard

19)no eyes would ever be turned in my direction

20)his learned friend had tailed to do so

21)to release his client back into the bosom of his of his loving family

15.Define the attitude conveyed by the adverbs in the following phrases:

1)what the French so decorously call a «cinq а sept.»

2)I said tartly

3)Wearily, I phoned my wife

4)I was still slightly off-balance

5)I slept fitfully that night

6)said the managing director grimly

7)Strangely, I felt no guilt

8)asked Sir Humphrey casually

9)I listened contentedly

16.Restore the situation using the key words in the box:

revealed coldness impossible to hide anger was not utterly faithful

automatically assume the agent was her lover

eyes flashed, she leaped forward and slapped him across the face blocked her hand and pushed her back

in an uncontrolled fury flying back at him

launched herself back on him wheeled back from the impact

Use the following linking words where necessary:

As it turned out, eventually, although, in any case, however

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17.Translate the following sentences into English.

1)Улыбка сошла с ее лица и она нахмурилась.

2)Первая улыбка предназначалась человеку из БМВ.

3)Не измени я в тот вечер своего решения, я бы не узнал правды.

4)Оказавшись в комнате, я понял, что проверяю все вокруг.

5)Она поставила цветы в вазу.

18.Fill the gaps in the following phrases with prepositions:

1)lied about her love … me

2)Flying back … me

3)Come to think … it

4)slapped … the face

5)Comment … my being late

6)his wife seemed preoccupied … flowers

7)Carla appreciated being taken out … breakfast

8)held up … a traffic jam

9)‘Have you got something else … your mind?’

10)a warden helped … urging them on

11)the boss expected the latest completed figures be ready … his consideration

12)I had deposited papers … his secretary

13)I dressed and joined Elizabeth … breakfast

14)… their combined editorial opinion

15)“President Bush” didn’t sound quite right … me

16)I searched around the sea of faces … Mrs. Menzies

17)Simmons gave a highly professional account … himself

18)the jury was having difficulty … staying awake

19)a pathologist took everyone … surprise

20)the managing director informed me … his decision

19.Make the following adjectives and adverbs negative:

•rational

•noticed

•relevantly

•worldly

20.State and evaluate the arguments for and against the main hero’s guilt.

ex: “I felt like murdering her at the time.”

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21. Substitute the verbs in brackets with the appropriate phrasal verb from the box below:

He was carrying a plastic bag, inside which I could (see) a red garment.

I (headed) for the car.

I returned to ITV at ten and even (finished) by watching Newsnight. I spent the evening pretending to (review) job applications.

I was convinced that he would (escape).

Menzies’ counsel (arranged) a spirited defense of his client.

Not many firms would like to (employ) a man who had reached that magic age.

They (took control) of the company.

E.g.

worry: My heart missed a beat.

23.What is the author’s purpose for creating the prosecuting counsel and the defense counsel so very contradicting in speech, size, appearance, style.

Don’t you think it would be more logical if they exchanged their traits of characters and personal qualities? How does it influence the end of the trial? Do they suit their occupations?

24.Choose the word that suits best of all the following collocations. Translate the phrases into Russian.

1)proclaim/declare a loss

2)poor/a lame excuse

3)to cover/ take smb’s job

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4)think/changed his mind

5)his life is at a loss/at stake

6)sleep/spend night

7)believe/trust your memory

8)keep/arrange your appointment

9)play/take risks

10)carry out /make the duties

11)feel/spread confident

12)take down/remove a ticket

25.Speak to the court on behalf of

• an insurance broker

• Foreman’ wife

• Carla’s sister

• member of the jury after the trial (change of emotions)

• Carla’s girlfriend with new evidence which proves the innocence of Menzies

26.What do the idioms in the following sentences mean?

A.Was there any way they could trace it back to me?

B.Hope to settle down to anything as the case is over.

C.Your counsel seems to set great store by as proof of your innocence.

27.Report the witnesses statements and trace how the same information could have been treated totally in a different way.

28.How do you think the jury reacted to the revealed information about Menzies?

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29.What do you think Menzies said in his final speech?

30.Say if the jury can at all be credible or just (through history, the story under discussion and your experience).

31.Read the following text and find the words that correspond to the following definitions.

“Let the Body Be Brought”

In the United States, Britain and many other English speaking countries the law of Habeas Corpus guarantees that nobody can be held in prison without trial. Habeas Corpus became law because of a wild party held in 1621 at the London home of a notoriously rowdy lady. When a constable appeared and asked her and her friends to quiet down, she swore at him so violently that he arrested her, and a local justice of the peace committed her to jail.

When she was finally brought to trial, her story of her treatment in prison caused an outcry. She had been put on a punishment diet of bread and water, forced to sleep on the bare earth, stripped. Such treatment was barbaric even by the standards of the time. What made it worse was that she was pregnant.

Public anger was so great that she was acquitted, the constable who had arrested her without a warrant was himself sent to prison, and the justice of peace was severely reprimanded. And the case, along with other similar cases, lead to the passing of the Habeas Corpus Act in Britain in 1679. The

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law is still in the Britain statue books, and a version of it is used in the United States, where the law was regarded as such an important guarantee of liberty that article one of the Constitution declares that Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended except the cases of “rebellion or invasion”. Habeas Corpus is part of a Latin phrase that means “Let the body be brought before the judge”. In effect, a writ of Habeas Corpus is an order in the name of the people to produce an imprisoned person in court at once.

32. Write a short paragraph (four sentences) about this criminal trial for a newspaper.

A sample article Crime doesn’t pay. Or does it?

Crime and violence seem to be increasing. The newspapers are full of people being beaten up, killed, houses being broken into.

Most people would like the police and judges to tighten up on crime. Too many criminals seem to get off lightly-often they’re just given warning.

Even murderers are no longer put away for life but are often let out after 10 to 15 years.

Useful words:

Vicious murder/crime/criminal brutal murder, criminal/crime cold-blooded murder/crime common crime/criminal habitual criminal/offender petty crime/criminal

33. Moral dilemma.

Do you have death penalty in Russia? For what offences? How is it carried out? (shot, lethal injection, hanging, electric chair, beheadings)

What is the severest punishment that can be given as an alternative? (to capital punishment)

How do you feel about it?

The punishment, if convicted, in either European country would be life imprisonment; in the States the criminal would face the electric chair.

Read each of the following statements and mark down next to each number whether you: a) agree b) disagree c) hesitate

Some people say that if you execute a murderer you become a murderer yourself.

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If you take somebody’s life, you lose the right to keep your own. ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’.

If you murdered a person, you should be forced to experience the same horror as your victim; pain, sufferings, the anticipation of the end of your life, so life imprisonment will do.

When a murderer kills a person he changes the life of his victim’s family, friends, many people.

New evidence can emerge and a convict might be found innocent Some people can’t be allowed in society because they are dangerous. Capital punishment doesn’t stop people from committing murders. Capital punishment is not a ‘due process’. It is carried out mostly

against those who are too poor to hire the best lawyers.

34. Do you agree with the following quotations?

Each one created his own nightmare.

He had become an instrument that was going to keep me from a lifetime spent in prison.

It’s better to risk saving a guilty person than to condemn an innocent one (F.M.A.Voltaire).

One eyewitness is of more weight than ten hearsays (T.M.Plautus) Society prepares the crime; the criminal commits it. (H.Buckle) Rather suffer an injustice than commit one (proverb).

A slander equals a murder (Bible).

Additional exercises

35.In his story the author uses comparisons very often. Find examples in the text and say what images they serve to create. (e.g. as if he were addressing me personally, can’t be described as sisterly, minefield of evidence, nightmare).

36.In the work of art it often happens so that some fact or word is repeated in the text again and again. It serves to create certain images or the word or may acquire quite a new additional meaning, bringing the reader back to previous facts. Explain the role of image of flowers and constant eating (late breakfast, cups with coffee, vomiting, break for lunch, ate the largest meal, etc.). Is it anyhow connected with the emotional state of the main character or with what is going on?

37.The author uses irony and connotation in this story. Find examples and explain their role. (E.g., made his entrance – evaluative

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connotation serves to stress the attitude of respect, damning parking ticket – irony as used by the prosecutor to emphasize his privilege).

38.Comment on W. Faulkner’s statement: “I believe that man will not merely endure he will prevail and the writer’s duty and obligation before mankind is to portray it”. Explain this in the reference to the story under discussion. Which of the characters endures more or prevails in what way.

39.Unusual usage of syntactical marks, mixture of inner speech (stream of consciousness) of a character and the point of view of a subjective observer may stress the narration being not strictly logical and serve to create a kind of auto-dialogue (the hero’s argument with himself). Find examples in the text and formulate what other purposes may be pursued by the author.

40.What practical experiences does the story reveal? Don’t you think that it is better sometimes not to change your mind and not to know the truth? Explain your point of view.

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[I padded over toward him and looked up expectantly. He bent down and pushed my bowl toward me. I began to lap up the milk happily, my tail swishing from side to side.

It’s a myth that we only swish our tails when we’re angry.]

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