Learning to read and discuss fiction. Учебное пособие

“The Fall of Edward Barnard” by W. S. Maugham

(М., «Прогресс», 1977)

PROBLEMS AND QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Reproduce some episodes to make your statements well-grounded. Make use of the words and word-combinations (suggested in brackets) to prompt you.

I. Collect all the information about Isabel Longstaffe  1) What did she look like?

(cool; far-seeing; wise; the proud carriage; the perfect type; delicate features; aristocratic; a wealth of hair; to flow; a fragile beauty)

 2) What was Isabel Longstaffe like (in Bateman’s eyes and what do you think of her?) What education did she receive? Why does the author describe her house in detail? What was her attitude to Edward and to Bateman? What stylistic device does the author use to characterize Isabel: direct or indirect?

(to be a replica of smth; to be furnished by smb; an ashtray; to be richly stored; flippant; to measure the standards of others; disapproval of smth; to make up one’s mind; to be characteristic of smb; to concern smb; an admirable fortitude; a bitter blow to her pride; to be offensive to smb’s ear; to fall desperately in love with smb; to have eyes for smb)

 3) How did she accept the news about the bankruptcy of Edward’s father? What did she think of Edward’s letters?

(to find oneself a ruined man; to commit suicide; to release smb; to burst into tears; not to care; to take smb into business; to suggest; a wonderful opportunity; to be worth smth; to introduce American methods into smth; to dissuade smb from smth; to make no suggestion of returning; reading between the lines; to be comfortably settled; tender and delightful letters; to be different; a very urgent desire).

 4) What conversation took place between Bateman and Isabel? What can you say about them both in this respect?

(to hide nothing; to wound smb; to make oneself ridiculous; to have keen intuitions; to grow cold; to close one’s lips tightly; resemblance; to be an inspiration to smb; to enable smb to achieve success; to be nobody’s enemy but one’s own; to lack backbone; to slip the ring off one’s finger; to wear horn spectacles; an exquisite house; antique furniture).

II. Collect all the information about Bateman Hunter  1) What did he look like?

(slender; well-made; handsome; dark-haired; pale; long-legged).

 2) What was Bateman like? Why does the author describe his house? What

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stylistic device does the author use to characterize Bateman and why? a) How did he feel about his homecoming?

(conscience; to disturb smb; to prevail over smth; philanthropist; to make a lucrative investment; to exult; to be hardly able to bear one’s impatience; crowded pavements; hustling; to seem provincial to smb; to be effete; to be destined to become smth; a hearty handshake; ascetic and imposing house; an exact copy of smth).

b) How did the three of them (Isabel, Bateman, Edward) come together?

(to introduce; to be delighted; to renew acquaintance; to fall desperately in love with smb; to resign oneself to the role of confidant; to be worthy of one’s good fortune; to disclose one’s own feelings; to be engaged; to envy smb smth; to exult at the prospect of doing smth; to be godfather to smb; at the cost of smth).

c)What impression did Bateman’s meeting with Edward in Tahiti and their conversation make on you? What can you say about them both in this respect?

(to be greatly surprised to /know/hear smth; to measure smth; to give smb a start; to give a joyful cry of surprise; to be engaged in so humble an occupation; to keep body and soul together).

d)What qualities did Bateman reveal in his attitude to the natives and when he was being introduced to Arnold Jackson?

(a greasy nigger; to feel awkward; to prefer to avoid some acquaintance; to be made a fool; to be ignorant of smth; cordiality; a despicable rogue; decent; to have smth to do with smb; to be a forger; to be a convict; to be hounded out of civilised society; a rascal; a swindler; a hypocrite; an agreeable companion; to break into ironical laughter; not to set a foot within smb’s house; to be bound to do smth; to tighten one’s lips; irresistible light-heartedness; to be taken aback; to walk barefoot; to bear oneself without a trace of selfconsciousness; a sensible costume; a wreath; to feel a perfect fool; indignation; to be furious with smb).

III. Collect all the information about Edward Barnard.  1) What do you imagine Edward looked like?

 2) How did Edward come to live in Tahiti?

(a panic on the exchange; to go broke; to commit suicide; to release smb; to take smb into one’s own business; a position in Chicago; a wonderful opportunity; to give smb a wide berth).

 3) What was Edward’s life in Tahiti like?

(to be homesick; to be definitely settled in Tahiti; a change; the tone of the letters; flippancy; to perplex smb; to be fired; lazy and incompetent; to lose seriousness; to give smb a start; to be engaged in so humble an occupation; self-consciousness; to run the scissors across the stuff; to keep body and soul

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together; to seem quite satisfied with one’s life; to be dressed in a suit of shabby white ducks; a straw hat of native make; to be deeply burned by the sun; to walk with a new jauntiness; carelessness; gaiety; to puzzle smb; the conversation drifted to…; to be determined to bring the conversation back to…; to rent a room).

 4) What was Edward’s attitude to Arnold Jackson, to money and to life? (an agreeable companion; to teach smb smth; a wonderful personality; to do smb a favour; a bad man who does good things or a good man who does bad things; the best people are sinners and the worst are saints; the power money brings; to come to love things; good-natured people; happy smiling faces; to begin reading and thinking; to read for examinations/for conversations/for instructions; to read for pleasure).

IV. Collect all the information about Arnold Jackson. What was the Longstaffes’ attitude to him? What was Edward’s attitude to him? What do you think of Arnold Jackson? What is S. Maugham’s attitude to him?

(to have had no communication with smb for many years; to see the last of smb; to give smb a wide berth; never to pass through some street; to blot out all recollection of smb; a charge of fraud; dishonesty; to be deliberate and systematic; to escape lightly; to pass off smb as one’s nephew; a disgraceful name; to wear white ducks; curly white hair; a hooked nose; an expressive mouth; to hold out one’s hand; a strong grasp; a musical voice; love and death; hatred and revenge; a sweet eloquence; a tongue of silver; to nearly enable smb to escape the penalty of the crimes).

V. Suggest the English for the following.

 1) Всю дорогу домой Бейтман думал о том, как он сообщит эти катастрофические новости Изабел. Его совесть, всегда такая чуткая, не была спокойна на сей раз. Он не был уверен, что сделал все возможное. Его беспокоила мысль о том, что в деле, касающемся его собственного интереса, он позволил корысти приглушить совесть и взять верх над благородством.

 2) Изабел холодным молчанием выражала свое осуждение поведения других, еслиононесоответствовалоеесобственнойморали. НоБейтмани нежелал, чтобыонабыладругой. Длянегоонабыласамосовершенство.  3) С ее непоколебимым чувством чести, с бесстрашным взглядом на всеИзабелказаласьБейтманусамойвосхитительнойамериканкой. Ноон видел в ней больше, чем совершенный тип американской девушки; он считал, он был убежден, что ни один город мира, кроме как Чикаго, не мог взрастить такое совершенство.

 4) Желая сделать сюрприз другу, Бейтман не телеграфировал о своем прибытии, потом он даже пожалел, что не сообщил Эдуарду. Бейтман не

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мог понять, как Арнольд Джексон мог жить там под своим позорным именем, так как все знали, что около 7 лет он провел в заключении.  5) И Бейтман и Эдуард знали Изабел с детства, но в возрасте 15-16 лет она уехала в Европу продолжить свое образование. Изабел была в Европе 2 года и, когда она вернулась в Чикаго, два друга возобновили знакомство с милой девушкой. Оба влюбились в нее без памяти, но, поскольку она предпочла Эдуарда, Бейтман отступил, молча согласившись на роль наперсника. Он не мог отрицать, что Эдуард достоин счастья. Отец Изабел считал, что им не стоит жениться, пока Эдуард не окончит университет.

 6) Лонгстаффы никогда не упоминали имя Арнольда Джексона после того, как он был осужден; они даже не хотели проходить по улице, на которой он жил.

 7) Изабел уже не была уверена, что Эдуард, который писал ей последние письма, тот же самый Эдуард, которого она знала. Она намекнула, чтобы Бейтман спросил в следующем письме, когда Эдуард планирует вернуться. Онасказалаэтонебрежно, такмеждупрочим, какбудтоэтоне имело большого значения. Но Бейтман с его обостренной чувствительностью мог почувствовать в ее просьбе острое желание узнать, что произошло, что Эдуард так изменился.

VI. Suggest the Russian for the following.

 1) Self-sacrifice appealed so keenly to his imagination that inability to exercise it gave him a sense of disillusion. He was like the philanthropist who with altruistic motives builds model dwellings for the poor and finds that he has made a lucrative investment.

 2) Edward wrote as though he were settled definitely in Tahiti, and what was more, comfortably settled… Then she read all the letters again, several times, and reading between the lines she was puzzled to notice a change which had escaped her. The later letters were as tender and as delightful as the first, but the tone was different… She discerned in them now a flippancy which perplexed her.

 3) The young man talked volubly in an English that had something in it of the intonation of a foreign tongue, and Bateman with a sidelong glance, saw what he had not noticed before, that there was in him a good deal of native blood. A touch of hauteur involuntarily entered into his manner.

 4) Edward stretched his arm across the counter and wrung Bateman’s hand. There was no self-consciousness in his manner and the embarrassment was all on Bateman’s side.

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VII. Read the story once again and express the same idea in a different way substituting the words and phrases underlined for their synonyms.

 1) Isabel was well-read, her conversation however light, was never shallow.

 2) There were things which were so offensive to her sensitive ears that he could not bear to tell her.

 3) … he took care never by a hint to disclose his own feelings.  4) ….they resumed their relations.

VIII. Find in the text answers to the following questions.

 1) What is the proper way (with the British as well as with Americans) of inviting people somewhere?

 2) What’s the Russian equivalent of “black sheep”?

IX. What is the main message of the story? What is typical of S. Maugham’s characters?

(to see beauty face to face; an imperishable memory; to touch eternity; a bad man who does good things or a good man who does bad things; sinners; saints; to persuade smb that black is white and that white is black; to begin reading and thinking; to read for pleasure; trivial and vulgar; Chicago seems a prison; to come into the world; to look forward to smth; to make a fortune; to depend on one’s nature; beauty, truth and goodness; to be perfectly suited to one another; to survive; the freshness of the dawn and the beauty of the sunset).

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