Short stories for reading and discussion. Пособие по домашнему чтению

Culture Corner

23. Give some information on the following propernames. Use the net to check the possible cultural background of each place name. Speak of any in class:

Holidays of Obligation –

the Portobello Road – King Solomon’s mines – the ancient port of Ophir – Rhodesia –

Bulawayo –

Mesopotamia – Babylon – Assyria –

The republic of the Congo –

Building Writing Skills

24.Write an essay to one of the following topics:

1)All truths are not to be told.

2)Agood lie finds more believers than a bad truth.

3)Facts are stubborn things.

4)Everything good in life is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

25.Do the quiz suggested below and see how broad are your knowledge horizons:

1) These are the main offices in London, England, of most departments of the Metropolitan police. The original offices were in a street

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off Whitehall. They were moved to a new building near Victoria station in 1966, but many people still refer to it as

a)The Palace of Westminster

b)Scotland Yard

c)Buckingham palace

d)the Tower

2)Astreet in Notting Hill district of west London, well known for its market, which sells second-hand goods, foods, clothes:

a) Whitehall

b) the Portobello road c) Threadneedle street d) Carnaby street

3)Muriel Spark and her son Robin had a strained relationship.The main reason was:

a) Robin’s father’s attitude b) Robin’s confession views

c) Muriel’s friend Penelope Jardine d) Muriel Spark was a bad mother

4)Muriel Spark’s first work was published in 1957. What was it? a) The Portobello Road

b) The Comforters

c) The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie d) Memento Mori

5)Some geographical names were mentioned in the text you have just read. What are these places? Can you match them with the flags below?

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6)

7) According to the Bible, Solomon had … wives and three hundred concubines.

a)700

b)70

c)17

d)7

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Contents

Методическая записка . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Katherine Mansfield. Taking the veil.. . . . . . . . . . . . 6 G.B. Shaw. The serenade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 W.S. Maugham. Jane.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Muriel Spark. The Portobello Road . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

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