Пособие по домашнему чтению для студентов II курса. Учебное пособие

6. Matchthewordsinthesecolumns.Checktheanswersinthetext.

7. Translate into Russian:

1.Asudden smile of recognition flashed across his face.

2.The conversation centred on a much doted-upon first baby.

3.I hope you don’t mind if we get down to brass tacks straight away, as I’ve got to catch the four o’clock train.

4.We had a real get-together at week-ends. Everybody standing up and giving a song. I used to bring the house down with this.

5.Swimming was his only accomplishment; he felt at home in the

water.

6.He had a sense of humour, he thought he had a knack of saying bitter things, which caught people on the raw...

7.I have a mind to manage my life in my own way without interference from anybody.

8.Savour the flavour of each mouthful, and chew you food well.

9.There you will find solitude and an air so pure that it goes to your head like wine and you feel like a million dollars.

10.The president as was customary delivered the opening ad-

dress.

11.The results of the experiment were faked.

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9. Translate into English:

1.Джулии пришла в голову мысль, что она находится в не-

ведении относительно планов Роджера.

2.У Джулии появилось смутное чувство вины, когда Роджер сказал, что все ее эмоции поддельные.

3.Джулия сообщила Эвис, что спектакль имел успех, и она себя превосходно чувствует.

4.Джулия хотела свести счеты с Эвис. Она была уверена,

что той не удастся вставить ей спицы в колеса.

5.Однажды Роджер за кулисами наблюдал, как Джулия играет. Сцена была очень трогательная и обычно вызывала оглуши-

тельные аплодисменты.

6.Джулия не чувствовала себя легко и просто со своим сы-

ном, хотя со стороны казалось, что она души в нем не чает.

7.Джулия была на верху блаженства. Она расплатилась по долгам и теперь могла забыть обо всем. Она сидела за столиком

исмаковала каждый кусочек.

8.Давай покончим с этим. Что было, то прошло.

Detailed Comprehension

1. Answer the questions:

1.Why did Julia want to keepAvice in the cast?

2.How did Julia come to know Roger’s opinion of Tom? How does Roger’s attitude to Tom characterize Roger?

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3.How did Julia create the characters she played? Do you think Julia’s affair with Tom can help her in this respect?

4.How did Julia’s attitude towards Tom change?

5.WhatconclusionaboutlovedidJuliamakewhensheleftTom’s place? Did she change her opinion?

6.How did Julia account for the tricks she had played onAvice?

7.Why did Julia have supper alone?

8.Whatdidshethinkaboutatdinner?Whattheorydidsheworkout?

9.What answer could she have given to Roger?

10.Was she happy alone?

2.Developthesituationscheckingyourknowledgeofthecontext:

1.They both of them thought the play would make her. Fools. It would kill her.

2.She must play the part, and fail; andTom must see with his own eyes what a bad actress she was.

3.…it suddenly struck her that she had been talking entirely of herself and her own interests.

4.“I’ve lived all my life in an atmosphere of make-believe”.

5.“It may be that he’ll find what he’s looking for, if not in God, then in art.”

6.The love that had consumed her, the jealousy she had stifled…

7.“If anyone deliberately killed a performance you killedAvice’s”­.

8.They were acting a play for her and she was the audience.

3.Discuss the following quotations in pairs:

1.…art is something you create. If an actress felt the emotions she represented she’d tear herself to pieces.

2.Real grief is ugly; the business of the actor is to represent it not only with truth but with beauty.

3.Love isn’t worth all the fuss they make about it.

4.…the origin of poetry was emotion recollected in tranquility… it was certainly true about acting.

5.Yougotothosemuseumsandgalleriesandthinkwhatadamned bore they are and then, when you least expect it, you find that some-

thing you’ve seen comes in useful.

6. We take their silly emotions and turn them into art.

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4. Look through Chapters 26–29 again and:

1.prove that Julia was not at home with her son;

2.compare Julia’s and Roger’s views on acting, love, life.

5.Describe:

1.the first night;

2.the restaurant.

6.Speak about:

1.Roger and his views on life;

2.Tom;

3.Julia as an actress;

4.Julia as a mother;

5.Julia’s understanding of the role of art / theatre.

7.Act out the conversations between:

1.Julia and Michael (aboutAvice’s acting, Chapter 26);

2.Julia and Roger;

3.Julia and Charles (about Roger);

4.Julia and Charles (after the first night).

8.Make up the dialogues:

1.between the author of the play and Michael (after the first

night);

2.between Julia and Jimmy Langton (about acting).

9.Speak your mind on the first night as if you were Julia / Michael / the author of the play / Dolly / Tom / Avice Chrichton.

Consolidating the Material

1. Do the quiz to test how well you remember the details of Chapters 26–29:

1.When Julia was introduced toAvice she … a) greeted her with cordiality.

b) had a delicious sense of her own power. c) listened to her intonations attentively.

2.How long didAvice Chrichton’s best scene last? a) twenty minutes

b) ten minutes

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c) fifteen minutes

3.What subject was Julia going to discuss with Roger? a) Roger’s trip to Vienna

b) his attitude to Tom

c) Roger’s plans for the future

4.Unfortunately, Roger inherited …

a)neither Michael’s beauty nor Julia’s sparkling vitality.

b)Julia’s spotty face and a rather lumpy figure.

c)his father’s red hair and pale lashes.

5.How old was Roger when he decided that he would never believe in Julia?

a) ten

b) fourteen c) twelve

6.Speaking with Roger about acting Julia …

a)felt more and more like Hamlet’s mother.

b)saw herself in a brocaded dress and a string of pearls.

c)wondered if she could play in one of Shakespeare’s come­

dies.

7.Before Roger’s departure Julia managed …

a)to play different parts in his presence.

b)to spend all her free time with him.

c)that they shouldn’t spend any length of time alone together.

8.How did Julia spend the day before the performance?

a)She was silent and wanted to be left alone.

b)She went for a word-rehearsal in the morning.

c)After she had walked about London streets and squares she had tea with Tom.

9.To bring out the colour of Avice’s blue eyes Michael dressed her in pale blue. But …

a)Avice’s blue dress looked drab in comparison with Julia’s sparkling silver dress.

b)Avice’s blue dress looked drab in comparison with Julia’s yellow dress.

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c) Avice’s blue dress looked bright in comparison with Julia’s large handkerchief of scarlet chiffon.

10.In order to leave the theatre unnoticed Julia … a) put on a brown coat, a skirt and a felt hat.

b) ordered another dress, of sparkling silver.

c) had the telephoning done from the stage-door.

11.At the restaurant Julia ordered …

a) a bottle of champagne with a piece of cake.

b) some grilled steak with onions, fried potatoes, oysters and a bottle of beer.

c) a little caviar and a bottle of wine. 12.Julia concluded that …

a)make-believe was the only reality.

b)actors were only shadows.

c)she would give wonderful performances because she could feel the emotions she portrayed.

2.Prepare the passage for artistic reading and translate it into

Russian. Then speak about Julia as an actress:

“Now Julia simply could not conceal … That was the end of Avice.”(Chapter 29)

3. Write an essay on the following topic:

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”.

4. Arrange a round-table discussion on the following issues:

1)“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players”.

2)“The stage is make-believe”.

Culture Corner

1. Do you know that the quotation “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players” was borrowed from W. Shakespeare’s (1564–1616) comedy “As you like it” (Act 2, scene 7). Do some research and comment on it in the context of the play.

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2. Do you know any other English playwrights? Do some research about William Shakespeare, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Oscar Wilde, Bernard Shaw, John Osborne, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, etc. Share your opinions in pairs. Would you like to read / watch any of their plays?

You may find the following links helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:English_dramatists_and_

playwrights http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Category:British_dramatists_

and_playwrights http://www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/

Final Discussion

1. Answer the questions:

1.How much do you know about Julia’s early years?

2.What was Julia’s life like when she was a young struggling actress?

3.Who were her first teachers on the stage?

4.When and how did she meet Michael?

5.How did her attitude to Michael change with years?

6.Why did Julia find it difficult to understand her son Roger?

7.What was Julia like when she became a leading lady?

8.What word (or words) describes (describe) Julia most accu-

rately?

2.Comment on the following:

According to W.S. Maugham, “some critics complained that Julia Lambert, his heroine, was not a creature of high moral character, great intelligence and nobility of soul and concluded from this that she was a mediocre actress”.

3. Discuss:

1.W.S. Maugham believed that an actor’s lot was a hard one. Can you support his apinion with facts from the novel?

2.Can you prove that theatre took the first place in Julia’s life, that it came before everything else?

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3.What makes a great actor or actress?

4.Should great artists be treated like ordinary people? Why

(not)?

4.Exchange your opinions on:

1.the author of the book;

2.what you liked and / or disliked about the novel;

3.your favourite episode in the novel.

5. Describe:

1.Julia Lambert;

2.Michael Gosselyn;

3.Tom Fennel;

4.Roger;

5.Charles Tamerley;

6.Dolly de Vries;

7.Avice Crichton.

6. Speak about:

1.The role of theatre in people’s life.

2.Great actors and actresses of nowadays.

3.Advantages and disadvantages of being an actor / an actress.

4.Acting as an occupation and a style of life.

7.Make reports on the following topics:

1.The art of the theatre as the leitmotif of the novel.

2.Your comment on “Art is living” and “Life is mirage”.

3.The merits and weak points of the novel.

These links can be helpful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Somerset_Maugham http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/W._Somerset_

Maugham

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Часть II

Рассказы английских и американских писателей и задания к ним

The Great Automatic Grammatizator

by Roald Dahl

“Well, Knipe, my boy. Now that it’s finished. I just called you in to tell you I think you’ve done a fine job”.

Adolph Knipe stood still in front of Mr. Bohlen’s desk. There seemed to be no enthusiasm in him at all.

“Aren’t you pleased?” “Oh yes, Mr. Bohlen.”

“Did you see what the papers said this morning?” “No sir, I didn’t.”

The man behind the desk pulled a folded newspaper towards him, and began to read: “The building of the great automatic computing engine, ordered by the government some time ago, is now complete. It is probablythefastestelectroniccalculatingmachineintheworldtoday.Its functionistosatisfytheever-increasingneedofscience,industry,andad- ministrationforrapidmathematicalcalculationwhich,inthepast,bytraditionalmethods,wouldhavebeenphysicallyimpossible,orwouldhave requiredmoretimethantheproblemsjustified.Thespeedwithwhichthe new engine works, said Mr. John Bohlen, head of the firm of electrical engineers mainly responsible for its construction, may be grasped by the fact that it can provide the correct answer in five seconds to a problem that would occupy a mathematician for a month. In three minutes, it can produce a calculation that by hand (if it were possible) would fill half a million sheets of foolscap paper.The automatic computing engine uses pulses of electricity, generated at the rate of a million a second, to solve all calculations that resolve themselves into addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. For practical purposes there is no limit to what it can do... Mr. Bohlen glanced up at the long, melancholy face of the younger man. “Aren’t you proud, Knipe?Aren’t you pleased.”

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“Of course, Mr. Bohlen.”

“I don’t think I have to remind you that your own contribution, especially to the original plans, was an important one. In fact, I might go so far as to say that without you and some of your ideas, this project might still be on the drawing-boards today.”

Adolph Knipe moved his feet on the carpet, and he watched the two small white hands of his chief, the nervous fingers playing with a paperclip, unbending it, straightening out the hairpin curves. He didn’t like the man’s hands. He didn’t like his face either, with the tiny mouth and the narrow purple-coloured lips. It was unpleasant the way only the lower lip moved when he talked.

“Is anything bothering you, Knipe?Anything on your mind?” “Oh no, Mr. Bohlen. No.”

“How would you like to take a week’s holiday? Do you good. You’ve earned it.”

“Oh, I don’t know, sir.”

The older man waited, watching this tall, thin person who stood so sloppily before him. He was a difficult boy. Why couldn’t he stand up straight?Always drooping and untidy, with spots on his jacket, and hair falling all over his face.

“I’d like you to take a holiday, Knipe. You need it.” “All right, sir. If you wish.”

“Take a week. Two weeks if you like. Go somewhere warm. Get some sunshine. Swim. Relax. Sleep. Then come back, and we’ll have another talk about the future.”

Adolph Knipe went home by bus to his two-room apartment. He threw his coat on the sofa, poured himself a drink of whisky, and sat down in front of the typewriter that was on the table. Mr. Bohlen was right. Of course he was right. Except that he didn’t know the half of it. He probably thought it was a woman. Whenever a young man gets depressed, everybody thinks it’s a woman.

He leaned forward and began to read through the half-finished sheet of typing still in the machine. It was headed ‘ANarrow Escape’, and it began ‘The night was dark and stormy, the wind whistled in the

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