Практический курс основного иностранного языка (английский) аспект домашнееиндивидуальное чтение. Сборник упражнений

Приложение

Краткое содержание и главные персонажи произведения.

Plot summary

The story starts when Eustace Scrubb, introduced in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, is driven into the company of classmate Jill Pole at their miserable school Experiment House. The impetus is their need to find sanctuary from the gang of school bullies who run rampant in this laissez-faire and mismanaged school run by an incompetent headmistress. Eustace confides to Jill that he has recently been "out of this world" to a land called Narnia, and that his experiences there have led to the changes in his behaviour that everyone seems to have noticed. Jill initially believes that Eustace is lying, but when he promises and asks her to attempt to go to Narnia with him, she agrees. When the bullies are about to converge on the two, Eustace suggests asking for Aslan's help, and the two blunder through a gate that leads them to a high cliff in Aslan's Country.

Jill shows off by approaching the cliff's edge, and Eustace, trying to pull her back, falls over the edge. Aslan appears and saves Eustace by blowing him to Narnia. He charges Jill with helping Eustace find Prince Rilian of Narnia (the son of King Caspian X), who disappeared some years before, and he gives Jill four Signs to guide her and Eustace on their quest.

("As soon as the boy Eustace sets foot in Narnia, he will meet an old and dear friend. He must greet that friend at once. If he does, you will both have good help." – The First Sign

You must journey out of Narnia to the north until you come to the city of the ancient giants." – The Second Sign

"You shall find the writing on a stone in that ruined city, and you must do what the writing tells you." – The Third Sign

"You will know the lost prince, if you find him, by this: that he will be the first person you have met in your travels who will ask you to do something in my name, in the name of Aslan."

– The Fourth Sign)

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The fourth and final Sign is that at a key moment they will be asked to do something in Aslan's name, and they must do it. Aslan then blows Jill into Narnia, where she arrives a few moments after Eustace – just as an elderly and frail King takes ship and sails from the harbor. Jill remembers the Signs, and asks Eustace if he has seen an 'old friend'; if he had, and had greeted him, they would have received help in their quest. They eventually realize, much to Eustace's chagrin, that the departing King is actually King Caspian, X, who has set off to search for Aslan or his son. Trumpkin the Dwarf, now Lord Regent and quite deaf, provides Jill and Eustace with rooms in Cair Paravel, but on the advice of Glimfeather the Owl they make no mention of their quest. Instead, they are summoned by Master Glimfeather to a Parliament of his fellow talking owls. The owls explain that Caspian's son, Prince Rilian, disappeared while searching for the green serpent that killed his mother, and is under the spell of an enchantress.

Jill and Eustace are flown to the marshes on the northern edge of Narnia where they are partnered with the delightfully gloomy but stalwart Marsh-wiggle Puddleglum, who serves as a guide, hunter for food in the wilderness, and down-to-earth voice of reason. They journey toward the giant-lands north of Narnia after crossing the River Shribble. The first giants they encounter take no notice of them, and the trio continues north where they encounter a deep and sinister canyon. The only route across this barrier is an enormous and ancient bridge, many times larger in scale than anything a human might normally use.

Hungry and suffering from exposure, they cross the bridge and meet the Lady of the Green Kirtle accompanied by a silent knight in black armour. She encourages them to proceed northward to Harfang, the castle of the "Gentle Giants". There, she tells them, they will find warm beds and hot food while the Giants celebrate their Autumn Feast. Jill and Eustace are overtaken at the thought of comfort and warmth, and forget all about the signs and the quest, with only straight-headed Puddleglum arguing against the journey to Harfang. They continue traveling north for several

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days, finally noting the lights of what they believe to be Harfang one evening. They next morning, they proceed to Harfang, but are waylaid by an immense snowstorm as they cross an oddly-shaped hill covered with ruins barely noticeable in the driving snow. Jill stumbles into a mysterious chasm that is shaped like a letter "E". At that point, the snow starts to clear and they again notice the lights of Harfang. They company hastens there lest the doors be locked (which the Green Lady had warned them would occur should they arrive too late in the afternoon).

Upon their arrival, they find the Gentle Giants only too pleased to "have them for their Autumn Feast." After a night of rest, the three look out a window of the castle and discover the obvious ruins of a giant city in the valley below – which they had passed through but failed to notice due to the snowstorm. They also see the words "Under Me" engraved on the road, which they recognize as Aslan's third Sign. Later they make another discovery: a cookbook that describes how to prepare and serve various beasts, including men and Marsh-wiggles; the giants are planning to eat them for the Autumn Feast. After finding an unguarded door, Scrubb, Pole, and Puddleglum escape the castle only to be chased by hunting dogs and giant nobles. They take shelter in a cave under the ruined city, where they fall down a long dark slope into Underland. Battered and bruised, they are now in complete darkness; but they have followed the Sign that said "Under Me".

They are found by an army of earthmen, who take them aboard a boat across a Sunless Sea to the city ruled by the Lady of the Green Kirtle. Her protégé, a young man, greets the travellers pleasantly but does not seem right in the head. He explains that he suffers from nightly psychotic episodes, and during these episodes he must, by the Lady's orders, be bound to a silver chair; for if he is released, he will turn into a deadly green serpent and kill everyone in sight. The threesome determines to witness the youth in his torment, as they sense it could be the key to their quest.

When the young man is tied to his chair, his "ravings" seem instead to indicate desperation to escape an enchanted

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captivity. After launching a battery of dire threats, the youth finally begs his companions to release him in the name of Aslan. Recognizing the fourth Sign, they hesitantly do so. Far from their apprehension of him turning into a serpent or killing them, the young man proceeds to destroy the silver chair. Free from the enchantment, he thanks them. He declares that he is the vanished Prince Rilian, kept underground by the Lady of the Green Kirtle as part of her plot to conquer Overland.

The Green Lady returns and tries to bewitch them all into forgetting who they are. The barefoot Puddleglum stamps out the enchantress's magical fire and breaks her spell. The enraged Lady transforms herself into a green serpent, and Rilian realizes that he has been enslaved all these years by his mother's murderer. Rilian kills the serpent with the help of Eustace and Puddleglum,[4] and leads the travellers to escape from Underland. The gnomes, who had also been magically enslaved by the Lady, are now freed by her death and joyfully return to their home even deeper in the earth, a land called Bism. One of them shows Rilian's party a route to the surface before leaving. Rilian returns to Cair Paravel as King Caspian is returning home, and Caspian is reunited with his long-lost son just before dying.

Aslan appears and congratulates Eustace and Jill on achieving their goal, then returns them to the stream in his country where Jill first met him. The body of King Caspian appears in the stream, and Aslan instructs Eustace to drive a thorn into the lion's paw. Eustace obeys, and Aslan's blood flows over the dead King, who is revived and returned to youth. Aslan explains that when Jill and Eustace return to their own world, Caspian will go with them briefly, to help set things right there. At the portal between the worlds, Aslan roars, and part of the wall surrounding Experiment House collapses. Caspian, Eustace, and Jill cross the wall and give the school bullies a sound thrashing. The beaten bullies run back towards the school in terror, having also seen Aslan, who lets them glimpse his back as part of the plan. In the confusion Eustace and Jill sneak back into the school building and change into their school clothes, while Aslan and Caspian return to Aslan's country.

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The headmistress calls the police with a wild story of armed hoodlums and an enormous lion on the school grounds; subsequent enquiries expose her incompetence and mismanagement. The worst of the bullies are expelled and the incompetent headmistress given a new job — failing as a school inspector, she is eventually elected to Parliament. Experiment House becomes a well-managed learning institution, and Eustace and Jill remain good friends.

Main characters

Jill Pole – A pupil at Experiment House who is found by Eustace Scrubb, crying, after she is bullied by a gang of children.

Eustace Scrubb – Appeared in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and is a cousin of the four Pevensie siblings from the earlier stories. Became a much nicer person after his brief time as an enchanted dragon in the previous story.

Puddleglum – A Marsh-wiggle who helps Jill and Eustace on their quest. He guides them and keeps them on track. He represents common sense and the voice of reason.

The Lady of the Green Kirtle – The ruler of Underland, who plans to conquer Narnia with its rightful heir under her spell at her side.

Prince Rilian – Heir to the Narnian throne, who was captured by the Lady of the Green Kirtle and enslaved in her Underworld.

Aslan – Creator of Narnia and the only character to appear in every book.

King Caspian – Elderly King of Narnia who appeared in

Prince Caspian as a boy and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as a young man; in The Silver Chair he is sad because his only son was taken from him 10 years earlier just after the death of his wife from a serpent attack.

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Краткий план лингво-стилистического анализа

Concise Outline of a Text Literary and LinguisticStylistic Analysis

Basic points

1.The genre and type of the given literary work (extract).

2.Theme.

3.Idea.

4.Message.

5.Plot structure (Arrangement of plot structure components).

6.Settings (meaning, impact, importance).

7.Plot structure techniques.

8.Main characters, means of their characterization.

9.Types of narration.

10.Tone (tonal system). Author‘s attitude.

11.Expressive means and stylistic devices.

12.Title and its implication.

13.Reader‘s personal perception/response to the story under analysis.

General points recommended to be mentioned:

Narration

―a 3-rd person narration;

―a 1-st person narration (an I-story);

―narration interlaced with descriptive passages and dialogues of the personages;

―narration broken by digressions (philosophical, psychological, lyrical, etc;

―an account of events interwoven with a humorous (ironical, satirical) portrayal of society, or the personage, etc.

The prevailing mood (tone, slant,) of the text

It may be lyrical, dramatic, tragic, optimistic/pessimistic, melodramatic, sentimental, emotional/unemotional, pathetic, dry and matter-of-fact, gloomy, bitter, sarcastic, cheerful, etc.

Plot structure (composition) of the text

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(It is believed sensible to recommend dividing the text under analysis into logically-completed parts. If possible, in each part the text, choose key-sentence (topic sentence) that reveals its essence).

The parts of a complete story (chapter, episode) may be as follows:

―exposition (introduction);

―development of narration/ plot (an account of events);

―climax (culminating point);

―anticlimax;

―denouement (the outcome of the story).

Useful phrases for basic stylistic analysis of a text

1)The suggested text/ extract represents a 3-rd person narration (a 1-st person narration) mixed (interlaced, interwoven, intermingled) with a dialogue, character drawings, a description, a satirical portrayal of society, a historical event, inner monologues of the leading character, with the author's digression where he speculates upon the problem of...

2)The author's digression reveals his vision of life...

3)The writer digresses from the plot of the story to reveal (convey) his attitude to... (his view on...)

4)The narration is done in the 1-st (the 3-rd) person.

5)The main character is the narrator of his own feelings, thoughts and intentions.

6)The story-teller portrays his characters by means of a convergence of stylistic devices, such as…

7)The portrayal of literary personages/characters/ heroes is done skillfully (masterfully, with great skill).

8)The description (portrayal, narration) may be …vivid/ convincing/ powerful/ meaningful/ highly emotional/ unemotional/ suggestive etc.

9)The 4-th part is focused on J**** S****.

10)The author focuses (his attention) on the character's inner world.

11)The author depicts the life of...

12)The subject of depiction in the 2nd part is...

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13)The passage opens with the atmosphere of growing suspense (excitement, nervousness, fright etc.).

14)The paragraph abounds in (is abundant in ) slang set-

phrases.

15)The writer makes an abundant use of…

16)The compositional structure of the text/ extract/ fragment is based on parallelism.

17)Parallelism (parallel constructions are) is accompanied by anaphora (framing etc.).

18)These paragraphs stand in sharp contrast to each other.

19)The paragraph is built in sharp contrast to the following one. The contrast is reflected (manifested) in the language, both in syntactical and lexical means.

20)The paragraph is in full accord (accordance) with the preceding one as far as its idea goes.

21)The author (story-teller) draws a gloomy/ majestic/ miserable etc. picture.

22)The writer uses ( makes use of, employs, resorts to ) common colloquial vocabulary/ juridical terminology (law terms).

23)-to give the narration (to lend) more authenticity and objectivity to lend the story a humorous ring.

24)-to make the story sound melodramatic (sentimental etc.) It testifies to the writer's mastery (skill). This detail (fact, expression, device) is suggestive of ... is highly informative.

25)It suggests that...

26)It helps the reader guess (realize, come to the conclusion etc.).

27)It leaves much for the reader's guesswork.

28)The syntactical pattern of the sentence (paragraph) is suggestive/informative/ meaningful.

29)The syntactical pattern (structure, design) is peculiar (is broken, is violated...).

30)The author resorts to high-flown (elevated) words to convey the inner tragedy of his personage.

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31)There is a discrepancy between bookish, elevated vocabulary and the trivial/ banal situation with ordinary men doing everyday things (or the daily routine of ordinary men).

32)It usually produces a humorous/ ironical effect. It reveals the writer's ironical attitude to... It is used as a mean of irony. The writer makes use of various language means to depict (portray, convey, reveal etc.) The author digresses from the thread of narration (the topic of story).

33)To pursue his aim, the author employs (resorts to, adheres to, uses)… The author converses with the reader as if he has an interlocutor before him. (The reader is involved into the events of the text.) The author lays bare (exposes, unmasks, condemns, touches upon, dwells on, delineates, highlights, stresses, underlines, ridicules, mocks at, accentuates)... The author lays (puts, places) emphasis (stress) on... The writer carries the idea to the mind of the reader through... The stylistic devices are the indicator (signal) of the character's emotions (emotional tension, mixed feelings).

34)The stylistic device stresses (underlines, discloses, accentuates, emphasizes, is meant to point out, throws light on, highlights, adds to, contributes to, (lightens, enhances, intensifies, gives an insight into, explains and clarifies, serves to provide the text with additional emphases). The satirical (humorous, ironical) effect is heightened (enhanced, intensified, augmented) by a convergence of stylistic devices and means in the paragraph. The stylistic device contributes (adds) to the same effect (the effect desired by the author, the effect the author strives for, a more colorful and emotional presentation of the scene). The stylistic device adds importance to the indication of the place (time, manner) of action is suggestive (illustrative, expressive) (it indicates where and when the scene is laid). The stylistic device is suggestive (illustrative, expressive, explicit, implicit) of...

35)– is linked and interwoven to produce a joint impression (are aimed at achieving the desired effect); - wants (needs) interpreting, decoding. It prepares the ground for the next sentence (paragraph); - makes explicit what has been implied

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before (lends an additional expressiveness). It is implicit in nature, makes the…

36)Utterance arresting, enables the author to convey the feelings and emotions of the character, reveals the character's low (high) social position, indicates the step the character occupies in the social ladder, serves best to specify the author's (character's) attitude to…

37)There is no direct indication of ...

38)It is understood indirectly through (perceived

through)...

39)The title is highly informative (symbolic, emotive, emotionally colored, emphatic).

40)The … suggests a definite kind of informational design. It is to the word "..." that prominence must be given.

41)If we analyze the intonation pattern of the sentence we see that to the word "..." is given a strong (heavy) stress.

42)Looking deeper into the arrangement of the utterance we come to the conclusion that...

43)The reader traces the marked partiality of the writer for his personage.

44)In order to impose (impress) on the reader his attitude towards the character the author employs...

45)Leading gradually up to the hidden idea that he is pursuing the writer makes the reader feel...

46)The most convincing proof of the idea is...

47)Hints and suggestive remarks (implications and suggestions) are scattered all over the text.

48)On a more careful observation it becomes obvious

that...

49)The idea is hidden between the lines in order to grasp the author's idea.

50)The word (sentence) is charged (loaded, burdened) with implication (connotation).

51)The … suggests a touch of authenticity (plausibility) to the narrated events (it makes the reader believe that the narrated events have actually taken place in real life).

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