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11. This is one of the cafes I used to haunt.
12. There will be a riot if the government does not invest more in
this sphere.
13. Severe drought has afflicted the countryside.
14. He dialed 911 and implored for help.
15. Steve broke the news to the family at dinner.
16. The bad weather forced them to abandon their search.
17. My patience is exhausted.
18. They went to see a haunted castle on Halloween.
19. It’s monstrous to charge $80 for a hotel room like this!
20. I’m not sure he’ll be able to bend her will.
21. Jim was brought home in a feverish condition by a stranger.
II. Find the active vocabulary in the text. Paraphrase and
translate the sentences into Russian.
III. Locate the items below in the story and paraphrase them.
Use your active when possible.
1. “…intelligence of the railroad disaster was received…”
2. “…with a paralyzed inability…”
3. “…a physical exhaustion…”
4. “…there were patches of blue sky…”
5. “…lines bespoke repression…”
6. “…it was too subtle and elusive to name…”
7. “…a monstrous joy that held her…”
8. “…spread her arms out to them in welcome…”
9. “…blind persistence…”
10. “…this possession of self-assertion…”
11. “…imploring for admission…”
12. “…she was drinking in a very elixir of life…”
13. “…her fancy was running riot…”
14. “…thought with a shudder…”
15. “…a feverish triumph…”
16. “…a little travel-stained…”
17. “…joy that kills…”
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IV. Below are words from your active, each followed by a
group of synonyms. Choose the synonyms to the meanings in
which the words are used in the context of the story.
1. riot: disorder, disturbance, row, revolt, outburst, uproar,
outbreak, laugh, scream, frolic
2. to haunt: occupy, obsess, preoccupy, torment, plague
3. a shudder: shiver, trembling, shaking, spasm, jerk, vibration, tic
4. to implore: plead, beg, solicit, crave, urge, pray for
5. to afflict: plague, trouble, distress, upset, torment, burden, pain,
grieve, oppress, harass.
V. Translate into English using the active vocabulary:
1. Его преследовали мысли о возможном тюремном заключении.
2. Правительство опасалось вспышек недовольства и делало
все, чтобы предотвратить восстание.
3. Обвиняемый взмолился о помощи, но адвокат ничего не мог
поделать. Ему еще предстояло сообщить Нилу неприятную новость.
4. Он вернулся из путешествия сильно изможденный, его
мучил кашель и высокая температура.
5. Памят
многие годы.
6. Я боюсь даже подумать, сколько все это может стоить.
7. Было ясно, что он сделал это не нарочно.
8. Руфь содрогнулась от отвращения и вцепилась в мой рукав.
9. Упорство Марка раздражало Мэри. Она падала от усталости
и умоляла его закончить этот неприятный разгово
10. Круз понял, что невольно обидел Мэгги, и сжал ее в своих
объятиях. “Я никогда не покину тебя”, — сказал он.
11. Это чудовищное обвинение возмутило О’Коннора, и он
невольно содрогнулся.
12. Райан ухватился руками за подоконник, чтобы не
свалиться вниз.
13. Поверь мне, ты выбрал не самы
утверждения.
ь о несчастном случае преследовала артиста еще
р.
й лучший способ само-
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VI. Make up short situations or dialogs using the active
vocabulary.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. What is the author’s general tone throughout the story?
2. How do you feel about Mrs. Mallard? Explain why.
3. Contrast Mrs. Mallard at the beginning of the story with the
point at which she is “a goddess of Victory.”
4. Summarize Mrs. Mallard’s understanding of freedom. Does it
coincide with yours? What is freedom from your point of view?
5. Why is the text under consideration called “The Story of an
Hour”? Discuss the significance of the title.
6. What writing techniques does the author use? What purpose do
they serve in the story?
7. What imagery makes the story very colorful?
8. What emphatic constructions contribute to the same aim?
9. How would you summarize the author’s point about gender
issues and role of women as expressed in this story?
WRITING
Choose one of the suggested essay topics. Your essay should
be approximately 500—800 words in length.
1. Write several entries from Mrs. Mallard’s diary. Consider her
life style, her feelings and emotions and her reflections about her role
as a woman.
2. Write a letter to your parents as if you were Mr. Mallard. Tell
them about Mrs. Mallard’s death and speculate about her last days, her
life style in general, dreams and aspirations.
3. Write a “traditional” newspaper article informing the
community of Mrs. Mallard’s death. Mention who she was, what her
occupations and hobbies were, her family status, and her role as a
wife.
4. Write the same article from the point of view of a feminist writer.
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TEXT 2
THE PHILOSOPHERS ON WOMEN
by J. A. Boss
Philosophers bear part of the responsibility on perpetuating sexism.
Plato taught that man is the true humanity and that woman is a
deviation. Woman exists as a result of evil and failure to control one’s
passions. Men’s destinies are to use their rational human facilities. If a
man fails to control his emotions, he lives unrighteously and will be
reincarnated as a woman.
Aristotle also viewed women as a deviation from nature. Like
Aristotle, Steven Goldberg maintains that patriarchy is inevitable.
Women are not biologically equipped to achieve equality with men in
positions of power, authority, and status.
According to the Enlightenment philosophers, it is through reason
that humanity progresses, socially and morally. Like his contemporary,
French philosopher Jean-Jacque Rousseau, Immanuel Kant believed
that women are deficient in reason. Rousseau maintains that men and
women have different duties, based on a natural sexual division of
labor. Women can be forced to be free by compelling them to fulfill
their duties as mothers and wives. Rousseau writes: “Woman was made
especially to please man… This is the law of nature. If woman is forced
to please and to live in subjection, she must render herself agreeable to
man instead of provoking his wrath; her strength lies in her charms.”
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Explain the term “sexism.” In what way are philosophers
responsible for perpetuating sexism?
2. Express your opinion about the philosophical ideas contained in
the text. Justify your point of view.
3. Would you agree that men and women have different natures?
4. Is it true that men are rational and women are emotional?
5. What is your attitude towards the notion of “female logic”?
6. Do you believe that the full equality of sexes is attainable and
desirable?
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TEXT 3
THE VERY PERSONAL SIDES
OF WOMEN WITHOUT CHILDREN
by Fran Stewart
Lisa Blidar of Cuyahoga Falls sees her life of work, husband, a
dog, a couple of cats and five llamas as full and fulfilling. “I like my
freedom, which affords time for simple pleasures such as working out
and reading.”
Blidar, 34, is among the 18% of women who, according to federal
statistics, are childless by either choice or circumstance.
Women choose not to have children for a multitude of reasons:
they enjoy their careers, their lifestyles, their freedom; they want to
protect the environment and world from yet another consumer; they
simply don’t want to be a mother.
“There’re so many reasons for me not to have them that they really
truly outweigh the reasons to have them,” says Blidar, who works as a
commercial sales representative for a wall covering company based in
Columbus. “For me to complicate my life any more, I don’t see the
benefit. People say that’s selfish. I disagree. I think it’s selfish to have
more than three children.”
Blidar doesn’t begrudge others having children; she simply knows
herself. She’s uncomfortable around children, never knowing what to
say or do. “I have never had a maternal instinct.”
As a member of the Sierra Club and its population committee,
Blidar attributes much of the world’s problems to overpopulation. She
and her husband, Ron, love the environment too much to burden it
with one more consumer.
“There will be some things I’ll miss, sure. But I guess I don’t want
them bad enough,” Blidar says. “Thinking maybe that little bit is going
to help the environment means more than passing my bloodline on.”
Unlike Blidar, many women want desperately to have a child, but
physical reasons or difficult social and economic times stand as
obstacles.
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“There’s sometimes I want a baby so bad, I can actually feel the
weight of a baby in my arms,” said a 36-year-old local woman who
didn’t want to be identified.
After her eight-year marriage ended in divorce, she made up her
mind right then and there to try to find somebody she could remarry
right away and have a family with. But her social life hasn’t gone
according to plan.
Being a stepparent does not appeal to her. And many of the men
she has dated over the past three years are divorced and already have
children of their own. She has started thinking about adoption.
Her life plan was to be a stay-at-home-mother; her mother trained
her for such a mission. She would work until she and her husband
were financially stable and then start having children. “I thought we
were on the road to the American dream.”
She realizes that not all women share her desire for children, but
she believes many share her heartache. “I feel my time is running out.
I’m thinking that I will probably never have the opportunity to be a
mother, and it’s not a situation I’m happy with at all.” Her job as an
administrative assistant offers no substitute for a family. “I’ve not
been trained as far as a career of my dreams.”
A career of her dreams was exactly what Kathleen Kisner was
searching for when she decided to delay having children. While in her
20’s, Kisner, of Cleveland, was driven to become a writer. Friends
told her she’d make a wonderful mother; her mother had saved her
crib. But Kisner felt it important not to create a new life until she had
created her own.
“I had a horrible feeling that if I did not become a writer and
dropped out of the work force to have children, I might become not
the best mother. I knew people who just gave up on themselves."
As she neared 30, her writing took off. She spent the next several
years immersed in her work, developing a successful free-lance business.
Women in their 30’s today came of age during the time when
women were questioning societal conventions and defining
themselves in ways other than motherhood. Witnessing that turmoil,
combined with observing two families while working as a live-in
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babysitter shaped Kisner’s views on motherhood and her decision not
to try to have children.
“I don’t think you ever make a decision like this without some
regrets,” says Kisner, now 38 and recently remarried. But “I stand by
the decisions I made when I was young.”
“I really don’t plan to have children, but I feel that I’ve had a good
life,” Kisner says. “If I did conceive a child at this point, I really think
it would be a midlife gift. I’m not trying, but I think I could be a good
mother at this point.”
Cindy Pierce says she and her husband, Richard Sones, don’t regret
not having children. The Cleveland Heights couple view the choice as
a tradeoff. “We regretted that we had to limit our choice, but we both
knew we would be living in the world of ideas,” she says. “We just
don’t have the extra time to have children.”
Sones has returned to school to earn his doctorate in physics;
Pierce works part time as a research assistant and writes poetry and
stories.
“It’s something we miss, and I think I miss it a little more,” says
Peirce, 40, “I have always reconciled myself to the fact that that was
one thing I wouldn’t have.”
Some women never feel the urge to have children. Katherine Soltis
grew up without role models and without self-esteem, common byproducts of living in a dysfunctional family. It took years of
psychotherapy for Soltis to heal and become happy with herself and
her life. By that time, she and her husband had decided that not having
children would be best for them.
“It’s not that I regret not having children,” says Soltis, a dictionary
editor. “I never really had conscious, deep urge. I never knew what I
was missing.”
Last year, Soltis’ sister, who is 39, gave birth to a daughter. “I
don’t envy my sister the baby,” says Soltis, 43. After more than 20
years of marriage, a child would mean a huge life change for her and
her husband.
But seeing the baby’s picture did resurrect family feelings. It made
her regret never growing up with a loving father and mother. “I love to
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see other people raising children well,” Soltis says. ”I admire people
who do it well.”
Soltis, who is president of the activist group “Women Speak Out
for Peace and Justice,” believes that people unsure of their desires or
abilities should opt out of parenting for the good of potential children
and society. “We can do lots of other things.”
ACTIVE VOCABULARY
multitude of reasons
multitude (n, fml) — an extremely large number of people or things
to begrudge (v) — to feel unwilling to give or allow something, esp.
because it is unwanted or undeserved: I begrudge spending so much
money on entertainment. We shouldn’t begrudge him his success.
to burden (v) — to load or trouble: I will not burden you with a long
story of my troubles.
burden (n) — 1. something that is carried, a load 2. a heavy duty
or responsibility: the burden of power
maternal instinct
maternal (adj) — of, like, or natural to a mother: maternal love;
maternal morality
to attribute (v) to — regard something as belonging to, caused by or
produced by somebody/something: attribute success to hard work
stand as obstacles
obstacle (n) — something which prevents action, movement,
progress, or success: remove obstacles to world peace; place
obstacles in the way of somebody; a major obstacle to career progress
a stay-at-home mother
stay-at-home (adj, infml usu derog) — of a person who rarely
leaves his or her home to go anywhere or do anything new
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to delay having children
to delay (v) — to leave doing something until later, to postpone:
We decided to delay our trip until next month.
to drop out of the work force
workforce (n) — the total number of workers who are employed
in a company or factory, or who are available for work
to drop out of — 1. to stop attending or taking part: He dropped
out of college last year. 2. to move away from or refuse to join
ordinary society because of not agreeing with accepted practices,
standards, and ways of living
to be immersed in one’s work
to immerse (v) — to involve oneself deeply in something; to
absorb oneself in something: be immersed in thought/one’s
business/a book, etc.
to question societal conventions
to question (v) — to express or feel doubt about something
to witness a turmoil
turmoil (n) — a state of great disturbance, confusion or uncertainly
a live-in baby sitter
live-in (adj) — of a person who lives in the place where he or she
is employed: a live-in housekeeper
to conceive (v) — 1. to become pregnant with a child 2. to form an idea,
think of, imagine: I can’t conceive why you had to tell her everything.
tradeoff (n) — the balancing of different factors in order to achieve
the best combination, a compromise
urge (n) — a strong desire or impulse
to urge (v) — to try very hard to persuade: They urged us to give
our support to the candidate.
dysfunctional family
dysfunctional (adj) — unable to function properly
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to resurrect family feelings
to resurrect (v) — to bring back into use, existence, or fashion, to
revive: It’s a mistake to resurrect old quarrels.
to opt out of parenting for good
to opt (v) — to make a choice (esp. of one thing instead of
another): The voters opted for lower taxes.
to opt out (of ) — to choose not to do something: You promised to
help us, so please don’t opt out of it now!
for good — for ever: We thought she’d come for a visit, but it looks
like she’s decided to stay for good.
ASSIGNMENT
Answer the questions paying special attention to the additional
vocabulary:
1. What is the percentage of women in the U.S.A. who are
childless by either choice or circumstance?
2. List several among the multitude of reasons for women not to
have children.
3. Some people from the article treat children as consumers who
overpopulate the planet and pollute the environment; that is why they
do not want to burden the world with more kids. How do you feel
about this kind of attitude?
4. Some women, on the contrary, are desperate to have kids. What
obstacles stand in their way?
5. Can adoption be a possible way out of the situation when a
woman cannot conceive a child?
6. Some women are so immersed in their work that they have no
time to have kids. Is the fear of dropping out of workforce a sufficient
reason to question the possibility of having children?
7. Name all the reasons why women delay having children.
8. How can the choice not to have kids be viewed as a tradeoff?
9. Some women never feel the urge to have children, do they? Do
they know what they are missing?
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