Vocabulary Practice

1. Write the transcription, read and translate the following words and word compositions:

audience; Aviation Quiz Program; project; the wrong reply; screen; awfully; propeller; applaud; North and South Poles; the Inner Station; look puzzled and surprised; very amusing; convention; Mars; Venus; astronautics; telecast; famous spaceships; a Martian colonist; own; aircraft; afterward.

2. Translate into English:

Каждый был уверен, что именно он выиграет; отдавать инструкции (инструктировать); дать сигнал телекамерам; задавать вопросы каждому по очереди; очки проектировались на экране, который видели зрители; объявить кого-либо победителем; превращать что-либо в шутку; рассердить кого-либо; внимательно прочитать правила; подписать конвенцию; сделать несколько попыток; ужасно рассердиться по какому-либо поводу; летать в космос.

3. Reproduce the situations from the text where the active vocabulary is used. Think of your own sentences with the words from the list.

4. Suggest words and word combinations from active vocabulary for the following

• in spite of everything

• a resolute man

• to be not just

• to keep to the rules

• the participant

• to stop attempting something

• to become too big for something

• a leaving spaceship

• to meet the costs

• to change one’s viewpoint or opinion

• to be not able to answer a question

• to determine smth

• unexpected silence

• to choose a winner

5. Choose the correct statement:

1. I looked at the five other competitors and understood that each of them was quite sure that

1. the competition was very difficult

2. he was going to win

3. it was very complicated to become a winner

2. Good evening, this is Elmer Schmits, presenting you

1. the finalists in our Aviation Quiz Program

2. the well-known film-stars

3. the world famous sportsmen

3. This was lucky for me: I had always been interested in

1. maths

2. chemistry

3. the history of flying

4. You know that the prize is a trip, all expenses paid, to

1. any place in the world

2. Australia

3. Africa

5. Elmer Schmits made a few attempts to

1. help me choose another trip

2. talk me out of going to the Inner Station

3. make me change my mind

6. The only one who understood me was

1. my best friend Nick

2. my grandfather

3. uncle Jim (Pop’s brother)

6. Answer the following questions:

1. Who is the narrator?

2. What kind of competitions did he take part?

3. What questions helped Roy win the competition?

4. What was the prize for the winner?

5. What was Elmer Schmits, the TV Quiz Master, puzzled and surprised by?

6. Why did he call Roy a determined young person?

7. Why were Roy’s parents pretty mad about the whole business?

8. What had Roy been interested in since his childhood?

7. Topics for general discussion

1. What kind of story is it?

2. Could the events of this story be real nowadays?

3. Would you like to go to space if you had such a chance?

O. Henry is the pen name of American writer William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910). O. Henry short stories are known for wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. Porter was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina. His middle name at birth was Sidney; he changed the spelling in 1898. His parents were Dr. Algernon Sidney Porter and Mary Jane Virginia Swain Porter. As a child, Porter was always reading. He read everything from classics to dime novels.

Porter graduated from his aunt Evelina Maria Porter's elementary school in 1876. He then enrolled at the Lindsey Street High School. In 1879, he started working as a bookkeeper in his uncle's drugstore and in 1881, at the age of nineteen, he was licensed as a pharmacist.

Porter took a number of different jobs over the next several years, first as pharmacist then as a draftsman, bank teller and journalist. He also began writing as a sideline to employment. Porter was a good singer and musician. On July 5, 1887 Porter married Athol Estes.

Athol encouraged her husband to pursue his writing. . Porter started as a draftsman at the Texas General Land Office (GLO) in 1887 at a salary of $100. The salary was enough to support his family, but he continued his contributions to magazines and newspapers.

In 1894 he worked full time on his humorous weekly called The Rolling Stone, which featured satire on life, people and politics and included Porter's short stories and sketches.

Porter, was found guilty of embezzlement in February 1898, sentenced to five years jail, and imprisoned on March 25, 1898 as federal prisoner 30664 at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio.

He had fourteen stories published under various pseudonyms while he was in prison, but was becoming best known as "O. Henry" after serving three years.

Porter's most prolific writing period started in 1902, when he moved to New York City to be near his publishers. He wrote 381 short stories while living there.

Despite the success of his short stories being published in magazines and collections, Porter drank heavily and died on June 5, 1910.