15. Answer the following questions and do the tasks.

1. What are the major events in a person’s life?

2. What is a life of quiet desperation?

3. Was Thomas’ high school life interesting?

4. Single out the thesis statement in the first paragraph.

5. Paraphrase the following: “World came tumbling down”.

6. Describe the day he departed for college.

7. What were the mother’s farewell words? Did he take them for granted? What were his fears?

8. Did he enjoy the flight?

9. What is Mitchell Hall?

10. Describe Thomas’ room.

11. Did he do some shopping?

12. Did he do any sightseeing?

13. What was the end of his day?

14. What classes did Thomas take?

15. What was the system of assessment in English 10?

16. What were his expectations in English 10?

17. What was characteristic of Chemistry 003?

18. Did college courses resemble his high school courses/subjects?

19. Was the next day easier than the first one?

20. Did home assignments take much time?

21. In what mood did he go to bed the second day?

22. What helped him to take a more positive view of things?

23. What actions did he take after mother was angry with him?

24. What set of guidelines did he establish to restore?

Listening 1

The Animal School

Pre-Listening

1. Study the following words and word combinations

• to meet the problem

• to administer the curriculum

• to take all the subjects

• to drop swimming

• average

• at the top of the class

• “exertion” – overexertion

• “Charlie horse”

• a problem child

• to be disciplined severely

• valedictorian

• to burrow

• a badger

• a gopher

2. Check if you know the translation of these words:

eagle ['iːgl]

eel [iːl]

prairie dog ['prɛərɪdɒg]

badger ['bæʤə]

groundhog ['graund hɒg]

gopher ['gəufə]

3. Paraphrase the following sentences

1. They adopted an activity curriculum.

2. The duck made only passing grades in flying.

3. He was only average in swimming.

4. The rabbit stayed at the top of the class in running but had a nervous breakdown because of so much make-up work in swimming.

5. He also developed a “charlie horse” from overexertion.

6. In the climbing class he beat all the others.

7. The administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum.

8. They apprenticed their children to a badger.

Listening 2 How to Get an a on Your Final Exam

Listen to the story very attentively and say what moral this fable has.

Pre-Listening

• Study the new word combinations and their meaning

to administer and proctor the exams	to provide/organize officially the exam and to watchpeople who are taking an examination and make sure that they do not cheat;
a cumulative final exam	a general final exam (one embracing all the aspects studied duringthe semester);
a blue book	a book with a blue cover that is used in American colleges for writing answers to examination questions;
to turn in the papers	to hand the papers in;
to be indoctrinated into the system	to be well-acquainted with/introduced to the system;
a sneaky guy	a guy who is doing things in a secret and often dishonest or unfair way/sly/underhand;
to beat the system	to find ways of avoiding or breaking the rules of the system in order to achieve what you want;
a stack of books	a neat pile/a heap of books;
to surrender the exam	to hand in/to give in/ to turn in the examination paper;
to huff and puff	to breathe out in a noisy way, especially when you do smth that involves a lot of physical effort
to walk away with one's shoulders slumped	to leave with one's shoulders bend forward because one is unhappy, tired, or unconscious;
to shove smth into smth	to put something somewhere carelessly or without thinking much/thrust/stick

• Before listening to the text could you share your opinion of how to get an A at the exam

Listening: Listen to the story attentively and be ready to answer the questions.

Post-Listening: Answer the questions and do the tasks using the above-explained expressions from the text:

1. What was Mr. D’Angelo during his senior year in college? What did his work consist in?

2. Describe the procedure of taking the exam.

3. What happened during the final exam? In what way did that sneaky guy want to beat Mr. D'Angelo's system?

4. Why did the student walk away with his shoulders slumped?

5. Why did the freshman turn around with a hint of arrogance?

6. Was Mr. D'Angelo concerned about the question asked by the young man?

7. How did the guy manage to cope with the tricky situation he had got into?

8. What would you do if you were in the freshman's shoes? What would you do if you were in the teacher's shoes?

9. Think of the possible end of the story.