The Ax Story

The story of two lumberjacks has meaning for all of us. The young man was anxious to prove that he was a better woodcutter than his older friend. One day he challenged the older woodcutter to a contest to determine who could cut the largest number of trees in a single day.

Daylight found the young man at work chopping his way through a number of trees and never stopping to take a break. He was a very hard worker. Meanwhile the veteran would chop for two hours and then leave only to return an hour later.

At the end of the day the young man was sure he had won the contest since he took no breaks and chopped all day. However, when the logs were counted, the veteran had won. «This can't be», cried the young man. «I worked all day without stopping, but you took frequent breaks». The veteran replied, «It's really very simple. I wasn't taking a break, I was sharpening my ax».

Exercise 9. Read the passage. Give your opinion on the subject. What else would you I add to the list? Give the reasons why.

A checklist for information age

◊ Lean to type, because time is money.

◊ Learn to use a laser printer, a fax/modem, and software that includes a word processor and spreadsheet.

◊ Learn to use a what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) word processor on a personal computer.

◊ Get a personal computer mail account with Internet access and learn how to use e-mail.

◊ Prepare two resumes, one nicely formatted on the word processor, the other in plain text (ASCII) to send by e-mail.

◊ Learn how information is disseminated electronically.

◊ Learn how to protect your privacy and trade secrets.

◊ Work on your communications skills not only across all media but also in person.

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Exercise 10.

(to) refuse refusal

1. They _____ an innovation.

2. I ____ to answer that question.

3. It was a polite _____.

(to) agree agreement

4. They were unable to reach _______

5. I _____ with you entirely.

6. We _____ on a plan.

7. You have broken the terms of our ______

anxious anxiously anxiety

8. I was terribly _____ about you.

9. There is a lot of ______ among the staff about annual ehxibition.

10. It was an ____ wait for the results of our exam.

11. I waited ______ by the phone.

Exercise 11. Read the passage and answer the questions about it.

Charles Snow was born in a lower middle-class family in England in 1905, educated there at secondary school and the university college. He went to Christ's College, Cambridge, and after taking a PhD for research in physics he joined the government service where he worked as a scientific expert during the Second World War, and as a Civil Service commissioner (1945-60).

Snow's first work of fiction was a detective story «Death Under Sail» (1932). Starting in 1935, he wrote a seguence of novels under the general title of «Strangers and Brothers», covering more than fifty years of the life of a lawyer, Lewis Eliot, his brother Martin Eliot, a physicist, and the various friends and colleagues they associated with in business, scientific endeavor and the public service. In these books Snow, being an upholder of realistic traditions, draws a vast canvas of the British way of life, as well as of complex moral problems. Among his other books are «The Search» (1934), «Time of Hope» (1949), «The Masters» (1951), «The Sleep of Reason» (1968), «Corridors of Power» (1964), «The Physicists» (1980). Snow has also written a collection of biographical portraits and a critical biography.

For his service in industry and government Snow received a knighthood in 1964 and was made a Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Technology. His public lectures were collected in a volume «Public Affairs» (1971). In one of them ho speaks of himself as of a bridge between the literary traditional culture and the culture of science.

C. Snow died in 1980.

1. What is the best title for the passage?

a. England's greatest writers

b. The life and works of C. Snow

c. A famous scientist

d. American playwrights

2. It can be inferred from the passage that Snow

a. became a scientist as well as a writer

b. studied at Oxford

c. did not care much for academic studies

d. has written a lot of plays

Chapter 11 191

3. According to the passage Snow was

a. a modernist

b. a realist

c. a post-modernist

d. a pessimist

4. It can be inferred from the passage that Snow was 59 years old when he

a. wrote «The Masters»

b. became a Parliamentary Secretary

c. received the Nobel Prize

d. died

5. Which of the following is NOT mentioned in the passage as Snow's literary works?

a. detective stories

b. biographical portraits

c. critical biography

d. science fiction

Exercise 12 Choose the one word or phrase that best keep the meaning of the original sentence if it is substituted for it.

1. The question is quite straightforward.

a. complex

b. original

c. unusual

d. simple

2. They've accomplished a great deal in the last few weeks.

a. acquired

b. advertised

c. achieved

d. finished

3. This constuction is anything but safe.

a. somewhat

b. not at all

c. quite

d. very

4. Innovators have little hesitancy in trying something new.

a. time

b. indecision

c. experience

d. hope

5. These negotiations are crucial to our project.

a. of little importance

b. of some importance

c. of no importance

d. of deciding importance

6. I think it's a fairly difficult exercise.

a. rather

b. very

c. an unusually

d. anything but