III. Read the text and write down the words and word combinations connected will; dentistry giving their Russian equivalents. Retell the text in brief;

AT THE DENTIST'S

There are certain humiliating moments in the lives of the greatest of men. It has been said that no man is a hero to his valet. To that

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may be added that few men are heroes to themselves at the moment of visiting their dentist.

Hercule Poirot was morbidly conscious of that fact.

He was a man who was accustomed to have a good opinion of himself. He was Hercule Poirot, superior in most ways to other men. But in this moment he was unable to feel superior in any way whatever. His morale was down to zero. He was just that ordinary, craven figure, a man afraid of the dentist's chair.

Mr. Morley had finished washing his hands and was now speaking in his encouraging professional manner.

"Hardly as warm as it should be, is it, for the time of year?"

Gently he led the way to the appointed spot - to the chairl Deftly he played with its head rest, running it up and down.

Hercule Poirot took a deep breath, stepped up, sat down and relaxed his head to Mr. Morley's professional fiddlings.

"There," said Mr. Morley with hideous cheerfulness, "that quite comfortable? Sure?"

In sepulchral tones Poirot said that it was comfortable.

Mr. Morley swung his little table nearer, picked up his mirror, seized an instrument and prepared to get on with the job.

Hercule Poirot grasped the arms of the chair, shut his eyes and opened his mouth.

"Any special trouble?" Mr. Morley inquired.

Slightly indistinctly, owing to the difficulty of forming consonants while keeping the mouth open, Hercule Poirot was understood to say that there was no special trouble. This was, indeed, the twice yearly overhaul that his sense of order and neatness demanded. It was, of course, possible that there might be nothing to do... Mr. Morley might, perhaps, overlook that second the tooth from the back from which those twinges had come... He might - but it was unlikely - for Mr. Morley was a very good dentist.

Mr. Morley passed slowly from tooth to tooth, tapping and probing, murmuring little comments as he did so.

"That filling is wearing down a little - nothing serious, though. Gums are in pretty good condition, I'm glad to see." A pause at a suspect, a twist of the probe- no, on again, false alarm. He passed to the lower side. One, two - on to three? No. "The dog," Hercule Poirot thought in confused idiom, "has seen the rabbit!"

"A little trouble here. Not been giving you any pain? Hm, I'm surprised." The probe went on.

Finally Mr. Morley drew back, satisfied.

"Nothing very serious. Just a couple of fillings - and a trace of decay on that upper molar. We can get it all done, I think, this morning."

He turned on a switch and there was a hum. Mr. Morley unhooked the drill and fitted a needle to it with loving care.

"Guide me," he said briefly, and started the dread work.

It was not necessary for Poirot to avail himself of this permission, to raise a hand, to wince, or even to yell. At exactly the right moment,

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Mr, Morley stopped the drill, gave the brief command "Rinse", applied a little dressing, selected a new needle and continued. The ordeal of the drill was terror rather than pain.

(A few minutes later.)

"Well, I think that seems all right. Just another rinse, please."

The rinse accomplished, Mr. Morley peered critically into his patient's mouth.

"Quite comfortable? Just close - very gently - You don't feel the filling at all? Open again, please. Now that seems quite all right."

The table swung back, 1h: chair swung round.

Hercule descended, a free man.

"Well, good-bye, Mr. Poirot. Not detected any criminals in my house, I hope?"

"Before I came up every one looked to me like a criminal! Now, perhaps, it will be different!"

"Ah, yes, a great deal of difference between before and after! All the same, we dentists aren't such devils now as we used to be! Shall I ring for the lift for you?"

"No, no, I will walk down."

"As you like - the lift is just by the stairs." .. Poirot went put. He heard the taps start to run as he closed the door .behind him.

(From "One, Two, Buckle my Shoe" by Agatha Christie)

Suggested Topics for Oral and Written Composition

(Make use of the words and word combinations included in Units One, Two, Three.)

1. A story or an episode connected with a visit to a doctor.

2. Your visit to a dentist or another specialist (a dialogue).

3. The first steps of a young specialist (a teacher, a doctor, etc) - his emotions, his successes and failures; his devotion to his profession.

4. A dialogue between two young specialists.

Read the poem and try your hand at translating it into Russian. Give a description of a winter day in prose Using some of the words from the poem;

NOVEMBER

By T. Hood (1799-1845)

Summer is gone on swallows' wings, And Earth has buried all her flowers; No more the lark, the linnet, sings, But Silence sits in faded bowers, There is a shadow on the plain Of Winter ere he comes again - There is in woods a solemn sound Of hallowed warnings whispered round,

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As Echo in her deep recess For once had turned a prophetess. Shuddering Autumn stops to list, And breathes his fears in sudden sighs, With clouded face, and hazel eyes That quench themselves, and hide in mist.

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UNIT FOUR

TEXT 1

Mr. Drake, a popular composer, is often invited by admirers of his music to itay with them, but Mr. Drake hates visiting. His wife says: "Ben absolutely abhors visiting and thinks there ought to be a law against invitations that go beyond dinner, and bridge. He doesn't mind hotels where there is a decent light for reading in .'bed' and one for shaving, and where you can order meals, with coffee, any time you want them. But I really believe he would rather spend a week in the death house at Sing Sing than in somebody else's home. It was after our visit to an acquaintance of ours that Ben swore he would pay no more visits until he could think up a graceful method of curtailing them in the event they proved unbearable. Here is the scheme-he hit on: He would write himself a telegram and leave it with Irene, the girl-at Harms', his publishers, with instructions to have it sent to him twenty-four hours after we started out. The telegram would say that he must return to New York at once, and would give a reason."

The story is narrated by Mrs. Drake. She is spending a weekend with Mr. and Mrs. Thayers, well-meaning admirers of her husband's music. Mr. Drake is not, there, he is busy rehearsing a new performance.

At dinner on Saturday night, they cross-examined me about our immediate plans. I told them that as soon as the show-was "over" in New York, I was going to try to make Ben stay home and do nothing for a whole month.

"I should think," said Mrs. Thayer, "it would be very hard to rest there in the city, with the producers and publishers, and phonograph people calling him up all the time."

I admitted that he was bothered a lot.

"Listen, dearie," said Mrs. Thayer. "Why don't you come to Lansdowne and spend a week with us? I'll promise you faithfully that you won't be. disturbed at all. I won't let anyone know you are there, and if any of our friends call on us, I'll pretend we're not at home. I won't allow Mr. Drake to even touch the piano. If he wants exercise, there are miles of room in our yard to walk around in, and nobody can see him from the street. All day and all night, he can do nothing or anything, just as he pleases. It will be "Liberty Hajl" for you both. He needn't tell anybody where he is, but if some of his friends or business acquaintances find out and try to get in touch with him, I'll frighten them away. How does that sound?"

"It sounds wonderful," I said, "but -"

"It's settled then," said Mrs. Thayer, "and we'll expect you on Sunday, October eleventh."

"Oh, but the show may not be "set" by that time," I remonstrated.

"How about the eighteenth?" said Mr. Thayer.

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Well, it ended by my accepting the invitation. Strange as it might seem, Ben took it quite cheerfully.

"If they stick to their promise to keep us under cover," he said, "it may be a lot better than staying in New York. I know that they wouldn't give me a minute's peace if they could find me. And of course if things aren't as good as they look, Irene's telegram will provide us with an easy way out."

On the way over to Philadelphia he hummed me an awfully pretty melody which had been running through his head since we left the apartment. "I think it's sure fire," he said. "I'm crazy to get to a piano and fool with it."

"That isn't resting, dear."

"Well, you don't want me to throw away a perfectly good tune! They aren't so plentiful that I can afford to waste one. It won't take me five minutes at a piano to get it fixed in my mind."

The Thayers had a very pretty home and the room assigned to us was close to perfection. There were comfortable twin beds with a small stand and convenient reading-lamp between; a big dresser and chiffonier; an ample closet with plenty of hangers; a bathroom with hot water that was hot, towels that were not too new and faucets that stayed on when turned on, and an ash-tray within reach of wherever you happen to be. If only we could have spent all our time in that guest-room, it would have been ideal.

But presently we were summoned downstairs to luncheon. I had warned Mrs. Thayer in advance and Ben was served with coffee. He drinks it black.

"Don't you take cream, Mr. Drake?"

"No. Never."

"But that's because you don't get good cream in New York."

"No. It's because I don't like cream in coffee."

"You would like our cream. We have our own cows and the cream is so rich that it's almost like butter. Won't you try just a little?"

"No, thanks."

"But just a little, to see how rich it is."

She poured about a tablespoonful of cream into his coffee-cup and for a second I was afraid he was going to pick up the cup and throw it in her face. But he kept hold of himself, forced a smile and declined a second chop.

"You haven't tasted your coffee," said Mrs. Thayer.

"Yes, I have," lied Ben. "The cream is wonderful. I'm sorry it doesn't agree with me."

"I don't believe coffee agrees with anyone," said Mrs. Thayer. "While you are here, not doing any work, why don't you try to give it up?"

"I'd be so irritable you wouldn't have me in the house. Besides, it 'isn't plain coffee that disagrees with me; it's coffee with cream."

"Pure, rich cream like ours couldn't hurt you," said Mrs. Thayer, and Ben, defeated, refused to answer.

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He started to light a Jaguar cigaret, the brand he had been smoking for years.

"Here! Wait a minute!" said Mr. Thayer. "Try one of mine."

"What are they?" asked Ben.

"Trumps," said our host, holding out his case. "They're mild and won't irritate the throat."

"I'll sample one later," said Ben.

"You've simply got to try one now," said Mrs. Thayer. "You may as well get used to them because you'll have to smoke them all the time you're here. We can't have guests providing their own cigarets." So Ben had to discard his Jaguar and smoke a Trump, and it was even worse than he had anticipated.

After luncheon we adjourned to the living-room and Ben went straight to the piano.

"Here! Here! None of that!" said Mrs. Thayer. "I haven't forgotten my promise."

"What promise?" asked Ben.

"Didn't your wife tell you? I promised her faithfully that if you visited us, you wouldn't be allowed to touch the piano."

"But I want to," said Ben. "There's a melody in my head that I'd like to try."

"Oh, yes, I know all about that," said Mrs. Thayer. "You just think you've got to entertain us! Nothing doing! We invited you here for yourself, not to enjoy your talent. I'd be a fine one to ask you to my home for a rest and then make you perform."

"You're not making me," said Ben. "Honestly I want to play for just five or ten minutes. I've got a tune that I might do something with and I'm anxious to run it over."

"I don't believe you, you naughty man!" said our hostess. "Your wife has told you how wild we are about your music and you're determined to be nice to us. But I'm just as stubborn as you are. Not one note do you play as long as you're our guest!"

Ben favored me with a stricken look, mumbled something about unpacking his suitcase - it was already unpacked - and went up to our room, where he stayed nearly an hour, jotting down his new tune, smoking Jaguar after Jaguar and wishing that black coffee flowed from bathtub faucets.

(to be continued)

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COMMENTARY

NOTES

1. Here is the scheme he hit on:

The verb to hit upon (on) here means to find by chance, come upon.

The Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English edited by A. S. Hornby registers this meaning together with five other1" comprising the semantic structure of the verb to hit.

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A comparison of the meanings within the semantic structure of the verb may give an idea of different types of meaning. So far no general or complete scheme of types of meaning has been accepted by linguists. However, some terms seem to be more commonly employed in books than others.

The first meaning of the verb to hit - to give a blow, a stroke to is generally termed the direct meaning as it names the action itself and can be understood without the help of a context, in isolation.

Meanings 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, unlike the first one, are bound by the context, although they are somewhat dependent on the first meaning. These are derivative meanings.

• to be hit by financial losses - to suffer from ...

• to hit the right path - to find ...

• to hit upon the right answer - to suddenly find the correct solution

From the point of view of frequency of occurrence in speech one can distinguish basic meaning (the most frequent one) and minor meanings (less frequent ones).

The importance of distinguishing different types of meaning in learning and teaching a foreign language can't be overlooked. At the initial stage of language learning, the direct and most frequent meanings are usually taken into consideration, while at a more advanced level attention is paid to derivative and less frequent meanings.

It is the derivative meanings of the verbs to hit, to strike and to stick that are dealt with in the vocabulary of Unit Four.

2. ... an awfully pretty melody ...

Awfully in this phrase is a colloquial variant of the neutral adverb very.

Colloquialisms make up a special layer in the English vocabulary as opposed to neutral and literary words.

The majority of colloquial words and set-up expressions have synonyms in the neutral layer of the vocabulary, e.g. kid -child; daddy - father; go on - continue; get out - go away; just a bit - very little.

As compared with their neutral synonyms colloquialisms haVe a definite emotional colouring which makes them very expressive.

STRUCTURAL PATTERNS

1. Would + Infinitive in Simple Sentences ... it would be very hard for him to rest there in the city.

In simple sentences would + indefinite or perfect infinitive generally denotes an unreal action (the Analytical Subjunctive). The indefinite infinitive refers the action to the present or future, the perfect infinitive - to the past.

You would not have me in the house, I'd be very irritable.

Вы бы не потерпели меня у себя в доме, я был бы очень раздражительным.

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A month ago I would have doubted the truth of the story.

Месяц назад я бы усомнился в правдивости этой истории.

Note: the phrases I should (would) think (have thought), I should (would) say (have said) are common and are generally used to lend the sentence a milder and more polite form. Their use in this case differs from the use of the Indicative Mood only stylistically.

"I should think," said Mrs. Thayer, "it would be very hard for . him to rest there in the city."	"Я полагаю, - сказала миссис Тейер, там в городе ему было бы трудно отдохнуть".
"How long did you wait?" - "I would say a good five minutes."	"Сколько времени вы ждали?" - "Пожалуй (я бы сказал), не менее пяти минут".

2. Need + Infinitive

Не needn't tell anybody where he is.

The modal verb need denoting necessity is used only in negative and interrogative sentences. The time reference of the action is shown by the form of the infinitive.

The indefinite infinitive refers the action to the present; the per--fect infinitive refers it to the past.

Need + perfect infinitive expresses an action which has been performed though it was not necessary. It implies a waste of time and effort.

You needn't switch off the radio, I'm not going to read.	Можете не выключать радио. Я не собираюсь читать.
Need you be so irritable?	Стоит ли так раздражаться?
You needn't have bought the book (but you did). It is available at the library.	Вам не надо было бы покупать эту книгу. Она есть в библиотеке.
You needn't have sent us the - telegram (but you did). We knew you were coming on Friday.	Не стоило (не надо было) присылать нам телеграмму. Мы знали, что вы возвращаетесь в пятницу.

Note: Didn't have to do smth shows that the action did not take place .in the past because it was unnecessary.

I didn't have to buy the book as I had it at home.	Мне не пришлось (не надо было) покупать эту книгу, так как она была у меня дома.
I didn't have to send them a telegram for they knew I was coming on Friday.	Мне не пришлось (не надо было) посылать им телеграмму, потому что они знали, что я приезжаю в пятницу.