- •4. On the East Side
- •I. Translate the following phrases and sentences from the text:
- •II. Give the principal forms of the following verbs:
- •III. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences. Use them in situations based on the text:
- •IV. Respond to the following questions or statements and correct them(if necessary). When expressing disagreement make sure you begin your answers with such commonly accepted phrases as:
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •VI. Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
- •VII. Talk about: a) Erik's summer experience; b) Erik's interview with Professor Fox; c) Professor Fox's first impression of Erik Gorin.
- •VIII. Make up dialogues between:
- •XVIII. Give English equivalents for the following short sentences (see Vocabulary and Ex. Ill):
- •XIX. Suggest Russian equivalents for the word combinations in bold type and explain the use of the synonyms in the following sentences:
- •XX. Read the following sentences paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Suggest their Russian equivalents:
- •XXI. Translate the following situations paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type:.
- •XXII. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •XXIII. Read the text and retell it following the points in the outline given below. Make a list of the words and word combinations in the text which you could use to develop each point:
- •XXIV. Make up situations based on the episode from the autobiography of Charlie Chaplin using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •1. Clauses of Unreal Condition
- •II. Give the principal forms of the following verbs:
- •III. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences. Use them in situations based on the text:
- •IV. Respond to the following questions or statements and correct them if necessary (see Unit One, Ex. IV, p. 22):
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •VI. Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
- •VII. Quote sentences which prove that it is a humorous story.
- •VIII. Make up stories as they might have been told by:
- •XVI. Form as many questions as possible on the topics given below using the pattern to have smth done. Ask your comrades to answer your questions:.
- •XVII. Make up short situations using the following pairs of structural patterns:
- •XVIII. Read (he text and retell it in the form of a story retaining the sentences of unreal condition:
- •XIX. Give English equivalents for the following short sentences (see Vocabulary and Ex. Hi):
- •XX. Suggest Russian equivalents for the words and word combinations in bold type and explain the use of the synonyms in the following sentences:
- •XXI. Read the following sentences paying careful attention to 'he words and word combinations in bold type. Suggest their Russian equivalent:
- •XXII. Translate the following situations. Use the active vocabulary of Unit Two for the words and word combinations in bold type:
- •XXIII. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •XXIV Read the story and retell it following the outline given below. Make a list of the words and word combinations in the text which you could use to develop each point:
- •XXV. Make tip situations based on the story "The-Legend of Sleepy Hollow" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •I. Translate the following sentences and situations:
- •II. Render into English:
- •Vocabulary extension
- •1. Sentences with /Is-clauses
- •2. Had better, would rather
- •3. The Absense of Article with Nouns in Apposition
- •Vocabulary
- •I wonder who he is, what he wants, why he is here, whether he will come again:
- •I. Translate the following sentences from the text:
- •II. Give the principal forms of the following verbs?
- •III. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences and use them in situations based on the text:.
- •IV. Respond to the following questions or statements and correct them if necessary (see Unit One, Ex. IV, p. 22):
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •VI Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
- •VII Make up stories as they might have been told by:
- •VIII Make up dialogues between:
- •XV. Respond to the following statements, questions or requests using had better or would rather. Give two variants wherever possible. Add a sentence or two to make the situation clear:
- •XVI. Give English equivalents for the following short sentences (see Vocabulary and Ex. Ill):
- •XVII. Read the following sentences paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type and suggest their Russian equivalents:
- •XVIII.Analyse the use of the tenses in the following sentences. Translate them .Into Russian:.
- •XIX. Translate the following situations. Use the active vocabulary of Unit Three for the words and word combinations in bold type;
- •XX. Read the story and retell it Following the outline given below. Make a list of the words in the text which you could use to develop each point:.
- •XXI. Make up situations based on the story "The Tattoo" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •XXII. Make up sentences based on the story "The Tattoo" using clauses of unreal condition.
- •I. Use one of the patterns - to do smth, to have smth done, to want/need doing smth - in your answers to the question: What would you do or say or ask if....:
- •II. Translate the following sentences and situations a) into Russian::
- •III. Render into English:
- •Vocabulary extension
- •1. Read the following text and translate the word combinations given below each point of the outline. Retell the text following the points:
- •II. Read the text and retell it in the form of a story. Enlarge on the story making use of the words and word combinations from the previous text "Being hi";
- •III. Read the text and write down the words and word combinations connected will; dentistry giving their Russian equivalents. Retell the text in brief;
- •Vocabulary
- •I. Translate the following phrases and sentences from the text:;
- •II. Give the principal forms of the following verbs:
- •III. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and use them in situations based on the text:;
- •IV. Develop the thought expressed in each sentence to bring out the meaning of the words in bold type:
- •V. Give a neutral variant for each of the following:
- •VI. Answer the following questions:
- •VII. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •VIII. Give English equivalents for the following short sentences (see Vocabulary and Ex. Ill):
- •IX. Read the following sentences paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Suggest their Russian equivalents:
- •X. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •1. Sentences with so fAaf-clauses ... Move his chair so that he can see
- •Vocabulary
- •I. Translate the following phrases and sentences from the text:
- •VI. Find evidence in the texts (in both parts) to support the following statements:
- •VII. Give a detailed description of each of the following episodes in the third person (Texts 1, 2)I
- •VIII. Make up stories as they might have been told by:
- •IX. Make up character-sketches of Mr. Drake and Mrs. Thayer. Make a list of words and word combinations to help you describe the characters.
- •X. Suggest a title for the story and give your reasons.
- •XI. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns?
- •XII. Give English equivalents for the following Russian short sentences (see Vocabulary and Ex. III):
- •XIII. Read the following sentences paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Suggest their Russian equivalents:
- •XIV. Translate the following situations. Use the active vocabulary of Unit Four for the words and word combinations in bold type;
- •XV. Read the story and give full answers to the questions that follow the text. Make a list of the words in the text which you could use in your answers:
- •XVI. Make up situations based on the text "One Coat of White" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •XVII. Read (he story and write out English and American equivalents for the Russian words given after the text:
- •Vocabulary extension
- •I. Read the text paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Give their Russian equivalents. Get ready to discuss the problem:
- •III. Comment on the following statements concerning visiting, tact, manners (use facts from the texts to prove, illustrate or refute them):
- •IV. Topics for discussion:
- •V. Read the text and retell it:
- •VI. Give a talk on the difference between be and ae, Make up a written outline to guide you.
- •VII. Read the poem. Try to trace the similarity in the views of the author of the poem and the main character of the story "Liberty Hall". Could you accept this attitude towards life?
- •I. Interpret the words given in bold type:
- •II. Answer the following questions:
- •III. Point out the main thought expressed by the poet in each of the three stanzas of the poem.
- •IV. Memorize the poem.
- •V.Read extracts from the following poems. Point out their lexical and syntactical peculiarities using the commentary given to the poem "The Song of the Wage-Slave":
- •VI. State what kinds of relations form the basis for each case of metonymy in the text of the poems "To the Men of England", 'The Song of the Shirt" and "Sons of Poverty".
- •Vocabulary
- •II. Give (he principal forms of the following verbs?
- •III. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences and use them in situations based on the text:
- •IV. Answer the following questions.
- •V. Mke up stories as they might have been told by:
- •VI. Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
- •VII. Suggest a title for the text and give reasons for your choice.
- •VIII. Give ail possible Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type;
- •IX. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •X. Give English equivalents for the following short sentences (see Vocabulary and; Ex. Ill):
- •XI. Suggest Russian equivalents for the word combinations in bold type and explain the use of the synonyms in the following sentences:
- •XII. Translate the following situations. Use the active vocabulary of Unit Six for the words and word combinations in bold type:
- •XIII. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •XV. Make up situations based on the story "Patients Needed" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •Vocabulary extension
- •I. Reproduce the following situations based on the works of famous English and American authors. Make sure that you use the active vocabulary:
- •II. Insert prepositions if necessary:
- •III. Read the story and retell it. Then, using it as a basis, think of sentences which will contain clauses of unreal condition:
- •IV. Read the text and translate it into Russian paying careful attention to the use of the modal verbs. Make up another dialogue with the same structural patterns:
- •V. Respond to the following statements expressing probability, doubt, incredulity or near certainty;
- •VI. Change the following sentences using didn't have to or needn't have done to express absence of necessity:
- •VII. Revise the texts included in Units One-Six. Get ready to answer the following questions:
- •VIII. Make up dialogues on the following topics:
- •IX. Translate the following situalions in written form:
- •Vocabulary
- •II. Look up the synonyms to snatch, to seize, to grip (схватить) in an English-English dictionary or a reference book and explain the difference between them.
- •I. Translate the following sentences or parts of sentences from the text:)
- •II. Find English equivalents in the text for the following Russian word combinations, phrases and sentences:
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following word combinations:
- •IV. Make up disjunctive questions or wrong statements covering the contents of the story and ask your comrades to respond to them (see Unit One, Ex. IV, p. 22).
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •VI. Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
- •VII. Make up stories as they might have been told by:
- •VIII. Make up dialogues between:
- •IX. Make up character-sketches of Mrs. Packletide and Miss Mebbin.
- •I. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •II. Make up short situations suggested by the following sentences paying careful attention to the word combinations in bold type:
- •III. Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the parts in bold type:
- •IV. Read the sentences and explain the use of the synonyms to snatch, to seize, to grip:
- •V. Read the story and retell it following the outline given below. Make a list of the words in the text to develop each point:
- •VI. Make up situations based on the story "His Wedded Wife" using the following word combinations:
- •VII. Render into English:
- •VIII. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type:
- •1. Sentences with before-clauses
- •2. Infinitive of Subsequent Action
- •Vocabulary
- •I. Translate the following sentences into Russian paying careful attention to the word combinations in bold type:
- •II. Look up the verb to change in an English-English dictionary and write down its meanings. In which of the meanings is it synonymous to the verb to alter? Explain the difference. Give examples.
- •I. Translate into Russian passages from the text which begin and end as follows:
- •II. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and senr tences:
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following word combinations
- •IV. Make up disjunctive questions or wrong statements covering the contents of the story and ask your comrades to respond to them (see Unit One, Ex. IV, p. 22).
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •III. Make op situations suggested by the following sentences paying careful attention to the word combinations in bold type:
- •IV. Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the parts in bold type:
- •V. Read the following sentences paying carefuJ attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Suggest their Russian equivalents:
- •VI. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •VII. Read the story and retell it following the outline given below. Make a list of the words and word combinations in the text which you could use to develop each point:
- •VIII. Make up sentences based on the story "The Pendulum" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •IX. Render into English:
- •X. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type:
- •1. Absolute Nominative Constructions
- •2. There's not a...
- •3. Participle I as Adverbial Modifier
- •Vocabulary
- •I. Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Give possible variants:
- •II. Look up the meanings of the verbs to divide and to share as used in the following sentences and say how they differ:
- •I. Translate into Russian passages from the text which begin and end as follows;
- •II. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences:
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following words and word combinations:
- •IV. Make up disjunctive questions or wrong statements covering the contents of the story and ask your comrades to respond to them (see Unit One, Ex. IV, p. 22).
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the absolute nominative constructions:
- •III. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •IV. Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the parts in bold type:
- •V. Read the following sentences carefully and suggest Russian equivalents for the word combinations in bold type:
- •VI. Translate the following sentences using the verbs to share and to divide:
- •VII. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •VIII. Read the story and retell it following the outline given below. Make a list of the words in the text which you could use to develop each point:
- •IX. Make up situations based on the story "The Boy Next Door" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •X. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type:
- •I. Translate the following situations paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type:
- •II. Render into English:
- •I. Interpret the following sentences:
- •II. Ahswer the following questions:
- •III. Learn the poem by heart.
- •IV. The following are three translations of John Barleycorn. Which variant do you prefer? Give reasons for your choice:
- •V. Give the metrical scheme used in the following verses. Point out all the violations of the metre;
- •2. Clauses of Real Condition
- •Vocabulary
- •1. Translate the following phrases and sentences from the text:
- •II. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences:
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following words and word combinations:
- •IV. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Make up situations suggested by the following sentences paying careful attention to the word combinations in bold type:
- •III Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the parts in bold type:.
- •IV. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:".
- •V. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type:
- •1. Sentences with while-clauses
- •Vocabulary
- •1. Translate the following sentences from the text:
- •II. Give English equivalents for the following sentences:
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following words and word combinations:
- •IV. Answer the following questions:
- •V. Find evidence in the text to support tfie following statements:
- •VI. Make an outline of the text and retell it following your points.
- •VII. Read the sentences with while-clauses. State the meaning of while and the time relations of the actions:
- •VIII. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •IX. Make up short situations using the following gerundial phrases?
- •XI. Make up situations suggested by the following sentences paying careful attention to the word combinations in bold type:
- •XII. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type:
- •XIII. Render into English:
- •XIV. Read the following excerpt and retell it in brief:
- •I. Translate into Russian the following sentences and passages from the text which begin and end as follows:
- •II. Find English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences;
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following word combinations!
- •IV. Answer the following questions:
- •IX. Read the following sentences and commeqf on the character of the semantic relations between the components of the verb-postpositive phrases in bold type. Give their Russian equivalents:
- •X. Translate the Following sentences paying careful attention to the parts in bold type:
- •XI. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equisralents for the verb-postpositive phrases in bold type:
- •XIV. Read the following excerpts and retell them in brief:
- •1. Translate the following sentences and situations:
- •III. Read the end of the story and retell it using the following verb-postpositive phrases wherever possible. Reread the whole story and discuss the title:
- •I. Reproduce the following situations. Make sure that you use the active vocabulary:
- •II. Fill in prepositions and postpositives:
- •III. Point out the structural patterns and explain their use. Translate the sentences into Russian:
- •IV. Revise the texts included in Units Seven-Thirteen. Get ready to answer the following questions:
- •VI. Choose any 10 word combinations out of the following list and "rite sentences (or short situations) in Russian based on the story "The Boatswain's Mate". Discuss the sentences in class:
- •VII. Make up dialogues on the following topics:
- •VIII. Translate the following situations in written form:
- •I. Supply a title to the story and give reasons for your choice.
- •II. Pick out sentences in the story illustrating the various types of if-clauses.
- •III. Make up 5 Russian sentences with clauses of unreal condition based on the story. Ask your comrades to translate them into English.
- •I. What helps you guess the author of the passage? What is the author's name?
- •II. How do you know that it is a passage from a detective story?
- •III. Have you read any short stories by the author? Tell one of them.
- •I. What do we learn from the extract about the author's way of reading? What did he gain from such reading?
- •II. Why did he call himself a bad reader?
- •I. What book does the passage come from?
- •II. What do you think of the man? What made him such an extraordinary person? Why did he attract other people?
- •I. What is the title of the story? Who is its author?
- •Il. What state do you think Johnsy was in? Why did she watch the dry leaves falling?
- •III. What happened later?
- •I. What book does the extract come from? Comment on the language.
- •II.How did the man happen to find himself in the gloomy passages alone and half-dressed?
- •III. Write a simplified version of the passage using your active whenever possible.
- •I. Pick out all the proverbs in the story and give their Russian equivalents.
- •II. Write an end to the story using some of the following proverbs;
- •I. What story does the passage fit into?
- •II. What do you think the cause of Mr. Jones's illness was?
- •I. How does (he passage fit info the story "One Coat of White"?
- •II. Bring out the meaning of "People don’t often look their business". Do you agree to the statement? Give examples to justify jour point of view.
- •I. How does the author characterize a modern disease the name of which is travel? Are you taken with a similar disease when your summer or winter vacations are coming?
- •II. What aim do you set yourself when you travel or go hiking?
- •III. What thoughts in the extract strike you as most humorous?
- •I. What efforts at self-improvement have you ever made? Were they successful?
- •II. Write a short story about one of your efforts at self-improvement and what came of it.
- •III. Pick out words and word combinations in the story which you think are used by the author to achieve a humorous effect.
- •I. Make up a few questions on the passage and ask your comrades to answer them.
- •II. Think of a number of statements concerning events in the text and ask your comrades to find evidence in the text to support them.
- •I. What story is the passage taken from? How does it fit into it?
- •II. What did the girl look like as she hurried to the painter's studio? What do you know about her from the rest of the story?
- •III. What city is described in the passage? What similes help you guess? What do you know about the city?
- •I. Read and translate the text.
- •II. Give English equivalents for the following Russian word combinations and phrases:
- •III. Answer the following questions. Make use of the word combinations listed in brackets:
- •IV. Translate the following sentences using words and word combinations from the text:
- •V. Make a written translation of the following passages:
- •VI. Reproduce the following passages:
- •VII. Speak on the Soviet Union's achievements in different spheres of life. Make use of the text and the additional passages given in Exercises V, VI.
V. Read the following sentences carefully and suggest Russian equivalents for the word combinations in bold type:
1. I inquired a few particulars and returned to the hotel full of enthusiasm. Unfortunately, I found it hard to make Poirot share my feelings. 2. Rosa had been very fond of Marcia when they had been at school together in Switzerland, and later when they had shared a flat in London. 3. "I am afraid 1 didn't share your mother's taste in clothes. I would give them to her daily maid," said Aunt Agatha. 4. "Well, she's an invalid." We were both silent after that. I glanced sideways at him and I knew he shared my mood. 5. "I share your opinion of Mrs. Carpenter, my dear," said Mr. Morton. 6. He decided that he must divide his objections into five or six short pleasant conversations. 7. He began to spend more and more time with Dedie who shared his love for nature and the outdoors. 8. I believed he was on the verge of confiding some secret which he longed to share with me and could not bring himself to do so. 9. I had a conviction that he, like my father, was in need of comfort and would welcome my desire to share whatever it was that was troubling him. 10. There were only three chairs behind the railing which divided the visitors from the desk of Nickolas's secretary. 11. In the cafe where I usually had lunch there were a lot of people. However, I was lucky and shared a table with an attractive young lady. 12. I could find no good excuse for refusing to go. Sarah was delighted at the prospect, but I did not share her eagerness.
VI. Translate the following sentences using the verbs to share and to divide:
1. Она всегда была готова разделить со мной тревоги и волнения. 2. Деньги разделили на две равные части. 3. Он охотно делился своими знаниями и опытом со своими товарищами. 4. Можно мне сесть за ваш стол? 5. Разделите это число на пять. Сколько будет? 6. Он поделился своим обедом со мной. 7. В комнате была стеклянная перегородка, которая делила комнату на две части. 8. Вы узнаете меня? Мы жили в одном номере в гостинице "Садко" в прошлом году. 9. Я не разделяю вашего мнения по этому вопросу. 10. У нее было такое чувство, что ему очень хотелось поделиться с ней своим секретом.
VII. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
a) without doing; might have done; needn't be; must have done; I should/would say (have said)
b) there's not a ...; to seem to have done; I'm no good at (doing) smth
213
VIII. Read the story and retell it following the outline given below. Make a list of the words in the text which you could use to develop each point:
THE BOY NEXT DOOR
After L. Baker
Sladen Morris is the boy next door. The girls all think he is fascinating now that he's touched six feet on the wall where his mother had been marking his height since he was two. As for me, I would never go weak-kneed over Sladen.
However, because I'd known him so long, I had some feeling of responsibility toward him, the same as I do toward Jimmy, my Httle brother. That's all it was - neighbourly charity - when I tried to save Sladen from Merry Ann Milburn.
Merry Ann. But I'll bet she was christened Mary, spelled in the plain way. She came to Springdale to visit the Henry Milburns, who are her uncle and aunt.
Mrs. Milburn brought her over for tea one day. She did look wonderful. She's the unfreckled blonde type, with big blue eyes, and she had on one of those "simple" dresses that are just right - the kind I always intened to buy and then discover they cost thirty-nine fifty when I've got only nineteen dollars. Well, while Mrs. Milburn and my Mother were in the room, that girl was "lovely" - you know, positively poisonous. She said high-minded things, designed to make her appear like the model of the younger generation.
As soon as Mrs. Milburn and Mother had gone, Merry Ann changed, as I knew perfectly well she would. "What does one do for amusement in this dull town?" was the first thing she said. "So far from New York."
"Oh," I said, "there are dances at the Country Club every Saturday and in between there's tennis and swimming and -"
She interrupted me. "Are there any interesting men?"
Well, I'd never thought of them as "interesting" before, or .as "menv either for that matter, but I began naming over all the boys in town. I didn't name Sladen because I'd already decided, as a friendly gesture, to save him from this dose of poison.
At that moment Merry Ann looked out of the window, just as Sladen leaped over the hedge - coming over to get me for a game of tennis probably, as he usually does afternoons.
"Which one is that?" Merry Ann asked.
"Oh - that!" I said. "I guess I forgot him. That's Sladen Morris, the boy next door."
"Oh, you forgot him, did you?" said Merry Ann. "Well, I wouldn't forget that one."
Sladen walked right in without knocking, which is an example of his bad manners. For a moment he stood amazed.
"Ah, ha," he said. "Where did you come from?"
"From New York -" :
"Do you play tennis? How about a game now?" Sladen asked, ignoring me like the Black Plague.
214
"I'd love it - I'm practically dying of boredom - but I'll have to go home and change first."
"I'll run you over in Sciatica," Sladen offered. Sciatica is Sladen's car. It's enamelled a brilliant red - a job I helped him with and for which I got nothing but paint under my finger nails;
"Good-bye, Betsy," Merry Ann said. "Do tell your mother how much I enjoyed the lovely afternoon."
Well, the result was that all of a sudden I felt temperamental and I ran upstairs and I flung myself on my bed and I cried. Mother has a regular hunting dog's nose for tears and pretty soon I heard her knock at the door.
"Betsy, dear," she said. "May I come in?"
"Well, yes," I answered, "but I've got a terrible headache."
"Now, I've being thinking," Mother began. "Perhaps you ought to give a party."
For a whole year, I'd been begging to give a party and Mother usually had answered "too expensive", and "wait until you are seventeen" and a dozen other excuses and here shs was suggesting a party herself.
Well, after that everywhere I went there was Merry Ann leading Sladen Morris around like a pet dog. Whereas I had always played with Sladen afternoons, now I picked up a game with whoever was handy and out of the corner of my eye I watched him playing with Merry Ann. She was terrible. She held her racket (when it wasn't in play) as if it were a fan. She wore those little tennis dresses like the ones you see pictures of on movie actresses and, I admit with my usual broad-mindedness, she looked pretty, even when she held her racket as if it were a butterfly net.
And about the party. Mother, once she'd decided I should.involve myself in what I knew perfectly well would be a mistake with Merry Ann around, would not drop the subject. So I heavy-heartedly made lists and invited all the "nice young people" to our house for dinner before the regular Country Club dance.
They all accepted - six boys, eager to have a chance at Merry Ann; and five girls, including me, who came because they wouldn't admit publicly that they were scared of the Milburn menace.
Mother bought me a new dress with yards and yards of white net in the skirt and although it had some "youthful" blue bows on the shoulders, it was not the simple girlish dress that my mother usually selects, therefore I faced the horror of the evening with more bravery than I expected. But that was before they arrived. When they.came, Merry Ann clinging to Sladen's arm, I felt inferior immediately. My dress looked like nothing compared with the whirl of scarlet chiffon that hung on Merry Ann's shoulder by a couple of threads.
Merry Ann did all the conversing and she talked only with the boys - turning her blue eyes limpidly on first one and then, another.
215
"What's the Country Club like?" she asked. "I usually go dancing at the Stork Club," she added, "so I don't know much about smalltown clubs."
Now I know very well that Merry Ann is a boarding student at St. Catherine's Academy and I know from other such victims that anyone who gets pushed there never sees a neon light except from the window. I bet she's never been to the Stork Club unless, like me, her uncle or some other elderly kind relation took her there for a lemonade on a Saturday afternoon. But I did not say anything.
So everyone wen', off to the Country Club feeling slightly ashamed that he was f)rced to spend the time at such a dull place.
Well, people danced with me - that's the only compensation for being hostess. Finally almost everyone drifted outside and sat around the swimming pool.
Dennis Brown and I walked out and paraded ourselves in front of their chairs. It was just in front of Merry Ann that it happened. I don't say sha tripped me, although it's hard to find a kinder word. Her foot was in my path, anyway - and it took a good stretch to get in there. I fell forward with a terrific splash. As I went down, I heard Merry Ann's laughter. ... I didn't come up to face the amused crowd, I just swam under water and headed for the iron ladder on the other side of the pool. From there I planned a quick run to the dressing-room and then home.
My foot felt the ladder and I pulled myself upward and then I discovered that my dress was caught! I pulled, and my lungs felt as if they'd burst.
The next thing I knew I was lying on my stomach on the concrete runway and Sladen was pumping my lungs out. I was too uncomfortable to pay much attention to the fact that all that was left of my new dress was the upper part. As my lungs began to function again, I took a little more interest in the whole scene. Apparently several of the boys had offered themselves as hero of the hour, for not only Sladen's best suit was dripping from his recent dive, but also Dennis's and Bill's and Carter's.
"I'm sorry about this," I finally managed to say. "And it was awfully clumsy of me ..."
"You weren't clumsy, but don't talk ..." Sladen ordered fiercely.
"Yes, for goodness' sake, keep quiet," Merry Ann added. "Everyone has been caused enough trouble. What was the idea of hiding in the bottom of the pool anyway?"
And then Sladen Morris said the most divine unmanly thing that I shall bless him for until his dying day. "Pop her one, Janet!" he said. "I'm a gentleman and, besides, I'm busy."
"Oh - you awful people!" Merry Ann screamed. "I'm leaving this dreadful place!"
"You boys that are dry can toss a coin," Sladen said. "Whoever loses can drive her home. Or may be Benny and Joe better both go, in case she stabs the driver."
216
Somehow the way Sladen said it made me feel warm and comfortable, which was silly, for there was nothing tender about the words.
All of us, the wet and the dry, crawled into the cars. Sladen wrapped a blanket round me and drove me home in Sciatica.
"Listen, kid," he said on the way. "I see that I've got to stick a little closer to you - you just aren't responsible. How about not leaving your front porch from now on unless I'm along?"
"It's queer how you sometimes overlook what's right under your nose," Sladen continued, very serious. "Why, Betsy, it's just occurred to me that you are the prettiest girl I know and I've lived next door to you for sixteen years."
He leaned over and kissed me. It was just on the cheek and rather damp since we'd both been swimming so recently, but for some reason it was very romantic and not a bit neighbourly, and all of a sudden I felt beautiful and fascinating. And I gazed on Sladen Morris with new eyes, I guess, because he suddenly didn't look in the least like the boy next door.
Outline
1. Betsy makes up her mind to save Sladen Morris from Merry Ann.
2. Betsy fails to protect Sladen Morris from Merry Ann.
3. Betsy's mother suggests a party, and though Betsy is not happy about it with Merry Ann around, she agrees.
4. Merry Ann turns up her nose at everything at the party and spoils everyone's mood.
5. Betsy falls into the swimming-pool to the extreme delight of Merry Ann.
6. Betsy is saved and gets her revenge.
7. Sladen Morris finds he cares for Betsy and offers the girl his protection.