Text c. Physical description

Ex. 1. Read the texts below.

1. He saw a tall, handsome woman dressed with careful and expensive informality in a black cashmere sweater with a silk scarf at the throat and fawn trousers... It was a distinguished face with deep-set eyes beneath straight brows, a well-shaped, rather secretive mouth and strong, graying hair swept upwards and curled into a chignon.

Note: chignon — a type of hairstyle popular with older women. The hair is twisted into a kind of knot at the back of the head.

2. She wore a pale blue sweater and a gray flannel skirt, schoolgirl's clothes, which made her seem younger than her age. She was about twenty-five. Her face was framed by thick hair, in a colour midway between blonde and brown, and held back by a black velvet band. The skin was fine and she had large, rather beautiful dark blue eyes, with long colourless lashes.

3. Temple was a small stocky man in his early forties. His jaw line had long ago disappeared into one of his chins. His pepper and salt hair was cut short with a parting in the middle and he had a dark bushy drooping moustache that grew well over his top lip. His nose was small, almost snub, and his eyes were pale.

Note: pepper and salt hair — hair which has both black and gray mixed in it.

Ex. 2. Write a paragraph giving a detailed description of a friend, a relative or a film or TV star.

Text d. Personality

Ex. 1. Read and translate the text.

Here is a newspaper article: “Sports personality of the year.”

I would like to name Gary Linker as Sports Personality of the Year. I think he is not only a good footballer, he is also a very nice person and very different from other football stars. First of all, in spite of being intelligent, talented and good-looking, he is actually very modest. He never boasts about what he’s done or pretends to be somebody he isn’t. Even though he obviously earns a lot of money and lives in a nice house in London, he doesn’t throw his money around like others do.

Secondly, he is much more open-minded than other football stars. Many footballers work and live abroad but not many try to become part of the culture of the country. When Linker lived in Barcelona, he made Spanish friends, lived a Spanish way of life and made a point of learning to speak Spanish.

Another thing that makes him different from other footballers is his sense of fair play on the field. Since he started his career, he has never been reported in the newspapers for bad behavior and he has never been sent off for fouling or swearing.

Finally, you get the impression that Linker is a human being with human emotions like anybody else. When his baby developed a life-threatening illness, he and his wife went through a very difficult time. He showed that he is not only capable of strong emotion; he is also prepared to show it in public.

For all these reasons, I think he deserves the title of “Sports Personality of the Year”.

Ex. 2. Answer the following questions.

1. 1. What aspects of Gary Linker’s personality are mentioned?

2. What details, if any, do you learn about: his football career; his family; his lifestyle?

3. What are the reasons to consider Gary Linker to be the personality of the year?

4. Would you like to become the personality of the year?

5. Is it very responsible to be a personality of the year?

Ex. 3. Write in 250 words about the person who you think deserves the title of "Personality of the Year". He/she can be from the world of politics, entertainment, sport, the arts or business — or may be somebody completely unknown.