Vocabulary notes

1. to get acquainted [ə`kweintid] with smb – познакомиться с кем-либо

(to make smb acquaintance)

2. to introduce [intrə`dju:s] smb to smb – представить кого-либо

3. How do you do? – Здравствуйте.

4. Allow me to introduce … to you – Разрешите познакомить Вас с …

5. What do you do? Чем вы занимаетесь? (Как

зарабатываете на жизнь?)

Family Relationships

(dialogues)

1. Nadya answers the door and shows in her friend, Ann.

N: Ann, meet the aunts and uncles, grannies and grandpas, the nephews and nieces,

and all the rest.

A: Pleased to meet you all, I’m sure. My, what a big family you are!

N: This is only the immediate family. You’re the only outsider here now. You will

sit next to the oldest member of family present – my great-grandfather.

Grandpa, dear, I’m going to put my friend in this seat near you.

GR.-GRANDF: The pleasure is all mine. Please sit down, my dear. Make yourself

at home. So, Nadya must give me away at once and tell my age.

A: You don’t look your age at all. So don’t mind her.

GR.-GRANDF: A person is as old as he feels, they say. Still…

A: Nadya is your great-grand-daughter, isn’t she? She’s the exact image of you

(there’s a strong family resemblance between you) – of course, taking the

difference in age into consideration.

GR.-GRANDF: Does she really look like me so much? I’m flattered. She’s a

good-looking girl, isn’t she?

A: How wonderful it must be for you to look round the table and see four

generations of your descendants!

GR.-GRANDF: We are a long lived family. Only your dear granny died young.

N: (to A) She was 50 when she died.

A: Your family, it seems to me, are very much attached to each other.

N: Well, more or less, I suppose.

2. Brigitte Bardor. An Impromptu (экспромт) Marriage

A: I looked through an English newspaper and came across a short article titled

“Bardor admits impromptu marriage”.

B: Is it about the famous French actress who starred in so many films in the

60’s and 70’s?

A: Yes, she is not in films any more. She is on the bad side of her fifties and she

leads a secluded life rarely appearing in public.

B: How did she meet her present husband, then?

A: They met at a party, they say.

B: Does it say there that they decided to marry? Love at first sight?

A: Not quite so. The urge to get married came upon them when they took their trip

to Norway, where Brigitte’s son lives.

B: They both had to get divorced from their previous marriages, I suppose.

A: No, Brigitte had been divorced for 23 years. It was her fourth marriage,

by the way.

B: Which marriage is her son by?

A: Brigitte’s son Nicolas was born during her second marriage. His father was

an actor, too.

B: What does her present husband do?

A: He is a businessman, 7 years her junior.

B: Was it a marvelous wedding ceremony in a church?

A: Nothing of the kind. This is how Brigitte describes it, “We came upon a chapel

I lost in the romantic countryside. It was raining hard. We went through the

doors of the chapel. And there, suddenly, we decided to get married”.

B: But the pastor could give them his blessing only in the presence of witnesses.

A: The taxi driver and the church caretaker served as witnesses.