1. Read the text. Underline the words describing person’s character. Mind their meaning. The Characters

Celia is nineteen. She is the only daughter of Robert and Gladys Thompson. She is a slim and attractive girl. She has long fair hair, which she brushes vigorously every night before going to bed. She likes meeting people, reading and being independent. She has a keen sense of humour and enjoys life very much.

Gladys is Celia's mother. She is in her middle forties. When she was Celia's age she married a man called Thompson and she has disagreed with him in most things ever since. Secretly, however, she is devoted to him. Secretly, too, she thinks she looks almost as young as her daughter, and with her greater experience.

Robert is ten years older than Gladys. He works for an insurance company. The company office is near the road where he lives. When he was a boy at school he was a very promising athlete. He was particularly good at rowing and golf. Now he takes very little exercise and, as a result of this, is putting on weight. His hobbies are gardening, watching television and disagreeing with Gladys.

Adrian at twenty-four already has a good job in London with a firm of solicitors. The directors of the firm think highly of him. He is six feet tall and dark haired and he always looks well-dressed and prosperous. His parents, who were killed in a car accident, left him a small house in Cambridge, which he visits at the weekends. He is passionately interested in sport, especially tennis, which he watches every year at Wimbledon. He is also interested in becoming Robert Thompson's son-in-law.

Cliff is lazy, good-looking, intelligent and usually rather scruffy. He doesn't always shave in the morning, and in Robert Thompson's opinion always needs a haircut. Sometimes Cliff thinks he will become a pop-star; at other times, a lecturer in sociology, But he finds doing noth­ing very enjoyable,

Joseph is Cliff's landlord, among other things, but no one knows exactly what he does. He has one or two strange habits and this makes him a bit of a mystery man.

"Stephanie runs a small boutique in London. She knows about the' latest fashions in clothes. She attends Ascot and Henley and other fashionable events. She's lucky, because she likes travelling and her work often lakes her abroad. The astrologist she once consulted told her that she would marry a tall, dark man.

2. Read the text. Underline the words describing person’s behaviour and character. Mind the meaning of the words in bold. Make up sentences using the phrases given below the text.

Discussing Behaviour and Character

I

“Have you read the story Art for Heart’s sake? About a certain Ellsworth? A stubborn old man who had to be kept from buying things but who deceived everybody in the end?”

“Now you’ve mentioned it I remember… it’s a funny story. Who’s it is it by?”

“I don’t remember. I’ve a bad memory for names. You don’t know it either, do you?”

“No idea”

“Look it up when we come home or remind me to do it.”

“All right. But back to Ellsworth… you know I like the old man. What a joke he played on everybody!”

“I like him too.”

“What did you like about him?”

“The way he made a fool of everybody.”

“The way you put it up!”

“What’s wrong about my putting it like that?”

“You should have said ‘He outwitted everybody’.”

“It makes no difference. The matter is that he was clever and had a sense of humuor though I agree that he was not very easy to deal with. ”

“No he wasn’t. There is no denying it. And Doctor Caswell knew it. Poor doctor! The way the old man treated him! He didn’t respect him and ignored his advice.”

“I don’t agree with you here. I can’t say that the old man treated Doctor badly or didn’t respect him. Only it sees to me that Doctor Caswell overestimated his abilities. Perhaps he was a good doctor, competent and efficient, but Ellsworth wasn’t an ordinary case.”

“So what? I mean to say that the old man wasn’t so naïve and simple as it seemed to Doctor Caswell.”

“Still I’m sorry for Doctor Caswell. Though it wasn’t easy to deal with Ellsworth, the doctor was always calm and polite and obliging, too. He found a student who could teach Ellsworth drawing. ”

“Yes of course. That reminds me… I have got to be at the exhibition of Japanese art at three. I must be going, otherwise I’ll be late.”

“That’s all right. See you.”

“Bye-bye”

II

“What do you think of your new colleague? What kind of person is he?”

“The right man for the job, experienced and pleasant to deal with.”

III

“Why wouldn’t you like to work with young Donaldson?”

“He’s incompetent and inefficient. Has no experience at all. He’ll do everything in the wrong way. Besides he’s too fussy.”

“In that case I’ll put somebody else on the job”

IV

“You’ll be working with old Brown. He’ll help you with job”

“That makes all the difference. Unlike my assistant he is competent and efficient. ”

V

“Peter is late.”

“It’s like him. He always keeps people waiting.”

VI

“Barbara is late.”

“It’s unlike her. She’s always punctual.”

VII

“You’ve forgotten the name of the manager again.”

“I’m afraid I have”

“Well? It’s like you. You’ve always been absent-minded and forgetful. Didn’t I tell you it’s bad manners not to know the names of the people you’ve got to deal with?”

VIII

“Every nation has a reputation of some kind. For instance everybody believes that the French are light-minded and the Germans are punctual.”

“What kind of people are the English?”

“They say that unlike the Americans, the English are cold, reserved and conservative.”

“That isn’t always true.”

“Of course not. But we are talking about the reputation they have”