4. Recount the situations from the chapters under discussion in which the active vocabulary is employed.
5. Paraphrase or explain:
-
He's made a science of popularity.
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Of course he will get on. He knows all the official ropes.
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When I'm there you are acting both of you, and acting damned badly, by George. You'd neither of you get thirty bob a week in a touring company if that's the best you can do.
6. Say under what circumstances and why this happened:
-
Kitty passed through the country with unseeing eyes.
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...I've ordered your dinner and I've invited myself.
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...Kitty found herself much alone.
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...she brought the conversation round to Charlie.
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...they ate salad every night.
-
He is
doctoring the sick, clearing the city up, trying to get the
drinking water pure. -
She could not hold back the sob that choked her.
III. Topics for discussion
-
Kitty's state of mind on the way to their destination.
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Gather as much information as possible about the epidemic and the state of things in Mei-tan-fu.
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Speak about Waddington. Dwell on the way he treated life, people at large and the situation in Mei-tan-fu.
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Kitty's mode of life and state of mind in the new place. Compare them with Walter's.
-
Discuss the change in Kitty's attitude to Townsend. Speak about Kitty's talk with Waddington about Townsend, Waddington's opinion of him. Point out his utterances that Kitty must have been hurt by.
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Walter's work and popularity in Mei-tan-fu.
IV. Questions
1. On the way to Mei-tan-fu Kitty asked herself questions. Try and answer them from your own point of view.
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...she had never known that one could suffer so much; and she asked herself desperately what she had done to deserve it.
-
Did you cease to love a person because you had been treated cruelly?
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Was it possible that his love had left him (Walter) entirely? Was it possible that he really designed her death?
2. Was Kitty cowardly by nature? How did Kitty feel about the epidemic and her role in Mei-tan-fu?
3. Do you think Waddington guessed why Kitty had brought Townsend as the subject of their talk?
4. Who had been the first to use the word "second-rate" in reference to Kitty? Under what circumstances?
5. Why had Walter been unpopular in Hong Kong? Why was it different in Mei-tan-fu?
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Did Kitty know much about Walter's work?
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Do you regard Walter as a hero?
Assignment 5 Chapters XXXIX-xlix
I active vocabulary
Indiscreet
Grave
Appraisal
To form an opinion of
To come to smb’s rescue
Amiable
Obedience
Austere
Worthlessness
To be blind to smb’s merit
To harbor malice
Mortify
To ascribe some qualities to smb
To commit adultery
To live on make-believe
II exercises
1. Give definitions using an English-English dictionary; point out the derivatives of the words in bold type:
indiscreet; grave; appraisal; amiable; obedience; austere; worthlessness; to harbour malice; to mortify; to live on make-believe