Assignment #9

CHAPTER VIII

1. Study the following vocabulary and reproduce the situations from the text:

to clutch at smth 155; redolent of smth. 155/158; to make the most of somebody’s time 156; to take smb. under false pretenses 156; to commit oneself to smth 156; grail 156; to throw smb over 157; to keep dates with smb 158; to be in cahoots with 162; forlorn hope 167; holocaust 170

2. Learn the pronunciation of the following words:

dejection; chiffon; holocaust; quotation; settee; ancestral; unscrupulously; vibrant; extravaganza; malice; garrulous; dew; swivel; protégé

3. Find in the text synonyms to the following words:

class/division of society 156; unexpectedly 157; fraud/impostor 159; tactless/awkward 164; unwell/ill 166

4. Situations of encouragement

5. Comment on the following sentences:

1. “… he was almost sure that Wilson had no friend: there was not enough of him for his wife” p. 167

2. “… he had lost the old warm world, paid a high price for living too long with a single dream” p. 169

6. Prepare the translation of the passage on p. 158-159 from “Through the twilight universe … “ up to “… was still at Oxford”.

7. Topics for discussion:

1. Nick did not want to leave Gatsby alone in the morning. Why? What did he feel?

2. Why could not Nick talk to Jordan?

3. How do you account for inverted commas in the word nice on p. 155 in She was the first ‘nice’ girl he had ever known?

4. Would Gatsby be happy if he were not killed?

Assignment #10

CHAPTER IX

1. Study the pronunciation of the following words:

adventitious; indecipherable; prairie; deficiency; aesthetic; circumstantial; superfluous; defiance; pasquinade; involuntarily; commensurate

2. Explain the meaning of the words. Use them in the situations from the text:

to set the key for smth. 171; to be into mischief 172; to grow upon smb. 172; to urge smb. to do smth. 173; a token of smth. 173; to get mixed in smth. 174/180; to be knocked down and out 174; to defer arrangements 176; to sneer 177; in vain 178; to seem reluctant to do smth. 181; to overtake smb. 186; to retreat back into smth. 188

3. Give English equivalents from the text of the following Russian phrases:

1. Уилсона определили как человека, поменявшегося от горя 172

2. У него не было ни гроша в кармане 179

3. Я вытащил его из грязи, из ничтожества 179

4. Он бы далеко пошел 182

5. Стоило ей только кивнуть 186

6. Сейчас мне уже наплевать 186

7. Он вам пускал пыль в глаза 187

4. Situations of encouragement

5. Comment on the following sentences:

1. “Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead” p. 180

2. “I’m thirty,” I said. “I’m five years too old to lie to myself and call it honour” p. 186

3. “… that huge incoherent failure of a house” p. 188

6. Prepare a written translation of a passage on p. 184 from “That’s my middle west ...” to ”… and no one cares”.

7. Topics for discussion:

1. Why almost nobody showed up for Gatsby’s funeral? What do you think of the reasons Klipspringer, Wolfshiem and others gave not to come?

2. How does the schedule for September 12, 1906 characterize Gatsby?

3. Jordan Baker. Did you manage to get her personality?

4. How do you account for the visions Nick was haunted by? (p. 185)

5. Is Tom directly guilty of Gatsby’s death? Why do you think Nick shook hands with Tom after all?

6. On having been published in 1934 the book didn’t sell well. Fitzgerald attributed it to the ‘weak’ title. Would you agree that “Great Gatsby” leads to the commercial failure of the novel?

For the final class, please, submit an essay to the topic “What is great in Great Gatsby?”