Language Activities

Comprehension

1. What is the setting of the story?

2. What is the age of Seymour and Muriel?

3. How did Muriel spend time while waiting for the operator to get her call through?

4. Who did she talk on the phone to?

5. Why was Muriel’s mother worried about her? What did they talk about?

6. Who is Sybil Carpenter? How old is she?

7. Where did the conversation between Sybil and Seymour take place? What did they talk about?

8. Where did Seymour go to after having spent time on the beach?

9. What happened in the elevator?

10. What did Seymour do when he reached his room at the hotel?

Vocabulary

Word List

to get one’s (a) call through

to reach puberty

to replace the cap on a bottle

to make room for

to be worried about smb.

to yell at smb.

to make difference

in the first place

to lose control of oneself

in years

to join smb. for smth.

to be related to smb.

to go into detail(s)

to stop short

to let go of smth./smb.

in sight

to undo the belt / button / lace

to make smth. clear

to keep one’s eyes open for

1. Reproduce the passages from the text in which the vocabulary is used.

2. Paraphrase the following using the vocabulary:

1. She looked about but the children were nowhere to be seen.

2. Whatever happens you mustn’t give way to your anger.

3. Can someone help me to unfasten my seat belt?

4. James took the book off the little table to clear some space for the television.

5. Firstly, I don’t want to go, and secondly, I can’t afford to.

6. Will you have a drink with me?

7. Well, I won’t tell you all the details of how we’ve managed to find a suitable house.

8. Don’t hold my hand, you’re hurting me.

9. Watch out carefully for signposts to Yorkshire.

3. Translate the following using the vocabulary:

1. Я еле-еле тебе дозвонился.

2. Не забудь закрыть пузырёк, жидкость быстро испаряется.

3. Люси потеряла контроль над собой и ударила Джека по лицу.

4. Не ори на меня, я тебя хорошо слышу.

5. Это мой первый отпуск за многие годы, и я не позволю тебе его испортить.

6. Я не знаю, приходятся ли Фаулеры родственниками моей тетке, какая разница!

7. Ты вполне ясно выразил свою позицию по данному вопросу.

4. Paraphrase or explain the following:

1. “Muriel, don't be fresh, please…”

2. “Terrible. But out of this world…”

3. “Mother,” said the girl, “you talk about him as though he were a raving maniac –”

4. She walked for about a quarter of a mile and then suddenly broke into an oblique run up the soft part of the beach.

5. “But don't be a God-damned sneak about it.”

5. Translate the following into Russian:

1. “Did he say he thought there was a chance he might get – you know – funny or anything?”

2. “Yes, Mother,” said the girl, putting her weight on her right leg.

3. She was wearing a canary-yellow two-piece bathing suit, one piece of which she would not actually be needing for another nine or ten years.

4. He turned over on his stomach, letting a sausaged towel fall away from his eyes, and squinted up at Sybil.

5. He folded the robe, first lengthwise, then in thirds. He unrolled the towel he had used over his eyes, spread it out on the sand, and then laid the folded robe on top of it. He bent over, picked up the float, and secured it under his right arm.

6. The young man put on his robe, closed the lapels tight, and jammed his towel into his pocket. He picked up the slimy wet, cumbersome float and put it under his arm. He plodded alone through the soft, hot sand toward the hotel.