5.4. Writing

1. Write a descriptive assay about a person you admire or a suggested personality, explaining why you admire him/her (in about 250 words). Follow the guidelines for descriptive essays in your textbooks.

2. Write an essay on the quotation ‘Selfishness and kindness, courage, laziness, idealism and sensuality, vanity, shyness, disinterestedness, nervousness, obstinacy and diffidence, they can all exist in a single person and form a plausible harmony’. (W.S. Maugham)

3. Write an essay in 200-250 words on the topic ‘What kinds of cultural misunderstanding could arise due to national differences’/

5.5. Listening and speaking

Ex. 1. Listen to Part A of the call and decide if these statements are True or False.

THE RADIO PHONE-IN

1.Mark is unemployed.

2. Mark left school a year ago.

3. Mark is no longer the same boy.

4. Rachel mentions three changes of character.

5.Rachel doesn’t like his friends.

6,Rachel knows that Mark is taking drugs.

7.A television has disappeared from the home.

8. Mark likes listening to music.

9.Money isn’t safe in the home.

10.Mark’s father is away from home a lot.

Ex. 2. Choose one of the suggested topics and comment on it or discuss it with your partner.

1.Do you know the origin of the word “humour”? How does it relate to the word ‘temperament’?

2.Are eccentrics well-adjusted in life or feel ill at ease? Discuss advantages and disadvantages of eccentricity.

3. What feelings do you experience or see others expressing at home, at the university, in the streets? Do any of these feelings worry you? How do you deal with them?

4. Do you agree that it is superhuman to be always bright and happy, and never to feel depression, helplessness, or sadness.

5. A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.

6. Do you agree with those who insist that happiness is more an attitude to life than the state of things.

7. Men are traditionally portrayed as the hunters and warriors and women as the home-makers and child-carers. Does this mean that men are automatically more aggressive, with a greater capacity for violence? Are women automatically gentler and more supportive?

SELF-ASSESSMENT TEST

Ex. 1. Listen to the text and write if the following statements (1-9) are True or False according to the text.

A VISIONS OF THE FUTURE

1. Nostradamus worked as a doctor after leaving university.

2. Nostradamus’ first wife was killed by the Black Death.

3. Nostradamus began writing his prophecies before his second marriage.

4. The prophecies predicted what would happen over the next ten centuries.

5. Nostradamus’ divining technique was based on ancient methods.

6. Few people were convinced by Nostradamus during his lifetime.

7. Nostradamus is believed by some people to have predicted the rise of Hitler.

8. One of the quatrains pinpoints Napoleon’s birthplace.

9. One quatrain is believed to warn of a nuclear war around the year 2000.

Ex. 2. Match the following words with appropriate definitions (1 – 16) .

1. affection a. willing to believe anything or anyone

2. anger-prone b. a single man who is unlikely to marry

3. as fit as a fiddle c. too important to be changed or arg

4. benevolent d. not following only one style but using a

wide range

5. bind with bands of steel e. a warm gentle feeling of caring for sb.

6. confirmed bachelor f. the fear of and desire to avoid sth.

unpleasant

7. cowardice g. unable to express feelings in a natural way

8. a dog in the manger h. showing a desire to be kind, generous

9. an eccentric i. a person more interested in his own

thoughts

10. extravagant j. a person who stops being a friend when

one is in trouble

11. a fair-weather friend k. to treat sb. in a strict manner

12. gullible l. a person who prevents others from

enjoying sth. that is useless to him

13. hobby-horse m. likely to get angry, to suffer from,

to do sth.

14. introvert n. in very good physical condition

15. inhibited o. willing to use more of sth. than it is

necessary

16. sacrosanct p. a person’s favourite topic of conversation

Ex. 3. Fill in the blanks (1 – 20) with the correct particle or preposition where necessary.

1. It gets (1) … the way every time to decide to push (2) … the boundaries of your life and jump (3) … new relationship. 2. You set (4) …….vicious circle (5) …….. self-blame which only acts to make the problem worse. 3. We do choose how we shall live: courageously or (6) … cowardice, honourably or dishonourably, (7) …purpose or (8) … drift. 4. (9) … many respects Sweden is a country of relatively small class differences. 5. They insure that they are (10) … the right place (11) … the right time. 6. Snake personalities often make their way to the top, but they (12) … no means pushy, using others to get them there. 7. The students were all (13) … tenterhooks as they waited the results of the examination. 8. They are always (14) … odds (15) … each other (16) … how to bring up their children. 9. She’ll be nice (17) … your face and then stab you (18) … the back. 10. Despite losing the game we put (19) … a brave face and congratulated the winning team (20) … the victory.

Ex. 4. For questions 1 – 8, read the text below. Use the words in the list to the right of the text, to form one word that fits in the same numbered space in the text.

FRIENDS

Everyone wants to have friends, but building up new

relationships is not always easy.

A few people are born with outgoing (1) ……….; they have PERSON

a (2) ……… ability to make new friends wherever they go. NATURE

But not many people are (3) …….. at ease in a room full of COMPLETE

strangers.

Most of us feel (4) ………. when we meet new people, and NERVE

this can occasionally make us appear (5) ……,when in fact FRIEND

we are just shy.

In any case, the development of new friendships is a gradual

process. It doesn’t just happen overnight. Long-standing

friendships (6) ……. have several things in common. GENERAL

The friends enjoy the same sorts of (7) … , and share similar ACTIVE

beliefs and values, they are (8) …… to one another, and they TRUTH

are also (9) ……… of one another when they have problems. SUPPORT

Ex. 5. Complete the second sentence so that it has the similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between three and eight words, including the word given (1 - 11)

1. It is not our habit to eat so early.

used

We ……………………..so early.

2. I don’t mind whether you come in the morning or the afternoon.

difference

It ………………………………in the morning or the afternoon.

3. Most of the committee voted for the proposal.

favour

The ……………………………..the proposal.

4. Don’t pay any attention when she complains.

notice

Don’t …………………………... complaints.

5. ‘That meal would have satisfied a king!’ he exclaimed.

fit

‘That …………………… !’ he exclaimed.

6. The war has caused emigration to increase.

resulted

The war ………………………. emigration.

7. The board had a secret meeting in order to discuss changes in company policy.

doors

The board ……………………….company policy.

8. I was about to ring him when he called.

point

I …………………….when he called.

9. Sheila often suffers from really bad headaches.

prone

Sheila …………………… really bad headaches.

10. He suggested that we should invite Tom to the party.