II. Questions and Topics for Analysis

1. What disaster did the arrival of Bertrand and his girlfriend avert?

2. What impressions did the girl make on Jim and what thought evoke? Explain in your own words: “The sight of her seemed an irresistible attack on his own habits, standards and ambitions: something designed to put him in his place for good” (p. 49). Translate the paragraph.

3. How does the passage “Bertrand’s jaws … reassuring, too” characterize him (p.50)?

4. What was the purpose of Bertrand’s visit to his parents’ place?

5. What caused a near fight between Bertrand and Dixon?

III. Focus on Writing

1. Choose a particular point of view and describe the events of the chapter as if you were a) Dixon; b) Bertrand; c) Margaret; d) Christine Callaghan.

2. Write a 120-word essay on the topic “Music in students’ life”.

IV. Focus on Text Analysis

Epithet is a word, phrase or clause which in its attributive use disclose the individual, emotionally coloured attitude of the author towards the object he describes by emphasizing a certain property or feature. The choice of epithets is supposed to be one of the primary characteristics of a writer’s style. E.g. ill-weaved ambition, doubtful curls. Structurally epithets can be simple (e.g. blooming face), compound (e.g. an apple-faced woman) and hyphenated (e.g. a not-over-particularly-taken-care-of boy). There are traditional (conventional, fixed, standing) epithets (e.g. dark forest, true love, green wood, the merry month of May) and proper epithets (genuine artistic) that state something new and important about the object (e.g. irresistible charm), evaluate it (e.g. crazy behaviour, wild ocean).

Find in the chapter and write down in your copy books examples of proper epithets. Explain the effect they produce on the reader, describe how their usage influences the reader’s perception of the characters and their actions, events.

Assignment 4 Chapters 5, 6

I. Active Vocabulary

1. Learn the pronunciation and the meaning of the given words. Make up five sentences of your own with any of these words.

Disagreeable, nonentity, vagary, to thrust, to grope, a landing, tawny, to snort, zeal, entanglement, (un)ambiguous, insolently, latrine, shingle, to thud, to endanger, an incendiary, pardonable, presumably, debris, ravage, austere, tedium, to replenish, a gout, malt, dilated, holocaust, meager, resentment, to implode, peevishness.

2. Match the words in column A with their synonyms in columns B and C:

A B C

authentic likeness matter/problem

exaltation real to shudder

query temptation giddy

effigy to tremble rise

wayfarer dizzy rapture

lure increase portrait

to wince to devise wanderer

vertiginous delight cheer

upsurge reproving seductiveness

to contrive greed genuine

avarice traveler avidity

spirits question reproachful

objurgatory mood to invent

3. Explain who or what is meant by the words and expressions:

French window, cider, Romance languages, Guinness, Yule-tide, mausoleum, patch(work), a valuable-looking rug, the senior Dixon, a safety-razor blade, an idiom, etymology, a plug-chain, a locker.