2. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1. Blanche wanted to be left in peace, she refused to see anyone.

2. Blanche refused to have Strickland sent for because she was too weak.

3. The narrator tried to put Stroeve and his sorrows out of his mind, because he wanted to enjoy life.

4. Stroeve made up his mind to go to Italy.

5. Dirk’s parents were pleased that their son should be an artist

6. Dirk would have rather missed all the delight art had given him.

7. Dirk couldn’t destroy the picture, because it was Blanche.

8. Strickland agreed to come with Dirk to Holland, because they both loved Blanche.

3. Fill in prepositions:

1. Dirk gave a cry … distress.

2. The narrator wondered what an abyss … cruelty. She must have looked … that … horror she refused to live.

3. The narrator took a new pleasure … the streets … Paris, and he looked … smiling eyes … the people who hurried … and … .

4. The fact that Blanche had washed … the things as usual gave Dirk a little thrill … horror.

5. Dirk stood back … order to see the picture … his ease.

6. Dirk was going to make a great hole … the picture, he had his arm all ready … the blow, when suddenly he realized that he couldn’t touch it.

7. Besides his picture Dirk owned nothing … world after his wife’s death, but a box … clothes and a few books.

8. Dirk was young still, and … a few years he would look … all his misery … a sadness … which there would be something unpleasurable.

4. Discussion.

Give the précis of the part. Answer the questions and motivate your answer:

1. What made the narrator feel he could have killed Strickland?

2. Why do you think Strickland never came to see Blanche when she was dying?

3. What did Dirk Stroeve call the wisdom of life?

4. Do you think Dirk Stroeve was really sorry that he had not become an honest carpenter?

5 .What is Art in Dirk’s opinion?

6. Why didn’t Dirk Stroeve hack Strickland’s picture to pieces?

7. Why did the author think that people cannot recognize Beauty when they are face to face with it?

8. Did Stroeve have a love and an understanding of beauty? What did it mean to him?

9 .What did Dirk say to Strickland when he saw him the last time they should ever meet?

5. Enact a conversation between:

1. Dirk Stroeve and the nurse;

2. Dirk Stroeve and the narrator the day before he left for Amsterdam.

Comment on the passage where:

Dirk Stroeve speaks about Art.

Unit IX

Chapters XL-XLIV

1. Study the following words and word combinations, explain their meaning in English, give the context in which they are used:

1. to bite one’s lip

2. to laugh at smb. up one’s sleeve

3. to ruin one’s life

4. to snatch smb. from the jaws of death

5. to hide a shameful secret

6. to give a sudden flash of anger

7. to speak with a passion of indignation

8. to try one’s tricks

9. to be on the threshold of a surprising adventure

10. to hold one’s tongue

11. lop-sided

12. pictures of still life

13. life-size portraits