PART I
UNIT I
BOOKS AND READING
Text A
THE CARD
by Sam Levenson
It had to happen during supper in the presence of the whole clan.
An unfamiliar, harsh knocking on the door. Each neighbor had his individual knock with which we were familiar— a woman's timid knock, a child's tap, the sick lady from upstairs sort of brushed the door; some entered without knocking. But this was an aggressive, masculine, businesslike knock. Mama went to the door. "Does Levenson live here?" we heard from the kitchen. "Yes." "He owes a book to the public library. Either he pays for it or we'll serve him with a summons, lady."
My heart sank. I didn't dare look from the plate. Could they put a child in jail? I saw myself in court. The judge looked like Papa. My brothers were the jury. "Twenty years."
The fact was that the book had fallen into the mud and I was afraid to return it. I handed the man a curdled-up book. "Lady, you'll have to pay for this book. Sixty-eight cents." Mama paid and the man tore up my card publicly. "He can't use the library for three years." That didn't bother me. I could always take books on my brother's card. But what I had gone through to get that card! I had to get references from my principal and two responsible citizens. My rich uncle signed for me, but I couldn't find another "responsible citizen" in the family. They held up ratification of the card for months because our name was not on the phone book. I gave the candy store phone number. That got me into more trouble. I was told to produce a birth certificate which Papa didn't own. They began to question my legitimacy.
When I withdrew my first book I caused quite a stir at the "Signing Out" desk. At the secret request of my sister who was embarrassed to do it herself, I withdrew "What Every Girl Should Know." The librarian put a question mark in red ink next to my name Samuel on my library card... I must have turned as red as the question mark.
The pride and happiness the long-desired card had brought me proved to be short-lived. Ever since the day the book slipped out of my hand and fell into the mud I had lived in a state of suspense. Then came the final blow. Just my luck!
Vocabulary
1. present (adj.) 1) [only before noun]: the present situation, the present day
2) [never before noun]: to be present at an event or in a place;
those present
presence (n): the presence of, in sb’s presence, presence of mind
2. un/familiar (adj) with, to; familiarity (n)
3. timid (adj), timidity (n)
4. tap (v, n), to tap (sb.) on sth.
5. businesslike (adj)
6. to owe ≠ to own, to owe sb. sth. (to owe sb. an apology), to owe sth. to sb.
7. summons (n), to serve sb. with a summons
to summon (a meeting/a council/an assembly); to summon (up) (the strength/a smile); to summon sb. to do sth.
8. to sink (sank, sunk), my heart sank, to sink to the ground/to one’s knees, to sink
into crisis/chaos, to sink into despair, to sink to doing sth.
9. to hand sb. sth., to hand in
10. card (n), a birthday/Christmas/get-well etc. card, a card says/reads sth., a library card, to take books on a card
11. public (adj, n): the public, in public; publicity (n)
12. to tear (tore, torn), to tear up
13. to hold up =to delay
14. to be on the phone book
15. trouble (n): to be in trouble, to run/to get into trouble, to get (sb.) into trouble
16. certificate (n), a (birth, health, marriage, death) certificate
17. to produce, to produce a certificate
18. legitimate – lawful – legal (adjs)
19. to question sth. (legitimacy, honesty, sincerity) = to doubt sth.
20. stir (n): to cause a stir;
stir (v), to stir oneself
20. request (n) for, to grant/refuse/reject a request, at sb’s request, on request
request (v), to request sth., to request that sb. (should) do sth., to request sb./to
be requested to do sth.
21. to embarrass sb.; embarrassed by, about; embarrassing (questions);
embarrassment: to be an embarrassment to sb.
22. to withdraw; withdrawal (n)
23. proud (adj), pride (n, v): to be proud of, to pride oneself on, to take pride in
24. short-lived (adj)
25. suspense (n), to be/ to keep sb. in suspense
suspend (v), suspension (n)
26. luck (n), in/out of luck, Just my luck!
Revision
1. to cause sth., to cause sb. to do sth.
2. responsible for
3. to prove to be (short-lived)
4. in (red) ink, in pencil
Text B
S. Maugham on Reading
Some people read for instruction, which is praiseworthy, some for pleasure, which is innocent, but not a few read from habit, and I suppose that this is neither innocent nor praiseworthy. Of that lamentable company am I. Conversation after a time bores me, games tire me, and my own thoughts, which we are told are the unfailing resource of a sensible man, have a tendency to run dry. Then I fly to my book as the opium-smoker to his pipe. I would sooner read the catalogue of the Army and Navy Stores or Bradshaw's Guide¹ than nothing at all, and indeed I have spent many delightful hours over both these works. At one time I never went out without a second-hand bookseller's list in my pocket. I know no reading more fruity. Of course to read in this way is as reprehensible as doping, and I never cease to wonder at the impertinence of great readers who, because they are such, look down on the illiterate. From the standpoint of eternity, is it better to have read a thousand books than to have ploughed a million furrows? Let us admit that reading with us is just a drug that we cannot do without.
And like the dope-fiend who cannot move from place to place without taking with him a plentiful supply of his deadly balm I never venture far without a sufficiency of reading matter. But when I am starting on a long journey the problem is formidable. I have learnt my lesson. Once, imprisoned by illness for three months in a hill-town in Java, I came to the end of all the books I had brought with me, and knowing no Dutch was obliged to buy the school-books from which intelligent Javanese, I suppose, acquired knowledge of French and German. So I read again after five and twenty years the frigid plays of Goethe, the fables of La Fontaine and the tragedies of the tender and exact Racine. I have the greatest admiration for Racine, but I admit that to read his plays one after the other requires a certain effort in a person who is suffering from colitis. Since then I have made a point of travelling with the largest sack made for carrying soiled linen and filling it to the brim with books to suit every possible occasion and every mood. It weighs a ton and strong porters reel under its weight. Custom-house officials look at it askance, but recoil from it with consternation when I give them my word that it contains nothing but books. Its inconvenience is that the particular book I suddenly hanker to read is always at the bottom and it is impossible for me to get it without emptying the book- bag's entire contents upon the floor.
(Somerset Maugham)
[1] Bradshaw's Guide= Bradshaw Railway Guide — a comprehensive timetable of British railroad trains.
Vocabulary
1. praise (v): highly praise
praise (n): win/earn/deserve praise, high praise
praiseworthy, ant. reprehensible
2. not a few = quite a few = a good few
3. cease (v): cease doing/to do sth, sth never ceases to amaze sb
4. impertinent (adj), impertinence (n)
5. to look down on sb/sth
6. (il)literate (adj), literacy (n)
7. plenty (pron), plentiful (adj): a plentiful supply of, in plentiful supply
8. deadly (adj)
9. venture (n): a joint venture
venture (v): venture + into/beyond/out of/far, venture to do sth;
10. sufficient (adj), sufficiency (n), suffice (v)
11. oblige (v): 1) (usually passive): to be/to feel obliged to do sth
2) happy/glad/willing to oblige, I would be obliged (if), much
obliged
12. acquire (v), acquisition (n)
13. admire (v), admiration (n): admiration for sb/sth, in admiration;
admiring (adj), admirable (adj)
14. to make a point of doing sth
15. weigh (v), weight (n)
16. recoil (v)
17. reel (v)
18. empty (v): to empty (intr), to empty sth, to empty sth of sth, to empty sth out of sth, to empty sth into/onto sth
19. entire (adj), entirely (adv)
20. contents (n. pl.), content (n. sing.)
Revision
1.to read for instruction/pleasure, to read from habit
2.would sooner/rather … than
I’d rather sb. did sth.
3.to wonder at
4.from the standpoint of
5.to start on a journey
6.to require (a certain effort)
7.to fill to the brim
8.to suit sb, to suit the purpose/the occasion
Text C
James C. Fernald on Reading
1. READING. The first requirement for an adequate vocabulary is general reading. Тhis reading for command of words is different from reading for mastery of anу particular subject.
In the latter case you will read а number of books of the samе kind, as law books, medical books, оr the like. But to gain an extensive supply of valuable words, you want to make уour reading as wide and as various as possible, with the single proviso that it shall bе in really good English. It must bе excellent of its kind, worth being influenced bу, worth remembering. Vocabulary building should go beyond commonplace words and momentary interests.
Тhеn, we must get over the illusion that "а book is а book". How manу of the “best sellers” of last year will bе remembered next year, even bу their names? Some books аrе worth reading, even while the authors аrе alive. Тherе аrе а few such in almost every generation. It would have been а mistake not to read "Vanity Fair" оr "David Copperfield" when those works came fresh from the press. Тhey were as good then as they аrе today. But, with the multitude of books now constantly appearing, one who would read for intellect and style can seldom afford to read а new book "to see if it is good".
Тhere аrе some books of sudden popularity that a good mind may reject at once оn Dr. Johnson's principle. When hе was challenged for condemning а book which hе hadn't read, the sturdy old scholar replied: "Sir, I do not need to eat а whole joint of meat to find out whether it is tainted. Тhе first mouthful is enough".
Тhe average person will do best to take the opinion of good judges, and раss bу anу book not so recommended. On the other hand, а book that has lived fifty уеаrs is sure to bе аbovе the оrdinary standard; otherwise it wouldn’t have lived.
Remember the experience of Мrs Browning. For years an invalid, shut out from the active world, she read the best of our older literature and gained а singularly rich and elegant style.
2. READ BOOKS RAТНER ТНAN AВOUТ BOOKS. Мany think they know an author because they have read an article оr two about him in an encyclopedia. It’s a misconception. То know him, you must read some mass of his writings: see how hе leads up to his subject; how hе struggles through оr around its difficulties; how hе reaches his strong conclusions; note his faults and prejudices, his strength and his weakness, all that is human in him; breathe the atmosphere of his day.
3. READ IN OUANТIТIES: just as much as you have time for, and can master at one stretch. Ву such reading your mind becomes charged with an author's style as bу nо other means. You get a something that will not come bу picking out words or reading selections. Memory of language is by association. If you have but one line of association for а word, that word will bе difficult to recall, and will not fit in naturally with familiar words that have а thousand associations. In your conversational style that word will sound stiff and artificial and in your written style it will stand out from the context as if written or printed in red ink.
Here is а person, for instance, to whom the word “reciprocal” is not familiar. Не encounters it once in some book. Не thinks it а nice word. Не resolves to use it at the first opportunity. But when hе tries, hе finds it а little hard to remember. When it does come to mind hе makes а grab at it, lest it get away. Тhen hе is not quite sure how to fit his other words to it.
But suppose hе finds that word repeatedly in his reading, and used in different connections. Не also comes upon "reciprocate" and "reciprocity". Мanу associations with that word are developed. It no longer seems strange and foreign. Не has come to think it. Then it joins insensibly with the other contents of his thought, and when he comes to use it, it will be easy, natural, -- and almost certainly appropriate. It will make natural connections with the rest of his speech, because it has made natural connections in his thought.
Ву reading in quantities you come upon words of the better class over and over again and in ever new connections. You need to absorb an author’s style, so that, after earnest and continuous reading, you will find yourself involuntarily constructing phrases or sentences after that author’s pattern.
4. READ RAPIDLY. Wе wouldn't advise you to read “with pencil in hand" and make notes every few minutes. Read freely just as if you were listening to an interesting speaker, whom you would not interrupt in every other sentence, to say, "What was that word or phrase? Wait а moment till I note it down". Make your book а companion and let it talk to you..
Then, at some natural break in your reading, try to recall what is best worth remembering, turning back over the book if necessary, to fix important items. Make notes then, if you like, and try to remember as much as possible without the notes. If the book is your own, mark freely along the margin any passage that especially interests you. Тhen you can easily pick out those passages in reading.
When possible, read а whole book or а whole section “at а sitting”. It doesn't take so long to read а whole play of Shakespeare as to go to the theatre to hear it. Ву such continuous reading you will develop the instinct of language.
5. READ ВY SNATCНES. Every truth has a converse that is equally true. When life’s demands do not permit us to do all that is desirable, we may checkmate necessity by doing what we can. Keep some first-class book at hand -- literally “at hand” -- where it can be picked up and read in odd minutes of waiting and resting.
6. READ WНAT YOU LIКE.There was a time when easy and happy learning was suspected оf shallowness. We think that true scholarship is compatible with freedom and delight in reading the books that you like.
7. READ WНAT YOU DON'T LIКE. Again а converse proposition is as true as its opposite. By following one's likings limitlessly there is danger of developing mental one-sideness, like the bodily deformity of one who carries some weight always in the right or always in the left hand.
No good thing in this world is ever accomplished by doing only what one likes to do. The mind should have room for freedom and delight, but it must learn also to act by mere resolve and determination. A well-disciplined mind can do some work, at times some of its best work -- under compulsion. When that is done, the freedom will be all the more free, and the delight more delightful. No man is good for anything who cannot say on occasion, "Тhis must be done; it can be, and it shall be, and I am the one to do it, liking or not liking -- right now".
8. DIVERSIFY YOUR READING. By no means confine yourself to one subject, -still less to one author. It is not desirable to read and reread all of Scott, or all of Dickens, admirable as many of their works are. Onе who does this becomes а slave of one author. In reading for command of words choose authors of the most different styles.
Vocabulary
1. (in)adequate (adj)
2. command (n, v)
3. master (v), mastery (n)
4. the former – the latter
5. commonplace (adj)
6. vain (adj): in vain, vanity (n)
7. on principle – in principle
8. challenge (v, n), challenging (adj)
9. condemn (v)
10. average (adj), average (n): above/below average, on average, an average of
11. on the one hand – on the other hand
12. otherwise (adv)
13. singular (adj), singularly (adv): singularly rich/impressed
14. breathe (v), breath (n), to take someone’s breath away
15. conclude (v), conclusion (n): to come to/draw/reach a conclusion, in conclusion
16. prejudice (n): prejudice agains t, prejudiced (adj): prejudiced views/attitudes, to be prejudiced against
17. at a stretch = at a sitting
18. artificial (adj)
19. to stand out (from), to stand out in a crowd
20. encounter (v, n)
21. grab (v): to grab hold of, to grab sb by sth, to grab an opportunity/a chance, to grab sb’s attention, to grab at sth; grab (n): to make a grab at sth
22. (in)appropriate (adj)
23. margin (n): in the margin, a wide/narrow/large/small margin, a profit margin, marginal (adj)
24. to be/keep at hand
25. literal(ly) – literary – literate
26. odd (adj), odds (n)
27. shallow – profound
28. (in)compatible (adj) with, (in)compatibility
29. determine (v), determined (adj), determination (n)
30. compel (v): to compel sb to do sth, to feel compelled to do sth, compelling (adj) compulsion (n): under compulsion compulsory (adj)
31. diversify (v), diversity (n)
32. confine (v): to confine/restrict/limit sth/oneself to sth confined (adj): a confined space confinement (n)
Revision
1. require (v), requirement (n)
2. to gain/achieve sth
3. (can) afford to do sth
4. charge (v): to be charged with
5. to hesitate to do sth
6. to fit, to fit in (with)
7. in (red) ink
8. at the first opportunity
9. over and over again
10. to find oneself doing sth
11. to suspect of, suspicion, suspicious
12. room for (freedom, delight, thought)
13. occasion, on occasion, on the occasion of, occasional(ly)
14. admirable as many of their works are
Exercises
I. Transcribe the words and read them aloud:
a) presence, masculine, familiar, to owe, to own, to tear, legitimacy, legal, stir, withdrawal, suspense
b) praiseworthy, innocent, catalogue, reprehensible, cease, impertinence, plough, furrow, sufficiency, suffice, formidable, oblige, effort, admiration, colitis, weigh, ton, askance, recoil
c) adequate, command, momentary, condemn, breathe, breath, artificial, voluntarily, compatible, compatibility, accomplish, determination, discipline, diversify, admirable
II. Word-building
1. For each word write words of the same root built with the help of suffixes or prefixes; state what part of speech they are and translate them into Russian:
a) present, familiar, timid, business, own, summon, ratify, certify, legitimate, withdraw, embarrass, library, suspend
b) praise, sense, impertinent, literate, plenty, sufficient, prison, admire, acquire, weigh, contain, convenient
c) require, master, breathe, literature, reciprocal, appropriate, voluntary, shallow, compatible, limit, body, determine, compulsory, admire, confine, diversify
2. Form an antonym with a negative prefix:
familiar, legitimate, legal, lucky, literate, sufficient, adequate, appropriate, prejudiced, natural, voluntarily, compatible
III. Translate into Russian:
A)
1. After breakfast, she called the housekeeper and asked her to summon the rest of the staff. 2. As we sat drinking sherry together and I watched her acquire the jolly ovine features of all elderly English gentlewomen, I found it hard to summon up my old anger. 3. The Ohio bank does not leave its newcomers to sink or swim by themselves. 4. Precise definition of what is and is not a legitimate purpose is probably not possible, but the fact that we live in a competitive or acquisitive society has led English law, for better or worse, to adopt the test of self-interest or selfishness as being capable of justifying the deliberate doing of lawful acts which inflict harm. 5. The best I can manage is to say that the thriller is intended to thrill; it is a succession of exciting events, whereas the suspense novel is designed to create suspense, a series of situations of which the outcome is in doubt 6.‘We do not want to bypass the elected representatives, but they cannot be allowed to hold up progress. 7. I guess I owe everything I've achieved so far to him. 8. It used to be a matter of honour among school boys that the guilty member of class would own up, and so save the others. 9. The black cloud was right above them now and some of the congregation had begun to stir uneasily in expectation of the downpour, wondering whether the Padre would manage to get through the service before it fell. 10. The reluctance of monarchs to summon Parliaments (except when necessary, for reasons of self-interest, to do so) was an important feature of the constitutional struggle of the seventeenth century and an important element in their downfall. 11. When you go to the theatre you have to be willing to suspend disbelief. 12. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. (W. Churchill)
B)
1. Between them the ultimate in praise was: ‘It works.’ 2. The indiscriminate use of praise is a poor substitute for positive and specific feedback. 3. There are numerous difficulties in making an historical study which depends entirely on written evidence, which may not represent the experience of the mass of children, and is at best a distillation of the views of the literate classes. 4. A plentiful supply of anything is a recipe for disaster. 5. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 6. The firm is looking for further growth, especially overseas, chiefly by acquisition and joint venture. 7. The current recession has demonstrated beyond doubt that the venture capital industry is subject to the economic cycle after all. 8. On leaving the restaurant the family obliged, apparently, by posing in the pouring rain. 9. Those who live close enough to walk to work make a point of mentioning it, rather as if they were keeping alive a forgotten folkway. 10. They looked empty and forlorn as if they had not yet adjusted themselves to their premature change of life. 11. Apart from milk, drink only those drinks which are negligible in calorie content. 12. In their interactions with the media, political actors pursue their own goals and do frequently dominate media content.
C)
1. The crisis years of 1955, 1964, 1967 and 1974 stand out when individual accounts are examined, but since these are end-of-year figures and therefore include the effects of corrective measures, the full extent of payments difficulties is not revealed. 2. He is given an opportunity to do so, and if he does not, he is subject to sanctions by the court to compel him to do so. 3. Mrs. Thatcher expressed confidence that she would win and declared again, as she had at the outset, that even if she did not win outright she would continue to a second ballot no matter how narrow the margin of her majority over Heseltine. 4. First, the dollar is still ‘fundamentally undervalued’, and by quite a margin — that is, a dollar buys much less abroad than it does at home. 5. Do companies realise that incidents, which are usually preventable, may be costing 10 per cent or more of their operating margin? 7. The margin of the Quelccaya Ice Cap in the Peruvian Andes is melting at the rate of 45 feet a year, compared to around 15 feet per year in the period 1963-78. 8. She was told unruly children were placed in solitary confinement and given only bread and water for a week. 9. The advantages and disadvantages of objectives can be examined from several viewpoints but we will confine ourselves to three: the practical, ethical and educational. 10. But in the present economic state of academic publishing the encounter between market forces and intellectual value tends to subordinate the latter to the former. 11. They can do more when they have a mastery of Standard English because they can communicate in a wider circle both socially and geographically. 12. He was probably self-conceited and vain about his reputation, selfish about priorities in discoveries and publications. 13. Did I hear my name being taken in vain?” he said lightly, his blue gaze flicking quickly to Belinda's face and away again. 14. But the compulsion becomes especially evident when the right is a claim to something material, because what one has another must go without: a right to free travel is a claim to compel others to transport me at their expense; a right to a pension is a claim to compel others to transfer part of their income to me. 15. We get the odd complaint but our customers are mostly satisfied.
IV. Fill in the blanks with the given words in the correct form:
