ON PICTURES AND PICTURE GALLERIES
1. Which is your favourite art gallery? 2. What masters has it got in its collection? 3. What kind of pictures do you like: landscapes, seascapes, genre, etc? 4. Will you name some of the representatives of those styles? 5. Who is your favourite painter? 6. How is it that the pictures of Old Masters are admired nowadays? 7. Why does looking at their pictures make you feel happy? 8. What role does pictorial art play in your life? 9. Why is a visit to a gallery of great educational value?
SHOPPING
1. Who does the shopping in your family? 2. Is there a shopping centre anywhere near your house? 3. When do you have to go shopping in other parts of the city? 4. What do big department stores sell? 5. Why are goods wrapped in paper before they are handed to the customer? 6. What do the English mean by "window-shopping"?
CHOOSING A PRESENT
1. When do people give each other presents? 2. Is it easy or difficult to choose a present? 3. Do you ask a person what kind of present he (she) wants or do you usually know what they expect? 4. Do you usually buy the same presents for a friend, your parents, a relative, etc?
Ex 54 Read and discuss the text; write a précis.
In the summer of 1936, civil war broke out in Spain. Angered by the news that the dictator General Franco was leading a revolt against the government of Spain, Picasso sent money to help the Army of the Republic. He was so moved by stories of suffering in his country that he sold some of his favourite canvases to buy milk for hungry children.
During the tragic year the Spanish government asked Picasso to decorate a wall of the pavillion which it was building for the Pans exposition. Picasso found a big studio, big enough to hold a very big canvas but when spring came, he had not started on the picture.
Then one April day in 1937, he learned that the little Spanish town of Guernica had been destroyed. For three hours German planes had dropped bombs on the helpless town. Two thousand innocent people had been killed. Picasso's dark blue eyes became very angry when he read the news. He picked up a pencil and started to work. In ten days he made hundreds of drawings of wounded horses, dying people and shrieking women, he worked out a composition for a painting. One month later Picasso's big canvas, "Guernica",* was exhibited in the Spanish pavillion.
Visitors to the exposition were shocked by the power of the picture. It was a scene of violent tragedy, painted in black, grey and white.
"Guernica" is not a work of beauty. It is a crime and also a protest against crime.
A German officer asked Picasso if he had done this. "No," he answered, "You did."
This is a painting of the artist's anger. The picture showed the world how the people of Guernica, an ancient capital of Northern Spain, was bombed by the Germans helping General Franco.
On the left you see a woman holding a dead baby and shrieking in agony. In the centre a woman holding a lamp, so that people may see the truth and shouting against the suffering. Also a horse. This is not a horse, it is pain advancing with hooves on four legs. The bull on the right is not a bull. It is the symbol of a country made to suffer dumbly like an animal.
The rider under the hooves of the horse is not a person who has died. It is a once-innocent man who has been killed without reason.
On the right a woman, shrieking in agony; she fell from a burning building; another woman, a little below is begging to be saved.
The only sign of life in this scene of devastation is the flower growing from the dead horseman's hand.
Picasso was exhausted after a month of hard work. He packed paints and canvases into his big car and set off for the South of France.
(After "A Biography" by Elizabeth Ripley and "Morning Star")
How to Write a Précis
A précis is a summary which retains the essential content of a piece of writing while leaving out minor details, explanations, illustrations, repetitions, and unessential features in general.
In writing a précis, keep the following instructions in mind:
1. Read the entire article before starting on a précis and underline key passages.
2. Maintain the author's point of view. You are reporting, not doing original writing.
3. Use your own phrasing. Don't copy word for word. Using year own words will help you understand the material better. You will naturally have to use some of the words of the author.
4. Use economical wording. The précis is compact and not wordy.
5. Keep effective balance. Each main point receives appropriate space.
6. Retain the organization of the original. Each paragraph of the précis summarizes several paragraphs of the original, and the original order is maintained.
Ex 55 Read the passage. Answer the questions. Retell the passage in English.
АПОЛЛИНАРИЙ ВАСНЕЦОВ
Ни один учебник по русской истории не обходится без картин Аполлинария Михайловича Васнецова, удивительно точно передающих облик древней Москвы в разные периоды ее исторического бытия. Всего художником создано около двухсот произведений, посвященных Москве.
Картины А. Васнецова не являются плодом фантазии и вымысла. Художник тщательно изучает не только сохранившиеся памятники архитектуры, но и старинные книги, летописи, изображения на иконах.
С 1883 года А. М. Васнецов начинает показывать свои работы на выставках Товарищества передвижных художественных выставок и уже с первой выставки приобретает большую известность. Около десяти его произведений заняли почетное место в Третьяковской галерее. Известность принесли художнику его пейзажи. Пейзажи А. Васнецова — это увиденный им лик Родины.
Пейзаж ценен не своей протокольной констатацией определенного куска природы, а своим настроением. Настроение в пейзаже есть скрытая мысль. Потому и есть понятие лирического пейзажа — Саврасов, Васильев, Левитан, Нестеров, Остроухов, Жуковский, Виноградов, Горбатов, Колесников. А Васнецов, Рерих, Богаевский, Рылов — создатели эпического пейзажа.
В 1927 году открылась выставка А. Васнецова по случаю 50-летия творческой деятельности. Успех А. Васнецова продемонстрировал еще раз мощь реализма, глубокую жизненность тех традиций, которым он беззаветно служил, как и многие поколения русских художников.
Questions
1. Why does practically every textbook on Russian history have reproductions of paintings by A. Vasnetsov? 2. How did the study of architectural monuments, ancient manuscripts, chronicles and icon images help the artist in his work? 3. When did the artist first exhibit his paintings? 4. What paintings brought A. Vasnetsov instant fame5 5. What is so precious about A. Vasnetsov's landscapes? 6. Why is mood all-important in a landscape painting? 7. Are A. Vasnetsov's landscapes lyrical or epic? 8. In what way does a lyrical landscape differ from an epic one? 9. What did the exhibition of A. Vasnetsov's paintings marking the 50th anniversary of his creative work prove once more? 10. What makes A. Vasnetsov a truly great Russian painter?
Ex 56 Act as interpreter. Sum up the dialogue.
A: The great Russian writer Dostoyevsky said: "Beauty will save the world." How do you understand this?
В: По моему мнению, в этом и есть назначение искусства — показать гармонию и красоту мира, уберечь его от разрушения.
A: How do you understand freedom in art?
В: В первую очередь, это свобода не от общества, а для общества, для народа.
A: You mean to say that art is an active way to shape society and a good way to unite people.
В: Именно так.
A: The cultural life of Soviet society is becoming richer. One can feel a new tide rising in Soviet art.
В: Да, это действительно так. Повышение культурного уровня жизни трудящихся является одной из главных задач социалистического общества и предмет особых забот советского государства. В последние годы — причем во всех республиках страны — появилось немало талантливых произведений.
A: As far as I could see the heroes of those works are our contemporaries.
В: Конечно, наши современники, трудовые люди нашего общества. Это — бригадир строителей и председатель колхоза, железнодорожный рабочий и офицер, летчик и ученый.
A: I see. Such works must move people as they see their own thoughts and feelings in them.
В: Такие произведения искусства не только волнуют людей, но и заставляют задумываться о настоящем и будущем.
