THE GIRL WHO KNEW JU-JITSU
After Hermione (choose) Freddy Fitzhugh from among her many admirers everybody (find) that she (make) a good choice. Freddy (be) well-to-do, good-looking and no fool. Their engagement (talk) much about. They (be) to get married at the end of May.
On a fine spring morning they (go) together to Bond Street* to choose rings. One after another rings (show) to Hermione and she (discuss) them with a knowledge that (surprise) Freddy and (delight) the owner of the shop. While they (examine) the rings two men (enter) the shop and (ask) to show them some bracelets. Several bracelets (put) on the counter in front of them. But the men (be) much more difficult to please than Hermione (be). It (seem) to the shop assistant that they never (come) to a decision. They (examine) the bracelets for some time when things (begin) to happen at once. A car (drive) up at the shop and (not be) there for more than a minute when one of the men (strike) the assistant on the head while the other (take) half a dozen bracelets that (lie) on the counter and (start) running toward the door.
Freddy (see) that Hermione (stand) alone at the door. She (make) no attempt to step out of the man's way. Freddy (think) she (be) too paralyzed by terror to move. The man who (approach) the door now (raise) his hand to strike her. But he never (do). At the last moment Hermione (move) a step aside and the man (go) head first through the shop window. All this (take) only a few seconds of time.
"You should (tell) me you knew Ju-Jitsu," Freddy (say).
"I (teach) by an expert."
"I see," Freddy (say). "You know, Hermione, there (be) quite a few things about you that I (not know)."
(After "The Story of Hermione" by Cyril Hare)
Ex 39 Rewrite (or retell) in narrative form.
The next time he saw her was at the monthly fair.
"Hello, Maggie," he said, and wondered that he got pleasure out of pronouncing her name.
"Hello, Coleman," she said.
"You have cattle?"
"There they are," she said. And he looked at them, and there were three and they were good, small black mountain cattle.
"They are not too bad," he said. "What are you asking for them?"
"Fifty pounds each," said Maggie, and Coleman laughed and said: "What? Are they filled with gold, or what?"
"No, they are filled with meat and they are the best cattle in the fair."
But Coleman wanted to bargain. "I'll give you forty for each of them."
"Coleman, you know that they are worth more than that, and even if I have to walk them home again I will do so."
And, strangely enough, he was very pleased that she was bargaining, and it took him three-quarters of an hour to bring the price down to thirty shillings on each of them and they struck the bargain and he shook her hand.
(After "Barney's Maggie" by W. Macken)
The Article
Ex 40 Insert articles where necessary.
1. In — heart of New York, — few minutes away from — skyscrapers, he had discovered — little city within — city. It was Greenwich Village. It was almost — provincial town with inhabitants who, it seemed, didn't notice — metropolis around them. (After G. Simenon)
2. After — supper was over, and he had helped to dry the dishes, Paul nervously asked his father if he could go to — Carters to get some help in — geometry from Jim. Jim was at — top of — class at — school. Still more nervously Paul asked for car fare. He had to repeat — request two times, as his father did not like to hear request for — money, whether much or little. He asked Paul whether he could not go to — boy who lived nearer; but gave him — dime.* (After Willa Gather)
3. Stevenson's book "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" is about — man who lived — double life. Dr Jekyll made — interesting discovery in his laboratory work. He found — medicine which could give him — different appearance. When he took — medicine he became a deformed, ugly man, for whom people felt nothing but — dislike and hate. As Mr Hyde he could live — life full of — pleasure. Yet he enjoyed — complete safety, because when his actions became too horrible he could change into — honest Dr Jekyll again, for whom his friends felt — respect and love.
But with — time — medicine no longer worked the way Dr Jekyll had planned. Sometimes he went to — bed as Dr Jekyll and woke up as Mr Hyde. He had to make — choice: either to remain Dr Jekyll and die to all — pleasures Mr Hyde enjoyed or choose the part of Mr Hyde and die to — thousand interests Dr Jekyll enjoyed.
READING
Ex 41 Read the text, and do the assignments coming after it.
Although much has been written about this subject, whenever we are puzzled about it, we ask the question: What is love? Love means different things to different people. Children regard love from their point of view, while they are very young. As we grow older, love grows into different dimensions with our maturing. Love changes constantly, because we change from day to day.
There are different kinds of love. Whereas we live in a mechanized world, we hold a special affection for nature. When you look at the lake, your heart is glad that the water is there. Unless you spend a week in the mountains, you will not know the beneficial effects of mountain air. As soon as the sea wave touched your foot, you realized why you had always wanted to be at the seashore.
Wherever there is a family, there is the love of a parent for the child. Warmth and support are basic needs. There is also the love of a child for its parent. Family love means being your natural self. For parents, it means caring for someone's needs more than for themselves. Before thinking of themselves, parents will help their children. Once you have found the need to be with someone, you will also feel the desire to share and care. As long as man has existed, family love has been the cornerstone of civilized society.
When true love comes, you do not look for sensations, which are independent of one another. You feel a lasting affection for each other. Two people unite into one. You want to give everything to the person you love. Now that you've found love, you're only afraid that your loved one might die first.
Love has been called an "abstract" thing, which means that it is difficult to define. But for those who desire it, it is very real. They find comfort in the touch of a hand, or a kiss or being close to someone dear. Sick persons can become well again, as soon as love enters their hearts. Love can overcome family feuds, it can bring together people of different ages, as well as ethnic and national background. Love brings people together, because they care.
(After "Love" by William Samelson)
Assignments
(a) Quickly look through the list and mark the lettered phrase nearest in meaning to the word or phrase tested.
1. Be puzzled about: (i) be interested in; (ii) be surprised at; (iii) not be clear on.
2. Regard: (i) look at; (ii) respect; (iii) guess.
3. Constantly: (i) some of the time; (ii) from time to time; (iii) all the time.
4. Whereas: (i) for the reason that; (ii) nevertheless; (iii) yet.
5. Beneficial: (i) healthy; (ii) unhealthy; (iii) satisfactory.
6. Share: (i) talk with another; (ii) work out together with another; (iii) use together with another.
(b) Explain difference between:
1. "Love" and "affection". 2. "Ethnic" and "national".
(c) Select the statement which best expresses the main idea of the text. Give your reasons.
1. Love means different things to different people. 2. Love changes constantly, because we change from day to day. 3. There are different kinds of love. 4. As long as man has existed, family love has been the cornerstone of civilized society. 5. Love brings people together, because they care.
(d) Sum up what the text has to say on each of the following points.
1. The definition of love. 2. The different kinds of love. 3. Family love and its importance to society. 4. True love. 5. Love in the life of an individual.
(e) Say if the author also believes that love is an "abstract" thing.
(f) It is true that warmth and support are basic needs. But is it the family alone that can offer warmth and support to a person?
(g) Give your understanding of "being your natural self".
(h) Read the text critically, and offer your criticism of the author's statements, arguments, and conclusions.
(i) Write a précis of the text.
Ex 42 Read the text carefully, without a dictionary. While reading, pay special attention to the words you don't know: look carefully at the context and see if you can get an idea of what they mean. During the second reading pick out the key sentences. Write a summary of the article.
WHO IS HEAD OF THE FAMILY?
Before the Great October Socialist Revolution the man was the breadwinner, the head of the family. The revolutionary upheavals, however, led to marriage becoming a union of two free and independent people. Women acquired legal, economic and thus psychological independence.
In most cases in the Soviet Union today both husband and wife are breadwinners. What happens about the head of the family?
On the sociologists' questionnaires more and more people now describe their families as being without a head, especially when the form-filler is young and has a higher education.
The old traditions are crumbling, but still current. The present concept of "head of family" is not the old one. Our sociologists define the role as "the exercise of distributive and regulatory functions essential to family life".
With the real strength the woman has now acquired in the family it is not she who is dependent — the others are dependent on her.
The once weaker sex manages so much and decides so much that the force of real infra-family power is willy-nilly concentrated in her hands. At the same time she is the head of the family, yet not quite its head, for in the family she is simultaneously everything rolled into one.
But does a woman need to become the family head? The family reproduces the social structure of society, and in the democratic society it is hardly essential to prescribe which of the partners must be the head. In fact, why have a head?
It is far more reasonable to suppose that in each case the leading position should go to whichever partner is able to fulfil the role better and more efficiently.
Whatever happens, things will never again be as they used to be in the family, however much some may sigh for this. The family is a living organism, reacting sensitively to socio-economic changes.
SPEECH AND COMPOSITION
Ex 43 Answer the following questions, using the vocabulary of the lesson. Sum up your answers (orally, or in writing).
HUNTING AND FISHING
1. Do you ever go hunting (fishing)? 2. Have you got a rifle (a fishing rod)? 3. What is the best part of the day for fishing? Give your reasons. 4. Why isn't hunting allowed all the year round? 5. Do you get pleasure out of hunting? 6. Is there any good hunting (fishing) near Moscow? 7. What made Turgenyev's "Hunting Stories" so famous? 8. What do you think of hunting as a sport?
"HUNTERS AT REST" BY V. G. PEROV*
1. What's the time of the year? 2. Are the hunters having a rest before or after the hunt? 3. Have they been duck shooting or fox-hunting? 4. What does a dog do when a hunter shoots a duck? 5. Describe the old hunter (the one to your left). 6. What kind of story is he telling the young hunter? How far has his imagination carried him? 7. Why is only the young hunter listening to him attentively? 8. Does the hunter (in the centre of the group) believe the old hunter's story? What makes you think he doesn't? 9. What are most hunters famous for?
SPEAK ON A PERSON YOU LIKE
1. Describe a person you like. What does he (she) look like? 2. Is he tall or short, what colour are his eyes (is his hair)? 3. Is he well-mannered? 4. How does he behave? 5. What attracts you most in him: his looks, manners or behaviour? 6. What is your idea of a well-mannered person (a handsome young man, a pretty girl)?
MAY I HAVE THE NEXT DANCE?
1. Do you enjoy dancing? 2. What are your favourite dances? 3. Which do you like better: modern dances or such "old" ones as the waltz, the fox-trot, etc? 4. What is the birthplace of the waltz (foxtrot, Charleston, twist, etc)? 5. Which of them is the most difficult to dance? 6. Have you got a good dancing partner? What's your idea of a good dancing partner? 7. Where are dances usually held? 8. Which is your favourite ball-room orchestra?
Ex 44 Read and retell the text.
A LOVE STORY
What happened between these two, Tom and Annie, was a remarkably beautiful thing, a kind of model of what love must be between two young people — simple, natural and fine. They told nobody about it because their love was a secret thing they wanted to keep to themselves.
They fell in love at school and it went on for a year and in the autumn Tom went away to Notre Dame* to college, but he didn't stay there. He came back secretly on week-ends. People had expected him to be a great Notre Dame football star, but nothing like that ever happened. He kept disappearing from college every week-end and was soon expelled.
In a way, these week-end meetings with Annie were the happiest times in all their lives together. They were young and in love and nothing else mattered.
In the spring Annie discovered that she was going to have a baby. She wasn't frightened. When she told Tom, he said quite simply, "We'll get married. That's the way it was meant to be."
Tom knew what it meant — that he would have to go to work at any job he could find, that he would never be able to bring her into his house, because his parents were against the marriage and he could expect no money from them. There were many other things that he did not tell her as he didn't want to hurt her.
They were married not in the church but by a Justice of the Peace.** They had between them but a few dollars. Tom got himself a job as an automobile salesman in Pittsburgh. In December the baby, a boy was born. Tom was only twenty and Annie was nineteen. They were perfectly happy and Tom did very well from the start.
Not long after the baby was born his family began trying to get him away from Annie. They missed him more than they had believed possible. They began writing to him, and an older brother came to Pittsburgh, but Tom didn't answer the letters and didn't talk to his brother. For about a year the family gave up the attempt and then began again. At last one of them, Annie never knew which one it was, sent Tom a telegram which read: "Father critically ill. Come at once."
Tom came home from the office, kissed the baby and Annie good-bye and went to Lewisburg. She never saw him alive again. His car met with an accident and Tom was killed.
Annie came to the funeral but never spoke to any of his family. Worst of all, she discovered that the father had never really been critically ill at all. The whole thing had been a trick.
A little less than a year after Tom's death the baby died of pneumonia. Annie was not quite twenty-two and alone in the world once more.
(After "What Became of Anna Bolton" by Louis Bromfield)
