A. Why did you come back in 2011?
B. Why did you apply to Oxford?
C. What did you study?
D. What kind of student were you in your twenties?
E. What have you taken away from your time at Oxford?
F. What were your impressions of Oxford at that time?
G. Were you involved in student politics?
H. Do you feel Oxford has changed?
1. ________________________________
Even as a young American girl I had a clear sense that Oxford was the origin and the centre of the English literary tradition. I graduated from Yale in 1984 and applied for a Rhodes Scholarship.
2. ________________________________
19th-century English literature, focusing on women novelists. I didnt finish my doctoral thesis, though a lot of the thinking went into my first book, The Beauty Myth.
3. ________________________________
There was a very strict class-system. It was a system that had no place for you no matter how smart or promising you might be. I didnt feel energised intellectually.
4. ________________________________
I spent most of my time in the common room at Oriel where my boyfriend and a lot of my male friends were chain-smoking and complaining about the weather.
5. ________________________________
I come from an academic family, so not having finished my doctorate felt as if I stopped working hard in some very great way. With Dr Stefano-Maria Evangelista at Trinity, Ive been working on the topic people laughed at 23 years ago: the origin of discourses about sexuality in the nineteenth century. When Im not working, I pack everything I can into every day: punting, student productions I just cant get enough.
6. ________________________________
It was always beautiful and impressive but it is now much more lively intellectually, more inclusive and diverse. Its the best educational experience Ive ever had. A more diverse student body has boosted intellectual life here to a much more exciting level. I used to feel Oxford was a beautiful artefact of contemporary life; now I feel its this fantastic whirlpool of ideas at the centre. I want to encourage my daughter to apply to Oxford because the level of teaching is outstanding compared to any university Ive been to. Some lectures were great, some were not; but now Im proud from how much Ive learned in 50 minutes. And the people who are presenting this are the best of the best of the academic world drawn from the international community.
7. ________________________________
What Oxford taught me, even in the Eighties, is that as long as youre asking a good question in a rigorous way, nothing is impossible. I like to write and lecture in the Oxford conversational style, which is anecdotal, funny and sophisticated; we really dont have that tradition in the United States. Finally, now that Im back in Oxford and its such a transformed place, its affecting me creatively, and Ive gone back to writing fiction and poetry as well as non-fiction.
(Adapted from: OXFORD TODAY MAGAZINE Volume 24 No 2 | Hilary 2012)
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A lot of English verbs need a definite preposition to be used after them. Match the verbs with prepositions that go with them. Use the text to help you when necessary.
1. to graduate the university
2. to apply a job/scholarship
3. to focus something
4. to come a large/small family
5. to laugh something
6. to work the topic
7. to affect something
10. Make up a few true sentences about yourself and 1 false one using phrases from Ex. 2. Work in pairs. Read the sentences to your partner. Can he/she guess which one is not true? Swap the roles.
Match the adjectives from the text with their opposites. Think of their Russian equivalents.
1) beautiful
2) impressive
3) diverse
4) exciting
5) contemporary
6) anecdotal
7) sophisticated
a) ugly
b) boring
c) similar
d) unimportant
e) old
f) clear, simple
g) scientific
12. Make up a similar interview with your partner. Discuss the differences between school and university life. Possible topics of discussion: schedule, free time, subjects, people.
Listening 2
