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Control work N 1. Education.



Факультет иностранных языков

Контрольная работа № 1

для студентов V курса заочного отделения.

(практика устной и письменной речи)

                                           Елабуга, 2006

 

Control work N 1. Education.

Text.

     School manifesto in Dispute.

     Sir, there are some sensible points in whose Schools? A radical Manifesto (report, December 29), though none of them radical. We all favour higher academic standards. No one with any sense can object to scrutinizing teaching and inspecting the inspectors. We are all against inefficiency, time-wasting bureaucracy and the intrusion into schools of extreme and damaging political ideologies when it comes to curriculum, the writers of whose schools? cause concern. Are they seriously questioning “curriculum reform” and “relevance”? Do they appreciate that the season for reforming O and A level syllabuses was that they were academically unsatisfactory? Do they realize that their “tried and tested subjects” have been found wanting - by academics, teachers and industrialists.

     The subjects exist through uncritical acceptance of past practice for which there exists no satisfactory rationale. Are they happy that schools, including the most prestigious, have produced generations of technological, economic and political “illiterates”?

     The curriculum has been reformed in order to make it more relevant to society’s needs and the needs of its individual members, who well hopefully contribute more effectively to the task of regenerating our industrial technical complex, to the invigoration of our political and social institutions, to the development of our academic and cultural life. If the writers of whose schools are against curriculum reform and relevance they are, whether they know it or not, against these aims as teacher, businessman and taxpayer, I don’t want my money squandered on irrelevant nonsense.

     At this year’s Headmasters’ Conference, the military historian Correlli Barnett, in relating Britain’s decline this century to its inadequate educational system, exhorted the assembled heads to drive a stake through the living corpse of Victorian education.

     The writers of whose schools’ are exhuming the corpse. If they succeed they will condemn us to certain continuing decline.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Hewlett, Principal Rawlins Community College.

 

Task 1. Read the text and say what makes the style of the letter coloquial. Analyse the tone of the letter and say how the programatic effect is achieved. Discuss the participant structure of the text and comment of the “we - they code” used in the letter.

     ???

Task 2. Give Russian equivalents to:

¨ to favour higher academic standards – предпочитать высокие академические стандарты

¨ to object to scrutinizing teaching – возражать против тщательной проверки учителей

¨ to be against inefficiency, time-wasting bureaucracy and the intrusion into schools – быть против неэффективности , бессмысленной бюрократии и вторжения в школы

¨ to come to curriculum – доходить до учебного плана

¨ to cause concern – вызывать беспокойство

¨ to exist through uncritical acceptance – существовать, несмотря на некритичное принятие

¨ to include the most prestigious – включая самые престижные

¨ to make smth relevant to society’s needs – сделать что-то подходящее для нужд общества

¨ to contribute to the task of regenerating smth – внести вклад в задачу восстановления чего - то

¨ invigoration of smth – активизация (восстановление) чего-то

¨ (in) relating smth to its inadequate educational.. – в отношении чего-то к его неполноценной образовательной..

¨ to want one’s money squandered on irrelevant nonsense – желать, чтобы чьи-либо деньги были растрачены на бессмысленную ерунду

 

Task 3. Write a letter to an intimate friend of yours commenting and touching on the problems you have tackled with in the text.

Notes.

1. Further education (FE) “последующее образование”, иногда - среднее специальное образование. Этот термин употребляется для обозначения любого образования (кроме высшего), получаемого выпускниками школы. В систему “последующего” образования входят колледжи, дающие среднее образование, коммерческие колледжи, профессионально-технические колледжи.

2. Post-compulsory education “послеобязательное” образование, образование, получаемое после обязательного обучения в возрасте 15, а с середины 70-х годов - с 16 лет.

3. the Robbins Committee Комиссия Робинзона (1963-64 гг.) В опубликованном Комиссией докладе (в 11 томах) была предпринята попытка рассмотреть состояние высшего образования в Великобритании и разработать план его дальнейшего развития.

4. the University Grants Committee (UGC) Университетский финансовый комитет (сокр. УФК, основ.в. 1919 г.) Занимается вопросами финансирования университетов , а также открытия, расширения и закрытия факультетов и отделений, штатного расписания и т.п. В настоящее время субсидии УФК, выплачиваемые университетам, превышают 70 %.

5. a binary system бинарная (двусоставная) система. Она предусматривает наличие двух самостоятельных секторов высшего образования: университетского (автономного) (the autonomous sector) и неуверситетского (государственного) (the public sector). Автономный сектор включает университеты и приравненные к ним колледжи, государственный - все остальные высшие учебные заведения и колледжи; иногда этот сектор называют политехническим.

6. The Open University (OU) Открытый университет (его раннее название - University of the Air). В Университет принимает студентов- англичан (достигших 21 года), работающих на производстве. Для поступающих в него не требуется никаких свидетельств об образовании. Процесс обучения в нем строится на широком использовании материалов для заочного обучения, радио, телевидения и аудио-визуальных средств и предусматривает краткосрочное пребывание в специальных летних учебных центрах, находящихся в различных частях страны.

7. adult education образование взрослых. Оно охватывает различные формы образования, как правило, непрофессионального, для взрослого населения, не вовлеченного в стационарную форму обучения в колледже или университете. Иногда этот термин употребляется в значении “непрерывное образование” (continuing education).

 

Факультет иностранных языков

Контрольная работа № 2

для студентов V курса заочного отделения.

(практика устной и письменной речи)

                                       Елабуга, 2006

                               

Control Work N 2.

Communication.

Read the following text.

     Recently I was teaching to a third-grade class. I threw out a number of ideas and asked the students to write something for me without worrying about grades or spelling. Most of the class got right away, but a few students looked puzzled, almost panicky. One girl said, “I want to write, but I just don’t know how to get started.”

     That wasn’t the first time one of my students had made that kind of statement or the first time I had thought about the problem of getting started. Many times during the years right after I graduated from College, I sat staring at blank paper wanting very much to write but unable or afraid to get started.

     At that moment I had an idea. I decided that after the rest of the class was through with writing I would talk with all the children about how people get themselves ready to work. This would not be intended as a way of criticising the students having trouble, but rather a way of getting the students to think about the rituals people develop to help themselves concentrate and do serious work.

     So that I wouldn’t embarrass anybody, I decided to start talking about my own problems with getting started and rituals I’ve developed to overcome them. I explained that each morning before I write I go to the photograph and decide what record I want to hear. The record I choose sets the tone and rhythm for my work.

     After putting on music, I place a bit, think about what I’m going to write, sit down slowly at my desk, adjust my pad of yellow lined paper to just the right angle, fiddle with my fountain-pen a bit, look off into space and then begin to write as if I’ve woken up from a trance. I write for about an hour and a half a day, no more.

     I explained that I’m a steady writer, but that a good friend of mine who’s also a writer works in a thoroughly different manner.

     After giving these examples, I asked if any student had ever had problems beginning to work and had come up with a personal solution. I was greeted with silence, and just when I was beginning to think that the student didn’t understand what I was talking about, one girl raised her hand. She said, “I heard an ice skater on TV the other night. She said she has to sit alone in a coner and think for a while before she can skate. Is that the kind of thing you mean?”

     One boy mentioned that he liked to close his eyes and shut everything out before he got to work. The girl who had said she didn’t know how to begin writig said that she was a bit like me. She said she liked to walk around and think before getting to work.

     I was becoming clear that the students were exciting by thinking of work habits as a personal matter. from this discussion I realized that the sdudents had come to think of work as something that had no personal style. For the most part, they considered it something one did because others insisted on it, rather than something that enriched them.

     Consequently, the students and I took a detour from writing and spent a lot of time looking at people’s working habits.

     At this point, I decided the children and I were ready to take the topic of work habits further and develop the whole curriculum around the theme of people working. There is no limit to the possibilities of bringning the real and rewarding world of personal, non-mechanical work into classroom.

 

 

Give English equivalents.

     To get started, to follow through, to get oneself ready to work, to overcome smth, to come up with a personal solution, to have a personal style, to have feedback from the class, clear aims and objectives; in (at) the primary / intermediate / advanced stage, to stimulate thinking, active response on the part of the class, to reprimand a lazybones, to lag behind the group, to treat smb badly, to be mixed up with smb, to be tongue-tied, peals of laughter, not to feel the time, to capture the attention, to impose silence, a complete and utter failure, to drill pupils in smth, to take attendance not to demand active responce from.

 

Read the text.

Факультет иностранных языков

Контрольная работа № 3

для студентов V курса заочного отделения.

(практика устной и письменной речи)

                                           Елабуга, 2006.

                                             

                                                Control Work N 3              

Silent Movies

     Talk to people who saw films for the first time when they were silent, and they will tell you the experience was magic. The silent film, with music, had extraordinary powers to draw an audience into the story, and an equally potent capacity to make their imagination work. They had to supply the voices and the sound effects, and because their minds were engaged, they appreciated the experience all the more. The audience was final creative contributor to the process of making a film.

     The films have gained a charm and other worldliness with age but, inevitably, they have also lost something. The impression they made when there was no rival to the moving picure was more profound, more intense; compared to the easily accessible pictures of today, it was the blow of a two-handed axe, against the blunt scraping of a tableknife.

     The silent period may be known as “The age of Innocence” but it included years unrivalled for their dedicated viciousness. In Europe, between 1914 and 1918 more men were killed to less purpose than at any other time in history.

In publications of the time, one reads horrified reactions against films showing “life as it is”. you didn’t leave the problems at home merely to encounter them again at the movies. You paid you money initially, for forgetfulness.

     Gradually movie-going altered from relaxation to ritual. In the big cities, you went to massive picture palaces, floating through incenseladen air to the strains of organ music, to worship at the Cathedral of Light. You paid homage to your favourite star; you dutifully communed with the fan magazines. You wore the clothes they wore in the movies; you bought the furniture you saw on the screen. You joined a congregation composed of every strata of society. And you shared your adulation with Shanghai, Sydney and Santiago. For your favourite pastime had become the most powerful cultural influence in the world - exceeding even that of the Press. The silent film was not only a vigorous popular art; it was a universal language - Esperanto for the eyes.

 

There are three main functions of the first silent movies singled out by the author in this extract. Pick them out and enlarge on them. Do you think that these functions are performed by modern films as well?

     II. Read the text for obtaining information.

     Room at the Top (1959) is commonly spoken of as a turning point in British cinema and a forerunner of the new realism.

     The first sighn of change are already seen in the Fee Cinema movement pioneered by Lindsay Anderson, Tony Richardson and Karel Reiz. They laid emphasis on the individual and his environment and dealt with the pressures, corruptions and frustrations of everyday life.

     Room at the Top, directed by Jay Clayton, still clung to some of the old box-office values. It was based on a best seller, it relied on stars (Laurence Harney and Simone Signoret). But at its core was a concern with human and an honesty in expressing them which sharply differentiated it from its contemporaries. The attention given to the film by the critics measured its importance. It was the big talking point. The clamour of mixed opinion led, in England at any rate, to a great box-office success.

     The large social and economic changes that had shaken the 1950s echoed into the 1960s. Pop art flourished. The Beatles sang and were compared with Beethoven. Affluence was everywhere, but so were poverty and crime.

     For the cinema the permissive cult pushed back the frontiers to territory ever more violent and erotic and compelled a revision of cinema censorship. The 1960s carried screen permissiveness about as far as it could go. The new films explored the new moralities and attitudes of the younger generations, and at the same time alienated numbers of older people whose minds were rusted up in the past.

     In 1967 the Federation of Films Unions produced a report in which they repeated the charge that British production was dominated by the USA, and that 70 percent of screen time in 1967 was occupied by foreign films.

     In 1970, because of trade uncertainty and the smaller number of films being made, the most promising film projects went “Automatically” to the major American companies.

     During the time of economic vacuum when so much of promise in film-making had been brought to nothing, British Lion passed into other hands.

 

Факультет иностранных языков

Контрольная работа № 6

для студентов V курса заочного отделения.

(практика устной и письменной речи)

                                           Елабуга, 2006.

 

 

             Control work N 6.

I.Read the text.

By Frank Moore Colby

     Down to (2) the outbreak of the war I had no more desire to converse with a Frenchman in his own language than with a modern Greek. I thought I understood French well enough for my own purposes, because I had read it of and on (3) for twenty years, but when the war aroused sympathies and sharpened that I had not felt before, I realized the width of the chasm that cut me off from what I wished to feel. Nor could it be bridged by any of the academic, natural, or commercial methods that I knew of. They were either too slow or they led in directions that I did not wish to go. I tried a phonofraph, and after many bouts (4) with it I acquired part of a sermon by Bossuet (5) and real fluency in discussing a quinsy sore throat with a Paris physician, in case I ever went and had one.(6) I then took fourteen conversation lessons from a Mme. Carnet (7), and being rather well on in years at the start (8), I should, If I had kept on diligently, have been able at the age of eighty-five to inquire faultlessly my way to the post-office. I could already ask for butter and sing a song written by Henry IV -when my teacher went to France to take care of her half-brother’s children. I will say this for Mme. Carnet. (9) I came to understand perfectly the French for all her personal and family affairs. No human being has ever confided in me so abundantly as she did. No human being has so sternly repressed any answering confidences of my own. Her method of instruction, if it was one, was that of jealous, relentless, unbridled soliloquy.(10)

     I fell in with (11) M.Bernou, the commissioner who was over here buying guns, and whose English and my French were so much alike that we agreed to interchange them. We met daily for two weeks and walked for an hour in the park, each tearing at the other’s language.(12) Our conversations, as I look back upon them, must have run about like this:

     “It calls to walk”, said he, smiling brilliantly.

     “It is good morning”, said I, “better than I had extended”.

     “It was at you yesterday the morning, but I did not find.”

     “I was obliged to leap early”, said I, “and I was busy standing up straight all around the forenoon”.

     “The book I prayed you send, he came, and I thank, but positively you are not deranged?”

     “Don’t talk”, I said. “Never talk again. It was really nothing anywhere. I had been very happy, I reassure.”

     “Pardon, I glide. I glode. There was the hide of a banana. Did I crash you?”

     “I notice no insults”, I replied. “You merely gnawed my arm”.

     Gestures and smiles of perfect understanding.

     I do not know whether Bernou, who like myself was middled-aged, felt as I did on these ocasions, but by the suppression of every thought that I could not express in my childish vocabulary, I came to feel exactly like a child. They said I ought to think in French but thinking in French when there is so little French to think with, divests the mind of its acquisitions of forty years.(13) Experience slips away for there are not words enough to lay hold of it. From the point of view of Bernou’s and my vocabulary, Central Park (14)

 

was as the Garden of Eden (15) after six months - new and unnamed things everywhere. A dog, a tree, a statue taxed all our powers of (16) description, and on a complex matter like a policeman our minds could not meet at all. We could only totter together a few steps in any mental direction. Yet there was a real pleasure in this earnest interchange of insipidities and they were highly valued on each side.

     Now at the end of a long year of these persistent puerilities (17) I am able to report two definite results: in the first place a sense of my incapacity and ignorance infinity vaster than when I began, and in the second a profound distrust of all Americans in the city of New York, who profess (18) an acquaintance with French culture, including teachers, critics, theatre, audiences and patronesses of visiting Frenchmen.

     I do not blame other Americans for dabbling in (19) French, since I myself am the worst of dabbles. But I see no reason why any of us should pretend that it is anything more than dabbling. The usual way of reading French does not lead even to an acquaintance with French literature. Everybody knows that words in a living language in oder to be understood have to be lived with. They are not felt as a part of living literature when you see them pressed out and labbeled in a glossary, but only when you hear them fly about. A word is not a definite thing susceptible of dictionary explanation. It is a cluster of associations, reminiscent of the sort of men that used it, suggestive of social class, occupation, mood, dignity or the lack of it, primness, violences, pedantries, or platitudes. It hardly seems necessary to say that words in a living literature ought to ring in the ear with the sounds that really belong to them, or that poetry without an echo cannot be felt.

     It may be that there is no way out of it. Perhaps it is inevitable that the colleges which had so long taught the dead language as if they were buried should now teach the living ones as if they were dead.

 

Notes

1. Gallomaniac -one who is crazy about everything French (англомания).

2. down to -from an earlier period to some specified time or date. E.g. From the feudal times down to the French revolution the French peasant’s life was that of misery.

3. off and on - from time to time, every now and then, not continuously, irregularly,e.g. His job involves going abroad off and on.

4. bout - period of active, strenuous activity; fight, an atack, as a bout with an enemy, a boxing bout also a fit of illness, as a bout of insomnia, a coughing bout, a drinking bout.

5. Bossuet, Jacques Benign (1602-1704) - a French preacher and writer.

6. in case I ever went there and had one - the clause has a strong ironical ring, emphasizing the utter uselessness of the kind of knowledge he had obtained.

7. a Mme. Carnet [ka: ‘net] - a certain Mme.Carnet.

8. rather well on in years at the start - far from being young when I began

9. I will say this for Mme.Carnet - there is one thing I can say in favour of Mme. Carnet.

10. soliloquy (fig) - monologue; the string of epithets are used to emphasize that the author had a chance of uttering a single word.

11. to fall in with - to meet by chance.

12. each tearing at the other’s language (fig) - distoring each other’s language by using wrong and poor grammar, by mispronouncing words, etc. The dialogue that follows serves as an illustration to this.

13. divests the mind of its acquisitions of forty years- makes a man forget everything he has learnt in the course of forty years.

14. Central Park - a park in Manhattan, New York.

15. Garden of Eden (bibl) - the garden in which Adam and Eve lived.

16. to tax one’s powers - to put a strain on one’s ability to ..., as to tax one’s patience.

17. persistent puerilities - the author’s persistent attempts to behave in a silly childish way.

18. to profess - to claim falsery, to allege, to pretend, e.g. He professed a profound knowledge of Oriental history.

19. to dabble in - to study something just off and on, not seriously or continuously, as to dabble in music, politics, art.

 

Учась у компьютеров.

     Школа, как все мы помним с детства, связана с запоминанием таблиц умножения, с классными досками, мелом, карандашами и ластиками. Но это - дело прошлого. В британских школах все, что когда-то было необходимым для образования, быстро заменяется электронным источником всех знаний - компьютером. Компьютеры впервые появились в школах почто 30 лет назад. Те учителя, которые были готовы экспериментировать с новой технологией, скоро обнаружили, что дети, с присущей им любознательностью, овладевают компьютерным мастерством намного быстрее, чем взрослые. Проведенные обзоры, показывают, что компьютер обогащает изучение предметов на всех уровнях, раскрывает границы воображения и способствует развитию созидательных способностей учеников. Уроки, которые ведутся с изобретательностью и использованием живой графики, побуждают детей активно участвовать в процессе обучения. Дети проявляют значительно более позитивный подход к обучению. Теперь, например, они могут рассматривать какую-то популярную книгу, но не перелистывать ее страницы, а общаясь с компьютеризированному варианту - аудио-визуальному комплексу движущихся изображений, звука и фотоснимков. Компьютерные сети обеспечивают школьникам доступ к огромному количеству глобальной информации: такие сети могут связать их со школами в других странах или с исследовательскими организациями у себя на родине.

     “Кэмпус -2000”- грандиозная компьютеризированная сеть образования, которая действует в 8500 школах, колледжах и университетов страны. Система предоставляет программы языкового обучения из 20 стран и дает возможность британским студентам обсуждать темы, представляющие интерес, с учениками в Европе, США, Индии, Японии, Австралазии и даже в отдаленных местах. “Кэмпус -2000” дает возможность пользоваться прибегать к помощи электронной почты и услуг Национальной информационной службы средств образования, которая предоставляет материалы, связанные с учебными программами, и информацию о последних достижениях компьютерной технологии учителям школ и преподавателям университетов те, кто работают в мире образования, прекрасно сознают огромные возможности электронной технологии для развития интеллектуального потенциала, и они полностью используется преимущества технологии завтрашнего дня, применяя компьютеры в школах сегодня.

 

XI.Read the text.

Факультет иностранных языков

Контрольная работа № 7

для студентов V курса заочного отделения.

(практика устной и письменной речи)

Елабуга, 2006

Control Work 7

Environment Protection.

Holiday . Tourism.

II. Answer the questions.

1. Why does the writer compare the arrival of tourists to a medieval army?

2. Why does the writer hate mass tourism?

3. According to the writer, what has one result of the modern holiday industry been?

4. What does the writer imply about the way many tourists travel?

5. How have the local people benefited from tourism?

6. According to the writer, why does tourism bring the nations together?

 

III.

     The writer of the text lives in a small town in Wales, which receives large numbers of tourists every year. Identify the extended metaphor used by the writer to refer to the effects of tourism. Underline the words which helped you decide.

 

IV.

     Which parts of your country are particulary affected by tourism. Make a list of the positive and negative effects of tourism in these places.

 

Факультет иностранных языков

Контрольная работа № 4

для студентов V курса заочного отделения.

(практика устной и письменной речи)

Елабуга, 2006

CONTROL WORK ¹ 4.

Text “BEWARE OF _LOVE” by George Mikes

          By means of posters, advertisements, lectures & serious scientific books, people are taught how to avoid or cure flu, smallpox, a broken ankle & mumps; at the same time the major part of the world’s literature ( which is not to be confused with world literature ), almost all the films, magazine stories & radio plays persuade you in an indirect way to catch a much more serious disease than any illness, universally known under the name love.

     The main symptoms of the disease are:

1) The germ - a charming young lady in some cases, not so charming & not so young in others - makes the silliest & most commomplace remarks & you consider her wittier than Oscar Wild, deeper than Pascal & more original than Bernard Shaw.

2) She calls you Pootsie, Angelface & other stupid & humiliating names; you are enchanted & coo with delight.

3) She has no idea what is the difference between UNESCO & L. C. C. & you find it disarmingly innocent.

4) Whenever she flirts with others & is rude & cruel to you, you buy her a bunch of flowers & apologize to her. If she misbehaves seriously, you buy her jewelry.

     The overwhelming majority of novels, short stories, films, etc. teach you that this dangerous mental & physical ailment is something glorious, desirable & romantic. Who are you to question the wisdom of this teaching? You are expected to take the lesson of these high authorities to heart & believe that the world is mostly inhabited by lovers who commit murders & murderers who fall in love.

     * * *

     The least intelligible thing of all is the fact that love is constantly confused with marriage. Even if we accept the thesis that love is all-right because it is a “natural thing” we should, I think, insist that it should be kept out of marriage. You are supposed to choose your future spouse when you are absolutely incapable of so doing. You have to choose him or her when you are in love, i.e. when you think silliness wisdom, affectation real charm, selfishness a good joke & a pretty face the most desirable of all human attributes. You would never send a deaf man to buy gramophone records, a blind man to buy you paintings & an illiterate man to choose you books; but you are expected to choose the person whom you are going to hear more than your favourite records, see oftener than any of your pictures & whose remarks will be more familiar to you than the pages of your most treasured book - in a state of deafness, blindness & illiteracy. You may be fortunate: there are a great number of records, pictures & books around & even the deaf, blind & the illiterate may make a lucky shot. You may discover that there is nothing much in your choice, except that you bought a rousing match instead of a pastorale, an impressive battle scene instead of a still life, a copy of War and Peace instead of The Ideal Husband. Or else, in two years time, you may realize that silk stockings & the films she likes - or the game of billiards he is so terribly fond of - are not the only things that excite you & that to be called “Pootsie” over the age of thirty-five is slightly inappropriate. You may wish your wife knew that Vladivostok in not about illness of which Napoleon died after the siege of Sebastopol. But then it is too late.

     I suggest:

1) Any propaganda inciting to love (in films, short stories, novels, paintings, etc.) should be made a criminal offence. The author of such a piece should be sent to a desert island with his beloved for five years.

2) Any person falling in love should be sent to quarantine in a similar way.

3) Love should be abolished altogether.

NOTES

Pascal, Blaise (1623-62) - French scientist & religious philosopher. His scientific work was wide: he found the foundation for the modern theory of probabilities, invented the mathematical triangle (Pascal’s triangle), formulated Pascal’s law, etc.

UNESCO (abbrev.) - United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization - agency of UN, headquarters in Paris, established in 1946. Furthers world peace by encouraging interchange of ideas & achievements & improving & expanding education.

L. C. C. - London County Council, the body of persons elected to govern London County.

To make lucky shot (fig.) - to get exactly what you desire ( a lucky shot implies that a person who can’t shoot well has managed to hit the target )

a rousing match - a loud march intended to rouse a person to action; a pastorile - a piece of music dealing with country life, suggesting sth peaceful, sweet, lyrical & poetic

still life - a painting of fruit, flowers, things (Fr. Nature morte)

 

Exercise 1. Translate the following spech patterns. Make up 5 examples with each of them.

1. Who are you to question the wisdom of this teaching? Who is he to raise his voice against public opinion? Who am I to doubt the truth of this saying? Who are they to ignore the traditions of the community? Who is he to despise his elders? Who are you to criticize acknowledged scientists? Who am I to doubt the value of his experience?

2. The least intelligible thing of all is the blindness of fond parents. The least conceivable thing of all is the selfishness of the younger generation. The least credible thing of all is the self-assurance of the ignoramus. The least intelligible thing of all is the fact that the less a person knows the more conceited & self-assured he is.

 

Exercise 2. Replace the italicized parts of the sentences by equivalents from the text.

1. Most books, short stories, films, etc. lead a person to believe without saying it in so many words that he or she should try to catch a dangerous disease, generally known under a name which makes it seem attractive. 2. This grave disease is presented as something wonderful, splendid & worth having. 3. Morecver you are not supposed to doubt the truth of this theory. 4. It is hard to account for the fact that love & marriage are regarded as synonyms. 5. Some people believe it reasonable to assert that love should have nothing or little to do with marriage. 6. Putting this & that together it seems logical to regard various ways of encouraging love as punishable by law.

Exercise 3. Find in the text English equivalents for the following:

a) афиша; избегать; вылечивать; большая часть; убеждать кого-л.; окольным путём; широко известный под названием; симптом; возбудитель; заболевание (2); заразиться

b) банальный; остроумный; глупый (2); унизительный; восторженный; блистательный; желательный; подавляющее большинство; непонятный; спутать с чем-л.; исключать ( не допускать); глухота; слепота; неграмотность; любимая пластинка; книга, которой дорожишь; картина битвы; осада; натюрморт; неуместный; подстрекать; уголовное деяние; отменить

 

     Exercise 4. Answer the following questions:

1) How are people taught to avoid or cure dangerous diseases? 2) How are they encouraged to catch a more dangerous disease? 3) What are the main symptoms of this disease? 4) What does the cverwhelming majority of novels or magazine stories teach you? What are you expected to believe? 5) What should love not be confused with? 6) Why does the author believe that love should be kept out of marriage? What makes a person in love incapable of making the right choice? 7) Is one likely to make a lucky or at least acceptable choice? 8) How soon & why may one discover he ( she ) has made a blunter? 9) What does the author suggest?

 

     Exercise 5. Retell the text using the following words & phrases:

a) by means of; to avoid; to cure; at the same time; the major part of; almost all the films ( etc. ); to persuade; to catch a disease; main symptoms; germ; silly; common-place; witty; original; stupid; humiliating; enchanting; disarmingly innocent; to flirt; to apologize; to misbehave; the overwhelming majority; mental; ailment; glorious; desirable; to question; high authorities; to inhabit

b) intelligible; constantly; to confuse; to keep out of; to be supposed to; incapable (of); silliness; affectation; selfishness; human attributes; deaf; gramophone records; blind; illiterate; favourite; a great number of; to make a lucky shot; rousing march; still life; or else; a game of billiards; to be terribly fond of; to excite; criminal offence; desert island; to send to quarantine; to abolish

 

     Exercise 6. Choose the proper word:

( quality - attribute - property )  

1. Physical strength is one of the ...(s) of the males in the family. 2. The laboratory is testing the ...(s) of the new elements. 3. There was only one ... in a woman that appealed to him - charm. 4. They were fascinated by the elegant bronze sculpture of Mercury, the messenger of the gods, with the usual ..., winged sandals. 5. There was a magic wand in her tiny hand, the ... of supernatural power. 6. The ... I respect her for is kindness. 7. The ...(s) of the metal are still unknown.

( illiterate - ignorant )

1. His speech is positevely ... . 2. “How can you rely on the judgement of a superficial & ... person?” 3. The disputants on both sides were ... of the matter they were disputing about. 4. You might read all the books in the British Museum & still remain an utterly ..., uneducated person.

( to incite - to encourage )

              1. The trouble was ... by paid agents. 2. Since early childhood the girl was ... to cultivate a taste for art.

( confuse - mix )

1. The doctor ... some sleeping drug for me. 2. He is crowding on eighty & often ... names & places. 3. There was ...(ed) company in the house & he found it amusing to watch them. 4. She gave a ...(ed) account of the events of the preceding night. 5. “You ... me, & how can I transact business if I am ... ? Let’s be clear-headed.”

 

Exercise 7. Quote from the text that the author considers: a) love to be a handicap that often blurs one’s vision & prevents a person from showing good judgement in choosing a wife ( husband ); b) the author is not altogether pessimistic: he believes there is always a chance, however slim, that you will not blunder, blind as you are, & your choice may prove to be more or less acceptable.

Exercise 8. Choose one of the suggested below topics & write a short essay on it.

1. Should a happy marriage be based on love alone or should other considerations come in as well?

2. Give examples from literature describing unions based on a) love that didn’t work, b) a marriage of convenience which eventually lead to a life of mutual respect, c) love that lasted till the end of one’s life, d) love that led to a tagedy.

3. Love at first sight ( the pros & cons ).

4. What do you think of the author’s poit of view?

 

              Exercise 9. Give a free translation of the following text using the suggested words below:

Любящий муж

     Марианна уехала погостить к своей матери. Не потому, что между нами, как говорится, пробежала чёрная кошка, а просто потому, что в последнее время она сильно тосковала по отчему дому, и я сказал ей, что она нуждается в небольшом отдыхе, а я сам справлюсь со всеми хозяйственными делами. Итак, она уехала. В первый же вечер, когда я остался один, зазвонил телефон.

     - Привет, - раздался возбуждённый голос. - Это я. Томасен. Я слышал, Марианна уехала к родителям. Не хочешь приехать поиграть в карты? Такая погода, что ничего другого не остаётся. Тут у меня ещё два приятеля, и нам как раз не хватает четвёртого для полного комплекта. Как ты на это смотришь?

     Я смотрел на это отрицательно.

     - Нет, - сказал я. - Не могу. Я должен написать письмо Марианне.

     - Но ведь она только что уехала. Она ещё, наверное, в пути.

     - Неважно. Всё равно я должен написать ей сегодня письмо.

     Когда на следующий день я делал в городе покупки, я наткнулся на двух своих коллег.

     - Пойдём, поиграем на бильярде, - предложил один.

     - Такая погода, что всё равно делать больше нечего, - добавил другой.

     - Нет, - сказал я, пряча глаза. - Я должен идти домой писать письмо жене.

     - Разве это не может подождать до завтра?

     Но я упорно стоял на своём.

     - Я должен отпустить письмо в почтовый ящик не позже 20.15, а то оно не дойдёт до завтра.

     - А почему тебе нужно, чтобы оно дошло именно завтра?

     Я вытащил из кармана ключи от автомобиля.

     - Что вы в этом понимаете? - сказал я, сел в машину и поехал домой писать письмо Марианне.  

     На следующий вечер снова раздался телефонный звонок.

     - Привет, - раздался радостный голос. - Это опять я, Томасен. Послушай, Ирма ушла на показ моделей одежды, и мы тут сидим втроём и жаждем четвёртого в шестьдесят шесть. Как тебе такой вариант?

     Такой вариант меня не устраивал.

     - Нет, - сказал я, - ничего не получится. Я должен написать письмо Марианне, а ты знаешь, какую трудность представляет для меня написание писем, а особенно от руки. Марианна не любит, если я печатаю письма на машинке, так что, боюсь, это займёт целый вечер.

     - Так ведь ты же писал позавчера. Вы женаты уже 12 лет. Разве обязательно писать именно сегодня?

     - Обязательно.

     Он рассердился и бросил трубку.

     На следующий день я случайно встретил его в городе.

     - Эй, - крикнул он, - куда это ты несёшься с такой скоростью? Поворачивай обратно, пойдём поиграем в кегли.

     - Нет, - сказал я, - у меня нет времени. Я должен идти домой писать письмо Марианне.

     Он отступил два шага назад и вытаращенными глазами начал оглядывать меня с ног до головы.

     - Скажи мне, - произнёс он наконец, - что с тобой произошло с тех пор, как уехала Марианна? Тебя никогда не приходилось долго упрашивать поиграть в карты, и ты никогда не сопротивлялся, если тебя приглашали сыграть партию на бильярде. Но теперь ты ведёшь себя совершенно непонятно. Ну давай, пошли.

     - Нет, - сказал я, - не выйдет. Я должен написать письмо. Для меня очень важно опустить его в ящик до 20.15.

     - Почему? Скажи же наконец. Обещаю тебе, что я буду нем как рыба.

     Я был припёрт к стенке, и мне ничего не оставалось, как сказать ему правду.

     - Ну, в общем, - пробормотал я, - перед тем, как уехать, она сказала, что если я не буду писать каждый день, она немедленно вернётся домой.

Вилли Брайнхольст ( “Литературная газета “, 1977 )

WORDS :

     not because something has come between us; what do you think of it?; to shift one’s eyes; stubbornly stand one’s ground; nothing doing; to throw down the receiver; to play ninepins; stepped back two paces & stared at me with wide-open eyes; one never had to beg ( entreat ) you to play a game of cards; you never put up any resistance; let’s go; nothing doing; silent as a grave; driven into a corner; there was nothing for me but

 

Контрольная работа № 4

для студентов V курса заочного отделения.

(практика устной и письменной речи)

Составители: Поспелова Н.В.

 

 

 

 

Федеральное агентство по образованию

Елабужский государственный педагогический университет

Факультет иностранных языков

Контрольная работа № 5

для студентов V курса заочного отделения.

(практика устной и письменной речи)

Елабуга, 2006

CONTROL WORK ¹5.

TOPIC: BOOKS & READING

TEXT “THE INVISIBLE JAPANESE GENTLEMEN”

By Graham Greene

     There were eight Japanese gentlemen having a fish dinner at Bentley’s. They spoke to each other rarely in their incompehensive tongue, but always with a courteous smile & often with a small bow. All but one of them wore glasses. Sometimes the pretty girl who sat in the window beyond gave them a passing glance, but her own problem seemed too serious for her to pay real attention to anyone in the world except herself & her companion.

     She had thin blond hair & her face was pretty & petite in a Regency way, oval like a miniature, though she had a harsh way of speaking - perhaps the accent of the school, Roedean or Cheltenham Ladies’ College, which she had hot long ago left. She wore a man’s signet-ring on her engagement finger, & as I sat down at my table, with the Japanese gentleman between us, she said, “So you see we could marry next week.”

     “Yes?”

     Her companion appeared a little distraught. He refilled their glasses with Chablis & said, “ Of course, but Mother...” I missed some of the conversation then, because the eldest Japanese gentleman leant across the table, with a little smile & a little bow, & uttered a whole paragraph like the mutter from an aviary, while everyone bent towards him & smiled & listened, & I couldn’t help attending to him myself.

     The girl’s fiance resembled her physically. I could see them as two miniatures hanging side by side on white wood panels. He should have been a young officer in Nelson’s navy in the days when a certain weakness & sensitivity were no bar to promotion.

     She said, “They are giving me an advance of five hundred pounds, & they’ve sold the paperback rights already.” The hard commercial declaration came as a shock to me; it was a shock too that she was one of my own profession. She couldn’t have been more than twenty. She deserved better of life.

     He said, ”But my uncle...”

     “You know I don’t get on with him. This way we shall be quite independent.”

     “You will be independent,” he said grudgingly.

     “The wine-trade wouldn’t really suit you, would it? I spoke to my publisher about you & there’s a very good chance... if you began with some reading...” 

     “But I don’t know a thing about books.”

     “I would help you at the start.”

     “My mother says that writing is a good crutch...”

     “Five hundred pounds & half the paperback rights is a pretty solid crutch,” she said.

     “This Chablis is good, isn’t it?”

     “I daresay.”

     I began to change my opinion of him - he had not the Nelson touch. He was doomed to defeat. She came alongside & raked him fore & aft. “Do you know what Mr. Dwight said?”

     “Who’s Dwight?”

     “Darling, you don’t listen, do you? My publisher. He said he hadn’t read a first novel in the last ten years which showed such power of observation.”

     “That’s wonderful,” he said sadly, “wonderful.”

     “Only he wants me to change the title.”

     “Yes?”

     “He doesn’t like The Ever-Rolling Stream. He wants to call it The Chelsea Set.”

     “What did you say?”

     “I agreed. I do think that with a first novel one should try to keep one’s publisher happy. Especially when, really, he’s going to pay for our marriage, isn’t he?”

     “I see what you mean .” Absent-mindedly he stirred his Chablis with a fork - perhaps before the engagement he had always bought champagne. The Japanese gentlemen had finished their fish & with very little Endlish but with elaborate courtesy they were ordering from the middle-aged waitress a fresh fruit-salad. The girl looked at them, & then she looked at me, but I think she saw only the future. I wanted very much to warn her against any future based on a first novel called The Chelsea Set. I was on the side of his mother. It was a humiliating thought, but I was probably about his mother’s age.

     I wanted to say to her, Are you certain your publisher is telling you the truth? Publishers are human. They may sometimes exaggerate the virtues of the young & the pretty. Will The Chelsea Set be read in five years? Are you prepared for the years of efforts, ‘the long defeat of doing nothing well’? as the years pass writing will not become any easier, the daily effort will grow harder to endure, those ‘powers of observation’ will become enfeebled; you will be judged, when you reach your forties, by performance & not by promise.

     “My next novel is going to be about St. Tropez.”

     “I didn’t know you’d ever been there.”

     “I haven’t. A fresh eye’s terribly important. I thought we might settle down there for six months.”

     “There wouldn’t be much left of the advance by that time.”

     “The advance is only an advance. I get fifteen per cent after five thousand copies & twenty per cent after ten. And of course another advance will be due, darling, when the next book’s finished. A bigger one if The Chelsea Set sells well.”

     “Suppose it doesn’t.”

     “Mr. Dwight says it will. He ought to know.”

     “My uncle would start me at twelve hundred.”

     “But, darling, how could you come then to St. Tropez?”

     “Perhaps we’d better to marry when you come back.”

     She said harshly, “I mightn’t come back if The Chelsea Set sells enough.”

     “Oh.”

     She looked at me & the party of Japanese gentlemen. She finished her wine. She said, “Is this a quarrel?”

     “No.”

     “I’ve got the title for the next book - The Azure Blue.”

     “I thought azure was blue.”

     She looked at him with disappointment. “You don’t want really to be married to a novelist, do you?”

     “You aren’t one yet.”

     “I was born one - Mr. Dwight says. My power of observation...”

     “Yes. You told me that, but, dear, couldn’t you observe a bit nearer home? Here in London.”

     “I’ve done that in The Chelsea Set. I don’t want to repeat myself.”

     The bill had been lying beside them for some time now. He took out his wallet to pay, but she snatched the paper out of his reach. She said, “This is my celebration.”

     “What of?”

     “The Chelsea Set, of course. Darling, you’re awfully decorative, but sometimes - well, you simply don’t connect.”

     “I’d rather... if you don’t mind...”

     “No, darling, this is on me. And Mr. Dwight, of course.”

     He submitted just as two of the Japanese gentlemen gave tongue simultaneously, then stopped abruptly & bowed to each other, as though they were blocked in a doorway.

     I had thought of the two young people matching miniatures, but what a contrast in fact there was. The same type of prettiness could contain weakness & strength. Her Regency counterpart, I suppose, would have borne a dozen children without the aid of anaesthetics, he would have fallen an easy victim to the first dark eyes in Naples. Would there one day be a dozen books on her shelf? They have to be borne without an anaesthetic too. I found myself hoping that The Chelsea Set would prove to be a disaster & that eventually she would take up photographic modelling while he established himself solidly in the wine-trade in St. James’s. I didn’t like to think of her as the Mrs. Humphrey Ward of her generation - not that I would live so long. Old age saves us from the realization of a great many fears. I wondered to which publishing firm Dwight belonged. I could imagine the blurb he would have already written about her abrasive powers of observation. There would be a photo, if he was wise, on the Back of the Jacket, for reviewers, as well as publishers, are human, & she didn’t look like Mrs. Humphrey Ward.

     I could hear them talking while they found their coats at the back of the restaurant. He said, “I wonder what all those Japanese are doing there?”

     “Japanese?” she said. “What Japanese, darling? Sometimes you are so evasive I think you don’t want to marry me at all.”

Notes

Bentley’s - a London restaurant

petite (Fr.) - small, delicate

in a Regency way - The author means that the girl had clean-cut features & looked ethereal & delicate. The period in English history known as the Regency refers to the last nine years of the reign of George III (1811-1820) when, due to his periodic insanity, government was conducted in the name of the Prince of Wales (later George IV). Social colour was given by a gay & dissolute group around the Prince Regent. There was a flowering of arts, letters & architecture. Regency style in archtecture was represented by John Nash who initiated it.

Cheltenham - a town, a fashionable watering place in Glostershire

engagement finger - the third finger on the left hand on which the engagement ring is worn before marriage

Chablis -White Burgundy, a white wine made in the region of Chablis, a town in the north-central France

aviary - an enclosure for live birds

in Nelson’s navy in the days when...- at the beginning of the 19th century. Nelson was killed in 1805 after winning the battle of Trafalgar.

a solid crutch - something helpful. The word is used in a derogatory sense, probably implying that money made by writing would come in handy, yet it couldn’t be regarded as a steady source of income (a person who has two legs to stand on doesn’t need a crutch).

he had not the Nelson touch - he had not the makings of a successful man

came alongside & raked him fore & aft (metaph. paraphr.; nautical terms used figuratively) - attacked him; to rake - to sweep the lengh of a ship with gunfire; fore & aft - from bow to stern; Russ. развернулась и дала бортовой залп

The Chelsea Set : Chelsea is a borough in S. W. London; formerly, like Kensington, a country village with many distinguished residents; it became the chief artistic & literary quarter of London, priding itself on its Bohemianism

St. Tropez - a resort on French Riviera

would start me at twelve hundred - I would get twelve hundred pounds a year for the first job (‘and then get a rise’ is what is implied).

decorative - (here) good-looking

this is on me (colloq.) - I’ll pay the bill

They have to be borne without an anaesthetic (metaph. paraphr.). The author emphasizes that writing books is hard & painful.

St. James’s - St. James’s Street which runs from St. James’s Palace to Piccadilli is the chief thoroughfare of the district known as ‘St. James’s’, which is the home of the fashionable bachelor, with lodgings & shops catering for his needs. There are many handsome clubs in St. James’s St., as to a bachelor in particular his club is a most serviceable institution.

Mrs. Humphrey Ward (nee Arnold) (1851-1920) - an English novelist, wrote many sober novels such as Robert Elsmere (1888) & others

blurb - a publisher’s statement concerning the author or a book containing a discription of its chief characteristics, usually excessively flattering & complimentary

 
     Exercise 1. Translate the following sentences into Russian. Make up 5 examples with the given structures.

     1. The declaration came as a shock to me. His promotion came as a surprise to me. His conception came as a revelation to them. His sudden death came as a blow to her. His harsh words came as a shock to her.

     2. I found myself hoping that the book would be a disaster. He found himself hoping that something might prevent their marriage. She found herself dreaming that a second novel would be out soon. He found himself toying with the idea that her ambitious plans would come to nothing.

     3. I could imagine the blurb he would have already written. She could imagine the false promises he would have already made. He could imagine the lies she would have already told her family. I could imagine the flattering things he would have already written to the editor. 

 

     Exercise 2. Replace the italicized parts of the sentences wih equivalents from the text:

     1. They didn’t speak much in that strange language of theirs, yet when they did they always smiled politely. 2. The pretty girl seemed so absorbed in her own affairs that she hardly noticed anything in the world. 3. Her voice didn’t ring sweet. 4. The young man looked somewhat troubled or confused. 5. He closely watched the young couple who looked very much alike. 6. Why shouldn’t I try to please the editor? 7. Look here, I’m going to pay the bill. 8. She quickly seized the slip of paper so that he couldn’t reach it.

 

     Exercise 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following:

      на непонятном языке; вежливая улыбка (поклон); встревоженно; не помеха для чего-л.; потрясти кого-л.; ладить с кем-л.; нехотя; понятия не иметь о чём-л.; на первых порах; обречён на неудачу; наблюдательность; наблюдать; сделать то, что ему хочется; изысканная вежливость; предостеречь; унизительная мысль; преувеличивать достоинства молодых; ежедневные усилия (напряжение); станет труднее переносить; ослабеть; судить по тому, что сделано; обосноваться где-л.; полагается ещё один аванс; а что если нет?; может, было бы разумнее жениться, когда..; резко; я оплачу счёт; подчиниться; без помощи обезболивающих средств; пасть жертвой; оказаться катастрофой; в конце концов; лестная аннотация  

 

     Exercise 4. Translate  the  following  sentences  into  English using  a) no bar to;

b) drudgingly, grudge; c) evasive ( evasively):

     a) 1. Иногда скромность не препятствует успеху. 2. Оказалось, что отсутствие внешней привлекательности (good looks) не помешало ей быть счастливой в семейной жизни. 3. Некоторая неуверенность в себе не помешала ему получить повышение по службе. 4. Различия во взглядах не были помехой в их многолетней дружбе.

     б) 1. Шеф неохотно одобрил мой план. 2. Хотя она и знала, что девочке нужны новые ботинки, но деньги она дала нехотя. 3. Отчиму казалось, что мальчик относится к нему недружелюбно. 4. Он затаил против неё какую-то обиду. 5. Разве у вас есть основания испытывать к нему недружелюбие.

     с) 1. Он ответил нам уклончиво. 2. На вашем месте я бы не относился серьёзно к такому неопределённому обещанию. 3. Он ответил ни да, ни нет.

 

     Exercise5. Answer the following questions:

     1. Where is the scene laid? 2. What does the author point out in describing the Japanese gentlemen? 3. What is the first impression of the couple in the window?

4. What problem are they discussing? 5. Why does the girl take such as optimistic view of her future? 6. What does the young man disagree with her about? Why does he quote or try to quote his relatives? 7. What is the author’s reaction when he learns the pretty girl has written a novel? 8. What does he want to warn her against? 9. What proves a young man is agaist a hasty marriage? 10. How is the matter of the bill settled? 11. How soon does the author realize he has been misled by the young men’s seeming resemblance? 12. What does he find himself hoping for? 13. What shows the author knows all the niceties of his trade? 14. In what way is the last paragraph revealing? 15. What does the title of the story suggest?

 

     Exercise 6. Additional questions to answer. (Make sure you have read the story carefully.)

     1. The author mentions several times that the pretty girl looked in his direction ( in fact, twice at him & three times at the Japanese gentlemen)? Why does he do it?

     2. Epithets are used to describe the way each of the young people spoke. How many of them are used & what for?

     3. What details can you find in the story revealing that the person who tells the story is a writer?

     4. What does the author want to bring home to the reader by entitling the sroty the way he did?

 

     Exercise7. Quote from the story that:

     1. the young man a) is worried & somewhat resentful; b) doesn’t share his fiancee’s optimism; c) makes a weak attempt to counterattact; d) asks an ironical question;

     2. the pretty girl a) is extremely self-confident; b) sees things through rose-coloured spectacles; c) is practical-minded; d) seems to be fond of her fiance & is eager to get married; e) is a far cry from what she thinks she is;

     3. the writer a) misses nothing of what is going on around him; b) is interested in watching people; c) knows his job; d) his life experience has saddened him & made him aware of the seamy side of his experience of his profession.

 

     Exercise 8. Give a free translation of the following text using the suggested words:

  Недовольные персонажи

     Мне приснилось, что я попал в рай.

     И вдруг я заметил группу женщин в костюмах разных эпох. Женщины, казалось, были чем-то раздражены. Они сновали из стороны в сторону, и я понял, что они несчастны.

     - Это героини знаменитых романов, - пояснила сопровождающая меня душа. - Точнее, женщины, которых писатели сделали героинями своих произведений. Все они жалуются, что авторы либо обезличили, либо оклеветали их. Нам пришлось изолировать этих дам, ибо стоит им увидеть какого-нибудь писателя, даже неповинного ущерба, причинённом другим автором, начинаются горькие упрёки или бурные сцены, нарушающее здешнее благоденствие. Лучше держаться от них подальше..

     Но разве можно было упустить такой великолепный сюжет для газетной статьи - что думает героиня о прославившем её произведении? Поэтому я решительно направился к красавице в греческой тунике и, узнав в ней прекрасную Елену, приветствовал её словами из третьей песни “Илиады” Гомера:

                                 Нет, осуждать

                                 невозможно, что

                                 Твои сыны и ахейцы

                                 Брань за такую жену

                                 и беды столь

                                      долгие терпят:

                                 Истинно, вечным

                                 богиня она

                                 красотою подобна!

     И тут произошло то, о чём предупреждал мой провожатый. Едва красавица услышала стихи, сочинённые в её честь, она содрогнулась от гнева, розы с её ланит исчезли, они метнули молнии, и мне почудилось, что передо мною одна из Фурий:

     - Кто ты, о дерзкий пришелец, - возопила она, - что, вновь оскорбляя меня, будишь мой праведный гнев? Три с лишним тысячи лет я страдаю от тяжких последствий дурацкой, ненужной огласки, коей предал несчастный моё увлеченье Парисом. Оно никого не касалось и было моим личным делом. Сами бессмертные боги мне тогда его ниспослали. Однако же в эту историю впутались многие люди... Мой муж Меленай был ревнив, непригож и брюзжал непрестанно. Я сбежала к Парису. Подумаешь, дело какое! Стоило ли ради него сочинять древнегреческий эпос! Из-за меня разве греки осаду предприняли Трои? Нет, причины войны совершенно иные. Известно, что люди воюют за сферы влияния, за власть на морях, за торговую прибыль - вот в этаком роде. Гомер же связал моё имя с колониальным походом, для коего подом лишь я служила, и тем его обесчестил... А за Гомером отправились той же стезёй и другие: скульпторы и живописцы, писатели и драматурги. Я была женщиной - и стала теперь отрицательным типом!..

     Елена так вопила, что привлекла внимание других женщин, и меня окружила грозная толпа. Прелестные лица были искажены злобой и подозрительностью - ведь, слушая Елену, я достал блокнот и карандаш, чтобы записать её слова. поэтому все опознали того, кем я и был, - опасного писаку... Понимая, что нужно на что-то решаться, я молвил с величайшей скромностью:

     - Милые дамы, не бойтесь меня! На моей совести нет ни одного нашумевшего романа, и я не причиняю вам неприятностей. Я только проведу опрос. Мне хотелось бы знать ваше мнение о написанных с вас портретах...

     Вперёд выступила молодая высокая красавица с надменным выражением лица. Я тотчас узнал в ней Мари де Невиль, которую Стендаль вывел в “Красном и чёрном” под именем Матильды де Ла-Моль.

     - Когда мы с Мериме навещали месье Стендаля, - начала она, - он неустанно твердил мне о своей любви и уверял, что опишет меня в романе. Он выполнил обещание, но как?! Оказывается, я - мадемуазель де Ла-Моль! Благодарю покорно! Допустим, что у меня были увлечения. Однако я никогда не стала бы , подобно этой особе, любовницей какого-то выскочки - учителишки вроде Жюльена Сореля. И если бы моего возлюбленного казнили, никогда бы я не додумалась положить отрубленную голову на столик и целовать её в лоб. Бр-р-р, какая гадость! Откуда месье Стендаль это выкопал?...

     На меня пристально смотрела дама в амазонке, то и дело подносившая к губам платок, как бы стараясь избавиться от жжения во рту после выпитого яда...

     - Эмма Бовари! - воскликнул я.

     - Нет, я не Эмма Бовари, а Дельфина Деламар, - возразила она. - Предполагают, что вдохновила Флобера на этот роман я. Да, мы были знакомы. Иногда он заходил к мужу, который учился у его отца, доктора Флобера. Но Гюстав даже не смотрел в мою сторону - пришлось отравиться, чтобы привлечь его внимание... Признаюсь, я считала Гюстава Флобера красивым. И очень любила читать. Прояви он ко мне чуточку интереса, я бы его боготворила. Подумaть только - настоящий писатель! А он рассказал обо мне только после моей смерти. Причём подробно описал всё, что меня окружало: людей, вещи, атмосферу... Но душу мою он не увидел. Флобер не понял меня и даже заявил, что Эмма Бовари - это он! Да разве у меня были пышные усы, лысина и толстый живот?

     И вдруг всё исчезло. Я очутился в реальной жизни и принялся обдумывать своё райское приключение, из которого можно было сделать кое-какие выводы, лестные для литературы.

     Портреты всегда более правдоподобны и более долговечны, нежели оригиналы. Героиня литературного произведения обретает под пером гения бессмертие.

     Однако женское самолюбие может быть уязвлено тем, что авторы видят своих героинь не такими, какими они кажутся сами себе.

(Эмиль Анрио. “Литературная газета”, 1977)

 

WORDS:

     paradise; annoyed; to scurry; to deprive of personality; not responsible for the harm; to hurl reproaches (at); to make violent scenes; had better keep away from; to miss a chance; excellent plot; tunic; Helen; Iliad; Homer; hardly had she...; to be convulsed with anger; to glare; bold stranger; infatuation; many people get involved; jealous; peevish; righteous anger; private matter; to elope; so what?; to compose epic poems; siege; colonial compaign; to serve as a pretext; to disgrace; others joined in; a negative type ( a bad character ); to wait; to distort with malice (spite); writing-pad; to put down her words; to identify; hack-writer (scribbler); utmost modesty; not guilty of; to question; arrogant; kept telling me; to keep one’s promise; thank you for nothing; upstart; a humble teacher; to be executed; it would have never occured to me; severed head; to wear a riding habit; after having taken poison; to retort; to inspire; had to poison myself; would have worshipped; surroundings; fluff moustache; bald spot; paunch; true to life; long-lasting; to acquire immortality; the authors; to contemplate their heroines in; the same light that the latter see themselves in; their self-esteem may be wounded

 

Контрольная работа № 5

для студентов V курса заочного отделения.

(практика устной и письменной речи)

Составители: Поспелова Н.В.

 

 

 

 

Emily Dickinson.

I’m Nobody! Who are you?

Are you - Nobody- too?

Then there is a pair of as!

Don’t tell! They’d banish us -

      you know.

 

The Soul selects her own Society -

Then - shuts the Door-

To her divine Majority -

Present no more.

 

D.Sallinger “ Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters”

“Po Lo replied : A good horse can be picked out by its general build and appearance. But the superlative horse one that raises no dust and leaves no tracks - is something evanescent and fleeting, elusive as thin air. The talents of my sons lie on a lower plane altogether : they can tell a good horse when they see one, but they cannot tell a superlative horse”

 

I was born in the Northen part of London, at N19 frying-pan alley, a poor and narrow street.Of my mother I remember very little. I remember a pale face and dark hair and eyes. I’m sure she was a good woman and I could never understand why my father was always very rude to her and called her names and beat her and threw his boots and cups and sauces at her and made her cry.


Факультет иностранных языков

Контрольная работа № 1

для студентов V курса заочного отделения.

(практика устной и письменной речи)

                                           Елабуга, 2006

 

Control work N 1. Education.

Text.

     School manifesto in Dispute.

     Sir, there are some sensible points in whose Schools? A radical Manifesto (report, December 29), though none of them radical. We all favour higher academic standards. No one with any sense can object to scrutinizing teaching and inspecting the inspectors. We are all against inefficiency, time-wasting bureaucracy and the intrusion into schools of extreme and damaging political ideologies when it comes to curriculum, the writers of whose schools? cause concern. Are they seriously questioning “curriculum reform” and “relevance”? Do they appreciate that the season for reforming O and A level syllabuses was that they were academically unsatisfactory? Do they realize that their “tried and tested subjects” have been found wanting - by academics, teachers and industrialists.

     The subjects exist through uncritical acceptance of past practice for which there exists no satisfactory rationale. Are they happy that schools, including the most prestigious, have produced generations of technological, economic and political “illiterates”?

     The curriculum has been reformed in order to make it more relevant to society’s needs and the needs of its individual members, who well hopefully contribute more effectively to the task of regenerating our industrial technical complex, to the invigoration of our political and social institutions, to the development of our academic and cultural life. If the writers of whose schools are against curriculum reform and relevance they are, whether they know it or not, against these aims as teacher, businessman and taxpayer, I don’t want my money squandered on irrelevant nonsense.

     At this year’s Headmasters’ Conference, the military historian Correlli Barnett, in relating Britain’s decline this century to its inadequate educational system, exhorted the assembled heads to drive a stake through the living corpse of Victorian education.

     The writers of whose schools’ are exhuming the corpse. If they succeed they will condemn us to certain continuing decline.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Hewlett, Principal Rawlins Community College.

 

Task 1. Read the text and say what makes the style of the letter coloquial. Analyse the tone of the letter and say how the programatic effect is achieved. Discuss the participant structure of the text and comment of the “we - they code” used in the letter.

     ???

Task 2. Give Russian equivalents to:

¨ to favour higher academic standards – предпочитать высокие академические стандарты

¨ to object to scrutinizing teaching – возражать против тщательной проверки учителей

¨ to be against inefficiency, time-wasting bureaucracy and the intrusion into schools – быть против неэффективности , бессмысленной бюрократии и вторжения в школы

¨ to come to curriculum – доходить до учебного плана

¨ to cause concern – вызывать беспокойство

¨ to exist through uncritical acceptance – существовать, несмотря на некритичное принятие

¨ to include the most prestigious – включая самые престижные

¨ to make smth relevant to society’s needs – сделать что-то подходящее для нужд общества

¨ to contribute to the task of regenerating smth – внести вклад в задачу восстановления чего - то

¨ invigoration of smth – активизация (восстановление) чего-то

¨ (in) relating smth to its inadequate educational.. – в отношении чего-то к его неполноценной образовательной..

¨ to want one’s money squandered on irrelevant nonsense – желать, чтобы чьи-либо деньги были растрачены на бессмысленную ерунду

 


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