V. Make a round-table talk to discuss the problems raised in this section.
Key Words and Expressions:to get started; to follow through; toget oneself ready to work; to overcome smth.; to come up with a per-sonal 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, etc.
UNIT ONE
TEXT ONE THE
PASSIONATE YEAR
By James Hilton
(Fragments)
James Hilton (1900—1954) was born in England and educated at Cambridge where he wrote his first novel, "Catherine Herself". His first big success came with the publication of "Good-bye, Mr. Chips". It was dramatized and filmed. "Lost Horizon" published in 1933 was awarded the Hawthornden Prize. Some of his other books are: "We Are Not Alone" (1937), "Random Harvest" (1941), "Nothing So Strange" (1947), "Time and Time Again" (1953). A resident of the United States since 1935, he died in Long Beach, California.
(Kenneth Speed, B.A., a young Master at Millstead Boarding School for boys, was warned that the first night he takes prep1 he might be ragged2 as it was a sort of school tradition that they always tried to rag teachers that night.
Preparation for the whole school was held in Millstead Big Hall, a huge vault-like chamber in which desks were ranged in long rows and where Master in charge sat on high at a desk on a raised dais.)
Speed was very nervous as he took his seat on the dais at five to seven and watched the school straggling to their places. They came in quietly enough, but there was an atmosphere of subdued expect-ancy of which Speed was keenly conscious; the boys stared about them, grinned at each other, seemed as if they were waiting for some-thing to happen. Nevertheless, at five past seven all was perfectly quiet and orderly, although it was obvious that little work was being done. Speed felt rather as if he were sitting on a powder-magazine, and there was a sense in which he was eager for the storm to break.
At about a quarter past seven a banging of desk-lids began at the far end of the hall.
He stood up and said, quietly, but in a voice that carried well: "I don't want to be hard on anybody, so I'd better warn you that I shall punish any disorderliness very severely."
There was some tittering, and for a moment or so he wondered if he had made a fool of himself.
Then he saw a bright, rather pleasant-faced boy in one of the back rows deliberately raise a desk-lid and drop it with a bang. Speed con-sulted the map of the desks that was in front of him and by counting down the rows discovered the boy's name to be Worsley. He wondered
how the name should be pronounced — whether the first syllable should rhyme with "purse" or with "horse". Instinct in him, that un-canny feeling for atmosphere, embarked him on an outrageously bold adventure, nothing less than a piece of facetiousness, the most dan-gerous weapon in a new Master's armoury, and the one most of all likely to recoil on himself. He stood up again and said: "Wawsley or Wurss-ley
— however you call yourself — you have a hundred lines!"3
The whole assembly roared with laughter. That frightened him a
little. Supposing they did not stop laughing! He remembered an occasion at his own school when a class had ragged a certain Master very neatly and subtly by pretending to go off into hysterics of laugh-ter at some trifling witticism of his.
When the laughter subsided, a lean, rather clever-looking boy rose up in the front row but one and said, impudently: "Please sir, I'm Worsley. I didn't do anything."
Speed replied promptly: "Oh, didn't you? Well, you've got a hun-dred lines, anyway."
"What for, sir" — in hot indignation. "For sitting in your wrong desk."
Again the assembly laughed, but there was no mistaking the re-spectfulness that underlay the merriment. And, as a matter of fact, the rest of the evening passed entirely without incident. After the others had gone, Worsley came up to the dais accompanied by the pleasant-faced boy who dropped the desk- lid. Worsley pleaded for the remission of his hundred lines, and the other boy supported him urging that it was he and not Worsley who had dropped the lid.
"And what's your name?" asked Speed. "Naylor, sir."
"Very well, Naylor, you and Worsley can share the hundred lines between you." He added smiling: "I've no doubt you're neither of you worse than anybody else but you must pay the penalty of being pio-neers."
They went away laughing.
That night Speed went into Clanwell's room for a chat before bedtime, and Clanwell congratulated him fulsomely on his success-ful passage of the ordeal.4 "As a matter of fact," Clanwell said, "I happen to know that they'd prepared a star benefit performance for you but that you put them off, somehow, from the beginning. The
prefects5 get to hear of these things and they tell me. Of course, I don't take any official notice of them. It doesn't matter to me what plans people make — it's when any are put into execution that I wake up. Anyhow, you may be interested to know that the members of School House6 subscribed over fifteen shillings to purchase fireworks which they were going to let off after the switches had been turned off! Alas for fond hopes ruined!"
Clanwell and Speed leaned back in their armchairs and roared with laughter.
Commentary
to take prep:to be in charge of preparation of lessons in a regular period at school.
to rag (coll): to play practical jokes on; treat roughly.
You have a hundred lines:Copying text is a common penaltyfor misbehaviour in English and American schools.
ordeal:in early times, a method of deciding a person's guilt or innocence by his capacity to pass some test such as passing through fire, taking poison, putting his hand in boiling water, or fighting his accus er. It was thought that god would protect the innocent person (to sub mit to the ordeal by battle; ordeal by fire, etc.). Now it means any severe test of character or endurance, as to passthrough a terribleordeal.Eg. It
was his turn to speak now, so he braced himself up for the ordeal.
prefects:in some English schools senior boys to whom a certain amount of authority is given.
House:(here) a boarding-house attached to and forming a portion of a public school. Also, the company of boys lodged in such a house. E.g. I'm as proud of the house as any one. I believe it's the best house in the school, out-and-out.
ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY
Vocabulary Notes
1. subduevt1) conquer; overcome; bring under control, as tosubdue nature 2) soften; make quiet or less strong, e.g. The enemy fire was subdued. Lunch was somewhat of an ordeal, all the present being subdued by the preceding scene.-He was unusually subdued that night. Also: subdued light, spirits, voices, etc.
2. consciousa1) aware, knowing, as to be conscious of pain,cold, etc., e.g. I'm conscious of my guilt (i.e. I know I've done wrong). The teacher should be conscious of any subtle change of atmosphere in his class (i.e. The teacher should feel and realize any change of atmosphere). She was far more politically conscious than her husband (i.e. She knew more about the political life and her es-timation of it was more objective). 2) (of actions and feelings) real-ized by oneself, e.g. He spoke with conscious superiority (i.e. realiz-ing that he was superior), - conscious (in compound words), as self-conscious, class-conscious, dress-conscious, etc., e.g. With a dress-conscious person clothes may become an obsession: he doesn't see even himself as an individual, but as a kind of tailor's dummy to hang the latest trophy on.
Note: Don'i confuseconscious and conscientious, e.g. Being a most conscientiousworker, she wondered how she should act in this kind of situation. Your paper is a truly conscientious piece of work.
3. grinvi/t1) smile broadly and in such a way that the teeth canbe seen (to express amusement, contempt or satisfaction), e.g. The boy grinned from ear to ear when I gave him the apple. He was grin-
. ning with delight, grin and bear it endure pain or trouble without complaint 2) express by grinning, e.g. He grinned his delight.
grinл,e.g.There was a broad grin on his face. His sardonic grinaroused my anger.
4. orderlya 1) well arranged; in good order; tidy, as an orderlyroom, e.g. The books were ranged alphabetically on the orderly shelves. 2) peaceful; well behaved, as an orderly crowd (election, assembly, etc.) 3) (mil. use) concerned with carrying out orders, as the orderly officer, the orderly room. Anf. disorderly, e.g. He was arrested for disorderly conduct. The disorderly crowd straggled in the direction of the Town Hall.
orderlinessn,e.g.She made a mental note of the perfect orderli-ness and discipline at the lesson. Ant. disorderliness n, e.g. Speed said he would punish any disorderliness very severely.
5. outrageousa shocking; beyond all reasonable limits; very cruel, immoral, offensive or insulting, as outrageous behaviour, e.g. This outrageous remark was followed by shocked silence.
outrageouslyadv, e.g.The book was proclaimed to be outra-geously indecent and banned in most countries.
outragen 1) extreme violence; violent transgression of law ordecency, as an act of outrage; never to be safe from outrage 2) (with 16
an ind. art.) a very wrong or cruel act of physical injury to another person's property, or to the person himself, or to his feelings, e.gr.The dropping of bombs on women and children is an outrage against humanity. Coll. Just look at the hat she's wearing; it's an outrage!
outragevttreat violently; injure severely; treat with scorn, as tooutrage public opinion (do smth. that everybody thinks wrong)
6. neata 1) clean and in good order, as a neat room, to keep smth.as neat as a pin 2) well-formed; pleasing in shape and appearance, e.g. She has a very neat figure. Your handwriting is very neat. 3) ingood taste; simply and pleasantly arranged, as a neat dress 4) done with skill and care, as a neat piece of work 5) (of style, language, remarks) short and clever; witty and pointed, e.g. She gave a very neat answer. Detective stories are loved for their tidy problems and neat solution. 6) (use of wine and spirits) without water, as to drink brandy neat; neat juice (syrup)
neatlyadv,e.g.I realized that I had been very neatly put in my
place.
Word D і s с r і m і n a t і о n: neat, tidy, trim, spick-and-span. Neat suggests cleanliness, simplicity and a certain orderliness or
precision which sometimes becomes the chief implication of the word. In neat person the adjective describes the personal appear-ance: dress, hairdo. The general effect is that of cleanliness, well-fit-ting clothes. In tidy person the adjective refers to the person in the habit of putting things in their proper places and of keeping every-thing around him clean and orderly. Tidy implies habitual neatness, e.g. We liked his tidy habits. He always kept his room tidy (i.e. all thethings in the room were in their proper places). Cf. neat room where neatgives the suggestion of cleanliness and pleasing effect.Trimadds the implication of smartness, often of smugness or compactness, as a trim ship (cabin, maid-servant, etc.) Also: trim clothes, trim fig-ure, etc. Spick-and-span stresses the brightness and freshness of that which is new (or made to look like new), as spick-and-span white shoes, e.g. Her mother keeps her spick- and-span every moment of the day. The kitchen was spick-and-span. Anf. disorderly, confused, messy, slovenly.
7. witticismna witty remark: a jest,e.g.I was feverishly search-ing my mind for some witticism that might make her smile.
wit л 1) (sing, or pi.) intelligence; understanding; mental power; quickness of mind, e.g. He hadn't the wit(s) (hadn't wit enough) to know what to do in the emergency. He has quick (slow) wits, out of one's witsmad; greatly upset or frightened,e.g.He was out of his wits
when he saw the house was on fire, at one's wits' end not knowing what to do or say; quite at a loss, e.g. He gave her a questioning glance but she was at her wits' end too. to collect one's wits gather together, recover control of one's thoughts, e.g. He tried to collect his wits before saying anything, to live by one's wits live by clever but haphazard methods, not always honest, e.g. But there were many who declassed by hard social conditions, never worked and lived by their wits, to have (keep) one's wits about one be quick to see what is happening, alert and ready to act, e.g. The kid has his wits about him, he will get out of the mess all right. 2) clever and humorous ex-pression of ideas; liveliness of spirit, e.g. Our teacher (or teacher's conversation) is full of wit.
wittya clever and amusing; full of, or marked by wit, as a wittyperson (remark). Ant. dull,'stupid,
8. impudentanot showing respect; being rude on purpose andin a shameless way, e.g. What an impudent rascal he is! What an impudent accusation!
impudentlyadv, e.g.When charged with the crime of the brokenwindow the boy grinned impudently and said nothing.
impudencenbeing impudent, impudent words and actions,e.g. None of your impudence! (i.e. Don't be so impudent!) He hadthe impudence to say that I was telling lies! His impudence knew no bounds.
9. benefitn 1) help; advantage; profit; improvement,e.g.Did youget much benefit from your holiday? (Did it do you good?) The book wasn't of much benefit to me (didn't help me very much). The mon ey was used for the benefit of (in order to help) the population after the disaster. What benefit would it be to the nation? benefit perfor mance (concert,etc.) a performance (at a theatre), a concert, etc.,when the money is for the benefit of some special cause 2) (often in the pi.) an act of kindness; a favour; an advantage, e.g. He should have been grateful for the benefits he received from his relatives.
benefitvt/ihelp or be helped; give or receive benefit,e.g.The seaair will benefit you. He benefited by the medicine the doctor gave him.