Object(s) — subject(s); to object — to oppose; to obtain — to come by; to happen — to come about; to yield — to give in

1. How did you .come by.. that scratch on your cheek? 2. I haven't been able .to obtain.. that record anywhere; can you .come.. it for me? 3. The accident .happened.. last week. 4. How did it .come about.. that you did not report the theft until two days after it occurred? 5. After months of refusing, Irene .subjected.. to Soames and agreed to marry him. 6. Mr Davidson had never been known ... to temptation. 7. He become an .object.. of ridicule among the other children. 8. There were many .subjects.. of delight and interest claiming his attention. 9. My favourite .subject.. at school were history and geography. 10. The .subject .. of the painting is the Battle of Waterloo. 11. Ruth had .opposed?.. his writing because it did not earn money. 12. Like many of the scientists he had been actively .objected.. to the use of the bomb. 13. I .oppose.. most strongly to this remark.

9. a) Find the Russian equivalents for the following English proverbs:

1. Easy come, easy go. – Бог дал, Бог взял. Легко пришло, легко ушло

2. Everything comes to him who waits. – Кто ищет, тот всегда найдёт. Ищите и обрящете. К тому, кто ждёт, все придёт. Ср. Кто ждёт, тот дождётся

3. A bad penny always comes back. (Ein falscher Pfennig kommt immer zurück.)

4. Christmas comes but once a year. – Рождество раз в год бывает, но когда оно приходит - с собой веселие приносит. Смысл: праздник бывает не каждый день

5. Curses, like chickens, come home to roost. – Проклятия, подобно цыплятам, возвращаются на свой насест. Ср. Не рой другому яму, сам в нее попадешь. Отольются кошке мышкины слезки

6. Tomorrow never comes. – "Завтра" никогда не наступает. Ср. Не корми завтраками, а сделай сегодня. У завтра нет конца. Завтраками сыт не будешь

7. A thing of beauty is a joy for ever. – (J. Keats) — Прекрасное создание всегда являет радость.

8. A little learning is a dangerous thing.

B) Explain in English the meaning of each proverb.

C) Make up a dialogue to illustrate one of the proverbs.


And a little might be dangerous

If a little knowledge is dangerous, where is a man who has so much as to be out of danger?

Thomas Henry Huxley

A little learning is not a dangerous thing to one who does not mistake it for a great deal.

William Allen White

A little learning is a dangerous thing, but a lot of ignorance is just as bad.

Bob Edwards

 

 

CONVERSATION AND DISCUSSION BOOKS AND READING

TOPICAL VOCABULARY

 

1. Categorisation: Children's and adult's books – [книги для детей и взрослых; travel books and biography; romantic and historical novels; crime/thrillers; detective stories; war/adventure; science fiction/ fantasy; literary fiction and genre fiction; non-fiction; pulp fiction. Absorbing – захватывающий, увлекательный; adult; amusing – забавный, занимательный, занятный; controversial –вызывающий спор; дискуссионный; dense – вопиющий,; depressing – гнетущий, тягостный; унылый; наводящий тоску; delightful– восхитительный, очаровательный; dirty – вульгарный, непристойный; disturbing – беспокоящий, волнующий; dull –скучный, занудный; fascinating – обворожительный, очаровательный, пленительный; gripping – захватывающий, всепоглощающий, увлекательный, поразительный, потрясающий, удивительный, изумительный; moralistic; nasty – вульгарный, грязный, неприличный, непристойный; obscene – непристойный, непотребный, неприличный; вульгарный, грязный; порнографический; грубый; outrageous – жестокий, возмутительный; оскорбительный; вопиющий, скандальный; profound – глубокий, основательный; мудрый; whimsical – фантастический, причудливый; необычный;; unputdownable – so engrossing that one has to go on reading it..

2. Books and their parts:paperback and hardback – книга в бумажной и твёрдой обложке; binding – переплет; cover – обложка,; spine – корешок; jacket – суперобложка; title – заглавие, название, наименование; epigraph; preface – предисловие; вводная часть; введение, вступление; пролог; the contents list – оглавление; fly leaf –; bookplate – экслибрис; blurb – рекламное объявление; a beautifully printed book ; a tome bound in leather/with gilt edges – [том из кожи/с позолочёнными углами]; a volume with a broken binding – [том с повреждённым переплётом]; a book with dense print/with loose pages – [книга с плотной печатью?/оторванными страницами]; a well-thumbed book [захватанная/замусоленная книга].

3. Reading habits:to form a reading habit early in life – сформировать вкус к чтению в детстве; to read silently/incessantly/greedily/laboriously – читать молча/непрерывно/жадно/напряжённо; to read curled up in a chair – читать, помирая со смеху?/скрутившись на стуле; to read a child/oneself to sleep – читать ребёнку/к-н на ночь ; to make good bed-time reading – хорошо провести время в кровати за чтением; to be lost/absorbed in a book – быть поглощённым/крайне увлечённым книгой/чтением книги; to devour books – полглощать книги; to dip into/glance over/pore over/thumb through a book – поверхностно изучать, пролистывать/ быстро пролистывать / корпеть над / просмотреть, пролистать книгу; to browse through newspapers and periodicals – просматривать газеты и периодику; to scan/skim a magazine – внимательно изучать/бегло просматривать журнал; a bookworm –книжный червь, любитель книг, библиофил; an avid/alert/keen reader – жадный до / внимательный / увлекающийся книгами.

4. Library facilities:reading rooms and reference sections – 2) читальный зал библиотеки 1) справочный зал; the subject/author/title/on-line catalogue – каталоги: предметный, алфавитный, заглавий, онлайн; the enquiry desk – стол заказов; computer assisted reference service – компьютеризированная справочная служба; to borrow/renew/loan books – взять на время (почитать)/продлить срок пользования (книгой в библиотеке)/давать на время, CDs and video tapes –запись на компакт-диск и магнитную ленту ; rare books – раритеты; to keep books that are overdue – держать просроченные книги; books vulnerable to theft – книги легко воруют; to suspend one's membership – приостановить членство; to be banned from the library. запрещён (вынос?) из библиотеки

MURIEL SPARK

Many professions are associated with a particular stereotype. The classic image of a writer, for instance, is of a slightly[17] demented-looking person, locked in an attic, scribbling away furiously for days on end. Naturally, he has his favourite pen and note-paper, or a beat-up old typewriter, without which he could not produce a readable word.

Nowadays, we know that such images bear little resemblance to reality. But are they completely false? In the case of at least one writer, it would seem not. Dame Muriel Spark, who is 80 this month, in many ways resembles this stereotypical "writer". She is certainly not demented[18], and she doesn't work in an attic. But she is rather neurotic about the tools of her trade.

page 91

She insists on writing with a certain type of pen in a certain type of notebook, which she buys from a certain stationer[19] in Edinburgh called James Thin. In fact, so superstitious[20] is she that, if someone uses one of her pens by accident, she im­mediately throws it away[21].

As well as her "fetish" about writing materials, Muriel Spark shares one other characteristic with the stereotypical "writer" — her work is the most important thing in her life. It has stopped her from remarrying; cost her old friends and made her new ones; and driven her from London to New York, to Rome. To­day, she lives in the Italian province of Tuscany with a friend.

Dame Muriel discovered her gift for writing at school in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. "It was a very progressive school," she recalls. "There was complete racial [and] religious tolerance."

Last year, she acknowledged the part the school had played in shaping her career by giving it a donation of £10,000. The money was part of the David Cohen British Literature Prize, one of Britain's most prestigious literary awards. Dame Muriel received the award for a lifetime'swriting achievement, which really began with her most famous novel, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. It was the story of a teacher who encouraged her girls to believe they were the "creme de la creme". Miss Jean Brodie was based on a teacher who had helped Muriel Spark [?to?] realise her talent.

Much of Dame Muriel's writing has been informed by her personal experiences. Catholicism, for instance, has always been a recurring[22] theme in her books — she converted in 1954. Another novel, Loitering with Intent (1981), is set in London just after World War II, when she herself came to live in the capital.

How much her writing has been influenced by one part of her life is more difficult to assess. In 1937, at the age of 19, she travelled to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where she married a teacher called Sydney Oswald Spark. The couple had a son, Robin, but the marriage didn't last. In 1944, after spending some time in South Africa, she returned to Britain, and got a job with the Foreign Office in London.

Her first novel The Comforters[23] (1957) was written with the help of the writer, Graham Greene. He didn't help with the writing, but instead gave her £20 a month to support herself while she wrote it. His only conditions were that she shouldn't meet him or pray for him. Before The Comforters she had con­centrated on poems and short stories. Once it was published, she turned her attentions to novels, publishing one a year for the next six years. Real success came with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which was published in 1961, and made into a film. By this time she was financially secure and world famous.

(from BBC English, February 1998)

Page 92

1. Asyou read the text:

a) Look for the answers to these questions:

1. What profession stereotypes are there? What is a stereo­typical "student"? "lecturer"? "poet"? 2. Is the "classic image of a writer" completely false? Be specific. 3. Would you agree that artistic people are often superstitious? 4. Who is given the title of "Dame" in Britain? 5. What suggests that Dame Muriel Spark is rather neurotic about the tools of her trade? 6. What part did the school play in shaping her career? 7. How did Gra­ham Green help the young writer? 8.What are the scanty bio­graphical details given in the profile?

b) Find in the text the facts to illustrate the following:

1. For Muriel Spark writing is the most important thing in her life. 2. Dame Muriel Spark is a stereotypical writer. 3. "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" is a great novel.