Now practise interpreting a story one more time. It should be the book you’ve read for your individual reading (1000-1100 pages).
Assignment II (summer)
I Cinema
1. Study the patterns on p.36-37, do ex.3 p.38 (in writing)
2. Read text 2 p.39-42, do all the exercises afterwards ex.2-13 p.46-49 (for independent correction)
3. Do ex.11 p.49 and ex.13 p.49 (in writing)
4. Study the vocabulary notes on p.42-45, do ex.5 p.53(in writing)
5. Study the word combinations and phrases on p.45, do ex.7 p.47(in writing)
6. Study the topical vocabulary on p.57-58, read the text from ex.1 p.58-59, do ex.4 p.60 (in writing), ex.5 p.60-61(in writing), ex.7 p.61 (in writing)
II Art
1. Study the patterns on p.136-137, do ex.1 p.137 (in writing)
2. Read text 5 p.140-144, do all the exercises afterwards ex.2-21 p.148-153 (for independent correction)
3. Do ex.16 p.152 and ex.18 p.152 (in writing)
4. Study the vocabulary notes on p.145-148, do ex.6 p.157 (in writing), do ex.12 p.160-161 (in writing)
5. Study the word combinations and phrases on p.148, do ex.7 p.149(in writing)
6. Study the topical vocabulary on p.161-162, read the text from ex.1 p.162-164, do ex.4 p.165 (in writing), ex.5 p.166 (in writing), study the information from ex.14 and 15 p.170-171, do ex.16 p.171 (in writing)
III Man and nature
1. Study the patterns on p.248-249, do ex.4p.250 (in writing)
2. Read text 8 p.251-254, do all the exercises afterwards ex.2-13 p.258-261 (for independent correction)
3. Do ex.11 p.260 and ex.13 p.261 (in writing)
4. Study the vocabulary notes on p.255-258, do ex.7 p.266(in writing)
5. Study the word combinations and phrases on p.258, do ex.7 p.259(in writing)
6. Study the topical vocabulary on p.268-269, read the text from ex.1 p.269-270, do ex.4 p.271(in writing), ex.5 p.271-272(in writing), ex.7 p.272 (in writing)
All the tasks are given with reference to the book: Практический курс английского языка: 3 курс: Учеб.для педвузов по спец. «Иностр.язык» / Под ред. В.Д. Аракина. – 4-е изд., перераб. и доп. – М.: изд.центр ВЛАДОС, 2001. – 432с.
Assignment III (winter)
I Higher Education
1. Read text “Doctor in the House” by R. Gordon p.6-10 do ex.1,2 p.16
2. Study the speech patterns on p.10, do ex.5,6,7,9 p.17-18 (in writing)
3. Study the phrases and word combinations on p.11, do ex.10,11,13 p.18-19(in writing)
4. Study “Tools for evaluating a story”, p.272-275, do ex.15 p.19-20
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5. Do ex.18 (a,b), ex.19 p.20-21 (in writing)
6. Study the essential vocabulary on p.11-15, do ex.3 p.23 (three combinations from each paragraph), ex.8,9,10,11 p.25-26
7. Read the text “Higher Education” p.28-30, do ex.1(a), p.30
8. Study the topical vocabulary on p.27-28, do ex.2 p.31
9. Do ex.7(a), p.35, ex.8,9,10, p.36-39
All the tasks are to be done in writing.
All the tasks are given with reference to the book: Практический курс английского языка: 4 курс: Учеб.для педвузов по спец. «Иностр.язык» / Под ред. В.Д. Аракина. – 4-е изд., перераб. и доп. – М.: изд.центр ВЛАДОС, 1999. – 336с.
Assignment IV (summer)
I Man and Music
1. Read text “Ragtime” by L.E. Doctorow p.104-108 do ex.1 p.113(in writing)
2. Study the speech patterns on p.108-109, do ex.4,6 p.114-115 (in writing)
3. Study the phrases and word combinations on p.109, do ex.8,10 p.115(in writing)
4. Do ex.11(a,b) p.116(in writing)
5. Study the essential vocabulary on p.109-113, do ex.9 p.120 (in writing)
6. Study the topical vocabulary on p.121-122, do ex.2 p.126-127(in writing)
7. Read the text “Understanding Music” p.122-125, do ex.1 (a,b,c), p.125-126, ex.3 p.127(in writing)
8. Read the text “A Feast of Russian Arts” p.132-133, do ex.10,11 p.132-134(in writing)
II Difficult Children
1. Read text “The lumber-room” by H. Munro p.134-139 do ex.1 p.145(in writing)
2. Study the speech patterns on p.140, do ex.7 p.146 (in writing)
3. Study the phrases and word combinations on p.140, do ex.10, 11 p.147-148(in writing)
4. Do ex.14(a,b) p.148-150(in writing)
5. Study the essential vocabulary on p.141-145, do ex.8 p.153-154(in writing)
6. Study the topical vocabulary on p.154-155, do ex.2 p.157-158(in writing)
7. Read the text “The Difficult Child” p.155-157, do ex.1 (a,b), p.157-158(in writing)
8. Do ex.5 p.160(in writing)
All the tasks are to be done in writing.
All the tasks are given with reference to the book: Практический курс английского языка: 4 курс: Учеб.для педвузов по спец. «Иностр.язык» / Под ред. В.Д. Аракина. – 4-е изд., перераб. и доп. – М.: изд.центр ВЛАДОС, 1999. – 336с.
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Assignment V (winter)
Study the essential parts of interpretation and the illustrative examples of them. Don’t forget to do allthe tasks in writing!
Introduction
In the introduction we give the most general information about the author of the text (if there is any), the title of the text, and some words about the impression the story has left with you. Introduction is necessary, as you can not at once begin dwelling on the essential parts of the text.
The plot
The plot is the sequence of related incidents or events of which a story is composed. It involves the summarizing of the gist of a story or a passage and the exclusion of minor points. It is essential, therefore that you should choose proper vocabulary to retell all major events of the story precisely and concisely. Make sure that your narration is devoid of repetition and circumlocutions.
Please, note that a story may be made up of several related episodes. It is advisable then, that you should give the plot and the analysis of each episode in succession.
Text I
The Tigress And Her Mate
by James Thurber
Proudfoot, a tiger, became tired of his mate, Sobra, a few weeks after they had set up housekeeping, and he fell to leaving home earlier and earlier, in the morning, and returning later and later at night. He no longer called her «Sugar Paw», or anything else, but merely clapped his paws when he wanted anything, or, if she was upstairs, whistled. The last long speech he ever made to her at breakfast was «What the hell's the matter with you ? I bring you rice and peas and coconut oil, don't I ? Love is something you put away in the attic with your wedding dress. Forget it.» And he finished his coffee, put down the Jungle News, and started for the door.
«Where are you going ?» Sobra asked.
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«Out,» he said. And after that, every time she asked him where he was going, he said, «Out», or «Away», or «Hush».
When Sobra became aware of the coming of what would have been, had she belonged to the chosen species, a blessed event, and told Proudfoot about it, he snarled, «Growp.» He had now learned to talk to his mate in code, and «growp» meant «I hope the cubs grow up to be xylophone players or major generals.» Then he went away, as all males do at such a moment, for he did not want to be bothered by his young until the males were old enough to box with and the females old enough to insult. While waiting for the unblessed event to take place, he spent his time fighting water buffaloes and riding around with plainclothes tigers in a prowl car.
When he finally came home, he said to his mate, «Eeps,» meaning «I'm going to hit the sack, and if the kids keep me awake by yowling I'll drown them like so many common house kittens.» Sobra stalked to the front door of their house, opened it, and said to her mate, «Scat.» The fight that tookplace was terrible but brief. Proudfoot led with the wrong paw, was nailedwith the swiftest right cross in the jungle, and never really knew where hewas after that. The next morning, when the cubs, male and female, tumbled eagerly down the stairs demanding to know what they could do, their mother said, «You can go into the parlour and play with your father. He's the tiger rug just in front of the fireplace. I hope you'll like him.» The children loved him.
Moral: Never be mean to a tiger's wife, especially if you are the tiger.
Exemplary plot: The plot of the story “The Tigress And Her Mate” goes like this. Proudfoot got tired of his wife soon after their marriage. He made it clear to her by his insolent behavior, sheer neglect and continuous insults. His freedom of any moral obligations resulted in the fact that even the news of the coming babies left him unmoved, as he didn’t consider them to be worthy of his attention. Sobra, his wife, could put up with the situation until it concerned her own life, but when she realized that her husband’s reckless demeanor threatened the future and well-being of her children, she killed him and made a rug of his skin for the children to play.
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Conflict
The development of the plot depends on the conflict - a clash of actions, ideas, desires or wills. The character may be pitted against some other person or group of persons (man-against-man); he may be in conflict with some external force - physical nature, society or fate (man-against-environment); or he may be in conflict with his own nature (man-against-himself). The conflict may be physical, mental, emotional or moral. The central character in the conflict, whether he be a sympathetic or an unsympathetic person, is referred to as the protagonist: the forces arrayed against him, whether persons, things or traits of his own character are the antagonists.In some stories the conflict is single, clear-cut and easily identifiable. In others it is multiple, various and subtle. A person may be in conflict with other persons, with society or nature, and with himself all at the same time, and sometimes he may be involved in conflict without being aware of it. The analysis of a story through its central conflict is likely to be especially fruitful for it rapidly takes us to what is truly at issue in the story.
Example of the conflict: The plot of the story «The Lumber Room»[1] is based on the conflict between Nickolas, the protagonist of the story, and his aunt, who may obviously be regarded as the antagonist. The conflict is mental (the boy's skilful strategy against the aunt's scheme of punishment) as well as emotional and possibly moral (the boy's decision not to come to his aunt's rescue and punish her with her own weapon). The central conflict of the story may be looked upon in terms of moral values and defined as one between poetic imagination and, dogmatic, pedantic, philistine mind.
We can go deeper into the conflict and ask «What is the reason of the conflict?», «How does it develop?», «Does it reach its climax?», «What evidence from the text testifies to it?», «What sustains the conflict?», «Who is the winner?», «How is the protagonist's victory (defeat) to be explained in terms of human personality and character?» A conflict may be clearly expressed as white vs. black, hero vs. villain, although in interpretive fiction the contrasts are likely to be less marked. Good may be opposed to good. There may be difficulty in determining what is the good, and internal conflict tends therefore to be more frequent than physical conflict.
Composition
Every kind of fiction has a basic structural design which is called the composition. There are three main elements in the composition: the exposition (the necessary preliminaries to the action in which the time or subject is presented which may be detailed and concentrated in one place or scattered all through the story); the climax (the highest point in the story); the outcome (the unwinding of the action, the events immediately following the climax and bringing the action to the end).
The composition may be traditional (exposition, climax, outcome follow each other), non-traditional or unusual (for instance, the story opens with the outcome, then the reader gets to know the place and time of action – that is the exposition, and the story ends with the climax) and the combination of the basic elements in a piece of fiction may be very different! There is also a framing composition: the story opens and ends with the same words, repeated both at the beginning and the end of the story. A story-in-the-storytype of composition is also known in literature: while reading the main story the reader learns another story, told by one of the characters for example (e.g. “The Story-Teller” by H.Munro).
When describing the composition you are not only to mention the type of composition, but you are to illustrate your point of view by giving the short description of each constituent of the composition.
Character
Reading for characteris more difficult than reading for plot, for character is much more complex, variable, and ambiguous. Anyone can repeat what a person has done in a story but considerable skill may be needed to describe what a person is.
An author may present the characters either directly or indirectly. In direct presentationhe tells us straight out, by exposition or analysis, what a character is like, or has someone else in the story tell us what he is like. In indirect presentationthe author shows us the character in action: we infer what he is like from what he thinks or says or does.
Somerset Maugham uses direct presentation when he has the narrator describe Ruth Barlow as a widow who had splendid eyes, «the gift of pathos» and who was «stupid, scheming and as hard as nails.» He resorts to indirect presentation when he shows Miss Barlow deceiving the narrator (she said she would send him a cheque and never did) from what we can infer that she was a deceitful and dishonest woman.
All fictional characters may be classified as staticor developing. The static character is the same sort of person at the end of the story as he was at the beginning. The developing (or dynamic) character undergoes a permanent change in some aspect of his character, personality or outlook.
The main character is usually complex and many-sided, he might require an essay for full analysis. The minor character is characterized by one or two traits; he can be summed up in a sentence.
Text II
From: «The Man of Property»
by J.Galsworthy
...He had hardly seen anything of June since it began. A bad business! He had no notion of giving her a lot of money to enable a fellow he knew nothing about to live on in idleness. He had seen that sort of thing before: no good ever came of it. Worst of all, he had no hope of shaking her resolution; she was as obstinate as a mule, always had been from a child. He didn't see where it was to end. They must cut their coat according to their cloth. He would not give way till he saw young Bosinney with an income of his own. That June would have trouble with the fellow was as plain as a pikestaff, he had no more idea of money than a cow. As to this rushing down to Wales to visit the young man's aunts, he fully expected they were old cats.
And, motionless, old Jolyon stared at the wall; but for his open eyes, he might have been asleep. The idea of supposing that young cub Soames could give him advice! He had always been a cub, with his nose in the air! He would be setting up as a man of property next, with a place in the country! A man of property! H'mgh! Like his father, he was always nosing out bargains, a cold-blooded young beggar !
He rose, and, going to the cabinet, began methodically stocking his cigar-case from a bundle fresh in. They were not bad at the price, but you couldn't get a good cigar nowadays, nothing to hold a candle to those old Superfinos of Hanson and Bridger's. That was a cigar!
... Difficult to believe it was so long ago; he felt young still! Of all his thoughts, as he stood there counting his cigars, this was the most poignant, the most bitter. With his white head and his loneliness he remained young and green at heart.
Questions (to be done in writing!)
1.How is the main character drawn in the passage ? (directly, indirectly)
2.What can you say about old Jolyon’s mood and nature judging by his inner monologue ?
3.What do you learn about old Jolyon’s character from his meditations about his granddaughter June and her engagement with Bosinney ?
4.Considering old Jolyon’s thoughts about his nephew Soames and the phrases he used (that young cub, nosing out bargains, a cold-blooded young beggar) what can you say about old Jolyon’s attitude to him ?
5.What is suggested about old Jolyon by the use of the phrase «you couldn’t get a good cigar nowadays, nothing to hold a candle to those old Superfinos of Hanson and Bridger’s.» ?
6.How does the author himself characterize old Jolyon?
Theme
The themeof a piece of fiction is its controlling idea or its central insight. It is the unifying generalization about life stated or implied by the story. To derive the theme of a story, we must ask what its central purpose is: what view of life it supports or what insight into life it reveals.
Theme must be expressed in the form of a statement with a subject and a predicate. In stating theme we do not use the names of characters in the story, for to do so is to make a specific rather than a general statement.
Theme exists in all interpretative fiction but only in some escape fiction. The purpose of some stories may be simply to provide suspense or to make the reader laugh or to surprise him with a sudden twist at the end. In getting at the theme of the story it is better to ask not «What does the story teach?» but «What does this story reveal?» Sometimes the best approach is to explore the nature of the central conflict and its outcome. Sometimes the title may provide an important clue. Sometimes it may be the revelation of a human character. Theme may be explicitly stated either by the author or by one of the characters. But more often it is implied.
The theme of a story, like its plot, may be stated very briefly or at a greater length.
In stating the theme terms like «even», «all», «always» should be used very cautiously. Terms like «some», «sometimes», «may» are often more accurate.
The example of theme: The theme of the passage from «The Man of Property» (given above) may be expressed like this: «Old age is wise but rather pathetic and lonely. Some old people feel young and green at heart; they may have a wistful longing for the things they have known in their youth». With a more complex story we may feel that a paragraph - or occasionally even an essay - is needed to state it adequately. A rich story may give us many and complex insights into life.
Problem
The problem. It is easier to single out problems in publicistic texts, as the authors of publicistic articles and essays state problems explicitly, trying to convince the readers that their own treatment of the problem is correct. In case of interpretative prose only a discerning reader is able to single the problem out, formulate it and express their own opinion on the problem.
There may be several problems touched upon in the stoty.
Texts III belongs to publicistic style of writing.
Text III
The passage below deals with the problem of compatibility in marriage. Read the text and give the author's opinion on the problem in your own words. What do you think about many partners' attempts to reform each other? (to be done in writing!)
What a bunch of garbage we all learn about marriage! And how impossible it is to build a real, loving relationship until people accept the fact that two real, human, very different people build a marriage in the only way that humans can build anything worthwhile: by trying to discover a path that does not violate or destroy or enslave either one!
What is the basic truth of all marriages? All of us marry strangers; no matter how long we search for a compatible mate; no matter how long we date or talk, or even live together.
We think we marry people who are compatible, because when we are in love we are about as dishonest as people can be. Instead of showing our mates who we are and how we really feel about things, we put on an act; we try to impress; we pretend to be the kind of person we believe our partners want us to be.
We even pretend to be "honest". During our early years together, we claim to talk about "everything". But we don't. Instead we talk about our little flaws, the ones we shrewdly judge our partners will accept. One of the expressions marriage counselors hear most often is this one, " This isn't the man (woman) I married." Which, of course is true. The man or woman we finally learn to love, and love to live with, is not the person we married. The one we married was at least a partial fake.
(From: Strangers, Lovers, Friends by U.G.Steinmerz)
Conclusion
Conclusion is as necessary as the introduction. Here you are again to share your impressions of the story, whether you liked it or not. Probably it has given you food for thought? Perhaps you come across problems touched in the story rather often in your everyday life? Or may be you have never been in such a situation and reading about some extraordinary event or person has amazed you? There are thousands of variants!
Upon the whole, there is no right or wrong about the interpretation. But there is your own opinion. You are encouraged to express your opinion, but don’t forget to substantiate your ideas with valuable proofs! You can certainly change the succession of the main parts of interpretation, but if you omit any of them, your interpretation will be devoid of its important element, as they are all equally important!
TEXT INTERPRETATION
You task here is to interpret the extract, but before doing it you are to do the tasks given after this text, and then you’ll be ready to give your own interpretation of the text.
The Ice Palace
(extract) F.S. Fitzgerald
F.S. Fitzgerald (1896 – 1940) is one of the greatest American writers. His books nowadays are as successful as his own life was a failure. He wrote five novels: This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beautiful and Damned (1922), The Great Gatsby (1925), Tender Is the Night (1934), The Last Tycoon – originally The Love of the Last Tycoon – (published posthumously, 1941); four volumes of short stories; and “The Crack-Up”, a selection of his autobiographical pieces. “The Ice Palace” is one of F.S. Fitzgerald’s stories.
(The story is about Sally Carol Happer, a young southern woman from the fictional city of Tarleton, Georgia, who becomes engaged to Harry Bellamy, a man from an icy northern town. After they engaged and Sally Carol went to the north to visit Harry's home town.)Home was a rambling frame house set on a white lap of snow, and there she met a big, gray-haired man of whom she approved, and a lady who was like an egg, and who kissed her—these were Harry’s parents. There was a breathless indescribable hour crammed full of half-sentences, hot water, bacon and eggs and confusion; and after that she was alone with Harry in the library, asking him if she dared smoke.
It was a large room with a Madonna over the fireplace and rows upon rows of books in covers of light gold and dark gold and shiny red. All the chairs had little lace squares where one’s head should rest, the couch was just comfortable, the books looked as if they had been read—some—and Sally Carrol had an instantaneous vision of the battered old library at home, with her father’s huge medical books, and the oil-paintings of her three great-uncles, and the old couch that had been mended up for forty-five years and was still luxurious to dream in. This room struck her as being neither attractive nor particularly otherwise. It was simply a room with a lot of fairly expensive things in it that all looked about fifteen years old.
“What do you think of it up here?” demanded Harry eagerly. “Does it surprise you? Is it what you expected, I mean?”
“You are, Harry,” she said quietly, and reached out her arms to him.
But after a brief kiss he seemed anxious to extort enthusiasm from her.
“The town, I mean. Do you like it? Can you feel the pep in the air?”
“Oh, Harry,” she laughed, “you’ll have to give me time. You can’t just fling questions at me.”
She puffed at her cigarette with a sigh of contentment.
“One thing I want to ask you,” he began rather apologetically; “you Southerners put quite an emphasis on family, and all that—not that it isn’t quite all right, but you’ll find it a little different here. I mean—you’ll notice a lot of things that’ll seem to you sort of vulgar display at first, Sally Carrol; but just remember that this is a three-generation town. Everybody has a father, and about half of us have grandfathers. Back of that we don’t go.”
“Of course,” she murmured.
“Our grandfathers, you see, founded the place, and a lot of them had to take some pretty queer jobs while they were doing the founding. For instance, there's one woman who at present is about the social model for the town; well, her father was the first public ash man1 - things like that."
"Why," said Sally Carrol,puzzled, "did you s'pose I was goin' to make remarks about people?"
"Not at all," interrupted Harry; "and I'm not apologizing for any one either. It's just that - well; a Southern girl came up here last summer and said some unfortunate things, and - oh, I just thought I'd tell you."
Sally Carrol felt suddenly indignant - as though she had been unjustly spanked - but Harry evidently considered the subject closed, for he went on with a great surge of enthusiasm.
"It's carnival time, you know. First in ten years. And there's an ice palace they're building now that's the first they've had since eighty-five. Built out of blocks of the clearest ice they could find - on a tremendous scale."
She rose and walking to the window pushed aside the heavy Turkish portieres and looked out.
"Oh!" she cried suddenly. "There's two little boys makin' a snow man! Harry, do you reckon I can go out an' help 'em?"
"You dream! Come here and kiss me."
She left the window reluctantly.
"I don't guess this is a very kissable climate, is it? I mean, it makes you so you don't want to sit round, doesn't it?"
"We're not going to. I've got a vacation for the first week you're here, and there's a dinner-dance to-night."
"Oh, Harry," she confessed, subsiding in a heap, half in his lap, half in the pillows, "I sure do feel confused. I haven't got an idea whether I'll like it or not an' I don't know what people expect, or anythin1. You'll have to tell me, honey."
"I'll tell you," he said softly, "if you'll just tell me you're glad to be here."
"Glad - just awful glad!" she whispered, insinuating herself into his arms in her own peculiar way. "Where you are is home for me, Harry."
And as she said this she had the feeling for almost the first time in her life that she was acting a part.
That night, amid the gleaming candles of a dinner-party, where the men seemed to do most of the talking while the girls sat in a haughty and expensive aloofness, even Harry's presence on her left failed to make her feel at home. (....)
... At first the Bellamy family puzzled her. The men were reliable and she liked them; to Mr. Bellamy especially, with his iron-gray hair and energetic dignity, she took an immediate fancy, once she found that he was born in Kentucky2 ; this made of him a link between the old life and the new. But toward the women she felt a definite hostility. Myra, her future sister-in-law seemed the essence of spiritless conventionality. Her conversation was so utterly devoid of personality that Sally Carrol, who came from a country where a certain amount of charm and assurance could be taken for granted in the women, was inclined to despise her.
"If those women aren't beautiful,"-she thought, "they're nothing. They just fade out when you look at them. They're glorified domestics. Men are the centre of every mixed group."
Lastly there was Mrs. Bellamy, whom Sally Carrol detested. The first day's impression of an egg had been confirmed - an egg with a cracked, veiny voice and such an ungracious dumpiness of carriage that Sally Carrol felt that if she once fell she would surely scramble. In addition, Mrs. Bellamy seemed to typify the town in being innately hostile to strangers. She called Sally Carrol "Sally", and could not be persuaded that the double name was anything more than a tedious ridiculous nickname. To Sally Carrol this shortening of her name was like presenting her to the public half clothed. She loved "Sally Carrol", she loathed "Sally". She knew also that Harry's mother disapproved of her bobbed hair; and she had never dared smoke down-stairs after that first day when Mrs. Bellamy had come into the library sniffing violently.
...And then one afternoon in her second week she and Harry hovered on the edge of a dangerously steep quarrel. She considered that he precipitated it entirely, though the Serbia3 in the case was an unknown man who had not had his trousers pressed.
They had been walking homeward between mounds of high-piled snow and under a sun which Sally Carrel scarcely recognized. They passed a little girl done up in a gray wool until she resembled a small Teddy bear, and Sally Carrel could not resist a gasp of maternal appreciation.
"Look! Harry!"
"What?"
"That little girl - did you see her face?" "Yes, why?"
"It was red as a little strawberry. Oh, she was cute!"
"Why, your own face is almost as red as that already! Everybody's healthy here. We're out in the cold as soon as we're old enough to walk. Wonderful climate!"
She looked at him and had to agree. He was mighty healthy-looking; so was his brother. And she had noticed the new red in her own cheeks that very morning.
Suddenly their glances were caught and held, and they stared for a moment at the street-corner ahead of them. A man was standing there, his knees bent, his eyes gazing upward with a tense expression as though he were about to make a leap toward the chilly sky. And then they both exploded into a shout of laughter, for coming closer they discovered it had been a ludicrous momentary illusion produced by the extreme bagginess of the man's trousers.
"Reckon, that's one on us", she laughed "He must be a Southerner, judging by those trousers," suggested Harry mischievously.
"Why, Harry!"
Her surprised look must have irritated him. "Those damn Southerners !"
Sally Carrol's eyes flashed.
"Don't call 'em that!"
"I'm sorry, dear," said Harry malignantly apologetic, but you know what I think of them. They're sort of- sort of degenerates - not at all like the old Southerners. They've lived so long down there with all the colored people that they've gotten lazy and shiftless.
"Hush your mouth, Hurry!" she cried angrily. "They're not! They may be lazy - anybody would be in that climate - but they're my best friends, an' I don't want to hear 'em criticised in any such sweepin' way. Some of 'em are the finest men in the world."
"Oh, I know. They're all right when they come North to college, but of all the hangdog, ill-dressed, slovenly lot I ever saw, a bunch of small-town Southerners are the worst!"
Sally Carrol was clinching her gloved hands and biting her lip furiously.
"Why," continued Harry, "there was one in my class at New Haven4, and we all thought that at least we'd found the true type of Southern aristocrat at all - just the son of a Northern carpetbagger5 , who owned about all the cotton round Mobile6.»
"A Southerner wouldn't talk the way you're talking now," she said evenly.
"They haven't the energy!"
"Or the somethin' else."
"I'm sorry, Sally Carrol, but I've heard you say yourself that you'd never marry —"
"That's quite different. I told you I wouldn't want to tie my life to any of the boys that are round Tarleton now, but I never made any sweepin' generalities."
They walked along in silence.
"I probably spread it on a bit thick, Sally Carrol. I'm sorry."
She nodded but made no answer. Five minutes later as they stood in the hallway she suddenly threw her arms round him.
"Oh, Harry," she cried, her eyes brimming with tears, "let's get married next week. I'm afraid of having fusses like that. I'm afraid, Harry. It wouldn't be that way if we were married."
But Harry, in the wrong, was still irritated.
"That'd be idiotic. We decided on March."
The tears in Sally Carrol's eyes faded; her expression hardened slightly.
"Very well –I suppose I shouldn't have said that".
Harry melted.
"Dear little nut” he cried. "Come and kiss me and let’s forget".
PRELIMINARIES
I. Watch and practise the pronunciation of these words.
1.Madonna [mə'dɔnə]
2.Southerner ['sʌð(ə)nə ]
Northerner ['nɔ:ð(ə)nə]
cigarette [sɪg(ə)'ret]
emphasis ['emfəsɪs]
momentary ['məumənt(ə)rɪ]
couch [kauʧ]
II. Study the notes below:
1.Ash man (Amer.) - dustman
2.Kentucky - state in the centre of the USA which is referred to as «Gateway to the South».
3.Serbia (fig.) - cause for a quarrel
4.New Haven - American city where the Yale University is situated
5.Carpet begger (Amer.) - person during the American Civil War (1861-1865) from northern USA who went to the South to seek financial and political advantage.
6.Mobile [mo(u)b'i:l] - large city and port in Alabama.
COMPREHENSION
I. Choose the right answer and prove your point of view.
1. What was Harry's attitude to Southerners ?
a)He despised them but didn't speak ill of them.
b)He considered them to be second-rate people unworthy of any respect.
c)Harry thought highly of Southerners.
2. How did the Bellamies treat Sally Carrol ?
a)They made themselves extremely pleasant to her.
b)Their attitude to the girl was coldly formal.
c)They didn't take an effort to make Sally Carrol feel at home.
d)The Bellamies did their best to produce a favourable impression on Sally Carrol.
3. Why did Sally Carrol fail to feel at home at her fiance's ?
a)The cold got her down and her constitution wouldn't stand it.
b)She felt uncomfortable because Harry had a great crowd of relatives to inflict upon her.
c)Sally Carol didn't belong there
4. What do you think about the young people's quarrel ?
a)It was a futile and silly argument.
b)It was a serious quarrel that put a creak into their relations.
c)Their quarrel was nothing to make a song and dance about. People who love do quarrel.
II. Answer these questions.
1.What do you think is the time and place of action ?
2.What characters are introduced to the reader ?
3.Who is the protagonist?
4.Who are the minor characters ?
III. Find and read out the sentences proving that:
1.Harry Bellamy had a too-high opinion of his place and people.
2.Sally Carrol resented her future sister and mother-in-law.
IV. Paraphrase and comment on the following sentences.
1.But after a brief kiss he seemed anxious to extort enthusiasm from her.
2.That night, amid the gleaming candles of a dinner-party where the men seemed to do most of the talking while the girls sat in a haughty and expensive aloofness, even Harry's presence on her left failed to make her feel at home.
3.And then one afternoon in her second week she and Harry hovered on the edge of a dangerously steep quarrel.
4.She considered that he precipitated it entirely, though the Serbia in the case was an unknown man who had not had his trousers pressed.
V. Summarise the plot of the passage.
TEXT INTERPRETATION
Introduction
Choosing the right match in marriage can mean all the difference between a happy and an unhappy life. How can you determine before marriage whether your partner is the right one? Can marriage be successful despite vastly different family backgrounds? What is the role of personal characteristics?
I. Of what significance, if any, is the description of Harry's home ?
II.Dwell on the scene in the library. What was Harry's dominant emotion? Why did Sally Carrol feel as though she had been spanked?
III. What was Sally Carrol's impression of the Bellamies? How objective are her evalutions? Don't you think the girl was too hasty and sharp in her judgement of the members of the family? Give evidence from the text to prove your point of view.
Useful phrases (and there are more of them in the papers you already have “Useful Vocabulary”):
I doubt that (if)...
It's hardly likely that...
It's too much to say that ...
I have a good reason to doubt that...
Judging by her behaviour we can say that…
I'd like to draw your attention to ...
Let me remind you of...
IV. People belonging to the Northern races are traditionally referred to as reserved, emotionless, cheerless and melancholy. Is Harry endowed with these qualities? What do you think of his temperament and temper? Was his conceit due to his background?
V. Intolerance in opinion is expressed by the adjectives «narrow-minded» and «dogmatic». Can you characterize Harry Bellamy in such terms? Why or why not?
VI. The author's remark «malignantly apologetic» is made up of words incompatible in meaning. What is suggested about Harry by the use of this oxymoron ?
Note: Oxymoron - a sequence of linguistic units incompatible in their meaning. It serves the purpose of presenting together different, contrasting aspects of a thing.
VII. What traits if the personages' characters has the scene of the quarrel brought out?
VIII. Sum up Harry's characteristics.
IX. Characterize Sally Carrol. For this purpose analyze the author's direct characterization as well as her own words and actions.
X. What impression have you got about the relations between the young people ? Do you think they are suited to each other?
XL How can you account for Sally Carrol's wish just after the quarrel to get married sooner than they had planned ?
XII. Describe in 2-3 sentences the other personages of the passage.
XIII. Analyse the text in terms of its conflicts.
XIV. Dwell on composition of the story.
XV.Comment on the climax of the story.
XVI.State the theme of the extract.
XVI. Who do you think the author's sympathy lies with? Do you share his attitude to the personages?
XVII. Interpret the text in a lengthy monologue.
XVIII. Project the personages' life into the future.
XIX. Illustrate the meaning of the proverbs applying them to the text you have read:
1.Unkindness destroys love.
2.It is not every couple that makes a pair.
3.Like should marry like.
Now practise interpreting a story one more time. It should be the book you’ve read for your individual reading (1000-1100 pages).
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