Vocabulary practice

/. Write in transcription, read and translate the following words and word-combinations:

Glucose; massage; restore; concentrated liver pills; dessertspoonful; teaspoonful; raisins plum pudding; raw liver; wineglass; an ounce; tonic; iron; 'strychnine; arsenic; tobacco; yellow ointment; a mixture of lard and sulphur; olive oil; inhalation; dangerous.

//. Translate into English:

Восстановитель волос; снабжать; массировать голову; чайная ложка порошка, стимулирующего пищеварение; принимать эвкалиптовые ингаляции; чувствовать очень плохо; печальное состояние; свиные котлеты; салат из огурцов; из-за моего желания: это способствует кроветворению; принимать в таблетках; делать подсчеты; в этом случае; предписание врача; передавать по наследству; ты скоро станешь лысым как яйцо; не обращай внимания; втирать в голову; рыбий жир; натуральная пища; следовать чьему-либо совету; запрещать.

///. Reproduce the situations from the text where the active vocabulary is used. Think of your own sentences with the words from the list.

IV. Suggest words and word-combinations for the following

• to put an end

• to keep fit

• to accuse smb for smth.

• to be forbidden

• make smb irritable

• because of smb's wish

• to have nothing but nuts and raisins for breakfast

• to lead to a condition of seasickness

• to get stomach disorder

• to endure smth

• accept and act according to

• to breathe eucalyptus in

V. Choose the correct statement:

1. I blame my friend for

a) being sick

b) my sad condition

c) having a headache

2. It's a prescription from

a) a famous professor

b) a well-known physician

c) a very good doctor

3. At the meeting of friends it was decided that I should

a) take exercise regularly

b) cut down my lunch to nuts and raisins

c) eat a lot of fresh fruit

4. Now I had to prepare for bed an hour earlier to

a) get through all the things I had to take

b) read a lot of reference books on medicine

c) take a lot of pills

5. When I woke up

a) the sun was shining brightly

b) the house was full of noise

c) the house was full of my friends

6. Keeping going in the city is

a) very easy and pleasant

b) that what we must do

c) too dangerous

VI. Answer the following questions

1. Who is the main character of the story?

2. What happened to him?

3. In what way did he want to keep him going?

4. What did his friends recommend him?

5. Did he follow their advice?

6. Could the narrator improve his health?

VII. Topics for general discussion

1. What kind of person was the narrator?

2. Why did he follow his friends' advice?

3. Do you think that pills and other medicines always help people?

4. What really makes people fit?

Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (16 December 1917–19 March 2008) was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist. Clarke was born in Minehead, Somerset, England. As a boy he enjoyed stargazing and reading old American science fiction pulp magazines. During the Second World War he served in the Royal Air Force as a radar specialist and was involved in the early warning radar defence system.

He was promoted Flying Officer on 27 November 1943 and was demobilised with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. After the war he earned a first-class degree in mathematics and physics at King's College London. In the postwar years, Clarke became the chairman of the British Interplanetary Society from 1947-1950.

Clarke wrote a number of non-fiction books describing the technical details and societal implications of rocketry and space flight. The most notable of these may be The Exploration of Space (1951) and The Promise of Space (1968).

In 1953 Clarke met and quickly married Marilyn Mayfield, a 22-year-old American divorcee with a young son. They separated permanently after six months. "The marriage was incompatible from the beginning", says Clarke. Clarke never remarried.

Clarke’s first professional sales appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in 1946. In 1948 he wrote "The Sentinel" for a BBC competition.

Clarke lived in Sri Lanka from 1956 until his death in 2008. Clarke held citizenship of both the UK and Sri Lanka. He was an avid scuba diver and a member of the Underwater Explorers Club. Living in Sri Lanka afforded him the opportunity to visit the ocean year-round.

His many predictions culminated in 1958 when he began a series of essays in various magazines that eventually became Profiles of the Future published in book form in 1962. A timetable up to the year 2100 describes inventions and ideas including such things as a "global library" for 2005. In the 1980s Clarke became well known to many for his television programmes Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World, Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers and Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious Universe. In 1986 he was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America.

In the 1989 Queen's Birthday Honours Clarke was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to British cultural interests in Sri Lanka". The same year he became the first Chancellor of the International Space University, serving from 1989 to 2004 and he also served as Chancellor of Moratuwa University in Sri Lanka from 1979 to 2002.

In December 2007 on his 90th birthday, Clarke recorded a video message to his friends and fans bidding them good-bye. Clarke died in Sri Lanka on 19 March 2008 after suffering from breathing problems. He was buried in Colombo in traditional Sri Lankan fashion on March 22.