Step 12
1. Read Chapter 14-15 (pp.182-201).
2. Study the Master Vocabulary and sketch the episodes where each word or word combination is used.
To use foul language – p.183
To dodge (smth.) – p.183
To set the date for … – p.184
To be hard up for time – p.185
Inexorable – p.186
To become (get) embroiled in … – p.189
To be enthralled by … – p.189
To be impervious to … – p.189
Insurgent – p.190
To be at one’s beck and call – p.192
To get the sack – p.192
To kick the bucket – p.193
Resentful (glare) – p. 195
To be galled at … – p. 197
To trample down – p. 199
3. Read & translate: p.185 from “The pig to be killed was driven…” up to the end of the passage.
4. Agree with or challenge the following statements.
Robertson admitted that he’d cheeked his neighbour off and therefore was punished by Mr. Jones; the latter severely bashed the boy with a stick in front of the whole class.
Mary, Brian’s grandmother, was a cold-blooded person; she was never perturbed by pig slaughter. Neither was Brian.
Pink houses of new estates were spilling into the countryside not far form the Nook. Allotment gardens and wheat-fields were bound to disappear under the hammers of annihilation.
When Seaton got a job on a factory site downtown, taken from being king of the house with more food instead, there was no trace of quarrels between him and Vera left.
Told off by his parents for buying The Count of Monte-Cristo, Brian gave up obtaining books. If he had dared, he would have been skinned alive.
Seaton was never late for work. He was not idle.
Brian’s examination results left much to be desired.
Brian spent the summer working as a mash-lad.
5. Answer the questions.
What was the only place where Brian felt safe from the long arm of Mr. Jones?
Why couldn’t Merton kill a pig himself?
How did the animals at the Nook take the slaughter?
Would you be chilled by the squeals of a dying pig? Would you feel sympathy for the animal? Why, or why not?
What embroiled Brian’s parents in explosive quarrels? Were the reasons important?
Have you read The Count of Monte-Cristo or Les Misérables? Who were they written by? Did you read them in the original? How do you like them? Were you enthralled by the grandiose surprises and twists of the plots? Why do people read and re-read such books?
Why was Margaret smacked by Brian? What did he get at his sister for?
Why wasn’t Harold Seaton to lose work? Why was he in a blacker and more vicious mood when he hadn’t been to work?
Was Brian sorry on learning about Mr. Jones’s death?
Who did Brian once see among the builders near the Nook? Do you remember this character?
What did Merton give his strength to after fifty-odd years’ work as a blacksmith?
Why did the Mertons have to move to another place to live? How did they take the news?
6. Give a synopsis of the events in Ch.14-15.