Vocabulary

To sustain – поддерживать

Relic – мощи

Comings and goings – странные явления

Carved – вырезанный

Сhunk – кусок

To implore – умолять

To summon – вызывать

Choir – хор

Impact – воздействие

To levitate – парить

Alcove – ниша

Communion – обедня, месса

Parishioner – прихожанин

Congregation – приход

Deacon – дьякон

Hymnal – сборник церковных гимнов

To pray – молиться

Bishop – епископ

Activity 2

Find the English equivalents in the text.

1. Отец Чарльз не видел волну.

2. Все пахло морем.

3. Я помню, как тела плавали у алтаря.

4. 20 человек погибли в церкви этим утром.

5. «Статуя ушла вместе с людьми...»

6. Он молил о возвращении статуи.

7. «Нам нужно много сделать», - сказал он на следующее утро после цунами.

8. Каждое утро он возвращался на берег.

Activity 3

Complete the sentences with the words below.

Burials Pedestal Mission Water Interpreter Balcony Floating Altar

1. We’ve been in Sri Lanka for more than a week when Chris, our (1) tells us about a small church.

2. When the fires wave struck, Father Charles was at the (2).

3. The choir in the (3) had just begun to sing the first few lines of a hymn.

4. Seconds later, he was swimming in the (4).

5. I remember three bodies (5) near the altar.

6. He saw the statue of our Lady of Matera rise from its (6).

7. Each day, ha attended to (7) of his parishioners.

8. Father Charles believed he couldn’t complete his (8) without our Lady by his side.

Activity 4

Match the words on the left with their equivalents on the right.

human	to plan
to store	to flap
to intend	mortal
to clutch	to forgo
to flutter	to keep
to sacrifice	to carry
to sweep	belief
faith	to clear

Activity 5

Put the verbs in brackets into the correct passive form.

1. The church (name) after a 500 year old relic, our Lady of Matera.

2. She (not take) by the water Dimaker explains, motioning with his hands.

3. Some people (kill) by the initial impact.

4. She (carry) by Jesus.

5. Several people from his congregation were missing and parts of the church (damage).

6. The statue (find) lying in bushes about a mile from the shrine.

7. Lifes (lose), we are still looking for so many people.

8. Our country (divide) politically and along ethic lines, and now we don’t think about these divisions.

9. The statue of our Lad of Matera (take) to the bishop’s office, where it (store) until the church (repair).

10. The day the statue (return), Father Charles and his parishioners intend to walk through the streets of Matera with it.

Activity 6

Translate the text from English into Russian.

Twenty people died in the church that morning. Some were killed by the initial impact; others drowned trying to escape. Father Charles didn’t notice that the statue was gone until later that day, when Dimaker told him what he’d seen.

“I believe she went out to sea to be with the people, her children”, Father Charles tells me. “She went with the people and she carried Jesus. She had the same struggle as the other people.”

For three mornings after the tsunami, Father Charles tells me, he went to the ocean’s edge and prayed for the return of the statue. “We need you,” he’d say out loud. “You have to come back.”

Activity 7

Use the prompts and make up sentences about how the people searched for miracles in every tragedy.

100 parishioners	were sitting	at the balcony
Some parishioners	were going	on the benches
	were standing	to pray
	were trying	to escape
Father Charles	didn’t see	for the return of the statue
	prayed	it was the work of God
	was sure	the wave
	intended	to walk through the streets
	believed	it was a miracle

Activity 8

Answer the questions.

1. What do people search in every tragedy?

2. How was the church named?

3. How did the statue look like?

4. What happened, when the choir had jus begun to sing?

5. What did father Charles think when he heard a crash?

6. Was the statue taken by the water?

7. What did father Charles do every day?

8. Who found the statue?

Activity 9

Agree or disagree with the following statements. Give your reasons.

1. Whatever the faith, whatever the culture, the color, we are all human in the end.

2. The prayers are always answered.

Activity 10

Write an article about the tragedy in the town of Matera in Sri-Lanka (100 – 150 words).