Unit 5. Art for heart’s sake

Rube Goldberg (born Reuben Lucius Goldberg) 4 July 1883 San Francisco- died 7 December 1970 New York.

Cartoonist who satirized the American preoccupation with technology. His name became synonymous with any simple process made outstandingly complicated.

He was born the son of a San Francisco police and fire commissioner, who guided him into engineering at the University of California. He received his B.S. in 1904 and took a job designing sewer pipes for the San Francisco Sewer Department.

After a few months, however, he left to become a sportswriter and cartoonist for the S.F. Chronicle (1904-1905), then for the S.F. Bulletin (1905-1907). He went east and joined the New York Evening Mail (1907-1921) where he creates three long-running comic strips – a satirizing “Boob McNutt”, “Mike and Ike - They Look alike”, and “Foolish Questions.”

He also created the cartoon character Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts, an inventor of contraptions that accomplished simple ends in a roundabout manner. One of his hundreds of inventions was an automatic stamp licker activated by a dwarf robot who overturned a can of ants onto a page of postage stamps gum side up. They were then licked up by an ant-eater who had been starved for three days.

In 1938 Goldberg turned to editional cartooning, working successfully for the New York Sun, the New York Journal and the Journal America.

He won the Pulitzer Price in 1948 for the best editional cartoon “Peace Today”- a warning against atomic weapons.

When he retired from cartooning in 1964, he achieved critical recognition for his sculpture in bronze and his cartoons in clay. In 1970, shortly before his death, the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of History and Technology held an exhibition of his cartoons and other works.

Exercise 1. Translate the following words from the text of Unit 5.

1. зрелый, опытный

2. огрызнуться

3. аномалия

4. покупка, приобретение

5. слуга, камердинер

6. цветной карандаш / мелок

7. хихикать

8. кривобокий

9. предостерегать

10. красться, делать тайком

11. захолустный (AE)

12. плата за обучение

13. пятно, мазок

14. бумажник (AE)

15. грубый, сырой

16. сделать, исполнить

17. хриплый, грубый

18. прищуриться, смотреть искоса

19. незаметный

20. всучить

21. грязное пятно

22. заняться чем-либо

23. платежеспособность

24. оценивающе

25. потрясающий, поразительный

26. сильный, энергичный

27. бежать, спасаться бегством

28. чепуха, вздор

29. загогулина

30. лукаво, проказливо

31. рассуждать о чем-либо

32. ненасытный, жадный

33. бульканье

34. предотвратить

35. спокойствие

36. сомнительный

37. ворчать, мычать

38. дрожащий (от паралича или болезни)

39. невнятный

40. стонать

41. подставка для дров в камине

42. покрывать, укутывать

43. пестрый, цветной, разноцветный

44. жертва

45. морщина

46. посмеиваться, хихикать

Exercise 2. Read the definitions and tell the words from the text.

1. such piece of work by a writer or an artist is done late in their life and shows a high level of understanding or skill;

2. to laugh quietly;

3. to force someone to accept or have to deal with something that they do not want;

4. a situation or time that is quiet and peaceful;

5. a male servant who looks after a man's clothes, serves his meals etc;

6. not developed to a high standard, or made with little skill;

7. to make a long deep sound because you are in pain, upset, or disappointed;

8. a dirty mark;

9. caused by an illness that makes your arms and legs shake because you cannot control your muscles;

10. a metal stand for wood in the fireplace;

11. something that is noticeable because it is different from what is usual;

12. to look at something with your eyes partly closed in order to see better;

13. lines on your face and skin that you get when you are old;

14. nonsense, something that you think is silly, not good, or not true;

15. to prevent something unpleasant from happening;

16. to look carefully at someone or something in such a way as if to make an opinion about them;

17. to cover something, for example with darkness or snow;

18. to say something quickly in an angry way;

19. provincial, remote or out of the way;

20. having one side that is lower or heavier than the other;

21. when you decide not to have something valuable, in order to get something that is more;

22. very unusual or surprising;

23. untidy, careless writing;

24. probably not true or not likely to happen;

25. with different coloured marks on;

26. something you buy, or the act of buying it;

27. to go somewhere secretly and quietly in order to avoid being seen or heard;

28. to produce a painting, book, film etc;

29. not easily seen or noticed;

30. the state of having enough money to pay your debts;

31. always wanting more and more of something;

32. to make short sounds or say a few words in a rough voice, when you do not want to talk;

33. a stick of coloured wax or chalk that children use to draw pictures;

34. the money you pay for being taught;

35. sounding unpleasantly loud or impolite, noisy, and violent;

36. to become interested in a new activity and to spend time doing it;

37. to laugh quickly, quietly, and in a high voice, because something is funny or because you are nervous or embarrassed;

38. a dirty mark made by a small amount of something spread across a surface;

39. using a lot of energy and strength or determination;

40. to think or talk for too long about something, especially something unpleasant;

41. a small flat case, often made of leather, that you carry in your pocket, for holding paper money, bank cards etc;

42. the happy low sound that someone makes in their throat or the pleasant low sound of water moving along gently;

43. to tell someone severely that they have done something wrong;

44. to leave somewhere very quickly, in order to escape from danger;

45. such kind of speech that is not clearly expressed or pronounced.