Добавил:
Upload Опубликованный материал нарушает ваши авторские права? Сообщите нам.
Вуз: Предмет: Файл:
Individual Reading.doc
Скачиваний:
3
Добавлен:
20.08.2019
Размер:
1.06 Mб
Скачать

Chapter 1-2

Task 1. Translate the following words and word combinations. Find them in the text.

to slam, to persuade smb, to welcome the opportunity, to explore the psychology of a man, to put down, disgust, to create a character, to follow smb, to take a chance, to chat with smb, to be under arrest, desperate regret, to search one’s memory, to have influence on smb, to live from week to week, to have a talent for smth, to put a look of careful thought on smb’s face, to get emotional, to feel like making friends, round-trip ticket, Princeton (culture word).

Task 2. Speak about the arrangement between Mr Greenleaf and Tom Ripley & Tom’s appearance at Mongibello.

Task 3. Answer the following questions, find examples in the text.

  1. Why was Tom hiding from the police? Why was he so frightened? Why did he move from one bar to another? Why was he afraid to find himself under arrest?

  2. How many years could he had been arrested?

  3. Did he cash the checks? Who owed him money? Why?

  4. Who told Mr. Greenleaf that Tom Ripley was his son’s friend?

  5. What was Richard doing in Europe? What did he live on in Italy?

  6. Did Tom have any talents? What did he do for a living?

  7. Why did Tom say that he had seen Dickie’s drawings and had found them interesting?

  8. Why did Mr. Greenleaf ask Tom to have a trip to Europe? Why didn’t he do it himself?

  9. Why did Tom change the name of his advertising company he was working for during the conversation with the Greenleafs?

  10. Why did Tom say that he went to Princeton? Did he really study there? Why wasn’t he afraid to be caught out?

  11. When did Tom become interested in Richard’s photos?

  12. Why did Tom have a feeling of guilt after the dinner at the Greenleafs’?

  13. Why did Tom decide to buy a hat?

  14. Why did he write a polite letter to his Aunt Dottie? Did they get on well?

  15. Why was he fired from his first job in New York? What feelings did he have?

  16. Did he feel guilty after he had stolen a loaf of bread?

  17. Did Richard recognize Tom? Was he glad to see Tom?

  18. How did Tom manage to change the situation?

Task 3. Fill in the gaps. Use the text.

  1. I can just see Dad _________approaching you in a bar.

  2. The film won a prize _______ Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law.

  3. Tom’s task was to _________ Dikie Greenleaf to return to the United states.

  4. This is a book that you will not be able to __________.

  5. The conversation was dull and the dinner _________.

  6. He _____ being nice to her.

  7. The author _________ of a man who cares for few people except himself.

  8. The letter made him feel better because it __________ him from her.

  9. Richard had _____ changed between sixteen and twenty-four.

  10. You’ll probably ___ where the rest of us have _______.

Task 4. Take the following facts in to consideration. Write a character sketch of Tom.

  • “He told people they had owed him money, it was a silly game that made him feel powerful”

  • “intelligent, honest, very willing to help”

  • “I’d be glad to see Richard again especially if you think I might be able to help”

  • “he had been very friendly with a Princeton student”

  • “In a large mirror on the wall he could see himself: the serious, hard-working young man”

  • “he began to play a role on the ship, the role of a serious young man with an important job ahead of him”

  • -relationships with his Aunt

  • -his first working experience

  • -the stolen loaf of bread and feeling towards the world

Chapters 3-12

Task 1. Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases as they are used in the story. Find the given words in the text and give the translation of the whole sentence.

Obviously, to yell, to slam, to get in the way of smb’s relationship, desperate, assistance, main goal, impatience, frustration, to sound eager, oar, consciousness, cautiously, privacy, frown, by luck, bracelet, curse, ashtray, disaster, drugged, obediently, observer, to look down at smth, forged checks, nasty, to speak highly of smb/ smth, sincere, newsstand, to jail.

Task 2. Chapter 3: Speak about the development of the relationships between Tom, Dickie and Marge

Chapter 4: Describe a terrible scene of the murder

Chapter 5: Speak about Tom’s living under Dickie’s name & another heinous murder

Chapter 6: Describe the police inquest. How did Tom manage to escape the arrest?

Chapter 7: Speak about Marge’s investigation & Tom’s bank frauds

Chapter 8: Explain the reasons for “the return of Tom Ripley’s identity”

Chapter 9: Describe Marge’s visit

Chapter 10: Describe Mr. Greenleaf’s visit

Chapter 11: What was the evidence of Tom’s crime & how did he manage to escape the exposure this time?

Chapter 12: Why did the author entitle this chapter as “Tom Ripley’s heroic journey?” What saved Tom again?

Task 2. Comprehension Questions.

  1. Did Tom accept Dickie’s offer to stay with him? Why?

  2. What did the two friends do in Naples? Whom did they meet there? What were Tom’s feelings towards this person?

  3. What ideas did Dickie have sitting at a table and watching the people go by? Why? What sort of man was he?

  4. Who offered the idea of gong to Rome? How did they get there? How did they amuse themselves?

  5. What was Marge’s reaction to their spending night in Rome? Why?

  6. Did Marge feel ignored? Prove it.

  7. Why did Tom have a sudden need to go to Marge’s house. What did he see there? What was his reaction to it?

  8. Why did he put on Dickie’s clothes? What scene did he act in front of the mirror? What traits of character did he have?

  9. Why is Chapter 4 entitled “A loss of control”?

  10. What feelings did Tom have after Mr. Greanleaf’s letter? What was that letter about?

  11. How did Tom react when he understood that Dickie wasn’t going to Paris with him?

  12. Why was Tom so furious when Dickie asked him about his plans for Christmas? Was Tom going home for Christmas?

  13. Why didn’t Tom have a high opinion of Marge’s book?

  14. What feelings did Tom have when they were on the train to San Remo?

  15. How often did he have the idea of killing Dickie? Why? What had prevented him from doing this?

  16. Did Tom have an elaborate plan of killing his friend? What does it mean “he thought of something brilliant”? How did he carry out his plan?

  17. How did he cover his tracks?

  18. What explanations did he offer to Marge? Why did he stay overnight? What for did he pretend that Richard had later made a decision to move to Rome?

  19. Why was Marge so astonished at “Dickie’s” decision?

  20. What did Tom do to step right into Dickie’s shoes?

  21. Why didn’t Marge understand that it wasn’t Dickie’s handwriting?

  22. Did Tom have enough money to live as he wanted in Rome? How did he manage to receive money?

  23. Why did he rent a flat for a year though he didn’t intend to spend the whole year in Rome?

  24. What for did Tom say to one of the Italian painters named Carlino, that he (Richard Greenleaf) was studying with the painter Di Massimo?

  25. Who visited Tom before his trip for Majorca?

  26. How did Tom explain his presence at Dickie’s flat? Why didn’t the guest believe him? What happened to the uninvited guest?

  27. How did Tom get rid of the body?

  28. Why did Tom buy the morning papers? What was he waiting for?

  29. Did the police suspect him at the first questioning? Did Tom manage to remain above suspicion? What did he testify?

  30. Why did Tom move to a hotel?

  31. What newspaper report made him drugged? Why was he so nervous?

  32. Did Dickie manage to swim and visit Tom at the hotel?

  33. Why did the policemen visit him and question for the second time?

  34. How did Tom manage to trick Marge?

  35. What kind of letter did he receive from Marge? Why did he enjoy every line of it?

  36. What letters did Tom receive in Palermo?

  37. What news made him pack the things rapidly? Who was eager to talk with him?

  38. Why did he hate to become Thomas Ripley?

  39. How did Tom manage to have enough money to live on? What for did he buy a car?

  40. Why did he decide to identify himself as Thomas Ripley?

  41. Did the policemen recognize Tom? Did they suspect him? How did he feel after their visit?

  42. What bright idea did Tom have? How did he plan to receive all Richards’ money?

  43. What flatted him and pleased him in the newspaper report? Why did he write a letter to his Aunt Dottie?

  44. Why didn’t Marge believe that Dickie had committed suicide?

  45. What for did Mr. Greenleaf change his mind and visited Tom? What new striking facts did Tom find out?

  46. Why did Bob Delancey’s letter comfort Tom?

  47. Who was George McAlpin?

  48. Was Tom going to return to the States? Why?

  49. Who found Richard’s rings? How did Tom explain the situation?

  50. Why did Mr. McCarron visit Tom? To what conclusion did he come?

  51. What did Tom mean saying that Richard was in a difficult situation?

  52. What news made Tome terrified? Why was he so frightened?

  53. What did Tom find out from the Italian newspapers? Why was it useless to search for Richard Greenleaf?

  54. What was Mr. Greenleaf’s reaction to Tom’s letter about Dickie’s will? What did it mean for Tom?

  55. Comment on the phrase “No use thinking about that. No use ruining his trip thinking abut imaginary policemen”.

  56. Tom managed to become rich but did he manage to become “someone”?

Task 3. Translate from English into Russian (do it in the written form)

  1. They were all wild and all the same.

  2. There is no reason to stay in a hotel, unless you prefer it.

  3. Tom had found the conversation as uninteresting as Freddie’s face.

  4. Let her imagine what she pleased.

  5. Both he and Dickie left her out of their travel plans when they discussed them.

  6. He suddenly felt that Dickie was touching her, at this minute, and partly he wanted to see it, and partly he hated the idea of seeing it.

  7. Marge had spread her dirty ideas about him to Dickie.

  8. He’d do anything rather than spend Christmas with them.

  9. Dickie was just pushing him in the cold.

  10. Tom searched his brain.

  11. And there were enough hotels in Rome to keep her busy for days.

  12. I hope I’ll see you now and then.

  13. He went on with the lazy packing.

  14. It was either Marge or the police.

Task 4. Fill in the gaps, using the words from the box.

privacy

wet

desperate

urgently

disgusted

cursed

obviously

frowning

invitation

regret

hungry

  1. ……………, Dickie was enjoying his company

  2. Tom was ……………..

  3. Freddie said ………………….

  4. He seems to want ………………...

  5. He ………….. to himself

  6. He was ……………. to get out!

  7. Tom …………. his lips.

  8. You are …………… requested to come to Rome.

  9. Mr. Greenleaf refused the ……………...

  10. He was sadly …………. for any information about Dickie.

  11. I ……………. the need to write this letter.

Task 5. “Spice up your English and make your writing worth reading”. Fill in the gaps using the words below. Use some of them in your summary.

Synonyms

Neutral

More formal

More informal

  1. Afraid

………Intimidated……

Scared

  1. Agree

Conclude

. …..

  1. Answer

.. ……

Get back to sb

  1. Bad

Unpleasant

……… …..

  1. Buy

…… ……

Pick smth up

  1. .. ……

Opportunity

Break

  1. Confirm

.. …..

Back sb/ sth up

  1. …… ……

Costly

Pricey

  1. Hate

Detest

. …..

  1. …… ……….

Strike

Bash

  1. Home

…….. ……

Place

  1. .. ………..

Imprison

lock sb up

  1. Main

.. ….

Number one

  1. Punish

Discipline

.. …..

  1. Rich

.. …..

Loaded

Intimidated

Purchase

Expensive

Jail

Lousy

Affluent

Hit

Cant’ stand

Verify

Residence

Acknowledge

Thrash smth out

Principal

Chance

Come down on smb

Writing

Task 6. Prepare a shot report about the author of this book.

Task 7. Present a character sketch of one of the main characters: Tom, Marge, Richards, Mr. Greenleaf.

Task 8. Give a short plot of the book (chapter 3-12 )

Task 9. What is you opinion of the book? Who is the author of the book? Give some brief information about the author. When and where was she born? When did she start to write? What was her first novel? What prize did Patricia Highsmith get for the novel The Talented Mr Ripley? What made the novel especially popular nowadays?

  1. Give the gist of the novel. How did Tom Ripley get to Italy? What kind of life did Dickie Greenleaf lead in Italy? How did Tom’s arrival change the life of the two young people? Do you think Tom envied Dickie’s lifestyle? Did he dream of the same social status as that of Dickie’s? What crimes did he commit? How did he manage to fool the police and all the people around him?

  2. What episode impressed you most? Why? Were you shocked and taken aback when certain events took place? When? Were you stunned and appalled when Tom committed his crimes in cold blood?

  3. Give a character sketch of Tom Ripley. Was he smart, crafty and tricky? Give examples from the novel. Where did he show himself as a sly person, intriguing and contriving? Describe the episodes. Was he in fact a wolf in a sheep’s clothing in Dickie’s life? Prove it by the facts from the novel. Was he a person who knew the ropes? Did he play his cards well? Can all this explain why he escaped the punishment he deserved? Did he reveal himself as a cruel and cold-blooded criminal?

  4. Express your opinion of the novel. Did you enjoy reading it? Did the novel keep you in suspense? Was the end unexpected or could you predict such a turn of events? Think of the possible continuation of the novel. What do you think may happen to Tom in future?

Task 10. Translate a passage from the novel in the original:

Chapter 12

Dickie swerved suddenly to the right, so suddenly that they `both had to duck and lean to keep the boat righted. A wall of white spray rose up on Tom's left, then gradually fell to show the empty horizon. They were streaking across the empty water again, towards nothing. Dickie was trying the speed, smiling, his blue eyes smiling at the emptiness.

`In a little boat it always feels so much faster than it is!' Dickie yelled.

Tom nodded, letting his understanding smile speak for him. Actually, he was terrified. God only knew how deep the water was here. If something happened to the boat suddenly, there wasn't a chance in the world that they could get back to shore, or at least that he could. But neither was there a chance that anybody could see anything that they did here. Dickie was swerving very slightly towards the right again, towards the long spit of fuzzy grey land, but he could have hit Dickie, sprung on him, or kissed him, or thrown him overboard, and nobody could have seen him at this distance. Tom was sweating, hot under his clothes, cold on his forehead. He felt afraid, but it was not of the water, it was of Dickie. He knew that he was going to do it, that he would not stop himself now, maybe couldn't stop him­self, and that he might not succeed.

`You dare me to jump in?' Tom yelled, beginning to unbutton his jacket.

Dickie only laughed at this proposal from him, opening his mouth wide, keeping his eyes fixed on the distance in front of the boat. Tom kept on undressing. He had his shoes and socks off. Under his trousers he wore his swimming trunks, like Dickie, `I'11 go in if you will!' Tom shouted. `Will you?' He wanted Dickie to slow down.

`Will I? Sure !' Dickie slowed the motor abruptly. He re­leased the tiller and took off his jacket. The boat bobbed, losing its momentum. `Come on,' Dickie said, nodding at Tom's trousers that were still on.

Tom glanced at the land. San Remo was a fur of chalky white and pink. He picked up the oar, as casually as if he were playing with it between his knees, and when Dickie was shoving

his trousers down, Tom lifted the oar aid came downn with it on the top of Dickie's head.

'Hey!' Dickie yelled, scowling, sliding half off the wooden seat. His pale brows lifted in groggy surprise.

Torn stood up and brought the oar down again, sharply, all his strength released like the snap of a rubber band.

`For God's sake!' Dickie mumbled, glowering, fierce, though the blue eyes wobbled, losing consciousness.

Tom swung a left-handed blow with the oar against the side of Dickie's head. The edge of the oar cut a dull gash that filled with a lire of blood as Tim watched. Dickie was on the bottom of the boat, twisted, twisting. Dickie gave a groaning roar of protest that frightened Tom with its loudness and its strength. Tom hit him in the side of the neck, three times, chopping strokes with the edge of the oar, as if the oar were an axe and Dickie's neck a tree. The boat rocked, and water splashed over his foot that was braced on the gunwale. He sliced at Dickie's forehead, and a broad patch of blood came slowly where the oar had scraped. For an instant Tom was aware of tiring as he raised and swung, and still Dickie's hands slid towards him on the bottom of the boat. Dickie's long legs straightened to thrust him forward. Tom got a bayonet grip on the oar and plunged its handle into Dickie's side. Then the prostrate body relaxed, limp and still. Tom straightened, getting his breath back painfully. He looked around him. There were no boats, nothing, except far, far away a little white spot creeping from right to left a speeding motor-boat heading for the shore.

He stopped and yanked at Dickie's green ring. He pocketed it. The other ring was tighter, but it came off, over the deeding scuffed knuckle. He looked in the trousers pockets. French and Italian coins. He left them. He took a keychain with three keys. Then he picked up Dickie's jacket and took Marge's cologne package out of the pocket. Cigarettes and Dickie's silver lighter, a pencil stub, the alligator wallet and several little cards in the inside breast pocket. Tom stuffed it all into his own corduroy jacket. Then he reached for the rope that was tumbled over the white cement weight. The end of the rope was tied to the metal rig at the prow. Tom tried to untie it. It was a hellish, water­ - soaked, immovable knot that must have been there for years. He banged at it with his fist. He had to have a knife.

He looked at Dickie. Was he dead? Tom crouched in the narrowing prow of the boat, watching Dickie for a sign of life. He was afraid to touch him, afraid to touch the chest or his wrist to feel a pulse. Tom turned and yanked at the rope frenziedly, until he realized that he was only making it tighter.

His cigarette lighter. He fumbled for it in the pocket of his trousers on the bottom of the boat. He lighted it, then held a dry portion of the rope over its flame. The rope was about an inch and a half thick. It was slow, very slow, and Tom used the minutes to look all round him again. Would the Italian with the boats be able to see him at this distance? The hard grey rope refused to catch fire, only glowed and smoked a little, slowly parting, strand by strand. Tom yanked it, and his lighter went out. He lighted it again, and kept on pulling at the rope. When it parted, he looped it four times around Dickie's bare ankles before he had time to feel afraid, and tied a huge, clumsy knot, overdoing it to make sure it would not come undone, because he was not very good at tying knots. He estimated the rope to be about thirty-five or forty feet long. He began to feel cooler, and smooth and methodical. The cement weight should be just enough to hold a body down, he thought. The body might drift a little, but it would not come up to the surface.

Tom threw the weight over. It made a ker-plung and sank through the transparent water with a wake of bubbles, dis­appeared, and sank and sank until the гope drew taut on Dickie's ankles, and by that time Tom had lifted the ankles over the side and was pulling now at an arm to lift the heaviest part, the shoulders, over the gunwale. Dickie's limp hand was warm and clumsy. The shoulders stayed on the bottom of the boat, and when he pulled, the arm seemed to stretch like rubber, and the body not to rise at all. Tom got down on one knee and tried to heave him out over the side. It made the boat rock. He had forgotten the water. It was the only thing that scared him. He would have to get him out over the stern, he thought, because the stern was lower in the water. He pulled the limp body to­wards the stern, sliding the rope along the gunwale. He could tell from the buoyancy of the weight in the water that the weight had not touched bottom. Now he began with Dickie's head and shoulders, turned Dickie's body on its belly and pushed him out little by little. Dickie's head was in the water, the gunwale cutting across his waist, and now the legs were in a dead weight, re­sisting Tom's strength with their amazing weight, as his shoul­ders had done, as if they were magnetized to the boat bottom. Tom took a deep breath and heaved. Dickie went over, but Tom lost his balance and fell against the tiller. The idling motor roared suddenly.

Tom made a lunge for the control lever, but the boat swerved at the same time in a crazy arc. For an instant he saw water underneath him and his own hand outstretched towards it, because he had been trying to grab the gunwale and the gun­wale was no longer there.

He was in the water.

He gasped, contracting his body in an upward leap, grabbing at the boat. He missed. The boat had gone into a spin. Tom leapt again, then sank lower, so low the water closed over his head again with a deadly, fatal slowness, yet too fast for him to get a breath, and he inhaled a noseful of water just as his eyes sank below the surface. The boat was farther away. He had seen such spins before: they never supped until somebody climbed in and stopped the motor, and now in the deadly emptiness of the water he suffered in advance the sensations of dying, sank threshing below the surface again, and the crazy motor faded as the water thugged into his ears, blotting out all sound except the frantic sounds that he made inside himself, breathing, struggling, the desperate pounding of his blood. He was up again and fighting automatically towards the boat, because it was the only thing that floated, though it was spinning and im­possible to touch, and its sharp prow whipped past him twice, three times, four, while he caught one breath of air.

He shouted for help. He got nothing but a mouthful of water. His hand touched the boat beneath the water and was pushed aside by the animal-like thrust of the prow. He reached out wildly for the end of the boat, heedless of the propeller's blades. His fingers felt the rudder. He ducked, but not in time. The keel hit the top of his head, passing over him. Now the stern way close again, and he tried for it, fingers slipping down off the rudder. His other hand caught the stern gunwale. He kept an arm straight, holding his body away from the propeller. With an unpremeditated energy, he hurled himself towards a stern corner, and caught an arm over the side. Theme he reached up and touched the lever.

The motor began to slow.

Tom clung to the gunwale with both hands, and his mind went blank with relief, with disbelief, until he became aware of the flaming ache in his throat, the stab in his chest with every breath. He rested for what could have been two or ten minutes, thinking of nothing at all but the gathering of strength enough to haul himself into the boat, and finally he made slow jump' up and down in the water and threw his weight over and lay face down in the boat, his feet dangling over the gunwale lie rested, faintly conscious of the slipperiness of Dickie's blood under his fingers, a wetness mingled with the water that ray out of his own nose and mouth. He began to think before he could move, about the boat that was all goody and could not be re­turned, about the motor that he would have to get up and start in a moment. About the direction.

About Dickie's rings. He felt for them in his jacket pocket. They were still there, and after all what could have happened to them? He had a fit of coughing, and tears blurrёd his vision a' he tried to look all around him to see if any boat was near, or coming towards him. He rubbed his eyes. There was no boat except the gay little motor-boat in the distance, still dashing around in wide arcs, oblivious o£ him. Tom looked at the boat bottom. Could he wash it all out? But blood was hell to get out, he had always heard. He had been going to return the boat, and say, if he were asked by the boatkeeper where his friend was, that he had set him ashore at some other point. Now that couldn't be.

Tom moved 'the lever cautiously. The idling motor picked up and he was afraid even of that, but the motor seemed more human and manageable than the sea, and therefore less frightening. He headed obliquely towards the shore, north of San Remo.

Maybe he could find some place, some little deserted cove in the shore where he could beach the boat and get out. But if they found the boat? The problem seemed immense. He tied to reason himself back to coolness. His mind seemed blocked as to how to get rid of the boat.

Now he could see pine trees, a dry empty-looking stretch of tan beach and the green fuzz of a field of olive trees. Tom cruised slowly to right and left of the place, looking for people. There were none. He headed in for the shallow, short beach, handling the throttle respectfully, because he was not sure it wouldn't flare up again. Then he felt the scrape and jolt of earth under the prow. He turned the lever to Ferma, and moved another lever that cut the motor. He got out cautiously into about ten inches of water, pulled the boat up as far as he could, then transferred the two jackets, his sandals, and Marge's cologne box from the boat to the beach. The little cove were he was - not more than fifteen feet wide - gave him a feeling of safety and privacy. There was not a sign anywhere that a human foot had ever touched the place. Tom decided to try to scuttle the boat.

He began to gather stones, all about the size of a human head because that was all he had the strength to carry, and to drop them one by one into the boat, but finally he had to use smaller stones because there were no more big ones near enough by. He worked without a halt, afraid that he would drop in a faint of exhaustion if he allowed himself to relax even for an instant, end that he might lie there until he was found by somebody. When the stones were nearly level with the gunwale, he shoved the boat off and rocked it, more and more, until water slopped in at the sides. As the boat began to sink, he gave it a shove towards deeper water, shoved and walked with it until the water was up to his waist, and the boat sank below his reach. Then he ploughed his way back to the shore and lay down for a while, face down on the sand. He began to plan his return to the hotel, and his story, and his next moves: leaving San Remo before night­fall, getting back to Mongibello. And the story there.

Penelope Lively The House in Norham Gardens

Task 1. Explain the meaning of the following words and phrases as they are used in the story. Find the given words in the text and give the translation of the whole sentence.

Haunt, implacable, invulnerable, laureate, Guinea, poise, hush, lodger, delineate, in vogue, fibre, dye, laburnum, totter, privit, green baize, scullery, posh, the outgoings, assets, securities, lease, indestructible, , fossil, plus-fours, cluffle, shinglperished, e, token, indignant, perishing, dishy, snag, clamour, disembowel, peaky=peaked, spry, cheese-cloth, wisp, anguish, obsession, chaplain, adjustable, endure, sober, wad, chrysalis, shrub, larder, parlourmaid, daft, Gaul, punt, ornate, sequin, arid, creepy, fence off, yam, wither, sorcery, caff, acne, despondent, radiant, horde, perished, Almighty, terse, matey, assagai, rampage, connoisseur, contagious, scrawl, offal, Sprocket, morbid, coupd’etat, , swot, abate, in touch, beset, tumultuous, benevolent, press on, pop up, amiable, appall, flimsy, icing, slosh, incandescent, desolation, emergent society, anticipation, dislodge, prodigious, rev, fruition, cumbersome, jerkin, treachery, vigour, boil, sty, bowels, waterworks, off colour, unwind, going-over, lethargic, misdemeanour, untether, lurch, diffidence, impertinent, tinge, compunction, squalor, lumber, gnome, tarmac, waste, hibernate, unfathomable, orang-utan, eclipse, obscure, brocade, decipher, bough, throb, self-deception, readjust, sullen, rook, Suit yourself, rubble, depot, facetious, cineraria, hyacinth, tamper with, proffer, benevolent, commotion, tulle, budgerigar, V E night/day, spin(span, spun), summit, daunt, turquoise, mesmerize, roundup, daft, contemplate, sling, murky, elusive, evasive, incoherent, chameleon, martyrdom.

Task 2. Study an example of a group project work

I) Oral Presentation

Presenter: Introduction.

Speaker 1: About the author

Penelope Lively was born in Cairo, Egypt and spent her childhood there. She came to England at the age of twelve, in 1945, and went to boarding school in Sussex. Later she read Modern History at St. Anne's College, Oxford. In 1957 she married Jack Lively, he died in 1998. They had two children, Josephine and Adam. Jack Lively's academic career took the family from Swansea to Sussex and Oxford, and eventually to Warwick University, where he was Professor of Politics. Penelope Lively now has four grandchildren and lives in London. Her other famous book is "Moon Tiger', one of the best books for young readers.

Speaker 2: Penelope Lively’s words about her writing

'In writing fiction I am trying to impose order upon chaos, to give structure and meaning to what is apparently random. It does seem to me that many writers - and I am certainly one - look at it as an opportunity to perceive and explain pattern and meaning in human existence. But a view of the world is essentially and inevitably a personal one, conditioned by circumstance. I write within the English tradition of saying serious things in a relatively light-hearted way. Two of the qualities I most admire in other writers are accuracy and concision - the ability to say most by saying least; with this in mind what I am always trying to do is to find ways of translating ideas and observations into character and narrative. The short story can act as a concentrated beam of light; the novel is a more expansive and dispersed reflection. They do different things, I think, but both depend upon selection and metamorphosis - taking from life the situations that seem to offer insights, and then giving them the form and discipline of fiction.'

Speaker 3: About the book

Penelope Lively's The House in Norham Gardens was first published in 1974. It has been regularly reprinted again and again.

Speaker 4: It was called by the reviewers an extraordinarily absorbing, almost hypnotic reading. This book is ostensibly for young people but it is interesting to adults too.

Speaker 5: First the story centres on 14-year-old orphan heroine Clare, living with two elderly aunts in a huge Gothic Victorian house in Norham Gardens, in North Oxford.

Speaker 6: It is a subtle account of a young girl's struggle to accept the unpredictability of life. She has lost both parents at eight and now lives with very elderly aunts. She is terrified of losing them too.

Speaker 7: The girl is surrounded by documents, portraits and objects which span more than a century of British and colonial history. In Clare's schoolgirl present, 'the Americans are revisiting the moon' and she is preoccupied with the ordinary dreams and frustrations of adolescence. But at the same time she thinks a lot about many previous lives in Norham Gardens. And she gets a lot of information about the past from her freethinking aunts, early socialists and feminists, who resisted marriage.

Speaker 8: Read a passage about the aunts; do a translation of a passage

Speaker 9: Altogether the novel is a subtle, reflective and a captivating book. It shows an unusual family configuration that still provides what the child needs. In this book, we see the relationship between a young girl Clare Mayfield, and her elderly aunts. All of them enjoy each other’ company and need each other. The aunts are highly intelligent old ladies who can teach Clare a lot. But they are distanced from the day to day economic necessities of everyday life, and Clare takes on these problems.

Speaker 10: Clare's grandfather brought back a shield from New Guinea seventy years ago, and now Clare's dreams are haunted by images of New Guinea. Clare discovers a tamburan in the attic, and the past of this relic is described in notes above each chapter. She worries about the aunts and their health. And at the same time she becomes absorbed in the lives of the tribe people who carved the tamburan. Eventually everything becomes very difficult for her and she needs to be rescued from her plight and the plight of the tamburan. It is up to her to lay the ghost of an encounter between a Victorian anthropologist and a Stone Age New Guinea tribe to rest. And she takes the tamburan to the museum.

Speaker 1: About the tribe & the tamburan. Do a translation of a passage

Speaker 2: The book contrasts the anthropology of the past with the multiculturalism of the present. It attacks the 'fencing off' of the young, the old or any other group. The aunts are really beautifully drawn and so are the other characters. The book deals with time, history, the importance of memory and concludes that loss can be contained and faced.

II) Presentation of the written part of the project. Do a translation of (1/2 page) of one's own choice

Topics for Research & Oral Presentation

1) p.20. Throughout the novel the author very delicately and subtly shows the aunts as a role model for young people. What kind of people are the aunts and what are their qualities that we admire? The author reveals their independent thinking & behaviour in their youth, e.g. p.31 Aunts had their own taste in clothes: baggy tweed suits, p.32 the aunts were inappropriately but they felt correctly dressed. p.21 We also make point of such characteristics as “they were people who lived in libraries or studies”. They are educated and intelligent people: p.33 The aunts were amazingly competent when it came to Latin. p.33 Aunt Susan could explain the complexities of Elizabeth I’s foreign policy, p. 38 they regularly read newspapers, p. 46 they read The Times; p.54 Dictionaries at Norham Gardens lay open on tables, etc.

The aunts held progressive views in their youth: p. 70: “…in 1932 Ann and I went to nineteen committee meetings and lobbied our MP four times… And we marched from Hyde Park Corner to Trafalgar Square, about unemployment”.

The aunts have a good sense of humour: p.70: Why are butchers such noisy men? - … it’s a job that blunts the sensibilities.

2) p.35 The novel contains a lot of statements sounding like maxims.

p.20 Here’s Aunt Susan’s saying: having problems that can’t be solved is “part of the process of living. One’s life tends to be littered with insoluble problems of one kind or another”?

p.20 There’s another phrase: People are seldom adjustable. They endure. Or not, as the case may be”.

p.37 Another case of the aunts’ aphorisms: …one is much the same person as one has always been, and the world is no less interesting a place…

p.38 Another aphorism to think about: All that stays in people’s heads, it must do, that’s the difference between being old and young, in the end

p.154 You are a listener. It is only those who have never listened who find themselves in trouble eventually… Because it is extremely dull to grow old with nothing inside your head but your own voice. Tedious, to put it mildly.

Discussing the aphorisms the aunts utter, interpreting what they mean, help us to imagine the aunts better, to understand what they want to convey to Clare, how instructive these sayings are. It also awakes some response in our heart and mind.

Clare also says things that sound like aphorisms, e.g.

p.35 Clare: …people have to talk to each other, all the time. If you couldn’t talk to people, tell them about yourself, you’d go mad

3) The author stresses the significance of history in the life of society. As the author says, history is preserved in historical sights, old buildings, names in churches, etc. The author induces us to formulate our attitude to the problem: should historical houses be preserved for posterity or should they be razed to the ground to make way for a housing estate?

The author gives us two views on this problem. On the one hand, there is a romantic appeal in the old house: p.29People liked coming to tea at Norham Gardens (and further on). Step back into the past… The house is not like all new houses: Obviously very few houses like Norham Gardens are left at present, it is different, while half a million others are the same.

On the other hand, p.30: Living in a weird house like this. p. 71 Margaret calls the house a morgue.

The aunts are keeping the house as it was originally, while, for instance, Mrs Rider has disemboweled it, has let it, and now it swarms with students.

4) The author chooses Oxford as the scene of the action. A number of places of Oxford are mentioned, e.g., p.116 Banbury Road, p.116 the Parks, etc. The descriptions of old houses of Oxford are given: the Norman Gardens & others (e.g.p.127). But modern changes happen even in such a historical place: p.23. Old and new things exist alongside. Are they for the better or for the worse? Is it something you can’t prevent?

In some passages of the novel we feel that the author seems to regard new buildings, new construction in the town as intrusions (only the view out of the window admitted intrusions…). Isn’t it an analogous process to the intrusion of civilization into the life of tribes of New Guinea?

5) The main characters make a visit to London, a city famous for its history and historical sights: p.107: Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace p.108: Houses of Parliament, Oxford Street, Paddington Station, p.109: Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, p.110: the Tower.

We may think how the history of London reflects the history of the country. Some historical events are mentioned in the novel: p.110: the Romans, Wat Tyler, the Great Fire.

6) p.21 The author underlines the significance of historical documents: the past survives in time and change, petrified in letters, notes, diaries.

7) Another problem worth discussing is multiculturalism of modern British life.

Various types of culture are shown in the novel: Clare, the aunts, Mareen, the native tribes of New Guiana, the Ugandan student. It is the reality of today’s existence – to live in contact with so many different cultures.

Clare lives in her own cultural milieu, and comes into contact with the culture of her ancestors, with the culture of the colonial past of Britain (New Guinea), with the culture of the African, her Ugandan lodger and friend; p.91: the shadows of another world and another time.

The idea of modern British multicultural society can be traced in the following remarks: p. 24: Pakistani boys played cricket…. With Oxfordshire accent; p. 34: the conductor was West Indian, but when he spoke it was with the voice of Midland England…

8) Some traditional British phenomena are mentioned in the novel, e.g., p. 116-117 the game of cricket. Some traditions are shown in contrast, e.g. weddings (p. 89, p.128–129).

9) The idea of the significance of the continuity of generations is clearly revealed in the novel.

Ancestors are important in tribal & modern societies (e.g. p.40 ancestors in the tribal society)

10) Memories is one of the topics of the novel . E.g. memories of the people you once knew, p. 153: going on inside someone else’s head. Memory … is something that people can’t do without

p. 114 “Does being told about history help?’ – “Knowing about time does. Being able to remember”.

11) Colonial history of Britain is worth studying, it gives a clue to modern multicultural society.

12) The author draws out attention to Museums as a place of preserving history, of displaying other people’s culture.

13) Old & young. We see in the novel how young people can profit from the company of the old. Clare speaks of what is common and what is different between being old and young: p.25 I am like the aunts, we are both at a time when nothing much is happening to us. They have finished having things happen to them, and I haven’t started yet. We just wait. The aunts think backwards mostly, because that suits them best. Perhaps I should think forwards, but I can’t because there is nothing to be seen for certain

14) Sometimes an unknown object, which symbolises something in other culture, may seem to us “secret & complex”, magical and having some hidden meaning. It may arouse in us awe or fear. It is how the presence of tamburan affected Clare. p. 51 The painted shield troubled Clare so much.

Further, p. 32-33 it frightened Liz (ghastly, it gives me shiver), p. 36 Clare says that Liz and Maureen think it’s creepy. Clare thinks it must be returned to the people to whose culture it belongs (p.39: obligation unfulfilled).

15) There is interest in history among modern people. The young people stage Macbeth at school. p. 50 Clare expresses a wish to see in the mirror reflections of what have past in the home life of their family.

p. 31 Historical clothes are described with interest and romantic spirit; elaborate hats are an exotic attribute of old fashion: feathered, ribboned, and flowered… . In the novel we come across some nostalgic feelings towards the past: clothes, hair-does, parties, traditions (weddings), traveling in old trains, etc.

p. 145 It is fashionable (now) to have old things; p.145 Old things were fashionable.

16) The problems of adolescence can be discussed on the example of Clare. We may also work out a character sketch of Clare.

17) Seasons and weather seem very important in the life of people (may be, Britons in particular). In many parts of the novel the author refers to seasons and weather, (e.g. p.30–31), and its effect on mood, state of mind. There are a number of episodes where the author resorts to descriptions of weather and shows how it affects the mood & behaviour of the protagonist, Clare.

There are also a few passages where the author resorts to the description of Nature (e.g. p.126–127).

Plants & flowers are described in the novel, and gardening is mentioned, that as we know from “country study”, is Britons’ traditional pastime.

18) p.19 In British folklore ghosts have a special place. The notion of ghosts appears a few times in Chapter 2. The aunts speak about ghosts, they point out the difference between modern view on ghosts and the one of the 17th century. They mention psychological ghosts, Clare too gives her explanation of ghosts.

19) There are a few remarks concerning language in the novel. E.g. p. 48–49 Language is an instrument. Aninstrument to be used precisely.

p.48 The teacher is against “sort of”. p.50 There are Clare’s remarks about the way people speak. p.54 Always check your references, back your arguments with facts.

20) Some spheres of British social life are touched upon in the novel: Schools & system of education in Britain: classes (e.g. p. 49 classes in drawing, in writing, on sex & the reproductive system), exams; drama; medical service, etc.

Task 2. Here are some recommendations how to prepare a talk on the following topic: Speak about the book included in the programme of your Individual Reading - P.Lively The House in Norham Gardens: 1) Give a few facts about the author; 2) Briefly retell the plot of the novel; 3) Dwell on the character profile of the personages; 4) Express your opinion of the book.

1) Give a few facts about the author

Penelope Lively was born in Cairo, Egypt and spent her childhood there. She came to England at the age of twelve, in 1945, and went to boarding school in Sussex. Later she read Modern History at St. Anne's College, Oxford. In 1957 she married Jack Lively, he died in 1998. They had two children, Josephine and Adam. Jack Lively's academic career took the family from Swansea to Sussex and Oxford, and eventually to Warwick University, where he was Professor of Politics. Penelope Lively now has four grandchildren and lives in London. Her other famous book is "Moon Tiger', one of the best books for young readers. Penelope Lively's The House in Norham Gardens was first published in 1974. It has been regularly reprinted again and again. It is an extraordinarily absorbing, almost hypnotic reading. This book is for young people but it is interesting to adults too

    1. Briefly retell the plot of the novel

It is a story of a 14-year-old orphan heroine Clare. She has lost both parents at eight and now lives with two very elderly aunts in a huge Gothic Victorian house in Norham Gardens, in North Oxford. She is terrified of losing them too. The girl is surrounded by documents, portraits and objects which refer to a British colonial history. Altogether the novel is a subtle, reflective and a captivating book. It shows an unusual family that still provides what the child needs. In this book, we see the relationship between a young girl Clare Mayfield, and her elderly aunts. All of them enjoy each other’ company and need each other.

Clare's grandfather brought back a shield from New Guinea seventy years ago, and now Clare's dreams are haunted by images of New Guinea. Clare discovers a tamburan in the attic, and the past of this relic is described in notes above each chapter. She worries about the aunts and their health. And at the same time she becomes absorbed in the lives of the tribe people who carved the tamburan. Eventually she takes the tamburan to the museum. The book contrasts the anthropology of the past with the multiculturalism of the present.

3) Dwell on the character profile of the personages

The aunts are really beautifully drawn in the book. The aunts are highly intelligent old ladies who can teach Clare a lot. But they are distanced from the day to day economic necessities of everyday life, and Clare takes on these problems. Clare learns a lot about her aunts from old documents. Her aunts were early socialists and feminists, they resisted marriage.

Throughout the novel the author very delicately and subtly shows the aunts as a role model for young people. What kind of people are the aunts and what are their qualities that we admire? The author reveals their independent thinking & behaviour in their youth, e.g. p.31 Aunts had their own taste in clothes: baggy tweed suits, p. 32 the aunts were inappropriately but they felt correctly dressed. p. 21 We also make point of such characteristics as “they were people who lived in libraries or studies”. They are educated and intelligent people: p. 33 The aunts were amazingly competent when it came to Latin. p.33 Aunt Susan could explain the complexities of Elizabeth I’s foreign policy, p. 38 they regularly read newspapers, p. 46 they read The Times; p. 54 Dictionaries at Norham Gardens lay open on tables, etc.

The aunts held progressive views in their youth: p. 70: “…in 1932 Ann and I went to nineteen committee meetings and lobbied our MP four times… And we marched from Hyde Park Corner to Trafalgar Square, about unemployment”. The aunts have a good sense of humour: p. 70: Why are butchers such noisy men? - … it’s a job that blunts the sensibilities.

4) Express your opinion of the book.

The book deals with time, history, the importance of memory. What is your opinion of the book? Why do you think it was recommended to us by the Oxford-Russia Fund?

Task 3. Here are some recommendations how to prepare a talk on one more topic:

Comment on the problems dealt with in the book of your Home-reading programme (P.Lively The House in Norham Gardens): old family members as a role model for young people; or: history in the life of society; or: intrusion of civilization into the life of native tribes, or: multiculturalism of modern British life, etc.

Penelope Lively's The House in Norham Gardens was first published in 1974. It has been regularly reprinted again and again. It is an extraordinarily absorbing, almost hypnotic reading. This book is for young people but it is interesting to adults too

It is a story of a 14-year-old orphan heroine Clare. She has lost both parents at eight and now lives with two very elderly aunts in a huge Gothic Victorian house in Norham Gardens, in North Oxford. She is terrified of losing them too. The girl is surrounded by documents, portraits and objects which refer to a British colonial history. Altogether the novel is a subtle, reflective and a captivating book. It shows an unusual family that still provides what the child needs. In this book, we see the relationship between a young girl Clare Mayfield, and her elderly aunts. All of them enjoy each other’ company and need each other.

There are a number of serious problems dealt with in the book. Thus, the author stresses the significance of history in the life of society. As the author says, history is preserved in historical sights, old buildings, names in churches, etc. The author induces us to formulate our attitude to the problem: should historical houses be preserved for posterity or should they be razed to the ground to make way for a housing estate?

The author gives us two views on this problem. On the one hand, there is a romantic appeal in the old house: p.29People liked coming to tea at Norham Gardens (and further on). Step back into the past… The house is not like all new houses: Obviously very few houses like Norham Gardens are left at present, it is different, while half a million others are the same. On the other hand, p. 30: Living in a weird house like this. p.71 Margaret calls the house a morgue. The aunts are keeping the house as it was originally, while, for instance, Mrs Rider has disemboweled it, has let it, and now it swarms with students.

Or:

The author chooses Oxford as the scene of the action. A number of places of Oxford are mentioned, e.g., p.116 Banbury Road, p. 116 the Parks, etc. The descriptions of old houses of Oxford are given: the Norman Gardens & others (e.g.p.127). But modern changes happen even in such a historical place: p. 23. Old and new things exist alongside. Are they for the better or for the worse? Is it something you can’t prevent?

In some passages of the novel we feel that the author seems to regard new buildings, new construction in the town as intrusions (only the view out of the window admitted intrusions…). Isn’t it an analogous process to the intrusion of civilization into the life of tribes of New Guinea?

Or:

The main characters make a visit to London, a city famous for its history and historical sights: p.107: Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace p. 108: Houses of Parliament, Oxford Street, Paddington Station, p.109: Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, p.110: the Tower.

We may think how the history of London reflects the history of the country. Some historical events are mentioned in the novel: p.110: the Romans, Wat Tyler, the Great Fire.

p. 21 The author underlines the significance of historical documents: the past survives in time and change, petrified in letters, notes, diaries.

Or:

Another problem worth discussing is multiculturalism of modern British life.

Various types of culture are shown in the novel: Clare, the aunts, Mareen, the native tribes of New Guiana, the Ugandan student. It is the reality of today’s existence – to live in contact with so many different cultures.

Clare lives in her own cultural milieu, and comes into contact with the culture of her ancestors, with the culture of the colonial past of Britain (New Guinea), with the culture of the African, her Ugandan lodger and friend; p.91: the shadows of another world and another time.

The idea of modern British multicultural society can be traced in the following remarks: p. 24: Pakistani boys played cricket…. With Oxfordshire accent; p. 34: the conductor was West Indian, but when he spoke it was with the voice of Midland England…

Or:

Some traditional British phenomena are mentioned in the novel, e.g., p. 116-117 the game of cricket. Some traditions are shown in contrast, e.g. weddings (p. 89, p. 128 -129).

The idea of the significance of the continuity of generations is clearly revealed in the novel.

Ancestors are important in tribal & modern societies (e.g. p.40 ancestors in the tribal society)

Memories is one of the topics of the novel . E.g. memories of the people you once knew, p. 153: going on inside someone else’s head. Memory … is something that people can’t do without

p. 114 “Does being told about history help?’ – “Knowing about time does. Being able to remember”.

Or:

Colonial history of Britain is worth studying, it gives a clue to modern multicultural society.

The author draws out attention to Museums as a place of preserving history, of displaying other people’s culture.

Or:

Old & young. We see in the novel how young people can profit from the company of the old. Clare speaks of what is common and what is different between being old and young : p.25 I am like the aunts, we are both at a time when nothing much is happening to us. They have finished having things happen to them, and I haven’t started yet. We just wait. The aunts think backwards mostly, because that suits them best. Perhaps I should think forwards, but I can’t because there is nothing to be seen for certain

14. Sometimes an unknown object, which symbolises something in other culture, may seem to us “secret & complex”, magical and having some hidden meaning. It may arouse in us awe or fear. It is how the presence of tamburan affected Clare. p. 51 The painted shield troubled Clare so much.

Further, p. 32-33 it frightened Liz (ghastly, it gives me shiver), p. 36 Clare says that Liz and Maureen think it’s creepy. Clare thinks it must be returned to the people to whose culture it belongs (p.39: obligation unfulfilled).

Or:

There is interest in history among modern people. The young people stage Macbeth at school. p. 50 Clare expresses a wish to see in the mirror reflections of what have past in the home life of their family.

p. 31 Historical clothes are described with interest and romantic spirit; elaborate hats are an exotic attribute of old fashion: feathered, ribboned, and flowered… . In the novel we come across some nostalgic feelings towards the past: clothes, hair-does, parties, traditions (weddings), traveling in old trains, etc.

p. 145 It is fashionable (now) to have old things; p.145 Old things were fashionable.

Or any other topic you prepared a talk on.

Task 4. Here are recommendation on how to make a talk on:

Speak about the book of your choice (P.Lively The House in Norham Gardens), retell an episode from the book, recite the quotes you liked & comment on their meaning, express your opinion of what you’ve read.

Penelope Lively's The House in Norham Gardens was first published in 1974. It has been regularly reprinted again and again. It is an extraordinarily absorbing, almost hypnotic reading. This book is for young people but it is interesting to adults too

It is a story of a 14-year-old orphan heroine Clare. She has lost both parents at eight and now lives with two very elderly aunts in a huge Gothic Victorian house in Norham Gardens, in North Oxford. She is terrified of losing them too. The girl is surrounded by documents, portraits and objects which refer to a British colonial history. Altogether the novel is a subtle, reflective and a captivating book. It shows an unusual family that still provides what the child needs. In this book, we see the relationship between a young girl Clare Mayfield, and her elderly aunts. All of them enjoy each other’ company and need each other.

Clare's grandfather brought back a shield from New Guinea seventy years ago, and now Clare's dreams are haunted by images of New Guinea. Clare discovers a tamburan in the attic, and the past of this relic is described in notes above each chapter. She worries about the aunts and their health. And at the same time she becomes absorbed in the lives of the tribe people who carved the tamburan. Eventually she takes the tamburan to the museum. The book contrasts the anthropology of the past with the multiculturalism of the present.

p. 35 The novel contains a lot of statements sounding like maxims.

p.20 Here’s Aunt Susan’s saying: having problems that can’t be solved is “part of the process of living. One’s life tends to be littered with insoluble problems of one kind or another”?

p.20 There’s another phrase: People are seldom adjustable. They endure. Or not, as the case may be”.

p.37 Another case of the aunts’ aphorisms: …one is much the same person as one has always been, and the world is no less interesting a place…

p.38 Another aphorism to think about: All that stays in people’s heads, it must do, that’s the difference between being old and young, in the end

p.154 You are a listener. It is only those who have never listened who find themselves in trouble eventually… Because it is extremely dull to grow old with nothing inside your head but your own voice. Tedious to put it mildly.

Discussing the aphorisms the aunts utter, interpreting what they mean, help us to imagine the aunts better, to understand what they want to convey to Clare, how instructive these sayings are. It also awakes some response in our heart and mind.

Clare also says things that sound like aphorisms, e.g.

p.35 Clare: …people have to talk to each other, all the time. If you couldn’t talk to people, tell them about yourself, you’d go mad.

Express your opinion of the book.

Good characteristics

  1. *Affable

  2. *Amiable

  3. Good-natured

  4. Good-humored

  5. Kind

  6. Kind-hearted

  7. Communicative

  8. Sociable

  9. Friendly

  10. Modest

  11. *Discreet

  12. Generous

  13. *Considerate

  14. Attentive

  15. Thoughtful

  16. Earnest

  17. Sincere

  18. Enthusiastic

  19. Calm

  20. Quiet

  21. *Composed

  22. Self-possessed

  23. Honest

  24. Merciful

  25. *Impartial

  26. Just

  27. Patient

  28. Sympathetic

  29. Respectable

  30. *Cordial

  31. Broad-minded

  32. Witty

  33. Intelligent

  34. *Dignified

  1. Capable

  2. *Benevolent

  3. Scrupulous

  4. Consistent

  5. Easy-going

  6. Affectionate

  7. Devoted

  8. Loyal

  9. Courageous

  10. Persevering

  11. Industrious

  12. Hard-working

  13. Sweet

  14. Gentle

  15. Proud

  1. Приветливый, любезный, милый

  2. Добродушный, приветливый

  3. Добродушный

  4. Добродушный

  5. Добрый, любезный

  6. Добрый, добросердечный

  7. Общительный, разговорчивый

  8. Общительный, компанейский

  9. Дружеский, товарищеский

  10. Скромный, застенчивый, благопристойный

  11. Сдержанный, тактичный, осмотрительный

  12. Великодушный, щедрый

  13. Внимательный, чуткий, заботливый

  14. Внимательный, предупредительный

  15. Задумчивый

  16. Серьезный

  17. Искренний

  18. Восторженный, полный энтузиазма

  19. Спокойный

  20. Тихий

  21. Спокойный, сдержанный

  22. Собранный, невозмутимый, хладнокровный

  23. Искренний

  24. Милосердный, сострадательный

  25. Беспристрастный, непредвзятый

  26. Справедливый

  27. Терпеливый

  28. Сочувственный

  29. Достойный уважения

  30. Сердечный, радушный

  31. Широких взглядов (умный, эрудированный)

  32. Остроумный

  33. Умный, смышленый, сообразительный

  34. Полный достоинства, величавый, величественный

  35. Способный

  36. Доброжелательный

  37. Щепетильный, доброжелательный

  38. Последовательный

  39. Благодушный

  40. Любящий, нежный

  41. Преданный

  42. Верный, преданный

  43. Храбрый, смелый, мужественный

  44. Настойчивый, упорный

  45. Трудолюбивый, усердный

  46. Трудолюбивый, усердный

  47. Милый

  48. Мягкий, тихий, деликатный

  49. Гордый

Bad characteristics

  1. Ill-natured

  2. Unkind

  3. Hard-hearted

  4. Reserved

  5. Uncommunicative

  1. Unsociable

  2. Hostile

  3. Haughty

  4. Arrogant

  5. *Dashing

  6. Showy

  7. *Indiscreet

  8. *Unscrupulous

  9. Greedy

  10. *inconsistent

  11. Tactless

  12. Insincere

  13. Hypocritical

  14. False

  15. Vulgar

  16. Double-faced

  17. Indifferent

  18. Dispassionate

  19. Fussy (about)

  20. *Unrestrained

  1. Dishonest

  2. Cruel

  3. *Partial (to)

  4. Intolerant

  5. *Conceited

  6. Self-wild

  7. Willful

  8. Capricious

  9. *Perverse

  10. Insensible

  11. *Servile

  12. *Presumptuous

  1. Deceitful

  2. Harsh

  3. Sulky

  4. Sullen

  5. Obstinate

  1. *Coarse

  2. Rude

  3. Vain

  4. Impatient

  5. impudent

  6. Revengeful

    1. Злобный, недоброжелательный

    2. Злой, недобрый, враждебный

    3. Бесчувственный, черствый (недобрый)

    4. сдержанный

    5. неразговорчивый, сдержанный, спокойный

    6. необщительный, нелюдимый

    7. враждебный, неприязненный

    8. заносчивый, высокомерный

    9. высокомерный, надменный

    10. лихой, стремительный

    11. показной

    12. неблагоразумный, несдержанный

    13. беспринципный, бессовестный

    14. жадный, алчный

    15. непоследовательный

    16. бестактный

    17. неискренний

    18. лицемерный, лживый

    19. притворный, лживый,

    20. вульгарный, пошлый, грубый

    21. двуличный

    22. безразличный, равнодушный

    23. беспристрастный, невозмутимый

    24. суетливый, беспокойный, вычурный

    25. несдержанный, необузданный, непринужденный

    26. нечестный, непорядочный

    27. жестокий, беспощадный

    28. пристрастный, неравнодушный к

    29. нетерпимый

    30. самонадеянный, зазнавшийся, тщеславный

    31. своенравный

    32. своенравный, упрямый, злостный

    33. прихотливый, капризный

    34. порочный, извращений

    35. нечувствительный

    36. раболепный, подобострастный

    37. самонадеянный; бесцеремонный, дерзкий

    38. неискренний, лживый, коварный

    39. грубый, резкий, суровый

    40. надутый, угрюмый, обиженный

    41. угрюмый, мрачный, замкнутый

    42. самовольный, упрямый, настойчивый, упорный

    43. грубый

    44. грубый, невоспитанный

    45. поверхностный, тщеславный

    46. дерзкий, наглый, нахальный

    47. дерзкий, нахальный

    48. мстительный

Look up the words & expressions used to describe a person.

Describing Personality

  1. considerate

  2. mean

  3. crafty

  4. ruthless

  5. pompous

  6. compassionate

  7. cunning

  8. single-minded

  9. arrogant

  10. hypocritical

  11. tenacious

  12. patronizing

  13. resolute

  14. two-faced

  15. vindictive

  16. obstinate

  17. warm

  18. spiteful

  19. intransigent

  20. conceited

  21. smug

  22. big-headed

  23. indulgent

  24. persistent

  25. snobbish

  1. aloof

  2. pushy

  3. scheming

  4. genial

  5. petulant

  6. calculating

  7. ignorant

  8. lenient

  9. pig-headed

  10. moody

  11. tactful

  12. devious

  13. stuck-up

  14. supercilious

  15. narrow-minded

  16. condescending

  17. affable

  18. tireless

  19. surly

  20. assertive

  21. mild-mannered

  22. courteous

  23. strong-willed

  24. decent

  25. generous

Task 2. Do the following exercise.

A) Match the words with the kinds of people they describe. Then decide which words are positive and which are negative. Write P or N next to each word.

1. easygoing a. a person who doesn't usually ask other people for help

2. independent b. someone who doesn't like giving things to other people

3. modest c. someone why еxpresses very strong beliefs about things

4. moody d. people who don't do what they say they will

5. opinionated e. a person who enjoys being with other people

6. sociable f. someone who is often in a bad mood or depressed

7. stingy g. a person who doesn't worry much or get angry easily

8. unreliable h. people who don't make a big deal about their accomplishments

B) Think of at least three adjectives to describe two people you know. Then tell a partner about those people. E.g. "My brother is pretty cool and easygoing, but sometimes he can be unreliable. He always. ..."

Task 3. In your future professional life you may need to talk about your own or other people's personalities. To check or add to your vocabulary on this subject, look at the adjectives below and group them together under the headings given. Then note down the precise meaning of each one (you may need to consult a dictionary) and describe people you think they apply to, giving examples of their behaviour which justify your description of them.

Considerate

tenacious

smug

Calculating

condescending

Mean

patronizing

big-headed

Ignorant

Affable

Crafty

resolute

indulgent

Lenient

Tireless

Ruthless

two-faced

persistent

pig-headed

Surly

Pompous

vindictive

snobbish

Moody

Assertive

Compassionate

obstinate

aloof

Tactful

mild-mannered

Cunning

warm

pushy

Devious

Courteous

single-minded

spiteful

scheming

Stuck-up

strong-willed

Arrogant

intransigent

genial

Supercilious

Decent

Hypocritical

conceited

petulant

narrow-minded

Generous

Kind/Pleasant Feeling Superior Unkind/Unpleasant Determined Dishonest

Соседние файлы в предмете [НЕСОРТИРОВАННОЕ]