Roy Brookner
Pronounce and translate the words given below:
arduous, strenuous, circa, trauma, flotsam, disgruntlement, gauche, mascara, exertion, wad, crêpe de Chine, ambience, spontaneity, soufflé, lager, hygiene, chauffeur, tantamount, bluebottle, groundsel, bosky, gourmet, nasturtium.
Read and translate the following word-combinations and phrases. Give the situations they are used in:
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Explain the meaning of the phraseological units: “I have (got) enough (so much) on my plate” (pp. 213, 222), ‘a dog in the manger’ (p. 220), “the last straw” (p. 223), “a square peg in a round hole” (p. 235) and comment on the way they are used in the text.
Find instances of the stylistic figures you are acquainted with and comment on their role.
Although a competent games player and a wizard of keen-eyed speed on the squash courts, Noel Keeling was not a man addicted to physical labour. (p. 209)
The whole of Saturday would be spent, quite simply, nosing around, sifting through the contents of every trunk, every box, every battered lopsided chest of drawers. (p. 209)
The day had not lightened, and so intent had he been on his task that he had lost all sense of time. (p. 211)
Tired and dirty, with hopes dashed, his gloom burnt to resentment. (p. 212)
When he came through the kitchen door, with a face black as thunder and a streak of dust down one side of his cheek, to pour himself strong whisky and demand of his mother why the hell she’d brought all that clobber down to Gloucestershire from Oakley Street, Antonia’s legs had quaked at the prospect of the scene… (p. 213)
The spring morning waited for her and she knew that she must be part of it. (p. 214)
Just being with Penelope made you feel calm and safe and secure, and as though life – lately so unbearably dreadful and sad – was still something exciting and filled with future joys. (p. 214)
“Ugly ducklings blossom into swans.” (p. 215)
And she didn’t want to work in an office, and she didn’t want to work in a shop, nor a bank, nor a hospital, so what was the alternative? (p. 216)
Grief was like a terrible burden, but at last you could lay it down by the side of the road and walk away from it. (p. 216)
The flowing water, the lowing of cattle, the distant baa-ing of sheep. (p. 216)
“Noel was always the most dreadful dog in the manger, and I think his nose has been quite put out of joint.” (p. 220)
They nursed their drinks and their mutual animosity. (p. 224)
She went. (p. 233)
But the early warmth was doing its work, for already there were yellow daffodil heads bobbing in the orchard, the first primroses were showing their pale faces, and the sticky buds of the chestnut were splitting open, to reveal the frilly, delicate green of the baby leaves. (p. 237)
That was the crux of the matter, the root of all the trouble. (p. 242)
“It was all so neat, so cut and dried, such a perfect fait accompli that there really wasn’t anything for me to say.” (p. 247)
Whom do the following thoughts belong to? What prompted them? Do you share these opinions?
Nothing was ever so bad once you had accepted it.
Really, Mother could be dreadfully irritating at times.
Self-reliance. That was the keyword, the one thing that could pull you through any crisis fate chose to hurl at you.
Nothing good is ever lost. It stays part of a person, becomes part of one’s character.
Life was really very unfair.
“The money you give away when you’re alive is worth twice the money you give away when you’re dead.”
“The greatest gift a parent can leave a child is that parent’s own independence.”
“Family rows are like car accidents.”
The nicest thing in the world is doing something constructive in a garden on a fine morning.
“In my family money was something that one, hopefully, had, but never spoke about.”
“Divided loyalties are not easy companions to live with.”
“And I told her that my children were not my possessions, to give or withhold, but people in their own right.”
You must never go back. Everything will be changed.
Sum up what you have learnt about Penelope, Noel, Nancy, Ambrose, Danus and Antonia.