It looks as if I would never be 20 страница

2.3. True of false?

1. Morgan knew her Mother's lab like the back of her hand.

2. The strangers were far from being friendly.

3. Morgan turned out to be a resourceful teenager.

4. Both Morgan and her friend ran for help.

5. Morgan's Mom was willing to share her scientific achievement.

6. Morgan had known the properties of the chameleon cloth before.

7. The cloth saved both the mother and the daughter.

2.4. Points of view.

What did they mean by saying so?

1. "Hey, there's a whole setup down here."

2. "Last one to the door is a rotten school lunch."

3. "I will ask the questions."

4. "I'm better at hiding than you are."

5. "Hey, where did she go?"

2.5. Verbs in focus.

The story resembles an action movie, doesn't it? If so, it must be full of action verbs that denote quick motion. Find as many of them as you can in the text of the story. Comment on the situations. The first one has been found for you.

e.g. The girls were playing hide-and-seek in the basement, so Morgan stomped downstairs because she wanted to catch her friend unprepared.

2.6. Storing vocabulary.

Fill in the gaps using the words given below.

1. The classroom... was far from traditional: no desks and lots of potted plants.

2. The boy listened to the teacher scolding them...

3. What a mess! Somebody has been... in my room!

4. I'd like to see some... of your work.

5. She is... the desk drawers for old family photos.

6. "Shut up, you fool", the boss... angrily.

7. Jack... for his keys in the darkness with no chance for success.

Choose from: relentlessly, sample, snap, fumble, rummage, ransack, set-up.

2.7. Studying grammar.

When Morgan found the chameleon cloth it was very heavy. All that Morgan could do was to carry it over her shoulder. It means the girl only succeeded in carrying the cloth. The structure can come in handy when describing really stressful moments or great efforts. Describe some episodes of the story.

e.g. When the man was looking for her all Morgan could do was...

2.8. Ing-forms in focus.

Literary English demands attention to sentence structure. With­out using diverse constructions, your style will remain quite ordinary. Let's enrich it now. Use the gerundial construction to describe the events of the story.

E.g. Without waiting to call again, Morgan sprinted the stairs. Without getting into the lab,...

2.9. Games in, games out.

Big houses are fit for games on a rainy afternoon. Big lawns in front are very good too, when the sun is shining brightly. Do you happen to know the names of games loved by Anglo-American children? Do a bit of matching.

	Hopscotch	A	Казаки-разбойники
	Rounders	B	Холодно-тепло
	Battleships	C	Собачка
	Foxes and Hounds	D	Крестики-нолики
	Last Letters	E	Лапта
	Hot and Cool	F	Классы
	Hide-and-Seek	G	Жмурки
	Piggy in the Middle	H	Морской бой
	Naughts and Crosses	I	Слова
	Cherry Drop	J	Прятки

III. POST-READING

3.1. Dreams, dreams, dreams...

Modern science can work wonders. If you were a science wizard, what would you try to invent? Think it over and share a learned opinion.

3.2. Poetry corner.

If you live in a detached cottage, the problem described in the poem by Ogden Nash is not of your concern. But if you live in a block of flats, then it's different. Try to understand HOW different it is, and then speak about it.

THE PEOPLE UPSTAIRS

The people upstairs all practice ballet.

Their living room is a bowling alley.

Their bedroom is full of conducted tours.

Their radio is louder than yours.

They celebrate weekends all the week.

When they take a shower, your ceilings leak.

They try to get their parties to mix

By supplying their guests with Pogo sticks,

And when their orgy at last abates,

They go to the bathroom on roller skates.

I might love the people upstairs wondrous

If instead of above us, they just lived under us.

A GAME WITHOUT WORDS

I. PRE-READING

1.1. SHARE your reminiscences of your best loved games played years ago with friends or family. Was it great fun to do that?

1.2. DISCUSS various kinds of games that parents can play with their children. Specify the goals of such games (if any).

1.3. PROVE the idea that a language teacher is supposed to be able to play games — both in class and outside it.

II. READING

2.1. Understanding the title.

The title of the story written by Lindy Strauss suggests the idea of a very special kind of game. Share your expectations of the events.

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment..

Read the story and answer the question: Was Grandmother a perceptive and intelligent person? The following words will be useful for better understanding of the events.

Curlicue — a decorative twisted pattern

Blotter — soft thick paper used to dry ink on the page

Swivel chair — a chair that turns around

Bolster — a long firm pillow

Mantel — a frame surrounding the fireplace

Cubbyhole — a very small space for hiding and keeping things

Caddy – a small box

Crayon — a stick of colored wax or chalk for drawing or writing

Ledge — a narrow flat shelf

I have two families living in my house. In the upstairs family there are four people: my mother, my father, my older sister and me. I'm David. In the downstairs family there are two people: my grandmother and my grandfather. I call them Nonny and Papa.

Every day after school, I visit my downstairs family. The library is my favorite room downstairs. It's where my grandfather spends most of his time and it's full of all his precious stuff. There are more books on more bookshelves than I can count. There are lots of places to hide in and jump out of. There are pillows and bolsters for build­ing forts. There is a collection of golf trophies as dusty as dinosaur bones, sitting on the mantel.

And right in the middle of everything is Papa's desk, which has at least a hundred cubbyholes and a special drawer filled with emergency chocolate bars. Nonny pretends she doesn't know about chocolate bars.

Papa and I have another secret, too. We have a secret game we play. It is a game without words. I can't remember how it got started, but Papa and I have always played it. The game goes like this. There is a little milk glass owl, as big as my thumb. Papa and I take turns hiding it. We never talk about the game. We just play it. I hide the glass owl for Papa to find, and he hides it for me to find. Thinking up new places to hide that owl gets trickier and trickier.

Once Papa hid thg.owl in my crayon box. I put the owl inside one of his golf trophies. Then I found it hiding in the window curtains. Next I rolled it in a Tootsie Roll wrapper and put it in the chocolate drawer. After that, Papa hid the owl in the caddy with his poker chips. I didn't find it for a week.

Then it was my turn to hide the owl. I thought and thought. Finally, I thought of the perfect place. There is a lamp hanging over Papa's desk. It has lots of curlicues and turrets. That little owlwould fit right into one of those curlicues. I waited until Papa left the library. Then, very carefully, I climbed up on his desk and hid the owl in the lamp.

I was right. It was the perfect hiding place. I saw Papa searching for the owl the next afternoon when he didn't know I was watching him. But he couldn't find it that day. And he didn't find the owl the next day or even the day after that. It made me smile to see Papa searching so hard for that owl.

A week has gone by now, and something terrible has hap­pened.

'David,' said Nonny, hugging me close. 'Your grandfather died. Papa died in his sleep last night.'

I looked hard at Nonny. I didn't want to believe her. 'Why did Papa die?' I asked.

'Papa was very old, David. His body just wasn't strong enough to live anymore.'

I felt bad inside. Crying and Nonny's hugs didn't help that much, either. The next day there was a memorial service for Papa. Lots of people came to our house and brought food. Everyone was there: my. mother and father and sister and Nonny and all my aunts and uncles and cousins. Papa's friends came also. Everyone was there but Papa. It was awful. Then I remembered the glass owl and felt even worse. I went downstairs to the library. I took the glass owl out of its hiding place in the lamp over Papa's desk. I left the owl in the middle of the desk blotter, right where anyone could see it. It didn't matter, keeping the secret anymore. Without Papa the game was over.

The day after that I had to go back to school. I was quiet in school. I just didn't feel like talking to my friends. When I got home from school, I went downstairs to visit as usual. Nonny wasn't in the li­brary, but I went in and sat in Papa's big swivel chair. I looked around at all of Papa's things. I took a chocolate bar out of the emergency drawer. I ate the whole bar all by myself, square by square. Then I decided to build a fort under Papa's desk.

I got out the pillows and the bolsters and the afghan and the small footstool and made my fort. When it was all finished, it was the best fort I ever built. I crawled inside. It was dark in my fort, and I felt very safe in there with all that stuff piled around me. I sat curled up for a while. Then I noticed a speck of light shining on something set on a narrow ledge under the desk. I looked at it more closely. It was a small thing, the size of my thumb. It was the milk glass owl!

How did that get there, I wondered.

I scrambled out of my fort. Nonny was standing in the doorway smiling, a small smile. She raised her eyebrows into a question mark. I had to think for a moment and then I understood. And I smiled, a small smile. Nonny and I would go on playing Papa's game without words. It would be our secret now. Papa would like that.

2.3. True of false?

1. The library was the most enchanting place in the house.

2. The boy preferred noisy games.

3. When Papa and the boy played, the whole family joined in.

4. One had to be very creative to find a perfect hiding place for the owl.

5. After Papa's death the game lost all the fun.

6. Grandmother had always known about the game.

7. That game without words will be played on and on and on.

2.4. Storing vocabulary.

Fill in the gaps with appropriate words from the list below.

1. The wood was pitch-dark, there wasn't even... of light.

2. The children... to do chores.

3. The castle was really huge with a forest of towers and....

4. Pack your school... and be off!

5. People have always been fascinated by... stones.

6. The fox cubs... through the bushes and disappeared from view.

Choose from the following: stuff, precious, speck, take turns, turret, scramble.

2.5. Studying grammar.

Some of the structures may look familiar but we still need to practice them from time to time. Recollect some of the episodes of the story using VERB+ADJECTIVE structure.

e.g. The boy felt safe sitting in his fort., The hiding place looked... Grandma's voice sounded... The emergency chocolate bar smelled...

2.6. Hidden meanings in focus.

The English language is good at hiding meanings; that's why you are to be good at finding them. Find the hidden meaning of the following idioms.

1. To hide one's light under a bush means...

A. to not tell anyone that you are very good at something.

B. to put out the light.

2. To have nothing to hide means...

A. to have no valuable possessions.

B. to be sincere about what you have done.

3. To hide one's head in the sand means...

A. to avoid exposure to sunlight.

B. to pretend not to notice something unpleasant.

4. To hide one's talent in a napkin means...

A. to waste one's talent.

B. to wrap something in a napkin.

5. To go into hiding means...

A. to hide because you've broken the law.

B. to play hide-and-seek.

III. POST-READING

3.1. Feelings.

A. There is a phrase in the story, "I felt bad inside." It's obvi­ous that this adjective may mean a million things in this context. Comment upon some of the meanings. How did the boy feel about Papa's death?

B. There is another phrase, "And I smiled, a small smile." How can a smile be 'small'? Something not small at all is hidden in this sentence. Can you find it?

C. The final sentence of the story goes like this, "Papa would like that." It is not by chance that this phrase happens at the very end, is it? Please, explain what the author wants us readers understand?

3.2. Dreams, dreams, dreams...

Let us imagine the boy's future. Do you think those games with­out words will help him become a better man — and parent — and grandparent in his time?

3.3. Project work: games with words.

Do you know any word games? Read the descriptions of some, and practice playing them in your spare time. Explore the possibilities of other word games in English. Report the results of your research in class — in the form of a game, of course!

LAST LETTERS

You can have any number of players for this simple game. One person calls out the name of something. It could be a town, a river, a country, an animal or a flower. For example, she could call 'daffodil'. The person on the left of the first player calls out another flower beginning with the last letter of the previous word, for example, 'lilac'. The game continues in this way and anyone who cannot give a word is out. The winner is the last person out.

LONG WORDS

Think of a long word such as 'nightingale'. Players have live minutes to write down all the words that they can make out of nightingale, such as night, tin, gale, nail, gate and so on. They must not be proper names. At the end of the time, count the words you have made and see who has the most.

ANIMAL WORD PUZZLE

Any number can play this game. One person thinks of the name of an animal. He tells the others how many letters the name has. They have to guess what it is with some help from the name-chooser. This is how it's done.

The players put a dash on their paper for each letter of the word. They number the dashes. The name-chooser then gives them clues to the letters. The first person to guess the word is the winner. She chooses the word in the next round. Here is an example to show you how the game goes: the word is 'hippopotamus'. Players put twelve numbered dashes on their paper like this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 The name-chooser could give the players clues like these:

Letters 4, 5 and 6 make a word which means the noise a bubble makes when it bursts (pop).

Letters 6, 7 and 8 make a word which means a thing that you put a plant in (pot).

Letters 1, 5 and 6 make a word which means jumping on one foot (hop). The game continues until someone guesses the word. If someone makes the wrong guess, he is out of the game until the next word is chosen.

THE BLACK THING ON THE LANDING

I. PRE-READING

1.1. SHARE your family history. Do you have elder brothers or sisters? Did they help you when you were young and inexpe­rienced?

1.2. DISCUSS a controversial problem. Some say it's better to have four or five children in the family, others disagree strongly. What is your enlightened opinion on the subject?

1.3. PROVE that the so-called generation gap exists and will exist as long as human civilization continues. Do you have a dif­ferent opinion?

II. READING

2.1. Understanding the title.

Read the beginning of the story written by Linda Allen and ex­plain the meaning of the title.

"What is it?" they asked when I first mentioned it.

"I don't know what it is," I said.

"Well, what does it look like?" they said.

"It's black," I told them, "with lots of eyes, seventeen arms, and one fat leg."

"It's nothing," Dad said. "Go back to bed."

"I can't go back to bed," I said. "It'll reach out and grab me when I go past."

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story to the end and answer the question: What did the boy's elder brother do to solve the problem?

..."It's only a spider," Mom said. "If you leave it where it is, it'll go away."

I told them it wouldn't. I said it had been there ever since I got into bed and it wasn't likely to go away now. Anyway, I said, it wasn't a spider. It was a million times bigger than a spider.

In the end it was Nan who came upstairs with me. I guess the others were too scared.

"Where is it?" she asked.

"Right there," I said, pointing at it.

"Where?" she said. "I can't see anything. I'd better go and get my glasses."

"You don't need your glasses," I shouted. "It's big enough for anybody to see."

"Well, I can't see it. I think you've been dreaming. Get back into bed, and I'll tuck you in nice and tight."

But I wouldn't. "I'm not going past it," I said. "It's all over the wall."

Nan laughed at me. "You don't mean this?" she said, touching it. I don't know how she could. "It's only a shadow." ' "No, it isn't," I said.

"It is. It's the shadow of this plant on the table, with the lamp behind it. Don't be silly. Come and get into bed. Shall I read you a story?"

"No," I said, as loud as I could.

"What's going on up there?" Dad shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"You'd better come up," Nan called down to him. So he came up and said exactly what Nan had said.

"It's NOT a shadow!" I yelled. "Wait till Ross comes home. He'll tell you. He'll believe me."

Ross is my big brother, and he always believes me.

"Shut your eyes," Dad ordered, and before I knew what he was going to do, he'd picked me up and dumped me back in my bed.

I screamed. I said I wasn't going to sleep with that black thing on the landing outside my door and nobody was going to make me.

Mom came up. "Whatever is the matter?" she asked.

"It's only a shadow," Nan said. "That plant you bought this morn­ing." And they all started talking at once. If I went to sleep, they said, they'd take me on a picnic tomorrow and they'd buy me that magic set I'd been asking for, and I could choose the new curtains for my bedroom and lots of other things. I could have had anything I wanted. But I wasn't going to sleep with that black thing on the landing. I don't know how three grown-up people could be so stupid as to think it was only a shadow when it had purple eyes. I told them so, and Dad went out to look.

"Spots on the wallpaper," he said when he came back. And then, just as they were starting to lose their tempers and I was in danger of being left on my own again, I heard Ross come in.

"Ross!" I yelled. "There's a black thing on the landing, and nobody believes me. Come up here and get rid of it."

He came into my bedroom and told the others to calm down and go downstairs. Ross is twelve years older than I am, and he isn't scared of anything.

"I'll flush it down the toilet," he said. "Will that do?"

"No," I said. "It might come up again and bite me."

"All right," he said, "I'll throw it out the window."

He went out onto the landing, and I heard him open the win­dow and shut it again. Then he came back. "All right," he said, "it's gone."

"Is it in the garden?" I asked him.

"Oh no," he told me. "I gave it such a wallop that it ran off up the road, and it won't come back. You can be sure of that,"

He picked me up and carried me to the door so I could see the landing. "There you are," he said. "It's gone."

And it was. So was the silly plant, but that didn't matter. I got back into bed and went to sleep. I wonder where the black thing went when it left our house. If it came to yours, you'd better send for Ross. He'll get rid of it for you.

2.3. True or false?

1. The family consisted of six people.

2. The younger son was afraid to stay alone in his room.

3. Father and Mother were both helpless in this situation.

4. Nan was much better at calming the boy down.

5. Parents promised the moon to the boy, and it worked.

6. What actually scared the boy was a shadow on the ceiling.

7. Ross the big brother was not prepared for handling the situation.

8. The big brother seemed to understand what his younger brother needed.

2.3. Points of view.

Decide who might have been thinking like this in the story.

1. "They don't want to see it! They don't want to listen to me!"

2. "Now, this shadow seems to be the thing that scares him."

3. "Well, the kid must be seeing things upstairs again."

4. "It's just spots on the wall paper and nothing else!"

5. "If only he could go to bed and leave us alone now."

6. "Well, well, this plant is really making a lot of mess."

7. "I wonder how Ross can handle him so smoothly."

8. "My brother, he is the best, I give you my word for it!"

2.4. Verbs in focus.

When there is a lot of heated conversation in the story, it's wise to use Reported Speech patterns when retelling. To do so, you need a variety of specific verbs. Do you think you remember many of them? Make sure you do by matching verbs and their translations.

	Insist	A	Вопить
	Demand	B	Уверять
	Wonder	C	Отвечать
	Declare	D	Настаивать
	Assure	E	Заявлять
	Repeat	F	Интересоваться
	Comfort	G	Спрашивать (строго)
	Reply	H	Спрашивать (удивлённо)
	Inquire	I	Успокаивать
	Yell	J	Повторять

2.5. Storing vocabulary.

Describe some episodes of the story using the above verbs in Reported Speech.

1. The boy... that it had lots of eyes and seventeen arms.

2. He... he would never go to bed if the black thing stayed there.

3. Nan... where it was but found nothing wrong with it.

4. When he heard the noise, Dad... what was going on there.

5. The boy... that nobody wanted to see what he saw.

6. Ross... seriously that he should flush it down the toilet.

7. The younger brother... that it wouldn't do.

8. Finally, he... he had given it such a wallop that it was gone forever.

2.6. Formal English in focus.

If the family had invited a child psychologist for a consultation, that expert would have probably said something like this, "Well, it is absolutely vital that you should pay more attention to the boy's fears. I'm anxious that nobody should leave any of his fears unno­ticed..." Let's practice using should in that-clauses after adjectives and nouns expressing the importance of an action.

e.g. The psychologist said,

"It's important that parents should..."

"It's necessary that the boy should..."

"It is my wish that nobody..."

"I strongly recommend that Father..."

"It's essential / vital that..."

2.7. More grammar.

Even if Ross were Doctor of Psychology, he wouldn't be able to do better than he did. Yet he could also express personal judgments and reactions. Read one of these and then do more of your own.

e.g. It is astonishing that the whole family should be so helpless!

1. I was shocked that Mother should / shouldn't...

2. I don't think it was normal that the boy should...

3. It was unnatural that they should...

4. I was sorry they should think that...

III. POST-READING

3.1. Feelings.

Describe the feelings every family member was experiencing while the little boy was 'misbehaving'. Show a wide range of emo­tions, from helpless confusion to violent desire to do the boy in.

3.2. Family archives.

Linda Allen, the author of the story you have read last in this book, is a well-known British children's writer. In the 1950s, we were lucky to have become pen-friends. Linda was a marvelous correspondent and a dedi­cated grandmother. In the photo, you can see her, her husband Walter, and their three grandchildren, Lowenna, Eliott and the baby Bryony.

Dear Maslovs,

A copy of your letter was sent on to me from the editor of Cricket Magazine. You mentioned one of my stories - The Black Thing on the Landing, which was published some time ago, I write quite regularly for Cricket, but most of my time is occupied by writing children's books.

Your letter was fascinating to read, and I must congratulate you on your high standard of English, which I am sad to say is superior to that of many English people. A fault in our educational system, which has deteriorated since I was at school for am now quite elderly, and a grandmother.

I write for all ages, from first readers to young adults. Strange as it may seem, I had been toying with the idea of writing a funny story set in the Kremlin, but things are changing so rapidly in your country that I have almost abandoned the idea. I am afraid I have rather a stereotyped idea of Russia and its people - but a Minister of Health called Mr Nastikoff would have been fun, wouldn't he?

I have also been trying for years to get some information about a Russian poet whose name I forget I read a most beautiful poem once and it impressed me so much that on first reading it I committed it to memory, and have it still in my head. It begins: "Wait for me; I will come back, only wait and wait - " If you know of it I should be delighted to learn about the name of the poet. When he wrote the poem, he was in the forces and writing the love poem to his wife.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16