Consult Glossary on page 43 and check the meaning of the following terms. Explain how they are linked to the context of the chapters.

Pennsylvania

Yellowstone Park

Revolutionary War

Central Park

Ring Lardner

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

Chapters 1-3

While reading the chapters check whether the following statements are true or false:

A. Holden begins his story during the Saturday of the football game with Saxon Hall.

B. Holden arrives at Mr. Spencer’s house and is let in by his teacher’s daughter.

C. Spencer tells Holden that he failed him in History because he knew nothing.

D. As Holden and Mr. Spencer continue to talk, Holden’s mind wanders to the ducks in Central Park.

E. Holden finally manages to escape from Mr. Spencer’s lecture, saying he has to go home.

F. Holden returns to Pencey where he lives in the Ossenburger Memorial Wing of the new dorms.

G. Ackley, Holden’s roommate, barges in. Ackley has a terrible personality and an even worse complexion.

H. Ward Stradlater asks to borrow Holden’s jacket as he prepares to go out for the evening.

Chapter 1.

1. Read and comment on the opening paragraph, define it as a type of narrative and present its content in your own words. Why does Holden refuse to speak about his early life? How does he feel about his family and childhood? Comment on Holden’s way of speaking.

2. Compare the opening paragraph of Salinger’s novel to that of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, 1884 (see Appendix 1). Point out some features of narrative used in these opening passages.

Describe the school Holden went to (Pencey Preparatory School).

Answer the following questions.

Why was the Saturday football match so important? Did Holden have any interest in it? Why? What were Holden’s reasons for not playing the football game? Was it an exciting sight the way the two teams played it?

What kind of student was Holden? Did he have any problems with his studies? Why? How did he feel about leaving Pencey?

5. Summarize the facts we learn about Holden from Chapter 1. Discuss the way the author draws Holden’s portrait through the boy’s self-description.

Chapter 2.

1. Write out the words and phrases describing Mr Spencer and his wife. Discuss Mr and Mrs Spencer’s portraits. What are they like?

2. Speak on Holden’s visit to Mr Spencer. Render their conversation in indirect speech. What was Holden’s attitude to his teacher?

Discuss in pairs what is meant by the following.

“…Life being a game and all. And how you should play according to the rules”;

“But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing.”;

“…they’ll be pretty irritated about it…They really will. This is about the forth school I’ve gone to”;

“The one side of my head – the right side – is full of millions of gray hairs”.

4. Answer the following questions:

What was the problem with Holden’s exam paper? What do you think of it?

Was it the right thing for Mr Spencer to read it and the boy’s little note aloud? Why?

Why did Holden Leave Elkton Hills school? How did he describe headmaster Mr. Haas there?

5. Read and translate the passage from Chapter 2. Begin with: “Boy! I said…”, end with: “Old Spencer started nodding again”.

6. Were Holden’s descriptions, behaviour and thoughts typical of an adolescent? Can you prove it?

Chapter 3.

1. Answer the following questions:

Why did Holden call himself “the most terrific liar your ever saw in your life”? Can there be any psychological explanation? How did he feel about it?

Why was the wing of the new dormitories called after Ossenburger? What was he? Did Holden consider him a phony? Why?

What was so peculiar about Holden’s red hunting hat? How did he wear it? Why?

What was Holden’s attitude to reading books? What were his favourite books? What did he particularly like in books? Are there any writers you would like to talk to? Why?

2. Compare and contrast Robert Ackley and Ward Stradlater (their appearance, habits, behaviour and speech). What do we learn about them? Summarize the writer’s method in presenting these characters to the reader.

PROJECT WORK

Make up a Power Point presentation and give a mini lecture on one of the topics.

1. The system of education in the USA (types of schools, funding, state and public control).

2. The system of physical education in American schools.

3. National sports in the USA and the role sports play in the US culture.

ASSIGNMENT 2 (Chapters 4–8)

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Pick out and translate the sentences with the active vocabulary. Learn the words and phrases and use them while discussing the chapters.

To do smb a favour

To be up the creek

To tap-dance

To be out of breath

To drop a hint

To give a sock, to sock

To take shadow punches

A good mixer

2. In British and American English different words can be used for the same idea, or the same word can have different meanings. Give British equivalents to the following Americanisms:

can (n.)

shorts (n.)

checkers (n.)

conductor (n.)

car (n.)

faculty (n.)

Read the following sentences and state the meanings of the italicised collocations, give their Russian equivalents. Make up your own sentences with the collocations.

To mess smth up:

a) He had one of those very piercing whistles that are practically never in tune… He could really mess a song up.

b) Don’t ask Terry to do it - she’ll probably just mess it up.

To get in a mess:

c) Then, all of a sudden, I got in this big mess.

d) How did you manage to get into this mess in the first place? Who can help you now?

To mess about / around:

e) Stop messing around and get ready for school!

f) Paul blew off his fingers messing around with homemade rockets.

To make a mess of smth:

g) He made a mess of things in the park, but it’s the first time he’s got it wrong.

h) She picked herself up and started the dance again, determined not to make a mess of it this time.

To be in a mess

i) The economy could easily be in a mess by the time of the next election.

j) The whole house is in a mess, but I didn’t have time to clean it up.

To be (look) a mess:

k) “Coffee, gentlemen, fin ally,” Mrs. Antolini said… “Holden, don’t you even peek at me. I’m a mess.”

l) When the police called, I had just got up, and my hair looked a mess.

4. Look up the definitions of these words and phrases in an English-English dictionary. In what meanings are they used in the context of the chapters? If necessary consult Glossary on page 43. Translate the sentences in which they are used in the chapters.

Exhibitionist (n.), fiend (n.), ace (n.), sack (n.), lousy (lousy with smth)

Consult Glossary on page 43 and check the meaning of the following terms. Explain how they are linked to the context of the chapters.

Ziegfeld Follies

B.M.

Shipley

Gary Grant

Abraham Lincoln

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

Chapters 4–8

While reading the chapters check whether the following statements are true or false:

A.Holden is first shocked and then concerned when he learns that his roommate’s date that night is Jane Gallagher.

B.Stradlater talks Holden into writing an English theme paper for him.

C.Holden decides to write about his brother Allie’s left-handed baseball glove.

D.Stradlater likes Holden’s choice of a baseball glove for a descriptive essay.

E.Holden decides to leave Pencey. He is going to take a room in a hotel in New York and take it easy until Wednesday.

F.Since it is too late to call a cab in Agerstown, Holden walks to the train station.

G.The woman on the train strikes up a conversation with Holden, noticing the Pencey sticker on his suitcase.

H.Holden tells Mrs. Morrow that he is leaving Pencey early because of his younger brother’s death.

Chapter 4.

Comment on the following sentences.

“He always looked good when he was finished fixing himself up, but he was a secret slob anyway…”

“He doesn’t want me to be a tap dancer. He wants me to go to Oxford. But it’s in my goddamn blood, tap-dancing”

“She wouldn’t move any of her kings. What she’d do, when she’d get a king, she wouldn’t move it. She’d just leave it in the back row”

“I pulled the peak of my hunting hat around to the front all of a sudden, for a change. I was getting sort of nervous, all of a sudden”

Write out the words and phrases referring to Ward Stradlater and describe him. Give his character sketch.

Answer the following questions.

Why did Holden get so excited when he found out the name of Stradlater’s date? What do we learn about Jane Gallagher?

Why did Holden keep repeating that Jane and he used to play checkers and “she kept all her kings in the back row”?

Chapter 5.

1. Speak on Saturday nights at Pencey. Why were the children given the same meal on Saturday?

Answer the following questions.

What features of Holden’s character are revealed in the way he treated Ackley?

What is your impression of Holden’s composition? Was it descriptive? Original? Why did he dislike describing rooms and houses in an ordinary way?

Why did Holden break all the windows in the garage he was sleeping in on the night his brother died?

3. Write out words and phrases referring to Holden’s younger brother. Comment on their choice. What do the readers learn about Allie? What was Holden’s attitude to his younger brother?

Chapter 6.

Give a summary of the chapter.

2. Answer the following questions:

What made Stradlater so furious when he read Holden’s composition?

What was the boys’ fight about? Was Holden good at fighting?

Why did he call himself a pacifist? How does this episode characterize him?

Chapter 7.

1. Comment on Holden’s sudden decision to leave Pencey and what he planned to do.

Answer the following questions.

What was Holden’s mental and emotional state when he was leaving Pencey? Why?

Why did Holden feel sad almost every time somebody gave him a present? What is better: to give presents or to receive them? Why?

Did Holden have many things to pack up?

Why was he so particular about his red hunting hat? Does the hat acquire any symbolic meaning? Why?

Chapter 8.

1. Render the content of the chapter in indirect speech. What was the real reason for Holden to lie so often and take to “horsing around”? Comment on the role of Holden’s inner speech.

2. Speak on Mrs Morrow and Holden’s attitude to her.

3. Read and translate the passage from Chapter 8. Begin with: “Excuse me, but isn’t that…”, end with “Sensitive. That killed me…”

PROJECT WORK

Make up a Power Point presentation and give a mini lecture on one of the topics:

1. Typical ways Americans cope with depression.

2. The ways of travelling around the USA (discuss different types of transportation, their advantages and disadvantages).

ASSIGNMENT 3 (Chapters 9–14)

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Pick out and translate the sentences with the active vocabulary. Learn the words and phrases and use them while discussing the chapters.

To give a buzz / call

On me (to be on smb / on the house)

Watch your language (your tongue, your mouth)

To be over one’s head

To know smb / smth like a book

A rubberneck (rubbernecker), to rubberneck, rubbering

2. In British and American English different words can be used for the same idea, or the same word can have different meanings. Give British equivalents to the following Americanisms:

elevator (n.)

vest (n.)

apartment (n.)

plug (v.)

drugstore (n.)

candy (n.)

curb (n.)

gasoline (gas) (n.)

3. Here are some idioms with the noun “money”. Match them with their definitions, give their Russian equivalents. Use some idioms in short situations.

1. money talks	A. to give money to a company or business so that it will become successful and you will earn money from it in the future
2. marry (into) money	B. used to say that people with money have power and can get what they want
3. be in the money	C. to show by your actions that you really believe what you say
4. put your money where your mouth is	D. to have a lot of money suddenly, or when you did not expect to
5. have money to burn	E. to marry someone whose family is rich
6. throw money at something	F. to have more money than you need, so that you spend it on unnecessary things
7. put / pump / pour money into something	G. to try to solve a problem by spending a lot of money but without really thinking about the problem

4. Look up the definitions of these adjectives in an English-English dictionary (groups A and B). Find out the common semantic element of their meanings and discuss their stylistic connotations. Make up your own sentences with the adjectives, note the example which occurs in Chapter 9: “I hope you’ll forgive me, but I was very anxious to get in touch with you.” I said it suave as hell. I really did.

A.

Polite, courteous, tactful, discreet, suave.

B.

Unconcerned, blasé, casual, nonchalant.

5. Look up the definitions of these words and phrases in an English-English dictionary. In what meanings are they used in the context of the chapters? If necessary consult Glossary on page 43. Translate the sentences in which they are used in the chapters.

Highball (n.), pimpy-looking (adj.), from hunger, grool (n.), crocked (adj.), chisel (n., v.)

Consult Glossary on page 43 and check the meaning of the following terms. Explain how they are linked to the context of the chapters.

Penn Station

Princeton

Radio City Music Hall

Greenwich Village

Ivy League

Quaker

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

Chapters 9–14

While reading the chapters check whether the following statements are true or false.

A.Holden takes a cab to the Edmont Hotel where he observes unusual happenings from the window of his shabby room

B.Phoebe reminds Holden of Allie in physical appearance, but she is very emotional.

C.Holden goes down to the Lavender Room, a nightclub in a hotel in Greenwich Village.

D.Holden admits that Jane is the only person whom he showed Allie’s baseball mitt.

E.In the cab to Ernie’s, Holden talks with Horwitz, the cab driver, about the weather.

F.Holden walks the forty-one blocks back to the hotel, wearing his red hunting cap, missing his gloves.

G.After Sunny leaves, Holden sits in a chair and talks aloud to his brother Allie.

H.Holden argues with Maurice, the elevator boy, and threatens to call the cops.

Chapter 9.

1. Answer the questions:

Why do you think Holden wanted to call someone as soon as he got off the train?

Why didn’t he want to go home? Why didn’t he want to stay at any hotel on the East Side?

Where did Holden stay? Was it an odd place?

Render the dialogue between Holden and Faith Cavendish in indirect speech. Write out the words describing their manner of speaking and comment on their use.

Give a character sketch of Faith Cavendish.

Chapter 10.

1. Write out words and phrases referring to Holden’s sister Phoebe. Describe her. Compare Phoebe and Allie.

2. Speak on the episode in the Lavender Room. Describe the place and the people there. What were the girls Holden met there like? Point out any cases of irony in Holden’s inner speech. Do you think Holden had a nice sense of humour? Do you find him far more intelligent than the three girls?

3. Discuss in pairs the following sentences. In what situations were they used? How do these sentences characterize Holden?

a) “In New York, boy, money really talks – I’m not kidding”;

b) “If I think there isn’t anything underneath my hand – no can, no legs, no feet, no anything – then the girl’s really a terrific dancer”;

c) “Every time they do something pretty, even if they’re not much to look at, or even if they’re sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are”;

d) “Some people you shouldn’t kid, even if they deserve it”.

Chapter 11.

Answer the following questions.

Why couldn’t Holden get Jane Gallagher out of his mind?

What did he recollect about Jane and their friendship?

What was Jane like? What was her attitude to Holden?

Why did Holden always avoid introspection and reflection of his inner world but focused only on the world around him?

Was Holden’s emotional state in the hotel similar to Jane’s? Why?

Chapter 12.

1. Render the dialogue between Holden and the taxi driver in indirect speech. What does Holden’s recurrent question about ducks imply?

2. What was Holden’s usual attitude to people he came in contact with? Give examples.

Chapters 13–14.

1. Comment on Holden’s reflections concerning his “yellowness”. What did he mean by it: his inexperience or naivety?

2. Expand on his conclusion: “Maybe I’m not all yellow. I don’t know. I think maybe I’m just partly yellow and partly the type that doesn’t… care too much when I lose something…”. What was the reason he hated fist fights?

3. Read ant translate the passage from Chapter 13. Begin with: “For instance if I’d found out…”, end with: “It could go on like that for hours …”

4. Describe the girl the elevator boy sent to Holden. Comment on Holden’s words: “She was a pretty spooky kid… If she’d been a big old prostitute, with a lot of makeup on her face and all, she wouldn’t have been half as spooky.” What was spooky about Sunny?

5. Answer the following questions:

Why did Sunny and Maurice come back to Holden? Can their brutal treatment of Holden be explained? Why did Holden feel like committing suicide? Read and expand on the final paragraph of Chapter 14.

What was Holden’s attitude to religion and the Bible? Comment on it.

PROJECT WORK

Make up a Power Point presentation and give a mini lecture on one of the topics.

1. New York City at the turn of the 1950s, find some information about its famous landmarks of that time.

2. The system of higher education in the USA and the role of the Ivy League in it.

ASSIGNMENT 4 (Chapters 15 – 18)

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Pick out and translate the sentences with the active vocabulary. Learn the words and phrases and use them while discussing the chapters.

A spendthrift

To flop

To be a very light eater

To strike up a conversation

To collect money for charity

To take up a collection

To make a contribution

A benefit performance

To show up

To show-off, a show-off

2. Study the following idioms with the noun “sky”:

out of a clear blue sky (out of the blue)

the sky is the limit

to praise smb to the skies

pie in the sky

Read the following sentences and state the meaning of these idioms, give their Russian equivalents. Make up your own sentences with the idioms.

a) Then all of a sudden, out of a clear blue sky, old Sally said, “Are you or aren’t you coming over to help me trim the tree Christmas Eve?”

b) Do you remember Jane? Well, she phoned me yesterday, completely out of the blue.

c) Francis believes the sky’s the limit for the young goal-keeper.

d) We try to make our engineers feel that the sky’s the limit when it comes to what they can design.

e) Any talk of getting a reasonable response from the terrorists is just pie in the sky.

f) Do not be deceived into throwing away a decent offer in pursuit of pie in the sky.

g) The Mayor praised the rescue teams to the skies.

h) Yet now he was praising her virtue to the skies.

3. Look up the definitions of these adjectives in an English-English dictionary. Find out the common semantic element of their meanings and discuss their connotations. Make up your own sentences with the adjectives, note the example which occurs in Chapter 17: The worst part was, the jerk had one of those very phony, Ivy League voices, one of those very tired, snobby voices.

Snobbish (snobby), pompous, self-important, haughty, snotty.

4. Look up the definitions of these words and phrases in an English-English dictionary. In what meanings are they used in the context of the chapters? If necessary consult Glossary on page 43. Translate the sentences in which they are used in the chapters.

Swanky (adj.), rave (v.), bunk(n.), half gainer (n.)

Consult Glossary on page 43 and check the meaning of the following terms. Explain how they are linked to the context of the chapters.

West Point

Grand Central Station

Salvation Army

Fifth Avenue

Dixieland

Broadway

Columbia

D-Day

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

Chapters 15–18

While reading the chapters check whether the following statements are true or false:

A.Holden makes a date to meet Jane for a matinee.

B.While eating a large breakfast at a sandwich bar, Holden meets two nuns who are schoolteachers from Detroit.

C.Holden wants to buy a recording, for Phoebe, of an old song called “Little Shirley Beans”.

D.At the theatre, Holden buys tickets for “I Know My Love,” a play starring the Lunts.

E.Sally is thrilled that they will get to see the Lunts and is disappointed by the performance.

F.Holden suggests that he and Sally drive up to New England where they can stay in a cabin camp.

G.Holden calls Carl Luce, a friend from the Whooton School who goes to N.Y.U.

H.Holden then goes to the movies and is annoyed when a woman beside him becomes too emotional.

Chapter 15.

1. Render the dialogue between Sally and Holden in indirect speech. Comment on it and Holden’s reflections about Sally. Give a character sketch of Sally.

2. Describe the two nuns. What was Holden’s attitude to inexpensive-looking suitcases? Why?

3. Compare the two dialogues (the one with Sally and the other with the nuns). What is their general tone? Account for the choice of words. How does it contribute to revealing Holden’s attitude to Sally and the two nuns? Did he enjoy talking to the nuns? What was he afraid of the whole time he was talking to them?

Chapter 16.

1. Read and translate the passage from Chapter 16. Begin with “I couldn’t stop thinking about those two nuns….”, end with: “It made me sad anyway.” Could Holden imagine his mother or aunt collecting money for charity? Why? What does it mean to be charitable?

2. Point out any episodes that show Holden’s attitude towards little children. In what way do they characterize him?

3. Why did Holden want to buy the record “Little Shirley Beans”? What was special about it?

4. Comment on Holden’s views on Hamlet played by Lawrence Olivier. What did his sister like in the play?

5. Expand on Holden’s recollections of the time he was a kid and went to the Natural Museum. Comment on the following passage: “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move… Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you…”.

Chapter 17.

1. Read the opening of the chapter, begin with “A lot of schools were homes…” end with “But I have to be careful about that”. What stylistic device does the author use in it? What effect is achieved by it?

2. How does Sally strike you? Speak on Holden’s conflicting emotions towards Sally. What was her reaction to his big idea? How did Holden feel at that moment? Refer to the text to prove your point.

3. Say some words about George. Why did he irritate Holden so much?

4. Discuss in pairs what is meant by the following passages:

a) begin with “Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were the old couple…” end with “… I have to admit it.”

b) begin with “You ought to go to a boys’ school sometime…” end with “…If you try to have a little intelligent – ”.

Chapter 18.

Answer the following questions.

What is an inferiority complex? How did Holden explain it? Do you think Holden had an inferiority complex?

What was Holden impression of the film he went to see at Radio City?

What made him think that people who cry their eyes out over silly sentimental pictures are nine out of ten mean at heart? Do you agree with him?

2. Discuss in pairs what is meant by the following statements:

a) …I really think he [D.B.] hated the Army worse than the war…

b) …I don’t see how D.B. could hate the Army and war and all so much and still like a phony like that [the novel A Farewell to Arms].

3. Read and compare two poems by Rupert Brooke and Emily Dickinson (see Appendix 2). What did Allie mean by saying that Emily Dickinson was the best war poet?

PROJECT WORK

Make up a Power Point presentation and give a mini lecture on one of the topics.

A. Charitable organizations in the USA and their missions.

B. The military service in the USA.

2. Find some more information about the authors of the books “A Farewell to Arms” and “The Great Gatsby” and make a presentation on their lives and careers.

ASSIGNMENT 5 (Chapters 19–22)

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Pick out and translate the sentences with the active vocabulary. Learn the words and phrases and use them while discussing the chapters.

A big shot

To feel blue

To know smth like the back of one’s hand

To hold one’s breath

To spread out

To get wide-awake

To get fisty

To smack smb with one’s fist

To squeal

2. In British and American English different words can be used for the same idea, or the same word can have different meanings. Give British equivalents to the following Americanisms:

pants (n.)

checkroom (n.)

foyer (n.)

recess (n.)

math (n.)

garbage pails

dandy (adj.)

principal (n.)

carrousel (n.)

fall (n.)

3. Here are some idioms with the noun “eye”. Match them with their definitions. Make up your own sentences with them.

1. to give smb the eye (the old eye)	A. to watch carefully so that you will notice when someone or something appears
2. to have a (good) eye for something	B. to know what is happening all around you, even when this seems impossible

3. to keep an eye open/out (for something)	C. to ignore something or pretend that you do not know it is happening
4. to have eyes in the back of your head	D. used to say that you have taken more food than you are able to eat
5. to have eyes bigger than your belly	E. to be good at noticing a particular type of thing, especially something attractive, valuable, of good quality etc.
6. to close/shut your eyes to something	F. to look at someone in a way that shows you think they are sexually attractive

4. Look up the definitions of these adjectives in an English-English dictionary. Point out the common semantic element of their meanings and discuss their stylistic connotations. Make up your own sentences with the adjectives, note the example which occurs in Chapter 20: The one thing I did, though, I was careful as hell not to get boisterous or anything.

Boisterous, active, tireless, lively, vivacious, animated.

5. Look up the definitions of these words and phrases in an English-English dictionary. In what meanings are they used in the context of the chapters? If necessary consult Glossary on page 43. Translate the sentences in which they are used in the chapters.

Snow (v.), goose (n., v.), bull session, fraternity (n.), cockeyed (adj.)

Consult Glossary on page 43 and check the meaning of the following terms. Explain how they are linked to the context of the chapters.

Nantucket

Benedict Arnold

Annapolis

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

Chapters 19–22

While reading the chapters check whether the following statements are true or false:

A.Carl Luce leaves for a date after having drinks with Holden.

B.Holden strikes up a conversation with the singer who tells him to go home and go to bed.

C.As he walks home, Holden drops Phoebe’s record and nearly starts to cry when it shatters into pieces.

D.Holden figures that he should sneak home and see Phoebe and his parents.

E.Holden returns home, where he is very quiet so as not to awake his parents. Phoebe is asleep in D.B.’s room.

F.Holden shows Phoebe the broken record, and admits that he got kicked out of Pencey.

G.Phoebe asks Holden for one thing that he dislikes a lot.

H.Putting Phoebe back to bed, Holden decides to call up Mr. Antolini, a former teacher at Elkton Hills who now teaches English at N.Y.U.

Chapter 19.

Give a summary of the chapter.

2. Give a character sketch of Carl Luce (analyze his behaviour and speech). Does he seem to be an important personage in the novel? Why (not)?

3. Comment on Holden’s behaviour. What did he want to get from Luce? How did he feel?

Chapter 20.

1. Speak on Holden’s night visit to Central Park and the way he imagined how he got pneumonia and died. What did he think about? Was it a childish way to think?

2. In what way is this episode important in the novel? Does it acquire any symbolic meaning?

3. What did Holden finally decide to do? Comment on the final sentence in the chapter.

Chapter 21.

Answer the following questions.

Why did Holden consider that he was lucky when he got home?

Why did Phoebe like to sleep in D.B.’s room when he was away in Hollywood?

How did Holden feel in his brother’s room with Phoebe asleep and her things neat and each in its place?

Why did the author give such a detailed description of Phoebe’s clothes?

Why did Holden like to read children’s notebooks? Was there anything striking about Phoebe’s notebook?

2. Read and translate the paragraph from Chapter 21. Begin with “Anyway….”, end with “…still look all right”. Comment on it.

Render the dialogue between Holden and Phoebe in indirect speech.

Chapter 22.

Give a character sketch of Phoebe. Analyze her manner of speaking and the way she behaved.

Answer the following questions.

How did Holden treat his little sister?

Why did he consider Pencey to be one of the worst schools he ever went to?

Why was it difficult for him to name “one thing he liked a lot”?

What was James Castle? What happened to him? What effect did it have on Holden?

3. Comment on the passage from Chapter 22 beginning with “Anyway I keep…” up to “I know it’s crazy”. What do the rye field and the cliff symbolize? Why did Holden want to be the catcher in the rye?

PROJECT WORK

1. Translate Robert Burn’s song “Comin’ thro’ the rye” (see Appendix 3) into Russian, and present your translation to your fellow students.

2. Make a tourist brochure “A Guide to Central Park”, giving some general information about its history and landmarks.

ASSIGNMENT 6 (Chapters 23 – 26)

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Pick out and translate the sentences with the active vocabulary. Learn the words and phrases and use them while discussing the chapters.

To make it snappy

To cut classes

Without batting an eyelash

A stationery store

To skip school

2. Here are some idioms with the noun “bucket”:

A drop in the bucket (in the ocean AmE)

In buckets

To kick the bucket

To weep buckets

Read the following sentences and state the meaning of these idioms, give their Russian equivalents. Make up your own sentences with them.

a) Third World debt is so massive that recent pledges to reduce or forgive it are just a drop in the bucket.

b) 5000 new schools are to be built, but this is just a drop in the ocean for such a vast country.

c) Boy, it began to rain like a bastard. In buckets, I swear to God.

d) I don’t like when it rains… That night it came down in buckets.

e) When I kick the bucket you’ll be able to live on my life insurance.

f) I wept buckets, but it wasn’t until later that I realized what had happened.

g) When a girl was caught stealing sugar from the kitchen she wept buckets at the telling off she received.

3. Look up the definitions of these verbs in an English-English dictionary (groups A and B). Point out the common semantic element of their meanings and discuss their stylistic connotations. Make up your own sentences with five verbs, note the example which occurs in Chapter 25: I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth.

A.

Enter, get in, gain admission, barge in, breeze in;

B.

Shout, yell, scream, cheer, roar, bawl, bellow.

4. Look up the definitions of these words and phrases in an English-English dictionary. In what meanings are they used in the context of the chapters? If necessary consult Glossary on page 43. Translate the sentences in which they are used in the chapters.

Oiled (oiled up), bum (n., v.), affected (adj.)

Consult Glossary on page 43 and check the meaning of the following terms. Explain how they are linked to the context of the chapters.

N.Y.U.

Buffalo

Lexington

Holland Tunnel

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

Chapters 23–26

While reading the chapters check whether the following statements are true or false:

A.Holden and Phoebe dance to the radio, but their parents come home and Holden hides in the closet.

B.Holden and Mr. Antolini discuss Pencey, and Holden tells how he failed English.

C.Holden goes to sleep, and wakes up to find Mr. Antolini’s hand on his head.

D.In a final attempt to save himself, Holden decides to go “way out West” and live as a deaf-mute.

E.Holden goes to Phoebe’s school to find her and say goodbye.

F.Phoebe arrives, wearing Holden’s hunting hat and dragging D.B.’s old suitcase.

G.Holden buys Phoebe a ticket for the carousel, and watches her go around on it as “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” plays.

H.Holden says that people are concerned about whether he will apply himself next year.

Chapter 23.

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