Mutual Feelings

Mrs. Jones: Oh, look! It’s snowing, Mrs. Smith!

Mrs. Smith: So it is! I can’t remember when it last snowed.

J: It snowed in April two years ago. It was Easter week; I remember it well.

S: Oh yes! So it did. It must have been the second week in April – my sister from Scotland was here at the time.

J: What about the fire at the Williams’s house last Saturday! Did you see it?

S: Yes. Terrible, wasn’t it? The fire-engine woke me up at about three in the morning. They were lucky the whole house didn’t burn down. Their living-room was in an awful mess next morning.

J: Well, it serves them right. They were throwing another of those wild parties, weren’t they? They must have been blind drunk; they should have been more careful.

S: You know, I think they may have set fire to the place on purpose – just to claim new furniture and carpets from the insurance company.

J: I wouldn’t be surprised at anything they did. I’ve always been suspicious of them, and the longer I know them the more I dislike them. I’m glad I didn’t go to their party.

S: Why didn’t you go, Mrs. Jones?

J: Well we weren’t invited actually, but I had to go to my sister’s that evening anyway.

S: We weren’t invited either. I suspect that the longer they live here the less they like us too, Mrs. Jones.

Stage B

Vocabulary Practice

I.

Fill in the blanks with articles wherever necessary:

a.

On Snobbery

… snobbery is not so common in England today as it was at … beginning of … century. It still exists, however, and … advertisers know how to use it in order to sell their goods.

… snob, … dictionaries tell us, is … person who pays too much attention to … social position or wealth. … popular newspapers know that many of their readers are snobs. That is why they give them … unimportant and useless information about … persons of … high social position, … photographs of “Lady X and her friends” at … ball, or “Lord Y and his friends” at … races.

It is … snobbery that makes some men feel annoyed when on … envelopes of … letters addressed to them, they find “Mr” before their names instead “Esq.” after their names. … snobbery explains why many people give their suburban house … name, such as “… Oaks”, “… Pines”, “…Cedars”, “… Poplars”, even though there are no oak trees, pine trees, cedar trees or poplar trees in their garden. … people of … high social position have … country houses with … names, so … house with … name seems better than … house with … number. … numbers make … postman’s work much easier, but that is not important.

… advertisers are very clever in their use of … snobbery. … motor-car manufacturers, for example, advertise … colours of their cars as “Embassy Black” or “Balmoral Stone”. … embassy black is … plain, ordinary black, but because … embassy is … official residence of … ambassador, … name suggests … diplomats and all … social importance that surrounds them: … Balmoral stone is … grey colour of … ordinary stone, but … Balmoral is also … name of … residence in Scotland of … British royal family.

Are you a snob? Why? Do you know any snobs? What can you say about them?

b.

Laconic

… laconic man is … person of … few words. He is brief in what he has to say.

There used to be … race named … Laconians. They live in … ancient Greece. Sparta was their capital. They were noted for their courage and concise (точная, краткая) speech. To put it in other words their motto was “… Actions speak louder than … words.” Once when … Athenian herald (вестник) told them “If we come to your city we will destroy it completely.” … Laconians did not get frightened. Their answer was brief and to … point. They answered calmly “If”. Thus … name Laconia gave birth to … word “laconic”.

II.

Supply prepositions or adverbs in the following descriptions of world famous people. After fulfilling the task characterize the described celebrities:

a.

Far … living an Absolutely Fabulous lifestyle, actress Joanna Lumley is surprisingly modest … her success.

“I’ve never had, or been interested …, a glamorous life. When I was starting out we didn’t have TV sets or fridges, and a great night … was half a pint … cider … the pub. Our entertainment was books we bought … five pence. It’s easy to say “in my day”, but life did seem much simpler, happier than it is now.

“But I don’t let fame affect me – life’s too important to worry … success. It’s vital to maintain a secret anonymity. That’s the most sacred thing we have – being our own person.” (Andrew Duncan in Radio Times)

b.

One night … performing a one-man show … New Zealand, Peter Ustinov was startled when there was a power cut.

Fearing that the audience might panic, Ustinov spoke … them … the dark: “From now …, imagine you’re having a sleepless night and when you switch … your bedside radio, I’m on.”

Says Ustinov: “For the next 20 minutes, I performed … total darkness – I got more laughs than when the audience could see me. It wasn’t the same after the lights came … …. I regretted that they never went … again.” (Frederick Waterman in Forbes FYI)

c.

Michael Hesentine’s daughter Annabel recounts this family story:

“While my mother was still … hospital … I was born she spent all Sunday watching the other husbands bring their wives huge bunches … flowers.”

“… the time my father had very little money and was working seven days a week - he’d spent all that day … a property he was renovating. It was late, and he’d had no time to buy flowers. But … his hand he carried a teasel (ворсянка) which he had picked … a field.”

“My mother has received many bunches … flowers since then, but it is the teasel she remembers.” (The Sunday Times)

d.

As a feckless (беспомощный) young law student, Julio Iglesias drove his sports car into a tree.

“It was a misfortune that changed my life,” he admits. “… it, I would not be what I am today.” A few weeks … the accident, Julio developed a blood clot and was rushed … hospital … surgery. Awaking … the anaesthetic, he discovered he was paralysed. “When you cannot move your feet or your hands, you become a fighter – because everything you once took … granted is removed.”

As part … his fight … paralysis, he accepted an old guitar … a hospital orderly who said that strumming … it would help to regain some basic hand co-ordination.

And lo and behold, Julio realized he could sing. “I’ve always maintained that the discovery … talent is an accident,” he says. “… doubt, it was a physical accident that made me discover my voice.” (Douglas Kennedy in The Sunday Times Magazine)

III.

Choose a word to match the definitions:

brave loyal stubborn thoughtful selfish serious generous fussy tidy optimistic jealous honest

1 Someone who always remembers your birthday, (thoughtful)

Someone who:

1. always remembers your birthday.

2. is unwilling to change her/his mind.

3. worries too much about details.

4. only thinks about her/himself.

5. always tells the truth.

6. always supports her/his friends.

7. is not frightened of anything.

8. likes to keep things in their correct place.

9. doesn't laugh or make jokes very often.

10. wants what other people have got.

11. always believes good things will happen.

12. likes to give money, help or presents.

GRAMMAR FOCUS: Adverbs of degree

Adverbs of degree are used to modify adjectives.

I'm very stubborn. I'm rather shy. I'm quite/fairly shy. I'm a bit selfish. I'm not at all romantic.

Note

Some adverbs of degree are stronger than very, e.g. She's terribly kind. He's awfully stubborn. She's extremely selfish.

V.

Social Types

1. The following is a list of colloquial names for various social types, i.e. different kinds of people one meets at parties and elsewhere. Use the most suitable one to complete each description below.

wet blanket	Don Juan	gate-crasher	life and soul of the party	wallflower	chatterbox
	good mixer	gossip	social climber	femme fatale

(a) He's very lively and the centre of any group he's in. People always have a good time when he's there. He's the _______.

(b) She's so negative and boring. She has a depressing effect on any group of people she's with. She's a __________.

(c) She's confident and interested in other people. She likes to meet different kinds of people. She's a ________.

(d) He goes to parties and other occasions without an invitation. He just walks in. He's a _____.

(e) Unfortunately she is not usually asked to dance by anyone. She just stands there hoping. She's a ______.

(f) He just can't stop talking. He goes on and on excitedly, about totally unimportant things. He's a _______.

(g) He loves to discuss and pass on news or rumours about people's private lives. He's a_________.

(h) She's dangerously attractive to men. Half the men she meets fall in love with her. She's a _________.

(i) He knows he's attractive to women. They always fall for him. He's

got lots of girl-friends. He's a _______.

(j) She's very conscious of her social position and is always trying to improve it by meeting 'upper-class' people. She's a _______.

2. What type or types of person from the list at the top of the exercise above:

(a)... would be good to have at a party?

(b)... would you especially avoid?

(c)... might have a lot of romantic relationships?

(d)... makes friends easily?

(e)... would get on well together? (make pairs, e.g. Don Juan and
femme fatale)

(f)... are you?

3. Instructions as in Exercise 1.

parasite	good company	early bird	jet-setter	killjoy
socialite	bore	loner	snob	trouble-maker

(a) He's a pleasant, interesting person to have with you at any time. He's ___.

(b) She thinks she's socially superior. She looks down on others. She's a___.

(c) He's very strict and correct. I think he doesn't like other people to enjoy themselves. He's a _______.

(d) She's always the first to arrive at a party. If the party's due to start at seven, she's there on the dot, or earlier. She's an ______.

Stage C

Humour

Read, act out in class the jokes below, comment on them and define the character of the personages.

1.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14