Reading comprehension exercises. 1. A) Consult a dictionary and practise the pronunciation of the following words

1. a) Consult a dictionary and practise the pronunciation of the following words. Pay attention to stresses:

pseudonym, imperious, frivolous, depravity, asperity, obsti­nacy, effectually, artichoke, raspberry, paradise, germinate, tapestry, ridiculously, mandarin, discernment, disastrous.

b) Get together with another student. Listen to his/her reading of the exer­cise. What recommendations would you give to correct any mispronunciations?

2. Read the following words observing: a) two primary stresses; b) the secondary and the primary stress; c) a primary stress:

a) self-righteous, nevertheless, uninteresting, uncounted, unauthorized, unsympathetic, undignified, unmerited;

b) disposition, imagination, expedition, concentration, exe­cution, illumination, vegetation, energetic, disobedient;

c) ungovernable, unwarranted, unrivalled, forfeited, sati­rize, characterize, fortify, privilege.

3. a) Read out aloud the following word combinations and phrases paying attention to the phonetic phenomena of connected speech (all types of assimila­tion, the linking "r", all kinds of plosions, etc.):

on the seemingly frivolous ground; older and wiser and bet­ter people; seemed thfe veriest nonsense; the dramatic part; he felt entitled to know; you said there couldn't possibly be; you are in disgrace; he felt perfectly capable; in the first place; and consign them; bare and cheerless; hidden behind the trees; were

in a tight corner; quaint twisted candlesticks in the shape of snakes; behind the sheltering screen; the gooseberry garden; while the wolves feasted on the stricken stag.