Unit VIII

Chapters XXXV-XXXIX

1. Study the following words and word combinations, explain their meaning in English, give the context in which they are used:

1. to be left in peace

2. a low cry of distress

3. an abyss of cruelty

4. to gather together the threads again

5. to hurry to and fro

6. to keep one’s house trim and spruce

7. broken spirit

8. to have a knack for drawing

9. with a heavy heart

10. a thrill of horror

11. the curiosity got the better of smb.

12. to scream at the top of one’s voice

13. a work of art

14. to look at smb. in stupid amazement

2. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1. Blanche wanted to be left in peace, she refused to see anyone.

2. Blanche refused to have Strickland sent for because she was too weak.

3. The narrator tried to put Stroeve and his sorrows out of his mind, because he wanted to enjoy life.

4. Stroeve made up his mind to go to Italy.

5. Dirk’s parents were pleased that their son should be an artist

6. Dirk would have rather missed all the delight art had given him.

7. Dirk couldn’t destroy the picture, because it was Blanche.

8. Strickland agreed to come with Dirk to Holland, because they both loved Blanche.

3. Fill in prepositions:

1. Dirk gave a cry … distress.

2. The narrator wondered what an abyss … cruelty. She must have looked … that … horror she refused to live.

3. The narrator took a new pleasure … the streets … Paris, and he looked … smiling eyes … the people who hurried … and ….

4. The fact that Blanche had washed … the things as usual gave Dirk a little thrill … horror.

5. Dirk stood back … order to see the picture … his ease.

6. Dirk was going to make a great hole … the picture, he had his arm all ready … the blow, when suddenly he realized that he couldn’t touch it.

7. Besides his picture Dirk owned nothing … world after his wife’s death, but a box … clothes and a few books.

8. Dirk was young still, and … a few years he would look … all his misery … a sadness … which there would be something unpleasurable.