by I. Murdoch

Mor taught history, and occasionally Latin, at St Bride's. He enjoyed teaching, and knew that he did it well. His authority and prestige in the school stood high; higher than that of any other master. Mor was well aware of this too, and it consoled him more than a little for failures in other departments of his life.

"Rigden", said Mor.

A long silence followed. Mor was taking the Fifth Form Latin class, a chore which some­times came his way during the absence on sick leave of Mr Baseford, the classics master. It was a hot afternoon, the first period after lunch, a time which Mor hated. A fly buzzed on the win­dow. Twenty boys sat with the Elegies of Propertius open before them. Rigden clearly could make nothing of the line in question.

"Come on, Rigden", said Mor rather wearily, "have a bash”. You can translate the first word anyway". "You", said Rigden. He was a slight crazy-looking boy with a small head. He idolized Mor. His inability to please him was one of the tragedies of his school days. He leaned intently over his book.

"That's right", said Mor, "and the second word". A yell of uncontrolled laughter went up in the next room. That was Mr Prewett's mathematics class. Prewett was unhappily quite unable to keep order. Mor knew that keeping order was a gift of nature but he could not but de­spise Prewett a little all the same. Mor\,himself had but to look at the boys and they fell silent. "Only", - said Rigden. "Yes", said Mor, "now go on". Rigden stared wretchedly at the page. "Carde?" said Mor.

Jimmy Carde was one of Mor's enemies. He was also the bosom-friend of Mor's son Donald. Mor never felt at ease with Carde. He spoke in a casual and superior way.

"That's right”, said Mor. "Now, Rigden, you go on." Rigden was beginning to look des­perate. He gazed into the book, biting his lip.

"Get a move on", said Mor, "we haven't got all day. Did you prepare this, Rigden?"

"Yes, sir", said Rigden.

"Well, you'd better stay behind afterwards and talk to me about it", - said Mor. "Our time's nearly up. Could somebody finish translating? Carde, what about you, could you do the last six lines for us?", Carde cleared his throat.

"Yes", said Mor. He looked at his watch. He saw that the period was nearly ended. Carde was a good performer. ^

"Yes", said Mor. Yes. Very nice, Carde. Thank you. Now you can all go."

An immediate chatter broke out, and amid a banging of books and desk tops there was a rush for the door. The admonishing of Rigden took but little time, and Mor strode into the corridor. A moment later he emerged from the centre door of what was called Main School into the sunshine and looked about him.

* * * * * *

The chief buildings of St Bride's were grouped unevenly around a large square of asphalt which was called the playground, although the one thing that was strictly forbidden therein was playing. The buildings consisted of four tall red-brick blocks: Main School, which contained the hall, and most of the senior classrooms; Library, which contained the library and more classrooms, and which was built close against Main School; School House, opposite to Library, where the scholars ate and slept, and "phys" and "Gym" opposite the Main School, which contained the gymnasium, some laboratories, the administrative offices, and two flats for resident masters.

Notes:

1. Chore - a task that must be done and that you find unpleasant or boring.

2. Propertius Sextus (c.50 - c. 15 B.C.) - the greatest of the elegiac poets of Rome.

3. To have a bash - to try, to make an attempt.

4. Phys. - a physics room, a room used for lessons in natural science.

5. Gym - gymnasium, a hall or room used for gymnastics.

* * * * * * * * * *

1. Read and translate the text. Pick out the words in the text, which may be grouped under the heading: LESSONS, SCHOOL.

2. Make up sentences illustrating the meaning of the following phrases:

to stand high, to be aware of smth, to keep order, a gift of nature, to look desperate, to have a bash.

3. Listen to the text, read it aloud, copy the melody. Answer the questions:

1. What subject did Mor teach? 2. What was Mor well aware of? 3. What class was Mor tak­ing? 4. Who was translating the text? Was he good at it? 5. Who finished translating? 6. What was Jimmy like? Why didn’t Mor like him? 7. Why did Mor despise Prewett? 8. What did Mor do after the lesson?

4. Describe the buildings of St Bride's.

5. Give a short summary of the text. Use the topical phrases which are helpful to sum the idea up.

6. Discuss the qualities of an ideal teacher/student; an interesting and instructive lesson.

7. Acting the scene. Characters: two students of a Teachers' Training Institute. The exchange opinions about their teaching practice (the school, the pupils, the lessons, and the teaching staff they have had.

8. Read the following text and comment on it:

I've come to a frightening conclusion. I'm the decisive element in the classroom. It's my personal approach that creates the climate. It's my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child's life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal. In all situ­ations it's my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or de-humanized.

UNIVERSITY

1. Read the texts. Note all unfamiliar words. If the context does not help, look up the words in a dictionary. Write out the initial forms Qf the words. Transcribe the words.

2. Study the morphological structure of the words.

3. Remember the spelling of the words.

4. Practice writing from dictation the following texts.

Dictation 1 from FOCUS ON BRITAIN

by M. Kitchin

Some Aspects of British University Life

A University in Great Britain is a place of higher education to which young men and women may go after finishing the course at a high school, that is, when they are about eighteen years old.

Most students go to a university to study some special subject or group of subjects, a knowl­edge of which will make it possible for them to earn their living as doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers... A university must train its students in such a way that they themselves will always be eager to search for new knowledge and new ideas.

Of the full-time students now attending English universities three quarters are men and one quarter women. Nearly half of them are studying arts subjects such as history, languages, economics or law, others are studying medicine, agriculture.

The University of London, for example, includes internal and external students. External students come to London only to sit for their examinations. The colleges in the University of London provide instruction by means of lectures, which are attended mainly by day students. The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge mainly use a tutorial method. There’s one member of the teaching staff for every eight students in these universities.

The three terms into which the British University year is divided are eight to ten weeks. The students have vacations between the terms. A university usually has longer holidays than a school, id in England, in addition to the long summer holiday, which lasts three or four months, there are few weeks at Christmas and Easter, during which the students can go home. Many of them travel July, August and September, partly for pleasure and partly for study. The students of some universities, who have to earn the money to pay for their education, spend the summer in doing differ- t kinds of work.

If a person has a London degree that means he has graduated from the University of London, person studying for a degree at a British University is called an undergraduate; one who has taken agree is called a graduate.

Life at a university is not all hard work. Students of Oxford and Cambridge meet at almost every kind of sport..And sometimes there are sports meetings between American and British uni­versities.

Dictation 2

Choosing one’s career is an important step in everybody’s life. Most children have only vague ideas of what they»want to be. Boys usually dream of becoming pilots...

Some children admire their parents and want to follow in their footsteps, or at least they take their parents’ advice, others prefer to go their own way. Only very few have a definite idea of their future careers and strive to make their dreams come true.

Young people are encouraged to choose their own careers according to their personal abilities and interests. They are given all sorts of facilities.

Usually personal qualities show up at school and teachers should guide and encourage the young people to take up the careers for which they are best suited. Apart from the academic careers in science, medicine, law and the arts, a lot of boys and girls go in for special training in the trades and the professions and take up a career seriously.

Young people should be encouraged to see the value of all trades, crafts and professions and to look upon the career they have chosen with interest and pride. Career opportunities are open to all young people who have the ability and the will to study. In Great Britain careers officers give their students the necessary information on different professions in part in the option booklets, in part by displays and in part through the teacher/pupil conversation in class-time.

Dictation 3

Susan works in a big public library as an assistant. The library opens at nine o’clock in the morning. A lot of people come to the library on Saturdays. On these days Susan is up to her eyes in work. The hours of loan service are from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

They’ve got a good choice of books there. A reader may borrow not more than five books at a time, and he/she may keep them for up to ten days. If he/she wishes to keep them longer he/she has to return them for renewal.

Susan stands behind the library desk. She takes books from the people who come in, and gives them their tickets.

When there is a lot of people in the library, Mrs Brown, the head librarian helps the assistants. She takes books from the desk and puts them on the trolley. Then she pushes it down the library and puts the books back on the right shelves.

Susan works quickly. In every book there is a little pocket. In this pocket there is a piece of paper with the name and number of the book on it. Susan takes this piece of paper out of the pock­et in the book. She puts the date on the piece of paper and on the right page in the person’s ticket, which is like a little envelope. Then, at the end of the day, the assistants put the tickets in the right order in the drawers of their desks.

Susan likes to read different books, serious and entertaining. Her friends call her a book-worm because she is very fond of reading. She knows every book in the library. She is said to be Mrs Brown’s right-hand. She likes her work, as much as one can like any job that imprisons one from nine till five. Susan can recommend readers a book that has been a great success lately. She helps people to find books on the subject they are interested in.

Susan finds her work very interesting and useful. She knows much about the most popular authors. She can tell you about the reading habits of the people who come to the library. Susan is a sociable person, and she likes to have a talk to different people about the books they are interested in.

TEXT FROM CHARLES DICKENS

by K. Peer

1. Read the text. Note all unfamiliar words. Look them up in a dictionary.

2. Spot the key words which denote the scheme of the passage. Make an outline using the key words.

3. Pick out 8-10 sentences which convey the basic information in the passage. Link them smoothly. Use transitional words and phrases.

4. Make up a written summary of the passage. Avoid minute details and direct speech.

After breakfast Charles’s mother sat down with him for lessons. This was a happy hour! He had long since learned his alphabet, and was able with help to read simple texts: Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Ridinghood, Robin Hood. When lessons were done he simply took one of the thin books and went on struggling with it, word by word, line by line.

“He’s a terrible boy to read,” said one of the servants.

“He is really ready for school”, said his mother, and her husband agreed.

He went to a dame school, a small class of young children taught by an elderly lady in her home.

He wanted to learn. He loved anything in books. The more he learned at school the bigger and thicker were the books he could read at home.

School did not last all day. In the afternoon he and his companions could run to a nearby field, play and invent games. There Charles came into his own.

When Charles, was eight, he felt quite grown-up because of the books he could read.

“Look what a reader my boy is, and see how beautifully he writes,” boasted Mr. Dickens.

When the family moved from their old house Charles left his dame school behind, and he was soon enrolled in a regular academy in the Baptist Chapel next door. Mr. William Giles kept the

school. He was young, fresh from college. He loved books and teaching and children. He and young Charles quickly became good friends. For nearly two years Charles worked hard with Mr. Giles on his Latin, English grammar, arithmetic, history and geography.

When the end of the term came around Charles and his parents left for London. Charles’s father was sent to the debtors’ prison. The worst news of all was that the boy could not go to school. But fate took a hand and the boy went back to school. His new teacher was quite different from Mr. Giles. He went up and down the row hitting his students with a ruler.

But Charles was in school to learn, and no ruler could discourage him. He hadn’t forgotten too much since his last school days. He remembered his Latin, his English grammar, and his arithmetic, and he rose rapidly to the top of the class. He remembered his love of all kinds of fiction, too.

Charles began to write stories of his own. He wrote so well that the boys formed a reading club to keep his tales going from one boy to another.

The two years between sixteen and eighteen flew by. Charles was going to apply for a post as a Parliamentary reporter on one of the city’s newspapers.

He read every book he could find in the second-hand bookshops. He knew where there were thousands of books waiting for him. They were in the National Library, a part of the British Museum.

At the age of 18 he was admitted. From then on, whenever he had a spare hour, he hurried to the British Museum, to sit at one of the tables with a lot of books before him, to read, and read, and read.

He decided, he was going to study everything and learn everything and read everything, so that he could be someone. He was going to climb up and up. He wanted to rise in life.

University

(Main Course)

Translate the text from Ukrainian into English

Use the essential vocabulary included in

П’ятнадцять років тому Майкл і його друзі закінчили університет. На минулому тижні вони організували вечірку з цього приводу. Майкл і його колишні однокурсники згадували час, який вони провели в університеті.

Було нелегко вступити до університету. Майкл мав складати вступні іспити. На щастя, він склав їх успішно, і його прийняли до університету.

Майкл вивчав німецьку і французьку мови. До вступу в університет він вже мав певне уявлення про ці мови. Тому йому було легко вчитися. Заняття в університеті були п’ять разів на тиждень. Майкл відвідував лекції, семінари і практичні заняття. На практичних заняттях Майкл і його друзі слухали тексти французькою і німецькою мовами, дивилися і обговорювали на відповідній іноземній мові переглянуті відеофільми, читали книжки, перекладали статті, писали твори.

В університеті були чудові читальні зали і бібліотека, лекційні зали, аудиторії, фонетичні лабораторії. Крім іноземних мов, Майкл вивчав історію, літературу, психоло­гію, філософію. Як правило, Майкл одержував відмінні оцінки на іспитах. Його сильною стороною завжди був переклад, тому Майкл вирішив стати перекладачем.

В університеті Майкл займався спортом. Він захоплювався плаванням та бігом. Під час канікул Майкл бував за кордоном - в Парижі, Бонні, Бремені, Марселі. Тут він познайомився з багатьма французами і німцями, потоваришував з ними. Незабаром Майкл міг вільно розмовляти як по-французьки, так і по-німецьки.

Кращі друзі Майкла - Роберт Стоун та Джеймс Броуді. Роберт викладає французь­ку мову в університеті, а Джеймс працює перекладачем на одній із фірм. На жаль, зараз вони не можуть часто зустрічатися. Тому вони були дуже раді нагоді побачитися і поспілкуватися.

1. Read and translate the passages. Consult a dictionary.

2. In no more than 10-15 sentences describe the boy’s French lessons. Use the essential vocabulary included in Unit 4. University. (Main Course).

3. In no more than 10-15 sentences describe the qualities of a good teacher. (Passage 2).

1. Once a week we tortured ourselves by devoting a morning to French. My new tutor spoke French beautifully, and to hear me massacring the language was almost more than he could bear. He very soon found that it was quite useless to try to teach me from the normal text-books, so these were set aside in favour of a three-volume set of bird books; but even with these it was up-hill going. Occasionally a look of grim determination would settle on his face. He would slam the book shut and say: “I think it would freshen us up a little... blow the cobwebs away... if we went for a short walk. It will be a good opportunity for us to practice our conversational French, won’t it? So no English, please - everything to be said in French. It is in this way that we become familiar with a language.

(From My Family and Other Animals by G. Durrell)

2. You get your bad days, but you get some fabulous days in teaching as well. It’s a job in a million. Life in the classroom is changing fast. New developments in technology, in methodology, and in society at large mean that, for today’s children, school will differ vastly from what you yourself remember. Teaching can use your personal and professional qualities as few other careers can - and it needs them. Teaching today is dynamic, progressive, exciting. This is your chance to be part of it. The profession is what you make of it. Every year is different, every pupil is unique and in that variety lies much of the challenge. Teaching is a profession where you have much freedom to inno­vate and implement new ideas. People are not necessarily “born teachers”. However, there are some common denominators. Namely, the ability to think fast on your feet, an inquiring mind, patience, flexibility, good communication skills and, of course, strong self-motivation. It’s not enough for interviewees simply to say “I like children”, as a reason for entering teaching. There’s far more to it than that. At the heart of good teaching lies genuine respect for the dignity of pupils - when that exists, the whole atmosphere of the classroom and the school changes. It’s important for the kids to feel that you like them and are really interested in them. You have to make it clear that it’s not just the bright ones that count. Everyone has an equal right to your time.

(From Why Teaching? TASC Teaching as a Career. Department

of Education and Science, 1989)

Make up a story based on the dialogue.

- What you need you realize yourself, and it is education. You should go back and finish gram­mar-school, and then go through the high-school and University.

- I’ve got to study by myself I guess, an’ what I want to know is where to begin.

- I should say the first thing of all would be to get a grammar book. Your grammar is...not particularly good.

- I know I must talk a lot of slang an’ words you don’t understand. But, then, they’re only words I know...how to speak. I’ve got other words in my mind - picked’em up from books - but I can’t pronounce’em, so I don’t use’em.

- It isn’t what you say so much as how you say it. You don’t mind me being frank, do you? I don’t want to hurt you.

- No, no! Fire away; I’ve got to know, and I’d sooner know from you than anybody else.

- Well, then, you say “You was”; it should be “You were”. You say “I seen” for “I saw”. Y6u use the double negative —

- What’s the double negative? You see, I don’t even understand your explanations.

- I’m afraid I didn’t explain that. A double negative is...let me see...well, you say, “never helped nobody”, “Never” is a negative. “Nobody” is another negative. It is a rule that two negatives make a positive. “Never helped nobody” means that, not helping nobody, they must have helped somebody.

- That’s pretty clear. I never thought of it before, and I’ll never say it again.

- You’ll find it all in the grammar book. There’s something else I noticed in your speech. You say “don’t” when you shouldn’t. “Don’t” is a contraction, and stands for two words. Do you know them?

- “Do not”.

- And you use “don’t” when you mean “does not”.

- Give me an illustration.

- Well...’’it don’t do to be hasty”. Change “don’t” to “do not”, and it reads, “It do not do to be hasty”, which is wrong. It must jar on your ear.

- Can’t say that it does.

- Why didn’t you say, “Can’t say that it do?”

- That sounds wrong. As for the other, I guess my ear ain’t had the training yours has.

- There is no such word as “ain’t”. And you say “ben” for “been”, “I come” for “I came”; and the way you chop your endings is something dreadful.

- What do you mean? How do I chop?

- You don’t complete the endings. “A-n-d” spells “and’. You pronounce it “an”, “I-n-g” spells “ing”. Sometimes you pronounce it “ing”, and sometimes you leave off the “g”. And then you slur by dropping initial letters and diphthongs. “T-h-e-m” spells “them”. You pronounce it - oh, well, it is not necessary to go over all of them. What you need is a grammar book. I’ll get one and show you how to begin.

From Martin Eden by J. London)

Grammar school - (in Britain, especially formerly) a school for children over the age of 11, who are specially chosen to study for examinations which may lead to higher education. AmE - (becoming rare) for elementary school

High school - AmE a secondary school especially for children over age 14.

HOME READING

William Somerset Maugham (1874 -1965) was born in Paris in the family of a solicitor at the British Embassy. His parents died when he was still a child, and he was brought up by his uncle, vicar of Whitstable in Kent. Maugham was educated at King’s School, Canterbury, and Heidelberg University, Germany. He also took his medical training at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London, but the success of his first novel (“Liza of Lambeth”, 1897) won him over to letters. Maugham established his reputation as a novelist, a dramatist and a short-story writer. His most popular novels are “The Moon and Sixpence” (1919), “Cakes and Ale” (1930), “The Painted Veil” (1925), “Theatre” (1937), “77ze Razor’s Edge” (1944). In his lifetime he published more than ten collections of stories. Maugham’s works demonstrate his realistic manner, dem­ocratic tendencies and brilliant mastery of form.

From THE RAZOR’S EDGE

by W. S. MAUGHAM

“Is it where you live?” asked Isabel.

He chuckled at the look on her face.

“It is. I’ve been here ever since I came to Paris.”

“But why?”

“It’s convenient. It’s near the Bibliotheque Nationale and the Sorbonne.” He pointed to a door she had not noticed. “It’s got a bathroom. I can get breakfast here and I generally dine at that restaurant where we had lunch.”

“It’s awfully sordid.”

“Oh no, it’s all right. It’s all I want.”

“But what sort of people live here?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Up in the attics a few students. Two or three old bachelors in government offices and a retired actress at the Odeon. It’s a very quiet and respectable place.”

“What’s that great big book on the table?” Isabel asked.

“That? Oh, that’s my Greek dictionary.”

“Your what?” she cried.

“It’s all right. It won’t bite you.”

“Are you learning Greek?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I thought I’d like to.”

He was looking at her with a smile in his eyes and she smiled back at him.

“Don’t you think you might tell what you’ve been up to all the time you’ve been in Paris?” “I’ve been reading a good deal. Eight or ten hours a day. I’ve attended lectures at the Sorbonne. I think I’ve read everything that’s important in French literature and I can read Latin, at least Latin prose, almost as fluently as I can read French. Of course Greek’s more difficult. But I have a very good teacher. Until you came here I used to go to him three evenings a week.”

“And what is that going to lead to?”

“The acquisition of knowledge,” he smiled.

“It doesn’t sound very practical.”

“Perhaps it isn’t and on the other hand perhaps it is. But it’s enormous fun. You can’t imagine what a thrill it is to read the Odyssey in the original. It makes you feel as if you had only to get on tiptoe and stretch out your hands to touch the stars. I’ve been reading Spinoza the last month or two. I don’t suppose I understand very much of it yet, but it fills me with exultation. It’s like landing from your plane on a great plateau in the mountains. Solitude and an air so pure that it goes to your head like wine and you feel like a million dollars.”

“When are you coming back to Chicago?”

“Chicago? I don’t know. I haven’t thought of it.”

“You said that if you hadn’t got what you wanted after two years you’d give it up as a bad job.” “I couldn’t go back now. I’m on the threshold. I see vast lands of the spirit stretching out before me, beckoning, and I’m eager to travel them.”

“What do you expect to find in them?”

“The answers to my questions. I want to make up my mind whether God is or God is not. I want to know whether I have an immortal soul or whether when I die it is the end.”

Isabel gave a little gasp. It made her uncomfortable to hear Larry say such things, and she was thankful that he spoke lightly, in the tone of ordinary conversation.

“But Larry,” she smiled, “people have been asking those questions for thousands of years. If they could be answered, surely they’d have been answered by now.”

Larry chuckled.

“It’s not true that no one has found the answers. There are more answers than questions, and lots of people have found answers that were perfectly satisfactory for them.”

“How long d’you think all this is going to take you?”

“I wouldn’t know. Five years. Ten years.”

“And, after that? What are you going to do with all this wisdom?”

“If I ever acquire wisdom I suppose I shall be wise enough to know what to do with it.” “You’re so wrong, Larry. You’re an American. Your place isn’t here. Your place is in America. You’re missing so much. How can you bear to sit here in a backwater just when we’re living through the most wonderful adventure the world has ever known? Europe’s finished. We’re the greatest, the most powerful people in the world. We’re going forwards by leaps and bounds. We’ve got everything. It’s your duty to take part in the development of your country. You’ve forgotten, you don’t know how thrilling life is in America today. Are you sure you’re not doing this because you haven’t the courage to stand up to the work that’s before every American now? Oh, I know you’re working in a way, but isn’t it just an escape from your responsibili­ties?”

“You’re very severe, honey,” he smiled. “What you forget is that I want to learn as passionately as - Gray, for instance, wants to make pots of money. Am I a traitor to my country because I want to

spend a few years educating myself? It may be that when I’m through I shall have something to give that people will be glad to take. It’s only a chance, of course, but if I fail I shall be no worse off than a man who’s gone into business and hasn’t made a go of it.”

“And what about me? Am I of no importance to you at all?”

“You’re of very great importance. I want you to marry me.”

“When? In ten years?”

“No. Now. As soon as possible.”

“On what? Mamma can’t afford to give me anything. Besides, she wouldn’t if she could. She’d think it wrong to help you to live without doing anything.”

“I wouldn’t want to take anything from your mother,” said Larry. “I’ve got three thousand a year. That’s plenty in Paris. We could have a little apartment.”

“But, Larry, one can’t live on three thousand a year.”

“Of course one can. Lots of people live on much less.”

“But I don’t want to live on three thousand a year. There’s no reason why I should. You are so impractical. You don’t know what you are asking me-to do. I’m young, I want to have fun. I want to do all the things that people do. I want to go to parties, I want to go to dances, I want to play golf and ride horseback. I want to wear nice clothes. I don’t want to go about in street-cars and omnibus­es; I want to have my own car. And what d’you suppose I’d find to do with myself all day long while you were reading at the Library? Walk about the streets window-shopping or sit in the Luxembourg Gardens seeing that my children didn’t get into mischief? We wouldn’t have any friends. Larry, if you hadn’t a cent to your name and got a job that brought you in three thou­sand a year I’d marry you without a minute’s hesitation. I’d cook for you, I’d make the beds, I wouldn’t care what I wore, I’d go without anything, I’d look upon it as wonderful fun, because I’d know that it was only a question of time and you’d make good. But this means liv­ing in a sordid beastly way all our lives with nothing to look forward to. It means that I should be a drudge to the day of my death. And for what? So that you can spend years trying to find answers to questions that you say yourself are insoluble. It’s so wrong. A man ought to work. That’s what he’s here for. That’s how he contributes to the welfare of the community.”

“You’ve drawn a very black picture of life in Paris on a moderate income. You know, it isn’t really like that. One can dress very nicely without going to Chanel. And all the interesting people don’t live in the, neighborhood of the Arc de Triomphe and the Avenue Foch. In fact few inter­esting people do, because interesting people generally don’t have a lot of money. I know quite a number of people here, painters, and writers and students, French, English, American, and what not, whom I think you’d find much more amusing than Elliott’s seedy marquises and long-nosed duchesses.”

“They’re not the sort of people I’ve been brought up with. They’re not the sort of people I have anything in common with.”

“Where does that leave us?”

“Just where we started. I’ve lived in Chicago ever since I can remember. All my friends are there. All my interests are there. I’m at home there. It’s where I belong and it’s where you belong. Mamma’s ill and she’s never going to get any better. I couldn’t leave her even if I wanted to.”

“Does that mean that unless I’m prepared to come back to Chicago you don’t want to marry me?”

Isabel hesitated. She loved Larry. She wanted to marry him. She wanted him with all the power of her senses. She knew that he desired her. She couldn’t believe that when it came to a showdown he wouldn’t weaken. She was afraid, but she had to risk it.

“Yes, Larry, that’s just what it does mean.”

He was silent for what seemed an endless time. Her heart was beating madly. He turned at last.

“I wish I could make you see how much fuller the life I offer you is than anything you have a conception of. I wish I could make you see how exciting the life of the spirit is and how rich is expe­rience. It’s such a happy life. “

“But Larry, she interrupted him, “don’t you see you’re asking something of me that I’m not fitted for, that I’m not interested in and don’t want to be interested in? How often have I got to repeat to you that I’m just an ordinary, normal girl, I’m twenty, in ten years I shall be old, I want to have a good time while I have the chance. For your own sake I beseech you to give it up. Be a man, Larry, and do a man’s work. You’re just wasting thé precious years that others are doing so much with. Larry, if you love me you won’t give me up for a dream. Come back with us to America.”

“I can’t, darling. It would be death to me. It would be the betrayal of my soul.”

“If you won’t listen to reason there’s nothing more to be said.” She slowly slipped her engage­ment ring off her finger. She placed it on the palm of her hand and looked at it.

“If you loved me you wouldn’t make me so unhappy.”

“I do love you. Unfortunately sometimes one can’t do what one thinks is right without mak­ing someone else unhappy.”

She stretched out her hand on which the ring was resting and forced a smile to trembling lips.

“Here you are, Larry.”

* * * * * * * *

1. Look up in a dictionary the words and word combinations, which are in bold type.

2. Survey the extract to discover its overall meaning, general outline, and main points. Say if the extract is about: a) lectures at the Sorbonne; b) the acquisition of knowledge; c) a snob; d) passion for learning; e) a love affair.

3. Sum up Isabel, her social background; her scope of vision and activities; her opinion of the people around; Isabel’s behaviour at the crucial moment; the cause of her defeat.

4. Sum up Larry, his social background, ambitions; his principal values; his behaviour at the crucial montent and its cause,

5. Ask questions based on the headings and topics discovered during the survey ” step.

6. Read the extract paragraph by paragraph, taking notes while reading.

7. Recite by giving answers to the questions raised in step 5; review the material by going back over the main points with the help of the brief notes, citing major subpoints and try­ing ta memorize both the main points and supporting ideas.

8. Comment on the following: “Education has for its object the formation of character” (Herbert Spencer).

9. Find some additional information about the Sorbonne in an encyclopedia or a book and report next time.

* * * * * *

1. Read the following article to yourself. Note all unfamiliar words and look them up in a dictionary. Say why many children play truant and what teachers must do to reduce lev­els of truancy and exclusions.

2. Summarize the content of the article.

THE TERRIBLE TRUTH ABOUT TRUANTS

The number of children playing truant and being excluded from school has reached crisis point. More than a million youngsters skip lessons each year and over 100,000 are temporarily excluded. Of those pupils excluded, 83 per cent are boys. Half are aged 14 or 15.

The Government wants to reduce levels of truancy and permanent exclusion by a third. These problems are blighting the lives of an increasing number of youngsters who could escape poverty through education. And the rising tide of disaffection is juvenile crime.

We want to focus on prevention although there will always be cases where pupils have to be excluded for the good of other children and to allow teachers to be able to teach. Those who play truant and are excluded are more likely to become teenage parents, unemployed, homeless, or to end up in prison. Society pays the price.

There are many reasons why children drop out: family problems, low parental expectations, or long-term unemployment at home. Teachers, too, sometimes assume that some youngsters can never achieve much progress because of their background.

Exclusion and truancy are not insoluble. We have to prevent disruptive behaviour and share the best practice for dealing with it.

Local education authorities will be set targets to reduce levels of truancy and exclusions. We will encourage more imaginative approaches with the resources to do the job. We are already tar­geting £22 million this year.

(From The Guardian /English Learner’s Digest, 1998, 20)

CULTURE CONTEXT

Juvenile delinquent - a child or young person who shows no concern for other people or behaves in a criminal way. Young people (below the age of 18) who misbehave or are criminals are not put in prison but may be sent to a special school to be educated or trained, to try to prevent them offending again.

Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense-form:

1. They (to go) to the Maly Theatre last week. 2. They (to be) to the theatre twice this week. 3. He (to come) home, (to have) a short rest, (to read) an article from the latest magazine and (to begin) to prepare his lessons. 4. When (to return) your friend from the South? — She (to return) yesterday.— You (to go) to the station to meet her? — No, I (can) not. I (to be) too busy. 5. With whom (to discuss) you this question yesterday?

6. I (to see) this film this week and I like it very much. 7. When I (to enter) the kitchen, I (to see) that my mother (to stand) at the table and (to cut) some cabbage. She (to cook) dinner. 8. As soon as I (to hear) a cry I (to run) out of the room and (to see) that the child (to lie) on the ground and (to cry). “What (to happen)? (To hurt) you yourself?” 9. I (to want) to get tickets to the Bolshoi Theatre. — You (to want) to hear the new opera? (Not to hear) you.it yet? 10. What (to go) you to do? — Now I (to go) to have a bite. I (to have) not any dinner today. 11. As soon as*I (to see) him, I (to understand) that he (to work) hard. He (to think) of something very important for him and (not to notice) anything. 12. Your brother (to return) from the North? — Yes, he (to come) two days ago. 13. (To be) you to the Crimea? When (to be) you there? — I (to stay) there for two months in 1979. I (to remember) I (to like) everything there, and most of all I (to like) the sea.

OUR UNIVERSITY

(A Letter)

Dear Helen,

Don't be angry with me for my long silence, but really I was too busy to write.

As you know, I left school in June and began to prepare for my entrance exams to the University. As both my mother and father are teachers I have made up my mind to be a teacher too. I think teaching is a noble profession.

I had to take four exams and passed all of them with excel­lent marks. So I'm glad to tell you that now I'm a. first-year stu­dent at the Moscow State Teacher Training University.

I should like to show you the main building of our University. I can't help admiring this fine old building with its beautiful columns. The first students entered it more than 120 years ago.

It goes without saying we, students, are very proud of this fact.

There are 18 faculties at our University which train teachers in many subjects: Russian, Literature, Mathematics, Physics, Geography, Chemistry, Biology, Foreign languages and others. Many well-known professors teach at our University.

We have good libraries and reading-rooms and for those who go in for sports there are good gymnasiums and a stadium.

At present we have quite a lot of work as we have English practice, Grammar and Phonetics, Linguistics, History of our native land and other subjects. There is an English speaking club at our faculty. It gives us a good opportunity to master the language, but I don't take part in it yet. I'm working hard at my pronunciation. There is a good language laboratory at our faculty where we work with cassette-recorders. It helps us to find out our mistakes and to get rid of them in the shortest possible time.

So that's the latest news about myself. Please write to me about your life and studies.

My best regards to your parents.

Yours,

Ann.