DISCUSSION OF THE TEXT. 1 ."Speak of the text stating whether it presents an account of events, a description, a dialogue or portraiture

1 ."Speak of the text stating whether it presents an account of events, a description, a dialogue or portraiture. If you find several components, name all of them.

2. In what key is the extract written: is it lyrical, dramatic, pa­thetic, and ironical?

3. Into what parts could it be split? Characterize each.

4. What brought Dick to the oculist? With what feelings did he enter the oculist's waiting room?

5. Note the incongruity between the tragic verdict pronounced on Dick by the oculist and the trifling character of his worries about Maisie's displeasure at his wearing spectacles. Does it stress the finality, the tragedy of his position?

6. Study Dick's remark: "I can see as well as I ever could". What effect does the author achieve by making Dick affirm the very opposite of what he feared might be the truth?

7. How did his collusion with another patient contribute to the growing tension? What figure of speech helps the author achieve it?

8. How could you account for the reiteration of the word "fear" [65] throughout the extract? Pick out all the sentences in which it occurs. Could we call it the key-word of the text under study?

9. List all the artistic devices that help the author create an atmo­sphere of impending tragedy.

10. Speak about Dick. How did he behave at the crucial moment of his life when all his moral powers were put to test? Did he give way to his feelings or did he retain his self-control and dignity despite the terrible shock?

11. What ways of moulding a portrait does Kipling use? Does he resort to direct characterization? How do Dick's conduct and speech characterize his nature?

12. What is the role of the little dog Binkie in the scene discussed? Why did Dick use the pronoun "we" while speaking to the dog? Did it help him fight the coming loneliness of the blind? 13. Study the syntax of the passage beginning with the words "How could it have come without any warning?" What figures of speech are used there? Account for their use.

14. What fills the scene discussed with vitality and dramatic ten­sion?

15. Give a summary of your comments on the text.

WORDS AND WORD COMBINATIONS TO BE MEMORIZED

seek (v) neglect (v) amusement (n) bend (v) wince remove (v)

come upon (on) (v) verdict (n) whirl (n) convey (v) cheer (v) decay (n)

inflict (v) rapturously (adv.) head (for) (v) float (v) vision (n)

to hold one's breath to catch one's eye to leap to one's eyes to come by something

to wrap in a mist of words

to waste time

to pronounce a sentence

EXERCISES

I. Explain and expand on the following:

1. That's the writer-type. He has the same modelling of the forehead as Torp.

2. His eye was caught by a flaming red-and-gold Christmas-carol

book.

3. Little children came to that eye-doctor, and they needed large-type amusement.

4. When the flame was removed, Dick saw the doctor's face, and the fear came upon him again.

5. The doctor wrapped himself in a mist of words.

6. Again the whirl of words, but this time they conveyed a meaning. [66]

7. Many sentences were pronounced in that darkened room, and the prisoners often needed cheering.

8. Dick shut his eyes, and flaming commas and Catherine-wheels floated inside the lids.

II Paraphrase the following sentences from the text:

1. As he entered the dark hall that led to the consulting-room a man cannoned against him.

2. He looks very sick.

3. Even as he thought, a great fear came upon Dick, a fear that made him hold his breath...

4. He opened it (the book) mechanically, and there leaped to his eyes a verse printed in red ink...

5. "Verdict? ... What do you make of it?"

6. They headed for a certain tree that Dick knew well...

III Paraphrase the following sentences using expressions from the text:

1. From what the doctor said Dick understood what awaited him.

2. He walked towards a bench he often sat on.

3. A great fear seized Dick.

4. This fear left him winded.

5. Dick's attention was attracted by a reproduction of one of his own sketches.

6. Dick wanted to know how the doctor diagnosed his case. 7. He explained to the doctor when and where he had been wounded and how he had got the scar of the sword-cut.

8. He asked the oculist to tell him how much time might pass before he went blind.

9. The dog was delighted to see his master.

10. The doctor's words had no meaning for him at first.

IV. Give definitions of the following, words using an English-English dictionary:

allusion, caution, avoidance, anxiety

extreme

rapturously

cannon, wrap, convey

V (a) Give Russian equivalents for the following:

to hold one's breath; to catch one's eye; to.head for a place; to pro­nounce a sentence; to come by something; to wrap oneself in a mist of words; to look sick; to cannon against (with) someone; to leap to one's eyes; to waste time

(b) Translate the sentences containing the above expressions into Russian. [67]

VI. Give corresponding colloquial variants for the following:

1. One cannot ascertain the exact amount of injury inflicted by the sword-cut. 2. The scar is an old one, and — exposure to the strong light of the desert... — with excessive application to fine work might soon ruin your sight.

VII. Give English equivalents for the following:

напрасно тратить время; быть уверенным; затаить дыхание; страх овладел им; привлечь внимание; говорить правду; выносить приговор; направляться к какому-либо месту; встречать востор­женно

VIII. Make up situations round the following expressions:

to feel fear at the pit of one's stomach; to hold one's breath; to catch one's eye; to head for; to pronounce a sentence

IX. Recast the following sentences so as to use "could+Perfect infinitive" to express doubt, incredulity. Model: Is it possible that it has come so unexpectedly? Could it have come so unexpectedly?

1. Is it possible that such a tasteless picture caught your eye? 2. I don't believe that he ever felt fear. 3. Is it at all likely that the local physician gave him the necessary treatment?

X. Supply the missing line of each dialogue using "could +Perfect infinitive".

Model: Fear made me speechless when I walked into the doctor's consulting-room. How could you have given way to it?

1. A. He has neglected his health for so long as to become quite a wreck.

B....

2. A. He would not consult an oculist even when he had serious eye-trouble.

B....

3. A. A man cannoned against him without so much as saying "Sorry".

B…

XI. Make up several two-line dialogues using the model of exercise X.

XII. Complete the sentences given below following the model. "Will" should be used in the conditional clause to express volition. Give as many variants as possible.

Model: I shall be very glad if you will come to tea. 1. We'll (shall) be very grateful to you if... 2. I'll stay here for a short while if... 3. He'll go out for a breath of fresh air if... 4. You won't be sick much longer if... [68]

XIII. Pattern your own sentences after this one: If you will let me, I'll sit here for a minute.

XIV. Read the following compound nouns and adjectives with the proper stress. Remember that compound nouns are accented on the first element whereas compound adjectives are double stressed. Give an appropriate definition for each of them.

a) Waiting-room; drawing-room; consulting-room; eye-doctor; gas-microscope; sword-cut; writer-type; time-limit

b) Dark-green; grey-green; sober-hued; bad-tempered; easy-going; light-haired; old-fashioned

XV. Recast the following sentences so as to use compound adjectives instead of the italicized words:

1. The foliage in the park was still of green colour. 2. Sober hues prevailed in the picture. 3. There were heavy curtains on the consul­ting-room windows. 4. There was a deep scar on his head. 5. The oculist . was a man with grey hair.

XVI. Recast the following sentences substituting the parts of speech indicated in brackets for the italicized words.. Make necessary changes:

1. He looks very sick. (noun). 2. Dick held his breath as he walked into the oculist's waiting-room, (verb). 3. His eye was fixed on the doctor. (verb). 4, Dick asked to give him something to drink, (noun). 5. He touched the dog's head lightly, (noun). 6. His head was cut by a sword, (noun). 7. Dick explained briefly how he had come by the sword-cut, (noun). 8. He saw the doctor's face again when the flame was removed, (noun). 9. The doctor recommended Dick to try and avoid all worry, (verb).

XVII. Translate into English:

"(A) 1. Дик направился к тому месту парка, которое он больше всего любил. 2. Его охватил страх, когда он почувствовал, что остался один. 3. Яркий свет заставил его вздрогнуть. 4. Он затаил дыхание, входя в кабинет врача. 5. Его внимание привлекла висев­шая на стене репродукция. 6. Он не обращал внимания на свое здоровье. 7. Эти строчки бросились ему в глаза, как только он открыл книгу. 8. В дверях он столкнулся с человеком, который, по-видимому, очень торопился. 9. Наконец подошла его очередь.

(В) 1. Мы будем очень рады, если вы поедете с нами. 2. Если позволите, я посижу здесь и почитаю. 3. Как это могло случиться? Неужели это случилось так неожиданно? 4. Как можно было так относиться к своему здоровью? 5. Возможно ли, что он ослеп? XVIII. Insert the proper prepositions or adverbs:

(a) 1. Dick never took any care—his health. He gave himself en­tirely—work. 2. He gathered—what the doctor told him that he was [69] doomed to go blind. 3. He hurried——the doctor's consulting-room wrapped—a desire to get——the people. 4. He cannoned—another patient—the way out. 5. He felt he had to sit—for his legs were tremb­ling—him. A cold fear came—him. 6. As the doctor bent—him Dick felt fear—the pit—his stomach. 7. He longed—his friend to come before he was shut up—the lonely darkness. 8. Dick and his dog head­ed—a place he had long known. 9. He had been waiting—his turn—no less than an hour before he was invited to come in.

(b) Maisie watched him, and the fear went——her heart, to be fol­lowed—a very bitter shame. He had spoken a truth that had been hid­den—the girl—every step of the impetuous flight—London; for he was, indeed, down and done for, masterful no longer, but rather a little abject; neither an artist stronger than she, nor a man to be looked up—,only some blind one that sat—a chair and seemed—the point-crying. She was immensely and unfeignedly sorry—him, more sorry than she had ever been—any one—her life, but not sorry enough to deny his words. So she stood still and felt ashamed and a little hurt...; and now she was only filled—pity most startlingly distinct - love. (From "The Light That Failed" by R. Kipling. Abridged )

XIX. Fill in the blanks with the definite or indefinite article where required:

"I'll go to sleep.—room's very dark. Let's light—lamp and see how the "Melancholia"* looks. There ought to have been—moon."

It was then that Torpenhow heard his name called by—voice that he did not know, in—rattling accents of—deadly fear.

"He's looked at—picture," was his first thought, as he hurried into—bedroom and found Dick sitting up and beating—air with his hands.

"Torp! Torp! Where are you? For pity's sake, come to me!"

"What's the matter?"

Dick clutched at his shoulder. "Matter! I've been lying here for— hours in—dark, and you never heard me. Torp, old man, don't go away. I'm all in—dark. In—dark, I tell you!"

Torpenhow held—candle within—foot of—Dick's eyes, but there was no light in those eyes. He lit—gas, and Dick heard—flame catch.— grip of his fingers on Torpenhow's shoulder made Torpenhow wince.

(From "The Light That Failed" by R. Kipling)

XX. Retell the scene described in the extract.

XXI. Dramatize the scene.

XXII. Write a brief summary of the extract.

XXIII. Write a letter from Dick to Maisie about his visit to the eye-doctor. [70]

Lesson 6

HEARTBREAK HOUSE