Make a list of phrases used to express the author’s opinion

5. Read the text and find answers to the following questions:

1. What does the author think about the urge to write?

2. What categories does the author divide people into?

3. Why is the author skeptical when he speaks about people without the inner impulse to tell the world anything?

4. What should you do according to peddlers of correspondence courses and textbooks to become a good writer?

5. What categories of writers does the author single out?

6. What do useful writers write about?

7. Do many creative writers succeed?

8. Who generally helps writers to succeed?

9. Why did O. Henry become a nightmare of editors?

10. Why did O. Henry ignore the public?

11. Why didn’t O. Henry’s manuscripts fit to print?

12. Why does the author think that writing helps thinking?

13. How according to the author can you reach fresh and better conclusions?

14. What is the difference between the best and the poor writers in so far as thinking a problem over is concerned?

15. What is the difference between the best and the poor writers in so far as their attitude to their first ideas are concerned?

16. The best writers hold their ideas cheap. What about the poor writers?

17. What is the attitude of the best and the poor writers to criticism?

18. What style of writing is typical of poor and average writers? The best writers versus the poor writers.

Read the text again and translate all the italicized words and word-combinations into Russian.

7. Work at the list of topical vocabulary. Divide all the entries into categories in accordance with the suggested headings and give their Russian equivalents:

The urge to write cannot be injected into the human nervous system.

Useful writers take the world as they find it.

O’Henry clung to the worst possible rule: in writing forget the public.

Think things through; reach conclusions; reflect steadfastly; it is no accident; keen voluminous conversationalists; deal with facts; to lay bare one’s pain over; be deceived by; thoroughly unnatural; the ability to write may be acquired; useful writing; be curious and inquisitive; lively imagination; sympathize with; see smb’s point of view; bear in mind; creative writing; verify and interpret facts; by and large; self-centered; lose relish; cling to; take smb seriously; become nightmare of; be fit to do; be the laughing-stock; rare gift; care nothing for; toil over.

8. Skim the text to find the English equivalents for the following:

Добраться до сути дела тщательно продумать что-либо; настойчиво размышлять; многословный собеседник; широко распространено; внутреннее побуждение; научиться быть любопытным и любознательным; живое воображение; сочувствовать кому-либо; понимать чью-либо точку зрения; иметь в виду; посвящать много времени исследованию; научно-популярная литература; находить проверять и толковать факты; политические стычки; выработать характер; улучшать навыки; вообще говоря; придерживаться правила; художественная литература; стать кошмаром для кого-либо; стать посмешищем; игнорировать; записывать мысли на бумаге; приводить к чему-либо; писать все что приходит в голову; начинать писать снова; ключ к разгадке; наугад; прийти к выводу; отсутствие интереса; изменить комментарии в свете более зрелых суждений; за небольшим исключением; продумывать проблему от начала до конца; быть по природе своей неспособным повторить интеллектуальное усилие; делать много записей; проверять замысел; принимать критику; негодовать по поводу резкой критики; быть поглощенным процессом выражения мыслей.

Can you justify the existence of the third paragraph containing only one sentence?

This essay has a five part organization. Where do the divisions occur? What aspect of the subject does the author deal with in each part?

Following the flow chart summarize the main ideas of the text.

There are two kinds of people: writers and talkers

↓

The ability to write can be acquired

↓

Useful writing and creative writing

↓

Some hints to how to become an effective writer

↓

The best and the poor writers.

12. Find in the text the words with similar meaning:

Voluminous, vivid, imagination, to understand somebody’s opinion, to keep in mind, informative writing, to start writing once more, to feel sorry for somebody, to stick to a rule, to make a lot of notes, strange as it may seem, to feel indignant at criticism, to be wordy, to be fully engaged in something, to be fully occupied by something, selfish, obstinately, obvious, an impulse, to obtain, to make sb do, an attempt.

13. Match the words and word-combinations of opposite meanings:

tongue-tied - to resent criticism

to dawdle away - to be wrapped up in doing smth

to cling to one’s inspiration - rough form

purposefully - to cherish the ideas

rough form - inferiority

to evade from inspiration - neat copy

to hold the ideas cheap - to bear in mind

to accept criticism - verbose

superiority - at random

imaginative writing - informative writing

Phonetic Reading

1. Transcribe and mark the stresses in the following words. Practice reading them out loud:

'Volume vo'luminous 'voluble

De'ceive de'ceitful 'decent

In'quire in'quisitive in'quiry

A'live 'lively 'live

ֽPrepo'sition ֽpropo'sition pro'portion

'Lose 'loose 'loosen

Te'nacity te'naciously 'tenable

'Execute ֽexe'cution ex'ecutive

'Sense ֽsensi'tivity ֽsensu'ality

In'ferior inֽferi'ority in'fer

'Verb ver'bose 'verbalize

Sponta'neity spon'taneous spon'taneously

Choose a paragraph from 3 to 6. Mark the stresses and tunes in it. Compare with a master tape. Make corrections if necessary. Practice reading the chosen paragraph out loud until you feel content with your reading.