Page 30 Explanatory Notes

Page 25 JOBS AND CAREERS

P.J. Kavanagh. The Perfect Stranger

P.J.Kavanagh is a contemporary British writer and poet. Apart from "The Perfect Stranger", he wrote three novels: "A Song and Dance" (which won the "Guardian" Fiction Prize for 1968), "A Happy Man" and "People and Weather" (1979). He published five books of poems.

The main characters of the novel "The Perfect Stranger" (1966) are the poet himself and the girl he loves – Sally, "the perfect stranger".

Pre-reading tasks

I. Pronounce the proper names: Kavanagh; Guy Fawkes; Barcelona; Casper Wrede; Mortimer; Marlowe; Edward; the Royal Mile; Edinburgh; Sally.

II. Match the words in column A with their synonyms in column B:

А В

1. precision (n) a. (coll.) chap, fellow

2. reckon (v) b. gesticulate

3. jocular (adj) с exactness

4. cove (n) d. humorous

5. swing one's arm (v) e. pad

6. blotter (n) f. think

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III. Answer the questions:

1. What problem does a university undergraduate usually fact soon after the final examinations?

2. If you were a poet badly in need of money, what job would you try to find and why?

The Perfect Stranger

The final examinations were approaching and I had to think about a job. Some of my acquaintances were making regular pilgrimages to the Oxford University Appointments Board (1), and although I had misgivings about any job based on privilege to the extent of being kept in reserve for Oxford undergraduates, I reckoned my need was as great as theirs and joined the queue.

The Board was a cross little man behind a large desk who dealt out brochures of the large firms like a croupier. His frequent references to pension schemes were a gruesome reminder of one definition of reality and of how permanent the choice was expected to be. Not only did some firms favour 'Oxford men' (2) (as he jocularly assured me) there were even some who preferred their fodder (3) from a particular college – for all I know there were others who chose their junior executives after consulting the entrails of crows (4).

He sorted out a few who favoured Merton men and asked me if there was anything I particularly wanted to do. At that moment nothing so much as to get out of his office, so I took the scrap of paper he wanted me to fill in and forgot all about it.

The time passed and nothing turned up (I can't imagine what I expected to) so I remembered the scrap of paper, filled it out, sent it in, and was summoned again to the shrine.

He was even crosser this time: 'You do know that first impressions are what count?' I did know, it was a mindless piece of ju-ju (5) I didn't rate highly. However, this was clearly one of those interviews that is concerned with an unconsciously committed crime so I said 'Yes' to hear what came next: the length of my hair? Or the fact that someone had put a thunderflash in my duffel-coat pocket on Guy Fawkes night (6) and blown half the side out of it?

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He simmered down and began impatiently to deal out the pack of brochures again. I stopped him before I burst into tears and broke it to him as gently as I could that what I really fancied was somewhere warm where they paid a living wage and there wasn't too much work. He suddenly became a very old man, his head sank into his shoulders – dragging a weary hand across his face he gestured weakly with his spectacles for me to leave him. As I tiptoed towards the door he groaned into his blotter: 'Try the British Council.' (7) So I did.

I tracked down a professor who wanted temporary assistants at the British Institute in Barcelona for a year. He was a jolly cove, temporary himself, and looked as though he needed a drink; as I left the room I had the impression he gave me a wink as the officials around him bent their noses to the file of the next candidate. I wasn't sure but maybe I had a chance of that job.

But it wouldn't begin till September – it was now June. Sally was in Italy with her mother. I didn't want to spend that time in London, with my parents; nor, I am sure, did they want me to. They were so happy together in many ways, I often felt gooseberry.

Casper Wrede, a young Scandinavian director, was forming a theatrical company, partly professional, partly undergraduate, to appear at the Edinburgh Festival (8). He asked me to play Mortimer in Marlowe's Edward II (9), so the problem was solved.

We lived in the Recreation Hall for Corporation Dustmen in Advocates' Close in the Royal Mile, the slums of Edinburgh. I loved the warmth of the local people and the work itself, rehearsing a good play under an intelligent director, and the sense of community. It was astonishing, the selflessness of human beings, when they're convinced that what they're doing is worth while. Not only did (10) the cafe owners, poor enough God knows, often refuse payment and press huge double-helpings on those of us they reckoned needed 'building up', but some of our own helpers, living in rat-infested cellars, did hard boring work for months and for no reward. I couldn't imagine this happening in the firms with the glossy brochures. It seemed there was a central, simple nerve in everyone – press it and Hey presto! (11) the prison bars swung open, melted away. The problem was to find the nerve in oneself, and having found it, never to let it go.

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A letter came from the professor, I'd got the job.

Why, when I was so happy, did I leave Sally and go to Spain for a year? There were so many reasons, and looking back I still find most of them good ones. I wanted to find out what I felt. When we're young we really don't know, not clearly; we feel so many things all at once, they have to be disentangled. Love, what is love, we read so much about it, Love? Was what I felt for Sally this? She burned inside me, casting a glow, but round the edges it was dark and battles were fought there so noisily I couldn't hear myself think. And there were practical reasons. Sally still had a year to do at Oxford. If I hung around doing some dismal job, living at home, getting more and more beaten, saving the fare to go down sometimes for weekends while she played out her old life – I knew myself – I'd become sulky, suspicious, demanding; I'd spoil everything.

If I'd had any money I would have stayed – there's an economic root to most things – but the absence of it, keeping us apart, altering everything, would have made me savage; I preferred to be absent myself.

Why didn't I become an actor, when all the pointers pointed that way, the only thing I'd shown myself to be any good at? I thought and thought about it: even went for a half-hearted interview about a job in Redcar. I suppose like most complexities it can be reduced to a simplicity for practical purposes. I didn't because I didn't want to. I wanted to be a poet.

At the Air Terminal Sally let fall the one small bitterness I ever heard from her. She was right; there was no glossing over what I was doing; I was leaving her, and I shouldn't have been. For the first time I felt that garotte (12) tightening round my throat – pulled on one side by the lack of money, on the other by the need to do something stupid to earn it. I knew what I wanted: to live with Sally, and explore the world; but I didn't see how. Perhaps the real reason I went away was because, like many another, I didn't know what else to do.

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Money saved in Barcelona was running out, things were getting desperate. I had a priggish horror of advertising but it paid well. Perhaps I could do it for a year, make enough money to get married and then leave. The application form for J. Walter Thompson's was a huge American affair probing to the depths of your personality; that is to say there were lists of virtues and vices and you had to cross off the ones you had. You were also required to give an autobiography up to the age of ten. I answered all the questions with earnestness (I needed the job) and just to make sure I'd been earnest enough I showed what I'd done to my father. After he'd got over his astonishment at the form he said the answers looked fine to him, so I sent it off. I had a letter back from the Personnel Manager telling me that J. Walter Thompson's did not appreciate flippancy in applicants for employment.

Surely I could be of some use, for a while anyway, in the Features Department of the B.B.C.? I was called to the Television studios. I was a little mystified by the T.V. part of the summons, after all I'd applied for a job as a writer in Sound Radio. I found instead that I'd succeeded in becoming an Assistant Floor Manager in Television, whose duties consisted in drawing chalk marks on the floor for the actors and laying out the furniture for rehearsals. It wasn't that I was proud but I hadn't asked for that job, didn't want it, and wasn't any good at it. Still, it was the only one anybody had given me; you could get married on ten pounds a week.

It really was a frustrating job. The qualities needed for my particular job were so exactly the ones I didn't possess, there were moments when I wondered wildly if somebody hadn't played a practical joke. These were tasks to be performed mechanically, with unquestioning precision.

No doubt of it, London was beating me again. I don't think I was at all unjustly passed over. I really didn't have anything of value to offer my employers. I was just another person, one of millions, stuck in the wrong job.

Page 30 Explanatory Notes

(1) Appointments Board – отдел назначений, отдел по связям с фирмами

(2) 'Oxford men', 'Merton men' – undergraduates of famous universities and colleges

(3) fodder – here: candidates for a job

(4) to consult the entrails of crows – not to consult anybody

(5) a piece of ju-ju (here) – a piece of advice

(6) Guy Fawkes night – traditional celebrations with fireworks, blazing barrels of tar and huge bonfires in the streets: Remember, remember The Fifth of November. Gunpowder, treason and plot, For I see no reason Why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot.

(7) The British Council – Британский Совет

(8) the Edinburgh Festival – a major European cultural event taking place annually

(9) Marlowe's "Edward II" – Christopher Marlowe (1564 -1593), an English playwright; "Edward II" is a historical chronicle reflecting Marlowe's Renaissance outlook

(10) Not only did the cafe owners ... refuse – "did ... refuse" is used for the sake of emphasis

(11) Presto! (Italian) – a musical term meaning "very quickly"

(12) garotte – гаротта, орудие пытки

Post-reading tasks

Sounds and Spelling

IV.Pronounce and spell the words:

Acquaintance, privilege, scheme, permanent, execution, frustration, temporary, gooseberry, blotter, worthwhile, prison, priggish, existence, cast, brochure, commit, precision, quality, chalk, employment, suspicion.

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V. Transcribe and translate the words:

pilgrimage, although, undergraduate, croupier, reference, gruesome, jocular, assistant, duffel-coat, official, unconsciously, alter, savage, rehearse, reward, edge, frustrating, priggish, autobiography, advertising, flippancy, qualities, mechanically, precision, value, studios, summons, earnestness

Word Formation

VI.Form the pairs of conversives and pronounce them with the proper stress:

V N V N

a) to conduct - conduct b) to cellar - cellar

to convict - ______ to address - ____

to present - ______ to prison (poet.) - ______

to progress - ______to group - ______

to desert - ______ to favour - ______

to offer - ______

VII.Form other words from the verbs using word-building suffixes and prefixes:

to refer, to favour, to prefer, to establish, to hate, to argue, to assist, to rehearse, to convict, to astonish, to help, to press, to own, to point, to frustrate, to require, to apply.

VIII.Give the three forms of the verbs:

to feel, to file, to try, to fight, to break, to tiptoe, to let, to swing, to cast, to spoil, to probe, to keep, to explore, to burn, to stay, to beat, to hang, to tighten, to argue, to stick, to mystify, to draw, to apply, to summon.

Vocabulary Development

IX.Sort out synonyms:

cross, scheme, frequently, gruesome, jocular, mindless, gently, battle, dismal, savage, astonish, foolish, humorous, stupid, cheerful, terrible, plan, often, angry, horrible, funny, tenderly, oppressive, unpleasant, carefully, fight, surprise.

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X. Sort out antonyms:

1. complexity 2. to enlarge 3. dismal 4. to melt away 5. to tangle 6. selflessness 7. permanent 8. junior 9. love 10. patiently 11. half-hearted 12. inside

a. temporary b. senior c. hatred d. impatiently e. enthusiastic f. outside g. jolly h. to appear i. selfishness j. to reduce k. simplicity

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

a) croupier, pilgrimage, shrine; b) savage, gruesome, glossy; c) to alter, to rehearse, to summon.

XII. Give the Russian equivalents for the following:

junior executive, temporary assistant, glossy brochures, prison bars, hard boring work, round the edges, to keep somebody apart, to burst into tears, to join the queue, half-hearted interview, lack of money, to explore the world, to keep in reserve, final examinations, the sense of community, to feel gooseberry, an application form, to appreciate flippancy in applicants, to succeed in becoming a manager, with unquestioning precision, to be unjustly passed over.

XIII. Translate and paraphrase the following collocations; pay attention to the compound words:

half-hearted interview, rat-infested cellars, duffel-coat pocket, to _h press a double-helping on smb.

XIV. Give the English equivalents for the following:

по краям, клочок бумаги, выпускные экзамены, некоторые из моих знакомых, нехватка денег, тюремные решетки, разлучать кого-то, трудная скучная работа, исследовать мир, временный помощник, чувство товарищества, чувствовать себя лишним, глянцевые брошюры, предоставить автобиографию с десятилетнего возраста, на десять фунтов в неделю, предложить что-то ценное своим работодателям.

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XV. Find in the text sentences with the following phrases; arrange them in the order of their occurrence in the text: doing some dismal job; I'd got the job; they did hard boring work; I had to think about a job; there wasn't too much work; any job based 4b on privilege; the warmth of the local people and the work itself; stuck in the wrong job; applied for a job as a writer; it really was a frustrating job; (I needed the job); I hadn't asked for that job; the qualities needed for my particular job.

XVI. Translate and paraphrase the following expressions:

to summon to the shrine to gesture weakly

a gruesome reminder to reduce complexities to a simplicity

a jolly cove to bend one's nose to a file

to pay a living wage to rehearse a play

lists of virtues and vices applicants for employment

XVII. Find in the text sentences in which the following phrasal verbs are used; translate the verbs: to deal out, to sort out, to get out, to fill in, to turn up, to fill out, to send in, to blow out, to simmer down, to track down, to swing open, to melt away, to find out, to hang around, to keep apart, to go away, to cross off, to send off, to lay out, to pass over.

XVIII. Paraphrase the following sentences:

1.I had misgivings about any job based on privilege to the extent of being kept in reserve for Oxford undergraduates.

2. Not only did some firms favour Oxford men ..., there were even some who preferred their fodder from a particular college.

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3. However, this was clearly one of those interviews that is concerned with an unconsciously committed crime so I said "Yes" to hear what came next.

4. I stopped him before I burst into tears and broke it to him as gently as I could that what I really fancied was somewhere warm where they paid a living wage and there wasn't too much work.

5. Carper Wrede, a young Scandinavian director, was forming a theatrical company, partly professional, partly undergraduate, to appear at the Edinburgh Festival.

6. When we're young we really don't know (what we feel), not clearly.

7. She burst inside me, casting a glow, but round the edges it was dark and battles were fought there so noisily. I couldn't hear myself think.

8. The application form for J. Walter Thompson's was a huge American affair probing to the depths of your personality.

9. No doubt, London was beating me again.

10.1 was just another person, one of millions, stuck in the wrong job.

XIX. Use words and word combinations from the text to express the following:

to invite smb to come to a sacred place; to start crying; to pay a minimum salary; a piece of paper; a cheerful fellow; to make smb eat some more; some of my friends; to separate smb; bright booklets; difficult uninteresting work; the feeling of comradeship; to feel uncomfortable or awkward; an order to come and see someone; an account of your own life, which you write yourself.

XX. Make up stories using the following expressions:

a) to have misgivings; to become suspicious; a gruesome reminder; a scrap of paper; to tiptoe towards the door; to gesture weekly; the lack of money; to commit a crime; to disentangle; the prison bars.

b) a jolly cove; the sense of community; to have a priggish horror of smth; glossy brochures; to explore the world; to track smb down; to keep smb apart; to fight a battle; to cast a glow.

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c) final examinations; a half-hearted interview; junior executive; to bend one's nose to the file; to burst into tears; to pay a living wage; to simmer down; to join the queue; to make regular pilgrimages.

d) a theatrical company; practical reasons; getting more and more beaten; an economic root to most things; to do smth stupid; to alter everything; a small bitterness; to make someone savage; to spoil everything.

XXI. Read the following extract about Patrick's job in Spain; insert articles into the gaps where necessary:

After ( ) usual initial period of dismay – what am I doing here? - I found myself ( ) room slightly less horrible than ( ) others I'd looked at.

I wasn't paid very much, but ( ) work was pleasant and gave me time to do my own. I settled down in earnest to learn my trade – in ( ) way I now think mistaken, if not absurd.

But I knew that poetry was ( ) way of life as well as ( ) acquired skill. ( ) job was to find ( ) means of existence, ( ) job that kept the temperament functioning. Let ( ) poems come or not come as destiny decided, but your ear had to be cocked to inside noises, and therefore to outside ones as well. I didn't like theorising, however, it made me uneasy. I just burrowed away and three days ( ) week taught English.

Heaven knows if I taught it. I didn't know ( ) answers to most of ( ) questions myself, if indeed there are any, and lessons filled me with commiseration for those who wanted to learn this impossible language. It was very tiring work, more like performance. When I was stumped for comedy material I made them do quizzes, like difference between 'washing down' and 'washing up' and what they enjoyed most were each other's mistakes. ( ) pupils were mostly girls, and I supposed I showed off, but it seemed better to have ( ) full attention of ( ) class, even if you were talking rubbish, than to be feeding them ( ) real stuff (whatever that might be) and nobody listening. I also took classes outside, old ladies in their drawing-rooms, barmen in their bars; I was saving to get back to spend Christmas in England.

(From "The Perfect Stranger" by P. Kavanagh)