Read these micro-dialogues. Reproduce them. Make up your own ones.

1. - What do you think of the exams?

- I reckon they were deadly easy.

- May be they were easy enough for you, but they were much too hard for me.

- Oh, come on. You've probably done better than you think.

2. - How's your son been doing at school lately, Mr.Sanders? I hear that he
is likely to win all the prizes in the exams this year.

- Yes, so his teachers say. But he deserves to do so. He's always been
so conscientious and hard-working and he's been slaving at his books every
evening for months on end recently. He wants to go to Oxford University next
year. May be he'll become a university lecturer himself eventually.

3. - Vicky, what language do you study?

- English.

- What's the most difficult aspect of learning it?

- Well, I'm very embarrassed when we have to speak English in front of the class. Terrible pronunciation and things like that. Also I think listening compre­hension is very difficult, because it's always difficult to keep up.

- Yes, studying languages is much harder than studying math or history or something. Especially, if you are not gifted.

4. - How did you do in your informatics test?
-Oh, don't ask!

- Oh, dear. What did you get?

- Twenty percent. I came last. I thought I was going to do really well.

5. - Can you help me with my math homework? We're doing algebra.

- Believe me, I would if I could, but I don't know the first thing about alge­
bra. Sorry.

Read and translate the text.

A Student in Economics

(After George Mil burn)

Charlie Wintage ran up the steps of the Administrative Building, hurried through the revolving doors and walked down the long hall to the Dean of Men'soffice. He was ten minutes late. Before he opened the frosted-glass door he took out a pair of amber-coloured spectacles and put them on. Then he went in and handed this summonsto the secretary.

"The Dean will see you in a moment", she said. "Please take a chair".

Charlie sat down and gave a glance about the office. Three freshmen were waiting with him. He recognized none of them, so he picked up a week-old copy of a newspaper and started reading it. But the room was warm and he imme­diately went to sleep. The newspaper slipped down on the floor. His amber-coloured spectacles hid his eyes and no one could see that they were closed. He was awakened by a secretary shaking him.

"Wake up and pay for your bed, old man!" one of the freshmen called and everyone laughed heartily.

"I sort of drowsed off. It's so nice and warm here.." Charlie said apologizing to the secretary.

The Dean of Men got up as he entered and said: "Ah, this is Charlie Win­tage, isn't it? How do you like the university by now, Wintage? Eyes troubling you?"

"Pretty well, sir. Yes, sir, a little. I wear these spectacles."

The secretary brought his folder and the Dean looked through it briefly.

"Well, Wintage, I suppose you're anxious to know why I sent for you. The unpleasant truth is, Wintage, you don't seem to be doing well in your studies.

Now, to be quite frank, Wintage, you're on the verge offlunking out. Less than a third of the semester remains, and you have an F gradein English and D gradesin Psychology and Military Training. On the other hand, you have an A average in Spanish and В in Economics. Wintage, how do you account for your falling English when you are an A student in Spanish?"

"To tell you the truth, sir, I got behindin my written works in English, and I've never been able to catch up.And I don't really have to study Spanish. My father is a railway section foreman in my hometown and he's always has a gang of Mex­icans working for him. I've been speaking Spanish ever since I was a kid."

"How about this В in Economics? That's a fairly high grade."

"Yes, sir. Our economics professor doesn't give exams. Instead he gives everyone а В until he calls for our term papers. And the grade you get on your term paper is your semester grade. We have to do a lot of outside reading for the term paper. But I'm counting on keeping that В in Economics".

"That's fine, Wintage. But it appears to me that it's high time you were get­ting busy on some of the other grades too. You made an unusually high grade in your entrance exams. Graduated from high school with honours.What's the trouble, Wintage?"

"I don't know, sir, except I work at night at a cafe".

"How many hours do you work?"

"Ten hours, sir. From nine till seven. The cafe stays open all night."

'Very interesting, Wintage. But don't you suppose that it would be advisable to cut down a bit on this outside work and attend a little more closely to your studies?"

"I couldn't work fewer hours and stay in school, sir. I pay my room rent and I've been paying out on a suit of clothes."

"Can you arrange for a little financial support from home?"

"No, sir. I'm afraid not. I have two brothers and two sisters at home younger than I am. It wouldn't be right for me to ask my father to send money out of what he makes."

"I see, but all this is beside the point. We're here to discuss the state of your grades, Wintage. As you must know, any student who turns inless than half his work isautomatically suspendedfrom the university and must return to his home. Now one more bad mark and out you'll go, Wintage."

"I'd hate to have to go back home like that. You know, there not many jobs nowadays, sir."

"Well, unless you can alter your circumstances, I suggest that you withdraw from the university at once".

"I believe I'll try to stick it through, sir. I'll try to remove the F and D grades and maybe I can luck through on my finals".

Notes:

1. Dean of Men - преподаватель-воспитатель, ведущий работу среди студентов-мужчин.

2. summons - повестка

3 on the verge of flunking out- на грани отчисления

4. F grade - самая низкая оценка в колледже, университете. A grade - самая высокая оценка.

5. get behind - отстать, не сделать что-то вовремя

6. catch up - догнать

7. high school (амер.) - средняя школа

8. with honours - с отличием

9. turn in - сдавать

9. be suspended - быть исключенным

10. I can luck through on my finals - я как-нибудь сдам свои выпускные
экзамены

4. Say what you have learned from the text "A Student in Economics"
about:

I.Charles Wintage; 2. the family he came from; 3. his life in college; 4. the Dean of Men; 5. the system of grades and the rules of American universities.