Reading comprehension exercises

1. Consult a dictionary and practise the pronunciation of the following words.
Pay attention to the stresses:

conscientious, photograph, anonymous, antithesis, ambiguous, homogeneous, megalomania, coincidence, cleavage, languorous, in­cisive, psychic, itinerary.

2. Read out the passage beginning with "For the first time..." up to I'll show it to somebody, he thought" using proper tone groups and observing the rhythm. Convey proper attitudes and all the phonetic phenomena of connected speech.

3. a) Practise this brief conversation:

Student A expresses either annoyance at Walter Streeter or criti­cizes him. He suggests irritability and sounds reprovingly critical. Remember what rate of utterance may be associated with negative emotions.

Student В defends Walter Streeter. Mind that expressing disagree­ment you might sound challenging, persuasively reassuring, be re­luctantly or defensively dissenting; for the purpose make use of the intonation patterns "Fall-Rise" and "Rise-Fall".

Student С asks for reasons and expresses his own personal ver­dict. Be aware of the change in attitudes.

b) Now in pairs talk about the pros and cons of judging a person by his/her handwriting. Impart your own attitude. Use proper intonation patterns which the argument or discussion require.

4. Substitute one of the speech patterns for the parts of the sentences in bold
type.

Models: a) She wanted to put a coin into the slot but changed her mind as she had very little money.

She was just going to put a coin into the slot when she remembered that she had very little money and decided not to.

b) He could not understand why he had never
noticed before that Bilson was left-handed.

How was it that he had never noticed that Bilson was left-handed?

c) It was painful, believe me. It was painful, I can
tell you.

1. Ben was on the point of dialing his telephone number to have the matter out with his brother, but then he thought better of it. 2. The tickets were sold out a month ago. Why on earth was the theatre half empty? 3. Daniel has a very good memory for names and dates. How did it happen that he forgot about my birthday? 4. The weather forecast was "cloudy with occasional showers". He was about to start off when suddenly he decided to stay at home. 5. Jane was just about to throw the old envelope into the waste-paper basket when suddenly she changed her mind. 6. So you are a professional singer. How could it have happened that you had never told me about this before? 7. How can you account for the fact that we have lived in the same town for two years and have never met? 8. We had an awful time getting back, believe me. 9.1 assure you, I broke out in goosebumps all over. 10. You've got something on your hands there, lad, I'm sure about it.

5. Translate the following sentences into English using the speech patterns:

1. Уверяю вас, мне не впервые приходится слышать подобную отговорку.

2. Как это так получается, что у нас никогда нет возможности встретиться'

3. Почему (так выходит, что) я больше не встречаю Джейн у вас в гостях? 4. Как

это могло случиться, что два маленьких мальчика одни поехали кататься по реке? 5. Их беседа не была такой безобидной, уверяю вас. 6. В письме он пи­сал, что собирается приехать к нам в сентябре, а затем передумал. 7. Мы уже совсем собрались купить телевизор, а потом раздумали.

6. Make up two sentences of your own on each pattern.

7. Make up and act out in front of the class a suitable dialogue using the speech patterns. (Pair work)

8. Note down from the text the sentences containing the phrases and word combinations and translate them into Russian.

9. Paraphrase the following sentences using the phrases and word combina­tions:

1. The speaker talked a lot, but never really dealt seriously with the subject. 2. It used much of her time and energy to gain a full un­derstanding of the idea. 3. The memory of this marvellous week-end took a long time to fade from his memory. 4. At last she decided in favour of the new dress rather than the old one. 5. The policeman quickly formed an opinion about the man's character and decided he must be innocent. 6. While thinking over their last meeting he began to realize that he was falling in love. 7. Your younger brother is spoilt, nobody can stop him from doing what he wants. 8. After the first examination the student's position was unclear. He needed to be tested some more. 9. It was an odd combination of events that the two con­testants were both born on the same day and were both called James. 10. After ten years of working in the same place Jim was in a rut and needed a change. 11. The child told tales to the teacher and so the rest of the class refused to speak to him. 12. He could not forget the wrong done by his enemy until his dying day. 13. He's nicer in real life than in his photographs. 14.1 spent long hours in the library try­ing to find material for my research paper.

10. Make up two sentences of your own on each phrase and word combina­tion.

11. Make up and practise a dialogue using the phrases and word combina­tions.

12. Translate the following sentences into English using the phrases and word
combinations:

1. Мы должны серьезно взяться за решение этой проблемы. 2. Красивая мелодия надолго запала в душу. 3. Врач сам не уверен, он говорит, что я боль­ной с пограничным состоянием. 4. Я думаю, что нам следует отправиться в однодневный поход. 5. Он почувствовал еле уловимые признаки раздраже­ния. 6. Не могу в нем как следует разобраться, он для меня загадка. 7. Если вы хотите, чтобы все было по-вашему, вы должны сами много трудиться. 8. Зна­менитый режиссер находится в нашем городе, он подыскивает материал для своей новой картины. 9. Сначала нервничая на новом месте, собака успокои­лась, почувствовав доброе отношение нового хозяина. 10. Я устал вести с ним дела по телефону, я хочу видеть его воочию. 11. Я всегда чувствую, что она имеет зуб против меня, хотя не знаю, какое зло я ей сделала. 12. Он весь день думал над этой проблемой, но не мог решить ее.

13. Finish the following sentences.

1. You have always been so interested in Scotland, and... 2. Like other novelists, Walter Streeter was used to... 3. Was his correspon­dent a man or a woman? It looked like a man's handwriting —... 4. As the days passed Waster Streeter became uncomfortably aware of self-division, as though... 5. Yet now it seemed to him an odd coincidence and the idea came into his mind —... 6. His friend said, "I'm sure it's a woman, she has probably fallen in love with you and... 7. That sort of person is often a little psychic, and if... 8. Yielding to an irresistible compulsion, which he dreaded, he found himself... 9. A wave of panic surged up in Walter Streeter. How was it that... 10. The police said they thought the postcards were a hoax and...

14. Decide if the following statements are true or false.

«

1. The photograph of Forfar was rather interesting and Walter Streeter put it behind the clock on the chimney-piece. 2. His anon­ymous correspondent challenged Walter Streeter to deal with his characters more effectively. 3. The unknown person's criticism was not fair and Walter Streeter put it out of his mind. 4. The post­cards made the novelist feel at the same time flattered and unsure of himself. 5. Walter Streeter became aware of the internal con­flict he could not come to grips with. 6. His "devoted admirer" accused Walter Streeter of megalomania and pointed out that par-

ish churches were more rewarding. 7. The sender's handwriting was commercial, unselfconscious and Walter Streeter saw in it re­semblances to his own. 8. His friend said that the letters were prob­ably from a poisonpen who wanted to annoy him. 9. For a moment Walter Streeter fancied that his correspondent was a woman who had fallen in love with him. He did not care whether she was a lunatic or not. 10. The police laughed at him and said he was writ­ing letters to himself.

15. a) Match the words on the left with the words on the right.

	an ambiguous	a	initials
	the conscious	b	developments
	uncomfortably	с	compulsion
	growing	d	creature
	hearty	e	world
	commonplace	f	possessions
	unexplained	g	mind
	mouse-like	h	pains
	subconscious	i	aware
	common	J	handshake

b) Write 10 sentences incorporating these word combinations.

16. Explain what is meant by:

projections of his own personality or, in different forms, the an­tithesis of it; to experiment with acquaintances; other-worldly, in­deed; too ready to escape into an ambiguous world; the words came haltingly; growing pains; inclined to under-value parish churches; languorous with semicolons and subordinate clauses; sharp and inci­sive with main verbs and full stops; so ordinary as perhaps to be dis­guised; if she senses that she's getting a rise out of you she'll go on; he could not bring himself to look at the picture.

17. Answer the questions and do the given assignments:

A. 1. What was written in the first postcard? 2. Why was Walter Streeter glad that he did not have to answer the postcard? Should a writer grudge the time and energy to answer letters? 3. What im­pression did the second postcard make on Walter Streeter? Why

did he dismiss the faint stirrings of curiosity? Should a writer avoid making new acquaintances? 4. What difficulties did the writer have with his work and how did he try reassure himself? 5. What did Walter Streeter do with the first two postcards and why did he keep the third? 6. What odd coincidence did Walter Streeter notice? Do you happen to know of any odd coincidences? 7. What thoughts and feelings did the third postcard provoke? What did his friend say? 8. Why did a wave of panic surge up in him when Walter Street­er read the fourth postcard? 9. What was the outcome of his visit to the police?

B. 1. Speak on the overall tone of the passage, specifying the set­ting and the time span of the story, plot development and the charac­ters involved. Observe the stylistic means the author employs to keep the reader in suspense: a) the words and phrases denoting emotional reaction; b) the incongruity between the banal contents of the post­cards and the importance Walter Streeter attaches to them; c) the contrast in mood and length between the passages separating one postcard from another; d) the word order.

2. Analyse the content of the postcards and bring out the message that they have in common. Comment on the specific intonation of the postcards (which are supposed to reveal the character of the anon­ymous correspondent and his attitude towards Walter Streeter): a) absence of greeting, b) the vocabulary and set expressions, c) lex­ical and syntactical repetition (chiasmus in the first postcard), d) neg­ative and interrogative sentences, e) the play on words (in the sec­ond and fourth postcards).

3. Indicate the lexical and syntactical devices used to depict the character of Walter Streeter: a) which words and phrases help the reader to understand his character? Is the description a complete one? b) what does Walter Streeter himself feel about his own work? Enlarge on the function of inner reported speech and various repe­titions (anaphora, anadiplosis, synonym repetition), c) is there a lot of figurative language in the story? Give examples of the epi­thet, metaphor, simile, d) what is the author's attitude towards Walter Streeter? Sympathetic? Indifferent? Unsympathetic? Jus­tify your answer. (See p. 98)

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NOTES ON STYLE

Uttered Represented Speech is a device, which conveys to the reader the unuttered or inner speech of the character, thus presenting the thoughts and feelings. Uttered represented speech demands that the tense should be switched from present to past and the personal pro­nouns should be changed from 1st and 2nd person to 3rd person as in indirect speech, but the syntactical structure of the utterance does not change. For example: His anonymous correspondent's criticism, however, lingered in his mind. Did he really fail to come to grips with his characters? Perhaps he did.

Find in the text other examples of uttered represented speech and analyse them.

18. Give a summary of the text.

19. Read the story "W.S." by L.P. Hartley to the end, and say whether it has come up to your expectations. What do you think is the point of the story?