Chapters 11 and 12

Vocabulary work

I. Learn the following words and expressions:

- mess - selfish - to call it a day - to get a takeaway - suicide - helicopter - You can do better than this. - to lose track of smth. - to frequent smth. - squash - (a game of) pool - paternity leave - doggedly

- rejection - acute - to bond with smb. - puppet theatre - in loco parentis - to relive - (time) to sign up - law-abiding - to treat smb. (to smth.) - to be broke - universe - quid/ton/grand - windscreen

II. Answer the questions:

1. What was in the letter Marcus found on the table?

2. Have you watched the Groundhog Day? What is it about? Find extra information about the movie.

3. Why did Marcus not want his mother to watch the movie?

4. Why did Will decide to take Marcus and Fiona out?

5. What did Will buy in Mothercare and why?

III. State who these words belong to. Translate and reproduce the situations in which they are used:

1. “Maybe Marcus and I ought to have a little talk on our own.”

2. “At the moment’s no good to me.”

3. “…we’ve got to look after each other. It shouldn’t all be one way.”

4. “I was wondering how things are up the road.”

5. “I don’t know how else to say it. We’re broke. You’re not. You pay.”

6. “Not much point in saving a few quid if he ends up through the windscreen, is there?”

IV. Translate into English:

- присматривать за кем-л.;

- винить кого-то в чем-л.;

- остаться в одиночестве;

- отличить одно от другого;

- (утренняя) пробежка;

- занимать много времени;

- Я не сообразил;

- дискриминирующий по половому признаку.

Oral practice

V. Comment on the following:

1. Two wasn’t enough, that was the trouble. He’d always thought that two was a good number, and that he’d hate to live in a family of three or four or five. But he could see the point of that now: if someone dropped off the edge, you weren’t left on your own. (p. 66-67)

2. In fact, he had reached a stage where he wondered how his friends could juggle life and a job. Life took up so much time, so how could one work and, say, take a bath on the same day? (p. 72)

3. Maybe the coolest thing he could do for Marcus was let him run wild on Saturday—give him some money, take him to Soho and leave him there. (p. 74)

VI. Give a good literary translation of the following:

1. “I think that whatever I say in this letter, you’ll end up hating me. Or maybe end up is a bit too final: perhaps when you’re older, you’ll feel something else other than hate. But there’s certainly going to be a long period of time when you’ll think I did a wrong, stupid, selfish, unkind thing. So I wanted to give myself a chance to explain, even if it doesn’t do any good.” (p. 64)

2. “… he doggedly wrote letters explaining to potential employers why he was the man they were looking for. He even enclosed a CV, although it only just ran on to a second page. Rather brilliantly, he thought, he had numbered these two pages ‘one’ and ‘three’, thus implying that page two, the page containing the details of his brilliant career, had got lost somewhere. The idea was that people would be so impressed by the letter, so dazzled by his extensive range of interests, that they would invite him in for an interview, where sheer force of personality would carry him through.” (p. 72)

3. “In the afternoon Will went out to buy a car seat in Mothercare. He had no intention of filling his whole flat with cots and potties and high chairs, but if he was going to start ferrying people around at weekends, he felt he should at least make some concession to Ned’s reality.” (p. 76-77)

VII. Agree or disagree with the following statements:

1. In her suicide letter Fiona blamed Marcus for everything.

2. Suzie left Marcus at home to give him time to tidy the place up.

3. Marcus chose the Groundhog Day, because he had watched it before.

4. Fiona enjoyed the movie.

5. Will wanted to find a job to fill his days.

6. Suzie suggested that Will takes Marcus and his mother out.

7. Marcus told Will that they had no money.

8. Will bought the cheapest car seat at Mothercare.

VIII. Find Russian equivalent of the following:

1. Don’t beat around the bush.

IX. Retell the 11^th Chapter as if you were:

1. Marcus

2. Fiona.

Writing

X. Write a one-page summary of the Chapters 11,12.