Active Vocabulary
to turn from smb in contempt (52)
to alter one’s views (52)
to distract public attention (53)
at all costs (54)
to act on smth (54)
to underrate oneself (54)
to judge by smth (57)
to yield to temptation (58)
to suffer remorse (59)
to be in store (62)
to have the scruple in doing smth (63)
to be above reproach (68)
to conceal smth (69)
to make allowances (70)
to detest smb/smth (88)
to be tempted (91)
to be bewildered (93)
a) Find the sentences with these words and reproduce the situations.
Paraphrase
…the sin of one’s youth … should wreck a life of mine, should place me in the pillory. (54)
I am hounded from public life. (55)
I have paid conscience money many times. I had a wild hope that I might disarm destiny. (60)
Besides, if you make a clean breast of the whole affair… (60)
Have you tried her with money. (62)
But everyone has some weak point. There is some flaw in each one of us. (62)
I shall send a cipher telegram. (63)
She must have had a curious hold over Baron Arnheim. (64)
Once a man has set his heart and soul on getting to a certain point… (69)
Robert is a great champion of the Higher Education of Women. (80)
Sir John has taken to attending the debates regularly… (82)
In this world like meets with like. (89)
Who said it and in what context. Explain the meaning of the sentence and comment on it.
I had the double misfortune of being well-born and poor, two unforgivable things nowadays. (54)
Every man of ambition has to fight his century with its own weapons. (54)
… he expounded to us the most terrible of all philosophies, the philosophy of power; preached to us the most marvelous of all gospels, the gospel of gold. (56)
… power over other men, power over the world, was the one thing worth having… (57)
I tell you that there are terrible temptations that it requires strength and courage to yield to. (58)
And in England a man who can’t talk morality twice a week to a large, popular, immoral audience is quite over as a serious politician. (61)
Then the marvelous gospel of gold breaks down sometimes. The rich can’t do everything, after all. (62)
Your husband is an exception, mine is the general rule, and nothing ages a woman so rapidly as having married the general rule. (87)
I don’t mind your talking morality. Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike. (88)
It is when we are wounded … that love should come to cure us.
Fill in the blanks with prepositions.
He paces … and … the room.
Under-Secretary … Foreign affairs … the age … forty – that’s good enough … any one.
… the worst it would be a psychological experiment.
Is it fair that a man’s whole career should be ruined … a fault done … one’s boyhood?
I bought success … a great price.
I was dazed … the prospect he held … … me, and my desire … pave … that time was boundless.
He made three-quarters … a million … the transaction.
The Baron advised me … finance … time to time.
The English can’t stand a man who is always saying he is … the right, but they are fond of a man who admits that he has been … the wrong.
How can I defend myself … her?
I will fight her … her weapons.
I live … hopes now. I clutch … every chance.
Of which I know nothing … experience, though I know something by observation.
I have a particular reason … asking you.
Robert think very highly … him.
I wouldn’t marry a man … a future … him for anything … the sun.
With regard … women you belong … the younger generation and I am sure it is all right if you approve … it.
A house, everything … which has been paid … … fraud.
Questions.
Why is Sir Robert in a state of mental excitement? What makes him disclose the truth about his past to Lord Goring? Why can’t he bring himself to make a confession to his wife? How does Lord Goring qualify the whole affair?
In what way does Sir Robert try to justify his dishonourable past? What does he say of the importance of wealth? What did he achieve thanks to the wealth he had got then? Did he ever suffer remorse?
Under what circumstances did Baron Arnheim come into Sir Robert’s life? What impression did the luxury of the Baron’s house make on Sir Robert? Speak on the philosophy the Baron preached? Why was Sir Robert ready to yield to temptation? Did he wrong anybody by what he had done?
Why does Lord Goring say that in Sir Robert’s case “confession won’t do”? How does Sir Robert plan to fight Mrs. Cheveley?
Reproduce the conversation between Lord Goring and Lady Chiltern. Why does he try to convince her to make allowances to other people? What surprises Lady Chiltern about Lord Goring? Why does he ask for the list of guests?
What do Mrs. Cheveley and Lady Markby come to the Chilterns’ for? Speak on Lady Markby’s views on marriages, fathers- and sons- problems, politics, women’s education.
What is the main reason for Mrs. Cheveley’s visit to Lady Chiltern? What does she mean saying that she and Sir Robert pair so well together? Why is she sorry for Lady Chiltern?
Speak on Lady Chiltern’s reaction to the news that her husband built up his career on dishonour? What does Sir Robert think of love and women who make ideals of men?