- •Introduction
- •Robert Burns “To a Mouse”
- •Questions and tasks. Chapter 1. (Track 2 Disk 1 - track 12 Disk 1)
- •II. Listen further (till the words: “I bet it was more than four miles. Damn hot day”) and offer the English equivalents for the following words and phrases:
- •III. Listen to the excerpt “Lennie looked timidly over to him. “George?”………… “Awright. You got that. But we’re gonna sleep here because I got a reason.” Say whether these statements are true or false:
- •IV. Listen up to the end of George and Lennie’s conversation (till the words “The sycamore leaves whispered in a little night breeze”).
- •Chapter 2. (Track 13 Disk 1 – track 7 Disk2)
- •II. Listen till the words “At that moment a young man came into the bunk house.” Suggest the English variants for the following words and phrases from this part of the novella:
- •III. Listen further (till the words “George laid down his cards thoughtfully, turned his piles of three.”) and offer the English equivalents for the following words and phrases:
- •Chapter 3. (Track 8 Disk 2 – track 6 Disk 3)
- •Listen to the chapter in portions
- •Chapter 4. (Track 7 Disk 3 – track 19 Disk 3)
- •I. Listen to the introductory episode of chapter 4 and find the English equivalents for the expressions in bold type:
- •II. Say whether these statements are true or false:
- •Chapter 5. (Track 1 Disk 4 – track 12 disk 4)
- •Chapter 6. (Track 13 Disk 4 – track 19 Disk 4)
- •I. Listen to the final chapter and find the English equivalents for the following words and phrases:
- •The novella Of Mice and Men (1937)
- •Vocabulary Notes To chapter 1
- •To chapter 2
- •To chapter 3
- •To chapter 4
- •To chapter 5
- •To chapter 6
The novella Of Mice and Men (1937)
The title is a reference to the Robert Burns poem "To a Mouse." This story of shattered dreams became Steinbeck's first big success. Steinbeck adapted it also into a three-act play, which was produced in 1937. The play was rapidly adapted into a 1939 Hollywood film. In 1992 another version was directed by Gary Sinise and starring John Malkovich.
The story is about two travelling ranch workers, George and Lennie, trying to work up enough money to buy their own farm. It encompasses themes of racism, loneliness, prejudice against the mentally ill, and the struggle for personal independence.
Of Mice and Men is a gem, one of Steinbeck's most endearing texts because, in part, it charts the unlikely friendship of two men of the road (like Natty Bumppo and Chingachgook - also migrants). It is the quality of that friendship that may first attract readers, as it is fully evoked in the first chapter. The two depend on one another rather like husband and wife, father and son-or ego and id, brain and brawn. The interpretations are many. Clearly George has the words and plans, and Lennie has the heart and affection and devotion. Theirs can be seen as a sentimental story - and has been by some critics - but for most readers the bonds of friendship resonate throughout the text.
The characters assembled around these two represent either power or powerlessness. The ranch owner, Curley, and Curley's wife have varying degrees of power. The men in the bunkhouse, on the other hand, have little control over their lives - they are living from job to job, and some cling desperately to their jobs - like old Candy or, exiled to the barn, the black man Crooks. One of the reasons that Lennie and George's relationship is so unusual to the other characters in the novel is that each is in his/her way a loner; and the book is as much about loneliness and isolation as it is about the power of friendship to cut against those conditions.
Of Mice and Men is also about a dream - "livin' off the fatta the land1," as Lennie articulates repeatedly. It's a dream of male self-sufficiency, of land ownership, of independence, of a home, of a family re-envisioned. The book suggests the possibilities that have always been inherent in the American experience, and that is one reason for its long popularity.
Vocabulary Notes To chapter 1
Soledad — г. Соледад; расположен в 130 милях от Сан Франциско.
the Salinas River — p. Салинас протяженностью 150 миль в Западной Калифорнии; в г. Салинас родился Стейнбек, в его доме открыт музей.
drops in close to... — протекает рядом с...
Gabilan mountains — горная цепь в Западной Калифорнии.
makes a great skittering — проносится как молния.
split-wedge — разделенный и клинообразный.
his hat dripped down — c его шляпы капала вода.
That's all you ever can remember is them rabbits. — Ты помнишь только о кроликах.
Murray and Ready's — название фирмы.
Weed — шахтерский городок на севере Калифорнии.
we're set — зд. мы устроены.
They run us outa Weed — Hac выгнали из Уида.
bustin' a gut {амер, разг.) — изо всех сил; to bust = to burst; a gut {амер. разг.) = a stomach.
You ain't puttin' nothing over — зд. я не позволю тебе сжульничать.
a cat house (амер. разг.) — публичный дом.
keep me shovin' (сленг) — заставляешь меня таскаться.
You keep me in hot water (сленг) — Ты меня ставишь в трудное положение.
You get a kick outta that (сленг} — получаешь от этого удовольствие.
work up a stake {сленг) — добыть кучу денег.
they're poundin' their tail {сленг) — тащатся.
that gives a damn about us — кто захочет общаться с нами.
blowin' our jack {сленг} — транжиря наши денежки; во время написания повести также употреблялись такие стилистически окрашенные эквиваленты понятия «деньги»: Almighty Dollar bacon, beans and honey, the bucks, bullets, cabbages, cherries, do-re-mi, the evil, juice, muck, the needful, rubbish, snow, soap, velvet, и т.д.
An' live off the fatta the lan' = And live off the fat of the land (библейская аллюзия).
hobo – хобо, странствующий рабочий