“The Trans-Siberian Express”

Повторите рамочку на стр. 175 (старые книги) + стр. 185 (новые книги).

+ Prove that the author is a very good observer and has a sharp eye for details = Докажите, что автор очень наблюдателен и замечает мельчайшие детали.

Доказать это можно, приведя примеры

- описания пассажиров (часть 2)

“Passengers, swathed in steam, hurried past the lit windows: Russians clutching cardboard suitcases, moustached Poles in ill-fitting suits, Chinese with bicycles …”

- описания купe (часть 3)

-описания ночной Москвы и Подмосковья (часть 3)

- описания пассажиров (часть 5)

- описания еды в вагоне-ресторане и на станциях (часть 6)

- описания Монголии и Китая.

The author uses a lot of epithets, metaphors and comparisons, which add to the expressiveness of the text.

Epithets:

down-at-heel gentlemen’s club

sumptuous carriages

ghostly birches

the most spectacular of railways

a vast Japanese man

uninspired food

grand, ennobling, majestic (music by Tchaikovsky)

walnut-coloured rivers

endless pasture

bleak rows of stone houses

cold stars

timeless landscape

Metaphors:

the sanctuary of the train

a blur of smoking chimneys and grey apartment blocks

Comparisons:

“We introduced ourselves like the new neighbours we were …” (часть 5)

“… he muttered rolling his eyes like a soprano” (часть 5)

“Every evening corks went off like cannons out of the windows” (часть 8)

Idioms:

To be all the rage = быть модным, популярным (часть 4)

To give way to (= to be replaced by something) (часть 13)

To make sense of something = понимать, быть понятным, иметь смысл(часть 7)

“Drama in Cambridge”

Give examples of words and phrases to do with the topic “Theatre”.

to tour overseas to be universally relevant

a venue to bring a play to the stage

an interpretation of a play a delicate and resonant play

a theatre group to reject an interpretation

a sophisticated play a facile and simplistic interpretation

funding for the tour reception of a play

a company = труппа perception of a play

to perform in a wide variety of venues presentation of a play

to present a performance audience

a busy schedule to grasp the essence of the play

to bring out a play = поставить пьесу to appeal to all

“Traveller’s tales”

Find examples of the writer’s ironical attitude to the Crumbles’ remarks.

Irony = the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning; a technique of indicating an attitude opposite to that which is stated.

The writer’s irony is not expressed in a straightforward way. To express irony the writer uses the stylistic device, which is called “implication”. It means that the actual meaning is left unsaid but is easily recognized.

Examples:

1. “Oh, I see it all now! We met the wrong lot of housewives! We went to the wrong lot of houses!”

2. “Bitterly regret all the time we spent knocking around with people who expressed the most radical dissent on every subject”.

3. “It turns out we met the wrong lot of American children, too!”

4. “Our good friends Christopher and Lavinia Crumble have been particularly helpful…”

5. “By some unfortunate local atypicality, the fruit and vegetables we came across were in fact better than English fruit and vegetables”.