Chapters 35 and 36

Vocabulary work

I. Learn the following words and expressions:

- to cope with smth. - nuclear weapons - to smoke pot - Gee! - to come to a conclusion - foal - calf - to survive - to be on the verge of (doing) smth. - dumb - to blow one’s cover - to endure - circumspect - to be entitled to (do) smth.

- to bless - to push smth. - Don’t I get a say in this? - to nod - sagely - age gap - to drop smb. off - cursory - froth - suet pudding - to abhor smth. - to be on top of things - to shed a skin - robust - naked

II. Answer the questions:

1. Why did Marcus go to stay with his father after all? What did they talk about?

2. Describe Marcus’s theory of life as an acrobatic display. Do you agree with it?

3. What did Will fall into the habit of doing every Saturday?

4. How did Marcus change? Do you think it was a good thing?

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

1. “It doesn’t matter how far you fall if it makes you think, does it?”

2. “I can’t explain it, but I feel safer than before, because I know more people.”

3. “I used to want him to marry my mum.”

4. “He just seems so much older.”

5. “Where did we go wrong, eh? We’ve given that boy everything, and this is how he repays us.”

IV. Translate into English:

- (у него) закончился бензин;

- приходится выбирать одно из двух;

- вдохнуть полные легкие дыма;

- нетвердо стоять на ногах;

- быть взрослее на много лет;

- покровительствовать, опекать;

- вне всяких сомнений.

Oral practice

V. Comment on the following:

1. Now he was free he could see he had overreacted. Instead, he took the Royston incident as a measure of how far he’d come in the last few months. He’d never have been able to get arrested when he’d first arrived in London. He wouldn’t have known the right sort of people. (p. 268)

2. Since the egg had cracked Will had found himself wanting to talk to Marcus about what it was like to wander about with nothing on, feeling scared of everything and everybody, because Marcus was the only person in the world who might be able to offer him advice; but Marcus – the old Marcus, anyway – was disappearing. (p. 275)

3. … all three of them had had to lose things in order to gain other things. Will had lost his shell and his cool and his distance, and he felt scared and vulnerable, but he got to be with Rachel; and Fiona had lost a big chunk of Marcus, and she got to stay away from the casualty ward; and Marcus had lost himself, and got to walk home from school with his shoes on. (p. 278)

VI. Give a good literary translation of the following:

1. “Marcus did end up going to stay with his dad and Lindsey. He felt sorry for them, in a funny sort of way: at the police station they had seemed really out of it, as if they weren’t able to cope. Marcus hadn’t thought about it before, but that evening you could really tell who lived in London and who didn’t, and the ones who didn’t just seemed more scared of everything. Clive and Lindsey had been scared of Ellie, for a start, but they’d been scared of Ellie’s mum, and the police, and they’d moaned a lot, and looked nervous… Maybe it wasn’t anything to do with London; maybe it was more to do with the kind of people he knew now, or maybe he’d just got a lot older in the last couple of months. But he couldn’t really see what his dad could offer him any more, which was why he felt sorry for him, which was why he agreed to go back to Cambridge with him.” (p. 267)

2. “He had thought about it a lot, but could never quite make himself believe that he was entitled to ask her; every time he stayed over at her house he felt impossibly blessed, and he didn’t want to do anything that would endanger his sense of privilege. Sometimes he hardly even dared ask her when he could see her again; asking her whether she was willing to spend the rest of her life with him seemed to be pushing it.” (p. 275)

3. “Will couldn’t resist it: he had a theory he wanted to test out. ‘Hey, Fiona. Why don’t you get your sheet music out, and we can murder "Both Sides Now"?’

‘Would you like to?’

‘Yeah. Sure.’ But he was watching Marcus, whose expression was that of a boy who had been asked to dance naked before a mixed audience of supermodels and cousins.

‘Please, Mum. Don’t.’ ” (p. 278)

VII. Agree or disagree with the following statements:

1. Marcus decided to stay with his father to get a piece of advice from him.

2. Marcus’s father promised to get back together with Fiona.

3. Marcus thought he was fine without his father around all the time.

4. Will took Ali and Marcus out to get closer to Rachel.

5. Trips to the British Museum and the National Gallery were hugely successful.

6. Will and the boy went to football games only when there was nothing better to do.

7. Marcus still wanted Will to marry Fiona.

8. Marcus became undistinguishable from any other twelve-year-old kid.

VIII. Retell the 35^th Chapter as if you were:

1. Marcus

2. Marcus’s father

Retell the 36^th Chapter as if you were:

1. Marcus

2. Ali

3. Will.

Presentation

IX. Make a presentation on one of the following topics:

1. London museums (the British Museum, the National Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, etc.)

2. London parks (Hyde Park, Richmond Park, Kensington gardens, etc.)

3. London shopping

Writing

X. Suggested topics for final essay:

1. Choose one character and describe how his/her life changed throughout the novel.

2. Is mutual understanding between parents and children possible? (prove your ideas by giving examples from the novel).

3. Who do you think is the main character in the novel? (prove your ideas by giving examples from the novel)