Практика устной речи по английскому языку - Малышева О.Л., Валько О.В., Щёголева Т.П

Exercise 9. Read and translate the text.

Reading

Solitude is Sometimes the Best Society

Occasional solitude is absolutely necessary for a developing mind. To have time to think is rare in the world today, and time must be made. To continue living and working without moments of solitude is like expecting a machine to work indefinitely without oil.

Solitude is the best society for artists. The creation of any form of beauty depends upon the state of a man’s mind, whether the person writes something or paints something. To know one’s mind is a thing achieved only by solitude and quiet thinking. And it is this peace that is the force of creation.

But few people like being alone for a long time. The close society of acquaintances and friends, doing useless things to pass the time – these are the necessities of the modern world. People are afraid of having time to think, so they go to the cinema, the television set, or a football match, because they can think of nothing better to do. Creative work is fast disappearing; instead, we’ll have a generation of watchers and thought will be left to the poets and scientists.

Some people wouldn’t know what to do being alone at times. Finding other people’s company preferable to their own, they begin to feel unhappy and grow introspective. Self-analysis can be carried too far by some; others lose the art of conversation, and an ability to give and take – and so run indefinitely without oil.

But to the rest of us solitude brings new worlds. When we think and feel, unwatched by man, ideas and feelings come to us, and we get new strength instead of becoming lost in a hurrying world. Ideas and knowledge of oneself that come from peace are the best things in life; these come only from solitude – occasional solitude, of course.

Exercise 10. A. Answer the questions:

Practice

1.Why is it difficult to continue living and working without moments of solitude?

2.Why are people sometimes afraid of having time to think?

3.What kind of generation is ours (according to the text)?

4.How is creative work connected with solitude?

5.What does the art of living among other people consists in?

6.Does self-analysis always bring knowledge of ourselves?

121

7.What do you think are the best things in life? What did H.D.Thoreau mean when he wrote in ‘Walden’: ‘I had three chairs in my house: one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society’.

Translation B. Translate into Russian:

1.Teachers know that a large part of their time is taken up in devising means to stimulate their students to learn. 2. Expressing sympathy towards people in some situations may appear tactless. 3. Being alone at times is absolutely necessary to everybody. 4. We sometimes are afraid of having time to think because we don’t know how to use it. 5. Meeting too many people tires our mind, and we lose the habit of quiet thinking. 6. Any normal adult who takes the trouble to do a little work in the area of teenage psychology will have a good chance of bridging the generation gap in his family. 7. Unless we can predict our reaction in a given situation we have little hope of being able to control it.

C.Translate into English:

1.Так как он любил уединение, он редко приглашал к себе гостей.

2.Хорошее воспитание помогает легко чувствовать себя в любом обществе. 3. Многие утверждают, что современному человеку не нужно уединение. 4. Когда мы слишком много бываем на людях, мы отвыкаем спокойно думать. 5. Так как по вечерам он всегда был один, он много читал. 6. Автор утверждает, что искусству жить с людьми можно научиться. 7. Чтение гораздо полезнее для детей, чем телевизор. 8. Так как он много читал, он всегда мог ответить на наши вопросы.

Exercise11.	By means of this questionnaire find out whether you are
Quiz	an extrovert or introvert.

1.You are invited to a party. What is your reaction?

a.Good! I hope I meet some new people.

b.I don’t want to go. Nobody spoke to me at the last party I went to.

c.I love parties. I like being the center of attention.

2.You are at the party. Everyone is telling jokes.

a.You have dozens of jokes to tell.

b.You manage to remember a couple of jokes.

c.You can’t think of a single joke to tell.

3.You realize that you have nothing planned for Saturday night.

a.You are frantic. You ring up some friends and arrange an outing to the cinema.

b.You think, ‘It’s time I had an evening in’.

c.You think, ‘It’s a good chance to read more of my new library book’.

122

4.Do you take risks?

a.Sometimes

b.Never

c.Often

5.You are asked to help organize a class excursion:

a.You accept willingly. You are sure that you can organize things well.

b.You hesitate for a moment and then accept.

c.You are terrified. You refuse.

6.How do you spend most of your leisure time?

a.By yourself.

b.With one or two friends.

c.With a group.

7.Do you ever think about the meaning of life?

a.Sometimes.

b.Often.

c.Never. I’m too busy living.

8.Do you find it easy to make a decision?

a.It depends.

b.It is always easy to decide.

c.I can never make up my mind.

9.You have a new boy-friend / girl-friend. Your friends tease you about him/her and make jokes.

a.You don’t mind at all.

b.You smile. You don’t mind being teased.

c.You are embarrassed. You don’t like people making fun of you.

10.Somebody in your class is saying horrible things about you.

a.You get worried about it.

b.You don’t care what they say.

c.You begin saying horrible things about them.

Key:	1 – a3 b1 c5	6 – a1	b3	c5
	2 – a5 b3 c1	7 – a3	b1	c5
	3 – a5 b3 c1	8 – a3	b5	c1
	4 – a3 b1 c5	9 – a5	b3	c1
	5 – a5 b3 c1	10 – a1	b5 c3
Score:	35 – 60 points
	You are a true extrovert. You enjoy being in a group. You have

lots of self-confidence. You are an active practical person, and you are outward-looking. You enjoy making decisions and taking risks. But be careful, don’t be too much sure of yourself. Remember that you can hurt sensitive people by your lack of understanding.

123

26 – 34 points

Like many people, the outside world is as important to you as your own inner world. You are sometimes in between the extrovert and the introvert, and you can have the good qualities of both. But be careful that you haven’t all the bad qualities!

10 – 25 points

You are a true introvert. Your inner world of dreams and ideals is more important than the external world. You are not realistic and practical. You do not like showing your feelings to other people, in case they hurt you. Use your sensitivity to appreciate beautiful things and understand other people’s feelings.

Exercise 12. A. The following exercise is based on a test performed Speaking by psychologists on college students to find out if men’s and women’s desires are different. The wishes range from the most to the least popular. Can you

identify female and male wishes?

1.To deeply love a person who deeply loves me.

2.For there to be peace on earth, and no more war.

3.To have the talent and ability to succeed at anything I choose.

4.To be recognized as the best at something.

5.For there to be a clean environment, free from pollution.

6.To be able to travel in time.

7.To be very attractive.

8.To understand the meaning of life.

9.To be youthful all my life.

10.To be able to read people’s minds.

11.To be able to be invisible.

12.To live as long as I want.

13.To have a lot of children.

14.To be able to take revenge on my enemies.

15.To be able to change appearance, age, sex and race whenever I want.

16.To be reincarnated with all my memories.

Discussion B.Answerthequestionsaboutregrets.Discussyouranswers.

1.If your life were on a videotape and you could go back and edit parts out, what parts would you change?

2.Is there anyone’s advice which you regret having or not having taken?

124

3.Is there anyone who you wish you had never met? Which person from your past would you most like to see again?

4.Yeats, the Irish poet, wrote:

One looks back to one’s youth as to a cup that a madman,

Dying of thirst, left half-tasted.

Will this be the case when you are old (i.e. that you will feel that you didn’t take all the opportunities that you should have done)? Are you satisfied with your life? Do you feel you have (and need to have) a purpose? Do you set yourself goals? Do you think you make good use of your time?

C.What do you want from life? Compare your ideas with Dale Carnegie’s.

Dale Carnegie in his 30 million copy selling book How to win friends and influence people identified eight principle wants:

*a feeling of importance

*food

*health and the preservation of life

*life in the hereafter

*money and the things money will buy

*sleep

*the well-being of our children

*sexual gratification.

1.What do you do that you don’t want to do?

2.Do you do things that you don’t want to do only because you feel you are expected to do them by other people, or to fit in with their wishes?

3.What things did you want to do when you were younger that you don’t want to do now, and vice versa?

4.‘I want doesn’t get.’ What things did you want as a child that your parents refused to get you or allow you to do?

5.What things did your parents want for you? And what do you want for your children?

6.If you really want to do something you can do it. True or false?

7.If everybody in the could have what they wanted would the world be a better place?

8.Is it better to get what you want or want what you get?

Exercise13. Write how your ideas, plans, feelings on marriage, career, Writing money, bringing up children have changed in the past fiveyears.Whatdoyouexpectfromthefollowingfiveyears?

125

UNIT 20. HOW PEOPLE EXPESS THEMSELVES

Exercise 1. Do you agree with the proverb ‘Men of few words are Introduction the best men’? Why? Explain your point of view.

Exercise 2.	A. Scan the text through and say if the topic discussed in
Reading	it is important for you. Why? / Why not?

The Art of Talking

Last night was a bore. Several people came to my place for a chat hoping to enjoy themselves. But what an awful evening it was!

One young man talked to us for a full hour on every subject under the sun. None of us could get a word, not even me, though I am supposed to know how to do it – I’ve been a journalist for many years now. So what should have been a pleasant social get-together became an awful bore.

Our speaker, for I cannot call him less, was as exciting as a reading of last week’s laundry list. He is eighteen, and that, I think, excuses him, for he hasn’t been practicing the art of talking for too many years.

He will learn, I hope, that a good conversationalist is a man who has something interesting to say, and at the same time he tries to make his audience feel comfortable. He is also a good listener and shows by his interest that he wants to hear what others have to say. He enjoys talking but realizes that everyone will get more pleasure from conversation if all get a chance to take part. He speaks clearly enough for all to hear comfortably; he is never monotonous, and his speech is full of interesting things; and, by the way, unlike some people, he looks his listeners in the eye, and not into space.

Unfortunately all too often we suffer from bad conversationalists. They are all the same – they are always boring, and yet they differ. You can even talk of several types here. To begin with, there is the so-called ‘monopolizer’, for instance. This type of conversationalist wants to do all the talking. After you have been listening to him for 10 minutes, you know you are not going to be able to add more than a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ to something he has said because he will probably continue talking until he is so tired he can’t speak any more.

The ‘show-off, is not very different from the ‘monopolizer’. Here is the person who wants to attract attention to himself. Even if he has nothing to offer he still wants to be in the center of the talk.

And the ‘repeater’ is a well-familiar type. He will repeat not only something he has said but also something someone else has mentioned. Hasn’t this kind of talker bored us since time immemorial?

126

There is also the type that I call the ‘detail man’. He usually enjoys what he is telling so much that he cannot leave out the smallest detail. Quite often, after he has been speaking for a short time he finds he has lost his audience because they are not so interested in all the details as he is.

And now I almost want to say thank God for the ‘interrupter’. The good thing about this type of conversationalist is that you can depend upon him to interrupt the ‘monopolizer’ or the ‘detail man’.

And, of course, there is the ‘silent’ one. This speaker has nothing to say. It may be that he has no information to offer or it may be that he is afraid to say something because he is too shy. Or perhaps he is the one who remembers that silence is gold.

Not always, I must say. I, personally, believe that most communication is good. I am sure that to achieve progress one must discuss things.

I am all for discussing things, but the talker must remember that conversation must serve a purpose. What he says must always be to the point. For life is short, and nobody wants to spend hours listening to people that talk and talk and never think.

B.Make up a list of things. Theat a good conversationalist should a shouldn’t do.

Exercise 3. A. Fill in the gaps with the following words:

Practice

fdiffer(s) different like alike unlikeR

a.He turned out to be a boring person, very … from what I expected him to be.

b.Hindus and Arabs … very much in their religious beliefs.

c.Mother and daughter are very much … in their characters and looks.

d.One of these types is very much … the other.

e.… many of his group-mates he was not interested in modern painting.

Translation B. Translate the following sentences into Russian:

A.1. We spoke to little or no purpose. 2.His mind was clearly made up already. 3. Keep to the point! 4. Silence gives consent. 5. The greatest talkers, the least doers. 6. He had his chance. I don’t know why he didn’t take it. 7. Her manners spoke well for her upbringing.

B.1. Social rules in past times restricted what men and women said to each other, and children really were seen but not heard. 2. Conversation should be of higher quality today because the range of experience is broader and because we can hear others converse on television, radio and the cinema. 3. We teach public speaking, but we do not teach the

127

pleasures of face-to-face communication. 4. Inadequate talk skills also play a big part in the high divorce rate. Many couples simply don’t talk to each other well enough. 5. Evil communications corrupt good manners. 6. Women have for hundred years been considered talkative, but some research shows that they may actually talk less than men, at least under certain circumstances.

C. There are some people who just don’t like to talk. It is not that they prefer to listen. (Good listeners hold up their end of the conversation with encouraging nods or phrases like ‘Go on’, ‘Fantastic’, ‘And then what happened?’) These people like neither to talk nor to listen – they act as if conversation is a bore, even a painful waste of time. Try to engage them, and the best you may expect for your efforts is a vacant stare or an impatient silence. Finally, in frustration, you give up, thinking: ‘Are they self-conscious? Do they hate people? Do they hate me?’

Exercise 4. A. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Speaking Give your comments:

1.Communication is not an art, it is a necessity, a simple function.

2.One must learn to become a good conversationalist.

3.Everything we say must be to the point.

4.Conversation must always serve a purpose.

5.A bad conversationalist can be a very good writer.

6.When you have nothing to say, say nothing.

7.We have two ears and only one tongue in order that we may hear more and speak less.

8.Do you know that conversation is one of the greatest pleasures in life? But it wants leisure.

9.Great talkers are never great doers.

10.I regret often that I have spoken; never that I have been silent.

B.Express your views on the art of talking, using the expressions given below.

To have something interesting to say; to show off; to serve a purpose; to keep to the point; not to lose the audience; to change the subject; to be interested in the topic; to mention something, not to be boring or monotonous; to suffer from; not to monopolize the attention of; to look the listeners into the eye; to get the pleasure from; to give other people a chance to talk; to take part in the talk; to make the audience feel comfortable; to enjoy talking; to be able to listen attentively; to be witty, to be tolerant of other people’s opinions.

128

Exercise 5. A. Listen and say how you think each person feels. Listening Use the words given below.

afraid amused angry cross delighted disgusted embarrassed frantic furious glad happy lonely miserable nervous proud pleased relaxed surprised terrified uncomfortable unhappy upset worried

Word Use B. In each of these pairs, one word is a more emphatic version of the other. Which one?

angry – furious	delighted – pleased		frantic – worried
terrified – nervous		unhappy – miserable

Exercise 6. A. Look at the three answers to the question: Interaction’ Mybrother’sjusttoldmehe’sgettingmarriednextweek.’

‘Are you pleased?’

( – ) ‘Well, no, actually, I’m not.’

(+/-)‘Quitepleased,buthecouldhavetoldmeearlier.’ (+ + ) ‘I’m absolutely delighted.’

Which category do these answers go in: -, +/- or ++?

1.‘Was she pleased?’ – ‘Actually, she was a bit embarrassed.’

2.‘Is he happy?’ – ‘Quite happy, but he misses his family.’

3.‘Was she worried?’ – ‘She was frantic!’

4.‘Are they unhappy?’ – ‘They’re miserable.’

5.‘Weren’t you afraid?’ – ‘We were too busy to be afraid.’

6.‘Is he uncomfortable?’ – ‘Well, a bit, but I think he’ll get used to it.’

7.‘Were you pleased?’- ‘Well, no, I was a bit cross, actually.’

8.‘Were you lonely?’ – ‘Yes, very lonely. But what could I do?’

B. Work with a partner. Use each of the sentence to b begin a three-sentence dialogue:

a.announcement

b.question about feelings

c.answer ( – , +/-, ++)

Example: ‘My daughter doesn’t want to go on holiday with us this year.’ ‘Are you upset?’

No, actually, I’m quite pleased.’

1.I have to give a speech in front of 1,ooo people tonight.

2.My boss has just said I have to work on New Year’s Day.

129

3.My cousin’s girlfriend has been transferred to New Delhi.

4.My mother has been named Businesswoman of the Year.

5.My sister is going to have a baby.

6.There was a robbery while I was in the bank this morning.

Listening C. Make sure you understand the questions. Then listen to the recording. Which question is being answered by each person? There is one extra question.

a.Do you often let small things upset you very much, or are you usually easy-going?

b.Do you ever let emotions build up inside you and then express them too strongly?

c.Do you usually let the people around you know how you feel about things?

d.Can you think of a time when you were very upset but didn’t let anyone know?

e.Would you let your children know if you were very worried about something?

f.Would you let your parents know if you were very worried about something?

Now choose one of the questions to ask other students. Note the answers and report to the class.

Exercise 7. A. Read through the following texts, noting the rather Idiom strong idiomatic language we can use to describe our reactions

to slightly unusual events.

Some moments from our family scrap-book, when we were all:

1.surprised. … We all got the shock of our lives last Christmas. We were sitting round the fire, forcing third helpings of Christmas cake into our mouths, when the doorbell rang. It made everybody jump. Auntie Jane nearly jumped out of her skin. I was pretty startled myself, I must admit. Anyway, there at the door – believe it or not – was Uncle Mac, with an armful of presents. (It was the first time in living memory that he had ever given anything to anybody.) Everyone caught their breath when they saw him. No-one could really believe their eyes. Poor Aunt Flossie actually fainted, and Uncle Bill kept blinking, as if he had seen a ghost. And Granny, who had been talking non-stop since breakfast, was absolutely speechless. I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head. I reckon you could have knocked all of us with a feather.

130