Task 1. Say if the statements are true or false. Correct the false statements and expand on the true ones.

1. In Agnes's opinion her memory was better than intelligence when she Was in her convent school.

2. Agnes was on friendly terms with all her schoolmates.

3. Agnes didn't have particularly close friends.

4. The letter Agnes got from her mother was demanding and threatening.

5. Agnes didn't know anything about Mrs. Milton's divorce.

6. The letter didn't change Agnes's attitude towards her

friend.

7. Madame Rayburn was one of the nuns the girl disliked.

8. Agnes was genuinely concerned about improving her class work and her general behavior.

9. Agnes told Lily about the content of her mother's

letter.

10. Madame Bouron's position at convent was inferior to

Madame Rayburn's.

11. Madame Bouron was disliked by all the school.

12. The nuns of the convent censured all the pupils'

correspondence.

13. Letter surveillance was practiced with equal success both in French and American convent schools.

14. Agnes's letters were longer and more detailed than her mother's ones.

15. Lily behaved strangely for three days after her conversation with Madame Bouron.

16. Lily preferred to believe her friend rather than her

teacher.

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1?> The pupils had to speak with their confessor every day.

18. The confessor didn't give Agnes a choice.

19. Madame Bouron was surprised by Agnes's visit.

18. Though obstinate, Agnes turned out to be very argumentative.

19. Madame Bouron regretted her action about the letter and admitted that she was wrong.

18. Agnes cried because Madame Bouron scolded her.

Task 2. Explain how you understand the following phrases from the story. Try to remember when, why and In what circumstances they were used.

1. ... I sometimes persuaded the less experienced nuns to accept a retentive memory as a substitute for intelligent understanding, with which it has nothing to do.

2. Then came a disturbing letter from my mother, a letter which threatened the heart of my content.

3. ... divorces were not common in those conservative years, and Mrs. Milton had as many to her credit as "if she were living — a highly esteemed and popular lady — today.

4. This brought me to my feet with a bound.

5. Madame Bouron was mistress general, ranking next to the august head, and of infinitely more importance to us.

6. She was a cold, severe, sardonic woman, and the general dislike felt for her had shaped itself into a cult.

7. You will tell Father O'Harra the whole story just as you have told it to me, and whatever he bids you do, you must do it.

8. The silence with which it was received bore witness to its seriousness.

9.1 had been too explicit to render questions needful.

10. I am disposed to think that, despite her wide experience as nun and teacher, she had never before encountered an idee fixe,' and found out that the pyramids are flexible compared to it.

11. I know what you are going to say; but I have not been the head of a school for years without bearing more than one injustice.

12. Madame Bouron propelled me gently to the door, which I could not see because of my tears.

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TASK 3. In the story these nouns and adjectives go together. Match them and tell what they were about.
1. experienced	a) aWettion
2. retentive	b) detail
3. intelligent	c) friend
4. disturbing	d) grudge
5. exclusive	e) letter
6. conservative	f) lie
7. unimportant	g) memory
8. sweet	h) nuns
9. warm	i) reluctance
10. personal	j) temper
11. visible	k) understanding
12. grievous	1) years