Unit 8 Text a. -In the Course Director’s Office-- --

------"Come in, Rosa!"

Mary Palmer is sitting at her desk in the Course Director’s office at The English Language College. She is expecting Rosa.

"Angela tells me that you want to change your class. There are only five students in your present class so you have a good opportunity to practise your pronunciation. Do you really want to move to a class with eleven other students?"

Rosa answers Mrs Palmer’s question very carefully.

"It’s true that I have a lot of speaking time in my present class, but I’m becoming bored. The teacher speaks very clearly, but the book is always the same and the other students are very slow."

Mrs Palmer can see that Rosa really wants to change, but she must be careful. She doesn’t want all the students to change their classes.

"Well, it’s possible to move you up to the next level. There’s just one place in that class. You’ll need to learn a lot of new words and the grammar is much more difficult. How often do you use the Study Centre?"

The English Language College has three special rooms where students can practise after school. The Study Centre contains a language laboratory, a video room and a modern library with cassette players and computers. Many students use the rooms every day, but Rosa has to look after Elisabeth and David.

"I can only use the Study Centre on Friday afternoons. On other days, I have to arrive home before three o’clock to help my English family!" answers Rosa.

"O.K." says Mrs Palmer, "you can move to Room 11 after coffee, but I want you to practise in the Study Centre every Friday afternoon!"

Rosa is very happy to change class, but now she has to work every afternoon. When can she visit Arturo’s flat? When can she hear his CDs?

Exercise 1.

• Read the text and find sentences describing:

3. The reason Rosa wants to change her class; b) Mrs Palmer’s reaction to Rosa’s request (прохання); c) Mrs Palmer’s decision.

Exercise 2.

• Do the following:

a) Write a list of special rooms a good Study Centre should contain.

b) Write the names of three things that make you bored.

c) Write the names of things you need to practise your pronunciation.

Exercise 3.

• Answer the following questions in writing:

Would you prefer to study in a class of 5 or 12 students?

Which is the most important – the teacher, or the course book, or the other students in the class? Give your reasons.

Would you prefer a class which is a little too easy, or a little too difficult? Explain your choice.

Are you a quick or slow learner?

Is it always useful to learn a foreign language from a native speaker?

• Agree or disagree with the following statements. Explain your choice.

When learning a foreign language first learn the pronunciation.

A good computer course will replace (замінить) a teacher.

Basic Patterns

Rosa is very happy to change class. Роза радіє, що може перейти в іншу групу.

You are free to do anything you like. Ви можете робити все, що вам заманеться.

Exercise 4.

• Translate the following sentences into Ukrainian. Explain why you think your translation is correct:

She was happy to be in the company of that famous movie star.

He was surprised to learn how much his wife had spent on clothes.

It will be bad manners to leave the party now.

She is pleasant to look at, but she isn’t easy to get on with.

• Ask other students:

Is it good manners to drink coke in class?

Text B. Miraculous Gift of Languages

Ármin Vámbéry (1832 –1913) was a great Hungarian scientist, diplomat and traveler. He was born on the territory of modern-day Slovakia, and he could speak Hungarian, Slovakian and German since early childhood. Then he learned other European languages, including Danish and Swedish, Latin and French, English and Russian, Serbian and Greek. Vámbéry traveled to Constantinople and learned Turkish so well that people around him were sure he was a Turk.

Vámbéry came from a poor family. He went to the village school in his native town until the age of twelve and showed a remarkable talent for languages. He had to leave school because of (через) financial difficulties. In 1846, he went to Pressburg (today Bratislava). Later he studied at Vienna and Budapest.

The young linguist was especially attracted by the literature and culture of the Ottoman Empire including Turkey. In Constantinople, Vámbéry became a private tutor of European languages at the palace of the Sultan, and served as secretary to Fuat Pasha. About this time (приблизно в цей час) he was elected a corresponding member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences for his translations of Ottoman historians and many linguistic works.

He also learned some (близько) twenty (!) other Ottoman languages and dialects. In 1861, disguised (переодягнений) as a Muslim dervish (дервіші – збірна назва для мусульманських аскетичних сект), and under the name of Reshit Efendi, he set out from Constantinople. His route lay from Trebizond on the Black Sea to Tehran in Persia, where he joined a group of pilgrims (паломників) returning from Mecca, spending several months with them traveling across Central Iran. He then went to Shiraz, through Isfahan, and in June, 1863, he reached Khiva (Central Asia).

Throughout this time, Vámbéry’s life was always in danger, but nobody guessed that he was not a Turk and not a Muslim. In Khiva, Vámbéry met with the local khan. Together with his group of travelers, he then crossed Bukhara and arrived at Samarkand. Then he joined a caravan to Tehran, and from there, in March 1864, he came back to Constantinople.

This was the first journey of its kind undertaken (здійснена) by a Western European. Vámbéry returned to Europe in 1864. That following year, he paid a visit to London, where he was greeted like a hero. Returning to Hungary, Vámbéry was appointed professor of Oriental languages at the University of Budapest in 1865, retiring in 1905.

In 2005 the National Archives in Great Britain made some files accessible to the public, and it became known that Vámbéry had been employed by the British Foreign Office (Міністерство закордонних справ) as a secret agent whose task it was to get information about the political situation in Turkey and Central Asia.