Exercises

Exercise I. Practise the pronunciation of the following words and phrases:

1. studio, police, tough, benzedrine, commissary, germ, publicity, contract, stenographer, refurbish, fourth, se­quence, South seas

Exercise II. Drills, a) Read and repeat; b) Use the structures in sen­tences of your own:

I. 1. We can't put a man on salary unless he's got an idea.

2. I can't work it out unless I've got somebody to write dialogue.

3. He couldn't get on the lot unless he had a studio card.

1. He couldn't do script-writing unless he had somebody to help.

1. II. 1. Get them to put you on salary.

2. Get him to sign a contract.

3. Get them to give you a test.

4. Get them to tell you what stuck in their minds.

5. Get one of the writers interested in your idea.

III. 1. That's not the way to do it.

1. That's not the way to get a test.

2. That's not the way to treat an old friend.

3. That's not the way to get the guts out of a book.

Exercise III. Replace the italicized parts of the sentences by equiv­alents from the text:

1. Pat Hobby had worked on the Studio every now and then for fifteen years. 2. He didn't care to read because reading always gave him a bad headache. 3. When sound films replaced silent films Pat could no longer do script-writing by himself: he had to work with a man who wrote dialogue. 4. In the good old silent days Pat was a rich man. 5. I'll give you a piece of advice. 6. Ask some of your friends to read the book and tell you what they remember best. 7. It makes me think of all the excellent films that are no longer wanted. 8. 500 dol­lars would make things easier for a month or so, he thought as he left the studio. 9. To his disappointment he learnt that she was engaged all the rest of the week.

Exercise IV. Find in the text English equivalents for the following words and phrases and use them in sentences of your own:

а) территория студии; немой фильм; звуковой фильм; сценарий; эпизод (в фильме); экранизируемое произведе­ние; сюжет; короткометражный фильм; режиссер; работать с соавтором; иметь договор; зачислить на оклад; иметь временную работу; обсуждать условия оплаты (гонорар); короткий кадр

b) попасть на территорию студии; вызывать головную боль; времена немого кино; расторопная секретарша; сот­рудничать с кем-либо; непревзойденный; задержать кого-либо (вцепиться в кого-либо); получать (не получать) го­норар; поискать (порыскать); заинтересовать кого-либо (в); привести

с) хрупкая на вид; повесить табличку с фамилией; устроить пробу; дать полезный совет; не так надо делать; остаться в памяти; отметить страницу; упаковывать кар­тины; картинная галерея; мешать; оказаться; до меня не доходит (не понимаю); иметь контракт; личный разговор; мысленно репетировать; эпизод; в прежние времена; корот­кий кадр; записать (представить в письменном виде); гово­рить твердо (мягко); мрачно; как бы ни...; самое ценное; недурно; задумчиво; договариваться об оплате; вскоре (тут же); быстрым шагом; облегчить (помочь); получить аванс; праздничный; быть занятым; повесить трубку; произведения искусства

Exercise V. Fill in the blanks with prepositions if necessary:

1. After walking ... and ... the hall ... quite a while Stephen went ... the telephone booth, and dialed the num­ber. "Mr. Barners is lunch," the secretary said ...answer ... his question. "When will he be ...? I've been asked to call ... him," he said weakly. "He's tied ... all the rest ... the month," the secretary said firmly and hung .... Stephen cursed ... his breath. 2. A shabbily-dressed man ... his late forties stopped ... the liquor shop ... a shot ... whiskey. He had a date ... lunch ... the producer, a college friend ... his, ... 2 o'clock sharp, and was rehearsing mentally what he was going to say. "The thing to do is to sell him an idea, the germ ... an idea," he said ... himself. "And get him to put me .. . salary. It will take the pressure ... for a while. The rest will be plain sailing. Once I'm ... contract I'll be able to think ... a plot and find a smart chap to team ... ... ." He warmed ... the idea. "It's going to be a love story. Love... first sight. Then the girl turns ... to be a German spy. The story ends ... the hero going ... war. Everybody is crazy ... war stories. I'll have it ... paper ... a couple ... days."

Exercise VI. Retell the story using the following words and phrases:

a) good old silent days; plot; smart secretary; talkies; to team up with; second to none; to buttonhole; to put on salary; hastily; to feel cruel; producer; to go to war; to get smb. interested; to wander; cell block; unfamiliar faces; to be in the business; publicity; to push open; frail-looking; to put up one's name; to give a test; to give a tip; that's not the way; "original"; advice; photo magazine; to check the page; to box; art gallery; cannon fodder; to be in with; under contract; private call

b) waiting room; to walk up and down; to picture; to walk out innocently; to conclude; to have smth. on paper; gloomily; no matter how; in the discard; worth saving; not a bad idea; to talk money; valuable; with a quick step; to take the pressure off; to get an advance; festive; rush of pleasure; to speak firmly; to be tied up; to hang up; shall I believe you; works of art

Exercise VII. Translate into Russian the following sentences with a) tight and b) stick:

1. I don't think you'll manage to borrow the sum you need. Money is tight now. 2. Your coat is tight at the shoulders. 3. Everybody noticed that the host was tight. 4. My new shoes are tight. 5. When Robert found himself in a tight corner he turned to his teacher for help.

1. Stick a stamp on the letter and drop it in a, letter box. 2. Get them to tell you what stuck in their minds. 3. The car got stuck in the mud. 4. Let's stick together whatever hap­pens. 5. Stick to the point, please. 6. Don't stick your neck ?ut, you may get into trouble. 7. He didn't expect to be be­lieved, yet he stuck to his story. 8. Stick around, I'll be through soon.

Exercise VIII. Translate the following sentences into English using

а) bang, b) tip, c) get:

1. а) Он вышел из комнаты, сильно хлопнув дверью. б) Не стучи кулаком по столу, в) У меня голова трещит от этого шума.

2. а) Джемма следила за кончиками его пальцев, пока он обрывал лепестки у цветка, б) Он имел обыкнове­ние давать официанту доллар на чай. в) Разрешите дать вам полезный совет, г) Это слово вертится у меня на кончике языка.

3. а) Убедите его помочь вам. б) Попросите его присмотреть за детьми, пока нас не будет, в) За­ставьте его пойти к врачу, г) Заинтересуйте его вашим проектом. Он может вам оказаться полезным. д) Он прошел, показав старый пропуск, е) Интересно, как он попал к режиссеру.

Exercise IX. Quote the story to prove that I. a) Pat's mood could change instantly, b) he had adapted himself to his position of a "has been", c) he had lost all sense of dignity, d) he was far from being a man of culture, e) he was not clever; II. a) Priscilla Smith was not the usual Hollywood type, b) she could see through Pat at once, c) she had both manners and character; III. Jack Berners was not a hard-boiled businessman and the sight of Pat Hobby aroused conflicting emotions within him.

Exercise X. Comment on the following. Use the suggested words in brackets suitable to characterize the actions, motives or feelings of the characters:

1. "How can you get ideas off salary?" Pat demanded ... then he added hastily: "Anyhow I got the germ of an idea that I could be telling you all about at lunch... ." Something might come to him at lunch.

2. The last door in the line belonged to a man he didn't like. But he wanted a place to sit a minute so with a knock he pushed it open.

3. "Let me give you a tip. That's not the way to get the guts out of a book."

4. "Well, that's very — very original advice, Mr. Hobby."

5. "It's good but I don't get it," he said.

6. "Got any picture ideas? I'm in with all the markets here."

7. Drawing a quick breath he plunged.

8. Berners, Costello and Bach did not even have to look at each other. Berners spoke for them all as he said firmly and gently...

9. Pat went out with a quick step and confidence in his eyes... He left the studio proudly through the front en­trance. ..

(servile, condescending, self-confident, ready to compro­mise, sulky, ignorant, inclined to bluff, boastful, tactful, polite, amused, unscrupulous, sense of superiority, sense of dignity, degradation, self-respect, feel pity (contempt), to intrude, to get rid of smb.)

Exercise XI. Topics for discussion:

1. Give a character sketch of a) Pat Hobby, b) Priscilla Smith.

2. Speak of the "good old silent days", of the famous pro­ducers and stars of that period.

3. Speak of a famous silent film you have either seen or read about.

4. What are the advantages and, perhaps, disadvantages of. sound films?

5. Tell the class what you know of a) Hollywood, b) Dis­ney land.

6. Compare a novel or a story you've read with its screen version.

Exercise XII. Render In English:

Рудольф Валентино, популярный актер американского кино 20-х годов, был типичным продуктом американской «стар-систем» со всеми ее крайностями (extremes).

Он эмигрировал в США из Италии, когда ему было 18 лет. Ему приходилось браться за любую работу — он был и уличным торговцем (pedlar), и садовником, и мойщиком посуды (dish-washer), прежде чем он нашел свое истинное призвание (calling) — стал профессиональным танцором «жиголо» (gigolo) в знаменитом ресторане «Максим» в Нью- Йорке. С этого началась его артистическая карьера, и именно исполнение аргентинского танго принесло колос­сальный успех первому фильму, в котором Валентино снялся в Голливуде в 1921 году. Конечно, дело было не только в совершенном исполнении танго. Публика была очарована внешностью Валентино — его идеально правиль­ными чертами лица (regular features), томными (из-за бли­зорукости) глазами (languid eyes) и чувственностью, кото рая сквозила в каждом его движении. Благодаря очарова­нию Валентино этот весьма средний фильм принес доход в 4 500 ООО долларов. И, естественно, сразу после этого актер снялся в целом ряде других фильмов.

Через несколько лет Валентино построил огромную виллу «Гнездо Орла» (Eagle's Nest) в Беверли Хиллз, самом фешенебельном квартале Голливуда, по соседству с Чарли Чаплином, Мэри Пикфорд и другими звездами. Он прославился не только своей игрой, но пожалуй, еще боль­ше, своей любовью к роскоши. Он обожал драгоценности, носил золотые браслеты (bracelets) и перстни и ходил под охраной полицейских собак. Популярность его росла, и когда в возрасте 31 года Валентино неожиданно умер от приступа острого аппендицита (acute appendicitis), за его гробом шли сто тысяч человек, среди которых было, конечно, больше всего женщин.

Наследство Рудольфа Валентино (inheritance) состояло из виллы на Беверли Хиллз, восьми автомобилей, пяти верховых лошадей (riding horses), яхты, двенадцати поро­дистых собак (of pure breed), трех сотен галстуков, двух тысяч рубашек и невероятного количества любовных писем.

В августе 1950 года, через тридцать лет после его смерти, в газетах было помещено сообщение: «Впервые за тридцать лет ни одна женщина не посетила могилу Валентино в Гол­ливуде». До этого, оказывается, каждый год 23-го августа женщины в глубоком трауре (in deep mourning) приносили на могилу знаменитого актера огромные букеты цветов.

THE PRIDE OF MISS STELLA SIBLEY

by Erskine Caldwell

Ever since her twenty-fifth birthday, which had been cele­brated nearly fifteen years before while her parents were alive, it had been the general feeling ¹ in Indianola ² that Stella

Sibley was going to spend the remaining years of her life as an unmarried woman.

As far as anybody knew, Stella had never had a lover and, if somebody had been bold enough to ask her why she had never had a love affair, she probably would have said that it was a matter much too personal for her to discuss.

This was surprising, because ever since girlhood Stella had been .an attractive woman with gleaming chestnut hair and a slender figure and, now that she was approaching forty, she was still youthful and winsome ³ in appearance. More than that, Stella was an unusually good cook,⁴ and people who had once eaten her fried chicken said nobody in the world could cook it any better than she did.

Just the same, hardly a day passed without somebody in town shaking his head and saying it was too bad ⁶ that a fine-looking woman like Stella Sibley had to live without a husband. And Stella herself, even though she often had to endure a sharp pain of yearning, had resigned herself to living out her life as an old maid.⁸ But that was before Harry Rum- ford came to town and rented parking space for his caravan ' in Stella's back yard.

Nobody seemed to know for sure why it was that Stella Sibley — nearly everybody in town called her Miss Stella in her presence — anyway, nobody knew why she had lived all her life in Indianola without attracting somebody who seri­ously considered the prospect of having her for his wife. However, it was true that there had been one exception. Jake Carson, who had had the job of collecting trash ⁸ for the town ever since anybody could remember, and who had collected Stella's trash twice a week on Tuesdays and Thurs­days all those years, asked her every time he had the oppor­tunity if she would let him sit on the porch with her some late afternoon or early evening after his working hours. Jake, who was several years older than Stella and muscularly rugged in appearance, and who had the habit of shaving only on Sunday mornings and one other day of the week, would stand there at Stella's back porch rubbing the greying stubble on his face and begin by praising her for having the most re­spectable trash in Indianola.

"I wish you could just see some of the other people's trash, Miss Stella," he would say, shaking his head disapprovingly. "There've been a lot of times when I was almost ashamed to haul " it through town to the dump pile, it was that dis­graceful.¹⁰ But I want you to know that I'm always proud to haul your trash, Miss Stella. You never have a lot of rattling old beer cans¹¹ and empty wine jugs and those magazines filled from one end to the other with pictures of undressed girls."

"Of course, I wouldn't have such dreadful things in my trash box," she would say with a prim ¹² expression as she stood erectly above him on the porch. "That's something that could never happen."

"Well, that's one of the reasons why I admire you so much, Miss Stella," he would say then. "Now, If you'd let me sit on the porch with you, it's something I'd remember as long as I live. If I could come and do that after working hours."

It was at that point that she always curtly interrupted him.

"I could never permit myself to have social intercourse ¹³ with somebody who collected trash."

Then without fail,¹⁴ and time after time, Stella would shake her head and go into the house and lock the door. The only thing left for Jake to do after that was to go back to his trash truck and hope she would change her mind the next time he asked her to let him sit on the porch with her.

In recent years some of the women in town had had the courage to ask her why she did not make more of an effort to give up her lonely life and, if only for the sake of¹⁶ com­panionship, get married,

"There's not a man in Indianola I'd have as a gift on a silver platter," Stella would answer with a disdainful toss of her head. "There isn't a man in the whole town with an iota of ambition. Every last one of them is satisfied to spend his life running a little filling station ¹⁴ or grocery store, or something like that. I've got too much pride to marry any­body but the finest type of man."

"Everybody knows that some of them are downright lazy and good for nothing," ¹⁷ one of the married women would say, "but sometimes even a lazy man is better than none at all."

"Maybe that's good enough for some women who aren't too particular," ¹³ Stella would tell them, "but I'll stay like I am for the rest of my life before I'll give up my pride."

It was not long after that when Harry Rumford drove up to Stella's house and said he had heard she had a large rear yard with a lot of shade trees growing in it and that she might be willing to rent him parking space for his caravan.

The caravan was long and shiny, and the bright curtains over the windows gave it a cosy, homelike atmosphere. Stella had never been inside a caravan before, and the sight of it immediately filled her with a desire to find out what it would be like to be in one. At first she had hesitated to let a strange man park his caravan in her back yard, but the two front rooms of her house, which she rented to some of the school­teachers from September to June, were vacant during the summer, and she knew that she needed the rent that Harry Rumford offered to pay.

Besides, Stella felt an unfamiliarly pleasant excitement in her breast as she stood there on the porch that summer afternoon with Harry Rumford. He was a tall, tanned, dark- haired man who might have been any age between thirty and forty-five, and he had an ingratiating ¹⁹ smile and an intimate manner of talking that appealed to her ²⁰ more and more. In fact, as soon as he told her that he was a construc­tion engineer working for the company that was laying a natural-gas pipe line ²¹ through the country and erecting a pumping station a few miles from town, she knew that he was the type of man she had never thought she would have the good fortune to see in Indianola. Accidentally or not, his fingers touched her hand intimately when he gave her the money for the rent, and she found herself trembling so much that she had to hurry into the house and lock the door.

It was several days before she saw Harry Rumford again. He had been getting up and leaving his caravan home before dawn each morning and not returning until after dark in the evening. Then on the fifth day, for some reason, he came back in the middle of the afternoon.

Stella watched him from her kitchen window for a long time, wondering if he were going to find some excuse ²² to come to the back porch and knock on the door, but instead, he sat down in a small chair outside the caravan and read a book for an hour or longer. The sun was setting when she saw him close the book and go into the caravan and then a few minutes later he came out and got into his automobile and drove away. She told herself that he was only going down­town ²³ to the café for his dinner, and not going to see some other woman, but there was so much uncertainty in her mind that she was restless and nervous until she heard his car in the back yard nearly two hours after. After that she went to bed and tried to go to sleep.

The next evening Harry Rumford came back just at dusk. Stella waited until he had gone into the caravan, and then she hurried across the yard with a large dish of fried chicken which she had cooked that afternoon. Timidly, but excited by the boldness of what she was doing, she knocked lightly on the caravan door. It was only a few moments until Harry Rumford was standing before her, and she was relieved to see that he was smiling pleasantly at her.

Stella held the plate of fried chicken between them.

"Is this for me?" he asked.

Stella nodded.

"Well, what a wonderful surprise from a charming lady," he said, his blue eyes sparkling. "It's exactly what I've been thinking about. Nobody could like fried chicken more than I do — especially in the company of a charming lady. And now, of course, we'll share it — you and I. Come on in,²⁴ Stella."

She had not expected him to call her by her first name, at least not so soon, and she felt a blush come to her cheeks. He stepped backward invitingly and urged her with a motion of his hand to come inside. Holding her breath, but with no hesitation, she entered the caravan.

"Now, Stella, you make -yourself comfortable right here on the sofa-bed while I get some coffee started. Fried chicken and hot coffee — is there anything better, Stella?"

Smiling nervously, she sat down on the sofa-bed.

"We're going to get to know each other real well soon, aren't we, Stella?" she heard him say from the kitchenette at the end of the caravan.

"Yes — " she said excitedly, gripping her hands in her lap. "Yes — "

Before she had time to look at the furnishings around her, Harry Rumford was standing in front of her and holding two glasses and a bottle of whisky.

"You know something, Stella?" he was saying in his intimate manner. "I've been looking forward to this ²⁵ ever since the first time I saw you, I didn't have to take a second look to know that you'd be my kind of girl."

Summer had passed and the first cool days of autumn had come to the Gulf Coast.²⁶ Stella sat on the back porch waiting. She had put on her heavy coat to keep warm while she sat there, but even so she shivered in the late-afternoon breeze. It was already long past the time when Jake Carson usually came on Thursdays, and she rocked faster while she wonder­ed if anything had happened to him.

Once she had begun to worry, she was unable to keep from imagining all the terrible things that could happen to him. He might have been run over by an automobile — his truck might have turned over and killed him — he might even have dropped dead.

Tense with worry by that time, she jumped to her feet when she heard the sound of the truck coming down the street. Gripping the porch railing with both hands, she waited anx­iously. Then, at last, when she thought she could not endure the uncertainty another second, Jake Carson walked round the corner of the house in his calm, casual, unhurried manner and started across the yard towards the trash box.

"Jake!" she called in a loud voice.

Startled, Jake stopped in his tracks.

"Come here, Jake!" she said tensely.

He came as far as the porch steps, and there he stood looking up at her with a bewildered expression on his broad face.

"Miss Stella —" he said slowly, at the same time rubbing the stubble on his chin the way he did when he was deeply perplexed.

"Don't call me that," she said at once, shaking her head at him. "Just call me Stella."

"Why — " he began.

"Never mind why," she told him with a firm shake of her head. "It's just because I want you to call me Stella from now on."

Jake turned his head and looked across the yard.

"What happened to that engineering fellow who was rent­ing caravan space from you out there under the trees?" he asked, turning around again and looking up at her. "Did he move on somewhere else?"

"Yes," she replied sharply.

"Well, I reckon ²⁷ that's the way it is with people like him who go around the country laying down pipe lines,"

Jake remarked. "Just as soon as they finish at one place, they go somewhere else and start in again. I can see how liv­ing like that would get to be a habit. The only trouble is —"

"I don't want to talk about that," Stella told him brusque­ly. "I never want to talk about it again." She was shaking her head sternly. "And I don't want you talking about it, either."

"I don't exactly know for sure," he said, looking at her closely, "but it seems to me like you're mighty ²⁸ upset about that. There's been some talk around town that maybe you were fixing to get married ²⁹ to him — at least that's how the gossip went ⁸⁰ — because of one good reason or another."

"Come on in the house, Jake," Stella said, going to the steps and beckoning to him. "I've cooked a big plate of fried chicken just for you."

Jake glanced at the trash box, and then he looked towards his truck in the street.

"I've heard about your fried chicken, and I sure would like to have some — Stella — but I haven't finished my rounds yet for the day. Thursdays always are my big days, anyway. Most people have a habit of —"

"That can wait," she told him urgently, leaning forward and reaching for his hand. "There'll be plenty of time for that tomorrow and the next day — and all the other days from now on. Right now it's more important for you to come into the house."

Jake looked at her searchingly for several moments.

"You sure do make it sound like something mighty urgent," he said presently, "and if it's all that urgent,⁸¹ I reckon I ought to—"

Stella nodded eagerly.

Going slowly up the steps, Jake took off his hat, slapping it noisily against his leg time after time in order to beat out as much of the dust as he could before going into the house.

"The one thing that bothers me most," he said as he fol­lowed her inside, "is that I never did get a chance to sit on the porch with you."

NOTES

1. ¹ the general feeling — everybody's opinion; e.g. What is the general feeling on the films produced by the Lenfilm studio? (=» What do people think and say about them?)

2. Indianola — a small town in the USA, Mississippi

3. winsome — charming, attractive (e. g. winsome manner, smile, appearance)

4. was an unusually good cook — could cook very well

5. It was too bad (colloq.) — it was a pity

6. had resigned herself to living out her life as an old maid — had accepted without complaint the prospect of living all her life unmarried (of remaining single)

7. rented parking space for his caravan — occupied and paid for a place where he could keep his caravan for a time (caravan Am. =* a large covered wagon in which one can live, used by people who have to travel from place to place; Russ. Дом на колесах, дом-автоприцеп)

8. trash — rubbish, useless, broken-up things (Russ. хлам, мусор)

9. to haul — to pull or drag with effort (Russ. Тащить, волочить)

10. that disgraceful (colloq.) — so disgraceful

11. can — a metal container for holding liquids (e. g. milk-can, oil-can, beer-can, etc.)

12. prim — stiff (Russ. чопорный)

13. to have social intercourse — a formal phrase which means meeting people in a friendly way (Russ. Общаться, встречаться). Stella claims to be a "lady" and therefore speaks in a stiff and formal way.

14. without fail — for certain (Russ. Наверняка, непременно)

15. if only for the sake of— хотя бы ради

16. to run a filling station (Russ. бензоколонка), a grocery store, a school, a hotel, etc.— to manage (Russ. вести дело, управлять); e.g. It was the great ambition of his life to run a hotel.

17. good for nothing — worthless, and no good

18. " particular — not easily satisfied or pleased (Russ. разборчивый)

19. ingratiating — trying to win the favour of somebody (Russ. Льстивый, вкрадчивый, заискивающий); e.g. He looked at Sophia with an ingratiating smile. His manner was ingratiating.

20. he had an intimate manner of talking that appealed to her — he had ... a manner of talking that is used by people who know each other very well, and she liked it (to appeal to somebody— to interest, to impress, to attract a person; e.g. Modern painting did not appeal to him, he liked only the old Masters. Does juzz music appeal to you?)

21. was laying a natural-gas pipe line — прокладывала газопровод для природного газа. to lay a cable, to lay bricks, to lay the linoleum (the carpet), etc.

22. to find some excuse — to invent a reason (Russ. Найти предлог); excuse |iks'kju:sj — a reason (true or invented) offered as an explanation; e.g. He hardly ever came in time and always had some excuse or other for being late; a lame excuse — a poor (unsatisfactory) excuse

23. downtown — the business part of the town

24. come on in (colloq.) — come in quick (come on — Russ. живей)

25. I've been looking forward to this — I've been expecting this with pleasure (Russ. предвкушал)

26. Gulf Coast — the Coast of the Gulf of Mexico

27. to reckon — to think, to suppose

28. mighty (colloq.) — extremely, very

29. fixing to get married — arranging to get married

30. that's how the gossip went — that's what people talked about (Russ. так люди болтали)

31. if it's ail that urgent (colloq.) — if it's as urgent as that