11. Richard

pp. 256-302

1. Pronounce and translate the words given below:

finery, mackerel, brogues, colander, vertigo, mal-de-mer, tiffin, to festoon, despondency, lustre, gentian, garland, punkah wallah, dervish, to decant, carafe.

2. Explain in English the meaning of the word “to fancy” and find in a dictionary the meanings of the words with the same root.

3. Paraphrase or explain the sentences:

1. Going to the cinema had become quite a cult with her and Doris. (p. 256)

2. One day, Penelope supposed, this grey limbo of war would end. (p. 256)

3. Nancy loved being tricked out. (p. 258)

4. Doris, who was dressy, found this a great frustration. (p. 259)

5. It was the boys, Ronald and Clark, who started the ball of speculation rolling. (p. 261)

6. He was a small man, spare as a whip, with a stubby moustache and a leather-coloured skin. (p. 262)

7. “Just the ticket.” (p. 263)

8. A dignified St. Bernard and a wiry little Jack Russell. (p. 264)

9. Doubtless, in the fullness of time, they would be given a pat on the head by the Ministry of Agriculture. (p. 271)

10. Under orders, perhaps for security reasons, they kept a low profile. (p. 271)

11. “Tinned peaches? You are pulling my leg.” (p. 272)

12. “If anybody gives him a rocket, it’s me.” (p. 276)

13. The sense of deja vu returned, more strongly than ever. (p. 282)

14. “We’d imagined all sorts of high jinks.” (p. 282)

15. Papa was in his element, having the time of his life. (p. 285)

16. “I’m sick and tired of making do.” (p. 287)

17. “Poor chaps, invited to a party and then find themselves in a roomful of washed-up old odds and sods.” (p. 294-295)

18. “She isn’t so bad, but he’s a pain in the neck.” (p. 297)

19. “Don’t make too much of a song and dance about it, though.” (p. 298)

20. “I suppose that’s the price you pay for having been brought up to a nomad’s existence.” (p. 299)

4. Match the nouns with the corresponding attributes from the box:

redoubtable, staunch, arduous, amorous, Shetland, gristle, ivory, minute curtained, exhaustive, blissful, khaki, copious.

chapel goers, entanglement, character, labour, cardigan, battledress, intakes of fresh air, training, marriage, cubicle, tusks, meat.

5. Compose examples of your own on analogy with the sentence: “And the other thing we can never understand is why such a shrimp of a man married such a tall lady.” Use such models as “a wisp of a girl”, “a brute of a man”, “a mountain of a wave”, “a fool of a boy” in a natural conversational context.

6. What other breeds of dogs besides St.Bernard and Jack Russell do you know? Translate the following names:

Great Dane, Bolognese, Alsatian, Doberman, Pekinese, Dachshund.

7. Translate the following paragraph in writing, find in it instances of the stylistic devices you are acquainted with and comment on their role:

“Oh, there you are at last!”…“Except perhaps Colonel Mellaby and Major Lomax…” (p. 294)

8. Make up a plan of the events which happened:

in January 1943; at the beginning of the summer of 1943;

in the middle of August; at the end of August; in September (Indian Summer).

9. Introduce new characters. Note the grammatical and lexical peculiarities in Mr. Penberth’s and Doris’ speech as:

• “Keeping them hidden, I am.” (p. 273)

• “Fresh, they are.” (p. 274)

• “But I’m not half vexed that I’m missing all the fun.” (p. 281)

• “They didn’t half laugh.” (p. 288)

pp. 302-340

1. Pronounce and translate the words given below:

aura, ephemeral, disarray, spume, memorabilia, to squander, jackdaw, patriarch, twerp, spruce, bauble, sapper, halcyon, sunpennies, cistern, exodus, co-respondent, affidavit, rhubarb

2. Match the nouns with the corresponding attributes from the box:

aching, grueling, benevolent, delectable, baffling, suede, attendant, marauding, sinister, garish

warren, mouse, void, hour, brooches, trimmings, disturbance, brogues, records, hobgoblin

3. Paraphrase or explain the sentences:

1. Richard Lomax was true to his promise. (p. 302)

2. “… but a lot of bona fide buyers came as well.” (p. 304)

3. “I don’t come out of it very well.” (p. 308)

4. “I was able to feel the temperature for myself, see the writing on the wall.” (p. 309)

5. The party followed the usual pattern. (p. 313)

6. “The back of beyond.” (p. 315)

7. “I’m bushed.” (p. 316)

8. Before they knew it, Christmas was upon them, with all its attendant trimmings. (p. 317)

9. Ernie promised to wring the neck of a likely fowl, in lieu of a turkey. (p. 318)

10. “Very la-di-da.” (p. 319)

11. Things, quite obviously, were hotting up. (p. 320)

12. “Richard, you surely know him better than that.” (p. 323)

13. “No skin off my nose.” (p. 324)

14. Mrs. Brick had wild white hair and a wall-eye… (p. 325)

15. “Odd hours.” (p. 326)

16. The weather, that early spring, was fitful. (p. 329)

17. “A marvellous understatement.” (p. 333)

18. The waiting was over. (p. 337)

4. Speak of the events which happened in:

• the autumn of 1943;

• the end of October;

• November;

• December (Christmas);

• the early spring;

• June.

4. Translate the poem by Louis MacNeice (p. 307).

11. Doris

1. Pronounce and translate the words given below:

incommunicado, repercussions, to squander, to carouse, sanctimonious, antimacassar, corpuscle, meningitis, aquamarine, indigo, resurrection, artifice.

2. Translate into English:

головоломка, передчуття, бережливий (економний), атласний, термос, гортензія, садівництво, Трійця (релігійне свято), чоботар, п’яниця, приплив, відплив, лавка в церкві, хазяїн ломбарду.

3. Translate into Ukrainian:

1. The illusion of theatre was strong. (p. 341)

2. …Penelope had rounded on the pair of them and given her and Noel such a distasteful and distressing piece of her mind. (p. 346)

3. She resented the sensation that she had been put in the doghouse. (p. 347)

4. This would involve no loss of face, and over roast lamb and new potatoes, they would all become reconciled. (p. 347)

5. “Nothing’s worth anything unless somebody wants it.” (p. 348)

6. “And I don’t trust Danus further than I could throw him.” (p. 349)

7. The hotel is out of this world. (p. 351)

8. Penelope, however, has taken everything in her stride. (p. 351)

9. There was time to dawdle, space to stand and look. (p. 353)

10. It was not until the autumn of 1944 that the penny finally dropped. (p. 354)

11. “Oh, Doris. You make me sound like a sad old lady with a gigolo in tow.” (p. 362)

12. She waited, thinking that maybe, having broken the ice of his reserve and actually confided, he might wish to continue. (p. 366)

13. All that was needed were human figures to provide proportion and vitality. (p. 367)

14. Stored resentments boiled over. (p. 371)

15. Love, she had found, had a strange way of multiplying. (p. 373)

4. Discuss the events you’ve read about according to the plan. Use the words and expressions given in brackets.

1. The beginning of a new day.

(A deep and untroubled dream; the reassurance of possessions; a sort of calm content; a great old healer; to puzzle out the conundrum; nothing untoward; infantile umbrages; a premonition).

2. Penelope’ s letter to Olivia.

(A real blazer of a row; a sudden windfall; to come out of the blue; up-market and grand; a frugal mother; a memorial to smb).

3. Nancy’s calls to Olivia and Noel.

(to give smb a distasteful and distressing piece of mind; to come out with accusations; frigid noncommunication; to make the first move; on a normal footing; to nurse umbrage; to be put in the doghouse; to sulk; the niggle of anxiety; to put a smile into smb’s voice; to feel let down; to cost the earth; the rarity value; to nag incessantly; to stop the endless needling; to squander money on smb; to dangle a carrot before the a donkey; to donate; to call a family conference).

4. Antonia’s letter to Olivia.

(A life of luxury; battered and disreputable; to become quite blase; the first port of call; fancy cardboard boxes; to pick other people’s brains).

4. A visit to the Penberth house.

(Dashing and dressy; to be lost for words; to get a bit above oneself; withdrawal symptoms; a much-enlarged photograph; a touch of class; to be dumbfounded; to make a fairly good stab at smth; to walk out on smb; the tedious boredom,; in retrospect; weeping with mirth; frosty white; to resent the interruption; a bit tipsy; to look nonplussed; an extraordinary coincidence; to revive old memories; some atom, some corpuscle; to pluck up the courage; to dash away the stupid tears).

4. The picnic on the Penjizal cliffs.

(To be filled with amusement and interest; to push perambulators; a huge blue jewel; a natural games player; the back of beyond; a traumatic experience; a concentrated solitude; an all-seeing artist’s eye; fascinating delights).

4. Penelope’s calls to Olivia, Noel and Nancy.

(to start a family; the lap of luxury; a reformed alcoholic; favourite hymns; the promise of afterlife; fairly threadbare; not to return smb’s greeting, at one’s most disagreeable; to put a person in the picture; to hear about smth second-hand; to countenance the idea; to be a soft touch; to run out of steam; to get a word in edgewise; to grope for words; to be awash with self-pity; the adolescent blubs; to go jiggety-jig; to succumb to exhaustion).

4. The end of the day.

(A plain little face; to double, to treble; to chatter like sparrows; as hungry as hunters; lavish treats; a pretentious wedding; the timely intervention; to foot the bill; the gravest concern; copper-gold; the last straw; a feckless mother; a baleful glare; tediously greedy and materialistic; to be strapped for cash; to have second thoughts; reticence; a point of no return; matchmaking; to become involved; to lay one’s cards on the table; to bawl).

5. Explain and expand on:

Now she had come to the end. The play was over. (p. 341)

I have come full circle, she told herself… (p. 367)

Comment on the stylistic figures used by the author and discuss the ideas they bring out.

13. Danus

1. Give synonyms to the words given below:

cadaverous, fatigue, irredeemable, trivial, worldly goods, random (adj.), delirious, vulnerable, sustaining.

2. Explain the meaning of the following words:

a dilemma (p. 380) a curator (p. 381) a catalyst (p. 383) a pipe-dream (p. 383) defeatism (p. 384)

a priority (p. 384) an epileptic (p. 384) a black-out (p. 385) a yo-yo(p. 388) a cliché (p. 389)

3. Reproduce in a situation:

right around the clock (p. 380) to make a mental list (p.380) embossed paper (p. 380) revolving doors (p. 380) to swallow a yawn (p. 381) the weird spell (p. 382) the arrogance of experience (p. 382) to cross a watershed (p. 383) to roll in riches (p. 384) to manage on a shoe-string (p. 384) to confirm to tradition (p. 384)

to run a raging temperature (p. 385) a tale of woe (p. 385) to make the best of smth. (p. 386) to all intents and purposes (p. 386) to be second-best (p. 387) against one’s better judgment (p. 388) tedious ways (p. 389) to talk oneself to a standstill (p. 389)

4. Discuss the chapter answering the questions:

1. Why was Penelope filled with dismay on her last day in Porthkerris?

2. Why was it important that Olivia knew about the earrings given to Antonia?

3. What place in the Gallery did they choose for “The Shell-Seekers”? Why was Penelope filled with the sense of deja-vu?

4. What did Danus tell her about the trip to Manaccan? How did his attitude towards Antonia change? Do you think Penelope had reasons for reproaching herself?

5. What considerations prevented Danus from having a serious relationship with Antonia? What did Penelope think about them?

6. How did Danus explain his decision to go to the US? What happened to him in Arkansas?

7. What plans for the future did he make? Why was he reluctant to share his problem with anyone?

8. Speak of Penelope’s advice. Why did she confide in Danus?

9. What do “gentle powers” mean?

10. How can you account for Penelope’s attempt to leave all her memories of the past behind her?