МИНИСТЕРСТВО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ И НАУКИ РФ
ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОЕ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННОЕ БЮДЖЕТНОЕ
ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНОЕ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЕ ВЫСШЕГО
ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ
«ИРКУТСКИЙ ГОСУДАРСТВЕННЫЙ
ЛИНГВИСТИЧЕСКИЙ УНИВЕРСИТЕТ»
American
Society and Culture
through short stories
Учебно-методическое пособие
N.Yu. Khlyzova
American Studies Department
Irkutsk
2014
Стр.1
УДК 811.111
ББК 81.432.1-923
К 42
Печатается по решению редакционно-издательского совета Иркутского
государственного лингвистического университета
Рецензенты: Хилалова Н.Г., канд. филол. наук, доцент кафедры
иностранных языков и лингводидактики ФГБОУ ВПО «ВСГАО»;
Дюндик Ю.Б., канд. филол. наук, доцент кафедры американистики ФГБОУ
ВПО «ИГЛУ»
К 42 American Society and Culture through short stories.
[Текст]:
учебно-методическое пособие / авт.-сост. Н.Ю. Хлызова. – Иркутск:
ИГЛУ, 2014. − 68 с.
Учебно-методическое пособие, составленное на материале рассказов
американских писателей, содержит описание системы ценностей, социальных
реалий, менталитета американского общества; раскрывает условия реальной
жизни представителей разных социальных слоев и эпох; знакомит с культурой
и литературой страны изучаемого языка, расширяет кругозор. К каждому
рассказу разработаны упражнения нескольких типов, направленные на развитие
умений поискового чтения, ознакомительного и чтения с полным пониманием
содержания;
аналитической компетенций; критического мышления.
Пособие предназначено для студентов 2-го курса направления подготовки:
«Зарубежное регионоведение», «Лингвистика», а также тех, кто имеет базовый
уровень английского языка и интересуется американистикой.
УДК 811.111
ББК 81.432.1-923
© авт.-сост. Хлызова Н.Ю., 2014
© Иркутский государственный
лингвистический университет,
2014
2
речевой, коммуникативной, лексико-грамматической,
Стр.2
CONTENT
«GOODBYE, MY BROTHER» ............................................................................. 4
by John Cheever
«THE LEES OF HAPPINESS» ............................................................................. 10
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
«THE SEASIDE HOUSES» ................................................................................... 16
by John Cheever
«TRIALS OF A HOUSEKEEPER» ...................................................................... 22
by Harriet Beecher Stowe
«A CALL LOAN» ................................................................................................... 28
by O. Henry
«MY FIRST CAR» .................................................................................................. 35
by Andrew S. Guthrie
«A DOLLAR ON THE CONSCIENCE» ...................................................................................... 40
by T.S. Arthur
«THE PURPLE DRESS» .................................................................................................................... 45
by O. Henry
«A FLUTTER IN EGGS» ................................................................................................................... 53
by Jack London
«I’M GOING TO ASIA» ........................................................................................ 61
by John Cheever
3
Стр.3
«GOODBYE, MY BROTHER»
by John Cheever
I. Read the story.
II. Match the words with their definitions:
1. dock
2. blast
3. brine
4.
5. vast
6.
a) Cruel, harsh and unfair government in which a person
or small group of people have power over everyone
else.
frivolous
tyranny
7. dismay
8. apprehension
9. fabulous
10. freshman
b) Anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will
happen.
c) A strong feeling of fear, worry or sadness that is caused
by something unpleasant and unexpected.
d) A student who is in his or her first year at university or
college.
e) An enclosed area of water in a port for the loading,
unloading and repair of ships.
f) Almost unbelievable, astounding, legendary.
g) A destructive wave of highly compressed air spreading
outward from an explosion.
h) Salty water, especially salty water that is used for
preserving food.
i) Very great extent or quantity, immense.
j) Not having any serious purpose or value.
III. Give the synonyms of the words:
Sibling, fabulous, asperity, dissolute, sordid, cousinage, bellicose, kid,
breadwinner.
4
Стр.4
IV. Give the derivatives where possible:
Verb
Noun
relationship
divorce
heaviness
contribute
affectionate
marriage
preternaturally
familiar
impart
anxious
V.
Illustrate the usage and meaning of the following word combinations:
a) to have least in common;
b) to past the age;
c) to keep smth going;
d) to settle her family;
e) to put our best foot forward;
f) a distinguished family.
VI. Speak about the characters of the story:
Describe the narrator of the story.
Describe Lawrence.
Describe their Mother.
Describe Chaddy.
Describe Diana.
Describe the family.
5
Adjective/
Participle
Adverb
Стр.5
VII. Make a summary of the story.
VIII. Discuss the following questions:
1. Why does Father, and then everyone, call Lawrence Tifty?
2. What is the conflict of the story? Is it possible to solve it? Offer the ways.
3. Who is guilty of the situation in the family?
4.
Is Lawrence right to say goodbye to everybody and everything he does not like?
5. What word repeats in the story? What does the author try to show?
6. What language does the author use?
7. What would you do if you were Lawrence’s brother? What can you do with a
man like that?
8.
Is the end of the story predictable?
9. Will Lawrence come back?
11. Which character do you like more? Why?
12. Are you impressed with the story?
IX. Say if the statements are true or false. Provide evidence:
1. Mother lives in Philadelphia, and Diana, since her divorce, has been living in
Switzerland, but she comes back to the States in the summer to spend a month at
Laud’s Head.
2. Chaddy, who has done better than the rest of us, lives in New York, with Odette
and their children.
3. Our youngest brother, Lawrence, who is a lawyer, got a job with a Cleveland firm
after the war, and none of us saw him for three years.
4. We used to have a cottage there, and in the twenties our father bought the big
house.
5. Mother lives in Philadelphia.
6. There was the costume dance at the flower club.
6
Стр.6
7. I picked up a root and, coming at his back—although I have never hit a man from
the back before—I swung the root, heavy with sea water, behind me, and the
momentum sped my arm and I gave Chaddy a blow on the head.
8. The character of the narrator is portrayed as gloomy and judgemental.
9. In 1938, Lawrence went to Washington to work as a government lawyer, saying
goodbye to private enterprise, but after eight months in Washington he concluded
that the Roosevelt administration was sentimental and he said goodbye to it.
10. Their mother is an alcoholic. If she does not discipline herself, she’ll be in a
hospital in a year or two.
X. Replace Russian words by their English equivalents:
When we are at Laud’s Head, we play a lot of (нарды). At eight o’clock, after we
have drunk our coffee, we usually (начинать игру). In a way, it is one of our
(приятное времяпровождение). The lamps in the room are still (не включены),
Anna can be seen in the dark garden, and in the sky above her head there are
continents of (тень) and fire. Mother turns on the light and rattles the (игральная
кость) as a signal. We usually play three games apiece, each with the others. We play
(на деньги), and you can win or lose a hundred dollars on a game, but the (ставки)
are usually much lower. I think that Lawrence used to play, I cannot remember, but
he does not play anymore. He does not (играть в азартные игры). This is not
because he is poor or because he has any principles about gambling but because he
thinks the game is foolish and (пустая трата времени). He was ready enough,
however, to waste his time watching the rest of us play. Night after night, when the
game began, he pulled a chair up beside the (игральная доска), and watched the
checkers and the dice. His expression was (презрительный), and yet he watched
carefully. I wondered why he watched us night after night, and, through watching his
face, I think that I may have found out.
Lawrence does not gamble, so he cannot understand the (волнение) of winning
and losing money. He has forgotten how to play the game, I think, so that its complex
7
Стр.7
odds cannot interest him. His (наблюдения) were bound to include the facts that
backgammon is an (бесполезный) game and a game of chance, and that the board,
marked with points, was a symbol of our (бесполезность).
XI.
Insert prepositions or adverbs.
We are a family that has always been very close ___ spirit. Our father was
drowned ___ a sailing accident when we were young, and our mother has always
stressed the fact that our familial relationships have a kind ___ permanence that we
will never meet ___ again. I don’t think ___ the family much, but when I remember
its members and the coast where they lived and the sea salt that I think is ___ our
blood, I am happy to recall that I am a Pommeroy – that I have the nose, the coloring,
and the promise ___ longevity—and that while we are not a distinguished family, we
enjoy the illusion, when we are together, that the Pommeroys are unique. I don’t say
any ___ this because I’m interested ___ family history or because this sense of
uniqueness is deep or important ___ me but ____ advance the point that we are loyal
___ one another ___ spite ___ our differences, and that any rupture __ this loyalty is
a source ___ confusion and pain.
XII. Perform the dialog. Express the feelings of the characters:
- “Isn’t the beach fabulous, Tifty?” Mother asked. “Isn’t it fabulous to be back? Will
you have a Martini?”
- “I don’t care,” Lawrence said. “Whiskey, gin – I don’t care what I drink. Give me a
little rum.”
- “We don’t have any rum,” Mother said. It was the first note of asperity.
She sensed the asperity and worked to repair it.
- “Would you like some Irish, Tifty dear?” she said.
- “Isn’t Irish what you’ve always liked? There is some Irish on the sideboard. Why
don’t you get yourself some Irish?”
- “I don't care” Lawrence said.
8
Стр.8
XIII. Comment on the last passage of the story.
XIV. Try to predict the behavior of the characters in several years.
XV. You work as a reporter. You are going to interview one of these
people: the narrator of the story, Chaddy, Diana, Lawrence, their
Mother, Odette, Helen, Ruth. Write 5 questions for the interview.
XVI. Compare two brothers: the narrator and Lawrence. Write your
answer.
9
Стр.9
«THE LEES OF HAPPINESS»
by F. Scott Fitzgerald
I. Read the story.
II. Comment on the meaning of the following word combinations. Find
them in the story. Make up your own sentences using them:
- wished life to be carefully skirted;
- in a head-on rush;
- live in one;
- bungalow people;
- Indian summer.
III. Match the words with their definitions:
1. marriage
2. honeymooner
3. jealousy
4. mortgage
5. spouse
6. divorce
7. rompers
8. devotion
a) A person on the holiday taken by a newly married couple.
b) The charging of real (or personal) property by a debtor to a
creditor as security for a debt (esp. one incurred by the
purchase of the property), on the condition that it shall be
returned on payment of the debt within a certain period.
c) The legal dissolution of a marriage by a court or other
competent body.
d) The feeling of anger or bitterness that someone has when
they think that another person is trying to take a lover or
friend, or a possession, away from them.
e) A young child's one-piece outer garment.
f) The formal union of a man and a woman, typically
recognized by law, by which they become husband and wife.
g) A husband or wife, considered in relation to their partner.
h) Love, loyalty, or enthusiasm for a person, activity, or
cause.
10
Стр.10