Владимир Аракин - Практический курс английского языка 1 курс

times a day.

J а с к: Do you know when the next bus comes along?

P o s t m a n : Not until half past seven. You can be in Henfield long before

then if you walk.

J a c k : Well, thank you. We'd better walk. It's no good waiting an hour and a

half for a bus.

b) "Is Henry likely to play bridge at George's tonight?" "I don't think so. He'll

probably go to a concert instead." "What can Mary be doing now?"

"Well, she may be having dinner."

"And I think she must be writing a letter to me."

"She is more likely to be writing a letter to Henry."

c) "What are you going to do on New Year's Eve?" "I haven't

decided yet. What about you?" "Mary and I have decided to go to

adance."

9. This exercise is intended to test your ability to hear and reproduce

intonation in reading, a) Listen to the text "The Tailor and the Dressmak-

er" carefully, sentence by sentence. Write it down. Mark the stresses and

tunes. Practise reading each sentence after the cassette-recorder, b) Record

your reading. Play the recording back immediately and try to detect your

errors. Make a careful note of your errors in each sound and tune and

work to avoid them. Repetition should be done aloud. Practise the text for

test reading.

10.

This exercise is meant to develop your ability to hear intonation and reproduce it in

proper speech situations, a) Listen to the joke sentence by sentence. Write it down. Mark the

stresses and tunes. Practise the joke for test reading, b) Listen to the narration of the joke.

Observe the peculiarities in intonation, word-group division, pitch, stress and tempo. Note the

use of temporizers. Retell the joke according to the model you have listened to.

11.This exercise is intended to test your ability to analyse material for reading on your

own outside the class, a) Read the story silently to make sure you understand each sentence.

Underline the main sentence in the story. Split up each sentence into intonation-groups.

Locate the communicative centres of them. Mark the stresses and tunes, concentrating your

attention on the attitude expressed. It is not expected that each member of the class will mark

the story in exactly the same way. Discuss your variants in class. Your teacher will help you

to choose the best variant. Practise your corrected variant for test reading, b) Retell the story

following the model above (See Ex. 10):

The Story of Narcissus

Long, long ago, when birds and flowers and trees could talk, a beautiful

fountain sprang up in the midst of a forest. Little sunbeams crept between the

leaves, and, as they fell upon it, made it shine like silver.

One day a lad, who had been hunting in the forest, lost sight of his friends.

While looking for them, he saw the fountain shin

ing in the sunlight through the trees. He at once turned to it, for he was hot

and thirsty.

He stooped down to bathe his burning forehead, and to cool his dry hot lips.

But as he bent over the water, he saw his own face in it, as in a glass. He thought

it must be some lovely water-fairy, that lived within the fountain, and as he

looked he forgot to drink. The bright eyes, the curly hair, the round cheeks, and

the red lips were beautiful to him; and he fell in love with that image of himself,

but knew not that it was his own image. It smiled when he smiled, and as he

spoke, the lips of the face moved as though speaking too, though no sound came

from them. "I love you with all my heart," said the lad. The image smiled and

held out its arms, but still was dumb. The lad spoke to it again and again, and

getting no answer, he at last began to cry. The tears fell upon the water, and

ruffled it, so that the face looked wrinkled. Thinking it was going away, he said:

"Only stay, beautiful being, and let me look at you, even if I may not touch you."

He forgot everything but that lovely face. Day after day, night after night, he

stayed there, till he grew thin and pale, and at last died. Just at the water's edge,

where the lad had died, there grew one strange little flower, all alone. "He has

been changed into a flower," his friends said. "Let us call it after our dead

friend." So they named the flower Narcissus in memory of him and it is called

Narcissus to this very day.

S u p p l e m e n t

TEXTS NOT INTRODUCED IN THE EXERCISES Section Three

Ex. 13

DAYS AND MONTHS. ASKING THE TIME

"Do you know the days of the Week?"

"Yesr Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday."

"Now, let's assume that today is Wednesday. What day will tomorrow be?"

"Thursday."

"And the day after tomorfow?" "Friday."

"What day was yesterday?"

"Tuesday."

"And the day before yesterday?" "Monday."

"As it happens, last Monday was my birthday."

"Is that so? Well, many happy returns of the day."

"Thank you. And now, let's have the names of the months."

"Certainly. January. February, March, April, May, June, July, August,

September, October, November, December."

"Good... Oh, can you tell me the right time please?"

"Well, my watch says five past two, but if's no use relying on it, because

sometimes it's fast and sometimes it's slow."

Section Four

Ex. 13

"Have we time for another coffee?" "I think so."

"Shall I give you some?" "Yes,

please."

"Do you take sugar?"

"No, thank you."

"Will you have a cigarette?"

"In a moment."

"Have you paid the bill?"

"Not yet."

"Shouldn't we be going now?" "All

right."

"Oughtn't we to take a taxi?" "If you

like."

"How long will you be out?" "Not long."

"When will you be back?" "Soon after

ten." "What are you going to do?" "Nothing

very interesting." "Where are you going?"

"Just down the road." "Who are you going to

see?" "Tom."

"Why are you going to see him?" "Just for a

little chat." "What about?" "Nothing in

particular."

Ex. 15

OUR SITTING-ROOM

Let's have a look at this picture of our sitting-room. As you come into the

room you notice a piano with a low music-stool in front of it. Next to the piano is

a tall bookcase standing against the wall. On the left is a large window. Under the

window there's a radiator, but, you can't see it because it's behind the settee. On

the settee there are two cushions. The fireplace is at the other end of the room.

On each side'of the fireplace there's an armchair. An old lady is sitting in one of

the chairs, but nobody's sitting in the other one: it's empty.

In the centre of the mantelpiece there's a clock and above it an oval

mirror. On the right you can see a standard lamp. Opposite the fireplace you

can see a small table with an ash-tray and some newspapers on it. By the

table there's a small chair. On the extreme right there's a radio-set. The floor

is covered with a beautiful thick carpet. An electric light is hanging from the

middle of the ceiling. At night when it gets dark we switch on the light and

draw the curtains: During the day, the light comes in through the window.

Section Five

Ex. 2 2

A: You're on holiday, aren't you?

B:

No, I'm not.

A: You're not working, are you?

B:

Yes, I am.

A: You work in London, don't you?

B:

No, I don 't.

A: It's nearly time for tea, isn't it?

B:

No, it isn't.

A: You're not hungry, are you?

B:

Yes, I am.

A: You'll soon be going home, won't you?

B:

No, I shan't.

Section Six

Ex. 19

BALZAC AS A HANDWRITING EXPERT

Balzac, the famous French writer, was a man of great talent. But he himself

was proud of his ability to tell a person's character by his or her handwriting. He

often told his friends that he could tell anybody's character exactly by his

handwriting.

One day a woman friend brought him a young boy's exercise book. She said

that she wanted to know what Balzac thought of the boy's character.

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Balzac studied the handwriting carefully for a few minutes. The woman,

however, told him that the boy was not her son and that he might tell her the

truth.

"All right," said Balzac. "I shall tell you the truth." And he said that the boy

was a bad, lazy fellow.

"It's very strange," said the woman smiling. "This is a page from your own

exercise book, which you used when you were a boy."

Section Seven

Ex. 9

A: Is it going to rain? В: I hope

not.

A: Ought we to take our coats?

В: I think so.

A: Shall we be late?

B: We might be.

A: Is the car all right?

В: I expect so.

A: Will it break down?

В: I doubt it.

A: Have you got enough petrol? В: I hope I

have.

Ex. 17 • MY BEDROOM

At night when I feel tired and sleepy, I go up to my bedroom and switch on