ENGLISH PRACTICAL COURSE 1st year 1st and 2nd terms Co-authors and Coordinators: Lecturer Janeta Lup

p Lecturer Drd. Ana-Maria Birtalan Lecturer Drd. Oana Ionescu Buzea

I. INTRODUCTION

The present English Practical Course is meant to be used by first-year students with a view to consolidating their knowledge of English. Consequently, it was conceived according to the syllabus for the English Practical Course in the first year of study. The course is divided into two parts, meant to be studied along the first term and the second term, each of them dealing with some of the most important aspects of the English language, grammar and vocabulary. Each part contains five units, and is based on different topics including sections which will help the students to develop and improve their reading, writing and speaking skills in English. Every unit provides a wide variety of exercises and activities, which focus on different aspects of English: developing and increasing the students vocabulary; helping students to understand, enjoy and appreciate reading passages; studying in detail the most important grammar points; improving the students writing and composition skills; developing English vocabulary, especially the use of idioms and phrasal verbs. As the students work through the units they will be building their proficiency in English. The Translation Practice provides a corpus of some interesting literary texts whose translation from or into English will help the students both acquire a good command of English and Romanian and develop their creativity in order to find the best way to decode the text. Our choice to add an essay writing section is justified by the fact that the student should get acquainted from the very beginning with the basic rules of drawing up an essay, following the steps that should be taken in conceiving it and providing useful and beautiful examples and topics for essay writing. The final round up contains an important number of exercises meant to introduce the students into some basic elements of building vocabulary, offering them extensive vocabulary work, with particular focus on synonyms, antonyms and their associations.

THE STRUCTURE OF THE COURSE IN THE SECOND TERM

I. OBJECTIVES The second part of the course consists of : -the grammar module which continues with the sequence of tenses, if clause, the modals and the subjunctive, supported by sets of exercises meant to put into practice the theoretical frame; - the reading- comprehension module which offers a variety of topics and texts to be analyzed and enlarged upon; -an idiom and phrasal verbs practice module -a second set of literary translations, and essay writing.

The contents of the course:

UNIT SIX: Topic: A Sense of Place Reading comprehension: Overland stage coaching by Mark Twain Language study: Reported speech

UNIT SEVEN: Topic: How Things Work Reading comprehension: You and the Atomic Bomb Language study: Passive Voice

UNIT EIGHT: Topic: For and Against Reading text: TV: Could you be without it? Language study: Modality

UNIT NINE: Topic: Communication Reading comprehension: The Indispensable Opposition

Language study: Subjunctive TRANSLATION PRACTICE English text samples Romanian text samples ESSAY WRITING Strategies Topics for essay writing

UNIT SIX

A SENSE OF PLACE

PRE-READING TASK Discuss the following questions:

1. Where do you consider your roots to be/ is where you live now/ If not, how often do you go back there? 2. Think of home. What is the first image that appears before your mind eyes? Are there any particular sights or smells that you associate with home? 3. Describe part of the country that you come from. What makes it special? Will you go back there after graduation? 4. What do people from different regions in your country think of each other? For example, in England those in the South think that those from the North only eat fish and chips, never wash, keep pigeons, work in coal mines and have no taste. On the other hand, the Southerners consider the Northerners to be afraid of work, not to have the sense of humor, to be unfriendly and sissies. People who live in towns think that people who live in the country are yokels, are illiterate and uncultured, and often get drunk.

Are there similar prejudices and divides here? Why do you think they exist?

INFO BOX

Great Britain is the fourth most populous country in Europe. The English constitute more than 80% of the nation inhabitants. The Scots make up nearly 10% and there are smaller groups of Irish and Welsh descent. England is bounded by Wales and the Irish Sea on the West and Scotland on the North. The English Channel, and the Strait of Dover, and the North Sea separate it from the continent of Europe. London, the capital of Great Britain is located in the southeastern portion of England. The Thames and the Severn are the longest rivers of the region. The north of England, above the Humber, is mountainous; the chief highlands are the Cambrian Mountains in the northwest and the Pennies, which run north-south in central England. The famous Lake District, in the Cambrians, has Englands highest points. The center of England, the Midlands, is a large plain, interrupted and bordered by hills. The Midlands, especially its northern edge, was formerly a great coal-mining region. England has a mild climate attributable to warm currents in the surrounding seas.

VOCABULARY:

Choose the correct expressions to describe the right location of the places:

1. Birmingham in 2. Vienna in 3. Dresden in 4. Naples in 5. Hong Kong in 6. Bangkok in 7. New Delhi 8. San Francisco on 9. Boston on 10. Lagos 11. Bucharest

a) the English Midlands a) Central Europe a) East Germany a) Southern Italy a) the Far East a) South East Asia a) the Indian continent a) the West Coast a) the Eastern Seaboard a) Western Africa a) Eastern Europe

b) Middle England b) the centre of Europe b) the eastern part of Germany b) South of Italy b) Far East b) the South Eastern Asia b) the Indian sub-continent b) the Western Coast b) the Eastern Coast b) West Africa b) East Europe

READING

Overland Stage coaching

As the sun went down and the evening chill came on, we made preparation for bed. We stirred up the hard leather letter-sacks and the knotty canvas bags of printed matter (knotty and uneven because of projecting ends and corners of magazines, boxes and books). We stirred them up and predisposed them in such a way as to make our bed as level as possible. And we did improve it, too, though after all our work it had an up heaved and billowy look about it, like a little piece of a stormy sea. Next we hunted up our boots from odd nooks among the mail-bags where they had settled, and put them on. Then we got down our coats, vests, pantaloons and heavy woolen shirts, from the arm-loops where they had been swinging all day, and clothed ourselves in them for, there being no ladies either at the stations or in the coach, and the weather being hot, we had looked to our comfort by stripping to our underclothing, at nine oclock in the morning. All things being now ready, we stowed the uneasy Dictionary where it would lie as quiet as possible, and placed the water-canteens and pistols where we could find them in the dark. Then we smoked a final pipe, and swapped a final yarn; after which, we put the pipes, tobacco and bag of coin in snug holes and caves among the mail-bags, and then fastened down the coach curtains all around, and made the place as dark as the inside of a cow, as the conductor phrased it in his picturesque way. It was certainly as dark as any place could be nothing was even dimly visible in it. And finally, we rolled ourselves up like silk-worms, each person in his own blanket, and sank peacefully to sleep. Whenever the stage stopped to change horses, we would wake up, and try to recollect where we were and succeed and in a minute or two the stage would be off again, and we likewise. We began to get into country, now, threaded here and there with little streams. These had high, steep banks on each side, and every time we flew down one bank and scrambled up the other, our party inside got mixed somewhat. First we would all be down in a pile at the forward end of the stage, nearly in a sitting posture, and in a second we would shoot to the other end, and stand on our heads. And we would sprawl and kick, too, and ward off ends and corners of mail-bags that came lumbering over us and about us; and as the dust rose from the tumult, we would all sneeze in chorus, and the majority of us would grumble, and probably say some hasty thing, like: Take your elbow out of my ribs! Cant you quit crowding? Every time we avalanched from one end of the stage to the other, the Unabridged Dictionary would come too; and every time it came it damaged somebody. One trip it barked the Secretarys elbow; the next trip it hurt me in the stomach, and the third it tilted Bemiss nose up till he could look down his nostrils he said. The pistols and coin soon settled to the bottom, but the pipes, pipe-stems, tobacco and canteens clattered and floundered after the Dictionary every time it made an assault on us, and aided and abetted the book by spilling tobacco in our eyes, and water down our backs.

Still, all things considered, it was a very comfortable night. It wore gradually away, and when at last a cold gray light was visible through the puckers and chinks in the curtains, we yawned and stretched with satisfaction, shed our cocoons, and felt that we had slept as much as was necessary. By and by, as the sun rose up and warmed the world, we pulled off our clothes and got ready for breakfast. We were just pleasantly in time, for five minutes afterward the driver sent the weird music of his bugle winding over the grassy solitudes, and presently we detected a low hut or two in the distance. Then the rattling of the coach, the clatter of our six horses hoofs, and the drivers crisp commands, awoke to a louder and stronger emphasis, and we went sweeping down on the station at our smartest speed. It was fascinating that old overland stage coaching. We jumped out in undress uniform. The driver tossed his gathered reins out on the ground, gaped and stretched complacently, drew off his heavy buckskin gloves with great deliberation and insufferable dignity taking not the slightest notice of a dozen solicitous inquiries after his health, and humbly facetious and flattering accosting, and obsequious tenders of service, from five or six hairy and half-civilized stationkeepers and hostlers who were nimbly unhitching our steeds and bringing the fresh team out of the stables for in the eyes of the stage-driver of that day, station-keepers and hostlers were a sort of good enough low creatures, useful in their place, and helping to make up a world, but not the kind of beings which a person of distinction could afford to concern himself with; while, on the contrary, in the eyes of the station-keeper and the hostler, the stage-driver was a hero a great and shining dignitary, the worlds favorite son, the envy of the people, the observed of the nations. When they spoke to him they received his insolent silence meekly, and as being the natural and proper conduct of so great a man; when he opened his lips they all hung on his words with admiration (he never honored a particular individual with a remark, but addressed it with a broad generality to the horses, the stables, the surrounding country and the human underlings); when he discharged a facetious insulting personality at a hostler, that hostler was happy for the day; when he uttered his one jest old as the hills, coarse, profane, witless, and inflicted on the same audience, in the same language, every time his coach drove up there the varlets roared, and slapped their thighs, and swore it was the best thing theyd ever heard in all their lives. And how they would fly around when he wanted a basin of water, a gourd of the same, or a light for his pipe but they would instantly insult a passenger if he so far forgot himself as to crave a favor at their hands. They could do that sort of insolence as well as the driver they copied it from for, let it be borne in mind, the overland driver had but little less contempt for his passengers than he had for his hostlers. The hostlers and station-keepers treated the really powerful conductor of the coach merely with the best of what was their idea of civility, but the driver was the only being they bowed down to and worshipped. How admiringly they would gaze up at him in his high seat as he gloved himself with lingering deliberation, while some happy hostler held the bunch of reins aloft, and waited patiently for him to take it! And how they would bombard him with glorifying ejaculations as he cracked his long whip and went careering away. The station buildings were long, low huts, made of sun-dried, mud-colored bricks, laid up without mortar (adobes, the Spaniards call these bricks, and Americans shorten it to 'dobies). The roofs, which had no slant to them worth speaking of, were thatched and then sodden or covered with a thick layer of earth, and from this sprung a pretty rank growth of weeds and grass. It was the first time we had ever seen a mans front yard on top of his house. The buildings consisted of barns, stable-room for twelve or fifteen horses, and a hut for an eating-room for passengers. This latter had bunks in it for the station-keeper and a hostler or two. You could rest your elbow on its eaves, and you had to bend in order to get in at the door. In place of a window there was a square hole about large enough for a man to crawl through, but this had no glass in it. There was no flooring, but the ground was packed hard. There was no stove, but the fireplace served all needful

purposes. There were no shelves, no cupboards, and no closets. In a corner stood an open sack of flour, and nestling against its base were a couple of black and venerable tin coffee-pots, a tin tea-pot, a little bag of salt, and a side of bacon. By the door of the station-keepers den, outside, was a tin wash-basin, on the ground. Near it was a pail of water and a piece of yellow bar soap, and from the eaves hung a hoary blue woolen shirt, significantly but this latter was the station-keepers private towel, and only two persons in all the party might venture to use it the stage-driver and the conductor. The latter would not, from a sense of decency; the former would not because he did not choose to encourage the advances of a station-keeper. We had towels in the valise; they might as well have been in Sodom and Gomorrah. We (and the conductor) used our handkerchiefs and the driver his pantaloons and sleeves. By the door, inside, was fastened a small old-fashioned looking-glass frame, with two little fragments of the original mirror lodged down in one corner of it. This arrangement afforded a pleasant double- barreled portrait of you when you looked into it, with one half of your head set up a couple of inches above the other half. From the glass frame hung the half of a comb by a string but if I had to describe that patriarch or die, I believe I would order some sample coffins. It had come down from Esau and Samson, and had been accumulating hair ever since along with certain impurities. In one corner of the room stood three or four rifles and muskets, together with horns and pouches of ammunition. The stationmen wore pantaloons of coarse, country-woven stuff, and into the seat and the inside of the legs were sewed ample additions of buckskin, to do duty in place of leggings, when the man rode horseback so the pants were half dull blue and half yellow, and unspeakably picturesque. The pants were stuffed into the tops of high boots, the heels whereof were armed with great Spanish spurs, whose little iron clogs and chains jingled with every step. The man wore a huge beard and mustachios, an old slouch hat, a blue woolen shirt, no suspenders, no vest, no coat in a leathern sheath, in his belt, a great long navy revolver (slung on right side, hammer to the front), and projecting from his boot a horn-handled bowie-knife. The furniture of the hut was neither gorgeous nor much in the way. The rocking-chairs and sofas were not present, and never had been, but they were represented by two three-legged stools, a pine-board bench four feet long, and two empty candle-boxes. The table was a greasy board on stilts, and the table-cloth and napkins had not come and they were not looking for them, either. A battered tin platter, a knife and fork, and a tin pint cup, were at each mans place, and the driver had a queens ware saucer that had seen better days. Of course this duke sat at the head of the table. There was one isolated piece of table furniture that bore about it a touching air of grandeur in misfortune. This was the caster. It was German silver, and crippled and rusty, but it was so preposterously out of place there that it was suggestive of a tattered exiled king among barbarians, and the majesty of its native position compelled respect even in its degradation. There was only one cruet left, and that was a stopper less, fly-specked, broken-necked thing, with two inches of vinegar in it, and a dozen preserved flies with their heels up and looking sorry they had invested there. The station-keeper up-ended a disk of last weeks bread, of the shape and size of an old-time cheese, and carved some slabs from it which were as good as Nicholson pavement, and tendered. He sliced off a piece of bacon for each man, but only the experienced old hands made out to eat it, for it was condemned army bacon which the United States would not feed to its soldiers in the forts, and the stage company had bought it cheap for the sustenance of their passengers and employees. We may have found this condemned army bacon further out on the plains than the section I am locating it in, but we found it there is no gainsaying that. Then he poured for us a beverage which he called Slumgullion, and it is hard to think he was not inspired when he named it. It really pretended to be tea, but there was too much dish-rag, and sand, and old

bacon-rind in it to deceive the intelligent traveler. He had no sugar and no milk not even a spoon to stir the ingredients with. We could not eat the bread or the meat, nor drink the slumgullion. And when I looked at that melancholy vinegar cruet, I thought of the anecdote (a very, very old one, even at that day) of the traveler who sat down to a table which had nothing on it but a mackerel and a pot of mustard. He asked the landlord if this was all. The landlord said: All! Why, thunder and lightning, I should think there was mackerel enough there for six. But I dont like mackerel. Oh then help yourself to the mustard. In other days I had considered it a good, a very good, anecdote, but there was a dismal plausibility about it, here, that took all the humor out of it. Our breakfast was before us, but our teeth were idle. I tasted and smelt, and said I would take coffee, I believed. The station-boss stopped dead still, and glared at me speechless. At last, when he came to, he turned away and said, as one who communes with himself upon a matter too vast to grasp: Coffee! Well, if that dont go clean ahead of me, Im d----d! We could not eat, and there was no conversation among the hostlers and herdsmen we all sat at the same board. At least there was no conversation further than a single hurried request, now and then, from one employee to another. It was always in the same form, and always gruffly friendly. Its western freshness and novelty startled me, at first, and interested me, but it presently grew monotonous, and lost its charm. It was: Pass the bread, you son of a skunk! No, I forget skunk was not the word; it seems to me it was still stronger than that; I know it was, in fact, but it is gone from my memory, apparently. However, it is no matter probably it was too strong for print, anyway. It is the landmark in my memory which tells me where I first encountered the vigorous new vernacular of the occidental plains and mountains. We gave up the breakfast, and paid our dollar apiece and went back to our mail-bag bed in the coach, and found comfort in our pipes. Right here we suffered the first diminution of our princely state. We left our six fine horses and took six mules in their place. But they were wild Mexican fellows, and a man had to stand at the head of each of them and hold him fast while the driver gloved and got himself ready. And when at last he grasped the reins and gave the word, the men sprung suddenly away from the mules heads and the coach shot from the station as if it had issued from cannon. How the frantic animals did scamper! It was a fierce and furious gallop and the gait never altered for a moment till we reeled off ten or twelve miles and swept up to the next collection of little station-huts and stables. So we flew along all day. At 2 P.M. the belt of timber that fringes the North Platte and marks its windings through the vast level floor of the Plains came in sight. At 4 P.M. we crossed a branch of the river, and at 5 P.M. we crossed the Platte itself, and landed at Fort Kearney, fifty-six hours out from St. Joe THREE HUNDRED MILES! (Mark Twain Roughing It)

Questions for study, discussion and writing

Why does Twain make so much of the drivers gloves? 1. Today a bus driver is not a hero for most people. Why is Twains driver a hero? Why arent the passengers heroes? 2. Can you think of comparable examples of hero worship? What qualities are worshipped? What does the hero worship reveal about some fact or aspect of language? Explain. 3. Twain mentions many rather unpleasant details the dirty comb, the greasy board, the inedible food, etc. What modifies the unpleasantness of the impression? 4. What are the humorous devices Twain uses in such sentences as: a) And we would sprawl and kick, too, and ward off ends and corners of mail-bags that came lumbering over us and about us; and as the dust rose from the tumult, we would all sneeze in chorus, and the majority of us would grumble, and probably say some hasty thing like: Take your elbow out of my ribs! Cant you quit crowding? b) One trip it [the unabridged dictionary] barked the Secretarys elbow; the next trip it hurt me in the stomach, and the third it tilted Bemiss nose up till he could look down his nostrils he said. c) From the glass frame hung the half of a comb by a string but if I had to describe that patriarch or die, I believe I would order some sample coffins. d) The furniture of the hut was neither gorgeous nor much in the way The table was a greasy board on stilts, and the table-cloth and napkins had not come and they were not looking for them, either. e) There was only one cruet left, and that was a stopperless, fly-specked, broken-necked thing, with two inches of vinegar in it, and a dozen preserved flies with their heels up and looking sorry they had invested there. f) The station-keeper up-ended a disk of last weeks bread, of the shape and size of an oldtime cheese, and carved some slabs from it which were as good as Nicholson pavement, and tendered. 5. Twain once wrote: The humorous story is told gravely: the teller does his best to conceal the fact that he even dimly suspects that there is anything funny about it How accurately does this describe Overland Stage coaching

SHORT REFERENCE

GRAMMAR REPORTED SPEECH

DIRECT SPEECH is the exact words someone said or wrote.

REPORTED SPEECH is the exact meaning of what someone said or wrote without using his/her exact words.

Direct speech

Reported speech

1. Statement The plane will be late they said

That -Clause They said (that) the plane will be late.

2. Question Why are you here? she asked

Wh-clause or If -clause She asked why I was there

3. Command Dont do it! he said.

To-infinitive He told me not to do it.

The most common reporting verbs are: say, tell, talk, speak, and ask

INFO BOX

There are some common expressions with say, tell and ask:

Say good morning etc., say a few words, say no more, say ones prayers, say smth., say so, say for certain. Tell the truth, tell a lie, tell smb. the time, tell smb. ones name, tell smb.s fortune, tell a secret, tell smb. so, tell smb. the way, tell one from another, tell the difference. Ask a favor, ask the time, ask a question, ask the price etc.

CHANGES OF VERB TENSES

Direct speech

Reported speech

Simple present I cant make it she said Present continuous Im reading a book she said Present perfect Ive done my homework he said

Simple past She said she couldnt make it. Past continuous She said she was reading a book. Past perfect He said he had done his homework.

Present perfect continuous

Past perfect continuous She said that she had been reading for two hours. Past perfect He said that he had made a mistake. Future in the past He said that she would send you a mail the next

Ive been reading for two hours she said.

Simple past I made a mistake he said Future Ill send you the mail tomorrow he said. morning.

CHANGES OF TIME EXPRESSIONS

Direct speech Tonight

Reported speech that night

Now Now that Today Yesterday Tomorrow Tomorrow morning Last night The day before yesterday Next week

then, at that time, at once since that day the day before, the previous day

the day after, the following day the morning after, the next morning the night before, the previous night two days before the following week

PRACTISING TENSE CHANGES IN REPORTED SPEECH

6.2. Fill in the blanks with say, tell, speak, or ask in the right tense. a. b. c. d. e. f. I dont think he will be here on time he.. She ..goodbye and left for school. Mother used to..us a story before we went to bed. My uncle likesabout his childhood. I cant her secret she ..me. John always.. about his schooldays.

Dialogue: reported > direct speech

6.2 Rewrite the following sentences in direct speech. Note that in these sentences there is an implied dialogue, and that the reported version is, in some cases, very much a paraphrase of the original. You should reconstruct the dialogues in their most likely original form, e.g.

e.g. Tony accepted without reservation my suggestion that we should try to get local support for the new theatre company.

I would suggest, Tony, that we try to get local support for the new theatre company. Yes, I absolutely agree.

1. When I asked his advice about taking the job, he seemed indifferent as to whether I accepted it or not. 2. When questioned by the master about the disappearance of a bicycle from the school cycle sheds two days before, the boy flatly denied having had anything to do with it. 3. Peters request to his employer to have the next day off met with a blunt refusal. 4. He asked me to lend him five pounds, which I agreed to do, somewhat reluctantly, on condition that he paid me back the following week. 5. Michael rang up Janet at the last moment, apologizing profusely for being unable to go to dinner with her that evening. Despite his apology, Janet was very put out, and said that he might have let her know earlier; she wouldnt have needed to make such elaborate preparations. 6. I was taken completely by surprise, and in fact could hardly believe Margaret was serious when she told me she was going to leave England early the following year to take up a job abroad. 7. When the lady protested at being told to open her suitcase for inspection, the Customs Official firmly but politely pointed out that she must do as she was asked. 8. After the accident, the bus driver accused the motorist of not looking where he was going, to which the latter retorted that if the other hadn't been driving so fast, he himself would have had a chance of stopping in time.

Reporting conversations from a particular point of view.

6.3 Report the following interview as if you were the doctor.

The doctor waited. The clock ticked. I stared at the fire. Jake doesnt want any more children, I said. Do you like children Mrs. Armitage?

How can I answer such a question? Do you think it would be wrong not to like children? I dont know. Yes. Yes, I think so. Why? Because children dont do you any harm. Not directly, perhaps. But indirectly Perhaps you dont have any, I said. Oh, yes. Three. Two boys and a girl. How old are they? Sixteen, fourteen and ten. And do you like them? Most of the time. Well, then. Thats my answer. I like them most of the time

(from The Pumpkin Eater by Penelope Mortimer)

6.4. Imagine you are Gordon, and report this conversation to another friend one day after the event.

Whats under there? I asked, seeing the bulge at Clauds waistline. He pulled up his sweater and showed me two thin but very large white cotton sacks which were bound neat and tight around his belly. To carry the stuff, he said darkly. I see. Lets go, he said. I still think we ought to take the car. Its too risky. Theyll see it parked. But its over three miles up to that wood. Yes, he said. And I suppose you realize we can get six months in the clink if they catch us.

You never told me that. Didnt I? Im not coming, I said. Its not worth it. The walk will do you good. Come on.

(The Champion of the World by Roald Dahl)

Converting reports into direct speech. 6.5. Rewrite the passage in direct speech.

When the woman returned, Mr. Boggis introduced himself and straight away asked if she would like to sell her chairs. Dear me, she said. But why on earth should she want to sell her chairs? No reason at all, except that he might be willing to give her a pretty nice price. And how much would he give? They were definitely not for sale, but just out of curiosity, just for fun, you know, how much would he give? Thirty-five pounds. How much? Thirty-five pounds. Dear me, thirty-five pounds. Well, well, that was very interesting. Shed always thought they were valuable. They were very old. They were very comfortable too. She couldnt possibly do without them, not possibly. No, they were not for sale but thank you very much all the same. They werent so very old, Mr. Boggis told her, and they wouldnt be at all easy to sell, but it just happened that he had a client who rather liked that sort of thing. Maybe he could go up another two pounds call it thirty-seven. How about that?

(Parsons Pleasure by Roald Dahl)

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

1. IDIOM PRACTICE

6.6. What do the following expressions mean? 1. Carrefour market is a stones throw from our place. 2. Its nine miles from our house to the centre, as the crow flies.

6.7. Which of the following would you keep and which would you hold?

a diary a job down

a meeting

a promise a straight face a company your head high

your breath

in touch with someone yourself to yourself

someone in the dark your fingers crossed

someone responsible

6.8. Find synonyms for the phrase in italics, or explain their meaning. 1. She walked so fast so that I couldnt keep up with her. 2. Theres no point in trying to keep up with the Joneses. 3. Youve done a lot of good work this month. I hope I can keep it up. 4. Theyre getting married next month! Keep it to yourself, though. 5. Ill keep my fingers crossed for you on the day of the interview. 6. Im sorry for what I did; I hope you wont hold it against me. 7. Their reasoning just didnt hold up. 8. Hold on a moment, I havent got a pen. Could you hold the line, please? 9. We got held up in traffic. 10. They explained what happened, but I feel they were holding something back. 11. Im sorry but your theories just dont hold water.

1. PHRASAL VERB PRACTICE. 6.9. Consult a Phrasal Verb dictionary and try to find as many phrasal verbs relating to traveling as you can. Compare them with your colleagues.

6.10. Fill the gaps with suitable phrasal verbs form the chart. You may need to change the form of verbs: Come across come apart come out come round come up come up with Go down go down with go in for go off go on at go up

a. They..the brilliant idea of taking in overnight guests. b. When is her new book? c. I see the bus fares have. again. Well, they never . do they? d. My suitcase is practically brand new but it.. on the luggage carousel.

e. She.. him until he gave in and agreed tothe competition. f. The day before their holiday, they both flu.

g. He stays on the beach, while she .water-skiing. h. She took a lot of persuading but eventually she..to our point of view. i. j. Ill wait till the matter naturally in the course of the conversation. Ive just been reading that fascinating old guide book. Where did you. it?

UNIT SEVEN HOW THINGS WORK

PRE-READING TASK

Which is, in your opinion, the greatest invention ever discovered so far? What other 20th -21st century inventions or scientific breakthrough have changed our lives for the better or worse?

INFO BOX

Do you know that the old fashioned telephone wasnt actually invented by Alexander Graham Bell?! Antonio Meucci (1808-1889) was the real discoverer of the device. A. Bell simply stole the idea launched too loudly by Meucci and claimed it as his. The long court trial between Meucci and Bell that followed ended in favor of the latter. Only years later, in June 2002, following the American Congress decision, was the idea recognized as Meuccis. It was only too late; Meucci had died poor and lonely, spending all his money to do justice in the case and to reveal the truth.

VOCABULARY

Work in pairs. Choose one answer to complete each sentence:

Technology deals with the of science. o a. apparatus b. application

c. empiricism

d. practicability

. is one of the physical sciences. o a. anatomy b. botany c. meteorology

d. sociology

is one of the life sciences. o a. archeology b. astronomy

c. zoology

is one of the social sciences. o a. anthropology b. chemistry c. geology d. physics

Many solutions to technical problems are discovered by o a. experience b. hit and miss c. rule of thumb d. trial and error

Albert Einstein was the most brilliant mathematician of his o a. class b. country c. generation d. year

The highest academic degree that a scientist can be awarded is a (n).. o a. BSc b. DP c. MSc d. PhD

A scientific hypothesis is tested in a series of . experiments. o a. controlled b. limited c. supervised d. theoretical

His ideas are invariably criticized as.. by fellow scientists. o a. imaginative b. impractical c. ingenious

d. theoretical

The designer has applied for a for her new invention. o a. copyright b. patent c. royalty

d. trade mark

READING

You will read a text about a huge discovery: the atomic bomb. Was it a good and useful invention? How has the course of our lives been affected by this invention?

You and the Atomic Bomb

Considering how likely we all are to be blown to pieces by it within the next five years, the atomic bomb has not roused so much discussion as might have been expected. The newspapers have published numerous diagrams, not very helpful to the average man, of protons and neutrons doing their stuff, and there has been much reiteration of the useless statement that the bomb ought to be put under international control. But curiously little has been said, at any rate in print, about the question that is of most urgent interest to all of us, namely: How difficult are these things to manufacture? Such information as we that is, the big public possess on this subject has come to us in a rather indirect way, apropos of President Trumans decision not to hand over certain secrets to the USSR. Some months ago, when the bomb was still only a rumor, there was a widespread belief that splitting the atom was merely a problem for the physicists, and when they had solved it a new and devastating weapon would be within reach of almost everybody. (At any moment, so the rumor went, some lonely lunatic in a laboratory might blow civilization to smithereens, as easily as touching off a firework) It is a commonplace that the history of civilization is largely the history of weapons. In particular, the connection between the discovery of gunpowder and the overthrow of feudalism by the bourgeoisie has been pointed out over and over again. And though I have no doubt exceptions can be brought forward, I think the following rule would be found generally true: that ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or

difficult to make will tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon so long as there is no answer to it gives claws to the weak. The great age of democracy and of national self-determination was the age of the musket and the rifle. After the invention of the flintlock, and before the invention of the percussion cap, the musket was a fairly efficient weapon, and at the same time so simple that it could be produced almost anywhere. Its combination of qualities made possible the success of the American and French revolutions, and made a popular insurrection a more serious business than it could be in our own day. After the musket came the breechloading rifle. This was a comparatively complex thing, but it could still be produced in scores of countries, and it was cheap, easily smuggled and economical of ammunition. Even the most backward nation could always get hold of rifles from one source or another, so that Boers, Bulgars, Abyssinians, Moroccans even Tibetans could put up a fight for their independence, sometimes with success. But thereafter every development in military technique has favored the State as against the individual, and the industrialized country as against the backward one. There are fewer and fewer foci of power. Already, in 1939, there were only five states capable of waging war on the grand scale, and now there are only three ultimately, perhaps only two. This trend has been obvious for years, and was pointed out by a few observers even before 1914. The one thing that might reverse it is the discovery of a weapon or put it more broadly, of a method of fighting not dependent on huge concentrations of industrial plant. Had the atomic bomb turned out to be something as cheap and easily manufactured as a bicycle or an alarm clock, it might well have plunged us into barbarism, but it might, on the other hand, have meant the end of national sovereignty and of the highly-centralized police state. If, as seems to be the case, it is a rare and costly object as difficult to produce as a battleship, it is likelier to put an end to large-scale wars at the cost of prolonging indefinitely a peace that is no peace. (by George Orwell - 1945)

Questions for study, discussion and writing:

1. How much of Orwells predictions proved true? .. 2. How does the author characterize the history of civilization? .. 3. Explain the expression gives claws to the weak. ..

4. How does military technique affect peoples course of life? 5. How did Orwell see the future of mankind? Was he right? ,

GRAMMAR PASSIVE VOICE

SHORT REFERENCE

We use passive forms for reasons of style and clarity, as well as of meaning. Mostly the rules of passive formation are straightforward, but it needs to be noted that certain words and structures cannot be used in the passive.

A number of changes undergo when turning an active sentence into a passive one. Thus, the subject of an active verb becomes the agent in the passive; the object of the active verb becomes the subject of the passive verb (note that verbs that do not have direct object can not be used in the passive); the passive form of verbs can be made in all tenses by using be in the appropriate tense plus the past participle of the main verb.

E.g. active voice: The judge will read the names of the winners. passive voice: The names of the winners will be read by the judge.

Here are more examples with all the changes an active sentence undergoes when turned into passive

TENSES Simple Present Simple Past He repaired the car. He repairs cars.

ACTIVE VOICE

PASSIVE VOICE

Cars are repaired here. The car was repaired.

Pres. Contin.

Hes repairing the car. He was repairing a car. He has repaired the car. He had repaired the car. He will repair the car.

The car is being repaired. The car was being repaired.

Past Contin.

Pres. Perfect

The car has been repaired. The car had been repaired. The car will be repaired.

Past Perfect Future

Future Perfect

He will have repaired the car. The car will have been repaired. The car would be been repaired.

Conditional

He would repair the car. He would have repaired the car. He ought to repair the car.

Condit. Perfect

The car would have been repaired. The car ought to be repaired.

Present. Infinitive

Perfect. Infinitive

He ought to have repaired the car.

The car ought to have been repaired.

Notes 1. In colloquial English be can be replaced by get in the passive voice in some expressions.

e.g. Hell get (= be) fired if he continues to be late for work.

2. have + object + past participle can be used colloquially to replace a passive verb when we want to talk about an accident or misfortune.

e.g. She had her arm broken. (= Her arm was broken)

3. The agent is omitted when it is a) a pronoun, b) words like one, someone, people, etc. or c) can be easily understood.

e.g. Someone destroyed the evidence. The evidence was destroyed.

The passive voice is used: 1. when the person who performs the action (agent) can easily be understood. e.g. He has been arrested. (The police have arrested him.)

2. when the subject of the active verb is people, he, she, they, one, somebody, etc.

e.g. They say she is smart.

It is said that she is smart. /She is said to be smart.

3. when we are interested in the action itself rather than the person who performs it.

e.g. The new shopping centre will be opened tomorrow (by the Mayor of the city).

4. when we mean to be tactful by not naming the agent.

e.g. All my perfume has been used. (instead of Youve used all my perfume!)

Further points on the passive voice:

1. make, hear, see, help are followed by to + infinitive in the passive. e.g. He helped her cross the street. She was helped to cross the street.

2. let becomes was/were allowed to in the passive. When the subject of let and the object of the infinitive that follows let are the same, then let, when used in the passive voice, is followed by a reflexive pronoun + bare/short passive infinitive.

e.g. Mother let me go to the party. Dont let them laugh at you.

I was allowed to go to the party. Dont let yourself be laughed at.

3. The passive with verbs such as assume, believe, consider, feel, know, report, say, think, understand, etc. is formed in two ways.

a) it + passive + that-clause

e.g. They believe she is a spy.

It is believed that she is a spy.

b) subject + passive + to-infin. e.g. They believe she is a spy. She is believed to be a spy.

4. Verbs which take two objects as allow, ask, give, lend, send, etc. have two passive forms.

e.g. He showed me his latest novel.

I was shown his latest novel. and His latest novel was shown to me.

5. Passive voice with by or with.

by + agent

e.g. Penicillin was discovered by Fleming.

instrument with + material

e.g. She was killed with a hammer. Irish coffee is made with whisky.

past participles (such as filled, packed, etc.) e.g. The theatre was filled with hundreds of spectators.

6. Verbs followed by a certain preposition take the preposition immediately after them when put in the passive. e.g. They accused him of drug running. accused of drug running. He was

Grammar practice:

7.1. Write A if the sentence is in the active voice and P if the sentence is in the passive voice.

1. The traffic situation had become so difficult that the authorities decided to change the roads in the downtown area to one-way. 2. Almost a century after his death, Horatio Alger Jr. is still associated with hardworking poor boys achieving success. 3. As a result of the deforestation, irrigation ditches are in danger of silting up and the plains are vulnerable to flooding. 4. The men who had put on at least 15 pounds since graduation lived longer than those who had gained less. 5. J. Paul Getty, once the richest American, was buried near the Getty Museum in Malibu. 6. The committees members had finished discussing the issue by the time the vice-president arrived. 7. Fast-food restaurants have been established in almost every country in the world. 8. The spacecraft was designed built and equipped under the supervision of scientists from ten nations.

7.2. Turn the following from active into passive.

1. 1 . Someone gave me a book of literary criticism which has inspired me to do some translation.

2. The shopkeeper overcharged me and now hell have to give me a refund. I just hope he has given me a receipt. 3. 3.The writer made John literary executor, but he didnt leave him any money so he had to sell the manuscripts. 4. When they made Peter president of the club, they gave him the freedom to change any one of the clubs rules which they had made more than ten years before. 5. Someone taught me how to make Chinese food; Im glad because my children are always asking me to make some. 6. From the way the management talks about Miriam, youd think theyd fire her, but instead of that theyve just promoted her. 7. The police have accused him of drug-running and they are implicating his wife in the crime too. 8. I think they should do away with military conscription and leave the boys with their families.

7.3. Turn the following from passive into active.

1. I was overheard by my daughter saying that Id be given a rise, and now she asks why she isnt given some of my money. 2. It is said that America was discovered by Christopher Columbus, but in fact it has been decided that Amerigo Vespucci landed there first. 3. You are expected to be present by 8 every day according to your contract. 4. I wasnt deceived by his claims that he was starving. 5. Id like to be given some time off when I need it. 6. Joan was left some property by her father, but it was discovered later that the land tax had never been paid. 7. It is said that this candidate has been accused of tax evasion by the government, but he swears that his taxes have always been paid in full. 8. I was given an article by which I was motivated to keep a diet, but Ive been told by my doctor to be careful.

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

1. IDIOM PRACTICE

TRUE OR FALSE

7.4. Say whether the idioms in the following sentences are used correctly or incorrectly:

1. If someone is green, he or she is not very experienced. 2. If you want to get browned off, you have to lie in the sun all day. 3. Ill only buy the dog if he is house-trained. 4. If you are feeling peckish, you feel like eating something. 5. He was a very good pianist. He was so light- fingered. 6. You would probably be very flattered if someone called you stuck up. 7. I couldnt go to work this morning .I was laid up. 8. To bear fruit means to have a lot of children. 9. My uncle kicked the bucket last week. He leaves a widow and three children 10. Ive stopped going to German lessons. Ive dropped off. 11. He is very rich. He has ten servants and lives with his wife and two children in an ivory tower. 12. He is not being serious. He is speaking with his tongue in his cheek. 13. Cowards dont usually stick their heads out. 14. If you cant afford the train fare or the bus fare, you can always try to thumb a lift. 15. You would be probably very pleased if someone took you for a ride.

2. VERBS WITH PREPOSITION

7.5. a. Add the missing prepositions. The verbs in bold can be used with two prepositional phrases:

agree.; apologize; approve.. bargain; care.; decide; despair; experiment.; hope; insist..; interfere.; intrude..; look..; negotiate; object..; quarrel ; resign.; retire.; smell; struggle; succeed..; suffer.; talk..; vote; watch..; worry. .

7.5. b. Some verbs normally followed by an object can be used with prepositional phrase. Add the missing prepositions:

accuse them.. ; admire him.; blame her..; borrow it; cheat them..; congratulate him..; consult her..; convince them..; cure him..; deliver it.; mention it..; punish him..; rescue them..; respect her; take it; thank her..; threaten them; use it..; warn him .

UNIT EIGHT

FOR AND AGAINST

PRE-READING:

Get into groups and discuss the following questions: 1. Have you got a TV in your home? If so, what sort of programs do you like/dislike watching? Do you only turn on for a program you particularly want to see or do you leave the television on as a background? 2. Is there too much sex and violence on TV in your opinion? Do you think these kinds of programs can influence the children and adults who watch them? Give examples. 3. What do families who watch too much TV miss out on? What did people do in the days before the TV became a household object?

BRAINSTRORMING

What are the advantages and disadvantages of owing a TV? Note down as many points as you can think of below. Then compare your ideas with those of your partner. Owing a TV- for and against

Advantages 1. 2. 3. 4.

Disadvantages 1. 2. 3. 4.

5.

5.

Now read the text and find out if the writer covers similar arguments to the ones you have thought of?

VOCABULARY Match the following words which come from the text with their correct definition.

1. controversy 2. glued to 3. to blame 4. lodger 5. syndrome 6. flop 7. housebound 8. blessing 9. impact 10. banal

a) at fault b) uninteresting c) person who pays rent to stay in smbs house d) pattern of behavior caused by disorder of the mind e) (informal) continually close to f) confined to the house e.g. through ill health g) collapse, sit down heavily h) strong impression or effect i) a gift from God, something one is glad of j) prolonged argument, especially over social, moral or political matters.

READING

You will read a text about the concept of television, its implications in peoples everyday life, different opinions for and against spending evenings in front of TV.

TV: COULD YOU BE WITHOUT IT?

Ninety-eight per cent of Romanians have a TV set in their homes and, according to the experts, they rarely turn it off. In fact the average viewer watches as much as 25 hours a week. Yet television still provokes controversy. TV does undoubtedly have its bad side. Whilst any links between on and off screen violence have yet to be proved, few could deny that seeing too much fictional brutality can desensitize us to real- life horrors. Furthermore, even when programs contain neither sex nor violence, its not really a good thing for so many families to spend whole evenings glued to the box. Some primary schools teachers are complaining of

youngsters inability to concentrate and their need to be constantly entertained. It would seem that too much TV is to blame. Of course, its not only children whose happiness can be affected by television. It can lead to the lodger syndrome, where some husbands come home, flop down in front of the TV and simply dont communicate to their families at all. In some homes, soap operas have become a substitute for real life. Yet there is another side to the picture. For the lonely, elderly or housebound television can be a blessing, being a cheap and convenient form entertainment and a friendly face in the house. It can be an ideal way to relax, without necessarily turning you into a square-eyed addict. Television doesnt just entertain, of course. There are times when it can be informative and can provide a source of good family conversation. There is no evidence that other hobbies and interests have lost out, either. In fact, it seems that television has helped to popularize some games, like snooker and darts. And a final point. Over the past few years, television has played a crucial role in disaster relief. During the Ethiopian famine in 198, the he fund-raising efforts of Band aid might have had little impact without the heart-rending pictures we saw on our screens, or the world wide link up of millions of viewers who donated money to the cause. Informative, useful, entertaining and relaxing and yes, banal and boring- television is all of these. But if were not selective, surely we have only ourselves to blame. TV can be part of family life, but when it becomes all of it, maybe thats the time to reach for the off switch.

Questions for study, discussion and writing:

1. Did the first paragraph of the text make you want to read on? Why? Why not? 2. What is the topic of each paragraph of the text? 3. Do you think the writer gives a balanced view of the pros and cons of TV? Explain why? Why not? 4. Does the final paragraph form a good conclusion to the text? Why? Why not? 5. The text you have just read falls into four basic steps and thus follows a typical format for this type of for and against writing. Work with your partner to complete the basic plan of the text below.

General statement

Against

For

Conclusion

6. When writing a for and against composition, it is especially important that you make a clear plan before you begin to write. It is a good idea to note down the pros and cons as you think of them, in two separate lists. Look at the following assertions and enlarge upon your opinion about them: Working mothers mean neglected children. Package holidays are the best option.

Single-sex schools most parents prefer them.

GRAMMAR MODALITY

SHORT REFERENCE

Modal verbs allow people to talk about alternative state of affairs. These states of affairs are thought as not present in the current situation may never occur in the actual world. We use the modals to describe ability and possibility, to make deductions, arrangements, suggestions and offers and to ask for and give permission.

Modals share a series of common feature properties:

Inversion with the subject: Must I go? Negative form with not or nt: I cant go. No -s forms for the third form singular. Absence of non-finite forms (i.e. no infinitive, no past, or present participle). No co-occurrence: *I may will go

FUNCTIONS OF MODAL VERBS

ABILITY/INABILI TY I can see a fire in the distance.

POSSIBILITY/IMP OSSIBILITY You can have a cookie if you want one. They could ask someone for help. You may be lucky this time. She might come with us. (But I dont

PERMISSION/CON CESSION Can I use your phone?

When I was a child I could play a lot. (repeated action) He was able to run away. (single

May I make my own decision? Might I borrow your newspaper? (formal) You cant sit here if

action) He wasnt able to/couldnt eat the fish. (Both types can be used in the negative for either a repeated or a single action)

think so.) You cant rely on British weather. Is she likely to go abroad to study? Is it likely that shell go abroad to study?

youd like to. You may take the last ice cream.

OBLIGATION/DU TY I must pay the rent by Friday. (strong obligation or duty) I have to speak to the dean. (obligation/necessit y) He had to have an X-ray.

NECESSITY

PROHIBITION

He needs to improve his Dutch. My flat needs redecorating. She has to make up her mind as soon as possible. Must we go with you? Do I have to finish the translation now? Need he sign this form?

You mustnt speak loud in the library. You are not to play in this room. (= its against the rules) You cant join our club. (= you arent allowed to join our club)

ABSENCE of OBLIGATION or NECESSITY

LOGICAL ASSUMPTION (affirmative)

LOGICAL ASSUMPTION (negative)

ADVICE

CRITICISM

REQUESTS, OFFERS, SUGGESTIONS Can you hurry up,

You should have a

You should have made sure that the

rest. You ought to work harder. You ought not to complain so much.

tickets were valid. (but you didnt) He ought to have come to the meeting. (but he didnt)

please? Would you pass me the salt? Ill give you a lift. Shall I make the tea? He should go to the doctors. They might as well watch the match.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MODAL VERBS

can-could; may-might; must; ought to; will-would; shall-should; have to; need; dare; used to

1. They take no -s in the third person singular except for have to, need and dare. 2. They have no infinitive or participle forms so they cannot be used in the continuous tenses except for need, have to and dare. 3. They are followed by short/bare infinitive except for ought to, have to and used to. 4. They form their negative and interrogative forms the same way as the auxiliaries (e.g. may not, may I?) apart from need, have to, and dare.

Notes

Need and dare are followed by a short/bare infinitive if they are used as modals; otherwise they are followed by a long/full infinitive.

E.g. You neednt come. or You dont need to come.

 Be able to, be allowed to and have to are used to fill in the missing tenses of can, may (when expressing permission) and must respectively.

Was able to is used to refer to a past single action whereas could is used to refer to a past repeated action.

e.g. Although she was tired, she was able to run a long distance. When she was young, she could run very well.

Have to expresses external obligation whereas must expresses obligation imposed by the speaker.

e.g. According to the law, all passengers on board a plane have to fasten their safety belts. I must wear a helmet when I ride a motorbike or Ill be fined. (its my decision to take the risk) may expresses possibility whereas might increases the doubt. e.g. They may make up if you advise them. They might make up but Im not sure. (slight possibility)

May - Must - Cant

May (= perhaps) Must (= I think, I suppose) Cant (= I dont think, I dont suppose)

Must - Cant - May + Infinitive

Simple Present

Present Indicative

Perhaps he works as a teacher. He may work as a teacher.

Future I dont think she will win.

Present Infinitive She cant win.

Present Continuous I suppose he is working hard.

Pres. Contin. Infinitive He must be working hard.

Future Continuous Perhaps they will be playing chess.

Pres. Contin. Infinitive They may be playing chess.

Simple Past I dont think he worked enough.

Perfect Infinitive He cant have worked enough.

Present Perfect Perhaps she has left him.

Perfect Infinitive She may have left him.

Past Continuous I dont believe she was working last year. Present Perfect Continuous I think they have been living here a long time.

Perfect Infin. Contin. She cant have been working last year. Perfect Infin. Continuous They must have been living here a long time.

Mustnt - Neednt

mustnt (= its forbidden not allowed) E.g. You mustnt smoke in here.

You are not allowed to smoke in here.

Neednt (= its not necessary) E.g. You neednt learn the poem by heart. Its not necessary for you to learn the poem by heart.

Didnt need to - Neednt have

Didnt need to shows that it wasnt necessary for something to happen and it didnt happen. Neednt have shows that it wasnt necessary for something to happen but it did happen.

E.g. Mother didnt need to cook as we had been invited out to dinner. Paul neednt have studied for so many hours because the exam was cancelled.

GRAMMAR PRACICE

8.1. Complete the sentences with must, mustnt, or a suitable form of have to or have got to.

1. Application forms be returned to this office within 15 days. 2. The car broke down, and we have it towed to a garage. 3. The situation has now become intolerable, and something be done about it immediately. 4. You really try to be a little more tactful. 5. Fortunately, the crowd dispersed peaceably. If they hadnt, the police might use force. 6. If a similar problem crops up again, you report it to me at once. 7. He suddenly took a turn for the worse, and I call the doctor in the middle of the night. 8. Candidates in ink, and write on one side of the paper only.

8.2. Rewrite the clauses in italics, using neednt or a suitable form of have to or need to.

1. It isnt necessary for you to decide immediately. You can let me know tomorrow. 2. Youre not obliged to come just to please me. 3. its a public holiday tomorrow, so were not obliged to go to work. 4. He was completely at a loss. He had never been obliged to deal with such a situation before. 5. Unless you choose to tell him yourself, it is unnecessary for him ever to discover what happened. 6. Nothing new came up at the meeting. I dont think it was necessary for me to have gone. 7. I shant be able to come tomorrow, but its unnecessary for this to make any difference to your plans. 8. You were disappointed, I realize, but there was no need for you to have made such a fuss in public. 9. He doesnt know what work is. Hes never been obliged to earn his own living. 10. its hardly necessary for me to say how grateful I am for all youve done.

8.3. Rewrite the following sentences using didnt need to or neednt have.

1. It wasnt necessary for Joan to study for so many hours because the exam was cancelled. 2. It wasnt necessary for mother to cook as we had been invited out to dinner. 3. It wasnt necessary for her son to take so much money on holiday as he did. 4. It was unnecessary for him to have got so angry yesterday; it was only a joke after all. 5. It wasnt necessary for Bob to collect his girl-friend because she said she would manage. 6. It wasnt necessary for you to apologize. After all, it wasnt your fault. 7. It wasnt necessary for you to buy so many roses as you did. 8. It wasnt necessary for me to walk to my office as he gave me a lift.

8.4. Choose the correct description, A or B:

1. They allowed me to bring my dog. a. They usually allow dogs. b. They dont usually allow dogs.

2. The doctor could see you at eleven. a. Im not sure if she is free at eleven. b. Im suggesting a time for appointment.

3. Might I borrow your calculator for a moment? a. talking to your best friend b. talking to a clerk in a bank.

4. Well, we could always go on the bus. a. I dont really mind how we get there. b. I really want to go on the bus.

5. I could wear anything I liked a. When I worked as a secretary. b. On the day I took my secretarial exams.

6. We can have a look at the shops. a. Im making a suggestion.

b. Im describing a future ability.

7. May I interrupt? a. At a formal business meeting. b. At a family lunch.

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

1. IDIOM PRACTICE

HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE ONE ..?

8.5. Complete the following jokes with a suitable idiom chosen from the box. There are more idioms than needed. (Make any changes that may be necessary).

A vicious circle

laugh (ones) head off

Bring the house down Down in the mouth Fall head over heels in love

pull (oneself) together pull a few strings put (an animal) to sleep

Get a word in edgeways Give (someone) a good hiding Give (someone) a ring have a leg to stand on in (someones shoes)

sleep like a log stand (in someones) way strike while the iron is hot tell (someone) off the short list

1. I once knew two acrobats who 2. When Albert auditioned for the part of one of the seven dwarfs in a musical, the director told him he had been put on .. 3. I just dont know what to do. What would you do if you were ..? Polish them. 4. When my friends dog was faced with four trees, he didnt 5. What goes ha, ha, hee, hee, blonk? Someone! 6. The next act is a famous puppeteer who broke into show business by. 7. Doctor, doctor, Im thinking Im a pair of curtains. Well, .! 8. We close the show tonight, ladies and gentlemen, with Samson the strongest man in the world; he is sure to 9. Customer: Waiter! This boiled egg is bad! Waiter: (looking at the egg) So it is. Shall I pick it up and and tell it not to be bad again? 10. Yesterday, five hundred men walked out of a steel mill while it was still in operation. A Union spokesman said they had to. 11. Man: Wheres your dog?

Friend: I had to Man: Was it mad? Friend: Well, it wasnt exactly pleased. 12. Doctor, doctor, I feel like a bell! Well. Take these and if they dont work, 13. Why is a dentist always unhappy? Because he looks . 14. What is round and bad tempered? ......

II. English text samples:

1.

In such risings of fire and risings of sea the firm earth shaken by the rushes of an angry ocean had now no web, but was always on the flow, higher and higher, to the terror and wonder of the beholders on the shore three years of tempest were consumed. Three more birthdays of little Lucie had been woven by the golden thread into the peaceful tissue of the life of her home.

Many a night and many a day had its inmates listened to the echoes in the corner, with hearts that failed them when they heard the thronging feet. For, the footsteps had become to their minds as the footsteps of a people, tumultuous under a red flag and with their country declared in danger, changed into wild beasts, by terrible enchantment long persisted in. (Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities)

2.

There was a time when people were in the habit of addressing themselves frequently and felt no shame at making a record of their inward transactions. But to keep a journal nowadays is considered a kind of self-indulgence, a weakness, and in poor taste. For this is an era of hard-boiled dom. Today, the code of the athlete, of the tough boy an American inheritance, I believe, from the English gentleman that curious mixture of striving, asceticism, and rigor, the origins of which some trace back to Alexander the Great is stronger than ever. Do you have feelings? There are correct and incorrect ways of indicating them. Do you have an inner life? It is nobodys

business but your own. Do you have emotions? Strangle them. To a degree, everyone obeys this code. And it does admit of a limited kind of candor, a close-mouthed straightforwardness. but on the truest candor, it has an inhibitory effect. Most serious matters are closed to the hard-boiled. They are unpracticed in introspection, and therefore badly equipped to deal with opponents whom they cannot shoot like big game or outdo in daring. (Saul Bellow Dangling Man)

3. This was no way to think; but who censored his thinking? Nobody but himself. He would not think himself into any defeatism. The first thing was to win the war. If we did not win the war everything was lost. But he noticed, and listened to, and remembered everything. He was serving in a war and he gave absolute loyalty and as complete performance as he could give while he was serving. But nobody owned his mind, nor his faculties for seeing and hearing, and if he were going to form judgments he would form them afterwards. And there would be plenty of material to draw them from. There was plenty already. There was a little too much sometimes. Look at the Pillar woman, he thought. No matter what comes, if there is time, I must make her tell me the rest of that story. Look at her walking along with those two kids. You could not get three better-looking products of Spain than those. She is like a mountain and the boy and the girl are like young trees. The old trees are all cut down and the young trees are growing clean like that. In spite of what has happened to the two of them they look as fresh and clean and new and untouched as though they had never heard of misfortune. (Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls)

4.

On my re-entrance, I found Mr. Heathcliff below. He and Joseph were conversing about some farming business; he gave clear, minute directions concerning the matter discussed, but he spoke rapidly, and turned his head continually aside, and had the same excited expression, even more exaggerated.

When Joseph quitted the room, he took his seat in the place he generally chose, and I put a basin of coffee before him. He drew it nearer, and then rested his arms on the table, and looked at the opposite wall, as I supposed, surveying one particular portion, up and down, with glittering, restless eyes, and with such eager interest that he stopped breathing, during half a minute together. Mr. Heathcliff! master! I cried. Dont, for Gods sake, stare as if you saw an unearthly vision.

Dont, for Gods sake, shout so loud, he replied. Turn around, and tell me, are we by ourselves? Of course, was my answer, of course we are! With a sweep of his hand, he cleared a vacant space in front among the breakfast things, and leant forward to gaze more at his ease. Now, I perceived he was not looking at the wall, for when I regarded him alone, it seemed, exactly, that he gazed at something within two yards distance. And whatever it was, it communicated, apparently, both pleasure and pain, in exquisite extremes: at least, the anguished, yet raptured expression of his countenance suggested that idea. (Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights)

5. . The silence was terrible then, as tense as a bridge about to break, a tower to fall; unendurable in its emotion, its truth bursting to be spoken. Then suddenly there was a little cascade of coals from the fire. Most fell inside the low guard, but one or two bounced off and on to the edge of the blanket that covered Sarahs legs. She jerked it hastily away as Charles knelt quickly and seized the small shovel from the brass bucket. The coals on the carpet were quickly replaced. But the blanket smoldered. He snatched it away from her and throwing it on the ground hastily stamped out the sparks. A smell of singed wool filled the room. One of Sarahs legs still rested on the stool, but she had put the other to the ground. Both feet were bare. He looked down at the blanket, made sure with one or two slaps of his hand that it no longer smoldered, then turned and paced it across her legs once more. He was bent close, his eyes on the arranging. And then, as if by an instinctive gesture, yet one she half dared to calculate, her hand reached shyly out and rested on his. He knew she was looking up at him. He could not move his hand, and suddenly he could not keep his eyes from hers. (John Fowles The French Lieutenants Woman) 6. Nothing would induce me to tell the name of the happy country in which the incidents occurred that I am constrained to relate; but I see no harm in admitting that it is a free and independent state on the continent of America. This is vague enough in all conscience and can give rise to no diplomatic incident. Now the president of this free and independent state had an eye to a pretty woman and there came to his capital, a wide and sunny town with a plaza, a cathedral that was not without dignity, and a few old Spanish houses, a young person from Michigan of such a pleasing aspect that his heart went out to her. He lost no time in declaring his passion and was gratified to learn that it was returned, but he was mortified to discover that the young person regarded his possession of a wife and her possession of a husband as a bar to their union. She had a feminine weakness for marriage. Though it seemed unreasonable to the president, he was

not the man to refuse a pretty woman the gratification of her whim and promised to make such arrangements as would enable him to offer her wedlock. He called his attorneys together and put the matter before them. He had long thought, he said, that for a progressive country their marriage laws were remarkably out of date and he proposed therefore radically to amend them. The attorneys retired and after a brief interval devised a divorce law that was satisfactory to the president. (W. Somerset Maugham The Closed Shop)

III. Romanian text samples:

1. Da, am colindat ntreg oraul, de la cartierele boiereti, tcute i reci ca i inima oamenilor stuicare le locuiesc i pna la mahalaua foarte populat, zgomotoas, glgioas i murdar, dar mult mai omenoas, mult mai interesat s afle taina celor doi negustori, care strig i se tnguiesc cu ochii la ferestre, de parc -ar cuta miresele fugite n noaptea nunii. (Oh! omule din popor, cum nu eti tu apreciat, pe ct merii! Numai tu poi ghici prbuirile sufletului omenesc, pentru c numai tu singur le-ai ndurat n via!... Ai trecut prin toate i tii s suferi alturi de toi cei zdrobii de via.) Minile noastre mpart, mainal, lmi, potocale i adun gologani. Dar, vai, noi suntem pe alt lume: cu gndul departe; cu mintea care ni se nvrtete ca o moric. Nici nu bgm de seam, cum trengarii ne terpelesc din marf. (Panait Istrati Neranula)

2.

Ajuns acas, am mncat repede, rbdnd scielile lui Marcel cu stoicism i tcnd, mai mult distrat dect ncpnat, la ntrebrile i alintrile mtuii mele. Dnsa, de altfel, sraca, pn i la mas cosea un tiv la vreo fust sau la altceva. Rupea aa cu dinii i mai muca din pine. M-am culcat, ghemuit n aternut, cu scoica minunat de dulce la pipit sub pern. Ardeam toat, n capul meu era un vrtej, simurile mi se ntorseser nuntru. M-am sucit i m-am rsucit, nfurndu-m n cearceafuri, pn am czut ntr-o stare de delir ntunecat, de somn cu fragmente de vise, mai mult vorbite dect vzute. Eram vorbit de cineva din afara mea, existam numai atta timp ct acel cineva i rostea cuvintele indescifrabile, bolboroselile hieratice. i acele cuvinte nu erau nici pe departe nite abstraciuni, acel limbaj nu era doar limbaj: unele cuvinte erau gelatinoase, altele ude i ngheate, altele arznd ca acidul. n totul, vorbirea aceea era o lume bizar, pe care o percepeam cu altceva dect cu

simurile, pe care o triam cu altceva dect cu corpul i cu mintea. (Mircea Crtrescu Nostalgia)

3. Ei se simeau inoceni ca-n ziua cea denti. Era mai mult copilrie dect vin n dezmierdrile lor i jraticul din cmin, aruncnd din cnd n cnd cte-o limb albstruie, lumina basrelieful lui Adam -a Evei. i ei nii, mbriai astfel, li se prea a repeta acea istorie antic, zilele ntie ale traiului din paradis ... li se prea c mbla, n asemenea primilor oameni, necontii de plcerile amorului, ca doi ngeri, prin umbra acelei dumbrave de portocale, c soarele lumineaz zpada vergin a corpurilor lor, c, cu sufletul liber, cu inima vergin, nengreuiat de lumeti dorine, ei colind grdina Edenului; singura lor plcere: privirea frumuseii lumei i frumuseii lor. i, dac n-ar fi fost nimic s escite dorine lacome n inimile lor, poate c-ar fi stat vecinic, poate c, prin repetare a promisiilor vechei legende, ar fi trit vecinic. (Mihai Eminescu Cezara (ncheierea manuscris))

IV. ESSAY WRITING

Study sample essay 2

Some intensive English program in England offer a foreign student the option of living with an English family while he or she is studying abroad. Many students feel that such a homestay program is a valuable part of their total learning experience. However, others may feel that such a plan offers little of value. In a short essay, discuss one or two advantages of living with an English family, and then state one or two disadvantages. Tell whether you are in favor of or opposed to the idea of homestay. Give examples to support your opinion.

Sample Essay Response

Introduction A foreign student who plans to come to England must have some definite goals in mind. For the student who wants to Statement of improve his English quickly and customs firsthand, there is often an opportunity to live with learn about English opinion an English family. There may be one or two disadvantages to this Transitional element living arrangement; however, I believe that there are to show contrast far more advantages.

Topic sentence First of all, some minor disadvantages to living with an introduced English family include both a lack of privacy and little by transitional opportunity to be independent. For instance, the foreign phrase student may find that the family expects him to join them in group activities such as watching television or going on picnics. At times, however he might enjoy staying in his room to read or to write Specific examples to his family and friends. Another drawback to living Transitional in an English home involves the possibility that the family element may treat the student like a child. For example, the parents may want to decide who his friends will be and where he will go during his leisure time away from home. Even though there may be one or two disadvantages to living with an English family, the advantages far overweigh them. Topic sentence By taking part in a homestay program, the student has Specific examples an excellent opportunity to learn about customs. He will find out how to behave in different social English as support situations such as parties and ceremonies and how to dress on such occasions. Also he will learn about many other aspects of the English way of life, such as the way schools are run in England. With a family close by, he can ask questions about attendance rules and school costs. The family will make certain that he becomes acquainted with this new way of life, and soon he will feel at home. Topic sentence Another advantage to living with an English family is Specific example that the student is in an ideal environment to improve introduced by his English. For example, each time he has a transitional element conversation with someone in the family, this native speaker can help him with his pronunciation and grammar. Maybe the younger children in the family can help the student with his Supporting homework, too. But the most important thing is that he will example be surrounded by English most of the time during his stay in England. Although I agree that there may be a couple of disadvantages to living with an English family, I feel that the advantages are most obvious. In a homestay program, the student Conclusion can learn about English customs in the most natural way possible. In addition, he will find himself in an atmosphere in which his English will certainly improve. In my opinion, these are the two most important goals for him to consider, and living with an English family is the best way to achieve them.

Evaluation of Essay Response

This well-developed, multi-paragraph essay leaves the reader with a feeling of completeness. This competent writer addresses the assigned topic thoroughly. He presents a main idea which he supports with substantial, specific examples. By using transitional

phrases and connectives, he establishes a smooth flow of ideas. The essayist understands what a sentence is and varies his sentence patterns. There are no patterns of grammatical error, and generally, punctuation and spelling are correct. Evaluators would probably assign this sample a high grade.

Topics for Essay Writing

1. Films can tell us a lot about the country in which they were made. What have you learned about a country from watching its movies? 2. Modern life is causing many traditions and beliefs to become less important. Choose one tradition or belief and explain why you think it should be continued and maintained. 3. People attend colleges or universities for many different reasons (for example, new experiences, career preparation, and increased knowledge). Why do you think people attend colleges? 4. If you could change one important thing about your hometown, what would you change? 5. It has been said, Not everything that is learned is contained in books. Compare and contrast knowledge gained from experience with knowledge gained from books. In your opinion, which source is more important? Why?