II. Memorize extra vocabulary: proverbs / idioms

After storm comes a calm.	Any port in a storm.
A picture is worth a thousand words.	It’s easy to be wise after event.
Hasty climbers have sudden falls.	Hatred is blind as well as love.
Forbidden fruit is sweet.	A drowning man will clutch at a straw
Live your beliefs and you can turn the world around.
Fortune is easily found but hard to be kept.
A famous person is someone who works hard all his life to become known, then wears dark glasses so that nobody will recognize him (Fred Allen)

III. Make up as many sentences as you can using words and phrases suggested above.

IV. Perform the following pre-writing tasks:

Pre-writing task 1

Read the article. Fill in the topic sentences, then give the paragraph outline.

a

During the years I worked with her, my admiration for Miriam steadily increased.

b

Her ability to deal with several matters at once seemed almost miraculous.

c

My first impression of her was one of politeness verging on stiffness.

d

All in all, Miriam is the most admirable person I’ve ever met.

e

The most striking thing about Miriam, though was her sensitivity towards others.

f

On my first day of work at Acrol Assurance I arrived nervous, soaking wet – and nearly half an hour late.

The person I admire

I had forgotten to take my umbrella, had missed the bus and was now ready for a good scolding. It was then that I met Miriam Bellings, the Managing Director, who was to have an enormous influence on my life and career.

She was a small, birdlike woman, her appearance giving an impression of a nervous, easily flustered person. I soon learnt, however, that her true character was calm, warm and kind, yet unbendingly professional. After reminding me that lateness would not be tolerated in the office, she laughingly confessed to me that she had been over an hour late on her first morning because she had lost her way. It was typical of her sympathetic character. She then proceeded to explain the workings of the office to me with such clarity and accuracy, and with such patience to my rather naïve questions, that I was left with the impression that she was a sort of superwoman of office management.

No crisis in the office ever caught her off-guard, and on the rare occasions when she could not answer a question, she would make sure that she had an answer for you within the hour.

I remember on one occasion when nearly everyone in the office had gone down with he flu, Miriam managed to keep the office running smoothly without seeming stressed or harassed in the least. We sometimes used to joke that if everyone in the office had been absent on the same day, Miriam would not even have noticed!

Although she had never married, she seemed to have a deep understanding of family relationships, and could always tell when an employee was having problems at home. She was not a “pull-yourself-together” sort of boss at all. If she sensed that something was wrong she would call you into her office and encourage you to talk. Not only was she a good listener, but the advice she offered was always sound as well.

I lost touch with Miriam after her retirement, but I will always remember her as the “guiding light” in my working life, the woman who – through her example, help and advice – enabled me to be as successful as I am today.

 

Pre-writing task 2

Read the following beginnings and endings and match them. Which belong to an argumentative composition expressing opinion? Think over the whole story.

BEGINNINGS

Spending one’s summer holiday climbing in the mountains of Tibet or white-water rafting may not be everyone’s idea of fun, but adventure holidays are becoming extremely popular. They have both their good and bad points.

Becoming a vegetarian is a choice that many people are making after recent health scares. The question is, does being a vegetarian have a positive or negative effect on one’s health? I believe that it can do more harm than good.

A scene unfolds before one’s eyes of yet another miracle of nature: a baby elephant being born. If it were not for television, this is something we might never see and for this reason I feel that TV plays an important role in education.

ENDINGS

A

To sum up, I believe that television should continue to play a role in education. Well-made programmes can give us a broader view of the world and can teach us about things which are outside our everyday experience.

B

All in all, whether you will enjoy an adventure holiday or not depends on the type of person you are. Taking holidays of this kind should be carefully considered, because they are not for the faint-hearted!

C

In conclusion, I feel that vegetarians could suffer from health problems if they do not have a healthy, nutritious diet. However, everyone must decide for themselves which lifestyle choice suits them best.

Pre-writing task 3