Reading Comprehension and Discussion Tasks

1. Answer the questions:

1. Why wasn’t it easy for William to choose presents for his children?

2. Who met William at the station?

3. What happened to children’s presents?

4. Did William manage to find himself alone with his wife?

5. What were Isabel’s “precious friends” doing that Saturday when William came home?

6. What was in William’s letter to Isabel?

7. Did Isabel allow her friends to read the letter addressed to her?

8. Was she ashamed for what she had done?

9. Were William and Isabel happy in their marriage?

10. Did Isabel really need a family? Was she a good wife and a good mother?

2. Discuss the following:

1. Explain the saying “Men make houses and women make homes”.

2. Explain the title of the story.

3. Do you think people can lead a lonely life, live without families?

W. Somerset Maugham THE OUTSTATION

P. 175-187

Exercises

Pre-reading Tasks

1. Practise the pronunciation of the words from the story. When in doubt refer to the dictionary:

sultan, oblige, facetious, verandah, skull, khaki, wrath, anchovies, champagne, bungalow, hither, waft, prophesy, notoriety, unadulterated, ingenuity, despicable, impecunious.

Vocabulary Tasks

1. Find in the story the English for:

тропічний шолом від сонця; спуститися на пристань; їх манера триматися була військовою; виглядати гарно убраними у парусинових штанях без жодної плями; змішані почуття; бути звиклим до самотності; веслувати сильними рухами; говорити з несамовитою веселістю; показати комусь його житло; хворобливо-жовте обличчя; крючкуватий ніс; потерті шорти кольору хакі; єдина поступка; носити білий смокінг; лаковані туфлі; накрохмалена сорочка; срібні свічники; холодний пильний погляд; почервоніти від злості; бути запальною людиною; світська людина; втратити самоповагу; цивілізоване суспільство; лестити; величезне віяло; спекотливе повітря; їжа була розкішна; безтурботно поглянути на меню; огидне хамло; вкласти багато зневаження у коротку відповідь; першокласний спортсмен; палкá викривальна промова; змінити тему розмови; ліхтар не був потрібний; занадто несміливий голос; корисний натяк; світлячок; успадкувати велике багатство; власний двоколісний екіпаж; бути занадто чутливим і запальним; віддалена рідня; нужденний дворянин; бути припертим до стіни, загнаним у тісний кут; бути азартним гравцем.

Use one of the words or word combinations from the box in an appropriate form to fill each gap.

sallow bumptious rattan omitted topee kit elaborate select lantern stiff

1. When the Resident, Mr. Warburton, was told that the prahu was in sight he put on his solar … and went down to the landing-stage.

2. “I’ll show you your quarters. They’ll bring your … along.”

3. He was a tall, thin fellow, with a … face in which there was not a spot of colour.

4. The napkins were folded into … shapes.

5. I never … to dress on a single occasion on which I was well enough to come in to dinner.

6. Well, if you expect me to put on a boiled shirt and a … collar in this heat I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.

7. He threw himself heavily into a long … chair.

8. There was a moon, so no … was needed.

9. Cooper! An envious, ill-bred fellow, …, self-assertive and vain.

10. He played whist badly, but never minded how much he lost if the company was ….

Translate the underlined words and explain the meaning of prefixes and suffixes in them.

1. He looked very smart in his spot less ducks and white shoes.

2. During his periodical tours of the country under his charge it had been in convenient to leave the station in the hands of a native clerk.

3. He was accustomed to loneli ness.

4. I’ve had it made as habit able as I could, but of course no one has lived in it for a good many years.

5. A care ful host, he went into the dining-room to see that the table was properly laid.

6. He saw a twinkle of amuse ment in Cooper’s eyes, and he flushed an angry red.

7. When I came to Borneo I saw no reason to dis continue so good a habit.

8. Mr. Warburton gave the menu a care less glance.

9. Mr. Warburton managed to put so much offensive ness into his reply that Cooper flushed.

10. He happened to be a gambl er, an un lucky one, but he was a good los er, and it was im possible not to admire the cool ness with which he lost five hundred pounds at a sitting.

4. Translate the word-combinations with complex words:

a gold-headed cane, a bath-house, a white dinner-jacket, patent-leather shoes, a hot-tempered man, to lose self-respect, a first-rate sportsman, a head-boy, sweet-smelling flowers, a quick-tempered man.

Grammar Tasks

Determine if the words in bold are forms of the Participle or the Gerund.

1. When the stranger was due to arrive, having arranged everything for his reception, he wrote a note telling him he was obliged to go up-river, and fled.

2. When, entering the bungalow, he had taken off his topee and flung it to a waiting boy, Mr. Warburton noticed that his large skull, covered with short, brown hair, contrasted somewhat oddly with a weak, small chin.

3. Mr. Warburton reflected that the young man had spent a week on a coasting steamer and had passed the last forty-eight hours lying in the bottom of a prahu.

4. He exercised much ingenuity in making the best of his materials.

5. “Would you care to look at the menu?” he asked, handing it to Cooper.

6. I eat very little myself, but I make a point of having a proper dinner served to me every night.

7. I had a letter from Lady Barraclough only the other day asking me to look out for him.

8. He seemed to have difficulty in preventing himself from breaking into violent invective.

9. Changing the conversation, he began to speak to Cooper about the work that would be required of him, and as the clock struck ten he rose.

10. The air was scented with the sweet-smelling flowers of a tree that grew at the entrance to the arbour, and the fireflies, sparkling dimly, flew with their slow and silvery flight.

Fill in the gaps with appropriate reflexive pronouns.

1. He went into his room where his things were as neatly laid out as if he had an English valet, undressed, and, walking down the stairs to the bath-house, sluiced … with cool water.

2. There is no better way to maintain the proper pride which you should have in ….

3. Mr. Warburton flattered … that he had the best cook.

4. Do you do … like this every day?

5. I eat very little …, but I make a point of having a proper dinner served to me every night.

6. I haven’t got much use for the first-rate sportsman ….

7. Cooper seemed to have difficulty in preventing … from breaking into violent invective.

8. He threw … heavily into a long rattan chair.

9. At the age of twenty-one he had inherited a considerable fortune, a hundred thousand pounds, and when he left Oxford he threw … into the gay life which in those days offered … to the young man of good family.

Reading Comprehension and Discussion Tasks

1. Answer the questions:

1. How did Mr. Warburton look the day the new assistant arrive?

2. Why was he waiting the newcomer with mingled feelings?

3. What did Mr. Warburton do when he was told that the prahu was in sight?

4. How did Cooper’s new quarter look like?

5. Where did Mr. Warburton invite the newcomer in the evening?

6. What was the impression that Allen Cooper gave Mr. Warburton?

7. How did Mr. Warburton and Allen Cooper prepare for the dinner?

8. What were they talking about at dinner?

9. What can you tell about Mr. Warburton’s career?

2. Discuss the following:

1. Do you agree with Mr. Warburton on the idea that clothes can “maintain the proper pride which you should have in yourself”?

2. Give the definition of the word “a snob”. What is your attitude to snobbery?

P. 188-200

Exercises

Pre-reading Tasks

1. Practise the pronunciation of the words from the story. When in doubt refer to the dictionary:

formidable, imbued, condolence, sycophant, virtue, vice, intrigue, dessert, precedence, viscount, knack, devastating, circuit, conceit, oblige.

Vocabulary Tasks

1. Find in the story the English for:

фондова біржа; щиросерда, відверта жертва; його спритні друзі сміялися над ним за його спиною; попасти до рук лихварів (тих, хто позичає гроші за великий процент); скаржитися; шляхетний друг; згубна гра на біржі; шукати засоби до існування; докладна розповідь про його нещастя; я розорений; віддалятися в імлу; залишити позаду себе; проявляти велику увагу до оголошень у Таймс; лист-вітання; лист-співчуття; підлабузник; солдати робили на караул; зроблений без сторонньої допомоги; умілий адміністратор; він захоплювався їхніми чеснотами і мирився з їхніми недоліками; кровожерливий пірат; мати щиру м’якість до кого-небудь; нове покоління дивилося на нього як на набридливого старого; залишатися таким самим; заповіт; елегантний; з гарною поставою; чисто поголене обличчя; з підозрою слідкував за своїм помічником; бути безцеремонним з місцевими жителями; одяг юнака був погано скроєний; бути у доброму настрої; високий стрункий парубок двадцяти років; він любив побалувати себе; склянка портвейну; вечірка у заміському будинку; йому обридло ходити на вечірку за вечіркою; він мучився від увічливого сарказму; розкішний палац; королівська гостинність; зробити широкий жест; його обличчя стало багряним;, одного поля ягоди, люди одного складу; піти в обхід; він був здібним хлопцем; у нього не було ні краплі поблажливості; величезна купа відкритих газет.