VII. PaccMOTJlUTe KapTHHKH u cocTaBbTe no HUM paccKa3.

TAKING THE DOG FOR A WALK

.-...:.... .... ... --

LESSON 22

CAMBRIDGE

M r. P r i e st 1e y: I have just received a letter from Pedro at Cambridge. You will remember he promised to write and I'm sure you will enjoy his letter. Here it is.

KING'S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE.

Dear Mr. Priestley, Frieda, Olaf and Hob,

My coming to Cambridge has been an unusual experience. From whatever country one comes as a student one cannot escape the influence of the Cambridge traditions - and they go back so far! Here, perhaps more than anywhere else, I have felt at one and the same time the Past, the Present and even the Future. It's easy to see in the old grey stone buildings how the Past has moulded the Present and how the Present is giving shape to the Future. So let me tell you a little of what this University town looks like and how it came to be at all.

The story of the University begins, so far as I know, in 1209 when several hundred students and scholars arrived in the little town of Cambridge after having walked 60 miles from Oxford.

These students were all churchmen and had been studying in Oxford at that city's well-known schools. It was a hard life at Oxford for there was constant trouble, even fighting, be­ tween the townsfolk and the students. Then one day a student accidentally killed a man of the towm. The Mayor arrested three other students who were innocent, and by order of King John (who was quarrelling with the Church and knew that the death of three student clergymen would displease it) they were put to death by hanging. In protest, many students moved else­ where, some coming to Cambridge; and so the new University began.

Of course there were no Colleges in those early days and student life was very different from what it is now. Students were of all ages and came from anywhere and everywhere. Those from the same part of the country tended to group them­ selves together and these groups, called "Nations", often fought one another.

The students were armed; some even banded together to rob the people of the countryside. Gradually the idea of the College developed, and in 1284 Peterhouse, the oldest College in Cambridge, was founded.

Life in College was strict; students were forbidden to play games, to sing (except sacred music), to hunt or fish or even to dance. Books were very scarce and all the lessons were in the Latin language which students were supposed to speak even among themselves.

In 1440 King Henry VI founded King's College, and other colleges followed. Erasmus, the great Dutch scholar, was at one of these, Queens' College, from 1511 to 1513, and though he writes that the College beer was "weak and badly made" he also mentions a pleasant custom that unfortunately seems to have ceased.

"The English girls are extremely pretty", Erasmus says, "soft, pleasant, gentle, and charming. When you go anywhere on a visit the girls all kiss you. They kiss you when you arrive. They kiss you when you go away and again when you return".

Many other great men studied at Cambridge, among them Bacon, Milton, Cromwell, Newton, Wordsworth, Byron and Tennyson.

Practical jokes seem always to have been common, and there is an amusing tale of one played on the poet Gray1by the students of Peterhouse College where he lived. Gray was a rather nervous man with a fear of fire, and every night he used to hand a rope-ladder from his window for use in case a fire broke out. One night there was a great noise and shouts of "Fire! Fire!" Dressed only in his nightgown Gray opened his window, climbed into his ladder and slid down as fast as he could -into a barrel of cold water put there by ajoking student! Now let me give you some idea of what you would see if you were to walk around Cambridge. Let us imagine that I am seeing the sights for the first time. It is a quiet market town and the shopping centre for quite a large area, but I notice more bookshops that one normally sees in country towns, and more tailors' shops showing in their windows the black gowns that students must wear, long gowns that hang down to the feet for

graduates and shorter ones for undergraduates.

In the centre of the town is the market-place where several times each week country traders come to sell their produce. Everywhere there are teashops, some in modern and many in old buildings, reached by climbing narrow stairs. The streets are narrow and crowded, and here and there among the modern

1 Thomas Gray (1716-1771). His poem Elegy in a Country Churchyard is one ot the best known in the English language.

shops and offices a quiet opening tempts one away from the rush of the shopping centre. There is a great deal of bicycle traffic, mainly undergraduates who race along thoughtless of safety, with long scarves (in various colours to denote their College) wound round their necks.

Continuing, I find my way to the river which flows behind the College buildings and curls about the town in the shape of a horseshoe. This narrow river (a good jumper could almost leap it) is the Granta, and a little farther on it changes its name to the Cam. It flows slowly and calmly. The "Backs", as this part of the town behind Colleges is called, have been described as the loveliest man-made view in England. It is indeed beau­ tiful. To the left, across the stream, there are no buildings, merely meadows, College gardens and lines of tall trees. Eve­ rything is very green and peaceful. On the river-bank are wil­ low trees1with their branches bending into the water, and at intervals along the river, stone bridges cross the stream and lead into the Colleges which line the right bank. The deep­ coloured brick or stone of the College walls, sometimes red and sometimes grey, is 500 years old. The walls rise out of their own reflection in the water and their colour contrasts charm­ ingly with glimpses of the many green lawns.

Walking along the river-bank, where the only sound is the noise of the gentle wind in the tree-tops, I come to my Col­ lege, King's College. Across a bridge and beyond a vast carpet of green lawn stands King's College Chapel, the largest and most beautiful building in Cambridge and the most perfect example left of English fifteenth-century architecture. (See Fron­ tispiece).

The Colleges join one another along the curve of the river. Going through a College gate one finds one is standing in an almost square space of about 70 yards (the size varies from College to College) known as a "court". Looking down into the court on all sides are the buildings where the students live. The Colleges are built on a plan common to all. There is a chapel, a library and a large dining-hall. One court leads into another and each is made beautiful with lawns or a fountain or charming old stone path. The student gets a good impression of all the English architectural styles of the past 600 years - the bad as well as the good.

 

1 willow tree = a tree that grows near water and whose branches bend down to the water; it is known as the "weeping willow".

There are nineteen Colleges, excluding two for women stu­ dents, which were built near the end of the last century (wo­ men students do not play a very active part in University life at Cambridge, by the way. But they work harder than men and one seldom sees them outside of the classrooms).

It is difficult to walk around the quiet courts of the Colleges without feeling a sense of peace and scholarship. And the sense of peace that green lawns always suggest to me is found in the town too, for often one is surprised to meet open stretches of grass in the midst of the streets and houses giving a charmingly cool countryside effect and reminding one of the more graceful days of the eighteenth century. I'll finish as I began on that note, the feeling one has here of the past in the present, of continuing tradition and firm faith.

Kind regards and best wishes,

Your sincere friend,

PEDRO.

PADOTA C f.JIAl'OJIOM (18): put

The usual meaning of put is "place":

He fell into a barrel of cold water put there byjoking students. But their are a great many idiomatic uses, as for example: "The three students were put to death ".

"You put down a portion of the money". Here are some common usages:

I want toput in (= do) an hour or two's work before dinner. Olaf is going toput in (= apply) for ajob with a business firm. They have put up (= raised) the price of coal again.

We put up (= stayed) at a very good hotel in Paris.

I have put off (= postponed) my holidays until September. Put the light out (off) before you go to bed.

His modesty is all put on (= pretence).

The hotel is not good but we are only staying for two days so we can put up with (=endure) it.

"Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today". (Proverb.)

THE NON-FINITES (1): THE INFINITIVE

(He.J1u1tnb1e f/JopMbt (1): unf/Junumu«)

M r. P r i e s t 1e y: When you look up a verb in the dictio­ nary, the form of it that is given is the infinitive, and when we speak of a verb we generally use this form (with to), e.g. "the

verb to be", "the verb to go ",etc. The infinitive cannot form a predicate by itself but it plays an important part in many sentences. Here are some examples of it in action:

To grow roses one must have good soil. I want to know the answer. You must learn to work hard and to save money. Frie­ da and Jan are to be married soon. She has come here to learn English. You should eat to live, not live to eat. He likes having nothing to do. They gave him something to eat. I was very glad to see you. Richard is sure to be at the party; he will be the first to come and last to go. He helped me to do my work. I asked her to write to me.

The infinitive is also used after know (and one or two other verbs) together with an interrogative word like how, where, what, e.g.

I don't know how to do this exercise.

If you want me you know where tofind me. I don't know what to say.

When the verb know is followed by a simple infinitive it must always have one of these interrogative words after it.

Such a sentence as,

"He KNOWS to drive a car" is WRONG. Change it to:

He knows how to drive a car.

THE NON-FINITES (2): THE "BARE" INFINITIVE

(HeAUltHbte <}JopMbl (2): umpunumu6 oe3 1tacmu14bt to)

In some cases the infinitive is used without to; this form is the "bare" infinitive. The bare infinitive is used with all the "special" verbs except ought and used, e.g.

Henry can speak French. Do you understand this?

I will help you with your work. but: Hob ought to work harder.

H o b: I used to work harder when I didn't know so much as I do now.

M r. P r i e s t 1e y: The bare infinitive is used also after a number of other verbs, e.g.

She saw him take the money. I heard her sing.

The boys wanted to watch the train go out.

Let me have your homework now. That made me laugh.

We have just seen the infinitive used without to, but some­ times to is used without the infinitive, e.g.

I shall go if I want to (go).

Hob never works harder than he needs to (work),

"Will you come and see me?" "I should love to" (come).

H o b: I know a story with a lot of infinitives in it. May I tell it, please?

M r. P r i e s t l e y: Very well, Hob.

Hob's story

My aunt Aggie used to think that she was able to sing; I'm sorry to say her singing was terrible. Well, one day she asked a piano-tuner to come and tune her piano. He went, and when he tried to tune the piano it seemed to be all right. However, he thought he had better do something though he would rather have gone away, so he went over it carefully and made a very good job of it. A few days later Aunt Aggie rang up again to say she didn't think the man had done it properly. The man's employer was very angry, and I need hardly say the piano­ tuner himself was very surprised. However, he went again to the house. Aggie said, "Let me play it"; so he heard her play it. It was perfectly in tune but she made him tune it again. He swore to himself (it was the first time he had ever been heard to swear) but he did the job again. The next day she rang up again and said, "It is easy to see that your man doesn't know his job. The piano seemed to be all right when he was here, but as soon as I begin to play it and sing at the same time, it gets all out of tune".

 

Y nP A >K HE HHSI

I. CJioBapuWI pa6oTa.IlpH,!JJMaii:Te rrpe)VlmKeuus, ucrroJIL3YB cJioBa:

influence (noun and verb; use also influential and infuen­ za-forrnerly believed to be caused by the "influence" of the stars), tradition, mould (verb and noun), innocent (what is the opposite? Use also innocence and its opposite), tend ("they tended to group themselves together"), amusing (use also amuse, amusement), ladder, slide (give the parts of this verb), barrel, display (verb and noun), produce, scarf (write the plural), flow (give the principal parts of this verb and of the verbs fly, flee), meadow, intervals, reflection, contrast (noun and verb; note the difference in stress; what is the difference between contrast and compare?), lawn, scholarship.

11. KaKHe rrpe)Vloru u uapequs coqeTalOTCB co CJie)zyl()m:nMu rnaroJia­ MH?IlpoHJIJI10cTpupyii:Te OTBeT rrpHMepaMu.B ueKOTOpbtx WIX c ma­ roJIOM MOJKeT coqeTaTLCB uecKOJILKO rrpe)VloroB. HarrpuMep:

I agree to your proposal.

I agree with you that we ought to do this. Are we agreed about this matter?

1. account 6. approve 11. borrow

2. accuse 7. ask 12. break

3. aim 8. attend 13. call

4. answer 9. believe 14. care

5. apply 10. blame 15. come

 

16. compare

17. complain

18. consist

19. correspond

20. cut

III. B 3TOM ypoKe Bbl BCTpeTHJIH cJioBa: unusual, unfortunately, d spleased, r.ne npel}:iuKcb1 un- u dis- nMemT 3naqenue «uem'I> UJIH «ua­ npomUB'I>. Bb1 BCTpeTUJiu TalQKe: thoughtless,r.ne cyl}:il}:iuKc -less nMeJI 3naqenue «6e3'1>.

(a) BcrroMHHTe rnecTb cnoB (H ncrroJI1>3yli:Te HX B rrperorn­

)Kemrnx), r,ri;e rrpMMeIDIJicH 61>1 rrpe<l>HKC un-, rnecTb - c rrpe­ cPHKCOM dis- H rneCTb - c cy<l><l>HKCOM -less, r,IJ,e 3TH CJIOBa HMeJIH 61>1 BblIIIerrpHBe,IJ,eHHbie 3HaqeHHH.

(b) EcTb,Il,pyrMe rrpe<l>HKCbl rorn Bblpa)KeHHH HeraTHBHOro

3HaqeHHH rrpHJiaraTeJII>HbIX HJIH Hapequtt HcrroJII>3YH rrpe­ cPHKC1>1, 06pa3yll:Te HeraTHBH1>1e <l>opM1>1: happy, pleasant, attentive, possible, patient, regular, legal, obedient, loyal, responsible. HcrroJI1>3yli:Te 3TH cnoBa B rrpe,IJ,JIO)KeHHHX.

IV. OTBeThTe na Bonpocb1:

1. What does Pedro say is his first impression of Cambridge?

2. Which is the older University, Oxford or Cambridge?

3. How did Cambridge University begin?

4. In the Middle Ages "life in College was strict". Illustrate this statement.

5. Who was Erasmus? What "pleasant custom" at Cambridge does he mention?

6. What was the practical joke played on the poet Gray?

7. Ifyou visited Cambridge how would you know which of the young men there were students?

8. What does Pedro say is "the loveliest man-made view in England"? Describe it briefly as you have imagined it from his description.

9. What is the "common plan" on which the Colleges are built?

10. What does Pedro say of the women students at Cambridge?

V. IIpu.nyMaH:Te npe)J;Jlo)KeHm1 c u.nuoMaMu:

1. put into words. 2. put away. 3. put down to. 4. put down for. 5. put one's foot down.6. put in a fix. 7. put back. 8. put aside. 9. put a stop to. 10. put to death. 11. put forward. 12. put

money on. 13. all put on. 14. put off. 15.put in. 16. put up at.

17. put one in mind of. 18. put into force. 19. put in a word.

20. put in an appearance. 21. put two and two together. 22. put a person up. 23. put out. 24. put up with. 25. put upon. 26. put someone's back up.

VI. Haii,!J,uTe umf>uunTHBhI e paccKa3e Xo6a.

Composition Exercises

1. Pedro has described a walk round Cambridge. Describe a walk round any pleasant town or city that you know.

2. Write an account, mentioning any interesting customs, of a University in your country or of any other University.

3. What do you think ought to be the aim and ideals of a University?

LESSON 23