Whom do you invite to dinner party?

 

You are having the most remarkable dinner party in history! By suspending time (making the past and present the same time) you are able to invite 10 people who are living, or who are dead, to your party. Which 10 people will you choose?

 

Consider

1. It is unnecessary that the guests be «important», you can choose someone who is interesting for other reasons.

2. Perhaps you might want to establish a theme for the evening; one group of guests might like to have fun; another group might like to discuss interesting philosophical questions.

3. Here is a list of possible quests:

 

Giacomo Casanova	John Lennon	Madonna
Lady Murasaki	Napoleon	Socrates
Moses	Cleopatra	Julius Caesar
Pélé	Golda Meir	Nicolai Lenin
Albert Einstein	Mao Tse-tung	Marco Polo
Mohammed	Maradona	Karl Marx
Stevie Wonder	William Shakespeare	Gandhi
Jesus	Adolf Hitler	Pablo Picasso
Sigmund Freud	Leonardo da Vinci	Ludwig van Beethoven
Confucius	Michelangelo	Johann Sebastian Bach
Marquis de Sade	Sylvester Stallone	Moammar Gaddafi
Aristotle	Mikhail Gorbachev	Lady Diana
Adam	Anwar Sadat	Martina Navratilova
Eve	Buddha	Yassir Arafat
Fidel Castro	Walt Disney	Alexander the Great
Khomeini	Madame Curie	Julio Iglesias

 

Decide and write:

 

Model: Dinner guest 1____________________________________

Reason invited:__________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 2:__________________________________________

Reason invited:__________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 3:__________________________________________

Reason invited:__________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 4:__________________________________________

Reason invited:__________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 5:__________________________________________

Reason invited___________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 6:__________________________________________

Reason invited__________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 7:__________________________________________

Reason invited___________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 8:__________________________________________

Reason invited___________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 9:__________________________________________

Reason invited___________________________________________

_______________________________________________________

Dinner guest 10:_________________________________________

Reason invited___________________________________________

Discuss

Verbally compare your decisions with those classmates in your discussion group.

Explain and defend your opinions. Listen carefully to your classmate’s opinions, but do not be afraid to disagree with those opinions. Try to reach a group consensus on the best solution to the problem. One person in the group should write down the group’s decision.

 

Extend

1. Women are generally thought to be better conversationalists than men. Why might this be so?

2. Do you prefer people who talk a lot or people who rarely speak? Explain.

3. In your country, what do people enjoy talking about? When and where do such conversations take place?

4. Do you agree that «Conversation is the spice of life»? What does this mean?

5. Imagine that you invited two famous people to your home for dinner last night. Write a two-page dialogue revealing the conversation that took place.

Plan the Perfect «Core» College Curriculum.

The professors of your university are very upset by recent studies showing that the average graduate from your school is less competent than the average graduate of 20 years ago. As a result, the professors have insisted that the entire educational approach be changed. Instead of students taking only elective courses, they must take three years (144 units) of «core» (basic) courses. Only during their senior year they may take electives (non-required courses chosen by a student) in their major (student’s main field of interest).

According to the professors, «the core courses must be designed to give the student a broad background in the general humanities and sciences with the result that the student possesses analytical skills and written and verbal activity necessary to be a leader in society.

 

Consider

Each course in four units. You may require a student to take more than four units (or no units) in the following subjects:

 

anthropology	economics	philosophy
art	engineering	physical education
astronomy	foreign languages	physics
biology	geography	political science
botany	geology	psychology
business administration	history	religion
chemistry	journalism	sociology
composition	linguistics	speech
computers	literature	statistics
dance	mathematics	zoology
drama	music

 

The core plan (144 units; 12 courses – 48 units per year)

 

	I. Freshman Year
Fall Quarter	Winter Quarter	Spring Quarter
1._____________	1.______________	1._____________
2._____________	2.______________	2._____________
3._____________	3.______________	3._____________
4._____________	4.______________	4._____________
	II. Sophomore Year
Fall Quarter	Winter Quarter	Spring Quarter
1._____________	1.______________	1._____________
2._____________	2.______________	2._____________
3._____________	3.______________	3._____________
4._____________	4.______________	4._____________
	III. Junior Year
Fall Quarter	Winter Quarter	Spring Quarter
1._____________	1.______________	1._____________
2._____________	2.______________	2._____________
3._____________	3.______________	3._____________
4._____________	4.______________	4._____________

 

Discuss

Verbally compare your decision with those of the classmates in your discussion group.

Explain and defend your opinions. Listen carefully to your classmate’s opinions, but do not be afraid to disagree with those opinions. Try to reach a group consensus on the best solution to the problem. One person on the group should write down the group’s decision.

 

Extend

1. When is the best time to choose a major – before university studies? Or at some point during studies (what point)?

2. Is it a god idea for every student to study the same basic subjects before choosing a major?

3. In some countries, such as Japan, there is little relationship between what a student major in and her ultimate job after graduation. What do you think of this system?

4. Rate the following subjects in order of importance to students (1 = most important, 8 = least important):

 

___psychology	___native language	___philosophy
___biology	___art	___mathematics
	___foreign languages

American idioms

«People the world over who are studying English as a second language do not find it easy to use idiomatic expressions fluently. Even those well trained in English are often puzzled by the idiomatic structure of the language. And if they steer clear of idiomatic usage, their speech and writing tend to become formal and stilted.» (1, P. 4).

Use these exercises to become familiar with the idioms. You may want to refer to the definitions and examples at the end of this chapter while you do them.

 

Exercise 1. Read the following dialogues

 

Pizza

 

Bob: What’s for dinner?

Ben: Let’s get a pizza.

Bob: We just had one yesterday. We can’t eat pizza day in and day out.

Ben: We don’t eat pizza all the time. We’ve only had two so far this week.

Bob: Look, eating a pizza every now and then, maybe once a month or two, is OK. But it’s not good for our health if we eat it all the time. In the long run, we’ll be healthier when we’re old if we stop eating so many pizzas now.

Ben: Are you suggesting that we stop eating pizza forever? Can you really quit eating pizza for good? No more tomato sauce, cheese, pepperoni for the rest of your life?

Bob: Uh... I don’t think I said that, exactly. But since we’ve already had two this week, for the time being we shouldn’t have another one. That’s all I meant. We’ll just wait a little bit.

Ben: Hot, spicy sauce...melted mozzarella cheese...crispy crust...

Bob: Stop it. You’re making me hungry...OK, OK. Let’s go.

Ben: Really?

Bob: Yes. But immediately. We’ll have to go right away, before I reconsider.

 

That Terrible Bus

 

Kathy: Sam, you are really late. You’ve been late three times this week.

Sam: I know. But it’s not my fault.

Kathy: Why aren’t you on time this morning?

Sam: It’s my bus. I missed it. I think the bus arrived ahead of time. I thought I was 5 minutes early.

Kathy: From now on, you should leave your house in time to catch your bus.

Sam: Yeah, I know. You’re right.

Kathy: It might even be nice if you arrived early off and on. Maybe not every day, but you should get to work on time occasionally.

 

Sam: I know that. I don’t try to be late.

Kathy: I know that, but I heard that in time, after you get more experience, you’re expected to take a lot of responsibility in this company. Decisions on promotions are just around the corner, maybe even next month. I just want you to get a good recommendation.

Sam: So do I. But every so often, I wonder whether I’ll ever be promoted.

Kathy: Sure you will. But maybe you should buy a car, just to be sure.

Sam: I’m not so sure that I want a car. It’s really a problem finding a place to park day in and day out.

Kathy: That’s true. So far this week, I’ve only been able to park my car by the stadium. That’s a pretty long walk every morning and afternoon.

Sam: Yeah, but it isn’t only that. Parking a car is a lot more expensive than riding a bus. In the long run, I’m probably going to save enough money to buy a house.

Kathy: Ha, ha. I’m not sure about that. Well, maybe a small one.

Sam: No, I mean it. The more I think about it, the smarter it seems to continue taking the bus for good. It will always be a better deal than a car.

Kathy: Well, maybe it seems like a good idea for the time being, but you’re going to have to think about your professional future too. If you continue to come to work late, you’ll wish you’d gotten a car right away instead of waiting.

 

Exercise 2.

 

Improve your ability to use the idioms in conversation with a couple of your classmates by acting out one or more of the roleplays below:

 

1.( 2-3 friends)

 

Both/All of you have different ideas about time. One of you is always late; the second is always very early (the third is always exactly on time). These different ideas always cause trouble when you are having parties or meeting to go out. Tonight is the «last straw». Everybody arrived at the "wrong" time to go to dinner and nobody is happy.

This might be the end of the friendship!

 

Argue about this situation using the following idioms:

 

so far	ahead of time	from now on
on time	for good	in time
every now and then	once in a while	day in and day out

 

2.( a teacher and a student)

 

There was a big test today. You missed the test because your car broke down on the highway. You must now convince the teacher that you tried to come to the test but couldn’t. You want the teacher to allow you to take the test now. The teacher is not very willing to give you another chance at first.

 

Discuss this situation using the following idioms:

 

ahead of time	from now on	in time
so far	for the time being	for good
	once in a while