Match the words on the left with the sounds on the right.
- Schoolchildren
- A bad-tempered person or dog
- The bell on a cat’s collar
- A bored child
- A fire
- A churchbell
- A steam train
- A prisoner’s chain
- Someone with asthma
There are more examples of sounds things can make. Read them carefully and
Write in the gaps their Russian equivalents. If uncertain, consult a dictionary. Pay attention to the connotations, if any. Most of them are onomotopaeic words.
1 sack of potatoes falling from a great height
thuds
2 leaves in the breeze
rustle
3 a bomb
bangs
4 wind through the trees
whistles
5 a well-tuned Rolls Royce engine
purrs
6 tyres when one brakes suddenly
screech
7 kettle boiling
hisses
8 a sugar lump dropped into the tea
plops
9 the quiet background sound of a fridge
hum
10 a light being switched on
clicks
13 knives being scraped together
grate
14 rain on the roof
15 a tap that can’t be turned right off
drips
16 lions or a power engine
roar
17 little pigs
squeal
18 mice or the chair leg moving on the floor
squeaks
19 a car going into the wall
crashes
20 the high-pitched sound of a factory machine
whine
People also make different noises both with and without producing words. Read the
Texts below and make sure you understand the words in bold. Consult a dictionary for their Russian equivalents.
A.
I’m awake, lying here moaning, and nothing’s happening at all. Oh, well better start crying properly. Still no reaction. Right, they’ve asked for it. Here we go with a real scream. Ah, now I hear something next door. Must go on sobbing, so they realise it’s serious. Here she comes, muttering to herself. Why is it always her? Never him? Ah, a bottle. Excuse me, it’s difficult to suck a bottle without making sucking noises, you know. Oh, no, I’ve got hiccupsagain.
Sometimes I seem to spend half my day hiccupping. Over the shoulder I go again. Oh dear, a burp. Pardon. Pardon. Back to bed. Ah, I like it when she hums that song to me. Oh dear, we’re both yawning. Time to sleep again. I can hear him snoringnext door.”Not a murmur now,” she says to me, the same as always. There’s no need to sigh like that, you know. You were a baby once.
B.
I’ve never know a boss like him; you hardly ever hear him talking normally. He starts as soon as he comes into the office in the morning. If I’m two minutes late, he starts shoutingat me. And you should hear him on the phone yelling at some poor junior. When he asks you to do something, he just barks – like a fierce dog. And when he finds a mistake in your work, he roars like a lion. When someone asks him a question, he nearly always just grunts, like that. He’ll sit for hours grumbling about the weather, the business, his colleagues, the market. And he will mutter! Half the time you can’t understand a word he’s saying. The worst thing is his dictation. He just mumblesall the way through the letter; I have to guess every other word. Then he bites my head off when I’ve written something he didn’t want. I just start stammering and stuttering, and get out of the room as soon as possible.
C.
You can hear the audience whisperingexcitedly. Some of them are clearing their throats. Could they be nervous? Something’s happening. The audience are clapping; polite applause at the moment. Two of the audience are being invited onto the stage. The rest of them are cheering and calling out things. Now something is happening on stage; you could hear a pin drop. The two members of the audience are doing exactly what they are told and the chairs they are sitting on are beginning to rise into the air. The audience are gasping. Oh dear, what’s happened? They’ve suddenly fallen to the ground and look most upset. The audience are booing loudly. It hasn’t worked. Now they’re whistling. The whistling has changed to hissing,but there’s nobody on stage except the two members of the audience. Now they are chanting that they want their money back. The manager’s coming out on stage. Listen to them groaning.
D.
It started on Momday. I really wasn’t well at all. I was sniffingall day. On Tuesday I hardly stopped blowing my nose and sneezing. By Wednesday I had a pretty bad cough. I tried gargling with salt water but it didn’t seem to do much good. If I had to go upstairs, I’d reach the top stair panting like a thirsty dog, and I’d still be wheezing five or ten minutes later. Bu Friday I’d lost my voice almost completely. I was croaking like a frog all day at the office.
E.
Lady Thackeray-Smithe laughed politely. Her husband was chuckling minutes afterwards. A class of schoolgirls giggled. A class of schoolboys sniggered. An American TV audience shrieked and howled with laughter. Lady Thackeray-Smithe’s maid tittered. Billy Bloggs laughed like a drain.
