Comment on the passage in which the picture-dealer says how he recognizes the real merit of an artist.

Unit VI

Chapters XXV-XXIX

1. Study the following words and word combinations, explain their meaning in English, give the context in which they are used:

1. not to sleep a wink

2. not to stir a finger to do smth

3. on the verge of tears

4. a matter of life and death

5. to bury a face in one’s hands

6. to induce to come

7. to be nothing but skin and bone

8. to be jealous of

9. to make oneself a perfect fool

10. privations

11. to bear no resentment

12. to be worn out

2. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1. Blanche Stroeve had no objection to her husband’s nursing Strickland, but didn’t want to allow Dirk to bring him to their house.

2. Strickland agreed at once to come to Stroeve’s studio and stay there.

3. Blanche proved herself not only a capable, but a devoted nurse.

4. Strickland and Dirk Stroeve both painted in Dirk’s studio.

5. Dirk’s wife left him, because she was in love with Strickland.

6. Dirk was not angry with his wife, he didn’t reproach her.

7. Dirk was grateful for all the happiness his wife gave him in the past, and wasn’t against her decision to stay with Strickland.

8. Strickland was not a man to make a woman happy.

9. The narrator had no sympathy for Blanch Stroeve.

3. Fill in prepositions:

1. Strickland needed the care … loving hands.

2. Blanche Stroeve was … the verge of tears.

3. She sank … a chair and buried her face … her hands.

4. Dirk Stroeve, giving … his work entirely, nursed Strickland … tenderness and sympathy.

5. His clothes hung … him like rags …a scarecrow.

6. Dirk had got it … his head that his his wife cared … Strickland.

7. Dirk told his wife how passionately he loved her, and reminded her … all the devotion he had lavished … her.

8. He went … the drawer which he kept his money and took … several bank-notes.

9. He went … again every word … the scene.

Discussion.

Give the précis of the part. Answer the questions and motivate your answer:

1. What made Blanche consent to Strickland being moved to their house?

2. Do you think Blanche Stroeve was really in love with Strickland?

3. Was Strickland capable of love?

4. Why did Dirk think that Blanche would suffer the most awful privations with Strickland?

5. Was Dirk prepared to take his wife back?

6. Why was the narrator puzzling over the suddenness of the whole affair?

7. Had Dirk expected his wife’s decision to go with Strickland?

8. Why did Dirk wish with all his heart that he had held his tongue?

9. What was Dirk going to do?

10. Did he predict that the connection between Strickland and Blanche would end disastrously?

5. Enact a conversation between:

1. Dirk Stroeve and his wife. (Chapter XXVIII).

2. The narrator and Dirk Stroeve. (Chapter XXIX).

Unit VII

Chapters XXX-XXXIV

1. Study the following words and word combinations, explain their meaning in English, give the context in which they are used:

1. a wakeful night

2. to forsee disaster

3. to resist the temptation of doing smth.

4. averted face

5. the smart of the blow

6. to be at hand

7. a woman of violent passions

8. demure appearance

9. to fly into a temper

10. to make despairing gestures with one’s hands

11. a hint of mockery

2. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

1. Blanche Stroeve was merely bored with her husband and went to Strickland out of a callous curiosity.

2. Strickland was a man without any conception of gratitude.

3. Dirk Stroeve agreed to go to the North of Holland where his parents still lived.

4. Dirk Stroeve wanted to forget his unhappiness, he didn’t want to remain a ridiculous object.

5. When the narrator met Blanche and Strickland in front of the café, he was surprised that she had not changed.

6. Dirk Stroeve was frightened, he knew something was going to happen, but he could do nothing to stop it.

7. The narrator felt a great sympathy for Blanche Stroeve.

8. Dirk made no claim on his wife, and on the recovery would not seek to induce her to return home to him, she would be perfectly free.

9. The doctor let Dirk Stroeve see his wife, because he didn’t look upon the case, as a case and Dirk was the husband anxious to forgive.

3. Fill in prepositions:

1. Blanche had never really cared … her husband, and what the narrator had taken … love was no more than the feminine response to comfort which … minds … most women passes … it.

2. Mrs. Stroeve was … the cruel grip … appetite.

3. Strickland had no tenderness either … himself, or … others.

4. Dirk told his wife that Strickland would soon tire … her.

5. … all his pain, Dirk Stroeve remained a ridiculous object.

6. She must be a woman … complicated character, and there was something dramatic … the contrast … that her demure appearance.

7. Dirk was conscious that his wife regarded him … an indifference so profound that the sight … his handwriting would have not the slightest effect … her.

8. Women are constantly trying to commit suicide … love, but generally they take care not to succeed.

Discussion.

Give the précis of the part. Answer the questions and motivate your answer:

1. Did Blanche Stroeve have a particular feeling for Strickland?

2. Why did the narrator feel that Strickland was at once too great and too small for love? What is love according to the author?

3. Why do you think Blanche tried to avoid Dirk? Do you agree with the author that there was some cruelty in her indifference?

4. Why did Dirk Stroeve have the passion of Romeo in the body of Sir Toby Belch? What did the author mean using an allusion?

5. Why did the author say that Nature had played a cruel practical joke when creating Dirk Stroeve?

6. Why did the author consider Strickland to be a bad winner and a good loser?

7. Why do you think Blanche didn’t read Dirk’s letters? Why did he ask the narrator to write to Blanche?

8. What made the doctor change his attitude towards Dirk?

9. Do you think that Blanche’s suicide was just a natural way out?

5. Enact a conversation between:

1. Dirk Stroeve and the narrator. (Chapter XXXIII).

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 839