Chapter 01 - History and Introduction

I. Choose the correct variant:

1. Superglue is ____ stuff , so _____it will take your skin off if you pull too hard.

a) powerful, b) strong,

c) vigorous, d) drastic.

2. Mr Wormwood didn’t _______ anything when he put the hat on, but when he arrived at the garage he couldn’t get it off.

a) notice, b) feel,

c) see, d) perceive.

3. In an effort to save_____, he adopted a casual attitude hoping that his stuff would think that he actually meant to keep his hat on all day long just for the heck of it, like gangsters do in the films.

a) reputation, b) face,

c) status, d) condition.

4. When the father got home, the mother gave the hat a sharp______.

a) jerk, b) spurt,

c) snatch, d) yank.

5. The father glared at his daughter with deep ______, but said nothing.

a) love, b) suspicion,

c) distrust, d) doubt.

6. Mr Wormwood discovered that the worst thing about having a permanent hat on his head was having to_______ in it.

a) walk, b) work,

c) sleep, d) read.

7. “I expect it will be loose by the morning and it’ll _______ easily”.

a) varnish, b) take off,

c) slip off, d) tear off.

8. The wife asked Mr Wormwood to ________ after he had been tossing and turning for about an hour.

a) calm down, b) stop rowing,

c) stop fussing around, d) pull together.

9. Matilda compared the bits on the father’s forehead with

a) insects, b) dirt,

c) fur, d) skin.

10. Matilda said, “Grown-ups do it too, Mummy. I saw you doing it yesterday in the kitchen”. What did the mother do?

a) cooked, b) read,

c) put her finger up in the nose, d) drew.

II. Mark the statements as True or False. Correct the false statements:

1. The following morning, just before the father left for his beautiful new car garage, Matilda slipped into the cloakroom and got hold of the hat he wore each day to work.

2. Matilda, holding the hat in one hand and a thin tube of paint in the other, proceeded to squeeze a line of paint very neatly all round inside the rim of the hat.

3. Mr Wormwood noticed it at once.

4. Mr Wormwood didn’t want to be scalped so he had to keep the hat on his head whole day long.

5. When he got home that evening he still couldn’t get the hat off.

6. Matilda, nestling in her chair, was reading a book.

7. The father asked Matilda for help.

8. Mr Wormwood was very polite with his wife when she advised him to read the label before using glue.

9. Mr Wormwood looked ridiculous.

10. At last Matilda was punished.

III. Find in the text the words and word-combinations which mean the following (Pay attention to the postpositions used). Reproduce the sentences where they were used:

1. To go somewhere or do something quickly, often so that you are not noticed;

2. Confidently careless and informal;

3. To avoid or help someone avoid seeming stupid or being embarrassed ;

4. To accept a point of view;

5. To pull something forcefully with a quick movement;

6. To become larger and rounder than usual; to (cause to) increase in size or amount;

7. To look directly and continuously at someone or something in an angry way;

8. Bad or very unpleasant;

9. Stupid or unreasonable and deserving to be laughed at;

10. To move slowly or with difficulty, especially (of a person) with the body stretched out along the ground or on hands and knees.

IV. Complete the sentences with the words or phrases used in the text. Change the form of the phrases if necessary:

1. Mary couldn’t ____ the toy, so she asked her elder brother.

2. You'll never _____ a good job if you don’t work hard.

3. Jane was ______ of her son.

4. He decided to tell the truth in order to _________.

5. When Ann entered the room, Walter ______ .

6. She _________ and he realized she wasn’t guilty.

7. The stone so huge, that three men could hardly _____ it.

8. He was so excited that he couldn’t keep from _________ the room.

9. The sleeve was so long that the tailor decided to _____it____.

10. Dan shook himself because snow ______ his clothes.

V. Match the halves to make phrases used in the text. Translate them. Restore the sentences where they were used:

VI. Make up sentences of your own with the phrases from ex.V.

VII. Transcribe, translate the words and reproduce the situations where they were used: Rim, rattle, performance, nasty, flaming, splutter, pork-pie, patch, lice, bald.

VIII. Convert into reported speech:

1. “What’s the matter, Daddy?” she asked. “Has your head suddenly swollen or something?”

2. “I haven’t touched the flaming stuff!” Mr Wormwood shouted.

3. Mrs Wormwood said to him, “You should read the label on the tube before you start messing with dangerous products. Always follow the instructions on the label”.

4. “What in heaven’s name are you talking about, you stupid witch?” Mr Wormwood shouted, clutching the brim of his hat to stop anyone trying to pull it off again. “D’you think I’m so stupid I’d glue this thing to my head on purpose?”

5. “Serve him right”, Mrs Wormwood said. “He shouldn’t have put his finger up there in the first place. It’s a nasty habit.”

6. “That’s quite enough for you”, Mrs Wormwood said, turning pink.

7. “How am I going to have my shower?” he demanded.

8. “Be quiet!” the father snapped. “Just keep your nasty mouth shut, will you!”

9. At breakfast Matilda said to him, “You must try to get those bits off your forehead, Daddy.”

10. Matilda said, “Grown-ups do it too, Mummy. I saw you doing it yesterday in the kitchen”

IX. Answer the questions on the plot of the chapter:

1. What did Matilda do with the father’s hat?

2. Did the father notice anything when he put the hat on?

3. How long had he been wearing the hat?

4. Did he want to get rid of the hat?

5. Who helped him to put off the hat?

6. Why did Matilda tell the story about a boy?

7. What was the mother’s reaction when Matilda said that she had seen her in the kitchen?

8. How did the father feel in the hat?

9. Why did Matilda decide to glue the hat?

10. Was she punished?

X. Give a summary of the chapter.

Chapter 01 - History and Introduction

This New Science of Societies: Sociology

Sociology is a relatively new discipline in comparison to chemistry, math, biology, philosophy and other disciplines that trace back thousands of years. Sociology began as an intellectual/philosophical effort by a French man named Auguste Comte (born 1798 and died 1857). He is considered the founder of sociology and coined "Sociology." Comte's Definition of Sociology is the science of society. In his observation Comte believed that society's knowledge passed through 3 stages which he observed in France. His life came in what he called the positivism stage (science-based). Positivism is the objective and value-free observation, comparison, and experimentation applied to scientific inquiry. Positivism was Comte's way of describing the science needed for sociology to takes its place among the other scientific disciplines.

His core work, "The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte" was translated by a British-born philosopher named Harriet Martineau (1802-1876). She literally clarified Comte's original writing as she condensed it into a concise English language version. This expanded the interest in sociology to include English speakers. Martineau held values that are common today but were way before her time. She opposed oppression, especially of women and Black slaves in the US. Her own work about society which first addressed this, Society In America has been scanned and is free (public domain) to read at http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AfT2MxEbcjQC&dq=Martineau+%22Society+in+America%22&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0 .

Why did thinkers of the day find a need for a new science of sociology? Societies had change in unprecedented ways and had formed a new collective of social complexities that the world had never witnessed before. Western Europe was transformed by the Industrial Revolution, a technological development of knowledge and manufacturing that began in the late 1600s and continued until the early 1900s. The Industrial Revolution transformed society at every level. Look at Table 1 below to see pre and post-Industrial Revolution social patterns and how different they were.

Table 1. Pre-Industrial and Post-Industrial Revolution Social Patterns

© 2005 Ron J. Hammond, Ph.D.

Prior to the Industrial Revolution, families lived on smaller farms and every able member of the family did work to support and sustain the family economy. Towns were small and very similar (homogamy) and families were large (more children=more workers). There was a lower standard of living and because of poor sanitation people died earlier.

After the Industrial Revolution, farm work was replaced by factory work. Men left their homes and became breadwinners earning money to buy many of the goods that used to be made by hand at home (or bartered for by trading one's own homemade goods with another's). Women became the supervisors of home work. Much was still done by families to develop their own home goods while many women and children also went to the factories to work. Cities became larger and more diverse (heterogamy). Families became smaller (less farm work required fewer children). Eventually, standards of living increased and death rates declined.

It is important to note the value of women's work before and after the Industrial Revolution. Hard work was the norm and still is today for most women. Homemaking included much unpaid work. For example, my 93 year old Granny is an example of this. She worked hard her entire life both in a cotton factory and at home raising her children, grand-children, and at times great grand-children. When I was a boy, she taught me how to make lye soap by saving the fat from animals they ate. She'd take a metal bucket and poked holes in the bottom of it. Then she burned twigs and small branches until a pile of ashes built up in the bottom of the bucket. After that she filtered water from the well through the ashes and collected the lye water runoff in a can. She heated the animal fat and mixed it in the lye water from the can. When it cooled, it was cut up and used as lye soap. They'd also take that lye water runoff and soak dried white corn in it. The corn kernel shells would become loose and slip off after being soaked. They'd rinse this and use it for hominy. Or grind it up and make grits from it. We'll talk more about women and work in Chapter 10.

These pre and post-industrial changes impacted all of Western civilization because the Industrial Revolution hit all of these countries about the same way: Western Europe, United States, Canada, and later Japan and Australia. The Industrial Revolution brought some rather severe social conditions which included: deplorable city living conditions; crowding; crime; extensive poverty; inadequate water and sewage; early death, frequent accidents, and high illness rates. The new social problems required a new science that was unique from any scientific disciplines of the day. Comte wanted a strong scientific basis for sociology, but because of various distractions he never quite established it.

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 2175