1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
1) to fit the gesture to the word
2) three times running
3) to put smb at one’s ease
4) to take a weight off one’s mind
5) to be as thin as a rail
6) to break out of a brown study
7) to play to capacity
8) to feel a little larger than life-size
9) bricks without straw
10) a repertory theatre
11) to let somebody down
12) not to sleep a wink
13) to brass tacks
14) before you can say knife
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. What do we get to know about the main characters (Michael Gosselyn, Julia Lambert) from Chapter I (appearance, features of character, etc.).
5. Describe in detail:
- Michael’s office
- Michael and Julia’s house
- Lunch in their house
- Julia’s manner of speaking aloud and to herself
Make your conclusions about their wealth, taste, features of character, etc.
6. Read and translate the passage on pp. 14-15 from “She gave him…” to “… a melting look in her fine eyes”.
7. Speak about the young man. How is his shyness described by the author? Trace the change in Julia’s attitude towards the young accountant. Comment upon it
8. Speak about the beginning of Michael’s and Julia’s careers. Compare their stories of becoming an actor/actress.
9. Comment upon:
1) “Nemo me impune lacessit” (p.4)
2) “Don’t be natural… The stage isn’t the place for that. The stage is make-believe. But seem natural” (p.18)
3) “Actors are rotten, not parts” (p.24)
10. Speak about Jimmie Langton. Give your idea of an ideal stage-manager.
11. Dramatize the dialogue between Julia and Jimmie Langton (pp.23-27).
Lesson II. Chapters 3-5 (pp. 27-53)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
1) to be a great hit
2) to pursue somebody relentlessly
3) to play one’s cards well
4) to put by
5) to take one’s courage in both hands
6) to make a nuisance of oneself
7) to be a millstone round one’s neck
8) to be at a loose end
9) to take stock of somebody
10) to be head over ears in love with somebody
11) to have one’s feet on the ladder
12) not a patch on somebody
13) to be as vain as a peacock
14) to sell a pup
15) to be a flop
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. Speak about Michael’s attitude to:
- his beauty
- money
- love-affairs
- marriage
5. Speak about Julia’s love to Michael. How is it described? How did she express her feelings?
6. Compare:
- Julia’s and Michael’s feelings to each other
- their parents
- their attitude to the social background
- their behaviour in the story with the American manager
7. Describe in detail:
- Michael’s parents
- their house
- their attitude to Julia (and the way it changes)
- the scene of Michael’s proposal to Julia
8. Appreciate Julia’s tactics of winning Michael over. What did she do for it? Give your idea of winning over the person you like greatly.
9. Do you consider Julia and Michael an ideal couple? Give your idea of an ideal couple.
10. Read and translate the passage on pp. 44-45 from “He felt sure that …” to “… to see the tenderness in his eyes”.
11. Comment upon:
1) “One’s got to be one’s own master. That’s the only way to make a packet” (p.29)
2) “Neither a borrower nor a lender be” (p.34)
3) “These women… If you try to go to bed with them they say you’re a dirty old man, and if you don’t they say you’re a rotten old eunuch” (p.50)
12. What was “a very clever little trick” that Jimmie had pulled off? What do we learn about Jimmie Langton’s treatment of women? What can you say about his being a gentleman? What is your attitude to such men?
Lesson III. Chapters 6-7 (pp. 53-66)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
- to kick one’s heels
- to get even with smb
- to make a stab at
- a tight-wad
- to fall back on smth
- to set a seal on smb
- to pull strings
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. Read and translate the passage on p. 59 from “The first years of their marriage…” to “… she were merely making herself ridiculous”.
5. Speak about:
- Jimmie’s attitude to Julia
- the reasons of Michael’s return (real reasons and those he gives to Julia)
- Julia and Michael’s meeting in Liverpool and their feelings to each other
- the way Julia comforts Michael after his arrival from the USA
6. Comment upon:
- Julia playing “a high-born damsel” and her sudden desire to keep her virginity
- Julia’s critical description of herself; try and give a similar description of yourself.
7. Describe Julia and Michael’s first years of marriage. Why is Julia jealous? What infuriates her?
8. Comment upon:
1) “It’s so humiliating to have to beg for love” (p.60)
2) “By God, it’s grand to be one’s own mistress” (p.64)
9. What does Michael think of love? How would you characterize his ability to love?
10. Speak about Julia’s and Michael’s life during the war. Prove that the author is ironic describing Michael’s hardships in G.H.Q.
11. When and why does Julia fall out of love with Michael? Why does it often happen in life? Do you agree that love is “a mortal sickness”? Give your ideas.
Lesson IV. Chapters 8-9 (pp. 66-82)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
- to stick out for smth
- to come to rescue
- to get round smb
- to cross one’s mind
- to leave smb out in the cold
- to brim over with smth
- as clever as a bagful of monkeys
- to lay (it) on with a trowel
- devil-may-care
- to take the rough with the smooth
- into the bargain
- to take smb down a peg or two
- to have a shot at smth
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. Read and translate the passage on pp. 75-76 from “Julia was surprised…” to “… the extreme of lavishness”.
5. Describe Michael’s life after the war. How did the war change him as a person and as an actor?
6. Describe Mrs. de Vries and her relations with Julia and Michael.
7. ““I wish to goodness you’d express yourself so that a fellow can understand”. Julia did” (p.70). Explain the situation and comment upon it. Does this situation trouble Michael much? And Julia?
8. Comment upon:
1) “You couldn’t hide a thing from that woman” (p.70)
2) “Vous l’avez voulu, Georges Dandin” (p.72)
3) “Because her love had died she felt that life had cheated her” (p.82)
9. Speak about:
- Michael and Julia’s sexual relations
- Michael’s attitude to his marriage and his wife
- Julia’s pity for Michael and the reasons why she continued to flatter him
- their separate budget and your attitude to it
10. Analyze Michael’s combination of thrift and the devil-may-care spirit of his parts. Is it easier for an actor/actress to play a part of a character whose habits are typical for him/her or absolutely different?
11. Prove that Michael was a good manager and director. Prove that “his conceit was outrageous”.
12. Why did Michael sacrifice himself for Julia’s sake?
13. How did Michael’s attitude to his beauty change? Why did his beauty become an obsession?
14. Describe Michael from the point of view of:
- Julia
- a member of his company
- one of his servants
Task V. Chapters 10-11 (pp. 83-107)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
1) to clean up
2) to ring up the curtain
3) to be apt to do smth
4) knocked all of a heap
5) to keep in touch with smb
6) to pass for smb
7) to laugh at smb up one’s sleeve
8) to have scruples
9) to queer the pitch for smb
10) to have the cheek to do smth
11) to break away
12) to be taken aback
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. Read and translate the passage on pp. 88-89 from “At the bottom of her heart…” to “… how much she really spent on them”.
5. Speak about Evie. Was she a proper maid for Julia from the point of view of Julia, that of Evie herself and that of Michael?
6. Comment upon:
4) “When you start thinking of the past it means you ain’t got no future, don’t you?” (p.83)
5) “Plain living and high thinking” (p.86)
6) “She was about to step from the world of make-believe into the world of reality” (p.88)
7) “What a hell of a nuisance it is that one can’t go anywhere without people staring at one” (p.99)
7. Describe in details:
- Julia’s ordinary day (her routine affairs)
- Julia’s keeping to a diet
- Julia’s plans for the future
- Julia’s attitude to her fans
- Julia’s “world of reality”
8. Speak about:
3) Julia’s attitude to “great ladies and the noble lords”. How did she have “the best of both worlds”?
4) Lord Charles Tamerly, his attitude to Julia, the rumours about him and Julia. Is it the lot of all actors/actresses?
5) Julia’s attitude to Lord Tamerly’s love; her preparations for the scene of his confession; “the disgraceful thing” that she did and her real feelings after it.
9. Prove that Julia skillfully made profit on her relations with Charles. Prove that she has a double nature. Can you appreciate Charles’s platonic love to a predator-woman.
10. Why did Julia agree to meet the young man if she felt he was treating her like a chorus girl?
11. What did his flat remind her of?
12. Speak about Tom Fenell. Analyse his combination of impudence and shyness. “Still waters run deep”. Is it about Tom? Analyse his behaviour during “the tea party” and Julia’s reaction. How did this incident influence Julia?
Task VI. Chapters 12-13 (pp. 107-124)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
1) to put smb off
2) to set oneself
3) to be prudish
4) to go hot and cold all over
5) to blackmail
6) to go a little weak at the knees
7) to pop in and out
8) a figment of one’s fancy
9) to shine like a new pin
10) to pawn
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. Speak about Julia’s adventure which happened to her 8 years ago:
- Describe the place and the circumstances;
- Describe the Spaniard, his behaviour, his manners. What attracted Julia to him?
- Appreciate his methods of seducing;
- Comment upon Julia’s contradictory behaviour;
- Do you believe that this situation was a mere “coincidence” or “a put-up job”?
- Comment upon Julia’s afterthoughts and fears;
- Comment upon their final meeting and Julia’s attitude to this adventure some years later;
- What is your attitude to such men and such adventures?
5. Read, translate and comment on the passage on pp. 118-119 from “There was no part of her busy life…” to “… verses of Verlaine”. Speak about your favourite part of the day.
6. Comment upon:
1) “One never knew what one of the conductors could not manage for a tip”. (p.109)
2) “Oh, well, in for a penny, in for a pound”. (p.113)
3) “It was always best to tell as much of the truth as you could”. (p.115)
4) “…Julia thought how disgusting men were. You simply couldn’t trust them for a minute…” (p.116)
7. Speak about Julia’s intentions toward Mr. Fennell. Why did she completely change them?
8. Comment upon Tom’s behaviour and Julia’s thoughts during their meeting in Julia’s dressing-room.
9. Speak about their date in a restaurant:
- Julia’s feelings and preparations;
- Tom’s attitude to “grand people”.
10. Compare Julia’s and Tom’s feelings to each other. Can we speak of “love” in this case? What is your attitude to such affairs?
11. Find some information about these famous people: Madame de Pampadour, Louis XV, Ludwig de Bavaria, Alfred de Musset, Francis I, Sarah Bernhardt, Duse, Madame Récamier.
Task VII. Chapter 14 (pp. 124-154)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
1) to stand smb a supper
2) to make much fuss of smb
3) to have one’s head screwed on his shoulders the right way
4) to set one’s face against smth
5) to click
6) to be head and shoulders above smb
7) to insinuate oneself into a part
8) to make a claim on smb
9) a chatterbox
10) to cook one’s goose
11) to cross one’s t’s
12) to put on frills
13) to get smb on the raw
14) to rack one’s brains about smth
3. Give the summary of the chapter.
4. Speak about Julia’s love for Tom (her presents to him; Why did it thrill her? What else did she do to bind him? Was it a real love?)
5. Describe Tom (his snobbery; What attracted women to Tom? Why was he with Julia? Michael’s attitude to Tom).
6. Speak about Roger (his relations with his parents, especially with his mother; Can you say that there was mutual understanding between Roger and his mother? How did Julia treat her son? What was her attitude to her child?)
7. Speak on the relations between Tom and Roger. Compare Julia’s and Michael’s attitudes to the friendship of the young men. Suppose Roger guessed that there was smth between his mother and Tom, what would his reaction be?
8. Prove that Tom’s indifference hurt Julia. Trace the change of her attitude to him. Comment on the discrepancy between her thoughts and actions.
9. Read and translate the passage on p. 140 from “It always surprised her when people…” to “…and that was the substance”.
10. What are Julia’s thoughts about men of genius and of herself as an actress? What is celebrity for her?
11. Speak about Julia’s jealousy. Comment upon her talk with Charles. How did she get even with Tom and her son? What was “the last straw” for Julia? “The outraged woman never forgives”. Do you agree with it?
12. Comment upon:
1) “It was strangely flattering…tumbled on to a bed”. (p.126)
2) “What he’s got, of course, is sex appeal”. (p.126)
3) “People don’t want reasons to do what they’d like to… they want excuses”. (p.131)
4) “A woman attracts men by her charm and holds them by their vices”. (p.145)
5) “But when she got into the theatre she felt that she shook off the obsession of him like a bad dream from which one awoke…” (p.149)
Task VIII. Chapters 15-17 (pp. 154-179)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
1) (not) to be all milk and honey
2) a kept-boy
3) to call it a day
4) to get back on smb
5) to make a song and dance about smth
6) not to care two hoots for smb
7) to be wrapped up in smb
8) to wheedle smb into doing smth / to wheedle smth out of smb
9) to give smb away
10) a pip-squeak
11) to chatter (speak in undertones)
12) a little bird (told smb)
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. Speak about Tom’s reaction to Julia’s “condescending letter and the humiliating present”. How does such behaviour characterize him? Had Julia expected such a reaction? What did Julia do to make Tom change his mind? Comment on her playing “the embodiment of all the woe of the humankind”. What effect did it produce on Tom? Why was Julia happy to get him back if she had “a feeling of ever so slight contempt” for Tom?
5. Read, translate and comment on the passage on pp. 162-163 from “His voice was broken…” to “… looked at one another with fond eyes”.
6. Speak about the means Julia used to hold Tom. What were her plans about his and her future? Did the disparity in their ages trouble Julia? and Tom?
7. Speak about “the moment’s disquietude” she had on this point. Comment upon Tom’s behaviour in this situation and Julia’s determination not to spare herself.
8. Speak about the gossips about Julia and Tom. Why did it never occur to Julia that people began gossiping about her? What was Dolly’s reaction to these gossips? Why did she decide to tell Michael about them?
9. Speak about Dolly’s attitude to Michael and Michael’s attitude to Dolly. How did Michael defend his wife and approve of her behaviour in their conversation?
10. Compare Michael’s and Dolly’s attitudes to T.Fennell. Why didn’t Dolly tell Michael the truth about her suspicions? Comment upon the end of their conversation.
11. Speak about Michael’s “joke” and Tom’s and Julia’s reactions to it. What were Julia’s intentions concerning: - Dolly (her interior monologue; her plans “to be sweetness itself”); - Michael; - Charles; - Tom.
12. Comment upon:
1) “…she was really distracted with grief, but, what was it? Another self within her knew what she was doing, a self that shared in her unhappiness and yet watched its expression” (p.162).
2) “All the same, what mugs men are”. (p.163)
3) “Men were creatures of habit; that gave women such a hold on them”. (p.165)
4) “Only a woman knows what a woman can do”. (p.171)
5) “Bed’s all very well in its way, but there are other things in life”. (p.172)
6) “Acting’s a whole time job and if you want to be really good you’ve got to give your whole self to it”. (p.172)
7) “Men were such fools; there wasn’t one of them who wouldn’t cut off his nose to spite his face”. (p.178)
13. Give the definitions of the following words:
- sublimation - aplomb
Find some information about Freud’s theory of sublimation.
Task IX. Chapters 18-20 (pp. 179-200)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
1) to get into mischief
2) to eat out of smb’s hand
3) to tax smb with smth
4) to chuck smb
5) to toss up
6) to get in (into) a state
7) to go on the binge
8) in the twinkling of an eye
9) to be scared out of one’s wits
10) if a day
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. Analyse Julia’s and Dolly’s behaviour during their confidential talk. Comment upon Julia’s “solemn word of honour”. Which of Dolly’s remarks were somewhat a shock to Julia? How did it change her attitude to Tom?
5. Read, translate and comment on the passage on pp. 185-186 from “The strange thing was that…” to “… that galled her”.
6. Speak about Roger and Julia’s talk about his lost virginity and Julia’s reaction to it. What do we learn about:
- Julia’s attitude to her son;
- Julia’s attitude to love;
- Roger’s attitude to love and sex.
What is your attitude to love without sex and sex without love?
7. What is Julia’s attitude to Tom’s perfidies? Why couldn’t she break with him? Where did she find strength to put up with it?
8. Speak about Tom’s success among Julia’s friends of the high society and Julia’s attitude to it.
9. Speak about Julia’s talk with Joan Denver. Why did the author devote more than half a chapter to this talk?
10. What do we learn about Avice Crichton?
11. Comment upon:
1) “No one expected an actress to be a pattern of propriety”. (p.185)
2) “I don’t think it’s so much really. I don’t see it’s anything to make all that fuss about”. (p.188)
3) “…they mean pain and anguish, shame, ecstasy, heaven and hell; they mean the sense of living more intensely, and unutterable boredom; they mean freedom and slavery; they mean peace and unrest”. (p.189)
4) “I suppose it’s better to be a fool and know it than a fool and not know it”. (p.190)
5) “Don’t pause unless it’s necessary, but then pause as long as you can”. (p.198)
Task X. Chapters 21-22 (pp. 200-224)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
1) to have a look-see
2) to beat nineteen to the dozen
3) not for toffee
4) hard as nails
5) to get one’s teeth into smth
6) to beat about the bush
7) to be in a hole
8) to give smb the air
9) to put one’s foot down
10) to turn the tables on smb
11) to love smb to distraction
12) to make a clean breast of smth
13) if you lose on the swings you’ll get back on the roundabouts
14) (to be) quite another pair of shoes
15) cannot hold a candle to smb
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. Read, translate and comment on the passage on pp. 213-214 from “She spent a wretched day…” to “… at her feet of clay”.
5. Analyse Tom’s agitation and Julia’s behaviour before their going to the theatre to see Avice Crichton. Why did Julia agree to go to Avice’s dressing-room? Comment upon Julia’s “intolerably sweet” manner in the conversation with Avice. How did Tom behave during this conversation?
6. Speak about “the decisive moment” after their return home. What was torturing Tom? What awakened his conscience? How did Julia manage to drag the truth out of Tom? What were her real feelings during this conversation? Why did she behave this way? Why didn’t she show him her real feelings?
7. What were Tom’s feelings after leaving Julia? was he satisfied with her decision?
8. What were Julia’s thoughts about Avice Crichton? Do you agree with Julia? Why did Julia decide to give Avice a part in their new play?
9. What did Julia feel and do after her rupture with Tom? What did she realize while talking to him over the phone?
10. What were the results of her sufferings? Prove that the theatre was the only refuge for Julia. Why did nobody but Michael notice Julia’s “lousy performance”? Comment upon the conversation between Michael and Julia, how did it change her attitude to Michael?
11. Comment upon:
1) “If I hadn’t been a fool I’d have said nothing. I ought to know him by now. It’s only an infatuation. He’d have got over it and then he’d have come hungrily back to me”. (p.213)
2) “In ordinary life she tried to stifle a passion that she knew very well was ridiculous, a love that was unworthy of the woman she was, and she steeled herself to think as little as possible of the wretched boy who had wrought such havoc with her; but when she came to this scene she felt herself go”. (p.219)
3) “Why, what I don’t know about acting isn’t worth knowing”. (p.221)
4) “The public are a lot of jackasses. If you yell and scream and throw yourself about you’ll always get a lot of damned fools to shout themselves silly”. (p.221)
5) “It was all very fine to have a broken heart, but if it was going to interfere with her acting … no, no, no. That was quite another pair of shoes. Her acting was more important than any love affair in the world”. (p.222)
Task XI. Chapters 23-24 (pp. 224-247)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Give the summary of the chapters.
3. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in:
1) to make up for smth
2) to lay oneself out
3) to pay a call
4) to be at smb’s beck and call
5) to adhere to smth
6) to take a cue
7) to appal
8) to bluff, a bluff
9) to stagger smb
10) to cod smb
11) to go down
4. Read, translate and comment on the passage on pp. 229-230 from “They put Julia in the same room…” to “… by the end of the week”.
5. Speak about the role of theatre in Julia’s life and her changed feelings.
6. Where and why did Julia decide to go to have a rest? Speak about her departure. Find instances of the author’s irony.
7. Describe: Julia’s mother and aunt; their way of life; relations with Julia; how they treated her; their attitude to her profession and celebrity.
8. Speak about Julia’s stay at St.Malo: her everyday affairs, meditations, thoughts, the letters that she received. What did she realize during these weeks? What was she going to do after her return?
9. When and why did she decide to return? Describe her feelings and state of mind on arriving in Paris.
10. Speak about her preparations for her date with Charles. Comment upon her letter and some symbolic details.
11. Describe and appreciate Julia’s methods of seducing Charles and his behaviour throughout the whole evening. Why didn’t she manage to achieve her aims? How did she get out of the embarrassing situation?
12. Find all the similes in Ch. 24 and comment upon them.
13. Speak about Julia’s afterthoughts, feelings and explanations of Charles’s behaviour. Why did she decide to send him “a huge bunch of white lilies”?
14. Comment upon:
1) “They had achieved the aloofness from the common ties of men that Julia felt in herself when she stood at the footlights bowing to the applause of an enthusiastic audience…” (p.233).
2) “Strange world we live in… Actors do their damnedest to look like gentlemen and gentlemen do all they can to look like actors” (p.238).
3) “Love is the only thing that matters” (p.241).
4) “The tragedy of life is that sometimes we get what we want” (p.242).
15. “The bitterness of life is not death, the bitterness of life is that love dies” (p.245).
Task XII. Chapters 25-26 (pp. 247-263)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapters.
2. Give the summary of the chapters.
3. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in, give your sentences with them:
1) to doll up
2) to catch smb’s eye
3) to pay on the nail
4) to jostle
5) a weight off one’s mind
6) to jump out of one’s skin
7) to play up
4. What is the reason for Julia’s conversation with Evie? Find the traces of irony in this conversation. What can you tell about their attitude to each other judging by the talk? (p.248)
5. Describe Julia’s walk in the street. Is the author ironic? Prove it. (p.250).
6. Trace the change of Julia’s manner since the beginning till the end of her conversation with the man in the Edgware Road (pp.252-255). How does it characterize her? What is your attitude to famous people feeling superior to the rest of the world?
7. Dramatize the dialogue between Julia and the man in the Edgware Road from “I wonder if he’ll ask…” (p.252) to “… the rest of her life” (p.255).
8. Read and translate the passage on pp. 256-257 from “She began to think…” to “It made her feel much better”.
9. What is Julia’s way to cope with stress? What is yours?
10. Write out the set expressions, which are new to you, from Chapter 26. Paraphrase them in English, make up and act out with a partner a dialogue using all of the phrases.
11. Why does the author describe the play in details? (pp.258-260) Trace the parallels between Julia’s life and the play.
12. Why does Michael agree to follow Julia’s advice concerning Avice? (p.263).
13. Comment upon:
8) “What do people come to see an actress for? Because they want to go to bed with her” (p.256).
9) “Tom meant nothing for Julia any more, but she had a score to settle with Avice and she wasn’t going to forget it” (p.258).
Lesson XIII. Chapter 27-28 (pp. 286-300)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapter.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in, give your sentences with them:
- to knock about
- to draw smb out
- a wee bit
- to live in smb’s pocket
- to have a knack of (for) doing smth
- to hanker for
- to dote on smb
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. Read, translate and comment on the passage on pp. 282-283 from “She went in and sat down…” to “… inclined to laugh”.
5. Speak on the following items:
- What subject does Julia discuss with Roger? (p. 264) How does she manage to draw him out?
- What scene impressed Roger when he was 14? What was his behaviour during the play?
- What does Roger think of acting?
- Why do Roger’s words give Julia an eerie sensation? Why does she have a feeling of guilt?
- What is Roger’s attitude to his father?
- Do you think Roger has a right to reproach his parents? Why is he so strict with them? Give your grounds.
- How does Julia explain Roger the message of art?
- Does Roger know about the relations between Tom and his mother?
- Why does Julia make up her mind to talk to Charles?
6. What can you say about Julia’s perception of love judging by her words at the very end of Chapter 28?
Task XIV. Chapter 29 (pp. 286-300)
1. Read, copy out the new words, be ready to translate and discuss the chapter.
2. Explain the meanings of the following expressions, memorize them, reproduce the situations they are used in, give your sentences with them:
1) to castigate
2) to have got one’s knife into smb.
3) to fathom
4) to bungle smth
5) to wipe the floor with smb
6) all and sundry
7) to feel on the top of the world
8) to feel like a million dollars
9) to settle a score with smb
10) to put a spoke in smb’s wheel
11) to heart-whole
12) that’s ample
3. Give the summary of the chapters.
4. Read, translate and comment on the passage on pp. 299-300 from “What nonsense that was…” to “… like a spirit in heaven”.
5. Prove that the play was a great hit with the public. Describe Julia’s feelings after the play. Was she satisfied with the results achieved?
6. Describe in detail how Julia killed Avice’s acting. How did Michael appreciate and explain her behaviour?
7. Appreciate the way Julia persuaded the author that the scene was brilliant.
8. Speak about:
- Tom’s reaction to the play, to Julia’s acting and Avice’s failure;
- Julia’s behaviour with Tom, with Dolly, with Evie;
- her intentions concerning Tom, Dolly’s party;
- the way she was going to spend that evening.
Why didn’t she want “to share the moment of joy with anyone”?
9. Why did she want to be unrecognized? Describe her disguise.
10. What did she order in the restaurant? Why did she decide “to throw prudence to the winds”?
11. Speak about Julia’s meditations during the supper:
- relationship with Tom, Michael, the audience, Charles;
- “Phèdre” by Racine; art; love; the great actresses and their playwrights.
12. Comment upon the very last phrases of the book. Why has the author chosen such a finale?
13. Define the following words: sardonic, odiousness.
14. Comment upon:
1) “Praise is always grateful to the artist” (p.288);
2) “She had a sudden desire to see nobody and be seen by nobody. She wanted just for one hour to be obscure” (p.294).
3) “They said women were vain, they were modest violets in comparison with men” (p.296).
4) “It gave one a grand feeling of confidence to be heart-whole” (p.296).
5) “What is love beside steak and onions?” (p.297).
15. “It shows art and all that isn’t really waste of time” (p.299).