B. She Has No Licence

“Have you got the licence?” asked the police patrol driver.

“Don’t be funny, officer!” replied the woman-motorist who had just hit a lamp-post. “Who would give me a licence the way I drive?”

20. Test Yourself IV (Psychological Aspect). Read the fragment of a novel “Very Far Away from Anywhere Else” by an American writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Copy out the active words you recognize without a dictionary. Explain their meanings. Could you imagine yourself in the boy’s place? Discuss it with your group-mate.

Owen Thomas Griffiths took a bus because it was raining so hard when he got out of school.

“There was only one seat left. I sat down and tried to get the back of my neck away from my collar, which had gotten wet while I waited at the bus stop and felt like the Icy Hand of Death. And I sat there and felt guilty. About taking the bus.

Guilty about taking the bus. About taking the bus. Listen, the really terrible thing about being young is the triviality.

The reason I felt guilty about taking the bus is this. It was five days since my birthday, right? For my birthday my father had given me a present. A really fantastic present. It was unbelievable. He must have planned it and saved for it for years, literally. He had it there waiting when I got home from school. It was parked in front of the house, but I didn’t even notice it. He kept hinting, but I didn’t get the hints. Finally he had to take me out and show it to me. When He gave me the keys, his face got all twisted up as if he felt like crying with pride and pleasure.

It was a car, of course. I won’t say the brand name because I think there’s enough advertising around already. It was a new car. Clock, radio, all the extras. It took him an hour to show me all the extras.

I had learned to drive, and got my licence in October. It seemed useful, if there was an emergency; and I could do some errands for my mother and get off by myself that way. She had a car, my father had a car, now I had a car. Three people, three cars. Only the thing was, I didn’t want a car.

What did the thing cost? I didn’t ask, but it was at least three thousands dollars.”

(to be continued)

21. Try it. How Words Work…

A. Pronounce the derived words correctly.

Solve the crossword puzzle. (You can find the key in Unit VII).

Across

1) being safe, freedom from danger [6]

4) cylinder–shaped object of metal, wood, etc., part of a machine [6]

5) circular frame which turns on an axle [5]

7) place for luggage at the back of a car [4]

10) circular band (обод) of any kind of material [4]

11) screen of glass in front of a motor vehicle [10]

12) band of rubber on the rim of a wheel [4]

13) way in which something is put together, organized [9]

14) vehicle, especially one with four wheels [8]

16) electrical mechanism in a petrol engine; igniting [8]

19) the part of a machine which turns on a fixed rod [7]

20) transport business done by a railway, etc. [7]

22) quickness of movement [5]

23) process of gaining knowledge [10]

Down

2) material for producing heat or energy, e.g. oil [4]

3) narrow opening through which something is to be put [4]

7) machine that converts energy into power or motion [6]

8) build [9]

9) working parts of a machine collectively [9]

14) the distance between one object and another [9]

15) top covering of a bus, car [4]

17) bodily or mental work [6]

18) specimen [7]

21) the amount that something can hold or contain [8]

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 892