Formulating Ideas

Exercise 2.5. Read the following passages from The Clinic by J. Kellerman. Formulate the idea of each passage the way you see it, giving the suggestive phrases:

Example:

A laughing couple of students darted across the street, holding hands, wrapped up in each other. Milo had to brake hard. They kept going, unaware.

"Ah, love," I said.

"Or too many years on Walkmans and video games." /Kellerman The Clinic /

The idea conveyed in the passage is that the development of science and technology has made young people less concerned about their security, and, consequently, more exposed to danger.

One of the interlocutors explains the couple's carelessness while crossing the street by their spending "too many years on Walkmans and video games", which means that teenagers are used to listening to their Walkmans in the street and to being oblivious of what goes on around them; "video games" also contribute to danger neglecting, in the speaker's opinion, because they presuppose multiple life choice and several lives of the character, as well as energy and sometimes even life restoration during the game.

1. A microdress girl brought out two beers anyway and we drank them

2. "Professor Devane?" she said in a husky voice. "It sure took a long time." Her hands tightened around the handlebars of her bicycle.

3. I made coffee and toast and ate without tasting, thinking of the crowd at the women's clinic last night.

4. I used a pay phone in the lobby and called the number. Locking liquid voice said, "No one home. Speak or forget it." Hanging up I left the building. Then I used a library phone and gave Casey Locking's home another try. Same tape.

5. I made a call to the L.A. Medi-Cal office, was referred to an 800 number in Sacramento, put on hold for ten minutes, and cut off. Trying again, I endured another hold, got through, and was transferred to another 800 number, more holds, two shell-shocked sounding clerks, and finally someone coherent.

6. The office was big, walled in oak veneer and carpeted in beige shag. They were both positioned behind the canoe-shaped blond oak desk. A cigar smell filled the room but no ashtrays were in sight.

7. "I'm Mr. Storm's attorney of record. I handle all his business affairs." Bateman said. Junior rolled his eyes. His father tapped his sleeve with an index finger.

8. His father quickly turned to Milo: "Are you happy now, detective? Have you squeezed enough blood out of the rock? Why don't you just leave us alone and go out and catch some gang members?"

9. I was stretched on a sofa rereading the transcripts. Spike [his dog] had chosen to stay with me. Now his big head rested in my lap and he snored. Just as I put the transcripts down, the phone rang. Spike snapped upright, bounded off, and ran to the offending machine, baying.

10. The label was a work of art. I'd steamed off an old one for penicillin, whited out all the specifics but left the pharmacy's name and address and the RX, DATE, and PRESCRIBING PHYSICIAN blanks. Photocopied it, typed in the new information, put some glue on the back, stuck it back on the vial. Pretty good job, though I wasn't ready for 20-dollar bills.

Checking Your Progress:

Exercise 2.6. Using your acquired skills, formulate the ideas of the given passages and explain how you did it:

1. The center of the house was one-sixty foot stretch of dark-paneled space, filled with groupings of green and brown couches, ceramic lamps, heavy, carved tables full of souvenir-shop porcelain and crystal. Clown paintings and Rodeo Drive oils of rainy Paris street scenes said all talent should not be encouraged. /Jonathan Kellerman The Clinic /

2. The Judge smiled with great assurance and waved at the chair in the witness box. Stella shot wild looks in all directions as she sat down. /John Grisham The Runaway Jury /

3. Her eyes watered, and the poor woman was about to lose control. She bit her lip and clenched her teeth. /John Grisham The Runaway Jury /

4. It was good to get back out in the sunlight. Pretending the warmth could melt the bitterness I'd absorbed up in his office. /Jonathan Kellerman The Clinic /

5. Mrs. Gladys Card and Millie were trying their best to disappear into the walls and would not under any circumstances look the Judge in the eyes. /John Grisham The Runaway Jury /

6. Later, they sat in the sand, at the edge of the water, splashing in the foam as the gentle waves broke across their feet. A few boats with dim lights inched along the horizon. The hotels and condos stood quiet behind them. They owned the beach for the moment. /John Grisham The Runaway Jury /

7. All humanity drank from the same river of emotion; and by drinking, every race, religion, and nationality became one indivisible species. /Dean Koontz The Key to Midnight /

8. I walked halfway down the block to the club, bent over against the whistling wind, holding my hat on my head with one gloved hand. /Stephen King The Breathing Method / (from Different Seasons by Stephen King/

9. I was struck by his diction – a slow methodical rhythm with no hurry and each syllable getting equal treatment. He as a street bum at the moment, but there had been better days. /John Grisham Street Lawyer /

10. Taking the risk that her hands might shake, and her guardian notice it, but determined on her next course anyway, very deliberately Bobbie opened her chic leather handbag and took out a cigarette which she fitted slowly, oh so slowly, into a holder, lit and inhaled. /Charlotte Bingham The Blue Note /

REVISION