The Browns' dining-room

In the dining-room we have our meals: breakfast in the morning, lunch in the middle of the day, tea in the afternoon, and supper or dinner in the evening.

Here you see Mr. and Mrs. Thompson who've just arrived from abroad and are having dinner with the Browns. The host, Mr. Brown, is sitting at the head of the table, and the hostess, Mrs. Brown, is at the other end. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are sitting on either side, facing each other.

The dining-room table is covered with a white cloth. Mrs. Brown has laid the table in the usual way, and has put the right number of knives, forks, spoons and glasses for each person. There's also pepper and salt, oil and vinegar, and mustard. On the left of each person is a table-napkin and a plate with a roll on it. In front of the host there's a carving-knife and fork.

On the sideboard the Browns usually have a bowl of fruit: apples, pears, plums, cherries, grapes, oranges or bananas, according to the season. The mistress of the house has just served the soup. After this there'll be fish, meat or poultry with vegetables, then a sweet, and perhaps cheese and biscuits to finish with.

15. Mark the stresses and tunes. It is not expected that each member of the group will mark the text in exactly the same way. Practise reading your corrected variant:

The flat is not large but it is comfortable. In it there are two rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, a lavatory and a small hall.

The sitting-room is through the door on the left. There is a piano in it. There is a picture on the wall over the piano. It is a still-life. In the picture there is a silver tea-pot, a silver dish with three oranges in it, and a vase of red roses. The picture is by a famous woman artist. The sofa is by the wall opposite the door. It is of a rich red colour. There is a small round table in front of the sofa. There are two modern armchairs on both sides of the large window. On the window there are curtains of a very pretty colour. There is not a sideboard in this room, but there is one in the kitchen.

The bedroom is not large. It is square. The walls are light pink. There is a silvery grey carpet on the floor. The effect is very fine. There are two beds here with bedside tables beside them. In the right-hand corner near the window there is a dressing table with a large looking-glass and a round stool in front of it. There are not many things in the rooms.

16.*** This exercise is meant to develop your ability to hear and reproduce intonation in proper speech situations. a) Listen to the dialogue sentence by sentence. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise the dialogue. b) Record the dialogue and listen to your recording to detect the possible errors. Memorize the dialogue and dramatize it:

Afternoon tea

"Good afternoon, Mrs. White, how are you?"

"Very well indeed, thank you, and how are you? "

"Quite well, thank you. Won't you sit down. Excuse me, please. I think that's my niece at the door."

"Hallo, Betty, dear! I'm so glad to see you. You do look well. I don't think you've met each other before. Let me introduce you. This is my niece, Miss Smith. Mrs. White, Mr. White."

"How do you do."

"How do you do."

"And now let's have some tea. How do you like your tea, Mrs. White, strong or weak?"

"Not too strong, please, and one lump of sugar. I like my tea rather sweet, but my husband prefers his without sugar."

"Well, what's the news, Mr. White? How's business?"

"Pretty good, thank you. And how are things with you?"

"Well, not too good, I'm afraid, and going from bad to worse. In fact, it's the worst year we've had for a long time."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I hope things will soon improve."

"Yes, let's hope for the best. And how's your nephew Richard getting on?"

"Oh, he's getting on quite well, thank you. He's staying in the country just now with his Uncle William and his cousins."

"How long is he going to stay there?"

"I don't know exactly, but he's having a very pleasant time and it's doing him a lot of good, so the longer he stays, the better."

c) Give a conversational context in which the following phrases could be used:

1. Hello, Betty, dear! I'm so glad to meet you. 2. How do you do. 3. How are you? 4. Quite well, thank you. 5. Pretty good, thank you. 6. Excuse me, please. 7. I'm so glad to see you. 8. Oh, he's getting on quite well, thank you. 9. Not too good, I'm afraid. 10. Well, what's the news, (Tom)? 11. How are things (with you)? 12. No more, thank you. 13. I'm sorry to hear that.

17.*** Read the dialogues. Mark the stresses and tunes. It is not expected that each member of the group will intone the dialogues in exactly the same way. Practise reading your corrected variant:

"Hello, John, I'm so glad you've come. How are you?"

"Quite well, thank you. How are you?"

"Very well indeed, thank you. Have you met Mr. and Mrs. Black? They are staying with us for the week-end."

"Oh, yes, we know each other quite well."

"That's good. And now this is Mary with the tea, I think. Yes, it is. Thank you, Mary. John, you can pass the tea round. Do you have sugar in your tea, Mrs. Black?"

"Just a little, please, but no milk."

"Any sugar for you, Mr. Black?"

"Yes, please, I like a lot of sugar."

"Most of men do, I think. My husband likes his tea very sweet."

"And what will you have with it, a sandwich, or one of these cakes?"

"A sandwich, please."

* * *

"How is your mother, Mrs. Black? I hear she's not been very well."

"No, she hasn't, but she's much better now. She's staying with my brother for a few days and then she's coming to stay with us."

"I'm glad to hear she's getting better."

18. Make up a conversation with the phrases from the dialogue "Afternoon Tea".

This exercise is meant to develop your ability to read and narrate a story with proper intonation. a) Listen to the joke. Write it down. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise reading the joke. b) Listen carefully to the narration of the joke. Observe the peculiarities in intonation-group division, pitch, stress and tempo. Note the use of the temporisers. Retell the joke according to the model you have listened to.

20. Read the joke silently to make sure you understand each sentence. Find the most important sentence in the text. Underline the main word in each sentence. Split up each sentence into intonation-groups, mark the stresses and tunes. Practise reading the joke. Make your reading expressive. Retell the joke according to the model (see Ex. 19):

Two Americans were travelling in Spain. Once they came into a little restaurant for lunch. They didn't know Spanish and the waiter didn't know English. In order to make him understand they wanted some milk and sandwiches they drew a cow. The waiter looked at it and ran out of the restaurant. Soon he was back and put down in front of the two men two tickets for a bullfight.

Section Seven

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