VI. Search the books you read for sentences with these patterns (1-4) to add up to your student's workbook; practise the best examples in class

TEXT. A FRESHMAN'S EXPERIENCE From "Daddy Long-Legs" by Jean Webster

The book "Daddy Long-Legs" by an American writer Jean Webster (1876-1916) is a novel written in the form of letters. The author of these letters, a young girl, Judy by name, writes them to her guardian, a rich man whom she has never seen.

Judy was brought up in an orphan asylum where her life was hard. The children were wholly dependent on charity. They were badly fed and had to wear other people's cast-off clothes. Judy was a very bright girl and when she finished school, her guardian sent her to college.

Judy feels very happy about it. She hopes to become a writer and pay back the money spent on her education by her guardian. About the latter the girl knows almost nothing: she knows that he is a very tall man. That is why she jokingly calls him Daddy Long-Legs.

This text is one of her letters giving us a glimpse of her early college impressions.

October, 25th

Dear Daddy Long-Legs,

College[38] gets nicer and nicer, I like the girls and the teachers and the classes and the campus[39] and the things to eat. We have ice-cream twice a week and we never have corn-meal mush.

The trouble with college is that you are expected to know such a lot of things you've never learned. It's very embarrassing at times. I made an awful mistake the first day. Somebody mentioned Maurice Maeterlinck,[40] and I asked if she was a freshman.[41] The joke has gone all over college.

Did you ever hear of Michaelangelo? He was a famous artist who lived in Italy in the Middle Ages. Everybody in English Literature seemed to know about him, and the whole class laughed because I thought he was an archangel. He sounds like an archangel, doesn't he?

But now, when the girls talk about the things that I never heard of, I just keep stilland look them up in the encyclopedia. And anyway, I'm just as bright in class as any of the others, and brighter than some of them!

And you know, Daddy, I have a new unbreakable rule: never to study at night, no matter how many written reviews are coming in the morning. Instead, I read just plain books — I have to, you know, because there are eighteen blank years behind me. You wouldn't believe what an abyss of ignorance my mind is; I am just realizing the depths myself.

I never read "David Copperfield", or "Cinderella", or "lvanhoe", or "Alice in Wonderland", or "Robinson Crusoe", or "Jane Eyre". I didn't know that Henry the Eighth was married more than once or that Shelley was a poet. I didn't know that people used to be monkeys, or that George Eliot was a lady. I had never seen a picture of the "Mona Lisa" and (it's true but you won't believe it) I had never heard of Sherlock Holmes.

Now I know all of these things and a lot of others besides, but you can see how much I need to catch up.

November, 15th

Your five gold pieces were a surprise! I'm not used to receiving Christmas presents. Do you want to know what I bought with the money?

1. A silver watch to wear on my wrist and get me to recitations in time.

2. Matthew Arnold's[42] poems.

3. A hot-water bottle.

4. A dictionary of synonyms (to enlarge my vocabulary).

5. (I don't much like to confess this last item, but I will.) A pair of silk stockings.

And now, Daddy, never say I don't tell all!

It was a very low motive, if you must know it, that prompted the silk stockings. Julia Pendleton, a sophomore, comes into my room to do geometry, and she sits crosslegged on the couch and wears silk stockings every night. But just wait — as soon as she gets back from vacation, I shall go in and sit on her couch in my silk stockings. You see the miserable creature that I am — but at least I'm honest; and you knew already, from my asylum record, that I wasn't perfect, didn't you?

But, Daddy, if you'd been dressed in checked ginghams all your life, you'd understand how I feel. And when I started to the high shool, I entered upon another period even worse than the checked ginghams. The poor box.6

You can't know how I feared appearing in school in those miserable poor-box dresses. I was perfectly sure to be put down in class next to the girl who first owned my dress, and she would whisper and giggle and point it out to the others.

To recapitulate (that's the way the English instructor begins every other sentence), I am very much obliged for my presents.

I really believe I've finished. Daddy. I've been writing this letter off and on for two days, and I fear by now you are bored.

But I've been so excited about those new adventures that I must talk to somebody, and you are the only one I know. If my letters bore you, you can always toss them into the waste-basket.

Good-bye, Daddy, I hope that you are feeling as happy as I am.

Yours ever, Judy.

VOCABULARY NOTES

1. bright adj 1. яркий, светлый, е.g. The leaves of the trees are bright green in spring. Polished steel is bright.

2. умный, способный, смышленый, е.g. There are several bright pupils in her class. The boy had a bright face.

3. остроумный, е.g. Everybody was bright and gay at the party.

bright(ly) adv ярко, ясно, живо, остроумно, е.g. She stood in the doorway smiling brightly after him. The fire shines bright.

brighten υi/t проясняться; придавать блеск, делать светлее: улучшать, е.g. The sky is brightening. This wallpaper will brighten our room. What can you do to brighten the life of the sick man?

brightness n яркость, блеск, живость ума

2. plain adj 1. ясный, очевидный, понятный, е.g. The meaning of the word is quite plain, isn't it? I like her plain speech. She spoke plain English.

Syn. clear

2. простой, обыкновенный; гладкий, без рисунка (о тканях), е.g. They like what they call plain food. She looked very pretty in her plain white dress. She bought a plain blue material.

Syn. simple

N о t e: The difference in the meanings of the synonyms plain — clear and plain — simple is so slight that we may often use one instead of the other, е.g. plain (clear) meaning, plain (simple} food, plain (simple) man. Yet, there are some cases when only one of the two synonyms may be used, е.g. to speak plain English; to make a clear statement; to live a simple life; to get a simple task.

3. некрасивый, е.g. He liked her plain, but honest face.

Cf.: ugly некрасивый (безобразный)

3. blank adj пустой, незаполненный, as a blank sheet of paper; a blank page (form, etc.). Also fig., е.g. There was a blank look on her face.

blankly adv, е.g. She looked at me blankly. He sat on the edge of the bed staring blankly before him.

blank n 1. пустое место, пропуск, е.g. Leave a blank after each word. Fill in this blank.; 2. бланк, е.g. She bought two telegraph blanks.

Note: The Russian word пустой has several equivalents in English: 1. пустой (незаполненный) blank sheet (page); 2. пустой (ничего не содержащий) empty room (box, bottle); 3. пустой (поверхностный) shallow person (ideas, interests); 4. пустой (незанятый) vacant room (house, flat).

4. ignorance n невежество; незнание, неведение, е.g. Judy's ignorance made the girls laugh. He did it from (through) ignorance.

ignorant adj невежественный, не знающий, е.g. The boy has never been to school and is quite ignorant. I am ignorant of his plans.

5. prompt υt. 1. побуждать, внушать, е.g. What prompted you to look for him in our town?

2. подсказывать; суфлировать, е.g. She'll prompt you if you forget the words. No prompting, please.

prompt n, е.g. Aren't you ashamed to wait for a prompt?

prompter n суфлер; подсказчик

6. re`cord of 1. записывать, регистрировать, е.g. Не recorded all the events of the day.

2. записывать на пластинку, на пленку, е.g. On the very day of his arrival they recorded his speech.

` record n 1. запись, протокол, отчет; характеристика, сведения, е.g. A careful record was made of all those absent. The boy's school record leaves much to be desired.

2. граммофонная пластинка, е.g. Have you got any records of Bach?

cassette(tape)-recording n звукозапись, е.g. I'd rather make use of cassette-recording to review the material.

cassete (tape)-recorder n магнитофон, е.g. Something has gone wrong with the cassette-recorder, it doesn't work.

7. point υt 1. показывать пальцем, указывать (to), е.g. Не pointed to the monument. The needle of the compass points to the North.

2. направлять, нацелить (at), е.g. The boy pointed a stick at the dog.

to point out smth., е.g. The teacher pointed out our mistakes.

to point out that, е.g. He pointed out that all the college rules should be obeyed.

8. bore υt надоедать, докучать, е.g. Your friend bores me.

to bore to death by smth. до смерти наскучить, е.g. I was bored to death.

bore n скучный, нудный человек, скучное занятие, е.g. I don't want to see him again, he is such a bore.

boring adj скучный, е.g. This is a very boring book.

boredom n скука

9. excite υt 1. возбуждать, волновать, волновать, е.g. The patient is very ill and must not be excited.

to be excited by, е.g. Everybody was excited by the news.

to get excited about (over), е.g. It's nothing to get excited about. Don't get excited over such trifles.

Сf.: There's nothing to worry about. She always worries about little things.

2. вызывать интерес (восхищение и т.д.), е.g. The newcomer excited everybody's interest.

exciting adj возбуждающий, волнующий, захватывающий, е.g. What exciting news you've brought! I could hardly get over that exciting moment. She told such an exciting story.

excited pp взволнованный

excitement n возбуждение, волнение, usu. to cause excitement, е.g. The decision to keep Mother's Day caused great excitement in the family.

excitedly adv, взволнованно

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