IX. Make up dialogues

Suggested situations:

A. Two friends are discussing different ways of spending their holidays. They both want to travel, but one of them is an enthusiast ready for anything and the other is a cautious and a sceptical person. (Use the following: there is nothing like travel by air/by sea, etc., it is more convenient to...; there is none of the...; speed, comfort and pleasure com­bined; there is no travel so fine as by...; the rise and fall of the waves; coming in to the harbour, that's all right for those that like it; when the sea is rough; hitch-hiking; it's risky, isn't it! I prefer to be on the safe side; I'd rather stay at home.)

B. A person who has just returned from a foreign cruise is answering the questions of an eager listener. (Use the follow­ing: a most exciting experience; I really envy you; do tell me all about it, where did you sail from? what were your ports of colli go ashore; go sightseeing; what was the place that im­pressed you most! I didn't think much of...; the journey was tiring; but you did enjoy it, didn't you!)

C. An old lady is talking to a porter at the railway plat­form. She keeps forgetting the name of the place she is go­ing to and does not quite know how many pieces of luggage she has. (Use the following: will you see to my luggage? where for, madam? it just slipped my memory, it's a sort of resort place; would you like me to have these trunks put in the luggage-van? where on earth is that suitcase? it will nev­er go on the luggage-rack; I must have a seat facing the en­gine; dear me, I'm sure to miss the train; is it a through train? I hate to change; when are we due to arrive?)

X. а) Translate the following fragment into Russian inwritten form:

When your ship leaves Honolulu they hang 'leis' round your neck, garlands of sweet-smelling flowers. The wharf is crowded and the band plays a melting Hawaiian tune. The people on board throw coloured streamers to those standing below, and the side of the ship is gay with the thin lines of paper, red and green and yellow and blue. When the ship moves slowly away the streamers break softly, and it is like the breaking of human ties. Men and women are joined to­gether for a moment, by a gaily coloured strip of paper, red and blue and green and yellow, and then life separates them and the paper is sundered, so easily, with a little sharp snap. For an hour the fragments trail down the hull and then they blow away. The flowers of your garlands fade and their scent is oppressive. You throw them overboard.

(From "The Trembling of a Leaf" by W. S. Maugham)

b) Compare the seeing-off ceremony described in the fragment with the one you read about in the story "Seeing People Off".

c) Comment on the second part of the fragment beginning with the wordg "...it is like the breaking of human ties". What does the description symbolize? Comment on the stylistic aspect of the fragment.

XI. a) Read the text below and translate it into Russian orally:

A Sea Trip

"No", said Harris, "if you want rest and change, you can't beat a sea trip."

I objected to the sea trip strongly. A sea trip does you good when you are going to have a couple of months of it, but, for a week, it is wicked.

You start on Monday with the idea that you are going to enjoy yourself. You wave an airy adieu to the boys on shore, light your biggest pipe and swagger about the deck as if you were Captain Cook, Sir Francis Drake, and Christopher Co­lumbus all rolled into one. On Tuesday you wish you hadn't come. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, you wish you were dead. On Saturday you are able to swallow a little beef tea, and to sit up on deck, and answer with a wan, sweet smile when kind-hearted people ask you how you feel now. On Sunday, you begin to walk about again, and take solid food. And on Monday morning, as, with your bag and um­brella in your hand, you stand by the gangway, waiting to step ashore, you begin to thoroughly like it.

I remember my brother-in-law going for a short sea trip once for the benefit of his health. He took a return berth from London to Liverpool; and when he got to Liverpool, the only thing he was anxious about was to sell that return ticket.

It was offered round the town at a tremendous reduction; so I am told; and was eventually sold for eighteen pence to a youth who had just been advised by his medical man to go to the seaside, and take exercise.

"Seaside!" said my brother-in-law, pressing the ticket af­fectionately into his hand; "why, you'll get enough to last you a lifetime; and as for exercise! why, you'll get more ex­ercise, sitting down on that ship, than you would turning somersaults on dry land.

He himself — my brother-in-law — came back by train. He said the North-Western Railway was healthy enough for him. (From "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome. Adapted)

b) Answer the following questions:

1. What made the narrator object to the sea trip? 2. Why did his brother-in-law sell his return ticket? 3. How did he describe the advantages of a sea trip to the youth who bought his ticket?

c) Point out the Hues and passages that you consider humorous. Is it humour of situation or humour of words! (Analyse each case separately.)

XII. Speak individually or arrange a discussion on the following:

1. What attracts people in the idea of travelling?

2. Is the romantic aspect of travelling still alive in our time?

3. The celebrated travellers of the past.

4. Where and how would you like to travel?

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