2. Practise the pronunciation of the words from the story. When in doubt refer to the transcription below.

Latin Quarter, restaurant, senator, menu, reassure, salmon, caviare, digestion, champagne, giant, asparagus, drama, Balkans, stomach, thoroughly, inadequate, revenge, weigh.

I'laetm 'kwaital |'restoro:r)] ['sensto] ['menju] [rb'JUol ['saeman] f'kaevia:] [di'd3estjbn] [faem'pein] f'dsaisnt] [ss'paeragas] ['drarms] fboilksnz) ('stAmsk] ['9лгэ1т ] [I'naedikwit] jn'vends] [wei]

^ Vocabulary and Grammar Tasks

1. Find in the story the English for:

заметать кого-либо, рядом с чем-либо, как летит время!, сводить концы с концами, справиться с чем-либо, быть пораженным, разуверять, великодушно, в меню, пере­гружать (желудок), пищеварение, сердце упало, ничего не иметь против, у меня слюнки текли, не могу позволить

себе, ничуть, занимать у кого-либо, мне было все равно, перекусить, счет, чаевые, следовать чьему-либо примеру, отомстить, весить.

2. Fill each gap with a word or word combination from the box in an appropriate form.

c

i

ouldn’t afford to water on the menu digestion a tip time flies to overload to have one’s revenge

Q Английский клуб 3

THE MAN WITH THE SCAR 5

Exercises 7

THE LUNCHEON 13

A FRIEND IN NEED 32

LOUISE 42

Exercises 48

HOME 55

Exercises 59

THE END OF THE FLIGHT 66

Exercises 71

THE VERGER 80

Exercises 86

THE BUM 90

THE WASH-TUB 103

Exercises 110

Принятые сокращения 116

А 116

В 117

с 118

D 120

E 121

F 121

н 123

I 124

J 125

К 125

L 125

N 126

О 127

Р 127

Q 129

R 129

S 130

T 132

U 133

V 134

W 134

СЛОВАРЬ ГЕОГРАФИЧЕСКИХ НАЗВАНИЙ 135

1. But I . Today she weighs twenty-one stone.

3. Replace the italicized words and word combinations with a synonym from the box in an appropriate form.

to be startled to borrow from to manage well enough beside wouldn’t mind to keep body and soul together it was all the same to me

1. I went over during the interval and sat down next to her.

2. I was earning barely enough money to make both ends meet.

3. I thought if I cut out coffee for the next two weeks I could do welt enough.

4. I was struck when the menu was brought.

5. My guest sighed, “If you insist 1 won’t object to having some asparagus.”

6. It would be terrible to be obliged to take money from my guest if I didn’t have enough to pay for the bill.

7. It made no difference to me now, so I ordered coffee for myself and an ice-cream and coffee for her.

A Which of the verb tenses in the sentences below is used to describe:

1. an action that happened before another past action?

2. an action in progress (going on) around a particular past moment?

3. a completed action connected with the present?

4. a single past action?

1. I’ve just had a snack and I shall enjoy a peach.

2. She ate the caviare and she ate the salmon.

3. It was twenty years ago and I was living in Paris.

4. Foyot’s was so far beyond my means that I had never even thought of going there.

В Use the verbs in brackets in an appropriate tense (active or

passive).

3. I my revenge at last. Today she weighs twenty-

one stone, (to have)

3. When I out of the restaurant I had the whole

month before me and not a penny in my pocket, (to walk)

A Decide why the italicized nouns are used with a, the or 0.

1. а) I never eat anything for luncheon.

b) A modest luncheon would not cost more than fifteen.

2. a) It was early in the year for salmon.

b) They had a beautiful salmon, it was the first they had. She ate the salmon.

3. a) I ordered coffee for myself and an ice-cream and coffee

for her.

2. “You know, there’s one thing 1 thoroughly believe in,” she said as she ate the ice-cream.

3. While we were waiting for the coffee, the head waiter came up to us.

В Use the proper article.

1. You asked me to luncheon.

2. She asked me if I would give her little luncheon at

Foyot’s.

3. If I cut out coffee for the next two weeks 1 could

manage well enough.

4. 1 knew I could not afford caviare.

5. I see that you are in the habit of eating heavy

luncheon.

6. I never drink anything for luncheon except

white wine.

7. I never eat asparagus.

8. We waited for asparagus to be cooked.

Reading Comprehension and Discussion Tasks Answer the following questions:

1. Where did the author catch sight of the woman? Why

22

wouldn’t he have recognized her if somebody hadn’t mentioned her name?

2. Did he remember where he had first met her? Where was he living at that time? How much was he earning?

3. Why did she write to him? Where would she like him to give her a little luncheon? Why had he never thought of going to Foyot’s?

4. Why did he agree to meet her at Foyot’s?

5. What did she look like? What was unusual about her appearance?

6. Why was the author prepared to be an attentive listener?

7. Why was he startled when the menu was brought? How did she reassure him?

8. What did she repeatedly say throughout the luncheon?

9. What did she order first? Why did his heart sink?

10. What did he order for himself? What did she say about his choice?

11. What was she going to drink?

12. What did she talk about while she ate the salmon and the caviare?

13. Why did she say she wanted to have asparagus? Why did the author say he never ate asparagus?

14. Why did panic seize him? What did he decide to do if he didn’t have enough money to pay the bill?

15. What terrible thing happened while they were waiting for the coffee?

16. What did she say she believed in?

17. Could he pay the bill? Why did he know she thought him mean?

18. Why did she say he was a humourist? Was he?

19. Has he had his revenge at last? What sort of revenge is it?

20. Act out the scene of the luncheon.

21. Act out an inner monologue of the author during the luncheon.

Discuss the following:

1. Make guesses about the woman’s background.

2. Why do you think she wrote to the author? Do you think many people send letters to writers? Could you write to a writer? What writer could you Send a letter to and what would you write about?

3. Why do you think she asked him to give her a luncheon at Foyot’s? Why did she order the most expensive things? Why did she repeatedly say she never ate anything for luncheon? Did she really mean it or was it a trick?

4. “She gave me the impression of having more teeth, white and large and even, than there were necessary for any practical purpose”. Why do you think the author pays special attention to the description of the woman’s teeth?

5. What do you think is the author’s attitude to the reading public: good-humoured, ruthless, ironical or sceptical?

6. Does S. Maugham, in your opinion, try to convey any message in the story or does he only try to amuse the reader? How did you find the story?

A FRIEND IN NEED¹

For thirty years now I have been studying my fellow-men. I do not know very much about them. I suppose it is on the face that for the most part we judge² the persons we meet. We draw our conclusions from the shape of the jaw, the look in the eyes, the shape of the mouth. I shrug my shoulders when people tell me that their first impressions of a person are always right. For my own part³ I find that the longer 1 know people the more they puzzle me: my oldest friends are just those of whom I can say that 1 don’t know anything about them.

These thoughts have occurred to me because I read in this morning’s paper that Edward Hyde Burton had died at Kobe. He was a merchant and he had been in Japan for many years. I knew him very little, but he interested me because once he gave me a great surprise. If I had not heard the story from his own lips I should never have believed¹ that he was capable of such an action. It was the more startling because both his appearance and his manner gave the impression of a very different man. He was a tiny little fellow, very slender, with white hair, a red face much wrinkled, and blue eyes. 1 suppose he was about sixty when I knew him. He was always neatly and quietly dressed in accordance with his age and station.

Though his offices were in Kobe Burton often came down to Yokohama. I happened on one occasion to be spending² a few days there, waiting for a ship, and I was introduced to him at the British Club. We played bridge together. He played a good game and a generous one.³ He did not talk very much, either then or later when we were having drinks, but what he said was sensible. He had a quiet, dry humour. He seemed to be popular⁴ at the club and afterwards, when he had gone, they described him as one of the best. It happened that we were both staying at the Grand Hotel and next day he asked me to dine with him. I met his wife, fat, elderly and smiling, and his two daughters. It was evidently a united and loving family. I think the chief thing that struck me about Burton was his kindliness. There was something very pleasing in his mild blue eyes. His voice was gentle; you could not imagine that he could raise it in anger;' his smile was kind. Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellows. He had charm. But there was nothing sentimental about him: he liked his game of cards and his cocktail, he could tell a good and spicy story, and in his youth he had been something of an athlete.⁵ He was a rich man and he had made every penny himself. I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so small and frail; he aroused your instincts of protection. You felt that he would not hurt a fly.

One afternoon I was sitting in the lounge of the Grand Hotel. From the windows you had an excellent view of the harbour with its crowded traffic. There were great liners; merchant ships of all nations, junks and boats sailing in and out. It was a busy scene and yet, I do not know why, restful to the spirit.

Burton came into the lounge presently and caught sight of me. He seated himself in the chair next to mine.

“What do you say to a little drink?”

He clapped his hands for a boy and ordered two drinks. As the boy brought them a man passed along the street outside and seeing me waved his hand.

“Do you know Turner?” said Burton as I nodded a greeting.

“I’ve met him at the club. I’m told he’s a remittance man.”

“Yes, I believe he is. We have a good many here.”

“He plays bridge well.”

“They generally do. There was a fellow here last year, a namesake of mine, who was the best bridge player I ever met. I suppose you never came across him in London. Lenny Burton he called himself.”

“No. I don’t believe I remember the name.”¹

“He was quite a remarkable player. He seemed to have an instinct about the cards.² It was uncanny. I used to play with him a lot. He was in Kobe for some time.”

Burton sipped his gin.

“It’s rather a funny story,” he said. “He wasn’t a bad chap.

1. liked him. He was always well-dressed and he was handsome in a way, with curly hair and pink-and-white cheeks. Women thought a lot of him.³ There was no harm in him, you know, he was only wild. Of course he drank too much. Fellows like him always do. A bit of money used to come in for him once a quarter and he made a bit more by card-playing. He won a good deal of mine, 1 know that.”

Burton gave a kindly little chuckle.

“1 suppose that is why he came to me when he went broke,⁴ that and the fact that he was a namesake of mine. He came to see me in my office one day and asked me for a job. I was rather surprised. He told me that there was no more money coming from home and he wanted to work. I asked him how old he was.

“‘Thirty five,’ he said.

“‘And what have you been doing before?’ I asked him.

‘“Well, nothing very much,¹’ he said.

“I couldn’t help laughing.

“‘I’m afraid I can’t do anything for you just now,’ 1 said. ‘Come back and see me in another thirty-five years, and I’ll see what I can do.’

“He didn’t move. He went rather pale. He hesitated for a moment and then he told me that he had had bad luck at cards for some time. He hadn’t a penny. He’d pawned everything he had. He couldn’t pay his hotel bill and they wouldn’t give him any more credit.² He was down and out.³ If he couldn’t get a job he’d have to commit suicide.

“I looked at him for a bit. I could see now that he was all to

%

pieces.⁴ He’d been drinking more than usual and he looked fifty.

‘“Well, isn’t there anything you can do except play cards?’ I asked him.

“4 can swim,’ he said.

‘“Swim!’

“I could hardly believe my ears; it seemed such a silly answer.

‘“I swam for my university.’

‘“I was a pretty good swimmer myself when I was a young man,’ 1 said.

“Suddenly I had an idea.

Pausing in his story, Burton turned to me.

“Do you know Kobe?” he asked.

“No,” I said, “1 passed through it once, but I only spent a night there.”

“Then you don’t know the Shioya Club. When I was a young man I swam from there round the beacon and landed at the creek of Tarumi. It’s over three miles and it’s rather difficult on account of⁵ the currents round the beacon. Well, I told my young namesake about it and I said to him that if he’d do it I’d give him a job.

“I could see he was rather taken aback.⁶

‘“You say you’re a swimmer,’ I said.

“‘I’m not in very good condition,’ he answered.

“I didn’t say anything. I shrugged my shoulders. He looked at me for a moment and then he nodded.

“‘All right,’ he said. ‘When do you want me to do it?’

“I looked at my watch. It was just after ten.

“‘The swim shouldn’t take you much over an hour and a quarter. I’ll drive round to the creek at half-past twelve and meet you. I’ll take you back to the club to dress and then we’ll have lunch together.’

“‘Done,’¹ he said.

“We shook hands. I wished him good luck and he left me. I had a lot of work to do that morning and I only just managed² to get to the creek at half past twelve. I waited for him there, but in vain.”

“Did he get frightened at the last moment?” I asked.

‘“No, he didn’t. He started swimming. But of course he’d ruined his health by drink. The currents round the beacon were more than he could manage.³ We didn’t get the body for about three days.”

1. didn’t say anything for a moment or two. I was a little shocked. Then I asked Burton a question.

“When you offered him the job, did you know that he’d be drowned?⁴’

He gave a little mild chuckle and he looked at me with those kind blue eyes of his. He rubbed his chin with his hand.

“Well, 1 hadn’t got a vacancy in my office at the moment.”

Exercises

ffl Pre-reading Tasks

\ _N