The Boarding House

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 394.

James Joyce

J. Joyce (1882-1941) – an Irish novelist and short-story writer who is considered to be the founder of English modernism in forms and ideas. He was born and educated in Dublin. At the university he distinguished himself academically and he considered the vocation of a priest. But later he preferred an artistic career. He wrote some lyric poems, later collected in Chamber Music (1907). His works, such as Dubliners (a collection of 15 stories), A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses made his name well-known and respected in literature. He enjoyed the reputation of a very able experimentalist who sought new artistic means and methods that could adequately express new ideas about man and society.

1. Read the story.

2. Study the following words, read them correctly and translate them into Russian:

foreman, obscenity, artistic, complicity, perturb, to connive, implacable, discomfiture, chummy, artiste, to plead, perturbation.

3. Read and translate the following passages:

· p. 121-122 – “After that… as the Madam”.

· p. 124-125 – “Mrs. Mooney… make”.

· p. 129 – “Going down… the return-room”.

4. Study the following vocabulary items and remember the situations in which they are used by the author:

· p. 121 – to run into debt

· p. 122 – board and lodging

· p. 123 – to pass the time away

· p. 124 – a man of honour

· p. 125 – to have the matter out

· p. 125 – to make up for

· p. 125 – to bear the brunt of

· p. 127 – to make a clean breast of

· p. 129 – to long to do; to long for somebody to do

5. Make up a situation of your own using not less than 7 items from the list above.

6. Explain the following:

· “Everyone knows everyone else's business”.

· “to sow one's wild oats”.

· “Once you are married you are done for, it said”.

7. Translate into English:

1) Хозяйку не интересовало, с кем её жильцы проводят время. Она настаивала только на том, чтобы вовремя платили за кров и питание и не залезали в долги.

2) Джулия очень хотела выйти замуж за Майка. Она даже была готова стать его любовницей, хотя понимала, что именно женщине приходится платить за последствия. Но Майк был джентльменом и человеком чести и не воспользовался этим.

3) Берта поразмышляла и решила, что пришло время всё выяснить, даже ей самой придётся кое в чём признаться.

4) Ей было больно думать, что из-за занятости она немного забросила своих детей и они отвыкли от неё. Но этим летом у неё будет отпуск и она компенсирует все потери.

8. Discuss the following problem-questions:

1) Do you think that it was partly Mrs. Mooney's fault that her husband “began to go to the devil”?

2) Does Polly seem to be taking after her mother?

3) Why was Mrs. Mooney's scheme likely to materialize?

9. Imagine the conversation between Mrs. Mooney and Mr. Doran.