Vocabulary notes
Date: 2015-10-07; view: 386.
| clergyman (n.) | member of clergy, esp. of Church of England |
| heirloom (n.) | piece of personal property that has been in family for several generations; piece of property as part of inheritance |
| to baffle (v.) | confuse, perplex; frustrate, hinder |
| blackguard(n.) | villain, scoundrel |
| to flaunt (v.) | display proudly; show off, parade |
| sinister (a.) | suggestive of evil, looking malignant or villainous; wicked, criminal |
| libel (n.) | published false statement damaging to person's reputation, act of publishing it |
| rag (n.) | noisy disorderly scene |
| abject (a.) | degraded or made humble, miserable, craven |
| humbug (n.) | deceptive or false talk or behaviour; impostor |
| tangle (n.) | confused mass of intertwined threads etc.; confused state |
| eloquent (a.) | expressive |
| promptitude(n.) | action carried out without delay or at once |
· Explain the meaning of the following words and word combinations. Recall the situations from the story.
| 1. | distrait |
| 2. | to summon |
| 3. | to assume |
| 4. | to overlook |
| 5. | to seduce smb |
| 6. | to dwell on smth |
| 7. | to take smb in |
| 8. | to romance smth |
| 9. | to run into smb |
| 10. | to be well-off |
| 11. | to round off |
· Questions (when possible make use of the words and word combinations given above).
1. What kind of conference did the three men have?
2. What kind of society was Gahan in?
3. Did he like the party? Who did he like more?
4. How (on what basis) did Lord Crome select the people for his dinner- party?
5. How did they come to examine Lord Crome's ring?
6. What happened at the party? What tricks were played there?
7. What can you say about Pitt- Palmer?
8. How did that incident affect Captain Gahagan?
· Characters
a)Which of the adjectives and word combinations characterize the
main heroes of the story? (Your choice should be illustrated by the facts from the story)
inventive type; story-teller; romanticist; bore; noble; resourceful; selfless; cool; able to see the point; keen on rousing the interest and startling; responsible; quick on solutions; a man of decision; bashful; hesitant; vain; conceited; braggart; hypocritical; loyal; frank; restrained; reserved; improvident; insincere man
b) Give character sketches of the main heroes of the story.
· Talking points:
1. Is there anything in common between real life and fiction/ romance? Justify your point of view.
2. Why do people sometimes tell lies?
3. Can smb's tragedy bring another to happiness? Justify your point of view.
· Prepositions
1. To have been a latitudinarian clergyman is but little likely to fit him ... his present pursuits.
2. The three remaining men were the new Under-Secretary ... Foreign Affairs, Pitt-Palmer, one Italian singer, and one Polish diplomat.
3. A humorous host collects a lot of incompatible people ... the pleasure ... hearing them quarrel.
4. ... contrast ... the Pole the Italian was silent and rather sulky.
5. It proved ... examination to be set ... a cluster of extremely fine rubies and carved with a central device of a heart inside a rose.
6. Gahagan turned rather restlessly and threw an elbow ... the back ... his chair.
7. We've got the whole background of the story ... the back ... our minds; but you've hold ... the wrong mystery.
8. There was a silence ... the whole group ... a brief space.
9. He took the simple but sensible course of slipping the ring into his black coffee ... cover ... a gesture ... taking sugar.
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