Чет тиллар факультети инглиз тили ўҚитиш методикаси кафедраси

From The Web by Jonathan Kellerman
1. Read the fragment below and say what parts it falls into.
2. Point out the suspense at the beginning of the first part. Is the reader’s attention grasped instantly?
3. Find the chiasmus and dwell on the effect produced. How did the main character feel about the lizard?
4. What syntactic means are used to describe the lizard?
5. What synonyms are used by the author to describe the way the lizard’s behaviour? What is the aim of rendering one and the same meaning through the three synonymous verbs?
6. Does the first part of the fragment stand in contrast to the second part? Prove it.
7. Pick out cases of irony in the second part of the fragment. How do they hint at the characters’ relations?
8. Point out the case of pun. Why is its use advantageous?
9. Is the image of lizard sinister or innocent or humorous? Is it symbolic?
10. What stylistic device rounds up the fragment? What idea lies behind it?
A rasping noise woke me. Scratching at one of the screens.
I sat up fast, saw it.
A small lizard, rubbing its foreclaws against the mesh.
I got out of bed and had a closer look.
It stayed there. Light brown body speckled with black. Skinny head and unmoving eyes.
It stared at me. I waved. Unimpressed, it scratched some more, finally scampered away…
I told her about the lizard. “So don’t be alarmed if it happens again.”
“Was he cute?”
“Who said it was a he?”
“Girls don’t peep through other people’s windows.”
“Now that I think about it, he did seem to be ogling you.” I narrowed my eyes and flicked my tongue. “Probably a lounge lizard.”
She laughed and got out of bed. Putting on a robe, she walked around, flexing her wrist.
“How does it feel?”
“Better actually. All the warm air.”
“And doing nothing.”
“Yes,” she said. “The power of positive nothing.”
From The Class by Eric Segal
1. Read the extract below and state its theme.
2. How is the fast moving time depicted in the first paragraph? What simile contributes to the effect? Pick out more stylistic devices which serve the same purpose.
3. How does the second paragraph introduce the theme of the extract?
4. What happened to Norman Gordon on the afternoon of his General Exams in History and Lit.? What tropes and figures of speech are used to portray his inner state?
5. How can you account for the ironic ring of the extract despite the tragic event? How does it show the author’s attitude to his personage? What role does it play in revealing the message of the extract?
Like the stretto in a fugue, spring term accelerated the tempo of a melody already racing to its conclusion. May seemed to enter even before April ended. Those who just completed senior theses barely had time to catch their breaths before taking General Examinations.
Some of the Class availed themselves of this, their final opportunity to have a nervous breakdown.
On the afternoon of his General Exams in History and Lit., Norman Gordon of Seattle, Washington, was found wandering on the banks of the Charles – providentially by his own tutor.
“Hey, Norm, did you finish writing this early?”
“No,” replied the senior who had kept a straight-A average till now, a maniac glow in his eyes. “I’ve decided that I don’t like my major at all. In fact, I’m planning not to graduate. I’m going out west to start a cattle ranch.”
“Oh,” said the tutor, then gently led him to the Health Department.
And psychiatry picked up where education had left off.
But in a sense young Gordon had succeeded in his unconscious aspiration: he had managed to avoid having to leave the four-walled shelter of a paternal institution.