«Практический курс английского языка: 4 курс: ...»

Understanding Music

If we were asked to explain the purpose of music, our immediate reply might be "to give pleasure". That would not be far from the truth, but there are other considerations.

We might also define music as "expression in sound", or "the expression of thought and feeling in an aesthetic form", and still not arrive at an understanding of its true purpose. We do know, however, even if we are not fully conscious of it that music is a part of living that it has the power to awaken (будить, пробуждать) in us sensations and emotions of a spiritual kind.

Listening to music can be an emotional experience or an intellectual exercise. If we succeed in blending the two, without excess in either case, we are on the road to gaining the ultimate pleasure from music. Having mastered the gift of listening to, say, a Haydn symphony, the ear and mind should be ready to admit Mozart, then to absorb Beethoven, then Brahms. After that, the pathway (тропа; тропинка; дорожка; дорога, путь) to the works of later composers will be found to be less bramble strewn than we at first imagined.

Music, like language, is a living, moving thing. In early times organised music belonged to the church; later it became the property of the privileged few. Noble families took the best composers and the most talented performers into their service.

While the status of professional musicians advanced, amateur musicians found in music a satisfying means of self-expression, and that form of expression broadened in scope to embrace forms and>

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It is noteworthy that operas at first were performed privately; that the first "commercial" operatic venture took place early in the seventeenth century, this leading to the opening of opera houses for the general public in many cities.

By the middle of the nineteenth century, composers were finding more and more inspiration (вдохновение, воодушевление) of their heritage (наследство; наследие). The time had come to emancipate the music of their country from the domination of "foreign" concepts and conventions.

One of the first countries to raise the banner was Russia, which had various sources of material as bases of an independent musical repertory, Russian folk songs and the music of the old Russian Church.

The composer to champion this cause was Glinka, who submerged Western-European influences by establishing a new national school.

Glinka's immediate successor was Dargomizhsky, then Balakirev. His own creative output was comparatively small; he is best remembered as the driving force in establishing "The Mogutschaya Kuchka", a group which included Borodin, Cui, Moussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov.

Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) worked independently and was the first Russian composer to win widespread international recognition.

It is a narrow line that divides Operetta from Musical Comedy, both blending music and the spoken word. When we think of operetta, such titles come to mind as The Gipsy Baron (Johann Strauss), The Merry Widow and The Count of Luxembourg (Lehar). Of recent years these have been replaced in popular favour by "Musicals"~which placed more emphasis on unity and theatrical realism, such as Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music and West Side Story.

In early times instrumental music broke away from occasions associated with sacred worship into secular channels. In succeeding generations instrumental players were engaged to provide music for various public functions. Humble bands of players developed into small orchestras, these in time to symphony orchestras. Later, orchestras of the cafe type assumed increased numerical strength and more artistic responsibility, while "giving the public what it wants".

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For many generations Band Music (оркестровая музыка) — music played by military bands, brass bands, and pipe bands on the march, in public parks, and in concert halls — has held its place in public favour, especially in Great Britain.

At the turn of the present century American popular music was still clinging to established European forms and conventions. Then a new stimulus arrived by way of the Afro-Americans who injected into their music-making African chants and rhythms which were the bases of their spirituals and work songs.

One of the first widespread Afro-American influences was Ragtime, essentially a>

In the early twenties America became caught up in a whirl of post-war gaiety. The hectic period would later be known as the Jazz Era. Soon jazz had begun its insistent migration across the world. While Black musicians of America were recognised as the true experts in the jazz field, the idiom attracted white musicians, who found it stimulating and profitable to form bands to play in the jazz>

While many self-appointed prophets were condemning jazz as vulgar, and others smugly foretelling its early death, some notable European composers attempted to weave the jazz idiom into their musical works. These included Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, Shostakovich.

(Here one is reminded that several composers, including Debussy, Ravel, Liszt, Bizet and Richard Strauss, befriended the much-maligned saxophone, invented about the middle of the nineteenth century, and introduced it into the concert-hall.)

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Before we leave George Gershwin, we should mention his Porgy and Bess which brought something daringly different to opera: the music, Gershwin's own, sounds so authentically Afro-American, that it is surprising that this rich score was written by a white American.

We are forced to contemplate the fact, that notwithstanding (несмотря на, вопреки) the achievements of Debussy, Stravinsky and many others, the experience of music in the western art tradition remains essentially unchanged. It's still composed by highly trained specialists and played by professional musicians in concert halls.

There was a time in the sixties when it looked as if the situation was about to be broken up by a new and revolutionary popular music of unprecedented and unexpected power. The so-called "Rock Revolution" began in fact in the mid-fifties, and was based firmly on the discontent of the younger generation who were in revolt against the values of their elders; naturally they espoused new musical values, and equally naturally these values represented a negation of everything in the musical world their elders inhabited — the virtual elimination of harmony, or at least its reduction to the few conventional progressions of the blues, an emphasis on the beat, new type of voice production owing much to sophisticated use of amplification and simplification of instrumental technique.

There followed rapidly an extraordinary musical eruption based on the percussive sound of the electric guitar, the rock'n'roll beat and blues harmony.

We should remember that the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and many other leading groups and individual performers from the early sixties onward based their music on the sound of electric guitars and percussion.

Now what? In this technological age it is not surprising that electronics should have invaded the field of music. This new phase has brought experiments intended to give music of the popular genre a new sound. Though many may be alarmed at such explorative tampering with sound, it must be admitted that the possibilities of electronically-produced music are immense.

Never before has music — all kinds of music — been so popular. Never before has the world had greater need of its stimulation and comfort. We find the ultimate satisfaction in music, be it "classical" or "popular", when we have learnt how to reject the spurious and accept the genuine; when we have learnt how to listen.

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1. As you read the text a) look for the answers to these questions:

1. What is the purpose of music in your opinion? Music is a special means and way of feelings transferring from the one man to another. It is a language that is understandable for a heart and brain directly..

Can music be defined in only one way?

2. In what genres did the music develop?

1. Musical genres (styles):>

3. What was the Russian contribution to the art of music?

One of the first countries to raise the banner was Russia, which had various sources of material as bases of an independent musical repertory, Russian folk songs and the music of the old Russian Church.

4. In what way did instrumental music become engaged for various functions?

5. What created the development of jazz and who facilitated the development?

While Black musicians of America were recognised as the true experts in the jazz field, the idiom attracted white musicians, who found it stimulating and profitable to form bands to play in the jazz >

6. How did the youth of the 60-s respond to the highly trained specialist and professional music?

There followed rapidly an extraordinary musical eruption based on the percussive sound of the electric guitar, the rock'n'roll beat and blues harmony.

7. In your opinion should musicians have musical training?

8. What do you know about the Beatles and their contribution to the pop-music world?

9. In your opinion how will the technological age through radio, television and video influence the world of music?

b) Find in the text the facts the author gives to illustrate the following:

1. Music like language is a living moving thing. 2. Music may be used as the lines of communication between people. 3. Jazz does not cling to dance rhythms any longer, as the 20th century European music reflects African rhythms.

c) Summarize the text in five paragraphs specifying the development of 1) opera, 2) operetta and musicals, 3) instrumental music, 4) jazz and 5) rock.

2. Use the topical vocabulary in answering the following questions:1

1. What musical genres do you know and what role does folk music play in all of them?

classical music (instrumental, vocal, chamber, symphony), opera and operetta, ballet,
jazz, pop, rock, folk music,

Folk music is the initial stage, it’s cause and motive.

2. What is meant by the terms>

Classical music is performed with>

3. Do you think the different musical genres named above are strictly separated or do they overlap in some ways? In what ways? What genre do you prefer?

They all overlap. Ballet and instrumental and vocal music make opera. Operetta is a opera in miniature. Ballet is performed under symphony music. Folk music is the initial base of all classical genres.

4. What role does music play in your life? Do you want music just to make you happy or does the music that you prefer vary with your mood? How does it vary?

5. Do you think that at school music should be given the same emphasis as subjects such as maths, literature, etc.?

6. Of which instruments does a symphony/chamber orchestra consist? What are the most popular instruments of pop groups, jazz or rock?

7. Why has the guitar become a very popular instrument in recent years? Do you prefer V. Vysotsky's performances with an entire orchestra or simply with a guitar? Why?

8. What is your favourite instrument? Can you play it? Does it help you to understand music?

9. The human voice is regarded as a most refined instrument the proper use of which requires a great deal of training. How do you feel about this characterization? Who are your favourite singers?

10. Do you like opera? Do you agree with the opinion that operas are hard to follow while musicals are more up-to-date and easier to understand? What other forms have appeared of late?

11. How can you account for the large scale popularity of rock? Is it only an entertainment to young people or does rock music represent their values? What values?

12. Why are some rock fans less interested in the music of the past? Can you think of any similar examples when people attracted by a new>

13. What do you know about video clips? How do they affect music?

14. What do you know about the International Tchaikovsky Competitions? How often are they held and on what instruments do contestants perform? Can you give some names of prize winners or laureates of the Tchaikovsky Competitions? What do you know about their subsequent careers?

1 You may wish to bring in record jackets (sleeves), tapes, and advertisements for concerts or programmes, which depict current popular or>

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3. Give your impressions of a concert (recital) you have recently attended. Use the topical vocabulary. Outline for giving impressions:

1. Type of event. A concert of organ music, recital 2. What orchestra, group performed? Valeriya Balakhovska, a prominent and well-known Ukrainian organist. 3. Programme. Were the musical pieces well-known, popular, new, avant-guard, etc.? She played J.S.Bach’s works and some unknown for me, for ex. Joseph Bonnet’s Variations de concert op. I 4. Who was the conductor? 5. Was the event interesting and enjoyable in your opinion? Yes, it was very interesting and very enjoyable, it was excellent. I have been keeping delighted

ted since the concert. 6. Name the soloists. 7. What did critics say about the event? Do you share their points of view? 8. What impression did the event make on you? Did you take a solemn oath never to attend one again?

4. Pair work. Make up and act out a dialogue. (Use the clichs of agreement, disagreement and reacting to opinion or persuasion (pp. 287, 290, 291):

1. You are at a concert of contemporary music, about which you are not very knowledgeable. Your friend tries to initiate you in it. 2. Your father/mother cannot stand rock music and he/she never listens to it. You try to convince him/her that rock music is important in your life. 3. You are talking on the telephone with your friend who wants you to accompany her to a piano recital. You are reluctant to join her. 4. You are an accomplished jazz musician. But you never participated in jazz sessions. Your friend urges you to be more daring and try your hand at it. 5. Your sister has just come back from the Bolshoi Theatre where she heard Glinka's Ruslan and Ludmila. She tries to describe how much she enjoyed the opera, but you, being no great lover of opera music, turn a deaf ear. 6. You are fond of Tchaikovsky's music and always ready to talk about it. Your friend asks you to tell him/her more.

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5. Below are opinions on the development of music.

a) Spend a few minutes individually thinking of further arguments you win use to back up one of the opinions:

1. The line between serious music and jazz grows less and less clear.

2. A certain amount of so-called avant-guard music in our modern art tries to shock and be original for originality's sake.

3. In any age the advanced of today in music may become the commonplace of tomorrow.

4. Soviet composers have contributed as much as Russian composers to the World of Music.

5. Radio, television, cinema and video bring "new sounds" into our homes.

b) Now discuss the opinions with your partner. One of the students is supposed to play the role of a student who is not knowledgeable in music. The other — to present a student whose hobby is music. Keep interrupting each other with questions. Use the topical vocabulary.

6. Group work. Split into buzz groups of 3—4 students each.

Discuss the following, using the expressions of agreement or disagreement (p. 290):

1. "Some people prefer only>

Which side do you agree?

Composer A. Ribnikov says: "Ours is an age of great technological progress and accompanying emotional stress, which requires new forms of expression in music."

Can his opinion help you formulate your answer?

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2. As you know composers sometimes arrange (transcribe) music which is written for one group of instruments and apply it to another. One brilliant transcription is R. Schedrin's approach to G. Bizet Carmen in which he uses only string and percussion groups, thus adding to the music the incomparable colour range and bringing the 19th century music into the present day.

What other examples of transcription do you know and what is your opinion of this art?

3. Many modern composers and performers change the sound of live instruments by making technical adjustment (for example "prepared piano"1, a) What other examples of changing instruments do you know and do you find such change necessary? b) Will musicians have to sell their instruments in order to pay for tuition as engineers?

4. In the opinion of D. Kabalevski there are two kinds of beauty in the world. One is passed on from generation to generation, the other is temporary. The most important thing is to differentiate between them. In order to do this one needs to develop taste which is acquired first of all through the study of established>

7. When you criticize you normally try to find faults rather than virtues, but it certainly does not exclude the expressions of virtue. Read the following dialogue where the characters make comments about themselves and others. Note down the expressions in bold type. Be ready to use them hi dialogues in>

Liz and Michael on the way home from a jazz concert.

Michael: Perhaps you might consider me a bit of a fanatic about jazz... but that was a fantastic concert, wasn't it?

Liz: I'm not exactly — how shall I say? I suppose I'm not crazy about jazz, and the melodies were hard to follow. Could you perhaps help me to understand it better?

Michael: I've tried to help many people... I've done my best to open a jazz club, so I've become quite good at interpreting jazz, though I had no one to rely on. Anyway, in the first place there are two elements in jazz. One is the playing of instruments so that they sound like the half-shouted, half-sung blues of Negro folksong. The other is the steady, unchanging 1-2-3-4 beat initiated from the French military marching music the blacks heard in New Orleans where jazz was born around 1900.

1 "prepared piano" involves stuffing the inside of the piano with a variety of paraphernalia, including units and bolts in order to alter the normal Piano timbre.

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Liz: Well, I'm an easy-going person really unless of course you start discussing jazz. Then I'm a bit vicious. Basically I'm receptive to any music that has harmony and melody. That's me. But I didn't even recognize any of the tunes, though I have heard some jazz music before.

Michael: Well, that's not surprising, since another important feature of jazz is "improvisation" or "making it up as you go along", therefore tunes can sound different each time you hear them.

Liz: Well, I think I've kept myself — yes, I've kept myself respectable — that's the word I'd use — respectable and dignified on my appreciation of jazz. The musicians played with great skill and speed. And when they improvised they played a completely new variation of the basic tune every time.

Michael: Absolutely. That's one of the greatest thrills of a jazz session. Tunes are not the most important feature of jazz. It's not the composer but the performer who makes a good piece of jazz. In fact it's almost impossible to write down much of a jazz in musical notes!

Liz: In that case jazz is rather elicit and separate from other kinds of misic, if only the performer knows what's being played. I say, get rid of these thugs who call themselves professional musicians — get rid of them.

Michael: Professional or not, you leave the musician out of it for a while. As for jazz, it has influenced many kinds of music, particularly pop which still borrows from jazz its beat, its singing >

Liz: You shouldn't be asking me what I think of jazz... But what I think of rock music... this music is a mess.

Michael: But how do you explain the fact that hundreds and thousands of young people simply go mad over rock music? For example, I listened to Shubert's messes. I'm not saying that I didn't understand them. As a matter of fact I enjoyed listening to them. But music like that isn't able to give me anything new, whereas rock music feels a thousand times nearer, more immediate.

Liz: No, Michael, I'm unable to understand it. And that's probably my main fault, I should say. Then... Professional musicians are always neatly dressed... But heavy metal rock players! Well... you'd have to see them to believe it! There is

only one hope for it — a special section (department) for rock music at the Composer's Union that will do something about the situation.

Michael: So you're the sort of ordinary decent person who wants to restore the position ot>

Liz: Yes and no... But I'll let you have the last word on jazz and I'll stick to my own opinion on rock.

1. Have you ever been to a live jazz concert/rock music concert? What is your impression of them? 2. Do you agree with all that is said in the dialogue? In what statements concerning jazz or rock music do you find the criticism appropriate?

8. When criticising someone, describe, don't judge. Always focus on, and confine criticism to observable behaviour.

For instance, telling your pupil who is not practising his music "Of late you've been practising less than usual and we need you in the concert" is more likely to encourage practice than snapping "You are irresponsible and lazy. Practise more from now on."

a) Below are statements about music which express different opinions. Imagine that they are your opinions and change them into subjective arguments. (Use the expressions showing critisism.):

1. "There is only one way to come to understand music by learning to play a musical instrument whether an external one like the piano or flute or by training the human voice to become an instrument."

2. "However good recorded music might be, it can never really take the place of a live performance. To be present at an actual performance is half the enjoyment of music."

3. "I find I have to defend jazz to those who say it is low>

b) Team up with your partner who will be ready to give critical remarks on the statements given above. Use the cliches expressing criticism.

c) As a group, now decide which event you will all attend together. When giving your criticism try to be honest, but tactful.

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9. Group work. Discuss the effect of rock music on young people. After a proper discussion each group presents its critical remarks. First read this:

There are world-wide complaints about the effect of rock. Psychologists say that listening to rock music results in "escapism" (abandoning social responsibilities). They also add that some rock music (for example certain heavy metal songs) affect young people like drugs. There are well-known cases of antisocial and amoral behaviour on the part of young "music addicts". How do you feel about this opinion?

10. Most of the expressions which you found in the dialogue (Ex. 7) are used to criticise something or somebody.

Below is a review of the Russian Festival of Music in which a Scottish journalist extolls the virtues of Russian music, a) Read the text and note down any useful expressions in giving a positive appraisal of music. b) Discuss the text with your partner.

A Feast of Russian Arts

The strong and impressive Russian theme at this year's Edinburgh Festival commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

The festival opened on August 9 with three giant companies, the Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and Leningrad's Gorky Drama Theatre, and the spectacular young traditional folk music and dance group Siverko, from the arctic city of Arkhangelsk.

Other musicians in the first week included the Bolshoi Sextet, and the final week sees the arrival of the Shostakovich Quartet.

The first of the four programmes by the Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, in an Usher Hall draped with garlands, was a fascinating demonstration of Russian tone quality and Russian interpretation. After the two national anthems the rustling, atmospheric opening movement of the suite from Rimsky-Korsakov's Invisible City of Kitezh, with some particularly expressive strands of oboe tone, was sufficiently promising to make the thought of even a familiar piece of Tchaikovsky seem exciting.

Nobody, at any rate, could have called the Rimsky familiar. Though it was performed in an arrangement by Maximilian Steinberg, this did not prevent the brazen battle scene, with its ferocious side-drum, from being a sensational display of Russian strength, or the woodwind passages in other movements from being an exquisite display of Russian sweetness.

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The account of the symphony was quite remarkable. It was played with thrilling velocity (yet with sufficient breathing-space where Tchaikovsky asked for it), with beautifully characterized woodwind, keenly defined textures and a penchant for highlighting inner parts, especially if they happened to involve the horns. The conductor, Mark Ermler was more in his element in Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony.

Whether or not one actually liked the horn tune was beside the point. It was authentically Russian, and though, at the start of the slow movement, it sounded like an amplified saxophone, its eloquence was not to be gainsaid. In small details — such as the effect of the cellos and basses doing entirely different things at points in the finale — just as in the symphony's grand design, this was a stunning performance and perhaps, after all, a Festival event.

What one did expect and received was a performance of massive vocal integrity and a grand convincing enunciation of the music by Irina Arkhipova, with a recurring arm movement — hand stretched towards the audience.

In the event, the curtains of the Playhouse Theatre opened to reveal a company that were the epitome of everything we have come to expect from a Russian folk dance group — vast numbers, and endless variety of colourful and beautifully-embroided costumes, and — most important of all — boundless energy and infectious enthusiasm. The musicians, all extremely accomplished, performed on zither and some remarkable varieties of shawm.

It all finished with the entire company lined up in front of the stage singing Auld Lang Syne — a characteristically warmhearted gesture to end a programme that was irresistibly good-natured, impeccably presented, skilfully performed, entertaining and enjoyable — and which left the audience clamouring insatiably for more.

(From: "The Scotsman," August 11, 1987)

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Unit Five

TEXT From: THE LUMBER-ROOM

By H. Munro

Hector Munro (pseudonym Saki, 1870-1916) is a British novelist and a short-story writer. He is best known for his short stories. Owing to the death of his mother and his father's absence abroad he was brought up during child­hood, with his elder brother and sister, by a grandmother and two aunts. It seems probable that their stern and unsympathetic methods account for Munro's strong dislike of anything that smacks of the conventional and the self-righteous. He satirized things that he hated. Munro was killed on the French front during the first world war.

In her Biography of Saki Munro's sister writes: "One of Munro's aunts, Au­gusta, was a woman of ungovernable temper, of fierce likes and dislikes, imperi­ous, a moral coward, possessing no brains worth speaking of, and a primitive disposition." Naturally the last person who should have been in charge of child­ren. The character of the aunt in The Lumber-Room is Aunt Augusta to the life.

The children were to be driven, as a special treat, to the sands at Jagborough. Nicholas was not to be one of the party; he was in disgrace. Only that morning he had refused to eat his wholesome bread-and-milk on the seemingly frivolous ground that there was a frog in it. Older and wiser and better people had told him that there could not possibly be a frog in his bread-and-milk and that he was not to talk nonsense; he continued, nevertheless, to talk what seemed the veriest non­sense, and described with much detail the coloration and mark­ing of the alleged frog. The dramatic part of the incident was that there really was a frog in Nicholas's basin of bread-and-milk; he had put it there himself, so he felt entitled to know something about it. The sin of taking a frog from the garden and putting it into a bowl of wholesome bread-and-milk was enlarged on at great length, but the fact that stood out clearest in the whole affair, as it presented itself to the mind of Nicho­las, was that the older, wiser, and better people had been proved to be profoundly in error in matters about which they had expressed the utmost assurance. 134 "You said there couldn't possibly be a frog in my bread-and-milk; there was a frog in my bread-and-milk," he repeated, with the insistence of a skilled tactitian who does not intend to shift from favourable ground. So his boy-cousin and girl-cousin and his quite uninterest­ing younger brother were to be taken to Jagborough sands that afternoon and he was to stay at home. His cousins' aunt, who insisted, by an unwarranted stretch of imagination, in styling herself his aunt also, had hastily invented the Jagborough ex­pedition in order to impress on Nicholas the delights that he had justly forfeited by his disgraceful conduct at breakfast-table. It was her habit, whenever one of the children fell from grace, to improvise something of a festival nature from which the offender would be rigorously debarred, if all the children sinned collectively they were suddenly informed of a circus in a neighbouring town, a circus of unrivalled merit and uncount­ed elephants, to which, but for their depravity, they would have been taken that very day. A few decent tears were looked for on the part of Nicholas when the moment for the departure of the expedition arrived. As a matter of fact, however, all the crying was done by his girl-cousin, who scraped her knee rather painfully against the step of the carriage as she was scrambling in. "How did she howl," said Nicholas cheerfully as the party drove off without any of the elation of high spirit that should have characterised it. "She'll soon get over that," said the aunt, "it will be a glorious afternoon for racing about over those beautiful sands. How they will enjoy themselves!" "Bobby won't enjoy himself much, and he won't race much either," said Nicholas with a grim chuckle; "his boots are hurt­ing him. They're too tight." "Why didn't he tell me they were hurting?" asked the aunt with some asperity. "He told you twice, but you weren't listening. You often don't listen when we tell you important things." "You are not to go into the gooseberry garden," said the aunt, changing the subject. "Why not?" demanded Nicholas. "Because you are in disgrace," said the aunt loftily. Nicholas did not admit the flawlessness of the reasoning; he felt perfectly capable of being in disgrace and in a gooseberry garden at the same moment. His face took an expression of considerable obstinacy. It was clear to his aunt that he was de­termined to get into the gooseberry garden, "only," as she remarked to herself, "because I have told him he is not to." Now the gooseberry garden had two doors by which it might be entered, and once a small person like Nicholas could slip in there he could effectually disappear from view amid the masking growth of artichokes, raspberry canes, and fruit bush­es. The aunt had many other things to do that afternoon, but she spent an hour or two in trivial gardening operations among flowerbeds and shrubberies, whence she could keep a watchful eye on the two doors that led to forbidden paradise. She was a woman of few ideas, with immense power of concentration. Nicholas made one or two sorties into the front garden, wriggling his way with obvious stealth of purpose towards one or other of the doors, but never able for a moment to evade the aunt's watchful eye. As a matter of fact, he had no intention of trying to get into the gooseberry garden, but it was extremely convenient for him that his aunt should believe that he had; it was a belief that would keep her on self-imposed sentry-duty for the greater part of the afternoon. Having thoroughly con­firmed and fortified her suspicions, Nicholas slipped back into the house and rapidly put into execution a plan of action that had long germinated in his brain. By standing on a chair in the library one could reach a shelf on which reposed a fat, important-looking key. The key was as important as it looked; it was the instrument which kept the mysteries of the lumber-room secure from unauthorized intrusion, which opened a way only for aunts and such-like privileged persons. Nicholas had not had much experience of the art of fitting keys into keyholes and turning locks, but for some days past he had practised with the key of the school-room door; he did not believe in trusting too much to luck and accident. The key turned stiffly in the lock, but it turned. The door opened, and Nicholas was in an unknown land, compared with which the gooseberry gar­den was a stale delight, a mere material pleasure. Often and often Nicholas had pictured to himself what the lumber-room might be like, that region that was so carefully sealed from youthful eyes and concerning which no questions were ever answered. It came up to his expectations. In the first place it was large and dimly lit, one high window opening on to the forbidden garden being its only source of illumination. In the second place it was a storehouse of unimagined treasure. The aunt-by-assertion was one of those people who think that things spoil by use and consign them to dust and damp by way of preserving them. Such parts of the house as Nicholas knew best were rather bare and cheerless, but here there were won­derful things for the eyes to feast on. First and foremost there was a piece of framed tapestry that was evidently meant to be a fire-screen. To Nicholas it was a living breathing story; he sat down on a roll of Indian hangings, glowing in wonderful colour beneath a layer of dust and took in all the details of the tapes­try picture. A man, dressed in the hunting costume of some re­mote period, had just transfixed a stag with an arrow, it could not have been a difficult shot because the stag was only one or two paces away from him; in the thickly growing vegetation that the picture suggested it would not have been difficult to creep up to a feeding stag, and the two spotted dogs that were springing forward to join in the chase had evidently been trained to keep to heel till the arrow was discharged. That part of the picture was simple, if interesting, but did the huntsman see, what Nicholas saw, that four galloping wolves were com­ing in his direction through the wood? There might be more than four of them hidden behind the trees, and in any case would the man and his dogs be able to cope with four wolves if they made an attack? The man had only two arrows left in his quiver, and he might miss with one or both of them; all one knew about his skill in shooting was that he could hit a large stag at a ridiculously short range. Nicholas sat for many golden minutes revolving the possibilities of the scene; he was inclined to think that there were more than four wolves and that the man and his dogs were in a tight corner. But there were other objects of delight and interest claim­ing his instant attention: there were quaint twisted candlesticks in the shape of snakes, and a teapot fashioned like a china duck, out of whose open beak the tea was supposed to come. How dull and shapeless the nursery teapot seemed in compari­son! Less promising in appearance was a large square book with plain black covers; Nicholas peeped into it, and, behold, if was full of coloured pictures of birds. And such birds! A wholes portrait gallery of undreamed-of creatures. And as he was ad­miring the colouring of the mandarin duck and assigning a life-history to it, the voice of his aunt came from the gooseber­ry garden without. She had grown suspicious at his long disap­pearance, and had leapt to the conclusion that he had climbed over the wall behind the sheltering screen of lilac bushes; she was now engaged in energetic and rather hopeless search for him among the artichokes and raspberry canes. "Nicholas, Nicholas!" she screamed, "you are to come out of this at once. It's no use trying to hide there; I can see you all the time." It was probably the first time for twenty years that any one had smiled in that lumber-room. Presently the angry repetitions of Nicholas' name gave way to a shriek, and a cry for somebody to come quickly. Nicholas shut the book, restored it carefully to its place in a corner, and shook some dust from a neighbouring pile of newspapers over it. Then he crept from the room, locked the door, and replaced the key exactly where he had found it. His aunt was still call­ing his name when he sauntered into the front garden. "Who's calling?" he asked. "Me," came the answer from the other side of the wall; "didn't you hear me? I've been looking for you in the goose­berry garden, and I've slipped into the rain-water tank. Luckily there's no water in it, but the sides are slippery and I can't get out. Fetch the little ladder from under the cherry tree 138" "I was told I wasn't to go into the gooseberry garden," said Nicholas promptly. "I told you not to, and now I tell you that you may," came the voice from the rain-water tank, rather impatiently. "Your voice doesn't sound like aunt's," objected Nicholas; "you may be the Evil One tempting me to be disobedient. Aunt often tells me that the Evil One tempts me and that I always yield. This time I'm not going to yield." "Don't talk nonsense," said the prisoner in the tank; "go and fetch the ladder." "Will there be strawberry jam for tea?" asked Nicholas in­nocently. "Certainly there will be," said the aunt, privately resolving that Nicholas should have none of it. "Now I know that you are the Evil One and not aunt," shouted Nicholas gleefully; "when we asked aunt for strawber­ry jam yesterday she said there wasn't any. I know there are four jars of it in the store cupboard, because I looked, and of course you know it's there, but she doesn't because she said there wasn't any. Oh, Devil, you have sold yourself!" There was an unusual sense of luxury in being able to talk to an aunt as though one was talking to the Evil One, but Nicholas knew, with childish discernment, that such luxuries were not to be over-indulged in. He walked noisily away, and it was a kitchen-maid, in search of parsley, who eventually rescued the aunt from the rain-water tank. Tea that evening was partaken of in a fearsome silence. The tide had been at its highest when the children had arrived at Jagborough Cove, so there had been no sands to play on — a circumstance that the aunt had overlooked in the haste of organising her punitive expedition. The tightness of Bobby's boots had had disastrous effect on his temper the whole of the afternoon, and altogether the children could not have been said to have enjoyed themselves. The aunt maintained the fro­zen muteness of one who has suffered undignified and unmer­ited detention in a rain-water tank for thirty-five minutes. As for Nicholas, he, too, was silent, in the absorption of one who has much to think about; it was just possible, he considered, that the huntsman would escape with his hounds while the wolves feasted on the stricken stag.

Детей нужно привести{привезти}, как специальное удовольствие, к пескам в Jagborough. Николас не должен был быть одной из стороны{партии}; он был в позоре. Только тем утром он отказался есть его полезный{здоровый} хлеб-и-молоко на по-видимому фривольном основании{земле}, что была лягушка в этом. Старшие и более мудрые и лучшие люди сказали ему, что не могла возможно быть лягушки в его хлебе-и-молоке и что он не должен был говорить чепуху; он продолжал, однако, говорить, что казалось veriest ерундой, и описало с большим количеством детали окраску и маркировку предполагаемой лягушки. Драматическая часть инцидента была то, что действительно была лягушка в бассейне Николаса хлеба-и-молока; он поместил это там непосредственно, так что он чувствовал себя имеющим право, чтобы знать кое-что об этом. Грех взятия лягушки от сада и помещения этого в шар полезного{здорового} хлеба-и-молока был увеличен на в большой длине, но факте, который выделился наиболее ясным в целом деле, поскольку это представило себя мнению Николаса, было, что старшие, более мудрые, и лучшие люди были доказаны, чтобы быть глубоко по ошибке в вопросах, о которых они выразили предельную гарантию. 134 "Вы сказали, что не могла возможно быть лягушки в моем хлебе-и-молоке; была лягушка в моем хлебе-и-молоке, " он повторился, с настойчивостью квалифицированного tactitian, кто не намеревается переместиться{измениться} от благоприятного основания{земли}. Так что его мальчик-кузен и девочка-кузен и его весьма неинтересный младший брат должны были быть взяты{предприняты} к Jagborough пескам тем днем, и он должен был остаться дома. Тетя его кузенов, которая настаивала, негарантированным протяжением воображения, в моделировании непосредственно его тетя также, торопливо изобрела Jagborough экспедицию, чтобы внушить Николасу восхищения, которые он справедливо утратил его позорным поведением за столом{таблицей} завтрака. Это была ее привычка, всякий раз, когда один из детей упал от изящества{любезности}, импровизировать кое-что характера{природы} фестиваля, от которого обидчик будет строго debarred, если все дети грешили, все вместе они были внезапно информированы относительно цирка в соседнем городе, цирк непревзойденного качества и бесчисленных слонов, к который, но для их развращенности, они будут взяты{предприняты} в тот самый день. Несколько приличных слез разыскивались со стороны Николаса, когда момент{мгновение} для отъезда экспедиции прибыл. Фактически, однако, весь крик был сделан его девочкой-кузеном, которая очищала ее колено скорее мучительно против шага вагона, поскольку она взбиралась в. "Как сделал она воет, " сказал Николас бодро, поскольку сторона{партия} прогнала без любого восторга высокого духа, который должен был характеризовать это. "Она будет скоро преобладать над этим, " сказала тетя, " это будет великолепный день для того, чтобы гоняться о по тем красивым пескам. Как они будут наслаждаться! " "Бобби не будет наслаждаться очень, и он не будет участвовать в гонках очень также, " сказал Николас с мрачным хихиканьем; "его ботинки повреждают его. Они слишком напряженны. " "Почему он не говорил мне, что они повреждали? " спросила тетя с некоторой шероховатостью. "Он сказал вам дважды{вдвое}, но вы не слушали. Вы часто не слушаете, когда мы говорим вам важные вещи. " "Вы не должны войти в сад крыжовника, " сказала тетя, изменяя предмет. "Почему нет? " потребовал Николас. "Поскольку вы находитесь в позоре, " сказала тетя надменно. Николас не допускал{не признавал} безупречность рассуждения; он чувствовал себя совершенно способным к тому, чтобы быть в позоре и в саде крыжовника одновременно. Его лицо взяло выражение значительного упрямства. Это было ясно его тете, что он был настроен войти в сад крыжовника, "только", поскольку она заметила к себе, ", потому что я сказал ему, что он не к. " Теперь сад крыжовника имел две двери, которыми это могло бы быть введено, и как только маленький человек подобно Николасу мог закрадываться, там он мог целесообразно исчезнуть от представления{вида} среди роста маскировки артишоков, тростников{тростей} малины, и кустарников плода. Тетя имела много других вещей, чтобы сделать тем днем, но она тратила{проводила} час или два в тривиальных действиях озеленения среди клумб и кустарников, откуда она могла держать осторожный глаз на две двери, которые вели к запрещенному раю. Она была женщиной немногих идей, с огромной властью{мощью} концентрации. Николас сделал одну или две вылазки в передний сад, извиваясь его путь с очевидной хитростью цели к один или других из дверей, но никогда способными на мгновение уклониться от осторожного глаза тети. Фактически, он не имел никакого намерения пробовать войти в сад крыжовника, но это было чрезвычайно удобно для него, что его тетя должна полагать, что он имел; это была вера, которая будет держать ее на самоналоженной сторожевой обязанности{пошлине} для большей части дня. Полностью подтвердив и укрепленный ее подозрения, Николас снизились в дом и быстро помещали в выполнение план действия, которое долго прорастало в его мозгу. Стоя на стуле в библиотеке можно было достигнуть полки, на которой отдыхал жирный, важно-выглядящий ключ. Ключ был столь же важен, как это смотрело; это был инструмент, который держал тайны чулана, безопасного от неправомочного вторжения, которое открыло путь только для теть и тому подобных привилегированных людей. Николас не имел большого количества опыта искусства соответствующих ключей в замочные скважины и превращение замков, но для некоторых прошлых дней он занялся с ключом двери классной комнаты; он не верил в доверие слишком много к удаче и несчастному случаю. Ключ, превращенный{направленный} натянуто в замке, но этом обратился. Дверь открылась, и Николас был на неизвестной земле, по сравнению с которой сад крыжовника был несвежим восхищением, простым материальным удовольствием. Часто и часто Николас изобразил к себе, на что чулан мог бы походить, та область{регион}, которая была так тщательно запечатана от юных глаз и относительно которого никаким вопросам когда-либо не отвечали. Это подошло к его ожиданиям. Во-первых это было большое и смутно осветило{зажгло}, одно высокое окно, открывающееся на запрещенном саду, являющемся его единственным источником освещения. Во-вторых это был склад непредполагаемого сокровища. Тетя-утверждением была одним из тех людей, которые думают, что вещи портят использованием и отправляют их, чтобы чистить и заглушить посредством сохранения их. Такие части дома как Николас знали, лучше всего были скорее голы и унылы, но здесь были замечательные вещи для глаз к банкету на. Прежде всего была часть созданного гобелена, который был очевидно предназначен, чтобы быть экраном огня. Николасу это было проживание, вдыхающее историю; он сел на рулон{ведомость} индийского вывешивания{висения}, пылающего в замечательном цвете ниже слоя пыли и взял во всех деталях картины гобелена. Человек{Мужчина}, одетый в костюме охоты некоторого отдаленного периода, только что пронзил оленя стрелкой, это, возможно, не был трудный выстрел, потому что олень был только одним или двумя темпами далеко от него; в плотно растущей растительности, которую картина предложила не будет трудно ползать до кормящего оленя, и двух долматинцев, которые прыгали вперед, чтобы участвовать, что преследование было очевидно обучено держать к пятке, пока стрелка не была освобождена от обязательств. Та часть картины была проста, если интересно, но охотник видел, что Николас видел, это, четыре галопирующих волка входили в его руководство{направление} через древесину? Могли бы быть больше чем четыре из них скрытый позади деревьев, и в любом случае будет человек{мужчина} и его собаки быть способным справиться с четырьмя волками, если они сделали нападение? Человек{Мужчина} имел только две стрелки, оставленные в его дрожи, и он мог бы отсутствовать с один или они оба; весь знал о его навыке в стрельбе, был то, что он мог поразить большого оленя в смехотворно коротком диапазоне. Николас сидел в течение многих золотых минут, вращая возможности сцены{места}; он был склонен думать, что было больше чем четыре волка и что человек{мужчина} и его собаки были в напряженном углу. Но были другие объекты{цели} восхищения и интереса{процента}, требуя его мгновенного внимания: были страннные искривленные подсвечники в форме змей, и заварного чайника, вылепленного подобно утке фарфора, из открытого клюва которой чай, как предполагалось, прибывал. Как унылый и бесформенный заварной чайник детской казался на сравнении! Менее многообещающий по внешности была большая квадратная книга с простыми черными покрытиями; Николас заглянул бы в это, и, созерцать, если был полон цветных картин птиц. И такие птицы! Галерея портрета целых невообразимых существ. И поскольку он восхищался окраской утки мандарина и назначения истории жизни к этому, голос его тети прибыл от сада крыжовника без. Она стала подозрительной в его длинном исчезновении, и прыгнула к заключению, что он поднялся по стене позади экрана защиты сиреневых кустарников; она была теперь занята в энергичном, и довольно безнадежный ищут его среди тростников{тростей} малины и артишоков. "Николас, Николас! " она кричала, " вы должны появиться из этого сразу. Бесполезно пробовать скрыться там; я могу видеть вас все время. " Это был вероятно первый раз в течение двадцати лет, что любой улыбнулся в том чулане. Теперь сердитые повторения{копии} названия{имени} Николаса уступили воплю, и крику о ком - то, чтобы прибыть быстро. Николас закрывает книгу, восстановил это тщательно к ее месту в углу, и колебал немного пыли от соседней груды газет по этому. Тогда он ползал от комнаты{места}, захватил{запирал} дверь, и заменял ключ точно, где он нашел это. Его тетя все еще называла{вызывала} его название{имя}, когда он прогуливался в передний сад. "Кто звонит? " он спросил. "Меня, " прибыл ответ от другой стороны стены; "разве вы не слышали меня? Я искал вас в саде крыжовника, и я скользил в резервуар{танк} дождевой воды. К счастью нет никакой воды в этом, но стороны являются скользкими, и я не могу выйти. Приведите небольшую лестницу из-под вишневого дерева 138" "Мне говорили, что я не должен был войти в сад крыжовника, " сказал Николас быстро. "Я сказал вам не, и теперь я говорю вам, что вы можете, " прибыл голос от резервуара{танка} дождевой воды, скорее нетерпеливо. "Ваш голос не звучит подобно тете, " возразил Николас; "вы можете быть Злыми, соблазняющими меня быть непослушным. Тетя часто говорит мне, что Злой соблазняет меня и что я всегда уступаю. На сей раз я не собираюсь уступать. " "Не говорите чепуху, " сказал заключенный в резервуаре{танке}; "идите, и приведите лестницу. " "Земляничная пробка{джем} там будет для чая? " спросил Николас невинно. "Конечно будет, " сказала тетя, конфиденциально решая, что Николас не должен иметь ни одного из этого. "Теперь я знаю, что вы - Злые и не тетя, " кричал Николас радостно; "когда мы спрашивали у тети земляничную пробку{джем}, вчера она сказала, что не было никого. Я знаю, что есть четыре фляги этого в буфете склада{магазина}, потому что я смотрел, и конечно вы знаете, что это - там, но она не делает, потому что она сказала, что не было никого. О, Дьявол, вы продали себя! " Был необычный смысл{чувство} роскоши в том, чтобы быть способным говорить с тетей, как если бы каждый говорил со Злым, но Николас знал, с ребяческой проницательностью, в которой такую роскошь нельзя баловать. Он шел шумно далеко, и это была судомойка, в поиске петрушки, кто в конечном счете спас тетю от резервуара{танка} дождевой воды. В чае тем вечером принимали участие во внушающей страх тишине. Поток был в его наиболее высоким, когда дети достигли Jagborough Бухты, так что не было никаких песков, чтобы играть на - обстоятельство, которое тетя пропустила в поспешности организации ее карательной экспедиции. Плотность ботинок Бобби имела бедственный эффект на его характер весь день, и в целом дети, возможно, не были сказаны, чтобы наслаждаться. Тетя поддержала{обслужила} замороженную немоту того, кто перенес недостойную и незаслуженную задержку в резервуаре{танке} дождевой воды в течение тридцати пяти минут. Что касается Николаса, он, также, был тих, в поглощении того, кто имеет много, чтобы думать о; это было только возможно, он рассматривал{считал}, которого охотник избежит с его собаками в то время как волки feasted на пораженном олене.

139

SPEECH PATTERNS

1. Older and wiser and better people had told him that there could not possibly be a frog in his bread-and-milk.1 How can I possibly do it? Do it if you possibly can. The child couldn't possibly have done it alone.

2. She was a woman of few ideas, with immense power of concentration.

She was a woman of few words.

She has always been a woman of fashion.

He is a man of property.

3. a)... there was a piece of tapestry that was evidently meant to be a fire-screen.

The door is meant to be used in case of emergency.

He was meant to be an artist.

b) They were meant for each other.

Are these flowers meant for me?

What I said wasn't meant for your ears.

4. That part of the picture was simple if interesting. That part of the play was entertaining if long. The concert was enjoyable if loud.

The dress was unattractive if new.

Phrases and Word Combinations

to be in disgrace	to change the subject
to describe with much detail (in great detail)	(for) the greater part of the day (the time; the year; of one's time) (more literary)
as a matter of fact	(to look, to come, etc.) in one's direction/in the direction of
to picture to oneself (literary)	to come up to one's expectation (BE), to meet one's expectations (AE)
in the first (second, last) place	to be inclined to do smth
to claim one's attention	to be in a tight corner (spot)
to open on to (smth) (of a window, door)	in comparison with
to be one pace (mile) away from smb or smth	to be in search of smb or smth
	in one's haste of (doing) smth