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Consider the information in Units 1—5 and accomplish the tasks given below. Check them with the keys.
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1. At what stage of reading a book can you
— determine the meaning of a title? — interpret symbols?
2. Define the main function of the titles of the stories you read last term:
a) Eveline (J. Joyce);
b) The Smile (R. Bradbury);
c) The Story of an Hour (K.Chopin);
d ) A Lamp in a Window (T. Capote);
e) The Happy Man (W. S. Maugham);
f) The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (J. Thurber)
| 1) The title characterizes the protagonist. |
| 2) The title focuses the reader’s attention on the most relevant character of the story. |
| 3) The title creates a sense of anticipation and curiosity about what will happen in the story. |
| 4) The title disorientates the reader. It contrasts with the story and acquires an ironic ring. |
| 5) The title orientates the reader towards the story. It serves as a means of foreshadowing. |
| 6) The title is a symbol. |
3. Give several titles to this story so that they may perform different functions. Mind that one title can have more than one possible function.
Mr. Alex Fraser lived his entire life in a small town in the North of England.
He never left the house where he had been born, never married, never went on holiday and had no friends. He worked in a local factory for over 40 years but even the people who had worked with him for years knew very little about him. He wore the same old clothes for years, and though he stopped regularly at the local store he bought only the most basic foodstuffs, never changing his purchases from one week to the next.
So when he died last month neighbours and local people were astonished to learn that Mr. Fraser was not just a rich man, he was in fact a millionaire.
He had no bank account, no money invested anywhere, but in various drawers, cupboards and boxes in the house there were hundreds and thousands of banknotes and coins. It took police over two weeks to clear the house and the bank clerks took just as long to count all the money.
“We had absolutely no idea that he had been hiding his money aver the years,” one of the neighbours said. “In fact we used to feel sorry for him, we thought he was a poor old man unable to afford anything better for himself”.
4. A symbol is:
a) something concrete standing for something immaterial;
b) something immaterial standing for something material;
c) an object which represents a concept broader than the literal sense of the word.
5. Match the following symbols with their definitions:
| 1. the shell | 4. the photograph | 7. the hyena | 10. the moon |
| 2. the bird | 5. the egg | 8. the well | 11. the lightning |
| 3. the chicken | 6. the star | 9. the wolf | 12. the hen |
a) 1. Cowardice; 2. Effeminacy; 3. Its broth cures venomous bites and many diseases; smearing oneself with it protects one against lions and panthers.
b) One of eight emblems of good luck in Chinese Buddhism, it is also a sign for a prosperous journey because of its association with water, the source of fertility. It is sometimes seen as a symbol of the prosperity of one generation rising out of the death of the preceding generation. It is also related to the moon and to Woman (the birth of Aphrodite).
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c) 1. Where ‘foxes’ are mentioned, many translate ‘__’; sometimes the dragons of the desert are called __. 2. A god among Egyptians, probably having the same semantic value of Mother as the vulture had; 3. Falseness, fickleness; 4. Avarice; 5. Ghoulishness: laughing devourer of corpses; 6. Night-prowler, whose eyes have a great variety of colours; it fascinates animals by looking; 7. Cowardice.
d) It is a feminine symbol, universally representing the rhythm of time as it embodies the cycle. Its phases symbolize immortality and eternity, enlightment of the dark side of Nature herself. It might reflect inner knowledge, or the phases of man’s condition on earth, since it controls the tides, the rains, the waters, and the seasons. It is the middle ground between the light of the sun and the darkness of night, and thus often represents the realm between the conscious and the unconscious. In astrology, it is a symbol of the soul, and in the horoscope it determines the subject’s capacity for reflection and adaptation. It also provides analogy for the stages of human development: the new __ means infancy, the crescent is youth and adolescence, the full is maturity and pregnancy, and the waning represents the decline of life, sleep.
e) 1. It inherits the ancient danger of being portrayed, plus the added danger of having the evil eye of the lens on you; 2. Black magic can be worked on a __ as well as on an image; it takes something away from you.
f) 1. Baptism, purification and rebirth; 2. Truth: a) looking into it denotes contemplation; thus also the soul; b) the numinous wisdom of the deep; 3. Time: the __ of time feeds the Ash — passion without outlet, stagnant death.
g) Winged beings represent the soul, air, a creative deity, spirits, angels, or supernatural aid, depending on the context. ___s pertain to “heights” and “loftiness” of spirit. In Hindu tradition they symbolize higher states of being. In ancient Egypt the __ or soul has a human head. In fairy tales ___ may stand for a lover or bear messages.
h) A traditional symbol of sudden illumination and the destruction of ignorance; it also represents a punishment of humans by the gods from the skies, most commonly attributed to Zeus, king of the gods. In dreams it is an image of sudden and terrible events and a symbol of intuition. Also it can carry negative connotations, it is also a form of divine message, honoring those chosen.
i) It figures frequently in fairy tales as the symbol of the enemy, of the menacing animal. It is an evil, devouring, fierce creature which haunts and stalks. In Christian faith they are considered the spoilers of the flock. In psychology, it represents untamed energies.
j) 1. The female, maternal care; 2. Providence.
k) As the germ of life, it is a widely recognized fertility symbol in ancient spring celebrations. It is central to the creation myths of many cultures, including the Druid and Indian. The symbol of totality of all creative forces.
l) 1. A heavenly light fighting the forces of darkness; 2. Immortality, the soul; 3. Spiritual guidance: a) of the Magi to Bethlehem; b) to knowledge.
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6. Think of traditional (universal) symbols for:
a) love b) purity c) studies
d) grief e) happiness f) peace
7. What makes a symbol similar to a metaphor?
8. Choose the features typical of each emotive key:
a) A text lyrical in key expresses ___________________ and employs a lot of______________________ _______________.
b) A story written in the dramatic key describes __________________________. The writer resorts to ___________________________ to convey dynamism and a sense of drama.
c) Stories written in the humorous emotive key contain _____________________.
| 1) emphatic syntax | 7) personal pronouns | 13) puns |
| 2) a series of exciting events | 8) interrogative sentences | 14) figures of rhetoric |
| 3) exaggeratedstatements | 9) metaphors | 15) similes |
| 4) poetic lexis | 10) exclamatory sentences | 16) direct addresses |
| 5) emotive lexis 6) direct personal feelings | 11) dynamic dialogues 12) present tenses | 17) words that do not belong in the situation |
TEST 2
Read the short story given below. Do a thorough vocabulary work and accomplish the tasks that follow the story. Check them with the keys.
J. Updike
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