Английский язык для студентов университетов. Чтение, письменная и устная практика (стр. 10 из 42)

► Pattern: The lady is working about the house.

4. Say how you share domestic chores in your family. Who does the major part of the household work? Which of you is good at helping your mother?

○ TEXT

Some Practical Experience

(Extract from the book by Monica Dickens "One Pair of Hands". Abridged)

I think Miss Cattermole* refrained from telling the agency what she thought of me, for they rang me up a few days later and offered me another job. This time it was a Mrs. Robertson, who wanted someone twice a week to do washing and ironing and odd jobs. As I had already assured the agency that I was thoroughly domesticated in every way, I didn't feel like admitting that I was the world's worst ironer.

* Miss Cattermole is the name of the lady who was the first to hire Monica through a job agency.

They gave me the address, and I went along there. The porter of the flats let me in, as Mrs. Robertson was out, but she had left a note for me, and a pile of washing on the bathroom floor. I sorted it out, and it was not attractive. It consisted mainly of several grubby and rather ragged pairs of corsets and a great many small pairs of men's socks and stockings in a horrid condition of stickiness.

I made a huge bowl of soap suds, and dropped the more nauseating articles in with my eyes shut. I washed and rinsed and squeezed for about an hour and a half. There was no one but me to answer the telephone, which always rang when I was covered in soap to the elbow. I accepted a bridge party for the owner of the corsets, and a day's golfing for the wearer of the socks, but did not feel in a position to give an opinion on the state of cousin Mary's health.

I had just finished hanging out the clothes, and had wandered into the drawing-room to see what sort of books they had, when I heard a latch key in the door. I flew back to the bathroom, and was discovered diligently tweaking out the fingers of gloves when Mrs. Robertson walked in. She was horrified to see that I had not hung the stockings up by the heels, and told me so with a charming frankness. However, she still wanted me to come back the next day to iron the things I had washed.

I returned the next day and scorched Mrs. Robertson's best camisole. She was more than frank in her annoyance over this trifling mishap and it made me nervous. The climax came when I dropped the electric iron on the floor and it gave off a terrific burst of blue sparks. I supposed it had fused. It ended by her paying me at the rate of a shilling an hour for the time I had put in, and a tacit agreement being formed between us that I should never appear again.

I was still undaunted, however, and I told myself that there are so many people in the world that it doesn't matter if one doesn't hit it off with one or two of them.²1 pinned my faith in the woman in the agency,³ and went and had a heart-to-heart talk with her.

'What I want is something where I'll really get a chance to get some practical experience,' I told her.

'Well, we have one or two people asking for cook-generals,' she said. 'You might go and see this Miss Faulkener, at Chelsea. She wants someone to do the work of a very small flat,⁴ and cook dinner at night, and sometimes lunch.'

I went off, full of hope and very excited, to Miss Faulkener's flat. A sharp-featured maid opened the door.

'You come after the job?'⁵

'Yes,' I whispered humbly. I gave her my name and she let me in reluctantly. On a sofa in front of a coal fire, groomed to the last eyebrow,⁶ sat my prospective employer. She looked an amusing woman, and it would be marvellous to have the run of a kitchen to mess in to my heart's content.⁷ It was all fixed up.

I went to bed early, with the cook's alarm clock at my side, but in spite of that I didn't sleep well. Its strident note terrified me right out of bed into the damp chill of a November morning.⁸ I bolted down some coffee and rushed off, clutching my overalls and aprons, and, arriving in good time, let myself in, feeling like an old hand. I took myself off to the kitchen. It was looking rather inhumanely neat, and was distinctly cold. There was no boiler as it was a flat, and a small refrigerator stood in one corner. I hung my coat behind the door, put on the overall, and, rolling up my sleeves, prepared to attack the drawing-room fire. I found the wood and coal, but I couldn't see what Mrs. Baker* had used to collect ash in. However, I found a wooden box which I thought would do, and took the coal along the passage in that. I hadn't laid a fire since my girl-guide days,⁹ but it seemed quite simple, and I took the ashes out to the dustbin, leaving a little trail of cinders behind me from a broken comer of the box. The trouble about housework is that whatever you do seems to lead to another job to do or a mess to clear up. I put my hand against the wall while I was bending down to sweep up the cinders and made a huge grubby mark on the beautiful cream-coloured paint. I rubbed at it gingerly with a soapy cloth and the dirt came off all right, but an even laiger stain remained, paler than the rest of the paint, and with a hard, grimy outline. I didn't dare wash it any more, and debated moving the grandfather clock over to hide it. However, it was now a quarter past nine, so I had to leave it to its fate¹⁰ and pray that Miss Faulkener wouldn't notice.

* Mrs. Baker is the name of the former cook-general

I had dusted the living-room, swept all the dirt down the passage and into the kitchen, and gone through the usual tedious business of chasing it about, trying to get it into the dustpan before her bell and back-door bell rang at the same moment. The back door was the nearest, so I opened it on a man who said 'Grosher'.¹¹

'Do you mean orders?'

'Yesh, mish'

He went on up the outside stairs whistling, and I rushed to the bedroom, wiping my hands on my overall before going in.

'Good morning, Monica, I hope you're getting on all right. I just want to talk about food.'

We fixed the courses,¹² and I rushed back to the kitchen.

It didn't occur to me in those days to wash up as I went along, not that I would have had time,¹³ as cooking took me quite twice as long as it should. I kept doing things wrong and having to rush to cookery books for help, and everything I wanted at a moment's notice had always disappeared.

Every saucepan in the place was dirty; the sink was piled high with them. On the floor lay the plates and dishes that couldn't be squeezed on to the table or dresser, already cluttered up with peelings, pudding basins, and dirty little bits of butter.

I started listlessly on the washing-up. At eleven o'clock I was still at it and my back and head were aching in unison. The washing-up was finished, but the stove was in a hideous mess.

Miss Faulkener came in to get some glasses and was horrified to see me still there.

'Goodness, Monica, I thought you'd gone hours ago. Run off now, anyway; you can leave that till tomorrow.'

She wafted back to the drawing-room and I thought: 'If it was you, you'd be thinking of how depressing it will be tomorrow morning to arrive at crack of dawn and find things filthy. People may think that by telling you to leave a thing till the next day it will get done magically, all by itself overnight. But no, that is not so, in fact quite the reverse, in all probability it will become a mess of an even greater magnitude."⁴

At last I had finished. I arrived home in a sort of coma. My mother helped me to undress and brought me hot milk, and as I burrowed into the yielding familiarity of my own dear bed, my last thought was thankfulness that I was a "Daily" and not a "Liver-in".¹⁵

Proper Names

Monica Dickens ['mÁnIk@ 'dIk@nz] — Моника Дикенс

Cattermole ['k{t@m@Ul] — Кэтермоул

Robertson ['rÁb@tsn] — Робертсон

Mary ['me@rI] — Мэри

Faulkener ['fþkn@] — Фокнер

Chelsea ['¶elsI] — Челси

Baker [beIk@] — Бейкер

Vocabulary Notes

1. ... that I was the world's worst ironer.— ... что я хуже всех в мире глажу.

2. ... it doesn't matter if one doesn't hit it off with one or two of them. — неважно, если с кем-то из них не поладишь.

3. I pinned my faith in the woman in the agency ... — Я возложила свои надежды на женщину из агентства...

4. ... to do the work of a very small flat — убирать очень маленькую квартиру.

5. 'You come after the job?' — «Вы насчёт работы?» (Прим.: неправильное грамматическое построение фразы, характерное для разговорного стиля).

6. ... groomed to the last eyebrow ... — ... ухоженная до кончиков ногтей ...

7. ... to have the run of a kitchen to mess in to my heart's content. — ... вволю похозяйничать на кухне и устроить там полный беспорядок.

8. Its strident note terrified me right out of bed into the damp chill of a November morning. — Его резкий звонок испугал меня и заставил сразу вскочить с кровати; ноябрьское утро было холодным и промозглым.

9. ... since my girl-guide days ... — ... с того времени, когда я была членом организации «Гёл-Гайдз». (Прим.: «Гёл-Гайдз» — организация для девочек, аналогичная организации бой-скаутов).

10. ... to leave it to its fate ... — ... оставить всё как есть ...

11. 'Grosher' — бакалейщик. (Прим.: неправильное написание слова grocer, передающее особенности речи персонажа. См. далее 'Yesh, mish.'- 'Yes, miss.').

12. We fixed the courses ... — Мы обсудили, что готовить ...

13. It didn't occur to me in those days to wash up as I went along, not that I would have had time ... — Тогда мне и в голову не приходило мыть посуду, пока я готовила, да у меня и времени-то не было ...

14. ... in all probability it will become a mess of an even greater magnitude. — ... скорее всего, беспорядка станет еще больше.

15. ... that I was a "Daily" and not a "Liver-in". — ... что я бььла домработница приходящая, а не живущая в доме постоянно.

Comprehension Check

1. What did Monica look for? Did she want to find a job as a "Daily" or a "Liver-in"?

2. Why did she think that Miss Cattermole refrained from telling the agency what she thought of her?

3. Who offered the girl the job at a flat twice a week?

4. What was Monica to do at Mrs. Robertson's?

5. What did Mrs. Robertson leave for the girl at her place?

6. How long did it take her to do the washing?

7. Did she have to combine washing with some other job?

8. What did Monica do after she had hung out the clothes?

9. Did Mrs. Robertson find Monica reading a book in the drawing- room?

10. How did Monica and Mrs. Robertson part?

11. What sort of job was Monica offered by Miss Faulkener?

12. What did Miss Faulkener and her kitchen look like?

13. How did Monica sweep up the cinders?

14. What happened while she was sweeping up the cinders?

15. Did the dirt come off all right?

16. Why did the cooking take her twice as long as it should have?

17. What did the kitchen look like at the end of the day?

18. Did the girl like the idea of leaving everything undone till the next day?

19. How did Monica feel when she arrived home?

Phonetic Text Drills

○ Exercise 1

Transcribe and pronounce correctly the words from the text.

Agency, to assure, domesticated, ragged, corset, nauseating, to squeeze, to wander, to tweak, to scorch, mishap, to fuse, tacit, undaunted, employer, content, strident, to bolt, overall, apron, inhumanely, cinder, gingerly, tedious, to chase, to clutter, unison, to waft, filthy, reverse, magnitude, coma, to burrow, yielding.

○ Exercise 2

Pronounce the words or phrases where the following clusters occur.

1. plosive + m

offered me, let me, consisted mainly, told me, it made me, doesn't matter, took myself, good morning.

2. plosive/s + w

world's worst, had wandered, tweaking, between, sleep well, swept, quite, twice, cluttered up with.

3. plosive + plosive

odd jobs, ragged pairs, horrid condition, dropped, had just, it gave, terrific burst, might go, bolted down, good time, dustpan.

4. plosive + 1

had left, diligently, people, reluctantly, clock, distinctly, table, little, listlessly.

5. plosive + r

address, attractive, grubby, and rather, bridge, trifling, electric, agreement, practical, groomed, aprons, trail, broken, trouble, grimy.

○ Exercise 3

Pronounce correctly and say what kind of false assimilation one should avoid in the phrases below.

Was thoroughly, was still, is something, wants someone, is that, was thankfullness.

○ Exercise 4

Transcribe the phrases and mark phonetic phenomena in them.

I was the world's worst ironer ...

Its strident note terrified me right out of bed ...

... but it seemed quite simple.

○ Exercise 5

Intone the sentences, addressed to someone. Practise their ponunciation. Make up your own examples.

Good \morning, | ,Monica, | I 'hope you are 'getting 'on all \right. ||

^Goodness, | ,Monica, | I 'thought you'd 'gone ^\hours a,go. ||

EXERCISES

Exercise 1

Find in the passage and translate sentences containing synonyms or synonymous expressions for the following.

experienced worker servant

to do one's laundry washing the plates

to wring tidy

wastebin casual jobs

to do the cleaning worn

to smudge dirty

domestic work silent

Exercise 2

Pick out from the text 1) verbs denoting different kinds of housework activities; 2) nouns denoting various tools used in housework; 3) adverbs describing the manner of doing housework.

►Pattern:1) to wash, ...

2) a bowl, ...

3) diligently, ...

Exercise 3

Complete the sentences taking the necessary information from the passage.

1. As Miss Cattermole refrained from telling the agency what she thought of Monica they rang her up and ...

2. Monica assured the agency that she was ...

3. Mrs. Robertson wanted Monica twice a week ...

4. The pile of washing left on the bathroom floor didn't look attractive as it consisted of...

5. To do the washing Monica made a huge bowl of ...

6. When she hung out the clothes she flew back to the bath room and was discovered ...

7. Mrs. Robertson wanted Monica to come back the next day ...

8. Mrs. Robertson's best camisole ...

9. The electric iron gave off a terrific burst of blue sparks because ...

10. Monica found her perspective employer quite amusing and she thought it would be marvellous ...

11. Before laying a fire Monica put on ...

12. The trouble about housework is that ...

13. While bending down to sweep up the cinders Monica ...

14. Trying to get the dirt into the dustpan Monica went through ...

15. It didn't occur to Monica to wash up as she cooked ...

16. On the floor lay the plates and dishes and the sink ...

17. When Monica finished doing all the jobs her back ... and she arrived home ...

Exercise 4

I. The author uses analogous words or expressions to denote the same things. Find them in the text and say how otherwise the author puts the following.

dirty — to collect ash in —

to do washing — to flow back —

grubby — cluttered up —

hideous — to be thoroughly domesticated

a mark — at a moment's notice —

II. Use your English-English dictionary and explain the difference in meaning between similar looking words or phrases from the text.