Tài liệu Reading upper intermediate part 3 ppt

A Slight Ache Reading a play Task 1 With a partner, imagine that you have been asked to take part ina play reading 1.e.. Task 2 Read through this description of the setting of A Slight

Unit 2 13

Compare your list with other students’ lists Add any common

phrases that you have missed

Task 2

Often, writers try to be more effective by not making their own

views obvious but by involving the reader in the interpretation of

what they say

Below are some of the ways 1n which writers communicate their

views indirectly

similes

The writer compares what he/she is describing with something else

and in doing so implies his/her opinion

lor example:

Their furniture was about as comfortable as a cactus

She sang like a kettle whistling as it botls

The Hotel Excelsior compares favourably with most tents that I have

slept in

metaphors

The writer implies a comparison and an opinion by stating that a=b

For example:

l am an tsÌand

He ts a bull when he ts roused

The hotel was a huge and splendid rubbish dump

irony

The writer says one thing but really means the opposite

For example:

The food was so delicious that I took it home for my dog

The centre forward was so skilful that he managed to knee the ball

over the bar from five yards out

exaggeration

The writer deliberately exaggerates in order to emphasize a point

For example:

The whole world greeted his latest invention with ridicule

There was a wonderful view of the Alps through the floor of the plane

emotive words

The writer describes states, actions and events using words which

imply an attitude as well as describe a characteristic

For example:

He usually manages to bulldoze his way through the committee

meetings

She’s really slim

No, she’s not — she’s skinny

Sam ts very thrifty, isn’t he?

I'd call him mean

What does the writer really think in each of the following sentences?

2

She danced as daintily as a cow

The new social centre is a tree growing naturally with strength and beauty to fit the environment in which it has been placed His unrivalled brilliance as a student of the physical sciences was aptly illustrated by his 10% in the physics examinations

Jasmine is so incredibly beautiful, dignified and intelligent as to be

the eighth wonder of the world

I’d prefer to describe him as stout

Task 3

Which of the following people are in favour of the proposal for a new motorway to be built through their town?

Mr Andrews ‘It would attract visitors to our town who could

pass through it without spending a penny.’

Mrs Joyner ‘This is the greatest idea since the Second World

War was thought of.’

Mr Price ‘It would be as good as a high speed train taking

us an hour nearer to London.’

Miss Bell ‘The new road would be a dragon breathing fumes

and congestion on our helpless town.’

Mrs Newbrook ‘It would transform us from a dwarf into a giant.’

Mir Etchells ‘The road would demolish homes and hopes of

peace and quiet.’

What are the writers’ views in the following texts?

1 Nowadays education denies its children the essential facts It does not tell them what is and what should be It tells children to think and feel but it does not dictate to them how to behave

| am a great believer in freedom of speech, which is why | was

delighted that university students were allowed to shout the Prime Minister down and did not have to endure her views on students’ grants

The new resort of Karacruz is a paradise for lovers of concrete, plastic and unfinished works of art Everywhere buildings stand symbolically bereft of doors or roofs or significantly without windows The place is unique and should be visited by all lovers of the bizarre and grotesque and by all those jet set tourists surfeited with the luxury and comfort of the average resort

Task 4

Explain what the writers mean in the following texts

1

2

| don't want to be an island but a bridge

His sarcasm often bites like an adder

Unit 2 lỗ

3 My daddy was a loving man

My father loved his daughter

My daddy bought himself a van

And with it killed his daughter

4 But what can you expect from such a man? Do you find taste in the

white of an egg?

5 |'ve managed to stop smoking: now |'m trying to stop nuclear power

6 | got back to my room last night wet with wine and good intentions

for today but now they are both floating out to sea with the rain which

falls forever outside my door

In groups of four or five, find examples of indirect comment from

books, newspapers and magazines Challenge another group to

explain them to you

A Slight Ache

Reading a play

Task 1

With a partner, imagine that you have been asked to take part ina play reading (1.e reading a play aloud)

Make a list of the things you would need to do to prepare for the play reading

Make a list of the skills you will need to take part in the play reading

Task 2

Read through this description of the setting of A Slight Ache, a play

by Harold Pinter

A country house, with two chairs and a table laid for breakfast at the

centre of the stage These will later be removed and the action will be focused on the scullery on the right and the study on the left, both indicated with a minimum of scenery and props A large well kept garden

is suggested at the back of the stage with flower beds, trimmed hedges,

etc The garden gate, which cannot be seen by the audience, Is off right FLORA and EDWARD are discovered sitting at the breakfast table EDWARD is reading the paper

How many rooms are there in the stage set? Which rooms are they? Complete this drawing of the set of the play

BACK OF STAGE

AUDIENCE

Unit 3 17

Task 3

Read through the extract below from A Slight Ache quickly,

concentrating on getting a general idea of what the two characters

are like

Work with a partner and discuss your answers to the following

questions

How old do you think Flora and Edward are?

What do you think Flora looks like?

What do you think IE:dward looks like?

What sort of person do you think Flora 1s?

What sort of person do you think Edward is?

Edward Cover the marmalade

Flora What?

Edward Cover the pot There’s a wasp [He puts the paper down on the

table.| Don’t move Keep still What are you doing?

Edward Don't move Leave it Keep still

[pause]

Give me the ‘Telegraph’

Flora Don't hit it It'll bite

Edward Bite? What do you mean, bite? Keep still

[pause]

Flora It’s going in the pot

Edward Give me the lid

Flora It’s in

Edward Give me the lid

Edward Give it to me! Now Slowly

Flora What are you doing?

Edward Be quiet Slowly carefully on the pot!

Ha-ha-ha Very good

He sits on a chair to the right of the table

Edward Precisely

Pause She sits on a chair to the left of the table and reads the

‘Telegraph’

Flora Can you hear him?

Edward Hear him?

Flora Buzzing

Edward Nonsense How can you hear him? It’s an earthenware lid 25

Flora He's becoming frantic

Edward Rubbish Take it away from the table

Flora What shall | do with it?

Edward Put it in the sink and drown it

30

35

40

45

90

09

60

65

70

Flora It'll fly out and bite me

Edward it will not bite you! Wasps don't bite Anyway, it won't fly out It’s Stuck It'll drown where it is, in the marmalade

Flora What a horrible death

Edward On the contrary

[ pause]

Flora Have you got something in your eyes?

Edward No Why do you ask?

Flora You keep clenching them, blinking them

Edward | have a slight ache in them

Flora Oh, dear

Edward Yes, a slight ache As if | hadn't slept

Flora Did you sleep, Edward?

Edward Of course | slept Uninterrupted As always

Flora And yet you feel tired

Edward | didn't say | felt tired | merely said | had a slight ache in my eyes

Flora Why is that, then?

Edward | really don't know

[pause]

Flora Oh goodness!

Edward What is it?

Flora | can see it It’s trying to come out

Edward How can it?

Flora Through the hole It’s trying to crawl out, through the spoon-hole

Edward Mmmnn, yes Can't do it, of course [silent pause]

Well, let’s kill it, for goodness’ sake

Flora Yes, let's But how?

Edward Bring it out on the spoon and squash it on a plate

Flora It'll fly away It'll bite

Edward /f you don't stop saying that word | shall leave this table

Flora But wasps do bite

Edward [hey don't bite They sting It’s snakes that bite

Flora What about horseflies?

[pause]

Edward [to himself] Horseflies suck

| pause]

Flora [tentatively] lf we if we wait long enough, | suppose it'll choke

to death It'll suffocate in the marmalade

Edward [briskly] You do know I've got work to do this morning, don’t

you? | can't spend the whole day worrying about a wasp

Flora Well, kill it

Edward You want to kill it?

Flora Yes

Edward Very well Pass me the hot water jug

Flora What are you going to do?

Unit 3 19

Edward Scaid it Give it to me

She hands him the jug Pause

Now

Flora [whispering | Do you want me to lift the lid?

Edward No no, no I'll pour down the spoon hole Right down the

spoon hole

Flora Listen!

Edward What?

Flora It's buzzing

Edward Vicious creatures

[ pause}

Curious, but | don't remember seeing any wasps at all all summer,

until now I’m sure | con't know why | mean, there must have been

wasps

Flora Please

Edward This couldn't be the first wasp, could it?

Flora Please

Edward [he first wasp of the summer? No It’s not possible

Flora Edward

Edward Mmimmnnn?

Flora Kill it

Edward Ah, yes Tilt the pot Tilt Aah downhere rignt down

Dlinding him that’s if

Flora Is it?

Edward Lift the lid All right, | will There he is! Dead What a monster

[He squashes it on a plate

Flora What an awful experience

Task 4

Work in a group of three One of you be Flora, another be Edward

and the third be the producer of the play Flora and Edward should

read the opening lines of the play below, while the producer listens

carefully

Flora Have you noticed the honeysuckle this morning?

Edward The what?

Flora The honeysuckle

Edward Honeysuckle? Where?

Flora By the back gate, Edward

Edward ls that honeysuckle? | thought it was convolvulus, or

something

Flora But you know it’s honeysuckle

Edward | tell you | thought it was convolvulus

Together, make notes about the reading by compleung the table on

the following page

5

80

89

90

95

loa Sdward

Were the words pronounced correctly?

Was the intonation right?

Was the reading fluent?

Was the reading true to character?

Did the reading suggest

the relationship between

the characters?

Read the opening lines aloud a second time and try to make any improvements suggested after completing the table

Task 5

Check that you know the answers to these questions

1 Do wasps

| | bite?

LÌ sung?

[|] suck?

2 What do horseflies do?

3 What is the “Telegraph’?

4 Which of the following does the marmalade pot look like?

J} 5ia/erwefE |

Sey on ; gl

Sed Ah) a BB

x | aw ene J

(c)

Unit 3 21

Now read the extract through a second trme Thịs time read more

slowly and concentrate on understanding what happens and on what

seems to be going on between the characters

Task 6

Apart from the wasp, what other topic is discussed in this extract?

Describe exactly how the wasp is trapped and finally killed

Compare Flora and Edward

Draw up a table and write down the adjectives from the list below

which best describe Flora and Edward You may decide that some of

the adjectives are not appropriate to either

sensitive dogmatic irritable

caring perfectionist irritating

fussy authoritative inquisitive

amusing commanding understanding

obedient critical jolly

miserable neurotic

Add any other adjectives that you think describe Flora and Edward

When you have completed your table, compare it with another

student's and discuss any differences

Find lines in the extract to support your choice of adjectives

Hold a class discussion about whether you think Flora and Edward’s

marriage 1s a happy and successful one

Task 7

In this activity you will think about how to read the extract aloud

Look through the extract and find the stage instructions that say

‘pause’ What do you think is the purpose of the different pauses?

With a partner, find the lines below in the extract and then discuss

how vou think they should be said Practise saying then)

Edward Cover the marmalade

Edward Slowly carefuliy on the pot!

Fiora He's becoming frantic

Edward It will not bite you! Wasps don’t bite

Flora What a horrible death

Edward Of course | slept Uninterrupted As always

Edward l you don't stop saying that word i shall leave this table Flora What an awituil experience

lind the ines that have the following stage instructions and then

practise saving them in the way suggested

ŒO 115011 )

Centatively)

(briskly)

(tC SPCKLUY) Task 8 Work with a partner One of vou be Flora and the other Edward Koad the whole extract aloud, making it as convincing as possible Your teacher will ask one pair to read the extract aloud to the rest of the class Listen carefullv, and when they have finished, make

suggestions about how they could improve the reading

Task 9 Think back over the different activities in this unit Make a list of

anything you did that you think helped you to read the play aloud in a

convincing manner

You were asked to read the extract silently twice, once quickly and once more slowly Discuss with your teacher any problems you had

in reading quickly

What is the purpose of reading a text through

e quickly?

e more slowly?

When in real lite would you normnaily rea

® slowly?

e gitickly?