Яков Аракин - Практический курс английского языка 2 курс

— Yes, certainly. Here is a prescription for you. (weighty, catt goric)

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— What is your temperature? ( sympathetically interested)

— It's thirty-eight point seven.

— Please strip to the waist. I shall examine you. How long have you felt this way?

(sympathetically interested)

— Several days already. I've been taking pills, but I don't feel any better.

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A.: Hello, Pete, what's happened to you? Why is your arm in a sling? ( sympathetically

interested)

P.: I had a bad fall and broke my arm.

A.: How awful! Have you any pain now? (interested)

P.: It still hurts, but not so much as before. ( reserving judgement)

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D.: What's troubling you? (interested)

A.: One of my front teeth is working loose.

D.: You have to have this one out. It's a pity you didn't have it looked at before. ( grumbling)

A: I wish I had. ( conveying personal concern)

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— I have an abscess on my finger, it hurts me awfully. (serious)

— Did you run a splinter into your finger? (interested)

— No, I happened to pick it with a wire.

— What did you do for it? (searching)

— I did nothing, I thought it would heal by itself.

— That was not very clever of you. (reprimand)

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— Your voice is hoarse and your face is flushed. You must have a cold. I'm sure. Where did

you manage to get it? (sympathy)

— I don't know myself. I must have caught cold last night, when I took my coat off.

— How thoughtless of you, the evening was cold and windy. (reproachful) Now you'll have

to stay in.

3. a) Listen to the dialogue. Mark the stresses and tunes. Find sense-groups

and sentences pronounced with intonation Patterns I, II; III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII. Say

what kind of sentences they are used in. Define the attitudes expressed in them:

— Let's have tea in the garden, shall we?

— That's a good idea. Shall I take the table out?

— Yes, please. And the chairs too.

— Right. Where shall I put them?

— Oh, anywhere. I'll bring the tea.

— Good. We'll have the table here and the chairs here.

— Why have you put the table there?

— Well, you said anywhere.

— Yes, but you must be sensible. It'll be too hot there.

— Where shall I put it then?

— Bring it under the tree here. That's better.

— Now perhaps we can have some tea.

— Oh, dear. I'm sorry I've forgotten the sugar. Would you mind getting it for me?

— Not at all.

— Now where did I put the milk? Ah, here it is.

— Here's the sugar.

— Thank you. That's your cup.

— Thank you. This is very pleasant.

— It is, isn't it? But I'm a bit cold here. Do you think you could move the table again? I'm

sorry to be a nuisance.

— All right. I'll put it back where it was. Is that better?

— Much. Where are you going?

— I'm going indoors. For a bit of peace and quiet.

b) Record your reading of the dialogue. Play the recording back for the teacher

and your fellow-students to detect the possible errors. Practise the dialogue for test

reading. Memorize and dramatize it.

c) Make up conversational situations, using the following phrases:

Let's .... shall we?

It'll be too ... .

That's a good idea.

That's better.

Yes, please.

Now, perhaps, ... .

Right.

Oh, dear, I'm so sorry.

Oh, ... .

Not at all.

Well, you said ... .

Do you think you could ... ?

d) Use the same phrases in a conversation.

4. This exercise is meant to develop your ability to hear and reproduce

intonation in different speech situations.

a) listen to the story "Helen's eyes were not very good... "82 carefully, sentence by sentence. Mark the stresses and tunes. (The teacher will help you to correct your variant.)

Practise reading your corrected variant

b) Listen carefully to the narration of the story. Observe the peculiarities in intonation-

group division, pitch, stress and tempo. Note the use of temporizers. Reproduce the model

narration of the story.

5. This exercise is meant to test your ability to read and reproduce a story with

correct intonation.

Read the jokes silently to make sure you understand each sentence. Find the sentence

expressing the essence of the joke. Split up each sentence into intonation-groups if necessary.

Mark the stresses and tunes. Underline the communicative centre and the nuclear word of

each intonation-group. It is not expected that each student will intone the text in the same way.

The teacher will help you to correct your variant

Practise reading the joke several times.

Reproduce the model narration of the joke:

Young Peter came in one day bursting with excitement. Walking down the main street he had

suddenly discovered he was side-by-side with movie actor Clark Gable.

— Did you talk to him? we asked.

— Well, it was like this, he said slowly. I knew who he was and he knew who he was — and

it just didn't make sense us discussing it.

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Some people were gathered on the verandah after dinner.

A young lady asked: "Can you name five days of the week without mentioning Monday,

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday?" Nobody could guess. At last the young

lady said: "It is very easy. Here are the five days: today, yesterday, the day before yesterday,

tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow".

82 The tests of the stories and dialogues recorded on the tape see on p. 426.

SECTION TWO. Intonation Pattern IX. High fall

(LOW PRE-HEAD + ) HIGH FALL (+ TAIL)

Model: Why didn't you buy the picture?

— Much too ex,pensive.

Stress-and-tone marks in the text: High Fall. | ` |

The High Fall in the nucleus starts very high and usually reaches the lowest pitch. The

syllables of the tail are pronounced on the low level.

The High Fall provides a greater degree of prominence for the word, making it more

emphatic. The degree of prominence depends on the height of the fall.

This intonation pattern is used:

1 . I n s t a t e m e n t s , conveying personal concern or involvement, sounding

lively, interested, airy; very common in conversation.

е.g. Do you know the man? — `No. (Ìdon't.) `Yes.| (Ìdo.) Where's my copy? — `Peter

,took it ,for you.

2 . I n q u e s t i o n s :

a ) I n s p e c i a l questions, sounding lively, interested, е.g. I shall be late, I'm

afraid. — `How ,late?

b ) I n g e n e r a l questions, conveying mildly surprised acceptance of the listener's

premises. е.g. I like it here. Do you? (I thought you'd hate it.)

3 . I n i m p e r a t i v e s , sounding warm.

е.g. What's the matter? — Look. (It's raining.)