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Unit eight. All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players
All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players. William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English playwright, poet and actor Discuss this before you read the text. 1. How do you understand the epigraph to this unit? Do you know what 2. How often do you go to the theatre? Can you call yourself a theatre 3. When did you last go to the theatre? What did you see? Did you enjoy 4. What theatrical genres do you prefer: comedy, tragedy, tragicomedy, 5. Have you seen any musicals? Can you tell the difference between a 6. Do you know any English or American playwrights? Can you remember 7. Have you ever been to any English or American theatres? What did you PART 1
PYGMALION'S FAIR LADY* It would hardly be an exaggeration to assert that My Fair Lady is the most popular musical created in the last century. Among those made rich and famous by the smashing success of My Fair Lady were Alan Jay Lerner, who wrote the
Parti
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) wrote his Pygmalion in 1913. The name couldn't have been chosen more correctly. Like the hero of a Greek myth -the king of Cyprus and a gifted sculptor - who once made a marble statue of a beautiful girl and fell in love with his own creation, Henry Higgins, a famous professor of phonetics, challenged by a task that seemed impossible to cope with, succeeded in transforming a Cockney flower girl into a glamorous aristocrat by improving her accent, and felt he couldn't do without her. Eliza is a Cockney, i.e. a working class Londoner born in a particular place in the East End who speaks with a specific Cockney accent, without observing grammar rules and distorting the words she uses. In the opening pages of Pygmalion Shaw tried to record her actual way of speaking, but he was able to keep it up for no more than a few pages, and reverted to normal English spelling for the Cockney flower girl, giving a special remark to the readers: " Here, with apologies, this desperate attempt to represent her dialect without a phonetic alphabet must be abandoned as unintelligible outside London." Bernard Shaw didn't have to rack his brains to create his Professor Higgins. He simply endowed his hero with many features of his own. Like Henry Higgins, Bernard Shaw was known to have no manners, to be domineering and merciless to people around, to possess a specific kind of wit that was capable of making a laughing stock of anyone he wanted to ridicule, and at the same time was lucky enough to have irresistible charm that attracted people to him. The play was immediately appreciated by theatrical directors and had a long and extremely successful run both at home and abroad a long-long time before Alan Jay Lerner came across it. After seeing the play more than once and carefully reading Shaw's text, he was convinced that sooner or later he would change it into a musical. In 1952 he sat down and began to struggle with the task he had set himself. He worked on it for four years, writing a song here and a bit of dialogue there. At one point he was on the verge of dropping the whole thing. " I just couldn't get it in focus, " he once said to a friend. But the Lady wouldn't stay dropped. He went back to his work and, with Loewe, put together five songs. Lerner was particularly impressed by Rex Harrison as Professor Higgins in Pygmalion. He realized that in Rex Harrison he had found a Higgins, who would act rather than sing his songs. He tailored his material to Harrison's style, the result being, among other magnetic songs, the gentle, reflective I've grown accustomed to her face. For Julie Andrews, who played Eliza Doolittle, Lerner and Loewe wrote the dreamy / could have danced all night, the revengeful Just you wait and the delightful Wouldn't it be loverly. Unit eight
(to be continued) Names Alan Jay Lerner ['sebn djei 1з: пэ] Frederic Loewe ['fredrik '1эш] Rex Harrison [reks 'hasnssn] Julie Andrews ['d3u: li 'cendru: z] George Bernard Shaw [dp: d3 Ъз: пэё Eliza Doolittle [I'laizg 'du: litl] New Words smashing ['smaejin] ad/оглушительный (об успехе), сокрушительный star [sta: ] v играть главную роль playwright ['pleirait] л драматург соре (with) (/справиться, выдержать distort [dis'to: t] v искажать keep up (phrasal verb) поддерживать (на определенном уровне) revert (to) [n'v3: t] увозвращать(ся), снова прибегнуть (к) apology [g'pDisdsi] л извинение desperate ['despargt] adj безнадежный, доведенный до отчаяния abandon [s'baendan] i/зд. отказываться (от), бросить unintelligible [, Anm'telid33bl] adj непонятный, неразборчивый, невразумительный rack one's brain(s) ломать себе голову rack v напрягать, загружать endow [m'dau] v наделять wit л остроумие, ум laughing stock посмешище ridicule ['ndikjud] v высмеивать irresistible [.in'zistsbl] adj неотразимый, непреодолимый on the verge of на грани verge [v3: d3] л край, грань reflective [n'flektiv] adj задумчивый revengeful [n'vencftful] adj мстительный delightful [di'laitful] adj очаровательный, восхитительный Parti Questions for discussion. I.What was the challenge Professor Higgins was faced with and accepted? 2. How long did it take Alan Jay Lerner and Frederic Loewe to change 3. Why did Lerner tailor his lyrics to Harrison's style? 4. Eliza Doolittle was a Cockney flower girl. Do you know anything about EXERCISES Find English equivalents in the text for the following (you may think of better Russian translations). 1. Можно без преувеличения утверждать, что... 2. Среди тех, кто стал богатым и знаменитым благодаря оглушитель 3. Название было выбрано более чем правильно. 4....увлеченный задачей, которая казалась почти невыполни 5. Пьеса была немедленно высоко оценена театральными режиссе 6....время от времени записывая слова песни, иногда часть диа 7. В какой-то момент он был готов бросить всю эту затею. 8. «У меня просто не было ясного представления»... 9. Но Леди никак не позволяла себя бросить.
10....который будет играть, а не просто петь его песни... 11. Он подгонял свой материал под стиль Харрисона, в результате 12....и очень быстро завоевала сердца театралов. VOCABULARY Read and translate these sentences into Russian so as to have a better idea of how these words can be used. smash v, smash n, smash-up n, smashing adj 1.1 dropped the glass and it smashed (разбился вдребезги). Unit eight 2. 3. The police claim to have smashed another criminal group. 4. Jimmy smashed up his car on the motorway. 5. He smashed his fist down on the table and demanded immediate service. 6. If a new play (book, film, etc) is a 'smash hit', it is a great success, 7. A 'smash-up' is a serious road or railway accident. e.g. Three people were seriously injured in the smash-up. star v, n 1. She has a starring role in a new TV show. 2. Dustin Hoffman starred in a lot of very good films. 3. She became a film star at the age of ten. cope (with) v 1. 1 wonder how you cope with three small children on your own? 2. She couldn't cope with her feelings and burst into tears. 3. The factory coped with the sudden increase in demand without any distort v, distorted adj, distortion n 1. The newspaper gave a distorted account of what had happened. 2. The journalist was accused of having distorted the facts. 3. His face was distorted with anger. 4. He said it was a deliberate distortion of what he had said. keep up (phrasal verb) 1.1 need to buy a belt to keep my jeans up. 2. Her job is to keep up correspondence with the foreign partners. 3. Keep up the good work. 4. How do you keep up your English? 5. It's a good project. Keep it up, don't stop! 6. I can't keep up with all these changes in fashion! 7. 'Keep up appearances' means to behave in an ordinary way when one 8. He did his best to keep up appearances and pretend that nothing 9. 'To keep up with the Joneses' means to compete with one's neigh e.g. Oh, she only bought those new curtains to keep up with the Joneses! Parti revert v 1. We shall not fail to revert to your enquiry. 2. After the settlers left, the land gradually reverted to (снова преврати 3. He has changed a lot. I hope he won't revert to his old habits. 4. When the owner dies his collection will revert to the state. apology n, apologize v 1. Please, accept our apologies for any inconvenience we have caused. 2. I owe you an apology. I was rather bad-tempered yesterday. 3. The Director sends his apologies for being unable to attend the 4. I must apologize for not replying to your letter sooner. 5. She kept us waiting for more than an hour and didn't even apologize! 6. You'd better apologize to him, or he'll never talk to you again! desperate adj, desperately adv, desperation n, despair n 1. The old lady was desperate for money. 2. She confessed that she was desperate to get a job. 3. Their case seemed desperate, for there was no one to help them. 4. It was the last desperate attempt to save the company. 5. He looked around desperately (in desperation), but saw nobody to help 6. My noisy neighbours really drive me to despair. abandon v 1.He abandoned (= left) his wife and children before they officially divorced. 2. The captain is always the last to abandon the ship. 3. The rescue team abandoned all hope of finding the mountaineers. 4. The game had to be abandoned (= stopped, cancelled) because of intelligible adj, unintelligible adj 1. This report would only be intelligible to experts. 2. She was murmuring something unintelligible; we couldn't make rack v, n 1. The verb 'to rack' means 'to torture', cause great mental or physical 2. Though the injuries were still racking his body, he remained calm and Unit eight 3. 4. 'To rack your brain(s)' means to think very hard. e.g. I racked my brains all day but I still can't remember his first name. 5. As a noun 'rack' means a frame or shelf, which is used to hold things: 6. Electronic books take up less space, and one rack of discs replaces endow v 1. 'To be endowed with sth' means to naturally have a good feature or e.g. Eliza turned out to be endowed with both looks and brains. 2. 'To endow' also means 'to donate', 'to make a donation', i.e. to give wit n, wits n pi, witty adj 1. Wit is an ability to say things that are clever and amusing. He is a person 2. His sharp wit had them all smiling. 3. If he weren't such an unusually witty speaker, his lectures wouldn't 4. He was endowed with talent and wit by his famous parents. 5. His witty remarks are, no doubt, worth being put down. 6. 'Wits' means 'intelligence', 7. He didn't have enough wits to put up with his failure. 8. Mary didn't even say 'hello' when we met her at the theatre. I don't ridicule n, v, ridiculous adj 1. As a noun 'ridicule' means unkind laughter or remarks to make someone 2. That idea, which used to be ridiculed, turned out to be extremely 3. Your refusal to accept that offer is just ridiculous. verge n, v 1. His theory was so often ridiculed that he was on the verge of giving up further work on it. Parti 2. 3. Twice she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. reflect v, reflection n, reflective adj 1. The moon reflects the sun's rays. 2. The trees on the verge of the lake were reflected in the water. 3. The value of the national currency reflects the state of the country's 4. Do you think the play reflects how the author really felt about his heroes? 5. Has it ever occurred to you that the coast line of Russia's Far East is 6. 'Reflection' also means careful thought (размышление). e.g. A moment's reflection would have shown that the speaker's main idea was absolutely wrong. 7. The expression 'on reflection' is used when you want to say that you 8. The adjective 'reflective' means thinking quietly. e.g. He was in a reflective mood and did not want to be disturbed. revenge n, get (take) revenge (on), revengeful adj 1. Hamlet was seeking revenge for his father's murder, so he took revenge 2. Eliza wasn't revengeful by nature. She was just in a revengeful mood 3. The verb 'to revenge' means to do something in revenge for harm done delight n, delighted adj, delightful adj 1. For the first time in my life I really appreciated all the delights of country life. 2.1 read the book you gave me with great delight. (= I enjoyed reading the book.) 3. It was a great delight to spend a holiday at the seaside. 4. To my delight he agreed to sing for us. 5. (I'm) delighted to meet you. I've heard so much about you. 6. Thank you for the invitation. We shall be delighted to come. 7. It was a delightful evening. 8. The delighted audience applauded loudly.
GRAMMAR Names of people are usually used without articles. However the + plural surname can be used with the name of the whole family: the Smiths = Mr and Mrs Smith (and the children) The + singular name can be used: a) to distinguish one person from another of the same name. We have two Mr Bennetts. Which do you want? - I want the Mr Bennett who signed this letter. b) with an adjective to describe a person, A / an + singular name means: a) belonging to this particular kind of person. Lemer realized that he had found a Higgins who would act rather than sing his songs. b) can be used before a person's name if you don't know the person There's a Dr. Butler on the phone. Do you want to talk to him?
1. Are we talking about... Tony Blair, who used to be the Prime Minister? 2. Have you heard that... Johnsons are moving house? 3. He realized that in Rex Harrison he had found... Higgins, who would act 4. I found myself sitting next to... Bill Clinton! Not... Bill Clinton, of course, 5. That couldn't be... Jenny Watson I went to college with. She had
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