MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU BY MARY HIGGINS CLARK
ASSIGNMENT 1
Tuesday, October 8th
Parts 1-9
Listen to Episodes 1-21
VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR
1. Before listening look up in a dictionary the following words and abbreviations:
quilt, casket, clapper, collateral, Irish brogue, octogenarian, a Celt, sanctimonious,
crabby, wrench, NYU, NASA, premonition, day-tripper, condominium, soak,
downtime, mortuary, regale, attrition, volatile, clapboard house, sconce.
2. Find the English for the following words and expressions. Recall the context in
which they are used.
- тянуть за шнурок
- для удобства
- собрание, сборище, встреча
- полагаться на кого-л., доверятся; верить
- прибавить шагу
- отдышаться
- быть твердым в своих убеждениях, взглядах
- оценивать работы
- хвастаться чем-л.
- развалиться на части, на куски
- приводить себя в порядок
- окно с видом на улицу
- глаза привыкли к свету
3. Find the Russian for the following words and expressions. Recall the context in
which they are used.
- to fend for herself
- animated conversation
- to be good at doing smth
- a photo shoot
- making a good living
- to get over smth
- to look every day of her age
- to run out in smb
- to be in hot water
- get caught in some commuter traffic
- straighten out the situation
- to be due
- to know smth inside out
4. Explain or paraphrase the following:
Example: 1) The Moores certainly did come in all sizes and shapes…[7, 8]. – 1) The
Moors were of different age and had different appearance.
2) Will I pass inspection? [7, 8]
3) … I was trying to place you [7, 8].
4) She’s a bit of a character but a lot of fun [7, 8].
5) Maggie’s memories of her were always pastel tinted [7, 8].
6) What about a love interest or significant other or whatever you young people call
it these days? [7, 8]
7) Over dinner they caught up on twenty-two years [7, 8].
8) Her fingers were crossed that Maggie still loved lamb [7, 8].
9) “Odile,” he called, “for God’s sake, get a move on” [7, 8].
10) “Besides, I do enough picking up after my husband [7, 8].
5. Read and translate the following sentences. Make up your own sentences on the
patterns.
1) … it had been decided to have the gathering in New York rather than Newport [7,
8].
2) In no time a-tall I’ll be wealthy enough to buy the old girl, should the government
ever decide to sell her, of course [7, 8].
3) He wasn’t looking forward to going to Nuala’s dinner party tonight, …[7, 8].
QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION
6. Answer the following questions:
1) What kind of party was Maggie Holloway invited to? Whom did Maggie see at
the party? Was Maggie in love with her boy-friend Liam Moore?
2) Why was Nuala going to give a party? What do you think worried her?
3) Was Liam Moore in love with Maggie?
4) Why did Earl Bateman want to go to Nuala’s party?
5) Why did Malcolm Norton want to divorse his thirty-five- year-old wife and marry
his fifty-six-year-old legal secretary?
6) When did Neil Stephens meet Maggie? How did he feel about her?
7) What did Maggie find on the floor in Nuala’s house?
7. Speak about:
1) Maggie Holloway.
2) Nuala.
3) Liam Moore.
4) Earl Bateman.
5) Malcolm Norton.
8. Comment on the following
1) “… when you get into your sixties, you start to say good-bye to your friends, or
they say good-bye to you, but that when you hit your seventies, it happens all the
time” [7, 8].
2) When you’ve been raised in the Midwest, she thought, you can’t ever get enough
of the ocean [7, 8].
9. What do you think of the following tradition?
“Victorians had been so afraid of being buried alive that it became a tradition to tie
a string to their fingers before interment…. A string threaded through a hole in the
casket, stretching to the surface of the burial plot. A string with a bell attached to it.
For seven days a guard would patrol the grave and listen for the sound of the bell
ringing, the signal that the interred wasn’t dead after all. ..” [7, 8].