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За последние 60 дней ни разу не выходила


Открыта: 09-07-2001
Адрес автора: job.lang.edvenglish-owner@subscribe.ru

Автор
Костенко Андрей Владимирович

Статистика

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Продвинутый English


A warm welcome to all subscribers! Здравствуйте, уважаемые подписчики!
Выпуск #126
 "ПРОДВИНУТЫЙ ENGLISH" 27.07.06
Электронный журнал для изучающих английский язык


Hello, dear subscribers! The last part of the short story by Otto Pfarrer is in today's issue.
As you are the very first readers of such a story, your feed-back means a lot to us. Tell us please in the future you would like to read original stories like this, straight from an author of our own, (or maybe not) in our newsletters. Your suggestions and ideas are certainly most welcome.

We got an e-mail from Natasha asking us to present some grammar tests for you. To grant her wish we are going to include them in the coming issues.

A huge thank-you goes to Artyom. On checking, 'accomodation' turns out to be 'accommodation' of course (double 'm').
Awfully sorry Multitran definitely lets us down sometimes.

GRAMMAR - 1.5. ABRIDGEMENT IN CLAUSES OF SHORT AGREEMENT

Clauses may be shortened by substituting an auxiliary for an entire predicate. Such abridgement is especially common in clauses of short agreement or disagreement.

John likes the movies, and his wife does too.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . or, and so does his wife

John doesn’t like the movies, and his wife doesn’t either
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . or, and neither does his wife.

John likes the movies but his wife doesn’t.
John doesn’t like the movies, but his wife does.

Note the reversal of subject and auxiliary after so, neither.


VOCABULARY Exercises. (Fill in the gap a word chosen from those in the brackets).

A mayor looked tired and careworn.
The election in a little town was going on and it seemed that he would not be elected.
He was going to loose and his adversary, this little snob, this unknown youngster would be the main person in the town soon.
Where could people find such a …….(fish, dark horse, lame duck)? A couple of months ago he was quite unknown.
The mayor lit a cigarette and relapsed into deep thoughts. He didn’t want to become a ……………. (fish, dark horse, lame duck), he wasn’t old enough to retire yet. He was used to all kinds of responsibility and could handle the affairs of the town much better than anybody else, he thought. Surely, something had to be done.
The telephone rang. What on earth could happen again?
Or is it just his assistant, the most loyal person the mayor ever worked with. Yes, it was him.
Good news, he said. The mayor's competitor was drinking like a …………… (fish, dark horse, lame duck), at least he was seen being tipsy several times lately.


READING (The first and the second parts are in issues # 124 and 125 respectively)

Old Guys on Motor Bikes

-- By Otto Pfarrer --

Well, the gang stopped the motors (as a result no more booming and rattling), propped up the bikes, got off from the saddle. At first the boy, then the lass. Then both of them took off the helmets. At first the boy, then the lass.

lass - 1. a girl or young woman, 2. sweetheart.

I looked at them and could not believe my eyes. No doubt and problem, they seemed to belong to each other. For long years already. But what amazed me was that the guys (of both sexes) so described did not look at all young or even youngish. How funny, I thought, because at this age, between 65 and 70, or even sooner, ‘smart’ people get bored with each other and often look for a younger substitute and change partners, and one of them is, as a rule, much younger in this absolutely perfect civilization. But here ‘the boy and the lass’ formed an elderly couple who like birds of a feather – there were certain unmistakable signs to show – stuck together till doomsday comes.

birds of a feather (flock together) - Individuals of like character, taste, or background (tend to stay together), as in:
The members of the club had no trouble selecting their yearly outing - they're all birds of a feather.

Exhausted by long rides they looked, but smiling and laughing at each other, joking and teasing the others merrily as college boys and girls do. And they were also talking, loudly talking. In German it sounded to me. Talking about things concerning this beautiful, beautiful world. It was beautiful indeed for them, because they had the opportunity to rediscover it with their own eyes, on their own very expensive motor bikes, and with a partner at that, the woman or the man who they never got tired of loving. Moreover, who they still always loved, the same as, or may be in a slightly different way than, some thirty or forty years ago, when they were still absolutely young and avid, and perhaps silly. Because now, lo and behold, they became serious grown-ups with some grey in the hair, or dyed blonde hair (for looks also matters, the ladies seemed to say), got older of course, were retired, and it is the state of being retired that makes it exactly the very it.

lo and behold - и вдруг; о чудо; и вот

Now they had the time, plenty of time, and thank God also the means, to enjoy life, and mind their own business at last. All they needed was a motor bike the saddle of which they could jump in as in a horse’s, and then the whole world started opening before their eyes to marvel fully at it and at all its beauties. Oh God, how good you can be to your poor little creatures!

to marvel - 1. to become filled with wonder or astonishment, 2. to feel amazement or bewilderment at or about:
We marveled that they walked away unhurt from the car accident.

At first, I must confess, I was almost eaten up by green envy thinking some people were treated so very nicely by fate, others were not. Lucky you! But then a calm change slipped into my heart. For there was, figuratively speaking, a message sent by the guys on motor bikes to me. Look, they said, you envious old cur, life has sense and meaning, can’t you see? We succeeded in finding it. Why can you not? -- the message seemed to say.

cur - 1. дворняга; "барбос" (обычно по отношению к злобной нечистопородной собаке), 2. дурно воспитанный

You could, after all, also jump into the saddle of a motor bike like ours, and look again with due awe and reverence at all the wonders and marvels of the world if you were desirous of discovering them again. Oh, you say you cannot afford it? You just don’t have the money for expensive motor bikes and stuff? What poor excuse! It doesn’t matter. You can go and travel all over the world with the help of your imagination nowadays (books, media, computers, and the very place you live), and with the love to your brethren, the most important of whom, please do not forget, are those who stand the nearest to you. Your children, your parents, and your spouse of course. The latter should be, as those stupid Americans often say if not yet married, “my most significant other” … of my own self.

brethren - братья

Don’t you know it has also been written down in the Bible: she left her parents and followed him. Never mind if it is vice versa: he followed her. Or can you forget that you loved her (him)? so much at a time, and you still owe love to her (him). You promised it, nae, you made an oath, either at an altar or the registrar, or both. The world and life are always beautiful and full of sense if there is love in your heart and soul. Never mind that you had retired. It just makes life the more interesting. Actually it (life) has only now been started. So go on and start living, you fearful Jesuit. No one can do it for you. Only you.
That was the message the antennae of my soul, heart and brain (in this order of importance) received from the old guys on motorbikes in Mariazell. No way to forget, is there?

-- The End --



Key to vocabulary exercises.
A lame duck is an elected official who has lost a reelection, but continues to hold office until the successor's inauguration. Whether such officials should refrain from using some or all of their powers is somewhat controversial.
A dark horse candidate is one who is nominated unexpectedly, without previously having been discussed or considered as a likely choice. Often a dark horse is selected as a compromise when other, more prominent candidates' factions cannot come to an agreement.

... Where could people find such a dark horse?...
... He didn’t want to become a lame duck, ...
... competitor was drinking like a fish ...


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Автор рассылки Костенко Андрей Владимирович.
Этот выпуск подготовили Любовь Абрамова и Dr.Ortutay Peter.

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