The Umbrella man. Dip in the pool. The Butler. The Hitchhiker. My Lady Love, My Dove, страница 23

12. Loren had measured himself … his rival – not merely physically (Loren did not come … so well there, being no taller than Olivia, … a receding hairline and a small paunch) but morally and financially as well.

13. She said she would see Stephen just once more “to talk it over”.

14. From that day Olivia had gone … decline.

15. Olivia took pride in the fact that she had been a working girl.

16. She was obviously so depressed, so ready to burst into tears that Loren lived constantly on the brink of the weakening and telling her that if she loved Stephen that much, she had a right to see him.

17. The Saturday of the garage incident made Loren doubt that Olivia was indulging in fantasy.

18. The police took … what she told them and commiserated … her.

19. “I’m never sure when I’ll run … someone I know … New York.”

20. Better watch … … yourself … this house.

21. He was now toying … the idea of the closet-sized deep freeze … the cellar.

22. What amused her was that she had thought … the deep freeze as a fine place to dispose … Stephen, but she didn’t work … how to get him … it.

3. Look through the story and find these expressions, then rephrase them in your own words, keeping the sense of the original sentence.

… what I’m getting at (127)

… he can take over for me (127)

…then gave it up (127)

… didn’t take to an idea (127)

… Loren didn’t come off so well there (127)

… talk it over (128)

… her appetite fell off (129)

… he would have set about promptly (130)

… here was Olivia hanging on (130)

… I’ll run into someone (132)

… watch out for yourself (133)

… I don’t put anything past you (135)

… she had taken to her own bedroom again (136)

… giving out distress signals (138)

… she kept it up (140)

4. Find the English equivalents of the following expressions. Make up your own situations using at least three of these phrases.

Швейная машина, которая весит Бог знает сколько; дважды в неделю ездила в Нью-Йорк по магазинам; предоставлять развод; разрыдаться; вздыхать с тревогой; умереть естественной смертью; зловещее совпадение; отдаленный бар в Нью-Йорке; наклёвываться в плане работы; заснул под утро; смертельные ловушки; осторожно пробовал каждый кусочек пищи; она поняла, что была его жертвой; двадцати четырёх часовая работа; забавляться идеей; куриные мозги; лёгкое снотворное; убитая горем вдова; продолжать делать что-то.

Reading Comprehension:

1. Look through the text and find passages in there to:

a) describe Loren’s feelings towards his wife.

b) characterize Stephen.

c) prove that Olivia was a perfect actress.

d) enumerate the death traps that Olivia prepared for Loren.

2. Answer the following questions:

1. How did the idea that Olivia wanted to commit a suicide come to Loren’s head?

2. What did Olivia say when Loren asked her about her intention to kill herself?

3. What did Loren suggest her doing in order to raise her mood? Where did he offer to go? Did she agree?

4. Who was Stephen? How did Olivia and Stephen get acquainted?

5. Did Stephen and Olivia continue to meet each other after their promise?

6. What did she finally ask Loren for?

7. Did Loren try to save their marriage? How?

8. How did Olivia feel during those three months?

9. Did she really want to commit a suicide?

10. What did she do after Loren’s death?

11. When did Olivia find out that Stephen had decided to kill her?

12. Did Olivia try to invent any death traps for Stephen?

13. How did they behave in the presence of other people? Were they afraid of each other?

14. What idea was Stephen toying with in his mind? What way did he choose to kill Olivia?

15. What fatal accident happened to Stephen?

16. Was it fare that she also got into the death trap?

Discussion:

1. Why do you think the author chose this title for the story? Think of some other titles and decide whether they are less or more appropriate than the original one.