Without singling …; to depart one’s life; to bequeath smb. a comfortable legacy; to set … doing smth.; the force … suggestion and the weight … public opinion; range … acquaintance; to become accustomed … the idea; to be … a frame … mind; to get smth. settled; … smb’s mind’s eye; a frown … dissatisfaction settled … his face; to tinkle pleasantly; to be true … life; to detest smth.; to talk coherently; to pass … a tangle … small streets; a horror seized … him; to defer smth. … half-an-hour or so; to welcome someone … a room; to make no allusion … food; to arise curiosity; to come … a legacy; the same idea has occurred … them; to live … a series … rushes; to look …; the bosom … his family; rapturous outbreak … congratulations.
5. Saki’s humorous style often produces complicated, formal, even pompous expressions. Can you put the following into ordinary, direct English?
always had a settled conviction (p.11)
his home circle (p.11)
his dilatory approach to the married state (p.11)
far from being inarticulate (p.11)
become emamoured of (p.11)
departed this life (p.11)
bequeathed him a comfortable little legacy (p.11)
a clear working majority of his female relatives (p. 12)
the actual proposal would have to be an individual effort (p.12)
straitened circumstances (p.13)
the bosom of his family (p.15)
Reading Comprehension:
1. Correct the following statements.
1. James Cushat-Princly was a young man who had always had a settled conviction that one of these days he would marry; up to the age og fourty-four he had done nothing to justify that conviction.
2. When Uncle Jules departed his life he bequeathed James a comfortable little house.
3. Proposing marriage to a nice girl like Joan was a very important business.
4. Cushat-Princly adored the whole system of afternoon tea.
5. Cushat-Princly had always shared his views on the subject of afternoon tea with his mother.
6. On one floor of a narrow little house at the noisier end of Esquimault Street lived Rhoda Sllam, James’s former girlfriend, who made a living by creating hats out of cheap materials.
7. Rhoda made no other allusion to food, but talked on boring issues.
8. The idea of marrying Rhoda came to James’s mind when he just looked at her.
9. James’s women-folk were very happy at hearing that James was going to marry Rhoda Ellam.
2. Answer the following questions:
1. How does the author describe the main hero of the story? What do we get to know about his character?
2. How did James treat women? What is his attitude towards marriage?
3. What do we get to know about James’s family?
4. What does a happy marriage mean for James?
5. How does the author describe the hour of afternoon tea through James’s eyes?
6. What is the right way for a woman to behave in James’s opinion? How does she have to treat others?
7. Describe Joan and compare her to James’s “ideal woman”. Are they alike?
8. Why didn’t James share his opinion about the tea ceremony with his mother? Would she understand him?
9. Compare Joan Sebastable and Rhoda Ellam. Who is more likely to become an ideal woman for James?
10. Why do you think Rhoda treated James in an absolutely different way during their dinner? How can you explain that?
11. Why did James choose Rhoda to be his wife?
12. What was the reaction of James’s women-folk to that news?
13. Comment on the end of the story. Is James happy?
Discussion:
1. Why do you think Rhoda started to behave herself in exactly the same way as all the women that James knew did during the afternoon tea?
2. Did you find the ending predictable? If so, did that lessen your appreciation of the story?
3. Of the three main characters, James Cushat-Princly, Joan Sebastable, and Rhoda Ellam, wh do you think got the best bargain? Why?
4. What do you think of the title of the story – Tea? Is the story really about tea, or is tea being used as a symbol for something else? If so, what?
Mr. Loveday’s Little Outing
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