Exercises
1. Answer the questions:
1. Why did the ghost decide to give up the point of the blood-stain on the library floor?
2. What was the ghost’s duty?
3. What did the ghost do one night while the family were at dinner?
4. What happened on the 19th of September?
5. What is a clam-bake?
6. Why did Lady Barbara Modish break off her engagement with the present Lord Canterville’s grandfather?
7. What did the ghost find on reaching the room occupied by the twins?
8. What did the ghost look like when he was creeping about the passages?
9. Who accompanied Virginia while she was riding about the lanes on her pony?
10. What did Mr. Otis write in his letter to Mr. Canterville?
2. True or false?
1. The ghost kept his room for ten days.
2. The ghost got extremely nervous.
3. The ghost didn’t use the Rising Sun Lubricator for oiling his chains and continued to make terrible noise at night.
4. One day the ghost determined to visit the twins in his celebrated character of “Reckless Rupert.”
5. Lady Barbara Modish married Jack Castletown and they lived happily ever after.
6. When the ghost flung the door open a heavy jug of water fell right down on him.
7. Next day the ghost fell ill.
8. The ghost gave up all hope of ever frightening this rude American family.
9. The final blow he received occurred on the 16th of September.
10. Mr. Otis resumed his great work on the history of the Republican Party, on which he had been engaged for some years.
3. Find in the text the English equivalents to the following words and expressions:
не выходил из комнаты, существование, неспособный, бархатная накидка, прошмыгнул, в некоторой степени, побуждать, сумерки, во всех отношениях, производить подготовку, приоткрытый, последствия, удостовериться, объятый паникой, восхитительный пикник у моря, воплощение, ближайшие родственники.
4. Write questions to the following answers.
1. He kept his room for five days.
2. He slipped into Mr. Otis’s bedroom and carried off the bottle.
3. The ghost determined to visit the twins in his celebrated character of “Reckless Rupert.”
4. A heavy jug of water fell right down on him, wetting him to the skin.
5. The next day he was laid up with a severe cold.
6. The final blow he received occurred on the 19th of September.
7. He was dressed in a long shroud, spotted with churchyard mould.
8. The young Duke of Cheshire spent the last week of his holidays at Canterville Chase.
9. Lord Canterville expressed his great pleasure at the news.
10. Lady Startup left all her money to her London apothecary.
5. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box.
1. The terrible _______________ of the last four weeks was beginning to have its effect.
2. He was most ____________ in all things connected with the supernatural.
3. Strings were continually being _______ _____________ across the corridor.
4. He had not appeared in this __________ __________ for more than seventy years.
5. She suddenly broke off her _________ ___________ with the present Lord Canterville’s grandfather.
6. At the same moment he heard ____________ of laughter proceeding from the bed.
7. It was quite evident that his feelings were so __________ that he would not appear.
8. Mr. Otis consequently _________________ his great work on the history of the Democratic Party.
9. He made ____________________ for appearing to Virginia’s little lover in his celebrated impersonation of “The Vampire Monk, or the Bloodless Benedictine.”
10. The little Duke slept in peace under the great ____________________ canopy in the Royal Bedchamber.
V
A few days after this, Virginia and her curly-haired cavalier went out riding on Brockley meadows, where she tore her habit[87] so badly in getting through a hedge that, on their return home, she made up her mind to go up by the back staircase so as not to be seen. As she was running past the Tapestry Chamber, the door of which happened to be open, she fancied she saw some one inside, and thinking it was her mother’s maid, who sometimes used to bring her work there, looked in to ask her to mend her habit. To her immense surprise, however, it was the Canterville Ghost himself! He was sitting by the window, watching the ruined gold of the yellowing trees fly through the air,[88] and the red leaves dancing madly down the long avenue. His head was leaning on his hand, and his whole attitude was one of extreme depression. Indeed, so lonely, and so much out of repair did he look,[89] that little Virginia, whose first idea had been to run away and lock herself in her room, was filled with pity, and determined to try and comfort him. So light was her footfall, and so deep his melancholy, that he was not aware of her presence till she spoke to him.
“I am so sorry for you,” she said, “but my brothers are going back to Eton to-morrow, and then, if you behave yourself,[90] no one will annoy you.”
“It is absurd asking me to behave myself,” he answered, looking round in astonishment at the pretty little girl who had ventured to address him, “quite absurd. I must rattle my chains, and groan through keyholes, and walk about at night, if that is what you mean. It is my only reason for existing.”
“It is no reason at all for existing, and you know you have been very wicked. Mrs. Umney told us, the first day we arrived here, that you had killed your wife.”
“Well, I quite admit it,” said the Ghost “but it was a purely family matter, and concerned no one else.”
“It is very wrong to kill anyone,” said Virginia.
“Oh, I hate the cheap severity of abstract ethics! My wife was very plain and knew nothing about cookery. Why, there was a buck I had shot in Hogley Woods, and do you know how she had it sent to table? However, it is no matter now, for it is all over, and I don’t think it was very nice of her brothers to starve me to death,[91] though I did kill her.”
“Starve you to death? Oh, Mr. Ghost – I mean Sir Simon, are you hungry? I have a sandwich in my bag. Would you like it?”
88
watching the ruined gold of the yellowing trees fly through the air – наблюдая за тем, как кружится золотистая листва, опадая с деревьев