Чтение и письмо: личная колонка и ответ (used to, be used to)
Слова урока · 4
- column /ˈkɒləm/колонка (в газете)
- columnist /ˈkɒləmnɪst/колумнист
- sweeping /ˈswiːpɪŋ/огульный (об обобщении)
- with respect /wɪð rɪˈspekt/при всём уважении
Фразы урока · 2
- The columnist admits she was wrong, but that's a sweeping statement.Колумнист признаёт, что была неправа, но это огульное утверждение.
- With respect, I think you're missing the point of her weekly column.При всём уважении, думаю, вы упускаете суть её еженедельной колонки.
Текст: «Колонка: «Я переехала к партнёру и обнаружила, что я — трудный человек»»
For eleven years I lived alone, and I used to think of myself as easy-going. I'd tell friends that I could live with anyone. Then, in January, Sam moved in, and within a month I had learnt something uncomfortable: I am not easy-going. I am simply used to getting my own way.
Take the kitchen. Sam tends to cook big, noisy meals and clean up afterwards — all at once, at eleven at night. I was used to washing every cup the moment I finished with it. For weeks I said nothing and quietly re-washed the pans. Then one evening I lost my temper over a chopping board. It was out of character, and Sam was baffled: from his point of view, the kitchen was clean.
Or take weekends. Back then, Saturday mornings were mine: coffee, silence, a newspaper. Sam gets up and talks. It's not that I don't want to talk to him — it's just that I had never had to share that hour with anyone, and I resented it more than I could explain.
What helped, in the end, was a friend who refused to take sides. «Is it that he's untidy,» she asked, «or that he does things differently from you?» I couldn't answer. She pointed out that I'd been treating my habits as rules and his as faults.
So we agreed some ground rules, and they are embarrassingly small. Sam washes up by ten. I don't re-wash. Saturday mornings are quiet until nine, and after that he can talk as much as he likes. I'm getting used to it — slowly. Some mornings I still find it hard.
I used to believe that people who couldn't live together were incompatible. Now I think most of us are just people who have never had to adjust. Living alone doesn't make you easy-going. It makes you untested.
Задание
Напишите ответ колумнистке (letter to the columnist, 150–180 слов): скажите, с чем согласны и с чем видите иначе (I'm not sure I agree; I see it slightly differently; with respect); приведите пример из своего опыта с used to / would (как было раньше) и be / get used to (к чему привыкли или привыкали); объясните причину разногласия без обобщений (it's not that …, it's just that …; tends to); предложите одно правило или выход (would it help if …?); завершите общим выводом без огульных утверждений.
Образец ответа
Dear Ms Hall, I read your column with a smile of recognition. I agree with most of it — especially that living alone makes you untested rather than easy-going. For six years I used to live by myself, and I would eat dinner at eleven in front of the television without a second thought. When my brother moved in last year, I was not used to sharing a fridge, let alone a timetable, and it took me months to get used to eating at seven. I see one thing slightly differently, though. With respect, I'm not sure the problem is only habits. It's not that ground rules don't help — they do — it's just that they work only if both people say what actually bothers them. My brother tends to go quiet rather than complain, so for weeks I had no idea I was annoying him. Would it help, in your case, if you and Sam agreed to bring things up within a day rather than after a month of re-washed pans? Most of us, I suspect, are neither easy nor difficult — just unpractised. Yours sincerely, Alex Kuzmin
lightbulbАргументированный ответ: согласие → мягкое несогласие (with respect, I see it slightly differently) → свой пример (used to / would; be / get used to) → причина без ярлыков → выход вопросом → вывод без sweeping statements.
Закрепите урок: упражнения со словами, фразами и грамматикой с проверкой и повторением.