Чтение и письмо: свидетельства и реконструкция (косвенная речь)
Слова урока · 4
- testimony /ˈtestɪməni/свидетельство
- reconstruction /ˌriːkənˈstrʌkʃn/реконструкция
- weight /weɪt/вес (свидетельства)
- open question /ˌəʊpən ˈkwestʃən/открытый вопрос
Фразы урока · 2
- Three testimonies, one record, one photograph — a reconstruction says what is known and how.Три свидетельства, одна запись, одна фотография; реконструкция говорит, что известно и откуда.
- Give more weight to the contemporaneous note; who gave the order remains an open question.Придайте больший вес записи того времени; кто отдал приказ — по-прежнему открытый вопрос.
Текст: «Пакет свидетельств: закрытие сельской школы, 1986»
A. Minutes of the county education committee, 12 February 1986 (extract)
Resolved: that Lower Marsh Primary School close at the end of the summer term 1986, pupils to transfer to Marsh Bridge Primary. Roll at January count: 23. The committee noted the petition of 214 signatures and the headteacher's letter of 3 February. Vote: 9 to 4.
B. Diary of Mrs Ann Price, parent, entry for 12 February 1986
Meeting in town. Cold hall, everyone in coats. They'd decided before we sat down — you could tell from the chairman's face. Mr Field spoke for us, better than I expected; nobody answered him. 9–4. Drove home in the dark with Jean, neither of us said a word. The children don't know yet.
C. Interview with Mr Peter Field, former headteacher, recorded 2019
«I remember the hall being packed — two, three hundred people, standing at the back. I spoke for about twenty minutes and I distinctly remember the chairman not looking at me once. As far as I remember, the vote was close — seven to six, something like that. What I only found out later, in the nineties, was that the county had already sold the site to a developer, or agreed to, before the meeting. That changed how I saw the whole thing. At the time I thought we'd simply lost the argument.»
D. Interview with Mrs Jean Hollis, former parent, recorded 2019
«I've no memory of Peter speaking, though I'm sure he did. What I remember is the drive home with Ann, and that we didn't speak. If memory serves, it was snowing. I couldn't tell you the vote. I could be wrong about a lot of that evening — I've told the story so often since that I don't know which bits are mine any more.»
E. Land Registry entry
Lower Marsh school site: transfer of title from the county council to Marsh Homes Ltd registered 4 November 1986. Contract date recorded as 30 September 1986.
F. Local weather station log, 12 February 1986
Max 3 °C, min −2 °C. Dry. Snow recorded 14–15 February.
Задание
Напишите связную реконструкцию (reconstruction, 300–340 слов) закрытия школы для местной истории: сначала установленное с источниками (the minutes record; the Land Registry shows; the weather log); затем воспоминания с их оговорками и весом (Mr Field distinctly remembers …; as far as he remembers …; Mrs Hollis has no memory of …; if memory serves …; she says she may be wrong); точки отсчёта (at the time; only later did he learn; looking back); расхождения по уровням (agree on / differ on / diverge on; the discrepancy can be reconciled if …; the record settles …); что остаётся открытым; и абзац о том, как позднейшее знание изменило оценку мистера Филда — с проверкой этой оценки по реестру, без приписывания ему уверенности, которой у него нет.
Образец ответа
The closure of Lower Marsh School: a reconstruction
What is established rests on three records. The county education committee's minutes of 12 February 1986 record the decision to close the school at the end of the summer term, a roll of 23, a petition of 214 signatures and a vote of 9 to 4. The Land Registry shows the school site transferred to Marsh Homes Ltd on 4 November 1986, under a contract dated 30 September. The weather log for 12 February records a dry, cold day; snow fell two days later.
The fullest contemporaneous account is Mrs Price's diary, written that night: a cold hall, a sense that the decision had been taken in advance, Mr Field speaking «better than I expected» and unanswered, the vote 9–4, and a silent drive home with Mrs Hollis. Because it was written within hours, I give it more weight than the two interviews recorded in 2019, and on every point where it can be checked — the vote, the weather — it agrees with the record.
The interviews are graded by their own caveats. Mr Field distinctly remembers the chairman not looking at him; nothing contradicts this, and the diary's «nobody answered him» is consistent with it. His «two, three hundred people» is undocumented; the diary says only «everyone in coats». On the vote, his «seven to six, something like that» is at odds with both the diary and the minutes, and the record settles it at 9–4. Mrs Hollis has no memory of Mr Field speaking, though she is sure he did; she remembers the silent drive home, which the diary corroborates independently, and «if memory serves» snow — which the log does not support, and which she herself flags as uncertain. She says she may be wrong about much of the evening, having told the story so often; that caveat applies to all her details and is recorded here as her own.
The accounts agree on the essentials, differ on details that the record resolves, and diverge on one judgement. At the time, Mr Field thought the school had «simply lost the argument»; only later, in the nineties, did he learn of the sale to a developer, and looking back he came to see the meeting as a formality. The Land Registry does not support the belief that the sale preceded the meeting: the contract is dated seven months after it. Whether an agreement in principle existed earlier remains an open question — the record neither confirms nor excludes it — and this reconstruction attributes the belief to Mr Field rather than to the event.
lightbulbРеконструкция: established с источниками → contemporaneous дневник (больший вес) → интервью по оговоркам (distinctly remembers / has no memory of / if memory serves; the record settles) → at the time / only later / looking back → open question; оценка приписана человеку, проверена по записи.
Закрепите урок: упражнения со словами, фразами и грамматикой с проверкой и повторением.