这些孩子虽然现在很调皮

Exercises

Unit 7

1. True or false.

a) The author’s memories of the First World War are very clear. ( F)

b) They children were often woken in the night if there was an air raid. (T)

c) The children followed their mother and moved to their grandparents’ flat when there was an air raid. (T)

d) Wherever the children were, their father could find them easily. (F)

e) When the girl cut a pair of knickers to pieces, she was deprived of a long-for Christmas party as a punishment. (T)

2. Paraphrase the following underlined parts.

a) Talking about “the Cultural Revolution”, I had only nebulous memories because I was very young then. unclear b) The thief decided to stop stealing for fear of divine retribution.

punishment

c) She suddenly got very angry and left the room. got into a temper d) The man, whose name I didn’t know, came into the office. was unknown to me e) I’m sorry. I realize that it is my fault. I am in the wrong

f) He didn’t listen to his father’s advice because he thought it was not practical. refused to take g) In a rage the girl destroyed the new jacket with a pair of scissors. cut the new jacket to pieces 3. Reproduce the story: retell the text using the following clues.

 nebulous memories of early childhood

 clearest memories of wartime life, being woken in the night

 memories of her father and the incident if her father looking for the family

 family’s way of punishing the children for mistakes, typical of the Victorian view of child-rearing

 contrasting the different views of the old and of modern child-rearing

4. Group discussion.

Discuss with your classmate the following topics:

a) Children’s creativity will be murdered by a teacher’s or by parental over-protection.

b) Great writers are not trained, but grow out of the school of hard knocks.

5. Translation.

a) 这些孩子虽然现在很调皮, 但他们长大后会明白,做坏事是逃不了惩罚的。

（Although these kids are very naughty now, they will grow up one day understanding that creating trouble for others would not get away with impunity.）

b) 她请人把东西用一块蓝布包好，装进箱子。

（She had her things wrapped in a piece of blue cloth and put into the suitcase.）

c) 这个罪犯被剥夺了一切政治权利。

（The criminal was deprived of all political rights.）

d) 我们费了九牛二虎之力将门弄开。

（We had a terrible job to open the door.）