Читать книгу English for Life Grade 12 Learner’s Book Home Language - Lynne Southey - Страница 7

I lived at West Egg, the – well, the less fashionable of the two, though this is a most superficial tag to express the bizarre and not a little sinister contrast between them. My house was at the very tip of the egg, only fifty yards from the Sound, and squeezed between two huge places that rented for twelve or fifteen thousand a season. The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard – it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool, and more than forty acres of lawn and garden. It was Gatsby’s mansion. Or, rather, as I didn’t know Mr Gatsby, it was a mansion, inhabited by a gentleman of that name. My own house was an eyesore, but it was a small eyesore, and it had been overlooked, so I had a view of the water, a partial view of my neighbour’s lawn, and the consoling proximity of millionaires – all for eighty dollars a month.

Across the courtesy bay the white palaces of fashionable East Egg glittered along the water, and the history of the summer really begins on the evening I drove over there to have dinner with the Tom Buchanans. Daisy was my second cousin once removed, and I’d known Tom in college. And just after the war I spent two days with them in Chicago.

[Nick meets Jordan Baker at the Buchanans] ‘You live in West Egg’ she remarked contemptuously. ‘I know

somebody there.’

‘I don’t know a single – ’

‘You must know Gatsby.’

‘Gatsby?’ demanded Daisy. ‘What Gatsby?’

Before I could reply that he was my neighbour, dinner was announced.

[During the dinner, the Buchanans leave the table, he to answer the phone.]

‘This Mr Gatsby you spoke of is my neighbour’ – I began.

‘Don’t talk. I want to hear what happens.’

‘Is something happening?’ I inquired innocently.

‘You mean to say you don’t know?’ said Miss Baker, honestly surprised. ‘I thought everybody knew.’

‘I don’t.’

‘Why – ’ she said hesitantly, ‘Tom’s got some woman in New York.’

‘Got some woman?’ I repeated blankly.

Miss Baker nodded.

‘She might have the decency not to telephone him at dinner time. Don’t you think?’

[Tom and Daisy return to the table]

The telephone rang inside, startlingly, and as Daisy shook her head decisively at Tom the subject of the stables, in fact all subjects, vanished into air. Among the broken fragments of the last five minutes at table I remember the candles being lit again, pointlessly, and I was conscious of wanting to look squarely at everyone, and yet to avoid all eyes. I couldn’t guess what Daisy and Tom were thinking, but I doubt if even Miss Baker, who seemed to have mastered a certain hardy scepticism, was able utterly to put this fifth guest’s shrill metallic urgency out of mind. To a certain temperament the situation might have seemed intriguing – my own instinct was to telephone immediately for the police.

Post-reading:

1. Discuss the following questions with a partner:

a. Who are the people the reader is introduced to in this extract? Make a list and write down what you find out about them only from this extract.

b. What impression does Nick give of the situation? Give evidence from the text to support your answer.

c. Look at the map and from it, say what the ‘courtesy bay’ refers to, and why Nick calls it this.

d. Apart from Nick’s factual description of Gatsby’s house, what attitude does he have about it and its owner? How do you know?

2. What does this beginning suggest will be the conflict in the story?

3. What kind of person is Nick and will he be a good person to narrate the story?

 Your teacher will ask for feedback from the class and go through the questions and answers with you.

Review of Cycle 2

You can use this self-assessment checklist to review what you have learnt.

When listening and speaking I can
Discuss questions with a partner
Participate in a group discussion
When reading and viewing I can understand
Maps and photos
An informative text
A poem
Extracts from a novel
I can write
Using the writing process
Answers to questions
Introductions and conclusions
A paragraph
A descriptive/expository/argumentative essay