II. Find English equivalents in the text.

THE READER OF BOOKS

I. Find the following words in the text and look them up in the dictionary.

Revolting, twaddle, report, grasshopper, emerge, a sting, surface, get on, scab, to put up with, county, sensitive, nimble, half-witted, wrap up, chatterbox, household, to be hooked on, toddle, to be stunned, lap, spell, encourage, interfere, edition, watchful, seldom, all the same, reach, amazing.

II. Write derivatives of the following words.

Verb Noun Adjective

Imagine

Sufferance

Deep

Sting

Poison

Choosy

III. Give English equivalents to the following words.

Отпрыск, любопытный, кузнечик, органы слуха, продолжать, поверхность, ребенок, о котором идет речь; проворный, прочитать от корки до корки, ковылять, страшный, увлекать, вмешиваться, достижения, всасывать, слоняться.

IV. Find synonyms to the following words.

Disgusting, nonsense, unsuccessful, search deeply, extremely fond of, quick, for a short time, hungrily, to wonder about, enigma, surprise, considerate, on guard, fearful, meddle.

V. Find antonyms tо the following words.

Hatred, right, little, on the surface, clever, slow, vague, agree, upper, short, removed, discourage, full, cheerfully, often, noisy.

VI. Insert the right prepositions.

1. It’s a funny thing … mothers and fathers.

2. Your daughter Vanessa, judging … what she’s learnt this term, has no hearing organs at all.

3. The parents looked… Matilda as nothing more than a scab.

4. … the afternoon … the day when her father had refused to buy her a book, Matilda set… all by herself to walk to the public library … the village.

5. Mrs. Phelps looked … the shelves, taking her time.

6. … the next few afternoons Mrs. Phelps could hardly take her eyes… the small girl sitting … hour … hour … the big armchair … the far end … the room with the book … her lap.

7. It was pleasant to take a hot drink … to her room and have it … her as she sat … her silent room reading … the empty house … the afternoon.

VII. True or false?

1. Matilda’s family was a family of three.

2. Matilda had a younger sister.

3. Matilda’s parents showed no interest at all in their daughter.

4. Matilda’s parents had a wonderful library at home.

5. Mr. Wormwood agreed to buy Matilda a new book.

6. The library Matilda used to go to was very close to her house.

7. Matilda stayed in the library till late.

8. Matilda had read a few children’s books and then started to look for something else.

9. Mrs. Phelps didn’t want to give Matilda any new books to read.

10. Matilda started borrowing books from the library.

* * * * *

CHAPTER II

Mr. WORMWOOD, THE GREAT CAR DEALER

I. Find the following words in the text and look them up in the dictionary.

Sawdust, gear, strap, jug, ignorant, boast, diddle, munch, drill.

II. Find English equivalents in the text.

1. Ее отец занимался продажей подержанных машин и, похоже, преуспевал в этом.

2. «Ни один честный человек еще не стал богатым», сказал отец, «Покупатели существуют для того, чтобы их обманывать».

3. Матильда за себя не ручалась и поэтому промолчала.

4. Матильда кипела от гнева все больше и больше и, ночью, лежа в постели, она приняла решение.

5. Необходимо помнить, что ей было лишь пять лет от роду, а для того, кто так мал, очень нелегко вести счет со всемогущими взрослыми.

III. Derive adjectives from the following words with the help of “LESS” suffix and translate them into Russian. Use the dictionary.

Shame, speech, brain, use, spot, root, help, point, power, sleep.

IV. Derive new words using prefix “DIS”, find the derivatives in the text and translate them into Russian. Use the dictionary.

Honest, cover, connect, appear.