BUSINESS ENGLISH

The Ghost of a Smile

1. Read the text.

Old Mr. Soames always feared that his son would be a bad man. As a child Hendrick had been very mean and in his youth he had never mixed with other people. The path of his future life was already established.
His father was a kind and popular man, who was very respected by the workers at his factory. Finally, though, ten years after the death of his wife, he handed the business over to his son.
The two men continued to live together in the big house outside the town, but, as time passed, Mr. Soames came down to the factory less and less until finally he was not seen from one Christmas to the next. He knew very well what was happening in the town because the postman kept him in touch, but the terrible stories he had heard about his son’s behavior made him so angry that he stopped going out and never smiled again. Meanwhile, Hendrick was known as the meanest and cruelest factory owner in the country.
One Christmas Eve, five years to the day after he had retired, Mr. Soames died in his sleep. All the workers went to the funeral but Hendrick refused to invite them back to the house. He was too mean to provide tea and sandwiches.
A year later he cut his workers’ wages. They needed money to buy presents for their children but he would not listen to their complaints. He spent Christmas Eve alone, counting his money. Suddenly the door opened. He could just make out a shadowy figure in the dark. “Who are you? What do you want?”
The door closed and the visitor spoke. “It’s me, Hendrick. Your father.” As he stepped into the light, Hendrick saw that it was.
“You have disgraced me. You count your money while your workers go without food. If you do not take 50 pounds to each of them this evening, I will haunt you forever.”
Hendrick stared in terror. Slowly he crossed the room and counted out the money.
“Now be good to your workers.”
With this, old Mr. Soames disappeared into thin air, leaving nothing but a ghost of a smile.

2. Answer the following questions.

1. What was Mr. Soames’ aim in life?
2. What was Hendrick’s main interest in life?
3. Why was Mr. Soames anxious about his son?
4. What made Hendrick the meanest factory owner?
5. How did the workers feel when Mr. Soames died?
6. Why did Hendrick refuse to invite the workers home after Mr. Soames’ funeral?
7. Why do you think Mr. Soames comes to Hendrick in a shape of a ghost?
8. What was the purpose of the ghost’s appearance?
9. How did Hendrick celebrate Christmas?
10. Do you think Hendrick will change?

3. True or false?

Decide whether these statements are true or false and correct the false ones.

1. Hendrick was known as the worst owner of the factory.
2. Mr. Soames died because of an illness.
3. The workers of the factory enjoyed having Mr. Soames as their master.
4. Hendrick had been a caring child.
5. Mr. Soames’ funeral was modest since not a lot of people came.
6. Until Mr. Soames came to the factory himself he didn’t know what was going on there.
7. Hendrick knew from his childhood what he would be doing in life.
8. Hendrick increased his workers’ salary despite being mean.
9. Hendrick has always been very communicative.
10. Hendrick disgraced his father’s name.

4. Give 5 characteristic adjectives to Hendrick and 5 characteristic adjectives to Mr. Soames. Then try to find 3 characteristics that unite them.

5. Find all the adjectives in the text and give their three degrees of comparison.

Ex. Nice – nicer – the nicest
Dangerous – more dangerous – the most dangerous

6. Differentiate between good and well.

well is an adverb; good is an adjective =>
verb + well = Jack swims well.
good + noun = Jack is a good swimmer.
We use well with past participle => well-known, well-educated
We use well with the meaning “in good health” => How are you? I’m well.

Put “well” or “good” in the following sentences:

1. I did not sleep ______ last night.
2. Mike speaks German very ______.
3. Nick’s exam results were very ______.
4. Our new business is going pretty ______ at the moment.
5. I like your new skirt. It looks ______ on you.
6. Chris did very ______ in his exams.
7. The weather was ______ when we were on holiday.
8. Nelly is a ______ pianist.
9. I met him several times, but I do not know him really ______.
10. Susan can cook very ______.
11. Bella is ______ – informed about the recent events.
12. Kevin plays basketball, but he is not very ______.
13. Tom is a ______ specialist in Astronomy.
14. How are you? Are you ______?
15. Your English is ______.

7. Build word-combinations:

a) Put these words together.

b) Make no more than 3 sentences incorporating all of these word-combinations in them.

8. Try your hand at defining the following words:

1. mean – ______
2. terrible – ______
3. popular – ______
4. money – ______
5. town – ______
6. postman – ______
7. to retire – ______
8. ghost – ______
9. tea – ______
10. behaviour – ______

9. Unjumble the words:

1. URIGFE = ______
2. SAMPOTN = ______
3. RONEW = ______
4. CYTAFRO = ______
5. LUNAFER = ______

10. Act out a dialog between Hendrick and the ghost of Mr. Soames.

11. Turn the dialog between Hendrick and the ghost of Mr. Soames into indirect speech, making all the necessary changes.

KEY:

3. 1. T; 2. F; 3. T; 4. F; 5. F; 6. F; 7. T; 8. F; 9. F; 10. T
6. 1. well; 2. well; 3. good; 4. well; 5. good; 6. well; 7. good; 8. good; 9. well; 10. well; 11. well; 12. good; 13. good; 14. well; 15. good
7. 1. f; 2. h; 3. i; 4. g; 5. d; 6. c; 7. j; 8. a; 9. e; 10. b
9. 1. figure; 2. postman; 3. owner; 4. factory; 5. funeral

Сompiled by Alyona Pavlova,
Moscow State University
of Printing Arts