Главная страница «Первого сентября»Главная страница журнала «Английский язык»Содержание №2/2009

“Шотландский поэт Роберт Бернс”

упражнения к уроку, посвящённому творчеству Р.Бернса (1759–1796)

Task 1. Match the dates with the facts of R. Burns’ life:

1759

1765
1772

1773
1786
1788
1796

a) Robert was sent to school, but his school days did not last long as their teacher left the school.
b) He was born in Alloway, on the 25th of January.
c) He wrote his first poem, “Handsome Nell” for a girl, who worked in the field with him.
d) He had to begin working on the farm as his family was poor.
e) He married Jean Armour, the daughter of a rich master-mason.
f) He published his first volume of poems: Chiefly in Scottish Dialect.
g) He died on the 21st of July in Dumfries.

Key: 1. b; 2. a; 3. d; 4. c; 5. f; 6. e; 7. g

Task 2. Which lines are from Burns’ poetry?

1. Gin a body meet a body
Comin’ thro’ the rye.

2. Tired with all these, for restful death I cry,
As to belong desert a beggar born.

3. An’ they ha’e sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.

4. Farewell to the highlands,
Farewell to the north.

5. The poetry of Earth is never dead;
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun.

6. My Mary’s asleep by thy murmuring stream
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.

7. In a cavern, in a canyon, excavating for a mine
Lived a miner, Forty-Niner,
And his daughter. Clementine.

8. Oh my Luve’s like the melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

Key: 1; 3; 4; 6; 8 are from Burns’ poetry.

Task 3. Match an English poem with its Russian translation:

1. Go fetch to me a pint o’wine
And fill it in a silver tassie:
That I may drink before I go,
A service to my bonie lassie

2. The trumpets sound, the banners fly,
The glittering spears are ranke ready,
The shouts o’warare heard afar,
The battle closes deep and bloody.

3. She snatch’d the candle in her hand,
And frae my chamber went wi’speed,
But I call’d her quickly back again
To lay some mair below my head.

4. When Januar wind was blawing cauld,
As to the north I took my way,
The mirksome night did me enfauld,
I knew na whare to lodge till day.

a) Расстаться с ней мне было жаль,
И, чтобы ей не дать уйти,
Спросил я девушку: – Нельзя ль
Ещё подушку принести?

b) Меня в горах застигла тьма,
Январский ветер, колкий снег.
Закрылись наглухо дома,
И я не мог найти ночлег.

c) Вина мне пинту раздобудь,
Налей в серебряную кружку,
В последний раз, готовясь в путь,
Я пью за милую подружку.

d) Нас ждёт и буря и борьба.
Играя с ветром, вьётся знамя.
Поёт военная труба,
И копья движутся рядами.

Key: 1. c; 2. d; 3. a; 4. b

Robert Burns’s poems are written in Scottish dialect. Many words are reduced. Sometimes it’s difficult to guess their meaning. But try.

Task 4. Match a word in column A with its modern meaning in B:

A

luve
a’
wi’
o’
tho’
thou
thee
gang

B

of
go
all
love
with
though
you
your

Людмила Ильинична Чиндарова ,
Свято-Алексиевская пустынь, Ярославская область