Английский язык. Аналитическое чтение художественного текста

С.Ю. Павлина

АНГЛИЙСКИЙ ЯЗЫК

АНАЛИТИЧЕСКОЕ ЧТЕНИЕ
ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННОГО ТЕКСТА
(В2—С1)

Учебное пособие

Москва
Издательство «ФЛИНТА»
2021

УДК 811.111 (075.8)
ББК 81.432.1я73
П12

Автор
Павлина Светлана Юрьевна — кандидат филологических наук,
доцент кафедры теории и практики английского языка и перевода
НГЛУ им. Н.А. Добролюбова

Ре це нзе нты:
Кулинич М.А. — доктор культурологии, профессор кафедры
английской филологии и межкультурной коммуникации
Самарского государственного социально-педагогического университета;
Сдобников В.В. — доктор филологических наук,
заведующий кафедрой теории и практики английского языка и перевода
НГЛУ им. Н.А. Добролюбова.

Павлина С.Ю.
П12 
Английский язык. Аналитическое чтение художественного

текста [Электронный ресурс] : учеб. пособие / С.Ю. Павлина. — 
Москва : ФЛИНТА, 2021. — 236 с.
ISBN 978-5-9765-4449-9
Учебное пособие включает рассказы англоязычных авторов и 
упражнения к ним. В материалах анализируются основные аспекты 
интерпретации художественного текста, такие как авторская 
позиция, способы создания характера и др. Тот или иной аспект 
рассматривается применительно к конкретному художественному 
тексту, а заключительным заданием к каждому из рассказов является 
комплекс вопросов, направленных на его интерпретацию. Задания 
способствуют 
совершенствованию 
навыков 
аналитического 
чтения и говорения на продвинутом этапе обучения иноязычной 
коммуникации.
Материалы адресованы студентам старших курсов бакалавриата 
и специалитета, обучающимся по специальностям «Лингвистика» 
и «Перевод и переводоведение» с уровнем владения английским 
языком В2—С1.

УДК 811.111(075.8)
ББК 81.432.1я73
ISBN 978-5-9765-4449-9 
© Павлина С.Ю., 2021
© Издательство «ФЛИНТА», 2021

ВВЕДЕНИЕ

Пособие направлено на совершенствование навыков чтения 
и говорения на продвинутом этапе обучения иноязычной коммуникации. Представленные в нем материалы содержат широкий 
спектр рассказов1 англоязычных авторов XX в. Включенные в 
сборник рассказы разнообразны по стилю и тематике, они принадлежат признанным мастерам художественной прозы и отражают базовые культурные и социальные проблемы своего времени. 
Все рассказы предваряются короткой справкой об авторах и 
сопровождаются серией упражнений, которые могут быть исполь зованы как для работы в аудитории, так и для са мо сто ятельного анализа текстов.
Первая группа заданий к художественным текстам направлена на формирование языковой компетенции студентов. В основу 
положен принцип обучения языку через контекст. Задания включают упражнения на установление лексической сочетаемости 
языковых единиц, на выявление тонких семантических отличий 
в синонимических рядах, на декодирование метафорических 
значений слов, а также на перефразирование устойчивых, в том 
числе идиоматических, выражений. 
Упражнения подобного рода призваны обогатить словарный 
запас студентов. Особое внимание уделяется выявлению прагматических характеристик, свойственных как отдельным лексическим единицам, так и более обширным фрагментам текста, на 
основе определения степени экспрессивности, эмотивности и 
оценочности анализируемого материала. 
Пособие также содержит задания, целью которых является 
совершенствование морфологических и синтаксических речевых и языковых навыков. В частности, на основе контекста рас
1 В каждом рассказе сохранена своя специфическая пунктуация в зависимости от того, английский или американский автор, от времени написания 
и проч.

сказов отрабатывается употребление абсолютных конструкций, 
различных форм сослагательного наклонения, неличных форм 
глагола.
Кроме того, в пособии представлена информация, касающаяся основных аспектов интерпретации текста, таких как авторская позиция, особенности фона произведения, способы 
создания характера, построения сюжета, тематические характеристики. 
При освещении теоретических вопросов использовались 
работы Ричарда Гилла, Джона Пека, Йанна Миллигана, Дэвида 
Лоджа и др. Тот или иной аспект рассматривается применительно к конкретному художественному тексту, а заключительным 
заданием к каждому из рассказов является комплекс вопросов, 
направленных на его интерпретацию. Предполагается, что в 
результате пошагового анализа каждого из компонентов (эле менты композиционного построения, характеристика пер сона жей, проблематика и идейное содержание рассказа и др.) будет от рабатываться алгоритм интерпретации художественного 
про из ведения. Задания к заключительному рассказу в пособии 
включают интегрированный анализ, представленный во всей сово купности рассматриваемых ранее аспектов интерпретации.
Материалы адресованы студентам бакалавриата и специалитета, обучающимся по специальностям «Лингвистика» и «Перевод и переводоведение», с уровнем владения английским языком В2—С1. Они также могут быть использованы всеми, кто 
изучает английский язык и занимается анализом художественного текста.

Francis King

MAKING IT ALL RIGHT

Francis King, a British novelist, reviewer and drama critic, was born 
in Switzerland. King spent his early years with his family in India, where 
his father was a government offi cial. Aged eight, F. King was dispatched to 
England to a boarding school where he proved academically accomplished 
and gained classical scholarships to Shrewsbury school and Balliol College, 
Oxford.
While still an undergraduate at Oxford, he published his fi rst novels. 
Then King joined the British Council, working in Italy, Greece, Egypt, 
Finland and Japan, before he devoted himself entirely to writing. For some 
years he was а drama critic for the Sunday Telegraph and was a fi ction 
reviewer for the Spectator.
His book The Nick of Time (2003) reached the Booker long-list, and the 
most recent was Cold Snap (2010). Francis King died in 2011.

‘If you want to see Iris Clark, we ought to call her soon. She’s 
got herself into the habit of going to bed early.’ As she spoke, Diana 
Lucas jumped up from the settee and, stooping over, began to 
edge a six-panel gold screen out from the wall behind it. ‘Oh, this 
woman! She never puts anything back straight. And the fi lth behind 
here. Mary, just look at this fi lth, just look at it.’ Mary Hirst glanced 
over her shoulder. ‘Bob, just look.’ Mary’s husband, Bob, clumsy 
hands clasped between bony knees, continued to stare down at the 
Chinese silk carpet which, Diana had told them, she had bought 
off a restaurant in Kobe ‘for a song, an absolute song’. ‘Oh, well, 
I suppose that I oughtn’t to grumble about her. She’s really rather 
a dear. And she’s been with me twelve years. Did you realize that, 
Mary? She’s been with me twelve years. I taught her everything she 
knows — which isn’t saying much.’ 

‘Oh, I think that she’s a lovely cook,’ Mary said. She enunciated 
her words slowly and carefully with a trace of an Australian 
accent.
‘On a good day,’ Diana conceded. ‘Now what about that call to 
Iris?’
‘Well, I don’t know, dear.’ Mary looked at her watch and then 
looked at Bob. ‘It’s getting late. It’s such a long drive back to Kyoto 
and Bob has to be on duty at the hospital at nine o’clock.’
‘She’d appreciate a visit from you, I know. Even if we looked in 
just for ten minutes. They were always so inseparable; other people 
never really counted for them. And now that she’s on her own, well, 
the poor thing seems so utterly lost.’ Again Diana fi dgeted with the 
screen. ‘It’s a beauty, isn’t it? The gold alone is worth a fortune.’
‘Isn’t that the one you picked up with me at that little junkshop 
behind Kyoto station?’ Mary queried.
‘Yes, of course, so I did! I’d quite forgotten. Yes, that’s right.’ 
But Diana did not care to be reminded. ‘Of course it was in a 
ghastly condition then. Remember? But I saw at once that it had its 
possibilities. I had it remounted. Touched up by a little man whom 
I’ve found, a real artist. The gold restored — that cost me a pretty 
penny, I can tell you. Yes, I’m pleased with the result... Now, Mary, 
let’s put through that call. You’ll be doing her such a good turn.’
Mary, who hardly knew Iris Clark, was less sure of this. But the 
news of the car accident in which Frank Clark had been killed and 
Iris herself gravely injured had appalled her when she had read of it 
in the newspaper and ever since she had hoped for some opportunity 
to be of comfort or assistance. ‘Would we really be welcome — at 
this hour, I mean?’
‘Quarter-to-ten,’ said Diana with a brisk look at the platinumand-diamond watch on her wrist. ‘She doesn’t go to bed all that 
early. Come.’ She held out a hand to Mary and yanked her, with 
surprising ease considering the disparity in their size, out of the sofa 
and on to her feet. ‘You’d better speak to her. It’ll make it nicer, 
coming from you.’

‘Me, dear?’
‘I’m always running over to see her. Almost daily. And now that 
it seems likely that I shall be taking over the house —’
‘Taking over the house?’ Mary stared at her in amazement.
‘Sh! It’s meant to be a secret. Don’t tell a soul. Isn’t it wonderful 
news?’
‘But I — I thought that the bank rented it.’
‘Yes, but Iris hated the thought of its falling into the hands of 
Frank’s successor. A bachelor. After all they put into it, it would 
have been such a shame — one of the show-places of the district. So 
she’s arranged — with a little scheming — for me to have it. Isn’t 
it marvellous news? I can’t wait to get out of this beastly western 
house. My things are going to look ten times better when they’re on 
show in their proper setting.’
‘But — how did she fi x it?’ Mary asked, as Diana continued to 
impel her inexorably towards the telephone.
‘Quite simple. The company asked if the landlord would be 
willing to renew the lease — it ends this month by a lucky chance — 
and she said that she would ask him. Then she told them that he was 
awfully sorry but he wanted the house back as he had promised it to 
someone else. That was me, of course.’ Mary was still looking at her 
openmouthed with a mixture of shock and admiration. ‘Now, come, 
dear. I’ll dial the number and then you can speak to her.’
‘But I hardly know —’
‘Come!’
Mary submitted to Diana as people of far stronger wills found 
themselves submitting. ‘Are you sure that we won’t be disturbing 
you?’ she asked, and Iris’s far-away, plaintive voice answered her: 
‘No, no, I have nothing to do but to — to sit here. So please come. 
Do you think you can fi nd the way?’
‘Oh, yes. Diana Lucas will be with us.’
‘Diana! How lovely!’
‘Tell her I’ll bring the screen — I’ll bring her screen over. Tell 
her it’s gorgeous,’ Diana hissed.

Mary did as she was bid.
‘Oh, I am excited!’ Iris exclaimed.
‘Bob, give me a hand with this screen,’ Diana said, advancing 
on the six-panel gold screen as soon as the telephone call had ended. 
‘Let’s take your car, shall we? Then I needn’t get mine out of the 
garage. Bob, dear!.. Now be very careful, won’t you, sweetie? That’s 
right.’ Between them they began to fold up the screen. 
‘Has — has Iris Clark —?’ Mary began to ask.
‘Yes, she begged me to let her have it. It breaks my heart, I’ve 
really grown so fond of it. But that’s the hell of this business... Ah, 
well, I suppose that I’ll fi nd another.’ Diana’s own house was the 
show-room for the Chinese and Japanese antiques which she sold 
chiefl y to rich American tourists, ignorant of the prices prevalent 
in the stores of Kobe and Kyoto from which Diana usually bought 
them. ‘I let her have it for a quite unrealistic price, but she’d set her 
heart on it and in the circumstances...’
‘You’re a sentimentalist,’ said Bob. ‘Bless your heart’. He meant 
the blessing, though he did not really consider her a sentimentalist. 
He had always admired Diana for her elegance, her sophistication 
and her business fl air; all qualities in which Mary, bless her heart 
too, was conspicuously lacking.
‘Well, kids, let’s go!’ Diana lifted one end of the screen, Bob the 
other. ‘Yes, I sure am sorry to see that blank wall,’ Diana said in a 
poor imitation of an American accent, gazing at it. ‘You’ll have to 
help me to fi nd something really nice to put in its place, Mary. Mary 
has a wonderful eye, did you know that, Bob? She ought to go into 
business with me.’
‘I’d love to,’ Mary said, obviously pleased. ‘If only I didn’t have 
him to look after.’
‘Oh, leave him!’ Diana exclaimed. ‘He’d manage on his own. 
Wouldn’t you, Bob?’
For some reason Bob began to fl ush as he stopped to ease the 
screen through the narrow doorway.
Iris Clark was seated, not at the desk which stood in the glassedin porch running the whole length of the vast, Japanese-style room, 

but at a small, gate-legged table which to Mary seemed perfectly 
ordinary but which Diana always eyed greedily, knowing it to be 
Sheraton. She was a tall, bony woman, whom grief and the months 
she had spent in hospital had made even bonier. Light freckles dotted 
the pallor of her cheekbones, her forehead and her arms. When she 
drew back her lips in a smile, she revealed both large irregular teeth 
and the gums above them. Her hand made a brief icy contact with 
Mary’s and then with Bob’s, but on Diana she bestowed a kiss and 
convulsive hug.
‘What have you been doing? What’s all this?’ Diana indicated 
the table.
‘Invitations. For my farewell party.’ She turned to Bob and Mary. 
‘I hope that you can come.’
‘I’ve spoken to those two waiters and they’ve agreed to help,’ 
Diana said before either of them could answer. She was examining a 
scroll-painting hanging in the alcove.
‘Wonderful. You are good, Diana.’
‘Sweetie, I don’t honestly like this very much.’
‘Oh, don’t you? No, I wasn’t sure about it. Frank — ‘her voice 
trembled momentarily — ‘bought it off Cecil Courtney.’
‘Well, that explains of course why nothing about it seems quite 
right.’ Cecil Courtney was a rival dealer. Diana walked over and, 
putting her hand on Iris’s shoulder, inspected her carefully. ‘You 
know, you look so much better. Oh, much better. Doesn’t she, 
Mary?’
Mary, who had not seen Iris since her accident, was in no 
position to judge; but she nodded her head emphatically. 
‘And that coat and skirt is very elegant. I sent Iris to Madam 
Keiko. Don’t you like Iris’s coat and skirt?.. Now, Iris, you sit down 
and I’ll see about the drinks. No, sit down, dear. You’re looking 
much stronger and much better, but you’ve still got to take it easy. 
Sit down, there’s a good girl.’
Iris did as she was told.
‘I’ve just let Mary and Bob into our secret — Mary is one of 
my oldest friends, even if we do see so little of each other now that 

she and Bob have taken themselves off to Kyoto. She’s as thrilled 
as I am. As she rightly said, my things are going to look ten times 
nicer in this setting than in that poky western-style house.’ She 
seemed to have forgotten that it was in fact she herself who had 
said this. 
Mary looked about her: the room, for a Japanese house, was vast, 
the ceiling far higher than customary, the various woods of the fl oor 
beams, the transoms and the tokonoma all, even to her inexpert eye, 
of a costly variety. ‘Yes, it’s a gorgeous home,’ she said, thinking 
of their own cosy but creaking and fragile wooden box, possible for 
entertaining only if they removed the sliding screens and threw all 
three downstairs rooms into one. ‘You’ll have diffi culty in heating it, 
Diana, won’t you?’
Diana leaned forward, as sleek, polished and fi nely wrought 
as the birds which had been carved, perched among irises, in the 
transom above her. ‘Well, that all depends on Iris,’ she said in a soft, 
winning voice.
Iris glanced at her momentarily, glanced away and then glanced 
back, to hold her bright, appealing gaze, as she said in a voice 
pitched so low that Bob, who was growing deaf, could not hear her: 
‘It’s Mrs. Macready. I did promise her the space-heater, oh, long, 
long ago.’
‘But she can order one from the States. She won’t even have to 
pay any duty.’
‘Oh, yes, she will. They don’t have any diplomatic privileges.’
‘Anyway he’s making so much money out of selling scrap-iron 
that he can afford to pay duty. Whereas I...’ She put one small hand 
over Iris’s large one. ‘Please, Iris dear. You don’t want me to shiver 
all winter, do you?’
‘Well, of course not.’ Iris said with a laugh as brief as a 
hiccough. 
‘Then that’s fi xed.’ And presumably it was, since Iris merely 
stared down at her wedding-ring. ‘Now you must tell me what I can 
do to help with the party.’