«Трое в лодке, не считая собаки»: слушаем и обсуждаем

 

 

Министерство науки и высшего образования 

Российской Федерации 

Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение 

высшего образования 

«Липецкий государственный педагогический университет 

имени П.П. Семенова-Тян-Шанского» 

 
 

Кафедра лингвистики и межкультурной коммуникации 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Е.Г. Трунова, Т.Ю. Павельева, О.В. Пустовалова 

 

«THREE MEN IN A BOAT (TO SAY NOTHING OF THE DOG)»: 

LISTEN AND DISCUSS 

 
 

Учебное пособие 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Липецк – 2020 

 
 
 
 

 

 

Министерство науки и высшего образования  

Российской Федерации 

Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение 

высшего образования 

«Липецкий государственный педагогический университет 

имени П.П. Семенова-Тян-Шанского» 

 

Кафедра лингвистики и межкультурной коммуникации 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Е.Г. ТРУНОВА, Т.Ю. ПАВЕЛЬЕВА, О.В. ПУСТОВАЛОВА 

 
 

«ТРОЕ В ЛОДКЕ, НЕ СЧИТАТАЯ СОБАКИ»: 

СЛУШАЕМ И ОБСУЖДАЕМ 

 
 
 
 
 

 
Учебное пособие 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
 

Липецк – 2020 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

УДК 81-23  
 
 
 
 
Рекомендовано к печати 

ББК 81.432.1-923  
 
 
         кафедрой лингвистики и 

Т 787                                                        межкультурной коммуникации 
                                                                      ЛГПУ имени  
                                                                      П.П. Семенова-Тян-Шанского 
                                                                 Протокол № 4 от 25.11.2019 г. 

 

Трунова, Е.Г. «Трое в лодке, не считая собаки»: слушаем и обсуждаем: 
учебное пособие / Е.Г. Трунова, Т.Ю. Павельева, О.В. Пустовалова. – 
Липецк: ЛГПУ имени П.П. Семенова-Тян-Шанского, 2020. – 80 с. 
 

ISBN 978-5-907168-72-5 

 
Пособие предназначено для развития навыков восприятия иноязычной 

речи на слух в рамках самостоятельной работы студентов языковых 
направлений подготовки. Оно может быть использовано для групповой работы 
в лингафонном кабинете или индивидуальной работы дома. Пособие 
предназначено для студентов 2 и 3 года обучения, обучающихся по  
направлениям 
подготовки 
41.03.01 
Зарубежное 
регионоведение 

(Регионоведение по странам Западной Европы), 45.03.02 Лингвистика (Перевод 
и переводоведение), 45.03.02 Лингвистика (Теория и методика преподавания 
иностранных языков и культур). 
 
Рекомендовано 
для 
слушателей 
программ 
дополнительного 

профессионального образования соответствующего направления подготовки. 

 

УДК 81-23 
ББК 81.432.1.-923 
Т 787 

 
 
 Рецензенты:  
О.В. Кашкарова, канд. филол. наук, доцент кафедры иностранных языков 
ФГБОУ ВО ЛГТУ»  
Т.Ю. Тормышева, канд. пед. наук, доцент кафедры иностранных языков 
ФГБОУ ВО ЛГТУ» 
 
 
ISBN 978-5-907168-72-5         © ФГБОУ ВО «Липецкий  государственный 
                                                  педагогический университет  
                                                  имени П.П. Семенова-Тян-Шанского», 2020 
                                                       © 
Е.Г. 
Трунова, 
Т.Ю. 
Павельева,  

                                                   О.В. Пустовалова, 2020  

Jerome K. Jerome: 
Biography, 
 Life,  
Interesting Facts 

 

Childhood And Early Life 

English humorist and writer Jerome 

Klapka Jerome was born on the 2 May 
1859 in Caldmore, Walsall, Staffordshire, 
England. He was the son of Jerome Clapp 
Jerome and Marguerite Jones. Jerome was the youngest of four children born to the 
couple. He had two sisters Pauline Deodata and Blandina Dominica plus a brother 
Milton Melancthon who died aged six. 
Initially, his father’s family name had been Clapp, but this was changed to Jerome. 
His father was a nonconformist preacher who was involved in the iron and coal 
industries, owning a colliery. The family were reasonably well off and lived a 
comfortable middle-class lifestyle until the family business failed in 1861. After the 
failure of his father’s colliery business, the family moved to London where they lived 
in Poplar in the East End, and Jerome was raised in relative poverty. 
Education 

Jerome was a pupil at the Philological School which later became known as 

Marylebone Grammar School. 
Rise To Fame 

After his father had died when he was fourteen, Jerome left school found work 

as a clerk at the London and North Western Railway. He also worked as a 
schoolmaster. When his mother died two years later in 1875, Jerome decided to 
become an actor, something both his religious parents would have disapproved of. 
Working with touring companies did not pay well, and he was reduced to 
homelessness, sleeping on the streets of London. He tried working as a journalist 
while at the same time gaining work as a solicitor’s clerk. 
Jerome also started writing, and in 1885 his first book On the Stage and Off: The 
Brief Career of a Would-Be Actor was published. This book was inspired by the 
Longfellow poem By the Fireside and gave Jerome the idea of writing humorously 
about his acting experience. He then had a collection of essays published, The Idle 
Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886). 
Literary Career 

Jerome began writing Three Men in a Boat after his marriage in 1888, and the 

book was published in 1889. This book, a comic masterpiece, proved to be incredibly 
popular and he became a literary sensation. Despite the success of his first 
book, Jerome experienced problems because reviewers refused to take his subsequent 
work seriously. He also ran into prejudice because he was a member of the lower-
middle class. His second novel Weeds (1892) was published anonymously, and 
because of the nature of the content, a story of sexual corruption, his publisher halted 
the sale of the book. In was only in 1968 that Weeds (1892) became known as one of 
his works. 
Jerome continued writing and left eight novels, collections of sketches and short 
stories, autobiographical work, plays and journal articles. He was also the editor of 
The Idler, a monthly publication, and To-Day, a weekly. (After being sued for libel, 
Jerome was forced to sell his interests in both magazines to cover costs of nine 
thousand pounds.) Other work included Three Men on the Bummel which was 
published in 1900, Paul Kelver (1902) and a play The Passing of the Third Floor 
Back (1908) and All Roads Lead to Calvary (1919). Jerome published an 
autobiography My Life and Times in 1927. 
Major Works 

Three Men in a Boat is considered one of the comic masterpieces written in the 

English language. 
Awards And Achievements 

Jerome was made a Freeman of the Borough of Walsall in 1927. 

Personal Life 

In 1888 Jerome married his cousin Georgina Elizabeth Stanley Marris. Marris 

had a five-year-old daughter Elsie from a previous marriage, and the couple had a 
daughter Rowena (b.1898-d.1966). 
During World War I Jerome volunteered but was not accepted because of his age. 
Instead then volunteered as an ambulance driver working with the French Army. 
Jerome K. Jerome suffered a stroke and subsequently died on the 14 June 1927 and is 
buried in Ewelme in Oxfordshire England. 
 
 

 

 

 

 

QUESTIONS TO ANSWER 

1. What sort of family was the future writer 

brought up in? 

2. Did he get a good education? 
3. What jobs did he try? 
4. What was his first book  about? 
5. What genres attracted him? 
6. Why was it difficult for him to establish 

himself as a writer? 

7. Was he a prolific writer? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

CHAPTER 1 

Are you a health-conscious person? Are afraid of doctors and contagious 

diseases?  Do you like to read health magazines and discuss health related 
issues? Have you ever thought that you have fallen prey to a mortal disease? 

1.    Match English words and expressions with their equivalents. 

1
seedy
a
размышлять над 

2
ailment
b
погрузиться

3
to plunge into
c
банальный, привычный

4
to ponder over
d
мученик

5
acquisition
e
эффективный

6
commonplace
f
потрепанный, нездоровый

7
disinclination
g
равновесие

8
martyr
h
приобретение

9
efficacious
i
спальное место
(в транспортном средстве)

10
equilibrium
j
несклонность, нежелание

11
implant
k
болезнь, недомогание

12
berth
l
внушать, вживлять

 

2. Mark the statements as true or false. Be ready support your point of view. 

1. The characters were complaining of felling sick and depressed. 
2. The narrator was a genuine hypochondriac. 
3. The narrator thought he suffered from all the diseases he had read about in the 

book on medicine.  

4. The narrator consider himself to be a very useful person  for medical students. 
5. The narrator examined himself thoroughly.  
6. After examining the narrator the doctor wrote a long list of pills for him  as a 

prescription.  

7. In childhood the narrator was often given medicine as an effective remedy for 

his liver and laziness. 

8. The friends came to the conclusion that they were overloaded with work that  

caused their health problems. 

9. The author mentioned his brother’s experience of  travelling by sea   to support  

the idea of a sea trip. 

10.  In the second  “sea story” the man paid very  much for the food served on the 

ship, but the food was scarce and of low quality. 

11.  George suggested travelling across the lake. 
12.  A river trip was a suitable choice for everyone but their dog.  

 

3. Listen to this particular fragment again and fill in the missing words  

It is a most extraordinary thing, but I never read a patent medicine 

advertisement without being  (1)_____________that I am suffering from the 
particular disease therein dealt with in its most virulent form. The diagnosis seems 
in every case (2)_________________________all the sensations that I have ever 
felt. I remember going to the British Museum one day to read up the treatment for 
some slight ailment of which I had a touch – hay fever, I fancy it was. I got down 
the book, and read all I came to read; and then, in an unthinking moment, 
(3)________________, and began to indolently study diseases, generally. I forget 
which was the first distemper I plunged into – some fearful, devastating scourge, I 
know – and, before I had glanced half down the list of "premonitory symptoms," it 
was borne in upon me that I had fairly got it. I sat(4) _______________; and then, 
in the listlessness of despair, I again turned over the pages. I came to typhoid fever 
– read the symptoms – discovered that I had typhoid fever, must have had it for 
months without knowing it – wondered what else I had got; turned up St. Vitus's 
Dance – found, as I expected, that I had that too, – began to get interested in my 
case, and(5) _________________-, and so started alphabetically – read up ague, 
and learnt that I was sickening for it, and that the acute stage would commence in 
about another fortnight. Bright's disease, I was relieved to find, I 
had(6)__________________, and, so far as that was concerned, I might live for 
years. Cholera I had, with severe complications; and diphtheria I seemed to have 
been born with. I plodded conscientiously through the twenty-six letters, and the 
only malady I (7) ___________________-- was housemaid's knee. I felt rather 
hurt about this at first; it seemed somehow to be a sort of slight. Why hadn't I got 
housemaid's knee? Why this invidious reservation? After a while, however, less 
grasping feelings prevailed. I reflected that I had every other known malady in the 
pharmacology, and I grew less selfish, and (8)____________________. 

4. Put down the final episode of the of the chapter word by word as a dictation. 

It starts with “The only one who…”.   

 

5. Do you agree with George, who suggested a river trip: “He said we should 

have fresh air, exercise and quiet; the constant change of scene would occupy our 
minds and the hard work would give us a good appetite, and make us sleep 
well.”Do you also think that a river trip can be so refreshing, invigorating 
and health-boosting?  Write your opinion (10-12 sentences). 

6. Memorize the expressions from ex.1 and use them to translate the sentences. 
1) Миссис Дауниг терзала мысль, которую ей внушил муж.  

2) Современные люди легко погружаются в проблемы и не могут установить  

равновесие в своем внутреннем мире. 

3) Это чрезвычайно эффективное средство от этого недомогания. 
4) Приобретение очередного отеля было трудным шагом для семьи 

Принстонов. Отец был уже стар, а сын демонстрировал нежелание вести 
семейный бизнес. 

5) Переедание – банальная вредная  привычка, которая приводит к полноте и 

нездоровому внешнему виду. 

6) Не строй из себя мученика, поднимись со своего спального места, выпей 

воды с лимоном, это поможет тебе от укачивания. 
 

7. Write a gist for this chapter (not more than 10-12 sentences). 

CHAPTER 2 

Are you fond of   camping trips,  expeditions or other activities which imply 
leaving all city comfort behind? Do you find such experience challenging and 
rewarding?  Have you ever spend a night in a tent? Describe your experience. 

1.    Match English words and expressions  with their equivalents. 

 
1
patriarchal
a
сильно желать что-либо

2
to lull smd
b
возродить интерес к 
жизни

3
to yearn forsmth
c
валять дурака

4
atimely hint
d
имеющий сомнительную 
репутацию, 
сомнительный

5
puddly
e
одиночество, уединение

6
to play the fool
f
патриархальный, 
почтенный, старинный

7
to restore interest to life
g
своевременный намек

8
frantically
h
трущобы

9
solitude
i
одобрение

10
disreputable
j
убаюкивать

11
slums
k
безумно, неистово

12
approbation
l
грязный, покрытый 
лужами