My New School of Thought

Read and discuss the following text.

Explain the words, word combinations and phrases in bold in the text.

5) Fill in the correct preposition or particle, then make sentences:

1) aimed … smth; 2) to arrive … the establishment; 3) preoccupied … the fear … doing smth; 4) to be miserable … the idea … doing smth; 5) to have … one’s possession; 6) to enter smth … in a book; 7) to be satisfied … smth; 8) … genuine curiosity; 9) … honest amazement; 10) introduction … smth; 11) to derive smth … smth.

6) Answer the questions:

1. What kind of school was chosen for Winston Churchill?

2. Did the boy like the idea of going to school? Why?

3. What was the first task given to him? Did he succeed? Did he understand the task?

4. What do you think of the task given to the boy?

5. What do you think W. Churchill wanted to show by the story?

If I had not established a new school of thought and behaviour while I was at Junior High School, it would not have occurred to me to write about it.

It was in ancient history that I first astonished my class by my truly original mind. It happened that this was the first class on the very first day.

Ancient history books were distributed to the class, and Miss Shenstone (our teacher of history) asked us to turn to page 192 for our first lesson.

I remarked, "It would seem more in order if we turned to page one for the first lesson."

I was asked my name, whereupon I was only too glad to say honestly, "William Saroyan."

"Well, William Saroyan," Miss Shenstone said, "I might say, Mister Saroyan, just shut up and let me do the teaching of ancient history in this class."

Quite a blow.

On page 192, I remember quite clearly, was a photograph of two rather common-looking stones which Miss Shenstone said were twenty thousand years old.

If I had taken her word for it, probably nothing would have happened.

But it was at this point that my school of thought was started.

"How do you know?" I said.

This was a blow to the old school of thought in which the teachers asked the questions and the students tried to answer them.

The truth of the matter was that neither Miss Shenstone nor Mr. Monsoon, the principal, had anything like a satisfactory answer to any question of that sort, for they had always accepted what they found in the text-books.

The entire class expressed its approval and enthusiasm. Instead of trying to answer the question, Miss Shenstone compelled me to run. She flung herself at me with such speed that I was scarcely able to get away. For a moment she held on to my sweater, and damaged it before I could get away. The chase was an exciting one, but I succeeded in getting out of the room safely. The class approved of my behaviour unanimously.

Five minutes later, believing that the teacher had calmed down, I opened the door, but again she flung herself at me, and again I was compelled to run.

Under the circumstances I decided to turn to Mr. Monsoon himself, but when I did so, I was amazed to find that his sympathies were with Miss Shenstone. He looked upon me with disgust.

''She said the rocks were twenty thousand years old," I said. "All I said was, 'How do you know?' I didn't mean they weren't that old. I meant that maybe they were older. How old is the earth? Several thousand years old, isn't it? If the book can say the rocks are twenty thousand years old, somebody ought to be able to say how the book got that figure. I came here to learn. I don't expect to be punished because I want to learn."

"Your name, please," Mr. Monsoon said.

"William Saroyan," I said.

"You are…?" Mr. Monsoon said.

"Eleven," I said.

"No, I don't mean that."

"One hundred and three pounds." (Such was my weight.)

"No, no. The name, I'm thinking of."

"It's said to mean 'blond'."

"Nationality," Mr. Monsoon said.

"Armenian," I said proudly.

"Just as I thought," said the principal. "An American would never have asked a question like that,"

"How do you know?" I said.

"Nobody did," the principal said. "Does that answer your question?"

"Only partly," said I. "How do you know somebody else would not have asked it if I hadn't?"

"In all the years I have been connected with the public school system of California, no one had asked such a question."

"Yes," I said quickly, "and in all the years before Newton wanted to know what made the apple fall, nobody wanted to know what made it fall."

Mr. Monsoon chose not to continue the discussion. He just sat and looked at his shoes.

"How about that?" I said.

"Well," he said rather wearily, "I must give you a thrashing. How about that?"

"For what?" I said.

I got to my feet and before he was able to block my way, I was at the door and out of the room.

If it hadn't been for my rich uncle, I should have been expelled from school.

Mr. Monsoon was soon replaced by another man. It was expected of him to put down the new school and restore the old one.

He tried the method of brute force, thrashing as many as three dozen boys a day. I don't know, however, if the method worked, because I soon left the school.

After W. Saroyan

2) Scan the text and find the English equivalents for the following:

приходить кому-л. в голову, история древнего мира, поверить на слово, выразить своё одобрение, погоня, единодушно одобрить что-л., быть вынужденным сделать что-л., обратиться к кому-л. (за помощью, поддержкой), он был на стороне, с отвращением, частично, порка/взбучка, выпороть кого-л., преградить дорогу, уничтожить, восстанавливать, грубая сила.

3) Fill in each space with a word from the text:

1. Andrew didn't... of Denny's plan.

2. The headmaster of a school is called a... in the USA.

3. In that situation my … were with the child.

4. You can't buy a bicycle without your parents' ….

5. The test-papers were … among the students and they set to work at once.

6. He was … by the circumstances to leave the town, for a while.

7. Is your work quite finished or only … finished?

8. The theatre building was badly damaged during the war, but it has since been....

9. The medicine had such an unpleasant smell that the child turned away in ….

10. I had no other choice but to … his proposal.

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