The Basic Teacher

 

STEP 43

 

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GOING TO THE PICTURES

 

She: Let's see what's on at that picture-house across the road.
He:  Aren't we going to the West End? I was looking forward to taking you somewhere good, where they have an orchestra and possibly a chorus on the stage in the middle of the program.
She: It takes such a long time to get to the West End, if there's a good picture on here. It seems foolish to go such a long way.
He:  All right, sweetheart, we'll do whatever you say. But this is a cheap-looking place.
She: It seems to be a very mixed programmed. 'Insect Behavior', a picture about an American gunman, “Secrets of the Hollywood Stars", and a Walt Disney picture. There's something for every taste.
He:  Not for mine. It has no love interest.
She: What about the secrets of the Hollywood stars? And I'm certain that the behavior of the Insects is full of love interest.
He:  I'm shocked at you.
She [pointing at a picture of a man on horseback]: Oh, we've come on the wrong day. The program is to be changed tomorrow and they will be putting on a cowboy picture with Gary Cooper in it. We'll have to come again.
He:  Are you serious? Nobody is interested in cowboy pictures these days. They're quite dead.
She: Not when Gary Cooper is the cowboy.
He:  That man is a danger. All you women seem to be in love with him.
She: Don't be foolish. I go to see him because he is a great actor.
He:  In other words, because he's very good-looking and an expert at making love.
She: If you go on talking like that, I'll let you go to the pictures by yourself.
He:  All right, I'll be good. I'll even give Gary Cooper credit for being quite a good actor. But there's no doubt about it, if a good-looking man goes on the stage or takes a part in a picture, you may be certain he'll have all the women In love with him, however great a waster he may be and whatever his shortcomings as an actor. It's a little hard on the rest of us. What are you laughing at?
She: Your one-sided way of looking at things, dearest. You have a picture of Ingrid Bergman on your writing-table, haven't you?
He:  That's quite different.
She: Naturally.
He:  Anyhow, don't let's have an argument. Are we going to this place or not?
She: Yes, if it's possible to get in. There seem to be a great number of persons waiting
He:  They're probably going to the cheaper seats, but I'll make certain.
Doorman [coming to the steps]: Seats at three and sixpence.
He:  That's the answer. They're waiting outside for the half-crown and shilling seats. Come on. We'll go in.
[They go to the booking-office.] Two three and six penny’s, please.
[The girl at the booking-office takes his money and gives him the tickets.]
She: These seats will not be at the front, will they?
Doorman [overhearing her] : All the three and six pennies are in the middle, madam.
He:  is the chief picture on now?
Doorman:    No, sir. There's another quarter of an hour before that.
He:  Will we see the Disney picture?
Doorman:    No, that's over.
He:  What a shame It's the best part of the program. [They go in and are taken to their seats.]
She: They're quite good seats, aren't they?
He:  Yes. Have a bit of chocolate.
She [takes the silver paper off]: Nut chocolate! Did you get this for me?  How sweet of you!
He:  I haven't made out what this picture is about. Those mountain springs put me in mind of Wales.
See how quickly the water from them is formed into a river. I've never seen such a number of waterfalls.
She: How do they get these pictures under the water? There's a fish. What are those things on the bed of the river?
He:  We'll probably see them changing into insects.
She: Oh, yes. Don't you see something moving?
He:  Ssh! don’t make so much noise. Someone In front of us is turning round.
She: Now comes the news. Why are all those persons running in the direction of the airplane?
Is the airman going to be attacked?
He:  No. He's made a record flight.
She: Poor man! Why are they being so rough with him?
He:  That's the natural outcome of getting oneself into the news. This seems to be a family parting.
She: Don't you see who they are? It's the King and Queen waving to the two Princesses.
He:  So it is.
She [taking out a cigarette]: Have you got a light?
He:  I haven't any matches but here's my lighter. I say! That's a strange. Looking head-dress. Was it designed for some African chief?
She: No. my dear. It's the latest hat from Paris. And here's the young woman who is going to put it on. How's that ?
He:  It's a little hard to get used to. But the girl's all right, it seems a shame to put all that beautiful thick hair under a hat like that. Now here s something I'm a better judge of, boys of Harrow School playing football.
She: Haven't they got their knees dirty! I don't see what amusement there is in slipping about on a wet field in the rain.
He:  How like a woman!
She: Here's the long picture at last.
He:  'A Marked Man'. That's certainly the marked man. One wouldn't have much chance if one came across him after nightfall. Flight would be one's only hope.
She: He's not unlike Boris Karloff, only his hairs a little thin on top. The woman seems to have designs on him.
He:  Yes, but he's not the sort to let a woman get the better of him.
She: She's crying now.
He:  He'll certainly not be moved by that.
She: What's that dark mass in the angle of the room there?
He:  It's a man with cords round him and a cloth over his mouth. He's a prisoner. He doesn't seem to be very pleased about the way the woman is acting with the gunman. Do you see how he's eyeing the gun which is resting on the table? But he's not able to do anything about it. The woman is probably his girl friend, who has been false to him in the hope of getting the gunman's love.
She: The gunman has gone out; taking the woman with him, but his gun is still on the table.
He:  He'll probably come back for it in a minute. Anyhow, he's certain to have another in his trouser-pocket.
She: Oh, do you see? The prisoner is biting through the cords with his teeth. Now he has got his hands free and he has taken a knife out of his pocket. The last cord is cut. He has taken the gun off the table and he's going after them.
She: Why aren't you looking at the picture?
He: Because I'm looking at you. Isn't that a good enough reason?
She: Not quite, because it isn't possible for you to see me in the dark.
He:  I'll have to be open with you, I'm certain we have seen this picture before.
She:  No, we haven't.
He:  You may be right, but all these pictures are the same. Come out and have a drink.
She: Certainly not. I'm interested in the picture. Please don't go on talking. You keep me from hearing a word of what is being said.
He:  All right. I'll be quite happy sleeping here till it's over. What's wrong? You aren't angry, are you?
She: Be quiet. I'm watching the picture.

 

 

Notes:

 

        Read Carefully, this are some sentences of the text, and here is the explanation form them.

The five further international words which come into this Step are: chocolate, chorus, madam, orchestra, sir. In addition, the international names King, Queen, and Princess are used.   President, Chairman, Czar, Emperor?

 

 

Picture-house: Building where motion pictures are put on view.

The West End: This is the part of West London where the great stores, pubs, theaters and hotels are.

Such a long way: Such a long distance (see Step 41)

Sweetheart: Lover. Used as a loving name generally.

Mixed: Another sense of mixed is 'formed of different sorts or qualities'.

Gunman: Armed man who does violent crimes.

Star: An actor who takes chief parts is a star.

Shocked at you: Shocked is used here in the special sense of 'disgusted by something as being in bad taste'. Take note of the use of at.

On horseback: Seated on a horse. The complex word horseback is used only after on.

Cowboy:  Man looking after cows on American grassland.

They’re quit dead: A thing which is of the past, no longer interesting or in use, is said to be dead.

That man is a danger: Same thing causing danger is said to be a danger.

All you women: Take note that when you or we have some name straight after it, all is used before it in place of all of.

In love with: Take note of this use of in and with love, a form used of love between the sexes.

A great actor: Great is used, as here, for 'very good, noted'.

Making love: Acting like a lover, saying loving things and so on. One makes love to a person.

Give Gary Cooper credit for: One gives a person credit for an amount of money when one puts it on the credit side of his account. In the same way, one may give a person credit for being or doing something or for some quality ; that is put it on the credit side when forming an opinion of him.

Goes on the stage: To go on the stage is to become an actor.--The stage has a further use in the sense of 'theater work' or 'actors as a group'.

Waster: Good-for-nothing person, wasting time and money on pleasures.

Shortcomings: Bad qualities, bad points.

One-sided: Taking into account one side of a question only.

Make certain:  Make oneself certain (that or of) by getting knowledge of the facts.

Three and six penny’s:  'Three and sixpenny seats', that is, seats priced at 3/6. Take note that when a price is put before a name in this way the form penny is used in place of pence. (Old coins)

Overhearing: Hearing talk which is not designed to come to one's ears.

Mountain springs: Water coming up from the earth as a spring comes up when it is not kept down is a spring.

Waterfalls: Water falling in a river and so on from one level to another is a waterfall.

Changing into: Becoming (a thing).

Ssh!: Sound made as a sing to a person to be quiet.

Someone . . . is turning round: Turning round has a common use in the sense of 'turning so that one is facing in the opposite direction'.

Airman: Man driving or helping in the control of an airplane.

Record flight: When something is done better or quicker than it hat been done before, it is a record. The word is specially used in this sense in connection with sport, where a record is kept of such events.

Outcome: Effect, development caused by (that is, coming out of) what has gone before.

Parting: A parting takes place between persons when they go away from one another. One person may be talked of as parting from another.

Have you a light? Have you a match (or anything used for lighting a cigarette and so on.)

Lighter: Flame-producing apparatus for lighting cigarettes and so on.

l say! : A common British form used to get attention.

Head-dress: Anything for putting on the head, specially something strange or much ornamented.

African chief: Chief may have the sense of ruler' (of a group in a simple society).

Thick hair: Hair, grass, and so on is thick when the separate hairs are very near to or another; when there is much space between them it is thin. Thickly and thinly) may be used in a parallel sense.

Football: A form of sport played by kicking a leather ball, which itself is named a football.   soccer

A marked man: A marked man is one who is being watched or looked for with a view to has punishment and so on.

Nightfall: The end of daylight, the coming of night.

Flight would be one's only hope: The sense of flight here is 'running away from danger'. Fear makes a man go as quickly as if he had wings.--By expansion, hope is used in the sense of 'thing giving hope'.

Seems to have designs on: To have designs on = to have the design of getting the better of, getting into one's power, doing damage to (a person or thing). Here, the woman's design is to get the man for her lover.

Be moved by: Moving by itself may have the special sense of 'causing deep feelings of a serious sort, generally sad', and moved is used in the same way.

The angle of the room: A part of a room, building, and so on where an angle is formed by the meeting of two walls is an angle.

Prisoner: Person kept in prison or kept from being free by another. Prison is the only word with which the -er ending gives the name not of the doer of an act but of a person to whom an act is done. One makes a person a prisoner.

Eyeing the gun: Eyeing:  watching, looking at with special interest or purpose.

She has been false to him: True has, in addition to its root some, the sense of being truly and unchangingly a friend, supporter, lover and so on, and false has a like expansion as the opposite of this. To be false to one's lover is to give one's love to another while seeming still to be his sweetheart.

Trouser-pocket: When trousers are the first part of a complex ward, the s at the end is dropped. Other examples are trouser-leg, trouser-button.

Biting through:  Cutting through by biting. There is no “-ed” form from bite. It is bit. He bit his pencil.

He’s going after them:  One goes after a person, animal or thing going away from one why one makes an attempt to get to him or it, specially for the purpose of attack and so on.

Be open with you: Open is used in the sense of 'having no secrets, keeping nothing back, saying what is in one's mind'. The form openly takes its sense from this use of open.
Sleeping: There is no “-ed” form from sleep.   It is slept. She slept late.

The sense of these complex words is clear without a note: cheap-looking , strange-looking.

 

 

Test

 

1. Make statements with these words, using them in two senses:

(a) Flight 
A:

(b) Parting 
A:

(c) Resting   
A:

(d) False 
A:

(e) Marked
A:

 

 

2. Make as long a list as possible of complex words starting with out and over. Make use of them in statements.

A:

 

 

3. Make these statements complete by putting in a group of words whose sense has been made clear in the notes on this Step V

(a) Cowboys go about the country _____ _____.
A:

(b) She let this other man _____ _____ _____ her because her lover had been _____ _____ her.
A:

(c) We went into every room in the house to _____ _____ that no one was there.
A:

(d) The secretary did all the work but her chief was ___ ___ ___ it.
A:

(e) Not being used to having her hand kissed, she got the idea that the man was _____ _____ _____ her.
A:

 

 

4. Give a complex word for:

(a) Something for covering the head.
A:

(b) The end of daylight.
A:

(c) The driver of an airplane.
A:  

(d) A bad quality
A.

(e) An armed man who does violent crimes.
A:  

 

 

5. In every group of statements there is one word which makes all the statements complete. Put in the right word

(a) The _____ is dry in the summer.
  That watch has a broken _____.
  In the_____ the trees will get new leaves.
A:

(b) Her memory has become so bad that she gets _____ about who the different persons ire.
  There is a _____ selection of books on the shelves.
  The milk has been_____with water.
A:

(c) The base of the boat is resting on the _____ of the river.
  We never go to _____ early.
  The flowers are dead because the _____ has not been watered.
A:

(d) Their house is in the middle of a _____ wood.
  _____ oil is bad for the machine. The rod is as _____ as my little finger.
A:

(e) There was a _____number of births in the country last year.
  This_____ has a song on one side and bit of dance music on the other.
  Is there any _____ of what took place at the meeting ?
A:

 

 

6. Make clear in Basic the sense of:

(a) Lighter 
A:  

(b) Waster  
A:

(c) Prisoner
A:

 

 

7. Give the answers in Basic:

(a) What did the man give the woman when they had taken their seats?
A:

(b) What did the man see which put him in mind of Wales?
A:

(c) Why did the woman say they had come on the wrong day?
A:

(d) Why had the man been hoping that the woman would go with him to a picture house in the West End?
A.:

(e) Who were the King and Queen parting from?
A:

(f) What had the airman done?
A:

(g) What was the man's opinion about the latest hat from Paris?
A:

(h) Where was the man who was the gunman's prisoner?
A:

(i) How did he get free?
A: 

(j) What were the boys of Harrow School doing?
A:  

(k) What seemed to be the woman's part in the picture about the gunman?
A:

(l) What did the things on the bed of the river seem to be doing?
A:

(m) Why did the woman say there was something for every taste on the program?
A: