Gender Readings. Top Ten. Ренц Т.Г - 67 стр.

THE AUTHOR
      W. Somerset Maugham (1874—1965) was born in Paris, but
his parents were English. They died when he was ten and he was
brought up by an uncle, a clergyman who lived in the south of
England. He studied medicine in London, and later took up writing
as a career. We learn a good deal about his early life from his novel Of
Human Bondage. Two other novels by him are Cakes and Ale and
The Moon and Sixpence. He wrote many plays and had great talent as
a writer of short stories. One of the best of these is “The Letter”, a
dramatic incident in the lives of a group of English people in Malaya.

READING NOTES
      One of Maugham’s favourite ways of telling à storó, which he
uses here, is to tell it as though he had been concerned in it. The
teller of the story has no part in the events, but telling it in this way
helps to make it seem real.
      pens: enclosed spaces for farm animals.
      unexcitable: calm, not easily excited.
      their only boast: the only thing they were proud of.
      the prime of life: the best years of their life.
      not by a long chalk: by no means, not at all.
      She was twice the man her son was: She had a much stronger
character than her son.
      in a rare degree: to an unusual extent.
      She was a character: She had a remarkable personality.
      who ever: Used here rather than “who” because it is more
emphatic.
      It was quite moving: it aroused one’s sympathy.
      when she was, when she married. Notice that the simple past is
used in these two clauses after when, although the main verbs of the
sentence are in the past perfect.
      They heard of him on the China coast: they heard of him when
he was on the China coast.
      home: In this case a hospital or institution for old sailors with
no other home.
      Ford: Ford car.
      Just fancy: A colloquial expression used to express surprise; fancy
means “imagine”.

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