Listening
exercise:
Lives of the Writers: Charles Dickens
(Passage is after 'Lives of the Writers: Langston
Hughes' on your listening tape)
Vocabulary:
| photo
of Dickens Portsmouth Rochester novelist especially characters A Tale of Two Cities Great Expectations raisin pudding oysters champagne damp factory overrun rats to support meal break penny loaf to paste label bottle shoe polish prison debt crime to be orphaned eventually scrap schoolmate marble law clerk court reporter journalist publication The Pickwick Papers to be set for life popular public speaker to entertain on tour pots of audience to treat fans rock star to mob to rip to lionize final storey Gad's Hill Place estate to point out |
if he
would only to bathe neatly goose quill blue-grey to go well to doodle to pick fights with servant to spend mile to trot behind "Twenty Questions" "Charades" midnight object exactly position north-south direction to get to sleep for luck to be fascinated by ghost to attend séance murder trial public hanging whenever out of place to pull out comb dinner party notoriously to surround oneself with mirror flashy velvet waistcoat ring diamond stickpin vest to be stuffed with description meal ham toasted cheese public reading dozen to sip marriage |
Catherine
Hogarth donkey to grow impatient with amid gossip to separate custody to become obsessed with Ellen Turnan to be troubled by inflamed kidney to cause fatal stroke Westminster Abbey afterward to pay one's respects A Christmas Carol success to create Christmas spirit to be keenly aware of Ebeneezer Scrooge famous miser fiction to be based on Oliver Twist poverty to breed crime hero literature tremendous empathy Little Nell The Old Curiosity Shop to arouse unparalleled response in installments crowds to await episode overseas to gather harbor traveler tearfully David Copperfield to contain element favorite |
Listening
comprehension questions:
1. What duty
was assigned to Dickens in the factory job he held at age 12?
2. Although Dickens's parents were still alive, he felt orphaned. Why?
3. What form of payment did Dickens receive for the first stories he wrote?
4. What does this expression mean: "He was set for life"?
5. What was the public's feeling toward Dickens the writer?
6. What kind of writing implements did Dickens use to write his novels?
7. According to the passage, what was the minimum number of people living in
Dickens's household? There were at least how many animals?
8. How do you play "Twenty Questions" and "Charades"? (If
you don't know, try doing a search at this site: Party
Game Central)
9. About how many hours did Dickens sleep each night?
10. What in the passage suggests that Dickens may have been rather superstitious?
11. What happened after Dickens separated with his wife?
12. What did Dickens die of, and how old was he when he died?
13. What do modern Christmas celebrations have to do with Dickens?