My Pleasure Reading. Summary №2

Chapters 9 -16

On his birthday, David learns that his mother and little brother have died. He returns home for the funeral, not knowing that he will not return to Salem House. After the funeral David goes with Peggotty to Yarmouth where Peggotty marries Mr. Barkis. When David returns home Mr. Murdstone tells him that David will go to London, to work in the wine bottling business of which Mr. Murdstone is a part owner. David's job is to refill old bottles and pack them for shipment. David goes to live in the spare room of the Micawber family. Mrs. Micawber tells David that they take him as a lodger because their financial difficulties are overwhelming. After a while, Mr. Micawber is arrested and thrown into the debtors' prison. After Mr. Micawber is released from the prison their family decides to move to Plymouth to look for work.

No one remains to care for David in London, so he decides to run away to Betsey Trotwood, his only relative. He decides to go to Dover to find her, but as he tries to leave London he is robbed of all his money and possessions. After several days of walking, David arrives in Dover, hungry, penniless, dressed in ragged clothes and covered in dust. When he finds his aunt’s house, he discovers that she is sharing it with a man Mr. Dick who has some mental problems and is writing a never-ending manuscript about his connection to King Charles. Betsey takes David in, feeds and bathes him. At breakfast the next morning, Miss Betsy tells David that she has written to his stepfather to say that David is staying with her. She also tells David that she will not be able to make any decision about him until his stepfather writes or visits. After a while the Murdstones arrive. Mr. Murdstone offers to take David back with him, but when Betsey asks David if he wants to go, David begs to be allowed to stay with her. Betsey says that she will take her chance with David, and that she knows Mr. Murdstone is responsible for Clara’s death. She sends the Murdstones away. Moreover, Betsey renames David as Trotwood Copperfield.

David settles in at Miss Betsey's and established a strong friendship with Mr. Dick. It is decided to send David to school in nearby Canterbury. After arriving in town, they go to the office of Miss Betsey's lawyer, Mr. Wickfield, where they decide that David will live at Mr. Wickfield's house while he goes to school. Mr. Wickfield introduces them to his daughter, Agnes, who is the same age as David and takes care of the house for her father. David also meets Mr. Wickfield's employee, Uriah Heep, who makes him feel uneasy.

David goes to his new school for the first time and meets the headmaster, Dr. Strong and his young wife, Annie. Dining at Mr. Wickfield's house, David learns from Agnes that her mother died when Agnes was born. Mr. Wickfield invites David to stay with them permanently, and David agrees. David also has an uncomfortable conversation with Uriah Heep, who admits that he wishes to partner with Mr. Wickfield someday. As for his new school, David finds it excellent and does well, quickly catching up in his studies.

Rendering №1

The article published on the website foxnews.com on January 28, 2013 is headlined “Nearly 400-year-old secret painting in Rembrandt masterpiece revealed”. The article reports at length that scientists may be one step closer to revealing a hidden portrait behind a 380-year-old Rembrandt painting. Speaking of this situation it is necessary to note that scientists had noticed that the masterpiece, "Old Man in Military Costume" by Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn bears faint traces of another portrait beneath its surface, but couldn’t see it behind the top coat, largely because Rembrandt used the same paint (with the same chemical composition) for the under painting and the final version. But now, there is every reason to believe that new studies with more sophisticated X-ray techniques that can parse through the painting's layers give art historians hope that they may finally get to see who is depicted in the secret image.

Analyzing this situation it is necessary to emphasize that Matthias Alfeld from the University of Antwerp said that their experiments demonstrate a possibility of how to reveal much of the hidden picture, especially during the X-ray investigation, which is the best method to look underneath the original painting. So in this case it is necessary to say that when bombarded with the high-energy X-rays, light is absorbed and emitted from different pigments in different ways. The scientists targeted four elements of the paint to fluoresce, including calcium, iron, mercury and lead, and got much better impressions of the hidden painting in the mock-up than they were able to before.

Giving appraisal to the situation, it’s necessary to point out that "the successful completion of these preliminary investigations on the mock-up painting was an important first step," Karen Trentelman, of the Getty Conservation Institute, said in a statement. "The results of these studies will enable us determine the best possible approach to employ in our planned upcoming study of the real Rembrandt painting."

In this connection it is worthwhile mentioning the fact that this isn't the first time scientists have delved into Rembrandt's paintings. Previous research revealed why his art possesses such calming beauty, finding the artist may have pioneered a technique that guides the viewer's gaze around a portrait, creating a special narrative and "calmer" viewing experience. So, the article concludes by saying that, essentially, the researchers found Rembrandt painted more detail in and around the eyes of his subjects, tapping into an innate human attraction to the face.

As for me, I think that Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn is one of the greatest painters. Rembrandt's self-proclaimed goal was to achieve "the greatest and most natural movement and emotion." He created roughly 600 paintings that portrayed the earthy and the spiritual in a preternatural way. He is generally considered a Dutch Baroque Artist. Among the most famous Rembrandt paintings are "The Night Watch" and "The Prodigal Son." Moreover, it will be very interesting to find out more about him after the researches finally identify the painting behind the masterpiece “Old Man in Military Costume".

My Pleasure Reading. Summary №1

Chapters 1 - 8

The adult David Copperfield tells the story of his life from childhood to maturity. David's father dies before he is born, and David spends his early years with his mother Clara and their housekeeper, Peggotty. One evening, Peggotty asks David to accompany her on a two-week visit to her brother's at Yarmouth. He agrees and spends a wonderful time at the Peggotty home. As a consequence, he regrets having to leave, but looks forward to see his mother again. On arriving home, Peggotty informs him that his mother has married Mr. Murdstone while they were away. David finds his familiar childhood home greatly changed with the appearance of Mr. Murdstone. Mr. Murdstone presents himself as a strict stepfather and makes it clear that David must obey him or be punished. After a while, Mr. Murdstone's sister comes to stay with them and to run the house instead of Clara’s objections. Besides, Mr. Murdstone and his sister start to control and criticize David’s lessons with his mother. As a result, David, who has always been able to do his lessons easily, becomes so nervous that he cannot remember them. One day, when David is being particularly slow in remembering his lessons, Mr. Murdstone beats him which results in David biting his stepfather’s hand. As a punishment, Mr. Murdstone sends David away to a boarding school in London. Having arrived to school (Salem House) David is forced to wear a placard on his back as a punishment for biting Mr. Murdstone with these words written on it: “Take care of him. He bites”.

The school semester begins with the headmaster, Mr. Creakle, making many threats of violence against both David and schoolboys. David also makes new friends like James Steerforth, a good-looking boy who has the reputation of being a leader. They establish a ritual in which David tells Steerforth stories from the books that he has read. Steerforth, in his turn, helps David with difficult lessons. One day, Mr. Peggotty visits David at the school. Steerforth arrives, and David proudly introduces him to his visitor. Steerforth charms him, and Mr. Peggotty makes an invitation to him and David to visit him in Yarmouth.

On his vacations, David returns home, and is delighted to find his mother with a new baby boy. She has also fallen into bad health and does not seem to recover. David asks Mr. Murdstone's forgiveness for biting him. Miss Murdstone only asks how long the school vacation is and counts the days until David leaves again. Moreover, Mr. Murdstone forbids David to touch the new baby boy. David tries to avoid conflict by staying out of their way but Mr. Murdstone and his sister order him to stay in the public rooms of the house where they can monitor him. Finally, David returns to Salem House, feeling both sorry to leave his mother again and relieved to see his new friends.

Pleasure Reading

Year I Term I - Dick Francis "Under Orders"

Year I Term II - Agatha Christie "Death on the Nile"

Year II Term III - J. R. R. Tolkien "The Hobbit"

Year II Term IV - F. Scott Fitzgerald "This Side of Paradise"

Year III Term V - F. Scott Fitzgerald "The Great Gatsby"

Year III Term VI - Charles Dickens "David Copperfield"

W.S.Maugham "In a Strange Land"

Interpretation

Author

W. Somerset Maugham (born Jan. 25, 1874, Paris, Francedied Dec. 16, 1965, Nice) was an English novelist, playwright, and short-story writer. He abandoned a short career in medicine when his first novel, “Liza of Lambeth” (1897), had some success. His plays, mainly Edwardian social comedies, brought him financial security. His reputation rests primarily on the novels “Of Human Bondage” (1915), “The Moon and Sixpence” (1919), “Cakes and Ale” (1930), and “The Razor's Edge” (1944), all of which were adapted for film and some for television. His short stories often portray the confusion of Europeans in alien surroundings. His works, regarded less highly today than formerly, are characterized by a clear, unadorned style, cosmopolitan settings, and a shrewd understanding of human nature.

Title

Direct meaning: In a Strange Land means to be in a foreign land/country which is unfamiliar and odd to you.

Indirect Meaning: Strange Land as a place where even your compatriots behave in a different and peculiar way as though they are of a different nationality and have an unusual thinking, but at the same time a new place of living do not affect them (an Englishwoman married an Italian, moved to Turkey where they bought a hotel, and after her husband’s death adopted his illegitimate sons without thinking of it as of something bad and wrong; but at the same time she managed to live in a new country without its having touched her).

Themes

True love has no borders (an English woman married an Italian, moved to Turkey where she later adopted his two illegitimate sons), misunderstanding between compatriots (Signora Niccolini’s decision to marry an Italian was not greeted by her English relatives and compatriots, because they looked at foreigners as on those who were almost imbecile), and is it possible to change your thinking and the manner of living after spending many years in a foreign country ( though Signora Niccolini spent  30 years in Turkey she remained a pattern of decorum. The foreign country didn’t affect her.  She remained the precise, prim English woman, knowing her place, through all the vicissitudes because she had no faculty of surprise).

Summary

While travelling in Minor Asia (Turkey) a vacationer stays at a hotel where he meets Signore Niccolini - an extraordinary English woman. She tells him the story of her life. She was a house-keeper in service in a noble English family, and her husband Signor Niccolini was a chef. When they saved a certain amount of money they were married, retired from service, and bought a hotel in Turkey (at which the main character stays). Her husband died fifteen years ago and she never returned to England. It was strange for the main character that Signora Niccolini could have lived in Turkey for 30 years without its having touched her. But what surprised him most, is the fact that she had two adopted illegitimate sons of her husband and didn’t consider that as something wrong, telling the vacationer that her husband was a full-blooded man.

Main idea

I think that this story implies rather interesting example of how a person can be the very image of his/her country (Signora Niccolini was a strict, modest and prim Englishwoman) and at the same time behave rather unusually and contradict his/her views and opinions (though Signora Niccolini considered foreigners to be imbecile she married an Italian and moved to Turkey with him. Moreover, she adopted her husband’s two illegitimate sons and didn’t consider that as something wrong, proudly telling the vacationer that her husband was a full-blooded man).

Character sketch

The main characters of this short story are the vacationer and Signora Niccolini. As for Signora Niccolini (she is described directly by the author), she was an Englishwoman and served in a house of a noble English family where she met her future husband who served there as a chef. When they saved a certain amount of money they were married, retired from service, and bought a hotel in Turkey (they left England because her family didn’t like the idea of marrying a foreigner (Signor Niccolini was an Italian). Her husband died after living fifteen years in Turkey and she had to manage the hotel on her own. Moreover, it was extraordinary that she could have lived for 30 years in a foreign country without its having touched her (she remained a pattern of decorum: the precise, prim English woman, knowing her place, through all the vicissitudes because she had no faculty of surprise. She took everything that came as a matter of course. She looked upon everyone who wasn’t English as a foreigner and therefore as someone, almost imbecile, for whom allowances must be made. She ruled her staff despotically, and everything about the hotel was clean and neat. Moreover, just because she didn’t have her own children she had adopted two illegitimate sons of her husband and didn’t consider that as something wrong (she told the vacationer with a mixture of pride, primness, and satisfaction that her husband was a full-blooded man).

My impression

I like this story; I think it stimulates your thinking. Moreover, at the same time, I find it rather amusing and entertaining. A strict, modest and prim Englishwoman married a foreigner (an Italian) though she considered foreigners to be imbecile. Moreover, she adopted her husband’s two illegitimate sons (for she didn’t have her own children) and didn’t consider that as something wrong, proudly telling the vacationer that her husband was a full-blooded man. All in all, as W. S. Maugham said “The novel may stimulate you to think. It may satisfy your aesthetic sense. It may arouse your moral emotions. But if it does not entertain you it is a bad novel. It is merely laziness that induces people to go to novels for instruction on subjects that are the province of experts. There is no short road to knowledge and you will only waste your time if you seek it in a work of fiction”.

Rendering №12

The article published on the website of the newspaper “The Los Angeles Times” on November 30, 2012 is headlined “U.S. seeks to protect 66 kinds of coral”. The article reports at length that the federal government on Friday proposed protecting 66 kinds of corals under the Endangered Species Act, an acknowledgment that these reef-building animals are suffering so many insults they are threatened with extinction. Speaking of this situation it is necessary to note that the proposal, which covers corals in the Pacific and the Caribbean, lists 19 ways that corals are under assault. The government was prodded into action by the Center for Biological Diversity.

It’s an open secret that the world's oceans contain more than 700 species of stony corals, small animals that live in colonies and form elaborate and colorful structures with exoskeletons that resemble everything from the folds of a human brain to the horns of elk or deer. So, it is necessary to point out that a third of these reef-building corals are listed as threatened with extinction by the World Conservation Union, an international consortium of scientists. The Center for Biological Diversity used this international list to push for U.S. protection of those in American waters.

Analyzing this situation it is necessary to emphasize that the fisheries service also proposed to reclassify staghorn and elkhorn corals from "threatened" to the more severe category of "endangered. About 98% of staghorn and 90% to 95% of elkhorn coral have disappeared since 1980. In resolute terms the author of the article makes it clear that these corals have become overgrown by seaweed when too many algae-eating fish are removed from the reefs. They have suffered from disease and suffocation when bathed in nutrient-rich sewage and farm runoff, particularly in South Florida.

Giving appraisal of the situation it’s necessary to point out that corals have been hit by periodic "bleaching" events, which is a sort of heatstroke, when waters get too hot. It's a result of rising global temperatures because of the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — mostly from burning fossil fuels. Besides, there is every reason to believe that the oceans have absorbed about a quarter of the C02 accumulated since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, setting off a chemical reaction that makes seawater increasingly acidic. So, there are signs that this situation poses another long-term threat to corals, which rely on alkaline seawater to provide them building materials to form their exoskeletons.

The article draws a conclusion that Federal scientists cited ocean acidification as one of the most serious threats to corals surviving to the end of the century. It was revealed that the worst threats, according to federal rankings, were hot water causing bleaching and the spread of disease. Farther down the list were more localized problems from overfishing, nutrient pollution, the discharge of sediments and toxic chemicals from the land, and destructive fishing practices.

As for me, I think that nowadays we should care not only about money and ourselves but also about our nature and the environment. We need to protect our world and it’s up to us to defend nature, and ensure its continuing existence and future recovery. Humans can’t survive alone on this planet. We depend on every living thing for the lives we so selfishly lead, and it is our duty to protect it since we've decided it's our right to do whatever we want. The only thing I can say is SAVE THE CORALS. SAVE THE ANIMALS. SAVE THE OCEANS. SAVE YOUR EARTH, YOUR HOME. We are nothing on our own.