Chapter II
Celtic moods
As fierce as tigers (These barking dogs do bite)
It would be very difficult to study the history of any
European country without mentioning the Celts. They dominated a vast part of
western and northern Europe during the first
millennium BC and their influence on the neighbouring people around was great,
leaving a deep mark not only in their languages but also in their customs,
religion and economy.
They have gone down in history as a nation of
fierce, blood-thirsty warriors, fond of human sacrifices and quarrelling, as
people whose only sight would make one’s
skin crawl, and who were able to make
mincemeat of anyone who dared defy them. Well..., there’s no smoke without fire certainly; it is true that they were
no angels, but if it can serve as an excuse for their behaviour, let him without sin cast the first stone.
In those times when survival depended
mostly on strength, there were not many other choices.
This may seem to be acting as the defence lawyer at a trial,
but someone has to give moral support to
these wretched Celts; after all, they are pushing
up daisies and cannot defend themselves; and all they did was move with the crowd. Comparisons are odious, but what would
we think of the Romans...? What about the Angles...?And the Saxons...? Weren’t
they cruel too...? Didn’t they devastate huge territories or kill thousands of
people too...?
To cut a long story
short, there’s no need to make such a fuss. The Celts were just like any
other people of those days. Perhaps, to be honest, we could say that they were the best of a bad bunch.
It’s all Greek to me! (Double
Dutch)
Another matter that may catch
our attention is their language. What’s
the betting you wouldn’t understand a single word in an old Celtic
language?
To start with, you would have to familiarize yourself with
the “runic characters”, a sort of...let’s call it alphabet, in which symbols
like à or 8 represented
letters. Fancy having to pronounce something like “Ùà8z÷Ìll” or
“DÖvÏ8÷>”... Should you expel the air from the
lungs with or without pressure...? Do you think that your soft palate should be
in its lowered position in order to allow an escape of air into your nasal
cavity or that it should be raised...? Should there be friction throughout the
vocal tract...? And one more question that may be worrying you: should the tip
of the tongue make a light contact with the alveolar ridge or not...?
The word rune
seems to derive from run, which in
Old English meant “secret”. The origin of the word itself can give us an idea
of the way this language was used: it was a sort of code language invented for
the purpose of secrecy. The deeds of the bravest warriors or the prophecies of
the Druids were recorded in such a way. However interesting these pieces of
writing may have been, they were never published (the printing press, as you
surely know, was invented much later). These strange symbols were normally
carved onto stones using other stones as the instrument for writing (paper and
ballpens, as you surely know too, were invented much later).
Fortunately, the Celtic language which arrived in Britain Ireland , Scotland
and the Isle of Man, whereas variations of the latter still persist in Wales and Cornwall
Therefore,
fortunately (???) the Celtic language which arrived in Britain
Make yourself at home!
The first historical reference to the Celts was made around
800 BC by the Greeks, who found a new civilization of tall, blond and blue-eyed
people in central Europe . They called
themselves Keltoi. This word evolved
into the Latin Celtae, and later into
the present Celts.
As time went by, the Celts started to move westwards and
finally reached the British coasts. We do not know exactly if that crossing of
the Channel was intended as an invasion (there is nothing unusual about
thinking that invading could be the reason) or as a “business trip” (since the
trade between the islands and the Continent increased tremendously around the 8th
century BC). Whatever the reason for coming was, they came, they liked it and
they stayed. And what’s more, they invited their friends: new Celtic waves from
the Continent kept on arriving in the island for centuries.
The Celts were cleverer than the native inhabitants. For
example, they used iron, not bronze, to make their weapons; they were very
skilful in the art of decorating warlike equipment; and they knew much about
agriculture. And they were more attractive: they were very tall, blond or red-haired, blue-eyed and well-built,
whereas the native inhabitants had dark hair, brown eyes and were rather short.
(As we can see, the idea that tall fair people are better-looking than short
dark-haired people goes back to an old, old age; and that’s simply “not fair a tall”..., oh, sorry, “not fair at all”!!!... Dark-haired individuals
also deserve a chance!. After all, beauty
is only skin deep, isn’t it?...Signed: the author, a short, dark-haired,
brown-eyed fellow in whose opinion whoever “invented” this proverb never said a truer word).
Intelligence and
beauty (...outer beauty, remember). Two reasons which were strong enough to
have the native inhabitants accept the newcomers. The Celts soon took control
of the situation and imposed their political and economic organization.
(N.B. If you keep
on reading this book, you’ll find out that the last sentence may appear at least about three or four times.
The only thing to take into consideration is that the second word, “Celts”,
should be rubbed out and that an empty line should be placed instead. Then a
new word can be introduced; for example, try with “Romans” and you will get
what happened in Britain from 43 AD until, in
round numbers, 400 AD. Don’t stop here; now write “Angles” or “Saxons” on
the line and what do you get...?: British history from 450 AD until 1066. Let’s
keep on playing this funny game. Now complete the space with “Normans
The Celts were organized into tribal groupings. Each tribe
(or clan) was headed by a chieftain who belonged to the noble classes. This
chieftain was responsible for his subjects, mostly farmers or craftsmen who had
an extra-job: warriors. It is hard to determine, nevertheless, if they devoted
more time to practising the first job or the second. They lived on hills, on which they built a fort
with high defence walls and deep ditches around it. Inside these forts, there
were small huts where they lived and workshops where they worked. There was not enough room to swing a cat,
but it didn’t matter since there’s nothing like a tightly-knit family.
One of the favourite pastimes which took place inside the
walls of these hill forts was the “Boasting Contests”. Celts loved making
parties and wetting their whistles,
especially in two cases:
1.
before a battle, to
strengthen their muscles and lift their
spirits. Please, interpret the expression lift their spirits either from the emotional or from the alcoholic
point of view; it doesn’t matter, both of them are correct (since everyone
knows that spirits are good for the spirit).
2.
after a battle, to
celebrate the victory, which was the normal thing. If for some reason the
battle was lost, they came to grief
and needed cheering up. (Then, go back to case number 1)
At those parties,
the warriors made a sort of verbal competition. One by one they
stood up and told the others
about their deeds on the battlefield and how brave they had been, killing a lot
of enemies with their swords. When one of them had finished his story, it was
another warrior’s turn and he had to try to do it better than the previous one.
Although they played this “game” without music, it is what we call to blow one’s own trumpet.
Rest in peace...(in peace?)
There are not many archaeological Celtic remains, but a
visit to the British Museum in London (also
known as the Egyptian-Mesopotamiam-Assyrian-Indian-Greek-Roman-Islamic
Museum Cheshire
There must not be much fun in having “thousands of eyes”
staring at you and “thousands of mouths” whispering and making all kinds of
remarks about you day after day, year after year. What would the Lindow man
himself think about all of this?. If he could speak, perhaps he would say
something like this: ‘Well, I never intended to achieve fame. I
just wanted to go unnoticed and be one more in the crowd. I just wished to sleep in Abraham’s bosom peacefully. Then, one day, not many years
ago, I heard a terrible noise; the earth quaked
and I saw a big thing before my eyes. Later I found out that that thing
was called “a mechanical digger” (I wonder what
the devil “mechanical” means).
Then I was taken to a big house (quite different from the hut I used to live
in, by the way). The owners of the
house must be very kind because they invite thousands of friends every day. The
problem is that they stop beside me and stand there looking at me! And I feel
embarrassed. There is only one thing that relieves me: when they took me out of
the ground, they only found half of my body, the upper half; that means that at
least they cannot watch me from head to
foot.’
Singing a different tune
The ferocity and cruelty that traditionally has been
assigned to the Celts could apply not only to their warlike activities but also
to their religious ones. The number of deities they worshipped was great: they
had gods all over the place, in the
air, in the water, in the fire, in the stones, absolutely everywhere, even in
the plants (an especially well-known holy plant was the mistletoe, which was
said to have magical powers on condition that it was cut with a druid’s gold
sickle).
The problem with having so many gods was that they had to
keep all of them satisfied; and apparently gods become happy, pleased and even
overjoyed when living beings are sacrificed in their honour. Celtic gods did not care a damn if those beings were
animals or people, but the fact that human sacrifices were offered to them has,
again, made the word cruelty be
attached to Celts. Human sacrifices! And what about animal sacrifices? The word
cruelty seemingly is appropriate only
when the victim of the sacrifice is a person, but what would an animal have to
say about all of this? What would be the opinion of, for instance, one of the
many cows which were stabbed in order to please one god or the other?...Perhaps
something like this:
‘Men say they are
superior and consider that we animals are
not fit to hold a candle to them. They have always exploited us and we have never complained. We
accepted that from the very beginning. But now..., what is this???. They do not
content themselves with taking advantage
of our work, now they want to kill us because something they call the
Supreme Being tells them to do so. And I wonder: Have we
not eyes? Have we not hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
Fed with the same food (well, not exactly), hurt with the same weapons
(absolutely true), subject to the same diseases (except cow disease, which is
exclusively ours), healed by the same means (no comment), cooled and warmed by
the same winter and summer...? If you prick us, do we not bleed?, if you tickle
us, do we not laugh?, if you poison us, do we not die?...What a wonderful
speech I have just made! It is a pity I can’t write, so it would remain in everyone’s mind for ever and ever. Anyway, I am sure someone
will write something like this in the future.’
Fortunately for the cows (and for the people too), these
ritual sacrifices came to an end
when the Celts converted to Christianity. Then the tables were turned: no more sacrifices were allowed and there
was only one god. Too much change in so little time! The conversion brought
about another important change in the social structure: the Druids, the
religious leaders in Celtic society, were not necessary and got the sack. But... who were the
Druids?
Jack of all trades (and master of none?) (As wise as an owl)
The Druids “lost their jobs” when the Christians arrived in
the Celtic world in the 5th century. Up to that moment they had
exerted a strong influence on the political and social life of the country.
That’s life..., one day you are at the top, and the next day you are at the
bottom..., today a man, tomorrow a mouse.
Until they were “dismissed”, the druids advised the
chieftains on political matters, acted as judges at trials (by the way, the
worst punishment a druid could give was to ban someone from attending a
sacrifice!), presided over the religious ceremonies, executed the victims at
the ritual sacrifices, studied astronomy and astrology, taught philosophy and
geography, were said to have magical powers (such as changing their shape at
their own will or making themselves invisible) and foretold the future, for
example, by examining the flight of birds or by looking at the entrails of
sacrificed animals (I wonder if you can foresee something nice by looking at
sticky bloody guts).
Therefore, they were political counsellors (a sort of
present-day minister), judges (surely judge and jury), priests, butchers
(sometimes also called executioners), astronomers, astrologers, teachers,
wizards and fortune-tellers. It is not surprising that when their power
diminished and society did not need them any longer, the problem of
unemployment started to be solved.
One of their main duties was to convince people that, when
one goes the way of all flesh, there
is another life; the soul passes from one body to another, death being
consequently nothing to be afraid of. This thought gave warriors courage to
fight on the battlefield without fear. This means that, if druids did not take people for a ride, perhaps...,
yes, perhaps...you..., you are a Celt!!!. Heaven
forbid!
»»»»»»»»»»
Note: It is
impossible to study the history of the Celts without mentioning the Romans or
the Anglo-Saxons, the two subsequent settlers of the British
Isles , and the fights between them and the new invaders. What we
can call the Celtic period starts about a thousand years before Christ and
finishes in 450 AD. Approximately at the middle point of this period, the
Romans invaded the islands (43 AD), their occupation lasting until c. 400 AD.
So there is a moment when the two periods, the Celtic and the Roman, overlap.
We could say that there is another overlap between the Celtic and the
Anglo-Saxon period, in this case, a shorter one. Angles and Saxons arrived in
the islands in 450 AD. The first years of their dominance were characterized by
the struggle of the Celtic tribes against the Continental invaders. Queen
Boudicca was the most representative Celtic figure during the first period,
whereas King Arthur was the Celtic hero par excellence during the second.
This book will provide the reader with a chronological
account of historical events. So, for example, Queen Boudicca’s rebellion
against the Romans will be dealt with in the following chapter (We came, we saw, we stayed) because it
took place during the Roman occupation. King Arthur, an important figure who
deserves a few pages in this book, will appear in the chapter concerning the
Anglo-Saxon period (Angleland, Saxonland,
Juteland, Vikingland) because the Celtic resistance against the new
invaders occurred after 450 AD.
»»»»»»»»»»
Celtic moods (Exercises)
1.-
As fierce as tigers / As wise as an owl
The expressions following the structure as...as... are very frequent in English. In the previous chapter,
we studied some of them, those referring to physical defects. Let’s see now
some others which make reference to animals and a quality they are associated
with. Choose the animal that you consider appropriate for the phrases below.
|
as brave as a....
|
tiger / lion / elephant
|
as brave as a lion
|
|
as busy as a...
|
bee / fly / squirrel
|
|
|
as cold as a ...
|
haddock / frog / chameleon
|
|
|
as close as an...
|
ostrich / ant / oyster
|
|
|
as cunning as a...
|
lynx / wolf / fox
|
|
|
as dead as a...
|
dodo / parrot / worm
|
|
|
as fast as a...
|
hare / lizard / hawk
|
|
|
as free as a...
|
fish / bird / cat
|
|
|
as graceful as a...
|
horse / pheasant / swan
|
|
|
as happy as a...
|
lark / sparrow / pigeon
|
|
|
as harmless as a...
|
cock / dove / camel
|
|
|
as hoarse as a...
|
jackal / crow / monkey
|
|
|
as meek as a...
|
deer / goat / lamb
|
|
|
as merry as a...
|
cricket / cockatoo /
butterfly
|
|
|
as mute as a...
|
fish / starfish / jellyfish
|
|
|
as poor as a...
|
church mouse /
fish out of water /
lion in the greengrocer’s
|
|
|
as proud as a...
|
giraffe / peacock / leopard
|
|
|
as quiet as a...
|
hedgehog / seal / mouse
|
|
|
as silly as a...
|
penguin / goose / turkey
|
|
|
as slippery as an...
|
anchovy / octopus / eel
|
|
|
as slow as a...
|
tortoise / snail / slug
|
|
|
as strong as an...
|
elephant / ox / elk
|
|
|
as timid as a...
|
rabbit / lamb / goat
|
|
|
as wet as a...
|
a trout in the river /
a seagull by the shore /
a drowned rat
|
|
2.-
These barking dogs do bite
This sentence is not the real proverb. If it were like that,
it would mean that people who lose their temper and behave in a rude and
violent way are really to be feared, because they carry out their threats and
are very harmful. But the idea of the real proverb is just the opposite:
people who behave like that are usually harmless. There are two versions of the
proverb. The words which form both of them have been mixed in the box below.
Could you make up the two proverbs we are referring to?
bite dogs bite seldom barking
|
worse bark his
than bite
his is
|
2.1.- ________________
2.2.- ________________
3.-
Make one’s skin crawl / Let him without sin cast the first stone
Examine this structure: MAKE/LET + object + infinitive
(without TO). The verbs let and make are followed by an object and a
bare infinitive (not by a to-infinitive
or an ing-form). For example:
She
made me repeat the exercise
They
made her tell the truth, and all the truth
Will
he let me go to the party tonight?
He
let us use his car for one night
But what happens when these sentences are turned into their
passive form...? Complete the sentences below:
3.1.- I was made ___________ exercise.
3.2.- She was
________and all the truth.
3.3.- Will I be _________________
tonight?
3.4.- We were _______for one
night.
4.-
Let him without sin cast the first stone
This is a sentence from the Bible. There are five more
in the list below. Which of them belong to the Holy Book?
a.- Let this cup pass from me
b.- God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb
c.- Set a beggar on horseback and he’ll ride to the devil
d.- God shapes the back for the burden
e.- An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
f.- Thou shalt not kill
g.- God helps those who help themselves
h.- Blessed the peacemakers for they shall be called the
children of God
i.- Bless you!
j.- Turn the other cheek
k.- One man´s meat is another man´s poison
l.- A rolling stone gathers no moss
5.-
Pushing up daisies
A daisy is one of the commonest kind of flowers. Do you know
many kinds of flowers? There are some more below but the letters are
disordered. Write them correctly.
5.1.- EOSR: 5.2.-
CRIHOD:
5.3.- YLLI: 5.4.-
DRENGIAA:
5.5.- FLODFAID: 5.6.-
PLUIT:
5.7.- LEOTVI: 5.8.-
AEIODDNNL:
5.9.- AIYHHNCT: 5.10.-
TRANCIOAN:
5.11.- GRETOF-EM-TON:
And talking about flowers, in the first section of this
chapter (“As fierce as tigers”), there appears a word which is connected with
them. It may mean “a group of flowers that have been tied together, for
example, in order to give them as a present”. What word is that? .........................
6.-
All they did was move with the crowd
The infinitive which appears after “was” is a bare
infinitive. A to-infinitive is also
possible, but an infinitive without to
is more frequent as in the example above. This happens when there is a clause (move with the crowd) which explains the
meaning of the verb do which appears
before it. For example:
They did just one thing. What was that thing? They moved
with the crowd
All they did was
(to) move with the crowd
Now do the same as in the
example:
6.1.- Now you’re not near. There’s only one thing I can do.
I just can dream of you.
Now that -------------_______________________________________________________
6.2.- There is something I can do for you. I can lend you
five pounds. But that’s all I can do.
All I ---------------___________________________________________________________
6.3.- This product has a function. It provides a transparent
protection finish for photographs.
What this product ---------------________________________________________________
6.4.- You need to do one thing. You should breathe fresh
air.
What you -----------_______________________________________________________
7.-
It is easy to be wise after the event
In fact, to be wise
after the event is the subject of the verb is. Let’s examine the sentence: One thing is easy. What? To be wise
after the event. Then, “to be wise after the event is easy”. That should be the
logical order in the sentence (subject + verb be + adjective). This structure mainly occurs if the subject is a
short one ( as in the well-known saying to
err is human), but if the subject is rather long, the structure with a
“preparatory subject” is preferred. So, for example, “it is not advisable to
drive a car like this”, rather than “to drive a car like this is not
advisable”; or “it is dangerous to smoke thirty cigarettes a day at your age”
rather than “to smoke thirty cigarettes a day at your age is dangerous”.
Another option is to use an ing-form
as the subject of the sentence: “smoking thirty cigarettes...”.
To sum up, there may be three ways of expressing the same
idea:
·
to-infinitive clause
+ verb be + adjective
·
ing-form clause + verb
be + adjective
·
preparatory it
+ verb be + adjective + to-infinitive clause
Use the three
patterns in the following examples:
7.1.- Make a suggestion. Important.
7.1.1.- To make a suggestion is important
7.1.2.- Making a suggestion is important
7.1.3.- It is important to make a suggestion
7.2.- Learn to drive a lorry. Difficult.
7.2.1.- _______
7.2.2.- _______________
7.2.3.- _______________
7.3.- Understand what he is trying to say. Hard.
7.3.1.- ______________
7.3.2.- _______________
7.3.3.- ______________
7.4.- Spend the weekend with all of you. Fantastic.
7.4.1.- ______________
7.4.2.- _______________
7.4.3.- _______________
Note: If we are talking
about a general activity, the ing-form
is more frequent. If it is a particular action we are talking about, then the to-infinitive is more usual:
Driving cars may be
dangerous vs. It is
dangerous to drive a car like this, since it is very old and may break down at any moment. I’d rather
not do it.
8.-
Celts loved making parties and wetting their whistles
In some cases the main verb of a sentence is followed by a to-infinitive (I want to go to the country) and in some other cases by an ing-form (I love going to the country). That depends on the verb itself. For
example, verbs such as decide, offer, or
wish belong to the first group,
whereas verbs such as avoid, deny or imagine belong to the second. In Sánchez Benedito’s Gramática Inglesa, 9ª ed. (Pearson), you
will find a complete list of both groups.
The verbs which express “likes” and “dislikes” are some of
those which are generally followed by an ing-form
(like, dislike, love, hate, enjoy, detest...) (Note: like, love and hate can
be used with an –ing-form or a to-infinitive for habitual actions, but
only the to-infinitive is used for
concrete actions. Compare: I like having/to
have a cup of tea after lunch vs. I’d
like to have a cup of tea after lunch; I
hate living/to live alone vs. I hate
to see you suffer)
Complete the sentences with a suitable word from the box and
write it in its appropriate form:
8.1.- I detest __________
at night
8.2.- She does enjoy __________ on new clothes.
8.3.- I dislike __________ you go out, but I’ll do it.
8.4.- I love __________, especially by plane. I can´t help
it!. It is so much fun!
8.5.- I hate __________ to wake up at seven every morning.
let have
drive try travel
|
9.-
Heaven forbid
Examine this sentence carefully. The verb is forbid, but what tense is
it?...Present...? Imperative...? It is not either of them; it is the
subjunctive form of the verb. The subjunctive is formed in English by some
different means; the base of the verb is one of them. This kind of sentence is
not very common; they are sometimes
called “formulaic” and are used as set expressions which cannot be
altered. Below you have more “formulas” of this sort. Complete them with the
verbs in the box.
9.1.- God __________ you all and give you all the happiness
in the world!
9.2.- God __________ the Queen!
9.3.- Long __________ the King!
9.4.- __________ that as it may, whether he is right or
wrong, I think he should not have spoken the way he did.
9.5.- God _________
that anything should happen to you!
9.6.- __________
what may, I will support you, don’t worry!
9.7.- He is
perfectly appropriate for the job. __________ it to say that he has studied at Oxford University
9.8.- He promised
not to smoke again. So __________ it
then!.
come forbid
bless be
|
be
live suffice save
|
10.-
From head to foot
A)
There are many idioms using parts of the body and
“head” is not an exception. Below you have some of them. Complete the spaces
with the words in the box. Once this is done, match the phrases and their
explanations which appear next.
10.1.- Better be the head of an ass than the
___________ of a horse
10.2.- To have a good head on one’s
__________
10.3.- To
lose one’s head
10.4.- To __________ one’s head in the sand
10.5.- To hit the __________ on the head
10.6.- To keep one’s head __________ water
10.7.- To bang/beat/ knock one’s head
against a brick/stone _______
10.8.- Like a __________ with a sore head
10.9.- To __________ one’s head into the
lion’s den/mouth
10.10.- To have one’s head in the __________
10.11.- To be head over heels in __________
with someone
10.12.- To make neither head __________ tail
of something
10.13.- To hold a __________ to somebody’s
head
bury wall tail nor
pistol above shoulders
|
a.-
To lose control; to panic and act in a confused way. It is the opposite of “to keep one’s head”.
b.- To be impossible for one to understand
something
c.- To avoid facing realities
d.- To have common sense, to act wisely. It
is the same as “to have one’s head
screwed on the right way”
e.- Not to pay attention to somebody because
one is always thinking of something different
f.- To arrive at the exact conclusion, to
state the exact reason for something
g.- It is preferable to be the best in a
group of ordinary people than to be unnoticed in a group of
outstanding people
h.- To be ill-tempered, very angry
i.- To manage to keep out of difficulties
j.- To make fruitless attempts in order to
get something which seems to be impossible
k.- To expose oneself to danger needlessly
l.- To oblige someone to do something
against their will
m.- To be very much in love with someone
B)
There is a synonym of from head to foot. Choose the words in the boxes that you consider
appropriate in order to find it.
from
|
hair
hat
top
eyes
roof
|
to
|
toe
feet
nail
shoe
cellar
|
11.-
Jack of all trades
Jack is another
word for John, but in many phrases
this word is used as a generic name for a man. Likewise, there is a generic
name for a woman. It also starts with a J, but which of the following names is
it?. Do you need a clue? If you know the nursery rhyme
Jack
and ______ went up the hill
to
fetch a pail of water,
Jack
fell down and lost his crown
and
______ came tumbling after,
it will be very easy for you
Julie Jill
Jane Joanna June
|
This feminine name you have got is also used in other
phrases along with Jack:
-
A good Jack makes a good ______
-
Every Jack shall have his ______
12.-
Jack of all trades and master of none
Below there are more expressions with the word Jack and their explanations. Match both
of them.
1.-Jack’s as good as his
master
2.- I’m all right, Jack
3.- Jack-at-a-pinch
4.- Jack-in-the-box
5.- Jack-in-the-cellar
6.- Jack-o’-the-clock
7.- Jack of both sides
8.- All work and no play
makes
Jack a dull boy
9.- Before you can say
Jack
Robinson
a.- This expression is used to
denote selfishness, self- interest and a complete disregard of the troubles
of other people
b.- The mechanical figure that
strikes the hour on a bell
c.- a person who tries to
benefit from two things which are antagonistic
d.- a toy that consists of a
box with a doll which springs out when the box lid is open
e.- all men are equal and must
have the same rights
f.- an unborn child
g.- a person who
lends a hand to someone who needs it urgently
h.- immediately, very quickly
i.- your work is important but
it is not the only thing you must concentrate on; allow some time for
relaxation too
KEY TO
THE EXERCISES
Chapter
2: Celtic Moods
1 as busy as a
bee; as cold as a frog; as close as an oyster; as cunning as a fox; as dead as a dodo; as fast as a hare; as free as a bird; as graceful as a swan; as happy as a lark; as harmless as a dove; as hoarse as a crow; as meek as a lamb; as merry as a cricket; as mute as a fish; as poor as a church- mouse; as proud as a peacock; as quiet as a mouse; as silly as a goose; as slippery as an eel; as slow as a tortoise; as strong as an ox; as timid as a rabbit; as wet as a drowned rat
2
2.1.- Barking dogs seldom
bite; 2.2.- His bark is worse than his
bite
3
3.1.- I was made to repeat the
exercise; 3.2.- She was made to tell
them the truth and all the truth;
3.3.- Will I be allowed to go
to the party tonight?; 3.4.- We were
allowed to use his car for one night
5
5.1.- rose; 5.2.- orchid;
5.3.- lily; 5.4.- gardenia; 5.5.- daffodil; 5.6.- tulip;
5.7.- violet; 5.8.-
dandelion; 5.9.- hyacinth; 5.10.- carnation; 5.11.- forget-me-not
The word which means “group of
flowers...” is bunch.
6
6.1.- Now that you’re not
near, the only thing I can do is (to) dream of you; 6.2.- All I can do for you is (to) lend you
five pounds; 6.3.- What this product does is (to) provide a transparent finish
for photographs; 6.4.- What you need is (to) breathe fresh air
7
7.2.1.- To learn to drive a
lorry is difficult / Learning to drive a lorry is difficult / It is difficult
to learn to drive a lorry; 7.2.2.- To
understand what he is trying to say is hard / Understanding what he is trying
to say is hard / It is hard to understand what he is trying to say ; 7.2.3.- To spend the weekend with all of you
will be fantastic / Spending the weekend with all of you will be fantastic / It
will be fantastic to spend the weekend with all of you
8
8.1.- driving; 8.2.- trying; 8.3.- letting; 8.4.- travelling; 8.5.- having
9 9.1.- bless; 9.2.- save;
9.3.- live; 9.4.- be; 9.5.- forbid;
9.6.- come; 9.7.- suffice; 9.8.- be
10
A) 10.1.- tail; 10.2.- shoulders; 10.3.- lose;
10.4.- bury; 10.5.- nail; 10.6.- above;
10.7.- wall; 10.8.- bear; 10.9.- place;
10.10.- clouds; 10.11.-
love; 10.12.- nor; 10.13.- pistol
10.1.- g; 10.2.- d; 10.3.- a;
10.4.- c; 10.5.- f; 10.6.- i;
10.7.- j; 10.8.- h; 10.9.- k;
10.10.- e; 10.11.- m; 10.12.-
b; 10.13.- l
B) from top to toe
11 Jill; “A good Jack makes a good Jill”; Every Jack shall have his Jill”
12 1-e;
2-a; 3-g; 4-d;
5-f; 6-b; 7-c;
8-i; 9-h
0 comentarios :
Publicar un comentario