harm and without malice. I admit that there is in all of us a certain vein of the old original
demoniacal humour or joy in the misfortune of another which sticks to us like our original sin. It
ought not to be funny to see a man, especially a fat and pompous man, slip suddenly on a banana
skin. But it is. When a skater on the pond who is describing graceful circles and showing off before a
crowd, breaks through the ice, everybody shouts with joy. To an original savage, the cream of the
joke in such cases was found if a man who slipped broke his neck, or a man who went through the
ice never came up again. I can imagine a group of pre-historic men standing round the ice-hole
where he had disappeared and laughing till their sides split. If there had been such things as a pre-
historic newspaper, the affair would have been headed up: "Amusing Incident. Unknown Gentleman
Breaks Through Ice and Is Drowned".
But our sense of humour under the civilization has been weakened. Much of the fun of this
sort of the thing has been lost on us.
(From "Humour As I See It" by
Stephen Leacock)
b) Discuss the following questions:
1. Do you agree with Leacock that good humour must be without harm and without malice?
2. What purpose should humour serve? 3. Is Leacock right when he says that humour has been
weakened under civilization? Does he really mean it? 4. Do you agree to Leacock's opinion that
humorous Siies of life are revealed only to the few who have given thought to it? 5. Do you think
that his story "How We Kept Mother's Day" and the like may get people to understand their
imperfections and try to get rid of them? 6. Is that story true to life? 7. What do you think is the
essence of good humour?
LABORATORY EXERCISES (I)
1. Listen to the text "How We Kept Mothers Day", mark the stresses and tunes, repeat the
text following the model.
2. Make your sentences less categoric by using the given model.
3. Write a spelling-translation test. Check it with the key. Check your spelling with a
dictionary.
4. Paraphrase the sentences using the given patterns.
5. Extend the following sentences.
6. Translate the given sentences. Check your translation with the key.
7. Listen to the text "Being a Househusband" or some other text on the topic "Family
Holidays". Find the English equivalents of the given Russian phrases. Get ready to speak on the part
of the wife.
TOPIC: MEALS
TEXT A. AN ENGLISHMAN'S MEALS