The new vocabulary

1)      Flip – щелкать, ударятся слегка

“My stomach flipped, and all at once, I was sure she did not feel the same way.”

Syn.: click, crack

2)      Forlorn – несчастный, заброшенный

“She hugged her arms like a forlorn child.”

Syn.: derelict, neglected

Ant.: lucky

3)      Remnant – остаток, отрезок

“…a remnant of the heat of the day”

Syn.: remainder, piece

Ant.: safety

4)      Grin – скалить зубы, ухмыляться

“I grinned.”

Syn.: smirk

Ant.: smile

5)      Sooth – оправдывать

“I swallowed, trying to sooth the sudden dryness in my throat.”

Syn.: excuse

Ant.: accuse

6)      Cautiously – осторожно

“…moving cautiously.”

Syn.: carefully

Ant.: carelessly

7)      Insurgent – восставший, мятежный; повстанец

“…which basically meant killing insurgents who were trying to kill us…”

Syn.: rebel

8)      Churn – взбалтывать

“I followed her, my stomach churning.”

Syn.: shake

9)      Mantel – камин, каминная доска

“… small statues of lighthouses above the mantel…”

Syn.: fireplace

10)   Persistence – упорство, выносливость

“I used to think it was a matter of persistence that we could help everyone, but we can’t.”

Syn.: endurance

Ant.: weakness

Argue correctly

So many men, so many minds

   Hello, dear dairy. Can you imagine how many people in the world read “Dear John”? They are millions. So, I decided to learn what they think about this book. Look at this message:

   “Dear John is trademark Nicholas Sparks--romantic, sappy, sad and redeeming. But the characters and plot are not particularly memorable. Recommended for those who like sappy romantic comedies (or tragedies, in Sparks' case), but not for those who like a little meat in their reading. The interactions between John and his father create a nice sub-plot and the descriptions of North Carolina were interesting to me, but that's probably just because I live in the state.

   Overall, if you need some beach reading, go ahead and borrow it. It will give you a few hours to escape, if nothing else.”

   You know I agree with this person that descriptions of North Carolina were great and very detailed and that John’s relationship with his father made the store more interesting and saturated. But I cannot agree that this book give you nothing more than a few hours to escape. The author try to explain to readers that true love exists. And that to love means making other people happy and finding your own happiness in it. True love does not tolerate selfish. If you can read a book without any difficulties it does not mean that it is the beach reading. May be, this review’s author did not understand something or the main characters’ behavior made him to doubt about this book’s value.

Savannah's letter

  

 Dear author,

   I am writing to you to tell that I am very thankful to you. You gifted to me the life. It does not matter that I can live only on your book’s pages. It is wonderful that my story can help somebody to understand some things in this life.

   But I am very sorry only about the one fact in your book. And I suppose that you know about it. I mean my relationship with John. I love him. And He is the one man in the world who could make me feel complete and happy. But you decided that Tim needed me more. I understand and respect you wise choice, but I believe only in the happy ends.

   Finally, my dear creator, I ask you to write the other book. It will be about the second part of our lives. And I beg you that I would be with John in this story. It does not matter for me how many time it will need to connect us again. I am ready to wait for this moment all my book life. And, please,  let Tim be healthy. I know that you can everything when you have a sheet of paper and your pen.

   With love,

   Savannah Lynn Curtis

I am looking at you through the glass...

   Good morning, darling! I have thought about Savannah a lot of time. I know many facts about her soul, habits and behavior, but nothing concrete about her appearance. May be, it is not so important for this story, but I can imagine how she can look. Of course, the author wrote about some Savannah’s features. Here they are:

1)      “My first thought is that Savannah seems too small to be moving so easily among horses.”

2)      “Right over there!” the brunette shouted.

3)      “She still had the slight gap between her front teeth that I had always loved.”

       So, these phrases make me think that Savannah would look like Elena Temnikova.

    Do you agree with me, dear dairy?

http://vkontakte.ru/search?section=audio&c[q]=Stone%20Sour

   What if I will remake the end of this story? My end is predictable, but happier.

   I believe that Savannah should have waited for John and married him. Only with this man she would be happy.  And Tim, her friend-husband, knew it very well. I understand that Tim was in very horrible situation, but Savannah saved her friend and broke the whole life of her lover at the same time. Her destiny was broken too. The main mistake in the life is to live your life with the wrong man. Savannah could just help Tim with his brother and his rancho. John would solve some problems with money. I suppose that Tim should stay away from this couple. It was a very egoistic step to marry Savannah. People who love each other should stay together.

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***

What I do not like about the story                                                     

1)    The end of this story. It is very generously to make others happy, but to be whole life with empty eyes is not a deal.

2)    There are a lot of people with various diseases in the story.

3)    Information about the army takes a lot of pages. I am a girl!

        What I like about the story

1)       I like the main idea. Perhaps, we should understand that true happiness is in the happiness of our special people.  I think it is a debatable question.

2)      This story makes me think about the mail people’s values.

3)      The language is clear enough.  

4)      I have learned what about boys are thinking in some situations.                                            

Reflection

   Every book is a reflection of the definite time and culture. If you do not believe me just look though the pages more attentively.

   From my book I have learned some interesting facts about the USA. The main hero is a military man, but this does not prevent his communication with Savannah. They exchange E-mails without any problems. John says that the army is pretty good at setting up computers, even in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately, I am not sure that we can say the same about our Russian army.

   There is a lot of information not only about the army, but also about the mode of life. For example, food. The characters of the story mention about cheeseburger a lot of times. Of course, they are real Americans! “How about a big, juicy cheeseburger?”  And also John’s father cooks carrot loaf every weekend. On the pages of “Dear John” you can find detailed descriptions of houses, furniture and nature. They help pictures in your head to grow up.

   It is curious that Savannah’s family has a very nice tradition to write letters to those people who they care a lot about. That is what they do on just every holiday. “We tell them what they mean to us and how much we look forward to the time when we will get to see them again.” It is a great pleasure to receive letters from dear and close people. I hope that someday it will be my tradition too.

What does true love really mean?

   Good evening, sweetie. I have finished reading of my book. And I have lost in me thoughts. I did not expect such an end as “Dear John” had. I thought that the main characters would be together forever and ever, but John and Savannah tried to make other people happy. Maybe this is real happiness…

   Savannah married her friend Tim. He lost parents in the car crash. Also he had an elder brother who was autistic. And the latest thing is that Tim had melanoma. The girl took care about everything. I think that Savannah was very kind person and she just wanted to help him. She could not refuse Tim, because there were a lot of horrible things in his life. Did she really love him? No, of course, not. The love of her whole life was John.

  And what do you think, my dear? John sold dad’s coin collection and made an anonymous donation.

………“Now Tim was technically in remission. It did not guarantee that he would live to an old age, but it did guarantee him a fighting chance, and that’s all I wanted for both of them. I wanted them to be happy. I wanted her to be happy…”…………….

Black on the black

   The time to say good bye came. John returned to his duty.  Savannah came back to her usual life. But the lovers did not forget each others. “I will call you as much as I can, and I will write you when I cannot, and I will get another leave next year. Wherever you are, that is where I will go.” There were a lot of gentle and wonderful letters.”

   After several months John went to Lenoir (his native town) and spent with Savannah two unforgettable weekends. And then went away again. And, unfortunately, it was their last meeting when their lips could come into contact.

   Savannah’s letters became very rare. And in her last letter John read: “Please, believe me when I say that I did not mean to fall in love with someone else. If I do not really understand how it happened, how can you? I do not expect you to, but because of all we have been through, I just cannot continue lying to you…Even though you may not want to hear it, and I want you to know that you will always be a part of me.”

   It was a terrible time for John. He became the consummate soldier, escaping into the only world that still seemed real for him. And the other disaster did not make wait for – John’s father passed away. And only the coin collection and old photo were the memory of him.

Understand and forgive

   Savannah and John spent a wonderful week together and they did not have quarrels at all. Except one day…

   The girl had gifted her boy something special, but John’s jaw tightened after that. He stared at her as if seeing her for the first time. The reason of his strange behavior was, of course, the gift. It was a book – more like a textbook, actually – about autism and Asperger’s. Savannah wanted John read it because of his father and way they get along. “I know I am only a student, but I spent a lot of my lab hours working with children who have Asperger’s… I have seen it up close, and I have also had the chance to a meet a number of the adults my professor had interviewed. Your father is very similar to a couple of them.”

   John was shocked not because Savannah had called his father retarded. He could not understand how she could communicate with his father the ordinary way and did not show her emotions. “You were sitting there with him, pretending to be interested in his coins, but in reality you were evaluating him like some monkey in a cage.”

   That conversation was awful for the both sides. Savannah just wanted to help, nothing more. But people hear only what they want to hear.

-          Thank you.

-          For what?

-          For the book. I think understand me dad a little better now. We had a good time last night.

The first kiss

Sweet dreams

   Hello, darling! I have some news for you! Do you remember the main characters of my book?

   So…They met and fell in love with each other. Their story started very interesting. John saved Savannah’s bag from the sea. He did it just because he wanted to help. The heroes continued to communicate and spent more time together. Savannah learned some fact about John’s life: he is a military man, his passion is a surfboard and his father collects coins. And what is about Savannah? She was the ideal girl for John… “I found myself wondering if Savannah was too good to be true”.

   Oh, my God. I was really jealous reading the moment when John says to the girl about his feelings.

From the text:

-          I’d never be able to say it to anyone. I love you.

-          It scared me a little.

-          You do not have to say it back to me. That’s not why I said it…

-          I know. You do not understand. I was not scared because you told me. I got scared because I wanted to say it, too: I love you, John.

 It was very curious for me what boys think about when they are kissing girls. Oh, dear, you would never guess. “And when her lips met mine, I knew that I could live to be a hundred and visit every country in the world, but nothing would ever compare to that single moment when I first kissed the girl of my dream and knew that my love would last forever.” Yes, I know that it sounds like a sweet fairytale, but it is so magical. I want the same in my life some day.

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