Занятие 6
Задания А8 – А14
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Вы услышите интервью с иммигрантом из Кении. В заданиях А8 – А14обведите цифру 1, 2 или 3, соответствующую номеру выбранного вами варианта ответа. Вы услышите запись дважды.
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A8 The life of the speaker’s family was difficult because
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his father didn’t have stable money for his work.
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they suffered from unemployment.
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they didn’t have any financial support from the state.
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A9 An obvious advantage of the house the speaker lived in was that it
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had a modern water supply system.
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had a design suitable for hot climate.
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was close to the railway station.
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A10 The speaker went to school which
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was designed by a famous English architect.
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had a reputation for its good educational quality.
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was opened by the Duke of Gloucester.
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A11 The Duke’s visit to school gave the speaker a chance to
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see a different side of the school authorities.
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show himself in a good light.
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shake hands with a British aristocrat.
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A12 The fact that very little was taught at school about their native country
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extremely puzzled all the students.
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made students wish things were different.
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was hardly questioned by students.
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A13 The speaker remembers that when he was a child
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there were delicious things he could only dream of trying.
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his parents made him eat different kinds of fruit.
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he was exceptional in his attitude to luxury things.
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A14 The speaker’s mother was often furious with him for
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behaving badly at school.
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going wild at home.
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spending much time outdoors.
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Now we are ready to start.
Can you tell me where you were born and about your family?
I was born in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1934. I was one of eight children. My mother didn't go to work, she was a housewife, but my father was a tailor, a master tailor. He used to make clothes privately for people. And it was a very, very hard time for him to support us financially. The size of the family probably made it doubly hard and the allowances for children were very small. They didn’t really help. I think it was made even harder because my father was self-employed and he worked from home. I don’t think this gave him any financial stability, as there were days when there were no clients. We just had to live from hand to mouth from day to day. Yes, I think those were very hard times for my parents.
What was this area like where your house and workshop were?
The area had lots of terraced houses. They were very simple. Our house had a veranda in front, two rooms, and a veranda at the back. This was because of the
tropical weather. They gave some sort of shade. The primitive kitchen was located in a courtyard. No electricity, no gas, and there was only a pipe for water which was a communal one. Everyone used to bring water in buckets into the house. The area was residential. It was about say an hour’s walking distance to the railway station. And schools were quite far away from there.
Where did you go to school?
Well, it was one of the well-known British Government Primary Schools with a team of qualified and experienced teachers. It later changed to the Duke of Gloucester School just because the Duke of Gloucester happened to go there as a visitor one day. The school was a very nice place and beautifully designed too. All by English architects here in Kenya, and most of the materials were shipped from England. I was very happy there overall. And I think I got a very good standard of education there as well. I remember well the day when the Duke came to school. When I think back about that, it makes me laugh. In my opinion, some officials just wanted to make themselves look important. Everybody wanted to shake the Duke’s hand. Maybe I’m being cynical, but on reflection, I don’t think the officials really behaved very nicely. Their behaviour was very false, I think. They just wanted to show themselves in a good light.
When you were at school, I mean did you learn much about Britain and about London?
Yes. I did learn about the history of Great Britain. Very little was taught to us about Kenya itself. I also learned about the history of the world. Things like that, but very little of my own culture or history. You might wonder if that puzzled us, but I can honestly say that at that time we were not bothered about it. I honestly think that we just got on with whatever we were told to do. I never realized that things could or should have been any different.
What was life at home like at this time?
Life was quite difficult. There wasn't much money coming in and we were very much restricted in food. There was plenty of cheap fruit available, like bananas and oranges. But sometimes we wished we could afford things like ham or cheese, but it never became an obsession. We just thought it would be nice to have some luxury things. I think that would be the normal reaction of any child. I don’t think we were exceptional in that.
Were your friends mainly from school?
Oh yes, yes. They were mostly from school. As soon as we came home we used to go out and play until mother got very angry and called us in. I loved that time after school when we were free just to do whatever we wanted. School rules were quite strict, you know, and we had to behave well and sit still a lot. So it was great just to be wild for a bit.
