Figaro here; Figaro, there, I tell you!

Figaro upstairs, Figaro downstairs and--oh,

my goodness me, this little Figaro can slip into my lady's chamber smart as you
like at any time whatsoever that he takes the fancy for, don't you know, he's a
cat of the world,cosmopolitan, sophisticated; he can tell when a furry friend is
the Missus' best company. For what lady in all the world could say 'no' to the
passionate yet toujours discret advances of a fine marmalade cat? (Unless it be
her eyes incontinently overflow at the slightest whiff of fur, which happened
once, as you shall hear.)
A tom, sirs, a ginger tom and proud of it. Proud of his fine, white shirtfront that
dazzles harmoniously against his orange and tangerine tessellations (oh!what a
fiery suit of lights have I); proud of his bird-entrancing eye and more than
military whiskers; proud, to a fault, some say, of his fine, musical voice.
All the windows in the square fly open when I break into impromptu song at the
spectacle of the moon above Bergamo. If the poor players in the square, the
sullen rout of ragged trash that haunts the provinces, are rewarded with a hail of
pennies when they set up their makeshift stage and start their raucous choruses,
then how much more liberally do the citizens deluge me with pails of the
freshest water, vegetables hardly spoiled and, occasionally,slippers, shoes and
boots. Do you see these fine, high, shining leather boots of mine? A young
cavalry officer made me the tribute of, first, one; then, after I celebrate his
generosity with a fresh obbligato, the moon no fuller than my heart--whoops! I
nimbly spring aside--down comes the other. Their high heels will click like
castanets when Puss takes his promenade upon the tiles, for my song recalls
flamenco, all cats have a Spanish tinge although Puss himself elegantly
lubricates his virile, muscular, native Bergamasque with French, since that is the
only language in which you can purr.
'Merrrrrrrrrrrci!'
Instanter I draw my new boots on over the natty white stockings that terminate
my hinder legs. That young man, observing with curiosity by moonlight the use
to which I put his footwear, calls out: 'Hey,Puss! Puss, there!'
'At your service, sir!'
'Up to my balcony, young Puss!'
He leans out, in his nightshirt, offering encouragement as I swing succinctly up
the façade, forepaws on a curly cherub's pate, hindpaws on a stucco wreath,
bring them up to meet your forepaws while, first paw
forward, hup! on to the stone nymph's tit; left paws down a bit, the satyr's bum
should do the trick.
Nothing to it, once you know how, rococo's no problem. Acrobatics? Born to
them; Puss can perform a back somersault whilst holding aloft a glass of vino in
his right paw and never spill a drop.
But, to my shame, the famous death-defying triple somersault en plein air, that
is, in middle air, that is, unsupported and without a safety net, I, Puss, have
never yet attempted though often I have dashingly brought off the double tour,
to the applause of all.

A. READING COMPREHENSION

1. What does the beginning line of this text remind you of?
2. The excerpt above is taken from an adaptation of a well-known
European literary fairy tale: Puss-in-Boots. There are however other
literary and cultural references in this story. Can you identify them?
3. Comment upon the style of the text. What sort of narrative is it? What
is the value of the present tense simple forms appearing in the text?
4. What does the word tom in the first line of the second paragraph stand
for?
5. How did the cat get his “fine, high, shining leather boots”?
6. Comment on the notion of “adaptation”. How faithful should an
“adaptation “ be to the text is based on?
7. Can you think of other fairy tales that have been reworked into literary
or cinematic adaptations?

B.VOCABULARY

I. Fill in the blanks with words/phrases from the text.

1.The tabby cat can easily… into her mistress’ chamber. 2. Her eyes
incontinently ….at the slightest whiff of fur. 3. He is proud … of his fine,
musical voice. 4. Puss despises the sullen … of ragged trash that haunts the
provinces. 5. A young cavalry officer made him … of the first boot. 6. Their
high heels will… like castanets when Puss prances upon the tiles. 7. He drew his
new boots over the … white stockings. 8. He can perform amazing acrobatics
without a … net. 9. Puss can do a back….. whilst holding aloft a glass of vino in
his right paw and never spill a drop. 10. He has dashingly …. the double tour.

II. POLYSEMY: SLIP Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Așteaptă un moment să mă schimb în ceva mai comfortabil. 2. Țara intră in

recesiune 3; Am alunecat pe gheață si mi-am rupt brațul. 4. I-a scapat paharul
din mână. 5) Pasul greșit al dansatorului a compromis întregul spectacol. 6. N-
am vrut să zic asta, a fost o scăpare. 7. Neatenția la volan poate avea consecințe
tragice. 8. Avem nevoie de fețe de pernă noi, acestea s-au deșirat. 9. Marta
poartă furou pe sub rochie. 10. Marinarul a desfăcut nodul frânghiei. 11. A adus
vorba despre căsătorie. 12. Sa nu lasi să-ți scape printre degete o asemenea
ocazie.

III. SYNONYMY: SPRING. Fill in the blanks using the appropriate verbs from
the list below: jump, leap, bound, bounce, vault, hop dash, dart, prance,
pronk. Make the necessary changes.

1.William … down the stairs grinning. 2. I … out into the street, still in my
pyjamas. 3. Once unleashed, the dog … toward the backyard fence. 4. The pony
…. around the paddock. 5. She… for the door, but he snatched her arm. 6.
Herds of antelope … across the open savannah. 7. The little girl… over the
puddle. 8. She… to her feet as the teacher walked into the room. 9. He… over
the fence and continued running. 10. People were forced to … to safety from the
burning building.

IV. PHRASAL VERB: BRING Fill in the blanks with the suitable
preposition/particle: about, back, down, forward, forth, in, on, off, out,
round, up.

1.A good omelette is very hard to bring…. 2. Fortunately I brought… the

poison. 3. The vote will not bring … the government. 4. After approximately
half an hour, each group was asked to bring their ideas.... 5.Why does Kate not
bring… a child? 6. She’s not keen about it, but I can bring her …. 7. I hate to
bring this … but you still owe me £50. 8. Congress brought… reforms to
prevent abuse of presidential power. 9. She brought… a revolution in
psychoanalysis. 10. Warm weather has brought…a lot of home-grown crops. 11.
The smell of the tiny church brought… every memory of my childhood. 12. The
shawl brings… the colour of your eyes.

C. GRAMMAR

I.NOUN: GENDER – a natural, not a grammatical category in English.

Give the feminine counterpart for the following set of nouns:

Deer; fox ; pig; horse; ass ; goat ; tiger; lion; peacock, wolf.
Policeman, widower, master, duke, count, lord, king, chairman, abbot,
nephew.
 II. The Order of adjectives

Consider the following examples from the text: Fine, white shirtfront/ Fine,
musical voice/ Fine, high, shining leather boots

There are rules constraining the order in which adjectives can be placed in front
of a nominal. 1. Subjective opinions are farthest from the noun. 2. General
description comes next (size, shape, age, colour), followed by origin, material
and purpose (made of/used for).
For long strings of adjectives we can use the mnemonic below:
VERY SOON A TRAIN SHOULD COME
VALUE SIZE AGE TEMPERATURE SHAPE COLOUR ORIGIN
MATERIAL NOUN
LOVELY BIG OLD WARM ROUND RED INDIAN
COTTON CUSHION

Some of the adjectives in the following letter are in the wrong order; make the
necessary corrections.

Dear Suzie,

It’s a shame you couldn’t make it to the wedding, but thank you for the lovely
dessert crystal bowls which you sent to us. The wedding was unforgettable and
everyone looked beautiful, especially the bridesmaids in their silk long cream
dresses. At the reception we had a three-course home-made delicious meal and
the best man gave an amusing nice short speech. A talented jazz black musician
played the piano in the hall, next to an old-fashioned lovely marble French
mantel. In the evening most guests arrived and the hotel provided Irish live
excellent music. Before we left, we cut the wedding white iced cake. Hope to see
you soon. Love, Amanda & Tim