Пословица не даром молвится. Пособие для учителей английского языка

A rolling stone gathers no moss.

All's well that ends well.

Unit 3

Тask 1. Read and translate the meaning of the proverbs using the vocabulary.

Explanatory notes:

1. A watched pot never boils (or: a watched pot is long in boiling): time hangs heavy on one's hands during the period of waiting or expectation.

Example: I said to myself, "A watched pot never boils"; if I don't look for her she will come. (J. Galsworthy)

2. Better late than never: it is better to arrive late than never to arrive at all, or be late in the performance of something necessary or advisable rather than never do it.

3. Don't cross the bridges before you come to them (or: don't cross the bridge till you get to it): do not trouble yourself about future problems and difficulties, but wait till they have to be faced.

Example: "You know I get desperately frightened, sometimes," said Aileen. "Father might be watching us, you know. I've often wondered what I'd do if he caught us.

"You certainly couldn't," said Cowper wood, "but you might as well not cross that bridge until you come to it," he continued. (Th. Dreiser)

4. Every cloud has a silver lining: nothing is wholly dark or full of unmixed sorrow or gloom; there is some good in every evil; a misfortune may turn into a benefit.

Example: "O, society!" said Kate, "society, in the sense you mean, and I have only a bowing acquaintance. Every cloud has a silver lining; and that is one advantage of being insignificant, ? that you're not in much terror of Mrs.

5. Half a loaf is better than no bread: if it is impossible to have (receive, gain) exactly what one wants, it is better to have a substitute, however poor it may be, than nothing at all.

Example: We must live somehow, and half a loaf is better than no bread. (Ch. Kingsley)

6. In for a penny, in for a pound: as soon as one has entered into the engagement, one must go through with it at all costs.

Example: "She has not been here since Monday?"

"I believe not."

"Then you have been there?"

"Yes."

"What day?"

He hesitates. Shall he make a clean breast of it? Yes: in for a penny, in for a pound.

"I've been there five days," replies he slowly, and looking down. (R. Broughton)

Task 2. Complete the following proverbs.

1) Every cloud .........................

2) ........................ than never.