A FEW EXERCICES FOR THE STUDY OF
JAMES THURBER 'S
PEACELIKE MONGOOSE
In cobra country a mongoose was
born one day who didn't want to fight cobras or anything else. The
word spread from mongoose to mongoose that there was a mongoose who
didn't want to fight cobras. If he didn't want to fight anything
else, it was his own business, bur it was the duty of every mongoose
to kill cobras or be killed by cobras.
"Why?" asked the peacelike
mongoose, and the word went round that the strange new mongoose was
not only pro-cobra and anti-mongoose bur intellectually curious and
against the ideals and tradition of mongoosism.
-He is crazy, cried the young
mongoose's father.
-He is sick, said his mother.
-He is a coward, shouted his
brothers.
-He is a mongoosexual, whispered
his sisters.
Strangers who had never, laid eyes
on the peacelike mongoose remembered that they had seen him crawling
on his stomach, or trying on cobra hoods or plotting the violent
overthrow of Mongoodia.
-l am trying to use reason and
intelligence, said the strange new mongoose.
-Reason is six-sevenths of treason,
said one of his neighbours.
-Intelligence is what the enemy
uses, said another.
Finally the rumour spread that the
mongoose had venom in his sting, like a cobra, and he was tried,
convicted by a show of paws, and condemned to
banishment.
MORAL: Ashes to ashes, and clay to
clay, if the enemy doesn't get you , your own folks may.
James THURBER.
A.
J’explique le vocabulaire nouveau : Techniques
Appliquées à The Peacelike Mongoose
( je dois penser à les utiliser pour
les autres textes ! )
1. L’utilisation d ‘ un contraire :
ex : The mongoose is supposed to be a coward :
he ‘s
.....................................................................................
2. L’utilisation d ‘ un mot - valise :
ex : His sisters said he
was......................................................................
composition
=.....................+............................................
3. L’utilisation d’un synonyme :
ex : It is the duty of every mongoose to kill
cobras...............................
4. L’utilisation de termes américains
:
ex : This new mongoose is said to be ill
.................................................
5. L’utilisation d’une courte , mais explicite
définition :
ex : shout
means..........................................................................................
6. L’utilisation de la langue française à
partir d’un mot anglais :
Utile pour l’exercice de traduction à
l’oral
ex : plot
signifie..........................................................................................
7. L’utilisation d’un champ lexical :
ex : convict , condemn appartiennent au vocabulaire de
.........................
8. L’utilisation d’expressions synonymes
:
ex : Strangers who had never seen her
.......................................................
9. L’utilisation d’expressions familières
:
ex : C’était ses oignons
................................................................................
10 . Une ou deux autres techniques :
........................................................................................
...................................................................................................
...................................................................................................................
B.
Repérage lexical : The Vocabulary of
Justice
- Find the words corresponding to the following
definitions :
1. To force to leave a country or place by official decree;
exile
=………………………...
2. To find or prove someone guilty of an offense or crime,
especially by the verdict of a court =
………………………………………………………………………………….
3. To pronounce judgment against
=……………………………………………………...
4. A vote with the help of hands
=………………………………………………………..
5. To examine by judicial process. To put an accused person
on trial =………………...
BY
WORD
OF MOUTH : The Vocabulary of Rumours
- Find the expressions about the world of rumours
:
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
C. 
This text is a .............................. :
* characters are
...................................
* they ................................
* we can find a moral at the
....................................
* it is meant to reflect the foolishness of people
( lack of ..................................... here
)
This text also includes elements
of the .................................... :
* it ........................................ with " one
day... "
* the place is an...........................................
setting
* it aims at showing the
........................................ of
people
