handed round.

At the weekends afternoon tea is a very sociable time. Friends and visitors are often present.

Some people like to have the so-called "high tea" which is a mixture of tea and supper — for

example meat, cheese and fruit may be added to bread and butter, pastries and tea.

Dinner is the most substantial meal of the day. The usual time is about seven o'clock and all

the members of the family sit down together. The first course might be soup. Then comes the second

course: fish or meat, perhaps the traditional roast beef of old England. Then the dessert is served:

some kind of sweet. But whether a person in fact gets such a meal depends on his housekeeping

budget. Some people in the towns and nearly all country people have dinner in the middle of the day

instead of lunch. They have tea a little later, between five and six o'clock, when they might have a

light meal — an omelette, or sausages or fried fish and chips or whatever they can afford.

Then before going to bed, they may have a light snack or supper — е.g. a cup of hot milk

with a sandwich or biscuit.

The evening meal as we have said already goes under various names: tea, "high tea", dinner

or supper depending upon its size and also the social standing of those eating it.

35 the Continent (remember the capital letter and the article): the mainland of Europe, as distinct from the British Isles (the name is

used by the British)

(See: Potter S. Everyday English for Foreign Students. Lnd., 1963}

TEXT В. AT TABLE

N i с к : I say, mum, I'm terribly hungry. I haven't had a thing all day. I could do with a

snack.

M o t h e r : Why, you're just in time for dinner.

N i с к : No soup for me. I'd rather have beefsteak.

M o t h e r : Are you quite sure you wouldn't like some soup? It tastes all right.

N i c k : There is nothing like steak and chips. I'll go and wash my hands.

M o t h e r : How's the steak? I'm afraid it's underdone.

N i c k : Oh, it's done to a turn, just to my liking. I don't like meat overdone. May I have

another helping of chips?

M o t h e r : Yes, certainly. Hand me your plate, please, and help yourself to the salad.

Just to see how it tastes.

N i c k : Oh, it's delicious.

M o t h e r : Shall I put some mustard on your steak?

N i c k : No, thanks, I don't care for mustard. I'd rather take a spoonful of sauce. Pass me

the sauce, please.

M o t h e r : Here you are. Oh, isn't there a smell of something burning?

N i с к : So there is.

M o t h e r : I've left the layer-cake in the oven.

N i c k : For goodness' sake get it out quick.

M o t h e r ( coming back): Oh, Nick! How awkward of you to have spilt the sauce over

the table-cloth. Get a paper napkin from the sideboard and cover it up.

N i c k : I'm terribly sorry. I was quite upset about my favourite cake getting spoiled.

M o t h e r : Don't worry. Here it is, brown and crisp on the outside. What will you have,

tea or coffee?

N i с к : A cup of tea.

M o t h e r : Any milk? Shall I put butter on your bread?

N i c k : No, thanks. I can't see the sugar-basin.

M o t h e r : It's behind the bread-plate. Have a better look.

N i c k : I'm afraid it's the salt-cellar.

M o t h e r : So it is. In my hurry I must have left it in the dresser.

N i c k : It's all right I'll get it myself.

M o t h e r : Help yourself to the cake. There's nothing else to follow.

N i c k : I've had a delicious meal.

TEXT С. IN THE DINING-HALL

— Let's go to the dining-hall. We haven't much time left, but we'll manage it all right if you

hurry. You take a place in the queue and I'll see what we can get for dinner.

— All right. What is on the menu?

— Cabbage soup with meat, chicken soup with noodles and pea soup.

— I don't know whether I'll have any. What have they got for seconds?

— Fried fish and mashed potatoes, beefsteak, bacon and eggs.

— And for dessert?

— A lot of things. We can have stewed fruit or cranberry jelly or strawberries and cream.

— Then, I'll take cabbage soup with sour cream and... Well, and what about some starter?

We've completely forgotten about it.

— As we are in a hurry I believe we can do without it. I never thought you were a big eater.

— Neither did I. But I wouldn't mind having something substantial now.

— So we'll take one cucumber salad and one tomato salad. That'll do for the time being. I

think I can manage a bit of fish-jelly as well and then chicken soup with noodles. That'll be fine.

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY (II)36

Words

bacon n

napkin n

snack n

biscuit n

noodle soup n

sociable adj

bread-plate n

omelet (te) n

sour cream n

chips n

pastry n

starter n

cornflakes n

pepper-box (pot) n

(beef) steak n

cream n

porridge n

stewed fruit n

fruit juice n

poultry n

sugar-basin n

jelly n

pudding n

sweet n

jug n

roast beef n

table-cloth n

marmalade n

salt-cellar n

toast n

mustard-pot n

sauce-boat n

Word Combinations

to boil meat (potatoes, cabbage,

to fry bacon, eggs, potatoes,

eggs, water, milk, etc)

fish (cod, perch, pike, had

to stew fruit (vegetables, meat)

dock, trout, salmon)

crust of bread

to taste good (bad, deli-

to sit at table (having a meal)

cious, etc.)

(cf.: to sit at the table writing

to be done to a turn (over

a letter, etc.)

done, underdone)

to have (take) smth. for dinner

crisp toast

(for the first, second course,

to help oneself to smth.

or dessert)

to pass smth. to smb,

to butter one's bread (roll, etc.)

to dine in (out)

to have a snack (a bite of food)

it's to my liking

to have another helping of smth.

there's nothing like ice

to roast meat (mutton, pork,

cream (steak, etc.)

beef), fowl (chicken, duck,

there's nothing else coming

goose, turkey), potatoes

for a change

Study the meanings and use of these items of your Essential Vocabulary:

1. Food and Meal. Food is a general term for anything that people eat: bread, meat, fish,

vegetables, fruit, milk, tinned goods, sweets, etc.

е.g. Man cannot live without food. The doctor said that the patient needed good nourishing

food. Where do you buy your food?

Meal is a generalizing collective term for breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper (cf. the

Russian arch, трапеза).

е.g. How many meals a day do you have? Supper is an evening meal. I don't want any hot

meal; I think I'll do with a snack.

36 Compare Essential Vocabulary given in this lesson with the first-year vocabulary on the same topic.

2. Course is a dish served at a meal; a part of a meal served at one time.

е.g. Dinner may consist of two or more courses. What shall we take for our second course?

Soup was followed by a fish course.

3. To fry, to roast, to stew. To fry means "to cook (or be cooked) in boiling fat". We

usually fry fish, potatoes, eggs, bacon, pancakes, etc.

To roast means "to cook (or be cooked) in an oven or over an open fire." In this way we may