complished."

To the utter astonishment of all three — and especially Swain — "Trees Dressed in White" was accepted for the Lathrop show.

Fortunately, the painting was hung in an inconspicuous place where it could not excite any noticeable comment. Young Swain

sneaked into the Gallery one afternoon and blushed to the top of his ears when he saw "Trees Dressed in White", a loud, raucous

splash on the wall. As two giggling students stopped bfefore the strange anomaly Swain fled in terror. He could not bear to hear what

they had to say.

During the course of the exhibition the old man kept on taking his lessons, seldom mentioning his entry in the exhibit. He was

unusually cheerful.

Two days before the close of the exhibition a special messenger brought a long official-looking envelope to Mister Ellsworth

while Swain, Koppel and thу doctor were in the room. "Read it to me," requested the old man. "My eyes are tired from painting."

"It gives the Lathrop Gallery pleasure to announce that the First Landscape Prize of $1,000 has been awarded to Collis

P.Ellsworth ^fgr his painting, "Trees Dressed in White"."

Swain and Koppel uttered a series of inarticulate gurgles. Doctor Caswell, exercising his professional self-control with a supreme

effort, said: "Congratulations, Mister Ellsworth. Fine, fine ... See, see ... Of course, I didn't expect such great news. But , but — well,

now, you'll have to admit that art is much more satisfying than business."

"Art's nothing," snapped the old man. "I bought the Lathrop Gallery last month."

EXPLANATORY NOTES

1. jerkwater (Am. colloq.): small, unimportant.

2. railroad (Am.): railway. The lexical differences between the British and American English are not great in number but they are

considerable enough to make the mixture of the two variants sound strange and unnatural. A student of English should bear in mind

that different words are used for the same objects, such as can, candy, truck, mailbox, subway instead of tin, sweets, lorry, pillar-box (or

letter-box), underground.

3. Iowa ['aiaua] or ['aiawaj: a north central state of the USA. The noun is derived from the name of an Indian tribe. Quite a

number of states, towns, rivers and the like in America are named by Indian words, e. g. Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, Kansas,

Mississippi, Missouri, Michigan.

4. rot (s7.): foolish remarks or ideas.

5. bosh (si): empty talk, nonsense.

6. umph [Amf]: an inteijection expressing uncertainty or suspicion.

7. poppycock: foolish nonsense.

8. by gum (dial.): by God.

9. kinda: the spelling fixes contraction of the preposition 'of and its assimilation with the preceding noun which is a characteristic

trait of American pronunciation.

10. elfish: (becoming rare) (of people or behaviour) having the quality or habit of playing tricks on people like an elf;

mischievous.

11. colored: the American spelling is somewhat simpler than its British counterpart. The suffix -our is spelled -or.

12. the Metropolitan Museum of Art: the leading museum in America, was founded in 1870. Its collections cover a period of 5,000

years, representing the cultures of the Ancient world and Near and Far East as well as the arts of Europe and America. Among the

collections are the paintings, which include oils, pastels, water-colours, miniatures and drawings. There are over 5,000 exhibits

13. among which are the works of Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Flemish, German, French , English and American artists.

14. the Museum of Modern Art: a repository of art peculiar to the twentieth century, was opened in 1929. It has several

departments among which are the department of architecture and design, the department of painting and sculpture, the department of

photography.

15. gob (si.): a mass of smth. sticky.

16. admonish: to scold or warn gently.

ESSENTIAL VOCABULARY Vocabulary Notes

1. relieve vf 1) to lessen or remove (pain or distress), e. g. The remedy relieved his pain at once. Nothing could relieve her anxiety,

to relieve one's feelings to make oneself feel better by using strong language, shedding tears, etc., e. g. She burst out crying and that

relieved her feelings, to feel relieved (to hear or at hearing, to see or at the sight of, to know smth.), e. g. They felt relieved to hear that

he was safe. syn. ease, as to ease the pain of a wound; to ease a person's anxiety, e. g. This medicine will ease the pain quickly. 2) to take another's place on duty, as to relieve a sentry; 3) to take smth. from a person, e. g. Let me relieve you of your bag.

relief n lessening or ending of pain, anxiety, etc., as to sigh with relief; to give (to bring) relief (no relief, some relief) to smb., e. g.

The medicine brought (gave) him immediate relief. Tears brought her no relief. What a relief! syn. comfort, e. g. The news that her son

was getting well and strong brought great comfort to her.

2. art n 1) creation of beautifil things, as a work of art; art-lover; art critic; genuine art; pretence of art; graphic art; applied art;

folk art; the Fine Arts (painting, music, sculpture), e. g. I am interested in the new trends in art. 2) pi. the Humanities, e. g. History and literature are among the arts. Bachelor (Master) of Arts (a university degree); 3) skill, craft, e. g. The making of such rafts has

become a lost art.

artist n a person who practises one of the Fine Arts, esp. paintings, as a professional artist, amateur artist, e. g. Reynolds was the most prominent artist of his day.

artistic adj done with skill and good taste, as artistic skill; artistic taste; artistic person, e. g. Gainsborough was essentially an artistic person.

artificial adj 1) not natural, as artificial flowers (light, silk, etc.), e. g. Andrew Manson had to use artificial respiration to revive the baby. 2) not genuine or sincere, e. g. Her smile is so artificial that I don't trust her.

3. draw vt/i 1) to pull or cause to move from one place to another, e. g. Draw your chair nearer to the table. 2) to pull, to take out,

e. g. He put his hand in his pocket and drew out a ring. 3) to make smb. talk esp. one who is unwilling to talk, e. g. It's very difficult to draw him out. 4) to attract, e. g. The exhibition is sure to draw crowds. 5) to get; to obtain, er g. He draws his inspiration from

nature. They drew different conclusions from the same facts. 6) to make lines on paper, as to draw well; to draw in pencil; to draw a

bunch of flowers, e. g. He drew a picture of his niece. I can draw a map of the area for you, 7) to move or come towards, e. g. The

concert season is drawing to a close.

draw n something that attracts attention, e. g. The new play proved a great draw.

drawing n the art of making pictures; a picture, e. g. Turner left a vast mass of work, oil paintings, water-colours and drawings.

4. picture n 1) painting, drawing, sketch, as a picture gallery; in the foreground (background) of the picture, e. g. There is nothing of unusual interest in the subject matter of the picture. Every detail in the picture plays its part in the composition, syn. piece, as a