One English mathematician was fond of joking

При подготовке к игре перед учащимися ставятся задачи:

• ознакомиться с биографией писателя;
• хорошо ориентироваться в главах I, IV, V, VI, VII произведения;
• подготовить проекты (желательно, чтобы проекты демонстрировали необычность персонажей, своеобразную логику и язык произведения) и их защиту;
• подготовить короткие сценки из произведения.

Вопросы задаются устно по очереди всем командам (сначала первый, потом второй и так далее).

Баллы за каждый вопрос и конкурс, а также и ответы приведены в скобках.

Письменные задания выполняются экспертами каждой команды (2-3 человека) за отдельными столами.

ХОД ИГРЫ.

We have met here to talk about a very original man and his wonderful book. Don’t laugh as I didn’t want to parody or imitate Lewis Carroll saying ‘wonderful’ about the book “Alice in Wonderland”: this book is wonderful not only because there are a lot of wonders in it. It is wonderful because it is full of nonsense and logic, original characters and parodies.

We called our game “One English mathematician was fond of joking”, so be ready to answer language and mathematical questions connected with Lewis Carroll and his book. I will do my best to excite your curiosity. Even though the English say, “Curiosity killed the cat”, without it the human has still been a small group of apes.

Fist let me introduce our Grand Jury.

Now we can begin. I hope you’ll like this beginning as ‘well begun is half done’.

Team 1. (20 points: The Introduction of “Alice in Wonderland”).

Thanks a lot and let’s warm up: answer the 1^st part of our questions (questions 1 – 4).

I want some experts of each team to take their seats at the tables and do task 1.

Our Grand Jury is reading out the results (questions 1 – 4).

I think you are ready to learn some information about the characters of the book, and team 1 is going to give it.

Team 1. (20 points: Project “Such Extravagant Characters”).

Now let’s get down to our questions (questions 5 – 7).

And our experts are working with tasks 2, 3.

Our Grand Jury is reading out the results (questions 1 – 7 and task 1).

Now let’s ask team 2 to demonstrate their performance full of logic.

Team 2. (20 points: Scene “Alice and the Caterpillar”).

And our experts are working with task 4, connected with this performance.

Our Grand Jury is reading out the results (questions 1 – 7 and tasks 1 – 3).

And to continue with logic and mathematics let’s listen to team 2 presenting their project.

Team 2. (20 points: Project “Nonsense mixed with Logic”).

Our Grand Jury is reading out the results (questions 1 – 7 and tasks 1 – 4).

And at last team 3 with their performance. Their scene was chosen to demonstrate the beauty of the English language through some nonsense.

Team 3. (20 points: Scene “A Mad Tea-Party. The Dormouse’s Story”).

And our experts are working with task 5, connected with this performance.

For desert let’s listen to team 3 presenting their very interesting and original project.

Team 3. (20 points: Project “He was not only a Mathematician”).

That’s all, and we want to know the result of our game. Can our Grand Jury read out the grand total including the marks in the performances and projects and call the winners?

Thank you.

Let’s congratulate our winners!

Team 1.

1. What is the real name of the writer? (Full – 3 points: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson).
2. Do you know the names of Alice’s sisters? (2 points: Lorena (Lorie) and Edith).
3. What is the 2^nd book about Alice? (1 point: “Through the Looking-Glass”).
4. One of the characters of the book is from the writer’s birthplace. What character is it? (2 points: The Cheshire Cat).
5. What countries did Alice hope to visit when she was falling down the hole? (1 point: Australia and New Zealand).
6. Whose tiny house did Alice go in? (2 points: The Rabbit’s).
7. What could the Cheshire Cat do? (2 points: He could grin/smile and vanish/disappear).

Team 2.

1. How did Charles Lutwidge Dodgson turn into Lewis Carroll? (3 points: He translated his name into Latin - Carolus Ludovicus and turned the result into Lewis Carroll).
2. Do you know the name of the writer’s friend who was in the boat on that famous day when Lewis Carroll began the story? (2 points: Duckworth).
3. What college did Charles Lutwidge Dodgson work at? (1 point: Christ Church College).
4. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson went to two schools. One of them was in a famous city. What city is it? (2 points: Rugby).
5. Why couldn’t Alice get to Australia and New Zealand when she was falling down the hole? (1 point: Air doesn’t let).
6. Why didn’t Alice first like never to grow up? (2 points: She didn’t like always to have lessons).
7. Answering Alice’s question about people, the Cheshire Cat described one person. Who was that person? (2 points: the Hatter).

Team 3.

1. Alice is the main character of the book. Call five more characters. (Five – 3 points. Four – 2 points. Three – 1 point).
2. Who was the prototype of Dodo? (2 points: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson).
3. What university did Charles Lutwidge Dodgson finish? (1 point: Oxford).
4. What hobby did he have? (2 points: Photography).
5. What was the 1^st character from Wonderland that Alice saw? (1 point: The Rabbit).
6. Why couldn’t Alice go out of the Rabbit’s house? (2 points: She became/got/grew/was too big).
7. What did the Cheshire Cat tell Alice about the Hatter and the March Hare? (2 points: He told Alice they were mad).

- Well, after such a fall I shall think nothing of tumbling down stairs. I wouldn’t say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house. (Which was very likely true).

- I wonder how many miles I’ve fallen by this time. I must be somewhere near the centre of the earth. That’s four thousand miles down.

Why was it ‘very likely true’? (3 points: She could die after falling off the top…).

How long is a mile? (2 points: 6370km/4000=1.609km).

Whom was Alice talking to? (1 point: To herself).

- It was much pleasanter at home when one wasn’t growing larger or smaller.

- When I grow up, I’ll write a book – but I’m grown up now, at least there’s no room to grow up any more here. But then shall I never get any older than I’m now? That’ll be a comfort – never to be an old woman – but then always to have lessons to learn! Oh, I shouldn’t like that! Foolish Alice! How can you learn lessons in here? There’s hardly room for you, and no room at all for any lesson-books!

Where is the grammar mistake? (1 point: ‘pleasanter’).

Why wasn’t Alice going to write a book if she was grown up then? (3 points: Here ‘to be grown up’ means ‘to be taller’).

Whom was Alice talking to? (1 point: To herself).

- Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?

- That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.

- I don’t much care where.

- Then it doesn’t matter which way you walk.

- To begin with a dog’s not mad.

- I suppose so.

- Well then, you see a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.

What is an equivalent of ‘a good deal’? (2 points: ‘a lot’; ‘much’).

Why has one of the parts got no logic? (2 points: Cats and dogs are different).

Whom was Alice talking to? (1 point: To the Cheshire Cat).

- Explain yourself.

- I cannot explain myself… I’m not myself, you see.

- I don’t see…

- Well I should like to be a little larger… three inches is such a wretched height to be.

- It’s a very good height indeed!

How can you express ‘a little larger’ in other words? (2 points: ‘a little taller’).

How many millimetres in height was Alice? (3 points: 3X25.4mm=76.2mm).

Whom was Alice talking to? (1 point: To the Caterpillar).

- You should say what you mean.

- I do. At least I mean what I say – that’s the same thing.

- Not the same thing a bit. You might just as well say that ‘I see what I eat’ is the same thing as ‘ I eat what I see!’

- You might just as well say that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like!’

- You might just as well say that ‘I breathe when I sleep’ is the same thing as ‘I sleep when I breathe!’

What is an equivalent of ‘a bit’? (2 points: ‘a little’).

Which example of ‘the same thing’ is the most unreal if we think about the Dormouse? (3 points: ‘I see what I eat…’).

Whom was Alice talking to besides the Dormouse? (1 points: To the Hatter and the March Hare).

- Take some more tea.

- I’ve had nothing yet. So I can’t take more.

- You mean you can’t take less. It’s very easy to take more than nothing.

What is an equivalent of ‘some more tea’ with the word ‘cup’? (3 points: ‘another cup of tea’; ‘one more cup of tea’).

How can you change ‘some more tea’ if you want the next phrase to be ‘Thank you’? (3 points: ‘some tea’; ‘a cup of tea’).

Whom was Alice talking to? (3 points: To the Hatter and the March Hare).