Lesson 6 Blackmail Arthur Hailey

1. Lesson 6 Blackmail Arthur Hailey

2. Objectives of Teaching • get familiar with the background of the author and this piece of writing • understand the main idea and theme of this text • master the key words and phrases and their use • learn and appreciate the writing style of this passage.

3. Important and Difficult Points • understand the main idea of this passage • learn to use the key words and phrases • learn and appreciate the writing style

4. Background information---the author born and educated in Britain. 1939, RAF（皇家空军）, emigrated to Canada 1949. Famous novels: Hotel 《大饭店》 Airport《航空港》 The moneychanger《钱商》 Arthur Hailey 阿瑟·黑利 （1920-2004） • This piece is taken from Hotel

5. Type of writing • Fiction/novel, to be specific, a thriller, designed to hold the interest by the use of a high degree of intriguey（阴谋）, adventure or suspense.

6. Detailed Study of the Text 1.The chief house officer, Ogilvie, who had declared he would … took twice that time: Paraphrase the sentence. The chief house officer, Ogilvie, gave the Croydons a mysterious telephone call telling them he would pay them a visit an hour later, but actually he appeared at their suite two hours later.

7. Detailed Study of the Text 2. the Duke: (in Britain) a nobleman, whose rank is just below that of a prince. Below the duke are the marquis, earl, viscount and baron. 3. the Duchess: wife or widown of a duke, or a woman with a rank equal to that of a duke 4. the nerves of both the Duke and Duchess were excessively frayed: The nerves of both the Duke and Duchess were worn out by the long wait, were over-strained. Both the Duke and Duchess were extremely nervous.

8. Detailed Study of the Text 5. the muted buzzer: muted to render the noise of the bell less harsh and strident 6. she had dispatched her maid on an invented errand: They sent her out to get her out of the way; the ‘errand’ being just an excuse, a trip which was not necessary. Obviously the talk between Ogilvie and the Croydons had to be kept a secret. 7. the moon-faced male secretary: The use of male before secretary is to avoid possibility of the reader’s assuming otherwise, for commonly in the U.S. secretaryship is the female profession.

9. Detailed Study of the Text 8. cruelly instructed: “cruel” because they knew the secretary was terrified of dogs. They could easily have found some other errand for him. 9. to exercise the Bedlington terriers: to walk the dogs to take the dogs out and give them some exercise. The Bedlington terrier is a breed of blue or liver-coloured, wooly-coated, active, typically small dogs. The terriers are a status symbol showing that the Duchess id no ordinary dog owner. And the fact that they can keep dogs in a hotel suite proves they are very important people.

10. Detailed Study of the Text 10. Her own tension was not lessened …: Ogilvie had telephoned to say that he would be at the suite in an hour. The Duchess made arrangement for the maid and the secretary to be away when he called. But he was an hour late, and the maid and the secretary might return at any moment. The Duchess knew this and it made her nervous.

11. Detailed Study of the Text 11. A wave of cigar smoke accompanied Ogilvie in: to smoke a cigar in the presence of a lady without ask for permission is impolite and being familiar. He comes into the room smoking his cigar. Ogilvie is a coarse, vulgar, and uneducated fellow and because he thinks he has the Croydons under his thumb he doesn’t give a damn to what they may think or feel. The Duchess ‘looked pointedly’, that is, directly and sharply at the cigar, trying to intimidate hem with her superior social position. 12. Would you kindly put that out.: a period instead of a question mark, indicating it is said in a falling tone, meant to be a command, not a polite request.

12. Detailed Study of the Text 13. piggy eyes: small, narrow eyes lost in the mass of flesh. Ogilvie is one of the ‘bad guys’ in this novel. He has piggy eyes, a gross jowled face, an obese body, speaks in falsetto, is vulgar, unscrupulous, ill-mannered, to the point of throwing his cigar on the carpet. Some examples with the word pig: Don’t be a pig. (Don’t be greedy.) He is a pig. (He is a dirty, greedy or ill-mannered person) I’ve made a pig of myself. (I’ve eaten too much.) 14. surveyed her sardonically: He looked her up and down scornfully because he had evidence of their crime up his sleeve and felt sure that in a moment he would be able to humble her and bring her to her knees.

13. Detailed Study of the Text 15. to sweep the spacious, will-appointed room: His glance passes swiftly over the big, excellently furnished and arranged room. 16. who faced them uncertainly: Besides having a weak character, the Duke is over fond of liquor and other men’s wives, and so is submissive to the Duchess, herself a woman of strong character, a known public figure and cousin of the queen. After the road accident, it was the Duchess who masterminded the cover-up and the Duke wasn’t quite sure of what to say to Ogilvie or what to do, he was afraid of messing things up.

14. Detailed Study of the Text 17. an appreciative chuckle: mainly self appreciative. When a hotel employee goes to a guest’s room, usually he goes there on business and no familiarity is allowed. But here Ogilvie was enjoying the fact that he could afford to do whatever he liked. He loved being in a position of temporary supremacy. Also he appreciated the fact that the Duchess was no fool. She knew why he had come. He lowered the level of his incongruous falsetto voice: He had an unnaturally high-pitched voice. When he spoke now, he lowered the pitch. incongruous: This falsetto voice sounded funny coming from a thickset man like Ogilvie.

15. Detailed Study of the Text 18. a warning glance: The Duke had made a blunder the night before by mentioning the car in front of the hotel’s assistant general manager when his wife was trying hard to establish something of an alibi. Now the wife was warning him not to blunder again. 19. it pays to check: to be profitable or worthwhile to check. Other examples: It pays to think before you speak. It’ll pay to keep a diary in English.

16. Detailed Study of the Text 20. surprising speed: surprising because you wouldn’t expect a fat man like him to move quickly 21. “You two was in that hit-‘n-run”: You two are guilty of that hit-and-run accident. Hit-and-run is usually used to describe a driver who flees from the scene of an accident in which he is involved. 22. your high-an’-mightiness: High-and-mighty: very proud, (the correct way to address a Duke or a Duchess is “Your Grace”).Ogilvie addressed her this way in imitation of “Your highness”, to mock her haughty attitude. 23. high-tailed it: (colloquial) leave in a hurry, scurry off

17. Detailed Study of the Text 24. they’ll throw the book, and never mind who it hits: They’ll deal out the maximum in punishment, to apply the full force of the law and they will not care who will be punished in this case. To throw the book is an idiom, in which the word book means the law book. It refers to the book. Here Ogilvie follows the metaphor through. 25. The Duchess of croydon—three centuries and a half of inbred arrogance behind her—did not yield easily: The Duchess was supported by her arrogance coming from parents of noble families who belonged to the nobility for more than three hundred years. So she did not give in easily.

18. Detailed Study of the Text 26. she faced the grossness of the house detective squarely: She stood up boldly and rebuked the coarse vulgarity of the house detective. 27. Lindy’s Place: a gambling joint, a gambling nightclub, a casino 28. Irish Bayou: bayou [¹beiu:] a French, word, a marsh. New Orleans was colonized by the French, so a lot of places there have French names. 29. fancy Jaguar:Fancy here means expensive and superior model (car). 30. You were into a second hundred—with a real swinging party: You were beginning to spend another hundred dollars of your own (the hundred won in gambling had already been spent) to treat a merry and lively party.

19. Detailed Study of the Text 31. There ain’t much, out of the way, which people who stay in this hotel do, I don’t get to hear about: If anybody who stays in this hotel does anything wrong, improper or unusual, I always get to know about it. There isn’t much that can escape me. out of the way: improper, wrong, unusual 32. lickered up: liquored up, drunk Compare: liquor: an alcoholic drink, esp. one made by distillation, as whiskey or rum (neat whiskey) wine: mainly grape wine (sweet or dry wine) soft drinks: non-alcoholic, like soda pop chaser: a mild drink, taken with or after liquor be as good as one’s word /break one’s word /a man of his word in so many words

20. Detailed Study of the Text 33. On a hunch I went over to the garage: As I suspected and felt there was something wrong, I went over to the garage to inspect. hunch: a feeling about something not based on the known facts: premonition or suspicion. The meaning derives from the superstition that it brings good luck to touch a hunch-back. I have a hunch that…: I rather think that… 34. Providin’ nobody twigs the car: It should be: Provided (or providing) that nobody notices the car. twig: (from thieves’ slang) observe, notice 35. You people are hot: You are now wanted by the police.

21. Detailed Study of the Text 36. kept firm, tight rein on her racing mind: She kept firm and tight control of her mind which is working quickly. Here the Duchess is thinking quickly but at he same time keeping her thoughts under control, not letting them run wild. 37. as if the discussion were of some minor domestic matter and not survival itself: as if the discussion were about some unimportant domestic matter, not concerned with life and death. 38. her husband now a tense but passive spectator: Nominative absolute construction with a noun plus a noun. Her husband watched anxiously and nervously, incapable of taking an active part. 39. calculated coolness: She was not cool, in fact, her mind was racing, but she deliberately appeared to be cool.

22. Detailed Study of the Text 40. to fall victim to some sharp-eyed policeman: to be seen and arrested by an observant and alert policeman 41. adept at using maps: skilled in using maps 42. their speech and manner would betray them: Their speech and manner would reveal their identity. betray: reveal unknowingly, or against one’s wishes Examples: He said he had stayed indoors all day, but his hoes betrayed him. His face betrayed his fear. 43. pretty well fixed: quite rich, wealthy fixed: (colloquial) supplied with something needed, esp. money, e.g. well fixed for life

23. Detailed Study of the Text 44. She must do so in such a way as to place the outcome beyond any doubt: She would offer him so much money as to make it impossible for him to refuse to do what she would ask him to in return, no matter how dangerous the job might be. 45. eyes bulged: with greed 46. watched intently: The to Duchess, it was a question of survival itself. Only if Ogilvie agreed to drive their car north would they have a chance to get out of the mess unscathed. 47. “This cigar bother in’ you, Duchess?”: If this cigar is bothering you, I’ll put it out. This shows that he is willing to comply with the Duchess’ wishes.

24. Organization of the story • Part 1. Prelude (The chief house officer ...Ogilvie remained standing) • Section 1. The setting, main characters, and the suspension. (The chief house ...that both might return at any moment.) • Section 2. The preliminary encounter between the house detective and the Croydons. (A wave of cigar smoke...Ogilvie remained standing)

25. Organization of the story Part2: Process of unveiling the crime(Now then...the Duchess turned away） • Section 1. First round of clash. the Duke confessed his crime（Now then...Now we're getting somewhere). • Section 2. Second round of clash.(Wearily, in a gesture...I can prove all I need to ) • Section 3. The conviction was undeniable.(The Duke cautioned...the Duchess turned away ).

26. Organization of the story • Part 3. The Dirty Deal • Section 1. Eliminating the possibility of having the car repaired in New Orleans. ( Her husband asked...You people are hot). • Section 2. The interior monologue of the Duchess. Her judgement, analysis and calculation of the situation, weighing the advantages and disadvantages. (The duchess ...Or had they? ) • Section 3. The Duchess' decision to gamble on the greed of the house detective.(The Duchess faced Ogilvie... the silence hung ) • Section 4. The ending. The dirty deal reached.

27. Character analysis Ogilvie (notice that the name itself sounds awkward, awful): rude, uneducated, sardonic, self-assured, shamelessly greedy, but finally subservient the Duchess: imperious, three centuries and a half of inbred arrogance, decisive, vigilant, very quick in response, highly educated the Duke: uncertain, ready to compromise, passive, despairing,

28. Rhetorical devices Metaphor: ...the nerves of both ... were excessively frayed… his wife shot him a swift, warning glance. The words spat forth with sudden savagery. I’ll spell it out. Euphemism: ...and you took a lady friend. Metonymy: won 100 at the tables lost it at the bar they'll throw the book,...

29. Questions for discussion • 1. What made the Duchess jump to the conclusion that Ogilvie had come to blackmail them? • 2. Why did the Duchess offer Ogilvie twenty-five thousand dollars instead of the ten thousand the detective asked for? Did Ogilvie accept the Duchess’ offer?