This is a vocabulary assignment for a lesson on Mona Simpson, Bonus 10 for EFL students at OnlinEnglish: http://www.eto-onlinenglish.com/p/e-courses.html

1. Look up and translate the A dismaying feeling
following words and An equation
expressions: To devour
A namesake Do you feel cheated?
To give up a child for People are up and gone
adoption with the book
To set out to do smth A book bares re-reading
To captivate Sleep depravation
To have a hard time To be sensory deprived
Ten years in-the-making A cocoon

2.  She found out before she was born that her parents
___________ their first child for adoption. That child
___________ to be Steve Jobs.
 So this book ended up differently than you __________
to create.
 I had a hard time ___________ exactly how to set it.
 When you think that “The Great Gatsby” was written
in 6 weeks it’s a ___________ feeling.
 You know that’s an interesting thing…the equation in
how long ___________ a creator to create something
and a devourer to ________ something.

3.  Do you feel _______ that people are up and gone with
your book in so much less time than it took you to
create it?
 You want to make a book, if at all possible, that would
____ _________.
 I think it is true. I think the language that you hear as a
young child is so _________ to you.
 It’s such a dilated moment in your life and … you’re
both ________ and … I don’t know, you’re sensory
deprived, you’re sleep deprived.

4.  Why does the host say that Mona Simpson “has stories to
tell?” What does it mean when people say “she has stories to
tell.”
 Mona Simpson says that all books end up “being the way
they want to be.” What does she mean by that?
 What book are they talking about and how did Ms. Simpson
start writing it? What captivated her?
 What did Steve refer to when in conversation he said, “ten
years in-the-making?” What did he mean?
 What does Steve mean when he talks about the “equation?”
 What did you find out about Mona’s idea of bringing up
children and its impact on mothers?
 How does Steve describe the word “dilated?”

5.  She found out before she was born that her parents _had given up_ their first
child for adoption. That child _turns out_ to be Steve Jobs.
 So this book ended up differently than you _set out_ to create.
 I had a hard time _figuring out_ exactly how to set it.
 When you think that “The Great Gatsby” was written in 6 weeks it’s a
_dismaying_ feeling.
 You know that’s an interesting thing…the equation in how long _it takes_ a
creator to create something and a devourer to _devour_ something.
 Do you feel _cheated_ that people are up and gone with your book in so much
less time than it took you to create it?
 You want to make a book, if at all possible, that would _bare re-reading_.
 I think it is true. I think the language that you hear as a young child is so
_vivid_ to you.
 It’s such a dilated moment in your life and … you’re both _enclosed_ and … I
don’t know, you’re sensory deprived, you’re sleep deprived.