Задание 8 ЕГЭ по английскому языку

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Presenter: Hello, everybody, and welcome to our weekly program, 'The Writer's Workshop'. Today in our studio, we have Eric James, a famous Washington Post reporter and writer. Hello, Eric.

Eric: Good afternoon. Thank you for inviting me here today.

Presenter: Could you please tell us a little about yourself and your achievements?

Eric: Sure. As the Washington Post reporter, I've covered several presidential campaigns and chronicled some presidents' lives inside the White House. I won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. I then gave up writing about politics and became a sports writer. For the Post, too. I've won multiple awards for news and feature writing. And I'm co-founder of a program that pairs professional journalists with low-income high school juniors and seniors to help them become great writers.

Presenter: How do you start writing an article?

Eric: When I write, I always want to know exactly how a story will end. I find that I write toward that ending, like a destination on a map, and if I don't know the ending of a story, I get lost along the way.

Presenter: What is your next step then?

Eric: I also try to define who's the main character in the story right from the start — somebody active, whose efforts are going to drive a lot of action. I also try to define a pair of opposing characters. There must be a pair of characters with a lot of tension between them, as this tension will help to move the story forward.

Presenter: Your physical descriptions are outstanding. How do you manage to create them so vividly?

Eric: I think all narrative stories rise and fall on small, observed details. The goal with these stories is to make readers feel like they are in the same room with the characters, and it is the details that make people feel real. I spend a lot of time with the subjects of my stories to get the details right. I might not notice something on the first day, or the third or the fifth, but maybe I will notice it the second or third week. Some of those hours are quiet, and there is nothing to do but look around and pay attention to the details that bring scenes to life.

Presenter: How do you feel about critical remarks about your work?

Eric: Any negative opinion is, after all, just a reaction to your work, emotional, intellectual or otherwise, which is pretty great. The worst thing that can happen to a writer is that readers welcome his or her work with indifference. As writers, I think we should aim at eliciting intense, memorable reactions on our readers, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. The nature of those reactions is, to a great extent, beyond my control, and therefore none of my business.

Presenter: What is it like being a writer?

Eric: Writing requires a great deal of patience, determination, and the weird desire to project a world of your own making. Writing also requires a particular and pleasurable kind of solitude that can veer quickly into loneliness. So, you can see how the writing is, in some ways, self-medication. When I've spent too much time alone, writing can pull me out of that. And when I've had enough of being around people, I know it's time to go back to the writing desk. I'm a recent father, though, so this last year has really put that creative theory to the test in the best way possible. My time isn't my own anymore, not the way it once was. So I'm getting better at doing a little bit here and a little bit there and seeing where it all lands at the end of the week.

Presenter: Thank you very much, Eric. It has been very interesting talking to you.

Eric: Thank you.