Exercise 5. Fill in the gaps using one of the following words or phrases in the correct form.

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Exercise 5. Fill in the gaps using one of the following words or phrases in the correct form.

drive / last / fetch / lovely / a little bit / celebrate

1. He

2. The weather was

_ his birthday yesterday.

_ and sunny.

3. When we went out it was                 cold.

4. We said goodbye and                  away.

5. He                _ a glass of water from the kitchen.

6. The film                   a long time.

Exercise 6. Translate the following phrases into Russian. Use them in sentences of your own.

a humorous story, to have a special celebration of, to decorate something with flowers, to hire a car, to take somebody for a drive, to be able to do something, there is no room for, it is a pity to do something, to care for fishing, to catch a lot of fish, to catch cold, among the hills

Exercise 8. Read the text.

How We Kept Mother’s Day

(after Stephen Leacock)

Stephen Leacock (1869–1944) was a very popular Canadian humorist and economist.

He was born in England but his parents with eleven children moved to Canada when Stephen was six years old. In spite of financial difficulties he graduated¹ from the University of Toronto in 1891 and received a Ph.D.² from the University of Chicago. In 1903 he became a professor of economics at McGill University and worked there till he retired³ in 1936.

Although S. Leacock was the author of many works on history and political economy, he is world-known for his “Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town”⁴ and other humorous short stories.

I think it’s a very good idea to celebrate once a year Mother’s Day. So we decided to have a special celebration of Mother’s Day. We thought it a fine idea.

We decided to make it a great day, a holiday for all the family and a happy day for our Mother. Father decided to take a holiday from his office, my sister Anne and I stayed home from college classes, and Mary and my brother Will stayed home from High School⁵.

Our plan was to make the day just like any big holiday. So we decided to decorate the house with flowers. We asked Mother to arrange the decorations because she always does it on holidays. The two girls wanted to dress in their very best for such a big occasion, and so they both got new hats. Mother trimmed both the hats and they looked fine. Father had bought new ties for himself and us boys. We wanted to buy a new hat for Mother too, but she said she liked her old grey hat better than a new one, and both the girls said that it was awfully becoming her⁶.

Well, after breakfast we decided to hire a car and take Mother for a beautiful drive away into the country. Mother is hardly ever able to go to the country because she is busy in the house nearly all the time.

But on the very morning of the day we changed the plan a little bit. Father decided to take mother fishing. It turned out that he had just got a new rod⁷ the day before and he said that Mother could use it too.

Well, when the car came to the door, we saw that there was no room in it for us all. Father said he could stay at home and work in the garden though he hadn’t had a real holiday for three years. Of course we didn’t want to let Father stay at home. Then the two girls Anne and Mary said that they could stay at home and help the maid to cook. Only it was such a pity to stay at home on such a fine day. As to us boys, we couldn’t cook.

So in the end it was decided that Mother would stay home and just have a lovely restful day round the house, and get the dinner. It turned out anyway⁸ that Mother didn’t care for fishing, and also it was just a little bit cold and fresh out of doors, though it was lovely and sunny, and Father was afraid that Mother might catch cold if she came. So we said goodbye to Mother and drove away.

Well, we had a very happy day up among the hills. Father caught a lot of fish. Will and I fished too but were not so lucky. The two girls met a lot of people that they knew. So we all had a good time.

It was quite late when we came back, about seven o’clock in the evening. Mother had kept the dinner ready and hot for us. The dinner was like on New Year’s Day. Mother had to get up many times during the meal fetching things back and forward⁹.

The dinner lasted a long time, and it was great fun¹⁰. When it was over all of us wanted to help Mother to wash the dishes. But Mother said that she could do it herself, and so we let her because we wanted to please her.

It was quite late when it was all over, and when we all kissed Mother before we went to bed she said it had been the most wonderful day in her life, and I think there were tears in her eyes. So we all felt awfully repaid for all that we had done.¹¹

NOTES

1. graduate['grædjueɪt]

2. PhD[ˌpiːeɪʧ'diː]

3. until he retired[rɪ'taɪəd]

4. “Sunshine Sketches['skeʧɪz] of a Little Town

5. High[haɪ] School

6. it was awfully['ɔːfəlɪ] becoming her

7. rod[rɔd] (fishing rod)

8. it turned[tɜːnd] out anyway['enɪweɪ]

9. back and forward['fɔːwəd]

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