Exercise 8. Practice the pronunciation of the following proper names.

↑

⇐ ПредыдущаяСтр 25 из 40Следующая ⇒

Exercise 8. Practice the pronunciation of the following proper names.

Hector Hugh Munro ['hektə 'hjuː 'mʌnrəu] Saki ['sɑːkɪ]

Cyril ['sɪrɪl] Bertha ['bɜːθə]

Exercise 9. Read the text.

The Story-Teller

(after H.H. Munro)

Hector Hugh Munro (1870–1916) began his literary career as a political satirist for an English newspaper. During the years 1902–1908 he was a correspondent in Russia and in Paris.

His first collection of short stories was published under the pseudonym of “Saki” in 1904 and was followed by other books. But he is best known for his ironic short stories.

There were three children in a compartment of a railway carriage one hot afternoon: a small girl and a smaller girl and a small boy, together with their aunt. The aunt occupied one corner of the compartment seat. The opposite corner seat was occupied by a man, who was a stranger to the party. The conversation between the aunt and the children was quite monotonous. “Don’t” was the word which the aunt repeated over and over again, and everything the children said began with “Why?”

“Don’t, Cyril, don’t,” said the aunt, as the small boy began jumping on his seat.

The smaller girl began to recite a poem. She only knew the beginning, but she repeated it over and over again.

“Don’t, my child, don’t say that again,” said the aunt at last. “Come over here and listen to a story.”

The children did not show much interest but they sat down on the aunt’s side of the compartment. She did not seem to have a good reputation as a story-teller.

She began a most uninteresting story about a little girl who was good, and made friends with everybody because of her goodness.

“You don’t seem to be a success as a story-teller,” said the stranger from his corner.

“It’s a very difficult thing to tell stories that children can both understand and like,” the aunt said coldly.

“I don’t agree with you,” said the man.

“Tell us a story,” asked the bigger of the small girls.

“Well, I’ll try. Long, long ago,” began the stranger, “there was a little girl called Bertha, who was very, very good.”

On hearing this the children began to lose interest. All stories, they thought, seemed to be the same.

“She did all that she was told, she kept her clothes clean, learned her lessons very well and was always polite.”

“Was she beautiful?” asked the bigger of the small girls.

“Not as beautiful as any of you,” said the stranger, “but she was horribly good.”

Now the children began to listen to the story with interest. The word “horrible” was something new. It made the story a little different.

“She was so good,” continued the man, “that she won several medals for goodness. She always wore them on her dress. No other child in the town where she lived had as many as she had. She had three medals and they clinked one against another as she walked.”

“Horribly good,” repeated Cyril.

“Everybody talked about her goodness, and the Prince of the country allowed her to walk in his park once a week. When Bertha entered the park she thought to herself: ‘If I were not so good I should not have been allowed to come into this beautiful park and enjoy all these wonderful things in it’, and her three medals clinked against one another as she walked.

“Just then a big wolf came into the park to see if it could catch a little pig for its supper.

“Bertha was terribly afraid of the wolf and thought to herself: ‘If I had not been so good I should have been at home at this moment...’

“The wolf was just walking away when he heard the medals clinking and stopped to listen. Then they clinked again quite near him. He jumped and caught Bertha... All that was left of her were the three medals for goodness.”

“It’s the most beautiful story,” said Cyril. But the aunt had a different opinion.

“A most improper story to tell young children!”

“Well,” said the stranger, “I kept them quiet for ten minutes, which was more than you were able to do.”

“Unhappy woman!” he said to himself as he walked down the platform of his station. “For the next six months or so those children will attack her asking for an improper story!”

READING COMPREHENSION

Познавательные статьи:



Как правильно слушать собеседника

Типичные ошибки при выполнении бросков в баскетболе

Принятие христианства на Руси и его значение

Средства массовой информации США