The American tourist in England

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THE BEE

bee[biː] пчела

Belgium['belʤəm] Бельгия

artist['ɑːtɪst] художник, живописец; synonym painter blacksmith['blæksmɪθ] кузнец

trade[treɪd] занятие, ремесло

brush[brʌʃ] something offсмахивать

he could not help smilingон не мог сдержать улыбку

There was once a great artist in Belgium who said that his daughter should never marry anyone but an artist. But she loved a blacksmith and the blacksmith was in love with her. When she told him that her father did not allow her to marry anyone but an artist, he left his trade and studied hard in order to become a painter. He was certainly a man of great talent, as in short time he became a good painter.

One day the young painter went to the artist’s studio and, finding that the artist was not at home, decided to wait for him. Nobody had seen him come into the studio. He looked round at the pictures. At last he took a brush and painted a bee on the leg of one of the figures and then stood aside to look at it. Suddenly he heard somebody open the door. He quickly put the brush down and turned to the door. The artist was not yet in the room and did not see his visitor put the brush in its place. When he came in he at once saw the bee on the leg of one of his figures: he thought that it was a real bee and tried to brush it off. When the young painter saw this he could not help smiling. The artist smiled too when he saw his mistake and said that it was a wonderful little painting. The young man told him the whole story and soon after that the young painter and the artist’s daughter got married.

Questions:

1. Who did the great artist want his daughter to marry?

2. Who did she love?

3. What did the young man do when she told him that her father did not allow her to marry anyone but an artist?

4. Did anybody see the young man come into the studio?

5. What did he paint on the leg of one of the figures?

6. Why did the artist try to brush the bee off?

7. What did the artist say when he saw his mistake?

8. What happened soon after that?

ON A RAINY DAY

umbrella[ʌm'brelə] зонтик

take the umbrellas to the umbrella-maker['meɪkə] сдать зонтики в ремонт

The weather was bad yesterday. It began to rain early in the morning. We had five umbrellas at home, but when I wanted to take one, I saw they were all broken. I decided to take all the five umbrellas to the umbrella-maker. So I took them there and said, “I’ll be back for my umbrellas on my way in the evening”.

In the afternoon I went to have lunch. I entered the café, sat down at the table and began to eat. After a few minutes a young lady came in and sat down at the table. I finished my lunch, got up and took her umbrella by mistake. But she said, “This isn’t your umbrella. It’s mine”. I saw my mistake and said, “Oh, excuse me, it’s yours, of course. I’m very sorry”. “That’s all right”, she answered laughing.

In the evening I went to the umbrella-maker and took all five umbrellas. Then I bought a newspaper and got on a bus. The young lady was on that bus, too. She looked at my five umbrellas and said, “Not a bad day for you, eh?”

Questions:

1. What was the weather like yesterday?

2. How many umbrellas did the narrator’s family have at home?

3. What was wrong with them?

4. Where did he decide to take them?

5. Where did he go in the afternoon?

6. Why did the narrator take the lady’s umbrella?

7. What did the lady say to the narrator on the bus?

8. What did she think about the five umbrellas?

A FORGETFUL TOURIST

forgetful[fə'getful] забывчивый

be at a loss[lɔs] растеряться

An English tourist came to Paris. It was his first visit there. On the same day he sent a telegram to his wife who was in London. In the telegram he told her the address of the hotel where he was going to stay. He also told her that he was quite well.

As he was in Paris for the first time, he was very eager to see the places of interest. After dinner he went for a walk and then decided to go to the theatre to see a new play. It was very late when the play was over. It was time to go home.

But at that moment he realized that he couldn’t get to the hotel: he didn’t remember either the name of the hotel or the address. The Englishman was at a loss because he didn’t know what to do. Suddenly he remembered sending that morning a telegram to his wife. So, late at night his wife got a very strange telegram: “Please send me my address at once.”

Questions:

1. It was the Englishman’s first visit to Paris, wasn’t it?

2. What did he tell his wife in the telegram?

3. Where did he go after dinner?

4. Was it early or late when the play was over?

5. What did he realize at that moment?

6. What telegram did his wife get late at night?

AT A BORDER STATION

border['bɔːdə] stationпограничная станция

book a seatкупить билет

daily['deɪlɪ] ежедневно

to run to the schedule['ʃedjuːl] идти по расписанию (о поезде)

abroad[ə'brɔːd] за границей, за границу

fill inзаполнять

customs['kʌstəmz] officialтаможенный инспектор

pay duty['djuːtɪ] платить пошлину

One man was going to France on a business trip. He went to the booking- office to book a seat for the train to Paris. There were trains daily and the man booked a seat for the morning train.

The next morning the man arrived at the station and got into a train. Soon the train started off. It ran to the schedule and some hours later stopped at a French border station.

The man together with the other passengers, who were going abroad, went out as he had to register his ticket and passport. Then he filled in a declaration and gave it to the customs official.

Some minutes later the customs official allowed the passengers to take their seats in the train and said that he would inspect their luggage.

The man went into his compartment, opened his suitcases, took many boxes of cigarettes out of them and wanted to put all of them into his pockets. But there were too many boxes. When all his pockets were full of cigarette boxes, he turned to another passenger who was sitting at the window in the same compartment.

“Will you please take some of these boxes and put them into your pockets?” he asked.

“Why don’t you leave them in your suitcases?” “Because I don’t want to pay duty on them.”

“All right,” said the passenger at the window, “give them to me. But I must tell you that I shall not return them to you.”

“Why?”

“Because I am a French customs official.”

Questions:

1. Why was the man going to France?

2. The man booked a seat for the evening train, didn’t he?

3. Why did the man go out together with the other passengers?

4. What did he do in the compartment?

5. What did he ask the other passenger who was sitting at the window?

6. Why did the man refuse to return the boxes of cigarettes to him?

TWO MICE

mice[maɪs] мн.ч. от mouse[maus] мышь

field[fiːld] поле hole[həul] нора stone[stəun] камень

come and see somebodyприйти к кому-либо в гости

hide[haɪd] (hid, hidden) прятаться

be in fear[fɪə] ofбояться

Once there were two mice, who were friends. One mouse lived in a town, the other mouse lived in the country. One day the Country Mouse invited the City Mouse to his house in the country. He took his friend to his house in a field and gave him the best food that he could find.

The City Mouse said: “This food is not good, and your house is not good. It is too cold in winter and too hot in summer. Come to live in the city. Why live in a hole in the field? You can live in a nice house made of stone and eat nice food. You must come and see me at my house in the city.”

So the Country Mouse went to the house of the City Mouse. It was a very good house and nice food was ready for them to eat there. But just as they were beginning to eat they heard a noise. The City Mouse cried: “Run! Run! The Cat is coming.” They ran as quickly as they could and hid in a hole.

After some time they came out. Then the Country Mouse said: “It is a fine house, but I do not like living in the city. I prefer to live in my hole in the field. For it is nicer to be poor and happy than to be rich but in fear of one’s enemies.”

Questions:

1. Where did the two mice live?

2. What did the Country Mouse give his friend when he invited him to his house in the country?

3. Did the City Mouse like the Country Mouse’s food and house?

4. What was the City Mouse’s house like?

5. What did the City Mouse cry?

6. Why didn’t the Country Mouse like living in the city?

THE WOODMAN AND THE FAIRY

woodman['wudmən] дровосек; synonym woodcutter['wudˌkʌtə]

axe[æks] топор

hunger['hʌŋgə] голод

bank[bæŋk] берег (реки) fairy['f𝖼ərɪ] фея, волшебница earn[ɜːn] зарабатывать

hold[həuld] (held) держать

common['kɔmən] простой, обыкновенный

iron['aɪən] железный wooden['wudən] деревянный handle['hændl] рукоятка reward[rɪ'wɔːd] награда

One day a poor woodcutter was cutting down a tree near a big river.

Suddenly his axe slipped from his hand and fell into the deep water.

“Oh!” he said to himself. “What shall I do now? I have no money to buy a new axe. My poor wife and children! We shall all die of hunger.”

He sat on the bank of the river and was feeling very sad when all at once a lovely bright fairy appeared and said: “Why are you so sad? What is the matter?”

“I have lost my axe”, he said. “It fell into the deep water and now I shall not be able to earn money for my wife and children.” The man was so sad that he did not even look at the fairy and did not see that she had a gold axe in her hands.

“Is this your axe?” asked the fairy, showing him the axe she was holding. “No”, said the woodman.

The fairy disappeared but came back after a few minutes with another axe.

It was a silver axe. She showed it to him and asked: “Is this yours?” “No”, again answered the woodcutter.

Then she showed him a common iron axe with a wooden handle.

“Yes, that’s mine”, said the happy woodcutter. “I knew that it was yours”, said the fairy. “I only wanted to know if you would tell me the truth. I see you are an honest man. As a reward I will give you the gold axe, the silver axe and the iron one.”

In this way the poor woodcutter became a rich man.

Questions:

1. What happened to the woodcutter’s axe?

2. What did he say to himself?

3. Who appeared all at once?

4. What did the fairy say?

5. What did the fairy have in her hands?

6. The woodcutter said that the gold axe was his, didn’t he?

7. Did he say that the silver axe was his?

8. Did he say that the common iron axe was his?

9. What did the fairy want to know?

10. Why did she give him the gold axe, the silver axe and the iron one?

AN ARAB IN THE DESERT

desert['dezət] пустыня camel['kæməl] верблюд lame[leɪm] хромой tooth[tuːθ] зуб

carry['kærɪ] нести, везти cargo['kɑːgəu] груз honey['hʌnɪ] мед

corn[kɔːn] зерно

deceive[dɪ'siːv] обманывать

take holdхватать, схватить

jewel['ʤuːəl] драгоценный камень

carefully['k𝖼əfulɪ] внимательно track[træk] след, отпечаток light[laɪt] легкий

space[speɪs] место

ant[ænt] муравей

pull[pul] тянуть, тащить

drop[drɔp] капля

An Arab was walking alone through the desert when he met two men. “Have you lost one of your camels?” he asked them.

“Yes”, they said.

“Was he blind in the right eye and lame in the left foot?” asked the Arab. “Yes, he was.”

“Had he lost a tooth and was he carrying a cargo of honey and corn?” “Yes”, said the men. “Please tell us where he is.”

“I don’t know where he is”, said the Arab. “I have never seen such an animal nor have I talked with anyone about him.”

The two men looked at each other with surprise. They thought that the Arab was deceiving them. Finally they came up to him, took hold of him, and said: “Where is the camel? And what have you done with the jewels which were in the cargo?”

The Arab said that he had never seen the camel. The men took him before a police officer.

“I have never seen their camel”, said the Arab to the officer. “I am a simple man, I have learned to look carefully at everything in the desert. This morning I saw tracks of a camel that was lost. I knew it was lost because there were no human tracks there. I also knew that the camel was blind in the right eye because the grass on that side was not eaten. The animal was lame because one track was much lighter than the other. He had lost a tooth, because where he ate the grass there was always a small space left untouched. I also found some ants which were pulling pieces of corn near the tracks. And flies were eating drops of honey along the way. From all these facts I was able to tell what cargo the camel was carrying.”

Questions:

1. What questions did the Arab ask the two men?

2. Why couldn’t the Arab tell the men where the camel was?

3. What did the men think?

4. Where did they take the Arab?

5. What had the Arab learnt to do?

6. How did he know that the camel was lost?

7. How did he know that the camel was blind in the right eye?

8. How did he know that the camel was lame?

9. How did he know that the camel had lost a tooth?

10. How did he know what cargo the camel was carrying?

hire['haɪə] нанимать

guide[gaɪd] гид, экскурсовод

How long did it take to build this house?Как долго строили этот дом?

put upстроить, воздвигать (здание)

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