THE APRIL WITCH (by R. Bradbury)
Into the air, over the valleys, under the stars, above a river, a pond, a road, flew Cecy. Invisible as new spring winds, fresh as the breath of clover rising from twilight fields, she flew. She soared in doves as soft as white ermine, stopped in trees and lived in blossoms, showering away in petals when the breeze blew. She perched in a limegreen frog, cool as mint by a shining pool. She trotted in a brambly dog and barked to hear echoes from the sides of distant barns. She lived in new April grasses, in sweet clear liquids rising from the musky earth.
It's spring, thought Cecy. I'll be in every living thing in the world tonight.
Now she inhabited neat crickets on the tar-pool roads, now prickled in dew on an iron gate. Hers was an adaptably quick mind flowing unseen upon Illinois winds on this one evening of her life when she was just seventeen.
"I want to be in love," she said.
If I can’t be in love myself because I’m plain and odd, then I’ll be in love through somebody else.
Outside a farmhouse in the spring night a dark-haired girl, no more than seventeen, drew up water from a deed stone well.
Cecy fell – a green leaf – into the well, now quickened in fluttering invisible amoeba, now in a water droplet. At last within a cold cup she felt herself lifted to the girl’s warm lips. There was a soft sound of drinking.
Cecy looked out from the girl’s eyes.
“Ann, you are going to be in love!”
As if answer to this, a great roar sprang from the road, a clatter and a ring of wheels on the gravel. A tall man drove up, his smile glowing across the yard…
Vocabulary
To trot = toperch =toprickle = to get in(to)
a well - колодец
a farm - ферма
a farmhouse – фермерскийдом
Note:
A) Synonyms
to fly – to soar
strange – odd
under – below - beneath
countryside, village – rural (area)
still – calm
stillness – calmness
moist – damp
moisture – dampness
not to notice – to have no eye for
a quarrel – a feud
reluctantly – without a wish
hasty – in a hurry
a tide – a flow
Father Frost – Santa Claus
quick – fast
bleak – cold
to descend – to come down
to ascend – to come up
to commence – to appear
to recommence – to appear again
ebb – end
bare – naked
B) Antonyms
pale – bright
quiet – loud
below – above
thing – thick
slow – fast
dark – fair
cool – warm
to comfort – to disturb
Review the words.
a frog, a pool, fields, a petal, dew, clover, fields, ermine, gale, a larch, a herald, to herald, a beech, a midge, to bite, a gnat, to glow, a pine, swamp, to fade, twilight, serene, an oak, scents, sounds, heat, azure, balmy, shadow, shadowy, an elm, to ripple, slush, frost, frosty,frosted, a lake, a flash, ash (ashes), to glimmer, a plain, a ray, rayless, earth, unearthly, dark,darkness, to float (across the sky), pepper, to bathe (a bath), to breathe (breath), to blow (……………., ………………), frozen (to………………, ………………,frozen), a hill
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Guess the meaning of the words.
to lift, a droplet, to adapt, quick-adapted, echo (Pl. echoes), invisible, amoeba, distant, a barn, musky, to spray (up), triumphant, companionship, gradually, pastel (sky), acre, brilliant,brilliantly, to stream, crinolines, jessamine, gravel, graveled, driveway, sarcastic, a passer-by an omnibus, a barge, a league, fiery, sleepy-head, comfort, to comfort
Recall the words.
mint, a stone, limegreen, curious, soft, a crown, tocrown, alarm-clock, alarm, human, to surround, disturb, chimney, to disappoint, to be / getdisappointed, patient, patienceimpatient, impatience, casual,casually, quiet, to influence, measure, a line, a twin (twins), modest, a bridge, hay, silk, silken, scarf, to spread, widespread, a tongue, a language, to mark, road, to burn (……………, …………...) alone, foam, journey, broad, abroad,blood, orange
Additional vocabulary
to flutter (about leaves. petals), a dove, a trunk, a bough (a branch),moor, transparent,
a yaffle, a jay, a magpie, a level, slanting, level-slanting sun, a pasture, a stable, dim, dimness, serene, hedge, fence, tangible, intangible, border, to mock, a mocking-bird, to be engaged (in), a beak, tobeak, deep, depth, temple, the Temple, a rod, a ribbon, a stump, a mistletoe, a holly, a marsh, to kindle, reindeer, to explore,a candle
IN SPRING: lightning, flashes of lightning, an orchard, scent = fragrance, balmy = fragrant, azure, а bud, а petal, leaf (Pl. leaves), to burst, to burst into leaf, shower, a brook, a stream, to ripple, an icicle, thunder, blossom(s), claps(peals) of thunder, to bloom = to blossom = to flower, thunderstorm, descants (poetic), to float across the sky (about clouds), thaw, the thaw sets in, sleet, to melt, a blackbird, a lark, a birch, sunshine, sunlight
Autumn expressions
Quiet music of rustling leaves
Golden shimmer of autumn foliage
Melancholy autumn rains
Scarlet fires melting in the morning fog
Autumn sadness of gay-coloured leaves
Bright colourful carpet of autumn leaves
Aching tenderness of the falling leaves touching the surface of the lakes and rivers
Striking freshness of autumn air
Sorrowful gray autumn sky
Nostalgic hues and shadows of the passed away summer
Whispering autumn parks and gardens
Silver nets flying in the autumn air
Beautiful songs of autumn showers
Yellow leaves impressed upon the wet from rains pavements reminding a lid of a gigantic casket