From my childhood I was an easily taught and obedient boy. My kindness was so noticeable that my friends made fun of me. I was especially fond of animals and had a great number of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and playing with them. My character did not change much when I grew up.
I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a character very much like my own. Seeing my love for pets she never lost a chance of getting the most pleasant animals. We had birds, gold-fish, a fine dog, rabbits, a small monkey, and a cat.
This cat was a remarkably large and beautiful animal, quite black and surprisingly clever. In speaking of his cleverness, my wife, who was a superstitious woman, often mentioned the old popular belief, which considered all black cats to be in disguise.
Pluto- this was the cat’s name-was my favourite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he followed me everywhere about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him following me through the streets.
Our friendship lasted for several years, during which my character (I blush to confess it) had changed for the worse. I became day by day more moody and irritable. It often happened that I hurt the feelings of others; I suffered myself as I was rude to my wife. At last I even hit her.
My pets, of course, could feel the change in my character. In fact, I began to treat them cruelly. As for Pluto, I held back from cruelty as I did treat cruelly the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog when they came in my way. But my illness took hold of me- for what other illness is like alcohol!- and at last even Pluto,who was now becoming old, even Pluto began to feel the effects of my temper.
Answer the questions:
1.What kind of pets do they have?
2.What was the cat’s name?
3.What illness had the author?
4.Was he a kind man?
5.How long did their friendship last?
22 Toscanini was a great musician. He lived in America. One day he came to a very little town. He was walking along the street when he saw a piece of paper in one of the windows. He read:
MRS.SMITH.MUSIC LESSONS.
TWO DOLLARS A LESSON.
Then Toscanini heard the music. Somebody was playing Tchaikovsky.
“Mrs. Smith is playing,” he thought, “she isn’t a very good musician. She doesn’t play Tchaikovsky well. I must show her how to play it.”
He went up to the door of the house and rang. The music stopped and soon a woman opened the door.
“Are you Mrs. Smith?” asked Toscanini. “My name is Toscanini and I want to show you how to play Tchaikovsky.”
Mrs. Smith was very glad to meet the great musician. She asked him to come in. Toscanini played Tchaikovsky for her and went away.
A year later Toscanini visited the same town again. When he went up to the house where he had played Tchaikovsky the year before he again saw a piece of paper. Now it read.
MRS.SMITH. (TOSCANINI’S PUPIL)
MUSIC LESSONS.
FOUR DOLLARS A LESSON.
Answer the questions.
1.Where did Toscanini live?
2.Toscanini was a great musician, wasn’t he?
3.Did he want to show Mrs. Smith how to play?
4.What did he see in one of the window?
5.Did he think that Mrs. Smith was playing well?
23 In 1608 an Englishman whose name was Thomas Coryate visited Italy. He liked the country and noted down every interesting thing he found. But there was one thing which he found more interesting than the others. In his diary Thomas wrote, “When the Italians eat meat, they use small forks. They don’t eat with hands because, as they say, do not always have clean hands”.
Before leaving for England, Thomas Coryate bought a few forks.
At home Thomas gave a dinner party to show the invention to his friends. When the servant brought the steak, he took out a fork and began to eat like they did in Italy.
Everybody looked at him in surprise. When he told his friends what it was, they all wanted to take a good look at the strange thing. All his friends said that the Italians were very strange people because the fork was very inconvenient.
Thomas Coryate tried to prove the opposite. He said it was not nice to eat with one’s fingers because they were not always clean.
Everybody got angry at that. Did Mr. Coryate think that people inEngland always had dirty hands? And weren’t the ten fingers they had enough for them?
Thomas Coryate wanted to show that it was very easy to use the fork. But the first piece of meat he took with the fork fell to the floor. His friends began to laugh and he had to take the fork away.
Only fifty years later people in England began to use forks.
Answer the questions:
1.Why did the Italians eat with the forks?
2.What did he give at home to show the invention of the Italians?
3.Why did his friends begin to laugh?
4.When did people in England begin to use forks?
London
London is the capital of Great Britain. London is a very old town. London is two thousand years old. Many years ago London was a small town on the Thames. There were a lot of villages round it. After many years London and three hundred villages grew into a very large city. Some of the names of those villages are the names of the streets in modern London-Kensington, Westminster.
Now London is a beautiful city with large squares and parks. The city of London is the business centre. East End includes the poor districts. West of London is the West End where rich people live.
Trafalgar Square is in the centre of the West End of London. In the centre of Trafalgar Square there is the column made of granite. On the top of the column there is a 17-feet-tall statue of Admiral Nelson who defeated the French at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1809. The total high of the monument is 184 feet (44 meters).On the pedestal is a bronze relief cast from a captured French cannon, representing Nelson’s victory.
On the North side of Trafalgar Square is the National Gallery.
The National Gallery has one of the finest collections of pictures in the world.
Trafalgar Square is one of the busiest place in London, where people go to and from the work, it is hard to cross the street.
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1.Национальная галерея имеет одну из прекраснейших коллекций в мире.
2.Трефальгарская площадь находится в центре Вест Енда в Лондоне.
3.Сейчас Лондон –один из красивейших городов с большими площадями и парками.
4.Спустя много лет Лондон и три сотни деревень превратились в один большой город.
5.Некоторые из этих деревень стали названиями в современном Лондоне.
The Christmas Tree
No one _1_ for sure who decorated the first Christmas tree. The_2_ of bringing an evergreen tree indoors and _3_ it at Christmas started in Germany. One _4_ says that Martin Luther started the practice. Luther was an important Christian_5_. According to the story, he noticed the starlit sky as he walked home one Christmas Eve about the year 1513.He thought the stars looked as if they were shining on the branches. When he arrived home, Martin Luther placed a small fir tree _6_ his house. He decorated it with lighted candles.
Decorating Christmas trees became _7_ in Germany. Prince Albert of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, the German husband of Queen Victoria, took the tradition to England. Both German and English people brought it to America. And now nearly every family in Great Britain and the USA has a _8_ tree.
The biggest Christmas tree in Britain is put up in Trafalgar Square in _9_.
The people of Norway still give this tree every year to the _10_ to thank them for helping Norway against Hitler in the second World War.
Answer the questions:
1.Where was started the tradition of decorating Christmas tree?
2.Who started this tradition?
3.Who brought it to Britain?
4.Why do people of Norway still present a tree to Britain?