Mr. Snow is a friend of mine. He lives in the big house which is at the corner of a wide street leading to the center of Moscow. He works at an office. He generally gets up at about 7 o'clock. In half an hour or so lie is ready for breakfast. After breakfast he puts on his hat and coat and leaves the house. As a rule he is very much in a hurry because he does not want to be late for his French lesson. He has a French lesson every morning. He works at his French very hard, for he is going to France next month. At a quarter to nine the lesson is over, and then it is time for him to go to the office. One o'clock is his lunch hour. So he goes to the dining-room and has lunch. For his lunch he usually has hot meat or fish and some vegetables, a cup of tea with sugar and some bread and butter, or a ham and cheese sandwich.
After lunch Mr. Snow goes back to his office and stays there till 5 o'clock.
At 5 o'clock Mr. Snow finishes his work and leaves the office. He takes a bus or if it is a fine day he walks. He gets home just in time for dinner. He finds his wife and children in the dining-room all waiting for him. It is a nice room with a round table, chairs and a sideboard, and a clock on the wall. There is a large window there which looks out on the park, but the curtains are drawn now as it is getting dark. Somebody has already tinned on the light and a big lamp over the table gives a pleasant light to the whole of the room.
After dinner Mr. Snow goes into his room and stays there for some time studying his French lessons, or reading a newspaper, or playing chess with a friend of his who comes to see him. Sometimes Mr. Snow turns on the wireless and listens in to the news or some music. In the evening Mr. Snow and his wife may go to the cinema or a theatre or if the weather is fine they spend half an hour or so in the park which is near their house.
Dictation 4 Tea
The English know how to kmmake tea, and what it does for you. Seven cups of it wake you up in the morning; nine cups will put you to sleep at night.
If you are hot, tea will cool you off, and if you are cold, it will warm you up.
If you take it in the middle of the morning, it will stimulate you for further work; if you drink it in the afternoon, it will relax you for further thought. Then, of course, you should drink lots of it in off hours.
The test of good tea is simple. If a spoon stands up in it, then it is strong enough; if the spoon starts to wobble, it is a feeble makeshift.
Dictation 5 My Flat
I live in a new big house with all modern conveniences. Our flat is very cosy. The rooms are light, there are big windows in them. There is a big shop on the ground floor of our house.
I live on the second floor. In the morning I get up from my bed and go to my bathroom. It is not a large room. There is not much furniture in it. The most important thing is a bath. It is in the left-hand corner. There is a shower with two taps, a towel and a rubber mat in the left-hand corner too. There is a wash-basin with a mirror and a rack in the right-hand corner. There are many different things on the rack. They are: a soap-dish with a cake of soap, a tooth-brush in the glass, tooth-powder, and a comb. In the morning I take a cold water shower, that's why I turn on the cold water tap. I never forget to turn off the taps. In the evening, when I come home from the Institute I wash my face and hands. Then I dry them with a towel. Now I am ready to have my supper. I go to the kitchen. It is a little bit larger than the bathroom. The kitchen looks quite modern. The ceiling is whitewashed, the back wall is tiled. There is a gas-cooker near the back wall. If I want to warm up or to cook my food I switch on one of the four burnings. I bake cakes and pies in the oven. There is a detached table and a sink near the tiled wall. I wash dishes in the sink. I cook with my window open wide. I don't like when the gas leaks, and the window lets light and air in. There is a refrigerator in the right-hand corner. I keep food in it, and it never goes bad, it is very cold in it. There is a kitchen table opposite the refrigerator. I bring a chair if I want to have my meals there. There is a long mat between the refrigerator and the kitchen table. After my supper I go to my bedroom. I go to bed and read a book for half an hour. There is a very comfortable double-bed in my bedroom. There is a nice checked pink carpet to walk on the floor. My bed is covered with a beautiful blanket. There are two bedside tables to keep trifles near the bed. I keep my dollies in the wardrobe. It is in the right-hand corner. There is a dressing-table with a minor to beautify myself not far from the wardrobe.
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Dictation 6
Food is a subject that interests me. I like food that is good and well-cooked. I dislike as much as Pedro does watery cabbage soup that looks—and tastes—like rain, and beef or mutton that is burned or not cooked enough. But when you get real English beef and million, bread and cheese, eggs and bacon, there is no food so good anywhere. I don't know any apple that has a better taste than a good English one, and no oilier cup of tea ever tastes as good to me as tea that is made in England.
I can quite believe that the soup that Pedro had at the hotel hadn't much taste; but I am sure that if Jan and Olaf had dinner in the home of any ordinary Scottish family when they were walking in Scotland, they had good soup. They will never taste better vegetable soup than they had then.
I know that coffee is not good in most English holes. But it is good in many English homes when it is made with fresh coffee by people who know how to make it.