Reading 03 reading through short stories and jokes

UNIT 1.

Text 1: A diver put it on my hook

Mr. and Mrs. Peters went to Brighton for a holiday last summer.
Brighton is a town by the sea in England. Mr. Peters likes fishing very much,
and on the first day he said to his wife, “I’m going to go out fishing on the sea.
Are you going to come with me?”

No,” his wife answered. “It’s cold and windy today.”

Mr. Peters went out in a boat alone and fished for several hours.

But he caught nothing – except an advertisement on a piece of plastic for a

fish-shop in the town.

He went back to the hotel and gave it to his wife.

“How did you catch that?” she asked him. “A diver put it on my hook,”
Mr. Peters answered.

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

1. Does Mr. Peters like fishing?

2. Did he go fishing on the first day of his holiday?

3. Did Mrs. Peters go with him?

4. Why?

5. What did Mr. Peters catch?

6. Did he throw it back into the sea?

7. What did his wife ask him?

8. And what did Mr. Peters answer?

II. Retell the text. III. Give the translation of the following words and

phrases. Make up sentences with them.

1. to go for a holiday 2. to go out fishing 3. to catch something
4. an advertisement 5. a diver 6. a hook

Text 2: He sent me a violin

Sam left school last June. “You don’t like work very much, Sam,”
his friend Paul said. “What are you going to do now?”

“I’m going to study music,” Sam answered.
“I’m going to go to a music college.”

Sam went to the music college. But he did not study much.
He played games and went to dances and enjoyed everything.
But he never had much money.
Then he had some holidays.
He went home and saw his friend Paul again.

Paul said, “How are you getting on, Sam?”

“Quite well,” was Sam’s answer, “but my father isn’t very nice.
I wrote to him and asked him for £500 for a new violin,
but he didn’t send me the money.
He sent me a violin.”

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

1. What did Paul say to Sam last June?

2. And what did Sam answer?

3. Did he go to a music college?

4. Did he study much there?

5. What did he do at the college?

6. Did he have much money?

7. What did Paul say to him during his holidays?

8. And what did Sam answer?

II. Retell the text.

III. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.
Make up dialogues with them.

1. to leave school 2. to study music 3. be going to go to a music college
4. to study much 5. to have much money 6. to enjoy everything

Text 3: Climbing up and down the drainpipe

An old woman lived alone in her house, because her husband was dead.
She fell down the stairs and hurt her left leg very badly.
She telephoned her sister, and her sister came to her house
and took her to the doctor in her car.

The doctor cleaned the leg and then bandaged it.
After that, he said to the old woman, “Now, Mrs. Grace,
this leg’s going to be bad for a long time.
Don’t run up and down the stairs in your house for a few weeks.”

Mrs. Grace visited the doctor every week for about a month,
and then he said, “You leg’s quite well again, Mrs. Grace.”

“That’s very good,” said the old woman happily.
“I hated climbing up and down that
drainpipe to my bedroom every day.”

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

1. Did Mrs. Grace live with her husband in her house?

2. Why?

3. How did she hurt her leg?

4. Did she drive herself to the hospital?

5. What did the doctor say to her?

6. Did Mrs. Grace visit him every week after that?

7. What did he say after a month?

8. And what did Mrs. Grace answer?

II. Retell the text.

III. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.
Make up dialogues with them.

1. to live alone 2. to fall down the stairs
3. to hurt one’s leg (arm) very badly 4. to take someone to the doctor
5. to bandage 6. for a few weeks

Text 4: It’s the same cat

Jean and Mark were twins. They were ten years old,
and they were in the same class at their school.
A few weeks ago, their English teacher said to the children,
“I haven’t given you any homework for two weeks, children.
Now this week, write a composition about “Our cat”, and give
it to me next Monday. Have you all got a cat at home?”

“Yes, Miss Jones,” all of them answered. All the pupils did the composition,
and they gave it to the teacher on Monday. The teacher read all the
compositions and then she gave them back to the pupils on Tuesday.
“Jean,” she said, “your composition is the same as your brother’s”.

“Yes,” answered Jean quickly, “It’s the same cat!”

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

1. Was Jean older than Mark?

2. What did their English teacher say a week ago?

3. Did all the pupils have cats?

4. What did the pupils do then?

5. Did the teacher read all the compositions?

6. When did she give them back to the pupils?

7. What did the teacher say to Jean on Tuesday?

8. And what did Jean answer?

II. Retell the text.

III. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.
Make up sentences with them.

1. to be twins

2. to give someone homework

3. to write a composition

4. to read a composition

5. to give something back to someone

6. the same

Text 5: We’ve got a new captain

Many years ago, Wonder Air was a small, very new company.
It had very little money and its airplanes were very old.
Mr. Black flew by Wonder Air once.
That day, he went to the airport, got on the Wonder Air airplane and waited.

After a few minutes, there was a lot of noise,
and then the captain came out and shouted,
“I’m not going to take this airplane up! One of the engines is broken,
and they aren’t going to get a new one”.

The passengers got out, and then, an hour later,
an airhostess said, “The airplane’s ready again now.”
The passengers walked past her to the airplane again.

“Did you get a new engine?” Mr. Black asked the air- hostess.

“No, we got a new captain,” she answered.

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

1. Were Wonder Air’s airplanes new, or old?

2. Where did Mr. Black wait?

3. What did the captain of the airplane shout?

4. Did the passengers stay on the airplane after that?

5. Did they get out?

6. What did the air-hostess say an hour later?

7. Did they get a new engine?

8. What did they get?

II. Retell the text.

III. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.
Make up sentences with them.

1. to fly by

2. to get on the plane

3. company

4. a lot of noise

5. engine

6. to be ready

Text 6: Don’t you like them?

Mr. Kent is sixty-five, and his wife is sixty-one.
Mr. Kent is small and thin, and his wife is big and tall.
She is not a happy person. She always criticizes everybody and everything,
and she criticizes her husband more than anyone else.
She always says to her neighbours, “He never does anything right.”

Last month she said to her husband, “Look at your shirt!
There are two holes in the collar! I’m going to buy you some new shirts.
” She went to the shops that afternoon and bought him three new shirts.

The next morning, Mr. Kent put one of them on and went down to the kitchen.
Mrs. Kent looked at him and then shouted angrily,
“And what’s wrong with the other two shirts? Don’t you like then?”

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

1. Is Mrs. Kent tall, or small?

2. Is she happy?

3. What does she always say to her neighbours about her husband?

4. What did she say to her husband last month?

5. What did she do then?

6. Did Mr. Kent put one of the new shirts on the next morning?

7. What did his wife shout at him?

8. Do people put three shirts on at the same time?

II. Retell the text.

III. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.
Make up sentences with them.

1. to criticize somebody or something 2. neighbour
3. to buy somebody something 4. to put something on
5. a shirt 6. to shout at someone

Text 7: There are two different people in you

Norman Harris worked in an office for twenty years,
but then he lost his job, because he began doing everything wrong.
His wife sent him to a doctor, and the doctor asked him
a lot of questions for an hour and then said to him,
“Mr. Harris, there are two different people in you,
and they’re fighting each other. I’m going to send you
to a hospital for a week, and I’m going to examine you again after that.”

The doctor gave him a bill for £20. Norman took £10 out of his pocket
and gave it to the doctor. Then he said to him,
“Get the other half from the other man. I’m not going to pay for him too!”

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

1. Did Norman work in the same office for a long time?
2. Why did he lose his job? 3. Did his wife send him to the doctor?
4. What did the doctor say to him? 5. What did he give Norman after that?
6. Did Norman give the doctor any money?

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7. How much did he give him? 8. And what did Norman say?

II. Retell the text.

III. Give the translation of the following words and phrases. Make up sentences with them.

1. to lose somebody’s job 2. to send somebody to a doctor
3. to fight each other 4. to send somebody to a hospital
5. to give somebody a bill for 6. to pay for somebody

Text 8: Somebody else’s trousers

John was ten years old, and he was a clever boy.
Most of the pupils in his class at school were not very good
at mathematics, but John usually answered the teacher’s questions very well.

Last Tuesday the teacher said to the class, “Now I’m going to give you
a mathematics test. I’m going to give you a question and say a name,
and that boy or girl’s going to answer. Now, there’s £5.73 in your left pocket,
and £3.27 in your right pocket. What have you got? Peter? Mary? Helen?”

None of the pupils said anything for a long time.
Then the teacher said, “What’s the answer, John?”

John answered quickly, “Somebody else’s trousers!”

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

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1. Were most of the pupils in John’s class good at

mathematics? 2. Did John usually give good, or bad answers?
3. What was the teacher’s first question?
4. Did the teacher ask several pupils then?
5. What did the pupils answer? 6. Who did the teacher ask then?
7. And what did John answer? 8. Did the teacher want that answer?

II. Retell the text.

III. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.
Make up sentences with them.

1. to be very good at mathematics 2. to answer the teacher’s question
3. to give a mathematics test 4. to give somebody a question
5. to answer quickly 6. several

Text 9: I don’t remember any of the other names

Mr. Green went to Germany, because he had some work there.
He came back last Monday, and his young wife met him at the airport.
They walked to their car and passed a tall, pretty air-hostess.
Mr. Green said to her, “Goodbye, Miss Harris,” and the air-hostess
smiled and said, “Goodbye” too.
Mrs. Green stopped and looked at the air-hostess.
Then she said to her husband, “How did you know her name?”

“That was easy,” answered Mr. Green.
“The names of the captain and all the crew were
on a piece of paper in front of our seats.”

“What was the name of the captain?” Mrs. Green asked with a smile.

Mr. Green laughed and answered,
“I don’t remember any of the other names.”

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

1. Did Mr. Green go to France, or to Germany?
2. Did anyone meet him at the airport in England?
3. What did he say to the air-hostess?
4. Did the air-hostess answer? 5. What did Mr. Green’s wife ask then?
6. What was Mr. Green’s answer? 7. What did his wife ask then?
8. Did Mr. Green remember any of the other names?

II. Retell the text.

III. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.
Make up dialogues with them.

1. to go to Germany 2. to meet someone at the airport
3. an air-hostess 4. the crew 5. a captain 6. to remember

Text 10: What fruit do you like best?

Mike was not well. He was tired all the time, and his head often hurt.

“Go to the doctor,” his wife said. Mike did not like visiting the doctor,
but after a week, he went. The doctor asked him a lot of questions and
wrote Mike’s answers down.

“What do you eat in the morning?” he asked him.
“Eggs, bread, butter, jam and coffee,” Mike answered.
“And what lunch do you have?” the doctor asked.
“Meat or fish and bread.” “And what do you have in the evening?” the doctor asked.

“Eggs and bread.” Then the doctor said, “Eat some fruit every day,
and eat all the skin of the fruit. The skin is very good. What fruit do you like best?”

Mike was not happy. “Coconuts,” he answered.

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

1. Why did Mike go to the doctor? 2. Did he like going to him?
3. Did the doctor ask him any questions? 4. Did Mike eat bread at every meal?
5. Did he eat any fruit? 6. What did he eat in the evening?
7. What did the doctor say then? 8. And what did Mike answer?

II. Retell the text.

III. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.
Make up dialogues with them.

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1. to be not well 2. to be tired all the time
3. to be hurt 4. not to like visiting the doctor
5. to examine 6. to be happy

UNIT 2.

Text 11: You gave the jewellery to a thief!
When Mr. Jones went to a restaurant one day, he left his coat near the door.
There was nothing in the pockets of the coat when he left it,
so he was very surprised when he took his coat after his meal
and found the pockets full of jewellery!
There was a waiter near the door, so Mr. Jones said to him,
“Somebody has made a mistake. He has put some jewellery in my coat.
Take it, and when he comes back give it to him.”
The waiter took it and went away. Suddenly another man came in
with a coat just like Mr. Jones’s. “I am sorry,” said this man.
I made a mistake. I took your coat and you have got mine.
Please give me my coat and jewellery.” Mr. Jones answered,
“I gave the jewellery to the waiter. He will give it to you.”
Mr. Jones called the manager of the restaurant; but the manager said,
“We have no waiters here. We only have waitresses.”
“You gave the jewellery to a thief!” shouted the other man.
“I shall call the police!” Mr. Jones was frightened and
paid the man a lot of money for the jewellery.

Exercises

I. Retell the text. Use the following questions as a plan:

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1. Where did Mr. Jones go one day? 2. What did he do with his coat?
3. Was there anything in the pockets of the coat when

Mr. Jones left it? 4. What happened when he took the coat after his

meal? 5. Whom did he see near the door?
6. What did Mr. Jones say to him? 7. What did the waiter do then?
8. What happened after that? 9. What was the man wearing?
10. What did he say to Mr. Jones? 11. What did Mr. Jones answer?
12. What did Mr. Jones do then? 13. What did the manager of the restaurant say?
14. What did the man shout then? 15. What did Mr. Jones do?

II. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.
Use them to write a story of your own.

1. to go to a restaurant 2. to leave smb’s coat 3. to be surprised
4. to find the pockets full of smth 5. a waiter 6. a waitress
7. to make a mistake 8. a manager 9. a thief 10. to be frightened

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Text 12: He thought that your car was his chair
A man was travelling abroad in a small red car.
One day he left the car and went shopping.
When he came back, its roof was badly damaged.
Some boys told him that an elephant had damaged it.
The man did not believe them, but they took him to a circus which was near there.
The owner of the elephant said, “I am very sorry!
My elephant has a big, round, red chair. He thought that your car
was his chair, and he sat on it!” Then he gave the man a letter,
in which he said that he was sorry and that he would pay for all the damage.
When the man got back to his own country,
the customs officers would not believe his story.
They said, “You sold your new car while you were abroad and bought this old one!”
It was only when the man showed them the letter from the circus man that they believed him.

Exercises

I. Retell the text. Use the following questions as a plan:

1. What was the man doing at the beginning of the story? 2. Where did he leave his car?

3. Why did he leave it there? 4. What did he see when he came back?
5. What did the boys say? 6. Where did they take him?
7. What did the owner of the elephant say? 8. Why had the elephant sat on the car?
9. What did the owner of the elephant do then? 10. What did he write in his letter?
11. What happened when the man returned to his own

country?

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12. What did the customs men say? 13. How did the man make them believe him?

II. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.
Make up dialogues with them.

1. to travel abroad 2. to go shopping 3. to be damaged
4. to believe someone 5. to take smb to somewhere 6. the owner of smth
7. to get back to one’s own country

Text 13: Can I speak to Johnny?
It was half-past eight in the morning. The telephone bell rang and Mary went to answer it.

“Hullo, who’s that?” she asked. “It’s me – Peter.”
Peter was a friend of Mary’s eight-year-old brother, Johnny.

“Oh, hullo, Peter. What do you want?” said Mary.
“Can I speak to Johnny?” “No,” said Mary, “you can’t speak to him now.
He is busy. He is getting ready for school. He is eating his breakfast.
Grandmother is combing his hair. Sister is under the table, putting his shoes on.
Mother is getting his books and putting them in his school bag.
Goodbye, I’ve got to go now. I have to hold the door open. The school bus is coming.”

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Exercises

I. Retell the text. Use the following questions as a plan:

1. What time was it at the beginning if this story? 2. What happened at that time?
3. What did Mary do? 4. What did she say? 5. What was the answer?
6. Who was Peter? 7. What did Mary ask Peter? 8. What did he answer?
9. What did Mary then say? 10. What was Johnny doing?
11. What was his grandmother doing? 12. What was his other sister doing?
13. What was his mother doing? 14. Why did Mary say goodbye? 15. Why did she have to go?

II. Give the translation of the following words and phrases. Make up sentences with them.

1. the telephone bell rang 2. to speak to smb 3. to get ready for smth 4. to be busy 5. to eat one’s breakfast 6. to comb one’s hair 7. to put smth on

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Text 14: Where is the ashtray in this taxi?

Two rich ladies were sharing a taxi and talking about the high cost of going anywhere by taxi.

One of the ladies said, “Taxis are terribly expensive these days.

The owners get a lot of money for nothing.”

“Yes,” said the other lady, “and the drivers get such big tips that they soon become rich.

They ought to be ashamed of themselves.”

One of the ladies was smoking a cigarette.

After a minute or two she said to the other lady, “Can you see an ashtray in this taxi?

There isn’t one on my side.”

“No,” said the other, “there isn’t one on this side either.

Driver! Where is the ashtray in this taxi? Why haven’t you got one?”

The driver, who had heard everything the ladies had said, answered,

“Oh, just drop the ashes on the carpet – I have a servant who comes in and cleans three

days in the week!”

Exercises

I. Retell the text. Use the following questions as a plan:

1. What were the two rich ladies doing?

2. What were they talking about?

3. What did one of them say?

4. What did the other one say?

5. What was one of the ladies doing?

6. What did she say to the other lady?

7. What did the other lady answer?

8. What did she say to the driver?

9. What did he answer?

10. Why did he answer in this way?

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II. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.

Use them to write a story of your own.

1. to go somewhere by taxi

2. the high cost of

3. to share a taxi

4. to be terribly expensive

5. to get a lot of money for nothing

6. to get big tips

7. to be ashamed

8. a driver

Text 15: Who is responsible?

A judge was working in his room one day when a neighbour ran in

and said, “If one man’s cow kills another’s, is the owner of the first cow responsible?”

“It depends,” answered the judge. “Well,” said the man, “your cow has killed mine.”

“Oh,” answered the judge. “Everyone knows that a cow cannot think like a man,

so a cow is not responsible, and that means that its owner is not responsible either.”

“I am sorry, Judge,” said the man. “I made a mistake. I meant that my cow killed yours.”

The judge thought for a few seconds and then said, “When I think about it more carefully,

this case is not as easy as I thought at first.” And then he turned to his clerk

and said, “Please bring me that big black book from the shelf behind you.”

Exercises

I. Retell the text. Use the following questions as a plan:

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1. What was the judge doing at the beginning of the

story?

2. Who ran in?

3. What did this man say?

4. What did the judge answer?

5. What did the man say then?

6. What was the judge’s answer?

7. Why did the man change his answer?

8. What happened after that?

II. Give the translation of the following words and phrases.

Make up sentences with them.

1. a judge

2. to run in

3. It depends

4. to be responsible

5. to make a mistake

6. to think about something more carefully

Text 16: Good luck on your voyage

One day a big ship hit a smaller ship while they were both going from England to America.

The smaller ship was badly damaged, and had to be taken back to England,

where a judge had to decide who was to blame for the accident.

Several of the people who had seen the big ship hit the smaller

one said that, a few seconds before the accident, the big ship

had sent a signal to the smaller one.

The judge was puzzled by this, so he said, “Who sent this signal?”

A young signalman came forward and said, “I did, sir.”

“Oh?” said the judge. “And what signal did you send to the other ship?”

The young signal man’s face went red as he answered, “Good luck on your voyage.”

Exercises

I. Retell the text. Use the following questions as a plan:

1. What happened one day in this story?

2. Where were the ships going?

3. What happened to the smaller ship?

4. Where did it go?

5. What happened then?

6. What did several people say?

7. Who were these people?

8. How did the judge feel about what these people

said?

9. What did he ask?

10. Who answered?

11. What did this man say?

12. What did the judge then say to him?

13. What was his answer?

14. What happened to his face?

II. Give the translation of the following words and phrases. Make up sentences with them.

1. to hit a ship

2. an accident

3. to be badly damaged

4. to decide

5. to be blame for the accident

6. to send a signal to the ship

7. to be puzzled

Text 17: Climbing the mountains

Mr. Jones was very fond of climbing mountains, so one year he went to

Switzerland for his holidays. After he had climbed some easy mountains,

he decided one day to climb a more difficult one; but he did not want to go up it alone,

so he found a good Swiss guide, who had often climbed that mountain.

At first it was not a difficult climb, but then they came to a place

which was not so easy.

The guide stopped, turned round and warned Mr. Jones. “Be careful here,”

he said. “This is a dangerous place. You can easily fall, and if you do,

you will fall straight down a very long way. But,” he continued

calmly, “if you do fall here, don’t forget to look to the right while

you are going down. There is a quite extraordinarily beautiful view there –

much more beautiful than the one you can see from here.”

Exercises

I. Retell the text. Use the following questions as a plan:

1. What was Mr. Jones very fond of?

2. Where did he go?

3. What did he do first there?

4. What did he decide after that?

5. What didn’t he want to do?

6. What did he do then?

7. What had the guide done?

8. How was the climb at first?

9. What happened then?

10. What did the guide say to Mr. Jones?

11. What did he tell him to do if he fell?

II. Give the translation of the following words and phrases. Make up sentences with them.

1. to be fond of

2. to climb mountains

3. to go somewhere for holidays

4. to find a guide

5. to warn smb

6. a dangerous place

7. to have a quite extraordinarily beautiful view

Text 18: I was half mad, not quite mad

Nasreddin put two big baskets of grapes on his donkey and went to market.

At midday it was very hot, so he stopped in the shade of a big tree.

There were several other men there, and all of them had donkeys and baskets of grapes too.

After their lunch they went to sleep. After some time, Nasreddin began to

take grapes out of the other men’s baskets and to put them in his.

Suddenly one of the men woke up and saw him. “What are you doing?” he said angrily.

“Oh,” said Nasreddin, “don’t worry about me. I am half mad, and I do a lot of strange things.”

“Oh, really?” said the other man. “Then why don’t you sometimes

take grapes out of your baskets and put them in somebody else’s baskets?”

“You did not understand me,” said Nasreddin. “I said that I was half mad, not quite mad.”

Exercises

I. Retell the text. Use the following questions as a plan:

1. What did Nasreddin put on his donkey?

2. Where did he go?

3. When did he stop?

4. Why did he stop?

5. Where did he stop?

6. What did he see there?

7. What did the men have?

8. What did they do after lunch?

9. What did Nasreddin do then?

10. What happened then?

11. What did the man say?

12. What did Nasreddin answer?

13. What did the man say then?

14. What was Nasreddin’s answer?

II. Give the translation of the following words and phrases. Use them to write a story of your own.

1. to go to market

2. grapes

3. a basket

4. to take smth out of

5. to go to sleep

6. to wake

7. to say angrily

Text 19: That man knows the future

Nasreddin was cutting a branch off a tree in his garden.

While he was sawing, another man passed in the street.

He stopped and said, “Excuse me, but if you continue to saw that branch like

that, you will fall down with it.” He said this because Nasreddin was sitting

on the branch and cutting it at a place between himself and the trunk of the tree.

Nasreddin said nothing. He thought, “This is some foolish person who has

no work to do and goes about telling other people what to do and what not to do.”

The man continued on his way. Of course, after a few minutes,

the branch fell and Nasreddin fell with it.

“My God!” he cried. “That man knows the future!”

and he ran after him to ask how long he was going to live. But the man had gone.

Exercises

I. Retell the text. Use the following questions as a plan:

1. What was Nasreddin doing at the beginning of this

story?

2. Who passed in the street?

3. What did the man say?

4. Why did he say this?

5. What did Nasreddin say?

6. What did he think?

7. What did the other man do then?

8. What happened after a few minutes?

9. What did Nasreddin say then?

10. What did he do?

11. Why did he do this?

12. Did he find the man?

13. Why (not)?

II. Give the translation of the following words and phrases. Make up sentences with them.

1. to cut a branch off

2. to continue

3. to fall down

4. to tell smb what to do and what not to do

5. to run after smb

Text 20: I can sell it where I like

There was a big garden near Nasreddin’s house, and it had a lot of fruit trees in it.

One day Nasreddin saw some beautiful apples on one of them.

He went home and got a ladder, put it against the high wall of the garden and climbed up.

Then he pulled the ladder up, put it down on the other side, and climbed down into the garden.

Just then a gardener came round a corner and saw him.

“What are you doing here?” he shouted.

Nasreddin thought quickly and then said, “I am selling my ladder.”

“Selling your ladder? In somebody else’s garden? Do you think I believe such

a stupid story?” said the gardener and came towards Nasreddin with a stick.

“It is my ladder,” said Nasreddin, “and I can sell it where I like.

You needn’t buy it if you don’t want to.”

And he took his ladder and climbed over the wall again.

Exercises

I. Retell the text. Use the following questions as a plan:

1. What was there near Nasreddin’s house? 2. What did it have in it? 3. What did Nasreddin see one day? 4. What did he do then? 5. What did he do with the ladder? 6. How did he get into the garden? 7. What happened then?

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8. What did the gardener shout? 9. What did Nasreddin answer? 10. What did the gardener say then? 11. What did he do? 12. What was Nasreddin’s answer?

II. Give the translation of the following words and phrases. Make up sentences with them.

1. to have a big garden 2. to have a lot of fruit trees in the garden 3. a ladder 4. to climb up and down 5. to think quickly 6. to believe 7. a gardener

UNIT 3.

Text 21: What they wanted

One warm summer morning before breakfast a rich gentleman was walking

in the park near his house.

Suddenly he saw a man, who was sitting under a tree.

The rich gentleman never met this man before.

The man was rather pale and poorly dressed.

When the rich gentleman approached him, the man rose and said:

“Good morning, sir, a fine day, you came out rather early.”

“Yes, I did,” answered the rich gentleman. “I came out to see if I get an

appetite for my breakfast. But what are you doing here at such an early hour?”

“You see, sir,” said the poor man, “I came out to see if I get a breakfast for my appetite.”

VI. Read the jokes and retell them.

One man bought a very clever parrot and sent it home to his wife as a birthday present.

On the same day his wife went to a shop and ordered a chicken.

She told the cook: “A bird will be brought for tonight’s dinner, cook it”.

The parrot arrived first, and was cooked. At 6 o’clock the husband came for dinner.

“What is this?” he asked when he saw the bird on the table.

His wife explained the cook’s mistake.

“This is awful,” said the husband, “the bird was very expensive, it could speak five languages!”

“Then why didn’t it say something?” asked his wife.

Read the jokes and retell them

A young man, who got married some months ago: “I tell my wife everything I am doing,

or thinking.”

A man, who got married some years ago: “I don’t need to. My wife knows

all I’m thinking and the neighbours tell her what I’m doing.”

VII. Guess a riddle:

What is that which you can keep after giving it to someone else?

Text 22: It Isn’t the First Time

Kate’s father was going along the corridor. When he was passing by the bathroom

he heard that his daughter was speaking in a kind voice to somebody.

The father was surprised and looked in. He saw his daughter holding a cat in her arms

and cleaning its teeth with his tooth-brush. Kate didn’t see her father and continued her work.

Kate’s father called his wife and asked her to see what the matter was.

Kate’s mother came up and let the cat go. But the little girl said:

“Why? I’m sure Daddy needn’t make such a fuss about it,

because it isn’t the first time I cleaned the cat’s teeth with that tooth-brush.”

what the matter was – в чем дело needn’t make such a fuss – не нужно было устраивать столько шума

Exercises

I. Answer the questions:

1. Where was Kate's father going? 2. What did he hear passing by the bath-room? 3. Who was speaking in the bath-room? 4. Why did Kate’s father look in? 5. What did he see? 6. What was his daughter holding in her arms? 7. What was she doing? 8. Whom did Kate’s father call? 9. What did Kate’s mother do? 10. What did the little girl say?

II. Make up sentences with the following words and phrases:

1. the corridor, Kate’s father, along, was going 2. he, his daughter, heard that, to somebody, in the

bathroom, was speaking. 3. when, looked in, he, the father, saw, holding a cat, his

daughter. 4. she, its teeth, was cleaning, with his tooth-brush. 5. Kate’s father, and called, was angry, his wife.

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6. When, let the cat go, Kate’s mother, the girl said: “I am sure, needn’t make such a fuss, Daddy, about it, because, often, I, cleaned, with that tooth-brush, the cat’s teeth”.

III. Retell the text “It isn’t the first time”. Use the following key phrases:

Along the corridor, passing by the bathroom, speaking in a kind voice, holding a cat, cleaning its teeth, what the matter was, let the cat go, needn’t make such a fuss, it isn’t the first time, with that tooth-brush.

IV. Learn the following dialogue by heart:John: I had a letter from my sister this morning. She is coming to Moscow on Wednesday.

Peter: Are you going to meet her at the station?

John: Certainly. Peter: How long is she going to stay in Moscow?

John: About a month, I think.

Peter: That’s fine. I’ll be very glad if you come and see me one evening.

And don’t forget to bring your sister with you.

John: Thank you. That’s very kind of you. I am sure my sister will be glad to meet you.

V. Read the following jokes and retell them:

1. Mother: Where is that book from?

Son: It’s a prize, mother.

Mother: What for?

Son: Teacher asked me how many legs an ostrich has.

Mother: And what did you answer?

Son: I answered that an ostrich has three legs.

Mother: But it has only two.

Son: That’s right! I know that now, but all the pupils said four. So my answer was the best.

2. Teacher: Tom, what are the effects of heat and cold?

Tom: Heat expands and cold contracts.

Teacher: Right you are! Now give me an example, please.

Tom: In summer the days are long, and in winter – very short.

Text 23: A way out

A French student decided to go to London during his summer vacation.

He thought: “I know English a little and people will understand me.”

Once he spent a morning in the British Museum and felt tired and hungry.

He decided to have a cup of tea and some eggs in the nearest restaurant.

He went in and sat down at a table. The waitress came up to him and asked him what he wanted.

The student could not order what he wanted because he did not know the English word for eggs.

What to do? He looked around him, but nobody was eating eggs.

Then he noticed a French illustrated magazine on the neighbouring table.

There was a picture of a cock on its cover. He showed the picture to the waitress.

“How do you call this?” he asked.

“A rooster, sir,” answered the waitress.

“And what do you call a rooster’s wife?” was the next question.

“A hen, sir.” “And what do you call a hen’s children?”

“Chickens, sir.”

“And what do you call chickens before they are born?”

“Eggs, sir.”

“Very well. Now bring me three eggs and a cup of tea, please,” said the student.

Exercises

I. Read the sentences. Fill in the gaps with the following words:

to come in, to come up, to order, a waitress, a waiter

1. What is the English for «входить»? – The English for it is ....

2. Tell me the English for «подходить», please. – The English for «подходить» is ....

3. I do not know the English for «заказывать». – The English for «заказывать» is....

4. I do not know what you call the woman, who serves you at a restaurant. – We call her....

5. What do you call the man, who serves you at a restaurant? – We call him....

II. Answer the questions:

1. Where did the French student decide to spend his vacation?

2. When did he want to go there? 3. Did he know English well? 4. What museum did he visit in London? 5. Was he tired after visiting it? 6. Why did he go to a restaurant? 7. What did he want to take for breakfast? 8. Why could he not order his breakfast? 9. What was his first question?

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10. What helped him to order breakfast?

III. Retell the text using the questions from ex.2 as a plan.

IV. Read the dialogue and learn it by heart:

Peter: Oh, John, glad to see you! How are you?

John: I am well, thank you. And what about you?

Peter: I am all right! Yesterday I passed my last examination and now I am free. Are you also on leave?John: Of course, I am. My vacation began two days ago. In a couple of days I am going home.

And now I want to visit some of the Moscow museumsPeter: Fine! If you want to do it today, I shall join you. Where shall we go?John: What do you call the museum on the Revolution Square?Peter: Oh, it is the Lenin Museum. But let us have dinner first.

By my watch it is two o’clock and I am already hungry.John: Well, there is a small restaurant not far from here.

It is seldom full of people and the waiter will help us to order a good dinner.

Peter: Let’s go there.

V. Retell the dialogue about Peter and John.

VI. Learn the following joke by heart and tell it.

Once a man was having breakfast at a small restaurant. The waiter served him

a cup of coffee without a spoon. The man noticed that and said:

“This coffee is rather hot, I cannot stir it with my finger.”

The waiter left the room and in some minutes came back with another cup of coffee.

“May be this coffee is not so hot, sir,” he said.

VII. Guess a riddle:

What goes without moving from its place?

Text 24: An expensive breakfast

It happened many years ago, when there were still kings in some countries of Europe.

Once a king of a small country was traveling through Holland.

He stopped in an inn in a little village to have breakfast.

He ordered some boiled eggs, coffee, bread and butter for breakfast.

The king ate two eggs with bread and butter, took a cup of coffee and

asked the innkeeper: “How much must I pay for my breakfast?”

The innkeeper answered: “A hundred florins.”

The king was very much surprised and said: “What? A hundred florins

for a little bread and butter, a cup of coffee and two eggs? It is very expensive!

Eggs must be very scarce in your village.”

“Oh, no, sir,” answered the innkeeper, “there are many eggs in our village,

but kings are very scarce nowadays.”

Exercises

I. Find the equivalents of the following sentences in the story “An expensive breakfast”:

1. Он заказал на завтрак вареные яйца, кофе и хлеб с маслом.

2. Сколько я должен (заплатить) за завтрак? 3. (Он) был очень удивлен. 4. Это очень дорого. 5. В вашей деревне наверно очень мало яиц. 6. В наше время очень мало королей.

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II. Translate into English:

1. Это произошло в 1941 году. 2. Мои друзья путешествовали по стране много лет

тому назад. 3. Он остановился в деревенской гостинице. 4. Хозяин гостиницы принес кофе и хлеб с маслом

на завтрак. 5. Они заказали мясо и рыбу на обед.

III. Answer the questions:

1. Who was traveling through Holland many years ago? 2. Where did the king stop? 3. What for did he stop there? 4. What did he order for breakfast? 5. How much did his breakfast cost? 6. Was the breakfast expensive? 7. Who was very much surprised? 8. What did the king say to the innkeeper? 9. Did the innkeeper agree with him? 10. What did the innkeeper answer the king?

IV. Retell the text using the questions from ex.3 as a plan.

V. Read the following dialogue:

At a Restaurant

Tom: Where shall we sit?

Ann: I want to sit near the dance-floor.

Tom: Here is a nice place. And now let’s see what they have.

What about an omelette and then a nice piece of beefsteak?

Ann: I don’t want meat. I’m not hungry. I would rather have some fish.

Tom: Waiter, omelette for two, fish for one and beefsteak for one, please.

Shall we have anything to drink?

Ann: Oh, wine is very expensive here, let’s have some beer.

Tom: And what shall we have for dessert?

Ann: I’ll have a cup of black coffee.

Tom: Make it two, waiter, please. That’ll be all, I think.

VI. Retell the dialogue “At a Restaurant”. Make up a dialogue of your own.

VII. Read a joke, learn it by heart and reproduce it in English.

Once a young Englishman invited his girl to a French restaurant.

The menu was written in French, and he did not know that language.

As he did not want to look ignorant, he pointed to some lines in the menu and said to the waiter:

“I think, we shall have some of that.”

The waiter looked where the man was pointing and

said: “I’m sorry, sir, but that’s what the band is playing.”

VIII. Guess a riddle:

Why do we all go to bed?

IX. Guess the English proverb (example: 1-A, 2-B, 3- C):

6,9,18,19,20 20,8,9,14,11 20,8,5,14 19,16,5,1,11!

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Text 25: In a country inn

After Jerome K. Jerome

One day, when George, Harris and I were talking, George remembered a very funny

thing that had happened to his father when he was young.

His father was traveling with another young man through Wales, and, one night,

they stopped at a little inn. There were some other young men there and

George’s father and his friend joined them and spent the evening with them.

They had a very pleasant evening, and sat up late.

When time came to go to bed they (George’s father and his friend) were a bit tipsy.

They were to sleep in the same room, but in different beds.

They took a candle with them, and went upstairs.

Unfortunately the candle went out when they entered the room,

and they had to undress and to find their way to the beds in the dark.

It so happened that they both climbed into the same bed,

but from different sides, and were lying one with his head,

and the other with his feet on the pillow.

There was a silence for a moment, and then George’s father said: “Joe!” “What’s the matter, Tom?” asked Joe from the other end of the bed. “Why, there’s a man in my bed,” said George’s father. “His feet are on my pillow.” “Well, it’s very strange, Tom,” answered the other, “but there is a man in my bed, too!” “What are you going to do with him?” asked George’s father. “Well, I’m going to kick him out,” answered Joe. 45 “So am I,” said George’s father. There was a short struggle and then a heavy bump, as if two bodies fell down on the floor. Then one voice said: “I say, Tom!” “Yes!” “How are you getting on?” “Well, to tell you the truth, my man kicked me out.” “So did mine! I say, Tom, I don’t like this inn, do you?”

Text 27: 

He’s got a plane and he flies it 

Gladys was at school in a small, quiet town in England.

 She was sixteen years old, and her father and mother were poor, and their house was very small. 

Maisie was Gladys's friend. She went to that school as well.

 Gladys said, "Maisie, I'm going to find a very rich man and I'm going to marry him.

 Then I'm going to have a beautiful house and a large garden, and a lot of clothes, and a lot of money."

 Maisie smiled and said, "Where are you going to find a very rich man, Gladys? 

There aren't any in our town." 

But Gladys was a very pretty girl. Her eyes were blue, and her hair was black and soft. She went to

 London, and then she went to America. She found a tall, very rich man there, and she married him. 

She was twenty-two years old then. Then she and her husband went to England. 

They went to Gladys's old house, and Maisie came there. 

Gladys said, "I've married a very rich man, Maisie, and I've got a beautiful house and a large garden

and four gardeners. And I've bought a lot of clothes and I have money as well. 

My husband's got a plane too, and he flies it!" 

Maisie said, "A lot of people have got planes and fly them, Gladys."

 "In their house?" Gladys asked.

Text 33: Whom did the gun belong to? 

Three young men were playing with a gun in a street in a quiet area of the town after dark when one of them fired it by mistake without aiming it at anything. The bullet broke a window in an old lady’s house. The young men made off at once when they saw the damage they had done, but the old lady looked out of a window when she heard the explosion, and she recognized one of them as the son of a man and woman who lived not far from her. 

The old lady complained to the police, and a detective came to her house. The old lady gave him a detailed account of everything that had happened, and then the detective asked her if she knew where the young man lived. The old lady told him that too, so the detective went to the young man’s house.

 He and his companions tried to hide, but the detective found them and the gun and took them to the police station. There his chief officer questioned the young men to find out which of them owned the gun, but none of them was willing to say. The young man who owned the gun did not dare to admit that he did, because he did not have a licence for it. 

At last the chief officer decided to put an end to the conversation, so he turned to the detective and demanded to know whether he had got an officer’s permission to take the gun away from the young man who owned it. The detective felt anxious when he heard this question: “No, sir,” he answered nervously, “I didn’t get it.” “In that case,” the officer declared angrily, “you were quite wrong to take it away from him. You’d better return it immediately, or there’ll be trouble!” This made the young men smile happily at each other, and as soon as the detective held the gun out and said, “Here you are,” one of them put his hand out in order to get it back.”

That is how the officer finally discovered whom the gun belonged to.

2. L.A.Hill Introductory stories for reproduction 1. – Oxford University Press, 1987. – 48 pp. 3. L.A.Hill Intermediate stories for reproduction First series. – Oxford University Press, 1987. – 61 pp. 4. L.A.Hill Stories for reading comprehension 1. – Longman, 1995. – 45 pp. 5. L.A.Hill Stories for reading comprehension 2. – Longman, 1995. – 45 pp. 6. L.A.Hill Stories for reading comprehension 3. – Longman, 1999. – 45 pp. 7. L.A.Hill Further stories for reading comprehension A. – Longman, 1991. – 72 pp