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Now I shall tell you a story which will show you how honest I have always
been all my life.
A few days ago at my friend’s house I met General Miles. General Miles
was a nice man and we became great friends very quickly.
“Did you live in Washington in 1867?” the general asked me.
“Yes, I did”, I answered.
“How could it happen that we did not meet then?” said General Miles.
“General,” said I. “We couldn’t meet then. You forget that you were already
a great general then, and I was a poor young writer whom nobody knew and
whose books nobody read. You do not remember me, I thought, but we met
once in Washington at that time.”
I remember it very well, I was poor then and very often I did not have
money even for my bread. I had a friend. He was a poor writer too. We lived
together. We did everything together: worked, read books, went for walks to-
gether. And when we were hungry, we were both hungry. Once we were in
need of three dollars. I don’t remember why we needed these three dollars so
much, but I remember well that we had to have the money by the evening.
“We must get these three dollars,” said my friend. “I shall try to get the
money, but you must also try.”
I went out of the house, but I didn’t know where to go and how to get the
three dollars. For an hour I was walking along the streets of Washington and
was very tired. At last I came to a big hotel. “I shall go in and have a rest,” I
thought.
I went into the hall of the hotel and sat down on a sofa. I was sitting there
when a beautiful small dog ran into the hall .It was looking for somebody. The
dog was nice and I had nothing to do, so I called it and began to play with it.
I was playing with the dog, when a man came into the hall. He wore a beau-
tiful uniform and I knew at once that he was General Miles. I knew him by his
pictures in the newspapers. “What a beautiful dog!” said he. “Is it your dog?”
I did not have time to answer him when he said, “Do you want to sell it?”
“Three dollars”, I answered at once.
“Three dollars?” he asked. “But that is very little. I can give you fifty dol-
lars for it.”
“No, no. I only want three dollars.”
“Well, it is your dog. If you want three dollars for it, I shall be glad to buy
your dog.”
General Miles paid me three dollars, took the dog and went up to his room.
Ten minutes later an old man came into the hall. He looked round the hall. I
could see that he was looking for something.
“Are you looking for a dog, sir?” I asked.
“Oh, yes! Have you seen it?” said the man.
“Your dog was here a few minutes ago and I saw how it went away with a
man,” I said. “If you want, I shall try to find it for you.”
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The man was very happy and asked me to help him.
“I shall be glad to help you, but it will take some of my time and …”
“I am ready to pay you for your time,” cried the man. “How much do you
want for it?”
“Three dollars?” answered I.
“Three dollars?” said the man. “But it is a very good dog. I shall pay you
ten dollars if you find it for me”.
“No sir, I want three dollars and not a dollar more,” said I.
Then I went to General Miles’s room The General was playing with his new
dog. “I came here to take the dog back,” said I.
“But it is not your dog no – I have bought it. I have paid you three dollars
for it,” said the General.
“I shall give you back your three dollars, but I must take the dog back”, an-
swered I.
“But you have sold it to me, it is my dog now.”
“I couldn’t sell it to you, sir, because it was not my dog.”
“Still you have sold it to me for three dollars”.
“How could I sell it to you when it was not my dog? You asked me how
much I wanted for the dog, and I said that I wanted three dollars. But I never
told you that it was my dog.”
General Miles was very angry now.
“Give me back my three dollars and take the dog,” he shouted.
When I brought the dog back to its master, he was very happy and paid me
three dollars with joy. I was happy too because I had the money and I felt I had
earned it.
Now you can see why I say that honesty is the best policy and that a man
must never take anything that he has not earned.
1. Find in the text English equivalents for the following words and expres-
sions.
Быть честным; приятный человек, которого никто не знал; даже на
хлеб; к вечеру; отдохнуть; мне было нечем заняться; сразу догадался; че-
рез десять минут; готов заплатить; я должен забрать собаку; вернул соба-
ку хозяину.
2. Give Russian equivalents for the following words and expressions from
the text and use them in sentences of your own.
Earn some (a lot of, little) money; become great friends; be in need of
smth.; wear a uniform; it takes (took, will take) smb. some time to do smth.; be
angry with; with joy.
3. Answer the questions.
1. Whom did the author meet at his friend’s house one day?
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2. Did General Miles recognize the author? Why couldn’t he?
3. Prove that the author’s youth was very hard.
4. Why did the boy find himself in the hotel one day?
5. Who ran into the hall suddenly?
6. Why did the boy sell the dog to General Miles for three dollars?
7. What happened ten minutes later?
8. What brilliant idea came to the boy’s mind?
9. How did he manage to take the dog back?
10. How did the boy’s behaviour prove his words, “Never ask for money
you haven’t earned”?
4. Comment on the proverb: “Honesty is the best policy”. Say how you un-
derstand it and illustrate it by examples. Give your reasons and try to prove
your point of view beginning with:
As far as I know …
The matter is ….
I’m sure that ….
I suppose that …
I believe that …
To sum it up …
Moreover …
5. Act out the dialogues between:
1) General Miles and the boy;
2) The boy and the old man.
6. Retell the story on the part of 1) General Miles; 2) The old man; 3) the
boy’s friend.
7. Give the gist of the story in not more than ten sentences.
8. Reproduce the scene in General Miles’ room using Indirect Speech.
T e x t 8
AN UNFINISHED STORY
A week ago someone told me an incident. He said he wanted me to write a
story on it, and since then I have been thinking it over. I don’t see what to do.
The incident is as follows.
Two young fellows were working on a tea plantation in the hills and they
had to fetch the mail from a good way off so that they only got it at rather long
intervals. One of the young fellows, let us call him Adams, used to get a lot of
letters by every mail, ten or twelve and sometimes more, but the other, Brown,
never got one. He used to watch Adams enviously as he took his packet and
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started to read, he was eager to have a letter, just one letter, and one day, when
they were expecting the mail, and idea came into his head. He said to Adams:
“Look here, you always have a packet of letters and I never get any. I’ll give
you five pounds if you let me have one of yours.” “I don’t mind”, said Adams.
So Adams agreed to sell one of his letters, and when the mail came in he at
once handed Brown his letters and told him he could take any letter he liked.
Brown gave him a five-pound note, looked over the letters, chose one and re-
turned the rest. In the evening Adams joined Brown for a whisky and soda. For
some time they were silent. Then Adams, eager to find out about the letter,
broke the silence, saying: “By the way, what was the letter about?” “I’m not
going to tell you,” said Brown. Adams was rather surprised and upset. He said:
“Well, tell me at least, who it was from?” “That’s my business,” answered
Brown. They had a bit of an argument, but Brown stood on his rights and re-
fused to say anything about the letter that he had bought. Adams got angry, and
as the weeks went by he did all he could to make Brown let him see the letter.
Brown continued to refuse. At last Adams felt he could not stand it any longer
and made up his mind to talk the matter over with Brown once again. One day
he followed Brown into his office and said: “Look here, here’s your five
pounds, let me have my letter back again.” “Never,” said Brown. “I bought and
paid for it, it’s my letter and I mean to keep it”.
That’s all. I’m not a writer of the modern school and that is why, perhaps, I
can’t write it just as it is and leave it. It’s against my principles. I want a story
to have form, and I don’t see how I can give it that if you are unable to give the
story the right kind of end.
V o c a b u l a r y :
1. fetch – приносить, пойти за, приводить.
2. agree – соглашаться:
He agreed to help us. I can’t agree with you.
аgreement – согласие, договор;
to come to an agreement – прийти к соглашению.
3.
hand – вручать, давать:
Hand the papers to the secretary please.
hand in – подавать, сдавать:
He was to hand in his course paper by the end of the month.
4. rest – остаток, остальные:
the rest of the story (the day, the time, the money);
The rest of the students have already come.
5. join – присоединяться:
May I join you in the game?
to join the army (a sports club) – вступать (в), стать членом.
6.
upset –
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1)
опрокидывать, перевертывать:
to upset a glass (a cup, a boat);
2)
расстраивать планы, намерения:
to upset plans, arrangements;
3) расстраивать, огорчать:
The news upset her. We were all upset by the bad news.
7.
аrgue –
1) спорить, обсуждать:
They can argue for hours.
2) утверждать, доказывать:
Copernicus argued that the Earth moved round the sun.
аrgument – довод, доказательство, аргумент.
8. right – право:
You have no right to speak to me like that.
Have the right to work (rest) – иметь право на труд (отдых).
9. refuse – отказываться:
They refused our help. He refused to join us.
refusal – отказ.
10. stand – выносить, выдерживать, переносить:
I can’t stand the cold.
11. follow – следовать, идти за чем-либо:
What season follows winter? He followed his elder brother in everything.
follow smb’s example (advice) – следовать чьему-либо примеру (совету);
as follows – следующее:
The plan is as follows.
to follow the newspapers ( the speaker) – следить (за сообщениями в газе-
тах, выступающим).
11.
mean –
1) значить, иметь значение, означать:
What does this word mean? Your help means a lot to us.
2) думать, намереваться, иметь в виду:
I didn’t mean anybody when I said it. He didn’t mean anything bad when he said it.
1. Paraphrase the following.
1. They had to fetch the mail from a good way off.
2. Adams used to get a lot of letters by every mail.
3. He was eager to have a letter.
4. I don’t mind.
5. In the evening Adams joined Brown for a whisky and soda.
6. For some time they were silent.
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7. They had a bit of an argument.
8. One day he followed Brown into his office.
2. Agree or disagree with the following. Use the expressions:
I fully agree with you.
I couldn’t agree more.
I think it is right.
I don’t quite agree with you.
I couldn’t disagree more.
I don’t think it’s right.
1.
Two old women were walking on a tea plantation.
2.
Brown used to get a lot of letters.
3.
Brown used to watch Adams enviously.
4.
Adams didn’t agree to sell any letters to Brown.
5.
Brown paid 10 pounds for the letter.
6.
Brown refused to give any information about the letter.
7.
Adams paid 5 pounds to Brown and got his letter back.
3. Answer the questions.
1.
Why did the two young men get the mail at rather long intervals?
2.
How many letters did Adams use to get?
3.
What do you think Brown felt when Adams was reading his letters?
4.
Why did Brown ask Adams to sell a letter to him?
5.
Why did Brown refuse to say anything about the letter he had bought?
6.
Why do you think Adams wanted to have at least some information about it?
7.
What do you think about keeping correspondence?
8.
Can you compare receiving letters and sms?
9.
Why do so many people send messages to each other?
T e x t 9
TO KILL A MAN
She moved through the big rooms and wide halls of her house. She was
looking for a book of poems she had put somewhere and only now remem-
bered. She opened the door of the dining-room and went in. The room was dark
and she turned on the lights. As the light came on she stepped back and cried out.
In front of her, near the wall, stood a man. In his hand was a gun.
“Oh”, she said. “What do you want?”
“I think I want to get out. I’ve lost my way here”, he answered ironically.
“What are you doing here?”
“Just robbing, Miss, that’s all. I didn’t expect to find you in, as I saw you
with your old man in an auto. You are Miss Setliffe, aren’t you?”
Mrs. Setliffe saw his mistake but she was pleased.
“Now please show me the way out,” the man said.
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“And what if I cry out for help?” asked the woman.
“I must kill you then,” he answered slowly. “You see, Miss, I can’t go to
prison. A friend is waiting for me outside, and I promised to help him.”
“I’ve never met a robber before,” the woman said, “and I can’t tell you how
exciting it is. Won’t you stay a few minutes and talk? I want you to explain the
whole thing to me. You don’t look like a robber at all. Why don’t you work?”
“I did my best, but there’s no work for me in this city,” he said bitterly. “I
used to be an honest man before I started looking for a job. And now I must go”.
But Mrs. Setliffe didn’t want to lose her robber. Such things did not happen
often in her life.
Turning to the man she said: “I can’t really make you stay, but, come, sit
down, and tell me all about it – here at the table.”
She took her seat at the table and placed him on the other side of it.
She saw him look about the room, then put the gun on the corner of the ta-
ble between them. But he was in a strange house and did not know that under
the table, near her foot, was an electric bell.
“It’s like this, Miss,” he began. “I’m not a robber and I didn’t come here to
steal. You see, I had a little mine once, and old Setliffe took it away from me. I
had nothing left. And as my friend needs money badly I just came to take
something back from your father. I am really taking what is mine”.
“I feel you are right,” she said. “But still robbery is robbery.”
“I know that,” he answered. “What is right is not always legal. That’s why I
must go.”
“No, wait.” The woman suddenly took up the gun. At the same time she
pushed the bell with her foot.
A door opened behind him, and the man heard somebody enter the room.
But he did not even turn his head. Without saying a word, he was looking at the
woman, into her hard cold eyes.
“Thomas,” she said, “call the police.”
The servant left the room. The man and the woman sat at the table, looking
into each other’s eyes. She enjoyed this moment. She already saw the newspa-
pers with the story of the beautiful young Mrs. Setliffe who had caught a dan-
gerous robber in her own house.
“When you are in prison,” she said coldly, “think of the lesson I’ve taught
you. Now, tell the truth. I didn’t believe a single word of your story. You lied to
me”.
He did not answer.
“Say something,” she cried. “Why don’t you ask me to let you go?”
“Yes, I’ll say something. You looked so kind and soft and all the time you
had your foot on the bell. Do you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to get
up from this chair and walk out of that door. But you’re not going to shoot. It
isn’t easy to kill a man and I’m sure you can’t do it.”
With his eyes on her he stood up slowly. She began to pull the trigger.
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“Pull harder”, he advised. “Pull it, and kill a man”.
At the door the man turned round. He spoke to her in a low voice as he
called her a bad name.
V o c a b u l a r y :
1.
lose –
1) терять, потерять:
to lose a book (a ticket; one’s voice);
to lose one’s way – заблудиться;
2) проигрывать:
to lose a game (a competition, a war).
2.
expect – ожидать; рассчитывать, надеяться:
I didn’t expect to see you today. We expect you to help.
3. be (dis)pleased – быть (не)довольным:
She was pleased with his answer. We are pleased to see you.
4.
promise – обещать, обещание:
He promised to come soon.
give ( make) a promise – обещать;
a promising writer ( singer) – многообещающий писатель (певец).
5.
look –
1) выглядеть, казаться:
to look happy (sad, ill, old, tired, pleased);
How did he look when you saw him last? He looked tired.
2) походить, быть похожим на:
In his suit he looks like a foreigner.
What does she look likе? – Как она выглядит?
6.
honest – честный;
be honest with smb – быть откровенным с кем-либо;
dishonest – бесчестный.
7.
make – заставлять:
to make smb work (read, speak, cry);
to make smb angry ( happy) – рассердить кого-либо (сделать кого-либо
счастливым).
8.
own – собственный:
My brother has a family of his own. He told the story in his own words.
9.
need – нуждаться в; необходимость, нужда:
She didn’t need our help. How much time do you need to do the work.
10.
badly – сильно, очень:
He is badly ill. We need your help badly.
11.
feel –
1) чувствовать, ощущать:
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What did you feel when you first travelled by air?
2) считать, полагать:
We felt that he was right.
3) чувствовать себя:
How do you feel? I feel well (better, ill, all right).
feeling – чувство, ощущение:
I had a feeling somebody was watching me.
12. suddenly – вдруг, неожиданно, внезапно.
13. even – даже:
He didn’t even look at me when I entered.
1. Answer the questions.
1.
What for did the woman enter the dining-room?
2.
Why did she cry out when she turned on the lights?
3.
What did the man say to the woman?
4.
Why was she pleased?
5.
Why did the man say he couldn’t go to prison?
6.
Why didn’t Mrs. Setliffe want to lose the robber?
7.
What did the man tell Mrs. Setliffe about himself?
8.
What did she Mrs. Setliffe do after she heard the man’s story?
9.
How did the man react?
10.
Why didn’t Mrs. Setliffe kill the man?
11.
Say whether you think the man did right when he came to old Setliffe’s
house to take back what he believed to be his own.
12.
Explain why the man didn’t turn to the police for help.
13.
Give a description of Mrs. Setliffe as she looked to the man at the be-
ginning of the story and at the end of it.
14.
Explain how it happened that Mrs. Setliffe’s fine words fooled the man
for some time.
15.
Explain why the man was so sure that Mrs. Setliffe wouldn’t shoot.
2. Give character sketches of a) Mrs. Setliffe; b) the man who came to rob
old Setliffe; c) old Setliffe.
beautiful mean sincere arrogant cruel
thoughtful strong-willed aggressive brave calm
decisive dishonest violent wise evil
3. Tell a story to illustrate each of these proverbs:
A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed. – Друг познается в беде.
Appearances are Deceptive. – Внешность обманчива.
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T e x t 10
THE GREEN DOOR
Rudolf Steiner, a young piano salesman, was a true adventurer. Few were
the evenings when he did not go to look for the unexpected. It seemed to him
that the most interesting things in life might lie just around the corner. He was
always dreaming of adventures.
Once when he was walking along the street his attention was attracted by a
Negro handing out dentist’s cards. The Negro slipped a card into Rudolf’s
hand. He turned it over and looked at it. Nothing was written on one side of the
card; on the other three words were written: “The Green Door”. And then Ru-
dolf saw, three steps in front of him, a man throw away the card the Negro had
given his as he passed. Rudolf picked it up. The dentist’s name and address
were printed on it.
The adventurous piano salesman stopped at the corner and considered. Then
he returned and joined the stream of people again. When he was passing the
Negro the second time, he again got a card. Ten steps away he examined it. In
the same handwriting that appeared on the first card “The Green door” was
written upon it. Three or four cards were lying on the pavement. On all of them
were the name and the address of the dentist. Whatever the written words on
the cards might mean, the Negro had chosen him twice from the crowd.
Standing aside from the crowd, the young man looked at the building in
which he thought his adventure must lie. It was a five-storey building. On the
first floor there was a store. The second up were apartments.
After finishing his inspection Rudolf walked rapidly up the stairs into the
house. The hallway there was badly lighted. Rudolf looked toward the nearer
door and saw that it was green. He hesitated for a moment, then he went
straight to the green door and knocked on it. The door slowly opened. A girl not
yet twenty stood there. She was very pale and as it seemed to Rudolf was about
to faint. Rudolf caught her and laid her on a sofa. He closed the door and took a
quick glance round the room. Neat, but great poverty was the story he read.
“Fainted, didn’t I?” the girl asked weakly. “Well, no wonder .You try going
without anything to eat for three days and see.”
“Heavens!” cried Rudolf, jumping up. “Wait till I come back.” He rushed
out of the green door and in twenty minutes he was back with bread and butter,
cold meat, cakes, pies, milk and hot tea.
“It is foolish to go without eating. You shouldn’t do it again,” Rudolf said.
“Supper is ready.”
When the girl cheered up a little she told him her story. It was one of a
thousand such as the city wears with indifference every day – a shop girl’s
story of low wages; of time lost through illness; and then of lost jobs, lost hope
and unrealized dreams and – the knock of the young man upon the door.
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