Text 398

As one approaches some crossroads, one comes to a sign which says that drivers have to stop when they come to the main road ahead. At other cross- roads, drivers have to go slow, but they do not actually have to stop (unless, of course, there is something coming along the main road); and still others, they do not have either to stop or to go slow, because they are themselves on the main road.

Mr Williams, who was always a very careful driver, was driving home from work one evening when he came to a crossroads. It had a 'Slow' sign, so he slowed down when he came to the main road, looked both ways to see that nothing was coming, and then drove across without stopping completely.

At once he heard a police whistle, so he pulled in to the side of the road and stopped. A policeman walked over to him with a notebook and pencil in his hand and said, 'You didn't stop at that crossing.'

'But the sign there doesn't say "Stop",' answered Mr Williams. 'It just

says "Slow", and I did go slow.'

The policeman looked around him, and a look of surprise came over his face. Then he put his notebook and pencil away, scratched his head and said, 'Well, I'll be blowed! I am in the wrong street!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1. What do drivers need to do when they approach some crossroads?

2. What do drivers need to do when they are at another crossroads?

3. What was Mr. Williams?

4. What was he doing one evevning?

5. What sign did he see?

6. What did he do after that?

7. What did he hear?

8. What did Mr. Williams do?

9. What did a policeman say?

10. What did Mr. Williams answer?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1. fast

2. play

3. up

4. with

5. right

6. push

7.seldom

8. sloppy

9. asked

10. move away

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

1. Mr. Williams liked to drive fast.

2. He was walking home on foot one evening

3. Mr. Wiilliams liked to breaks laws.

4. Mr. Wiilliams was sloppy driver.

5 .Mr. Wiilliams igrnored policeman's whistle.

6. Mr. Wiilliams lay to the policeman.

7. Mr. Wiilliams was a kind man.

8. The policeman will be blowed.

9. Mr. Wiilliams was right.

10.Mr. Wiilliams started dispute with the policeman.

Text 399

Before the last war, officers in the navy had a lot more freedom when their ship was in port than they have nowadays. They were expected to lead a busy social life, and to take an active part in sport ashore. It was therefore rather difficult for them to find time to do all their other duties.

Usually, all the officers in a ship used to have a regular meeting together once a week to receive orders from their captain, make reports and discuss any business that had to be discussed, such as who should represent the ship in the next football match.

One such meeting was being held on board a ship one day, and after the regular business had been completed, the time came to discuss the date of the next meeting. Friday of the next week was suggested, and so was Monday of the week after, but both of them interfered with somebody's arrangements for the weekend, and in the end it was generally agreed that the meeting should be held on Wednesday, as this would be the least likely day to interfere with anybody's convenience, since it was right in the middle of the week.

As the officers were leaving, however, one of them was heard to say,

'Wednesday is the worst day, because it interferes with two weekends!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What kind of people had more freedom before the last war?
Where did the navy officers have more freedom?
What were officers expected to do when their ship was in port?
Why was it difficult for officers to finish all their duties?
How often did the officers usually have meetings?
What happened during the regular meetings?
What was one of the things they discussed besides official business?
Why were Friday and Monday rejected for the next meeting?
Why did the officers choose Wednesday?
Why did one officer say that Wednesday was the worst day?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

before → ___________________________
freedom → ___________________________
busy → ___________________________
difficult → ___________________________
regular → ___________________________
next → ___________________________
after → ___________________________
least → ___________________________
middle → ___________________________
worst → ___________________________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Navy officers had more freedom before the last war. ___
Officers were expected to have an active social life. _
Officers only had military duties and no other activities. _
The officers had a meeting every week. _
They discussed both official matters and other activities. _
They discussed who should play in the next football match. _
Everyone agreed immediately to have the meeting on Friday. _
Monday was rejected because it caused problems with someone's plans. _
The officers decided that Wednesday was the most convenient day. _
One officer joked that Wednesday affected two weekends. ___

Text 400

Mr and Mrs Williams had always spent their summer vacations in England in the past, in a small boarding-house at the seaside. One year, however, Mr Williams made a lot of money in his business, so they decided to go to Rome and stay at a really good hotel while they went around and saw the sights of that famous city.

They flew to Rome, and arrived at their hotel late one evening. They expected that they would have to go to bed hungry, because in the boarding- houses they had been used to in the past, no meals were served after seven o'clock in the evening. They were therefore surprised when the clerk who received them in the hall of the hotel asked them whether they would be taking dinner there that night.

'Are you still serving dinner then?' asked Mrs Williams.

'Yes, certainly, madam,' answered the clerk. 'We serve it until half-

past nine.'

'What are the times of meals then?' asked Mr Williams.

'Well, sir,' answered the clerk, 'we serve breakfast from seven to half-

past eleven in the morning, lunch from twelve to three in the afternoon, tea from four to five, and dinner from six to half-past nine.'

'But that hardly leaves any time for us to see the sights of Rome!' said

Mrs Williams in a disappointed voice.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1. Where did Mr and Mrs Williams always have vacations?
2. When did they have vacations ?
3. How lond did they have summer vacation?
4. What did Mr Williams get one year ?
5. Where did Mr and Mrs Williams go ?
6. What hotel did they choose ?
7.  When did Mr and Mrs Williams arrive in Rome?
8. What did Mr and Mrs Williams think when they came to hotel ?
9. What did clerk ask?
10. What did Mrs Williams ask ?
11. What did clerk answer ?
12. What did  Mrs Williams meals time ?
13. What did clerk answer ?
14.What did  Mrs Williams ?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1. never
2. future
3. tall
4. bad
5. full
6. answer
7. early
8. morning
9. winter
10. big

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mr. and Mrs. Williams always spent their vacations in Rome. ___
They usually stayed in a small boarding-house by the sea. _
Mr. Williams became richer because of his business. _
They decided to visit Rome and stay in a good hotel. _
They traveled to Rome by train. _
They thought they might not get dinner because they arrived late. _
The hotel served dinner until half-past nine. _
Breakfast at the hotel was served from seven to half-past eleven. _
Mrs. Williams was happy because the meals gave them plenty of time to explore Rome. _
The story is funny because the hotel meals took up much of their day. ___

Text 401

Mrs Black was having a lot of trouble with her skin, so she went to her doctor about it. He could not find anything wrong with her, however, so he sent her to the local hospital for some tests. The hospital, of course,

sent the results of the tests direct to Mrs Black's doctor, and the next morning he telephoned her to give her a list of the things that he thought she should not eat, as any of them might be the cause of her skin trouble.

Mrs Black carefully wrote all the things down on a piece of paper, which she then left beside the telephone while she went out to a ladies' meeting.

When she got back home two hours later, she found her husband waiting for her. He had a big basket full of packages beside him, and when he saw her, he said, 'Hullo, dear. I have done all your shopping for you.'

'Done all my shopping?" she asked in surprise. 'But how did you know

what I wanted?'

'Well, when I got home, I found your shopping list beside the telephone,' answered her husband, 'so I went down to the shops and bought everything you had written down.'

Of course, Mrs Black had to tell him that he had bought all the things

the doctor did not allow her to eat!

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did Mrs Black go to see her doctor?
Why did the doctor send her to the local hospital?
Where did the hospital send the test results?
When did the doctor telephone Mrs Black?
What kind of list did the doctor give her over the phone?
Where did Mrs Black leave the paper with the list?
Where did Mrs Black go after writing down the list?
What did her husband find when he came home?
Why did her husband go to the shops?
Why did Mrs Black have to explain the situation to her husband?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

trouble
local
morning
carefully
big
bought
wrong
direct
allow
beside

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mrs Black went to the hospital first without seeing her doctor.
The doctor could not find anything wrong with Mrs Black at first.
The hospital sent the test results directly to Mrs Black.
The doctor gave Mrs Black a list of food she should avoid.
Mrs Black left the list on the kitchen table before going out.
Her husband found the list beside the telephone.
He thought the list was a shopping list.
He bought only a few of the things written on the paper.
Mrs Black went to a ladies' meeting.
The husband knew that the food was bad for her skin.

Text 402

Some young soldiers who had recently joined the army were being trained in modern ways of fighting, and one of the things they were shown was how an unarmed man could trick an armed enemy and take his weapon away from him. First one of their two instructors took a knife away from the other, using only his bare hands; and then he took a rifle away from him in the same way.

After the lesson, and before they went on to train the young soldiers to do these things themselves, the two instructors asked them a number of questions to see how well they had understood what they had been shown. One of the questions was this: 'Well, you now know what an unarmed man can do against a man with a rifle. Imagine that you are guarding a bridge at night, and that you have a rifle. Suddenly you see an unarmed enemy soldier coming towards you. What will you do?"

The young soldier who had to answer this question thought carefully

for a few seconds before he answered, and then said, 'Well, after what I

have just seen, I think that the first thing I would do would be to get rid of my rifle as quickly as I could so that the unarmed enemy soldier couldn't take it from me and kill me with it!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Who was being trained in modern ways of fighting?
What were the young soldiers shown during the training?
How could an unarmed man defeat an armed enemy?
What weapons did the instructor take away from the other instructor?
How did the instructor take away the weapons?
Why did the instructors ask the young soldiers questions after the lesson?
What situation did the instructor describe to the soldiers?
What did the young soldier have to do in the situation?
What answer did the young soldier give?
Why is the young soldier’s answer funny?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

young → ___________________________
recently → ___________________________
modern → ___________________________
armed → ___________________________
enemy → ___________________________
take → ___________________________
away → ___________________________
quickly → ___________________________
first → ___________________________
carefully → ___________________________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The soldiers had just joined the army. _______
The soldiers were learning old-fashioned fighting methods only. _______
The instructors showed how an unarmed person could take a weapon away. _______
The instructor used only his hands to take the knife away. _______
The instructor could not take the rifle away from the other man. _______
The instructors tested the soldiers after the lesson. _______
The question involved guarding a bridge at night. _______
The soldier decided to keep his rifle and fight the enemy. _______
The soldier thought the enemy might use his own rifle against him. _______
The soldier’s answer showed that he misunderstood the lesson. _______

Text 403

A certain poet had written a play, and arrangements were being made to perform it. Of course, the poet was asked to give his advice on the scenery, the lighting, and all the other things that help to make a play successful, and he proved to be a very difficult man to please, as he had his own very definite ideas of how each scene should look.

In one of the scenes in the play, it was necessary to produce the effect of a wonderful sunset, which the young lovers watched together before singing one of their great love songs.

The theatre electricians worked very hard to produce this sunset effect. They tried out all kinds of arrangements and combinations of lights-red lights, orange lights, yellow lights, blue lights, lights from above, lights from behind, lights from the front, lights from the sides-but nothing satisfied the poet, until suddenly he saw exactly the effect that he had been dreaming of producing ever since he had written his play.

'That's it!' he shouted excitedly to the electricians behind the stage.

'That's just right! Keep it exactly like that!'

'I'm sorry, sir,' answered the chief electrician, 'but we can't keep it

like this.'

'Why ever not?' asked the poet angrily.

'Because the theatre is on fire, sir,' answered the chief electrician. 'That's what's producing the effect you can see now!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What had the poet written?
Why was the poet asked to give his advice?
Why was the poet difficult to please?
What special effect was needed in one scene of the play?
Who watched the sunset in the play?
What did the theatre electricians try to create?
What kinds of lights did they use to make the sunset effect?
When was the poet finally satisfied?
Why couldn't the chief electrician keep the effect?
Why is the ending of the story funny?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

certain → ___________________________
difficult → ___________________________
successful → ___________________________
young → ___________________________
wonderful → ___________________________
satisfied → ___________________________
behind → ___________________________
front → ___________________________
right → ___________________________
angry → ___________________________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The poet had written a play. ___
The poet did not care about how the play looked. _
The poet had clear ideas about the scenes. _
One scene required a beautiful sunset effect. _
The young lovers watched the sunset before singing a love song. _
The electricians only used red lights for the sunset. _
The poet was finally happy with the sunset effect. _
The chief electrician refused to keep the effect because he disliked it. _
The theatre was actually on fire. _
The fire created the exact effect the poet wanted. ___

Text 404

Nasreddin never seemed to have enough money to pay his bills, so he always owed money to the shopkeepers in his town. Most of them were patient, understanding men and did not speak to him very often about the money that he owed them, but there was one who was not at all patient, and who was also very fond of money. Whenever this man saw Nasreddin, he reminded him of the money that he had not yet paid him, and he very often did this in front of Nasreddin's best friends, which made Nasreddin feel very uncomfortable, as he did not want his friends to know that he was so poor.

One day, therefore, Nasreddin decided to teach the shopkeeper a lesson. The next time that the man stopped him in the street and began to shame him publicly about his debt to him, Nasreddin said, 'Wait a minute. How much money do I in fact owe you?"

'You owe me exactly one hundred and twenty-two liras,' answered the

shopkeeper.

'Well,' said Nasreddin, 'if I paid you forty liras this month, another forty next month, and forty more the month after that, how much would I still owe you?'

'You would then owe me two liras, of course,' answered the shopkeeper.

'Well, aren't you ashamed of yourself,' Nasreddin said, 'giving me all

this trouble for only two liras?"

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did Nasreddin often owe money to shopkeepers?
How did most shopkeepers behave toward Nasreddin?
Why was one shopkeeper different from the others?
How did the shopkeeper make Nasreddin feel uncomfortable?
Why did Nasreddin decide to teach the shopkeeper a lesson?
Where did the shopkeeper usually talk about Nasreddin’s debt?
How much money did Nasreddin owe the shopkeeper?
How much money did Nasreddin say he could pay each month?
How much money would still be left after three payments?
What was Nasreddin trying to show the shopkeeper with his final words?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

enough → ___________________________
always → ___________________________
patient → ___________________________
understanding → ___________________________
poor → ___________________________
uncomfortable → ___________________________
best → ___________________________
next → ___________________________
exactly → ___________________________
ashamed → ___________________________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Nasreddin always had enough money to pay his bills. ___
Nasreddin owed money to several shopkeepers. _
Most shopkeepers were kind and patient with him. _
One shopkeeper often reminded Nasreddin about his debt. _
The shopkeeper only spoke about the debt when they were alone. _
Nasreddin was embarrassed when his friends heard about his money problems. _
Nasreddin planned to teach the shopkeeper a lesson. _
Nasreddin owed exactly one hundred and twenty-two liras. _
The shopkeeper said Nasreddin would still owe two liras after three payments. _
Nasreddin’s joke made the shopkeeper forgive the whole debt. ___

Text 405

Mrs Baker's sister was ill. She had someone to look after her from Monday to Friday, but not at the weekend, so every Friday evening Mrs Baker used to go off to spend the weekend with her at her home in a neighbouring town. But as Mr Baker could not cook, she had arranged for his sister to come over and spend the weekend looking after him at their home.

This meant that Mr Baker had quite a busy time when he came home

from work on Friday evenings. First he had to drive home from the railway station. Then he had to drive his wife to the station to catch her train. And then he had to wait until his sister's train arrived, so as to take her to his house.

Of course, on Sunday evening he had to drive his sister to the station to catch her train back home, and then wait for his wife's train, so as to bring her home.

One Sunday evening he had seen his sister off on her train and was waiting for his wife's arrival when a porter, who had often seen him at the station, came over and spoke to him.

'You are having a lot of fun,' he said. 'But one day one of those women

is going to catch you with the other, and then you will be in real trouble!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did Mrs. Baker go to her sister’s house every weekend?
Who looked after Mrs. Baker’s sister during the week?
Why did Mr. Baker need someone to stay with him at weekends?
Who came to look after Mr. Baker?
What did Mr. Baker have to do on Friday evening?
Why did Mr. Baker have to wait at the station on Friday night?
What did Mr. Baker do on Sunday evening?
Who spoke to Mr. Baker at the station?
What did the porter think was happening?
Why is the porter’s comment funny?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

ill → ___________________________
Monday → ___________________________
evening → ___________________________
home → ___________________________
busy → ___________________________
arrived → ___________________________
first → ___________________________
back → ___________________________
often → ___________________________
trouble → ___________________________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mrs. Baker’s sister was sick. ___
Someone looked after Mrs. Baker’s sister every day of the week. _
Mrs. Baker visited her sister every weekend. _
Mr. Baker was a good cook. _
Mr. Baker’s sister came to stay with him at weekends. _
Mr. Baker had to travel to the station several times during the weekend. _
Mr. Baker took his sister home on Friday evening. _
The porter often saw Mr. Baker at the station. _
The porter thought Mr. Baker was meeting two different women secretly. _
The porter understood that the two women were relatives. ___

Text 406

A gay young man, who earned his living as a drummer in a band, had just married, and he and his wife were looking for somewhere to live. They saw a lot of places, but there was always something that one of them did not like about them. At last, however, they found a block of new flats which both of them really liked. However, there was still the problem of whether they should take one of the ground-floor flats, which had a small garden, or one of the upstairs ones.

At last they decided on a first-floor flat-not too low down and not too

high up and moved in. After they had bought furniture, carpets, curtains,

and all the rest, they gave a big party to celebrate the setting up of their

first home together.

It was a gay and noisy party, as all the host's friends from the band came and played their instruments. The guests danced, sang and practised on their host's drums.

Soon after one a.m. the telephone rang. The hostess went to answer it

in the hall, and after she had finished, came back with a happy smile on her face and said to her husband, 'That was the man who has just moved into the flat downstairs telephoning, dear. I am so glad we decided not to choose it. He says it is terribly noisy down there.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What job did the young man have?
Why did the couple not choose the first places they visited?
What two types of flats were they trying to choose between?
Why did they decide to have a party after moving in?
Who came to the party?
What activities did the guests do during the party?
What happened soon after one o'clock in the morning?
Who called the couple on the telephone?
Why did the wife say she was happy they had not chosen the ground-floor flat?
What is the funny or surprising ending of the story?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

young → ______________________
noisy → ______________________
upstairs → ______________________
first → ______________________
happy → ______________________
big → ______________________
together → ______________________
moved in → ______________________
celebrate → ______________________
new → ______________________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The young man worked as a taxi driver.
The couple immediately found the perfect flat.
They chose a ground-floor flat with a large garden.
They had very little furniture in their new home.
The guests stayed quiet during the party.
Nobody played the drums at the party.
The telephone rang before midnight.
The person on the phone lived in the flat above them.
The wife realized that their party was making the noise.
The couple chose a first-floor flat.

Text 407

Just after the last war, people were very willing to give money to help those who had suffered from it. But not everyone who collected money was honest. The newspapers were full of stories of people who had been cheated by men who went from house to house saying that they were collecting for soldiers who had been seriously wounded in the war, or for people who had lost their homes, or for some other noble cause, while all the time they wereputting the money they collected into their own pockets instead of using it for the purposes they claimed to be collecting it for.

One day Mr Smith came back with another story of this kind. He told

his wife that a group of people had collected thousands of dollars for the

widow of the Unknown Soldier. Then someone had written to the papers

about it, and they had written articles to warn other people. Mr Smith

said that he and his friends at the office had had a good laugh about the

story when they had read it in the newspaper.

'Can you imagine anyone being so stupid as to believe that story and

give money for the widow of the Unknown Soldier?' he asked his wife.

She looked puzzled at first, but then her face brightened. 'Oh, yes! I see now!' she answered. 'Of course, the government pays the widow of the Unknown Soldier!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why were people willing to give money after the war?
Why were some people dishonest when collecting money?
What did some dishonest collectors say they were raising money for?
What did the dishonest collectors do with the money they collected?
Where did Mr. Smith read the story about the fake charity?
Who was the money supposedly being collected for?
How did Mr. Smith and his friends react to the story?
Why did Mr. Smith think the story was funny?
How did Mrs. Smith react before she understood the joke?
What is the humorous misunderstanding at the end of the story?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

honest → ______________________
willing → ______________________
last → ______________________
full → ______________________
lost → ______________________
serious → ______________________
laughed → ______________________
brightened → ______________________
give → ______________________
remember → ______________________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The story takes place before the war.
Everyone who collected money was honest.
Some dishonest collectors kept the money for themselves.
The newspapers encouraged people to trust every collector.
Mr. Smith heard the story on the radio.
The money was said to be for the widow of a famous general.
Mr. Smith and his friends were angry when they read the story.
Mrs. Smith immediately understood the joke.
Mrs. Smith believed the government collected money for the Unknown Soldier every year.
Mr. Smith and his friends laughed because the "Unknown Soldier" could not have a known widow.

Text 408

Mr and Mrs Davies had left their Christmas shopping very late. There

were only a few days more before Christmas, and of course the shops and streets were terribly crowded, but they had to get presents for their family and friends, so they started out early one morning for the big city, and spent several tiring hours buying the things they wanted in the big

shops.

By lunch-time, Mr Davies was loaded down with parcels of all shapes

and sizes. He could hardly see where he was going as he and his wife left the last shop on their way to the railway station and home. Outside the shop they had to cross a busy street, made even busier than usual by the thousands of people who had come by car to do their last-minute Christmas shopping.

Mr and Mrs Davies had to wait for the traffic lights to change, but as

Mr Davies could not see in front of him properly, he gradually moved

forward into the road without realizing it. Mrs Davies saw this and became worried. Several times she urged her husband to come back off the road, but without success. He could not hear her because of the noise of the traffic.

Finally she shouted in a voice that could be heard clearly above all the

noise, 'Henry! If you intend to stand in that dangerous position a moment longer, give me the parcels!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did Mr. and Mrs. Davies go to the city a few days before Christmas?
Why were the shops and streets so crowded?
How long did the couple spend shopping?
Why could Mr. Davies hardly see where he was going?
Where were they going after leaving the last shop?
Why was the street busier than usual?
What mistake did Mr. Davies make while waiting at the traffic lights?
Why couldn't Mr. Davies hear his wife?
What did Mrs. Davies shout at the end of the story?
Why is the ending of the story funny?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

early → ______________________
crowded → ______________________
busy → ______________________
big → ______________________
last → ______________________
dangerous → ______________________
forward → ______________________
noisy → ______________________
success → ______________________
hardly → ______________________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mr. and Mrs. Davies finished their Christmas shopping several weeks before Christmas.
The streets were quiet because very few people were shopping.
Mr. Davies carried many parcels after leaving the shops.
The couple walked to the airport after shopping.
Mr. Davies could clearly see the road in front of him.
Mrs. Davies was not worried when her husband stepped into the road.
Mr. Davies heard every word his wife said.
Mrs. Davies asked her husband to give the parcels to a police officer.
Mrs. Davies shouted because the traffic was very noisy.
Mrs. Davies was more concerned about carrying the parcels than about her husband's safety.

Text 409

Most of Nasreddin's neighbours were pleasant people, who were always ready to help each other when they were in trouble; but there was one woman who lived in his street who was disliked by everybody because she was always interfering in other people's business, and because she was ways borrow ngs from people and then forgetting to give them back.

Early one morning, Nasreddin heard a knock at his front door, and, when he opened it, found this woman outside.

'Good morning, Nasreddin,' she said. 'I have to take some things to my sister's house in the town today, and I have not got a donkey, as you know. Will you lend me yours? I will bring it back this evening.'

'I am sorry,' answered Nasreddin. 'If my donkey was here, I would of course lend it to you very willingly, but it is not.'

'Oh?' said the woman. 'It was here last night, because I saw it behind your house. Where is it now?'

'My wife took it into town early this morning,' answered Nasreddin.

Just then the donkey brayed loudly.

'You are not telling the truth, Nasreddin!' the woman said angrily. 'I can hear your donkey. You should be ashamed of yourself, telling lies to a neighbour!'

'You are the one who should be ashamed, not me!' shouted Nasreddin.'Is it good manners to believe a donkey's word rather than that of one of one's neighbours?'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did most people dislike Nasreddin's neighbour?
What did the woman want to borrow from Nasreddin?
Why did the woman need the donkey?
What excuse did Nasreddin give for not lending the donkey?
What did the woman say she had seen the night before?
What did Nasreddin say his wife had done with the donkey?
What happened while Nasreddin was talking to the woman?
Why did the woman accuse Nasreddin of lying?
How did Nasreddin respond to the woman's accusation?
What makes the ending of the story humorous?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

pleasant → ______________________
help → ______________________
early → ______________________
outside → ______________________
borrow → ______________________
remember → ______________________
loudly → ______________________
angry → ______________________
truth → ______________________
ashamed → ______________________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

All of Nasreddin's neighbours were disliked by everyone.
The woman often returned everything she borrowed on time.
The woman came to ask Nasreddin for a horse.
She wanted to visit her brother in another village.
Nasreddin said the donkey was sick.
The woman believed Nasreddin without asking any questions.
The donkey stayed completely quiet during the conversation.
Nasreddin admitted that he had told a lie.
The woman apologized to Nasreddin before leaving.
Nasreddin joked that the woman trusted the donkey more than her neighbour.

Text 410

Nasreddin had to preach in the mosque every Friday, but he did not like this duty at all, and was always looking for ways to avoid it. One Friday he had a good idea. When he went up to begin to preach to the people in the mosque, he said to them, 'Do you know what I am going to talk to you about?'

They were surprised and answered, 'No, we do not.'

Then Nasreddin said, 'Well, if you do not know anything about such an important matter, it is a waste of time for me to talk to you about it.' And he went down again without preaching to the people.

The next Friday, he again asked the question, 'Do you know what I am going to talk to you about today?"

This time the people thought that they had learnt their lesson, so they all said, 'Yes, we do.'

Then Nasreddin said to them, 'Well, it is a waste of time to tell people

things that they already know.' And again he went down without preach-

ing to the people.

The third Friday, Nasreddin again said, 'Do you know what I am going

to preach to you about today?', but this time some people answered, 'Yes,' and some answered, 'No.'

'Well,' said Nasreddin, 'if some of you know, and some of you do not,

those that do can tell those that do not,' and again he went down without saying another word.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What did Nasreddin have to do every Friday?
Why did Nasreddin try to avoid this duty?
What question did Nasreddin ask the people before preaching?
How did the people answer his question on the first Friday?
Why did Nasreddin refuse to preach on the first Friday?
What answer did the people give on the second Friday?
What reason did Nasreddin give for not preaching on the second Friday?
How did the people answer his question on the third Friday?
What did Nasreddin tell the people to do on the third Friday?
Why is the ending of the story funny?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

begin → ______________________
important → ______________________
waste → ______________________
know → ______________________
up → ______________________
today → ______________________
always → ______________________
same → ______________________
answer → ______________________
avoid → ______________________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Nasreddin enjoyed preaching every Friday.
Nasreddin asked a different question each Friday.
On the first Friday, the people answered, "Yes, we do."
Nasreddin preached a long sermon on the first Friday.
On the second Friday, everyone answered, "No, we do not."
Nasreddin thanked the people for their answers before preaching.
On the third Friday, everyone gave the same answer.
Nasreddin finally preached after the third question.
The people left the mosque before Nasreddin spoke.
On the third Friday, Nasreddin suggested that those who knew should teach those who did not.

Text 411

Late one night, Nasreddin was woken up by a terrible noise in the street outside his house. It sounded as if a terrible fight was going on, and as Nasreddin loved nothing better than to watch a fight in the street, he opened his window and looked out. He saw two young men fighting just outside his front door, but when they saw him watching them, they went round the corner of the house and continued to shout at each other and to hit each other there.

Nasreddin did not want to miss anything, so he ran down and opened his front door, but, as it was a cold night, he wrapped himself in a blanket before he went out.

He walked to the corner of his house and looked round it. The two men were still shouting and struggling. Nasreddin went closer to them, both to see the fight better and to try to find out what the men were fighting about. But as soon as he was within easy reach of the men, they stopped fighting, attacked him, seized his blanket and ran away into the darkness with it.

Nasreddin was too old to run after them, so he could do nothing but go sadly back to bed without his blanket.

'Well,' said his wife. 'What were they fighting about?'

'It seems that they were fighting about my blanket,' answered Nasreddin, 'because as soon as they got it, their quarrel ended.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What woke Nasreddin up late one night?
Why did Nasreddin look out of the window?
What happened when the two young men saw Nasreddin watching them?
Why did Nasreddin take a blanket with him?
Why did Nasreddin go closer to the two men?
What did the two men do when Nasreddin came near them?
Why couldn't Nasreddin catch the two men?
What did Nasreddin lose during the incident?
What question did Nasreddin's wife ask him?
Why is the ending of the story humorous?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

late → ______________________
terrible → ______________________
outside → ______________________
opened → ______________________
cold → ______________________
closer → ______________________
easy → ______________________
old → ______________________
sadly → ______________________
ended → ____________

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Nasreddin slept through the noise outside his house.
The fight happened far from Nasreddin's home.
The two men continued fighting in front of Nasreddin's window.
Nasreddin wore a heavy coat instead of a blanket.
Nasreddin went outside because he wanted to stop the fight.
The two men ignored Nasreddin when he came closer.
Nasreddin chased the two men and caught them.
Nasreddin returned home with his blanket.
Nasreddin's wife saw the fight herself.
Nasreddin joked that the two men were really fighting over his blanket.

Text 412

Mr and Mrs Jones's flat was full of suitcases, trunks and packed-up furniture. The two of them were busy with pencils and paper, checking their lists of luggage, when there was a ring at the door. Mrs Jones went to open it, and saw a well-dressed middle-aged lady outside. The lady said that she lived in the flat beside theirs, and that she had come to welcome them to their new home.

The Joneses invited her in, after apologizing for the state of the flat.

'Oh, please don't stand on ceremony with me,' she answered. 'Do you

know, in some parts of this town neighbours are not at all friendly. There

are some streets and even some blocks of flats-where people don't know

their neighbours-not even their next-door ones. But in this block of flats,

everybody is friends with everybody else. We are one big, happy family.

I am sure that you will be very happy here.'

The well-dressed lady got a shock when she came to visit the flat the

next time, because she found a quite different man and woman in it. Mr

and Mrs Jones had not had the courage to tell her that they were not the

new owners of the flat, who were due to move in the next day, but the old owners, who had lived beside her for two years without her ever having visited them or even noticed their existence.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.What was inside of Mr. and Mrs.Jones 's flat?
2.What did they pack up?
3.Who came to Mr. and Mrs. Jones?
4.What did they appologized for?
5.Who rang at the door?
6.What did their flat look like?
7.Who was this woman?
8.Was this block of flats friendly?
9.How many times did the old lady visit Mr. and Mrs. Jones's flat?
10.Were Mr. and Mrs. Jones previous and present owners of this flat?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Empty
2.Free
3.Close
4.Badly
5.Old
6.Enemies
7.Small
8.Sad
9.Lost
10.Foreigners

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The Joneses had already unpacked all their furniture.
The visitor was a young student.
The woman said that neighbours in her block never spoke to each other.
The visitor knew Mr. and Mrs. Jones very well before coming to the flat.
Mr. and Mrs. Jones were the new owners of the flat.
The new owners moved in on the same day as the visitor's first visit.
The visitor discovered the truth during her first visit.
Mr. and Mrs. Jones told the visitor they were moving to another country.
The visitor had often visited the Joneses during the previous two years. __
The visitor had lived next door to the Joneses for two years without realizing it.

Text 413

Mr Brown was at the theatre. He had got his ticket at the last moment, sohe had not been able to choose his seat. He now found that he was in themiddle of a group of American ladies, some of them middle-aged and some quite old. They obviously all knew each other well, as, before the curtain went up on the play they had come to see, they all talked and joked a lot together.

The lady sitting on Mr Brown's left, who was about sixty years old, seemed to be the happiest and the most amusing of the American group, and after the first act of the play, she apologized to him for the noisiness of her friends. He answered that he was very glad to see American ladies so obviously enjoying their visit to England, and so they got into conversation. Mr Brown's neighbour explained what they were doing there.

'You know, I have known these ladies all my life,' she said. 'We all grew up together back in our home town in the United States. They have all lost their husbands, and call themselves the Merry Widows. It is a sort of club, you know. They go abroad every summer for a month or two and have a lot of fun. They always go everywhere together. I have wanted to join their club for a long time, but I didn't qualify for membership until the spring of this year.'

Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:

1. What was Mr. Brown?
2. Where was he?
3. What did he do?
4. What did he buy?
5. Who was he sitting with?
6. Who were they?
7. How did they call their band?
8. What was the woman`s age on Mr.Browns left side ?
9. Where were these ladies from?
10.Why did Mr. Browns neighbour qualify to the band?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1. First
2. Young
3. Work
4. Standing
5. After
6. Enemies
7. Appart
8. Hating
9. Never
10. Few

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

1. Mr.Brown was first who bought tickets
2. He chose his seat attentively
3. There was a group of british ladies
4. All ladies were young
5. They were with their husbands
6. Man was sitting on Mr. Browns left side
7. Group came from Liverpool
8. The group`s members were sad
9. The grop members travelled every Summer
10. Man`s wife didn`t belong to the group

Text 414

Mr and Mrs Brown were going abroad for their holiday. They had a dog

called Blackie which they were very fond of, but they could not take him

abroad with them, so they looked for a good place to leave him while they

were away, and at last found a place which looked after dogs very well

while their owners were away. They took Blackie there just before they left

for their holiday, and sadly said goodbye to him.

At the end of their holiday, they got back to England very late at night,

and as they thought that the place where Blackie was staying might be closed at that late hour, they decided to wait until the next morning before going to get him.

So the next morning Mr Brown got into his car and drove off happily to

collect Blackie.

When he reached home with the dog, he said to his wife, 'Do you know,

dear, I don't think Blackie can have enjoyed his stay at that place very

much. He barked all the way home in the car as if he wanted to tell me

something.'

Mrs Brown looked at the dog carefully and then answered, 'You are

quite right, dear. He was certainly trying to tell you something. But he

wasn't trying to tell you that he hadn't enjoyed his stay at that place. He

was only trying to tell you that you were bringing the wrong dog home.

This isn't Blackie!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.What were Mr and Mrs Brown preparing for?
2.What was the dog`s name?
3.Did they like their dog?
4.What place did Mr and Mrs Brown find for dog?
5.Where did he take his dog to?
6.In what country were they living?
7.When did they come back?
8.What did they decide about dog?
9.What was dog doing all the way
10.Was it their dog?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Early
2.Without
3.Bad
4.After
5.Dangerous
6.Day
7.Leave
8.Came
9.Opened
10.Previous

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F

Mr. and Mrs. Brown took Blackie with them on their holiday. _______
The Browns left Blackie with their neighbors. _______
They returned to England early in the morning. _______
Mrs. Brown went to collect the dog. _______
The dog slept all the way home. _______
Mr. Brown thought the dog was hungry. _______
Mrs. Brown did not recognize the dog immediately. _______
The Browns had two dogs at home. _______
The dog was barking because it wanted food. _______
Mr. Brown brought home the wrong dog. _______

Text 415

Nasreddin sat drinking coffee and talking with some of his old friends. One of the things they discussed was the difference between one person's sense of values and another's. After some minutes, one of Nasreddin's friends said to him, 'Well, Nasreddin, you are a wise man, but you have said nothing on this subject yet. What do you consider to be the most valuable thing in the world?'

Nasreddin answered without hesitation, 'I consider advice the most

valuable thing in the world.'

His friends thought about this for a few moments, and then one of them asked him, 'And what do you consider the most worthless thing in the world?'

Again Nasreddin replied without hesitating for a moment, 'I consider

advice the most worthless thing in the world.'

'Really!' said one of his friends. 'You must be joking, Nasreddin! A

minute ago you said that advice is the most valuable thing in the world,

and now you say that it is the most worthless thing in the world! How can it be both the most valuable and the most worthless?"

'Well,' answered Nasreddin, 'if you think about the matter carefully,

you will see that I am not joking, and that I am quite right. When you give somebody good advice, and he takes it, advice is the most valuable thing in the world. But when you give a person advice and he does not take it, it is the most worthless thing in the world.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.What was Nassredin doing?
2.Who was he with?
3.What did they talk about?
4.Did Nasreddin first time talk with them?
5.How did he answer this question?
6.What question was it?
7.What was his answer on second question?
8.What was second question like?
9.How long was he thinking before answer?
10.How did he explain his answer?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.stand
2.be silent
3.enemies
4.priceless
5.with
6.useful
7.give
8.less
9.non human
10.wrong

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

1.Nasreddin was standing
2.He drank beer
3.He was with his wife
4.They were talking about dogs
5.He said that most valuable thing is Lamborgini
6.They Thought about his words
7.They asked why Lamborgini
8.They asked about most worthless thing in the world
9.He said said that it is fake clothes
10.They didn`t think about his words

Text 416

Mrs Jones was over eighty, but she still drove her old car like a woman half her age. She loved driving very fast, and boasted of the fact that she had never, in her thirty-five years of driving, been punished for a driving offence.

Then one day she nearly lost her record. A police car followed her, and the policemen in it saw her pass a red light without stopping.

When Mrs Jones came before the judge, he looked at her severely and

said that she was too old to drive a car, and that the reason why she had

not stopped at the red light was most probably that her eyes had become weak with old age, so that she had simply not seen it.

When the judge had finished what he was saying, Mrs Jones opened the big handbag she was carrying and took out her sewing. Without saying a word, she chose a needle with a very small eye, and threaded it at her first attempt.

When she had successfully done this, she took the thread out of the needle again and handed both the needle and the thread to the judge, saying, 'Now it is your turn. I suppose you drive a car, and that you have no doubts about your own eyesight.'

The judge took the needle and tried to thread it. After half a dozen

attempts, he had still not succeeded. The case against Mrs Jones was dismissed, and her record remained unbroken.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.How old was Mrs.Jones?
2.What did she like to do?
3.How did she do it?
4.Was she punished?
5.How long didshe drive?
6.Who was following her?
7.What did policeman do?
8.Why couldn`t she drive then?
9.What did she do then?
10.Could Judge do it?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.young
2.hate
3.got
4.go
5.Hardly
6.big
7.unsucces
8.broken
9.my
10.give

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mrs. Jones was under sixty years old.
She enjoyed driving very slowly.
She had often been punished for careless driving.
A police officer stopped her because she was speeding.
The judge believed she ignored the traffic light on purpose.
Mrs. Jones took a pair of glasses out of her handbag.
She asked the judge to sew a button onto her clothes.
The judge threaded the needle on his first try.
Mrs. Jones admitted that her eyesight was poor.
The court dismissed the case against Mrs. Jones.

Text 417

When a big ship is in very rough sea, it has to be able to bend a little, otherwise it may break in two. If one end of the ship is on the top of one huge wave, and the other end is on the top of another, with the middle of the ship hanging in between; or if one huge wave comes up under the middle of the ship, leaving the two ends hanging, the ship's own weight will break its back if it is quite stiff.

To make a big ship elastic enough to avoid this danger, it has joints where the sections of the ship come together above the water-line, and these joints open and shut slightly as the waves lift one section of the ship or another. This is enough to save the ship from breaking into pieces.

One day a sailor was walking along a passage-way in a big ship during a storm when he was surprised to see a boy sitting comfortably in a chair at the end of the passage-way, which was opposite one of the ship's joints. The boy had a bag of nuts beside him, and every time the ship was lifted by a wave and the joint opened, he put a nut in it. As the ship came down again, the joint closed and cracked the nut, gently but firmly. The boy then took it out and put the next one in as the joint opened again.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.What happens in rough sea with ships?
2.How does it happen?
3. Are there any elastic ships?
4.Do they have any sections which are above water in storm?
5.What was sailor was sailor doing?
6.Whom did he see?
7.Was he surprised?
8.Where was boy sitting?
9.What did he have beside him?
10.What was he doing when ship came down on waves?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.small
2.big
3.soft
4.start
5.little
6.safe
7.loud
8.under
9.up
10.in

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

A ship should always be completely stiff in rough seas.
A ship can break if large waves put too much pressure on it.
The joints are below the water-line.
The joints never move during a storm.
The sailor was sleeping when he saw the boy.
The boy was afraid of the storm.
The boy used a hammer to crack the nuts.
The sailor gave the boy the bag of nuts.
The ship's joint opened and closed as the waves moved the ship.
The boy used the ship's movement to crack the nuts.

Text 418

Dick was a clever boy, but his parents were poor, so he had to work in his spare time and during his holidays to pay for his education. In spite of this, he managed to get to the university, but it was so expensive to study there that during the holidays he found it necessary to get two jobs at the same time so as to earn enough money to pay for his studies.

One summer he managed to get a job in a butcher's shop during the day- time, and another in a hospital at night. In the shop, he learnt to cut meat up quite nicely, so the butcher often left him to do all the serving while he went into a room behind the shop to do the accounts. In the hospital, on the other hand, he was, of course, allowed to do only the simplest jobs, like helping to lift people and to carry them from one part of the hospital to another. Both at the butcher's shop and at the hospital, Dick had to wear white clothes.

One evening at the hospital, Dick had to help to carry a woman from her bed to the place where she was to have an operation. The woman was already feeling frightened at the thought of the operation before he came to get her, but when she saw Dick, that finished her.

'No! No!' she cried. 'Not my butcher! I won't be operated on by my

butcher!' and fainted away.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did Dick have to work during his holidays and spare time?
How did Dick manage to continue his education despite his family’s poverty?
Why did Dick need two jobs during the summer holidays?
What kind of work did Dick do in the butcher’s shop?
Why did the butcher trust Dick to serve customers alone?
What duties was Dick allowed to do in the hospital?
Why did Dick wear white clothes in both jobs?
How was the woman feeling before the operation?
Why did the woman think Dick was her butcher?
What happened to the woman after she saw Dick?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

clever
poor
expensive
day
simple
behind
frightened
necessary
summer
operation

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Dick came from a very rich family.
Dick studied at school for free without working.
Dick had only one job during the summer holidays.
Dick worked in a bakery during the daytime.
Dick was allowed to perform operations in the hospital.
Dick wore black clothes at both jobs.
The woman was happy about the operation.
The butcher never trusted Dick with customers.
The woman recognized Dick as her doctor.
Dick worked in a butcher’s shop and in a hospital at the same time.

Text 419

Nasreddin was a poor man, so he tried to grow as many vegetables as he could in his own garden, so that he would not have to buy so many in the market.

One evening he heard a noise in his garden and looked out of the window. A white ox had got into the garden and was eating his vegetables. Nasreddin at once took his stick, ran out and chased the ox, but he was too old to catch it. When he got back to his garden, he found that the ox had ruined most of his precious vegetables.

The next morning, while he was walking in the street near his house, he saw a cart with two white oxen which looked very much like the one that had eaten his vegetables. He was carrying his stick with him, so he at once began to beat the two oxen with it. As neither of them looked more like the ox that had eaten his vegetables than the other, he beat both of them equally hard.

The owner of the ox-cart was drinking coffee in a nearby coffee-house. When he saw what Nasreddin was doing to his animals, he ran out and shouted, 'What are you doing? What have those poor animals done to you for you to beat them like that?'

'You keep out of this!' Nasreddin shouted back. 'This is a matter be-

tween me and one of these two oxen. He knows very well why I am beating him!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did Nasreddin try to grow vegetables in his garden?
What did Nasreddin hear one evening?
What animal entered Nasreddin’s garden?
Why could Nasreddin not catch the ox?
What happened to the vegetables in the garden?
Where did Nasreddin see the two white oxen the next morning?
Why did Nasreddin beat both oxen?
What was the owner of the ox-cart doing nearby?
How did the owner react when he saw Nasreddin beating the animals?
What did Nasreddin say to the owner of the ox-cart?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

poor
evening
old
near
hard
out
ruined
shouted
white
precious

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Nasreddin was a wealthy farmer.
Nasreddin bought all his vegetables from the market.
A black horse entered Nasreddin’s garden.
Nasreddin easily caught the animal in the garden.
The ox destroyed only a few vegetables.
Nasreddin saw the oxen in the market at night.
The owner of the ox-cart was sleeping in his cart.
Nasreddin beat only one ox with his stick.
The owner thanked Nasreddin for beating the oxen.
Nasreddin believed that one of the oxen had eaten his vegetables.

Text 420

The war had begun, and George had joined the air force. He wanted to be a pilot, and after some months he managed to get to the air force training school, where they taught pilots to fly.

There, the first thing that new students had to do was to be taken up in a plane by an experienced pilot, to give them some idea of what it felt like. Even those who had travelled as passengers in commercial airline planes before found it strange to be in the cockpit of a small fighter plane, and most of the new students felt nervous.

The officer who had to take the students up for their first flight allowed them to fly the plane for a few seconds if they wanted to and if they were not too frightened to try, but he was always ready to take over as soon as the plane started to do dangerous things.

George was one of those who took over the controls of the plane when he went up in it for the first time, and after the officer had taken them from him again, George thought that he had better ask a few questions to show how interested he was and how much he wanted to learn to fly. There were a number of instruments in front of him, so he chose one and asked the officer what it was.

The officer looked at him strangely for a moment and then answered, 'That is the clock.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did George join the air force?
What did George want to become?
What was the first thing new students had to do at the training school?
Why did many students feel nervous in the fighter plane?
Who took the students on their first flight?
When were students allowed to control the plane?
Why was the officer ready to take control of the plane quickly?
What did George do during his first flight?
Why did George ask the officer questions?
What instrument did George ask about?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

began
experienced
dangerous
nervous
small
first
strange
interested
take over
up

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F) ?

George joined the navy during the war.
George wanted to become a doctor.
The students learned to drive tanks at the training school.
All the students felt relaxed in the fighter plane.
The officer never allowed students to touch the controls.
George refused to fly the plane during his first flight.
The officer left the students alone in the plane.
George asked about the plane’s engine.
The officer became angry and shouted at George.
George was taken up in a plane by an experienced pilot.

Text 421

Mr Robinson had to travel somewhere on business, and as he was in a hurry, he decided to go by air. He liked sitting beside a window when he was flying, so when he got on to the plane, he looked for a window seat.He found that all of them had already been taken except for one. There was a soldier sitting in the seat beside this one, and Mr Robinson was surprised that he had not taken the one by the window; but, anyhow, he at once went towards it.

When he reached it, however, he saw that there was a notice on it. It was written in ink and said, 'This seat is reserved for proper load balance. Thank you.' Mr Robinson had never seen such a notice in a plane before, but he thought that the plane must be carrying something particularly heavy in its baggage room which made it necessary to have the passengers properly balanced, so he walked on and found another empty seat, not beside a window, to sit in.

Two or three other people tried to sit in the window seat beside the

soldier, but they too read the notice and went on. Then, when the plane

was nearly full, a very beautiful girl stepped into the plane. The soldier,

who was watching the passengers coming in, quickly took the notice off the seat beside him-and in this way succeeded in having the company of the girl during the whole of the trip.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did Mr Robinson decide to travel by air?
What kind of seat did Mr Robinson prefer on the plane?
Who was sitting next to the window seat?
What did the notice on the seat say?
Why did Mr Robinson believe the notice?
What did Mr Robinson do after seeing the notice?
How did other passengers react to the reserved seat?
What happened when the plane was almost full?
Why did the soldier remove the notice from the seat?
How did the soldier manage to sit beside the beautiful girl?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

hurry
empty
beautiful
quickly
heavy
proper
surprised
near
succeed
beside

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mr Robinson travelled by bus for his business trip.
Mr Robinson disliked window seats on planes.
The soldier was standing near the luggage area.
The notice on the seat was written in red ink.
Mr Robinson ignored the notice and sat there anyway.
The passengers all laughed and sat in the reserved seat.
The plane had many empty seats during the flight.
The soldier removed the notice for an elderly woman.
The beautiful girl entered the plane first.
The soldier kept the seat empty using a notice.

Text 422

Mrs Jones was very fond of singing. She had a good voice, except that some of her high notes tended to sound like a gate which someone had forgotten to oil. Mrs Jones was very conscious of this weakness, and took every opportunity she could find to practise these high notes. As she lived in a small house, where she could not practise without disturbing the rest of the family, she usually went for long walks along the country roads whenever she had time, and practised her high notes there. Whenever she heard a car or a person coming along the road, she stopped and waited until she could no longer be heard before she started practising again, because she was a shy person, and because she was sensitive about those high notes.

One afternoon, however, a fast, open car came up behind her so silently and so fast that she did not hear it until it was only a few meters from her. She was singing some of her highest and most difficult notes at the time, and as the car passed her, she saw an anxious expression suddenly come over its driver's face. He put his brakes on violently, and as soon as the car.

stopped, jumped out and began to examine all his tyres carefully.

Mrs Jones did not dare to tell him what the noise he had heard had really been, so he got back into his car and drove off as puzzled as he had been when he stopped.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What was Mrs Jones very fond of doing?
What problem did Mrs Jones have with her singing voice?
Why did she feel the need to practise high notes often?
Where did Mrs Jones usually go to practise singing?
Why did she stop singing when she heard someone coming?
Why did Mrs Jones choose quiet country roads for practising?
What happened when the fast car approached her?
How did the driver react when he heard Mrs Jones singing?
What did the driver do after stopping the car?
Why did Mrs Jones not explain the situation to the driver?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

fond
good
high
weak
small
quiet
fast
anxious
stop
puzzled

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mrs Jones hated singing and never practised it.
Mrs Jones had a perfect voice with no weak points.
She practised singing only inside her house.
She liked to practise her high notes on busy city streets.
Mrs Jones always continued singing when people approached.
The driver of the car was completely relaxed when he passed her.
The driver stopped because he thought his car was broken.
Mrs Jones explained everything to the driver immediately.
The driver understood the situation and laughed with her.
Mrs Jones stopped singing when she heard people coming near.

Text 423

April 1st is a day on which, in some countries, people try to play tricks on others. If one succeeds in tricking somebody, one laughs and says, 'April Fool!', and then the person who has been tricked usually laughs too.

One April 1st, a country bus was going along a winding road when it slowed down and stopped. The driver anxiously turned switches and

pressed buttons, but nothing happened. Then he turned to the passengers with a worried look on his face and said, 'This poor bus is getting old. It isn't going as well as it used to. There's only one thing to do if we want to get home today. I shall count three, and on the word 'three', I want you all to lean forward suddenly as hard as you can. That should get the bus started again, but if it doesn't, I am afraid there is nothing else I can do. Now, all of you lean back as far as you can in your seats and get ready.'

The passengers all obediently pressed back against their seats and waited anxiously.

Then the driver turned to his front and asked, 'Are you ready?'

The passengers hardly had enough breath to answer, 'Yes.'

'One! Two! Three!' counted the driver. The passengers all

ward suddenly and the bus started up at a great rate.

The passengers breathed more easily and began to smile with relief. But their smiles turned to surprised and then delighted laughter when the driver merrily cried, 'April Fool!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.What day was it?
2.What does the april 1st mean in different countries?
3.What happened to the bus when it was driving along the country road?
4.What was the drivers face?
5.What did the driver say to the passengers?
6.What was passengers reaction?
7.What did driver tell them to do?
8.How were passengers breathing?
9.When passengs were supposed to do what driver said?
10.What did driver say at the end?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.New
2.Badly
3.Rich
4.Front
5.Everything
6.Hardly
7.Cry
8.Work
9.Near
10.Bad

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The story takes place on New Year's Day.
The bus was traveling through a large city.
The driver told the passengers to leave the bus.
The bus was described as new and powerful.
The passengers ignored the driver's instructions.
The driver asked everyone to lean to the left.
The passengers were excited from the beginning of the journey.
The bus moved backward when the passengers leaned forward.
The driver ended the trip without speaking to the passengers.
The driver shouted "April Fool!" at the end of the story.

Text 424

The women's college had a very small car-park, and as several of the teachers and students, and many of the students' boy-friends, had cars, it was often difficult to find a place to park. The head of the college, whose name was Miss Baker, therefore had a special place in the car-park for her own small car. There were white lines round it, and it had a notice saying, 'Reserved for Head of College'.

One evening, however, when Miss Baker got back to the College a few minutes before the time by which all students had to be in, she found another car in her parking space. There were two people in it, one of her girl-students and a young man. Miss Baker knew that the young man would have to leave very soon, so she decided to ask him to move his car a bit, so that she could park hers the proper place for the night before going to bed.

As the young man's car was close to the railings, Miss Baker had to drive up beside it on the other side, where the girl was sitting. She therefore came up on this side, opened her own window and tapped her horn lightly to draw attention to the fact that she was there. The girl, who had her head on the boy's shoulder, looked around in surprise. She was even more surprised when she heard Miss Baker say, 'Excuse me, but may I change places

with you?'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.Who was this college for?
2.How big was car park?
3.Were there a lot of cars?
4.Where did head of college park her car?
5.What did Miss Baker see when she came back from college?
6.What did Miss Baker ask to do?
7.Who was in the car?
8.Where was car located?
9.Where was girls head?
10.Was girl surprised to see Miss Baker?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Big
2.Easy
3.Front
4.Old
5.Day
6.Down
7.Off
8.Out
9.Enemies
10.After

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The college had a very large car park.
All students at the college owned cars.
Miss Baker's parking space had yellow lines around it.
The notice in the parking space said "Visitors Only."
Miss Baker found a motorcycle in her parking space.
The car in her space was empty.
Miss Baker asked the young man to leave the college immediately.
The girl was reading a book when Miss Baker arrived.
Miss Baker knocked on the car door to get attention.
Miss Baker asked, "Excuse me, but may I change places with you?"

Text 425

The soldiers had just arrived in France. None of them could speak any French, except Harry, who boasted that he knew the language very well. The other soldiers did not really believe him, because they knew that he was always boasting about something, and that what he said about himself was seldom true.

For some days, the soldiers were all kept in camp, so they had no need or opportunity to speak any French. But then the day came when they were allowed to leave for the weekend.

'Now we can see whether you really speak French or not,' they said to Harry.

'All right,' Harry answered. 'Come with me, and I will show you.'

About ten minutes after they had left the camp, they saw a pretty girl of about twenty on the other side of the road. They would all have liked to speak to her, but of course none of them knew any French except (perhaps) Harry.

'Now is your chance to show us whether you can really speak French, Harry,' said one of his friends. 'Go and speak to that girl.'

'All right,' Harry answered, and he crossed the road, smiled, bowed

politely to the girl and started to speak to her. He had said only a few

sentences when the girl's face turned red and she smacked his face angrily and walked off.

Harry crossed the road to his friends again, his face all smiles, and said, 'There you are! I told you I could speak French, didn't I?'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.Where did soldiers arrive?
2.Who was the only person to speak french?
3.Did soldiers believe him?
4.Where were soldiers located?
5.How could they check his French?
6.Whom did they see?
7.How old was she?
8.What did they say to Harry?
9.How did girl react?
10.What did Harry say to the Boys?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Badly
2.False
3.Often
4.Ended
5.On
6.After
7.Happily
8.Went
9.Hide
10.Come

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The soldiers had just arrived in Spain.
Every soldier in the group could speak French fluently.
Harry was known for never boasting about himself.
The soldiers immediately left the camp on the day they arrived.
The soldiers saw a group of children across the road.
Harry refused to speak to the girl.
The girl laughed happily after Harry spoke to her.
Harry's friends went across the road with him.
Harry returned looking sad and embarrassed.
Harry told his friends that he could speak French.

Text 426

When sailors are allowed ashore after a long time at sea, they sometimes get drunk and cause trouble. For this reason, the navy always has naval police in big ports. When sailors cause trouble, the naval police come and deal with them.

One day, the naval police in one big seaport received an urgent telephone call from a bar in the town. The barman said that a big sailor had got drunk and was breaking the furniture in the bar. The petty officer' who was in charge of the naval police guard that evening said that he would come immediately.

Now, petty officers who had to go and deal with sailors who were violently drunk usually chose the biggest naval policeman they could find to go with them. But this particular petty officer did not do this. Instead, he chose the smallest and weakest-looking man he could find to go to the bar with him and arrest the sailor who was breaking the furniture.

Another petty officer who happened to be there was surprised when he saw the petty officer of the guard choose this small man, so he said to him, 'Why don't you take a big man with you? You may have to fight the sailor

who is drunk.'

'Yes, you are quite right,' answered the petty officer of the guard. "That is exactly why I am taking this small man. If you saw two policemen coming to arrest you, and one of them was much smaller than the other, which one would you attack?'

(''Petty officer' is a rank in the Navy. It is above a sailor, but below a full officer.)

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.What were sailors allowed to do after long time in the sea?
2.Did sailors cause troubles?
3.What were they doing when they were drunk?
4.What happened at the bar?
5.Whom did petty officers take?
6.Who did this petty officer choose?
7.What did other officer answer?
8.Was guard big?
9.What did petty officer answer?
10.Who is petty officer?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Short
2.Never
3.Give
4.Smallest
5.Small
6.Defend
7.Above
8.Disallowed
9.Gave
10.Mess

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

1.The head of corporation allowed to have a rest for drivers
2.Rest was allowed in the countryside
3.Drivers didn`t cause troubles
4.Drivers weren`t drunk
5.They had countryside police
6.Countryside officers always chose the smallest policeman
7.Driver was breaking furniture
8.Another sheriff happened to be in there
9.Sheriff said that he had to choose the smallest one
10.Officer answered that thief would rather attack the biggest instead of smallest

Text 427

The manager of a small building company was very surprised to get a bill for two white mice which one of his workmen had bought. He sent for the workman and asked him why he had had the bill sent to the company.

'Well,' the workman answered, 'you remember the house we were repairing in Newbridge last week, don't you? One of the things we had to do there was to put in some new electric wiring. Well, in one place we had to pass some wires through a pipe thirty feet long and about an inch across, which was built into solid stone and had four big bends in it. None of us could think how to do this until I had a good idea. I went to a shop and bought two white mice, one of them male and the other female. Then I tied a thread to the body of the male mouse and put him into the pipe at one end, while Bill held the female mouse at the other end and pressed her gently to make her squeak. When the male mouse heard the female mouse's squeaks, he rushed along the pipe to help her. I suppose he was a gentle-man even though he was only a mouse. Anyway, as he ran through the pipe, he pulled the thread behind him. It was then quite easy for us to tie one end of the thread to the electric wires and pull them through the pipe.'

The manager paid the bill for the white mice.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.What was the company?
2.What did manager of company receive?
3.What was manager`s reaction?
4.What email did he send to workman?
5.What were they supposed to do in the house?
6.How long and thick was pipe?
7.Whom did he buy in the zoo shop?
8.Why did he buy mice?
9.What did he do with white mouse girl?
10.What did manager do with the bill?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Sell
2.Loud
3.Hard
4.Tall
5.Received
6.Answered
7.Old
8.Bad
9.Put out
10.Front

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The manager worked for a large shipping company.
The bill was for two white rabbits.
The workers were building a new bridge in Newbridge.
The pipe was only three feet long.
The pipe had no bends in it.
The workman tied the thread to the female mouse.
The female mouse ran through the pipe carrying the wires.
Bill stood beside the manager during the experiment.
The manager refused to pay the bill for the mice.
The male mouse pulled a thread through the pipe.

Text 428

Nasreddin was friendly with most of his neighbours, but there was one woman who lived in his street whom he had always disliked. She was too interested in other people's business, and too ready to talk about it with others. And she was always borrowing things from her neighbours and then forgetting to return them.

This woman knew that Nasreddin had a new rope in his shed, and one day she came to his door and asked to borrow it.

'Well,' said Nasreddin, 'before I lend you my rope, I must know what you want it for.'

'One of our neighbours is cutting a big branch off the tree in my garden,' she answered, and he needs the rope to pull it down with, so that it does not fall on my roof.'

'Hasn't he got a rope himself?' asked Nasreddin.

' No, he hasn't,' the woman answered rudely. 'Do you think I would have come here to get yours if he had had one?"

Nasreddin said nothing, but went into his house. The woman heard him talking to his wife, and a moment later he came out again. 'I am sorry,' he said to the woman, 'but I cannot lend you the rope just now. My wife is spreading flour on it.'

'Spreading flour on it?' the woman cried. 'But how can anyone spread flour on a rope? Are you trying to make a fool out of me?"

'Certainly not!' answered Nasreddin. 'It is quite easy to spread flour on my rope when I do not wish to lend it to somebody.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.How was Nasreddin to his neigbours?
2.Whom did he always dislike?
3.Why did he dislike her?
4.What happened one day?
5.What did Neighbour want to borrow?
6.Why did she need it for?
7.What did Nasreddin reply?
8.With whom did he speak in the house?
9.Why couldn`t she borrow that thing?
10.Why did Nasreddin do this?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Liked
2.Enemy
3.Lend
4.In
5.Keep
6.Everything
7.Earlier
8.Hard
9.Small
10.Then

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Nasreddin disliked all of his neighbours.
The woman never talked about other people's business.
The woman always returned things she borrowed on time.
The woman wanted to borrow a shovel from Nasreddin.
The rope was kept in Nasreddin's bedroom.
The neighbour wanted the rope to pull down a tree.
The woman answered Nasreddin politely.
Nasreddin said that his wife was washing the rope.
The woman agreed that flour could easily be spread on a rope.
Nasreddin did not want to lend the rope to the woman.

Text 429

It was Saturday, so Mr Smith did not have to go to work. It had snowed heavily the night before, and Mr Smith's young son Bobby had a new sledge, which he was very eager to try out. There was a good slope in a park not far from the Smiths' house, which children often used for their sledges, so Mr Smith agreed to take Bobby there in the car. They put the sledge in and went off.

When they reached the park, they found that there were already a lot of boys there with their sledges. They were sliding down the slope at great speed, and then pulling their sledges up again for another go.

After a few minutes Mr Smith noticed that there was one poorly-dressed little boy there who did not have a sledge. This boy had flattened out an old cardboard box, and was sliding down the slope on that. Mr Smith felt very sorry for this poor boy, and determined to ask Bobby to lend him his sledge a few times.

But before he could catch Bobby to speak to him, he was surprised and delighted to notice that several of the older boys in the park were lending the poor boy their sledges. Mr Smith watched them carefully-and suddenly realized that the bigger boys were not doing this because they felt sorry for the poor boy, but because they enjoyed riding on his cardboard box more than on their expensive sledges. They were actually waiting impatiently for a turn on the flattened cardboard box!

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.What day and why did Mr Smith have day off?
2.What the weather outside on Saturday?
3.What did Mr Smith buy for his son?
4.How many hildren were at the park?
5.How big was slope at the park?
6.What were children doing at the park?
7.What kid was popular and why was he popular?
8.How was popular kid dressed?
9.What did Mr smith want to offer to his son?
10.What and why were rich kids doing?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Lost
2.Bad
3.Old
4.Smaller
5.Rich
6.Cheap
7.Give
8.Down
9.Much
10.Near

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

1. It was saturday,so Mr. Smith was supposed to go to work
2.It was very warm,so Bobby wanted to go to pool with his friends
3.Bobby had new live jacket which he was eager to try out
4.In there they had very big water slide
5.Ticket for water slide cost 5 dollars
6.There was one poor boy who wanted to slide down but he didn`t have enough money for that
7.Bobby wanted to give him some of his money
8.Bobby heard that they make a joke about him
9.Bobby started to defend poor boy
10.At the end he gave him some of his money

Text 430

Jack was young, rich, and fond of girls. He hardly ever did any work, and spent most of his time enjoying himself.

One summer he bought a big motor-boat. As soon as it was ready to go to sea, he telephoned to one of the girls he had met somewhere, and invited her for a trip in his new motor-boat. It was the first of many successful invitations of this kind.

The way Jack used to invite a girl for a trip in his boat was like this: he would begin by saying, 'Hullo, Laura (or whatever the girl's name was). I have just bought a beautiful new motor-boat, and I would like to take you out for a trip in it.'

The girl's answer was usually cautious, because everybody in that part of the country knew Jack's reputation with girls. She would say something like this: 'Oh, really? That's nice. What name have you given to the boat?"

Jack would then answer, 'Well, Laura, I have named it after you.'

Of course, the girl would feel very proud that Jack had chosen her name for the boat out of the names of all his many girl-friends, and she would think that Jack must really love her. She would therefore be quite willing to accept his invitation to go for a trip in his motor-boat.

It would not be until she got down to the harbour and actually saw the

boat that she would understand how cleverly Jack had tricked her. Because there in neat gold letters on the boat she would see its name 'After You'.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.Was Jack young or old?
2.What did Jack like to do at his age?
3.What did Jack buy one summer?
4.What was Jack doing on the boat?
5.Whom was he inviting to the boat?
6.How did he begin his invitation?
7.What did every girl know about Jack in that part of country?
8.What was he telling to girl?
9.Was girl proud after hearing that?
10.How boat was actualy named?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Old
2.Poor
3.Small
4.Loud
5.Up
6.Without
7.Hate
8.Selled
9.Silly
10.Ugly

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Jack was old and poor.
Jack spent most of his time working hard.
Jack bought a small fishing boat.
Jack never invited girls to travel in his boat.
The girls immediately trusted Jack because he was famous for being honest.
Jack named the boat after every girl he invited.
The girls saw the name of the boat before accepting his invitation.
The boat’s name was written in silver letters.
Jack’s trick was discovered at the harbour.
The name of Jack’s boat was “After You.”

Text 431

Night had come. There had been a big battle that day, and our army had taken the enemy's front line and then advanced half a mile beyond it. We were now in a trench which the enemy had dug as a last line of defence, and we could hear them digging themselves a new trench from which to face us in the morning. They dug in the stony soil all night, and by the morning we could see only the tops of their caps and their spades as they threw the earth out.

In our trench, several of our soldiers spent the time after daylight had come shooting at the enemy caps and spades to see if they could hit any of them.

One of the enemy soldiers, who seemed to be a sportsman, joined in our game. He would suddenly put his spade up, keep it there for a few seconds to see whether one of us could hit it, and then pull it down quickly again. Next time he would put it up in rather a different place. A number of our soldiers shot at it whenever it came up, but none of them seemed to succeed in hitting it.

Then there came a time when the spade remained down for much longer than usual. We thought that the soldier might have been stopped from playing this game by an officer, or that he might have gone off for a meal or something. But just when we thought that we would not see his spade again, it came up once more, for the last time-very slowly, and with a bandage tied around it.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.What part of day was it?
2.What happened the day before?
3.Where were they?
4.What were enemies doing last night?
5.What could they see now?
6.What were our soldiers doing?
7.Who was enemy soldier?
8.How was he tricking our soldiers?
9.Were our soldiers surprised when he stopped doing that?
10.What happened with enemy soldier hand?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Day
2.Teammate
3.Slowly
4.Up
5.First
6.Attack
7.In
8.Their
9.Small
10.Back

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

1.It was afternoon when the story started
2.There was small battle yesterday evening
3.They took enemies` front line but they didn`t advance by that much
4.Enemies didn`t dug any other defence line trenches
5.Enemies wanted to face them in the morning
6.Our soldiers were trying to hide in our trenches
7.One of our soldiers was sportsman
8.Enemy soldier was very fat
9.He was trying to trick our soldiers with his cap
10.He put his cap ones more,but with bandage tied around it

Text 432

George and his friend Peter were fond of deer-hunting, and whenever they had a free day during the deer-hunting season, they took their guns and went off into the forest.

One Saturday they were sitting on a log eating their sandwiches and

drinking their coffee when they saw a man walking through the snow

towards them. He was dressed in deer-hunting clothes, but he had no gun

with him. When he got nearer, the two friends saw that he was following a deer's track in the snow. They were both very surprised to see a man tracking a deer without a gun, so when he reached them, they stopped him and asked him whether anything was wrong and whether they could help him. The man sat down beside them, accepted a cup of coffee and told them his story.

Like them, he had gone out deer-hunting that morning with a friend.

They had seen a deer with very big horns, and had followed it for some time. Then he had fired at it, and it had fallen just where it stood. He and his friend had run over to examine it, and he had said to his friend, "This deer's horns will make a wonderful rack for my guns when I get it home.' He had then arranged his gun in the deer's horns and stepped back a few yards to see exactly how they would look as a gun rack on the wall of his study. He had been admiring the effect when the deer had suddenly jumped up, shaken itself and raced away, carrying his gun firmly stuck in its horns.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

1.Were Peter and George friends?
2.What did they do during their free time at deer-hunting season?
3.What were they doing one saturday?
4.Whom did they see in the forest?
5.Whom was this man tracking?
6.What clothes was he dressed in?
7.Did he carry his shotgun with him?
8.Were Peter and George surprized to see huntsman without a gun?
9.What story did the huntsman tell them?
10.With what thing did the deer run away?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1.Far
2.Declined
3.Small
4.Right
5.With
6.Sat
7.Answered
8.Ugly
9.Enemy
10.Up

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

George and Peter enjoyed deer-hunting.
They went hunting in the desert.
The man was carrying a large gun when they saw him.
The man was following a deer’s footprints in the snow.
George and Peter refused to talk to the man.
The man told them that he had lost his gun.
The man wanted to use the deer’s horns as a gun rack.
The deer stayed on the ground after being shot.
The deer ran away with the gun stuck in its horns.
The man had gone deer-hunting with a friend that morning.

Text 433

In many seaside towns there are telescopes on the sea-front so that people who want to look at the view or at ships on the sea can do so more easily. You have to put a coin in before you can use the telescope, and after a few minutes you have to put in another coin if you want to continue using it.

One day Mr Brown was on holiday in a seaside town which had telescopes like this, and he was walking along the sea-front when he saw two sailors looking through one. First one was looking, and then the other, and they were taking turns to put in another coin from time to time.

Mr Brown was rather surprised to see sailors using the telescope, because he thought that they would have had enough of looking at the sea while they were on their ship. Then he thought that they might perhaps be looking for their own ship on the sea, but that seemed improbable to him. How could sailors not know where their ship was?

Then Mr Brown suddenly realized that they were not looking at the sea

at all. The telescope was pointed at the beach, and they were looking along it slowly and carefully. Mr Brown wondered whether they had lost something.

Suddenly the sailors left the telescope and went off at a fast rate, so Mr Brown stopped wondering and continued his walk.

It was not until half an hour later that he found out what the two sailors had been searching for with the telescope. He met them again, each with a very pretty girl on his arm.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Where can people find telescopes in many seaside towns?
Why do people use the telescopes on the sea-front?
What must people do before using the telescope?
Where was Mr Brown spending his holiday?
What were the two sailors doing with the telescope?
Why was Mr Brown surprised to see sailors using the telescope?
What did Mr Brown first think the sailors were looking for?
Where was the telescope actually pointing?
Why did Mr Brown think the sailors were searching carefully?
What did Mr Brown discover about the sailors half an hour later?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

many —
easy —
continue —
before —
surprised —
own —
slowly —
lost —
left —
pretty —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Telescopes on the sea-front are used only by fishermen.
People can use the telescope without putting in a coin.
Mr Brown was visiting a mountain village.
The two sailors were looking at ships in the sea.
Mr Brown immediately knew what the sailors were searching for.
The telescope was pointed toward the ocean.
The sailors walked away slowly after using the telescope.
The sailors were searching for a lost bag on the beach.
Mr Brown never saw the sailors again.
The sailors were looking for pretty girls on the beach.

Text 434

Mary was very fond of television, so when she met a young man who

worked for a television company, she was very interested and asked him a lot of questions. She discovered that he had also worked for a film company, so she asked him whether there was any difference between film work and television work.

'Well,' answered the young man, 'there is one very big difference. If someone makes a mistake while a film is being made, it is, of course, possible to stop and do the scene again. In fact, one can do it over and over again a lot of times. Mistakes waste time, money and film, but the audiences who see the film when it is finished don't know that anything went wrong. In a live television show, on the other hand, the audience can see any mistakes that are made.

'I can tell you a story about that. One day, a live television show was going on, and one of the actors was supposed to have been shot. He fell to the ground, and the camera moved somewhere else to allow time for me to run out with a bottle of tomato sauce to pour on to him to look like blood.But unfortunately the camera turned back to him before I had finished, and the audience saw me pouring the sauce on to the man.'

'Oh, how terrible!' Mary said. 'And what did you do?"

'Well,' answered the young man, 'our television director is a very strict man. If anyone makes a mistake, he dismisses him at once. So what could I do? I just had to pretend that this was part of the story, and eat the man.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why was Mary interested in the young man she met?
What two types of companies had the young man worked for?
What question did Mary ask about film work and television work?
What can happen if someone makes a mistake during a film?
Why do film audiences usually not notice mistakes?
Why are mistakes more obvious in live television shows?
What was one actor supposed to have happened to during the live show?
Why did the camera move away from the actor?
What did the young man use to make the actor look as if he was bleeding?
Why did the young man pretend to eat the actor?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

fond —
young —
interested —
difference —
possible —
stop —
finished —
live —
strict —
terrible —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mary was not interested in television.
The young man had never worked in television.
Film scenes can be repeated if mistakes happen.
Mistakes in films are always seen by the audience.
Live television shows can hide all mistakes.
The actor was supposed to be shot in the television show.
The young man used real blood on the actor.
The camera returned only after the young man finished his job.
The television director allowed people to make many mistakes.
The young man pretended the mistake was part of the story.

Text 435

Johnny was four years old, and his favourite game was cowboys and Indians. He had a cowboy suit and a belt with two guns, and spent most of his time pretending to be fighting Indians.

One day his mother took him in a train for the first time. Of course, he

wore his cowboy suit and carried his two guns. He had seen a film of an

attack by Red Indians on a train in the Wild West, so his mother was not

surprised when he began playing at cowboys and Indians in the train. But

when he wanted to open the window wide so that he could shoot out of it,

she thought this too dangerous, and allowed him to have it open only at the top, so that he could shoot out of it if he stood up, but could not fall out.

He was playing happily, hiding behind the curtain, suddenly stepping

forward, firing a shot out of the window and then quickly stepping back

again, when he suddenly gave a cry, fell back on to the seat, and lay there

with his chin resting on his chest and his arms hanging loosely beside him.

Of course, his mother was frightened. She thought that something from outside the train must have hit him as he stood at the window. She shook the child gently, but he made no movement, and his eyes rolled in his head.

His mother was now very worried indeed. She picked Johnny up in her

arms to go and find help; but just then he lifted one of his arms with great

effort, pointed to his chest and said in a weak whisper, 'Pull the arrow out, will you?'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

How old was Johnny?
What was Johnny’s favourite game?
What clothes did Johnny wear while playing?
What did Johnny carry with his cowboy suit?
Where did Johnny go with his mother for the first time?
Why did Johnny’s mother allow the train window to open only at the top?
How did Johnny play cowboys and Indians on the train?
Why was Johnny’s mother frightened when he fell back on the seat?
What did Johnny’s mother do when she thought he was hurt?
What did Johnny ask his mother to pull out?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

favourite —
old —
first —
open —
dangerous —
wide —
quickly —
frightened —
weak —
outside —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Johnny was ten years old.
Johnny disliked playing cowboys and Indians.
Johnny wore a cowboy suit on the train.
Johnny carried a real gun with him.
Johnny’s mother allowed him to open the window completely.
Johnny fell because something from outside hit him.
Johnny’s mother was calm when he fell down.
Johnny really had an arrow in his chest.
Johnny was pretending to be hurt in his game.
Johnny asked his mother to pull out the arrow.

Text 436

The science teacher believed very strongly in practical work as a means of teaching science effectively, and she wanted her pupils' parents to see how well their children were learning by her methods. She therefore arranged for all the parents to come and see the results of one of the children's experiments on a Saturday evening, when all of them were free.

The children had been studying the growth of plants, and they had

planted four pots of beans a few weeks before. They had put poor soil in

one pot, to see what effect this would have on the growth of the beans in it, and good soil in the other three pots. Then they had put one of the pots in the dark for several days, and had given a third pot no water for the same length of time.

At the end of the lesson on Friday afternoon, the teacher put little notices on the four pots: "The beans in this pot were planted in poor soil.' "This pot has been kept in the dark for four days.' 'These beans have had no water for four days.' "These beans have had good soil, plenty of light and regular water.' Then the teacher went home.

When she arrived on Saturday evening, half an hour before the parents were due to come, she found this note beside the pots: 'We read your notes to the school servant and thought we would help him, so we watered all the plants, changed the earth in the one with poor soil, and left the light on above the one that had been left in the dark for four days. We hope that the plants will now grow better.

'Your friends,

'The Boy Scouts.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What did the science teacher believe was the best way to teach science?
Why did the teacher invite the parents to school?
On what day were the parents invited to see the experiment?
What were the children studying?
How many pots of beans did the children plant?
What kind of soil was put in the first pot?
Why was one pot kept in the dark?
Why did one pot receive no water?
What did the teacher find beside the pots when she returned?
Who wrote the note found beside the plants?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

strongly —
practical —
effective —
parents —
poor —
good —
dark —
before —
regular —
better —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The science teacher did not like practical work.
The teacher wanted parents to see their children’s experiments.
The children planted four pots of flowers.
All the pots were filled with poor soil.
One pot was kept in darkness for several days.
One pot was not given any water.
The teacher watered all the plants before the parents arrived.
The Boy Scouts removed all the plants from the classroom.
The note beside the pots was written by the science teacher.
The Boy Scouts changed the conditions of some plants to help them grow.

Text 437

King Frederick the Great of Prussia had a very fine army, and none of the soldiers in it were finer than his Giant Guards, who were all extremely tall men. It was difficult to find enough soldiers for these Guards, as there were not many men who were tall enough.

Frederick had made it a rule that no soldiers who did not speak German could be admitted to the Giant Guards, and this made the work of the officers who had to find men for them even more difficult. When they had to choose between accepting or refusing a really tall man who knew no German, the officers used to accept him, and then teach him enough German to be able to answer if the King questioned him.

Frederick sometimes used to visit the men who were on guard around his castle at night to see that they were doing their job properly, and it was his habit to ask each new one that he saw three questions: 'How old are you?' 'How long have you been in my army?' and 'Are you satisfied with your food and your conditions?' The officers of the Giant Guards therefore used to teach new soldiers who did not know German the answers to these three questions.

One day, however, the King asked a new soldier the questions in a different order. He began with, 'How long have you been in my army?' The young soldier immediately answered, 'Twenty-two years, Your Majesty.' Frederick was very surprised. 'How old are you then?' he asked the soldier. 'Six months, Your Majesty,' came the answer. At this Frederick became angry. 'Am I a fool, or are you one?' he asked. Both, Your Majesty,' thesoldier answered politely.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Who was King Frederick the Great?
What was special about the Giant Guards?
Why was it difficult to find enough soldiers for the Giant Guards?
What language did soldiers need to speak to join the Giant Guards?
What did officers do when they found tall men who could not speak German?
Why did Frederick visit the soldiers at night?
What three questions did Frederick usually ask new soldiers?
Why did officers teach new soldiers answers to these questions?
Why was Frederick surprised when the new soldier answered him?
What was the soldier’s funny answer to Frederick’s last question?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

fine —
tall —
difficult —
enough —
accept —
new —
night —
old —
angry —
polite —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

King Frederick the Great had a weak army.
The Giant Guards were made up of very short soldiers.
It was easy to find enough tall men for the Giant Guards.
Soldiers who joined the Giant Guards did not need to speak German.
Officers refused all tall men who could not speak German.
Frederick never visited his soldiers at night.
Frederick usually asked new soldiers three questions.
The new soldier answered all the questions in the correct order.
Frederick became surprised and angry because of the soldier’s answers.
The soldier answered, "Both, Your Majesty," to the King's final question.

Text 438

At the time when Bill and Rose married, neither of them had much money, so they were unable to buy a house or flat. For the first few years of their married life, they therefore lived in rented flats. Then Bill's father died and left him some money, so they bought a house. When they moved into it for the first time, one of Bill's best friends sent him a bottle of wine as a present to celebrate his entry into the first house he had owned.

Bill and Rose had a lot of work to do getting their things unpacked

arranging the furniture, getting curtains and all the rest, so they forgot

about the bottle of wine. In fact, they put it away in a cupboard without even unpacking it.

Bill and Rose already had two children when they moved into their new house, and a few months later, the third was born. When Rose came home from the hospital with the baby, Bill invited some friends round to celebrate its arrival, and they had a wonderful party, with plenty to eat and to drink.

After the party had been going on for some time, however, Bill found that the wine was finished. Luckily, he remembered the bottle which his friend had given him when they had moved into the new house and which was still lying unpacked in a cupboard somewhere in the house. He found it with some difficulty and brought it into the living-room where his guests were sitting. When he had unwrapped the bottle, he saw a card tied to it, so he took it and read it aloud to the others. It said, 'Bill, take good care of this one it is the first one that is really yours!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why could Bill and Rose not buy a house when they got married?
Where did Bill and Rose live during the first years of their marriage?
How did Bill get enough money to buy a house?
Who sent Bill a bottle of wine as a present?
Why did Bill’s friend send him the bottle of wine?
Why did Bill and Rose forget about the bottle of wine?
How many children did Bill and Rose have when they moved into the house?
Why did Bill invite friends to their home a few months later?
Where did Bill find the forgotten bottle of wine?
What message was written on the card attached to the bottle?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

poor —
unable —
rented —
first —
best —
new —
forgot —
finished —
difficult —
arrived —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Bill and Rose were rich when they got married.
They bought a house immediately after their wedding.
Bill’s father left him some money.
Bill’s friend gave him a bottle of wine.
Bill and Rose drank the wine as soon as they received it.
They put the bottle in a cupboard without opening it.
Bill and Rose had three children when they first moved into the house.
They had a party after their third child was born.
Bill found the bottle easily without searching.
The message on the card said the bottle was the first one that was really his.

Text 439

Mr Jones woke early one morning, before the sun had risen. It was a

beautiful morning, so he went to the window and looked out. He was sur-

prised to see a neatly dressed, middle-aged professor, who worked in the

university just up the road from Mr Jones's house, coming from the

direction of the town. He had grey hair and thick glasses, and was carrying an umbrella, a morning newspaper and a bag. Mr Jones thought that he must have arrived by the night train and decided to walk to the university instead of taking a taxi.

Mr Jones had a big tree in his garden, and the children had tied a long

rope to one of its branches, so that they could swing on it.

Mr Jones was surprised to see the professor stop when he saw the rope, and look carefully up and down the road. When he saw that there was nobody in sight, he stepped into the garden (there was no fence), put his umbrella, newspaper, bag and hat neatly on the grass and took hold of the rope. He pulled it hard to see whether it was strong enough to take his weight, then ran as fast as he could and swung into the air on the end of the rope, his grey hair blowing all around his face. Backwards and forwards he swung, occasionally taking a few more running steps on the grass when the rope began to swing too slowly for him.

At last the professor stopped, straightened his tie, combed his hair carefully, put on his hat, picked up his umbrella, newspaper and bag, and

continued on his way to the university, looking as quiet and correct and

respectable as one would expect a professor to be.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What time did Mr Jones wake up one morning?
What did Mr Jones see from his window?
Who was the man that Mr Jones saw?
Where did the professor work?
What things was the professor carrying?
Why did Mr Jones think the professor had come from the town?
What did the children tie to the tree in Mr Jones’s garden?
What did the professor do before using the rope?
How did the professor look while he was swinging?
What did the professor do after he finished swinging?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

early —
beautiful —
surprised —
middle-aged —
long —
strong —
hard —
slowly —
quiet —
respectable —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mr Jones woke up late in the afternoon.
The professor was a young student.
The professor worked at a university.
The professor was carrying a suitcase and a camera.
Mr Jones thought the professor had arrived by taxi.
The children had tied a rope to a tree branch.
The professor ignored the rope and continued walking.
The professor checked if the rope was strong enough.
The professor left his things behind in the garden.
The professor continued to the university looking neat and respectable.

Text 440

An American warship once paid a visit to a port in a hot country where the British navy had a base, and the captain of the British base invited the

officers of the American warship to a party ashore.

Now, Americans like their drinks to have plenty of ice in them, even in

a cold climate, but at the time of the warship's visit to the British base,

it was generally known that the British hardly ever had ice, even in the

hottest countries. The captain of the American ship did not want to have

to drink warm drinks at the British party, but it would have been very

impolite to refuse the British captain's invitation, so the American captain

accepted, but, an hour before the party was due to begin, sent a small

boat ashore to his host with several large tins of ice from the warship's

refrigerators.

When the American officers went ashore for the party, they were looking forward to having plenty of ice in their drinks. They were therefore very surprised when, on their arrival, they were served drinks with no ice in them at all. They thought that the servants might perhaps not yet have had time to unpack the ice that had been sent from the ship, but the party continued, and still there was no ice. Of course, the American officers were too polite to ask what had happened to the ice that they had sent.

When the party at last came to an end, the American captain thanked his British host for the pleasant party. Then the secret of the ice came out. The British captain thanked the American captain for it and said, 'It allowed me to have the first really cold bath I have had in this place.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Where did the American warship visit?
Who invited the American officers to a party?
Why did the American captain want ice at the party?
What did Americans usually like to put in their drinks?
Why did the British usually not have ice?
What did the American captain send to the British captain before the party?
How did the American officers feel when they received drinks without ice?
Why didn’t the American officers ask about the missing ice?
What did the British captain do with the ice?
What did the British captain say about the ice at the end of the story?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

American —
hot —
plenty —
cold —
accept —
polite —
begin —
surprised —
end —
pleasant —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

A British warship visited an American naval base.
The British captain invited the American officers to a party.
Americans dislike ice in their drinks.
The British always had plenty of ice in hot countries.
The American captain refused the invitation.
The American captain sent ice from his ship to the British base.
The American officers found ice in their drinks when they arrived.
The officers asked the servants what happened to the ice.
The British captain used the ice to take a cold bath.
The British captain thanked the American captain for the ice.

Text 441

The soldiers had just moved to the desert, and as they had never been in such a place before, they had a lot to learn.

As there were no trees or buildings in the desert, it was, of course, very hard to hide their trucks from enemy planes. The soldiers were therefore given training in camouflage, which means ways of covering something so that the enemy cannot see where it is. They were shown how to paint their trucks in irregular patterns with pale green, yellow, and brown paints, and then to cover them with nets to which they had tied small pieces of cloth.

The driver who had the biggest truck went to a lot of trouble to camouflage it. He spent several hours painting it, preparing a net and searching for some heavy rocks with which to hold the net down. When it was all finished, he looked proudly at his work and then went off to have his lunch.

But when he came back to the truck after he had had his meal, he was surprised and worried to see that his camouflage work was completely spoilt by the truck's shadow, which was growing longer and longer as the afternoon advanced. He stood looking at it, not knowing what to do about it.

Soon an officer arrived, and he too saw the shadow, of course.

'Well,' he shouted to the poor driver, 'what are you going to do about it? If an enemy plane comes over, the pilot will at once know that there is a truck there.'

'I know, sir,' answered the soldier.

'Well, don't just stand there doing nothing!' said the officer.

'What shall I do, sir?' asked the poor driver.

'Get your spade and throw some sand over the shadow, of course!'

answered the officer.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Where had the soldiers moved?
Why did the soldiers have a lot to learn?
Why was it difficult to hide the trucks in the desert?
What training were the soldiers given?
What is camouflage used for?
How did the soldiers paint their trucks?
What did the driver do to camouflage his big truck?
Why was the driver surprised when he returned to the truck?
What problem did the officer notice?
What did the officer tell the driver to do with the shadow?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

moved —
hard —
hide —
enemy —
pale —
heavy —
finished —
proud —
worried —
long —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The soldiers had always lived in the desert.
There were many trees and buildings in the desert.
The soldiers were trained to use camouflage.
The driver did not spend much time preparing his truck.
The driver painted his truck with bright red paint.
The driver used a net and pieces of cloth to cover the truck.
The camouflage was ruined because of the truck’s shadow.
The officer told the driver to move the truck immediately.
The driver knew exactly how to solve the problem.
The officer told the driver to throw sand over the shadow.

Text 442

Some boys join the navy when they are quite young, and are then given a course of training as sailors. It is a long course, both on land and at sea, and during it the boys study things like mathematics and science as well as learning to tie knots, fire guns, and do other practical things.

One of the important things they are taught is, of course, how to swim. In the old days, many sailors were unable to swim, but nowadays it is rare to find one that cannot.

At one school for sailor boys, the swimming instructor was very good. He had never had a boy whom he had failed to teach to swim by the time the course ended. One year, however, there was one particular boy on the training course who seemed quite unable to learn to swim. The instructor tried giving him extra lessons, he tried throwing him into the pool at the deep end, and he tried holding him up with a rope tied to the end of a fishing-rod while he attempted to swim, but he had no success at all, whatever he did. In the end, as the time drew near when the course was due to end, he had to admit defeat.

One day, he called the boy aside after the swimming lesson and said to him, 'John, I have tried very hard to teach you to swim, but I have failed- for the first time in my life. Now I want to give you a piece of advice. Listen

carefully.'

'Yes, sir,' answered the boy.

'Well,' the instructor went on, 'if you are ever in a ship and it sinks, just jump over the side into the sea, go right down to the bottom and run to the shore as fast as you can. That is the only way you will save your life.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why do some boys join the navy when they are young?
How long is the training course for sailor boys?
What subjects do the boys study during their training?
What practical skills do sailor boys learn?
Why is swimming an important part of their training?
How successful was the swimming instructor before he met John?
Why could John not learn to swim?
What different methods did the instructor try with John?
Why did the instructor finally give up trying to teach John?
What unusual advice did the instructor give John?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

young —
long —
old —
important —
unable —
rare —
good —
deep —
success —
fast —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Boys join the navy only after they become adults.
Sailor boys study mathematics and science during their training.
Sailor boys are not taught practical skills.
In the past, many sailors could not swim.
The swimming instructor had failed many students before John.
John learned to swim after a few simple lessons.
The instructor tried using a rope and fishing-rod to help John swim.
The instructor was happy because John became an excellent swimmer.
John’s instructor gave him advice after admitting defeat.
The instructor told John to go to the bottom of the sea and run to shore if the ship sank.

Text 443

Mr Richards was quite good at shooting with a rifle, and he had taken part in several competitions in his small town. He had never actually won a prize, but each time he had done well, and once he had come fourth.

Then he had to go to a big city on business for a month, and as he had

nothing much to do in the evenings there, he joined the local rifle club, and spent several pleasant evenings shooting there.

The rifle club had a very good first team, which used to take part in a lot of important shooting competitions. One of these took place while Mr Richards was with them, and of course he went to see it. But one of the members of the club's team suddenly fell ill just before the match, and the captain had to choose somebody else to take his place in a hurry. He had heard that Mr Richards had taken part in several competitions already, and he had seen for himself at the club that, although he was not really up to the standard of the club's first team, he was quite a good shot. He therefore invited him to take the sick man's place.

Mr Richards felt greatly honoured to be asked to shoot for such a good team, but he also felt very nervous, because he was afraid of making a fool

of himself and letting down his team.

In fact, he was so nervous that he could not keep his hands from trembling while he was shooting, with the result that he did very badly in the com- petition. When he took his score card to his captain, he said, 'After seeing my score, I feel like going outside and shooting myself.'

The captain looked at the card for a few seconds and then said, 'Well, you had better take two bullets with vou if you do that.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What was Mr Richards good at?
Where had Mr Richards taken part in shooting competitions?
Had Mr Richards ever won a prize before?
Why did Mr Richards join the rifle club in the big city?
Why did the rifle club captain choose Mr Richards for the team?
How did Mr Richards feel when he was asked to shoot for the team?
Why was Mr Richards nervous during the competition?
What happened while Mr Richards was shooting?
What did Mr Richards say when he gave his score card to the captain?
What funny answer did the captain give him?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

good —
small —
won —
big —
pleasant —
important —
sick —
nervous —
badly —
outside —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mr Richards was bad at shooting with a rifle.
He had won many important competitions.
Mr Richards joined a rifle club while visiting a city.
The club’s first team was very weak.
One team member became ill before the competition.
The captain refused to let Mr Richards join the team.
Mr Richards felt completely relaxed before shooting.
His hands trembled during the competition.
Mr Richards got a very high score in the match.
The captain made a joke about taking two bullets.

Text 444

The government wanted to put up a big office building in the capital,

and had to choose an engineering company to do the work. Several big

companies wanted the job, because it would bring them a lot of money if

they could get it, but, of course, they could not all have it, so the govern-

ment had to decide which of them should be the lucky one. They therefore

appointed a government official to examine the various companies' offers,

decide which were the most suitable, and then advise the Minister of Works which of them to choose.

After some months, the choice was made and work was about to begin when one of the companies which had not been successful complained to the Minister. They said that the official who had been responsible for advising him on the choice of a company to do the work had accepted bribes.

The Minister at once ordered an inquiry into the whole matter, and after a month had proof that the official had indeed taken bribes. He therefore sent for him and asked for an explanation.

The official admitted that he had taken big bribes. 'But,' he said, 'I did

not just take one from the company to which I recommended that you

should give the work. I took a bribe from each company to favour it in my

choice of the one to recommend.'

'Well, then,' said the Minister, 'how did you finally make your choice?

Did you choose the one that gave you the biggest bribe?"

'Certainly not, sir!' answered the official, deeply hurt that the Minister

should accuse him of such dishonesty. 'I was very careful to take exactly

the same bribe from each of the companies that were trying to get

the job.'

'Then how did you choose?" asked the Minister.

'As an honest government official,' answered the man, 'I chose the

company that I thought would do the work best and most cheaply, of

course.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What did the government want to build in the capital?
Why did many engineering companies want the job?
Who was chosen to examine the companies’ offers?
What was the official asked to do?
Why did one company complain to the Minister?
What did the inquiry prove about the official?
What did the official admit to taking?
Did the official take a bribe from only one company?
How did the official say he chose the company?
Why was the Minister surprised by the official’s explanation?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

big —
many —
successful —
choose —
suitable —
honest —
cheap —
careful —
same —
best —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The government wanted to build a small house in the capital.
Several companies wanted to get the building contract.
The government official examined the companies’ offers.
The official never accepted any money from the companies.
One company complained because it did not get the job.
The inquiry found that the official had taken bribes.
The official took money only from the company he recommended.
The official chose the company that gave him the biggest bribe.
The official said he took the same bribe from each company.
The official claimed he chose the company that could do the work best and most cheaply.

Text 445

The class teacher thought that hobbies were very important for every child. She encouraged all her pupils to have one, and sometimes arranged for their parents to come and see the work they had done as a result.

One Friday morning the teacher told the class that those of them who

had a hobby could have a holiday that afternoon to get the things they had made as parts of their hobbies ready for their parents to see the following afternoon.

So on Friday afternoon, while those of the pupils who had nothing to

show did their usual lessons, the lucky ones who had made something were allowed to go home, on condition that they returned before five o'clock to bring what they were going to show, and to arrange it.

When the afternoon lessons began, the teacher was surprised to see that Tommy was not there. He was the laziest boy in the class, and the teacher found it difficult to believe that he had a hobby. However, at a quarter to five, Tommy arrived with a beautiful collection of butterflies in glass cases. After his teacher had admired them and helped him to arrange them on a table in the classroom, she was surprised to see Tommy pick them up again and begin to leave.

'What are you doing, Tommy?' she asked. 'Those things must remain

here until tomorrow afternoon. That's when the parents are coming to

see them.'

'I know they are coming then,' answered Tommy, 'and I will bring them back tomorrow; but my big brother doesn't want them to be out of our house at night in case they are stolen.'

'But what has it got to do with your big brother?' asked the teacher.

'Aren't the butterflies yours?"

'No,' answered Tommy. 'They belong to him.'

'But Tommy, you are supposed to show your own hobby here, not somebody else's!' said the teacher.

'I know that,' answered Tommy. 'My hobby is watching my brother

collecting butterflies.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did the class teacher think hobbies were important?
What did the teacher sometimes arrange for parents to see?
What did the teacher tell pupils on Friday morning?
Why were some pupils allowed to go home on Friday afternoon?
Why was the teacher surprised that Tommy was absent?
What did Tommy bring to the classroom before five o’clock?
Why did Tommy want to take the butterflies home again?
Who did the butterflies belong to?
What was Tommy’s real hobby?
Why did the teacher think Tommy should show his own work?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

10 Opposite Words

important —
encourage —
lucky —
usual —
lazy —
beautiful —
surprised —
begin —
leave —
own —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The teacher thought hobbies were not useful for children.
The teacher never asked parents to see students’ work.
Pupils with hobbies could have a holiday on Friday afternoon.
Tommy was the hardest-working boy in the class.
Tommy did not come to school because he had no hobby.
Tommy brought a collection of butterflies in glass cases.
The butterflies belonged to Tommy.
Tommy wanted to take the butterflies home because his brother was afraid they would be stolen.
Tommy’s hobby was collecting butterflies.
Tommy’s hobby was watching his brother collect butterflies.

Text 446

Mr and Mrs Davies were invited to Christmas drinks at a hotel one year.They left their car in the car-park outside and went in. Mr Davies was

proud of the fact that he never got drunk, so he was careful not to drink too much, in spite of his host's attempts to press more and more on him.

During the party, Mrs Davies found that she had forgotten to bring a

handkerchief, so she asked her husband to go out to the car and get her one.He did so, but on his way back to the hotel entrance, he heard a car hornblowing in the car-park. Thinking someone might be in trouble, he wentover to the car from which the noise was coming. He found a small black bear sitting in the driving-seat and blowing the horn.

When Mr Davies got back to the party, he told several people about the

black bear, but of course they did not believe him and thought he was

drunk. When he took them out to the car-park to show them that his story

was true, he found that the car with the bear in it had gone.

There were so many jokes about Mr Davies's black bear during the following days that he at last put an advertisement in the local paper: 'Will anybody who saw a black bear blowing the horn in a car outside the Central Hotel at about 7 p.m. on Christmas Day please phone . . . .'

Two days later a Mrs Richards phoned to say that she and her husband

had left their pet bear Honeypot in their car outside the Central Hotel for

a few minutes that evening, and that it was quite possible that he had been blowing the horn. Mrs Richards did not seem to think there was anything strange about that. 'Honeypot likes blowing car horns,' she said, 'and we don't mind as long as we are not actually driving the car.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Where were Mr and Mrs Davies invited for Christmas drinks?
Where did they leave their car?
Why was Mr Davies careful about drinking too much?
What did Mrs Davies forget to bring?
What did Mr Davies hear in the car-park?
Why did Mr Davies go to the car making the noise?
What was sitting in the driving-seat of the car?
Why did people think Mr Davies was drunk?
What did Mr Davies do to find the owner of the bear?
Why did Mrs Richards say Honeypot was blowing the car horn?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

outside —
careful —
more —
early —
small —
true —
strange —
possible —
before —
like —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mr and Mrs Davies were invited to a Christmas party at a hotel.
Mr Davies wanted to get drunk at the party.
Mrs Davies forgot her handkerchief.
Mr Davies found a small black bear in the car.
The bear was sitting in the passenger seat.
Everyone believed Mr Davies when he told them about the bear.
The car with the bear was still there when Mr Davies returned with others.
Mr Davies put an advertisement in the newspaper.
Mrs Richards owned a pet bear called Honeypot.
Honeypot liked blowing car horns.

Text 447

Mr Hall was a rich business man and lived in a big house beside a beautiful river.

Now, this river usually froze over in winter, and one year it did this very early, so that by Christmas time it was covered with really thick ice. One could walk across it easily, and some brave people had even crossed it in motor-cars with chains on their wheels.

The sight of this ice gave Mr Hall an idea. He decided to have a big

Christmas party on the ice. He would have all the furniture and carpets in

his living-room carried out on to the ice, he would have pretty coloured

lights hung all around, and they would have a wonderful party. So he sent

out invitations to all his important friends, and on Christmas Day they all

began to arrive at his house and then go down on to the ice. They were all in very good spirits and thought that it had been a wonderful idea of Mr Hall's to have a party on the ice, surrounded by the beautiful scenery of that partof the country, but at the same time with all the comforts of armchairs, carpets, servants, good food and plenty of drinks.

The party went on until late at night, and as the last guests said their

merry goodbyes, Mr Hall congratulated himself on a very successful party.

He had drunk rather a lot during the day, so he did not wake up very early the next morning. In fact, it was nearly midday before he got up and looked out of the window at the scene of the previous day's party. What he saw there made him wonder whether he was still asleep and dreaning! He closed his eyes, opened them again-but there was no mistake! The ice had broken up during the night or in the early hours of the morning and had carried all his living-room furniture, carpets and coloured lights out to sea with it!

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Who was Mr Hall?
Where did Mr Hall live?
What happened to the river in winter?
Why did Mr Hall decide to have a party on the ice?
What things did Mr Hall put on the ice for the party?
Who was invited to the Christmas party?
Why did the guests enjoy the party?
When did the party finish?
What did Mr Hall see when he looked out of the window the next morning?
Where had the furniture, carpets, and lights gone?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

rich —
big —
beautiful —
early —
thick —
brave —
important —
successful —
late —
open —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Mr Hall was a poor man who lived in a small house.
The river never froze in winter.
Mr Hall decided to have a Christmas party on the ice.
He left all the furniture inside his house.
Many important friends came to the party.
The guests were unhappy with the idea of the party.
The party continued until late at night.
Mr Hall woke up early the next morning.
The ice broke and carried the furniture away.
The furniture and lights floated out to sea.

Text 448

A famous actor often had to travel by train. Of course, a lot of his fellow-passengers used to recognize him on his journeys, and some of them tried to get into conversation with him, but he was usually feeling tired after acting until late the night before, so he did not encourage them to talk to him.

One day he had just got into the train with all his luggage when a young

man came and sat down in the seat opposite him. The young man took out

a book and began to read it, while the actor tried to get some sleep in his

corner of the carriage.

When he opened his eyes, he found that the young man was looking at

him with his mouth open, his book forgotten. The actor shut his eyes and

tried to sleep again, but every time he opened them, the young man was

looking at him with the same fixed look. At last he gave up the attempt to

sleep, took out a newspaper, put it up in front of him and began to read.

After a few moments the young man cleared his throat and spoke. 'I beg

your pardon, sir,' he said, 'but haven't I seen you somewhere before?'

The actor did not answer. He did not even put his newspaper down.

The young man said nothing more for several minutes, but then he tried

again. 'I beg your pardon, sir,' he said, 'but are you going to San Francisco?"

The actor put his paper down this time, looked at the young man severely

without saying a word, and then put the paper up in front of him again.

This time there was an even longer pause before the young man spoke

again. Then he said, in a last attempt to start a conversation with the great

man, 'I am George P. Anderson of Wilmington, Vermont.'

This time the actor put his paper down and spoke. 'So am I,' he said.

That was the end of the conversation.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did the famous actor often travel by train?
Why did the actor avoid talking to other passengers?
Who sat opposite the actor in the train?
What did the young man do after he sat down?
Why did the actor try to sleep?
What did the young man do when he saw the actor?
Why did the actor take out a newspaper?
What did the young man ask the actor first?
What was the young man’s name and where was he from?
Why did the conversation end after the actor’s answer?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

famous —
young —
tired —
late —
open —
before —
opposite —
start —
great —
end —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The actor loved having conversations with all his fellow-passengers.
The actor travelled by train with no luggage.
The young man sat in the seat opposite the actor.
The young man ignored the actor completely.
The actor tried to get some sleep during the journey.
The actor answered the young man’s first question immediately.
The actor used a newspaper to avoid talking.
The young man asked if the actor was going to San Francisco.
The actor told the young man many stories about his acting career.
The actor and the young man had the same name.

Text 449

While Nasreddin was walking home one evening, he met four of his old

friends. To be polite, he invited them to come home with him to supper.

He was expecting that they would equally politely refuse his invitation, but to his surprise, they quickly accepted and went home with him.

Nasreddin was a poor man, and there was never much food in his house. He knew that there would be very little for supper that night, even for his wife and himself, but he did not know how to get rid of his unwanted guests without being very rude, so he let them come with him as far as his house. But when they were a short distance from his front door, he suddenly rushed forward, opened it, went in, shut it again and then locked it. He found his wife in the kitchen and quickly told her what had happened.

Nasreddin's guests were at first surprised at his unexpected behaviour.Then they thought that he had perhaps gone ahead to make preparations to welcome them into his house. And then, when nothing had yet happened after several minutes, they began to get angry and to bang on the door, calling at the same time for Nasreddin.

After this had gone on for some time, Nasreddin sent his wife to a window to talk to the old men. She told them that Nasreddin was not at home.

'What do you mean, he is not at home, woman?' shouted one of the men. 'We came here a few minutes ago with Nasreddin, and we saw him go into the house!'

Nasreddin was now afraid that the noise the old men were making would bring all his neighbours around and that he would be publicly shamed, so he put his head out of the window and said, 'Please, gentlemen, what are you making all this noise about? This house has a back door as well as a front one. Perhaps Nasreddin came in through one and went out through the other.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Who did Nasreddin meet while walking home one evening?
Why did Nasreddin invite his old friends to supper?
Why was Nasreddin surprised when his friends accepted the invitation?
Why was Nasreddin worried about having guests for supper?
What did Nasreddin do when they came near his house?
How did the guests react when Nasreddin locked the door?
Who did Nasreddin send to speak to the guests?
What did Nasreddin’s wife tell the old men?
Why was Nasreddin afraid of the noise outside?
What excuse did Nasreddin give to the guests?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

old —
polite —
poor —
little —
accept —
open —
front —
surprised —
angry —
back —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Nasreddin met four strangers on his way home.
He invited his friends to come home for supper.
His friends refused the invitation politely.
Nasreddin had plenty of food in his house.
Nasreddin locked the door after entering the house.
The guests were happy and left quietly.
Nasreddin’s wife told the men that he was not at home.
The old men believed Nasreddin immediately.
Nasreddin was worried that his neighbours would hear the noise.
Nasreddin said that he might have entered through one door and left through another.

Text 450

One day, Nasreddin was walking quietly along the road when somebody gave him a violent blow on the back of the neck. He looked behind him, and saw a young man whom he had never seen before.

'How dare you hit me like that!' shouted Nasreddin.

The young man said he had mistaken Nasreddin for a friend of his and

that he thought Nasreddin was making a lot of noise about nothing.

This insult made Nasreddin even angrier, of course, and he at once

arranged for the young man to be brought before a judge. There was

nothing for the young man to do but to appear before the court.

Now, the judge who heard the case was a friend of the young man's father, and, although he pretended to be quite fair, he was thinking how he could avoid punishing the young man while at the same time not appearing unjust.

Finally he said to Nasreddin, 'I understand your feelings in this matter very well. Would you be satisfied if I let you hit the young man as he hit you?'

Nasreddin said he would not be. The young man had insulted him and

should be properly punished.

'Well, then,' said the judge to the young man, 'I order you to pay ten liras to Nasreddin.'

Ten liras was very little for such a crime, but the young man did not have it with him, so the judge allowed him to go and get it.

Nasreddin waited for him to return with the money. He waited an hour,

he waited two hours, while the judge attended to other business.

When it was nearly time for the court to close, Nasreddin chose a moment when the judge was especially busy, came up quietly behind him and hit him hard on the back of the neck. Then he said to him, 'I am sorry, but I can't wait any longer. When the young man comes back, tell him that I have passed my right to the ten liras on to you.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Where was Nasreddin walking when he was hit?
Who hit Nasreddin on the back of the neck?
Why did the young man hit Nasreddin?
Why did Nasreddin take the young man to court?
Who was the judge?
Why did the judge want to help the young man?
What did the judge suggest Nasreddin do?
Why did Nasreddin refuse the judge’s suggestion?
How much money did the judge order the young man to pay?
What did Nasreddin do when the young man did not return?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

quietly —
violent —
young —
angry —
before —
fair —
punish —
little —
busy —
hard —

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Nasreddin was walking loudly along the road.
The young man had known Nasreddin for many years.
The young man said he had mistaken Nasreddin for another person.
Nasreddin ignored the young man’s action.
The judge was the young man’s father.
The judge tried to find a way to avoid punishing the young man.
The judge ordered the young man to pay ten liras.
The young man returned quickly with the money.
Nasreddin hit the judge after waiting for a long time.
Nasreddin told the judge to collect the ten liras from the young man.

Text 451

It was snowing heavily, and the wind was blowing the snow into great piles against the fences at the sides of the road. In some places the piles were so big that they were beginning to spread right across the road, but as long as cars could keep moving rather fast, they were still managing to get through.

There was one point, however, where there was a sharp bend in the road. There the snow had piled up on both sides, and as cars had to slow down to get round the corner safely, their drivers had to be very skilful to avoid getting stuck.

At last, of course, there was one who was not skilful enough and who let his car stop on the corner. When he tried to start it again, the wheels slipped, and the car finished up deep in the snow and blocking the road.

The next car to reach the corner was in trouble too. The driver had been trying to keep up a good speed to avoid getting stuck, and he did not notice the car blocking the road in front of him until he was almost on top of it. He put his brakes on hard, the wheels of his car locked, and it slid sideways into deep snow.

It was not the last to do this. Car after car came round the corner too fast to stop properly, and finished up in the deep snow at the side of the road. Before long, there were five cars stuck as the snow continued to fall.

At last, a neighbour saw what had happened and telephoned the local

garage, which sent a truck to pull the cars out of the snow. The neighbour

watched as the garage men pulled them out one by one. When they reached the car which had started all the trouble by getting stuck across the road, theneighbour said to them, 'You aren't going to move that one, are you? That's the one that has brought you all this business today!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

What was the weather like at the beginning of the story?
Why were snow piles forming on the sides of the road?
Why could cars still move through the road at first?
Why was the sharp bend dangerous for drivers?
What happened to the first car that got stuck?
Why did the second driver fail to stop in time?
How many cars became stuck in the snow?
Who helped solve the problem?
How did the garage men remove the cars?
Why did the neighbour make a joke about the first car?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

heavily →
big →
beginning →
sharp →
safely →
fast →
stop →
deep →
continue →
local →

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The weather was warm and sunny.
Strong winds pushed snow against the sides of the road.
Cars could move easily because the road was completely clear.
The sharp bend made driving more difficult.
The first driver stopped his car because he wanted to park.
The second driver saw the blocked car from far away.
Several cars ended up in the snow after the first accident.
A neighbour called the local garage for help.
The garage truck pulled the cars out of the snow one by one.
The neighbour thought the first stuck car had caused the whole situation.

Text 452

One day Nasreddin went to visit King Tamerlane, who took him to see his horses and donkeys, of which he was very proud. Nasreddin naturally

wanted to please the King, so he praised each of the animals greatly.

At last they came to a beautiful cream-coloured donkey which Tamerlane had bought the week before.

'What a wonderfully clever animal it looks!' cried Nasreddin. 'I am sure it could learn to read, Your Majesty!'

As soon as he had said this, he regretted his words, but it was too late to take them back any more.

Tamerlane looked at Nasreddin. 'Well, well,' he said after a few moments, 'so you believe that you could teach my donkey to read, do you? Well, you have one month to do so.'

Nasreddin knew what the King would do to him if he did not succeed

in teaching the donkey to read. He took the animal's rope and led it to his

own house, feeling very unhappy indeed.

Exactly a month later, he went to see the King again with the donkey and a very big book. He put the book in front of the donkey, and the animal began to turn the pages eagerly with its tongue. When it reached the middle of the book, it stopped and began to bray loud and long.

Tamerlane roared with laughter and then said to Nasreddin, 'How did

you teach it to do this trick?'

Nasreddin took a deep breath of relief and then said, 'Well, Your Majesty, I first put some hay between the first and the second pages, so that the donkey had to turn the first page with his tongue to get the hay. Then the next day, I put the hay between the second and the third pages, so that he had to turn two pages to get the hay. On the third day he had to turn three pages, and so on. Today he brayed because he was angry and disappointed when he did not find any hay in the book at all.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did Nasreddin praise all of King Tamerlane's animals?
What did Nasreddin say about the cream-coloured donkey?
Why did Nasreddin regret his words immediately?
What challenge did King Tamerlane give to Nasreddin?
How did Nasreddin feel when he took the donkey home?
What did the donkey do when Nasreddin placed the book in front of it?
Why did the donkey stop turning the pages in the middle of the book?
How did Nasreddin train the donkey during the month?
Why did the donkey bray loudly at the end of the demonstration?
What does this story teach us about solving difficult problems?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

proud →
beautiful →
clever →
happy →
first →
big →
loudly →
angry →
before →
succeed →

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

______ Nasreddin visited King Tamerlane to buy a horse.
______ The king was proud of his horses and donkeys.
______ Nasreddin said that the donkey could learn to sing.
______ King Tamerlane gave Nasreddin one week to teach the donkey to read.
______ Nasreddin sold the donkey to another farmer.
______ The donkey turned the pages with its front legs.
______ Nasreddin hid apples between the pages of the book.
______ The donkey brayed because it was tired after reading the whole book.
______ The king became very angry after seeing the donkey.
______ Nasreddin explained that the donkey expected to find hay between the pages but could not find any.

Text 453

One day some wise men, who were going about the country trying to find answers to some of the great questions of their time, came to Nasreddin's district and asked to see the wisest man in the place. Nasreddin was brought forward, and a big crowd gathered to listen.

The first wise man began by asking, 'Where is the exact centre of the

world?'

'It is under my right heel,' answered Nasreddin.

'How can you prove that?' asked the first wise man.

'If you don't believe me,' answered Nasreddin, 'measure and see.'

The first wise man had nothing to answer to that, so the second wise man asked his question.

'How many stars are there in the sky?' he said.

'As many as there are hairs on my donkey,' answered Nasreddin.

'What proof have you got of that?' asked the second wise man.

'If you don't believe me,' answered Nasreddin, 'count the hairs on my

donkey and you will see.'

'That is foolish talk,' said the other. 'How can one count the hairs on a

donkey?'

'Well,' answered Nasreddin, 'how can one count the stars in the sky? If one is foolish talk, so is the other.' The second wise man was silent.

The third wise man was becoming annoyed with Nasreddin and his

answers, so he said, 'You seem to know a lot about your donkey, so can you tell me how many hairs there are in its tail?'

'Yes,' answered Nasreddin. 'There are exactly as many hairs in its tail

as there are in your beard.'

'How can you prove that?' said the other.

'I can prove it very easily,' answered Nasreddin. 'You can pull one hair

out of my donkey's tail for every one I pull out of your beard. If the hairs

on my donkey's tail do not come to an end at exactly the same time as the

hairs in your beard, I will admit that I was wrong.'

Of course, the third wise man was not willing to do this, so the crowd

declared Nasreddin the winner of the day's arguments.

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did the wise men come to Nasreddin's district?
Why was Nasreddin chosen to speak with the wise men?
What was the first wise man's question?
How did Nasreddin answer the question about the centre of the world?
What was the second wise man's question?
Why did the second wise man call Nasreddin's answer foolish?
How did Nasreddin defend his answer about the stars?
What question did the third wise man ask?
How did Nasreddin suggest proving his final answer?
Why did the crowd declare Nasreddin the winner of the arguments?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

wise →
exact →
believe →
silent →
easily →
forward →
right →
begin →
same →
winner →

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

______ The wise men came to Nasreddin's village to sell books.
______ Nasreddin said that the centre of the world was under his left heel.
______ The first wise man measured the ground to check Nasreddin's answer.
______ Nasreddin said there were as many stars in the sky as leaves on a tree.
______ The second wise man counted the hairs on the donkey.
______ The third wise man asked about the donkey's ears.
______ Nasreddin offered to cut the donkey's tail to prove his answer.
______ The third wise man accepted Nasreddin's challenge immediately.
______ The crowd believed that the wise men had won the discussion.
______ Nasreddin said there were exactly as many hairs in the donkey's tail as in the third wise man's beard.

Text 454

It was a very wide river, with many great curves in it, and in one of these there lived a large number of wild pigs. Nobody could remember how they had got there, but they managed to live through floods, fires, ice and attacks by hunters.

Then one day a stranger came to the nearest village and asked where he could find the wild pigs. Somebody told him, and he went off. He had no weapons with him, and the village people wondered what he was going to do with the pigs.

When he came back a few months later and said that he had caught all the pigs, the villagers were still more surprised, but some of the men agreed to go with him when he asked for help in bringing

the pigs out. They wanted to see whether he was telling the truth.

They soon discovered that he was. All the pigs were inside an enclosure which had a fence round it and a gate in one of its sides.

'How did you do it?' they asked the stranger.

'Well, it was quite easy really,' he answered. 'I began by putting out

some Indian corn. At first, they would not touch it, but after a few weeks,

some of the younger pigs began to run out of the bushes, take some of the corn quickly, and then run back. Soon all the pigs were eating the corn I put out. Then I began to build a fence round the corn. At first it was very low, but gradually I built it higher and higher without frightening the pigs away. When I saw that they were waiting for me to bring the corn each day instead of going and searching for their own food as they had done in the past, I built a gate in my fence and shut it one day while they were all eating inside the enclosure. I can catch any animal in the world in the same way if I can get it into the habit of depending on me for its food.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Where did the wild pigs live?
What natural dangers had the pigs survived over the years?
Why were the villagers surprised when the stranger arrived?
What did the stranger say when he returned a few months later?
Why did some of the villagers go with the stranger?
Where did the villagers find the wild pigs?
How did the stranger first attract the pigs?
Why did the stranger build the fence little by little?
What change in the pigs' behaviour helped the stranger catch them?
What lesson can we learn from the stranger's method?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

wide →
large →
wild →
nearest →
easy →
younger →
quickly →
inside →
higher →
remember →

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The wild pigs lived in a small lake near the village.
The stranger carried several weapons when he went to find the pigs.
The villagers believed the stranger immediately when he said he had caught all the pigs.
The pigs were found in a wooden house.
The stranger frightened the pigs into the enclosure by shouting.
The stranger fed the pigs with apples every day.
The fence was built to its full height in one day.
The pigs continued to search for their own food instead of eating the stranger's corn.
The stranger left the gate open when all the pigs entered the enclosure.
The stranger believed that animals could be caught by making them depend on people for food.

Text 455

Although Nasreddin was a poor man, he decided one day to take King

Tamerlane a roast goose as a present.

Now, Nasreddin had not had much to eat that day, and soon the smell of the roast goose as he carried it to the King became too much for him, so he tore off one of its legs and ate it.

When he came before the King and offered him the goose, Tamerlane

at once noticed that one of the legs was missing. Now, he had himself been born with one bad leg, so that he had never been able to walk properly. When he saw that the goose that Nasreddin was offering him had only one leg, he therefore thought that Nasreddin had done this on purpose to remind him of his own leg. Of course, he was very angry, and as he was a man who was not slow to punish those who angered him, Nasreddin wasvery frightened.

'Where is the goose's other leg?' the King shouted.

'Your Majesty,' answered Nasreddin trembling; 'all the geese in this

part of the country have one leg only.'

'So you think I am a fool, do you?' Tamerlane answered.

'Certainly not, Your Majesty,' said Nasreddin. 'If Your Majesty will

look out of the window, you will see geese with one leg by the side of

your pond.'

Tamberlane looked out of the window, and there the geese were, resting on one leg beside the water. The King at once ordered one of his servants to chase the birds away. The servant took a big stick and threw it at them, and of course, they put down their other legs and ran away.

'There,' said Tamerlane. 'You were lying, Nasreddin. That shows that

the geese in this part of the country have two legs, like all other geese.'

'I beg your pardon, Your Majesty,' answered Nasreddin, 'but it doesn't

show anything of the kind. If your servant threw a big stick like that at me,

I might grow two more legs myself to help me to run away faster.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why did Nasreddin decide to take a roast goose to King Tamerlane?
Why did Nasreddin eat one of the goose's legs on his way to the palace?
What did King Tamerlane notice when Nasreddin presented the goose?
Why did the King become angry after seeing the goose?
How did Nasreddin explain why the goose had only one leg?
What did the King do to test Nasreddin's explanation?
What happened when the servant threw a stick at the geese?
Why did the King say that Nasreddin had been lying?
How did Nasreddin defend himself at the end of the story?
What does this story show about Nasreddin's character?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

poor →
hungry →
angry →
slowly →
missing →
before →
beside →
rest →
remember →
true →

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Nasreddin bought the roast goose from the King.
Nasreddin ate one of the goose's wings on the way to the palace.
King Tamerlane laughed as soon as he saw the goose.
The King believed Nasreddin's explanation immediately.
Nasreddin said that all the geese in the country had no legs.
The servant fed the geese near the pond.
The geese flew away when the servant threw the stick.
The King thanked Nasreddin for his honesty.
Nasreddin admitted that he had eaten the missing leg.
Nasreddin joked that he might grow two more legs if someone threw a big stick at him.

Text 456

A certain hunter had found a piece of forest where there were plenty of

animals to hunt. The only trouble was that the place was very difficult to

get to.

He returned from his first visit to the place in late autumn, and could not get back until the snows melted in the following spring. Then he went to the pilot of a small plane, who earned his living by carrying hunters over parts of the country where there were no roads and no railways, and asked him to take him back to his favourite piece of forest.

The pilot did not know the place, so the hunter showed it to him on the

map. 'But there is nowhere to land there, man!' said the pilot. 'I have flown over that part of the country on my way to other places, and I know that we can't land anywhere between this river and these mountains.'

'I thought you were a wonderful pilot,' said the hunter. 'Some of my

friends said you could land a plane on a postage stamp.'

'That's right,' answered the pilot. 'I can land a plane where nobody else can. But I tell you there is nowhere to land in the place you are talking about.'

'And what if I tell you that another pilot did land me there last spring?'

said the hunter.

'Is that true?' asked the pilot.

'Yes, it is. I swear it.'

Well, this pilot could not let himself be beaten by another, so he agreed

to take the hunter.

When they reached the place, the hunter pointed out a small spot with-

out trees in the middle of the forest, with a steep rise at one end. The pilot thought that there was not enough room to land there, but the hunter said that the other pilot had done so the year before, so down went the plane. When it came to the rise, it turned right over onto its back. As the hunter climbed out, he smiled happily and said, 'Yes, that is exactly how the other pilot managed it last time.'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Part 1. Comprehension Questions (Intermediate)

Why did the hunter like the piece of forest?
Why could the hunter not return to the forest during the winter?
Why did the hunter ask the pilot for help?
Why did the pilot believe it was impossible to land there?
How did the hunter try to persuade the pilot?
Why did the pilot finally agree to fly the hunter to the forest?
What did the landing area look like?
What happened when the plane reached the steep rise?
What did the hunter say after climbing out of the plane?
What lesson can be learned from this story?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

difficult →
late →
favourite →
small →
wonderful →
agree →
enough →
steep →
middle →
happily →

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

The hunter found a forest with very few animals.
The hunter returned to the forest during the winter.
The pilot already knew the exact place where the hunter wanted to go.
The pilot believed there was a large airport in the forest.
The hunter said another pilot had landed there the year before.
The pilot refused to take the hunter to the forest.
The landing area was a wide, flat field.
The plane landed safely without any problems.
The hunter was angry after climbing out of the plane.
The hunter said the previous pilot had landed in exactly the same way.

Text 457

George had stolen some money, but the police had caught him and he had been put in prison. Now his trial was about to begin, and he felt sure that he would be found guilty and sent to prison for a long time.

Then he discovered that an old friend of his was one of the members of

the jury at his trial. Of course, he did not tell anybody, but he managed to

see his friend secretly one day. He said to him, 'Jim, I know that the jury

will find me guilty of having stolen the money. I cannot hope to be found

not guilty of taking it-that would be too much to expect. But I should be

grateful o you for the rest of my life if you could persuade the other members of the jury to add a strong recommendation for mercy to their statement that they consider me guilty.'

'Well, George,' answered Jim, 'I shall certainly try to do what I can for

you as an old friend, but of course I cannot promise anything. The other

eleven people on the jury look terribly strong-minded to me.'

George said that he would quite understand if Jim was not able to do

anything for him, and thanked him warmly for agreeing to help.

The trial went on, and at last the time came for the jury to decide whether George was guilty or not. It took them five hours, but in the end they found.George guilty, with a strong recommendation for mercy.

Of course, George was very pleased, but he did not have a chance to see Jim for some time after the trial. At last, however, Jim visited him in prison, and George thanked him warmly and asked him how he had managed to persuade the other members of the jury to recommend mercy.

'Well, George,' Jim answered, 'as I thought, those eleven men were very difficult to persuade, but I managed it in the end by tiring them out. Do you know, those fools had all wanted to find you not guilty!'

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

Why was George in prison before his trial?
What did George expect to happen at his trial?
Who did George discover was a member of the jury?
What favor did George ask Jim to do?
Why was Jim unsure that he could help George?
How long did the jury spend deciding the case?
What was the jury's final decision?
Why was George pleased with the result of the trial?
How did Jim persuade the other members of the jury?
Why is the ending of the story surprising?

B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

guilty →
secretly →
strong →
grateful →
agree →
difficult →
guilty →
warmly →
remember →
before →

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

George was accused of stealing a car.
George believed he would be found not guilty.
George openly told everyone that Jim was on the jury.
George asked Jim to persuade the jury to declare him innocent.
Jim promised that he could easily change the jury's decision.
The jury reached a decision in less than one hour.
George was found not guilty.
Jim visited George before the trial ended.
Jim said the other jurors wanted to punish George more severely.
Jim finally persuaded the other jurors to recommend mercy instead of finding George not guilty.

Book 14

Text 398

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 399

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 400

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 401

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 402

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 403

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 404

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 405

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 406

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 407

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 408

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 409

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 410

Exercises:

A) Answer these questions:

C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?

Text 411

Exercises: