Book 9
Text 240
Ali, who was working a long way from home, wanted to send a letter to his wife, but he could neither read nor write, and he had to work all day, so he could only look for somebody to write his letter late at night. At last he found the house of a letter-writer whose name was Nasreddin.
Nasreddin was already in bed. 'It is late,' he said. 'What
do you want?' 'I want you to write a letter to my wife,' said Ali. Nasreddin was not pleased. He thought for a few seconds and then said, 'Has the letter got to go far?'
'What does that matter?' answered Ali.
'Well, my writing is so strange that only I can read it, and if I have to travel a long way to read your letter to your wife, it will cost you a lot of money.'
Ali went away quickly.
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was Ali doing?
2.Where was he?
3.What did he want to do?
4.Why couldn't he write the letter himself?
5.When did he look for somebody to write his letter?
6.Whom did he find?
7.What was Nasreddin doing?
8.What did Ali say to Nasreddin?
9.How did Nasreddin feel when Ali spoke to him?
10.What did Nasreddin then ask Ali?
11.What did Ali reply?
12.What did Nasreddin say then?
13.What did Ali then do?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. short
2. relax
3. next
4. early
5. few (little)
6. near
7. slowly
8. morning
9. badly
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Ali worked in the garden.
2. He wanted to send his wife a present.
3. Ali's writing was perfect.
4. Ali found a girl-friend.
5. Nasreddin was going to go to the night club.
6. Nasreddin was polite.
7. Nasreddin's writing was not pro-readable.
8.Ali's wife lived in the nearest town.
9. Nasreddin wrote a letter.
10. Ali stayed in Nasreddin's house.
Text 241
An old man died and left his son a lot of money. But the son was a foolish young man, and he quickly spent all the money, so that soon he had nothing left. Of course, when that happened, all his friends left him. When he was quite poor and alone, he went to see Nasreddin, who was a kind, clever old man and often helped people when they had troubles.
'My money has finished and my friends have gone,' said the young man. 'What will happen to me now?'
'Don't worry, young man,' answered Nasreddin. 'Everything will soon be all right again. Wait, and you will soon feel much happier.'
The young man was very glad. ‘Am I going to get rich again then?' he asked Nasreddin.
'No, I didn't mean that,' said the old man. 'I meant that you would soon get used to being poor and to having no friends.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.How did the young man get his money?
2.What kind of man was he?
3.What happened to the money?
4.What did the young man's friends then do?
5.What did the young man do after that?
6.Why did he go to Nasreddin?
7.What did the young man say to Nasreddin?
8.What did Nasreddin answer?
9.How did the young man feel then?
10.What did he ask Nasreddin?
11.What was Nasreddin's answer?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. young
2. little ( few)
3. slowly
4. rich
5. cruel
6. seldom
7. silly
8. sadlier
9. give
10. enemies
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. An old man lived in Kiev.
2. His son got a little money.
3. His son was a clever man in age.
4. An old man's son had two best friends.
5. Nasreddin was foolish, rude man.
6. An old man's son went to witch to get some advices.
7. Nasreddin kicked an old man's son out of his house.
8. Nasreddin helped an old man's son.
9. An old man's son was happy to get some advices from Nasreddin
10. An old man's son got a lot of money again.
Text 242
When Mr Jones went to a restaurant one day, he left his coat near the door. There was nothing in the pockets of the coat when he left it, so he was very surprised when he took his coat after his meal and found the pockets full of jewellery!
There was a waiter near the door, so Mr Jones said to him, 'Somebody has made a mistake. He has put some jewellery in my coat. Take it, and when he comes back, give it to him.'
The waiter took it and went away. Suddenly another man came in with a coat just like Mr Jones's. 'I am sorry,' said this man. 'I made a mistake. I took your coat and you have got mine. Please give me my coat and jewellery.' Mr Jones answered, 'I gave the jewellery to the waiter. He will give it to you.'
Mr Jones called the manager of the restaurant; but the manager said, 'We have no waiters here. We only have waitresses.' 'You gave the jewellery to a thief!' shouted the other man. 'I shall call the police!' Mr Jones was frightened and paid the man a lot of money for the jewellery.
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.Where did Mr Jones go one day?
2.What did he do with his coat?
3.Was there anything in the pockets of the coat when Mr Jones left it?
4.What happened when he took the coat after his meal?
5.Whom did he see near the door?
6.What did Mr Jones say to him?
7.What did the waiter do then?
8.What happened after that?
9.What was the man wearing?
10.What did he say to Mr Jones?
11.What did Mr Jones answer?
12.What did Mr Jones do then?
13.What did the manager of the restaurant say?
14.What did the man shout then?
15.What did Mr Jones do?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. arrive
2. before
3. far
4. front
5. asked
6. there
7. little ( few)
8. hate
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Mr. Jones went to the theatre with his girl-friend.
2. He left his hat near the door.
3. His coat's pockets were full of money.
4. His coat's pockets were emplty after his meal.
5. Mr. Jones was looking for waitresses.
6. He gave his coat to the waiter.
7. Suddently another waitress came in.
8. Another man wanted his coat.
9. The restaurant did not have the waiters.
10. The police took Mr. Jones to the prison.
Text 243
A man was travelling abroad in a small red car. One day he left the car and went shopping. When he came back, its roof was badly damaged. Some boys told him that an elephant had damaged it. The man did not believe them, but they took him to a circus which was near there. The owner of the elephant said, 'I am very sorry! My elephant has a big, round, red chair. He thought that your car was his chair, and he sat on it!' Then he gave the man a letter, in which he said that he was sorry and that he would pay for all the damage.
When the man got back to his own country, the customs officers would not believe his story. They said, 'You sold your new car while you were abroad and bought this old one!'
It was only when the man showed them the letter from the circus man that they believed him.
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was the man doing at the beginning of the story?
2.Where did he leave his car?
3.Why did he leave it there?
4.What did he see when he came back?
5.What did the boys say?
6.Where did they take him?
7.What did the owner of the elephant say?
8.Why had the elephant sat on the car?
9.What did the owner of the elephant do then?
10.What did he write in his letter?
11.What happened when the man returned to his own country?
12.What did the customs men say?
13.How did the man make them believe him?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. huge
2. front
3. well
4. gave
5. far
6. small
7. foreigh
8. bought
9. old
10. hid
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. A man was travelling to another part of the country
2. He was travelling by public bus.
3. He had a huge car.
4. He went to the market.
5. A man could not find his car after shopping
6. The car thievers stole his car.
7. The boys took a man to the beach.
8. A man shouted at owner of the elephant
9. The policemen broke a man and the owner of the elephant up.
10. The letter did not save a man on the border.
Text 244
The man continued on his way.
Of course, after a few minutes, the branch fell and Nasreddin fell with it.
'My God!' he cried. 'That man knows the future!' and he ran after him to ask how long he was going to live. But the man had gone.
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was Nasreddin doing at the beginning of this story?
2.Who passed in the street?
3.What did the man say?
5.Why did he say this?
6.What did Nasreddin say?
7.What did he think?
8.What did the other man do then?
9.What happened after a few minutes?
10.What did Nasreddin say then?
11.What did he do?
12.Why did he do this?
13.Did he find the man?
14.Why (not)?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. started
2. up
3. stood
4. clever
5. play
6. past
7. answer
8. short
9. die
10. many
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Nasreddin had a rest on the beach
2. He fixed roof in the garden.
3. Nasreddin's wife called him to have lunch.
4. Another man sais that Nasreddin sat in safe place.
5. Nasreddin listened the stranger very carefully.
6. Nasreddin shouted at the man.
7. Nasreddin and a man had a polite conversation.
8. A stranger left Nasreddin
9. Nasreddin fell down and broke his left leg.
10.The ambulance took Nasreddin to the hospital.
Text 245
It was half-past eight in the morning. The telephone bell rang and Mary went to answer it.
'Hullo, who's that?' she asked.
'It's me-Peter.'
Peter was a friend of Mary's eight-year-old brother, Johnny.
'Oh, hullo, Peter. What do you want?' said Mary.
'Can I speak to Johnny?'
'No,' said Mary, 'you can't speak to him now. He is busy.
He is getting ready for school. He is eating his breakfast. Grandmother is combing his hair. Sister is under the table, putting his shoes on. Mother is getting his books and putting them in his school bag. Goodbye, I've got to go now. I have to hold the door open. The school bus is coming.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What time was it at the beginning of this story?
2.What happened at that time?
3.What did Mary do?
4.What did she say?
5.What was the answer?
6.Who was Peter?
7.What did Mary ask Peter?
8.What did he answer?
9.What did Mary then say?
10.What was Johnny doing?
11.What was his grandmother doing?
12. What was his other sister doing?
13. What was his mother doing?
14. Why did Mary say goodbye?
15. Why did she have to go?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. young
2. above
3. drop
4. ask
5. unprepared
6. send
7. idle
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. The story happened at quater to seven in the evening.
2. The alarm clock rang.
3. The mother picked up telephone receiver.
4. The mother and caller had a nice coversation.
5. Peter wanted to speak to Mary.
6. Johnny was idle.
7. Johnny was eating dumplings.
8. Johnny's grandmother was feeding Johnny.
9. Mother kicked Johnny out the house to school.
10. The public bus took Johnny to school.
Text 246
'Yes,' said the other lady, and the drivers get such big tips that they soon become rich. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.'
One of the ladies was smoking a cigarette. After a minute or two she said to the other lady, 'Can you see an ashtray in this taxi? There isn't one on my side.' 'No,' said the other, 'there isn't one on this side either. Driver! Where is the tray in this taxi? Why haven't you
got one?'
The driver, who had heard everything the ladies had said, answered, 'Oh, just drop the ashes on the carpet-I have a servant who comes in and cleans three days in the week!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What were the two rich ladies doing?
2.What were they talking about?
3.What did one of them say?
4.What did the other one say?
5.What was one of the ladies doing?
6. What did she say to the other lady?
7.What did the other lady answer?
8.What did she say to the driver?
9.What did he answer?
10.Why did he answer in this way?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. poor
2. low
3. small
4. befor
5. nice
6. everything
7. answered
8. pick up
9. cheap
10. nice
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Four ladies were sitting in the restaurant.
2. They were talking about girl's problems.
3. Taxis are cheap these days .
4. Taxi-drivers earn a little money.
5. One of the ladies took a nap.
6. The ladies could not find a taxi driver.
7. The driver shouted at the ladies.
8. The ladies could smoke in the car.
9. The ladies could smoke for extra money in the taxi.
10. The driver sent a car to the car service.
Text 247
Nasreddin put two big baskets of grapes on his donkey and went to market. At midday it was very hot, so he stopped in the shade of a big tree. There were several other men there, and all of them had donkeys and baskets of grapes too. After their lunch they went to sleep. After some time, Nasreddin began to take grapes out of the other men's baskets and to put them in his.
Suddenly one of the men woke up and saw him. ‘What are you doing?' he said angrily.
'Oh,' said Nasreddin, 'don't worry about me. I am half mad, and I do a lot of strange things.'
'Oh, really?' said the other man. "Then why don't you sometimes take grapes out of your baskets and put them in somebody else's baskets?'
'You did not understand me,' said Nasreddin. 'I said that I was half mad, not quite mad.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What did Nasreddin put on his donkey?
2.Where did he then go?
3.When did he stop?
4.Why did he stop?
5.Where did he stop?
6.What did he see there?
7.What did the men have?
8.What did they do after lunch?
9.What did Nasreddin do then?
10.What happened then?
11.What did the man say?
12.What did Nasreddin answer?
13.What did the man say then?
14.What was Nasreddin's answer?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. small
2. midnight
3. finished
4. befor
5. happily
6. give
7. put
8. sold
9. light
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Nasreddin put three boxes in the car.
2. He went for dating.
3. Nasreddin stopped at the train station.
4. The weather was rainy.
5. A lot of people were under the tree.
6. People took a nap.
7. Nasreddin started to sell people's grapes.
8. People began to beat Nasreddin.
9. The policeman took his to the jail.
10. Nasreddin was clever.
Text 248
There was a big garden near Nasreddin's house, and it had a lot of fruit trees in it. One day Nasreddin saw some beautiful apples on one of them. He went home and got a ladder, put it against the high wall of the garden and climbed up. Then he pulled the ladder up, put it down on the other side, and climbed down into the garden. Just then a gardener came
round a corner and saw him.
'What are you doing here?' he shouted.
Nasreddin thought quickly and then said, 'I am selling my ladder.'
'Selling your ladder? In somebody else's garden? Do you think I believe such a stupid story?" said the gardener and came towards Nasreddin with a stick.
'It is my ladder,' said Nasreddin, 'and I can sell it where I like. You do not need buy it if you don't want to.' And he took his ladder and climbed over the wall again.
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was there near Nasreddin's house?
2.What did it have in it?
3.What did Nasreddin see one day?
4.What did he do then?
5.What did he do with the ladder?
6.How did he get into the garden?
7.What happened then?
8.What did the gardener shout?
9.What did Nasreddin answer?
10.What did the gardener say then?
11.What did he do?
12.What did Nasreddin say then?
13.What did he do?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. small
2. many
3. ugly
4. low
5. clever
6. went away
7. up
8. slowly
9. backwards
10. buy
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. A big market was near Nasreddin's house.
2. The garden had a lof of vegetables.
3. Nasreddin saw a beautiful girl in the garden.
4. He got a lot of flowers.
5. The beautiful girl came round a corner.
6. Nasreddin and a garderner had a nice conversation.
7. Nasreddin said that he was looking for a beautiful girl.
8. Nasreddin wanted to sell his ladder
9. A gardener believed in Nasreddin story.
10. The police took them both to the prison.
Text 249
Nasreddin woke up in the middle of the night and saw something white in his garden. It seemed to be moving towards the house.
'That is a thief!' he thought, and he took his gun and shot at him. Then he went back to bed, because he was too frightened to go out of the house in the dark.
The next morning Nasreddin went out and saw one of his white shirts hanging on the clothes-line in the garden. His wife had washed it the day before and hung it out to dry. Now it had a bullet-hole right through the middle of it.
'My God,' said Nasreddin, 'I was lucky last night. If I had been wearing that shirt, the bullet would have killed me!' And he called his neighbours together and asked them to thank God for saving him.
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.When did Nasreddin wake up?
2.What did he see?
3.Where did he see it?
4.What did he think?
5.What did he do?
6.Why did he go back to bed after that?
7.What did he see the next morning?
8.Where was it?
9.Why was it there?
10.What was the matter with it?
11.What did Nasreddin say then?
12.What did he do?
13.What did he ask his neighbours?
14. Why was Nasreddin silly?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. went to bed
2. monring
3. backwards
4. gave
5. went away
6. calm
7. come in
8. light
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Nasreddin woke up after nap.
2. Nasreddin saw something big ....
3. He thoght that
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 250
A judge was working in his room one day when a neighbour ran in and said, 'If one man's cow kills another's, is the owner of the first cow responsible?"
'It depends,' answered the judge.
‘Well,' said the man, 'your cow has killed mine.'
'Oh,' answered the judge. 'Everyone knows that a cow cannot think like a man, so a cow is not responsible, and that means that its owner is not responsible either.'
'I am sorry, Judge,' said the man. 'I made a mistake. I meant that my cow killed yours.'
The judge thought for a few seconds and then said, 'When I think about it more carefully, this case is not as easy as I thought at first.' And then he turned to his clerk and said, 'Please bring me that big black book from the shelf behind you.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was the judge doing at the beginning of the story?
2.Who ran in ?
3.What did this man say?
4.What did the judge answer?
5.What did the man say then?
6.What did the judge answer?
7.What did the man say?
8.What did the judge do then?
9.What did he say?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. play
2. went
3. forget
4. hate
5. irresponsible
6. hard
7. little
8. white
9. forward
10. carry away
11. less
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. The judge was sleeping in his office.
2. The neighbour ran in the room and began conversation.
3. Somebody killed judge's cows.
4. The judge's cow killed some men.
5. The cow was responsible and
6. The judge was a very frighneted.
7. The man said ...
8.
9.
10.
Text 251
When Nasreddin was a boy, he never did what he was told, so his father always told him to do the opposite of what he wanted him to do.
One day, when the two were bringing sacks of flour home on their donkeys, they had to cross a shallow river. When they were in the middle of it, one of the sacks on Nasreddin's donkey began to slip, so his father said, 'That sack is nearly in the water! Press down hard on it!'
His father of course expected that he would do the opposite, but this time Nasreddin did what his father had told him to do. He pressed down on the sack and it went under the water. Of course, the flour was lost.
'What have you done, Nasreddin?' his father shouted
angrily.
'Well, Father', said Nasredd in, 'this time I thought that I would do just what you told me, to show you how stupid your orders always are.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was Nasreddin like when he was a boy?
2.What did his father do?
3.What were Nasreddin and his father doing at the beginning of this story?
4.What did they have to do?
5.What happened in the middle of the river?
6.What did Nasreddin's father then say?
7.What did he expect?
8.What did Nasreddin do?
9.What happened then?
10.How did Nasreddin's father feel?
11.What did he say?
12.What did Nasreddin answer?
13.Why did Nasreddin do what his father had told him to do that time?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. never
2. deep
3. hard
4. happily
5. found
6. whispered
7. above
8. hide
9. finish
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 252
Nasreddin had lost his donkey. He was going about looking for it everywhere, and while he was looking, he was singing gaily.
One of his neighbours saw him and said, 'Hullo, Nasreddin. What are you doing?'
'I am looking for my donkey,' answered Nasreddin.
'Don't you know where it is?' asked the neighbour.
'No, I don't.'
'Then why are you singing so gaily? Usually when somebody loses something, he is sad.'
'Yes, that is quite true,' answered Nasreddin. 'But you see, I am not yet sure that my donkey is lost. My last hope is that it is behind that hill over there. If you wait a little, you will hear how I will cry and complain if it is not there!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What had happened to Nasreddin?
2.What was he doing at the beginning of this story?
3.What was he doing while he was doing this?
4.Who saw him?
5.What did this man say?
6.What did Nasreddin answer?
7.What did the neighbour say then?
8.What was Nasreddin's answer?
9.What did the neighbour say then?
10.What did Nasreddin answer?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 253
One winter Nasreddin had very little money. His crops had been very bad that year, and he had to live very cheaply. He gave his donkey less food, and when after two days the donkey looked just the same, he said to himself, "The donkey was used to eating a lot. Now he is quickly getting used to eating less; and soon he will get used to living on almost nothing.'
Each day Nasreddin gave the donkey a little less food, until it was hardly eating anything.
Then one day, when the donkey was going to market with a load of wood on its back, it suddenly died. 'How unlucky I am,' said Nasreddin. 'Just when my donkey had got used to eating hardly anything, it came to the end of its days in this world.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was the matter with Nasreddin one winter?
2.Why had this happened?
3.What did he have to do?
4.What did he do to his donkey?
5.What happened after two days?
6.What did Nasreddin then say to himself?
7.What did he do each day after that?
8.What was the donkey doing in the end?
9.What happened to the donkey?
10.When did it happen?
11.What did Nasreddin say?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 254
Nasreddin's wife was very ill, and at last she died. After a few months, Nasreddin married again. His new wife was a widow.
Exactly seven days after he married her, she had a baby.
Nasreddin at once hurried away to the market and bought some paper, some pencils, some pens and some children's books. Then he hurried back home again with these things and put them beside the baby. His new wife was surprised.
'What are you doing?' she said. "The baby won't be able to use those things for a long time. Why are you in such a hurry?' Nasreddin answered, 'You are quite wrong, my dear. Our baby is not an ordinary baby. It came in seven days instead of nine months, so it will certainly be ready to learn to read and write in a few weeks from now.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What happened to Nasreddin's first wife?
2.What did Nasreddin do?
3.When did he do this?
4.What was his new wife?
5.What happened to his new wife then?
6.When did it happen?
7.What did Nasreddin do at once?
8.What did he buy?
9.What did he do with these things?
10.How did his wife feel?
11.What did she say to Nasreddin?
12.What did he answer?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 255
One of Nasreddin's neighbours had been abroad for many years, and during that time he had travelled in many strange places. When he came back home after many years, his old friends and neighbours listened to the old man's stories about foreign countries and strange people, and found them very interesting.
'Do you know,' the old man said, 'in one country which I visited where the climate is very hot all the year, nobody wears any clothes at all!'
Nasreddin loved a joke, so he said at once, 'Oh, is that so?
Then how do you know whether somebody is a man or a woman in that country?'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.Where had Nasreddin's neighbour been?
2.How long had he been there?
3.What had he done during that time?
4.What happened when he came home?
5.What did they think of his stories?
6.What did the old man say about one country?
7.What did Nasreddin then ask?
8.Why did he ask this?
9.
10.
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.motherland
2. To be boring
3. Remember
4. Few
5. Enemies
6. Lost
7. Front
8.ordinary
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Nassre
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 256
Some of Nasreddin's old friends were talking about the young people in their town. They all agreed that old people were wiser than young people. Then one of the old men said, 'But young men are stronger than old men.'
All of them agreed that this was true, except Nasreddin. He said, 'No. I am as strong now as when I was a young man.' 'What do you mean?' said his friends. 'How is that possible? Explain yourself!'
'Well,' said Nasreddin, ‘in one corner of my field there is a rock. When I was a young man I used to try to move it, but I couldn't because I was not strong enough. I am an old man now, and when I try to move it, I still cannot.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.Who were talking at the beginning of this story?
2.What were they talking about?
3.What did they all agree?
4.What did one of the old men say then?
5.What did the others do?
6.Who did not agree?
7.What did he say?
8.What did his friends say then?
9.What did Nasreddin answer?
10.Why did he think that he was as strong as when he was a young
man?
11.What mistake was he making when he thought this?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 257
One day a beautiful young lady went to a famous artist and said, 'I want you to paint a picture of me. How much will it cost?'
'Five hundred pounds,' said the artist.
'Oh?' said the lady. That is a lot of money.' Then she thought that, as she had a very beautiful body, the artist might be happy to paint her picture more cheaply if she wore no clothes while he was painting it. So she said, 'And how much will it cost if you paint me without any clothes on?"
The artist thought for a moment. 'One thousand pounds,' he then said. 'But I shall have to keep my socks on, because my feet get cold; and I shall have to wear something to put my brushes in.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.Who are the two people in this story?
2.What did the lady do?
3.What did she say?
4.What did she ask?
5.What did the artist answer?
6.What did the lady say then?
7.What did she think?
8.What did she ask then?
9.Did the artist answer at once?
10.What did he say then?
11.What mistake did the artist make?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. ugly
2. old
3. unknown
4. little ( few)
5. sad
6. expensively
7. with
8. lose
9. hot
10. less
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. One day a handsome young man came to artist.
2. The young lady wanted to work in the theatre.
3. The artist answered 1000$
4. It was expensively for woman
5. The woman that she
6. she tho
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 258
Henry and Mary had just got married, and everybody was enjoying their wedding party. There was plenty to eat and plenty to drink, and everybody was getting very merry, when a very thin, very young man came into the room. He looked at Mary sadly and accusingly, walked slowly towards her, kissed her lovingly and said, 'Why did you do it?'
Then he walked to the door and disappeared.
Nobody had ever seen the young man before-not even
Mary.
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What had just happened at the beginning of this story?
2.What was everybody doing?
3.What was there at the party?
4.What was happening to the people?
5.Who came into the room then?
6.What did he do?
7.What did he say to Mary?
8.What did he do then?
9.Did anybody know who he was?
10.Why not?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 259
The Second World War had begun, and John wanted to join the army, but he was only 16 years old, and boys were allowed to join only if they were over 18. So when the army doctor examined him, he said that he was 18.
But John's brother had joined the army a few days before, and the same doctor had examined him too. This doctor remembered the older boy's family name, so when he saw John's papers, he was surprised.
'How old are you?' he said.
'Eighteen, sir,' said John.
'But your brother was eighteen, too,' said the doctor. 'Are you twins?'
'Oh, no, sir,' said John, and his face went red. 'My brother
is five months older than I am.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What did John want to do?
2.When did he want to do it?
3.How old was he?
4.At what age were boys allowed
5.to join the army?
6.What did the army doctor do to him?
7.What did John say to him?
8.What had happened a few days before?
9.Who had examined John's brother?
10.Why was the doctor surprised?
11.What did he say to John?
12.What did John answer?
13.What did the doctor say then?
14.What did John answer?
15.How did the doctor know that John was lying?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 260
One day a big ship hit a smaller ship while they were both going from England to America. The smaller ship was badly damaged, and had to be taken back to England, where a judge had to decide who was to blame for the accident.
Several of the people who had seen the big ship hit the smaller one said that, a few seconds before the accident, the big ship had sent a signal to the smaller one. The judge was puzzled by this, so he said, 'Who sent this signal?'
A young signalman came forward and said, 'I did, sir.'
'Oh?' said the judge. 'And what signal did you send to the other ship?'
The young signalman's face went red as he answered,'Good luck on your voyage.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What happened one day in this story?
2.Where were the ships going?
3.What happened to the smaller ship?
4.Where did it go?
5.What happened then?
6.What did several people say?
7.Who were these people?
8.How did the judge feel about what these people said?
9.What did he say?
10.Who answered?
11.What did this man say?
12.What did the judge then say to him?
13.What did he answer?
14.What happened to his face?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. Fixed
2. smaller
3. got
4. clear
5. backward
6. asked
7. well
8. many
9. old
10. after
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. One day, the smaller ship hit bigger ship.
2. They were going from Odessa to Holland.
3. The bigger ship had a little damage.
4. The judge did not decide who blame is.
5. Nobody saw the accident.
6.
7.The judge was unpuzzled.
8. He already knew who blame is .
9. Old singal man said that it is his guilty.
10. Judge asked - Why did he do it?
Text 261
Mr Jones was very fond of climbing mountains, so one year he went to Switzerland for his holidays. After he had climbed some easy mountains, he decided one day to climb a more difficult one; but he did not want to go up it alone, so he found a good Swiss guide, who had often climbed that mountain.
At first it was not a difficult climb, but then they came to a place which was not so easy. The guide stopped, turned round and warned Mr Jones. 'Be careful here,' he said. "This is a dangerous place. You can easily fall, and if you do, you will fall straight down a very long way. But,' he continued calmly, 'if you do fall here, don't forget to look to the right
while you are going down. There is a quite extraordinarily beautiful view there much more beautiful than the one you can see from here.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was Mr Jones very fond of?
2.Where did he go?
3.What did he do first there?
4.What did he decide after that?
5.What didn't he want to do?
6.What did he do then?
7.What had the guide done?
8.How was the climb at first?
9.What happened then?
10.What did the guide do?
11.What did he say to Mr Jones?
12.What did he tell him to do if he falls?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. Hate
2. Easy
3. Safe
4. Rise
5. Remember
6. Ugly
7. Irretatively
8. Less
9. Lost
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Mr. Jones hated climbing.
2. He went to China one year .
3. Mr. Jones had business trip in China.
4. Mr. Jones climbed a more difficult mountain with his girl-friend.
5. The climbing was interesting at the beginning .
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 262
A young father was visiting an older neighbour. They were standing in the older man's garden and talking about children. The young man said, 'How strict should parents be with their children?'
The older man pointed to a string between a big, strong tree and a thin, young one.
'Please untie that string,' he said. The young man untied it, and the young tree bent over to one side.
'Now tie it again, please,' said the older man. 'But first pull the string tight so that the young tree is straight again.'
The young man did this. Then the older man said, "There.
It is the same with children. You must be strict with them,
but sometimes you must untie the string to see how they are
getting on. If they are not yet able to stand alone, you must
tie the string tight again. But when you find that they are ready
to stand alone, you can take the string away.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was the young father doing at the beginning of this story?
2.Where were the men standing?
3.What were they talking about?
4.What did the young man ask?
5.What did the old man do?
6.What did he ask the young man to do?
7.What did the young man do?
8.What happened then?
9.What did the old man say after that?
10.What did the young man do?
11.What did the old man say then?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. young
2. leave
3. small
4. thick
5. bend
6. under
7. crook
8. sat
9. loal
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. The young was visiting his mother
2. The old and yound man were standing in the forest.
3. The young man asked "How strict does he need to be with with his children? "
4. The old man did not help young man.
5.
6. The old man told young man to untie thick rope between two small trees.
7. after that nothing changed.
8.
9. one of the trees was damaged without string.
10.
Text 263
Mrs Smith was looking out of her window, when she saw a truck and a big car hit each other. She ran out to help. There was only one man in the truck and one woman in the car, and neither of them was hurt, but the car was damaged.
The lady looked very white and her hands were shaking, so Mrs Smith invited her into her house and gave her some tea. She was a pleasant woman of about 50 years old. She drank the tea and soon looked much better. Then she asked to Mrs Smith, ' Do you have a telephone, please? ' I would like to telephone my husband. We have a kind of custom-whenever I have an accident with the car, I telephone him.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was Mrs Smith doing at the beginning of this story?
2.What did she see?
3.What did she do?
4.Why did she do this?
5.Who was there in the truck?
6.Who was there in the car?
7.What happened to them?
8.What happened to the car?
9.What did Mrs Smith do?
10.Why did she do this?
11.What did she do in the house?
12.What was the lady like?
13.What did she do?
14.How did she look after a short time?
15.What did she ask then to Mrs Smith ?
16.Why did she want to telephone her husband?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. ran in
2. fixed
3. took
4. rude
5. worse
6. without
7. little
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. She saw nothing unusual through window.
2. Mrs Smith lived in an appartment( flat).
3. She ran into the kitchen to turn off oven.
4. Mrs Smith looked white when she saw that cake burnt.
5. Mrs Smith opened the windows and made some tea.
6. She was alone in her appartment.
7. Then Mrs Smith took a telephone and called her husband.
8. The lady took a nap.
9.
10.
Text 264
The zoo had big baskets for rubbish, where people who bought ice-creams and other things could throw the papers from them. One Saturday afternoon Mr Brown was walking near the cages where the lions and tigers were kept. Usually there were a lot of people round these cages on a Saturday afternoon, but that day there was nobody there. Mr Brown
was surprised. But he was even more surprised when he saw a crowd around the rubbish basket near the lions' cage.
He went towards the crowd. Most of them were children. He looked over their heads and saw a little mouse, which was running about among the pieces of paper in the basket and looking for bits of food. It was only a few centimetres from the children, but it was not afraid and the children were more interested in this small, common mouse than in the lions
and tigers.
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What did the zoo have?
2.Where did it have these things?
3.What did people do with these things?
4.What was Mr Brown doing one Saturday afternoon?
5.What did he usually see there on a Saturday afternoon?
6.Why was he surprised?
7.What made him even more surprised?
8.What did he do?
9.What were most of the people in the crowd?
10.What did Mr Brown do then?
11.What did he see?
12.What was this animal doing?
13.Was it frightened?
14.How did the children feel?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. sold
2. everybody
3. far
4. (to be ) brave
5. (to be) boring
6. unusual
7. pick up
8. catch
9. under
10. tall
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. The zoo did not have baskets for rubbish.
2. Mr Brown visited the zoo on Wednesday.
3. He walked near giraffes' cage.
4. Usually , there were a few people near the cage.
5. He saw several mice in the lian's cage.
6. The children saw as lion hunts some mice.
7. They were interested in a big snake in rubbish basket .
8. It rained on Saturday and the zoo did not have any visitors.
9.
10.
Text 265
One day a lady saw a mouse running across her kitchen floor. She was very afraid of mice, so she ran out of the house, got in a bus and went down to the shops. There she bought a mouse-trap. The shopkeeper said to her, 'Put some cheese in it, and you will soon catch that mouse."
The lady went home with her mouse-trap, but when she looked at her cupboard, she could not find any cheese in it. She did not want to go back to the shops, because it was very late, so she cut a picture of some cheese out of a magazine and put that in the trap.
Surprisingly, the picture of the cheese was quite successful!
When the lady came down to the kitchen the next morning, there was a picture of a mouse in the trap beside the picture of the cheese!
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What did the lady see at the beginning of this story?
2.Where did she see it?
3.Why did she run out of the house?
4.Where did she go?
5.How did she go there?
6.What did she do when she got there?
7.Who spoke to her there?
8.What did he say to her?
9.What did the lady do then?
10.Where did she look?
11.What was she looking for?
12.Did she find it?
13.Why didn't she go back to the shops?
14.What did she do then?
15.What happened the next morning?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. To be brave
2. sold
3. drop
4. lose
5. early
6. stck down
7.
8.
9.
10. front of
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. One day, a lady saw a snake in her bathroom.
2. She likes mice.
3. She ran of the flat.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 266
When Nasreddin's first wife died, he married again. His second wife was much younger than he was and they often quarrelled. One evening when Nasreddin came home very late, his wife said to him, 'I cooked your dinner two hours ago. It is quite spoiled now.' She was so angry that she gave him a push, and as she was strong, and he was old and weak, he
fell down the stairs.
One of Nasreddin's neighbours, who was always eager to know what was happening in everybody else's house, was listening, and when she heard the noise that Nasreddin made when he fell down the stairs, she came to his front door and knocked.
'What has happened?' she said.
'My coat fell down the stairs,' he answered.
'But a coat would not make so much noise! the neighbour said.
'Of course it would,' answered Nasreddin, 'if I was inside it!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What happened when Nasreddin's first wife died?
2.What was his second wife like?
3.What did he and his second wife often do?
4.What did Nasreddin do one night?
5.What did his wife say?
6.How did she feel?
7.What did she do?
8.What happened then?
9.Why was she able to push him over?
10.Who was listening?
11.Why was she listening?
12.What did she do?
13.When did she do this?
14.What did she say?
15.What did Nasreddin answer?
16.What did the woman say then?
17.What was Nasreddin's answer?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. to be born
2. divorce
3. older
4. seldom
5. fresh
6. reconcile
7. early
8. strong
9. happy
10. deaf
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Nasreddin and his wife lived for many years and they had five children.
2. Nasreddin married again in two years.
3. She was a very happy wife because Nasreddin presented a bucket of roses.
4.
5. Nasreddin appologized and drank green tea with cakes.
6. She was old and weak woman.
7. An ambulance came because Nasreddin hurt himself very badly.
8. The neighbour brought an apple pie.
9. The neighbour and Nasreddin's wife had a pleasant conversation .
10. Nasreddin invited their neighbour to their house.
Text 267
One of Nasreddin's rich neighbours gave a big party one evening, but he forgot to invite him. Nasreddin waited and waited, but no invitation came, so at last, when the party had already begun, he took a piece of paper, folded it, put it in an envelope and took it to his neighbour's house.
'I have a very important letter for the host,' he said to the servants at the door. The servants took him into the big room where everybody was eating, Nasreddin gave the letter to his rich neighbour and at once sat down and began to fill his mouth with food.
The host looked at the envelope, but there was nothing on it, so he said, 'Are you sure that this letter is for me? There is
no address on it.' 'Oh, yes,' said Nasreddin, 'and there is no writing inside it either because it was prepared in a hurry.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1. What happened one evening?
2. What did the man forget to do?
3.What did Nasreddin do at first?
4.What did he do then?
5.What did he say?
6.Whom did he say this to?
7.What did the servants do?
8.What was everybody doing?
9.What did Nasreddin do?
10.What did he do then?
11.What did the host do?
12.What was there on the envelope?
13.What did the host say to Nasreddin?
14.What did Nasreddin answer?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. poor
2. took
3. small
4. knew
5. stood
6.devastation
7. inside
8. leisurely
9. put into
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Nasreddin's girl-friend went to the cinema with Nasreddin.
2. Nasreddin quarrelled with his girl-friend .....
3.
4.
5. The hostess met Nasreddin.
6. The host drove out the Nasreddin.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 268
up to the girl and asked her to dance. She had seen him dancing before, so she knew that he was a good dancer, and as she too liked dancing, she accepted.
After they had danced several dances together, the man led her into the garden and said, 'Do you tell your mother everything that you do?"
'Of course not,' she answered sweetly. 'She does not mind what I do now. But my husband always wants to know!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What happened one evening in this story?
2.Where was it?
3.How old was the man in the story?
4.What did he think?
5.Whom did he see?
6.When did he see her?
7.Where was she when he saw her?
8.Who was with her?
9.What did the man do?
10.What did the girl do?
11.Why did she do this?
12.What sort of a dancer was the man?
13.How did the girl know this?
14.What did the man do near the end of the story?
15.When did he do this?
16.What did he say to the girl?
17.What did she answer?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 269
John liked to wear his hair very long. Some of his friends thought that it looked like a girl's hair, but they never made jokes about it, because John was a big, strong young man, and he did not think jokes about his hair funny.
John always went to the barber's twice a month to have his hair cut and washed, and one day the barber said to him,
'Now why don't you let me cut most of this hair off and make your head tidy? Nobody would recognize you if I do that, I am sure.'
John said nothing for a few seconds, and then he said,
'Perhaps you are right-but I am sure that nobody would recognize you either if you did that to my hair.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What did John like?
2.What did some of his friends think?
3.Why did they never make jokes about his hair?
4.How often did John go to the barber's?
5.Why did he go there?
6.What did the barber say to him one day?
7.Did John answer at once?
8.What did he say?
9.Why would nobody recognize the barber?
10.
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. hate
2. short
3. little
4. old
5. weak
6. dirty
7. many
8. enemies
9. always
10. least
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. Joe always h
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 270
On Saturday mornings our cinema shows films for children.
One such morning an old man took his grandchildren to the cinema. At the door there was a list of the prices of tickets, but he could not see any price for tickets for adults for Saturday mornings. The only price which was shown for that time was for children's tickets, so he asked the lady who was selling the tickets how much it was for adults.
'Adults!' she said. 'No, we don't have prices for tickets for adults for our Saturday morning films. Any adult who is brave enough to go in there to see films like that and with all those children-can go in free!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What happens on Saturday mornings in this story?
2.What happened one Saturday morning?
3.What was there at the door?
4.What could the old man not see?
5.What could he see?
6.What did he do then?
7.What did the lady answer?
8.Why could adults go in free?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. gave
2. old
3. coward
4. answered
5. buy
6. little
7. busy
8. these
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1. The cinema showed films for children on Sunday morning.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 271
A small talking dog had a big success when it came to our theatre. It told jokes, sang songs and did a lot of other funny things on the stage.
But while it was singing one of its songs, a bigger dog came into the theatre, stopped, listened for a few moments and then ran up and jumped on to the stage. The small talking dog tried to get away, but the bigger dog caught it by the skin of its neck and carried it off the stage. Just as the two animals were disappearing behind the curtains at the side of the stage, the small talking dog said, 'I am sorry about this, everybody!
This is my mother. She doesn't want me to be an actor. She wants me to become a doctor.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What kind of animal is this story about?
2.Why was it a big success?
3.Where was it a big success?
4.What did it do there?
5.Where did it do these things?
6.What happened then?
7.When did it happen?
8.What did the small dog do?
9.What did the bigger dog do?
10.What did the small dog say?
11.When did it say this?
12.Who was the bigger dog?
13.Why did she carry the smaller dog away?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. A small talking cat had a big success when It came to town.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 272
Mrs Robinson always seemed to be ill and unhappy. She often had painful headaches, and medicines did not seem to make her any better, so at last her husband took her to a good doctor.
The doctor examined her carefully and asked her a lot of questions. Then he suddenly put his arms around her and gave her a big kiss. Mrs Robinson at once looked better and happier.
' Do You see?' said the doctor to her husband. "That is all she needs. I suggest that she has the same thing every Tuesday,Thursday and Saturday,' and he smiled.
'Well,' said Mr Robinson, 'I can bring her on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but not on Saturdays, because I always go sailing on that day.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.How was Mrs Robinson?
2.What did she often have?
3.What did medicines do for her?
4.What did her husband do?
5.What did the doctor do?
6.What did he then do suddenly?
7.What happened to Mrs
8.Robinson then?
9.What did the doctor say?
10.What did he suggest?
11.What did Mr Robinson answer?
12.What mistake did Mr Robinson make?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1. healthy
2. sad
3. carelessly
4. answered
5. painless
6. different
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 273
A pretty, well-dressed young lady stopped a taxi in a big square, and said to the driver, 'Do you see that young man at the other side of this square?'
'Yes,' said the taxi-driver. The young man was standing outside a restaurant and looking impatiently at his watch every few seconds.
'Take me over there,' said the young lady.
There were a lot of cars and buses and trucks in the square, so the taxi-driver asked, 'Are you afraid to cross the street?'
'Oh, no!' said the young lady. 'But I am three-quarters of an hour late. I said that I would meet that young man for lunch at one o'clock, and it is now a quarter to two. If I arrive in a taxi, it will at least seem as if I have tried not to be too late.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What did the lady in this story look like?
2.What did she do at the beginning of the story?
3.Where did she do it?
4.What did she say?
5.Whom did she say it to?
6.What did he answer?
7.Whom did he see?
8.Where was this person?
9.What was he doing?
10.What did the young lady tell the driver to do then?
11.What did the driver say?
12.Why did he say this?
13.What did the lady answer?
14.Why did she want to arrive in a taxi?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 274
One morning he was still sitting comfortably at the breakfast table and reading his newspaper at five minutes past eight.
He did not seem to be in a hurry and asked his wife for another
cup of coffee.
'Another cup?' she asked. But aren't you going to the office today? Have you got a holiday?'
"The office?" he said and looked up from his newspaper very surprised. 'I thought that I was at the office!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.Where did Mr Robinson work?
2.What did he do every morning?
3.At what time did he do it?
4.What did he do then?
5.When did he leave his house?
6.Where did he go then?
7.Why did he go there?
8.What happened one morning?
9.What time was it?
10.Was he late?
11.Was he in a hurry?
12.What did he ask his wife for?
13.What did she say?
14.What did he answer?
15.How did he feel?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 275
Mr Black gave his wife money every Friday evening, but she always spent it before the next Wednesday, so that for the next three days she had none.
Every Tuesday evening Mr Black asked her, 'But what did you spend all that money on?' and she always answered, 'I don't know.'
One Friday Mr Black brought home an exercise book and a pencil and gave them to his wife with her money. 'Now look!' he said to her. 'When you get money from me, write it down on this page, and on the opposite page write down what happens to the money.'
When Mr Black came home the next Tuesday, his wife came to him and showed him the book. 'I have done what you told me,' she said happily. On one page she had written 'Friday, 28th June. I got £180 from John'; and on the opposite page, "Tuesday, 2nd July. I have spent it all.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What did Mr Black do every Friday evening?
2.What happened then?
3.What was the result?
4.What did Mr Black do every Tuesday evening?
5.What did his wife answer?
6.What did Mr Black do one Friday?
7.What did he say to his wife?
8.What happened the next Tuesday?
9.What did his wife say?
10.What had she written in the book?
11.What mistake had she made?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 276
A letter to a magazine:
'Dear Sirs,
Last year I saw an article in your magazine (I think it was in your magazine, but I am not sure) which interested me very much, but I have forgotten what it was. I wrote the name of the article and the magazine in my notebook after I had read it, but I have lost the notebook. I have also lost the magazine which the article was in. Will you please send me another copy of the magazine, if it was your magazine? Thank you very much.
Yours faithfully,
David Williams.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What did Mr Williams see last year?
2.Where did he see it?
3.Was he sure?
4.What did he think of the article?
5.What was the article?
6.What did Mr Williams do after he had read the article?
7.What happened then?
8.What else did he lose?
9.What was Mr Williams asking for in his letter?
10.What do you think the person who got Mr Williams's letter would do?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 277
The lights were red, so my taxi had to stop. When they changed to green again, an old lady was slowly crossing the street in front of the taxi, so of course the driver waited. But as soon as the driver of the car behind saw the green light, he began to blow his horn.
My taxi-driver calmly opened his door, got out, pointed to the driver's seat which he had just left, and said to the man who was blowing the horn, 'Sir, you get into my taxi and drive over her. I always feel so uncomfortable when I drive over old ladies.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What happened at the beginning of this story?
2.Why did the taxi stop?
3.What happened then?
4.Why did the driver wait?
5.What happened then?
6.Why did the other driver blow his horn?
7.What did the taxi-driver do then?
8.What did he say?
9.
10.
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 278
A man was mending a street lamp when he saw a pretty young woman and three children get into a car which was in the garden of a house near him. He saw that the car had a flat tyre and tried to warn the woman, but it was too late-she was already driving the car out of the garden and into the busy street. When she had got there, she stopped the car at the side of the street, got out and looked at the flat tyre. The children stayed in the car. Very soon another car stopped, and the driver offered to help her. The young woman accepted his offer, and the man changed the tyre for her.
When she had thanked him and he had gone, she drove the car back into the garden, got out with the children and went back to her work in the house-with clean hands.
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was the man doing at the beginning of this story?
2.What did he see?
3.Where was the car?
4.What was the matter with the car?
5.What did the man want to do?
6.Why couldn't he do it?
7.What did the lady do?
8.What did she do when she got into the street?
9.What did the children do?
10.What happened very soon?
11.What did the other driver say?
12.What did the young woman do?
13.What did the man do then?
14.What did the lady do after that?
15Why were her hands clean?
16.Why had she driven the car out into the road?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 279
A man wanted to sell his old horse, so he took him to the market. Because the horse was old, nobody wanted to buy him, but at last a young man stopped in front of him and said,
'How old is he?"
'He is twenty-one years old,' said the older man.
'How long have you had him?”
'I have had him for nearly nineteen years.'
'And what is his name?'
'I don't know. But I call him Tom.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.Where did the old man go?
2.What did he take with him?
3.Why?
4.Why didn't anybody want to buy the horse?
5.What happened at last?
6.What did the young man say?
7.What did the other man answer?
8.What did the young man say then?
9.What was the other man's answer?
10.What was the young man's next question?
11.What did the other man answer?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 280
A man heard that a certain government department wanted a clerk, so he wrote and asked for the position. But while he was waiting for an answer, a friend of his introduced him to the head of the department, who at once gave him the job.
Several months later, while the man was working in the department, he got a letter which had been sent on to him from his old address. This letter said:
'Dear Sir,
We are sorry to have to tell you that we cannot offer you work in this department because we do not think that you would be able to do the job successfully.
Yours faithfully,'
The man laughed, but when he looked at the letter more carefully, he saw that he had signed it himself!
1.What did the man hear at the beginning of this story?
2.What did he do?
3.What happened then?
4.How did he get the job?
5.What happened several months later?
6.What was the man doing at that time?
7.How did the letter get to him?
8.What did the letter say?
9.What did the man do?
10.Why did he do this?
11.What did he do then?
12.What did he see?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 281
Well, of course he did not write to anybody while he was at the camp. A few days after he came back home, his mother saw him looking at some papers and asked him what they were.
'Oh,' he said, 'they are the letters I got while I was at the camp. I did not have time to look at them while I was there.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.How old was Tom?
2.Where did he go?
3.When did he go there?
4.Whom did he go with?
5.What did his mother think?
6.What did she do?
7.What was the result?
8.What did Tom not do while hewas away from home?
9.What did his mother see a few days after he came home?
10.What did she ask Tom?
11.What did Tom answer?
12.What mistake had Tom's mother made?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 282
George had worked for the Bank of Ruritania for ten years and was still only a clerk. He was not satisfied with his position and wanted to find something better, but he also did not want to lose his position in the bank before he had got another one, so he prepared a letter about himself, with the words 'HELP! I AM A PRISONER OF THE BANK OF RURITANIA!' in big letters across the top, and sent it to several big companies, asking them for a job.
A few days later, one of these letters came into the hands of George's chief at the bank. Someone had given it to him at his club. The next morning, George's chief asked him to come into his room and said, 'George, I have some very good news for you. The Bank of Ruritania is setting you free!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.Where did George work?
2.How long had he worked there?
3.What was his position?
4.What did he think about it?
5.What did he want to do?
6.What did he not want to happen?
7.So what did he do?
8.What did he put across the top of his letter?
9.Where did he send it?
10.Why did he send it?
11.What happened a few days later?
12.How did George's chief get the letter?
13.What happened the next morning?
14.What did George's chief say to him?
15.Do you think that George was pleased?
16.Why?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 283
A beautiful and very successful actress was the star of a new musical show. Her home was in the country, but she did not want to have to go back there every night, so she rented an expensive flat in the centre of the city, bought some beautiful furniture and hired a man to paint the rooms in new colours.
It was very difficult to get tickets for her show, because everybody wanted to see it, so she decided to give the painter two of the best seats. She hoped that this would make him work better and more willingly for her. He took the tickets without saying anything, and she heard no more about them until the end of the month, when she got the painter's bill.
At the bottom of it were the words: 'Four hours watching Miss Hall sing and dance: £3,' with this note: 'After 5 p.m. I get fifteen shillings an hour instead of ten shillings.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was the lady in this story?
2.What work was she doing at this time?
3.Where was her home?
4.What kind of place did she rent?
5.Why did she rent it?
6.What did she do then?
7.Why was it difficult to get seats for her show?
8.What did she decide to do?
9.What did she hope?
10.What did the painter do?
11.What happened at the end of the month?
12.How much did the painter get an hour before 5 p.m. ?
13.How much did he get after 5 p.m. ?
14.What mistake had the actress made?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 284
Olives are about the same size as grapes, but they taste very different. Some are bitter, some are sour, and some are very salty. Men and women eat them with drinks before a meal, but children usually do not like them at all.
Mr Grey was drinking beer and eating olives when his small son Tommy came in. He saw that his father liked the olives very much, so he said, 'May I have one, Father?'
'Yes,' answered his father. "Take one and try it.'
Tommy took one. He thought it tasted terrible.
He watched his father take another and eat it. He could see that he was enjoying it, so Tommy tried another olive- but that was just as terrible as the first.
'You are taking all the good ones,' he cried, and leaving the bad ones for me!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.How big are olives?
2.Do they taste the same as grapes?
3.What do they taste like?
4.Who eats them?
5.When do they eat them?
6.What do children usually think of them?
7.What was Mr Grey doing?
8.What happened then?
9.What did Tommy see?
10.What did he say?
11.What did Mr Grey answer?
12.What did Tommy do?
13.What did he think of the olive?
14What did Tommy do then?
15.Why did he try another olive?
16.What did he think of that one?
17.What did he say then?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 285
A young lion came to a small zoo in Europe. In the next cage was a tired, old lion, which did nothing except lie about and sleep. 'Lions ought not to behave like that!' the young lion said to himself, so he roared at all the visitors and tried to break the bars of the cage.
At three o'clock a man brought a big piece of meat and put it in the old lion's cage. Then he put a bag of nuts and two bananas in the young lion's cage.
The young lion was very surprised. 'I don't understand this,' he said to the old lion. 'I behave like a real lion, while you lie there and do nothing, and look what happens!'
'Well, you see,' said the old lion kindly, 'this is a small zoo. They haven't got enough money for two lions, so in their books you are here as a monkey.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What happened to the young lion at the beginning of this story?
2.Where was the zoo?
3.What was there in the next cage?
4.What did the old lion do?
5.What did the young lion say to himself?
6.What did he do?
7.What happened at three o'clock?
8.What did the man do then?
9.How did the young lion feel?
10.What did he say?
11.What did the old lion answer?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 286
Very few people were coming to eat at the White Rose Restaurant, and its owner did not know what to do. The food in his restaurant was cheap and good, but nobody seemed to want to eat there.
Then he did something that changed all that, and in a few weeks his restaurant was always full of men with their lady friends. Whenever a gentleman came in with a lady, a smiling waiter gave each of them a beautiful menu. The menus looked exactly the same on the outside, but there was an important difference inside. The menu that the waiter gave to the man gave the correct price for each dish and each bottle of wine,
while the menu that he gave to the lady gave a much higher price! So when the man calmly ordered dish after dish and wine after wine, the lady thought he was much more generous than he really was!
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What was happening at the White Rose Restaurant at the beginning of this story?
2.What did its owner think?
3.What was the food in his restaurant like?
4.Why was the restaurant not successful?
5.What happened then?
6.What was the restaurant like in a few weeks?
7.What happened when a man and a woman came into the restaurant?
8.What did the menus look like?
9.How were they different?
10.What did the man do?
11.How did the lady feel?
12.Why did she feel like this?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 287
Until a few years ago, only boys could become students at the University of Ruritania. Then the University decided to allow girls in. But one of the lecturers, Dr Goller, was not at all pleased. He had not wanted to let girl students in.
Dr Goller always used to begin his lectures with the word, 'Gentlemen!' What would he do now? Well, when girl students came to his lectures for the first time, he continued to begin with the word, 'Gentlemen!' For him, the girls were just not there.
Then one day there was only one boy in his class among a lot of girls. For a moment, Dr Goller did not know what to do. Then he began, 'Sir!'
Finally a terrible day came when there were no boys in his class. He came into the room, looked at the sea of girls, said, 'Oh, nobody's here today!', turned and went out without giving his lecture.
What happened at the University of Ruritania until a few years ago?
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What happened then?
2.What was Dr Goller?
3.How did he feel?
4.Why did he feel like this?
5.How had Dr Goller begun his lectures before this time?
6.How did he begin them now?
7.Why did he do this?
8.What happened one day?
9.What did Dr Goller do?
10.What happened finally?
11.What did Dr Goller do then?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 288
During the last war, most of the men were fighting or working in factories, so it was very difficult to find men to do other work. The headmaster of a school wanted a gardener, but the only person he was able to get was an old retired farmer.
The old man worked so hard in the school garden that the headmaster became worried. He thought that the old man might get ill or die if he continued like that, so he suggested to him that he should work more slowly and rest more. But the old man continued to work as before. At last the headmaster went to the man's wife and asked her to speak to her husband.
'All right,' she answered, 'but I don't think it will do any good. You see, he has worked for himself all his life, never for anybody else, so he has just never learnt to work slowly.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What happened during the last war?
2.What was the result?
3.What did the headmaster in this story want?
4.Whom was he able to get?
5.Why did the headmaster become worried?
6.What did he think?
7.What did he do?
8.What did the old man do then?
9.What did the headmaster do at last?
10.What did the old man's wife say?
11.Why was the old man not able to work slowly?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 289
An old lady who lived in a village went into town one Saturday, and after she had bought fruit and vegetables in the market for herself and for a friend who was ill, she went into a shop which sold glasses. She tried one pair of glasses, and then another pair and another, but none of them seemed to be right. The shopkeeper was a very patient man, and after some time he said to the old lady, 'Now, don't worry, madam. Everything will be all right in the end. It isn't easy to get just the right glasses, you know.'
'No, it isn't,' answered the old lady. 'And it is even more difficult when you are shopping for a friend.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.Where did the old lady in this story live?
2.Where did she go?
3.When did she go there?
4.What did she do there first?
5.Where did she do this?
6.Whom did she buy things for?
7.Where did she go then?
8.What did she do there?
9.What was the matter with the glasses?
10.What was the shopkeeper like?
11.What did he say to the old lady?
12.What did she answer?
13.Why was it so difficult for her to choose the right glasses?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 290
Of course, the shopkeeper wanted to sell them the more expensive one, because then he would get more money from them, so he said to the lady, 'Oh, go on. Spend his money. If you don't, he will only spend it on his second wife.'
For several seconds nobody said a word, and then the lady
said angrily, 'I am his second wife!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.Who went into the shop in this story?
2.Why did they go in there?
3.How old were they?
4.What did they do in the shop?
5.What happened after half an hour?
6.What were the two bracelets like?
7.What did the shopkeeper want?
8.Why did he want this?
9.What did he say to the lady?
10.Did she answer at once?
11.What did she say?
12.How did she feel?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 291
The air hostess was in the small kitchen at the back of the aeroplane preparing the trays for lunch when a little old lady came and spoke to her. 'Could you please tell me,' she asked, 'where the ladies' lavatory is in this aeroplane?"
'Yes, madam,' said the air hostess and smiled. 'It is right at the other end of the aeroplane at the front.'
The little old lady went too far. She walked all the way to the front of the aeroplane, opened the door in front of her, and saw the captain of the aeroplane and the other officers.They were all busy at their work and did not see her. She went out again, shut the door and returned to the air hostess.
'Oh, didn't you find it, madam?' the girl asked her.
'Yes, I did,' said the little old lady. 'But there are four men in the ladies' lavatory watching television.'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.What were the two women in this story?
2.Where was the air hostess at the beginning of the story?
3.What was she doing?
4.What happened while she was doing this?
5.What did the old lady say?
6.What did the air hostess say?
7.What did the old lady do then?
8.What mistake did she make?
9.What did she see?
10.What were the men doing?
11.What did the old lady do then?
12.What did the air hostess say?
13.What did the old lady answer?
14.Who were the four men?
15.Why did the old lady think they were watching television?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 292
The soldiers had been marching up and down in the square for an hour while their officer shouted orders, and they were all tired, hot and unhappy.
They were marching towards a big building, when they suddenly realized that the officer had not left himself enough time to give the order to turn round or to stop, so they were going to march straight into the wall. The soldiers smiled happily as each of those in the front line decided at the same time to walk straight ahead. There was a loud noise as they
hit the wall one after another.
But before any of them had time to smile again, the officer shouted, 'If you men had been in a really straight line, I would have heard only one sound when you hit that wall!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.How did the soldiers feel at the beginning of this story?
2.Why did they feel like that?
3.What had the officer been doing?
4.What did the soldiers suddenly realize?
5.What were they doing when they realized this?
6.What were they going to do?
7.What did the soldiers do then?
8.How did they feel?
9.What did some of them decide to do?
10.Which of them decided to do this?
11.What happened next?
12.What did the officer hear?
13.What did he shout?
14.How quickly did he shout this?
15.Were the soldiers in a straight line?
16.How do you know?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Text 293
Mrs Williams is very proud of her house because it is always clean and tidy. But one day, while she was sweeping the carpets, she saw a little mouse run across her dining-room floor! She had always told other people that mice are found only in dirty houses, so she was terribly ashamed when she saw a mouse in her own house. She quickly called her daughter and said to her, 'A terrible thing has happened! I saw a mouse in our dining-room a few minutes ago. We must catch it at once! Go down to the village shop and buy a mouse-trap--- but, whatever you do, don't tell anybody what it is for!'
Exercises:
A) Answer these questions:
1.How does Mrs Williams feel about her house?
2.Why?
3.What happened one day?
4What was she doing when this happened?
5.What had she always told other people before this time?
6.How did she feel now?
7.Why did she feel like this?
8.What did she do then?
9.What did she say?
10.What did she tell her daughter to do?
11.What did she tell her not to do?
12.Why?
13.Why was Mrs Williams being silly when she said this?
B) Which words in the story mean the opposite of:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
C) Which of these sentences are true (T) and which are false (F)?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.