It looks as if I would never be 2 страница

Good-bye, she thought. Good-bye, bottle, and whoever sent it to me. I'll probably never meet you or know you. But thanks for what you said. And thank you for letting me say something. Letting me say good-bye to my dad. I'll miss him for as long as I live, but I've said good-bye now and I feel heaps better. Lara touched the paper in her jeans pocket. She didn't need to read it anymore. It was just three words, after all: I LOVE YOU.

Her own message was only a few letters longer. Over the sea to some other beach, maybe to some other person who had been sad and lonely, it was floating. I LOVE YOU, TOO.

2.3. True or false?

That Wednesday was an ordinary day for Lara.

Lara was virtually shaken by the tragic news.

Mucking about in the workshop was just out of habit.

Finding messages in bottles was not quite amusing.

The message in the green bottle was addressed to Lara.

The write-back did not come easy for the girl.

2.4. Storing vocabulary.

Translate the following using the expressions from the story.

1. Мы решили, что лучше будет отправить письмо обычной почтой

2. Учась в школе она интересовалась только модными журналами

3. Он был настолько зол, что находился прямо в каком-то ослеплении.

4. Рыдать нечего, надо снова браться за дело. У нас всё по­лучится.

5. Мы обыскали всю квартиру, но так и не нашли нужной книги.

6. Я скажу, что прическа у нее сегодня самая что ни на есть странная.

7. Все события предыдущих дней слились в неясную картину.

8. Этот механизм надежно защищен от попадания пыли и воды.

9. Она в совершенном восхищении от красоты этой старинной вещи.

Choose from the following: to dazzle by, in a blur, weird, to be interested in, by mail, to search through, to sob, (water) proof

2.5. Colloquial English in focus.

In the story, we come across some interjections commonly used in colloquial English. Do you feel you can handle the most widely-used ones with a measure of competence? Try to interpret the meaning of the following interjections.

Hey! — asking for someone's attention.

Gee!

Ouch!

Oops.'

Hush!

Wow!

Gosh!

Phew!

Oh, boy!

2.6. Grammar.

Lara wished she could have met her father to say good-bye. What do you think she wished she had been able to do? Say about it using the following beginning:

Lara wished she had been able to

After the accident, Lara wished she could have

2.7. Complex object in focus.

Imagine we are watching a movie showing all the events described in the story. The story does read like a movie, doesn't it? Make some commentary on what you are watching on the screen:

We can see Lara do / doing ________

play / playing________

walk /walking________

2.8. More grammar.

Lara needed help and emotional support that her family might have failed to provide. What did Lara expect others to do? Speak about it using the infinitive construction.

Lara expected

her mother her grandparents her friends the unknown girl someone else

to understand to say

III. POST-READING

3.1. Feelings.

Work in pairs. Think of various conversations relatives and friends might like to have with Lara after that tragic event. Try to figure out the ways different people would try to give her support and consolation.

3.2. Roleplay: providing support.

Act out a session of group therapy. One of the students is supposed to be having an emotional problem. Try to listen to her/him and find the ways - or, rather, the words - to help relieve the frustration Be responsive, caring and full of understanding, just like real teachers should be.

3.3. Project work: stress & human psychology.

In 1967, two research scientists at the University of Washington developed a rating form that ranked stressful events on a point scale. Each stressful event was assigned a value in terms of its severity. Study the "scale impact" of some events, and discuss the table in the group. Do you find these data convincing?

The Holmes -

Rahe Readjustment

Rating Scale

Event	Scale of Impact
Death of a spouse
Divorce
Marital separation
Jail term
Death of a close family member
Personal injury or illness
Marriage
Fired from a job
Marital reconciliation
Retirement
Change in health of family member
Pregnancy
Sex difficulties
Gain a new family member
Change in financial status
Death of a close friend
Son or daughter leaving home
Trouble with in-laws
Outstanding personal achievement
Change of living conditions
Revision of personal habits
Trouble with boss
Change in residence
Change in schools
Change in recreation
Change in sleeping habits
Change in eating habits
Vacation
Christmas
Minor violation of the law

THE QUIRIN'S SECRET

by Nancy Springer

I. PRE-READING

1.1 SAY if you ever had small but meaningful things in your life that made you quite happy — a toy, perhaps, or a token. Your fellow students would like to hear about it, wouldn't they?

1.2 DISCUSS the things that bring you most joy — a view of a clear forest river, or, maybe, a Marlboro Man ad in a magazine. Make a list of the things you agree on with your partner.

1.3. HOLD a small discussion on minerals. Do you know anything about their alleged magic powers? Share knowledge or hearsay with your small group.

II. READING

2.1. Understanding the title.

The title of the story, The Quirin's Secret, implies some mystery to be unraveled. The word itself, quirin, is enigmatic. In fact, it might mean a stone with magical powers. What do you think the story will tell about?

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story and answer the question: Was it magic that helped Arin in the end?

The following words will be helpful to understand the events better.

Shimmer— shine with a soft trembling light.

Fling — throw with a lot of force.

Glimmer — shine with alight that is not bright.

Yawn — open your mouth wide, sleepily.

Give forth— produce and spread.

Rim — the outside edge of something circular.

Wistful – feeling rather sad and thoughtful.

Content —happy and satisfied.

Back when the world was young and full of wonders, just for joy a boy named Arin went up the mountain one day. In the heathery meadow above his village he found a lapwing's nest and crouched to look at seven freckled, pointed eggs. There amid the eggs lay the quirin.

It was a stone no bigger than the lapwing's eggs, round on top and flat underneath and so shimmery that Arin knew it was magical. It glimmered all colors and no color that anyone could name. He picked it up and couldn't feel it in his hand. It was the quirin, the sooth stone. Laid on the head of anyone who was sleeping, it would make that person tell secrets.

Arin held the quirin in his hand, and his heart beat like a bird's wings. Now he would learn the truth. He would prove what he'd often dreamed, that he wasn't just a cowherd's son; he was a king's son! Or a knight's son at least. His parents had found him on the mountain when he was a baby, perhaps. He lived in a leaky hut by mistake. Magic came to those in need, didn't it? The quirin had come to him because he needed to find his father the king.

He slipped the quirin into his pocket, where it lay hot and weightless like an angel's feather. He walked carefully down the mountain, feeling the magic glimmering with every step. Tonight he would learn the truth and tomorrow he would journey over the mountain and far away to where the golden cities waited.

"Arin, gather kindling," his mother called to him.

"Arin, bring the cows up from the water," his father told him.

"Arin, find me clay to play with," his little sister begged him.

Arin did what they asked without complaining. It was only for one more day.

There wasn't quite enough to eat at supper. Arin shared without complaining. It was only for one more day.

The hut was too small for beds. When day turned to night Arin unrolled his sleeping mat like the others and lay on dirt floor with his sister on one side, his parents on the other it was only for one more day. Besides, tonight he wouldn't sleep. Tonight he would find out the name of his father the king. Then he'd never sleep on the floor again.

In his pocket he could feel the quirin's heat.

He lay awake and waited. He heard his sister's breathing soften as she slept. The village voices hushed, but insects were talking. Up in the mountain pines, an owl spoke like a ghost. The night was dark, dark. Somewhere far away wolves sang.

When Arin heard the wolves, he knew it was the bottom of night, when sleepers lie deepest in their dreams. Careful to make no sound, he sat up and pulled the quirin from his pocket.

It gave forth a whisper of pearly light, lying like a baby moon of all colors and no color in his hand. By its glow mother looked young, silky, her hair parted into two smooth dark wings. He laid the quirin between those wings and sat by her, listening for her secret.

Her mouth moved. She spoke in her sleep.

"I love him more than anyone," she whispered, "and worry about him more than anyone. He is my son, Arin. Today he was content, but why does he so often seem unhappy? He is a fine arrow of a boy who will be able to do anything. Why does he look beyond the mountain and sigh?"

She fell silent. Arin waited a little longer — perhaps she would say again that she loved him. But then he reminded himself that he had a journey to plan. It must be that his mother didn't know the name of his father the king. Carefully he lifted the quirin from her forehead.

By the stone's magical light, his father looked handsome, hair curled back from his brow like a tawny crown. Arin placed the quirin under the rim of that crown, on his father's forehead. He knelt, listening for his father's secret. Without opening his eyes, his father spoke. "That boy of mine, Arin, he's dreaming again. He tends cows, he's dreaming of horses. He finds clay, he's dreaming of gold. I'm his father; I wish I could make him happy, but I can't. He has to learn for himself that happiness is in his hand."

Arin's father stopped speaking. Arin knelt, waiting a long time, wanting to hear again the wistful way his father had said his name, wanting his father to whisper more of the secret of happiness, wanting his father — but wait, wasn't he a king's son after all? Was he going to have to herd cows and gather kindling the rest of his life?

At such a thought he wanted to fling the quirin out the door. If this was the truth, he didn't want to hear it.

But he had to lift the quirin carefully so as not to awaken his father. And when he held it in his hand once more, he couldn't throw it away. It shimmered so much like an angel's wing. In its light his little sister's face looked as wise as that of a saint.

He laid the quirin gently on her forehead.

She opened her soft mouth and said, "Today the sky was as blue as Daddy's eyes, and the heather bloomed and Mommy wore some in her hair, and Arin brought me clay, and I am so happy."

She smiled in her sleep but said nothing more. Arin waited awhile longer, then lifted the quirin from her forehead and slipped it into his pocket. He lay down and stared into the darkness.

He hadn't noticed the sky as blue as his father's eyes or heather in his mother's hair. He lay thinking until a pearly glow took away the/darkness, the no-color, all-colors glimmer of dawn. His mother stirred, yawned, sat up, and smiled at him "Good morning, sleepyhead." He hadn't slept. Yet he smiled back at her.

"It looks like a fine day."

He nodded.

"Let your father sleep a little longer. Go for water, Arin."

He got up, took the buckets, and started toward the river. But when he got outside, he stopped and looked around at the clay-tawny, sky-blue, heather-green world shimmering with dew.

Only for one more day? No. All days. Every day Wing beats sounded. Against the sky Arin saw a bird's white breast and crown of feathers. It flew within his arm's reach, landed on the ground at his feet, folded its glossy wings, and looked up at

him.

He knew what it wanted. Magic is meant for those in need.

"Here, lapwing." He pulled the quirin from his pocket, crouched down, and offered it in his open hand. The lapwing called out one wild note, took the stone in its beak, and flew. In a moment it was gone over the mountaintop.

Arin stood looking after it for a long time. But even though the quirin was gone, he still held happiness in his hand. His heart beat like angel wings with gladness that he wouldn't have to leave his family. It would be a good day for tending cows and finding some more clay, the best red clay, for his sister. He breathed deeply, loving the scent of heather in the air. The sky was as blue as his father's kind eyes, the air as soft as his mother's smile.

2.3. True or false?

Arin hoped the stone would help him to find out who he really was.

It was a revelation for Arin to know about his parents' love for him.

Arin didn't use the stone as he was content with what he had.

Arin's parents neither understood nor suspected anything about him.

The life of the family was hard but they were satisfied with it.

Arin was secretly disappointed that his dream hadn't come true.

2.4. Understanding points of view.

Scan the story and try to explain what the characters meant (even if they were talking in their sleep).

"Magic is meant for those in need."

"Why does he look beyond the mountain and sigh?

"He finds clay, he's dreaming of gold."

"He has to learn for himself that happiness is in his hand."

"Only for one more day? No. All days. Every day."

"It would be a good day for tending cows."

2.5. Grammar.

Laid on the forehead of anyone who was sleeping, the quirin would make that person tell secrets. Say what the quirin made the characters do, using the table below.

The quirin

made

Arin Arin's mother say Arin's father see Arin's sister whisper...

realize

2.6. More grammar.

Consulting the text if necessary, complete the following comparisons. They are charming and magical, aren't they?

e.g. As sharp as my kid sister's tongue...

As blue as... As nice as...

As soft as... As wise as...

As sharp as... As wondrous as...

As poisonous as... As frightening as...

As miraculous as... As transparent as...

Think of and produce some other comparisons, equally striking.

2.7. Metaphors.

Arin's mother speaks beautifully about her son: "He is a fine arrow of a boy..." It is a metaphor, and a very effective way to create a striking image. We see at once that Arin is a young, slim, swiftly-moving creature. How do you see the other characters of the story?

Arin's father is a________ of a man.

Arin's mother is a ________of a woman.

Arin's sister is a ________of a girl.

Can you describe other people? Do you remember having a tutor who was a pretty blackboard of a teacher? Trying not to offend anyone, think of as many fresh metaphors as you can.

2.8. Vocabulary in stone.

It's not easy, but let us become more stone-wise. Find an appropriate definition from the list below to the following stones: jade, onyx, emerald, diamond, ruby, opal, sapphire, turquoise.

1. A white milky stone with changing colors in it.

2. A bright blue or greenish-blue stone.

3. A transparent bright blue stone.

4. A dark red transparent stone.

5. A transparent bright green stone.

6. A hard stone, usually green.

7. A very hard stone of no particular color.

8. A stone with lines of different color in it.

Do you have your "own" stone? Have you ever been in possession of any precious or semi-precious stone? Share your a-sione-ishing story with the group.

III. POST-READING

3.1. Feeling or no feeling?

Arin's attitude towards his family environment changes in the story. Do you think it's because he is so unfeeling, self-centered? In pairs, find as many reasons as you can for Arin's not leaving home.

3.2. Practising idiomatic speech.

Idioms can come in handy when telling the story of Arin and his family. Match some with their Russian equivalents.

A rough diamond Tread on air Be up in the clouds A load off one's shoulders Be born standing on one's feet Be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth Burn one's boats/bridges Upset someone's apple-cart

Новичёк, неопытный человек Гора с плеч Сжечь корабли Спутать все карты Родится в рубашке Витать в облаках Родится под счастливой звездой Быть на седьмом небе

3.3. Dreams, dreams, dreams...

Have you ever wished to be born into a different reality? If you had a magic stone of some sort, whatwould you like to ask for? Make a list of the five things you'd ask for. Explain your choice.

3.4. Listen-in.

Listen to the Beatles singing She's Leaving Home. Make sure you understand the lyrics well. Discuss the message in class. You might also compare the translations (there are at least two) of the lyrics into Russian.

SHE'S LEAVING HOME

Wednesday morning at five o'clock as the day begins

Silently closing their bedroom door

Leaving the note that she hoped would say more

She goes down to the kitchen clutching her handkerchief

Quietly turning the back door key stepping outside she is free.

She (We gave her most of our lives)

Is leaving (Sacrificed most of our lives)

Home (We gave her everything money could buy)

She's leaving home after living alone

For so many years. Bye, bye.

Father snores as his wife gets into her dressing gown

Picks up the letter that's lying there

Standing alone at the top of the stairs

She breaks down and cries to her husband: daddy our baby's gone.

Why should she treat us so thoughtlessly

How could she do this to me.

She (We never thought of ourselves)

Is leaving (never a thought of ourselves)

Home (We struggled hard all our lives to get by)

She's leaving home after living alone

For so many years. Bye, bye...

3.5. Project work: a music-box of a classroom.

Bring more songs that really tell stories. Listen to them to your heart's content and discuss them afterwards.

DISCUSSION (STORIES 1-5)

MEET THE AUTHOR

In the group, arrange a readers' conference. Invite the authors to participate: Jennifer Adams, Judy Silverman, Debora Zisk, David Hill, and Nancy Springer. Ask them as many profound questions as you can about the stories they wrote for Cricket. Three million Wheres, five million Hows, and seven million Whys are not unwelcome.

MEET THE PROTOTYPE

The characters of the four stories — Bessie, Wade, Eugenia, and Lara — might have had prototypes in real life. Say if you met someone who once got into similar circumstances.

MAGIC STONE RITES

Use a piece of chalk (this very precious classroom stone) as a quirin, just like Arin used his quirin back in in sleep.

GROUP THERAPY SESSION

One of your mates has a problem related to family relationships. If s/he agrees to share it with you all, give her/him emotional support. Be empathetic and considerate.

FAMILY TREE GARDEN

Using the products of your previous project work, take an excursion to the Garden where your Family Trees grow. Enjoy watching exotic fruit and slender branches. Don't forget to trim the trees so that everyone could marvel at them in wonder and admiration.

LISTEN-IN

Bring popular songs recordings to class and talk about the values celebrated in them. Share your impressions both as listeners and as future teachers.

VISIT A MUSEUM

Use the materials gathered while doing project work on famous dynasties. Open an exhibition dedicated to the people, prepared by the people, displayed for the people.

A STUDY OF HERALDRY

Working individually, design a coat-of-arms for your family. Just like in the days long gone. Display all of them in class.

CALIFORNIA GOES HUNTING

by Karen Cushman

I. PRE-READING

1.1 SHARE your family history with the group. Say whether you, together with your family, had to move east or west once in your life. Did it take you long to adjust to a new environment?

1.2 DISCUSS the problem of living in a foreign country for a period long enough to start thinking about home. Do you think you can (or could) combat homesickness? Are you (were you) cultural shockproof? Work in pairs.

1.3 SHARE your visions of life in the Wild West sometime in the 1850s. Say where your ideas mostly come from: movies, books, or — well, other movies?

II. READING

2.1. Understanding the title.

Here is the title of the story, California Goes Hunting. Do you think it's a tall tale in the style of Nutty Bumppo cycle? Tell your partner what you expect to read about in the story.

2.2. Strange Names.

Read the introduction to the story. Think about the names of children. What can one say about their parents?

California Morning Whipple's parents have always had a hankering to move west from their home in Massachusetts. When California's pa dies, her mama packs the whole family — California, her brother Butte, and her sisters Prairie and Sierra — and heads to the gold fields of California to manage a boardinghouse in Lucky Diggins. But California, who would much rather be called Lucy, is desperate to return east and live with her gram and grampop, where life is safe and civilized.

2.3. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Now read on. Be prepared to say if your idea of California's personality was right.

The following words will be helpful to understand the events better.

Relish — enjoy the thought of something yet to happen

Shove (into) — put something somewhere carelessly

Fret (about) — feel worried about things, usually

Spook —unimportant frighten, make someone feel afraid

Venture— risk doing something

Streak – a part of somebody's character

If you want to eat, missy, you are going to have to find a way to put food on this table," said Mama, sweeping at my feet with her broom.

Lord-a-mercy, I thought, fixing Mama with my fiercest glare. Don't I do enough what with helping to cook and wash for all those hairy strangers in the bunks in the back tent? Don't I teach Prairie her letters, her numbers, and a little about the history of Massachusetts each morning? Isn't that enough?

"Not nearly enough," said Mama, as if reading my mind. She snatched Ivanhoe from my hands and tossed it into the soapy water of the laundry tub. With a yelp I fished it out and spread it in the sunshine to dry. I expected it would soon be as good as new except for some wrinkled pages, but I decided I'd better take Mama seriously.

"What do you want me to do, Mama?"

"Take this shotgun and shoot us some rabbits or a squirrel. "But Mama, I can't go shooting little animals!" I didn't relish the idea of shooting living things. I was much too sensitive, and the powder would make my hands stink.

"Don't Mama me. What do you think stew is? And bacon? Meat. From animals. Butte can't hunt, now he has his job with Mr. Scatter, so you will have to do it."

"Couldn't we just buy meat from the store?"

"One, Mr. Scatter doesn't get much meat. Two, what he does get is too darned expensive. Three, I have a perfectly able daughter with a perfectly good trigger finger."

"Prairie doesn't do anything but watch Sierra and pull weeds. She could hunt."

"Prairie is only six. It will have to be you. I can't feed three hungry boarders and the five of us on beans and the bits of salt pork and dried beef Bean Belly Thompson hauls in from Sacramento every few weeks. Now go."

Mama shoved the shotgun into my hands and pushed me out the door quick as a cat.

My pa had taught me and Butte to shoot back home, but I never took to it, preferring a book any day to the jolt and noise and smell of shooting. Now Pa was dead, and we had come west and Mama was trying to make a westerner out of me.

The first morning I sat on a stump outside the tent and fretted. The place was so wild, just trees and hills and tents. I could almost see wild Indians coming up the Sacramento River to the Yuba and up the Yuba to the Forks and on to Lucky Diggins, right to where I sat on the stump with a gun in my lap.

Near noon I saw a movement in the dry grass. It looked like feathers. Indians! I bolted into the tent.

"I had to come back, Mama," I said. "I saw feathers and..."

"I know, I know," said Mama. "They were wild Indians and you were in imminent danger of being captured and living the rest of your life on acorns and roasted grasshoppers."

"But Mama..."

"But Mama nothing. That was most likely a wild turkey you let get away." Mama sighed. "Go feed Prairie and Sierra."

That night we had no meat for supper. I, in fact, had no supper at all and wouldn't, so Mama said, until I brought home something to eat.

I watched the rest eat their beans and biscuits. "If I were with Gram," I muttered, "I would be eating chicken from Larrabee's farm or store-bought bacon."

Mama said nothing.

The second day I sat three hours on the tree stump with the gun in my lap, imagining myself as the dashing Ivanhoe's secret love, as beautiful as Rowena and as plucky as Rebecca but much smarter and better read.

Suddenly there was a rustling in the grass. "Mama!" I ran for the tent. "There's something out there. Sounded like a grizzly or..."

Mama banged the skillet down on the cook stove. "Lord, you are the spookiest child. When you were little, wind spooked you. Lantern light blinking in the window spooked you. The clown at Hallelujah Purdy's Circus and Hippodramatic Exposition spooked you." She picked up a spoon and waved it at me. "Now you're near grown up, you've gotten worse instead of better. Grizzlies! Indians! Won't shoot a gun! Want to lie around with your nose in a book! What is to become of you, girl?" Mama plopped a gob of bacon grease into the skillet and shook her head. "Every tub has to learn to stand on its own bottom sometime."

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