It looks as if I would never be 6 страница

She remembered: "As he bent down to kiss me, he seemed so very kind but looked very sad."

2.3. True or false?

According to the story, Abraham Lincoln was...

1. a horrible-looking man.

2. given to occasional whims and flights of fantasy.

3. ready to answer a young lady's letter in his own hand.

4. deprived of the children's attention as he was single.

5. ready to do just anything to win the seat in the White House.

6. a popular president who managed to preserve the Union.

2.4. Understanding points of view.

Scan the story and try to explain what the characters meant.

"Faugh! I say that Old Abe... no, I mean Old Ape is so ugly that even the devil is afraid of him."

"Billy, let's give them a chance to grow."

"You see I let these whiskers grow for you, Grace."

"As he bent down to kiss me, he seemed so very kind but looked

very sad."

2.5. Letter writing.

Reread Grace's letter again. Find what indicates it was written by a child. Was Grace an experienced letter-writer?

2.6. Vocabulary.

Paraphrase the following using the words and expressions from the list below.

1. He did all the tasks with unbelievable speed and accuracy.

2. The child blushed and seemed completely unable to utter a word.

3. It was a really brave attempt to break the world record.

4. The puppy moved quickly between the cars and was soon out of danger.

5. The girl's eyes were full of tears, and not without reason..

Choose from: to flush red, to brim loith, incredible, valiant, tongue-tied, to dodge.

2.7. Grammar.

Try to imagine what would have happened, had some small events never taken place. Let us take Lincoln's whiskers as an example.

Had Lincoln not grown whiskers,

he would have never________

he wouldn't have been able to_________

his voters________

his looks________

III. POST-READING

3.1. History study.

Abraham Lincoln was not only an outstanding politician, but also a remarkable personality. In small groups, study some of the quotations taken from his speeches and letters, and comment upon them.

1. The ballot is stronger than the bullet.

Speech, 1856

2. You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the
people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

Speech, 1858

3. No man is good enough to govern another man without that
other's consent.

Message to Congress, 1861

4. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.

Letter, 1864 5.

5. Important principles may and must be flexible.

Last Public Address

3.2. Project work: children as peacemakers.

The letter below is the Russian translation of the one Samantha Smith wrote in the fall of 1982 to the Soviet leader. In reply, the Soviet leader invited her to visit the USSR That's how it all began twenty years ago.

СССР

Москва Кремль

Г-ну Андропову Ю. В.

Уважаемый господин Андропов! Меня зовут Саманта Смит. Мне 10 лет. Поздравляю Вас с Вашим новым назначением. Я очень беспокоюсь, не начнется ли ядерная война между Советским Союзом и Соединенными Штатами. Вы за войну или нет? Если Вы против, пожалуйста, ска­жите, как Вы собираетесь не допустить войну? Вы, конечно, не обязаны отвечать на этот вопрос, но я хотела бы знать, почему Вы хотите завоевать весь мир или, по крайней мере, нашу страну. Господь сотворил землю, чтобы мы все вместе могли жить в мире и не воевать.

Искренне Ваша Саманта Смит Манчестер штат Мэн США 1982

3.3. Library Research.

At a library, look through Soviet periodicals of 1983 - 1986 Find the information about Samantha Smith (1972 - 1986), or other "peacemakers". Prepare a presentation based on your findings.

FLYING

by Denise Huppi

I. PRE-READING

1.1. SHARE some of your recollections of teenage life. Does adolescence come easy? Please, explain.

1.2. SPEAK on the problem of peer relationships in adolescence. Do you find this period troublesome for friendship? How did yours manage to survive? Give your reasons.

1.3. DISCUSS, in groups of four, the role competitive sports might play in the lives of teenage girls and boys. Find out if the group has an undivided mind on the problem.

II. READING

2.1. Understanding the title.

The title of the story can imply very different things. It's going to be about sports, right? Which sport do you expect to read about? Give your reasons, and then check on the first paragraph of the story.

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story and answer the question: Did the accident help break or cement the relationship?

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

Porch — an open area with a floor and roof fixed to the side of the house.

Slouch — move with your shoulders bent downwards.

Straddle — sit or stand with your legs on either side of something.

Billow — swell out like a sail.

Pour (on) — increase fast.

Suspend — hang something.

Hover — stay in one place in the air.

Halfhearted — produced without much effort or feeling.

Pound — hit with several times.

On cue — happening or done at exactly the right moment.

Ginny and Jim waved to each other from their front porches and then started down the steps almost at the same time, disappearing into their garages. Ginny hurried out first and waited at the edge of her yard, her bike leaning against her. It was the first day of vacation. Since kindergarten, this day had brought with it a ritual race that officially welcomed summer.

"There' s no way you're gonna beat me down that hill!" shouted Jim, closing his garage door behind him. "You might as well give up

right now."

"You just don't think you can win," Ginny yelled back, "so you want to talk me out of it." She grinned as Jim started across the yard toward her, his hair sticking out all over his head the way it always did in the morning.

She wondered again, as she often had lately, why Jim was still her friend. She knew the other boys had been teasing him about her. She and Jim had grown up next door to each other; they had learned to walk together, had started school hand in hand, and had been on the same soccer and swim teams. But when summer was over, they would be entering junior high, and Ginny was afraid their long-term friendship might not survive this change.

As Jim came up alongside her, Ginny automatically slouched, trying to hide the fact that she was now almost a full head and shoulders taller than he was. But once Jim mounted his bike and smiled, ready t0 go, she forgot all her worrying in anticipation of the day's race. The two had been competitors in almost everything, practically since they were able to walk. The victories passed back and forth between them, but when it came to bike racing, Jim had a definite edge. In fact, Ginny couldn't remember the last time she had won.

Ginny straddled her Schwinn, and they headed for the top of Summit Drive, the longest, steepest hill in town. This was the first time they were going to race on the hill, and it seemed as if they rode up and up forever before reaching the top.

"Piece of cake!" Ginny said, looking down at the long expanse that was to prove who was faster. She didn't want Jim to see the uneasiness she was feeling.

"What's the bet?" Jim replied. "Ice cream. A whole quart of it!"

"You're on."

"Ready?" Ginny asked, pointing the nose of her bike toward the

foot of the hill.

"Set," Jim nodded.

"Go," they shouted together, and like two arrows shot from one bow, they streaked past the beginning of the hill.

Ginny looked over at Jim. He was already pulling ahead of her, his blue-striped shirt billowing out behind him. Ginny reached up quickly and brushed her long hair away from her face. Then she leaned over the handlebars, determined to catch up.

Faster.

A quarter of the way down.

She saw Jim creep farther ahead, his legs moving faster than she had ever seen them go before in any of their races.

Ginny poured on the speed. No way was she going to let him beat her. She was looking straight ahead now, but the road was just a blur, the trees on either side blending into long ribbons of brown and green. Faster.

Halfway down.

Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny could see Jim falling an inch behind, then two, then three. I could win, she thought, excited, and began pumping even harder. Three-quarters of the hill gone. Faster. Faster. Ginny could barely feel the bike under her, and her hair whipped round and round her cheeks and eyes. Flying — she was flying.

Suddenly, without warning, her right foot slipped off the pedal. The bike that seconds before had seemed like part of her flew out from underneath and continued full-speed toward the foot of the hill. Everything else seemed to happen in slow motion — Ginny felt herself hanging momentarily in the air, suspended, before reality hit. The reality of black asphalt coming up to meet her at incredible speed. Ten feet later, she stopped sliding.

"Ginny!" Jim's high-pitched shout seemed to come from very far away.

"Ginny! Ginny!" Ginny slowly opened her eyes and saw Jim's face hovering inches above her, the morning sun fuzzy behind his head. She squeezed her eyes shut against the brightness.

"Hey, Ginny! You O.K.? Ginny?"

"Mmph." Ginny groaned and opened her eyes again. "Sh... stop shouting at me, I hear you already."

Ginny lay on the couch in the family room, her left leg wrapped in a full cast and propped on pillows. Every time she tried to move, something hurt. She sighed unhappily.

Jim poked his prickly, dark head shyly around the doorway. "Ginny?" he whispered, not sure she was awake.

Ginny managed a halfhearted smile and tried to sit up. "Come on in, Jim." He walked quietly over to the couch and flopped down in the chair beside her.

"How ya doin'?" Jim's face wore the same worried expression that Ginny had seen when he bent over her on the road.

"I'm O.K., I guess, but look at this thing," she fumed, pointing at the cast on her leg. "My whole summer is ruined. I can't run or bike or hike. I can't even go swimming! Oh, Jim!"

Ginny's'throat closed as she tried to say her next sentence. She had been practicing it for nearly a day, wanting Jim to feel like she meant it, but now she could barely force it out. "You'll have to find someone else to hang out with!" she said, the tears welling up. She hadn't cried when she lay on the asphalt, her shirt in shreds and her leg pounding. And she hadn't cried when the doctor set her leg. But now, looking at Jim, thinking about the lousy summer ahead and the immediate possibility of losing his friendship.

"Hey, Ginny. I have something for your bike." Jim grinned, ignoring her last sentence.

"What?" she asked, still sniffling. Jim put a large paper bag on her lap. She looked at him questioningly, then opened the sack. Inside was half a gallon of chocolate-chunk ice cream and a bunch of videotapes. "I don't get it."

"The bet was for ice cream, wasn't it?" Jim replied. "Yeah, but I didn't win. You did. I never got to the bottom of the hill- Besides, you said this was for my bike."

"Well, yeah, you see, I didn't win either. I stopped when you fell off. You should have seen it, Ginny—it was the funniest thing. Your bike was moving so fast that it just kept going. It was the only thing that made it past the finish line."

"And the videos? I noticed they're your favorites." "Well, you don't think I'm going to spend the whole afternoon watching you stuff your face, do you?"

As if on cue, they stuck their tongues out at each other and broke into a long peal of giggles. Then, as Jim went to start a movie, Ginny settled back, smiling, thinking of the many days of friendship to come.

2.3. True or false?

Let us think about Ginny the biker. Ginny was...

1. glad to greet the first day of vacation.

2. sure Jim would always be her best friend.

3. more sportive and far more competitive than Jim.

4. shy of being taller than her friend.

5. uneasy because she was afraid to lose the race.

6. determined to win the race whatever it cost.

7. unlucky because her bike failed her at the last moment.

8. eager to make Jim pity her for her misadventure.

9. unhappy to see Jim come, so smiling and enthusiastic.

10. assured that her summer vacation was not altogether lost.

2.4. Vocabulary.

Ginny thought it was going to be a lousy summer. In fact, sh could have used a more refined word, couldn't she? Let's do it fo her. Among the following adjectives, seven are synonymous to lousy. Sort them out, please.

Lousy = uneasy, worthless, quick, inferior, bad, hard, imperfect, exciting, good-for-nothing, miserable, incredible, wretched, immediate, favorite?

Now give at least seven synonyms to the word great

2.5. FOCUS ON THE EVENTS.

Make good use of the following verbs. Match them with correct prepositions and use them to reconstruct the events of the story.

Verbs: give, talk, tease, head, catch, blend, fall, come, hang, get, break, think.

Prepositions: about, behind, for, into (2), of, off, on in, out, out of, out with, up, up with.

2.6. More vocabulary.

Paraphrase the following using the expressions from the list below.

1. The results announced, I understood I could stand no chance.

2. Their friendship lived through many difficult years.

3. He is not just one of the members of the team. He is the best they've got, and you cannot defeat him.

4. She has an advantage over other students having lived in a foreign country.

5. The athletes warmed up expecting the race to begin.

6. Anxiety and fear were written all over her face.

7. The kids agreed the winner would get a huge chocolate bought by the loser.

8. Smiling widely, he admitted that he was dating her.

9. The pet changed hands several times.

Choose from: to beat, to grin, to be on the team, to survive, in anticipation of, to pass back and forth, to have an edge, to make a bet, to wear the expression of, to be ruined.

2.7. Colloquial English.

Could you translate colloquial English into literary one? Try this conversation.

"Piece of cake!" Ginny said. "What's the bet?" Jim replied. "Ice cream. A whole quart of it!" "You're on." "Ready?" Ginny asked. "Set," Jim nodded. "Go," they shouted.

2.8. Grammar.

Ginny didn't manage to win the race. Jim didn't manage to do it, either. Say more about the characters of the story using the negative pattern.

Ginny didn't reach the finish line. Jim didn't ________.

Ginny didn't want to give up. Jim________.

Ginny didn't tease Jim. He ________.

Ginny didn't hang out with other boys. Jim________.

Ginny didn't feel worried about the summer. Jim________.

Ginny didn't think the vacation was ruined. Her friend________.

Think of more things that the two youngsters did not do________.

2.9. Roleplay: standard PARENT English.

Work in pairs. One of you should play Mother to Ginny. Her mother sure must say something after the accident, otherwise more legs and arms in plaster will come in the future. But, Mother, remember to use Standard Parent English for this occasion, that is, clear-cut message and precise grammar. e.g. Gin, had you been more sensible, you wouldn't have made that silly bet in the first place!"

Now say more of such things.

"Gin, had you_____, you'd have_____."

"Gin, had it_____, you could've_____."

"Gin, were you_____, you'd surely_____."

"Gin,_____, ______!"

Can Ginny just listen and say nothing in reply? Of course, not! So, say it, Ginny!

III. POST-READING

3.1. Feelings.

Teenage girls are naturally sensitive, which is a solid scientific fact. Think about Ginny and say how she felt when she

· came out to greet the first day of vacation

· noticed again that Jim was much shorter

· was anticipating the coming bike race

· saw the steepest hill in town in front of her

· was pumping more speed into her bike

· was about to beat Jim in the race

· found herself sprawled on the asphalt

· lay in her bed, her leg in a full cast

· met her friend who came to see her

· received her trophy and some videos

She might have felt: relieved, helpless, strange, happy, worried, interested, uneasy, excited, gloomy, almost flying.

Do you think Jim felt the same? Speak about Jim's feelings in detail.

3.2. Project work: pastimes & hobbies.

Work in small groups, preparing a presentation of a champion pastime or hobby. Explain why it beats all other hobbies. Hold a contest and agree on the prizes.

LOOKING FOR A GHOST

by Margaret Mahy

I. PRE-READING

1.1. SHARE some recollections of your early days. Say if you ever were overwhelmed by adventurous spirit and did something out-of- the-ordinary. Like running away from home heading for Alaska, or Grodno, or the city park.

1.2. DISCUSS the role of superstitions and mistaken beliefs in our life. Do you think human beings can ever do without them?

1.3. CRITICIZE the ways in which human superstitions are exploited in movies, and trashy books, and elsewhere in the mass culture of today.

II. READING

2.1. Understanding the title.

The title of the story written implies that ghosts do exist. Say what you expect the story to be about.

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story and answer the question: Did the boy find what he wanted?

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

Prowl — to move quietly looking for something

Leap — to jump high into the air

Pant — breathe quickly with short and noisy breaths

Claw — a sharp curved nail

Cave in — to fall down or inwards

Squash — to break or make flat or small

Blink — to shut and open your eyes quickly

Moan —- to make a long sound expressing pain

Creak — to make a long high noise

Running along the footpath, fire in his feet, came Sammy Scarlet. He ran on his toes, leaping as he ran, so that he seemed to dance and spin through the twilight like a gray, tumbling bird learning to fly. Sammy leaped as he ran to keep himself brave. He was going to a haunted house. That evening he was going to see a ghost for the first time in his life.

The haunted house was along a city street. It was the last house left in the street, falling to pieces in the middle of a garden of weeds. The glass in the windows was broken, and some of them were crossed over with boards. There was a tall fence round it, but in some places the fence was tumbling down.

"They'll put a bulldozer through that old place soon," said the man in the shop at the corner. "That's a valuable section, a commercial section."

"Haunted?" Sammy had asked.

"They say there's a ghost, but it only comes out in the evening after the shops have shut up and most people have gone home. I've never seen it," said the man in the corner shop, "and I'm not hanging around here after five-thirty just to watch some ghost. Only a little one, too, they say."

"A twilight ghost," Sammy said to himself, and felt as if something breathed cold on the back of his neck, and whispered with cold lips in his ear.

Now he ran swiftly through the early evening. Sammy had chosen his time carefully... not so dark that his mother would worry about him, not too light for a small, cold ghost.

Just a quick prowl around, thought Sammy as he ran and leaped to keep away the fear which ran beside him like a chilly, pale-eyed dog. If I go back now, I'm a coward, thought Sammy, and leaped again. I've promised myself to see a ghost and I'm going to see a ghost.

He knew the street well, but evening changed it. It took him by surprise, seeming to have grown longer and emptier. And at the end of the street, the haunted house was waiting. Sammy could see its gate and its tired tumble-down fence. By the gate something moved softly. Sammy leaped in his running, matching his jump to the jump of his heart. But the shadow by the gate was only a little girl bouncing a ball with a stick. She looked up as Sammy came running toward her.

"Hello," she said. "I thought no one ever came here in the evening."

"I've come," Sammy answered, panting. "I'm going to see the ghost."

The little girl looked at him with shadowy black eyes. "A real ghost?" she asked. "What ghost?"

"A ghost that haunts this house," Sammy replied. He was glad of someone to talk to, even a girl with a striped rubber ball in one hand and a stick in the other. She looked back at the house.

"Is this house haunted?" she asked again. "I suppose it looks a bit haunted if it's got cobwebs on it and thistles in the garden. Aren't you frightened of the ghost, then?"

"I'm not scared of ghosts," said Sammy cheerfully. (He hoped it sounded cheerful.) "They can be pretty scary to some people but, I don't know how it is, somehow they don't scare me. I'm going through the fence to take a look. They say it is only a little one."

"Why don't you try the gate?" suggested the girl, pushing at the gate with her stick. It creaked open. Sammy stared.

"That's funny," he said. "I looked at the gate earlier and it was locked."

"I'll come with you," said the girl. "My name is Belinda, and I would like to see a ghost, too."

"I don't think you'd better," replied Sammy, frowning, "because ghosts can be pretty horrible, you know — with sharp teeth and claws and cackling laughs. Bony, too!"

"There's nothing wrong with being bony," said Belinda.

She was very thin with a pale, serious face and long, brown hair. Though she did not smile, she looked friendly and interested. Herheavy shoes made her legs look even thinner, and her dress was too big for her, Sammy thought. Certainly it was too long, giving her an old-fashioned look.

"If it's scary to be bony," said Belinda, "I might frighten the ghost. Anyway, the gate is open, and I can go in if I want to." She stepped into the old garden, and Sammy stepped after her, half cross because she was coming into his private adventure, half pleased to have company. As he came through the gate, Sammy felt a cold breath fall on the back of his neck. Turning round slowly, he saw nothing. Perhaps it was just a little cool wTind sliding into the empty garden with them.

"A garden of thistledown and dandelions," Belinda cried. "A garden all for birds and beetles and ghosts." She seemed to like what she saw. "The lawn is almost as tall as my shoulder. A ghost could easily be in that long grass, and just rise up beside us like smoke."

Sammy glanced thoughtfully at the grass, half expecting a smoky shape to billow up and wave its arms at him. But no smoke, no sound. It was all very still. He could hear cars out on the main road, but they seemed like thin dreams of sound, tiny flies buzzing far away. He walked up the brick path and stood on the front steps of the haunted house, looking at its sad veranda. One of the carved posts was crumbling down, and the veranda sagged with it.

"You'd feel cruel just standing on this veranda," Sammy remarked. "It looks so limp and sick."

"Cruelty to verandas!" said Belinda seriously. "Stand on it lightly, Sammy, and we'll go inside. I think a ghost would be more likely to be inside, don't you?"

"The door will be locked, won't it?" Sammy said. Then, "How did you know my name?" he asked, looking puzzled.

"You look like a Sammy," was all she said. She pushed the door, and it slowly opened, like a black mouth opening to suck them into its shadows.

"I might stay out here," Sammy said. "The floor could cave in or something." His voice was quiet and squashed small by the heavy silence of the whole house and garden.'

"You don't have to be afraid," Belinda told him kindly. "It's just an old, empty house, and old houses were made of good wood." Through the dark door she slid and vanished. Sammy had to follow her. Then he got the most terrible fright. He was standing in a hall so dim and dusty that he could see almost nothing. But what he could see was a dim and dusty figure at the other end of the hall, moving slowly toward him.

"The ghost!" cried Sammy.

Belinda looked back at him. He could not see her face properly, but for some reason he thought she might be smiling.

"It isn't a ghost," she told him. "It's a looking glass. There's a tall cupboard at the end with a looking glass in its door. It's your own reflection that's frightening you."

Sammy blinked and saw that what she said could be true. They walked cautiously up the hall. The looking glass reflected the open doorway behind them. It was so dark inside that the evening outside looked bright and pearly.

Sammy rubbed his finger across the looking glass.

The looking glass moved, and they heard a low moaning.

"The ghost!" gasped Sammy again, but it was just the cupboard door. It was a little bit open, and creaking when Sammy touched it.

"Come upstairs!" Belinda said. "They were nice, once, these stairs. They used to be polished every day."

"How can you tell?" asked Sammy, looking up the dark

stairway.

"They are smooth under the dust," Belinda replied, "smooth with feet walking, and hands polishing. But that was a long time ago."

"How can you see your way upstairs?" Sammy asked. "It's so

dark."

"There's enough light," she answered, already several steps above him. Sammy came after her. Out of the dark came a hand, soft and silent as the shadows, and laid silken fingers across his face.

"The ghost!" cried Sammy for the third time.

"Cobwebs, only cobwebs!" called Belinda back to him. Sammy touched his face. His own fingers, stiff with fright, found only cobwebs, just as Belinda had said. He stumbled and scrambled up after her onto the landing. There was a window boarded over. It was easy to peep through the cracks and look over the thistly garden and down the empty street. "There used to be grass there," Belinda whispered, peering out, "Grass and cows. But that was a long time ago." She straightened up. "Come through this door," she said in her ordinary voice.

Sammy did not want to be left behind. They went through the door into a small room. The boards had partly slipped away from the windows. Evening light brightened the walls and striped the ceiling. There were the remains of green curtains and a rocking chair with one rocker broken. Sitting in the chair was a very old doll. It looked as if someone had put it down and had gone out to play for a moment. The doll seemed to expect someone to be back to play with it.

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