Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

A Sad Story

 An English tourist, who was staying at a hotel in Paris came to the hotel restaurant to have dinner. He could not speak French, but he did not want to show it to people. He sat down at a table. When the waiter came up to his table, the Englishman took the menu-card and pointed to the first line. The waiter nodded and walked away. Very soon he returned and put a plate of mushroom soup on the table. The Englishman was very pleased with himself. He ate the soup and, when the waiter came up to the table again, pointed to the fifth line on the menu-card. The waiter looked a little surprised, but did not say a word. He walked away and soon returned, bringing the Englishman a plate of fish soup. The Englishman did not want to show the waiter that he did not know French, so he ate the fish soup. Then he pointed to a line in the middle of the menu-card, hoping that he would get some second course at last. This time the waiter brought him a plate of chicken broth. In despair, the Englishman pointed to the last line on the menu-card. And the waiter brought him a package of tooth-picks!

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

He Enjoyed Sightseeing in Paris

Once an Englishman came to Paris and stopped at a hotel.

First of all he sent a telegram to his wife, telling her the address of the hotel, and then decided to see the town. He left the hotel and walked along the street. He passed several blocks, then turned to the right and walked along another street. He walked as far as the corner, crossed the street and turned to the left. He liked Paris very much. In every street there was something interesting. He walked a long time, crossed many streets and turned many corners. It was already evening, and he wanted to go back. And only now he realized that he had lost his way. He did not remember the name of his hotel, or the street in which the hotel was. He tried to remember what turnings he had taken and what streets he had walked along, but could not. Wander­ing along the streets, he saw many hotels, but he could not find his hotel. What was to be done? It was already very late, and he was tired. The Englishman went into the first hotel he saw and took a room there. Before going to bed, he sent another telegram to his wife. The telegram said, "Send me my Paris address."

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

It Looks Like Rain

A man came into a little village inn and sat down at a table near the window. It was war-time, and food was hard to get.

"We've got only soup today, sir," said the waiter to the gentleman.

"О. K., bring me a plate of soup," said the man.

The waiter nodded and left the room. Presently he returned with a plate of soup. He put it on the table before the man and stepped to the window.

"It looks like rain, sir," said the waiter, looking out of the window.

While the waiter was thinking of the weather, the gentleman was thinking of the soup, which he had just tasted.

"Well," he said, "and it tastes like rain, too."

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

He Recovered.

It happened a long time ago. A very simple country woman came to a doctor one day and asked him to see her husband. "He is in bed, doctor," she said, "and he has a splitting headache."

The doctor was very busy that day. "I cannot see your husband today," he said, "I have many patients waiting for me. But do this: put some ice into a bag and tie the bag round your husband's head. I hope it will help him. Come tomorrow morning and tell, me how he feels."

"Thank you, doctor," said the woman and wenthome. The next morning she came to the doctor again.

"Well, and how is your husband this morning?” asked the doctor.

"Thank you, doctor," she said, "he is quite all right: no more headache. But you know, doctor, the mice are all dead."

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

He was a Smart Boy

Johnny entered the grocer's. "Hello, Mr. Grimble," he said, "Fine day today, isn't it?"

"Yes, indeed," said Mr. Grimble, the grocer. "And what can I do for you?"

"Please," said the boy, reading from a book, "ten pounds of sugar at fifteen cents a pound, four pounds of coffee at ninety cents a pound, and two pounds of butter at seventy-five a pound. How much will itcome to?"

The grocer took a piece of paper and a pencil, did some calculations and said: "Four dollars and sixty cents."

"Oh," said Johnny, "and a dozen eggs at ninety cents a dozen."

"О. K.," said Mr. Grimble, "that will come to six dollars and forty cents."

"And if I give you a ten-dollar bill," said Johnny, "how much change shall I get?"

"You will get three dollars and sixty cents," said the grocer. "Thank you very much, Mr, Grimble, said Johnny. "I am not going to buy anything. You see, it's my homework for tomorrow, and I соuld not do it myself."

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

A Conceited Boy

Edward came home for the holidays; he thought that he was very clever, because he had been at school for a year. At dinner he said to his father: "Daddy, you think that you see two cakes on the plate. I am going to show you that there are three." Pointing to the first cake Ed­ward said: "This is one, and that is two. If I add the one to the two, I'll get three."

"Very well," said his father, "if what you say is true, I'll take the first cake, your mother will take the second and you may take the third."

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

A Dumb Wife

Once there was a man whose wife was dumb, and this made him very sad because he loved her very dearly. After some time he went to see a doctor and said, "Can you make my wife speak?" "Perhaps I can," said the doctor, "the operation is difficult, but if I try, I'll do my best." "Of course, you may try," said the husband, "I'll bring her tomorrow."

The next day the doctor made the operation and the dumb wife began to speak. She spoke so much and so loudly that in a few hours her husband ran back to the doctor and said, "Can you make my wife dumb again?" "No," said the doctor. "There are many ways to make a dumb woman speak, but no ways to make a woman stop talking." "What must I do?" said the man, "I shall soon die if I have to listen to her all day long." "Well," said the doctor, "I can't make her dumb, but I can make you deaf and you will not have to listen to her." "Very well," said the man., “you may do so. It will be better than the other way.”

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

Who Wrote "Hamlet"?

One day an inspector came to visit a small country school. Not only the children but also the teachers were very much afraid of him.

At the lesson in a loud and terrible voice the inspector asked a little boy the question: "Who wrote "Hamlet"?" "Not I, sir," said the boy.

The inspector was not angry, he laughed at this joke.

After the lessons the inspector spoke with the school­master, to whom he told the joke. The schoolmaster smiled, scratched his head and said: "I know that little rascal, maybe he wrote it after all."

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

Two Gifts

Jim and Delia were a newly married couple. They loved each other but the trouble was that they were very poor. They lived in New York in the suburbs. They had a very small room to live in.

They worked from early morning till late at night but they got very little money for their work.

And yet, they had two treasures. They were: Jim's gold watch and Delia's beautiful hair.

New Year Day was coming. Delia wanted to present Jim with something but she had no money for it. The thought that she could not make a present to her husband made her very unhappy. She sat down on the sofa and began to cry. Suddenly an idea struck her. She got up and went up to the looking-glass. In it she saw her beautiful long hair. Then she left the house and a few minutes later she was at a shop.

"Will you buy my hair?" she asked.

The owner looked at Delia's hair and answered: "Yes, I shall give you 20 dollars for it."

Delia was very glad. She took the money and went to buy something for Jim. Soon she saw a very beautiful watch-chain. "I shall have it," she said to herself and bought it.

When she came home, Jim had already been there waiting for her. When he looked at his wife he understood everything.

"Why did you do it?" he said.

"Dear Jim, I wanted to give you a present. Here it is."

She gave him the chain that she had bought. But he did not need that present any more. He had sold his watch to make a present to his wife. He took a package out of his pocket and gave it to Delia. Opening the package Delia saw two beautiful combs.

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

НеCame Back

Alexander was a young pilot. When the Great Patriotic War began, he was serving in the Army. He had a young wife, Mary by name. Alexander and Mary loved each other dearly and were very happy.

One day Alexander got an order to go to the front. On the day when he was leaving he said to his wife, "Wait for me, and I'll come back."

Some time later Mary went to work at a plant.

Many weeks passed, but she didn't hear from her hus­band anything. She missed him badly but she always re­membered his words. At last she received a letter. It was from her husband's commander. He wrote that the Ger­mans had killed her husband. But Mary did not believe it. She thought, "He said he would return. I am sure he is alive."

And her dream came true. Alexander was not dead. One day his plane was shot down and he had to land on the enemy's territory. Soon he became a partisan. He knew that his wife was waiting for him and that gave him much strength. So once he knocked at the door of his flat. "You've come back. You have kept your promise," said Mary crying with joy.

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

A BROKEN VASE

The young man was going to marry a beautiful girl. One day the girl said to him that the next day she would celebrate her birthday and invited him to her birthday party. The young man was eager  to make her a present, so he went to a gift shop. There he saw many beautiful things. Of all the things he particularly  liked the vases. But they were very expensive, and as he had very little money he had to leave the shop without buying anything.  Making for the door  he suddenly heard a noise: one of the vases fell on the floor and broke to pieces. A brilliant idea came to his mind. He came up to the counter and asked the salesman to wrap up the broken vase. The salesman got a little surprised but did what the young man had asked him to.

The young man, feeling very happy, took the parceland went straight to the girl's place. By the time he en­tered the room the guests had already gathered. Every­body was enjoying the party. Some of the people were dancing, others were talking, joking and laughing. Say­ing "Many happy returns of the day", the young man told the girl that he had bought a small present  for her. With these words he began to unwrap the parcel. Sudden­ly he got pale and said: "I am afraid, I have broken it. There were so many people in the bus..." But when he unwrapped the parcel, he saw that the salesman had wrapped up each piece of the vase separately.

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

Why Was She Angry

Jack, a handsome young man, was in love with a beautiful girl. One day when they were together, she said to him: "It's my birthday tomorrow," and invited him to the party. The man was happy to hear that and said, "Oh, I'll send you roses, one rose for each year of your life."

In the evening he went to the florist's shop. As he knew the girl's age (she was going to be 22) he decided to buy 22 roses. The young man asked the florist to send the flowers to the girl the next day.

When he left the shop, the florist said to his wife: "Jack is a very good fellow. He often buys flowers in our shop. Today, I'm afraid, I asked too much money for my roses. I'll send 10 more roses." So the next morning he sent 32 roses to the girl.

When Jack came to see his girl, she did not want to speak to him. And he never knew why she was angry.

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

The Blind Man and the Great Artist

Every day in one of the streets of Vienna you could see a blind man playing the violin. His dog sat near him with a cap in his mouth. People, who were passing them, dropped coins into the cap.

One day, when the weather was very cold, the man was playing for a long time, but nobody wanted to give him anything. The poor man thought that he would have to go to bed without supper. He was so tired and so weak that he stopped playing.

At that moment a young man came up to him and asked him why he had stopped playing. The blind man said he had played for two hours but nobody had given him anything. "Give me your violin. I shall help you," said the man. And with these words he began to play. He played so well that people began to gather and soon there was a big crowd. Everybody was eager to listen to the fine music and to thank the young man for the pleasure.

Soon the cap was full of money.

"I don't know how to thank you," said the blind man. "Who are you?"

"I am Paganini," was the answer.

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

Economy Wasted Trip

An Englishman who was in France wanted to go back to England by sea. But he had very little money. He had so little money that he could pay only for the ticket. As he knew that the trip would last only two days, he decided not to eat during these days.

As he took a ticket and got on the ship the next morn­ing, he tried not to hear the bell for breakfast. When din­ner time came, he was very hungry, but he didn't go to the dining-room. In the evening he was still more hungry, but when the waiter came to invite him to have supper, the Englishman said that he was ill.

The next day the Englishman was half-dead and couldn't stand the hunger any longer. "I shall go and even if they kick me out into the sea," said he to himself. So he went to the ship dining-room and had his dinner. In the evening he had supper but was very much afraid of his future because he didn't pay for the meals. At last he ad­dressed the waiter and said: "Bring me the bill, please." "What bill?" asked the waiter. "For the supper and dinner I had in your dining-room." "Don't trouble, Sir. You paid for your meals when you bought the ticket."

Read the text, translate it and retell it. Put 5 questions of different types to the text.

ROBIN HOOD AND THE GOLDEN ARROW

Robin Hood was a legendary hero who was well known and loved by the poor people of England. He lived in a forest far from the towns, and when the poor  were oppressed by the rich, he helped them by giving them food and shelter. The sheriffs tried to arrest him but they did not succeed in doing so. Once the sheriff of N. decid­ed to organize a shooting contest in order to catch him because he knew Robin Hood to be a very good shot and was sure that he would take part in the contest by all means.  The prize was a golden arrow.

On learning about the forthcoming contest Robin Hood gathered his men and discussed whether they should take part in it. Finally it was decided that although the risk of participating in the contest was great, they should all go, Robin Hood among them. The day of the contest was fine and clear. The town was decorated with flags, and the field for the contest was full of people. The sheriff looked for Robin Hood and his men everywhere. He knew that they were always dressed in green. To his disappointment, however, he could not find anybody who looked like them. The contest was won by a fellow dressed in red, who had come from a village with a whole company of young men. After re­ceiving the prize the fellow left the town, and nobody ever thought that it was Robin Hood. While leaving the town Robin Hood shot an arrow through the sheriff's open window. There was a paper attached to it with the fol­lowing words: "Robin Hood thanks the sheriff for the goldenarrow."