Form 7 

Additional texts

Unit 1 Appearance

The Portrait

My aunt was a very determined and a strong-willed person. Her husband suffered because of that. When he got ill she took care of him as a loving mother. When he died she was very unhappy.

Some time passed, and my aunt decided to move to Derbyshire where she had a big country house. The house stood in a lonely, wild part of the country among the grey Derbyshire hills.

The servants, most of whom came with my aunt from town, did not like the sad-looking old place. They were afraid to walk alone about its half-empty black-looking rooms. My aunt herself seemed to be struck with the lonely appearance of her house. Before she went to bed, therefore, she herself examined the doors and the windows and locked them with her own hands. Then she carried the keys from the house, together with a little box of money and jewels, to her own room. She always saw to all things herself.

One evening, after she had sent away her maid, she sat by her toilet-table, arranging her hair. For, in spite of her sorrow for my uncle, she still cared very much about her appearance. She sat for a little while looking at her face in the glass first on one side, then on the other. As she looked, she thought of her old friend, a rich gentleman of the neighbourhood, who had visited her that day, and whom she had known since her girlhood.

All of a sudden she thought she heard something move behind her. She looked round quickly, but there was nothing to be seen. Nothing, but the painted portrait of her poor dear husband on the wall behind her. She gave a heavy sigh to his memory as she always did whenever she spoke of him in company, and went on arranging her hair. Her sigh was re­echoed. She looked round again, but no one was to be seen.

«Oh, it is only the wind,» she thought and went on putting her hair in papers, but her eyes were still fixed on her own reflection and the reflection of her husband’s portrait in the looking-glass. Suddenly it seemed to her that in the glass she saw one of the eyes of the portrait move. It gave her a shock.

«I must make sure», she thought and moved the candle so that the light fell in the eye in the glass. Now she was sure that it moved. But not only that, it seemed to give her a wink exactly as her husband used to do when he was living. Now my aunt got really frightened. Her heart began to beat fast. She suddenly remembered all the frightful stories about ghosts and criminals that she had heard.

But her fear soon was over. Next moment, my aunt who, as I have said, had a remarkably strong will, became calm. She went on arranging her hair. She even sang her favourite song in a low voice and did not make a single false note. She again moved her candle and while moving it she overturned her work- box. Then she took the candle and began without any hurry to pick up the articles one by one from the floor. She picked up something near the door, then opened the door, looked for a moment into the corridor as if in doubt whether to go and then walked quietly out.

She hurried down the stairs and ordered the servants to arm themselves with anything they could find. She herself caught up a red-hot poker and, followed by her frightened servants, returned almost at once. They entered the room. All was still and exactly in the same order as when she had left it.      They approached the portrait of my uncle and found a man there. The man wanted to rob the house and hid behind the portrait to wait until everybody went to bed. He had worked in the house before and had found a secret place behind the portrait so he decided to hide there.

Unit 2 Shopping

Shop-lifting

More and more people these days get caught shop-lifting; that is, taking things 

from shops and not paying for them.

What actually happens if the shop-keeper thinks you have stolen something? 

The true story of Mrs. C. is a good example.

Mrs. C went shopping twice a week. She shopped for her own family and for some old people who could not get to the shops. She always went to the same supermarket. One day she met a friend there. She had just chosen a piece of cheese from the shelf. The two of them talked and walked round the shop together. Then when her friend went out, Mrs. C. went with her. At once the shop-keeper caught her, and told her she had taken a piece of cheese without paying.

Mrs. C. was shocked and while she was trying to explain what had happened. Mrs. C. felt very ashamed. It looked as though she was a criminal! She said she would pay for it at once. But the shop-keeper called the police. When they got her to the police-station, she was questioned for three hours. After this she was charged and was told she would have to go to court.

During the next week, Mrs. C. stayed inside her house in a state of shock. She drank black coffee and took pills all the time. After only seven days, she had lost fourteen pounds in weight. The doctor saw her, and told her not to fight in court. «Say you did it, and get it over,» he said. He was afraid that she would have a heart-attack.

In a way the story had a happy ending, because the judge listened to the story, and just told her to go home and forget about it. She was free. But a whole year after this, Mrs. C. is still afraid to go out. She will not go into shops. She is afraid of what people think about her.

Unit 6 Town and village

   An unexpected visit

It was a very quiet, sunny and very sleepy Sunday afternoon and I was sitting out in the garden reading the Sunday newspapers, not expecting anyone at all The children were out playing and I thought I would have a couple of hours of peace and quiet. Suddenly I heard a large vehicle arriving at the end of the garden and then I heard a loud knocking at the door in front of the house! I went out and saw about twelve elderly ladies wearing their Sunday best clothes, hats and white cardigans and carrying their handbags, looking very happy and very friendly. They said, "Well, we are sorry, we hope we are not late, but we couldn't find the house very easily." And then one of them said very helpfully, "Well, your husband was very kind in inviting us to tea”. I thought, "Good gracious, my husband must have gone mad or forgotten to tell me". So I asked them into the house, and they started to take off their coats. They sat down and started chatting quite happily. They asked me about my children, and I did have children, and they talked about how beautiful the village was, and it was indeed beautiful. Then my husband appeared, but they didn't speak to him, I thought this was surprising because they said they'd been invited by him. And he looked a bit shocked to see them all sitting there. And then we quickly discovered that it was the wrong husband and the wrong house and they were in fact expected at a house on the other side of the village

                  Back to the village

When William Evans was 18 he said good bye to his mother, left his village and went to London. After a few days he found a job in a bank in the City, and also found a small flat which was a long way from the city.

Every morning he got up at 7 o'clock, left the house at 7.30 the tube to the City and began to work at 9 o'clock. He didn't like the journey on the tube, after he got into the train he stood there for 40 minutes sometimes he read a newspaper usually he just thought about his mother and the village.

Six months later he inherited a large sum of money from his aunt. He sent some of the money to his mother and then he decided to buy a car so as not to go to his bank every day by tube.

He bought a little red car and was very proud of it. With the help of a street map he worked out the quickest way to drive to work.

     The first day he got up at 8 o'clock and left the house at 8.30. He came to the City center at 9 o'clock. He tried to find a parking place, but it wasn't easy. At last he found it, but he was late for work. The second day he left the house earlier but couldn't find a parking place again. He put the car into a car park which costed him one pound for the day.

On Wednesday workers were doing something on the road and he sat in the car for 15 minutes. He left the car in a car park again, and he was 20 minutes late for work. On Thursday he got in a traffic jam and was late for work again.

The next day he got up very early. It was a very, very cold morning and the car wouldn't start. He tried to start it for a quarter of an hour then ran to the tube station, but he was late again. His boss told him he had to be in time In future.

William was very worried because he didn't want to lose the job.

The next day he got up early and went to the City by tube, but forgot

that it was Saturday. When he got to the bank, he found that it was

closed.                              

William sold his car and went back to his village.

I.                   Write if the sentences are true or false.

1.     After a few days he found a job in a shop in the City

2.     Six months later he inherited a little sum of money from his aunt.

3.     He was very proud of his new car.

4.     After he had bought a car he was never late for work.

5.     The boss was not pleased with William.

6.     William was afraid to lose his job.

    Unit 7 Travelling to world capitals

 Sense of Adventure

Johnny was three when he ran away from home for the first time. Somebody left the garden gate open. Johnny wandered out, crossed some fields, and two hours later, arrived in the next village. He was just able to give his name and address.

By the time he was seven, Johnny used to vanish from home two or three times a year. Sometimes he covered quite long distances on foot. On other occasions he got on a bus or even a train, and simply sat there until someone asked for his ticket. Generally the police brought him home. «Why do you do it?» they used to ask. «You aren't unhappy at home, are you?» «Of course not,» Johnny replied. «Then why?» «I just like seeing places,» Johnny told them.

Johnny continued to «see places» although everyone tried to stop him. As he grew older, his favourite trick was to hide on a long distance lorry. Sometimes he used to travel hundreds of miles before anyone discovered him.

It is hardly surprising that eventually Johnny managed to get on board a plane. He was twelve at the time. It was a cargo plane and, a few hours later, Johnny found himself in Cairo.

In spite of all this, Johnny did well at school. He enjoyed maths and languages and, perhaps not surprisingly, he was especially good at geography. «What do you want to be when you grow up?» his teacher asked him. Johnny did not take long to answer that question. «An expiorer!» he answered.

Just before he left school, Johnny saw a notice in one of the daily papers. An expedition was about to go to Brazil to travel up the Amazon. There were vacancies for three young people «willing to work hard and with a sense of adventure".

Johnny applied... and, two months later, he was on his way to Brazil.

                                   Unit 9 English

What a Language

This story is about four Frenchmen who lived for some time in England. The first Frenchman  once heard someone shout: "Look out!" He was at a hotel when he heard these words. He put his head out of the window, and a bucketful of water fell on him. "It seems 'look out' in English ^ means 'don't look out'," he said.

The second Frenchman was once on a ship and heard the captain shout: "All hands, on deck!" He put his hands on the deck, and someone walked on them.

The third Frenchman wanted to visit a friend of his. When he came to the door of the house, he knocked. A maid opened it. He said: "Is Mr Brown in?" The maid answered "He is not up yet. Come back in half an hour." When he came after half an hour, the maid said: "He is not down yet."

He said: "If he's not up and he's not down, where is he?" The maid answered: "Oh, that's simple. When I say 'he's not up  I mean he has not got up, and when I say 'he's not down I mean he has not yet come downstairs."

The fourth Frenchman who had learned English at scho­ol, but had half forgotten it, was staying in London on business. It was in the month of November, and the weather was most unpleasant, damp and foggy. The Frenchman had caught a bad cold and was coughing day and night.

    At last, he decided to have some medicine for this cough, but as he did not     remember this English word, he looked it up in his French-English dictionary. There he found that the English for it was "cough". Unfortunately, his dictionary did not tell him how to pronounce it. Remembering, howe­ver, the pronunciation of the word "plough", he natu­rally thought that "cough" must be pronounced [kau].

So he entered a chemist's shop and said: "Will you, please, give me something for my cow!"

The chemist, thinking he had misunderstood him, asked politely: "I beg your pardon, sir?"

The Frenchman repeated his request for some tablets for his "cow".

"For your cow, sir?" replied the chemist. "Are you a farmer then?"

"A farmer?" answered the Frenchman rather angrily. "What in the world makes you think so? Oh, no, I came from Paris, from beautiful Paris!" he added proudly.

The chemist now almost began to think that the French­man was a madman⁶. In great surprise he asked again: "But your cow, sir? Where is your cow?"

"Here!" cried the Frenchman, coughing very loudly and pointing to his chest. "Here it is! I have a very big cow in my chest!"

Luckily, the chemist understood and gave him the medi­cine he wanted.