On this particular evening, however, they were late, on account of the wind blowing rather freshly from the north-east; but presently we heard the front- door bell ring gently.
“Here they are at last,” said my mother; “but how silly of them to go to the front-door on such a windy night!”
Julia, the servant, candle in hand, went along the lengthy passage, and opened the door. No one was there! She came back to the dining-room smiling- “Masther Edward is afther playin’ wan av his thricks, ma’am- “she began, when the bell again rang – this time vigorously. My eldest sister threw down the book she was reading, and with an impatient exclamation herself went to the door, opened it quickly, and said sharply as she pulled it inwards-
“Come in at once, you stupid things!” There was no answer, and she stepped outside on the verandah. No one was visible, and again the big bell in the hall rang!
She shut the door angrily and returned to her seat, just as the bell gave a curious, faint tinkle as if the tongue had been moved ever so gently.
“ Don’t take any notice of them,” said my mother, ”they will soon get tired of playing such silly tricks, and be eager for their supper.”
The Kite
After W. Somerset Maugham
I know this is an odd story. I don’t understand it myself and if I set it down in black and white it is only with a faint hope that when I have written it I may get a clearer view of it, or rather with the hope that some reader, better acquainted with the complications of human nature that I am, may offer me an explanation that will make it comprehensible to me.
First of all I must make it plain that it is not story and that I knew none of the persons with whom it is concerned. It was told me one evening by my friend Ned Preston. It was told me one evening by my friend Ned Preston. Ned Preston was a prison visitor at Wormwood Scrubs. He took his duties very seriously and made the prisoners troubles his own.
“I’ve got a funny chap, to deal with at the Scrubs just now,” he said, once, “and I’m blowed if I know how to deal with him.”
“What’s he in for?’ I asked.
“He left his wife and the court ordered him to play so much a week in alimony and he’s absolutely refused to play it.
I’ve argued with him till I was blue in the face. He says he’ll stay in jail, all his life rather than pay her a penny. I tell him he can’t let her starve, and all he says is: “Why not?” He’s perfectly well behaved, he’s just getting a lot of fun out of thinking what a devil of a time his wife is having.”
“What’s he got against her?”
“She smashed his kite.”
“She did what?” I cried.
“Exactly that. She smashed his kite. He says he’ll never forgive her for that till his dying day.”
“He must be crazy.”
“No, he isn’t, he’s perfectly reasonable, quite intelligent, decent fellow.”
Herbert Sunbury was his name. He was the only child in the family and his parents doted on him. He was a pretty baby and then a good- looking child. Mrs. Sunbury brought him up carefully. She taught him to sit up at table and not put his elbows on it, and she taught him how to use his knife and fork like a little finger when he took his tea- cup to drink out it and when he asked why, she said:
“ Never you mind. That’s how it’s done. It shows you know what’s what.”
In due course Herbert grew old enough to go to school. Mrs. Sunbury was anxious because she had never let him play with the children in the street.
As she didn’t like the idea of Herbert being thrown into contact with a lot of rough boys at the Country Council school she said to him:
“Now, Herbert, do what I do; keep yourself to yourself and don’t have anything more to do with them than you can help.”
A Municipal Report
After O. Henry
I stepped off the train at 8 p.m. and I was tired and sleepy when I got to the hotel.
At dinner I asked a Negro waiter if there was anything doing in town. He pondered gravely for a minute, and then replied: “Well, boss, I don’t really reckon there’s anything at all doin’ after sundown.”
Sundown had been accomplished; it had been drowned in the drizzle long before. But I went forth upon the streets in the drizzle to see what might be here.
I walked through long streets, all leading uphill. I wondered how those streets ever came down again. On a few of the “main streets” I saw light in stores here and there; saw street cars go by, saw people pass engaged in the art of conversation, and heard a burst of laughter issuing from a soda- water and ice cream parlour.
There was indeed little doing, so I returned to my hotel. Here I first saw Major Wentworth Caswell.
In four minutes he had become my friend and had dragged me to the bar.
I began to suspect that he had ordered the drinks, on the chance that I would be bewildered into paying for them. But when they were down he crashed a silver dollar loudly upon the bar. Then, of course, another serving was obligatory. And when I had paid for that I took leave of him for I wanted no more of him. But before I had obtained my release he had prated loudly of income that his wife received, and showed a handful of silver money.
When I got my key at the desk the clerk said to me: “If that man Caswell has annoyed you, and if you would like to make a complaint, we will have him ejected.
He is a nuisance, a loafer and without any known means of support, although he seems to have some money most of the time. But we don’t seem to be hit upon any means of throwing him out legally.”
“Why, no,” said I, after some reflection; “I don’t see my way clear to making a complaint. But I do not care for his company. Your town, ”I continued, “seems to be a quiet one. What manner of entertainment, adventure, or excitement have you to offer to the strange within your gates?”
“Well, sir,” said the clerk, “there will be a show here next Thursday. It is- I’ll look it up and have the announcement sent up to your room with ice water. Good night.”
After I went up to my room I looked out the window. It was only about ten o’clock, but I looked upon a silent town.
I must tell you how I came to be in Nashville. I had a commission from a Northern literary magazine to stop there and establish a personal connection between the publication and one of its contributors.
Dombey and Son
After Charles Dickens
Dombey sat in the corner of the dark room in a great arm- chair by the bed, and Son lay in a little cradle which was put on a low bench in front of the fire.
Dombey was about forty-eight years old. Son was about forty- eight minutes. Dombey was rather bald and rather red. Son was very bald and very red.
Dombey had looked forward to this event for a long time, and now he has happy.
“The House will once again,” said Mr. Dombey, “be not only in name, but in fact Dombey and Son; Dom-bey and Son!”
“He will be called Paul, of course,” said Mr. Dombey. “His father’s name and his grandfather’s! I wish his grandfather were alive now.” And again he said proudly: “Dom- bey and Son!”
In those three words was the one idea of Mr. Dombey’s life. The earth was made for Dombey and Son to trade in, and the sun and moon were made to give them light. Rivers and seas were made to carry their ships; winds blew for or against them; stars and planets moved in their orbits to keep stable a system of which they were the centre.
Mr. Dombey had been married ten years and until this day had had no child.
No child to speak of. There was a girl six years old. She was sitting now in a corner of the room. But what was a girl to Dombey and Son!
He said, “Florence, you may go and look at your pretty brother, if you like. Don’t touch him!”
The Woodpecker
When you are in a forest, you sometimes hear tap- tap-tap.
What’s this? It’s a woodpecker, a big bird with a beautiful coat, black, white and red. It is trying to make a hole in the tree, it wants to get at insect that live there.
The woodpecker eats insects. It has a very sharp beak. It can run up and down the tree because it has claws on its feet.
The woodpecker is a clever bird. If it can’t get at insect with its beak, it finds a small stick and gets at insects with it.
The woodpecker does not make a nest like other birds. It makes a hole in a tree and that is a nest for the woodpecker.
The woodpecker is a tree doctor. You know it. But the woodpecker is a kind bird too. Read about it in our next story.
3. Песни.
Brother James
Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,
Brother James, Brother James?
Morning bells are ringing,
Morning bells are ringing:
Ding, ding, dong!
Ding, ding, dong!
My Dear Mummy
My dear, dear Mummy,
Let me kiss your face,
I want you to be happy
Today and always!
Be happy, be happy,
Today and always!
Be happy, be happy
Today and always!
Good-Bye, Children
Good-bye, children,
Good-bye, children,
Good-bye, children,
We are all going home!
Chorus: Merrily we walk along,
Walk along, walk along.
Merrily we walk along,
Singing a fine song!
The Jingo Ring
1. Here we go round the jingo ring,
The jingo ring, the jingo ring,
Here we go round the jingo ring,
The jingo ring together.
2. Twice about and then we fall,
And then we fall, and then we fall,
Twice about and then we fall,
Twice about and then we fall,
The merry- go-round.
3. Choose the one you like the best,
You like the best, you like the best,
Choose the one you like the best,
The merry-go-round.
4. This is the way we dance around,
Dance around, dance around,
This is the way we dance around,
The merry-go-round.
The Train
Puff-puff, puff-puff, on we go,
When we hear the whistle blow.
Refrain: Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo,
Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo.
Puff-puff, puff-puff, puff-puff,
Riding till we’ve had enough.
Tickets, tickets now we show,
Mary Joe.
Refrain.
Here’s the station, now we stop,
Lots of people come to shop.
Refrain.
Once again the whistle blow,
Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo.
The Cabbage Field
Annie goes to the cabbage field,
Cabbage field, cabbage field,
Seeking there some fresh green leaves,
To feed her rabbits fine.
Johnny sees her, ha-ha-ha,
Now I’ll catch you, tra-la-la,
Nay, nay, nay, go away,
I’ll not dance with you today.
Gaily dancing round the ring,
Round the ring, round the ring,
While we all together sing,
And clap our hands in time.
Bow to partner, take a stand,
Tap with feet, then clap with hand,
Heel and toe, away we go,
Dancing up and down the row.
Yesterday
Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay
Oh I believe in yesterday.
Suddenly I’m not half the man I used to be
There’s a shadow handing over me
Oh yesterday came suddenly
Why she had to go I don’t know she wouldn’t say
I said something wrong now I long for yesterday
Yesterday love was such an easy game to play
Now I need a place to hide away oh I believe in yesterday.
Happy New Year
No more champagne
And the fireworks
Are through
Here we are
Me and you
Feeling lost and feeling blue
It’s the end
Of the party
And the morning
Seems so grey
So unlike
Yesterday
Now’s the time
For us to say
(Chorus:)
Happy New Year
Happy New Year
May we all
Have a vision
Now and then
Of a world where
Every neighbour
Is a friend
Happy New Year
Happy New Year
May we all
Have our hopes
Our will to try
If we don’t
We might as well
Lay down and die
You and I
Sometimes I see
How the brave new
World arrives
And I see
How it thrives
In the ashes
Of our lives
Oh yes, man is a fool
And he thinks
He’ll be Ok
Dragging on
Feet of clay
Never knowing
He’s astray
Keeps on going
Anyway
(repeat chorus)
Seems to me now
That the dreams
We had before
Are all dead
Nothing more
Than confetti
On the floor
It’s the end
Of a decade
In another
Ten years time
Who can say?
What we’ll find
What lies waiting?
Down the line
In the end of
Eighty - nine.
4.Спорт
Спорт Английских джентльменов.
О том, какую важную роль в жизни островного государства играл спорт, свидетельствует тот факт, что ему посвятил немало страниц своих сочинений выдающийся английский философ просветитель и мыслитель Джон Локк(1632- 1704), автор такой капитальной работы, как « Опыт о человеческом разуме», и многих других.
Больше того, Локк создал особую теорию «физической культуры джентльменов». По представлениям философа, человеку, прежде всего ,необходимо укрепление здоровья, постоянный уход за телом, целенаправленные физические тренировки, хорошие манеры и непоколебимая уверенность в себе.
«Джентльмен должен одинаково уметь преодолевать трудности на море, в бою, в общественной и личной жизни,- утверждал Локк.- Он должен быть победителем в конфликтах личного характера, если окажется в них втянутым». Для этого, как полагал философ, особое внимание джентльмен должен уделять плаванию, верховой езде, фехтованию, борьбе и танцам.
Правда, воззрения Локка во многом были пуританскими , и поэтому он был против публичных спортивных состязаний. Занятия спортом он рассматривал лишь как средство укрепления здоровья и приобретения необходимых навыков для самозащиты в случае опасности.
Под джентльменами Локк подразумевал представителей пришедшей к власти после революции 1640 года и сохранившей свое влияние, и после Реставрации буржуазии. В более общем смысле в Англии называли джентльменов человека с хорошими манерами, придерживающегося принятых в светском обществе правил хорошего поведения. Поэтому дженльтменами считали себя и представители старой дворянской аристократии.
Специально для джентльменов в Англии было создано немало закрытых клубов верховой езды, фехтования, борьбы, а также яхт-клубов.
Развитию спорта в Англии удивительным образом способствовала, и врожденная страсть англосаксов…к пари. Уже в конце 17 века устроители конных скачек стали заключать пари на огромные суммы на скорость и выносливость своих лошадей. Возможность одним махом заработать кругленькую сумму вскоре оценили и зрители. Перед скачками стало заключаться множество сделок. Посредниками между их участниками были букмеры, а местом заключения пари стали особые огороженные площадки, называвшиеся рингами.
Именно на них и зародился знаменитый английский бокс. По началу он совсем не походил на честный спорт.