A Rainy Day Episode
It was raining hard, but when I went to get an umbrella, I found out that all the five umbrellas we had at home were broken and needed repairing. I decided to take them to an umbrella-maker.
Category: Reading
Speed skating
Speed skating (or speedskating) is an ice skating race, usually around an oval course. Skaters compete against each other, and everyone travels the same distance.
Speed skating events almost always follow the Netherlands system, where skaters compete two-by-two.
Tea-Leaves
There was a time when drinking tea was almost unknown in European countries; many people had never even heard of tea.
The Young Shakespeare
(after R. Sisson)
The Roman Times In British History
In the early days of history (50 – 450) England was known as Britain and the people who lived there were the Britons. There were no big towns on the British Isles at that time. People lived in small villages along the rivers or near the sea. The Britons caught fish, grew wheat and had many pigs, cows and sheep in the meadows near the rivers and on the sides of the mountains. Later they learned to make things of wool and metal and sold them to the people who came across the sea.
Old Man At The Bridge
(After Ernest Hemingway)
An old man in very dusty clothes sat by the side of the road. There was a pontoon [pɒnˈtuːn] bridge across the river and carts, lorries, and men, women and children were crossing it and going on. But the old man sat there without moving. He was too tired to go on.
Life As I Find It
(After Mark Twain)
The man lives in Philadelphia, who, when young and poor, entered a bank, and said: “Please, sir, don’t you want a boy?” And the bank man said:
“No, little boy, I don’t want a little boy.”
The Hurricane Hunters
(After E. Myers)
All along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, from August till November, meteorologists watch for hurricanes, which are very dangerous storms. The wind in a hurricane blows round and round in a spiral. In the centre of a hurricane there is a small area known as “eye” where there is good weather. Usually hurricanes are given girl’s names like Carla, Betsy and Camille. A hurricane is really a very strong tropical cyclone. The girl’s name is used for radio communication. Easy-to-remember names help operators not to make mistakes during radio talks about the movements of a hurricane.
Mistaken Identity
(After Mark Twain)
Years ago I arrived one day at Salamanca near New York, where I was to change trains and take the sleeper. There were a lot of people on the platform, and they were all trying to get into the long sleeper train which was already packed.
