Рассказы / Short Stories. О. Генри
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officer.
“Nothing,” said Soapy.
“Then come along,” said the policeman.
“Three months on the Island,” said the Magistrate in the Police Court the next morning.
Exercises
1. Choose the right variant:
1. Soapy like to be homeless.
2. Soapy does not know where to spend cold winter.
3. Soapy faces the urgent necessity of finding some sort of shelter for the winter.
4. Thinking of the local jail as a homeless shelter is common for the people.
2. What is the main character’s name?
1. Soapy
2. Mike
3. Con
4. John
3. What was the young woman’s reaction?
1. She felt harassed.
2. She proved to be more than ready for action.
3. She called the policeman.
4. She was astonished.
4. Why did the waiter refuse to serve Soapy?
1. Because the restaurant was closed.
2. Because they didn’t accept credit cards.
3. Because it was a self-service restaurant.
4. Because he looked at Soapy’s threadbare clothes.
5. What is Yale?
1. It is the town where Soapy came from.
2. It is the name of the old church.
3. It is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
4. It is the name of the organ company.
6. What is an anthem?
1. a type of restaurant
2. a form of church music
3. Soapy’s surname
4. a holiday
7. Choose the right variant:
1. Soapy recalls that a successful businessman had once offered him a job.
2. Soapy recalls that a successful businessman had twice offered him a job.
3. Soapy recalls that a successful businessman had thrice offered him a job.
4. Soapy recalls that a successful businessman had many times offered him a job.
8. What did Soapy decide to do on the very next day?
1. Soapy decided to invent a wiser plan to get to the Island.
2. Soapy decided to repeat his experience.
3. Soapy decided to become a Yale student.
4. Soapy decided to apply for employment.
9. What has Soapy been arrested for?
1. Soapy has been arrested for vandalizing the plate-glass window of a shop.
2. Soapy has been arrested for loitering.
3. Soapy has been arrested for pretending to be publicly intoxicated.
4. Soapy has been arrested for stealing another man’s umbrella.
10. Choose the right adverb:
All of Soapy’s attempts are _____________ exposed as failures.
1. slowly
2. quickly
3. happily
4. hard
11. Choose the correct verbs:
A police officer ________ to the broken window but ________ to _______ an innocent bystander.
1. responds, decides, to pursue
2. to pursue, responds, decides
3. decides, to pursue, responds
4. responds, to pursue, decides
12. Insert the right prepositions:
onto – into – of – on
1. A policeman taps Soapy _____________ the shoulder and asks him what he is doing.
2. Soapy despairs _____________ his goal of getting arrested and imprisoned.
3. Soapy’s ploys include swindling a restaurant ____________ serving him an expensive meal.
4. Two servers throw Soapy out _____________ a concrete pavement.
13. Complete the chart:
Witches’ Loaves[10]
Miss Martha Meacham kept the little bakery on the corner. Miss Martha was forty, her bank-book showed a credit of two thousand dollars, and she possessed two false teeth and a sympathetic heart.
Two or three times a week a customer came in to buy some bread. He was a middle-aged man, wearing spectacles and a brown beard.
He spoke English with a strong German accent. His clothes were worn and darned in places. But he looked neat, and had very good manners.
He always bought two loaves of stale bread[11]. Fresh bread was five cents a loaf. Stale ones were two for five.
Once Miss Martha saw a red and brown stain on his fingers. She was sure then that he was an artist and very poor. No doubt[12] he lived in a garret, where he painted pictures and ate stale bread.
When Miss Martha sat down to dinner and tea she used to sigh and think of the poor artist and feel sorry for him. Miss Martha’s heart was a sympathetic one.
In order to test her theory, she brought from her room one day a painting that she had bought at a sale, and hung it on the wall of her bakery.
It was a Venetian scene. A splendid marble palace stood in the foreground. For the rest there were gondolas (with the lady trailing her hand in the water), clouds, sky.
Two days afterward the customer came in.
“Two loafs of stale bread, if you blease[13].
“You haf here a fine bicture[14], madame,” he said while she was wrapping up the bread.
“Yes?” says Miss Martha. “You think it is a good picture?”
“Der balance[15],” said the customer, “is not in good drawing. Der bairspective[16] of it is not true. Thank you, madame.”
He took his bread, bowed, and hurried out.
Yes, he must be an artist. Miss Martha took the picture back to her room.
How gentle and kindly his eyes shone behind his spectacles! What a broad brow he had! Genius often has to struggle.
He saw the perspective at once. She wanted to help him – to keep house for him, to share with him all the good things she had in her bakery. Maybe even two thousand dollars. But these were day-dreams, Miss Martha.
Often now when he came he talked to her for a few minutes. But he bought only stale bread as before. Never a cake, never a pie, never one of her delicious
Witches’ Loaves – Чародейные хлебцы
stale bread – черствый хлеб
No doubt – Вне всякого сомнения
blease = please (
you haf here a fine bicture = you have here a fine picture (
Der balance = the palace (
der bairspective = the perspective (