Вопрос № 348795 - Английский язык

Sir Isaac Newton was often so deeply interested in difficult problems that he became quite absent-minded. One day a gentleman came to see him, but was told that Sir Isaac was busy in his study and that nobody was allowed to disturb him.

As it was dinner-time, the visitor sat down in the dining-room to wait for the scientist. The servant came in and placed on the table a boiled chicken under a cover. An hour passed, but Newton did not appear. The gentleman, feeling hungry, ate the chicken, and covering up the skeleton, asked the servant to prepare another one for his master.

Before the second chicken was ready, however, the scientist entered the room, apologizing for his delay. Then he added: «As I feel rather tired and hungry, I hope you will excuse me a little longer, while I take my dinner, and I will be at your service.» With these words he lifted the cover, and without emotion turned round to the gentleman and said: «See what strange people we scientists are. I quite forgot that I had dined already.»

At this moment the servant brought in the other chicken. The visitor explained how matters stood. After a hearty laugh, the hungry scientist sat down to dine.

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 its 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 the moment a young man came up to him and said: “Give me your violin. I shall help you”. 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.

Queen Elizabeth I was the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn.

When she was 3 months old she went to live at Ratfield, far from the King and the Queen. Her mother was executed by her father when the little girl was 2 and a half years old.

The young princess learnt Italian, French, Latin and Greek from royal tutors. She followed her half-brother Edward and her half-sister Mary to the throne.

She never married and ruled for 45 years as a strong and independent queen. She was much loved by the people of England, and her reign was one of power and glory for her country.

In 1778 the British had the strongest navy in the world. They laughed at the small navy of their American colonies who were fighting Britain for their independence. An American captain decided to show the British that size was not everything. Here is what happened.

On the night of April 24, 1778 Captain John Paul Jones silently brought the American ship “Ranger” into Whiteheaven harbour on the west coast of England. As soon as he arrived, he took a group of his men to a local inn, broke into it and had a drink with them.

Then they went back to the harbour and began their work. Some of them went to the fort and put the guns out of order, others began burning British ships. The British soldiers finally woke up and put up a good fight, but they lost to Jones and his men.

Captain Jones was pleased but not completely satisfied. So he sailed to the nearby Scottish coast and went to the home of the Earl of Selkirk. Jones and his men put all of the Earl’s silverware onto the “Ranger” to take back to America. The British did not laugh so much about America’s navy after Jones’ visit.

In the North of Scotland there is a lake which contains one of the biggest mysteries of the 20th century. For somewhere in deep waters of Loch Ness a monster is hiding. The story of the Loch Ness monster begins in 1933 when it was seen for the first time.

Since then it has been seen at least once every year and has been photographed many times. The first photograph was taken by a local man in November, 1933.

On one occasion, large brown eyes were seen and horns have been reported several times. The monster, however, has not been forgotten and will probably never be forgotten.

It is known that it sometimes leaves the loch. But the monster and its activities remain a mystery.

Mr. Brown got to a hotel late in the evening. At the same time another traveller came to the hotel. The only vacant room was a double room. They spoke to each other and agreed to spend the night in the same room.

At night Mr. Brown was woken up by the second traveller. He felt very bad and asked to open the window to have some fresh air because he suffered from asthma.

Mr. Brown couldn’t find the matches, so he tried to find the window. He thought he had found it. Mr. Brown took a chair and broke the window with it. The sick man stopped moaning at once.

When they woke up next morning they were surprised to see that the only window in the room was still closed, but the large looking-glass was broken to pieces.