Вопрос № 605247 - Английский язык

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.

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.

Robert Burns, the great Scottish poet, loved common people and wrote for them. Though he had little formal education, he was well-read and talented. He began to be recognized as a poet when his first poems published in 1786. He was known as a very witty man.

One day when R. Burns was walking near the docks, he heard a cry for help. He ran towards the water. At that moment he saw a young sailor jump off a boat that stood near the dock. The sailor began to swim towards the man who was calling for help. Though it was not easy, the sailor saved the man.

The man who was saved from drowning was a very rich merchant. He thanked the brave sailor and gave him a shilling. The sailor was embarrassed. A large crowd of people gathered round them. All the people considered the sailor to be a hero. They were displeased when only a shilling was given to the brave soldier. Many of the people shouted loudly and protested against it, but no attention was paid to them.

At the moment R. Burns approached the crowd and wondered what the matter was. He was told the whole story. He was not surprised at the behavior of the rich merchant and said: “Let him alone. The gentleman is the best judge of what his life is worth”.

A rich American went to Paris and bought a picture by a modern artist. He paid a lot of money for the picture, so he thought the picture was very good. He came to the hotel where he was staying and wanted to hang the picture. To his surprise he couldn’t tell what was the top and what was the bottom.

So he thought of a plan and invited the artist to dinner. The artist looked at the picture many times. He put on his glasses and approached the picture to look at it more closely. And at last when they began to drink coffee, the artist told the American that the picture was upside down.

The American was surprised and wondered why the artist hadn’t told it to him at once. The artist had to admit that he himself had not been sure about it at first.

So the rich American left the picture on the wall as it was. He thought that nobody would notice that it was upside down.

The mystery of the Marie Celeste is a story of the old days of the sailing fleet. It happened in 1872. An American brig was crossing the Atlantic from New York to Portugal and was somewhere near the Azores when Captain Moorhouse saw another brig on the sky line. He recognized it as the Marie Celeste which he had seen some weeks ago leaving New York.

Captain Briggs, master of the Marie Celeste had taken his wife and his two-year-old daughter on the trip. Soon Captain Moorhouse saw that something was wrong with the Marie Celeste. She was sailing in the wrong way.

When the two ships came nearer, nobody could be seen on deck. All the people had left the ship for some reason.

What was the reason? There was no sign of any damage, panic or fight on board the Marie Celeste. The log lay on the table. Clothes hung on a string. In some of the men’s boxes there was money. Everything was in good order. What had happened that every man had left a good ship in the middle of the Atlantic and disappeared? The story of the brig remains a mystery to this day.

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.