Вопрос № 605247 - Английский язык

George Harrison was born in 1943 in Liverpool, England. When he was 12 years old, he met and became good friends with Paul McCartney who was a member of John Lennon’s band, The Quarrymen.

Three years later George, a gifted guitar player, joined the band too. In the early 1960’s the band changed its name to The Beatles. In 1970 The Beatles disbanded.

But Harrison’s solo career was just beginning. George went on to release many songs. He also started his own record and movie companies. He was deeply interested in charity work.

George Harrison died of cancer at the age of 58. He will always be remembered as a talented musician as well as a caring and generous man.

Once Mark Twain was invited to the opera. He accepted the invitation. The box where he had a set belonged to a very rich man. The rich man and his wife were very proud because all their friends saw the famous writer in their own box. During the performance the man and his wife were talking all the time. They talked loudly and so much that it was often impossible for Mark Twain to listen to the opera.

Mark Twain was annoyed very much. He liked music and always enjoyed listening to the opera. He was very sorry he had accepted the invitation. That was very foolish of him. Still there was no way out; he had to wait until the end.

Towards the end of the performance the rich lady was quite sure that the famous writer had enjoyed the opera. So she invited M. Twain to listen to another opera. She told him that she and her husband would be very happy to see him in their box the following Friday. She added that “Carmen” would be on.

The great writer expressed his gratitude for the invitation and said, “That’ll be fine. I have never heard you in “Carmen”.       

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.