Вопрос № 605244 - Английский язык

Joseph Turner, a famous English painter, lived in the 19-th century. His paintings were a great success. One day his favorite dog broke a leg. The artist was very sorry for the dog and wanted it to be well again. He was rich enough to send for the best surgeon in London instead of taking a veterinary.

When the surgeon arrived the artist begged him to help his dog because it was very important for him. Having got to know what the matter was the surgeon felt annoyed, but he treated the dog carefully and soon it was quite well.

The next week the surgeon asked Turner to come to his place. The artist believed that the surgeon wanted to see him in connection with his dog.

Joseph Turner arrived at the appointed time and was shown into the sitting-room. The surgeon met him very warmly and said: “Mr. Turner, I am so glad you’ve come. My door needs painting. I know you are too great a painter for this work, but I beg you to do it. It is so important for me.

Erich Segal is an American author, screenwriter and educator, whose books have popularity with the reading public. Erich Wolf Segal was born in 1937 in Brook Lyn, New York. He attended Harvard University. After graduating from it in 1958 he obtained his master’s degree and a doctorate.

He was a professor of Greek and Latin literature at Harvard University. Now he is teaching at Wolfson College, Oxford. In 1967, from the story by Lee Minoff, he wrote the screenplay for The Beatles 1968 motion picture, Yellow Submarine.

His book “Love Story” became the top selling work of fiction for all of 1970 in the United States. His novels “The Class” (1985), “Doctors” were also bestsellers.

What constitutes the main value of Erich Segal’s books in that the writer helps people become sensitive to everyday problems. He brings up a lot of questions for discussion.

Mark Twain was not only an outstanding writer but also a famous humorist. There are many humorous stories connected with his name. Here is one of them.

Once Mark Twain and two of his friends were sitting in a restaurant. One friend has just returned from a trip to the mountains. He said that the air in these mountains had been very clear. In many places the echo of a voice came back five times stronger than the original voice.

“That is nothing,” said the second friend. “In Colorado, in many places the echo of a voice spoken in the morning comes back in the afternoon.”

Mark Twain laughed. Then he said, “Listen! The echoes which you have told about are very unusual. But in a small church in Hannibal, where I was born, there is an echo more unusual even than those. That echo is so unusual that if one says in a loud voice, ‘Good Morning! How are you?’, the echo comes back after a moment very clearly, ‘Very well, thank you. And how are you?’ ”.

Travelling in England an American lady got into a compartment of a smoking carriage-where an Englishman was smoking a pipe. For a short time she was sitting quietly, expecting that the Englishman would stop smoking.

In half an hour she began to cough and sneeze, trying to show that she objected to the smoke. At last, seeing that all her efforts to attract his attention failed, she addressed him impatiently:

“If you were a gentleman, you would stop smoking when a lady got into the carriage.” “If you were a lady”, answered the Englishman, “you would not get into a smoking carriage”.

“If you were my husband,” said the American lady angrily “I should give you poison”. The Englishman looked at her for a moment or two. “Well,” he said at last, “if I were your husband, I would take it”.

A very young girl who was fond of playing the piano found out that among the guests who were invited to dinner would be a young critic whose name was Bernard Shaw. She had never met him before. At that time B. Shaw was not a famous writer yet.

She learnt that he liked music and decided to please him. It took her a lot of time to choose something very beautiful which the young critic might like. At last she made up her mind. She believed he would like it.

Almost all the guests arrived and the girl was playing the piano when a young man entered the sitting-room. He greeted the host and the hostess and then he was introduced to all the guests as Bernard Shaw.

The girl looked at him with admiration. She continued to play the piano. B. Shaw did not pay attention to the young girl and started talking with one of the guests. The young girl felt embarrassed. She wanted to attract B. Shaw’s attention. She turned round to him and said loudly: “Excuse me, I’ve heard that you are fond of music”. “I am”, answered B. Shaw, “but never mind! Go on playing!”

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”.