Вопрос № 605244 - Английский язык

For over a hundred years, the people of London have gone to bed and got up in the morning to the deep sounds of the world famous bell called Big Ben.

It weighs 13.5 tons, and it is the largest bell in ail England. Each of the clock’s four faces is almost 6.5 metres in diameter.

Although the clock is so big, it is very exact; it is seldom more than one second wrong in 24 hours. English scientists use an original method to correct mistakes in the clock.

There is a small tray in the middle of the clock-work. If the clock is running slow, they put a penny coin in the tray, and the clock begins to run faster. If the clock begins to run fast, they take away the penny.

A turtle was found in 1737 and brought to the London Zoo. When scientists studied it, they said it was more than a century old. Two hundred years later, that same turtle was still living in the Zoo.

There are also crocodiles that live as long as turtles. We all know that large parrots live long. There is one that lived 140 years. There are other birds that live to be a century old.

But elephants do not usually live so long—not more than 50 to 70 years. The life of lions is even shorter—not more than 30 years.

But the animals that live the longest lives cannot compete with members of the plant world. The prize for long life belongs to a tree in Australia that can live fifteen thousand years.

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”.