Unit 6.

      A history teacher was talking to his class about the ancient Romans.

      "They were very strong, brave people, and they were good soldiers", he said. "They always wanted to have strong bodies, so they played a lot of games".

      "Did they like swimming?" one of the girls asked. "That makes people's bodies strong". She was very good at swimming.

      "Oh, yes, some of them swam a lot", the teacher answered. Then he told them a story about one famous Roman.

      "There was a big, wide river in the middle of Rome", he said. "It was the Tiber, and this man swam across it three times every day before breakfast".

      The girl laughed when she heard this.

      "Why are you laughing?" The teacher asked her angrily. "Have I said anything funny?"

      "Well, sir," the girl answered. "Why didn't he swim across the river four times, to get back to his clothes again?"

 Unit 7.

      Betty Brown was five years old, and her mother wanted her to begin going to school, because she wanted to start working in an office again.

      A month before the beginning of the school year Mrs. Brown began telling Betty about school. "It's very nice, "she said. "You'll play games and paint pictures and sing songs".

      Mrs. Brown began doing these things with Betty. Betty liked the games and the painting and the singing very much, but she always wanted to be near mother, so Mrs. Brown was rather afraid and thought, "What will she do when I leave her at school?"

      But on the first day at school Betty was very good. She did not cry, and she was happy.

      On the second morning Mrs. Brown said, "Put your clothes on, Betty. I'm going to take you to school in half an hour's time".

      "School?" Betty said. "But I've been to school!"

 Unit 8.

      One morning Mrs. Perry said to her husband, "Jack, there's a meeting of our ladies' club at Mrs. Young's house at lunch time today, and I want to go to it. I'll leave you some food for your lunch. Is that all right?"

      "Oh, yes", her husband answered, "That's quite all right. What are you going to leave for my lunch?"

      "This tin of fish," Mrs. Perry said. "And there are some cold, boiled potatoes and some beans here, too".

      "Good," Mr. Perry answered. "I have a good lunch".

      So Mrs. Perry went to her meeting. All the ladies had lunch at Mrs. Young's house, and at three o'clock Mrs. Perry came home.

      "Was you fish nice, Jack?" she asked.

      "Yes, but my feet are hurting," he answered.

      "Why are you hurting?" Mrs. Perry asked.

      "Well, the words on the tin were, "Open tin and stand in hot water for five minutes".

 Unit 9.

      Miss Green was very fat. She weighed 100 kilos, and she was getting heavier every month, so she went to see her doctor.

      He said, "You need a diet, Miss Green, and I've got a good one here". He gave her a small book and said, "Read this carefully and eat the things on page 11 every day. Then come back and see me in two weeks' time".

      Miss Green came again two weeks later, but she wasn't thinner: she was fatter. The doctor was surprised and said, "Are you eating the things on page 11 of the small book?"

      "Yes, Doctor," she answered. The next day the doctor visited Miss Green during her dinner. She was very surprised to see him.

      "Miss Green," he said, "Why are you eating potatoes and bread? They aren't in your diet".

      "But, doctor," Miss Green answered, "I ate my diet at lunch time. This is my dinner".

 Unit 10.

      Rose left school when she was seventeen years old and went to a college for a year to learn to type. She passed her examinations quite well and then went to look for work. She was still living with her parents.

      A lot of people were looking for typists at that time, so it was not difficult to find interesting work. Rose went to several offices, and then chose one of them. It was near her parents' house. She thought, "I'll walk there every morning. I won't need to go by bus".

      She went to the office again and said to the manager, "I want to work here, but what will you pay me?"

      "We'll pay you 27 pounds now" the manager answered, "and 30 pounds after three months".

      Rose thought for a few seconds before she answered. Then she said, "All right, then I'll start in three months' time".

 Unit 11.

      Mr. Day was a teacher at a school in a big city in the north of England. He usually went to France or Germany for a few weeks during his summer holidays, and he spoke French and German quite well.

      But one year Mr. Day said to one of his friends, "I'm going to have a holiday in Athens. But I don't speak Greek, so I'll go to evening classes and have Greek lessons for a month before I go".

      He studied very hard for a month, and then his holidays began and he went to Greece".

      When he came back a few weeks after, his friend said to him, "Did you have any trouble with your Greek when you were in Athens, Day?"

      "No, I didn't have any trouble with it", answered Mr. Day, "But the Greeks did!"

 Unit 12.

      Mr. Pearce liked shooting ducks very much. Whenever he had a free day, he went out shooting with his friends.

      But one summer he said to himself, "I've never been to the mountains. My holidays are going to begin soon, so I'm going to go to the mountains and shoot deer. They're more interesting than ducks, I think".

      So when his holidays began, Mr. Pearce went to the station, bought his ticket and was soon in the mountains.

      He got out at a small station and walked through fields and forests for a few kilometres. Then he saw a farmer in a field.

      "Good morning", Mr. Pearce said to him. "Are there any deer here?"

      "Well", answered the farmer slowly, there was one last year, but all the gentlemen from the town came and shoot at it, and it's gone somewhere else now, I think".

 Unit 13.

      Mr. Leonard was twenty-three years old and not very rich. He was not married and he lived in two rooms in a small house in a city.

      Every summer, Mr. Leonard went down to the sea for a holiday. He stayed in small cheap hotels, but he always wanted to have a clean, tidy room. He hated dirty places.

      One summer a friend of him said, "Go to the Tower Hotel in Whitesea. I went there last year, and it was very nice and clean".

      So Mr. Leonard went to the Tower Hotel in Whitesea. But there was a different manager that year.

      The new manager took Mr. Leonard to his room. The room looked quite nice and clean, but Mr. Leonard said to the manager, "Are the sheets on the bed clean?"

      "Yes, of course they are!" he answered angrily. "We washed them this morning. Feel them. They're still damp".

 Unit 14.

      Two years after Tom and Elizabeth married, they went to live in a small flat in a big city. They were both quite young: Tom was twenty-six and Elizabeth was twenty-two. Tom worked in a bank, and Elizabeth worked in a big office.

      Elizabeth always cooked the dinner when they got home, and when they had meat, Tom always cut it up when they sat down to eat.

      While Tom was cutting the meat up one evening, Elizabeth said to him, "When we were first married, Tom, you always gave me the bigger piece of meat when you cut it, and you kept the smaller one for yourself. Now you do the opposite: you give me the smaller piece and keep the bigger one for yourself. Why do you do that? Don't you love me any more?"

      Her husband laughed and answered, "Oh, no, Elizabeth. It isn't that! It's because you've learned to cook now!"

 Unit 15.

      Mrs. Jenkins went to see her doctor one day, because her heart was giving her trouble.

      The doctor listened to her heart carefully and did a few other things. Then he said, "Well, Mrs. Jenkins, stop smoking, and then you'll soon all be quite right again".

      "But Doctor," answered Mrs. Jenkins quickly, "I've never smoked. I don't like smoking".

      "Oh, well," said the doctor, "then don't drink any more alcohol".

      "But I don't drink alcohol", answered Mrs. Jenkins at once.

      "Stop drinking tea and coffee then", the doctor said to her.

      "I only drink water," answered Mrs. Jenkins. "I don't like tea or coffee".

      The doctor thought for a few seconds and then said, "Well... er... do you like fried potatoes?"

      "Yes, I like them very much," answered Mrs. Jenkins.

      "All right, then stop eating those", said the doctor as he got out to say goodbye to Mrs. Jenkins.

 Unit 16.

      John liked chocolates very much, but his mother never gave him any, because they were bad for his teeth, she thought. But John had a very nice grandfather. The old man loved his grandson very much, and sometimes he brought John chocolates when he came to visit him. Then his mother, let him eat them, because she wanted to make the old man happy.

      One evening, a few days before John's seventh birthday, he was saying his prayers in his bedroom before he went to bed. "Please, God", he shouted, "make them give me a big box of chocolates for my birthday one Saturday".

      His mother was in the kitchen, but she heard the small boy shouting and went into his bedroom quickly.

      "Why are you shouting, John?" she asked her son. "God can hear you when you talk quietly".

      "I know," answered the clever boy with a smile, "but Grandfather's in the next room, and he can't".

 Unit 17.

      It was Jimmy's birthday, and he was five years old. He got quite a lot of nice birthday presents from his family, and one of them was a beautiful big drum.

      "Who gave him that thing?" Jimmy's farther said when he saw it.

      "His grandfather did," answered Jimmy's mother.

      "Oh," said his father.

      Of course, Jimmy liked his drum very much. He made a terrible noise with it, but his mother did not mind. His father was working during the day, and Jimy was in bed when he got home in the evening, so he did not hear the noise.

      But one of the neighbours did not like the noise at all, so one morning a few day later, she took a sharp knife and went to Jimmy's house while he was hitting his drum. She said to him, "Hullo, Jimmy. Do you know, there's something very nice inside your drum. Here's a knife. Open the drum and let's find it".

 Unit 18.

      When Tom Howard was seventeen years old he was as tall as his father, so he began to borrow Mr. Howard's clothes when he wanted to go out with his friends in the evening.

      Mr. Howard did not like this, and he always got very angry when he found his son wearing any of his things.

      One evening when Tom came downstairs to go out, his father stopped him in the hall. He looked at Tom's clothes very carefully.

      Then he said angrily, "Isn't that one of my ties, Tom?"

      "Yes, Father, it is " answered Tom.

      "And that shirt's mine too, isn't it?" his father continued.

      "Yes, that's yours too," answered Tom.

      "And you're wearing my belt!" Said Mr. Howard.

      "Yes, I am, Father," answered Tom. "You don't want your trousers to fall down, do you?"

 Unit 19.

      Mr. Yates was nearly ninety, so it was often difficult for him to remember things, but he still liked travelling very much, so he and his wife went to Spain every year. One summer when they were there, they went to visit some friends. These people had two young daughters.

      One afternoon Mr. Yates was talking to one of the girls in the garden after lunch. "You and your sister were ill when my wife and I were here last year, weren't you?" He said to her.

      "Yes, we were", answered the girl, "We were very ill".

      The old man said nothing for a minute, because he was thinking. Then at last he said, "Oh, yes, I remember now! One of you died. Which one of you was it, you or your sister?"

      The girl answered, "It was me".

      "Oh? I'm very sorry to hear it," said the old man.

 Unit 20.

      Mr. Knott was a teacher. He taught in a big school in London. He lived a long way from the school, so he was usually quite tired when he got home. At nine o'clock one evening, when he was in bed, the telephone bell rang in the hall of his small house, so he went downstairs, picked up the telephone and said, "This is Whitebridge 3165. Who's speaking, please?"

      "Watt," a man answered.

      "What's your name, please?" said Mr. Knott.

      "Watt's my name," was the answer.

      "Yes, I asked you that What's your name?" Mr. Knott said again.

      "I told you. Watt's my name". said the other man. "Are you Jack Smith?"

      "No, I'm Knott," answered Mr. Knott.

      "Will you give me your name, please?" said Mr. Watt.

      "Will Knott, answered Mr. Knott.

      Both Mr. Watt and Mr. Knott put their telephone down angrily and thought, "That was a rude, stupid man!"

 Unit 21.

      Carol Roberts left school when she was seventeen and then thought, "What's going to happen now? I want to marry a nice, young man and have children, but no nice, young men have asked me yet. Will I meet one soon, and will he want to marry me?"

      She spoke to her best friend about these questions, and her best friend said, "Go and ask a fortune-teller. Perhaps she'll give you the answers".

      So Carol went to see a fortune-teller. The fortune-teller said to her, "I'll give you answers to two questions. It'll cost you five pounds".

      Carol was surprised. She thought for some time, but at last she paid the money. Then she said to the fortune-teller, "Isn't that very expensive for only two questions?"

      "Yes, it is," answered the fortune-teller. "And now what's your second question?"

 Unit 22.

      Jack had a small, red car and he liked driving it very fast. This was all right when he was out in the country, but in towns and big villages driving fast is dangerous, so there is always a speed limit. In Jack's country it was fifty kilometers an hour. Jack often drove faster than that through towns.

      One day Jack was driving his small, red car through a town when a very young policeman stopped him and said, "you were driving at more than fifty kilometers an hour, sir. Please give me your name and address".

      Jack looked at the young policeman carefully for a few seconds and then said to him, "But I started my journey less than an hour ago!"

      The policeman was new to this work and did not know the answer to Jack's excuse. He thought for a few seconds and then let Jack go.

 Unit 23.

      Dick was seven years old, and his sister, Catherine, was five. One day their mother took them to their aunt's house to play while she went to the big city to buy some new clothes.

      The children played for an hour, and then at half past four their aunt took Dick into the kitchen. She gave him a nice cake and a knife and said to him, "Now here's a knife, Dick. Cut this cake in half and give one of the pieces to your sister, but remember to do it like a gentleman".

      "Like a gentleman?" Dick asked. "How do gentleman do it?"

      "They always give the bigger piece to the other person," answered his aunt at once.

      "Oh", said Dick. He thought about this for a few seconds. Then he took the cake to his sister and said to her, "Cut this cake in half, Catherine".

 Unit 24.

      A small boy and his father were having a walk in the country when it suddenly began to rain very hard. They did not have their umbrellas with them, and there was nowhere to hide from the rain, so they were soon very wet, and the small boy did not feel very happy.

      For a long time while they were walking home through the rain, the boy was thinking. Then at last he turned to his father and said to him, "Why does rain, Father? It isn't very nice, is it?"

      "No, it isn't very nice, but it's very useful, Tom," answered his father. "It rains to make the fruit and the vegetables grow for us, and to make the grass grow for the cows and sheep".

      Tom thought about this for a few seconds, and then he said, "Then, why does it rain on the road too, Father?"

 Unit 25.

      A man went into a bar, sat down, called the barman and said to him, "Give me a drink before the trouble starts".

      The barman was busy with other people, so he did not say anything, but he gave the man the drink, and the man drank it quickly. Then he put his glass down, called the barman again and said to him, "Give me another one before the trouble starts".

      Again the barman was too busy to say anything, so he gave the man his drink and went away. The man drank that too, and then again he called the barman and said to him, "One more drink before the trouble starts, please".

      This time the barman was not very busy, so when he brought the man his third drink, he said to him, "What trouble are you talking about?"

      The man answered, "I haven't got any money".

 Unit 26.

      A man and his wife had a small bar near a station. The bar often stayed open until after midnight, because people came to drink there while they were waiting for trains.

      At two o'clock one morning, one man was still sitting at a table in the small bar. He was asleep. The barman's wife wanted to go to bed. She looked into the bar several times, and each time the man was still there. Then at last she went to her husband and said to him, "You've woken that man six times now, George, but he isn't drinking anything. Why haven't you sent him away? It's very late".

      "Oh, No, I don't want to send him away," answered her husband with a smile. "You see, whenever I wake him up, he asks for his bill, and when I bring it to him he pays it. Then he goes to sleep again".

 Unit 27.

      Two friends were camping together. Their names were Jim and Tim. Tim was very lazy. The first evening of their holiday, Jim said to Tim, "Here's some money, Go and buy some meat".

      "I'm too tired," answered Tim. "You go". So Jim went to buy the meat.

      When he came back, he said to Tim, "Now, here's the meat. Please cook it. " But Tim answered, "No I'm not good at cooking. You do it. " So Jim cooked the meat.

      Then Jim said to Tim, "Cut the bread," but Tim answered, "I don't want to," so Jim cut the bread.

      Then he said to Tim, "Go and get some water, please".

      "No, I don't want to get my clothes dirty," Tim answered, so Jim got the water.

      At last Jim said, "The meal's ready. Come and eat it".

      "Well, I'll do that," answered Tim. "I don't like saying "No" all the time".

 Unit 28.

      One morning a man was crossing a narrow bridge when he saw a fisherman on the shady bank of the deep, smooth river under him, so he stopped to watch him quietly.

      After a few minutes, the fisherman pulled his line in. There was a big, fat fish at the end of it.

      The fisherman took it off the hook and threw it back into the water. Then he put his hook and line in again. After a few more minutes he caught another big fish. Again he threw it back into the river. Then, the third time, he caught a small fish. He put it into his basket and started to get ready to go. The man on the bridge was very surprised, so he spoke to the fisherman. He said, "Why did you throw those beautiful, big fish back into the water, and keep only that small one?"

      The fisherman looked up and answered, "Small frying pan".

 Unit 29.

      When the Americans were getting ready to send their first men to the moon, an old Irishman was watching them on television in the bar of a hotel.

      There was an Englishman in the bar too, and he said to the Irishman, "The Americans are very clever, aren't they? They're going to send some men to the moon. It's a very long way from our world".

      "Oh, that's nothing," the Irishman answered quickly. "The Irish are going to send some men to the sun in a few months' time. That's much farther away than the moon, you know".

      The Englishman was very surprised when he heard this. "Oh, yes, it is," he said, "but the sun too hot for people to go to".

      The Irishman laughed and answered, "Well, the Irish aren't stupid, you know. We won't go to the sun during the day, of course. We'll go there by during the night".

 Unit 30.

      Dave's class at school were studying English history, and one day their teacher said to them, "Well, boys, on Friday we're all going to get on a bus and go to Conway. There's a beautiful castle there, and we're going to visit it". The boys were very happy when they heard this.

      "Now, has anybody got any questions?" the teacher asked

      "How old is the castle, sir?" Dave asked

      "It's about seven hundred years old, Dave," The teacher answered.

      "What's the name of the castle, sir?" another boy asked

      "Conway Castle," the teacher said.

      On Friday the boys came to school at 9 o'clock and got into the bus. They visited Conway Castle, and then they came back and went home.

      "Well, Dave's mother said to him when he got home, "Did you like the castle, Dave?"

      "Not very much," Dave answered. "The stupid people built it too near the railway".