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Оффлайн Sergevna

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #252 : 29 декабря 2014, 16:57:27 »
Lost in the Post

A. Philips

Ainsley, a post-office sorter, turned the envelope over and over in his hands. The letter was addressed to his vrife and had an Australian stamp.

Ainsley knew that the sender was Dicky Soames, his wife's cousin. It was the second letter Ainsley received after Dicky's departure. The first letter had come six months before, he did not read it and threw it into the fire. No man ever had less reason for jealousy than Ainsley. His wife was frank as the day, a splendid housekeeper, a very good mother to their two children. He knew that Dicky Soames had been fond of Adela and the fact that Dicky Soames had years back gone away to join his and Adela's uncle made no difference to him. He was afraid that some day Dicky would return and take Adela from him.

Ainsley did not take the letter when he was at work as his fellow-workers could see him do it. So when the working hours were over he went out of the post-office together with his fellow workers, then he returned to take the letter addressed to his wife. As the door of the post-office was locked, he had to get in through a window. When he was getting out of the window the postmaster saw him. He got angry and dismissed Ainsley. So another man was hired and Ainsley became unemployed. Their life became hard; they had to borrow money from their friends.

Several months had passed. One afternoon when Ainsley came home he saw the familiar face of Dicky Soames. "So he had turned up," Ainsley thought to himself.

Dicky Soames said he was delighted to see Ainsley. "I have missed all of you so much," he added with a friendly smile.

Ainsley looked at his wife. "Uncle Tom has died," she explained "and Dicky has come into his money".

"Congratulation," said Ainsley, "you are lucky."

Adela turned to Dicky. "Tell Arthur the rest," she said quietly. "Well, you see," said Dicky, "Uncle Tom had something over sixty thousand and he wished Adela to have half. But he got angry with you because Adela never answered the two letters I wrote to her for him. Then he changed his will and left her money to hospitals. I asked him not to do it, but he wouldn't listen to me!" Ainsley turned pale. "So those two letters were worth reading after all," he thought to himself. For some time everybody kept silence. Then Dicky Soames broke the silence, "It's strange about those two letters. I've often wondered why you didn't answer them?" Adela got up, came up to her husband and said, taking him by the hand. "The letters were evidently lost." At that moment Ansley realized that she knew everything.


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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #251 : 22 декабря 2014, 17:43:43 »
Think Before You Speak

Father and sonIt was a sunny day, but the climate was enjoyable. Everyone in the railway station was waiting for the train to arrive. Among the crowd, there was a group of friends, youngsters who were on board for vacation.
It was a busy station with juice shop, mobile restaurants, coffee and tea stalls, newspaper shop, restaurants, etc. The announcement regarding the arrival of the train was made and everyone prepared to get into the train to their appropriate places.

The group of friends made loud noise to welcome the train as it entered the station. They ran to get their reserved seats before anyone could get into the train.

The empty seats were filled and the train whistled to move. An old man with a young boy aged around 15 years came running to catch the train. They entered the train and the train started to move. They had their seats just adjacent to the friends’ group.

The young boy was so surprised to see everything.

He acclaimed at his father, ‘Dad, the train is moving and the things are moving backwards.’
His father smiled and nodded his head.

As the train started moving fast, the young boy again screamed, ‘Dad the trees are green in colour and run backward very fast.’ His father said, ‘Yes dear’ and smiled.

Just like a kid, he was watching everything with great enthusiasm and happiness loaded with tons of surprises.

A fruit seller passed selling apples and oranges. The young boy asked his dad, ‘I want to eat apples.’ His father bought him apples. He said, ‘Oh apple looks so sweet than it tastes’ I love this colour.’

The group was watching all the activities of this boy and asked the boy’s father ‘Is your son having any problem? Why is he behaving very differently?’

A friend from the group made fun of him and shouted, ‘His son is mad I think.’

The father of the young boy, with patience, replied to the friend-group.

‘My son was born blind. Only a few days before he was operated and got the vision. He is seeing various things in his life for the first time.’

The young friends became very quiet and apologized to his father and son.
Think Before You Speak
 

Оффлайн Sergevna

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #250 : 22 декабря 2014, 17:36:25 »
True Wealth

Short Stories - True WealthOnce upon a time, there lived a very rich and wealthy man in a big town. He had all sorts of wealth and led a luxurious life. He had every luxury at his footstep and could afford to feed for the entire people of his town. He always boasted his luxurious life to his friends and relatives.

His son was studying in a distant place and he returned home for vacation. The rich man wanted to show off to his son how rich his father was and how he made him very proud. But his son wasn’t ever fond of any luxurious lifestyle. However, the rich man wanted to make his son realize that his lifestyle was extremely rich and how the poor people did suffer. He planned for a day visit to the entire town to show him off the life of the poor people.

The father and the son took a chariot and visited the entire town. They returned home after two days. The father was happy that his son was very quiet after seeing the poor people honouring the rich man and after seeing the sufferings of the poor ones due to lack of facilities.

The rich man asked his son, ‘Dear boy, how was the trip? Have you enjoyed it?’

‘Yes my dad, it was a great trip with you.’ The son replied.

So, what did you learn from the trip? – The Father asked.

The son was silent.

Finally you have realized how the poor suffer and how they actually are – said the father.

No father – replied the son.

He added, ‘We have only two dogs, they have 10 dogs. We have a big pool in our garden, but they have a massive bay without any ends! We have luxurious and expensive lights imported from various countries, but they have countless stars lighting their nights. We have a house in a small piece of land, but they have abundant fields that go beyond the sight. We are served by servants, but they serve people. We are protected by huge and strong walls around our property, but they bond with each other and surround themselves. We only buy food from them, but they are so rich to cultivate their own food.’

The rich father was stunned to hear his son’s words and he was completely speechless.

Finally the son added, ‘Dad thank you so much for showing me who is rich and who is poor and let me understand how poor we are!’
True wealth is not measured by money and property we have! It is in the friendship, relationship and good compassion we share with the others.

Оффлайн Sergevna

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #249 : 22 декабря 2014, 17:28:36 »
Love and The Time Story

Short Stories - Love and TimeOnce upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.

Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment. When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, “Richness, can you take me with you?”

Richness answered, “No, I can’t. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you.”

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. “Vanity, please help me!” “I can’t help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat,” Vanity answered.

Sadness was close by so Love asked, “Sadness, let me go with you.” “Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!” Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.

Suddenly, there was a voice, “Come, Love, I will take you.” It was an elder.
So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went his own way. Realizing how much was owed the elder, Love asked Knowledge, another elder, “Who Helped me?”

“It was Time,” Knowledge answered.

“Time?” asked Love. “But why did Time help me?” Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, “Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is.”

Оффлайн Sergevna

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #248 : 22 декабря 2014, 17:14:14 »
Money Can’t Buy Everything

Businessman with sonNick is a 10 year old boy. He is the only son to his parents. His father is a busy business man and he could hardly spend time with his son. Nick’s father would reach after he sleeps and move out before he wakes up or will sleep until he leaves for school. Hardly, his father would accompany him or join with family. Just like any other boy, Nick wanted to go outdoors with his father and have fun. 

One day, Nick was surprised to see his father at home in the evening.   

“Dad, it is a big surprise to see you at home”. – Nick said

“Yes, son my meeting was cancelled and my next flight is delayed by 2 hours. So I’m at home”. – His father replied.

The conversation between Nick and father:

Dad, I want to talk to you and ask you a few questions.  May I please?

Yes, my dear son, please proceed.

When will you be back?

Tomorrow noon!

Dad, how much do you earn a year?

Dear, it’s a very big amount and you won’t be able to understand it.

Ok dad, are you happy with the amount you earn?

Yes my dear. I’m very happy and in fact I’m planning to launch our new branch and a new business in a few months. Isn’t that great sweet boy?

Yes, dad. I’m happy to hear that.

So, do you have any other questions Nick?

Yes, father, I do have only one more question.

Ask me then!

Dad, you don’t want to tell me how much you earn a year or a month. But can you tell me what you earn a day or even half a day?

Nick, what are you asking? Don’t you have all the luxury provided to you?

No dad, you have always given the best to me, but please answer me. It would be really nice if you can tell me how much you earn in an hour?

Nick, this is not fair and you should be questioning your father about his income.

Nick asked his mummy to support him.

Nick and his mom requested to answer his hourly income, if not the daily income.

Nick’s father replied, it will be around Rs.1000/- per hour.

Nick ran to his room in the upstairs and reached down carrying a piggy bank with him.

Dad, I have Rs.3000/- in this box. Can you spare me three hours with me? I want to go to beach and have dinner with you tomorrow evening. Can you please mark this in your schedule?

Nick’s father was speechless!

Оффлайн Quart

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #247 : 17 декабря 2014, 17:07:51 »
‘ONE MORE FUNNY STORY’

One of Mark Twain’s hobbies was fishing. He went fishing whenever he had a chance, even in the closed season, when fishing was not allowed anywhere in lakes and rivers. Like all fishermen, he sometimes invented stories about the number of fish he caught.

One hot day during the closed season, Mark Twain was fishing as usual, under a low bridge. A man who was walking across the bridge happened to notice Mark Twain and began to watch him. At last he asked: “Have you. caught many fish?”

“Not yet”, Mark Twain answered. “I have only just begun. But yesterday I caught thirty great big fish here”.
“You were very lucky”, the man said. “Do you know who I am?”

“No”, Mark Twain said. “I don’t think I ever happened to meet you before”.

“I’m the fishing inspector in this place. Do you know that this is the closed season?”

Mark Twain thought quickly. He understood how foolish he had been. «Do you know who I am?» he asked aloud.

“No, of course not», answered the inspector.” “I am the biggest liar on the Mississippi”, Mark Twain told him.

Оффлайн Sergevna

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #246 : 07 декабря 2014, 18:58:53 »
The Shoebox
A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little: old woman had a shoebox in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoebox and took it to his wife’s bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two knitted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents.

‘When we were to be married,’ she said, ‘ my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and knit a doll.’

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.

‘Honey,’ he said, ‘that explains the dolls, but what about all of this money?

Where did it come from?’

‘Oh,’ she said, ‘that’s the money I made from selling the dolls.’

Оффлайн Alesto

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #245 : 20 ноября 2014, 11:36:25 »
Short funny stories


          Bessie is a little girl. She is only five. She does not go to school and, of course, she does not know how to read and to write. But her sister Mary is a schoolgirl. She is ten. One day Mary sees her little sister at the table with a pen in her hand and some paper in front of her. “What are you doing, Bessie?” she says. Bessie answers: “I am writing a letter to my friend Kitty.” But you don’t know how to write,” says her sister. “Well,” says Bessie, “it doesn’t matter, because Kitty does not know how to read.”



         John worked as a cabin boy on a small ship. One morning he brought in breakfast for the captain and said: “May I ask you something, sir?” “Of course you may,” said the captain who saw that the boy looked alarmed. “What is it?” “Can you say that you have lost a thing you know where it is?’ “Of course you can’t say you have lost it,” answered the captain. “Then I haven’t lost your coffee-pot because I know where it is,” said John with a smile. “Where is it?” asked the captain. “At the bottom of the sea.”



       The class is having a gym lesson. The students are doing “the bike-riding” exercise. Only Tom is not moving his legs. “Why aren’t you moving your legs?” the sports master asks. “I don’t need to. Right now I am riding down the mountain side.”



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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #244 : 18 ноября 2014, 17:08:58 »
A man comes to his doctor and tells him that his wife doesn't want to have sex with him for the last 7 months. The doc tells the man to bring his wife in so he can talk to her. So the wife comes into the doctors office and the doctor asks her what's wrong and why doesn't she want to have sex with her husband any more.

The wife tells him, "For the last 7 months every morning I take a cab to work. I don't have any money so the cab driver asks me, 'So are you going to pay today or what?' so I take a 'or what'. When I get to work I'm late so the boss asks me, 'So are we going to write this down in the book or what?' so I take a 'or what'.

Back home again I take the cab and again I don't have any money so the cab driver asks me again, 'So are you going to pay this time or what?' so again I take a 'or what'. So you see doc when I get home I'm all tired out, and I don't want it any more."

The doctor thinks for a second and then turns to the wife and says, "So are we going to tell your husband or what?"

Оффлайн Sergevna

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #243 : 17 ноября 2014, 19:05:19 »


English story about father and his young son

A father came home from a long business trip to find his young son riding a brand new bike.
"Where did you get the money for that?" he asked.
"It must have cost over 300 dollars!"
"I earned it hiking," replied the boy.
"Hiking??? Come on son; tell your Dad the truth. Nobody can make that sort of money hiking. Where did you Really get the cash from?"
"It's like I say, Dad. Every night when you were gone, Mr. Goldberg from the bank would come over to see Mom. He'd give me a 20 dollar bill and tell me to take a hike"!

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #242 : 13 ноября 2014, 21:45:30 »


‘A FISH BONE’

     One day, some Americans were having dinner at a hotel in London. When the fish was put on the table, a young man said: «Let’s examine the fish carefully. Perhaps we’ll find a diamond in it». Everybody began to laugh, but an old man said quietly: «Yes, I’m sure we have all heard such stories. Let me tell you what happened to me once».
    «When I was a young man», he began, «I worked for a big company in New York: and I was sent to England to do some work there. I was in love with a beautiful girl, and before I left for England, we decided that we would be married when I returned home.»
     I stayed in England for two months. I sent letters or postcards to the girl almost every day, but after the first two weeks I didn’t receive any answers. But I didn’t think anything was the matter, and before I left for home, I bought a beautiful diamond ring for her.
     On the ship one morning, a telegram was brought to me. It was from a friend in New York, who told me that the girl had changed her mind and was going to be married to another man. I was so angry that I threw the diamond ring into the sea. My friend came to the port to meet me, and he invited me to dinner. When we were sitting down at the table and I was eating fish, I suddenly felt something hard in my mouth. What do you think it was?
   «The diamond!» all the Americans cried.
   «No», the old man answered. «It was a fish bone».

Оффлайн Alesto

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #241 : 13 ноября 2014, 19:24:25 »
«A SAD STORY»
      Three men were spending their holiday in New York. They were living in a hotel which had forty-five floors and their room was on the last floor.
      Returning to the hotel late one night, they were told by the lift man: «I am very sorry, but the lifts in our hotel aren’t running. They stop working at twelve o’clock. You must walk up to your room».
      «We are still young», one of the men said. «I suppose we, can climb up to the forty-fifth floor». So the men took off their coats and put them in the coat-room. As they were walking past the tenth floor one of the men said: «I am becoming a little tired. I have an idea how to make the climb easier. I shall tell happy or funny stories the next five floors: then Bill will sing songs the next fifteen floors, and Tom will tell sad stories the last fifteen floors».
      They continued climbing, and soon all of them were feeling very tired. But they did not want to show to each other that they were tired, so the first man told happy stories, and jokes and the second sang happy songs. When they arrived at the thirtieth floor, the first man said: «Now, Tom, you can begin telling sad stories».

«Yes», Tom said, «I must tell you a very sad story. The key to our room is lying in my coat pocket, in the coat-room!»

Оффлайн Sergevna

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #240 : 13 ноября 2014, 16:46:27 »
Car accident

 There’s a guy from Ireland driving through Europe and an English guy driving in the opposite direction. In the middle of the night with no other cars on the road they hit each other head-on1 and both cars go flying off in different directions. The Irish fella2 manages to climb out of his car and survey the damages. He looks at his twisted car and says, “Jesus, I am really lucky to be alive!” Likewise, the Englishman scrambles3 out of his car and looks at his wreckage. He too says to himself, “I can’t believe I survived this wreck!” The Englishman walks over to the Irishman and says, “Hey man, I think this is a sign from God that we should put away our petty differences4 and live as friends instead of such enemies.” The Irishman thinks for a moment and says, “You know, you’re absolutely right! We should be friends. Now I’m gonna see what else survived the wreck.” So, the Irishman opens his boot5 and finds a full unopened bottle of Irish Whiskey. He says to the English fella, “I think this is another sign from God that we toast to our new-found6 understanding and friendship”. The Englishman says, “You’re damn right!” and he grabs the bottle and starts drinking the Irish Whiskey. After putting away7 nearly half the bottle, the Englishman hands it back to the Irish fella and says, “Your turn!” The Irish fella twists the cap back8 on the bottle and says, “No, I think I’ll wait for the police to show up”.

1 to hit head-on – столкнуться лоб в лоб

2 fella разг. = fellow — друг

3 to scramble – протискиваться

4 petty differences – мелкие различия

5 boot – багажник

6 new-found — вновь обретенный

7 to put away – опустошать

8 to twist a cap back – закрутить пробку

Оффлайн Sergevna

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #239 : 12 ноября 2014, 23:07:57 »
Cat and the saucer1

In front of a delicatessen2, an art collector3 noticed a dirty little kitten lapping4 up milk from a saucer. The saucer, he realized with a start5, was a rare and precious piece of pottery6.

He walked into the store and offered two dollars for the cat. “It’s not for sale,” said the proprietor7.

“Look,” said the collector, “that cat is dirty and ugly, but I’m eccentric. I like cats that way. I’ll raise my offer to ten dollars.”

“It’s a deal8,” said the proprietor and pocketed the ten on the spot.

“For that sum I’m sure you won’t mind throwing in the saucer,” said the collector. “The kitten seems so happy drinking from it.”

“Nothing doing9,” said the proprietor firmly. “That’s my lucky saucer. From that saucer, so far this week I’ve sold 34 cats.”

1 saucer – блюдце

2 delicatessen – деликатес

3 art collector – коллекционер

4 to lap – лакать

5 to realize with a start – сразу понять

6 a rare and precious piece of pottery – редкое и ценное керамическое изделие

7 proprietor – владелец

8 It’s a deal. – Согласен.

9 Nothing doing. – Не выйдет.

Оффлайн Alesto

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Re: Short texts for reading
« Ответ #238 : 12 ноября 2014, 19:26:59 »
TEA LEAVES

There was a time when drinking tea was almost unknown in European countries; many people had never even heard of tea. This anecdote is about an old woman and her son, who lived before tea-drinking became popular in England.

He was a sea captain, and every time he returned from a far-away country, he brought his mother a gift. He tried to bring something unusual, that she could show to her friends.

Once the young man came back from India with a box of tea for his mother. She didn’t know anything about tea, but she was proud of her son, and she invited all her friends to come and try what he had brought her. When her son came into the room, he saw cakes and fruit and jam on the table, and a big plate full of brown tea-leaves. His mother and her friends were sitting round the table, eating the leaves with butter and salt. Though they all smiled, it was clear that they didn’t enjoy eating the leaves.

«Where is the tea, Mother?» the captain asked.

His mother showed him the plate in the middle of the table.
«We are having tea for lunch», she said.

«No, no, those are only the tea-leaves», said the cap­tain. «Where is the water?»
«The water!» his mother said. «I threw the water away, of course!»

 
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