LESSON TWELVE
Text: " Barney's Maggie" by Walter Macken.1 Grammar: Modal Verbs " should" and " need". Link-verbs. BARNEY'S MAGGIE2
Coleman was going duck shooting because he wanted to be alone. The reason he wanted to be alone was that he was very popular. He was twenty-four. He was very good-looking. His face was strong, he had even white teeth, a straight nose, long lashes and blue eyes. He was just six foot3 tall and very well built. Even the old clothes he wore in the fields sat very well on his body. He could sing well and he could play the accordion and he could dance. He was also a good man in a boat or behind the wheel of a tractor. He liked to shoot at the end of the valley. The place was a long way from the road where he left his bicycle, and he had to go up the hill to Barney's house and then cross several fields, one after another. As he walked along with a gun under his arm he suddenly heard a thundering behind him. He looked back and saw that Barney's bull was after him. Why it had suddenly come into the bull's head to run after a harmless man going across the field, Coleman didn't know, and he didn't even have time to think. He was a very fast runner, but the bull seemed even faster. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw a girl coming over the wall with a stick in her hand. It was a very light stick. She ran towards him. He shouted, " Go back! " But there4 was the girl facing the bull. The bull stopped, and that was his trouble.5 Before he could make up his mind the girl struck him on the nose with her stick. The bull turned and went off. Coleman was ashamed and angry. " You needn't have done that, " he said. " He was very near you, " the girl said. " I was afraid he was going to hurt you." Coleman looked at the girl. He recognized her at once. They had an expression in the place.6 They said: " Such and such a thing is as ugly as Barney's Maggie." 7 She was a tall girl, as tall as himself, and the kindest thing to be said about her was that she had nice hair. Suddenly Coleman laughed. " Ah, to hell8 with it, " he said. " I was afraid for my life." " That's nonsense, " she said firmly. " Well, " he said, " that's that. Thanks. I must be going. I'll see you again." " Goodbye, Coleman, " she said. Several days after that Coleman kept thinking about Maggie. He thought, why do they say " as ugly as Barney's Maggie". She's well built. She has nice brown eyes and nice hair. They shouldn't be allowed to talk about people like that. Then another thought came to his mind. " I suppose she'll tell the whole place about me and the bull and I'll be a laughing stock." But she didn't. The next time he saw her was at the monthly fair. He was buying cattle. He knew somebody was looking at him for a long time, and he turned his head and saw her up the street, looking at him. She was tall enough to be seen over the heads of the people. " Hello, Maggie, " he said, and wondered that he got pleasure out of pronouncing her name. " Will you be going to the dance tonight? " " Yes, " she said. " I always go." He looked forward to the dance. He saw her. She was well-dressed and he liked the look of her and he danced with her and she was light on her feet.9 He wanted to be with her all the time. He knew the way she cycled home and let her go to follow her later on his bicycle. They walked the four miles to her home. It was a bright night. They didn't talk much; but before they reached the house Coleman knew that he couldn't do without her. There on the road, he didn't even kiss her. He held her hand and then said: " Listen, Maggie, on Friday night I will come up to the house and I will talk to your father." That's what he said. Coleman expected to wake up in the morning feeling unhappy saying, What have I done? Why did I say I would be up on Friday to ask for her? 10 But he didn't feel that way. Friday before going to her house he went into his pub to get a pint.11 He had been working hard all day in the fields and he wanted a pint. He was cleaned up and shone like a pair of shoes. He drank alone as he would12 sometimes do. Suddenly he heard a man saying, "...as mad as Barney's Joe! " " Could that be the same Barney? " he wondered. What did they mean? He turned. " Who's this you say, Rino? " he asked the man. " Who's this Joe of Barney? " Rino laughed. " Where were you, Coleman? " he asked. " That's the Barney that has the ugly daughter. You know. The one up the valley. His son, that is. His son Joe. He went mad." " I see, " said Coleman, and his blood ran cold.13 He left the pint there and went out into the evening. That settled it. She should have said something about this. Did she have time to say anything? She didn't. How many times had he talked to her at all? Very few. What was he going to do? He knew what he would do. He would say to hell with them. He could imagine her up in the house waiting for him and her father waiting for him. So what did he do? He went back into the pub and got drunk and started a quarrel with Rino. That's what he did. And that night was to be remembered for a long time. They spoke of it as the night Coleman got drunk and beat up Rino. But nobody ever knew how Coleman felt when he woke up the next morning. He woke up and said: " Oh, God, I have ruined my life." And he hurriedly dressed and went up to her house. He went in the open door. Only she was there in the kitchen sweeping the floor and she saw him, and he looked into her eyes he knew it was no good, no good at all, just like before one look and he knew he loved her. No talk at all. He just turned and left and came back to the valley. He's much older now and his hair is very grey and he is a very hard worker and people like him a lot, but many wonder why Coleman never married. Never at all. Now you know. (Adapted)
NOTES 1. Walter Macken, born in 1921, a modern Irish writer. 2. Maggie: the short for " Margaret". Barney's Maggie — Maggie the daughter of Barney. 3. foot: a measure of length, 12 inches or 0.3 metre; it is always " foot" in compound words used attributively; eg " six foot tall", " a man five foot two (inches)" 4. there: as " here", when used in its true meaning at the beginning of a sentence will require inversion. Eg " There goes my bus! " " Here comes my friend." But: " Here it (he, etc) is! " 5. trouble: here mistake 6. They had an expression in the place: when speaking of Maggie people used to say... 7. as ugly as Barney's Maggie: a variation of the idiomatic comparison " (as) ugly as sin" страшна как смертный грех. Also, " as mad as Barney's Joe". Compare " (as) mad as a March hare (Hatter)" совсем выжить из ума, рехнуться. Idiomatic comparisons are widely used in spoken English. Here are a few more: " (as) light as a feather" легкий как перышко; " (as) brave as a lion" храбрый как лев; " (as) white as snow" белый как снег. 8. hell (sl): an exclamation often used to express anger, surprise, etc, as in " To hell with it (him, them, etc)! " К черту! Черт с ним! 9. light on her feet: a good dancer 10. ask for her: ask for her hand in marriage 11. pint: a pint of beer. In Great Britain a pint is about 0.57 litre. 12. would: here it serves to show that something happens from time to time; eg He would often go swimming mornings. From time to time a heavy rain would start falling. 13. his blood ran cold: he was filled with terror он похолодел от ужаса
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