SECTION FOUR
Ex. 12. Harry: We shall be awfully late home if that No. 12 bus doesn't come soon... Let's stand in this doorway out of the wind. Nora: All right, but we must be careful not to miss the bus... How did you enjoy the film? H a r r y: I'd never have gone if I had known it was going to be so silly. Nora: Why, what was silly about it? Harry: Well, no sane man would have married that other girl so soon after he had murdered his wife. It was sure to make people suspicious, Nora: If he had been sane he wouldn't have murdered her! Besides the girl wouldn't have waited for him if he hadn't asked her immediately. H a r r y: All the better for him if she hadn't! Nora: Yes, but then he wouldn't have paid for his crime. Anyhow, I'd have enjoyed the film much more if Elsa Hollywood had been in it instead of Linda Spangle. Harry: And I'd have enjoyed it more, if we hadn't gone at all. Nora [sharply): And I'd have enjoyed it more, if you hadn't been so rude to that woman in front. Harry: Well, I shouldn't have been rude to her if she had stopped chattering when I asked her. Nora: I wish you'd behave better in public places. Harry: I behave better! I like that! Why, if that woman had... (Sound of bus starting up.) But look, isn't that a No. 12 bus just going? Nora: Yes, it is, and we've missed it after all. We should have seen that bus, Harry, if you hadn't been so busy quarrelling. Harry (in injured tones): Really, Nora, I think it would have been much better if I had stayed at home tonight and let you go to the cinema alone. (From "Meet the Parkers", Tartu, 1961) Ex. 14. You see, it was in this way: we were sitting in a meadow, about ten yards from the water's edge, and we had just settled down comfortably to feed. Harris had the beefsteak pie between his knees, and was carving it, and George and I were waiting with our plates ready. "Have you got a spoon there?" said Harris. "I want a £poon to help the gravy with." The hamper was close behind us, and George and I both turned round to reach one out. We were not five seconds getting it. When we looked round again, Harris and the pie were gone. It was a wide, open field. There was not a tree or a bit of hedge for hundreds of yards. He couldn't have tumbled into the river, because we were on the water side of him, and he would have had to climb over us to do it. George and I gazed all about. Then we gazed at each other... "I suppose the truth of the matter is," suggested George, "that there has been an earthquake." And then he added, with a touch of sadness in his voice: "I wish he hadn't been carving that pie." With a sigh, we turned our eyes once more towards the spot where Harris and the pie had last been seen on earth, and there, as our blood froze in our veins and our hair stood up on end, we saw Harris's head — and nothing but his head — sticking bolt upright among the tall grass, the face very red, and bearing upon it an expression of great indignation. George was the first to recover. "Speak!" he cried, "and tell us whether you are alive or dead — and where is the rest of you?" "Oh, don't be a stupid ass!" said Harris's head. "I believe you did it on purpose." "Did what?" exclaimed George and I. "Why, put me to sit here — darn silly trick! Here, catch hold of the pie." And out of the middle of the earth, as it seemed to us, rose the pie — very much mixed up and damaged; and, after it, scrambled Harris — tumbled, grubby, and wet. He had been sitting, without knowing it, on the very verge of a small gully, the long grass hiding it from view; and in leaning a little back he had shot over, pie and all. (From "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome)
our blood froze in our veins and our hair stood up on end, we saw Harris's head — and nothing but his head — sticking bolt upright among the tall grass, the face very red, and bearing upon it an expression of great indignation. George was the first to recover. "Speak!" he cried, "and tell us whether you are alive or dead — and where is the rest of you?" "Oh, don't be a stupid ass!" said Harris's head. "I believe you did it on purpose." "Did what?" exclaimed George and I. "Why, put me to sit here — darn silly trick! Here, catch hold of the pie." And out of the middle of the earth, as it seemed to us, rose the pie — very much mixed up and damaged; and, after it, scrambled Harris — tumbled, grubby, and wet. He had been sitting, without knowing it, on the very verge of a small gully, the long grass hiding it from view; and in leaning a little back he had shot over, pie and all. (From "Three Men in a Boat" by Jerome K. Jerome) SECTION FIVE Ex. 11.
|
