IV. Discussion points.

Exercise 8. Is it so easy to fake a real piece of art? What do yuo think about it?

Exercise 9. Was it deception or inventiveness on the part of John and George?

Active Vocabulary

money-loving

to allow

to marry

a statue of a girl

conversation

to promise

a piece of land

unfortunately

an expert

to mention

Keys

Ex. 1. a - 3; b - 6; c - 7.

Ex. 3. a - F; b - T; c - T; d - F; e - F; f – F.

Ex. 4. 1 - b; 2 – e; 3 - a; 4 - b; 5 - c; 6 - a; 7 - e.

Text 2

І. Reading.

Read the text “Witches’s Loaves” and do the exercises given after the text.

Witches’ loaves By 0. Henry

Miss Martha Meacham kept the little bak­ery on the corner. Miss Martha was forty, she possessed two false teeth and a sympathetic heart.

Two or three times a week a customer came in whom she began to take an interest. He was a middle-aged man, wearing spectacles and a brown beard. He spoke English with a strong German accent. His clothes were worn and darned in places. But he looked neat, and had very good manners. He always bought two loaves of stale bread. Fresh bread was five cents a loaf. Stale ones were two for five. Never did he call for anything but stale bread.

Once Miss Martha saw a red and brown stain on his fingers. She was sure then that he was an artist and very poor. No doubt he lived in a garret where he painted pictures and ate stale bread and thought of the good things to eat in Miss Martha's bakery.

Often when Miss Martha sat down to her chops and light rolls and jam and tea, she would sigh and wish that the gentle-mannered artist might share her tasty meal instead of eating the dry crusts in his garret. Miss Martha's heart was a sympathetic one.

In order to test her theory as to his occu­pation, she brought from her room one day a painting that she had bought at a sale. It was a Venetian scene. A marble palace stood in the foreground. For the rest there were gondolas, clouds and sky.

Two days later the customer came in.

"Two loaves of stale bread, if you please," he said. "You have here a fine picture, madame," he continued. "Yes?" said Miss Martha.

"You think it is a good picture?"

"The palace," said the customer, "is not well drawn; its perspective is not true." He took his bread and went out. Yes, he must be an artist. Miss Martha took the picture back to her room.

What a thing it would be if geniuses were backed by a bakery, and a sympathetic heart! But these were day-dreams, Miss Martha.

The customer kept on buying stale bread. Never a cake, never a pie, never any fresh bread. She thought he began looking thinner and dis­couraged. She wanted to add something good to eat to his purchase. But she dared not. She knew the pride of artists.

Miss Martha began to dress better and look after her complexion.

One day the customer came in for his stale loaves. While Miss Martha was reaching for them, a fire-engine came past. He ran to the door to look.

Suddenly inspired, Miss Martha seized the opportunity. On the bottom shelf behind the counter was a pound of fresh butter she had bought ten minutes before. With a bread-knife Miss Martha made a deep slash in each of the stale loaves, put a great quantity of butter in­side and pressed them together. When the cus­tomer turned once more, she was tying the paper around them.

For a long time that day she thought about him and imagined his surprise and pleasure at discovering the butter in the loaves.

Suddenly the front door bell tinkled furi­ously. Somebody was coming in, making a great deal of noise. Miss Martha hurried to the door. Two men were there. One was a young man she had never seen before. The other was her artist. His face was very red, his hat was on the back of his head, his hair in disorder. He clenched his two fists and shook them at Miss Martha shouting. "Blockhead, old cat, you have ruined me!" His young companion took him by the collar.

"Come on," he said, "you have said enough," and dragged the angry one out of the bakery.

"I think you ought to be told, ma'am," he said, "what it is all about. This gentleman's name is Blumberger. He's an architectural draughtsman. I work in the same office with him. He has been working hard for three months drawing a plan for a new city-hall. It was a prize competition. He finished inking the lines yesterday. You know, a draughtsman al­ways makes his drawing in pencil first. When it's done, he rubs out the pencil lines with hand-fuls of stale breadcrumbs. That's better than India rubber. Blumberger has been buying the bread here. Well, today... you know, ma'am, that butter isn't... well, Blumberger's plan isn't good for anything now, except to cut up into railroad sandwiches."

Miss Martha went to the back room. She took off her blue silk blouse and put on the old brown serge blouse she used to wear.

ІІ. Comprehension.

Exercise 1. Find where in the text it is said:

1. that Miss Martha began to look after her appearance.

2. that Mr. Blumberger wasn’t a rich man.

3. that Mr. Blumberger was very angry with Miss Martha.

Exercise 2. Find in the text the answers to the following questions:

1. What was Miss Martha by profession?

2. What was a customer’s accent?

3. Why did the customer buy stale bread?

4. What did Miss Martha put inside a loaf of bread one day?

5. What was Mr. Blumberger’s plan good for?

Exercise 3. Say whether the following statements true or false?

1. Miss Martha was a pretty, young woman happily married;

2. A new customer never bought nothing but stale bread;

3. Miss Martha thought that the new customer was an artist;

4. Miss Martha always gave the new customer something tasty to eat;

5. Miss Martha thought that the customer would be pleased when he discovered butter in his bread;

6. Mr. Blumberger wasn’t angry with Miss Martha because he had a lot of time to make another plan.

Exercise 4. Reading comprehension test.

1. Miss Martha kept

1. a hotel;

2. a bakery;

3. a restaurant;

2. The customer spoke English with

1. Spanish accent;

2. Russian accent;

3. German accent;

3. The customer always bought

1. Stale bread;

2. fresh bread;

3. biscuits.

4. In the picture Miss Martha had in her room you can see

1. a beautiful landscape;

2. a lake and swans;

3. a marble palace, gondolas.

5. The customer said that the picture was

1. beautiful and well done;

2. not well done with wrong perspective;

3. too gloomy.

6. Miss Martha began to dress better and take care of her face because

1. she wanted the customer to like her;

2. she had more money;

3. she understood it was necessary to sell more bread.

7. She put into one of the loaves

1. some ham;

2. some chocolate;

3. some butter.

8. When Blumberger brought bread to his office

1. he was very glad when he saw butter;

2. he was very angry;

3. he did not notice butter.

9. Blumberger was

1. a drawer;

2. a painter;

3. a sculptor.

10 Blumberger wanted to win a prize at the competition

1. by painting a picture;

2. by drawing a plan for a new city hall;

3. by making a model of a new city hall.

11. Blumberger used stail bread instead of

1. an India rubber;

2. a brush and pencils;

3. paints.

11. The butter in the bread made the plan

1. more bright;

2. more clean;

3. spoiled.

ІІІ. Speech practice

Exercise 5. Give the description of Miss Martha and Mr. Blumberger.

Exercise 6. Prove that Mr. Blumberger was very upset and angry with Miss Martha.

Exercise 7. Make up the plan of the story and retell it.