Oliver twist

I

(Oliver Twist was an orphan. He was born and spent the first year of his life in a workhouse. The life of the children in the workhouse was very hard. Nobody loved them. They had bad clothes, they were always hungry and often cold. When Oliver was about nine years old. He was given to a man who wanted a boy to work for him. Oliver’s master was a wicked man. He did not take care of the boy, made him work too much and was very cruel to him. Finally Oliver decided to run away.)

Very early in the morning Oliver got up and opened the door. He went out into the street and closed the door behind him. He did not know where to go. He looked to the right and to the left. Then he remembered that the carts which left the town climbed up the hill. He did the same and soon was out of town. He was afraid to be followed and ran all the time. When he was tired, he hid behind the bushes, then he ran again. At about noon he sat down to rest by the side of a milestone and began to think, for the first time, where to go. The inscription on the milestone said that it was just seventy miles to London.

London! That large place! Nobody could find him there! It was the very place for a homeless boy. He jumped to his feet and walked forward to London. It took him six days to reach the city. Early on the seventh morning Oliver walked slowly into a little town near London. His feet were sore and his legs were so weak that they shook under him. He was covered with dust. He sat down on a door-step to rest.

Some time passed and Oliver noticed that a boy was watching him from the opposite side of the street. The boy was about his own age. He was very dirty, but he behaved like a grown-up man. He wore a man’s coat, which reached almost to his feet. The boy crossed the street, walked close up to Oliver and said:

“Hello! What’s the matter?”

“I am very hungry and tired,” replied Oliver with tears in his eyes.

The boy helped Oliver to rise and took him to a shop where he bought some bread and ham. He took the bread and ham under his arm, turned into a small pub and ordered a glass of beer. While Oliver was eating, the boy looked at him with great attention.

“Going to London?” said the strange boy when Oliver finished eating.

“Yes.”

“Got any place to live?”

“No.”

“Money?”

“No.”

The strange boy whistled and put his hands in his pockets.

“Do you live in London?” asked Oliver.

“Yes, I do, when I’m at home,” replied the boy. “I suppose you want some place to sleep in tonight, don’t you?”

“I do,” answered Oliver. “I have not slept under a roof for a week.”

“Don’t worry,” said the young gentleman. “I must be in London tonight. I know an old gentleman who lives there. He will give you a place to sleep.”

II

The boy told Oliver that his name was Jack Dawkins¹, but his friends called him the Dodger². He did not want to enter London before evening, so it was almost eleven o’clock when they reached the town. They quickly passed street after street and at last came to a very unpleasant and dirty place. The Dodger pushed the door of a house open and the boys went it. The Dodger whistled. “Who’s there?” cried the voice. A man with a candle appeared at the end of the corridor.

“Is Fagin³ upstairs?” asked the Dodger.

“Yes, go up.”

Oliver and the Dodger went up the dark and broken steps and entered a room.

The walls and ceiling of the room were black with age and dust. There was a table before the fire. A very ugly old man was cooking some sausage over the fire. Near him very many handkerchiefs were hanging on a line. Four or five boys not older than the Dodger were sitting round the table. They were smoking and drinking gin. The Dodger went up to Fagin and whispered something to him.

“We are very glad to see you, Oliver, very,” said the old man. “Dodger, put a chair near the fire for Oliver.”

After supper the old man gave Oliver a glass of gin and water. Oliver drank it and immediately fell asleep.

It was late next morning when Oliver woke up. There was nobody in the room except Fagin who was making some coffee for

breakfast. Soon the Dodger and another boy, whose name was Charley Bates⁴, came home.

After breakfast the old man and the two boys played a very strange game. The old man put a tobacco-box in one pocket of his trousers, his spectacles and handkerchief in another pocket, and a watch in his waistcoat pocket. Then he took his stick and began to walk up and down the room. He imitated the manner in which old gentlemen walk about the streets. The two boys followed him and tried to take the things which were in his pockets. If Fagin felt a hand in one of his pockets, he cried out where it was, and the game started again.

Words:

1. Jack Dawkins ['Gxk 'dPkInz] – Джек Докинз

2. Dodger ['dPdZq] – Плут

3. Fagin ['feIgIn] – Фейгин

4. Charley Bates ['CRlI 'beIts] – Чарли Бейтс

I. Questions and tasks.

1. Why did Oliver decide to go to London?

2. Using the text, describe the Dodger.

3. How did the Dodger help Oliver?

4. What did Fagin’s room look like?

5. What strange game did Fagin and the boys play?

II. Retell the story in detail.