It was all the same to me now, so I ordered coffee for myself and an ice-cream and coffee for her.

"You know, there's one thing I thoroughly believe in," she said, as she ate the ice-cream. "One should always get up from a meal feeling one could eat a little more."

"Are you still hungry?" I asked faintly.

"Oh, no, I'm not hungry; you see, I don't eat luncheon. I have a cup of coffee in the morning and then dinner, but I never eat more than one thing for luncheon. I was speaking for you."

"Oh, I see!"

Then a terrible thing happened. While we were waiting for the coffee, the head waiter, with a smile on his false face, came up to us bearing a large basket full of huge peaches. Peaches were not in season then. Lord knew what they cost. I knew too – a little later, for my guest, going on with her conversation, absent-mindedly took one. "You see, you've filled your stomach with a lot of meat and you can't eat any more. But I've just had a snack and I shall enjoy a peach."

The bill came and when I paid it I found that I had only enough for a quite inadequate tip. Her eyes rested for a moment on the three francs I left for the waiter and I knew that she thought me mean. But when I walked out of the restaurant I had the whole month before me and not a penny in my pocket.

"Follow my example," she said as we shook hands, "and never eat more than one thing for luncheon."

"I'll do better than that," I answered. "I'll eat nothing for dinner tonight."

"Humorist!" she cried gaily, jumping into a cab. "You're quite a humorist!"

But I have had my revenge at last. Today she weighs twenty-one stone.

Comprehension

Choose the best answer.

1. The narrator was

a. of the same age as his guest at the luncheon

b. younger than his guest c. older than his guest

2. The woman

a. was invited by the narrator to have luncheon

b. asked the narrator to have luncheon with her

c. recognized the narrator at the restaurant and joined him

3. The narrator agreed to have luncheon at an expensive restaurant with the woman because

a. he wanted to discuss certain art issues with her

b. he was interested in her personally

c. it would have been embarrassing for him to refuse

4. The narrator

a. ordered the same dishes and drinks for his guest and for himself

b. ordered different dishes and drinks

c. didn’t order anything at all for himself

5. After the luncheon the narrator

a. had but a few francs left b. had no money on him at all

c. couldn’t pay the bill

Vocabulary Training

I. Understanding Word Meaning from Context.

Choose a word or a word group that has the same meaning as the word in bold. Use the example sentences and refer back to the text to help you guess the meaning.

1. Only a tiny minority hold such extreme views.

a. very strange b. very small c. different d. stupid

2. He charged a relatively modest fee.

a. high b. large c. unfair d. not very large

3. I was startled to find her sitting in my office.

a. glad b. pleasantly surprised c. unpleasantly surprised d. happy

4. She flashed him a false smile of congratulation.

a. pleasant b. warm c. sincere d. insincere

5. He thoroughly examined the papers before signing them.

a. quickly b. attentively c. poorly d. hastily

6. She deals with all correspondence promptly and efficiently.

a. thoroughly b. quickly c. attentively d. slowly

II. Find two words with the meaning opposite to “tiny” in the text.

III. Look up the word “mean” in a dictionary. How many meanings does it have (as a verb, a noun and an adjective)? In what meaning is it used in the text? Illustrate three meanings with examples of your own.

IV. Explain the following words in English. Use an explanatory dictionary if necessary. If a word has several meanings, point out the meaning in which it is used in the text.

1) to flatter 2) talkative 3) generous 4) tip 5) revenge

V. Note how each of the following idioms is used in the text:

1) to catch sight of; 2) in answer to; 3) by all means; 4) at the sight of; 5) to be obliged to; 6) to make up one’s mind; 7) can’t bring myself to do smth.

Now use each of these idioms in an example of your own. Try to relate them to your own experience.

NOTE. We should distinguish between author, writer and narrator.

The words author and writer are often interchangeable. They both are used to describe a person whose occupation is book writing, the word author being more common in this meaning.

The word writer tends to designate a person who has written a particular text, not necessarily a professional writer.

The narrator is an imaginary or half-imaginary person who tells the story in fiction. The narrator may be very close to the actual author but should never be confused with him/her. The narrator may be the author at a different stage of his/her life, which changes the whole perspective. We should not always “believe” the narrator, the narrative may be false, misguided, biased etc. The narrator may be unreliable. This is partially applicable to nonfiction as it is difficult to come across writing that is totally unbiased. As a result, in contemporary literary theory the word “narrative” is used in relation to both fiction and nonfiction.