High hopes

One day a young country girl ___ (to go) to town with a bucket of milk on her head. She ___ (to say) to herself: "When I ___ (to come) to the market I ___ (to sell) the milk at a high price and ___ (to buy) twenty eggs with the money. Out of these eggs I ___ (to get) twenty chickens. As soon as the chickens ___ (to be) large enough, I ___ (to sell) them and ___ (to buy) a new dress for myself. It ___ (to be) a yellow dress to match my hair. On May Day, if the weather ___ (to be) fine, if it ___ (not to rain) I ___ (to put) on the yellow dress and ___ (to go) to the town. Everybody ___ (to look) at me and ___ (to say): "What a beautiful girl!" But I ___ (to pass) by without looking at them. I ___ only ___ (to shake) my head like that." Without noticing it she ___ (to shake) her head and down ___ (to come) the milk, the eggs, the chickens and the yellow dress.

His own method

One day a very old man ___ (to come) to see a doctor. He ___ (to have) a minor complaint. The doctor ___ (to examine) him very carefully and ___ (to ask) how old the man ___ (to be) and ___ (to listen) to the answer with surprise. The old man ___ (to be), in fact, much older than he ___ (to look) and ___ (to feel) much better that the doctor ___ (to expect). The doctor ___ (to wonder) how the old man ___ (to manage) to keep so fit. The old man, it ___ (to appear), ___ (to be) married, ___ (to have) children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He ___ (to smoke), ___ never ___ (to refuse) a drink and ___ (to be) a hearty eater. He ___ (to work) all his life and the work ___ (not to be) very easy. After many questions the doctor ___ (to hear) at last that the old man ___ (to spend) almost three quarters of his life in the open air. He ___ (to say) to the doctor, "On the day I ___ (to get) married, my wife and I ___ (to agree) that if one of us ___ (to begin) a quarrel, the other ___ (to leave) the place immediately to stop the scandal.

So all in all I ___ (to have) five thousand nine hundred and ninety-seven walks for about two or three hours."

Friends in business

A rich businessman ___ (to die). He ___ (to ask) all the members of his family to leave him alone with his business partner who ___ (to run) the business with him for years. The dying man ___ (not to want) anybody to hear their conversation.

"George," he ___ (to whisper) when they ___ (to remain) alone, "I ___ (to die) soon, I can't wait... I must tell you... Listen... When you ___ (to be) away on business five years ago I ___ (to take) eighty thousand dollars from the safe and ___ never ___ (to put) the money back... I always ___ (to try) not to let you be successful in business. I __ (to dislike) you greatly all my life... __ you ___ (to remember) that plan of yours which ___ (to end) in failure? You ___ (to explain) the failure by changes in business conditions, but the real reason ___ (to be) quite different: I ___ (to sell) your secret to McKay and Co. for 150 thousand dollars... Forgive me, George..." "Don't worry, Jim," George ___ (to say). "It ___ (to be) all right. I've also got to tell you something. I ___ (to put) some poison into your soup at dinner yesterday."