The Man, the Boy and the Donkey
This is a very old story, but it teaches us something that is still true today.
One day a wise man said to his young son: «Come with me and I will show you something.» The father got onto his donkey and told his son to walk behind him. On the road some people pointed at the man and said: «Look at that man. Why doesn’t he let the boy ride the donkey?»
The man and the boy heard this, and so they changed places. The boy rode and the man walked.
A few minutes later they passed some other people. The people pointed and said: «Look at the boy. How can he ride while his old father walks?» so the man got onto the donkey with the boy.
Then they passed some other people who said: «That poor little donkey can’t carry two people. They’re much too heavy.» So they got off the donkey and they both walked.
They walked through a village and people laughed at them, saying: «Look at those two fools! Why do they walk when they have a donkey?»
The man and the boy thought and then the man said: «We’ve tried walking and we’ve tried riding. Let’s try carrying it.» So they carried the donkey, and all the people in the village laughed at them, saying: «Look! They’re carrying the donkey! They’re mad.»
Finally, they put the donkey down, and the man said to his son: «This is the lesson for you, my son. In this life, you can never please everyone.»
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Tasks.
1. Translate the words from English into Russian: to ride a donkey, a road to walk, to point, to pass, to carry, today laughed at, please everyone.
2. Fill in the missing letters: s…ry, tr…e, t…day, s…n, p…ople, m…n, w…lk, r…ad, c…rr…, ev…ry…ne, ple…se, d…nke…, vil…age, pas…, l…ugh, t…ey.
3. Fill in the table of irregular verbs.
| Infinitive | Past Simple | Translation |
| to say | ||
| to teach | ||
| to come | ||
| to get | ||
| to ride | ||
| to hear | ||
| to see | ||
| to pass | ||
| to look | ||
| to please |
4.Decide if these sentences are true (T) or false (F).
| 1. This is a new story. | |
| 2. One day an elder brother told something the younger brother. | |
| 3. The grandfather rode a donkey. | |
| 4. Some people met them in the forest. | |
| 5. The son didn’t ride a donkey. |
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5. Choose the correct variant.
1. The story …
a) is boring; b) teaches us something; c) is new.
2. The wise man told his son to follow him …
a) on foot; b) with a donkey; c) quickly.
3. The first group of people thought the boy …
a) was a fool; b) should ride; c) was lazy.
4. The donkey was not … enough to carry two people.
a) old; b) strong; c) clever.
5. They could not ride or walk … the carried the donkey.
a) because; b) after; c) so.
6. The wise man wanted to show that … can please everyone.
a) donkeys; b) only wise men; c) nobody.
Your answers: 1. __; 2. __; 3. __; 4. __; 5. __; 6. __.
7. Complete the summary of the story with the words from the box.
When the boy walked, some people thought that the man should … . So the man walked, but that did not please either. So they both ... the donkey. That didn’t please because the man and the boy were too … for the donkey. But when they both…, the people laughed and called them fools. Finally, they tired … the donkey, and then everyone … at them.
Box:
| Laughed, walk, carrying, rode, walked, heavy. |
8. Arrange words into the following columns: p eople, people and things, things.
old, tall, wise, kind, silly, fast, young, new, great, heavy, popular, little, angry, wet, strong.
Text 4.5
Read, translate the text and do the post-reading exercises .
The Ant and the Cricket
It is summertime. The sun is hot. The weather is nice. The sky is blue. It’s a beautiful day.
Here’s a cricket in the field. He sings, and jumps, and plays. He sings songs all day long. He loves the summer days.
There’s an ant! It is very small. It is finding food to eat. It works all the summer, all day long.
«Mrs Ant, please stop now. Don’t find food today. The summer is long and we can play. Find food another day.»
«Mr Cricket, I can’t stop now. Winter is coming soon. You must find food or you’ll be hungry from October until June».
«Mrs Ant, why do it now? The summer is so long. Find your food another day, but now let’s sing a song!»
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The ant finds food. The cricket plays and now it is September. The wind is cool. The rain is wet and soon it is December.
It’s cold now, very cold with snow. The ant is in its home. It is warm and happy. It has food and it is not alone.
It is cold outside. The cricket is hungry. It has no lunch or sweet. «Why did I play all summer long and now I have nothing to eat?»
The ant in its house, sees the cricket outside and gives it some of the food.
«Thank you, my friend. You saved my life. I learnt an important thing. Next summer I’ll work hard and find lots of food. Then in winter we will sing.»
Tasks.
1.Compare this story with the fables of famous fable-writers , for example, Eathop and the Russian writer Ivan Krulov.
Э ЗО́П (Α ἴ σωπος) – древнегреческий баснописец, живший в VI ст. до н. э .
ЖУК И МУРАВЕЙ
В летнюю пору Муравей, ползая по полям, собирал зерна и колосья, накапливая себе корм на зиму. А Жук, увидев его, подивился его трудолюбию и тому, что он работает в ту пору, когда остальные твари, избавившись от трудов, живут беззаботно.
Тот промолчал тогда. Когда же пришла зима, и дожди размыли навоз, голодный Жук пришел к Муравью и попросил еды. А тот ему сказал: «О, Жук! Если б ты тогда потрудился, когда я работал, – а ты смеялся надо мной, – не пришлось бы тебе теперь нуждаться в корме».
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