Read the text and do the tasks.
Jim, a young car-driver was a boarder at old Riddle's. He was in love with Rosy, Mr. Riddle's only daughter, and Rosy was in love with him. They wanted to get married; but Mr. Riddle expected his daughter to marry a richer man, and that meant that Jim was going to have a hard struggle for his happiness.
Jim had a friend called Pilkins who worked as a night clerk at a chemist's. One day Jim came to the chemist's, looking very excited and told him that he and Rosy had decided to run away and get married that night.
"If she doesn't change her mind. One day she says she will, and the same evening she says she won't because she is afraid." "I say, Pilkins, isn't there a drug that'll make a girl like you better if you give it to her? I think, if I have a real stuff like this to give Rosy, when I see her at supper tonight, she won't be afraid any longer. "When are you going to marry?" asked Pilkins.
"At nine o'clock. Supper's at seven, at eight Rosy goes to bed pretending to have a headache, at nine I go under her window and – Make up the powder, Pilkins.”
"I'll do my best," said Pilkins.
He gave Jim a powder and received his heartiest thanks.
"This," he said to himself, "will make Rosy sleep for several hours without any danger to her.”
When Jim had gone, Pilkins, who was in love with Rosy too, immediately went to Mr. Riddle and told the old man that Jim and Rosy were going to run away that night.
"Can I do anything for you, sir?" he asked politely. "Shall I call the police?"
"No, thank you," said Mr. Riddle. "My room's just above Rosy's. I'll go up myself after supper and take my gun and wait. If he comes under Rosy's window, he'll want a doctor, not a policeman, you can be sure of that".
Pilkins went home. All night he waited for the news of the tragedy, but none came. At eight o'clock in the morning Pilkins went hurriedly to Mr. Riddle's. As he was crossing the street, he was surprised to see Jim who cried out: "Rosy and I were married at 9.30 last night, I'm the luckiest man."
"And the ... powder?" Pilkins said in a weak voice.
"Oh, that stuff you gave me? I sat down next to the old man at supper last night. I looked at Rosy and said to myself: "Don't play any tricks on that girl. She loves you, that's clear enough.” Then I looked at her father and thought "There's the man, you should take care of." So I put the powder in old Riddle's coffee – see?"
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Task 1. Translate into Russian.
1. boarder 2. change one’s mind 3. drug 4. stuff 5. powder 6. hearty 7. pretend 8. hurriedly 9. play tricks
Task 2. Answer the questions.
1. Why did Jim come to Pilkins?
2. What kind of stuff did he want him to make and why?
3. What kind of stuff did Pilkins give him and why?
4. Why did Jim put the stuff into old Riddle’s coffee?
5. Why didn’t Mr Riddle prevent the marriage of his daughter?
Text 11. RUTHLESS (After William DeMille)
Read the text and do the tasks.
Outside, the October sun was shining over the forest now full of the smell of autumn.
Inside, a man was standing in the living room of his mountain camp. He was near a closet where he kept guns and strong drinks. The closet door stood open; Judson Webb had been packing his things away for the winter, and in a few minutes he and his wife Marcia would be driving back to civilization.
As he looked at the shelf on which his bottles stood, his smile was not pleasant. All the bottles were unopened, but one. This one was less than half full. It wasplaced in front, a whiskey glass by its side. As he took it from the shelf his wife spoke from the bedroom, "I'm all packed, Judson. Hasn't Alec come to get the keys?"
Alec lived about a mile down the road and looked after the summer camps when the city people were away.
"He said he'd be back in half an hour."
Marcia came into the room carrying her suitcase. She stopped in surprise as she saw the bottle in her husband's hand.
"Judson!" she said, "You're not taking a drink at ten o'clock in the morning, are you?"
"You're wrong, my dear," he smiled. "I'm not taking anything out of this bottle. I am only putting something into it."
He put two white tablets on the table and started to open the whiskey bottle. His wife did not like his tone, the tone he used when he was planning something against his business partners.
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"The man who entered this house last winter and stole my drinks from the closet may try it again when we are out of here," he went on, "only this time he'll wish he hadn't."
She saw him put the tablets into the bottle one by one.
"What are they?'' she asked, "something to make him ill?"
"And how! No doctor will save him.” He put the bottle on the shelf near the little whiskey glass.
The woman's face was pale. "Don't do it, Judson," she said. "It's horrible. What right have you —"
"When it comes to protecting my property I make my own laws."
"We won't be here till next spring. Suppose something happens to us — and no one knows — "
It was useless to say anything, she knew. He had always been ruthless in business
"I'll walk down the road and say good bye at the farm house." she said quietly. "You can pick me up there." She had decided to tell Alec's wife. Someone had to know.
As she went down the road he started to shut the closet door, then he remembered his boots drying in the yard. They belonged in the closet, so leaving the door open he went to take them off the table on which they stood.
When he put his hand out to get the boots, he stepped on something, his foot slid from under him and his head struck the massive table as he fell.
Several minutes later he felt Alec's strong arm under him as he lay on the ground. "That wasn't much of a fall, Mr. Webb. You'll be better in a minute. Here, take this, it'll help you greatly."
A small whiskey glass was pressed to his lips. Half conscious, he drank.
Task 1. Say the opposite.
1. strong drinks 2. pack 3. civilization 4. pleasant 5. less 6. pale 7. horrible 8. useless 9. ruthless
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