[00:00.00]Lesson 17
[00:04.70]Text A
[00:06.24]The Country Schoolhouse
[00:09.06]The country schoolhouse was three miles form my uncle's farm.
[00:13.17]It stood in a clearing in the woods and would hold about twenty-five boys and girls.
[00:19.28]We attended the school with more or less regularity once or twice a week in summer.
[00:25.55]We walked to it in the cool of the morning by the forest paths,
[00:30.04]and back in the dusk at the end of the day.Allthe pupils brought their dinners in baskets-corn dodger,
[00:38.14]buttermilk,and other good things.
[00:40.28]We sat in the shade of the trees at noon and ate them.It is the part of my education
[00:47.10]which I look back upon with the most satisfaction.
[00:50.44]My first visit to the school was when I was seven.A strapping girl of fifteen,
[00:56.92]in the customary sunbonnet and calico dress,asked me if I "used tobacco"
[01:02.15]--meaning did I chew it.I said no.It roused her scorn.She reported me to all the crowd,
[01:10.35]and said:"Here is a boy seven years old who can't chew tobacco."
[01:15.18]I learned to smoke fairly well,but that did not win over anybody.I remained a poor thing,
[01:21.84]and characterless.I longed to be respected,
[01:25.55]but I never was able to rise.Children have but little charity for one another's defect.
[01:32.58]Text B
[01:35.37]On a Camping Holiday
[01:36.99]Jimmy Booth an Donald Black are on a camping holiday .They have brought only a little food with them.
[01:44.67]Jimmy is hungry and he is looking at some rice in a tin.
[01:49.09]There is only a littly rice in the tin.
[01:51.93]JIMMY:There isn't much rice,is there?
[01:55.02]DONALD:No,there isn't,but there are some vegetables.
[01:58.36]JIMMY:Are there any potatoes?
[02:00.74]DONALD:No,there aren't .I'm sorry.
[02:03.59]JIMMY:I'm very hungry,Donald.What can I eat?
[02:06.90]DONALD:There's a little bread and there are a few biscuits.
[02:10.40]JIMMY:But I want some rice and some meat.
[02:13.07]DONALD:All right.I'll walk to the village and I'll get some meat.
[02:16.88]JIMMY:Good.By the way,who's going to cook the meat?
[02:20.90]DONALD:You'll cook it of course!
[02:24.22]7.
[02:26.63]Read the following passage once.
[02:29.05]Underline the key words while reading and retell to your partner the dialogue in your own words.
[02:36.47]Peter:Hello,Jim.What was the film liek?
[02:40.08]Jim:Awful.It was a complete waste of time.
[02:43.84]Peter:Why?What was it about?
[02:46.74]Jim:It was about a married couple.
[02:49.43]They had to live withe the wife's mother,because they didn't have enough money to buy a house of their own.
[02:55.33]Peter:A lot of young people have to do that.
[02:58.39]Jim:Yes,but the husband had to work overtime three times a week,so he was always tired.
[03:05.08]Peter:It sounds like the story of my life.
[03:08.55]Jim:Yes,it does,doesn't it?But this man was always over-tired,and he couldn't sleep.
[03:16.15]So he used to take two sleeping pills every night.
[03:19.65]Peter:I take sleeping pills sometimes.
[03:22.63]Jim:Yes,but not two every night.
[03:25.71]Anyway,the strain was too much for him.He had a nervous breakdown and had to go to hospital.
[03:32.74]Peter:It sounds a very depressing film.
[03:35.72]Jim:Not really.His wife was able to find a good job as an interpreter,
[03:41.47]because she could speak French and German fluenly.
[03:44.39]After a few months'work,she had a better job than her husband.
[03:49.51]So in he end,they were able to buy a house,and he didn't have to work any more.Stupid,wasn't it?