[00:00.00]Lesson 34 Text A
[00:08.72]Stage Fight
[00:11.96]Tom was sick with disappointment.The piano recital had turned out well,all except for his solo.
[00:15.24]He couldn't understand how it ould have happened.
[00:18.43]He had practised for weeks taht seemed like months.
[00:22.42]He had given up sports until after the recital because he wanted to make his parents proud of him.
[00:29.71]He spent all his time withe the piano.His teacher had said he was gifed.
[00:36.35]It ws true that he accepted music as another language,another way to talk to people.
[00:43.40]His grandparents,aunt,and uncle al came to hear him play,
[00:48.86]and he was anxious to show them that he was the best in the  whole class.
[00:53.93]But,when he stood up to go to the piano,his knees felt weak.
[00:59.91]He looked into the audience and saw his family smiling back at him.
[01:04.45]His mouth wnt dry.His fingers began to tremble.
[01:09.84]The trembling becaume unconrollable shaking as though he had caught a bad cold.
[01:15.84]He sat down at the piano.He took a deep treath.
[01:21.25]He played the first five bars of his music,then aralized with horror that he had forgotten the rest.
[01:28.57]He started over,thingking that would help.It didn't.
[01:33.63]He stood up as if in slow motion and walked off the stage.
[01:39.17]He was a failure.The demon stage fright had left a brilliant musical career in ruins.
[01:47.40]Text B I Shall Never Fly Again
[01:54.40]Tom Jackson and Carles Brown are talking about their summer holidays.
[02:00.62]Tom:Where are you going for your holidays,Charles?
[02:04.93]Charles:To Australia.I'm going to visit my uncle in Brisbane for three weeks.
[02:11.51]Tom:Good gracious!You certainly are luckly.How are you going there?
[02:18.33]Charles:By air,of course.It takes over two weeks to go by sea.
[02:23.45]Tom:I once went to Singapore by air.It was very exciting-but never again.
[02:30.82]Charles:Why?Did you feel frightened?
[02:33.32]Tom:For a shorty time.One of the engines caught fire.
[02:38.16]Charles:What did you pilot do?
[02:41.24]Tom:He put it out and flew back to teh airport.
[02:44.95]Then he asked teh people at the airport where the emergency runway was.
[02:50.17]Charles:Did you land safely?
[02:52.26]Tom:Yes,we did.But I shall never fly again.
[02:57.43]7: Read the following passage 0nce.
[03:02.48]Underline the key words while reading and retell the story to your partner.
[03:07.78]It was a dark day when we got our report cards.
[03:12.53]The sky was full of gray clouds and it was sprinkling rain.
[03:17.13]I was over to Clyde's house and Gloria and Kitty were there.
[03:22.07]Sam probably would have been there, too, only he had got a two-week job in the afternoons helping out at Freddie's.
[03:31.18]Actually he only did it so that his mother would let him be on the track team again.
[03:37.69]Sam and his mother had this little system going.
[03:41.87]He would do something good-doing and she'd let him do something that he wanted to.
[03:47.59]Clyde's report card was on the kitchen table and We all sat around it like it
[03:54.02]was some kind of a big important docurnent.
[03:58.22]I had got a pretty good report card and had wanted to show it off but I knew it wasn't the time.
[04:06.42]Clyde pushed the card toward me and I read it.
[04:10.16]He had all satisfactory remarks on the side labeled Personal Traits and Behavior.
[04:17.24]He had also received B' s in music and art appreciation.
[04:22.33]But everything else was either a C or a D except mathematics.
[04:27.87]His mathematics mark was a big red F that had been circled.
[04:34.01]I don' t know why they had to circle the F when it was the only red mark on the card.
[04:41.77]In the Teacher's Comments section someone had written that Clyde had "little ability to handle an academic program."
[04:50.44]"A little,ability is better than none,"I said.
[04:54.99]No one said anything so I figured it probably wash't the right time to try to cheer Clyde up.
[05:02.46]I knew all about his switching from a commercial program to an academie program,
[05:09.80]but I really hadn't thought he'd have any trouble.
[05:13.58]"I saw the grade adviser today. He said I should switch back to the commercia program.
[05:20.90]" Clyde looked like he'd start crying any minute.
[05:24.63]His eyes were red and, his voice was shaky.
[05:29.44]"He said that I had to take mathematica overand if I failed again or failed another required subject I couldn't graduate.
[05:40.36]The way it is now I' m going to have to finish up in the summer because I switched over."
[05:47.94]"I think you can pass it if you really want to," Kitty said.
[05:52.38]Clyde's sister was so pretty I couldn' t even look at her.
[05:57.52]If I did, I started feeling funny and couldn' t talk right.
[06:02.75]Sometimes I daydreamed about marrying her.
[06:08.18]Just then Clyde's motber came in and he gave a quick look at Kitty.
[06:15.18]"Hi, young ladies and young gentlemen." Mrs. Jones was a kind of heavy woman but she was pretty, too.
[06:22.91]You could tell she was Kitty' s mother if you looked close.
[06:27.62]She put her package down and started taking things out.
[06:32.47]"I heard you people talking,when I first came in.
[06:36.68]By the way yon hushed up I guess you don't want me to hear what you were talking about.
[06:42.64]I'II be out of your way in a minute, soon as I, put the frozen foods in the refrigerator."
[06:48.88]"I got my report card today," Clyde said.
[06:52.75]His mother stopped taking the food out and turned toward us.
[06:57.76]Clyde pushed the report card about two inches toward her.
[07:02.78]She really didn' t even have to look at the card to know that it was bad.
[07:07.61]She could have told that just by looking at Clyde. But she picked it up and looked at it a long time.
[07:15.52]First she looked at one side and then the other and then back at the first side again.
[07:22.63]"What they sayaround the school?" she asked, still looking at the card.
[07:29.34]"They said I should drop the academic course and go back to the other one."
[07:35.09]I could hardly hear Clyde, he spoke so low.
[07:39.09]"Well, what are you going to do, young man?"
[07:43.63]She looked up at Clyde and Clyde looked up at her and there were tears in his eyes and I almost started crying.
[07:52.38]I can't stand to see my friends cry. "What are you going to do, Mr. Jones? '
[07:59.17]"I'm --I'm going to keep theacademic course,"Clyde said.
[08:05.89]"You think it' s going to be any easier this time?" Mrs.Jones asked.
[08:10.77]"No."
[08:12.55]"Things ain't always easy. Lord knows that things ain't always easy.
[08:18.84]"For a minute there was a faraway look in her eyes, but then her face turned into a big smile.
[08:26.68]"You're just like your father boy.
[08:29.24]That man never would give up on anythihg he really wanted.
[08:33.55]Did I ever tell you the time he was trying to learn to play the trombone?"
[08:38.38]"No."Clyde still  had tears in his eyes but he was smiling, too.