Somebody else seems in trouble, too. You can hear his faint cries coming from underneath your bed. Being determined to sell your life expensively, you fight, hitting out right and left with arms and legs, and yelling, and at last something gives way, and you find your head in the fresh air. Two feet off24, you see a half-dressed hooligan, waiting to kill you, and you are preparing for a life-and-death struggle with him, when you realize that it’s Jim.
“Oh, it’s you, is it?” he says, recognizing you at the same moment.
“Yes,” you answer, rubbing your eyes; “what’s happened?”
“The tent’s blown down, I think,” he says. “Where’s Bill?”
Then you both raise up your voices and shout for “Bill!” and the ground beneath you heaves, and the faint voice that you heard before replies from out the ruin:
“Get off my head, can’t you?”
And Bill struggles out in an aggressive mood – he believes that the whole thing has been done on purpose.
In the morning you are all three speechless, having to catch severe colds at night; you also feel very quarrelsome, and you swear at each other in hoarse whispers during the whole of breakfast time.
We therefore decided that we would sleep out at fine nights and in hotel, or inn, like respectable people, when it was wet, or when we wanted a change.
Montmorency greeted this compromise with much approval. He does not enjoy romantic loneliness. To look at Montmorency you would imagine that he was an angel sent upon the earth, for some reason in the shape of a small fox-terrier. There is a sort of Oh-what-a-wicked-world-this-is-and-how-I-wish-I-could-do-so-mething-to-make-it-better-and-nobler expression about Montmorency that has been known to bring the tears into the eyes of old ladies and gentlemen.
When first he came to live at my expense25, I never thought I should be able to get him to stop long26. I used to sit down and look at him, as he sat on the rug and looked up at me, and think: “Oh, that dog will never live. He will be taken to the bright skies that is what will happen to him.” But, when I had paid for about a dozen chickens that he had killed; and had dragged him, growling and kicking, by the scruff of his neck, out of a hundred and fourteen street fights; and an angry woman, who called me a murderer, had brought me a dead cat, then I began to think that maybe they’d let him remain on earth for a bit longer, after all.
Having thus settled the sleeping arrangements to the satisfaction of all four of us, the only thing left to discuss27 was what we should take with us; and this we had begun to argue, when Harris said he’d had enough oratory for one night, and proposed that we should go out and have a smile28, saying that he had found a place, round by the square, where you could really get a drop of Irish worth drinking.
George said he felt thirsty (I never knew George when he didn’t); and the debate was, by common agreement, postponed till the following night; and the assembly put on its hats and went out.
1. Read the chapter and choose the correct answer.
1. The friends arranged to start
a) next Sunday.
b) next Saturday.
с) next Monday.
2. You can a) never ignore Harris.
b) always inspire Harris.
с) never inspire Harris.
3. Harris always knows a place round the corner where
a) you can get something to drink.
b) you can get some nectar.
с) to eat properly.
4. Camping out in rainy weather is
a) not pleasant.
b) nice and pleasant.
с) wet and damp.
5. To fix a tent in rainy weather is
a) difficult enough.
b) easy enough.
с) extremely difficult.
6. The chief component of diet at supper is
a) bread and butter.
b) rainwater.
с) soup.
7. The friends decided to sleep out
a) at fine nights.
b) when it was wet.
с) when they wanted a change.
8. Montmorency
a) disapproved the compromise.
b) was against the compromise.
с) greeted the compromise with approval.
9. Montmorency looked like
a) a small fox-terrier.
b) a murderer.
с) an angel.
10. The only thing left to discuss was
a) where to sleep.
b) what to take.
с) what to do.
2. Learn the words from the text:
damp, pour, spoil, savage, exclaim, approval, propose, attempt (v), struggle, calmness, arrange, postpone, meanwhile, roar, steadily, swear, quantity, proper, whisper, crowd.
3. Practice the pronunciation of the following words.
4. Fill in the gaps using the words from the text.
1. George would not … … to get away from the City till the afternoon.
2. The tent is … … and the supper … and … .
3. If Harris’s eyes fill with tears, you can bet it is because Harris … … … raw onions.
4. Harris always … a place … the corner.
5. The rain … … steadily down all the time.
6. You wake up and … that something terrible real -ly … … .
7. And Bill struggles out in an aggressive … – he believes that the whole thing has been done on … .
8. Montmorency … … enjoy romantic loneliness.
9. I … to sit down and look at him, as he … on the rug and … up at me.
10. Harris proposed that we … go out.
5. Match the words with definitions.
6. Find in the text the English equivalents for:
стряхнуть пепел, простудиться, сводить с ума, лить как из ведра (о дожде), все испортить, в то же время, на одном дыхании, пролить воду, морское дно, по какой-то причине, битва не на жизнь, а на смерть, пролить воду.
7. Find the words in the text for which the following are synonyms:
suggest, gloomy, struggle, everyday, curse, peaceful, realize, arrange, inn, meanwhile.
8. Explain and expand on the following.
1. George would not be able to get away from the City till the afternoon.
2.