Підручник Англійська мова 9 клас (9-й рік навчання) - О. C. Любченко - Основа 2017 рік

UNIT 2 Lobbying Hobbying

Lesson 7 IT REALLY TAKES…

1. Do you know the famous ’light bulb’ joke:

Q. How many monkeys does it take to change a light bulb? A. Five. One to climb the ladder and four to pick up the ladder and spin it around.

Look at the picture on the left. What can you see in it? How many people does it seem to take to hang a picture? Consult a dictionary to find the meanings of the words you don’t know and decide which of them we can use to describe the picture.

fuss, lend, spirit-level, drop, yell, Great heavens!, blow, smash, plaster, crooked, insecure, worn out, mess

2. Imagine that you need to hang a picture. What tasks will you have to perform? If one person does each thing, how many people will it take?

3. The picture on the right is the end of a story. Use your fantasy and the words above to try and reconstruct it. Then, read the story and see if you were right.

Uncle Podger Hangs a Picture

(adapted from Jerome K. Jerome)

You never saw such a fuss as when my Uncle Podger tried to do a job. A picture came and stood waiting to be put up; and Uncle Podger said:

«Don’t worry. I’ll do all that.»

And he took off his coat, and began. He sent the girl for nails, and one of the boys to tell her what size.

«Go and get my hammer, Will, and bring me the rule, Tom; and I want a step-ladder, and a kitchen-chair, too; and, Jim, run to Mr. Goggles, and ask him if he can lend me his spirit-level.’ And don’t go, Maria, - I need someone to hold the light; and where’s Tom? — come here, you will hand me up the picture.»

And then he lifted the picture, and dropped it, and cut himself; and jumped round the room, looking for his handkerchief, and could not find it, because it was in the coat he had taken off, and he did not know where he had put the coat; and all the house had to stop looking for his tools, and start looking for his coat; and he was yelling:

«Doesn’t anybody in the house know where my coat is? Six of you!—and you can’t find a coat that I put down five minutes ago!

Then he found he was sitting on it:

«Oh, I’ve found it myself. Might just as well ask the cat to find anything.»

After half an hour spent on his finger, with a new glass, and the tools, and the ladder, and the chair, and the candle brought, he had another go, the whole family standing round ready to help. Two of us were holding the chair, and a third helped him up and held him, and a fourth handed him a nail, and a fifth gave him the hammer, and he took the nail, and dropped it.

And we all had to go down and look for it, and he was up on the chair wondering if he had to be there all the evening.

The nail was found, but by that time he had lost the hammer.

«Great heavens! Seven of you round, and you don’t know what I did with the hammer!»

We found the hammer, and then he lost the mark on the wall, and we all had to get on the chair and try to find it; and he called us all fools, and went mad.

Aunt Maria said she would not let the children hear such language.

At last, Uncle Podger found the spot and put the nail on it, and took the hammer. And, with the first blow, he smashed his thumb, and dropped the hammer on somebody’s foot.

Aunt Maria said that, next time Uncle Podger was going to hammer a nail, she hoped she’d know it in time, so that she could go and spend a week with her mother.

«Oh! You, women, make such a fuss over everything,» Uncle Podger replied. «Why, I like doing a little job of this sort.»

And then he had another try, and, at the second blow, the nail went through the plaster, and half the hammer after it.

A new hole was made; and, about midnight, the picture was up—crooked and insecure, the wall looking as if someone had raked it, and everybody worn out—except Uncle Podger.

«There you are,» he said, looking with pride at the mess he had made. «There must be a man in to do a little thing like that!»

4. Answer the following questions.

1) How many people lived in Uncle Podger’s house?

2) How many people does Uncle Podger send to get the nails? What does this tell us about him?

3) Why does Uncle Podger say he might as well ask the cat? What does this tell us about him?

4) Is Uncle Podger patient or impatient? What makes you think so?

5) Does Aunt Maria seem to have confidence that Uncle Podger will get the picture hung? What makes you think so?

6) One can’t help laughing at Uncle Podger while going through the story. Explain.

5. Work in small groups to make a list of everything that goes wrong when Uncle Podger tries to hang the picture. Compare your list with those of other groups and then make a master list for the class.

There was always a fuss when Uncle Podger tried to do a job. Write about what happened when he tried to make tea for the family.