Các mẩu chuyện tiếng anh

Unit 1.
Jack was a young sailor. He lived in England, but he was often away with his ship.
One summer he came back from a long voyage and found new neighbours near his mother's house. They had a
pretty daughter, and Jack soon loved her very much.
He said to her, "My next voyage will begin in a few day's time, Gloria. I love you, and I'll marry you when I
come back. I'll think about you all the time, and I'll write to you and send you a present from every port".
Jack's first port was Freetown in Africa, and he sent Gloria a parrot from there. It spoke five languages.
When Jack's ship reached Australia, there was a letter from Gloria. It said: "Thank you for the parrot, Jack. It
tasted much better than a chicken".
Unit 2.
Fanny and Ethel worked in the same office, and they were neighbours at home. Fanny was rather a careless
girl, and she often lost things. Then she usually went to Ethel to borrow more from her.
Ethel was a kind girl, but she sometimes got tired of lending things to her friend.
One Saturday afternoon Fanny knocked at Ethel's front door, and when Ethel came to open it, Fanny said to
her, "Oh, hello, Ethel. Please lend me a bag. I've lost my mine. I'm going to the shops, and I fell very stupid
when I haven't got anything in my hand when I go to the street".
Ethel laughed and answered: "Well, Fanny, go down to the end of the garden. You'll find a nice wheelbarrow
in the shed there. Take when you go down to the shops. Then you'll have something in both of your hands".
Unit 3.
Dave married, and when his new wife saw the clothes in his cupboard, she said, "Dave, you have only got one
good shirt. The others are very old, and they've got holes in them. I'm going to buy you a new one this
afternoon".
Dave liked his shirts, but he loved his wife too, so he said, "All right, Beryl, but please don't throw any of the
old ones away".
Dave went to work, and when he came back in the evening, Beryl said to him, "Look, Dave, I've bought you a
nice shirt. Here it is. Put it on".
Dave put the shirt on, and then he said, "Look at the sleeves, Beryl. They're too long".
"That's all right," Beryl answered. "They'll get shorter when I wash the shirt".
Then Dave said, "But the neck's too small".
"That's all right," Beryl answered. "It'll get bigger when you wear the shirt, Dave".
Unit 4.

Mrs. Williams lived in a small street in London, and now she had a new neighbour. Her name was Mrs.
Briggs, and she talked a lot about her expensive furniture, her beautiful carpets and her new kitchen.
"Do you know," she said to Mrs. Williams one day. "I've got a new dishwasher. It washes the plates and
glasses and knives and forks beautifully".
"Oh" Mrs. Williams answered, "And does it dry them and put them in the cupboard too?"
Mrs. Briggs was surprised, "Well" she answered, "The things in the machine are dry after an hour, but it
doesn't put them away of course".
"I've had a dishwasher for twelve and a half years," Mrs. Williams said.
"Oh" Mrs. Briggs answered. "And does yours put the things in the cupboard when it has washed them?" She
laughed nastily.
"Yes, he does," Mrs. Williams answered, "He dries the dishes and puts them away".
Unit 5.
One day a man went to see his doctor and said to him, "I've swallowed a horse, Doctor, and I feel very ill".
The doctor thought for a few seconds and then said, "All right, Mr. Lloyd, I'll help you. Please lie down on
this bed".
The doctor's nurse gave the man an injection, the man went to sleep, and the doctor went out quickly to look
for a horse in the town.
After half an hour he found one, borrowed it and took it into his office, so when Mr. Lloyd woke up, it was
there in front of him.
"Here's the horse, Mr. Lloyd," the doctor said. "I've taken it out of your stomach, and it won't give you any
more trouble now".
At first Mr. Lloyd was happy, but then he looked at the horse again and said, "But, Doctor, my horse was
white, and this one's brown!"


Unit 6.
A history teacher was talking to his class about the ancient Romans.
"They were very strong, brave people, and they were good soldiers", he said. "They always wanted to have
strong bodies, so they played a lot of games".
"Did they like swimming?" one of the girls asked. "That makes people's bodies strong". She was very good at

swimming.
"Oh, yes, some of them swam a lot", the teacher answered. Then he told them a story about one famous
Roman.
"There was a big, wide river in the middle of Rome", he said. "It was the Tiber, and this man swam across it
three times every day before breakfast".
The girl laughed when she heard this.
"Why are you laughing?" The teacher asked her angrily. "Have I said anything funny?"
"Well, sir," the girl answered. "Why didn't he swim across the river four times, to get back to his clothes
again?"
Unit 7.
Betty Brown was five years old, and her mother wanted her to begin going to school, because she wanted to
start working in an office again.
A month before the beginning of the school year Mrs. Brown began telling Betty about school. "It's very nice,
"she said. "You'll play games and paint pictures and sing songs".
Mrs. Brown began doing these things with Betty. Betty liked the games and the painting and the singing very
much, but she always wanted to be near mother, so Mrs. Brown was rather afraid and thought, "What will she
do when I leave her at school?"
But on the first day at school Betty was very good. She did not cry, and she was happy.
On the second morning Mrs. Brown said, "Put your clothes on, Betty. I'm going to take you to school in half
an hour's time".
"School?" Betty said. "But I've been to school!"
Unit 8.
One morning Mrs. Perry said to her husband, "Jack, there's a meeting of our ladies' club at Mrs. Young's house
at lunch time today, and I want to go to it. I'll leave you some food for your lunch. Is that all right?"
"Oh, yes", her husband answered, "That's quite all right. What are you going to leave for my lunch?"
"This tin of fish," Mrs. Perry said. "And there are some cold, boiled potatoes and some beans here, too".
"Good," Mr. Perry answered. "I have a good lunch".
So Mrs. Perry went to her meeting. All the ladies had lunch at Mrs. Young's house, and at three o'clock Mrs.
Perry came home.
"Was you fish nice, Jack?" she asked.

"Yes, but my feet are hurting," he answered.
"Why are you hurting?" Mrs. Perry asked.
"Well, the words on the tin were, "Open tin and stand in hot water for five minutes".
Unit 9.
Miss Green was very fat. She weighed 100 kilos, and she was getting heavier every month, so she went to see
her doctor.
He said, "You need a diet, Miss Green, and I've got a good one here". He gave her a small book and said,
"Read this carefully and eat the things on page 11 every day. Then come back and see me in two weeks' time".
Miss Green came again two weeks later, but she wasn't thinner: she was fatter. The doctor was surprised and
said, "Are you eating the things on page 11 of the small book?"
"Yes, Doctor," she answered. The next day the doctor visited Miss Green during her dinner. She was very
surprised to see him.
"Miss Green," he said, "Why are you eating potatoes and bread? They aren't in your diet".
"But, doctor," Miss Green answered, "I ate my diet at lunch time. This is my dinner".
Unit 10.
Rose left school when she was seventeen years old and went to a college for a year to learn to type. She passed
her examinations quite well and then went to look for work. She was still living with her parents.


A lot of people were looking for typists at that time, so it was not difficult to find interesting work. Rose went
to several offices, and then chose one of them. It was near her parents' house. She thought, "I'll walk there
every morning. I won't need to go by bus".
She went to the office again and said to the manager, "I want to work here, but what will you pay me?"
"We'll pay you 27 pounds now" the manager answered, "and 30 pounds after three months".
Rose thought for a few seconds before she answered. Then she said, "All right, then I'll start in three months'
time".
Unit 11.
Mr. Day was a teacher at a school in a big city in the north of England. He usually went to France or Germany
for a few weeks during his summer holidays, and he spoke French and German quite well.
But one year Mr. Day said to one of his friends, "I'm going to have a holiday in Athens. But I don't speak

Greek, so I'll go to evening classes and have Greek lessons for a month before I go".
He studied very hard for a month, and then his holidays began and he went to Greece".
When he came back a few weeks after, his friend said to him, "Did you have any trouble with your Greek
when you were in Athens, Day?"
"No, I didn't have any trouble with it", answered Mr. Day, "But the Greeks did!"
Unit 12.
Mr. Pearce liked shooting ducks very much. Whenever he had a free day, he went out shooting with his
friends.
But one summer he said to himself, "I've never been to the mountains. My holidays are going to begin soon,
so I'm going to go to the mountains and shoot deer. They're more interesting than ducks, I think".
So when his holidays began, Mr. Pearce went to the station, bought his ticket and was soon in the mountains.
He got out at a small station and walked through fields and forests for a few kilometres. Then he saw a farmer
in a field.
"Good morning", Mr. Pearce said to him. "Are there any deer here?"
"Well", answered the farmer slowly, there was one last year, but all the gentlemen from the town came and
shoot at it, and it's gone somewhere else now, I think".

Unit 13.
Mr. Leonard was twenty-three years old and not very rich. He was not married and he lived in two rooms in a
small house in a city.
Every summer, Mr. Leonard went down to the sea for a holiday. He stayed in small cheap hotels, but he
always wanted to have a clean, tidy room. He hated dirty places.
One summer a friend of him said, "Go to the Tower Hotel in Whitesea. I went there last year, and it was very
nice and clean".
So Mr. Leonard went to the Tower Hotel in Whitesea. But there was a different manager that year.
The new manager took Mr. Leonard to his room. The room looked quite nice and clean, but Mr. Leonard said
to the manager, "Are the sheets on the bed clean?"
"Yes, of course they are!" he answered angrily. "We washed them this morning. Feel them. They're still
damp".
Unit 14.

Two years after Tom and Elizabeth married, they went to live in a small flat in a big city. They were both
quite young: Tom was twenty-six and Elizabeth was twenty-two. Tom worked in a bank, and Elizabeth
worked in a big office.
Elizabeth always cooked the dinner when they got home, and when they had meat, Tom always cut it up when
they sat down to eat.
While Tom was cutting the meat up one evening, Elizabeth said to him, "When we were first married, Tom,
you always gave me the bigger piece of meat when you cut it, and you kept the smaller one for yourself. Now
you do the opposite: you give me the smaller piece and keep the bigger one for yourself. Why do you do
that? Don't you love me any more?"
Her husband laughed and answered, "Oh, no, Elizabeth. It isn't that! It's because you've learned to cook now!"
Unit 15.
Mrs. Jenkins went to see her doctor one day, because her heart was giving her trouble.


The doctor listened to her heart carefully and did a few other things. Then he said, "Well, Mrs. Jenkins, stop
smoking, and then you'll soon all be quite right again".
"But Doctor," answered Mrs. Jenkins quickly, "I've never smoked. I don't like smoking".
"Oh, well," said the doctor, "then don't drink any more alcohol".
"But I don't drink alcohol", answered Mrs. Jenkins at once.
"Stop drinking tea and coffee then", the doctor said to her.
"I only drink water," answered Mrs. Jenkins. "I don't like tea or coffee".
The doctor thought for a few seconds and then said, "Well... er... do you like fried potatoes?"
"Yes, I like them very much," answered Mrs. Jenkins.
"All right, then stop eating those", said the doctor as he got out to say goodbye to Mrs. Jenkins.
Unit 16.
John liked chocolates very much, but his mother never gave him any, because they were bad for his teeth, she
thought. But John had a very nice grandfather. The old man loved his grandson very much, and sometimes he
brought John chocolates when he came to visit him. Then his mother, let him eat them, because she wanted to
make the old man happy.
One evening, a few days before John's seventh birthday, he was saying his prayers in his bedroom before he

went to bed. "Please, God", he shouted, "make them give me a big box of chocolates for my birthday one
Saturday".
His mother was in the kitchen, but she heard the small boy shouting and went into his bedroom quickly.
"Why are you shouting, John?" she asked her son. "God can hear you when you talk quietly".
"I know," answered the clever boy with a smile, "but Grandfather's in the next room, and he can't".
Unit 17.
It was Jimmy's birthday, and he was five years old. He got quite a lot of nice birthday presents from his
family, and one of them was a beautiful big drum.
"Who gave him that thing?" Jimmy's farther said when he saw it.
"His grandfather did," answered Jimmy's mother.
"Oh," said his father.
Of course, Jimmy liked his drum very much. He made a terrible noise with it, but his mother did not mind. His
father was working during the day, and Jimy was in bed when he got home in the evening, so he did not hear
the noise.
But one of the neighbours did not like the noise at all, so one morning a few day later, she took a sharp knife
and went to Jimmy's house while he was hitting his drum. She said to him, "Hullo, Jimmy. Do you know,
there's something very nice inside your drum. Here's a knife. Open the drum and let's find it".
Unit 18.
When Tom Howard was seventeen years old he was as tall as his father, so he began to borrow Mr. Howard's
clothes when he wanted to go out with his friends in the evening.
Mr. Howard did not like this, and he always got very angry when he found his son wearing any of his things.
One evening when Tom came downstairs to go out, his father stopped him in the hall. He looked at Tom's
clothes very carefully.
Then he said angrily, "Isn't that one of my ties, Tom?"
"Yes, Father, it is " answered Tom.
"And that shirt's mine too, isn't it?" his father continued.
"Yes, that's yours too," answered Tom.
"And you're wearing my belt!" Said Mr. Howard.
"Yes, I am, Father," answered Tom. "You don't want your trousers to fall down, do you?"
Unit 19.

Mr. Yates was nearly ninety, so it was often difficult for him to remember things, but he still liked travelling
very much, so he and his wife went to Spain every year. One summer when they were there, they went to visit
some friends. These people had two young daughters.
One afternoon Mr. Yates was talking to one of the girls in the garden after lunch. "You and your sister were ill
when my wife and I were here last year, weren't you?" He said to her.
"Yes, we were", answered the girl, "We were very ill".
The old man said nothing for a minute, because he was thinking. Then at last he said, "Oh, yes, I remember
now! One of you died. Which one of you was it, you or your sister?"


The girl answered, "It was me".
"Oh? I'm very sorry to hear it," said the old man.
Unit 20.
Mr. Knott was a teacher. He taught in a big school in London. He lived a long way from the school, so he was
usually quite tired when he got home. At nine o'clock one evening, when he was in bed, the telephone bell
rang in the hall of his small house, so he went downstairs, picked up the telephone and said, "This is
Whitebridge 3165. Who's speaking, please?"
"Watt," a man answered.
"What's your name, please?" said Mr. Knott.
"Watt's my name," was the answer.
"Yes, I asked you that What's your name?" Mr. Knott said again.
"I told you. Watt's my name". said the other man. "Are you Jack Smith?"
"No, I'm Knott," answered Mr. Knott.
"Will you give me your name, please?" said Mr. Watt.
"Will Knott, answered Mr. Knott.
Both Mr. Watt and Mr. Knott put their telephone down angrily and thought, "That was a rude, stupid man!"
Unit 21.
Carol Roberts left school when she was seventeen and then thought, "What's going to happen now? I want to
marry a nice, young man and have children, but no nice, young men have asked me yet. Will I meet one soon,
and will he want to marry me?"

She spoke to her best friend about these questions, and her best friend said, "Go and ask a fortuneteller. Perhaps she'll give you the answers".
So Carol went to see a fortune-teller. The fortune-teller said to her, "I'll give you answers to two questions. It'll
cost you five pounds".
Carol was surprised. She thought for some time, but at last she paid the money. Then she said to the fortuneteller, "Isn't that very expensive for only two questions?"
"Yes, it is," answered the fortune-teller. "And now what's your second question?"
Unit 22.
Jack had a small, red car and he liked driving it very fast. This was all right when he was out in the country,
but in towns and big villages driving fast is dangerous, so there is always a speed limit. In Jack's country it
was fifty kilometers an hour. Jack often drove faster than that through towns.
One day Jack was driving his small, red car through a town when a very young policeman stopped him and
said, "you were driving at more than fifty kilometers an hour, sir. Please give me your name and address".
Jack looked at the young policeman carefully for a few seconds and then said to him, "But I started my
journey less than an hour ago!"
The policeman was new to this work and did not know the answer to Jack's excuse. He thought for a few
seconds and then let Jack go.
Unit 23.
Dick was seven years old, and his sister, Catherine, was five. One day their mother took them to their aunt's
house to play while she went to the big city to buy some new clothes.
The children played for an hour, and then at half past four their aunt took Dick into the kitchen. She gave him
a nice cake and a knife and said to him, "Now here's a knife, Dick. Cut this cake in half and give one of the
pieces to your sister, but remember to do it like a gentleman".
"Like a gentleman?" Dick asked. "How do gentleman do it?"
"They always give the bigger piece to the other person," answered his aunt at once.
"Oh", said Dick. He thought about this for a few seconds. Then he took the cake to his sister and said to her,
"Cut this cake in half, Catherine".
Unit 24.
A small boy and his father were having a walk in the country when it suddenly began to rain very hard. They
did not have their umbrellas with them, and there was nowhere to hide from the rain, so they were soon very
wet, and the small boy did not feel very happy.
For a long time while they were walking home through the rain, the boy was thinking. Then at last he turned

to his father and said to him, "Why does rain, Father? It isn't very nice, is it?"


"No, it isn't very nice, but it's very useful, Tom," answered his father. "It rains to make the fruit and the
vegetables grow for us, and to make the grass grow for the cows and sheep".
Tom thought about this for a few seconds, and then he said, "Then, why does it rain on the road too, Father?"
Unit 25.
A man went into a bar, sat down, called the barman and said to him, "Give me a drink before the trouble
starts".
The barman was busy with other people, so he did not say anything, but he gave the man the drink, and the
man drank it quickly. Then he put his glass down, called the barman again and said to him, "Give me another
one before the trouble starts".
Again the barman was too busy to say anything, so he gave the man his drink and went away. The man drank
that too, and then again he called the barman and said to him, "One more drink before the trouble starts,
please".
This time the barman was not very busy, so when he brought the man his third drink, he said to him, "What
trouble are you talking about?"
The man answered, "I haven't got any money".
Unit 26.
A man and his wife had a small bar near a station. The bar often stayed open until after midnight, because
people came to drink there while they were waiting for trains.
At two o'clock one morning, one man was still sitting at a table in the small bar. He was asleep. The barman's
wife wanted to go to bed. She looked into the bar several times, and each time the man was still there. Then at
last she went to her husband and said to him, "You've woken that man six times now, George, but he isn't
drinking anything. Why haven't you sent him away? It's very late".
"Oh, No, I don't want to send him away," answered her husband with a smile. "You see, whenever I wake him
up, he asks for his bill, and when I bring it to him he pays it. Then he goes to sleep again".
Unit 27.
Two friends were camping together. Their names were Jim and Tim. Tim was very lazy. The first evening of
their holiday, Jim said to Tim, "Here's some money, Go and buy some meat".

"I'm too tired," answered Tim. "You go". So Jim went to buy the meat.
When he came back, he said to Tim, "Now, here's the meat. Please cook it. " But Tim answered, "No I'm not
good at cooking. You do it. " So Jim cooked the meat.
Then Jim said to Tim, "Cut the bread," but Tim answered, "I don't want to," so Jim cut the bread.
Then he said to Tim, "Go and get some water, please".
"No, I don't want to get my clothes dirty," Tim answered, so Jim got the water.
At last Jim said, "The meal's ready. Come and eat it".
"Well, I'll do that," answered Tim. "I don't like saying "No" all the time".
Unit 28.
One morning a man was crossing a narrow bridge when he saw a fisherman on the shady bank of the deep,
smooth river under him, so he stopped to watch him quietly.
After a few minutes, the fisherman pulled his line in. There was a big, fat fish at the end of it.
The fisherman took it off the hook and threw it back into the water. Then he put his hook and line in
again. After a few more minutes he caught another big fish. Again he threw it back into the river. Then, the
third time, he caught a small fish. He put it into his basket and started to get ready to go. The man on the
bridge was very surprised, so he spoke to the fisherman. He said, "Why did you throw those beautiful, big fish
back into the water, and keep only that small one?"
The fisherman looked up and answered, "Small frying pan".
Unit 29.
When the Americans were getting ready to send their first men to the moon, an old Irishman was watching
them on television in the bar of a hotel.
There was an Englishman in the bar too, and he said to the Irishman, "The Americans are very clever, aren't
they? They're going to send some men to the moon. It's a very long way from our world".
"Oh, that's nothing," the Irishman answered quickly. "The Irish are going to send some men to the sun in a few
months' time. That's much farther away than the moon, you know".


The Englishman was very surprised when he heard this. "Oh, yes, it is," he said, "but the sun too hot for
people to go to".
The Irishman laughed and answered, "Well, the Irish aren't stupid, you know. We won't go to the sun during

the day, of course. We'll go there by during the night".
Unit 30.
Dave's class at school were studying English history, and one day their teacher said to them, "Well, boys, on
Friday we're all going to get on a bus and go to Conway. There's a beautiful castle there, and we're going to
visit it". The boys were very happy when they heard this.
"Now, has anybody got any questions?" the teacher asked
"How old is the castle, sir?" Dave asked
"It's about seven hundred years old, Dave," The teacher answered.
"What's the name of the castle, sir?" another boy asked
"Conway Castle," the teacher said.
On Friday the boys came to school at 9 o'clock and got into the bus. They visited Conway Castle, and then
they came back and went home.
"Well, Dave's mother said to him when he got home, "Did you like the castle, Dave?"
"Not very much," Dave answered. "The stupid people built it too near the railway".

Unit 31.
Two Mexicans has accused each other of cheating, and both of them were getting angrier and angrier.
"I'll kill you" shouted Jose.
Miguel laughed rudely and answered, "You could never kill me but I could kill you!"
"Just try!" Jose shouted back. "Well fight a duel in the park at five o'clock tomorrow morning".
"No, not in the park" Miguel answered. "The police might see or hear us there. Let's go out to a quiet place in
the country".
"All right," said Jose, "I accept. Let's go to San Antonio by the first train tomorrow morning. That's where I
usually fight my duels".
"I do too," answered Miguel.
The next morning they went to the railway station together, and Jose bought a return ticket, but Miguel bought
a single one.
"Ho, ho" said Jose. "So you don't expect to return? I always get a return ticket".
"I never do," answered Miguel calmly. "I always use my opponent's other half".
Unit 32.

Mrs Evans went to a large local cinema one summer afternoon. Half-way through the wonderful film there
was the usual interval, so that people could buy sweets, chocolates and ice-cream.
Mrs Evans rarely bought anything in the cinema, but this time she was feeling hot, so she thought, "I'll have an
ice-cream to cool me. I certainly need it. " Quite a lot of the audience were waiting to buy ice-cream from the
girl who was selling them, so Mrs Evans waited for her turn.
There was a small boy in front of her. When it was his turn, he offered the girl ten pence and asked for an icecream, but they cost twenty pence, so the girl said, "I want another ten pence, please".
The small boy put the coin back in his pocket, puts his hand in another pocket, took out another ten pence coin
and offered that to the girl.
Mrs Evans so amused that she paid the other ten pence herself.
Unit 33.
A clerk who worked in a small office in a factory discovered that there were so many files in his room that
there was not room for any more. Also, each file was so full that it was impossible to add more papers to it.
"Well," he thought, "every week I have to find room for several hundred letters, so something will have to be
done about this".
He thought and thought, and then decided to send a note to his manager explaining what had happened and
asking him for his permission to go through the old files and to take out and destroy all letters which were no
longer of any use.
The next day he received a note from the manager in answer to his. It said, "All right, you have permission to
do as you suggest, but you must make copies of all letters before destroying them".


Unit 34.
Len and Jim worked for the same company. One day, Len lent Jim 20 dollars, but then Jim left his job and
went to work in another town without paying Len back his 20 dollars.
Len did not see Jim for a year, and then he heard from another friend that Jim was in town and staying at the
Central Hotel, so he went to see him there late in the evening.
He found out the number of Jim's room from the clerk at the desk downstairs and went up to find him. When
he got to the room, he saw Jim's shoes outside the door, waiting to be cleaned.
"Well, he must be in," he thought, and knocked at the door.
There was no answer.

He knocked again. Then he said, "I know you're in, Jim. Your shoes are out here".
"I went out in my slippers," answered a voice from inside the room.
Unit 35.
Timothy was ten years old. He was not a very good pupil, and he did not like having to do homework, because
he preferred to do other things in his free time. Frequently he did not do his homework, and when he did it, he
always made a lot of mistakes.
Then one day, his mathematics teacher looked at Timothy's homework and saw that he had got all his sums
right. He was very pleased and rather surprised. He called Timothy to his desk and said to him, "You got all
your homework right this time, Timothy. What happened? Did your father help you?"
Usually Timothy's father did help him with his homework, but the evening before this, he had not been able
to, because he had not been at home, so Timothy answered, "No, sir. He was busy last night, so I had to do it
all myself".
Unit 36.
Two sailors who had just finished a long voyage went home to their village and decided to have a few drinks
in the bar there. When they had had enough, they came out into the street to look for something amusing to
do. But it was a very quiet place, and nothing interesting ever happened there, so they could not find anything.
But at last, while they were standing in the market-place outside the bar, they saw a village boy coming slowly
towards them. He was lending a donkey by a rope, so the sailors decided that they would have a joke with
him.
"Hullo, one of the sailors said to the boy. "Why does your brother have to have a rope round his neck when he
goes for a walk with you?"
"To stop him joining the navy," the boy answered at once.
Unit 37.
There was once a large, fat woman who had a small, thin husband. He had a job in a big company and was
given his weekly wages every Friday evening. As soon as he got home on Fridays, his wife used to make him
give her all his money, and then she used to give him back only enough to buy his lunch in the office every
day.
One day the small man came home very excited. He hurried into the living-room. His wife was listening to the
radio and eating chocolates there.
"You'll never guess what happened to me today, dear," he said.

He waited for a few seconds and then added, "I won ten thousand pounds on the lottery!"
"That's wonderful" said his wife delightedly. But then she thought for a few seconds and added angrily, "But
wait a moment! How could you afford to buy the ticket?"
Unit 38.
Bill Jenkins worked in a big office in the city, and generally he used to go to the barber's during working hours
to have his hair cut, although this was against the rule: clerks had to have their hair cut in their own time.
While Bill was at the barber's one day, the manager of the office came in by chance to have his own hair
cut. Bill saw him and tried to hide his face, but the manager came and sat beside him, so he soon recognized
him.
"Hullo Jenkins," the manager said. "I see that you are having your hair cut in office time".
Yes, sir, I am," admitted Bill calmly. "You see, sir, it grows in office time".
"Not all of it," said the manager of the office at once. "Some of it grows in your own time".
"Yes, sir, that's quite true, answered Bill politely, "but I'm not having it all cut off".


Unit 39.
A clerk who worked very hard and was usually very punctual arrived at his office very late one morning. He
had bruises on his face, a scratch on one of his lips, sticking-plaster on his left wrist and thumb, and a bandage
on his right shoulder. He had also hurt his knees, ankles and some of his toes.
The manager of the office was not a patient man, and he had been waiting for the clerk, because he had some
work to give him. When he saw him come in at last, he said angrily, "You're an hour late, Tomkins!"
"I know, sir," answered the clerk politely. "I'm very sorry. My flat is on the eighth floor, and just before I left
home this morning, while I was closing one of the windows, I slipped and fell out".
"Well," the manager answered coldly, "did that take you an hour?"
Unit 40.
Elizabeth was a very pretty girl, and her parents were rich. Quite a lot of the young men in the town wanted to
marry her, but she was not satisfied with any of them.
One evening, one of the handsomest of the young men who wanted to marry Elizabeth came to visit her in her
parents' house and asked her to become his wife. She answered, "No, William, I won't marry you. I want to
marry a man who is famous, who can play music, sing and dance very well, who can tell really interesting

stories, who does not smoke or drink, who stays at home in the evenings and who stops talking when I'm tired
of listening".
The young man got up, took his coat and went to the door, but before he left the house, he turned and said to
Elizabeth, "It isn't a man you're looking for. It's a television set".
Unit 41.
Miss Grey lived alone in a small flat. She was old and did not like noise at all, so she was very pleased when
the noisy young man and woman who lived in the flat above her moved out. A new young man moved in, and
Miss Grey thought, "Well, he looks quiet".
But at three o'clock the next morning, Miss Grey was woken up by the barking of a dog.
She thought, "I've never heard a dog here before. It must belong to the new man in the flat above. " So she
telephoned the young man, said some nasty things to him about the dog and then hung the telephone up before
he could answer.
Nothing more happened until three o'clock the next morning. Then Miss Grey's telephone rang, and when she
answered, a voice said, "I'm the man upstairs. I've rung you up to say that I haven't got a dog".
Unit 42.
Mrs Robinson had one small son. His name was Billy. Mrs Robinson loved Billy very much, and as he was
not a strong child, she was always afraid that he might get ill, so she used to take him to the best doctor in the
town four times a year to be examined.
During one of these visits, the doctor gave Billy various tests and then said to him, "Have you had any trouble
with your nose or ears recently?"
Billy thought for a second and then answered, "Yes, I have".
Mrs Robinson was very worried. "But I'm sure you've never told me that, Billy" She said anxiously.
"Oh, really? " said the doctor seriously, "And what trouble have you had with your nose and ears, my boy?"
"Well," answered Billy, "I always have trouble with them when I'm taking my jersey of, because the neck is
very tight".
Unit 43.
Some friends hired a bus to go to the seaside for the day. When they returned to the bus late at night to go
home, someone was lying on the ground beside it. They looked at him and discovered that he was a man from
their town whom they were sure had not come on their bus. He was very drunk.
"I suppose he came in another bus," one of the men said, "and missed it when it left for home because he was

drunk. Now he's come to our bus to go back in that".
Two men put him into the bus. He did not wake up during the drive back, and when the bus arrived, they took
him to his home, still very drunk.
They knocked at the door for several minutes, and then a neighbour opened a window and said, "It's no use
knocking there. They've gone to the seaside for two weeks".
Unit 44.
A man met a friend in the street and asked him to lend him five pounds. The friend did so willingly.


A week later they met again, "You've lent me 5 pounds, lend me another 5 pounds, and then I'll owe you 10
pounds, " the friend said. The man did so.
A few days later they met again, and the friend said, "You lent me 10 pounds. Lend me another 10 pounds,
and then I'll owe you 20 pounds. " The man did this, although he was rather doubtful about doing it.
Two weeks later the friend asked for more money. " He said "You've already lent me 20 pounds. Can you
make it 50 pounds?
The man did not answer for a few seconds, but he was unable to refuse.
A month later, the men met again. "You've lent me 50 pounds... ... " began the friend.
"Who? Me?" answered the man anxiously. "I disagree! I've never lent you any money!"
Unit 45.
A man was driving along a road in his motor-car when a policeman on a motor-cycle stopped him and
said. "You're only allowed to do eighty along this road".
The man had to go to court, and there he told the judge that he was not driving at more than eighty kilometres
an hour, and that he never drove at more than sixty-five.
The man's wife had been in the car too, when the policeman had stopped it, and she said to the judge, "My
husband was driving at only fifty kilometres an hour when the policeman stopped him".
Her sister, Ann, had been in the car too, and she said to the judge, "We were hardly moving at all when the
policeman came up behind us".
By the time, the judge had had quite enough. "Stop now, " he said, "or you will finish by hitting something
behind your car".
Unit 46.

A potato farmer was sent to prison just at the time when he should have been digging the ground for planting
the new crop of potatoes. He knew that his wife would not be strong enough to do the digging by herself, but
that she could manage to do the planting; and he also knew that he did not have any friends or neighbours who
would be willing to do the digging for him. So he wrote a letter to his wife which said, "Please do not dig the
potato field. I hid the money and the gun there".
Ten days later he got a letter from his wife. It said, "I think somebody is reading your letters before they go
out of the prison. Some policemen arrived here two days ago and dug up the whole potato field. What shall I
do now?"
The prisoner wrote back at once, "Plant the potatoes, of course".
Unit 47.
Joe was going into his usual bar before lunch when he saw a poorly dressed man fishing in a small pool of
rain-water about five centimetres deep outside it.
Joe stopped and watched the man for a few minutes. He saw that most of people who passed by him believed
he must be rather mad.
Joe pitied the man, so after a few minutes he went up to him and said kindly, "Hullo, would you like to come
into the bar and have a drink with me?"
The fisherman was delighted to accept his offer, and the two men went into the bar together. Joe bought the
fisherman a few drinks, and finally said to him, "You've been fishing outside here, haven't you? How many
did you manage to catch this morning, if I may ask?"
"You're the eighth," the fisherman answered merrily.
Unit 48.
Mr Robinson was driving to Oxford one cloudy day when he saw a hitch-hiker holding a sign above his head
which said CAMBRIDGE. Mr Robinson thought it unwise to take hitch-hikers, because he had read
frightening stories of what some of them did to drivers, but he was a kind man, so he stopped and said,
"You're going to get wet. You're on the wrong road for Cambridge. This road goes to Oxford".
"Yes, I know," answered the hitch-hiker gaily, as he got into Mr Robinson's car. "That's where I want to go. I
only started to wait here a minute ago, and I knew someone would be likely to stop to tell me I was on the
wrong road. If I'd held up a sign with OXFORD on it, I might have had to wait for an hour for someone to
stop!"
Unit 49.

Mr Grey had a nice shop in the main street of a small town. He sold jewellery, watches, clocks and other
things like those. All went well for some years, and then Mr Grey's shop was broken into at night twice in one


month, and a lot of jewellery was stolen each time. The police had still not managed to catch the thief three
weeks later, so Mr Grey decided that he would try to do something about it. He therefore bought a camera,
fixed it up to his shop so that it would photograph anyone who broke to at night, and put some very cheap
jewellery in front of it for the thief.
A few nights later the thief did come again, but he did not touch any of the cheap jewellery that Mr Grey had
put out for him. He took the camera. It was worth 150 pounds.
Unit 50.
Mrs Williamson had two sons. One morning during the holidays, when she was doing the washing for the
family, her younger son came and asked her for some money for sweets.
"Sweets are bad for your teeth," Mrs Williamson said. "Take these two oranges instead, and give one to your
older brother". One of the orange was quite a lot bigger than the other, and as the small boy liked oranges, he
kept that one for himself, and gave his brother the smaller one.
When the older boy saw that his brother had a much larger orange than his own, he said to him, "It's selfish to
take the bigger one for yourself. If mother had given me the oranges, I'd have given you the bigger one".
"I know you would," answered his brother. "That's why I took it".
Unit 51.
A busy mother asked her young son to take his baby sister out into the garden and look after her for half an
hour while she was doing some work in the house.
The boy took the baby out, and they seemed to be playing quite happily when suddenly the mother heard the
baby begin to cry, so she shouted to her son, "Billy, what's the matter with Susan? Why's she crying?"
"Because she wants my marbles," answered Billy.
"Well, let her play with a few of them if it will stop her crying," said the mother patiently. "I must finish this
work, and she'd be in my way in here".
But she wants to keep them" answered Billy.
"No, she doesn't," the mother said. "She's only a baby. She's too young to understand anything like that".
"But I know that she wants to keep them," answered Billy. "She's already swallowed two of them!"

Unit 52.
Dick was a waiter in a small restaurant. One day a man came in and sat down at one of the tables. Dick
greeted him and went to find out what he wanted to eat. The man said he would like some chicken with
potatoes and other vegetables.
"Roast chicken," he added as Dick was leaving.
"Very well, sir," Dick answered and disappeared into the kitchen.
But the man called him back, saying, "just a moment, waiter. Please try to have it cooked just right, not to
little, and not too much, and with as little fat as possible.
"Very well, sir," answered Dick obediently. "I'll tell the cook".
Once more he began to go towards the kitchen, but again the man stopped him with the words, "Oh, and I
forgot to explain that I'm fond of the leg".
"Very well, sir," answered Dick. "Do you prefer the left leg or the right?"
Unit 53.
When David Williams left the university, he went to Australia. When he returned to England for a visit twenty
years later, he decided to go back to his old university.
David was delighted when he discovered that his old professor was still teaching there. He went to visit the
old man, and after they had had an interesting talk, the professor went out to get something. While he was
away, David saw an examination paper on the desk. He looked at the date on it and saw that it had been given
to the students the week before. David picked the paper up and read it through.
When the professor came back, David said to him "Professor, I'm certain that these are exactly the same
questions that you asked us in our examinations twenty years ago! How is that possible?"
"Yes, that's right," answered the professor calmly. "The questions are the same, but the answers have
changed".
Unit 54.
When George finished his studies at the university, he began to look around for a job. He did not know what
he would like to do, but one of his uncles had worked for the government for thirty years, and he advised


George to try to get a job of the same kind, so he went for an examination one day. He was successful, and his
first job was in a large government office in London.

When George had been working there for a few weeks his uncle came to visit the family one Saturday
evening. He was delighted that his nephew had managed to get a job working for the government, and he
asked him a lot of questions about it.
One of the questions he asked was, "And how many people work in your department, George?"
The young man thought for a few moments and then answered, "About half of them, Uncle Jim".
Unit 55.
A young mother believed that it was very wrong to waste any food when there were so many hungry people in
the world. One evening, she was giving her small daughter her tea before putting her to bed. First she gave her
a slice of fresh brown bread and butter, but the child said that she did not want it like that. She asked for some
jam on her bread as well.
Her mother looked at her for a few seconds and then said, "When I was a small girl like you, Lucky, I was
always given either bread and butter, or bread and jam, but never bread with butter and jam".
Lucky looked at her mother for a few moments with pity in her eyes and then said to her kindly, "Aren't you
pleased that you've come to live with us now?"
Unit 56.
A very new young officer was at a railway station. He was on his way to visit his mother in another town, and
he wanted to telephone her to tell her the time of his train, so that she could meet him at the station in her
car. He looked in all his pockets, but found that he did not have the right money for the telephone, so he went
outside and looked around for someone to help him.
At last an old soldier came by, and the young officer stopped him and said, "Have you got change for ten
pence?"
"Wait a moment," the old soldier answered, beginning to put his hand to his pocket. "I'll see whether I can
help you".
"Don't you know how to speak to an officer? " The young man said angrily. "Now let's start again. Have you
got change for ten pence?"
"No, sir," the old soldier answered quickly".
Unit 57.
An old porter had been working for the railway for a very long time. He was standing in one of the big railway
stations in London one morning, waiting for travellers to ask him to help them with their luggage, when he
saw a small man running towards the trains, carrying a bag.

The porter watched the man for a few seconds, and then the man saw the porter. At once he ran up to him and
said, "Can I catch the 10.35 train to Newcastle-on-Tyne, porter? " He was breathing very fast, and he sounded
worried.
The old porter looked at him for a moment and then said politely, "Well, sir, I'd like to help you, but I can't
answer your question, because I don't know how fast you can run along rails. You see, he explained, "the
10.35 train to Newcastle-on-Tyne left, five minutes ago".
Unit 58.
A young man hurried into his town library. He went up to one of the old librarians and said to her eagerly, "Do
you remember that you persuaded me to borrow a book about Greek history a week ago?"
"Yes, that's right," answered the librarian.
"Do you remember the name of the book? " the young man asked.
The librarian felt very proud, because she was always trying to get young people to take out books about
Greek history, and she rarely found one who was willing to accept her suggestions.
"Yes," she answered, "Do you want to take it out again? Did you think that it was an interesting?"
"No, of course not," said the young man, "but when I was taking it home, I met a girl on the bus, and I wrote
her telephone number in the book. I want to telephone her, so please may I look at the book again?"
Unit 59.
A big battle was going on during the first World War. Guns were firing, and shells and bullets were flying
about everywhere. After an hour of this, one of the soldiers decided that the fighting was getting too
dangerous for him, so he left the front line and began to go away from the battle. After he had walked for an
hour, he saw an officer coming towards him. The officer stopped him and said, "Where are you going?"


"I'm trying to get as far away as possible from the battle that's going on behind us, sir," the soldier answered.
"Do you know who I am? " the officer said to him angrily. "I'm your commanding officer".
The soldier was very surprised when he heard this and said, "My God, I didn't realize that I was so far back
already!"
Unit 60.
A young lady who was on holiday in Brighton went into a bank to collect some money which had been sent
there for her from the town in which she lived.

The clerk in the Brighton bank did not know her, so he said, "What proof have you got that you are really the
lady who should collect this money?"
The young lady looked worried for a few moments and said, "I don't think I've brought any proof with me,
"but then she suddenly looked happy again. She opened her bag, took a photograph of herself out of it and
showed it to the clerk. "Here's something," she said.
The clerk looked at the photograph carefully and then looked at the young lady. "Yes, that's you," he said, and
paid the money to her without any more trouble.
Unit 61.
Some villagers were going to celebrate an important wine festival in a few day's time, so they borrowed a
huge barrel from the nearest town, put it in the village square, and determined that each of them should empty
a bottle of the best wine he had into it, so that there should be plenty at the feast.
One of the villagers thought he would be very clever. "If I pour a bottle of water in, instead of wine, no one
will notice it," he said to himself, "because there will be so much excellent wine in the barrel that the water
will be lost in it".
The night of the feast arrived. Everybody gathered in the village square with their jugs and their glasses for the
wine. The tap on the barrel was opened, but what came out was pure water. Everyone in the village had had
the same idea.
Unit 62.
Can you think of sentence in which the word "and" appears five times, without any words in between? There
is one at the end of this story.
There was once an inn which was called "The horse and Cart". It had the sign outside it which had a picture of
a horse and cart on it, but the sign was getting very old, so the owner of the inn decided to have a new one
made. He went to a painter and asked him to paint one, and to write "The Horse and Cart" on it in large letters.
A few days later, he went to see how painter was getting on. He liked the picture of the horse and cart very
much, but he did not like the writing at all. He said to the painter, "No, no! There's too much space between
HORSE and AND and AND and CART!"
Unit 63.
A young man was called up for army service and had to go to be medically examined. The doctor was sitting
at the desk when he went in. He said to the man, "take your coat and shirt off, loosen your belt and sit on that
chair".

The young man did so. The doctor looked at him for a moment without getting up from his chair and then
said, "All right. Put your clothes on again".
"But you haven't examined me at all! " The young man said in a trouble voice.
"It isn't necessary," the doctor said gently. "When I told you to take your coat and shirt off, you hear me all
right, so you aren't deaf. You saw the chair I pointed to, so your eyesight's good enough for the army. You
managed to take your clothes off and to sit on the chair, so your body must be healthy, and you understood
what I told you to do and did it without a mistake, so you must possess enough intelligence for the army".
Unit 64.
A man had to go to court, and he asked his lawyer which judge would be hearing his case. His lawyer told him
and then said, "Do you know him?"
The man answered "No, but I wanted to know his name so that I could send him a dozen bottles of good
wine".
The lawyer was terribly shocked. "You can't do that," he said. "You would be breaking the law very seriously,
and you would be sure to lose the case".
Some weeks later the case was heard, and the man won it. As he was leaving the court, he said to his lawyer,
"My present to the judge was quite successful, wasn't it?"


The lawyer was even more shocked than before, and said "What? Did you really send him that wine after what
I told you?"
"Yes, certainly," answered the man. "But I put my opponent's name on the card which I sent with the wine".
Unit 65.
A man was telling one of his friends the secret of his contented married life. "My wife makes all the small
decisions," he explained, "and I make all the big ones, so we never interfere in each other's business and never
get annoyed with each other. We have no complaints and no arguments".
"That sounds reasonable," answered his friend sympathetically. "And what sort of decisions does your wife
make?"
"Well," answered the man, "she decides what jobs I apply for, what sort of house we live in, what furniture we
have, where we go for our holidays, and things like that".
His friend was surprised "Oh? " He said. "And what do you consider important decisions then?"

"Well," answered the man. "I decide who should be Prime Minister, whether we should increase our help to
poor countries, what we should do about the atom bomb, and things like that".
Unit 66.
John was the only son of a wealthy American businessman. Usually he was taken to school by the chauffeur in
his father's beautiful car, before the chauffeur took John's father to his office. One evening his father told him
that he had to go to the airport early the next day, so he would need the car at the time that John had to go to
school. He said that John's mother, who possessed another car, would still be in bed at the time he had to leave
the house.
"Well, how will I get to school if you need your car and Mummy is still in bed?" John asked. His father
thought this was a good opportunity to teach him a lesson about how hard life was for the less fortunate people
of the world, so he answered, "You'll go in the same way as every other child in the world goes, in a taxi".
Unit 67.
At the entrance to a big office in London there was a book which all employees had to sign when they arrived
each morning. At nine o'clock, the manager's secretary, who lived in a small flat above the office, had to draw
a red line under the last name in the book, and anyone who came after that had to explain why he was late.
Whenever there was a thick fog in the city, the first person to arrive late usually wrote "Delayed by fog" under
the red line in the book, and then everybody else who came after that just put "ditto" underneath.
But one foggy morning, the first man to arrive late wrote "My wife had a baby early this morning" instead of
"Delayed by fog" under the red line in the book. Twenty or thirty people who came after him put "ditto"
underneath as usual.
Unit 68.
A policeman returned to his police station one evening and reported to the sergeant that he had found an old
car with no number plates.
"Where was it?" Asked the sergeant.
"In Ecclesiastes Street, beyond the bridge," answered the policeman.
The sergeant opened the report book and began to write. When he reached the name of the street, he began to
spell aloud: "E-c-I". He looked at this for a few seconds, then crossed it out and wrote "E-c-k". Then he
became annoyed, decided that he was already too busy with other jobs, and said to the policeman, "Write the
report yourself".
The policeman had a try too, but after a minute, he put his helmet on and began to go out slowly.

"Where are you going?" The sergeant asked.
"Back to Ecclesiastes Street," answered the policeman. "I'm going to push the car round the corner into Green
Street".
Unit 69.
The leader of a band was finding it extremely difficult to prepare for an important performance, because the
members of the band were never all present at any one of the rehearsals. Then the last rehearsals before the
show came, and again some of the members were not there. At the end of the rehearsals, the leader said to all
the members of the band who were present, "I have been making a note of those who have been absent from
our various rehearsals. Here it is". He took a piece of paper out of his pocket and looked at it. "I see that the
only man who has been hardworking and faithful enough to be present every time is the drummer".


The drummer went very red, stood up and answered, "Well, I thought it was the only right thing to do, as I
won't be able to come to the show tomorrow".
Unit 70.
A man was tired of living in his old house in the country and wanted to sell it and buy a better one. He
attempted to sell it for a long time, but was not successful, so at last he decided to solve the problem by using
an estate agent.
The agent promptly advertised the house, and a few days later, the owner saw a very attractive photograph of
it, with a wonderful description of its gardens, in an expensive magazine.
After the house owner had read the advertisement through, he hastened to telephone the estate agent and said
to him. "I'm sorry, Mr.Jones, but I've decided not to sell my house after all. After reading your advertisement
in that magazine, I can see that it's just the kind of house I've wanted to live in all my life".
Unit 71.
Jean was a very beautiful young girl, so she was quite used to some men showing their admiration for her, and
to others being confused and shy when they saw her.
One summer, when Jean was travelling abroad, she went into a cafe in a small town, sat down and waited to
be served.
The young waiter was talking to someone at the bar when she came in, and at first he did not pay any attention
to her, because he had not looked at her properly. Then he turned round and saw how beautiful she was. His

face went bright red, and he hurried over to take her order.
"I'd like coffee without cream, please," Jean said.
The waiter hurried out, and came back a few minutes later without the coffee.
"I'm very sorry," he said, "but we haven't got any cream. Would you like your coffee without milk?"
Unit 72.
Carol and Susan were great friends. They were in the same class at school, and they often visited each other's
homes at weekends.
When they were both eight years old, Carol's mother had a baby. Carol was overjoyed to have a little sister
and was always talking about her to Susan, who had no brothers or sisters.
At first Susan was very interested in the new baby, but after some time she began to get rather discontented
with Carol's continual talking about it. She also felt a little jealous.
One morning when the two girls were in the school playground. Carol said to Susan cheerfully, "Do you
know, Susan, my baby sister gained nearly two hundred grams in weight this week".
"That's not very much," answered Susan. "I know a baby that gains five kilograms a day".
"Oh, that can't be true! " Answered Carol scornfully, "Whose baby is it?"
"An elephant's" said Susan.
Unit 73.
A priest who was walking through a small town saw a blackboard outside the front door of a school. It had
been washed and put out to dry in the open air.
There was a piece of chalk at the foot of the blackboard, so the priest took it and wrote in large letters, "I'm a
priest and I pray for you all".
A lawyer happened to pass next and when he saw what the priest had written, he added under it, "I'm a lawyer
and I defend you all".
Then a doctor came by, took the piece of chalk and wrote on the blackboard, "I'm a doctor and I cure you all".
Finally ordinary citizen stopped, looked at what the others had written, thought for a few seconds and then
added, "I'm an ordinary citizen and I pay for you all".
Unit 74.
George was a quiet, serious young man. He had been studying particularly hard one year, and when he passed
his examinations, his friend Jim went to give him his congratulations and then had an earnest conversation
with him.

"You've never been to a dance, George" he said. "It's boring always studying and never enjoying
oneself. Come out with me this evening".
Perhaps you're right, Jim," replied George after a moment's hesitation.
So they went to a dance and had an enjoyable time. But George drank more than he was used to, and by
midnight Jim had become worried about him, so he said, "Now we'll walk home in the cool air".


On their way home, they came to a bridge, and George looked down at the river below attentively. The stars
were reflected in its smooth surface.
"What are those lights down there?" George inquired.
"They're the stars, George," Jim replied.
"The stars?" George said. "Well, then, how did I get up here?"
Unit 75.
One year Miss Wyatt decided to have a holiday in Italy. She did not speak much Italian, but wherever she
went, she was fortunate enough to find people who knew enough English to be able to understand what she
wanted, until one day she decided to have lunch in a charming little restaurant in a village in the south of Italy.
She had seen some nice mushrooms in the market of another village near there and thought they would taste
very good, so when the waiter came to take her order for lunch, she inquired whether she could have some
mushrooms for her meal, but she had great difficulty in explaining to him, because she did not know the
Italian word for mushrooms.
At last she took out a pencil and drew a picture of a mushrooms. The waiter's face brightened at once, and he
hastened out to the kitchen. A minute later he returned, carrying an umbrella.
Unit 76.
Tom saw an advertisement in a newspaper for a beautiful, modern bicycle which cost 54.99 pounds, so he
went to the shop which had put the advertisement in and asked to see one of their wonderful bicycles.
The shopkeeper was very happy to show one to Tom, who examined it carefully and then turned to the
shopkeeper, saying, "There isn't a lamp on this bicycle, but there was one on the bicycle in your
advertisement".
"Yes, sir," answered the shopkeeper, "but the lamp isn't included in the price of the bicycle. It's an extra".
"Not included in the price of the bicycle?" Tom said angrily. "But that's not honest if the lamp's in the

advertisement, it should have been included in the price you gave here".
"Well, sir," answered the shopkeeper calmly, "there's also a girl on the bicycle in our advertisement, but we
don't supply one of them with the bicycle either".
Unit 77.
In the United States, gifts by a company or a person to a charity which is approved by the government, can be
used to reduce the company's or the person's tax. (This is, of course, to encourage people to give money to
charities). One day the secretary of a world famous charity had a telephone call from a tax officer, who said,
"A certain gentleman who says that his name is Howard Vine claims to have given your society 15.000 dollars
in gifts last year. I am telephoning to find out whether he did in fact do so".
"Howard Vine, did you say?" Answered the secretary of the charity cautiously. "Wait a moment please. I'll
have a look in our records".
After half a minute, the tax officer heard the secretary voice again, "Mr.Howard Vine hasn't given us 15.000
dollars yet," the secretary said delightedly, "but he's going to now!"
Unit 78.
David was a young man who worked in an office in a big city. His hobby was fishing, but he did not often get
a chance to practice it.
Then one summer he decided to have a holiday in a beautiful place in the mountains where there were a lot of
streams. "I ought to be able to have some good fishing there," he said to himself.
The first morning after he arrived, he walked to the nearest stream with his fishing-rod. He saw an old man
standing beside the water, so he asked him whether it was a private stream. The old man answered that it was
not, so David then said to him, "Well, then it won't be a crime if I catch some fish here, will it?"
"Oh, no," answered the old man, "it won't be a crime, but it will certainly a miracle".
Unit 79.
A young man had a new girl friend, whom he wanted to impress, so he invited her to go to a world-famous
restaurant with him one evening. They dined wonderfully and had numerous drinks, they danced until
midnight, and there was a polished musical entertainment. The girl enjoyed the entire evening, and was
suitably impressed by everything she saw, including several film stars.
Then the waiter brought the bill at the end of the evening, and when the young man saw how much he had to
pay, he was so shocked by the total that he went as white as a sheet.

The helpful waiter, who was watching his face, thought he might be going to faint, so he quickly poured out a
glass of ice-cold water and emptied it over the young man's head. Then he took the bill back and added to it:
"Iced water: 50p".
Unit 80.
Jack had gone to the university to study history, but at the end of his first year, his history professor failed him
in his examinations, and he was told that he would have to leave the university. However, his father decided
that he would go to see the professor to urge him to let Jack continue his studies the following year.
"He's a good boy," said Jack's father, "and if you let him pass this time, I'm sure he'll improve a lot next year
and pass the examinations at the end of it really well".
"No, no, that's quite impossible! " Replied the professor immediately. "Do you know, last month I asked him
when Napoleon had died, and he didn't know!"
"Please, sir, give him another chance," said Jack's father. "You see, I'm afraid we don't take any newspapers in
our house, so none of us even knew that Napoleon was ill".
Unit 81.
Mr.Briggs got a job with an insurance company after he left school and went around visiting people in their
homes to sell them life insurance.
One day, after he had been working for the company for about a year, the insurance manager sent for him and
said, "Mr.Briggs, I have been looking at your record as a salesman with our company, and there is one thing
that surprises me about it. Why have you been selling insurance only to people over 95 years old, and why
have you been giving them such generous conditions? You'll ruin our company if you go on like that".
"Oh, no sir," answered Mr.Briggs at once. "Before I started work, I looked at the figures for deaths in this
country during the past ten years, and I can tell you that extremely few people die at the age of 95 or above
each year".
Unit 82.
For a long time Dr.Jackson had wanted to get a permanent job in a certain big modern hospital, and at last he
was successful. He was appointed to the particular position which he wanted, and he and his wife moved to
the house which they were now to live in. The next day some beautiful flowers delivered to them, with a note
which said, "Deepest sympathy".
Naturally, Dr.Jackson was annoyed to receive such an extraordinary note, and telephoned the shop which had

sent the flowers to find out what the note meant".
When the owner of the shop heard what had happened, he apologized to Mr.Jackson for having made the
mistake.
"But what really worries me much more" he added, "is that the flowers which ought to have gone to you were
sent to a funeral, with a card which said "Congratulations on your new position".
Unit 83.
During the second World War, Winston Churchill was the British Prime Minister. One day he had to go to the
British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC) to make an important speech to the nation.
An hour before the time of this speech, he stopped a taxi in the street and asked the driver to take him to the
BBC, but the taxi driver, who did not recognize him, said he could not take him anywhere just then, because
he wanted to go back to his home at the other end of London to hear Churchill make a speech on the radio.
Churchill was so pleased when he heard this answer that he gave the man a pound, which was worth quite a
lot in those days.
"All right, get in," said the driver happily, opening the door of the taxi. "I'll take you, and to hell with
Churchill and his speech!"
Unit 84.
A poor farmer who had always lived in the country and had never visited a big town won a lot of money, so he
decided that he could now afford a holiday in an excellent hotel by the sea.
When lunch-time came on his first day there, he decided to go and eat in the restaurant of the hotel. The head
waiter showed him to his table, took his order and went away. When he looked at the farmer again, he had a
surprise! The farmer had tied his table napkin round his neck.
The head waiter was very annoyed at this and immediately told one of the other waiters in the restaurant to go
to the man and inform him, without being in any way insulting, that people did not do such a thing in
restaurants of that quality.


The waiter went to the farmer and said in a friendly voice, "Good morning, sir. Would you like a shave, or a
hair-cut?"
Unit 85.
A man and his wife had arranged to have a holiday at the seaside. They were waiting at the railway station for

their train when the man saw a weighing-machine near the bench on which they were sitting. It was one of
those weighing-machines that give cards on which one's fortune is printed as well as one's weight.
The man decided to weigh himself, so he went to the machine, got on it, put a penny in, and a card came
out. The man took it back to his wife, and she read it out to him, because he had not got his glasses.
On the card was written, "You are a leader of men and have a masterly character. You have greet intelligence
and are attractive to women".
After she had read this out, the man's wife turned the card over, looked at the back for a moment and then
remarked, "It's got your weight wrong too".
Unit 86.
A man went to see his doctor one day because he was suffering from pains in his stomach. After the doctor
had examined him carefully, he said to him, "Well, there's nothing really wrong with you, I'm glad to
say. Your only trouble is that you worry too much. Do you know, I had a man with the same trouble as you in
here a few weeks ago, and I gave him the same advice as I'm going to give you. He was worried because he
couldn't pay his tailor's bills. I told him not to worry his head about the bills any more. He followed my
advice, and when he came to see me again two days ago, he told me that he now feels all right again".
"Yes, I know all about that," answered the patient sadly. "You see, I'm that man's tailor".
Unit 87.
Mary wanted to be a nurse when she left school, but in the meantime, she joined the Red Cross and had some
limited training.
She was taught that, in case of an accident, and they were plentiful in her town, she should give first aid at
once and then send for a doctor.
One day, there was an accident in a busy street, and when Mary arrived soon after she saw a man bending over
a woman who had been accidentally knocked down by a car and was lying motionless in the street.
Mary ran up pushed the man away, informed the crowd that she was a Red Cross nurse and began to help the
wounded woman.
After a few minutes the man who had been bending over the woman when Mary arrived touched her on the
shoulder and said, "When you reach the part about sending for a doctor, don't worry. I'm here already".
Unit 88.
A tourist was standing outside a very big church in Germany when a wedding party got out of some car and
went into the church. Everybody was very well dressed, and there were a lot of photographers, so the tourist

thought, "The people getting married must be famous". He turned to a man who was standing beside him and
said, "What is the name of the man who is getting married?"
The man answered, "Ich spreche kein Englisch".
The tourist thanked him and went into the church. As he was coming out of another door, a coffin was carried
out. There had been a funeral service in one of the side chapels of the church.
The tourist turned to one of the people in the church and said, "Whose funeral was that?"
The man answered, "Ich spreche kein Englisch".
"Well," said the tourist, "his marriage didn't last long".

Unit 89.
A priest had to take services in several churches every Sunday, and one of them was in the centre of a big city
where there were lots of offices, but very few people lived, so hardly anyone ever went to this church on a
Sunday. The priest used to go there in a taxi, and one Sunday he arrived as usual and told the taxi driver to
wait while he read the service. When he entered the church, he found that there was only one man there, so he
inquired whether he would be willing to have a shortened service.
"No," replied the man firmly and without any hesitation. "I'd like to have the full service, without omitting
anything".
When the priest said the last prayer and left, he discovered that the man in the church had been his taxi driver,
whose meter had been adding up the pence throughout the service.


Unit 90.
The soldiers had just moved to the desert, and as they had never been in such a place before, they had a lot to
learn.
As there were no trees or buildings in the desert, it was of course, very hard to hide their trucks from enemy
planes. The soldiers were therefore given training in camouflage, which means ways of covering something so
that the enemy cannot see where it is. They were shown how to paint their trucks in irregular patterns with
pale green, yellow, and brown paints, and then to cover them with nets to which they had tied small pieces of
cloth.
The driver who had the largest truck went to a lot of trouble to camouflage it. He spent several hours painting

it, preparing a net and searching for some heavy rocks with which to hold the net down. When it was all
finished, he looked proudly at his work and then went off to have his lunch.
But when he came back to the truck after he had had his meal, he was surprised and worried to see that his
camouflage work was completely spoilt by the truck's shadow, which was growing longer and longer as the
afternoon advanced. He stood looking at it, not knowing what to do about it.
Soon as officer arrived and he too saw the shadow, of course.
"Well," he shouted to the poor driver, "what are you going to do about it? If an enemy plane comes over, the
pilot will at once know that there is a truck here".
"I know, sir," answered the soldier.
"Well, don't just stand there doing nothing," said the officer.
"What shall I do, sir?" Asked the poor driver.
"Get your spade and throw some sand over the shadow, of course!" Answered the officer.
Goldilocks And The Three Bears.
Once upon a time there were three bears who lived in a house in the forest. There was a great big father bear, a
middle-sized mother bear and a tiny little baby bear.
One morning, their breakfast porridge was too hot to eat, so they went for a walk in the forest. While they were
out, a little girl called Goldilocks came through the trees and found their house. She knocked on the door and,
as there was no answer, she pushed it open and went in.
In front of her was a table with three chairs, one great big chair, one middle-sized chair and one tiny little
chair. On the table were three bowls of porridge, one great big bowl, one middle-sized bowl and one tiny little
bowl - and three spoons.
Goldilocks was hungry, so she sat in the great big chair, picked up the biggest spoon and tried some of the
porridge from the great big bowl. But the chair was far too big and hard, the spoon was too heavy and the
porridge too hot.
So Goldilocks went over to the middle-sized chair. But this chair was far too soft, and when she tried the
porridge from the middle-sized bowl it was too cold. So she went over to the tiny little chair and picked up the
smallest spoon and tried some of the porridge from the tiny little bowl.
This time it was neither too hot nor too cold. It was just right and so delicious that Goldilocks ate it all up. But
she was too heavy for the tiny little chair and it broke in pieces.
Then Goldilocks went upstairs where she found three beds. There was a great big bed, a middle-sized bed and a

tiny little bed. First she lay down on the great big bed, but it was very big and far too hard. Next she lay down
on the middle-sized bed, but that was far too soft. Then she lay down on the tiny little bed. It was neither too
hard nor too soft. In fact, it felt just right, and Goldilocks fell fast asleep.
In a little while, the three bears came back from their walk in the forest.
Father Bear looked around, then roared in a great big growly voice,
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR!"
Mother Bear said in a quiet gentle voice,
"Somebody has been sitting in my chair!"
And Little Bear said in a small squeaky baby voice, "Somebody has been sitting in my chair, and has broken
it!"
Then Father Bear looked at his bowl of porridge and said in his great big growly voice.
"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN EATING MY PORRIDGE!"
Mother Bear looked at her bowl and said in her quiet gentle voice, "Somebody has been eating my porridge!"
And Little Bear looked at his bowl and said in his small squeaky baby voice,
"Somebody has been eating my porridge, and has eaten ii all."
Then the three hears went upstairs. Father Bear saw at once that his bed was untidy, and he said in his great big
growly voice,


"SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SLEEPING IN MY BED!"
Mother Bear saw that her bed, too, had the bedclothes turned hack, and she said in her quiet gentle voice.
"Somebody has been sleeping in my bed!"
And Little Bear looked at his bed, and he said in his small squeaky baby voice,
"Somebody is sleeping in my bed, NOW!"
He squeaked so loudly that Goldilocks woke up with a start. She jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs and
out into the forest. And the three bears never saw her again.
The Great Big Turnip.
Once upon a time, in Russia, an old man planted some turnip seeds. Each year he grew good turnips, but this
year he was especially proud of one very big turnip. He left it in the ground longer than the others and watched
with amazement and delight as it grew bigger and bigger. It grew so big that no one could remember ever

having seen such a huge turnip before.
At last the old man decided that the time had come to pull it up. He took hold of the leaves of the great big
turnip and pulled and pulled, but the turnip did not move.
So the old man called his wife to come and help. The old woman took hold of the old man, and the old man
took hold of the turnip. Together they pulled and pulled, but still the turnip did not move.
So the old woman called her granddaughter to come and help. The granddaughter took hold of the old woman,
the old woman took hold of the old man, and the old man took hold of the turnip. They pulled and pulled, but
still the turnip did not move.
The granddaughter called to the dog to come and help. The dog took hold of the granddaughter, the
granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, and the old man took hold
of the turnip. They pulled and pulled, but still the turnip did not move.
The dog called to the cat to come and help pull up the turnip. The cat took hold of the dog, the clog took hold
of the granddaughter, the granddaughter took hold of the old woman, the old woman took hold of the old man,
and the old man took hold of the turnip. They all pulled and pulled as hard as they could, but still the turnip did
not move.
Then the cat called to a mouse to come and help pull up the great big turnip. The mouse took hold of the cat,
the cat took hold of the dog, the dog took hold of the granddaughter, the granddaughter took hold of the old
woman, the old woman took hold of the old man, and he took hold of the turnip. Together they pulled and
pulled and pulled as hard as they could.
Suddenly, the great big turnip came out of the ground, and everyone fell over.
The old woman chopped up the great big turnip and made a great big pot of delicious turnip soup. There was
enough soup for every body - the mouse, the cat, the dog, the granddaughter, the old woman and the old
man. There was even some left over.
Cinderella.
There was once a gentleman who lived in a fine house, with his kind and gentle wife and their pretty
daughter. His wife died, so the gentleman married again. His new wife was not at all kind or pretty. She had
been married before and had two daughters who were known, behind their backs, as the Ugly Sisters.
Although they had no reason to be unkind, the two sisters were horrid to their new stepsister. They ordered her
about, scolded her and made her do all the work in the big house. Her clothes became ragged and thin and far
too small. The poor girl was always cold and tired. In the evenings she would rest on a stool close to the fire,

almost in the cinders and ashes.
"Cinderella, That's the perfect name for you", jeered the stepsisters when they saw her trying to keep warm.
Now the king and queen of their country had a son, and they planned a big ball for the prince in the hope that
he might find a bride. Invitations were sent to all the big houses. When a large invitation card to the royal ball
arrived at Cinderella's house, there was a great flurry of excitement. New dresses were chosen for the Ugly
Sisters and their mother, and nobody talked about anything except the ball.
"I am sure the prince will fall in love with me", said one sister, smiling at herself in the mirror.
"You silly fool", said the other, pushing her aside. "He won't be able to resist falling in love with me. Just
think, one day I could he queen", and she pretended she was the queen already as she ordered Cinderella to get
another pair of shoes for her to try on. No one thought of asking Cinderella if she would like to go to the
ball. They scarcely even noticed her as they rushed around trying on different wigs, fans and gloves to go with
their new ball dresses.
At last the day of the ball came, and Cinderella worked harder than ever, helping the Ugly Sisters and her
stepmother to get ready. They quarrelled with each other all day, and by the time the carriage drove away to the


king's palace, with all the family in it, Cinderella was glad to have some peace. But as she sat on her stool by
the fire she could not help a tear falling onto the ashes, for she wished that she could have gone with them.
Suddenly she realized that she was not alone. A beautiful lady stood before her with a silver wand in her hand.
"Cinderella", she said. "I am your fairy godmother. Tell me, what are those tears for?"
Cinderella looked away.
"I wish, oh how I wish, I could have gone to the ball too".
"So you shall", said her fairy, "godmother, but first we have some work to do. For if you are to go to the ball, I
cannot send you as you are. Fetch me the largest pumpkin you can find in the garden".
Cinderella fetched the largest pumpkin she could see and with just a wave of her wand, her fairy godmother
turned it into a gleaming golden coach.
"Now we need a few horses", said her godmother. "Look in the mouse trap and see if there is anything we can
use".
Cinderella ran to the larder and found six mice running around in a cage. She watched her godmother wave her
wand and suddenly, harnessed to the coach, there were six shining dappled horses, stamping their feet.

Those horses need a coachman, decided her godmother. Look in the rat trap, Cinderella. There were three rats
in the trap and as the godmother touched the largest rat with her wand, it disappeared. But now up at the front
of the coach sat a fine plump whiskery coachman in a smart uniform.
"Go and look behind the water barrel, Cinderella", said her godmother. "and see if you can find something we
can use for footmen".
Cinderella ran to the water barrel and brought two lizards to her godmother. At the wave of her wand they were
transformed into splendid footmen.
"There now, Cinderella, your coach is ready", said her godmother with a smile. "You will be able to go to the
ball after all".
"How can I go like this?" sighed Cinderella, looking down in despair at her ragged clothes and bare feet. Her
godmother touched her with her wand - her rags turned into a shimmering gown and on her feet she was
wearing the prettiest pair of glass shoes she had ever seen.
As Cinderella stepped into the coach her godmother gave her a strict warning. "The magic will only last until
midnight, and then everything will return to what it was before. Be sure you leave the ball before midnight,
Cinderella".
When Cinderella's coach arrived at the palace the word went round that a beautiful lady had arrived in such a
splendid coach that she must be a princess. The prince himself came down the steps to greet her and led her to
the ballroom. As they entered, the other guests fell silent in wonder and the musicians stopped playing. The
prince signaled to the musicians to play again and danced with Cinderella.
The prince stayed at Cinderella's side all evening. No one knew who she was. Not even the Ugly Sisters
recognized her. Cinderella was so happy that she did not notice how quickly the time was flying by.
Suddenly she heard the clock strike the first stroke of midnight. With a cry she left the prince and ran out of the
ballroom. As she flew down the steps, one of her shoes fell off, but she could not stop to pick it up.
Although the prince tried to follow Cinderella through the crowd, he soon lost sight of her. He questioned
everyone carefully but no one had seen the beautiful lady leave. The guards said that the only person who had
gone out was a young raggedly-dressed girl. No one noticed the pumpkin in the corner of the courtyard or some
mice, a rat and a pair of lizards that slunk into the shadows. But the prince did find the glass shoe on the steps,
and lie recognized it as one of the elegant shoes the mysterious and lovely lady had worn.
The next day the Ugly Sisters could talk of nothing but the beautiful lady who had captured the prince's
heart and how she had disappeared so suddenly and how no one knew her name.

The palace issued a proclamation that the prince was looking for the lady who had worn the glass shoe. His
servants would tour the country with it until they found the lady whose foot it fitted and the prince would marry
that lady. The prince traveled around with his servants but time and again he was disappointed as the shoe
failed to fit any lady's foot.
At last they came to Cinderella's house. The Ugly Sisters were waiting.
"Let me try first", cried one, holding out her foot, and pushing as hard as she could to squeeze it into the
shoe. But it was no good. She gave up and laughed at her sister's efforts as she, too, tried to force her foot into
the tiny glass shoe. When she had failed, Cinderella stepped forward.
"You!" sneered the Ugly Sisters. "But you were not even at the ball".
Cinderella slipped her foot into the glass shoe - it fitted perfectly. Then she drew from behind her back a
second shoe which she put on her other foot. At the same moment the fairy godmother appeared and touched
Cinderella with her wand. Instantly her ragged clothes changed back into the beautiful shimmering dress, and
Cinderella once again became the lovely stranger.


The delighted prince asked Cinderella to marry him and Cinderella replied that there was nothing she would
like more. The Ugly Sisters begged Cinderella to forgive them for their unkindness and she happily
agreed. There was a fine royal wedding for Cinderella and the prince, and they lived happily ever after.
Cinderella found two husbands for the Ugly Sisters at court, and they too lived happily ever after - well,
almost.
The Ugly Duckling.
One summer's day, when the corn was golden yellow and the hay was being dried in the fields, a mother duck
was sitting on her nest of eggs. She sat in the rushes of a deep moat that surrounded a lovely country manor and
waited for her eggs to hatch. They were taking a very long time and she was getting very tired.
At last she felt a movement beneath her. The eggs began to crack and out popped tiny fluffy ducklings. All the
eggs hatched except for one, which was larger than the rest. The mother duck was impatient to take her new
ducklings swimming but could not leave the last egg unhatched. She sat, and she sat, and she sat, and just as
she was about to give up, she heard a tap. Out of the egg tumbled the oddest ugliest duckling imaginable.
She took the babies into the water and proudly watched as they all swam straightaway, even the ugly
duckling. She led them in a procession around the moat, showing them off to the other ducks. As they bobbed

along behind her she heard many quacks of admiration and praise for her fine family. But she also heard
quacks of laughter and scorn poured on the ugly duckling at the end of the line.
"He was too long in the egg", she explained. "He has not come out quite the right shape. But he will soon grow
into a fine duck, just like the others".
As the weeks went by, and the corn was harvested in the fields, the ducklings grew up into ducks. But the ugly
duckling with his grey feathers and clumsy shape remained different. All the ducks on the moat made fun of
him and refused to let him join in their games on the water.
The ugly duckling could bear it no more. As the autumn leaves began to fall he flew away to a great
marsh. There he stayed alone, hiding from the ducks among the reeds.
One day he heard a strange cry and the sound of wings in the air. Looking up he saw three dazzling white birds
flying majestically overhead. The ugly duckling felt a strange longing. He did not know the name of those birds
but he felt he loved them more than he had loved anything before. He watched as they passed over his head and
flew beyond until they were out of sight.
Autumn turned to winter, and the ugly duckling suffered many hardships. The marshy water froze and for a
while he was trapped fast in the ice. A kind man broke the ice and took him to his home, but the ugly duckling
was frightened by the noise and confusion inside the house. He flapped his wings, upset a bucket of milk and
fled as people shouted at him.
At last spring came, and with it warm sunshine. The ugly duckling flapped his wings. To his surprise they felt
bigger and stronger, and he found he was flying easily away from the marsh towards a large and beautiful lake.
On the lake were the three wonderful birds the ugly duckling had seen flying overhead several months
before. As the swans glided smoothly over the lake, he felt drawn to them, but he was sure they would tease
him like the ducks because he was so ugly. He hung his head in shame.
All at once he saw a reflection in the smooth lake waters. A beautiful swan with glossy white feathers and a
fine yellow beak stared up at him. He moved; the swan moved. He opened his wings; so did the swan. The ugly
duckling suddenly realized - he was a swan.
The other swans swam gracefully towards him, welcoming him. Some children ran down to the lake, calling,
"Look, a new swan has appeared", and they threw bread into the water for him.
The young and beautiful swan felt quite shy with all this attention, and hid his head under his wing. But, as the
lilac trees bent their branches down over the water and the sun shone warm and bright, he felt a deep
happiness. He rustled his feathers, arched his sleek long neck and said to himself, "I never dreamed of such

great happiness when I was the Ugly Duckling".
The Elves And The Shoemaker.
Once upon a time there was a shoemaker who made very good shoes. But though he worked hard in his shop,
times were difficult and he became poorer and poorer. One evening he realized he had only enough leather to
make one more pair of shoes. He cut up the leather and laid the pieces out on his workbench to sew in the
morning when the light was better.
"I may never make another pair of shoes", he sighed as he put up the shutters over his shop window.
The next morning when he went back to his workbench he found a beautiful pair of shoes. He examined them
carefully and discovered they were made from the leather he had cut out the night before. The stitches were
exquisite, very tiny and neat, and he knew the shoes were far better than any he could have made. Quickly he
took down his shutters and placed the shoes in his shop window.


Soon the door opened and in came a grand gentleman. He bought the shoes and paid four times more than the
price of an ordinary pair. With this money the shoemaker bought more leather and enough food for several
days.
That evening he sat at his workbench and cut out two pairs of shoes from his new leather. He left the pieces
laid out as before, all ready to sew in the morning, and put up the shutters.
In the morning he could scarcely believe his eyes, for there on his workbench were two beautiful pairs of
shoes.
"Who could sew such tiny stitches?" he wondered, "and who could work so fast?"
He placed the shoes in the shop window. Rich people who had never visited his shop before came in to buy
them and paid a lot of money for them.
Each night for many weeks the same thing happened. Two pairs, sometimes four pairs, were made in a night.
The shoemaker cut out all sorts of shoes: men's shoes, ladies' shoes, little children's shoes, dancing shoes, party
shoes, shoes with laces, shoes with straps and buckles. He became well known for the excellent shoes he sold,
and each week he took even more money in his shop.
One evening, just before Christmas, his wife suggested they should peep around the door of the workroom to
see if they could find out who was making the shoes. As the town clock struck midnight, there was a scuffling
and a scurrying by the window, and two tiny little men squeezed through a crack in the shutters and hurried

over to the workbench. They took tiny tools from their workbags and began to work. They stitched and
hammered, stitched and hammered, until a row of new shoes lay, on the workbench. Then, their work finished,
the elves left everything neat and tidy and vanished.
As it was just before Christmas, the shoemaker's wife suggested that they should give presents to the two little
men who had helped them so much during the year. The next day she made two little green jackets and trousers
and green hats to match, and her husband stitched two tiny pairs of boots.
The shoemaker and his wife laid these gifts out on the workbench that evening, together with two little glasses
of wine and plates with little cakes and biscuits. They then kept watch again. At the stroke of midnight, they
saw the elves scramble into the workshop and climb onto the workbench as they had done before. When they
saw the little green jackets, trousers and hats and tiny boots the elves gave a shout of joy. They tried on their
new clothes straightaway and they were so delighted they danced around the workbench, waving their hats in
the air. Then they sat down and ate all the food that had been left out, and disappeared as before.
After Christmas the shoemaker still cut out the shoes and left the pieces on his workbench but the elves never
returned. They knew the shoemaker and his wife must have seen them, for their clothes were exactly the right
size, and fairy people do not like to be seen. But the shoemaker was now so well known that he had plenty of
customers. Although his stitches were not as tiny and neat as the elves stitches no one ever noticed. For many
years he was known as the best shoemaker in town and he and his wife were never poor again.
Nail Soup.
One dark and stormy night, a tramp knocked on the door of a cottage and asked for shelter. An old woman
answered the door and told the tramp sourly that he could come in if he wanted, but he must not expect any
food for she had none in the house.
"And don't think you'll get a bed to sleep on either", she added, "as I only have one and that is where I sleep".
The tramp was hungry, but he could see he wasn't going to get any food, so he sat by the fire and took an old
nail out of his pocket and tossed it from hand to hand.
"Do you see this nail here?" he said at last. "You'd never believe it, but last night I made the finest soup I have
ever eaten by cooking this nail, and what is more I still have it to make more tonight. Would you like me to
make you some nail soup?"
"Nail soup!" snorted the old woman. "I have never heard of such a thing. Don't talk nonsense". But the tramp
could see she was curious.
"All I did", he told her, "was to boil it up in an old saucepan, and it was delicious".

"Well, since we have nothing else to do, and I have no food in the house, perhaps you would be good enough to
show me how you do it", she said after a few moments.
"You haven't a large pot and some water, have you?" asked the tramp.
"Why yes", said the old woman, handing a big cooking pot to the tramp and showing him where the water
was. She watched as the tramp carefully filled the pot half full with water, placed it on the stove, and dropped
in the nail. Then he sat down to wait.
From time to time, the old woman peeped into the pot to see how the soup was doing, and once when she lifted
the lid the tramp said, "Last night all that was needed was a little salt and pepper. I don't suppose you have any
in the house?"


"I might have", said the old woman ungraciously, and from a cupboard she took salt and pepper which she
dropped into the water with the nail.
The next time she lifted the lid, the tramp sighed, "What a pity you haven't got half an onion for that would
make the soup even better than it was last night".
"I think I might have an onion", said the old woman, quite excited by now at the thought of the nail soup, and
she went to the larder to fetch an onion. As she opened the door, the tramp caught a glimpse of shelves stacked
with food, but he said nothing until the onion had been in the pot for about ten minutes.
Then, stirring the soup again, he murmured to himself, "How sad that this fine onion has no carrots and
potatoes to go with it". Just as he had hoped, the old woman quickly fetched some carrots and potatoes from
the larder.
By now, the soup was beginning to smell good, and it was not long before the tramp said that on nights when
he could add a little meat to his nail soup, it was fit even for kings and queens. In a flash, the old woman had
fetched some meat for the pot.
While the soup was bubbling, the tramp looked round at the table. "It's a funny thing", he remarked, "but my
nail soup always tastes better when I eat it at a table that is laid with pretty china and when there is a candle or
two on the table".
The old woman, not to be outdone, put out her best table cloth and got the best china off the dresser.
What a shame, said the tramp, "that we have no bread to eat with this nail soup, but I remember you telling me
there is no food in the house".

"I'll just look in the bread crock", said the old woman, and she pulled out a loaf that had been baked that
morning.
The soup now smelled quite delicious, and the tramp was longing to eat it, but he waited a few more minutes
before saying, "I am sorry there is no wine to drink with our nail soup, as I would have liked you to enjoy it
with a glass of wine".
"Just a minute", said the old woman, and she fetched a fine looking bottle of wine from the back of a cupboard
and put it on the table with two glasses.
"Now the soup is ready. I hope you enjoy it", said the tramp heartily, and he fished the nail out with a spoon
and put it in his pocket before carrying the soup over to the table.
They both had a wonderful meal. After the soup, which the old woman agreed was the best she'd ever tasted,
she found some cheese and other good things in the larder. They told each other many stories, laughed a lot and
had a very pleasant evening.
As the candles burnt low, the old woman told the tramp to go and sleep in her bed, saying that she would be
quite comfortable in a chair by the fire. They both slept soundly.
The next morning, the tramp thanked the old woman for her kindness, but she said.
"No, no, I must thank you for showing me how to make soup from an old nail".
"It's what you add that makes the difference!" said the tramp, smiling.
The Gingerbread Man.
An old woman was baking one day, and she made some gingerbread. She had some dough left over, so she
made the shape of a little man. She made eyes for him, a nose and a smiling mouth all of currants, and put
currants down his front to look like buttons. Then she laid him on a baking tray and put him in the oven.
After a little while, she heard something rattling at the oven door. She opened it and to her surprise out jumped
the little gingerbread man. She tried to catch him, but he slipped past her, calling as he ran, "Run, run, as fast as
you can. You can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"
She chased after him into the garden where her husband was digging. He put down his spade and tried to catch
him too, but the gingerbread man ran past him, calling "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm
the gingerbread man!"
He ran down the road with the old woman and the old man following. Soon he passed a cow. The cow called
out, "Stop, gingerbread man! You look good enough to eat!" But the gingerbread man laughed and shouted
over his shoulder, "I've run from an old woman. And an old man. Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch

me. I'm the gingerbread man!"
He ran on with the old woman and the old man and the cow following, and soon they all passed a
horse. "Stop!" called the horse. "I'd like to eat you". But the gingerbread man called out. "I've run from an old
woman. And an old man. And a cow! Run, run as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the gingerbread
man!"
He ran on, with the old woman and the old man and the cow and the horse following, and soon they passed
some people making hay. "Stop!" they shouted. "You look good enough to eat". But the gingerbread man
called out,


"I've run from an old woman. And from an old man. And a cow and a horse!
Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the gingerbread man!"
He ran across the fields with the old woman and the old man, the cow and the horse and the haymakers all
following. Soon he met a fox and called out, "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the
gingerbread man!"
The sly fox thought to himself, "That gingerbread man looks good enough to eat", but he said nothing. He
waited until the gingerbread man reached a wide deep swift-flowing river, with the old woman and the old
man, the cow and the horse and the haymakers all chasing after him. Now the sly fox said, "Jump on my back,
Gingerbread Man, and I'll take you across the river!"
The gingerbread man jumped on the fox's back and the fox began to swim. As they reached the middle of the
river, where the water was deep, the fox said, "Stand on my head, Gingerbread Man, or you will get wet". So
the gingerbread man stood on the fox's head. As the current flowed more swiftly, the fox said.
"Move onto my nose, Gingerbread Man, so that I can carry you more safely. I would not like you to drown".
The gingerbread man slid onto the fox's nose. But when they reached the hank on the far side of the river, the
fox suddenly went SNAP! The gingerbread man disappeared into the fox's mouth and was never seen or heard
of again.
The Story Of Persephone.
This story is one of the tales that the ancient Greeks told about their gods. It is the story of Persephone, the
lovely daughter of Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest.
Demeter travelled around the world with Persephone, visiting all the trees and plants that produce food. As she

passed by, they grew and flourished, and their fruit ripened. On hot days as she walked through a field of corn,
the husks would swell and the corn would turn golden. Whenever she visited orchards and vineyards, the
apples, peaches, pears and grapes would be sweet and ready to eat. Persephone would dance with joy to see
how lovely the flowers looked when Demeter touched them.
One day Persephone asked her mother if she could go and play with her friends on the mountainside. Demeter
agreed, but warned her not to stray too far. While Demeter visited some valleys where the harvest was late,
Persephone and her friends scrambled happily over the mountainside. They found many flowers growing in the
mountain meadows, and began to pick them to make garlands and chains. Further and further they wandered,
until they were a long way from the valley where they had started.
Soon the meadows were shimmering in the hot mid-day sun, Persephone grew tired and dropped behind her
friends. She sat down on the grass to rest while she finished the garland she was making.
Suddenly there was a great crack and a roar. The side of the mountain seemed to split open and out galloped six
great black horses, pulling a gleaming black chariot. Persephone was terrified and called out, "Mother, Mother,
help me!" But even as she called, the man driving the chariot leant out and swept Persephone up into the
chariot. He pulled at the reins to turn the horses and they galloped back into the mountain. With another roar
and a crash the gap closed, leaving no trace of what had happened.
Persephone's friends soon missed her and came back to look for her. They hunted everywhere and called and
called, but there was no sign of her anywhere. At last they gave up and went back to tell Demeter.
Together they searched for hours up and down the mountain, but could find no trace of Persephone until, in the
evening, they came upon a fading garland of flowers lying in the grass. Now Demeter knew that something
dreadful must have happened to her daughter.
Something terrible had happened indeed. Persephone had been snatched by Hades, God of the Underworld, in
his great black chariot. He drove her back to his palace of dark caverns deep inside the earth. The palace was
full of beautiful things but Persephone was very unhappy there. She missed the sunlight and the flowers, and all
the colours of the world she had known, and most of all she longed to see her mother. She was so unhappy that
she refused to eat. She just sat in a corner, pining for her old home. Hades loved her and hoped to marry her,
but Persephone time and again refused, saying that she wished only to return to the world above and her
mother.
Meanwhile, Demeter continued to look for her daughter from one end of the world to the other. While she
searched, she gave no thought at all to the harvest. Everywhere the crops failed and the farmers watched in

despair as their corn failed to ripen and their fruit withered on the trees.
Even Zeus, the King of the Gods, was worried. He did not wish to see the people on earth go hungry, so when
Demeter asked him to help her find Persephone, he agreed to do what he could. His messengers soon came
back with the information that she was with Hades in the Underworld. Zeus had no power over those who lived
in the Underworld but there was a chance that Persephone might he saved. She had not yet eaten anything there
and so had not yet become part of the Underworld. Each day Hades' servants brought her tempting dishes of