A Mouse in the House

Mrs Brown: (shouting loudly) I've found a mouse!!

Mr Brown: Ow! You're shouting too loudly. Sit down and don't shout.

Mrs Brown: (sitting down) I've found a mouse in the house.

Mr В г о wn: A brown mouse?

Mrs Brown: Yes. A little round mouse. It's running around in the lounge.

Mr Brown: On the ground?

Mrs Brown: Yes. It's under the couch now.

Mr Brown: Well, get it out.

Mrs Brown: How?

Mr Brown: Turn the couch upside-down. Get it out somehow. We don't want a mouse in our house. Ours is the cleanest house in the town!

2. Snow in October

(Joe Jones is sleeping, but Joan woke up a few minutes ago.)

Joan: Joe! Joe! Joe! Hello!

Joe: (groans) Oh! What is it Joan?

Joan: Look out of the window.

Joe: No. My eyes are closed, and I'm going to go to sleep again.

J о an: Don't go to sleep, Joe. Look at the snow.

Joe: Snow? But it's only October. I know there's no snow.

Joan: Come over to the window, Joe.'

Joe: You're joking, Joan. There's no snow.

Joan: OK. I'll put my coat on and go out and make a snowball and throw it at your nose, Joe Jones!

3. Howard's Found an Owl

Howard: Brownie, if you vow not to make a sound, I'll show you an owl that I've found.

Brownie: An owl? You've found an owl?

Howard: Don't shout so loudly. We don't want a crowd to gather round the house. Tie that hound up outside the cowshed. He's so bouncy and he's bound to growl.

Brownie: There. I've wound his lead round the plough. No amount of bouncing will get him out now.

Howard: Now, not a sound. It's down by the fountain Where the cows browse.

Brownie: Wow, Howard! It's a brown mountain owl! It's worth about a thousand pounds down in the town.

Howard: No doubt. But my proud owl is homeward bound — south to the Drowned Mouse Mountains.

4. No Wonder the Boat Was Low!

Miss Jones: So the boatman put the goat and the roses and the load of coal into the boat —

Toby: I hope the goat won't eat the roses. Goats eat most things, you know. Miss Jones.

Miss Jones: They told the boatman so. But oh no, the goat and the roses both had to go in the boat.

Toby: Was it a rowing boat. Miss Jones? Was the boatman going to row?

Miss Jones: No, they told the boatman rowing would be too slow. So the postman sold him an old motor mower and he roped it to the boat. And so, you see, Toby, he had a motor boat.

Toby: Did the boat go?

Miss Jones: It was a bit low, with the goat and the coal and the roses and the boatman —

Toby: And the postman and Rover, I suppose — Miss Jones: Oh no, there was no room for the postman and Rover. They went home by road. And then it began to snow...

Exercise VII.Read the rhymes and learn them.

1. Little mouse, little mouse,

Will you come out of your house?

Thank you, pussy! says the mouse

I won't leave my little house!

2. See-saw, See-saw

Up and down,

Up and down,

This is the way

To London town.

3. Mr Brown, Mr Brown,

Are you going down town,

Could you stop and take me down,

Thank you kindly, Mr Brown.

4. There was an Old Man who supposed

That the street door was partially closed,

But some very large rats

Ate his coats and his hats.

While that futile Old Gentleman dozed.

5. There was an Old Man in a boat,

Who said. "I'm afloat! I'm afloat!"

When they said, "Not You ain't!"

He was ready to ,faint,

That unhappy Old Man in a boat.

6. There was an Old Man who said, "How

Shall I flee from this horrible cow?"

I will sit on this stile,

And continue to smile,

Which may soften the heart of that cow.

Exercise VIII.Transcribe the proverbs and learn them.

1. Great boast, small roast.

2. Little strokes fell great oaks.

3. Man proposes, God disposes.

4. To know everything is to know nothing.

5. Stones grow old.

6. To hope against hope.

7. Out of sight, out of mind.

8. Burn not your house to rid it of your mouse.

9. As you sow you shall mow.

10. These is no place like home.

11. In a roundabout way.

UNIT 10. [ai] — [ei]

Exercise I.Read the following words paying special attention to correct pronunciation.

Exercise II. Read the following sense-groups, mind the rhythm and intonation.

(a) days; eight days; eighty-eight days; takes eighty-eight days; it takes eighty-eight days; they say it takes eighty-eight days.

(b) station; a railway station; waiting at a railway station; a train waiting at a railway station; a train waiting at a railway station on a rainy day; a train waiting at a railway station on a grey rainy day.

Exercise III.Transcribe and intone the following sentences. Practise reading them in pairs.

[ai] (a) 1. Mike's white kite is flying high in the sky.

2. Clive climbs high spires at night.

3. Diana is quite nice but frightfully shy.

4. Clive decides to invite Diana to dine. He tries to find a fine white wine.

5. Diana decides she would like to dine with Clive and arrives on time, but politely declines the white wine.

[ei] (b) 1. A sailor and a mate watch a baby whale playing on a great wave at daybreak.

2. James plays with trains and planes.

3. Jane bakes eight cakes.

4. James takes a cake from Jane's plate.

[ai] — [ei] (c) 1. The lake that I like is on the isle.

2. David baits his hook and a whiting bites it.

3. Save your pains, Mike.

4. Name the day, Myra.

Exercise IV. Read the tongue-twisters and learn them.

1. Three grey geese in a green field grazing.

Grey were the geese and green was the grazing.

2. There's no need to light a night light on a light night like tonight.

Exercise V.Read the dialogues, mark the stresses and tunes. Learn them. Act out the dialogues.