|
Level 3
Learn languages (via Skype): Rainer: + 36 20 549 52 97 or + 36 20 334
79 74
|
|
---------------
|
|
1) Two Mexicans
Two Mexicans had accused
each other of cheating, and both of them were getting angrier and angrier. “I
will kill you,” shouted Jose. Miguel laughed rudely and answered, “You could
never kill me, but I could you.” “Just try,” Jose shouted back. “We’ll 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.” “Alright,” 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. “Hoho,” 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
opponents other half.”
Why were the two Mexicans
so angry? Why didn’t Miguel want to
fight the duel in the park?
Where did they fight it? Why
did Jose buy a return ticket? Why
did Miguel buy a single one?
2) Ice-cream
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 ice-cream. 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, put his hand in another pocket, took out another ten pence coin,
and offered that to the girl. Mrs Evans was so amused, that she paid the
other ten pence herself.
Why did Mrs Evans decide
to have an ice-cream in the cinema?
Why did she have to wait before she could buy it? Why did the girl ask the small boy for
more money? What did the boy do
then? Why did Mrs Evans help him?
3) Copies
A clerk, who worked in
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
is was impossible to add any 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 message
from his manager in answer to his. It said, “Alright, you have permission to
do as you suggest, but you must make copies of all letters before destroying
them.
Why did the clerk want to
destroy some of the papers in his office?
Which ones did he want to destroy?
What did he do before he started to destroy them? What did the manager say he could do?
4) Twenty dollars
Len and Jim worked for
the same company. One day, Len lent Jim twenty dollars, but then Jim left his
job and went to work in another town without paying Len back his twenty
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.
Why couldn’t Len ask Jim
to pay him back sooner? How did
Len find out that Jim was at the central hotel? How did he find out which
Jim’s room was? Why had Jim put
his shoes outside the door? How
did Len know that Jim hadn’t really left his room?
5) Timothy was not a very
good pupil
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 do 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.”
What kind of homework did
Timothy’s teacher expect to see from him? Why was one of his teachers surprised
one day? What did he think had
happened? Did Timothy usually do
his homework alone? When Timothy’s father helped him with his
homework, did he get all of right?
6) Two sailors and the
donkey
Two sailors, who had just
finished a long voyage, went home to their village and decided to have 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 marketplace outside the bar, they
saw a village boy coming slowly towards them. He was leading a donkey by a
rope. So the sailors decided that they would have a joke with him. “Hello,”
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.
Where was the bar which
the sailors had some drinks in?
Why couldn’t they find anything amusing to do at first? What was the boy, who appeared at
last, doing? Who had a rope round
his neck? Why did the boy say “To
stop him joining the navy” and not “The army” or “The air force”?
7) The large fat woman
and her small thin husband
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 and was 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?”
How much money was the
small man allowed to keep every day?
Why was he excited when he came home one day? How did his wife greet his news at
first? How did she feel about it a
little later? Why did she feel
like that?
8) In your free time
Bill Jenkins worked in a
big office in the city, and generally he used to go to the barbers’ during
working hours to have his hair cut although this was against the rules.
Clerks had to have their hair cut in their own time. While Bill was at the
barbers’ 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. “Hello, Jenkins,” the manager
said, “I see that you are having your hair cut in office time.” “Yes sir,
I’m,” 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.”
What were the office
rules about going to the barbers’?
Why did Bill try to hide his face while he was having his hair
cut? What was Bill’s excuse for
breaking the office rule? How did the manager argue against this
excuse? How did Bill answer
that?
9) Usually very punctual
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, Tompkins.” “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?”
Why was the clerk very
late one morning? In what ways
did he hurt himself when he fell?
Why was the manager angry?
Did falling out of the window take the clerk an hour? What took him an hour?
10) A very pretty girl
Elisabeth 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, who wanted to marry Elisabeth, came to visit
her in her parents’ house and ask 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 Elisabeth, “It isn’t a man you are looking for, it’s a television
set.”
Did Elisabeth want to
marry? What kind of husband did
she want? Why wasn’t she satisfied
with any of the man who wanted to marry her? What did the young man, who came to
visit her, think?
11) Alone in a small flat
Mrs 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 Mrs Grey thought, “Well, he looks
quiet.” But at three o’clock the next morning, Mrs Grey was woken 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 Mrs 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.”
Why was Mrs Grey very
pleased? What did she think about
the new young man? What woke her
during the night? Who did she think
the dog belonged to? Why did the
young man wait till three o’clock in the morning to telephone Mrs Grey?
12) A small son
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
said to him, “Have you had any trouble with your nose and ears recently.”
Billy thought for a second and then answered, “Yes, I have.” Mrs Robinson was
very worried. “But I’m sure you have 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 off because the neck is very
tight.”
Why did Mrs Robinson take
her son to a doctor regularly?
What kind of trouble did Billy say he had? Why was his mother worried when he
said this? How did the doctor
treat Billy’s answer? Why did Billy
have trouble with his nose and ears?
13) The seaside
Some friends hired a bus
to go to 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.”
How much time did the
friends spend at the seaside? Why
was the man from their town lying on the ground? What did they think when they saw him? Why did nobody open the door when the
friends knocked at it? What
mistake had the friends made?
14) A real friend
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 five pounds. Lend me another five
pounds and then I’ll owe you ten pounds!” the friend said. The man did so. A
few days later, they met again and the friend said, “You’ve lent me ten
pounds. Lend me another ten pounds and then I’ll owe you twenty pounds!” The
man did this although he was rather doubtful about doing it. Two weeks later,
the friend asked for more money. “You’ve already lent me twenty pounds. Can
you make it fifty pounds?” he said. The man did not answer for a few seconds
but he was unable to refuse. A month later, the two men met again. “You’ve
lent me fifty pounds,” began the friend. “Who me,” answered the man
anxiously, “I disagree I’ve never lent you any money.”
How did the man feel when
his friend asked him for the first five pounds? How did he feel when the friend asked
him for the second ten pounds? Why
did he lend him thirty more pounds?
Why did he say finally that he had never lent his friend any money? How many times did the man lend his
friend money and how much did he lend him each time?
15) Too fast
A man was driving along a
road in his motorcar when a policeman on a motorcycle stopped him and said,
“You were doing more than eighty kilometres an hour, you are 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 this time, the
judge had had quite enough. “Stop now,” he said, “or you will finish by
hitting something behind your car.”
Why did the man in this
story have to go to court? What
did he say to the judge? What
did his wife tell the judge? How
did the wife’s sister know about this?
Why didn’t the judge want to
hear any more?
16) The potato farmer
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!”
Why was it a very bad
time for the potato farmer to go to prison? Why couldn’t he ask his wife or his
neighbours to dig the ground? Why
did he write, “Please, do not dig the potato field! I hid the money and gun
there.” in his letter? Did he
know that somebody would read the letter before it got out of the
prison? Why did the policemen dig
the potato field up?
17) The fisherman
Joe was going into his
usual bar before lunch when he saw a poorly dressed man fishing in a small
pool of rainwater about five centimetres deep outside it. Joe stopped and
watched the man for a few minutes. He saw that most of the 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: “Hello! 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 have been fishing
outside here, haven’t you? How many did you manage to catch this morning? If
I may ask.” “You are the eighth.” The fisherman answered merrily.
Why did people think that
the fisherman was rather mad? Why
did Joe speak kindly to him? What
was the fisherman really trying to do?
How many had he caught that morning?
18) The hitchhiker
Mr Robinson was driving
to Oxford one cloudy day when he saw a hitchhiker holding a sign above his
head which said ‘Cambridge’. Mr Robinson thought it unwise to take
hitchhikers 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 are going to
get wet. You are on the wrong road to Cambridge. This road goes to Oxford.” “Yes,
I know,” answered the hitchhiker gaily as he got into Mr Robinsons 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
held up a sign with ‘Oxford’ on it I might have had to wait for an hour for
someone to stop.”
Why did Mr Robinson stop
to talk to the hitchhiker? Did
he usually help hitchhikers? Why
didn’t he usually stop for them?
Why did he think the hitchhiker was going to get wet? Why had the hitchhiker held the wrong
sign above his head?
19) The thief
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 in his shop so that it would
photograph anyone who broke in 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 a hundred and fifty pounds.
How did the thief manage
to steal Mr Grey’s jewellery? Why
did Mr Grey decide that he would try to catch the thief? Why did Mr Grey want to photograph the
thief? Why did the thief take
the camera? Why didn’t he take the
jewellery that Mr Grey had put out for him?
20) The orange
Mrs Williams 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 Williams said, “Take these two oranges instead,
and give one to your older brother!” One of the oranges 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 that 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
had given you the bigger one.” I know, you would,” answered his brother.
That’s why I took it.”
What did Mrs Williams
younger son want to do with the money he asked her for? Why didn’t Mrs Williams give him any
money? How did the small boy
divide the oranges? What did his
brother say he ought to have done?
Why ought he to have done this?
21) Marbles
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 is she crying?” “Because she wants my marbled,”
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 is only a baby. She is too young to
understand anything like that.” “But I know that she wants to keep them,”
answered Billy. “She has already swallowed two of them.”
Why did Billy’s mother
want him to look after Susan for half an hour? Why did Susan begin to cry? What did Billy’s mother want him to do
then? Why did she think that
Susan didn’t really want to keep Billy’s marbles? Why was Billy sure that she did want
to keep them?
22) The left leg or the
right leg
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,”
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 too 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?”
What did the man in this
story say to Dick first? Why did
the man call Dick back the first time?
How did he want his chicken
roasted? Why did he call Dick back
the last time? Do the two legs of
a chicken taste differently from each other?
23) The old professor
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 threw.
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,” agreed the
professor calmly. “The questions are the same but the answers have changed.”
For how long was David
away from England? Why did he
feel very happy when he went back to his old university? What did he do when the professor
went out of the room? What did
he find strange about the examination paper that he saw? What was the professor’s
explanation?
24) A good job
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 question 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 seconds and then answered, “About half of them,
Uncle Jim.”
What kind of job did
George’s uncle advise him to try to get?
Why did his uncle know a lot about such jobs? How did George manage to get the job? Why was his uncle so pleased when he
came to visit the family? When he said: “How many people work in
your department?” what kind of answer did he expect?
25) Waste food
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, Lucy, I was always given
either bread and butter or bread and jam but never bread and butter and jam.”
Lucy 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 have come to live with us
now?”
Why did Lucy’s mother
think it wrong to waste food?
What did Lucy want to eat?
What did her mother used to eat when she was young? How did Lucy feel about this? Why did she think her mother ought to
feel happy now?
26) No, sir!
A very young new 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
and found that he did not have the right money to 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 in 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.
Why did the young officer
want to telephone? Why did he
look around for someone to help him?
Was the old soldier ready to help him at first? Was he still willing after the officer
had asked him the second time? Why
did the old soldier change like that?
27) Run along rails
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 went up to him and said, “Can I catch the
ten thirty-five train to New Castle on time, porter?” He was breathing very
fast and he sounded worried. The old porter looked at him for a moment and
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 ten thirty-five train to New Castle on time left five minutes
ago.”
What was the old porter’s
job that morning? What was the
small man trying to do? Why was he
breathing very fast? Why was he
worried? Was the porter serious
or was he having a joke with the small man?
28) The old librarian
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 so 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?”
What had the old
librarian done a week before this story?
Who were rarely willing to read the books she suggested? Why did she feel proud now? Why did she think the young man wanted
the book again? Why did he really
want it?
29) So far back already
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 to 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 I was
so far back already.”
Why did the soldier leave
the front line? What was making
things dangerous there? Whom did
the soldier meet as he was going away from the battle? Why was the officer angry? Why was the soldier surprised?
30) The prove
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 prove 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 prove
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 is
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.
Where did the young lady
have to collect her money from?
Why did the bank clerk want her to show prove that she was the one the
money was for? What prove did she
show? Did it really prove that
she should have the money?
31) The barrel
Some villagers were going
to celebrate an important wine festival in few days’ 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.
Why did the villagers
borrow the barrel? How did they
plan to fill it? What did the
villager, who put the water in, expect the others to do? What did they do in fact?
32) And
Can you think of a
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 a 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 the painter was getting on. He liked the
picture of the horse and the cart very much but he did not like the writing
at all. He said to the painter, “No, no, there is too much space between
‘horse’ and ‘and’ and ‘and’ and ‘cart’.
What is strange about the
last sentence in this story? Why
did the inn-sign have a horse and a cart on it? Why did the owner of the inn want a new
sign? What didn’t he like about
the writing on the new sign?
33) Medically examined
A young man was called up
for army service and had to go to be medically examined. The doctor was
sitting at a 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, “Alright, put your clothes on again!” “But haven’t examined me at all,”
the young man said in a troubled voice. “It isn’t necessary,” the doctor said
gently. “When I told you to take your coat and shirt off, you heard me
alright. So you aren’t deaf. You saw the chair I pointed to, so your eyesight
is 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.”
What was the young man
being medically examined for? What
worried him? How did the doctor
know that the young man was not deaf?
How did he know that the young man could see alright? How did he know that the young man’s
body was alright, too? How did he
know that the young man was intelligent enough for the army?
34) A dozen bottles of
good wine
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.”
Why did the man ask his
lawyer the name of the judge who would hear his case? Why was the lawyer shocked? What shocked the lawyer even more after
the case had been heard? What had
the man done to win his case?
35) The secret of a
contented, married life
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.”
What was the secret of
the man’s happy marriage? What
sort of decisions did the wife make?
What sort of decisions did the husband make? Which of the two was able to carry out
his or her decisions?
36) Go to school by taxi
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!”
Why was John able to go
to school in a beautiful car driven by a chauffeur? Why couldn’t the chauffeur take John
to school one day? Why couldn’t
his mother do so? What was the
lesson that John’s father wanted to teach him? Do most children in the world go to
school by taxi?
37) Ditto
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 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 this as usual.
Why did the employees
have to sign the book? What was a
common reason for being late? What
was the first man’s reason on the day this story deals with? What meaning did the rest of the
employees really intend when they wrote “Ditto!” that morning? What did their “Ditto!” seem to mean?
38) How to write names
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 Ecclesiasty 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-L”. 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 Ecclesiasty Street,” answered the
policeman. “I’m going to push the car round the corner into Green Street.”
What kind of report did
the sergeant want to write in the book?
Why did he become annoyed?
Why did the policeman give up, too? Why did he want to push the car into
Green Street?
39) Hard working and
faithful
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 rehearsal before the show came and again some of
the members were not there. At the end of the rehearsal, 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 hard working 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 show
tomorrow.”
What made it difficult
for the leader of the band to do his work properly? How did he know who had been at
previous rehearsals? Who had never
missed a rehearsal? Why had he been
so hard working and faithful?
40) House of my dreams
A man was tired of living
in his old house in the country and wanted to sell it and buy a better one.
He had tempted 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 expansive
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 live.”
Why did the man want to
sell his house? Why did he
finally have to go to an estate agent?
What did the estate agent do about selling the house? How did he lose a sale by being too
good at his job?
41) Not as long as I’m
here
In 1861 a civil war
started in the United States between the northern and the southern states.
The war continued with great bitterness until 1865 when the northerners were
victorious. However even today, many southerners have not forgotten their
defeat or forgiven the northerners. A few years ago, a party of American
tourists were going round on of the battle fields of the civil war with a
guide who came from one of the southern states. At each place the guide told
the tourists stirring stories about how a few southern soldiers had conquered
powerful forces of northerners there. At last, one of the tourists, a lady
who came from the north, stopped the guide and said to him, “But surely the
northern army must have won at least one victory in the civil war?” “Not as
long as I’m the guide here, Madam!” answered the southern guide.
Who won the American
civil war? How do southerners
feel about this today? Why did
the guide tell tourists only about southern victories? Why did one of the tourists object to
this? What was the guide
determined not to do?
42) Without cream or
without milk
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 café 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?”
How did Jeans beauty
affect some man? How did it
affect other men? How did it
affect the young waiter in this story?
What did he do that showed that he was confused?
43) A very big baby
Carol and Susan were
great friends. They were at 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.
How many children did
Susan’s parents have? Why did Susan
get tired of hearing about Carol’s sister? What did Carol boast to Susan about
one morning? What did Susan do to
try to make Carol boast less?
44) For you all
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 am 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 am a
lawyer and I defend you all.” Then a doctor came by, took the piece of chalk
and wrote on the blackboard, “I am a doctor and I cure you all.” Finally, an
ordinary citizen stopped, looked at what the others had written, thought for
a few seconds and then added, ”I am an ordinary citizen and I pay for you
all.”
What did the priest
claim? What was the lawyer’s
claim? What did the doctor claim
that he did? What did the
ordinary citizen remind them of?
45) The stars below
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 have
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 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 will 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 get up here?”
Why did Jim think that
George needed a change? What sort
of change did he want him to have?
Why did Jim feel worried?
Why did the stars seem to be below George? Why was George puzzled?
46) Mushrooms and
umbrella
One year, Mrs Wyard 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 mushroom. The waiter’s face brightened at once and he hastened
out to the kitchen. A minute later, he returned carrying an umbrella.
Why did the poorness of
Mrs Wyard’s knowledge of Italian not interfere with her enjoyment of her
holiday most of the time? Where
did she have trouble in making herself understood? Why did she think she would like some
mushrooms? How did she try to
show the waiter what she wanted?
Why did he bring her an umbrella?
47) Girls on bicycles
Tom saw an advertisement
in a newspaper for a beautiful modern bicycle which cost fifty-four pounds
ninety-nine. So he went to the shop which had put the advertisement in and
asked to see one 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 there.” “Well, sir,” answered the shopkeeper calmly, “there is also a
girl on the bicycle in our advertisement, but we don’t supply one of them
with the bicycle either.”
How did Tom find out
about the bicycle which cost fifty-four pounds ninety-nine? What did he object to about the
bicycle in the shop? Why was
there no lamp on that bicycle?
What did Tom think about this?
What was the shopkeeper’s explanation?
48) Gifts to a charity
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 Wine, claims
to have given your society fifteen thousand Dollars in gifts last year. I’m
telephoning to find out whether he did in fact do so.” “Howard Wine 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’s voice again, “Mr Howard Wine hasn’t given us fifteen
thousand Dollars yet,” the secretary said delightedly, but he’s going to
now.”
How can people in the
United States reduce their tax?
Why does the government allow this? What had Mr Wine done? Why was the secretary of charity so
happy?
49) A crime or a miracle
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 practise 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, 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
be a miracle.”
Why did David decide to
have a holiday in a place where there were a lot of streams? Why did he ask the old man whether
the stream was private? What did
the old man think would be a miracle?
Why did he think this?
50) A girl, a bill, iced
water
A young man had a new
girlfriend 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
fifty pence!”
Why did the young man
invite his girlfriend to such an expensive restaurant? Was he successful in what he wanted to
do? Why did he go pale? Why did the waiter pour iced water
over him? What did the waiter
then do which showed how expensive the restaurant was?
51) Napoleon and
newspapers
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 is 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.”
Why did Jack have to
leave the university? What did his
father try to do? What example did
the professor give to show how bad a student Jack was? What was his father’s excuse for him?
52) Old people rarely die
Mr Brown got a job with
an insurance company after he had 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 Brown, 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 ninety-five 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 Brown at once. “Before I
started work I looked at 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
ninety-five or above each year.”
What surprised the
manager about Mr Brown’s work?
What did he think the result of Mr Brown’s behaviour would be? What was Mr Brown’s
explanation? What mistake had
he made?
53) Congratulations on
your new position
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 were 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 Dr Jackson for having made a mistake, “But
what really worries me much more,” he added, “is, that the flowers which
ought to have to you, were sent to a funeral with a card which said:
‘Congratulations on your new position.’”
What did Dr Jackson
succeed in doing? What annoyed
him about the note on the flowers he had received? Why was the owner of the shop worried
about the card which had gone to the funeral? Why had two such unsuitable cards
been sent?
54) Winston Churchill
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 what 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.”
Why did Churchill want to
go to the BBC? Why did the
taxi-driver not want to take him?
How did Churchill feel about this? What did not please him after that?
55) Eating in a fine
restaurant
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 lunchtime came on his first day there he decided to go and
eat in the restaurant of the hotel. The headwaiter 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 around his neck. The
headwaiter 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 haircut?”
What had made it possible
for the farmer to afford to stay in an expensive hotel? What surprised the headwaiter? How did he want the other waiter to
speak to the farmer? How did the
waiter try to make the farmer understand that he should not tie his table
napkin round his neck?
56) It’s got it wrong
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 great 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.”
Why were the man and his
wife at the station? What
information did the weighing machine provide?
Why did the man have to
take the card to his wife to read?
Which of the things written on the card did the wife believe?
57) Don’t worry!
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 is 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 that 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 quite alright again.”
“Yes, I know all about that,” answered the patient sadly, “you see, I’m that
man’s tailor.”
Why did the man go to see
his doctor? What did the doctor
say about the man’s health? What
advice had the doctor given to a previous patient? Who was the previous patient? What were the results of the
doctor’s advice to him?
58) Calling a doctor
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 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.”
Was Mary a fully trained
nurse? Why was the woman lying
in the street? Why did Mary push
away the man, who was bending over the woman? What was the man?
59) Ich spreche kein
Englisch.
A tourist from England
was standing outside a very big church in Germany when a wedding party got
out of some cars 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.”
Why did the tourist think
that the people getting married must be famous? Did the man, he asked, tell him the
name of the man who was getting married? What did the tourist think the name
of the man, who was getting married, was? Why did he later think that his
marriage hadn’t lasted long?
60) The priest and his
taxi driver
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 a lot 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 for pence
throughout the service.
Why did few people go to
the church in this story? How did
the priest get there? Why did he
want a shortened service? Why
did the man in the church not want one?
|
|
-----------------
|
|
|
Freitag, 25. Juli 2014
Abonnieren
Posts (Atom)