Text 4 Miss Clara Flight

Miss Clara Flight is a pretty girl with a good figure and an interesting face. She is always well dressed. Miss Flight is a secretary in an office in London. She is a good shorthand typist and a hard-working girl. Clara is fond of pop-music and films. She is a regular cinema-goer and she would like to be a film star.

Mr. Geoffrey Baxter is a manager of a big London travel agency. Mr. Horace Hawk and Miss Clara Flight are employees of the firm. Miss Flight is Mr. Baxter’s secretary. Mr. Hawk’s advertisements are of no use in business, because they are too melancholy. Mr. Hawk’s life is not easy. It is the life of a genius forced to work in an office.

Mr. Baxter has a fiancée. Her name is Alice Elliot. She is a University student. She is an undergraduate at Cambridge University. Her subject is sociology. Alice has a very interesting and original personality and she is a brilliant talker. She can talk about anything and everything. She can dance all the modern dances. She can make friends and influence people without much difficulty.

Mr. Baxter is very proud of his fiancée but he is a little worried. He cannot talk with ease about anything interesting; he cannot dance the modern dances. Besides he is not very musical. What can he do? Who can help Mr. Baxter?

Answer these questions:

1. What is Miss Flight? 2. What is she by profession? 3. What is her hobby? 4. What is Mr. Baxter’s fiancée’s name? 5. Is she a student? 6. What subject does she study? 7. Why is Mr. Baxter very proud of his fiancée? 8. Can Mr. Baxter dance the modern dances? 9. Is he musical?

Text 5 The Greys

There are six people in his family: Mr. John Grey, his wife Helen, John’s parents Jim and Margaret and their children Robert and Lucy. John is 36 years old. So is Helen. Their birthdays are late in September. They always have them at home. Jim Grey is 65. His wife Margaret is 17 years younger. She is Jim’s second wife. Susan, John’s mother, died when he was 5. Robert and Lucy are schoolchildren. Robert is 12. He is three years older than his sister. They are baptized like their parents and grandparents. They all were married in church. Jim Grey is a retired aircraft officer of the US air force. He has been a very experienced pilot of transport aviation for many years. Then he finished the US air force academy and became a top ranking commanding officer.

His wife Margaret is a former school cooking teacher. After finishing her teacher’s college she worked at a small elementary school teaching music to 7-8 year old children. At 25 she married a 37-years-old very handsome and gay military pilot who soon perished in an air crash. Margaret became a widow with a two years old son. She saw Jim Grey for the first time at the restaurant where she had her birthday party. Jim was among her guests, very joyful and bright. They got acquainted while dancing.

John didn’t want to take after his father in professions. He became a skillful lawyer working with Tomson’s firm. His salary is rather high. It is enough for the family’s good living standard.

Helen is at work only 3 days a week. She earns less money but she has more time for her family. Helen is a computer engineer by education. She is good at sewing, painting, cooking. She is not fond of staying in the kitchen for long hours. She usually cooks on holidays when the Greys receive guests, coming to their small town from other US places.

Margaret, John’s step-mother, can cook well. She has to cook almost every day. She is up and about since early morning. Jim, her husband, is always busy in their country house and kitchen garden taking care of their sheep, cows, pigs, hens, ducks and growing vegetables. Jim is a good farmer.

Answer these questions:

1. How many people are there in the Greys family? 2. Were they all married in church? 3. What is Jim Grey? 4. Was he a very experienced pilot? 5. Where did Margaret meet Jim for the first time? 6. What is Helen by profession? 7. What is she good at? 8. Who can cook well? 9. Where is Jim busy? 10. Is Jim a good farmer?

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