Around the past

EXERCISE № 275. Read the text about Mr Widdle’s Day. Say what he did yesterday. Remember that Mr. Widdle is a very predictable person, he always keeps his timetable.

Mr Widdle plans his days in a very special way. He has a timetable. At 6 o’clock in the morning Mr Widdle wakes up. He slips out of bed and waits only two seconds to become more awake. Then he gets dressed. At 7 o’clock he makes his own breakfast and eats it. At 8 o’clock he washes his dishes.

It is nine o’clock now. Mr Widdle is sitting on his front steps. He is reading a newspaper. He does it every morning. He reads his newspaper when the sun is shining, he reads it when it is raining.

“The most important thing,”- he says, “is that I keep my timetable.”

At 10 o’clock he does the washing. He washes his socks, trousers and shirts. Then he hangs them in the yard, rain, shine, snow or wind! “The important thing,”- he says ,” is that I keep my timetable.” At 11 o’clock Mr Widdle cooks his lunch and eats it. At 12 o’clock he feeds his dog. At 1 o’clock he goes shopping. If there is any free time, he visits his friends.

At three o’clock Mr Wddle does the ironing. When he finishes ironing his clothes, he irons his shoelaces and his ironing board.

At 4 o’clock Mr Widdle cleans his house from top to bottom. If there is dust, he dusts, if there is no dust, he dusts the furniture all the same.

At 5 o’clock he has tea. After that there is only one thing to do before he goes to bed. 6 o’clock in the evening is a very special hour: that is the only time he visits his house.

So you see Mr Widdle really keeps his timetable. And you?

EXERCISE № 276. Retell the text in the past.

A Broken Vase

The young man is going to marry a beautiful girl. One day the girl says to him that the next day she will have a birthday party and she invites him to come. The young man is eager to make her a present, so he goes to a gift shop. There he sees many beautiful things. Of all things he particularly likes the vases. But they are very expensive, and as he has very little money he has to leave the shop without buying anything. When the young man is walking to the door he hears a noise: one of the vases has fallen down and broken to pieces. A brilliant idea comes to his mind. He comes up to the counter and asks the salesman to wrap up the broken vase he wants to buy. The salesman is surprised but does what the young man asks him to.

The young man takes the parcel and goes straight to the girl's place. He enters the room and sees that the guests have already gathered. Everybody is enjoying the party. Some of the people are dancing. Others are talking, joking and laughing. Saying “Many happy returns of the day,” the young man says that he has bought a small present for her. With these words he begins to unwrap the parcel. Suddenly he gets pale and says: “I am afraid, I have broken it. There were so many people in the bus …'' But when he unwraps the parcel, he sees that the salesman has wrapped each piece of the vase separately.

EXERCISE № 277. Play a game. One of you is a ghost of a Morgan or any of the characters mentioned. The group should ask “Yes/No”- questions to find out which ghost they see.

Model: Were you a sailor? Did you want to know about your ancestors?