Vocabulary

alarm clock - будильник blood - кровь convince - убеждать escape - спасаться бегством murderer - убийца wind up – заводить

Exercise 1. Answer the questions:

1. What is meant by "one of those days"?

2. Why did Harry wake up very late?

3. Why did he have to find another shirt?

4. What happened when the man came to read the electricity meter?

5. Why did Harry have to wear that shirt?

6. Did he usually go to work by bus?

7. Did he stop the taxi?

8. Who saw Harry when the taxi stopped outside the office?

9. Why did the policeman take Harry to the police station?

10. How long was Harry kept in the police station?

Exercise 2. Are these sentences true or false?

1. Not everybody has "one of those days".

2. Harry got up before the alarm clock rang.

3. He cut himself when shaving and got blood on his shirt.

4. The policeman believed Harry and did not take him to the police station

5. Harry took a taxi near his house.

6. When he arrived at the office nobody saw him.

7. His boss was happy to see Harry again.

8. Harry was kept in the police station for half of the day.

9. He was arrested because he was taken for the murder.

10. Harry couldn't go to work by bus because of his blood stained shirt.

Exercise 3. Complete the following sentences:

1. Harry got up late because ...

2. When he got dressed ...

3. While he was ironing ...

4. A man came to ...

5. While Harry was talking to the man, the iron ...

6. He had to wear the shirt with blood on it because ...

7. The only shirt that was clean ...

8. In another part of the town ...

9. When Harry arrived at the office ...

10. He convinced the police that...

Exercise 4. Give the English equivalents for:

1. все идет не так

2. заводить будильник

3. единственная другая рубашка

4. снимать показания с электросчетчика

5. прожечь дыру

6. в конечном счете, в конце концов

7. вызвать такси по телефону

8. спасаться бегством в такси

Exercise 5. Translate into English:

1. У него часто бывают такие дни, когда все идет не так.

2. Когда Гарри брился, он порезался и кровь попала на рубашку.

3. У него была единственная чистая рубашка, но ее нужно было погладить.

4. Когда он гладил рубашку, пришли снимать показания с электросчетчика.

5. Гарри забыл об утюге, и он прожег дыру на рубашке.

6. Гарри опаздывал на работу и решил не ехать автобусом, а взять такси.

7. Полицейский перед офисом увидел кровь на рукаве и арестовал Гарри.

8. Гарри убедил полицию, что он не тот человек, которого они ищут

9. Гарри продержали в полиции до 3-х часов дня, пока он доказал, что не виновен.

10. Его начальник был очень сердит и сказал, чтобы он искал другую работу.

Exercise 6. Speaking.

1. "One of those days" in your life.

2. What wouldn't have happened if Harry hadn't overslept?

UNIT 5.

Tv Programs

The Carter family are television addicts and can't imagine life without one. The Fox family had never had a TV. We asked these two families to take part in an experiment. We took the Carters' television away from them for a month and gave it to the Fox family. This was the result.

The Carter Family.

George Carter (father): At first, we all went into the living room as usual, but we didn't know what to do. All the chairs in the room have always faced the TV. In the first week we kept talking about the programs we couldn't see but after about ten days we started to think of ways of filling our time. We sat down together for meals instead of eating in front of the box, we talked to each other because nobody had to rush away to see a program. I do miss my favourite programs though. I prefer having a TV but perhaps we can try to control how much we watch in future.

Sandra Carter (daughter 15): I love watching TV. We've got satellite TV and I used to watch TV all evening. I thought Mum and Dad were crazy to take part in this experiment. It was difficult at school because everyone talks about what they saw on TV the night before. But we did start to play games together - chess, cards, board games. We were more relaxed as a family. I had more time to my home work and even started taking piano lessons. Actually I think I'd rather not to have a TV for the next few months. If it's there I watch it and I've got my exams in two months' time.

The Fox family.

Angela Fox (mother): I have never wanted a television in my house. I think they're bad for children. When the TV arrived we decided to put it in the little room at the top of the house so that we actually had to choose to watch it. We limited the children to two hours a day, but it was still too much. We hardly ever saw them and they were never satisfied with the two hours. I watched a few films and I was interested in some news and documentary programs but I hated planning our lives around the TV. We only ate together when nobody wanted to watch it! For the first time I had to nag the kids to do their homework. I didn't enjoy having a TV here. In fact I'd rather live in a house without TV or radio- all you hear is depressing news!

Peter Fox (son 13): It was great! I liked having a TV. The only problem was that my sister and I never wanted to watch the same programmes, but you get bored with playing family games and reading and I was tired of doing the same things every day. The TV didn't affect my schoolwork badly - actually, there were lots of programmes that helped me with it.