II. Reading

2.1. Understanding the title.

Read the beginning of the story written by Linda Allen and ex­plain the meaning of the title.

"What is it?" they asked when I first mentioned it.

"I don't know what it is," I said.

"Well, what does it look like?" they said.

"It's black," I told them, "with lots of eyes, seventeen arms, and one fat leg."

"It's nothing," Dad said. "Go back to bed."

"I can't go back to bed," I said. "It'll reach out and grab me when I go past."

2.2. Reading for pleasure and enrichment.

Read the story to the end and answer the question: What did the boy's elder brother do to solve the problem?

..."It's only a spider," Mom said. "If you leave it where it is, it'll go away."

I told them it wouldn't. I said it had been there ever since I got into bed and it wasn't likely to go away now. Anyway, I said, it wasn't a spider. It was a million times bigger than a spider.

In the end it was Nan who came upstairs with me. I guess the others were too scared.

"Where is it?" she asked.

"Right there," I said, pointing at it.

"Where?" she said. "I can't see anything. I'd better go and get my glasses."

"You don't need your glasses," I shouted. "It's big enough for anybody to see."

"Well, I can't see it. I think you've been dreaming. Get back into bed, and I'll tuck you in nice and tight."

But I wouldn't. "I'm not going past it," I said. "It's all over the wall."

Nan laughed at me. "You don't mean this?" she said, touching it. I don't know how she could. "It's only a shadow." ' "No, it isn't," I said.

"It is. It's the shadow of this plant on the table, with the lamp behind it. Don't be silly. Come and get into bed. Shall I read you a story?"

"No," I said, as loud as I could.

"What's going on up there?" Dad shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"You'd better come up," Nan called down to him. So he came up and said exactly what Nan had said.

"It's NOT a shadow!" I yelled. "Wait till Ross comes home. He'll tell you. He'll believe me."

Ross is my big brother, and he always believes me.

"Shut your eyes," Dad ordered, and before I knew what he was going to do, he'd picked me up and dumped me back in my bed.

I screamed. I said I wasn't going to sleep with that black thing on the landing outside my door and nobody was going to make me.

Mom came up. "Whatever is the matter?" she asked.

"It's only a shadow," Nan said. "That plant you bought this morn­ing." And they all started talking at once. If I went to sleep, they said, they'd take me on a picnic tomorrow and they'd buy me that magic set I'd been asking for, and I could choose the new curtains for my bedroom and lots of other things. I could have had anything I wanted. But I wasn't going to sleep with that black thing on the landing. I don't know how three grown-up people could be so stupid as to think it was only a shadow when it had purple eyes. I told them so, and Dad went out to look.

"Spots on the wallpaper," he said when he came back. And then, just as they were starting to lose their tempers and I was in danger of being left on my own again, I heard Ross come in.

"Ross!" I yelled. "There's a black thing on the landing, and nobody believes me. Come up here and get rid of it."

He came into my bedroom and told the others to calm down and go downstairs. Ross is twelve years older than I am, and he isn't scared of anything.

"I'll flush it down the toilet," he said. "Will that do?"

"No," I said. "It might come up again and bite me."

"All right," he said, "I'll throw it out the window."

He went out onto the landing, and I heard him open the win­dow and shut it again. Then he came back. "All right," he said, "it's gone."

"Is it in the garden?" I asked him.

"Oh no," he told me. "I gave it such a wallop that it ran off up the road, and it won't come back. You can be sure of that,"

He picked me up and carried me to the door so I could see the landing. "There you are," he said. "It's gone."

And it was. So was the silly plant, but that didn't matter. I got back into bed and went to sleep. I wonder where the black thing went when it left our house. If it came to yours, you'd better send for Ross. He'll get rid of it for you.

2.3. True or false?

1. The family consisted of six people.

2. The younger son was afraid to stay alone in his room.

3. Father and Mother were both helpless in this situation.

4. Nan was much better at calming the boy down.

5. Parents promised the moon to the boy, and it worked.

6. What actually scared the boy was a shadow on the ceiling.

7. Ross the big brother was not prepared for handling the situation.

8. The big brother seemed to understand what his younger brother needed.

2.3. Points of view.

Decide who might have been thinking like this in the story.

1. "They don't want to see it! They don't want to listen to me!"

2. "Now, this shadow seems to be the thing that scares him."

3. "Well, the kid must be seeing things upstairs again."

4. "It's just spots on the wall paper and nothing else!"

5. "If only he could go to bed and leave us alone now."

6. "Well, well, this plant is really making a lot of mess."

7. "I wonder how Ross can handle him so smoothly."

8. "My brother, he is the best, I give you my word for it!"

2.4. Verbs in focus.

When there is a lot of heated conversation in the story, it's wise to use Reported Speech patterns when retelling. To do so, you need a variety of specific verbs. Do you think you remember many of them? Make sure you do by matching verbs and their translations.

1	Insist	A	Вопить
2	Demand	B	Уверять
3	Wonder	C	Отвечать
4	Declare	D	Настаивать
5	Assure	E	Заявлять
6	Repeat	F	Интересоваться
7	Comfort	G	Спрашивать (строго)
8	Reply	H	Спрашивать (удивлённо)
9	Inquire	I	Успокаивать
10	Yell	J	Повторять

2.5. Storing vocabulary.

Describe some episodes of the story using the above verbs in Reported Speech.

1. The boy ... that it had lots of eyes and seventeen arms.

2. He ... he would never go to bed if the black thing stayed there.

3. Nan ... where it was but found nothing wrong with it.

4. When he heard the noise, Dad ... what was going on there.

5. The boy ... that nobody wanted to see what he saw.

6. Ross ... seriously that he should flush it down the toilet.

7. The younger brother ... that it wouldn't do.

8. Finally, he ... he had given it such a wallop that it was gone forever.

2.6. Formal English in focus.

If the family had invited a child psychologist for a consultation, that expert would have probably said something like this, "Well, it is absolutely vital that you should pay more attention to the boy's fears. I'm anxious that nobody should leave any of his fears unno­ticed..." Let's practice using should in that-clauses after adjectives and nouns expressing the importance of an action.

e.g. The psychologist said,

"It's important that parents should..."

"It's necessary that the boy should..."

"It is my wish that nobody..."

"I strongly recommend that Father..."

"It's essential / vital that..."

2.7. More grammar.

Even if Ross were Doctor of Psychology, he wouldn't be able to do better than he did. Yet he could also express personal judgments and reactions. Read one of these and then do more of your own.

e.g. It is astonishing that the whole family should be so helpless!

1. I was shocked that Mother should / shouldn't...

2. I don't think it was normal that the boy should ...

3. It was unnatural that they should...

4. I was sorry they should think that...