I'm Afraid I Think I'm Lost
Old Lady; Excuse me. I'm terribly sorry to bother you...
Policeman: Yes? That's quite all right. Can I help you at all?
Old Lady: I don't know how to begin.
Policeman: Well, the beginning's always a good place to start.
Old Lady: But, you see, I don't know the beginning. I'm looking for a small, old-fashioned hotel where I — if only I could remember the name!
Policeman: Or the name of the street?
О 1 d Lady: The street? Oh, I've no idea, I'm afraid.
Policeman: Or the area?
Old L a d y: I know it was not far from the Pier. Or could that have been last year, I wonder? No, no, last year I went with Emily — I think.
Policeman: Did you say near the Pier? There's no pier here.
Old Lady: There must be! My hotel was near it.
Policeman: Which pier?
Old Lady: Eastbourne Pier, of course!
Policeman: Eastbourne? But this is Seaford!
Old Lady: Seaford! Really? I thought it seemed rather a long way!
Read the rhymes and learn them.
1. Tommy Trot, a man of law,
Sold his bed and lay upon straw,
Sold the straw and slept on grass,
To buy his wife a looking-glass.
3. It's raining, it's pouring.
The old man is snoring,
He got into bed
And bumped his head
And couldn't get up in the morning.
2. Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To buy little Johnny a galloping horse,
It trots behind, and it ambles before,
And Johnny shall ride till he can ride no more.
4. Grasshopper, grasshopper,
Please, will you stop?
And show me how high
A grasshopper can hop.
Oh, no, I'm in haste.
I must hop out to shop.
Hoppety, hoppety,
hoppety, hop.
Transcribe the proverbs and learn them.
1. A little pot is soon hot.
2. Honour and profit lie not in one sack.
3. Better unborn than untaught, but better untaught than ill-taught.
4. To draw in. one's horns.
5. To draw water in sieve.
6. To make a long story short.
7. Be slow to promise and quick to perform.
8. Honesty is the best policy.
9. When all comes to all.
10. Velvet paws hide sharp claws.
Sound [з:]
Track 17. Tick the words a) or b) that you hear in the sentences:
1 a) bed
□
b) bird
□
2 a) Ben's
□
b) burns
□
3 a) ward
□
b) word
□
4 a) walk
□
b) work
□
5 a) short
□
b) shirt
□
6 a) or
□
b)er
□
First practise the sound [з:] in words from the dialogue below. Read the words aloud.
were weren't nurse worst world shirts hurts thirsty
Thursday dirty Sir Herbert Colonel Burton
Track 18. Listen to the dialogue, paying attention to the target sound.
The worst nurse
Sir Herbert: Nurse!
Colonel Burton: Nurse! I’m thirsty!
Sir Herbert: Nurse! My head hurts!
Colonel Burton: Nurse Sherman always wears such dirty shirts.
Sir Herbert: He never arrives at work early.
Colonel Burton: He and er ... Nurse Turner weren't at work on Thursday, were they?
Sir Herbert: No, they weren't.
Colonel Burton: Nurse Sherman is the worst nurse in the ward. Isn’t he, Sir Herbert?
Sir Herbert: No, he isn't, Colonel Burton. He's the worst nurse in the world!
Practise reading the dialogue aloud.
Sounds in contrast [з:]-[ ɔ:]
Read the following words paying special attention to correct pronunciation.
1. [з:]
2. [ɔ:]
3. [з:] - [ɔ:]
sir
work
four
ought
her — horn
fir
hurt
more
bought
bird — board
her
shirt
ore
thought
pearl — Paul
bird
skirt
bore
daughter
work — walk
heard
purse
tore
taught
turn — torn
word
nurse
saw
nought
burn — born
world
first
thaw
talk
curl — call
girl
burst
draw
walk
first— force
curl
curtain
straw
horse
curse — course
earl
thirteen
awed
course
worm — warm
pearl
birthday
board
short
shirt — short
term
Thursday
small
shorts
shirts — shorts
firm
purpose
wall
sport
serve
curve
morning
port
prefer
worse
warm
quarter
Read the following sense-groups, mind the rhythm and intonation.
(a) purpose; serve no purpose; the work will serve no purpose.
(b) a girl; a circus girl; Pearl is a circus girl; Pearl is a circus girl who works; Pearl is a circus girl who works with horses.
(c) birthday; first birthday; thirty-first birthday; pearls for her thirty-first birthday; a circlet of pearls for her thirty-first birthday; a fur and a circlet of pearls for her thirty-first birthday; an earl gave Pearl a fur and a circlet of pearls for her thirty-first birthday.
Transcribe and intone the following sentences. Practise reading them in pairs.
[з:] (а) 1. Repeat the verse word for word.
2. Bert will be thirteen next birthday.
3. Bertha preferred to turn to the Colonel whenever it was her turn to rehearse.
4. Bert and Jemima had a perfectly murderous journey from Hurlingham to Surbiton on Thursday.
5. Turn down the first turning after the church — or the third, if you prefer.
6. We've searched for work all over the world, cursing the ever-worsening conditions for labourers.
7. Myrtle will certainly start her journey to Germany next Thursday under the circumstances.
[з:] (b) 1. I thought George Thornhill ought to talk.
2. Paul Thornaby adores Mort Morgan's daughter Laura.
3. Nora thought that all autumn balls were boring.
4. Gordon Norton taught law to forty-four students.
5. Nora bought sausages and oranges and a tall bottle of mineral water.
[з:] — [о:] (с) 1. Paul and Pearl are on board a ship.
2. First call Bert and Paul.
3. Maud and Bert like to walk but they don't like to work.
4. Work without purpose is like walk without joy.
Read the tongue-twisters and learn them.
1. Observe the observed of all observers.
2. If white chalk chalks on a black blackboard, will black chalk chalk on a white blackboard?
Read the dialogues, mark the stresses and tunes. Learn them. Act out the dialogues.