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- •4. On the East Side
- •I. Translate the following phrases and sentences from the text:
- •II. Give the principal forms of the following verbs:
- •III. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences. Use them in situations based on the text:
- •IV. Respond to the following questions or statements and correct them(if necessary). When expressing disagreement make sure you begin your answers with such commonly accepted phrases as:
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •VI. Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
- •VII. Talk about: a) Erik's summer experience; b) Erik's interview with Professor Fox; c) Professor Fox's first impression of Erik Gorin.
- •VIII. Make up dialogues between:
- •XVIII. Give English equivalents for the following short sentences (see Vocabulary and Ex. Ill):
- •XIX. Suggest Russian equivalents for the word combinations in bold type and explain the use of the synonyms in the following sentences:
- •XX. Read the following sentences paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Suggest their Russian equivalents:
- •XXI. Translate the following situations paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type:.
- •XXII. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •XXIII. Read the text and retell it following the points in the outline given below. Make a list of the words and word combinations in the text which you could use to develop each point:
- •XXIV. Make up situations based on the episode from the autobiography of Charlie Chaplin using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •1. Clauses of Unreal Condition
- •II. Give the principal forms of the following verbs:
- •III. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences. Use them in situations based on the text:
- •IV. Respond to the following questions or statements and correct them if necessary (see Unit One, Ex. IV, p. 22):
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •VI. Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
- •VII. Quote sentences which prove that it is a humorous story.
- •VIII. Make up stories as they might have been told by:
- •XVI. Form as many questions as possible on the topics given below using the pattern to have smth done. Ask your comrades to answer your questions:.
- •XVII. Make up short situations using the following pairs of structural patterns:
- •XVIII. Read (he text and retell it in the form of a story retaining the sentences of unreal condition:
- •XIX. Give English equivalents for the following short sentences (see Vocabulary and Ex. Hi):
- •XX. Suggest Russian equivalents for the words and word combinations in bold type and explain the use of the synonyms in the following sentences:
- •XXI. Read the following sentences paying careful attention to 'he words and word combinations in bold type. Suggest their Russian equivalent:
- •XXII. Translate the following situations. Use the active vocabulary of Unit Two for the words and word combinations in bold type:
- •XXIII. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •XXIV Read the story and retell it following the outline given below. Make a list of the words and word combinations in the text which you could use to develop each point:
- •XXV. Make tip situations based on the story "The-Legend of Sleepy Hollow" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •I. Translate the following sentences and situations:
- •II. Render into English:
- •Vocabulary extension
- •1. Sentences with /Is-clauses
- •2. Had better, would rather
- •3. The Absense of Article with Nouns in Apposition
- •Vocabulary
- •I wonder who he is, what he wants, why he is here, whether he will come again:
- •I. Translate the following sentences from the text:
- •II. Give the principal forms of the following verbs?
- •III. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences and use them in situations based on the text:.
- •IV. Respond to the following questions or statements and correct them if necessary (see Unit One, Ex. IV, p. 22):
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •VI Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
- •VII Make up stories as they might have been told by:
- •VIII Make up dialogues between:
- •XV. Respond to the following statements, questions or requests using had better or would rather. Give two variants wherever possible. Add a sentence or two to make the situation clear:
- •XVI. Give English equivalents for the following short sentences (see Vocabulary and Ex. Ill):
- •XVII. Read the following sentences paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type and suggest their Russian equivalents:
- •XVIII.Analyse the use of the tenses in the following sentences. Translate them .Into Russian:.
- •XIX. Translate the following situations. Use the active vocabulary of Unit Three for the words and word combinations in bold type;
- •XX. Read the story and retell it Following the outline given below. Make a list of the words in the text which you could use to develop each point:.
- •XXI. Make up situations based on the story "The Tattoo" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •XXII. Make up sentences based on the story "The Tattoo" using clauses of unreal condition.
- •I. Use one of the patterns - to do smth, to have smth done, to want/need doing smth - in your answers to the question: What would you do or say or ask if....:
- •II. Translate the following sentences and situations a) into Russian::
- •III. Render into English:
- •Vocabulary extension
- •1. Read the following text and translate the word combinations given below each point of the outline. Retell the text following the points:
- •II. Read the text and retell it in the form of a story. Enlarge on the story making use of the words and word combinations from the previous text "Being hi";
- •III. Read the text and write down the words and word combinations connected will; dentistry giving their Russian equivalents. Retell the text in brief;
- •Vocabulary
- •I. Translate the following phrases and sentences from the text:;
- •II. Give the principal forms of the following verbs:
- •III. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and use them in situations based on the text:;
- •IV. Develop the thought expressed in each sentence to bring out the meaning of the words in bold type:
- •V. Give a neutral variant for each of the following:
- •VI. Answer the following questions:
- •VII. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •VIII. Give English equivalents for the following short sentences (see Vocabulary and Ex. Ill):
- •IX. Read the following sentences paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Suggest their Russian equivalents:
- •X. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •1. Sentences with so fAaf-clauses ... Move his chair so that he can see
- •Vocabulary
- •I. Translate the following phrases and sentences from the text:
- •VI. Find evidence in the texts (in both parts) to support the following statements:
- •VII. Give a detailed description of each of the following episodes in the third person (Texts 1, 2)I
- •VIII. Make up stories as they might have been told by:
- •IX. Make up character-sketches of Mr. Drake and Mrs. Thayer. Make a list of words and word combinations to help you describe the characters.
- •X. Suggest a title for the story and give your reasons.
- •XI. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns?
- •XII. Give English equivalents for the following Russian short sentences (see Vocabulary and Ex. III):
- •XIII. Read the following sentences paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Suggest their Russian equivalents:
- •XIV. Translate the following situations. Use the active vocabulary of Unit Four for the words and word combinations in bold type;
- •XV. Read the story and give full answers to the questions that follow the text. Make a list of the words in the text which you could use in your answers:
- •XVI. Make up situations based on the text "One Coat of White" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •XVII. Read (he story and write out English and American equivalents for the Russian words given after the text:
- •Vocabulary extension
- •I. Read the text paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Give their Russian equivalents. Get ready to discuss the problem:
- •III. Comment on the following statements concerning visiting, tact, manners (use facts from the texts to prove, illustrate or refute them):
- •IV. Topics for discussion:
- •V. Read the text and retell it:
- •VI. Give a talk on the difference between be and ae, Make up a written outline to guide you.
- •VII. Read the poem. Try to trace the similarity in the views of the author of the poem and the main character of the story "Liberty Hall". Could you accept this attitude towards life?
- •I. Interpret the words given in bold type:
- •II. Answer the following questions:
- •III. Point out the main thought expressed by the poet in each of the three stanzas of the poem.
- •IV. Memorize the poem.
- •V.Read extracts from the following poems. Point out their lexical and syntactical peculiarities using the commentary given to the poem "The Song of the Wage-Slave":
- •VI. State what kinds of relations form the basis for each case of metonymy in the text of the poems "To the Men of England", 'The Song of the Shirt" and "Sons of Poverty".
- •Vocabulary
- •II. Give (he principal forms of the following verbs?
- •III. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences and use them in situations based on the text:
- •IV. Answer the following questions.
- •V. Mke up stories as they might have been told by:
- •VI. Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
- •VII. Suggest a title for the text and give reasons for your choice.
- •VIII. Give ail possible Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type;
- •IX. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •X. Give English equivalents for the following short sentences (see Vocabulary and; Ex. Ill):
- •XI. Suggest Russian equivalents for the word combinations in bold type and explain the use of the synonyms in the following sentences:
- •XII. Translate the following situations. Use the active vocabulary of Unit Six for the words and word combinations in bold type:
- •XIII. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •XV. Make up situations based on the story "Patients Needed" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •Vocabulary extension
- •I. Reproduce the following situations based on the works of famous English and American authors. Make sure that you use the active vocabulary:
- •II. Insert prepositions if necessary:
- •III. Read the story and retell it. Then, using it as a basis, think of sentences which will contain clauses of unreal condition:
- •IV. Read the text and translate it into Russian paying careful attention to the use of the modal verbs. Make up another dialogue with the same structural patterns:
- •V. Respond to the following statements expressing probability, doubt, incredulity or near certainty;
- •VI. Change the following sentences using didn't have to or needn't have done to express absence of necessity:
- •VII. Revise the texts included in Units One-Six. Get ready to answer the following questions:
- •VIII. Make up dialogues on the following topics:
- •IX. Translate the following situalions in written form:
- •Vocabulary
- •II. Look up the synonyms to snatch, to seize, to grip (схватить) in an English-English dictionary or a reference book and explain the difference between them.
- •I. Translate the following sentences or parts of sentences from the text:)
- •II. Find English equivalents in the text for the following Russian word combinations, phrases and sentences:
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following word combinations:
- •IV. Make up disjunctive questions or wrong statements covering the contents of the story and ask your comrades to respond to them (see Unit One, Ex. IV, p. 22).
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •VI. Find evidence in the text to support the following statements:
- •VII. Make up stories as they might have been told by:
- •VIII. Make up dialogues between:
- •IX. Make up character-sketches of Mrs. Packletide and Miss Mebbin.
- •I. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •II. Make up short situations suggested by the following sentences paying careful attention to the word combinations in bold type:
- •III. Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the parts in bold type:
- •IV. Read the sentences and explain the use of the synonyms to snatch, to seize, to grip:
- •V. Read the story and retell it following the outline given below. Make a list of the words in the text to develop each point:
- •VI. Make up situations based on the story "His Wedded Wife" using the following word combinations:
- •VII. Render into English:
- •VIII. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type:
- •1. Sentences with before-clauses
- •2. Infinitive of Subsequent Action
- •Vocabulary
- •I. Translate the following sentences into Russian paying careful attention to the word combinations in bold type:
- •II. Look up the verb to change in an English-English dictionary and write down its meanings. In which of the meanings is it synonymous to the verb to alter? Explain the difference. Give examples.
- •I. Translate into Russian passages from the text which begin and end as follows:
- •II. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and senr tences:
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following word combinations
- •IV. Make up disjunctive questions or wrong statements covering the contents of the story and ask your comrades to respond to them (see Unit One, Ex. IV, p. 22).
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •III. Make op situations suggested by the following sentences paying careful attention to the word combinations in bold type:
- •IV. Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the parts in bold type:
- •V. Read the following sentences paying carefuJ attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Suggest their Russian equivalents:
- •VI. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •VII. Read the story and retell it following the outline given below. Make a list of the words and word combinations in the text which you could use to develop each point:
- •VIII. Make up sentences based on the story "The Pendulum" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •IX. Render into English:
- •X. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type:
- •1. Absolute Nominative Constructions
- •2. There's not a...
- •3. Participle I as Adverbial Modifier
- •Vocabulary
- •I. Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type. Give possible variants:
- •II. Look up the meanings of the verbs to divide and to share as used in the following sentences and say how they differ:
- •I. Translate into Russian passages from the text which begin and end as follows;
- •II. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences:
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following words and word combinations:
- •IV. Make up disjunctive questions or wrong statements covering the contents of the story and ask your comrades to respond to them (see Unit One, Ex. IV, p. 22).
- •V. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the absolute nominative constructions:
- •III. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •IV. Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the parts in bold type:
- •V. Read the following sentences carefully and suggest Russian equivalents for the word combinations in bold type:
- •VI. Translate the following sentences using the verbs to share and to divide:
- •VII. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:
- •VIII. Read the story and retell it following the outline given below. Make a list of the words in the text which you could use to develop each point:
- •IX. Make up situations based on the story "The Boy Next Door" using the following word combinations and structural patterns:
- •X. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type:
- •I. Translate the following situations paying careful attention to the words and word combinations in bold type:
- •II. Render into English:
- •I. Interpret the following sentences:
- •II. Ahswer the following questions:
- •III. Learn the poem by heart.
- •IV. The following are three translations of John Barleycorn. Which variant do you prefer? Give reasons for your choice:
- •V. Give the metrical scheme used in the following verses. Point out all the violations of the metre;
- •2. Clauses of Real Condition
- •Vocabulary
- •1. Translate the following phrases and sentences from the text:
- •II. Find in the text English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences:
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following words and word combinations:
- •IV. Answer the following questions:
- •II. Make up situations suggested by the following sentences paying careful attention to the word combinations in bold type:
- •III Translate the following sentences paying careful attention to the parts in bold type:.
- •IV. Make up short dialogues using the following structural patterns:".
- •V. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type:
- •1. Sentences with while-clauses
- •Vocabulary
- •1. Translate the following sentences from the text:
- •II. Give English equivalents for the following sentences:
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following words and word combinations:
- •IV. Answer the following questions:
- •V. Find evidence in the text to support tfie following statements:
- •VI. Make an outline of the text and retell it following your points.
- •VII. Read the sentences with while-clauses. State the meaning of while and the time relations of the actions:
- •VIII. Translate the following sentences using the structural patterns:
- •IX. Make up short situations using the following gerundial phrases?
- •XI. Make up situations suggested by the following sentences paying careful attention to the word combinations in bold type:
- •XII. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equivalents for the parts in bold type:
- •XIII. Render into English:
- •XIV. Read the following excerpt and retell it in brief:
- •I. Translate into Russian the following sentences and passages from the text which begin and end as follows:
- •II. Find English equivalents for the following Russian phrases and sentences;
- •III. Reproduce situations from the text using the following word combinations!
- •IV. Answer the following questions:
- •IX. Read the following sentences and commeqf on the character of the semantic relations between the components of the verb-postpositive phrases in bold type. Give their Russian equivalents:
- •X. Translate the Following sentences paying careful attention to the parts in bold type:
- •XI. Read the following sentences and suggest Russian equisralents for the verb-postpositive phrases in bold type:
- •XIV. Read the following excerpts and retell them in brief:
- •1. Translate the following sentences and situations:
- •III. Read the end of the story and retell it using the following verb-postpositive phrases wherever possible. Reread the whole story and discuss the title:
- •I. Reproduce the following situations. Make sure that you use the active vocabulary:
- •II. Fill in prepositions and postpositives:
- •III. Point out the structural patterns and explain their use. Translate the sentences into Russian:
- •IV. Revise the texts included in Units Seven-Thirteen. Get ready to answer the following questions:
- •VI. Choose any 10 word combinations out of the following list and "rite sentences (or short situations) in Russian based on the story "The Boatswain's Mate". Discuss the sentences in class:
- •VII. Make up dialogues on the following topics:
- •VIII. Translate the following situations in written form:
- •I. Supply a title to the story and give reasons for your choice.
- •II. Pick out sentences in the story illustrating the various types of if-clauses.
- •III. Make up 5 Russian sentences with clauses of unreal condition based on the story. Ask your comrades to translate them into English.
- •I. What helps you guess the author of the passage? What is the author's name?
- •II. How do you know that it is a passage from a detective story?
- •III. Have you read any short stories by the author? Tell one of them.
- •I. What do we learn from the extract about the author's way of reading? What did he gain from such reading?
- •II. Why did he call himself a bad reader?
- •I. What book does the passage come from?
- •II. What do you think of the man? What made him such an extraordinary person? Why did he attract other people?
- •I. What is the title of the story? Who is its author?
- •Il. What state do you think Johnsy was in? Why did she watch the dry leaves falling?
- •III. What happened later?
- •I. What book does the extract come from? Comment on the language.
- •II.How did the man happen to find himself in the gloomy passages alone and half-dressed?
- •III. Write a simplified version of the passage using your active whenever possible.
- •I. Pick out all the proverbs in the story and give their Russian equivalents.
- •II. Write an end to the story using some of the following proverbs;
- •I. What story does the passage fit into?
- •II. What do you think the cause of Mr. Jones's illness was?
- •I. How does (he passage fit info the story "One Coat of White"?
- •II. Bring out the meaning of "People don’t often look their business". Do you agree to the statement? Give examples to justify jour point of view.
- •I. How does the author characterize a modern disease the name of which is travel? Are you taken with a similar disease when your summer or winter vacations are coming?
- •II. What aim do you set yourself when you travel or go hiking?
- •III. What thoughts in the extract strike you as most humorous?
- •I. What efforts at self-improvement have you ever made? Were they successful?
- •II. Write a short story about one of your efforts at self-improvement and what came of it.
- •III. Pick out words and word combinations in the story which you think are used by the author to achieve a humorous effect.
- •I. Make up a few questions on the passage and ask your comrades to answer them.
- •II. Think of a number of statements concerning events in the text and ask your comrades to find evidence in the text to support them.
- •I. What story is the passage taken from? How does it fit into it?
- •II. What did the girl look like as she hurried to the painter's studio? What do you know about her from the rest of the story?
- •III. What city is described in the passage? What similes help you guess? What do you know about the city?
- •I. Read and translate the text.
- •II. Give English equivalents for the following Russian word combinations and phrases:
- •III. Answer the following questions. Make use of the word combinations listed in brackets:
- •IV. Translate the following sentences using words and word combinations from the text:
- •V. Make a written translation of the following passages:
- •VI. Reproduce the following passages:
- •VII. Speak on the Soviet Union's achievements in different spheres of life. Make use of the text and the additional passages given in Exercises V, VI.
V. Give the metrical scheme used in the following verses. Point out all the violations of the metre;
THE SONG OF HIAWATHA
By H. W. Longfellow (1807-1882)
(excerpt)
Should you ask me, whence these stories? Whence these legends and traditions, With the. odors of the forest, With the dew and damp of meadows, With the curling smoke of wigwams, With the rushing of great rivers, With, their frequent repetitions, And their wild reverberations, As of thunder in the Mountains? I should answer, I should tell you, "From the forests and the prairies, From the great lakes of the Northland, From the land of the Ojibways, From the land of the Dacotahs, From the mountains, moors and fenlands, Where the heron, the Shub-shuh-gah, Feeds .among the reeds and rushes. I repeat them as I heard them |
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From the lips of Nawadaha, The musician, the sweet singer." |
MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS
(excerpt)
By R. Burns (1759-1796)
My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer, Chasing the wild deer and following the roe, My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go. All hail to the Highlands, all hail to the North, The birth-place of valour, the country of worth, Wherever I wander, wherever I rove. The hills of the Highlands for ever I love. |
ANSWER ТО A CHILD'S QUESTIONS
(excerpt)
By S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834)
Do you ask what the birds say? The sparrow, the dove, The linnet and thrush say: "I love and I love!" In the winter they're silent - the wind is so strong, What it says, I don't know, but it sings a loud song. But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather, And singing, and loving - all come back together. But the lark is so brimful of gladness and love. The green fields below him, the blue sky above, That he sings, and he sings, and forever sings he - "I love my Love, and my Love loves me." |
THE SLAVE'S DREAM
(excerpt)
By H. W. Longfellow (1807-1882;
Beside the ungathered rice he lay His sickle in his hand; His breast was bare, his matted hair Was buried in the sand. Again, in the mist and shadow of sleep He saw his Native Land. Wide through the landscape of his dreams The lordly Niger flowed; Beneath the palm-trees on the plain Once more a king he strode; And heard the tinkling caravans Descend the mountain-road. |
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UNIT ELEVEN
TEXT
SPITFIRE JOHNNY
By Oreste Pinto
Towards the end of May 1945, I was asked to attend a conference of Resistance leaders in Edinhoven where honours and awards for patriotism were to be discussed.
It must have been the second or third day of the conference that someone mentioned Spitfire Johnny. The official meeting had.broken up for that session and I was drinking coffee with perhaps half a dozen of the Resistance representatives. One of my companions was a man named Bloot. He was slight and stooping, a thin academic figure with sparse gray hair. He spoke softly in a dry, pedantic voice. You would have taken him for a University professor but he was one of the most ruthless and cunning guerrilla fighters I ever came across.
Another man present was Ritten, a big burly creature with two fingers missing on his right hand. He also had fought the German invaders bitterly and had personally killed more than a dozen of them in commando-type raids. Men like these had resisted for many years, long before there had seemed any hope of victory and before the R. A. F. had begun to drop arms and ammunition to them. In the beginning, if one wanted to kill a German sentry, the job had to be done with bare hands or a sharpened kitchen knife. Looking round the gathering, I thought that each of these men deserved a whole chestful of medals.
As always happens when fighting men are gathered together, the talk turned to those who did not survive. Someone - I think it was Ritten - said, "There ought to be a posthumous award for Spitfire Johnny."
"Not posthumous," Bloot interrupted him. "He's still alive."
"No, he's dead, I tell you."
"He can't be dead - unless something's happened to him in the last few weeks. A friend of mine saw him less than two months ago."
"With due respect, I can't believe that. I've seen his grave with these eyes - on a farm not far from Zutphen," said Ritten.
"A grave's not evidence," Bloot argued dryly. "Anyone can dig a hole and write a name on the headboard. I won't believe Johnny's dead until I actually see his body. This is just another of his tricks, I'll be bound."
"How would you identify his body, if you did see it?" Ritten retorted. "You never met him in the flesh, did you?"
"That's true - but I still won't agree- he's dead. Not till I get definite proof."
"Isn't his grave proof enough?" said Ritten.
The argument was beginning to go round in circles and, besides, I was getting intrigued with this strangely named character who
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I guessed to be a Resistance man, whether dead or alive. To break up the debate, I asked, "Who is this Spitfire Johnny you're talking about? I've never heard of him."
"Never heard of Spitfire Johnny?" asked Ritten in his turn, incredulously.
"No, never."
"Colonel," he said impressively, "we've all done something for this country of ours. But none of us here - and he spread his maimed hand to take in the whole company - could equal the achievements of Spitfire Johnny. I'm surprised you never got to hear of him back in England. After all, he was an Englishman."
"/s an Englishman," Bloot corrected him.
"Is or was - and I for one know he's dead, poor fellow - Johnny .was a great man. Your King ought to give him the Victoria Cross."
"But who was he?" I persisted. "How did he get that name?"
Bloot butted in. "Don't let us talk about him in the past tense. To me Johnny will always be alive. He is an Englishman, a fighter pilot in the R. A. F., who got shot down in a sweep over Hilversum at the beginning of last year. The engine of his plane failed and he must have known he would never get back across the North Sea. So he glided on over Apeldoorn and finally crash-landed a few miles away. He was hurt when he crashed and he holed up in a farm between Apeldoorn and Zutphen until his leg got better. Then, instead of working his way back to England, Johnny decided to fight his own private war against the Hun.
"The Resistance was never too active in North-East Holland. There were too many German troops around and it was too near the frontier. But you should have seen the difference when Johnny got going. He derailed troop trains, ambushed military convoys, attacked staff headquarters - why, once he took on a whole brigade and got away with it! If there had been more like him to harass the Germans at that time, Holland would have been liberated long ago, I tell you."
"But what's his name - his real name I mean? And what does he look like?" I asked.
For once Ritten and Bloot were in agreement. They shook their heads in unison. Ritten said, "I don't know his real name. He was always called Spitfire Johnny - 'Spitfire' because that was the make of plane he was flying and 'Johnny' because - well, because his name was Johnny. I don't have to tell you, Colonel, that most of us Resistance men adopted nicknames and tried to keep our names hidden, in case the Gestapo took reprisals on our families. It didn't pay to go round asking a Resistance man what his name was!"
I nodded and then asked, "But can you describe him? Was he tall, short, dark-haired, fair - what did he look like?"
Ritten replied, "I don't know. I never saw him in the flesh."
"Nor did I," said Bloot.
"But someone must have known him personally," I persisted. "A man doesn't crash a Spitfire in a country, step out and go on fighting
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the Germans for over a year without ever meeting a soul. What did he fight with? Where did he get hold of the weapons and ammunition? Where did he stay at night? Who fed him? He must have had some helpers. Who are they - and where are they?"
Bloot gave a dry grin. "Colonel, you are very good at asking questions. Unfortunately, we are not good at giving the answers in this case. Why don't you go to Zutphen? There must be someone there who can tell you more than we can."
"They say that his lieutenant was a beautiful woman," Ritten added. He outlined a rough figure of eight with his cupped hands in the smoky air and whistled. "Why don't you call on her, Colonel?"
"When I get time, I will," I answered. "An unsolved mystery hurts my professional pride."
The conversation turned to other topics and, perhaps an hour later, the gathering broke up.
Two days afterwards, I returned to my duties and for several weeks I had neither the time nor the opportunity to investigate the mystery of Spitfire Johnny. At occasional off-duty moments my mind switched back to the talk at Edinhoven and I wondered just how much of the story was true and how much was rumour. Ritten and Bloot were tough realists who would not easily be taken in by a completely fabricated yarn. Yet, they were both firmly convinced of Spitfire Johnny's existence.
(to be continued)
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COMMENTARY
STRUCTURAL PATTERNS
1. Past Perfect + Past Continuous
The official meeting had broken up for the session and I was drinking coffee ...
In coordinated sentences the Past Perfect is often used in combination with the Past Continuous when both actions are viewed from the same moment, one action being completed while the other is still in progress. In Russian we find the combination of a perfective and an imperfective -verb.
His father had died and he was running the firm. |
Его отец умер, и теперь он управлял фирмой. |
The Past Perfect and the Past Continuous may be used in a sentence where there are homogeneous predicates. This pattern is in extensive use.
Enid had pushed the goods aside and was sitting on the counter, close to the window. |
Энид отодвинула товары и сидела на прилавке у окна. |
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Note: The Past Indefinite is used to denote two successive actions which take place in the past.
Enid pushed the goods aside and sat down on the counter. |
Энид отодвинула товары и села на прилавок. |