Разговорный английский

GEORGE. No, sir. I have not eaten since yesterday.

DOCTOR. Are you thirsty?

GEORGE. Yes, sir.

DOCTOR. Do you sleep well?

GEORGE. Sometimes. Last night I did not sleep at all.

DOCTOR. I shall make out a prescription. (To the mother.) He should take the medicine a tablespoonful every 4 hours.

MOTHER. Yes, doctor. But is it serious?

DOCTOR. No, you need not fear. I’ll call around tomorrow at about the same time. Goodbye.

MOTHER. Goodbye, doctor.

4.      AT THE DENTIST’S

Once I had had a toothache for several days, but I couldn’t pluck up courage to go to the dentist. As a matter of fact I went twice, but just as I got on his doorstep and was going to ring the bell the toothache seemed to have gone away, so I went home again. But at last I had to go back, and this time I rang the bell and was shown into the waiting-room.

There were a number of magazines there, and I had just got in the middle of an exciting story when the maid came in to say Mr. Puller was ready to see me — I’ll have to wait for the next toothache to finish the story.

Well, I went into the surgery (the room where a doctor or dentist gives advice or treatment) and he told me to sit in a chair that he could move up and down, backwards and forwards, and then he had a look at the inside of my mouth. He put a little mirror on a long handle inside my mouth and poked about for a while, then he looked serious and said, “Yes, I’m afraid we can’t save that one, it will have to come out.”

I asked him to give me an injection. He filled a syringe with a liquid called cocaine. I felt a little prick on the gum and then he injected the cocaine. He did this in two or three places and waited for a minute or so.

My mouth felt rather dead. Then he took a pair of forceps, gripped the tooth, gave a twist, then a pull, and the tooth was out. I could see it and hear it but I couldn’t feel it. Then he said, “It’s all over. Spit in there and then wash your mouth out with this disinfectant.”

Л/ter “Essential English for Foreign Students ” by G. E. Eckersley.

5.      SLEEP

G. Good morning, Mrs. Hamilton. Tom is up, isn’t he?

Mrs. H. Tom up? I don’t think he is. You might as well go in and see for yourself. (They both go into the bedroom.) Well, here he is — sleeping the sleep of the just.

G. Yes, dead asleep. He’s snoring rather loudly, I should say. Mrs. H. He’s sleeping on his back. Tom! Wake up, Tom!

T.      (In his sleep.) Give it back, do you hear?

G. He’s talking in his sleep. (Shaking him.) Tom, get up, you —.

T. Eh! What the —. Oh, that(’s) you, George!

G. No other. When do you intend to get up, I should like to know?

T. Get up? Why, what’s the time, anyway?

G. It’s time to get up, that’s what it is. You haven’t forgotten, I hope, that we are to be at the station for the 8.30 train?

Mrs. H. Well, Tom, be quick about it. I’ll make you a hasty breakfast while you wash and dress. Will you join Tom with the breakfast, George?

G. I don’t mind if I do. I didn’t have it at home. Thought I’d be late.

T. Switch on the radio, George, will you?

G. I say, Tom, here’s no time for any jerks now. You get along and wash yourself.

T. All right, (After some minutes Tom comes in. He begins to dress.)

G. You are a heavy sleeper, Tom, you are.

T. Well, I went to bed late last night, you know.

G. I suppose you think you never snore.

T. I know I don’t.

G. My aunt!

(Mrs. H. comes into the room)

Mrs. Hamilton, did you hear what —?

Mrs. H. I did indeed, but I don’t think you have time to argue about that now. Come, breakfast is ready.

VI. At Home

1.      THE HOUSE

In many parts of England cottages are built in a long row, each house joined to the next one, and each with a small yard at the back, and a still smaller one at the front. On the ground floor there are generally two rooms, and on the upper one, the first floor, two. In the bigger of the lower rooms food is prepared, meals are eaten and guests are received. Such a room is called a kitchen or simply a living-room.

Here is the description of such a living-room.

It has three doors: the one in the centre leads out on to the street, the one on the right — to the stairs landing to the first floor, and the one on the left — to a bedroom on the ground floor. There is a fireplace on the right. Dark curtains cover the window at the back.

The room contains a table, some chairs and a comfortable rocking chair placed by the fireplace. On the left there is a cupboard with a shelf above it on which are a few dishes. A birdcage hangs in the window. On the wall near the fireplace hangs a large calender with a bright coloured picture of some cows drinking at a stream. Over the table hangs a gas-lamp and by the fireplace is a small gas-ring with a little tin kettle on it.