[00:05.38]Reading ACT ONE Scene 3
[00:11.55]Now ladies and gentleman,you're about to hear the most incredible tale.
[00:17.19]It is the summer of 1903,and Henry Adams,
[00:22.88]an American businessman,has had some very bad luck.
[00:27.45]He is lost in London.He has no money and does not know what he should do.
[00:34.90]Walking down the street,he hears someone calling him.
[00:39.37]Young man,would you step inside a moment,please?
[00:43.42]Who?Me,sir? Yes,you.
[00:48.98]Through the front door on your left.
[00:51.91](a servant opens the door for him )Thanks.
[00:53.58]Good morning,sir,would you please come in?
[00:57.94]Permit me to lead the way,sir.
[01:00.81]Thank you,James.That will be all.
[01:04.76]How do you do,Mister-er-?
[01:09.02]Adams,Henry Adams.
[01:11.89]Come and sit down,Mr Adams.
[01:15.44]Thank you.
[01:16.90]You're an American?
[01:19.18]That's right,from San Francisco.
[01:22.34]How well do you know London?
[01:24.98]Not at all.It's my first trip here.
[01:28.42]I wonder,Mr Adams,if you'd mind us asking a few questions.
[01:33.70]Go right ahead.
[01:35.56]May we ask what you're doing in this contry and what your plans are?
[01:40.70]Well,I can't say that I have any plans.I'm hoping to find work.
[01:45.87]As a matter of fact,I landed in britain by accident.
[01:49.82]How is that possible?
[01:52.17]Well,you see,back home I had my own boat.
[01:56.24]About a month ago I was sailing out of the bay-
[01:59.90]Well,go on.
[02:02.17]Oh,yes.Well,towards nightfall I found myself carried out to sea by a strong wind.
[02:09.31]I did not know whether I could survive until morning.
[02:13.15]The next morning I'd just about given myself up for lost when I was spotted by a ship.
[02:19.65]And it was the ship that brought you to England.
[02:23.10]I earned my passage by working as an unpaid hand,
[02:27.17]which accounts for my appearance.(the brothers smile at each other)
[02:29.81]Well,you mustn't worry about that.It's an advantage.
[02:34.62]I'm afraid I don't quite follow you,sir.
[02:37.96]Tell us,Mr Adams,what sort of work did you do in America?
[02:42.93]I worked for a mining company.Could you offer me some kind of work here?
[02:48.28]Patience,Mr Adams.If you don't mind,may I ask you how much money you have?
[02:55.73]Well,to be honest,I have none.
[02:59.28](happily)What luck!Brother,what luck!(claps his hands together)
[03:03.54]Well,it may see lucky to you but no to me.
[03:07.30]If this is your idea of some kind of joke,I don't think it's very funny.
[03:12.47](Henry stands up to leave)Now,if you'll excuse me,I think I'll be on my way.
[03:16.41]Please don't go,Mr Adams.You mustn't think we don't care about you.
[03:22.76]Oliver,give hime the letter.
[03:25.51]Yes,the letter.The letter.
[03:29.74]For you.(Henry starts to open it)Oh,no,you mustn't open it.
[03:35.17]Not yet.You can't open it until two o'clock.
[03:40.60]Oh,this is silly.
[03:42.75]Not silly.There's money in it.(calls to the servant)James?
[03:47.92]Oh,no,I don't want yor charity.I just want an honest job.
[03:53.25]We know you're hard-working.That's why we've given you the letter.
[03:57.98]James,show Mr Adams out.
[04:01.24]Good luck,Mr Adams.
[04:04.09]Well,why don't you explain what this is all about?
[04:07.85]You'll soon know.In exactly an hour and a half.
[04:13.10]This was,sir.
[04:15.06]Mr Adams,not until 2 o'clock .Promise? Promise.Good-bye.
[04:21.83]Using language Reading and acting
[04:31.36]Act One,Scene 4
[04:34.81]Outside a restaurant Henry looks at the envelope with the letter and decides to go in.
[04:40.76]He sits down at a table next to the front window.
[04:45.52]That one's reserved.This way,please.
[04:49.46]Take this gentleman's order,Horace.
[04:52.62]I'd like some ham and eggs and a nice big steak.And make it extra thick.
[04:58.27]It'll cost a tiny bit.
[05:00.72]I understand.And I'll have a nice tall glass of beer
[05:05.16]My goodness!Why,look at him.He eats like a wolf.
[05:10.33]We'll see it he's clever as a wolf,eh?
[05:13.78]Ah,waiter.
[05:15.53]Same thing again,please.Oh,and another beer.
[05:19.79]Again,everything?
[05:22.85]Yes,that's right.Anything wrong?
[05:26.22]He's asked for more of the same.
[05:28.78]It is well-known that many Americans like to eat a lot.
[05:33.53]Well,we will have to take a chance.Go ahead and let him have it.
[05:39.59]All right.
[05:41.13]That's two orders of ham and eggs,two extra thick steaks,two tall glasses of beer,
[05:47.69]two cups of coffee and two desserts.
[05:51.76]Would you mind waiting just a few minutes?
[05:54.93]What's there to wait for?
[05:57.28]All right,Horace,I'll take care of this.
[06:01.22]That was a wonderful meal.
[06:03.65]It's amazing how much pleasure you get out of the simple things in life,
[06:08.01]especially if you can't have them for a while.
[06:11.25]Yes,very interesting.
[06:13.89]Now perhaps if you pay the bill I can help the other customers.
[06:18.57]Well,I see it's two o'clock.
[06:21.52]I'm very sorry.But...I..I..I don't have anything smaller.
[06:26.95]Well,er--er--just one moment.Maggie,look!Do you think it's real?
[06:35.81]oh,dear,I don't know.I simply don't know.Ask Mr Clemens.
[06:42.05]Mr Clemens,Mr Clemens!Could you-er-would you mind looking at this?
[06:48.40]Do you think it's genuine?
[06:50.75]Two notes in this amount have been ussued by the Bank of England this year.
[06:57.12]Anyway,it can't be fake.
[07:00.36]Why not?
[07:02.22]People will give too much attention to a bank-note of this amount.
[07:06.19]No theif would want that to happen.
[07:09.14]But look at the owner,Mr Clemens.He's in rags!
[07:13.87]Hmm,yes.I see.Well,I can only say that he must be a very strange but very rich man.
[07:23.01]Why,yes!That must be it!
[07:26.17]And you put him in the back of the restaurant!Go and see him at once!
[07:31.53]I'm so sorry ,sir,so sorry,but I cannot change this bank-note.
[07:38.08]But it's all I have on me.
[07:40.43]Oh,please,don't worry,sir.Doesn't matter at all.
[07:46.08]We are so very glad that you even entered our little eating places.
[07:51.04]Indeed,sir,I trust that you'll come here whenever you like.
[07:55.90]Well,that's very kind of you.
[07:58.54]Kind,sir?No,it's kind of you,sir.
[08:02.90]You must come whenever you want have whatever you like.
[08:07.63]Just having you sit here si a great honour!
[08:11.42]I may not return for some time.
[08:14.16]It would be wrong of me not to trust a gentleman such as yourslef,sir,
[08:18.52]even if you do dress in a rather unusual way.
[08:22.67]As for the bill,sir,please forget it.
[08:26.44]Forget it?Well..thank you very much.That's very nice of you.
[08:32.31]Oh,it's for us to thank you,sir and I do,sir,from my heart.
[08:39.08]Listening and writing
[08:47.26]1 Listen to Scene 5 on the tape and answer the following questions.
[10:33.60]ABOUT MARK TWAIN
[10:42.87]Mark Twain was born in Florida and spent his boyhood in Hannibal,Missouri,
[10:48.62]along the Mississippi River.
[10:51.08]Three of his most famous books describe people on this great river.
[10:55.93]They are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,
[10:58.89]The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Life on the mississippi.
[11:04.24]Indeed,this author loved the river so much
[11:07.90]that even his pen name is about the river.
[11:11.06]"Twain"is an old word for "two."So,to"mark twain,"
[11:17.30]is to say that the water is two fathoms deep.
[11:20.96]A fathom is equal to six feet or 1.83 metres.
[11:26.21]Twain left school at the age of twelve to look at for work.
[11:30.36]Over the next two decades he was a printer,a riverboat pilot,
[11:35.41]a soldier,a gold miner,a businessman and a newspaper reporter.
[11:41.26]His first successful story was about a jumping frog contest.
[11:46.22]his writing became famous for its description of common people
[11:50.90]and the way they talked,
[11:52.93]but especially for its his humour.He became rich from the many novels,
[11:59.20]short stories and travel journals he wrote
[12:02.86]and was very popular at public readings.
[12:06.41]Yale and Oxford Universities honoured him for his writing.
[12:10.67]However,the last years of his life were filled with sad events,
[12:15.50]loneliness and the loss of much money.
[12:19.34]His writing lost most of its humour and became sad like him.
[12:24.20]Yet he is still one of most popular writers in the world today |