Home reading. Text 19.

HEALTH IS WEALTH

Once upon a time, there lived a generous and kind-hearted king. Yet, people weren’t happy with their king, because, the king was lazy. He spent days and weeks and months in his bed either eating something or sleeping.

One day he realized that he couldn’t even move his body. He became very fat.

He invited doctors from various parts of his country and offered them generous rewards to make him fit. Unfortunately, none could help the king.

One fine morning, a holy man, (Rishi) visited the land of the king. He heard about the ill-health of the king and told his minister to meet him at his place. When the minister met him, he informed the minister that he could easily cure the king.

The holy man lived far from the palace. Since he could not move his body, the fatty king asked the minister to bring the holy man to palace, but the holy man refused and askedthe king to meet him.

The king met the holy man. He asked the king to come for treatment every day. Also the holy man told the king that he would treat the king only if he came on foot to his place.

The king came to the holy man’s place. But the holy man was busy and asked the king to come next day.

This was repeated for two weeks and the king never met the holy man, never had any treatment. Suddenly, the king realized that he felt a lot lighter, he lost considerable amount of weight and felt more active than before. He realized the reason why the holy man asked him to reach his place by walking.

King had a lot of wealth, but no amount of wealth made him healthy.

generous- великодушный

wealth - богатство

reward - награда

fit - в хорошей форме

unfortunately - к сожалению

cure - лечить

refuse - отказывать

treatment - лечение

realize - осознавать

holy - святой

considerable - значительный

I. Who in the story.

1. . was lazy?
2. . visited the region of the King?
3. . couldn’t help the King?
4. . went on foot to the holy man’s place?
5. . had a lot of wealth?

II. Find English equivalents in the text.

1. однажды
2. добрый король
3. легко
4. далеко от дворца
5. пешком