Test for reading (the ninth form)

Текст для контроля чтения для учащихся старшей школы. К тексту составлен словарь, что значительно облегчит понимание предложенного текста.

Для контроля понимания текста разработаны послетекстовые упражнения разного уровня сложности .

A LETTER

(from “A Man on a Road “, after A. Maltz)

My dear wife,

I am writing this letter to tell you something I didn’t tell you before I left home. There is a cause why I am not able to get a job at the mines. I was told that there was no work anywhere. But it isn’t so.

It comes from the time our mine was shut down and I worked in the tunnel near the bridge where the company is turning the river inside the mountains. Now the foreman said that they wouldn’t hire any men who had worked in that tunnel. It all comes of the rock that we had to drill. It was a silica rock and most of it was glass. The powder from the glass got into the lungs of all the men working in that tunnel. And we all fell ill with silicosis as a result. The doctor said that I had got that sickness and that was the reason why I coughed sometimes. It is a terrible sickness and the doctor said this wouldn’t have been so if the company had given us special masks to wear and had put a good fan system in the tunnel.

So I am going away because the doctor said I should be dead in about four months.

Maybe I’ll find some work in another place, then I’ll send you all my money till I can’t work any more.

I didn’t want to be a burden on you all at home, that’s why I have gone away.

I think when you don’t hear from me any more, you ought to go to your grandmother’s in the mountains at Kilney Run. You can live there and she will take care of you and the child.

I hope you will be well. I also hope you will keep our boy out of the mines. Don’t let him work there.

Don’t be angry with me for going away. But when our boy grows up, tell him what the company has done to me. I think after a while you will marry another man. You are a young woman yet.

Your loving husband,

Jack Pitckett

Notes

1. is turning the river inside the mountains – направляет русло реки в горы

2. glass – зд. хрусталь

3. silicosis – силикоз

4. this wouldn’t have been so if the company had given us – этого не было бы, если бы фирма снабдила нас

5. fan system – вентиляционная система

6. you will keep our boy out of the mines - ты не допустишь, чтобы наш мальчик работал в шахтах

7. after a while – через некоторое время

Exercises

1. Answer the following questions:

1. Why did Jack Pitckett leave his family?

2. Where did he work?

3. Why did the company not want to hire the men who had worked in the tunnel?

4. What got into the lungs of all the men who had worked in that tunnel?

5. What did Jack ask his wife to tell his son?

6. Why did he not want his son work in the mines?

1. Find antonyms in the text for:

rich, to stay, to be able, to open, far, to be well, to take, to lose, old

1. Find synonyms in the text for:

to receive, work, illness, horrible, spot, to wish, to look after, to make

1. Translate the following words and word combinations into Russian:

against unemployment , to be a burden on the family, to take care of, to keep the boy out of the mines, don’t be angry with me, I am not able to get a job, at the mines, the foreman will not hire any men, the powder got into lungs, a terrible sickness, I cough sometimes, bad fan system, that’s why, after a while, to marry another man.

1. Fill in the blanks with prepositions wherever necessary:

on, for, of, into, at, in, by, with

1. He died … be angry … me. 8. I usually go to work … metro. 9. I shall do that … pleasure. 10. I am … hurry. 11. … whom was this book written? 12. We cut bread and meet … knife.

1. Translate the following sentences into English:

1. Он сказал, что не хочет быть обузой для своей семьи. 2. Мастер сказал, что вентиляционная система в шахте плохая. 3. Он сказал, что он долго искал работу, но silicosis. 2. Jack Pitckett did not want to be a burden … his family. 3. He could not get a job … the mines. He looked … work everywhere. 5. The powder … the glass got … the lungs. 6. Take care … our child. 7. Don’t никто его не нанимал. 4. Мы знаем, что силикоз ужасная болезнь. 5. Она сказала, что у ее матери слабые легкие и она много кашляет. 6. Я спросила у мальчика, что он будет делать, когда вырастет. 7. Я спросила ее, кто будет заботиться о ее больной матери. 8. Не сердись на меня за то, что я потеряла твою книгу. 9. Я знаю, ты не допустишь, чтобы мальчик работал в этой шахте.