Любимые английские сказки / My Favourite English Fairy Tales: читать начало книги онлайн

3. The girl had to work for ten years as a laundry-maid.

4. The girl’s husband gave her three magic feathers.

5. The butler, the coachman and the cook wanted to marry the girl.

2) Fill in the gaps using words in brackets.

1. The girl ..................... (to think) that was funny, and all her friends .................... (to tell) her there must be something wrong with her husband.

2. One night when he ........................ (to come) home she suddenly ............... (to lit) a candle and ....................... (to see) him.

3. And the girl ................ (to tell) him to bring her the money, and he ...................... (to ask) his master for it, and .......................... (to bring) it to her.

4. The men ........................ (to argue) which ........................................... (to suffer) the most by her.

5. When the girl ................................ (to think) they ................................ (to have) enough she .......................................... (to take) the spell off.

6. The bird-husband ................................. (to come) after her and .......................... (to restore) to his own shape again.

7. They ............................. (to go) to their castle, where they .......................... (to live) happy ever after.

3) Translate the following sentences using ‘neither … nor …’ construction:

1. Дворецкий не мог ни оставить жалюзи, ни сделать так, чтобы они не открывались.

2. Пусть Уильям не сможет ни оторвать руки от одежды, ни подобрать её.

3. Пусть Джеймс не сможет ни налить бренди, ни убрать руку с бутылки.

4. Я не могу ни прочесть этот текст, ни перевести его.

4) Translate the following sentences:

1. Что бы прачка ни загадала на перья, всё исполнялось.

2. Прачка попросила дворецкого закрепить жалюзи.

3. Она положила в фартук деньги, которые она получила от кучера.

4. Лакей скопил десять фунтов.

5. Дворецкий, лакей и кучер стали бороться и столкнули друг друга в пруд.

6. Господин закричал: «Что на вас нашло?»

7. В этой неразберихе они были готовы наброситься на кого угодно.

5) Retell the fairy-tale.

V. The Three Cows

There was a farmer, and he had three cows, fine fat cows. One was called Facey, the other Diamond, and the third Beauty. One morning he went into his cowshed[70], and there he found Facey so thin that the wind would have blown her away. Her skin hung loose[71] about her, all her flesh was gone, and she stared out of her great eyes as though she’d seen a ghost; and what was more, the fireplace in the kitchen was one great pile of wood-ash. Well, he was bothered with it; he could not see how all this could happen.

Next morning his wife went out to the shed, and saw that Diamond became as thin as Facey – nothing but a bag of bones, all the flesh gone, and half a rick[72] of wood was gone, too; but the fireplace was full of white wood ashes. The farmer decided to watch the third night; so he hid in a closet next to the kitchen, and he left the door slightly open, that he might see what happened.

Tick, tick, went the clock, and the farmer was nearly tired of waiting; he had to bite his little finger to keep himself awake, when suddenly the door of his house opened, and in rushed[73] maybe a thousand pixies, laughing and dancing and pulling Beauty’s rope till they had brought the cow into the middle of the kitchen.

Tick, tick, went the clock, but he did not hear it now. He was staring at the pixies and his last beautiful cow. He saw them throw her down, fall on her, and kill her; and then with their knives they ripped her open, and cut off all the meat. Then out ran some of the little people and brought in firewood and made a roaring fire on the hearth[74], and there they cooked the flesh of the cow – they baked and they boiled, they stewed and they fried.

[70] cowshed – хлев

[71] loose – свободный

[72] rick – зд. поленница

[73] rush in – ворваться

[74] hearth – очаг