What's Your Name G3p12

 What's Your Name?

"Hey! You! Third boy from the top of the left side—you dropped your glove!"

"Guess what! I'm invited to a birthday party that the girl with golden hair and brown eyes who wears a red winter coat is giving!"

Oh! Aren't you glad that mothers and fathers give names to their children? It is so much easier and quicker—and friendlier—to say, "John, you dropped your glove!" or, "I'm invited to Betty's birthday party."

Names are the quickest and easiest—and friendliest—way to say who's who.  Another nice thing about names is that they do not change as people do. Yesterday Mary's hair was long. Today her hair is short. But her name is still Mary.

On his birthday Uncle George did not have a beard. At Christmastime he did, but his name is still George.

People are always changing, a little or a lot. But people's first names stay the same.

Another good thing about a name is that it sometimes says something nice about someone.

Girls' names often come from words meaning "pretty", "happy", "loving", ...

Lily comes from the name of this flower. It means that the girl is pretty and sweet like the lily.

Catherine comes from a word meaning "truthful". It says that the woman is an honest lady and loved by all.

Dorothy comes from a word meaning "gift". You know how happy you are when a gift comes your way!

Boys' names are often borrowed from words meaning "strong", "brave", "lucky", ...

Richard comes from a word meaning "brave".

Victor comes from a word meaning "winner".

Charles comes from a word meaning "man of the common people"—a man who works on the land.

There are so many people named Richard or Lily. Without a last name to go with your first name, how could people tell which Richard or which Lily you are?

That's the way it was everywhere a very long time ago. People had only one name. As there got to be more and more people in the world, it became harder and harder to tell them apart. So people began making up last names for themselves—now called family names or surnames.

Sometimes in choosing a last name a man would think about the kind of work he did. If he was a cook he might say, "I am Tom, the cook." Or just plain Tom Cook. If he was a cook for a king, he might become known as Tom Kingcook.

A man who was a carpenter, a tailor, a miller, a baker, a farmer, or a weaver might choose to call himself by one of these names.

One of the most common names in the English language is Smith, which is short for blacksmith. There used to be a blacksmith in every village. Instead of iron, some smiths worked with gold or silver. That produced such names we see today in the phone book as Tom Goldsmith or Tom Silver-smith. Sometimes the names became shortened to Tom Gold or Tom Silver.

Sometimes a man took his last name from his father's first name. Tom was the son of John. So he began calling himself Tom Johnson. A man who was the son of Jack might call himself Jackson.

Often a man got his last name from the place where he lived. James lived on a hill. So people began to call him James Hill. Another James lived by a lake. He became James Lake.

A man was sometimes called by a nickname. A tall man might be called Long Tom or Tom Long, or Tom Longfellow.

A short man might become Little John, and his son was probably called Tom Littlejohn. William who was always thirsty might be called william Drinkwater.

Sometimes colors became last names. A man with red hair might be called Tom Red. But sometimes down through the years, the name was changed. So Tom Read or Reade is still probably a descendant of Tom Red. A man who lived near the village green might have called himself Tom Green.

If Tom had a strong arm, what name might he have? What if he had a big foot?

The last names of people all over the world had similar beginnings. Can you guess how you might have gotten your name?

1. What are the nice things about names?

2. What kind of words do girls' names come from? Give some examples.

3. What kind of words are boys' names borrowed from? Give some examples.

4. What did people begin to do when there got to be more and more people in the world and it became harder and harder to tell them apart?

5. How are some of the ways a man chose a last name? Give some examples.

Valuable Experience G3p11

 **Valuable Experience**

Opening the gate, Vernon Berry walked through the little garden with a smile on his face and a large book in one hand. Long experience had taught him how to sell books to people who did not want them. He had a fine, deep voice and could talk well. He could make people laugh. He was clean and well-dressed. He was one of those men that people like at once, and he knew it. In short, he was a success as a salesman.

He rang the bell at the front door, which was opened after a short delay by a young woman with an anxious face. He was sorry to see, from the absence of a ring on her hand, that she was not married; but she might have a brother or a cousin who read serious books.

"Good morning, Madam," he said. "I wonder if you would be interested in buying a copy of *The History of the World*. I have one of the books here to show you, but there are twelve altogether. They contain excellent pictures ..."

"I'm sorry," the woman interrupted. "I'm cooking, and I've no time to talk about history. I must go back to the kitchen." And before he had time to answer, she shut the door.

Berry was shocked to have his talk so suddenly interrupted, but refused to be driven away as easily as that. Walking round the house, he knocked at the back door. It was opened by the same woman.

"You again!" she cried.

"Well," he said, "you told me how busy you were in the kitchen, and so I took the trouble to come round to the back. Perhaps you'll allow me to sit in the kitchen and tell you about this splendid history while you do your cooking. It's such an important and useful book that you'll be very sorry if you miss the chance of buying a copy. " He smiled his bright smile, showing white teeth.

"Well," she said, "you can come in and sit down if you want to. Over there," she added, pointing to a chair. "But you'll be wasting your time. I'm not interested in history and I've no money to spend on books."

Berry sat down, carefully placing his heavy book on the kitchen table. Every copy of the history that he sold meant more money for himself, and he felt sure that he could persuade this woman to buy one. He discussed it in his pleasant voice while she cooked, telling her all the advantages of possessing such a book, and mentioning the low price. Suddenly she interrupted him.

"Just wait a minute," she said, and left the kitchen. He heard her opening a drawer somewhere in the house, and then she came back with a notebook and pencil in her hands. Leaving her cooking altogether, she sat down with him at the table.

"Go on, please," she said.

He began again, and she took notes while he talked, sometimes asking him to repeat the words that he said. Berry was delighted to see how interested she was, and thought again how easy it was to persuade people to buy unnecessary things. At last he came to an end.

"Well," he asked, closing the book, "what do you think, Madam? Don't you think it would be wise to buy a copy?"

"Oh, no," she said with surprise. "I told you at the beginning that I'm not interested in history, and I certainly don't intend to spend a lot of money on a history book." She opened the back door.

"But why did you take all those notes about it?" Berry asked. "You seemed very interested."

"Oh," she said, "my brother's in the same line of business as you are. He visits houses, trying to sell books, but he isn't very successful. So I've written down some of the things you said. You're very clever, and I'll show the notes to my brother. Then he'll know what to say when he tries next time, and he may be able to make more money. Thank you very much for your help. I'm glad you came."

1. What kind of work did Vernon Berry do?

2. How did he sell books to people who didn't want them?

3. What did he say to the young woman when she opened the door?

4. Why did the woman interrupt him?

5. What did Berry do when he was sent away from the front door by the woman?

6. What did he say to the woman when the back door was opened?

7. Did the woman allow him to come in this time? What did she say?

8. What did Berry do after he sat down?

9. Why did the woman suddenly interrupt him?

10. Why was Berry quite delighted?

11. What did he say to the woman when he came to an end at last?

12. Did the woman buy a copy of Berry's history books? Why did she take all those notes as Berry talked?

Argument G3p10

 Argument

A mong the great teachers of ancient Athens was one named Protagoras ([prəʊ'tægərəs]), who was born more than twenty-four centuries ago. He wrote books and taught many subjects, including the laws of argument and the right use of language. It is said that he was the first teacher to accept money for his services, and that he was once paid about four hundred pounds for teaching one student. He was a man of great ability; and at one time, when some new laws were needed, Protagoras was the man chosen to make them.

A certain student, Evalthus ([i'vælθəs]), heard of this famous teacher and asked him to give him lessons. Evalthus did not want to pay for his lessons at once, and after some discussion it was finally agreed between them that Evalthus should pay only if he won his first case in the law courts. For if he won, it would prove that he had been taught well.

The lessons began and Evalthus proved himself to be a clever student. He worked hard, and the time came when he had reached the end of his studies. He then refused to pay Protagoras anything whatever.

Protagoras therefore took Evalthus to court and told the judges that he wanted his money. He explained that he must be paid whether he won or lost the case. "Whatever you decide," he declared to the judges, "I must be paid. For if you decide in my favour, then I win the case, and so I must be paid. But if you decide against me, then Evalthus has won his first case in the law courts; according to our agreement, he must pay me for his lessons. Therefore I shall get my money whatever happens."

After considering this argument, the Athenian judges found no fault in it. But they asked Evalueus to reply.

"It is quite clear," said Evalueus,"that I must not pay. For either the judges will decide in my favour, or they will decide against me. If they decide in my favour, then I have won the case, and I must not pay. But if Protagoras wins, then I have lost my first case in the law courts. Therefore, according to our agreement. I do not have to pay him for the lessons. So I need not pay in any event.”

As both these arguments appeared to be faultless, the judges were unable to come to a decision. They therefore ordered the two men to appear before them again a hundred years later.

April Fool G3p09

 April Fool

"There's a snake in my bedroom!" "Come quickly—the kitchen's on fire!" "Have you seen my little cat? I put it down here, and now it is gone..."

Don't be nervous. It may not be true. In fact, if it's the morning of April 1, and you are living in Britain, then it almost certainly isn't true. Someone is trying to play an April Fool trick on you.

The custom started a long time ago, and it's still very popular today. The idea is simple: for the first twelve hours of April 1, you are allowed to play as many tricks as you like on as many people as you can deceive. Children throughout the country will try to play a trick on a friend, so that they can shout "April Fool" and laugh at their friend's discomfort.

It isn't just children that play these jokes, however: the television, radio, and newspapers occasionally try to deceive their customers with a cleverly-constructed April Fool story. Some years ago, for example, a very serious BBC TV programme did a ten-minute report about spaghetti trees in Switzerland: the reporter described how, with the recent bad weather, the trees weren't producing as much spaghetti as they normally did, and that this would make spaghetti more expensive. A lot of viewers, who didn't know that spaghetti is made of flour, actually believed the story. Another famous joke was played on the radio. A science correspondent reported that, because of strange geographical conditions, gravity was getting weaker in different parts of Britain. He asked the people who were listening to the programme to jump up and down, and, if they could jump higher than they normally could, to telephone the BBC.

The BBC had hundreds of calls: one man said he was so light that he could float as high as the ceiling. It was at twelve o'clock that the BBC gently informed its listeners that it was an April Fool trick.

When did it all start?

The custom was started in 1545 by a rather unfortunate accident. A Norwegian scientist, Loof Lirpa, was staying in London, where he was trying to find the secret of how to fly.

There was no doubt that the scientist was clever. It seems that his experiments were successful. King Henry VIII received a letter from Mr Lirpa, in which he announced that he had finally solved the secret of flight. He asked the king to be present at a demonstration flight at Westminster on April 1.

So the king, and the leading officials of the day, stood outside the Palace of Westminster on April 1, and waited for Mr Lirpa to come flying past. But, of course, nothing happened — and it became the tradition, afterwards, to play tricks on people in the same way on this day.

Recent evidence, however, shows that Loof Lirpa was in fact telling the truth. He had learned how to fly—the reason that he did not appear at Westminster was that his flying-machine had crashed into a tree, and he had been killed.

It was a tragedy for science. Most people believe that the first aeroplane flew in 1903, but this is not true. It flew 358 years earlier, in 1545. If Mr Lirpa had lived, our technology would now be much more advanced than it is.

The scientist, unfortunately, was very secretive: he hadn't kept any notes, and hadn't trusted anyone else with the knowledge of how his flying-machine worked. When he died, the secret died with him.

Although most people in Britain haven't heard of Loof Lirpa, he is very famous in Norway. April 1 is a national holiday, and people remember his flying trip by having ski-jump competitions. They also eat a special Loof Lirpa cake, which was invented by the scientist, and consists of fish, bananas, honey and chocolate.

Actually,"Loof Lirpa" wasn't his real name: if you say the two words backwards, you'll find out what his name really was.

1. What would happen to you on the morning of April 1 if you lived in Britain?

2. What will children do on that day?

3. Is it just children that play these jokes?

What other people play April Fool tricks?

4. When and how was the custom started?

5. Why did Loof Lirpa not appear at Westminster?

6. When did most people believe that the first aeroplane flew? When did it fly in fact?

7. Did Loof Lirpa tell people how his flying-machine worked? Why not?

8. How do people in Norway remember his flying trip?

9. What was Loof Lirpa's real name?

10. What do you think of this story about Loof Lirpa?

A Fishy Story G3p08

 A Fishy Story

Nick was a student who came from, shall we say, Ruritania. He was eighteen years old when he first arrived in England to study in London. Like most students he was not very rich, but he managed to make ends meet. He worked in the evening as a receptionist in a hotel. Everybody liked Nick. He was a pleasant, well-mannered, good-natured, humorous fellow. Moreover, he was intelligent. He worked hard; he studied well. He did exceptionally well in the language laboratory and his teachers were very pleased with his progress. But all of them agreed that although his pronunciation and intonation were good, his spelling was poor. This was mainly because in his own language the words were written the same way as they were pronounced.

Nick took his first examination at the end of the year. In one of the tests he had to write the word 'fish'. Curiously enough, he had never seen this word written and he began to wonder how he could spell it. "Well," he said to himself, " [f] ;that's the sound of 'gh' in the word 'cough'." So he wrote 'gh'. " [i] ; well, that's the sound of 'o' in the word 'women'." So he added 'o'. " [ʃ] ;well, that's easy. That's the sound of 's' in the word 'expression' and 't' in 'examination'." So he finally wrote 'g-h-o-s-t'. But in spite of this curious idea Nick passed his examination.

No Parking G3p07

 No Parking

Oliver Langley lived in a house in Wilton Street, less than two miles from the office. He was therefore able to drive home every day for lunch.

Driving his car slowly round the corner into Wilton Street one day, he looked sharply at the road outside his house. As he had feared, cars were parked there as usual, and there was no space for his own. It always made him angry, because the road was a little wider just there, with plenty of room for a car or two. But other people had noticed that too.

Further up the street there were no parked cars at all: there never were. The usual blue board stood at the side of the road with the usual information on it for all to see:

POLICE NOTICE

NO PARKING

He drove round two more corners, found an empty space, locked the car, and walked back home.

Before entering the house, he stopped to look at the board he himself had put up in the garden facing the road. "No Parking", said the wooden board. No parking! What was the use of a bit of board like that? No one was interested in it. He decided to take it down; it was useless and ugly.

Lunch was ready when he went in, and he sat down at the table with his wife. "I wish we could build a garage in the garden," he said.

"We can," said Helena. "But the gate isn't wide enough for a car."

"We could make the gate wider. There's just enough room for a small garage. Then I could keep the car here at night, and at lunchtime I wouldn't have to drive half a mile looking for somewhere to park. I haven't been able to leave the car outside the house in the middle of the day for months."

"Nobody takes any notice of our board," said Helena.

"You can't blame them," he said. "There isn't anywhere else to park. Wherever you go in this town, you see a blue board with white letters on it: *Police Notice. No Parking*. Nobody can leave a car anywhere in the main streets, so they leave them here. But I hate to see the ugly things outside the house all day. I wish I knew a way to stop them."

"Our board's too small," she said. "Make a bigger one and paint the words in red. Then people will see it."

"They won't care, even if they see it. They'll obey a police notice, but not a private one."

After a short silence, Helena suddenly cried, "I've got an idea. Go out tonight when it's dark and steal a police notice. There are hundreds of them all over the town, and one won't be missed. Bring it here and leave it outside. No one will see you."

Oliver was shocked. "Steal from the police!" he said. "Oh, no, thank you. I'll be sent to prison."

"They won't know."

"They'll see it here and ask who put it here. Then I'll be in real trouble."

"Well," she said impatiently, "why don't you make a notice like theirs? There's no law against painting that I know, and you have lots of paint. Get a piece of metal or wood the same size, paint it blue, and then paint the same words on it in white."

"I can't use the word 'Police'. I'm not the police."

"You're being very difficult," she said. "You can easily leave that word out. Put: *Notice. No Parking.* But paint white letters on blue. Nobody really reads those notices, you know. People see the blue boards and go somewhere else."

"Be reasonable," he said. "If there's only one word in the top line, even a child will see the difference at once."

Lunch over, he left the house. But he was thinking.

For several days a smell of paint filled the house, and the smell was especially bad in the evenings, after Oliver had disappeared into the room beyond the kitchen. Neither of them mentioned the smell.

One night he showed her a new notice-board. It was painted in white letters on blue, it had four words, and it was exactly the same size as the police notices.

"Oh!" she said. "But you told me you weren't allowed to use the word 'Police'. That's exactly like their notice-boards."

"Is it?" he asked. "Look again."

She started to laugh. "You're really rather clever, Oliver, dear," she said.

He carried it out and placed it at the side of the road. With some satisfaction he stood back to look at it. He was quite pleased with what it said:

POLITE NOTICE

NO PARKING

1. Where did Oliver Langley live?

2. Where did he have lunch every day? How far was his home from his office? How did he usually go home for lunch?

3. Where did he usually park his car?

4. What made him angry one day? Could he park his car further up the street? Why not? Where did he park his car then?

5. Had he put up a board in his garden too? What did it say? Was it any use? Why not?

6. What did he tell his wife that he wished to do?

7. What did his wife suggest since their board was too small?

8. Why wouldn't people care even if they saw the board?

9. What was the idea that the wife thought of? Why was Langley shocked at the idea?

10. What did his wife suggest then?

11. Why couldn't Langley use the word "Police" on his board? What if he left the word out?

12. What did the new board say? Were they quite pleased with it? Why?

The Most Important Day In My Life G3p06

 The Most Important Day In My Life

The most important day in all my life is the one on which my teacher, Anne Sullivan, came to me. It was the Third of March,1887,three months before I was seven years old.

That afternoon, I went to the door and waited on the steps, for I guessed from my mother's signs and from the hurrying to and fro in the house that something unusual was about to happen. I did not know what the future would be for me. "Light! Give me light!" was the wordless cry of my soul, and the light of love shone on me in that very hour.

I felt the coming footsteps. I stretched out my hand to the person who I thought was my mother. Someone took it, and I was caught up and held close in her arms. It was my teacher.

Then my teacher led me into her room and gave me a doll. When I had played with it a little while, Miss Sullivan slowly spelled into my hand the word "d-o-l-l". I was at once interested in this word play and tried to imitate it. When I finally succeeded in making the word correctly, I was flushed with childish pleasure and pride. Running downstairs to my mother, I held up my hand and made the letters for doll. I did not know that I was spelling a word or even that words existed; I was simply making my fingers go in monkey-like imitation. In the days that followed, I learned to spell in this way a great many words, among them, "pin, hat, cup" and a few verbs like "sit, stand, and walk." But I did not understand what they meant. It was not until my teacher had been with me several weeks before I understood that everything had a name.

One day, while I was playing with my new doll, Miss Sullivan put my big rag doll into my lap, spelled "d-o-l-l" and tried to make me understand that "d-o-l-l" applied to both. And when she tried to teach me that "m-u-g" is mug and that "w-a-t-e-r" is water, I became impatient. Then she brought me my hat, and I knew I was going out into the warm sunshine. This thought made me hop and skip with pleasure.

We walked down the path to the well-house. Someone was drawing water and my teacher placed my hand under the spout. As the cool stream flowed over one hand she spelled into the other the word "water", first slowly, then rapidly. I stood still, my whole attention fixed upon the movements of her fingers. Suddenly I became conscious of something forgotten, and I knew then that "w-a-t-e-r" meant the wonderful cool something that was flowing over my hand. That living word awakened my soul, gave it light, hope, joy, and set it free!

I left the well-house eager to learn. Everything had a name, and each name gave birth to a new thought. As we returned to the house, everything which I touched seemed to be full of life. That was because I saw everything with the strange, new sight that had come to me.

I learned a great many new words that day. I do not remember what they all were; but I do know that "mother, father, sister, teacher" were among them — words that were to make the world blossom for me.

I felt very happy that day, and it was the first time that I longed for a new day to come.