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Дата публикации: Oct 23, 2015 6:9:52 AM
When Mr Holland was a young man, he played a lot of football, and he had always been thin and very strong. But then he worked in an office for many years, and he drove to work in a car, so when he was forty, he was fat and very soft, and he did not wish to get fatter and softer every year.
One day one of his friends said to him, "Would you like to be thinner, Fred?"
"Of course I would!" Mr Holland answered.
"Well," his friend said, "stop going to your office by car, and get a bicycle."
Mr Holland had not ridden a bicycle for many years.
"It's very hard to learn to ride a bicycle again at your age," his wife said.
But it was not too hard for Mr Holland to do.
He usually sat in his living room and read the newspaper in the evening, but he bought a bicycle for his birthday and practised riding that every evening instead.
He hoped that it would help him to get thinner, and he got a lot of pleasure from it.
He found little roads which were not really very narrow, but were too narrow for cars, and there he got away from the nasty noises of the city, which were becoming too much for him.
They were not really very loud, but they were too loud for Mr Holland.
Then he began to go to his office on his bicycle.
Sometimes all the cars stopped at a red light, and he went past them to the front, because his bicycle was narrow.
Then he was very happy.
Yesterday he stopped at a red light, and a man came up behind him on another bicycle.
He stopped too and said to Mr Holland, "Have the police taken your driving licence away too?"
1. Was Mr Holland fat or thin when he was young?
2. Was he fat, or thin, when he was forty?
3. Who told him to get a bicycle?
4. Was it hard for him to learn to ride a bicycle again?
5. When did he practise?
6. Did he enjoy riding his bicycle?
7. Why did he like narrow roads?
8. Why could he pass cars at red lights?
9. Had the police taken Mr Holland's driving licence away?
10. Had they taken the other man's away?
Wordlist
1. But then he worked in an office for many years, and he drove to work in a car, so when he was forty, he was fat and very soft, and he did not wish to get fatter and softer every year.
wish vs. want Здесь wish означает, что он хотел бы как-то перестать набирать вес, но ничего реально не делал для этого.
see wish vs. want vs. would like
2. One day one of his friends said to him, "Would you like to be thinner, Fred?"
Saying that somebody is thin
Thin is the most usual word:
Steve is tall and thin and has brown hair.
It is sometimes used with a negative meaning: Mother looked thin and tired after her long illness.
The following words all express praise or admiration:
Slim means pleasantly thin. It is often used to describe women who have controlled their weight by diet or exercise:She has a beautifully slim figure.
A slender girl or woman is thin and graceful.
A lean man is thin and fit.
Willowy describes a woman who is attractively tall and thin.
The following words are more negative in their meaning:
Skinny means very thin, often in a way that is not attractive: a skinny little kid.
Bony describes parts of the body when they are so thin that the bones can be seen: the old man’s bony hands.
Scrawny suggests that a person is thin, weak and not attractive:a scrawny old woman.
Gaunt describes a person who is a little too thin and looks sad or ill.
Underweight is used in medical contexts to describe people who are too thin because they are ill or have not had enough food:Women who smoke risk giving birth to underweight babies.
Emaciated describes a serious condition resulting from illness or lack of food.
Anorexic is a medical term, but is now also used informally to describe a girl or woman who is so thin that you are worried about them.
It is more acceptable to talk to somebody about how thin or slim they are than about how fat they are.
3."It's very hard to learn to ride a bicycle again at your age," his wife said.
see hard vs. heavy vs. difficult
4. too (слишком) vs. too (тоже) - омонимы
5. Then he began to go to his office on his bicycle.
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