Text 18. We liked it.

My sister Jane is fond of needlework. She can sew and mend very well. She keeps her things in a big box. Our dog Ruby and I like the box very much. Ruby plays with balls of wool. I take the box when I lose a button on my trousers. I usually take the biggest needle with a big eye. It’s easy to hold a big needle between boy’s fingers. Am I right?

It’s Saturday today. Mother is ill, she has flu. We have done a lot of work about the house. Jane has dusted the furniture.

I have cleaned the floor. I wanted to use the vacuum cleaner for it. But first I wanted to know how strong the machine was. So I dusted the dog with it. Ruby didn’t like it and ran away. After that I wanted to know if the machine could take a button. It did! And a small potato? It did. But then the machine stopped working.

Then we cooked dinner. Jane said it was a woman’s job, but Robert, my brother, answered that the best cooks in the world were men - not women. He took a book about cooking and said, “I’ll make a cake.”

And he has made it. He has taken eggs, sugar, butter and flour. He has done something with all these things and has put it into the oven. But after all that the kitchen was like a field in winter and Robert looked like a snowman, white all over from head to foot.

Mother laughed, she was not angry with him.

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mend - зашивать

wool - шерсть

oven - духовка

I. Think about your own title to the text. Give three variants.

II. Read the sentences about:

1. a big box;
2. a vacuum cleaner;
3. a cake;

III. Put the sentences in the order as the events come in the text.

1. But then the machine stopped working.
2. Robert took a book about cooking and said, “I’ll make a cake.”
3. Jane has dusted the furniture.
4. And he has made it.
5. Then we cooked dinner.

IV. Translate the sentences.

1. My sister Jane is fond of needlework.
2. Ruby plays with balls of wool.
3. But first I wanted to know how strong the machine was.
4. He has done something with all these things and has put it into the oven.
5. Mother laughed and was not angry with him.

V. Answer the questions.

1. What is Jane fond of?
2. What can she do?
3. When does the boy take the needle?
4. What have the children done about the-house?
5. Why did the machine stop working?
6. What has Robert done?
7. What has he taken for the cake?
8. Why did the mother laugh?
9. Do you think men are better cooks than women?