As a student I ate my
meals at a seaside boarding-house. The landlady was a good cook and, as
her husband was a fisherman, we always ate fish for dinner. Eventually
I got tired of it, and took to slipping it under the sofa, where the
family cat would find and devour it. This worked very successfully
until one day the landlady tiptoed up behind me and said, "Young man
it's high time I told you that our cat was run over by a lorry three
weeks ago."
Vocabulary Practice
Mark the best choice.
A 'boarding-house' is a ...........
building which is near the sea
kind of very expensive hotel
house giving room(s) and food
kind of school with a pool
A 'landlady' is a woman who ........
is old and weak
keeps a boarding-house
has a lot of money
only looks after her family
'Eventually' means .....
naturally
in the end
meanwhile
happily
To 'take to' here means to....
carry something to somewhere
ask someone to do something
begin to do something as a habit
go away to some place to hide
To 'devour' here means to .....
look at something angrily
play with something
throw something away
eat something hungrily
To 'tiptoe' means to ......
walk quietly on the toes
say something softly
hit something by foot
run towards something
To 'run over' means to.....
hit something while running
drive over something
take something away
steal something from a place
Questions for Discussion
What point is funny in the story?
What would you do if you were the student?
What can probably be found under the sofa now?
Activities
Now ask your student to tell the story in his/her own words.
Pronounce the following words several times:
Eventually
Devour
Sofa
Tiptoe
Lorry
A Saying
The purpose of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one
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