Приключения Тома Сойера: адаптированный текст + задания. Уровень B1

‘I say, Jim, I’ll bring the water if you whitewash a part of the fence.’

Jim shook his head and said:

‘I can’t, master Tom. Your aunt said you had to do it all. She’ll be angry if she learns that I helped you.’

When the boys noticed Aunt Polly coming out of the house Jim ran away with his bucket and Tom started whitewashing. But his energy did not last. He began to think of the fun he had planned for this day.

At this dark and hopeless moment he found a way out.

He took up his brush and went to work. Ben Rogers, his friend was walking along the street eating an apple. From time to time he produced sounds: ding-dong-dong, ding-dong-dong, for he was personating a steamboat. As he came closer, he called:

‘Tom!’

No answer. Tom had been whitewashing, then he looked at the fence with the eye of an artist. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he continued working. Ben said:

‘Hello, old chap!’ Tom turned to Ben.

‘Why, it’s you, Ben! I didn’t notice you.’

‘I’m going swimming. Would you like to join me? Oh, I see, you can’t go, you have to work!’

‘What do you call work?’

‘Why, isn’t THAT work?’

Tom continued his whitewashing, and answered carelessly:

‘Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. All I know is it suits Tom Sawyer.’

‘Don’t say you LIKE it. I won’t believe you!’

The brush continued to move.

‘Like it? Well, does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?’

That put the thing in a new light. Ben stopped biting his apple. He was getting more and more interested. At last he said:

‘Tom, let ME whitewash a little.’

‘If it was the back fence I wouldn’t mind and aunt Polly wouldn’t. But it’s the front fence; it must be done very carefully. There isn’t one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it the way it should be done.’

‘Oh, let me just try. Only just a little. I’ll give you the core of my apple.’

‘No, Ben, I’m afraid–’

‘I’ll give you ALL of it!’

Tom gave the brush to Ben and sat in the shade.

He didn’t have to work any more. Some other boys stopped by now and then; at first they joked but remained to whitewash. Billy Fisher bought his chance to whitewash for a kite, Johnny Miller – for a dead rat – and so on, and so on, hour after hour. And when the afternoon came, Tom who had been so poor in the morning, became a wealthy boy. Besides the before mentioned things, he had twelve marbles, a piece of blue bottle-glass to look through, a key that wouldn’t unlock anything, a tin soldier, a kitten with only one eye, the handle of a knife, and a lot of other valuable things.

He had had a nice, good, idle time, plenty of company – and the fence had three coats of whitewash on it!

* * *

Tom came to the living-room which was their bedroom, breakfast-room, dining-room, and library at the same time, Aunt Polly was sitting by an open window. She was sure that Tom had left long ago, and she was surprised at seeing him.

‘May I go and play now, aunt?’ he asked.

‘What, already? How much have you done?’

‘It’s all done, aunt.’

‘Tom, don’t lie to me – I hate it.’

Aunt Polly went out to see for herself. She found the whole fence whitewashed thoroughly.

She said:

‘So, you can work when you decide to do so, Tom.’ And then she added: ‘But you seldom feel like working. Well, you can go and play.’

She even gave him an apple as a reward. Tom climbed over the fence and was gone.

There was a gate, but usually he preferred to leave this way.

Tom went to the town square, where two “armies” were preparing for battle. Tom was the General of one of them. Tom and his best friend Joe Harper, commanding officer of the other army, ordered their soldiers to fight and then sat by the side chatting.

Tom’s army won a great victory, after a long and hard battle. Then the dead were counted, prisoners exchanged, and the day for the next battle was chosen; the armies walked away, and Tom went home.

On his way back, he passed the house of his schoolmate Jeff Thatcher. In the yard he noticed a beautiful girl who immediately won his heart. Tom forgot his girlfriend, Amy Lawrence right at once.

When he was sure the strange girl was watching, he began to show off, acting like a fool, doing all sorts of silly tricks. Although the girl seemed not to pay attention, she threw a flower to him just before she went into the house.

Tom tried to act indifferent, but then he ran and took the flower between his toes when he was sure that the girl was gone.

He stayed around the house for the rest of the evening, hoping to see the girl again, but she did not return, so he went back home.

Tom was so happy with his new love that he even wasn’t offended when Aunt Polly accused him of stealing sugar. (Actually, Sid had committed this crime). When the old lady shouted at him and hit him he cried:

‘Sid was stealing sugar and brought the sugar-bowl!’

Aunt Polly stopped, embarrassed and only said:

‘I’m sure you have done something wrong, only I don’t know what it was!’

* * *

On Sunday after breakfast Tom went to learn ‘his verses’ from the Bible. Sid had learned his lesson days before. At the end of half an hour Tom had a general idea of his lesson, but no more.