Mary Poppins / Мэри Поппинс. Книга для чтения на английском языке

2. How can you call me Mrs. Wigg?

3. How do you do, Mrs. Wigg.

4. I have never seen such a sight.

5. We must think of something serious.

6. It was a very pleasant afternoon, wasn’t it?

7. I see you don’t like it. I am very sorry. But you see that I can’t help it.

8. Think of something funny and come up here.

9. Is it because he has a wig on his head?

10. It is time to go home.

9. Act out the following conversations.

1. Michael, Jane, Mary Poppins, Miss Persimmon, from the beginning of the episode up to “… Go upstairs and to the first door on the landing.”

2. Mr. Wigg and Mary Poppins, from the moment they entered the room, up to “… I won’t laugh – if I can.”

3. Mr. Wigg, Jane, Michael, Mary Poppins, when they asked Mary Poppins to come up to them, from “I see you don’t like it, my dear…” up to “… But I see that you cannot come down.”

10. Answer the following questions.

1. Whom did Michael, Jane and Mary Poppins go to see one day?

2. What question did Michael ask Mary Poppins about her Uncle’s name? What did Mary Poppins answer?

3. What did Mary Poppins use for a mirror to put her hat straight? What did she like to do when she was walking along the street?

4. What was Mary Poppins wearing that day? How did she think she looked?

5. Who opened the door when they rang the bell? How did Miss Persimmon look? What kind of voice did she have? Why was she angry? How did she show that she was angry?

6. What did the children see in Mr. Wigg’s room when they entered?

7. Was Mr. Wigg in the room when the children and Mary Poppins entered? Why couldn’t the children see him?

8. How did Mr. Wigg look?

9. Mr. Wigg was a merry man, wasn’t he? What did he like to do? What could he laugh at?

10. What always happened to Mr. Wigg if his birthday came on Friday and he laughed on that day?

11. What happened to Mr. Wigg one day when he was at the circus on his birthday?

12. Why did Jane and Michael begin laughing?

13. What strange thing happened to Michael and Jane when they were laughing and could not stop?

14. Did Mr. Wigg like it when the children flew up to the ceiling? What did he say to them?

15. What did Michael and Jane ask Mary Poppins to do?

Did she fly up to them?

16. What did Mary Poppins do with the table?

17. Did they enjoy their tea? What was the first sad thought of the afternoon? Why did they all come down on the floor?

3. MISS LARK’S ANDREW

Miss Lark lived in the next house.

The house was very big and beautiful, and in the garden Miss Lark had two gates. One gate was for her friends and relations. And the other gate was for the Baker, the Butcher and the Milkman.

One day the Baker made a mistake and came through the gate which was for Miss Lark’s friends and relations. And Miss Lark was very angry.

All day long Jane and Michael could hear Miss Lark’s voice. Her voice was very loud. And the children always heard:

“Andrew, where are you?” or

“Andrew, you mustn’t go out without your overcoat!” or

“Andrew, come to Mother!”

And if you didn’t know, you could think that Andrew was a little boy. And Jane thought that Miss Lark thought that Andrew was a little boy. But Andrew wasn’t a little boy. He was a dog – a little dog which looked like a fur collar[33 - looked like a fur collar – был похож на меховой воротник].

Andrew lived like a king. He slept on a silk cushion in Miss Lark’s room; he ate cream every day; he had four overcoats in different colours. Every day he had things which people usually have only on birthdays. And when Andrew himself had a birthday, he had a big cake.

People did not like Andrew and laughed at him. And when Miss Lark bought him two pairs of small boots, people came to their gates to look at him and laugh.

“He is stupid,” said Michael one day when the children were looking at Andrew through the fence between their garden and Miss Lark’s garden.

“How do you know?” asked Jane.

“I know because Daddy called him stupid this morning,” said Michael.

“He is not stupid,” said Mary Poppins.

And Mary Poppins was right. Andrew wasn’t stupid, and you will very soon see it.

You must not think that he did not love Miss Lark. He loved her, because she was always very kind to him and took good care of him. But he did not like his life. He did not want to wear overcoats and boots. He wanted to be a common dog[34 - a common dog – обыкновенная собака]. And he always chose common dogs for his friends[35 - And he always chose common dogs for his friends – И он всегда выбирал себе в друзья обыкновенных собак]. And so he often sat at the gate of the garden and looked out into the street. And when he saw a common dog, he always liked to talk to him.

Miss Lark did not like it. And when she saw that Andrew was sitting at the gate and talking to a common dog, she called: