The Mysterious Island. B2 / Таинственный остров

The Mysterious Island. B2 / Таинственный остров
Jules Gabriel Verne

English Classics: Graded Readers
Любите ли вы приключения? Мечтаете о необитаемых островах, полётах на воздушном шаре и сражениях с пиратами? Завораживают ли вас необъяснимые тайны и необычайные совпадения?

А может быть, вы ещё учите английский?

Тогда вам точно подойдёт книга «Таинственный остров» Жюля Верна, сокращённая и адаптированная до уровня B2. Все более сложные слова вы найдёте в словариках, расположенных после каждой главы. В конце книги даны упражнения на проверку понимания прочитанного, закрепление новых слов, работу с текстом и грамматику английского языка.

Читайте интересные книги и учите английский язык с удовольствием!

Жюль Верн

The Mysterious Island. B2 / Таинственный остров

В оформлении использованы иллюстрации, предоставленные агентством Shutterstock.

© Грек А. А., адаптация, словарь, упражнения, 2023

© ООО «Издательство АСТ», 2023

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Before-Reading Questions

1. Have you read or heard stories about desert islands and pirates? Did they have anything in common? What makes them so fascinating?

2. What do you know about the American Civil War? What were the origins of the war and what did the opposing sides stand for? What part did Abraham Lincoln play in the conflict?

3. “Deus ex machina” is a plot mechanism applied to get the characters out of seemingly unsolvable trouble by an unlikely occurrence. It might be a sudden death of the main villain or a wealthy relative. Can you remember stories where the author applied the mechanism to move the plot forward? Was it believable?

Chapter I

– Are we going up again?

– Not at all; we are going down!

– Mr. Smith, we are falling!

– Throw over all the ballast!

– The last bag is empty!

– Does the balloon rise again?

– No!

– I hear the waves, the sea is under us!

– Five hundred feet!

These words rang through the air above the Pacific, at 4 o’clock in the afternoon of the 23

of March, 1865.

The hurricane lasted from the 18

to the 26

of March. It covered a space of 1,800 miles, it destroyed cities in America and Europe and Asia. Hundreds of shipwrecks, thousands of people in the sea!

But something was in the sky. A balloon rushed through space with a velocity of ninety miles an hour. Below the balloon, there was a basket with five men.

The storm was terrible. The passengers were unable to determine the course. They did not know where they were. They did not see anything. The thick fog was under the balloon. Around them everything was obscure. No light, no sound.

The balloon rose to a height of 4,500 feet. The passengers discovered that the sea was beneath them. The dangers above were less formidable than below.

The night passed. At dawn, the clouds rose high into the heavens. In a few hours, the whirlwind disappeared. The balloon was again sinking slowly.

There was no land, not even an island, beneath them. It was a terrible situation. These men were unfortunate. The gas continued to escape. They fell fast. At 1 o’clock they were 600 feet above the sea. The gas poured out. Soon the voyagers, balloon, and basket will disappear beneath the waves.

These men were strong. They were silent. They were ready to struggle. It was 2 o’clock, and the balloon was only 400 feet above the waves. Then they heard a voice:

– Is everything thrown out?

– No, we have 10,000 francs in gold.

A heavy bag fell into the sea.

– Does the balloon rise?

– A little, but it will soon fall again.

– Now the basket!

The basket fell into the sea. They wanted to lighten the apparatus. The five passengers clambered into the net around the hoop. The balloon went up. But soon it began to descend.

At 4 o’clock, their dog began to bark.

– Top saw something! Land! Land!

– They saw a land. But it was very far. Was it an island or a continent? Where were they? How to reach that land? At 4 o’clock the balloon grazed the surface of the sea.

Then the balloon jumped into the air. It rose 1,500 feet, and soon, however, it fell upon the sand. The passengers hastened to the ground. The basket contained five passengers and a dog. Four men were upon the shore. The fifth one was in the water. His friends cried:

– Perhaps he will swim here. Save him! Let us save him!

Glossary: