Vocabulary
- a piano salesman
- to look for the unexpected
- to hand out cards
- to consider
- in the same handwriting
- to stand aside from the crowd
- to finish ones inspection
- to be about to faint
- to take a quick glance
- to go without eating
- to cheer up
- unrealized dreams
- to be all alone in the world
- to sigh deeply
- to knock at the door by mistake
- a piano tuner
- to discover to ones surprise
Notes
The second up were apartments .
It was one of a thousand stories such as the city wears with indifference every day , .
Pointing down the street to the entrance to the theatre with a bright electric sign of its new play The Green Door - ...
Rudolf Steiner, a young piano salesman, was a true adventurer. Few were the evenings when he did not go to look for the unexpected. It seemed to him that the most interesting things in life might lie just around the corner. He was always dreaming of adventures.
Once when he was walking along the street his attention was attracted by a Negro handing out dentist's cards. The Negro slipped a card into Rudolf's hand. He turned it over and looked at it. Nothing was written on one side of the card; on the other three words were written: "The Green Door". And then Rudolf saw, three steps in front of him, a man throw away the card the Negro had given him as he passed. Rudolf picked it up. The dentist's name and address were printed on it.
The adventurous piano salesman stopped at the corner and considered. Then he returned and joined the stream of people again. When he was passing the Negro the second time, he again got a card. Ten steps away he examined it. In the same handwriting that appeared on the first card "The Green door" was written upon it. Three or four cards were lying on the pavement. On all of them were the name and the address of the dentist. Whatever the written words on the cards might mean, the Negro had chose him twice from the crowd.
Standing aside from the crowd, the young man looked at the building in which he thought his adventure must lie. It was a five-storey building. On the first floor there was a store. The second up were apartments.
After finishing his inspection Rudolf walked rapidly up the stairs into the house. The hallway there was badly lighted. Rudolf looked toward the nearer door and saw that it was green. He hesitated for a moment, then he went straight to the green door and knocked on it. The door slowly opened. A girl not yet twenty stood there. She was very pale and as it seemed to Rudolf was about to faint. Rudolf caught her and laid her on a sofa. He closed the door and took a quick glance round the room. Neat, but great poverty was the story he read.
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"Fainted, didn't I?" the girl asked weakly. "Well, no wonder. You try going without anything to eat for three days and see."
"Heavens!" cried Rudolf, jumping up. "Wait till I come back." He rushed out of the green door and in twenty minutes he was back with bread and butter, cold meat, cakes, pies, milk and hot tea.
"It is foolish to go without eating. You shouldn't do it again," Rudolf said. "Supper is ready."
When the girl cheered up a little she told him her story. It was one of a thousand stories such as the city wears with indifference every daya shop girl's story of low wages; of time lost through illness; and then of lost jobs, lost hope and unrealized dreams andthe knock of the young man upon the door.
Rudolf looked at the girl with sympathy.
"To think of you going through all that," he exclaimed. "And you have no relatives or friends in the city?"
"None whatever."
"As a matter of fact, I am all alone in the world too," said Rudolf after a pause.
"I am glad of that," said the girl, and somehow it pleased the young man to hear that she approved of his having no relatives.
Then the girl sighed deeply. "I'm awfully sleepy," she said.
Rudolf rose and took his hat.
"How did it happen that you knocked at my door?" she asked.
"One of our piano tuners lives in this house. I knocked at your door by mistake."
There was no reason why the girl should not believe him.
In the hallway he looked around and discovered to his great surprise that all the doors were green.
In the street he met the same Negro. "Will you tell me why you gave me these cards and what they mean?" he asked.
Pointing down the street to the entrance to a theatre with a bright electric sign of its new play, "The Green Door", the Negro told Rudolf that the theatre agent had given him a dollar to hand out a few of his cards together with the dentist's.
"Still it was the hand of Fate that showed me the way to her," said Rudolf to himself.
Vocabulary Practice
I. Write in transcription and read the following words and phrases and translate them:
Rudolf Steiner; a true adventurer; walking along the street; a Negro; three steps in front of him; salesman; the adventurous piano salesman; a store; to walk rapidly up the stairs; neat but great poverty was the story he read; unrealized dreams; with sympathy; after a pause; awfully sleepy; piano tuner; a bright electric sign.
II. Translate into English:
; ; ; ; ; ; ; - ; ; ; - ; ( ); ; ; ; .
III. Reproduce the situations from the text where the active vocabulary is used. Think of your own sentences with the words from the list.
IV. Suggest words and word combinations from active vocabulary for the following:
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- to end ones examination
- to brighten
- to think about
- to distribute cards
- to live without food
- the dreams which didnt come true
- to find out to ones astonishment
- a person who sets the piano at the proper pitch
- to let out a deep breath
- to have neither relatives nor friends
- a shop assistant who sells pianos
- to try to find to a great surprise
- writing done by the same hand
- to look around quickly
- to be nearly to lose consciousness
V. Choose the correct statement:
1. Rudolf Steiner was
d) a young pianist
e) a great writer
f) a young piano salesman
2. Once when he was walking along the street his attention was attracted by
a) a Negro handing out dentists cards
b) little children crossing the road
c) a young nice woman looking at him
3. When he was passing the Negro the second time he again
a) noticed a mysterious smile on his face
b) got a card
c) asked him the way to the theatre
4. Whatever the written words on the card might mean, the Negro
a) had helped him understand them
b) had given him a good piece of advice
c) had chosen him twice from the crowd
5. When the girl cheered up a little
a) she told him her story
b) she asked him about his unexpected visit
c) she invited him to go for a walk
6. In the hallway he looked around and discovered to his great surprise that
a) there was only one flat on the floor
b) all the doors were green
c) the girls door was dark brown
VI. Answer the following questions:
- Who is the main character of the story?
- What did he do?
- What did he look for in the evening?
- What was Rudolfs attention attracted by when he was walking along the street?
- What did he read on the card the Negro had given him?
- Where did the young man find his adventure?
- Who did he meet behind the green door?
- What story did the girl tell Rudolf?
- What did the young people have in common?
- What did the words on the Negros card really mean?
VII. Topics for general discussion
- What kind of history is it?
- What kind of a man was Rudolf?
- What role did his adventurous character play in Rudolfs life?
- Do you think the friendship between Rudolf and the girl will grow into love?
| Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. Ernest Miller Hemingway was born on 21 July 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Hemingway was the first son and the second child born to Clarence Edmonds "Doc Ed" Hemingway - a country doctor, and Grace Hall Hemingway. Hemingway's mother once aspired to an opera career and earned money giving voice and music lessons. She was narrowly religious. |
While his mother hoped that her son would develop an interest in music, Hemingway adopted his father's outdoorsman hobbies of hunting, fishing and camping in the woods. The family owned a summer home called Windemere on Walloon Lake and often spent summers vacationing there. These early experiences in close contact with nature instilled in Hemingway a lifelong passion for outdoor adventure and for living in remote or isolated areas.
Hemingway attended Oak Park and River Forest High School from September, 1913 until graduation in June 1917. He excelled both academically and athletically; he boxed, played American football, and displayed particular talent in English classes.
After high school, Hemingway did not want to go to college. Instead, at age eighteen, he began his writing career as a cub reporter for The Kansas City Star.
During World War One Hemingway was a military reporter. His war experience provided the background for his famous novels A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls. During his life E. Hemingway wrote many novels and short stories in a simple and direct style. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1954. The writer died in 1961 by shooting himself.
A Days Wait
E. Hemingway
(the USA)
