2
Of all the different ideas that have been started lately, I think that the very best is the notion of celebrating once a year "Mother's Day". We decided to have a special celebration of Mother's Day. We thought it a fine idea. It made us realize how much Mother had done for us for years, and all the efforts and sacrifices that she had made for our sake.
So we decided that we'd make it a great day, and so we decided to decorate the house with flowers. We asked Mother to do it, because she always does it. Father decided to take a holiday from his office, so as to help in celebrating the day, and my sister Ann and I stayed home from college classes, and Mary and my brother Will stayed home from High School.
The two girls thought it would be a nice thing to dress in our best for such a big occasion, and so they both got new hats. Father had bought silk ties for himself and us boys. We were going to get Mother a new hat too, but it turned out that she liked her old hat better than a new one.
After breakfast we decided that we would hire a motor car and take Mother for a beautiful drive away into the country. Mother is hardly ever able to have a treat like that, because she is busy in the house nearly all the time.
But on the very morning of the day we changed the plan a little bit. We all felt that it would be nicer to have a definite purpose. It turned out that Father had just got a new rod the day before, and he said that Mother could use it if she wanted to: in fact, he said it was practically for her, only Mother said she would rather watch him fish than fish herself.
So we got everything arranged for the trip. Mother cut up some sandwiches and packed all up in a basket for us. When the car came to the door, it turned out that we couldn't all get in. Father said that he could stay at home and work in the garden. There was a lot of dirty work that he could do. He said that he wanted us to be happy and have a big day. The girls said that Mother had only to say the word and they'd gladly stay at home and work.
In the end it was decided that Mother would stay at home and have a lovely restful day round the house. It turned out anyway that Mother didn't care for fishing and also it was just a little bit cold and fresh out-of-doors, though it was lovely and sunny, and Father was afraid that Mother might take cold if she came. So we all drove away and Mother stood and watched us as long as she could see us. We had the loveliest day. Father and the boys fished, the girls met quite a lot of people. We all had a splendid time.
It was quite late when we got back. The dinner was ready. It was grand. Mother had to get up and down during the meal fetching things back and forward, but at the end Father noticed it and said she simply mustn't do it, that he wanted her to spare herself.
When the dinner was over all of us wanted to help clear the things up and wash the dishes, only Mother said that she would really much rather do it.
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It was quite late when it was all over, and when we all kissed Mother before going to bed, she said it had been the most wonderful day in her life and I think there were tears in her eyes.
3
On the same day Mr. Drummond decided to send me to school. I was given new clothes: a long coat of pepper and salt, yellow leather breeches and a cap. A tin plate was hung upon my breast with No 63 on it. This showed of the boys at the school. I was taken to the school by Mr. Drummond, and before we came there we met the boys all out walking. I was at once put into their ranks and Mr. Drummond went away.
The school had two chiefs the chief schoolmaster and the chief servant. The master was the more important of the two, and as he will often appear in the pages of my story, I shall describe him in detail. Domine Dobiensis, or Dreary Dobbs, as we called him, was a tall and thin man. He had a long face with a large nose. He was a learned man, because, firstly, he had written a book on Greek grammar, and, secondly, he was fond of solving mathematical problems. At the moment when he was deep in his calculations he did not see or hear anything around him. The boys knew this weakness of their teacher and often said: "The Domine is in his dreams, and talks in his sleep. At a moment like this he quite forgot about the class, and the boys did what they liked. But when the Domine began to blow his nose it was a sure sign that he had returned from his abstraction. The boys stopped their games, opened their books, and silence again fell on the class.
The Domine loved a pun, and he often made puns in English, Greek and Latin. Nobody understood the Greek and Latin puns, and so nobody laughed at them. But that was, probably for the better because the Domine himself was a very serious man and never laughed aloud.
"Jacob Faithful, come here," were the first words that I heard the next morning when I had taken my seat at the farther end of the schoolroom. I rose and walked through two lines of boys to the master's high desk from which he looked down upon me.
"Jacob Faithful, can you read?"
"No, I can't," I replied. "I wish I could."
"A good answer, Jacob: your wish will come true. Do you know your alphabet?"
"I don't know what that is."
"Then you don't know it. Mr. Knapps will teach you. He teaches the beginners. To your studies now."
After saying this the Domine called up the first class, while Mr. Knapps called me to my first lesson. Mr. Knapps was a thin young man of about twenty years of age. He was small and weak, but very cruel. Although the Domine did not allow him to punish the boys, Mr. Knapps beat them when he remained alone with them in the schoolroom. I have almost nothing else to say of Mr. Knapps, except that he wore a black coat and wiped his pen on his left sleeve and his nose on the right.
4
The last half of the XVI and the beginning of the XVII centuries are known as the golden age of English literature. It was the time of the English Renaissance, and sometimes it is even called "the age of Shakespeare".
William Shakespeare, the greatest and most famous of English writers, and probably the greatest playwright who has ever lived, was born in Stratford-on-Avon. In spite of his fame we know very little about his life. The things that we know about Shakespeare's life begin with the date when he was baptised in the church of Stratford, on April 26, 1564, when he was only a few days old. So he is believed to have been born on April 23.
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Though little is known about William's childhood, there is every reason to believe that he was educated at the local Grammar School. When little over eighteen he married Anne Halthaway of Shottery. William lived in Stratford until he was about twenty-one, when he went to London. We do not know why he left Stratford-on-Avon.
There is a story that Shakespeare's first job in London was holding rich men's horses at the theatre door. But nobody can be sure that this story is true. Later, Shakespeare became an actor and a member of one of the chief acting companies. Soon he began to write plays for this company and in a few years became a well-known author.
One writer of that time said that Shakespeare liked a quiet life, he did not like drunken parties, and was not fond of being invited to the court. "If he was invited to the court, he was in pain."
Shakespeare's experience as an actor (although he usually acted only small parts, like the Ghost in Hamlet) helped him greatly in the writing of his plays. His knowledge of the stage and his poetical genius made his plays the most wonderful ones ever written.
Shakespeare wrote 37 plays. Among them there are deep tragedies, such as Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Macbeth, light comedies, such as The Merry Wives of Windsor, All's Well That Ends Well, Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, historical dramas, such as Henry IV, Richard III
Most of Shakespeare's plays were not published in his lifetime. So some of them may have been lost in the fire when the "Globe" burned down in 1613.
Shakespeare spent the last years of his life at Stratford, where he died in 1616. He was buried in the church of Stratford. A monument was erected to the memory of the great playwright in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.
5
In the fifteenth century people knew only three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa. They knew nothing about such a big continent as America.
The man who was thought to be the discoverer of America was born in 1451 in Italy. His name was Christopher Columbus. He probably worked as a weaver before going to sea.
At that time the life of a sailor was full of adventure and danger; so Columbus had many exciting experiences. Once during a battle with a vessel off the coast of Portugal, he had to leave his boat and swim to the shore a long distance away. He afterwards lived in Portugal a number of years, and while there, he married the daughter of a sea captain. For some time he earned his living, partly by making sea voyages, and partly by drawing maps and selling them.
Knowing that the earth was round, he decided to reach India by sailing to the west. It was very difficult for him to organize his expedition as nobody wanted to help him. Many years after, the Spanish government gave him some money for his expedition.
In 1492 he sailed with three small ships into the Atlantic Ocean. They soon met a northeastern wind that drove them farther and farther south-west. They had been sailing for more than two months. The sailors began a mutiny. They were afraid that they would not be able to return home. At last they saw land. When they landed they saw strange trees and flowers. Men and women with olive-colored skins gathered around them and looked at them with great surprise.
Columbus was certain that the lands he discovered were part of India, and he called these islands the West Indies. The people living there have been called Indians since then, though they have nothing in common with the real Indians inhabitants of India.
Columbus' second voyage to America took place in 1493. This time he discovered some other islands of the West Indies.
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Twice more Columbus tried to find India. During his third voyage, enemies spread false rumours about him. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were led to believe that he was a tyrant. Columbus was sent home in chains. Back in Spain, he quickly proved his innocence. His last voyage was made in 1502-1504. After that, seriously ill, he remained in Spain until his death. He died believing that Cuba was part of Asia.
Columbus was tall and imposing. No real portrait of him exists, but he is described in the writings of the men of his time as having blue eyes, red hair, and a freckled complexion, which reddened when he was excited.
Columbus' voyages gave Europe its first important knowledge of the New World. Other explorers, their imaginations fired by his discoveries, sailed for the Americas after Columbus. In the western hemisphere many places have been named in his honour. The Americas, however, were named after another explorer, Amerigo Vespucci.
6
George Washington, the first president of the United States, was born on a plantation in Virginia, on February 22, 1732. At the death of his father, George, who was then only eleven years old, was left along with his brothers and sisters in the care of his mother. He went to a little country school, where he learned to read and to do sums in arithmetic. He was a good student and a great favourite with his playmates.
Lawrence Washington, George's eldest brother, had married a Miss Fairfax, whose father lived in Virginia and was a relative of Lord Fairfax, a rich land owner of the colony. When George was fourteen years of age, Lawrence took him to visit Lord Fairfax. This old man of sixty took a liking to George, and they became great friends. Lord Fairfax had been told that people were settling on his land, a hundred miles or so west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Washington was then sixteen, and had some knowledge of surveying; so Fairfax employed him to go over the mountains and measure the land and establish the boundary lines. Washington did his work so well that the Governor of Virginia afterward employed him as public surveyor for the colony.
A little later the French tried to establish themselves west of the Allegheny Mountains, and they began to build forts along the rivers. The Governor of Virginia gave Washington, who was then twenty-one years old, the military title of major and sent him to order the French to leave this territory. The entire distance there and back was about a thousand miles. Washington, accompanied by one white man and several friendly Indians as guides, had to pass through thick forests and across mountains and broad rivers full of floating ice. Many of the Indians in the region that Washington and his men passed through had allied themselves with the French to fight against the English.
Washington was a strong, brave man, and he made his way safely to the French headquarters. He informed the French commander of the object of his visit, but the French refused to leave. When the answer was brought back to the Governor of Virginia, Washington was made colonel and sent out with an army of one hundred and fifty men to drive the French from the territory near the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. At first the English were defeated. But this war, called the French and Indian War, lasted several years and resulted in the English getting possession of the land from the Atlantic to the Mississippi River.
A few years later the American colonies had a war with England. The war was begun by the colonists, chiefly because of certain grievances about taxes, and was brought on by the acts of George III, Mr. Grenville, and Lord North. It lasted eight years and resulted in the independence of the colonies.
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Shortly after the war ended the people of all the colonies formed a new nation, preserving the colonies, however, as independent states for certain functions of government. By common consent they selected George Washington to be the first president, recognizing him as pre-eminent among his fellow-countrymen, as well as relying on his hand to guide them in their new venture in government.
7
What will you find if you go to Australia? It will seem to you rather an upside-down world. New Year is at midsummer, midwinter is in June. Hot winds blow from the north: cold winds blow from the south. The farther north we go, the hotter it gets. The trees look strange; it will seem odd to you that they never lose their leaves, and you will miss the bare branches in winter.
Australia is a land of strange birds and beasts such as the kangaroo, koala, echidna, dingo.
What about the climate? Australians boast that they can sleep out-of-doors all the year round. The sun shines in winter and in summer. Snow and ice are rare, except in the high mountains. There is not much rain, and drought is a constant anxiety. In bad times, and in the driest parts, many animals may die for want of water.
Australia was discovered by the Dutch in 1606, but the continent was not settled till captain Cook discovered the east coast in 1770.
When settlement of Australia began in 1788 the continent was inhabited by about 300,000 people, who are now called aborigines. These people generally had black, wavy hair and brown skin. They kept no domestic animals except the dingo and used weapons made of wood and stone. They had no permanent homes but moved about hunting and gathering food.
Diseases brought by settlers caused many deaths among the aborigines. Now there are only about 60,000 of them left- Some of them live on mission stations where they are housed and fed. Others are employed as stockmen on the ranches of northern Australia. Many of them still live a difficult nomadic life in the desert region.
The first white settlers were convicts, soldiers, and a few free men from England. In the early years people depended upon farming and sheep raising for a living. Merino sheep were brought to Australia from Africa in 1797. This breed, raised for its high-quality wool, now makes up about 80 per cent of Australia's sheep.
Not until the discovery of gold in the 1850's was there a large migration to Australia. Some of the gold seekers who were unsuccessful turned to cattle or sheep raising or to farming. Others began exploring elsewhere in Australia for minerals.
Before World War II more than 95 per cent of the population was of English descent; since then, however, people from other nations have moved to Australia in growing numbers.
8
New York is the largest city in the United States and one of the largest cities in the world. It is situated in the natural harbour of the mouth of the Hudson River. In 1626 the Dutch Trade Company bought Manhattan Island from the local Indians for twenty four dollars. Here the Dutch founded their colony and gave it the name New Amsterdam. Forty years later the English fleet entered the harbour, captured the city and renamed it New York.
There are five "boroughs" in New York: Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Richmond. Only one of them, Bronx, is not on an island. All districts of New York are linked together by numerous bridges.
Manhattan, the smallest island in New York, is the real centre of the city. When people say "New York City" they usually mean Manhattan. Only 1,500,000 people live in Manhattan, but five million people work here every day. Many live in the suburbs and come to work on the subway. Wall Street in Manhattan is the financial heart of the USA and the most important banking centre in the world. The United Nations has its headquarters in Manhattan.
The "Big Apple", as New York City is nicknamed, has an energy that few other cities can equal. John F. Kennedy International Airport is one of the busiest in the world. More ships come into New York's harbour than into any other port in the world.
New York is a city of "skyscrapers", those incredible, high buildings which Americans invented. If you want to have a good view of New York City you can do it from the top of the World Trade Centre (110 stories) or from the Empire State Building (102 stories). Not far from the Empire State Building there is an interesting architectural ensemble Rockefeller Centre. It was built according to one general plan. Rockefeller Centre consists of 15 skyscrapers. Rockefeller Centre houses all kinds of offices, enterprises, theatres and music halls.
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New York is the national leader in business, finance, manufacturing, advertising, fashion and the arts. New York is often called the cultural capital of the USA. The city has the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Lincoln Arts Centre. You can see the newest plays and shows on Broadway. Broadway is the symbol of American theatre, as Hollywood is of American cinema.
9
We do not know when men began to give names to the places where they lived, and to the seas, rivers, lakes and mountains around them. Very often they invented a name that described a place in some way, for example, Bear Mountain or White Lake. The water of the Dead Sea is so salty that nothing can live in it; the reason for the name is clear. The water of the Black Sea is a beautiful blue colour. But the ancient Creeks, when they looked to the East, often saw dark storm clouds over the water and they named the sea the Black Sea. The Pacific Ocean is known for its terrible storms. But on the day when the Spaniard Balboa first saw it, the ocean lay quiet in the bright sunlight, and he called it Pacific, which means "peaceful, quiet".
From the name of places, we are often able to tell who the inhabitants were at some time in the past. There are cities and towns in the Crimea and the Ukraine whose names end in "pol": Simferopol, Sevastopol, Melitopol. We can be sure, even without reading history books, that Greeks settled there in ancient times and gave the places their names: "polis" means "city" in Greek.
Sometimes elements of different languages enter into the names of places. In the name of Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-on-Avon, we see four words from three different languages. At this place, a Roman road (in Latin "strata") crossed the Avon Cm the Welsh language the word "afon" means "a river"). The English word "ford" means a place where we can cross a river. So the name Stratford-on-Avon means "the place where the road crosses the river." From this we know that at different times, Roman, Welsh and English people lived there.
Latin words began to be used in English place-names very long ago. The Latin word "strata" later developed into the English word "street." The Latin "portus" became the English "port," and is seen in the names of many English places: Southport, Portland, Portsmouth.
The oldest place-names in the United States are, of course, Indian. They are mostly names of what the people saw in nature: mountains, lakes, rivers and waterfalls. The name of America's greatest river, the Mississippi, is made up of two Indian words: "misi" (great) and "sipi" (water). Like all ancient names, these Indian names were passed on from father to son by word of mouth: they lived not on maps or in writing, but in the speech of the people.
Europeans found the Indian names very difficult to pronounce, and they pronounced them according to the rules of pronunciation in their own languages. But even in their changed form, the unusual and poetic sound of these Indian words remains: Niagara, Chicago, Kalamazoo.
The Europeans who arrived in America renamed many of the mountains, lakes and rivers, and gave names to the new towns that they built. We can easily tell where Europeans from different countries settled in America, by analyzing the old place-names. There are English names in the north east and along the eastern coast, for example, New London, Portland, New York; there are Dutch names in many districts of New York City (Brooklyn, Harlem) and in other parts of New York State; Spanish names in Florida. There are many French names in the southern states and along the Mississippi. The oldest names in the west in the states of California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona are Spanish.
All these names and many others are language monuments of the early days of American history, when the first Europeans arrived in the new world.
10
One of the most striking features of English life is the self-discipline and courtesy of people of all classes. There is little noisy behaviour, and practically no loud disputing in the street. People do not rush excitedly for seats in buses or trains, but take their seats in queues at bus stops in a quiet and orderly manner.
Englishmen are naturally polite and are never tired in saying "Thank you", "I'm sorry", "Beg your pardon". If you follow anyone who is entering a building or a room, he will hold a door open for you. Many foreigners have commented on a remarkable politeness of the English people.
English people don't like displaying their emotions even in dangerous and tragic situations, and ordinary people seem to remain good-tempered and cheerful under difficulties.
The Englishman does not like any boasting or showing off in manners, dress or speech. Sometimes he conceals his knowledge: a linguist, for example, may not mention his understanding of a foreigner's language. The Englishman prefers his own house to an apartment in a block of flats, because he doesn't wish his doing to be overlooked by his neighbours. "An Englishman's house is his castle." Many Englishmen help their wives at home in many ways. They clean the windows on Saturday afternoon, they often wash up the dishes after supper in the evening.
Sunday is a very quiet day in London. All the shops are closed, and so are the theatres and most of the cinemas. Londoners like to get out of town on Sundays. The sea is not far only fifty or sixty miles away and people like to go down to the sea in summer or somewhere to the country for skiing in winter.
American society seems to be much more informal than the British and, in some ways, is characterized by less social distinction. Students do not rise when a teacher enters the room. One does not always address a person by his title, such as "Major" or "General" or "Doctor" in the case of a holder of a Doctor of Philosophy degree. The respectful "Sir" is not always used in the northern and western parts of the country. However, it is best to use a person's title when first meeting him/her, and then allow the person to tell you how he/ she wishes to be called. They use first names when calling each other, slap on the back, joke and are much freer in their speech, which is more slangy than the conventional British English. You will often hear the word "Hi" (a form of greeting among friends) used instead of the usual "Hello," and "Howdy" instead of "How do you do?"
Those who don't easily show these signs of friendship are called "snooty" or "snobbish." In contrast, people who show such simple signs of friendship, particularly to their own economic and social inferiors, are praised as "regular guys," or as "truly democratic." As a description of character, democratic is generally used to signify that a person of high social or economic status acts in such a way that his or her inferiors are not reminded of their inferiority.
Yet, in spite of all the informality, Americans, even in the way they address each other, show consciousness of social distinction. For example, one is likely to use somewhat more formal language when talking to superiors. While the informal "Hello" is an acceptable greeting from employee to employer, the employee is more apt to say "Hello, Mr. Ferguson," while the employer may reply "Hello, Jim." Southerners make a point of saying "Yes, sir," or "Yes, Ma'am," or "No, sir," or "No, Ma'am," when talking to an older person or a person in a position of authority. While this is good form all over the United Stales, "Yes, Mr. Weston" or "No, Mrs. Baker" is somewhat more common in a similar situation in the North or West.
Certain other forms of politeness are observed on social occasions. Women may wear hats in church, in restaurants, and often when attending luncheons in public places and other public social functions except those that take place in the evening. Men who do wear hats ordinarily remove them in elevators, churches, restaurants, private homes, business offices in fact, in most public situations when they wish to show respect.
II
7.
I. Theory of Supply.
II. Theory of Demand.
I. , , :
Theory of Supply
The theory of supply is the theory of how much output firms choose to produce. The principal assumption of the supply theory is that the producer will maintain the level of output at which he maximizes his profit. Profit can be defined in terms of revenue and costs. Revenue is what the firm earns by selling goods or services in a given period such as a year. Costs are the expenses which are necessary for producing and selling goods or services during the period. Profit is the revenue from selling the output minus the costs of inputs used.
Costs should include opportunity costs of all resources used in production. Opportunity cost of a commodity is the amount obtained by an input in its best alternative use (best use elsewhere). In particular, costs include the owner's time and effort in running a business. Costs also include the opportunity cost of the financial capital used in the firm.
Aiming to get higher profits, firms obtain each output level as cheaply as possible. Firms choose the optimal output level to receive the highest profits. This decision can be described in terms of marginal cost and marginal revenue.
Marginal cost is the increase in total cost when one additional unit of output is produced.
