Short Story Mr. Harris and the night train

If you want to read the story online, click on the link.  ONE WAY TICKET.

It's a book that contains Mr. Harris and the night train .

Questions

1. Where did Mr. Harris travel on 14th September? Why?
2. How did he travel? Why?
3. What did he usually do on the train?
4. What happened at midnight?
5. Who were Carl and Elena?
6. What did they argue about?
7. What did Elena do?
8. How did Mr harris react?
9. What happened when the guard told Mr. Harris about Elena and Carl?
10. How did Mr. Harris go back home? Why?

Jennifer Bassett

Jennifer Bassett has been a teacher, teacher trainer, editor, and materials writer, and has taught in England, Greece, Spain, and Portugal. She is the Series Editor of the Oxford Bookworms Library, and has written more than twenty original and retold stories for the series, including The Phantom of the Opera, One-Way Ticket,The President's Murderer, and William Shakespeare. Two of her adaptations, Rabbit-Proof Fence and Love Among the Haystacks, have won Language Learner Literature Awards, and three of her other titles have been finalists for the Awards. She has created a new sub-series called Bookworms World Stories, which are collections of short stories written in English from around the world. She has also written original stories for the English Today Readers and Storylines series. Jennifer is series co-adviser, with H.G. Widdowson, of the Oxford Bookworms Collection, volumes of unadapted short stories for advanced learners.

Background to the story:

Trains have been used to great effect as a setting for novels and films. Complete strangers come together in random combinations, spend a short or a long time together and part. The intimacy of the train compartment can encourage the sharing of confidencies or it can drive lovers or families to a screaming point. Strangers on a train or Murder on the Orient Express are two films that use the meeting of strangers on a train their starting points.

Mr. Harris and the night train (Jennifer Bassett)

1. • Vola Buenos Aires-Madrid
   • Madrid-Barcelona dsd $100
   • Buscador de Vuelos

Search Results

1. From Helsinki, Finland

   To Oulu, Finland

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Vocabulary

blood: the red liquid in a person's body
carriage:  a 'room' on a train
corridor:  the long narrow place on a train with doors to the
carnages
damn:  a word to show that you are angry
diamond:  a beautiful, very expensive, bright stone; women
wear diamonds in rings, necklaces, etc
ghost:  a dead person that living people think they can see
great : very good; wonderful
guard  : a man who works on a train
guy:  a man
Hi:  hello
holiday:  days or weeks when people do not go to work
hurry : (v) to move or do something very quickly
loud:  not quiet; with a lot of noise
necklace:  something beautiful that women wear round their
necks
pick up:  to take something in the hand
platform:  trains stop next to a platform in a station, and people
get off:  the train onto the platform
prison:  a big building for bad people; they live there and cannot
leave
seat a 'chair' on a train
shout: (v) to speak or cry very loudly and strongly
sir:  when you don't know a man's name, you can call him 'sir'
stare: (v) to look at someone or something for a long time
station:  trains stop at stations for people to get on or off
sweet:  (of people) very nice
terrible:  something terrible makes you very afraid or unhappy
unhappy not happy
vodka:  a very strong cold drink
voice:  you talk with your voice
whisper:  (v) to speak very, very quietly
yeah : yes

File 3 C 900 new words

gas‧tro‧pub [countable] British Englisha pub that serves very good food

road rage [uncountable]violence and angry behaviour by car drivers towards other car drivers:Road rage seems to be on the increase.
a road rage attack

toy boy [countable]informal a young man who is having a sexual relationship with an older woman - used humorously

tweet [intransitive]to make the short high sound of a small bird

bar‧is‧ta [countable]someone whose job is to prepare coffee in a coffee bar

lat‧te [uncountable and countable]very strong coffee with a lot of steamed milk in it, or a cup of this type of coffee

smart‧phone [countable]a mobile phone that also works as a PDAPDA [countable]personal digital assistant
a very small light computer that you can carry with you, and that you use to store information such as telephone numbers, addresses, andappointments. Some PDAs can send and receive email, and connect to the Internet

YouTube

ˈjuːtjuːb/

verb

1. upload a video of (someone or something) to the video-sharing website YouTube.

   "Obama's inaugural will be the first to be YouTubed."

   • search for or watch on YouTube.

     "I went back and YouTubed the show"

key‧board [countable]

1 a board with buttons marked with letters or numbers that are pressed to put information into a computer or other machine:

a computer keyboard

2 the row of keys on some musical instruments that you press in order to play them

3 also keyboards [plural] an electronic musical instrument similar to a piano that can make sounds like many different instruments[↪ synthesizer]:

Chris Kelly (guitar) and Benny Hayes (keyboards and vocals)

File 3 A song

File 3 A Top airports

Singapore airport

Hong Kong airport

 Seoul airport

Munich airport

Osaka airport

Zurich airport

Song Blue as your eyes

"Blue As Your Eyes"

Am I falling apart?
Is this falling in love, am I going insane?
You scratched out my heart
You scratched out my heart, you etched on my brain

Every word
Every word that you said goes round
Round in my head
Round like a cyclone in my mind

Well I've been trying to get a hold on you
I've been trying to get a hold on you
I've been trying to get a hold on you
On this crazy world of mine

Every day, right from the start
When I showed you my hand, I gave you my heart
Falling in love, feeling alive
Clear as to mud, I'm blue as your eyes, blue as your eyes

Is it all in my head?
You turned me away, you begged me to stay
Is it something I said?
You wanted to change, you wanted the same

Well I've been trying to get a hold on you
I've been trying to get a hold on you
I've been trying to get a hold on you
On this crazy world of mine

Every day, right from the start
When I showed you my hand, I gave you my heart
Falling in love, feeling alive
Clear as to mud, I'm blue as your eyes, blue as your eyes
[x3]

Short Story The Ant and the Grasshopper

Questions about the short story

1. What lesson is it meant to teach?
2. Why did Maughan not like this story?
3. Why was George Ramsay looking miserable?
4.  Then, one day, Tom said that he did not like work
     What did Tom do?
     What did Tom do when he needed small amounts of money?
     What did Tom do when he needed large amounts of money?
5. Why was George willing to help his brother?
6.




CLICK AND LISTEN TO:
Aesop's Fables: The Ant and the Grasshoppe

Willliam Somerset Maugham - The Ant and The Grasshopper

William Somerset Maugham When I was a very small boy I was made to learn by heart certain of the fables of La Fontaine, and the moral of each was carefully explained to me. Among those I learnt was The Ant and The Grasshopper, which is devised to bring home to the young the useful lesson that in an imperfect world industry is rewarded and giddiness punished. In this admirable fable (I apologize for telling something which everyone is politely, but inexactly, supposed to know) the ant spends a laborious summer gathering its winter store, while the grasshopper sits on a blade of grass singing to the sun. Winter comes and the ant is comfortably provided for, but the grasshopper has an empty larder: he goes to the ant and begs for a little food. Then the ant gives him her classic answer: 'What were you doing in the summer time?' 'Saving your presence, I sang, I sang all day, all night.' 'You sang. Why, then go and dance.' I do not ascribe it to perversity on my part, but rather to the inconsequence of childhood, which is deficient in moral sense, that I could never quite reconcile myself to the lesson. My sympathies were with the grasshopper and for some time I never saw an ant without putting my foot on it. In this summary (and as I have discovered since, entirely human) fashion I sought to express my disapproval of prudence and common sense. I could not help thinking of this fable when the other day I saw George Ramsay lunching by himself in a restaurant. I never saw anyone wear an expression of such deep gloom. He was staring into space. He looked as though the burden of the whole world sat on his shoulders. I was sorry for him: I suspected at once that his unfortunate brother had been causing trouble again. I went up to him and held out my hand. 'How are you?' I asked. 'I'm not in hilarious spirits,' he answered. 'Is it Tom again?' He sighed. 'Yes, it's Tom again.' 'Why don't you chuck him? You've done everything in the world for him. You must know by now that he's quite hopeless.' I suppose every family has a black sheep. Tom had been a sore trial to his for twenty years. He had begun life decently enough: he went into business, married, and had two children. The Ramsays were perfectly respectable people and there was every reason to suppose that Tom Ramsay would have a useful and honourable career. But one day, without warning, he announced that he didn't like work and that he wasn't suited for marriage. He wanted to enjoy himself. He would listen to no expostulations. He left his wife and his office. He had a little money and he spent two happy years in the various capitals of Europe. Rumours of his doings reached his relations from time to time and they were profoundly shocked. He certainly had a very good time. They shook their heads and asked what would happen when his money was spent. They soon found out: he borrowed. He was charming and unscrupulous. I have never met anyone to whom it was more difficult to refuse a loan. He made a steady income from his friends and he made friends easily. But he always said that the money you spent on necessities was boring; the money that was amusing to spend was the money you spent on luxuries. For this he depended on his brother George. He did not waste his charm on him. George was a serious man and insensible to such enticements. George was respectable. Once or twice he fell to Tom's promises of amendment and gave him considerable sums in order that he might make a fresh start. On these Tom bought a motor-car and some very nice jewellery. But when circumstances forced George to realize that his brother would never settle down and he washed his hands of him, Tom, without a qualm, began to blackmail him. It was not very nice for a respectable lawyer to find his brother shaking cocktails behind the bar of his favourite restaurant or to see him waiting on the box-seat of a taxi outside his club. Tom said that to serve in a bar or to drive a taxi was a perfectly decent occupation, but if George could oblige him with a couple of hundred pounds he didn't mind for the honour of the family giving it up. George paid. Once Tom nearly went to prison. George was terribly upset. He went into the whole discreditable affair. Really Tom had gone too far. He had been wild, thoughtless, and selfish, but he had never before done anything dishonest, by which George meant illegal; and if he were prosecuted he would assuredly be convicted. But you cannot allow your only brother to go to gaol. The man Tom had cheated, a man called Cronshaw, was vindictive. He was determined to take the matter into court; he said Tom was a scoundrel and should be punished. It cost George an infinite deal of trouble and five hundred pounds to settle the affair. I have never seen him in such a rage as when he heard that Tom and Cronshaw had gone off together to Monte Carlo the moment they cashed the cheque. They spent a happy month there. For twenty years Tom raced and gambled, philandered with the prettiest girls, danced, ate in the most expensive restaurants, and dressed beautifully. He always looked as if he had just stepped out of a bandbox. Though he was forty-six you would never have taken him for more than thirty-five. He was a most amusing companion and though you knew he was perfectly worthless you could not but enjoy his society. He had high spirits, an unfailing gaiety, and incredible charm. I never grudged the contributions he regularly levied on me for the necessities of his existence. I never lent him fifty pounds without feeling that I was in his debt. Tom Ramsay knew everyone and everyone knew Tom Ramsay. You could not approve of him, but you could not help liking him. Poor George, only a year older than his scapegrace brother, looked sixty. He had never taken more than a fortnight's holiday in the year for a quarter of a century. He was in his office every morning at nine-thirty and never left it till six. He was honest, industrious, and worthy. He had a good wife, to whom he had never been unfaithful even in thought, and four daughters to whom he was the best of fathers. He made a point of saving a third of his income and his plan was to retire at fifty-five to a little house in the country where he proposed to cultivate his garden and play golf. His life was blameless. He was glad that he was growing old because Tom was growing old too. He rubbed his hands and said: 'It was all very well when Tom was young and good-looking, but he's only a year younger than I am. In four years he'll be fifty. He won't find life so easy then. I shall have thirty thousand pounds by the time I'm fifty. For twenty-five years I've said that Tom would end in the gutter. And we shall see how he likes that. We shall see if it really pays best to work or be idle.' Poor George! I sympathized with him. I wondered now as I sat down beside him what infamous thing Tom had done. George was evidently very much upset. 'Do you know what's happened now?' he asked me. I was prepared for the worst. I wondered if Tom had got into the hands of the police at last. George could hardly bring himself to speak. 'You're not going to deny that all my life I've been hardworking, decent, respectable, and straightforward. After a life of industry and thrift I can look forward to retiring on a small income in gilt-edged securities. I've always done my duty in that state of life in which it has pleased Providence to place me.' 'True.' 'And you can't deny that Tom has been an idle, worthless, dissolute, and dishonourable rogue. If there were any justice he'd be in the workhouse.' 'True.' George grew red in the face. 'A few weeks ago he became engaged to a woman old enough to be his mother. And now she's died and left him everything she had. Half a million pounds, a yacht, a house in London, and a house in the country.' George Ramsay beat his clenched fist on the table. 'It's not fair, I tell you, it's not fair. Damn it, it's not fair.' I could not help it. I burst into a shout of laughter as I looked at George's wrathful face, I rolled in my chair, I very nearly fell on the floor. George never forgave me. But Tom often asks me to excellent dinners in his charming house in Mayfair, and if he occasionally borrows a trifle from me, that is merely from force of habit. It is never more than a sovereign.

File 1 C Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy

Click on MR. AND MRS. CLARK AND PERCY  and visit Tate gallery description of the painting.