Шрифт:
Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the room with the face of a man who is dazed with astonishment.
Exercises
Comprehension
1. True or false?
1) Mr. Henry Baker was a bachelor.
2) The owner of the lost belongings could be found easily.
3) The hat indicated that he had always belonged to the lower class.
4) There had been no crime connected with the hat so far.
5) Being familiar with the deductive method, Watson, however, could not apply it.
6) Mr. Henry Baker was grateful to the commissionaire who had saved him from the roughs.
7) Sherlock Holmes retained the hat, although he had to eat the goose.
Vocabulary
2. Fill in the gaps with the following words. In some cases you will have to think of other words with identical roots.
disreputable, deduce, retrogression, genius
1) Dr. Watson can’t… as much as Sherlock Holmes from an ordinary old hat.
Sherlock Holmes is believed to have invented the famous… method which proved useful during so many inquiries. Logical… consists in moving from the general to the specific as opposed to induction.
2) The criminals have worked out an… robbery plan.
Is it true that one can never be… and evil at the same time?
3) Take off this… old coat! You remind me of all the Dickens’ characters at once.
Luck is changeable: sometimes even a harmless little mistake can bring you into…
4) Once prosperous, the country has now sunk into the civil war, which caused chaos, devastation and the… of culture.
Whatever we discuss, he always… towards the opposite view.
3. Find a synonym for each word in the second column.
Grammar
4. Translate the following sentences into English using constructions with rather.
1) Меня бы больше устроило работать с вами, чем с кем-либо другим.
2) Эта огромная яхта принадлежит моей подруге, а точнее – ее отцу.
3) Я проделал довольно долгий путь и нуждаюсь в отдыхе.
4) Она лучше сбежит, чем снова вернется жить в тот дом.
5) Пойдемте, я покажу вам дорогу. Я довольно хорошо знаю эти места.
6) С тех пор как его жена умерла, он живет здесь, точнее, просто существует в ожидании конца.
Interesting facts about Great Britain
Goose was an important part of the traditional English Christmas dinner. Even now it is not entirely replaced by turkey. According to the legend, Queen Elizabeth I was eating goose when she received good news about the victory over the Spanish Armada. Inspired, she announced that there should always be a goose on every Christmas table. As Rod Molisse says in his annotation to “The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle”, “The Christmas goose also carries considerable symbolic meaning”. Eating goose used to be part of the ancient rites of the goose gods in many early European cultures.
7) Я бы, пожалуй, выпил молочный коктейль, а то чай быстро надоедает.
8) Это довольно неглупая собака, хоть и очень навязчивая.
9) Неужели ты не понимаешь, что скрывать от него свое прошлое – это в некоторой степени обман?
10) Заставить его с кем-то пообщаться – это уже в какой-то мере победа.
Writing
5. Find out some information about other Christmas traditions in Britain.
II
“The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!” he gasped.
“Eh? What’s the matter with it? Has it returned to life and flew out of the kitchen window?”
“Look, sir! Look what my wife found in its crop!” He held out his hand and showed a brilliantly shiny blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size. But it was so pure and radiant that it twinkled like an electric point in the dark hollow of his hand.
Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. “By Jove [57] , Peterson!” said he, “you’ve found a real treasure. I suppose you know what you have got?”
57
by Jove – Ей-богу