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Days and Months; Telling the Time in English

This dialogue is a conversation between Mary Black and her cat.

I’m Mary Black, an eight-year-old girl. That is my cat, Fluffy. I love her so much, that sometimes I wish her to be able to speak. So I often dream that I speak to my cat. This is one of my dreams where I was a teacher and I taught Fluffy to tell the time in English. Now listen to the dialogue.

 

- Hello, Fluffy! Are you ready for our lesson?

- Hi, Mary! Of course I’m.

- Then let’s begin. Do you know the days of the week?

- Let me see… Well, yes, I know: Saturday, Thursday, Wednesday, Friday and Monday…

- Oh, no, Fluffy! You are not quite right. There are seven days of the week. If it is difficult for you to remember all of them, please, learn the rhyme about Solomon Grundy. Listen to me:

Solomon Grundy

Born on Monday,

Christened on Tuesday,

Married on Wednesday,

Ill on Thursday,

Worse on Friday,

Died on Saturday,

Buried on Sunday.

That was the end of

Solomon Grundy.

- Oh, it is a very sad story… But now I know all the days of the week: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

- Quite right. Now tell me what day it is today.

- Today is Friday, I believe.

- Yes, and what day will tomorrow be?

- Saturday.

- And the day after tomorrow?

- Sunday.

- What day was yesterday?

- It was Thursday, I’m sure.

- And the day before yesterday?

- Wednesday.

- You are right again. Now let’s deal with the time. If we want to know the time we look at clocks or watches. Mechanical clocks and watches have faces with figures and hands that point to the hours and minutes. Digital clocks and watches show the time as a set of numbers. I don’t think you’ll find it very difficult to tell the time in English. As for the hours we say, for instance, it’s one o’clock, two o’clock, three o’clock and so on. We can say it’s midnight or midday instead of twelve o’clock. Then for the quarters we say it’s a quarter past five, half past five, a quarter to six. We say other times as follows: five minutes past five (or simply five past five), ten past five, twenty past five, twenty-five past five, twenty-five to six, twenty to six and so on. Now could you tell me the right time, please?

- Well, our kitchen clock says it’s a quarter past ten. But it is about five minutes slow. So it is twenty minutes past ten now. And what time is it by your watch?

- My watch is going very well because I don’t forget to wind it up regularly. And it says it is nineteen minutes past ten now. Now let’s assume that it’s eight o’clock now. In how many minutes will my first lesson begin?

- It usually begins at half past eight, and now, as you say, it is eight o’clock sharp. It will begin in half an hour, or in thirty minutes.

- Absolutely perfect! By the way, I know the time is not the same all over the world.

- Isn’t it?

- Sure. Europe, including Great Britain, lives by Central European Time. In England there’s also Greenwich Mean Time which is one hour behind Central European Time. But it is not used. So when it is 10 a.m. in Paris or in London it’s already midday in Moscow, 5 p.m. in Beijing, 1 a.m. in Alaska and 6 a.m. in Brazil.



- Oh, it’s so interesting!

- Yes, it is. Now let’s have the names of the months.

- Certainly. January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December. Look, what a nice rhyme about the names of the months I know:

Thirty days have September,

April, June and November.

All the rest have thirty-one.

February has twenty-eight alone,

Excepting leap-year, that’s the time,

When February days are twenty-nine.

- Very well, Fluffy. Now tell me, please, what date it is today.

- Today is the 10th of November 2011. Yesterday was the 9th of November. Tomorrow will be the 11th of November.

- Splendid, Fluffy! And the last question. Do you know the day of your birth?

- Of course I do! I was born on the 29th of February 2007.

- You’re lucky because you were born in a leap-year. Now our lesson is over. I must say you’re a very clever pupil!

- Thank you, Mary.

- Be ready for your next lesson. And don’t be late!

About Housing

This dialogue is a conversation between Betty Smith and one of her former school-mates, Mary Wilson. Betty invited her girlfriend for dinner, and now she has come. Mary knocks at the door, and soon Betty opens it. Now listen to the dialogue.

 

- Oh, hi, Mary!

- Hello, Betty!

- I’m so glad you have come! Come in, please.

- Thank you.

- I haven’t seen you for ages. How’ve you been?

- Just fine. And how are you?

- I’m fine, thanks. How’s your husband? Why didn’t he come with you?

- He is very good. But Tom is so busy now. You know, we have moved into a new house recently. Now we live in the suburbs of London.

- Do you? My congratulations! And what kind of house is it? Is it a large house or a small one?

- Well, it’s neither very large, nor very small. It is a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house with a big garden. There are all modern conveniences there, such as gas, electricity, running-water, central heating and telephone. I have some photos of it. Would you like to have a look at them?

- Of course!

- Look, this is our garden. There is a green lawn and some fruit trees there. Tom is very fond of gardening. So we are going to grow vegetables such as cabbages, cauliflowers, onions and tomatoes) and different flowers. You know, I like flowers so much, especially roses and tulips.

- You do. And how many rooms are there in the house?

- Let me see… There are 4 rooms downstairs: a small kitchen, a comfortable dining-room, a cosy sitting-room and a pantry; and also 3 rooms upstairs. There are 2 big bedrooms, my husband’s study, a bathroom and a lavatory on the first floor.

- I see the house is not so small as you said. I think there are plenty of rooms for your small family there.

- Yes, you’re right. Now look, this is our sitting-room. Do you like it?

- I like it a lot! It’s wonderful! The furniture is quite modern and comfortable.

- Thank you, I’m glad you like it. But you know it was so difficult for us to get a mortgage on it. And now we have to pay much money for it.

- I see… And do you have a garage?

- Yes, we do. There is a two-car garage at the side of the house.

- It sounds great! I think your house is nice. And it looks so pretty and neat.

- Thank you. Your house is also nice.

- Thanks. It is small but very comfortable. Do you want me to show you the house?

- I’d love to.

- Come along. This is our kitchen. You see, there is a gas-stove, a sink and a fridge here. There is also a radio-set here. Old Mrs. Sandford likes to cook and listen to music at the same time.

- Well, I like your kitchen.

- And this is our dining-room.

- It is marvelous!

- We usually have breakfast here together. On the ground floor there is also Dr. Sandford’s study and the sitting-room. You have already seen it. There are several rooms upstairs: the Sandfords’ bedrooms, old Mrs. Sandford’s room, which is also Benny’s nursery, my room and the bathroom.

- Oh, I like your house very much!

- Thank you. Of course it is nice, but Dr. Sandford says he must pay much money for many years before he can call the house his own. Besides, there are five of us here. And Benny grows up so quickly that the apartment feels smaller every day. So I’m eager to have a house of my own. It is my cherished dream.

- I hope your dream will come true soon. If you save enough money you’ll finally buy it.

- Yes, let’s hope for the best. Now, would you like to have dinner together?

- With great pleasure!

 


Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1021


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