The months of the year

by Sara Coleridge (1802-1852), daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

This is an account of the months of the year as seen in England.

January brings the snow;

Makes the toes and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,

Thaws the frozen ponds again.

March brings breezes loud and shrill,

Stirs the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,

Scatters daisies at our feet,

May brings flocks of pretty lambs

Skipping by their fleecy damps.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,

Fills the children’s hands with posies.

Hot July brings cooling showers,

Srawberries and gilly-flowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,

Then the Harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit,

Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasant,

Dull November brings the blast,

Then to gather nuts is pleasant,

Then the leaves are falling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet,

Blazing fire and Christmas treat.

Ex. 6 Say what the following proverbs and phrases mean. Use a dictionary. Think of the situations where you can use them.

1 Every cloud has a silver lining. 2 A storm in a tea cup. 3 To skate on thin ice. 4 To get one’s second wind. 5 A bolt from the blue. 6 It never rains, but pours. 7 If there were no clouds, we should not enjoy the sun. 8 Small rain lays great dust. 9 After rain comes fair weather.

PRETEXT EXERCISES

Ex.1 Read the following story and find a topic sentence in each paragraph. Do the assignments after the text.

Ex.2 While reading the text, divide the text into logical parts, give a title to each part.

Text b september mood in england

It's Monday morning. Miss Goodbody walks into the office. Her holiday is over and she has just returned to work. She looks brown and relaxed and happier than usual. The other girls stand round her. "Where did you go?" one asks. "Italy. Little place near Naples". "What was the weather like?" "Not, of course." "Where did you go?" "Oh, Eastbourne." "Did you enjoy it?" "Yes, quite. It rained a bit though."

It's September. The holidays are over and the girls are restless. Their job-changing season has begun.

Mr. Wetherington comes in ten minutes later. He is not very happy. Every Monday morning since early June he has heard the same conversation in the train on his way to the office in London. Someone is just back from holiday. Everyone else is asking where he went and what was the weather like and did he enjoy himself? A bit tedious really – especially if, like Mr. Wetherington, you had your holiday two months ago.

But it isn't only holiday talk that is worrying him. He is thinking about the winter. Five years ago he had central heating installed in his house. Now his wife wants them to put in double glazing. She tells him it will save fuel as well as keep the house warmer.

She's right of course. But to double-glaze all the windows will cost quite a lot of money. Perhaps he can leave it for the moment. After all, it's still quite warm. May be October – or even the whole winter – will be mild and they'll hardly notice the necessity for double glazing. Mr. Wetherington isn't very good at making decisions.

At home his wife is thinking about all the jobs she has to do at this time of year, like buying school uniforms for the children, seeing how much of their last year's winter outfits are still big enough and making sure that winter overcoats, gloves and heavy shoes are clean and ready for use.

Old Mr. Hart, the retired bank manager, who lives opposite the Wetheringtons is busy in his trim and always tidy garden. He's tying up roses just now and thinking that soon he'll have thousands of leaves to sweep up and born and shrubs to be pruned and everything made ready for the winter. "Autumn's a fine time", he says to himself. "No worrying now about how the plants will do. That's all over. There's lots of colour still left in the garden. The leaves will be showing their autumn colours soon and I'll see the beechwood on the hill behind all red and yellow and brown like a forest fire in the setting sun. It’s a great time of year”.

It’s September and a typical English weather is about to begin.

SPEECH EXERCISES

Ex.1Explain the title of the text.

Ex.2 From the suggested vocabulary choose the words which pertain to your situations from the previous exercise, retell them. You are welcome to enlarge on the story.

Ex.3 Dramatize the text.

Role 1. Miss Goodbody returns to work after holidays feeling happier and more relaxed than usual.

Role 2. Mr. Wetherington comes to the office in a gloomy mood. He looked annoyed and worried.

Role 3. Mrs. Wetherington is eager to put in double glazing. She is trying to convince Mr. Wetherington of the necessity for double glazing. But the latter isn’t very good at making decisions.

Ex.4 Explain how the description of the weather helps to bring out the emotional state of the characters.

Ex.5 Remember your autumn mood. Write a composition, begin it with the sentence: Autumn is the best time for …

PART 2 PERSON’S ACCOMODATION

UNIT I ROOMS AND FURNITURE

Ex.1What are the rooms and places in the left column for? Match them with the words from the right column.

1. The kitchen is - a place to keep your car.

2. The hall - a room for sleeping in.

3. The bathroom - a room used for reading, writing etc.

4. The study - a place for children to live.

5. The bedroom - a place to have meals.

6. The dining room - a part of a building with glass walls and roof in

which plants are protected from cold.

7. The sitting-room - a room in which food is kept.

8. The nursery - a small room for storing things.

9. The garage - a passage space into which the main entrance or

front door of a building opens.

10 The closet - a place to relax, watch TV and talk.

11 The conservatory - a place to wash yourself.

12 The patio - a room in which meals are cooked.

13 The pantry - a paved area near a house used for eating

outside etc.

14 The cloakroom - a place where coats etc. may be left.

Ex. 2You are going to furnish your new flat. Choose the pieces of furniture for: