Sports Reports from Channel 4

Announcer: This morning the Roarers football team arrived back from York. Paul Short is our sports reporter, and he was at the airport.

Paul Short: Good morning. This is Paul Short. All the footballers are walking towards me. Here's George Ball, the goalkeeper. Good morning, George.

George Ball: Good morning. Are you a reporter?

Paul Short: Yes, I'm from Channel 4. Please tell our audience about the football match with York.

George Ball: Well, it was awful. We lost. And the score was four, forty-four. But it wasn't my fault.

Paul Short: Whose fault was it?

George Ball: The forwards.

Paul Short: The forwards?

George Ball: Yes. The forwards. They were always falling down or losing the ball!

Fawns, Horses And a Tortoise

Paul: Any more of these awful autumn storms, George, and we'll be short of corn. I ought to have bought some more in Northport.

George: This morning, just before dawn, I thought I saw signs of a thaw.. I was sure...

Paul: Ssh! Behind that door there are four fawns that were born in the storm. They're all warm in the straw now.

George: Poor little fawns! Paul, what's that snorting next door?

Paul: Those are the horses' stalls. They're snorting at my daughter's tortoise. It always crawls around in the straw.

George: If Claud saw us walking across his lawn... He's an awful bore about his lawn. Oh, Lord, we're caught! There is Claud! Now we're for it!

I'm Afraid I Think I'm Lost

Old Lady; Excuse me. I'm terribly sorry to bother you...

Policeman: Yes? That's quite all right. Can I help you at all?

Old Lady: I don't know how to begin.

Policeman: Well, the beginning's always a good place to start.

Old Lady: But, you see, I don't know the beginning. I'm looking for a small, old-fashioned hotel where I — if only I could remember the name!

Policeman: Or the name of the street?

О 1 d Lady: The street? Oh, I've no idea, I'm afraid.

Policeman: Or the area?

Old L a d y: I know it was not far from the Pier. Or could that have been last year, I wonder? No, no, last year I went with Emily — I think.

Policeman: Did you say near the Pier? There's no pier here.

Old Lady: There must be! My hotel was near it.

Policeman: Which pier?

Old Lady: Eastbourne Pier, of course!

Policeman: Eastbourne? But this is Seaford!

Old Lady: Seaford! Really? I thought it seemed rather a long way!

Exercise VI.Read the rhymes and learn them.

1. Tommy Trot, a man of law,

Sold his bed and lay upon straw,

Sold the straw and slept on grass,

To buy his wife a looking-glass.

2. Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,

To buy little Johnny a galloping horse,

It trots behind, and it ambles before,

And Johnny shall ride till he can ride no more.

3. It's raining, it's pouring.

The old man is snoring,

He got into bed

And bumped his head

And couldn't get up in the morning.

4. Grasshopper, grasshopper,

Please, will you stop?

And show me how high

A grasshopper can hop.

Oh, no, I'm in haste.

I must hop out to shop.

Hoppety, hoppety,

hoppety, hop.

Exercise VII.Transcribe the proverbs and learn them.

1. A little pot is soon hot.

2. Honour and profit lie not in one sack.

3. Better unborn than untaught, but better untaught than ill-taught . ,

4. To draw in. one's horns.

5. To draw water in sieve.

6. To make a long story short.

7. Be slow to promise and quick to perform.

8. Honesty is the best policy.

9. When all comes to all.

10. Velvet paws hide sharp claws.

UNIT 4. [з:]-[ ɔ:]

Exercise I.Read the following words paying special attention to correct pronunciation.

1. [з:]		2. [ɔ:]		3. [з:] - [ɔ:]
sir	work	four	ought	her — horn
fir	hurt	more	bought	bird — board
her	shirt	ore	thought	pearl — Paul
bird	skirt	bore	daughter	work — walk
heard	purse	tore	taught	turn — torn
word	nurse	saw	nought	burn — born
world	first	thaw	talk	curl — call
girl	burst	draw	walk	first— force
curl	curtain	straw	horse	curse — course
earl	thirteen	awed	course	worm — warm
pearl	birthday	board	short	shirt — short
term	Thursday	small	shorts	shirts — shorts
firm	purpose	wall	sport
serve	curve	morning	port
prefer	worse	warm	quarter

Exercise II.Read the following sense-groups, mind the rhythm and intonation.

(a) purpose; serve no purpose; the work will serve no purpose.

(b) a girl; a circus girl; Pearl is a circus girl; Pearl is a circus girl who works; Pearl is a circus girl who works with horses.

(c) birthday; first birthday; thirty-first birthday; pearls for her thirty-first birthday; a circlet of pearls for her thirty-first birthday; a fur and a circlet of pearls for her thirty-first birthday; an earl gave Pearl a fur and a circlet of pearls for her thirty-first birthday.

Exercise III.Transcribe and intone the following sentences. Practise reading them in pairs.

[з:] (а) 1. Repeat the verse word for word.

2. Bert will be thirteen next birthday.

3. Bertha preferred to turn to the Colonel whenever it was her turn to rehearse.

4. Bert and Jemima had a perfectly murderous journey from Hurlingham to Surbiton on Thursday.

5. Turn down the first turning after the church — or the third, if you prefer.

6. We've searched for work all over the world, cursing the ever-worsening conditions for labourers.

7. Myrtle will certainly start her journey to Germany next Thursday under the circumstances.

[э:] (b) 1. I thought George Thornhill ought to talk.

2. Paul Thornaby adores Mort Morgan's daughter Laura.

3. Nora thought that all autumn balls were boring.

4. Gordon Norton taught law to forty-four students.

5. Nora bought sausages and oranges and a tall bottle of mineral water.

[з:] — [о:] (с) 1. Paul and Pearl are on board a ship.

2. First call Bert and Paul.

3. Maud and Bert like to walk but they don't like to work.

4. Work without purpose is like walk without joy.

Exercise IV. Read the tongue-twisters and learn them.

1. Observe the observed of all observers.

2. If white chalk chalks on a black blackboard, will black chalk chalk on a white blackboard?

Exercise V.Read the dialogues, mark the stresses and tunes. Learn them. Act out the dialogues,

The Worst Nurse

Sir Herbert: Nurse!

Colonel Burton: Nurse! I'm thirsty!

Sir Herbert: Nurse! My head hurts!

Colonel Burton: NURSE!!

Sir Herbert: Curse these nurses!

Colonel Burton: Nurse Sherman always wears such dirty shirts.

Sir Herbert: And such short skirts.

Colonel Burton: She never arrives at work early.

Sir Herbert: She and... er... Nurse Turner weren't at work on Thursday, were they?

Colonel Burton: No, they weren't.

Sir Herbert: Nurse Sherman is the worst nurse in the ward, isn't she?

Colonel Burton: No, she isn't. She's the worst nurse in the world!