Introductory Steps To Understanding 3

3

Mary was an English girl, but she lived in Rome. She was six years old. Last year her mother said to her, 'You're six years old now, Mary, and you're going to begin going to a school here. You're going to like it very much, because it's a nice school.'

'Is it an English school!?' Mary asked.

'Yes, it is,' her mother said.

Mary went to the school, and enjoyed her lessons. Her mother always took her to school in the morning and brought her home in the afternoon. Last Monday her mother went to the school at 4 o'clock, and Mary ran out of her class.

'We've got a new girl in our class today, Mummy,' she said. 'She's six years old too, and she's very nice, but she isn't English. She's German.'

'Does she speak English?' Mary's mother asked.

'No, but she laughs in English,' Mary said happily.

Introductory Steps To Understanding 2

2

An old lady went out shopping last Tuesday. She came to a bank and saw a car near the door. A man got out of it and went into the bank. She looked into the car. The keys were in the lock.

The old lady took the keys and followed the man into the bank.

The man took a gun out of his pocket and said to the clerk, 'Give me all the money!'

But the old lady did not see this. She went to the man, put the keys in his hand and said, 'Young man, you're stupid! Never leave your keys in your car. Someone's going to steal it!'

The man looked at the oldwoman for a few seconds. Then he looked at the clerk-and then he took his keys, ran out of the bank, got into his car and drove away quickly, without any money.

Introductory Steps To Understanding 1

1

Mr Jones had a few days' holiday, so he said, 'I'm going to go to the mountains by train.' He put on his best clothes,took a small bag, went to the station and got into the train. He had a beautiful hat, and he often put his head out of the window during the trip and looked at the mountains. But the wind pulled his hat off.

Mr Jones quickly took his old bag and threw that out of the window too.

The other people in the carriage laughed. 'Is your bag going to bring your beautiful hat back?' they asked.

'No,' Mr Jones answered, 'but there's no name and no address in my hat, and there's a name and an address on the bag. Someone's going to find both of them near each other, and he's going to send me the bag and the hat.'