A Chinese dragon
A Chinese dragon
Once upon a time there lived a dragon in China. He lived alone on a very high rock. Under the rock there was a village. The dragon thought that he was frightening and he never went to the village, because he didn’t want to scare people.
One day the dragon was very tired and he wanted to have a rest. He went to bed but he couldn’t sleep. The people in the village were shouting, laughing and having fun. The dragon tried very hard, but he still couldn’t sleep. The dragon really wanted to sleep, but he couldn’t. It seemed that the people were laughing and shouting even louder. The dragon got very angry with them and he said to himself, “OK, I’ll show you! I’ll go to the village and scare you, because I’m very, very frightening! Then you won’t laugh!»
However, the dragon didn’t know that it was a special day in the Chinese Calendar. It was the day when a new Chinese year starts. On that day all people traditionally make colorful paper dragons and choose the best one. They also sing, dance and have fireworks.
When the dragon flew down into the village he was surprised, because nobody was scared! He saw that the whole village was full of dragons — yellow, pink, purple, red, blue and orange dragons, big dragons and little dragons, dragons with long tails and dragons with short tails, dragons with large wings and dragons with tiny wings. “Oh,” said the dragon to himself, “I can have dragons-friends!” And he happily joined the fun.
All paper dragons flew in the air and the dragon flew with them, all paper dragons waved their tails and the dragon waved its tail, all paper dragons opened their mouths, and the dragon opened its mouth. The children were watching the dragons and laughing.
The night came and people started to light the torches and make fireworks. At first the dragon was a little scared, but he saw that other dragons were not scared and continued dancing with others.
Then the most important moment came. People started to choose the best dragon. Everybody wanted to know who would get the first prize — the golden medal “The Best Dragon». At first the dragon didn’t even understand why people started applauding and stood in a circle around him. Then some person came to the dragon and gave him the golden medal.
That was the happiest moment of the dragon’s long life.
Ray Bradbury. The Dragon (in English, intermediate)
Ray Bradbury. The Dragon (intermediate)
The contents:
The Dragon by Ray Bradbury (part 1, for intermediate)
Words to understand the story:
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Название: Авторские материалы сайта Englishstory
Описание: Подписка на закрытый контент сайта, включающий авторские адаптации рассказов и уроки английского языка
The night fell, the silence was on the moor. It was years since a bird had flown in the dark sky. Two men were sitting by their lonely fire in the wilderness, darkness pumped quietly in their veins and ticked silently in their temples and their wrists.
Firelight gleamed on their wild faces. They listened to each other’s faint breathing.
«Don’t do that; you’ll give us away! »
«No matter,» said the second man. «The dragon can smell us miles off, anyway. How cold it is! I wish I was back at the castle «.
«It’s death, not sleep, we’re after….»
«Why? Why? The dragon never sets foot in the town!»
«Quiet, fool! He eats men travelling alone from our town to the next!»
«Let them be eaten and let us get home!»
«More than enough! Out here I cannot tell what year this is!»
«Nine hundred years since the birth of Jesus«.
«No, no,» whispered the second man, eyes shut. «On this moor is no Time, is only Forever. I feel if I ran back on the road the town would be gone, the people yet unborn, things changed; don’t ask how I know, the moor knows, and tells me. And here we sit alone in the land of the fire dragon. God save us!»
The second man turned his head.
The Dragon by Ray Bradbury (part 2, for intermediate)
Words to understand:
Платный контент скрыт. Право просмотра платного контента имеют зарегистрированные пользователи, оплатившие доступ.
Название: Авторские материалы сайта Englishstory
Описание: Подписка на закрытый контент сайта, включающий авторские адаптации рассказов и уроки английского языка
«There,» whispered the first man. «Oh, there…»
Miles off, rushing with a great roar appeared the dragon.
In silence the men mounted their horses. The midnight wilderness was split by as the dragon roared nearer, nearer. Its yellow glare appeared above a hill and then disappeared into a valley.
They spurred their horses forward to a small hollow.
«This is where it passes!»
They got their swords ready for the battle.
On the instant the dragon rounded a hill. Its monstrous yellow eye flashed on them. With a terrible wailing cry it was going forward.
«Did you see it?» cried a voice. «Just like I told you!»
«Are you going to stop?»
«Did once; found nothing. Don’t like to stop on this moor. I get the willies «.
«But we’ve hit something».
«We gave him plenty of whistle; but he didn’t move».
The steam cut the mist aside.
«We’ll arrive at Stokely on time. More coal, eh, Fred?»
The night train vanished over cold earth, towards the north, leaving black smoke and steam to dissolve in the air minutes after it had passed and gone forever.
The Useful Dragon (English fairy tale)
Эта сказка на английском языке для детей младшего возраста. Прочитав эту сказку своему ребенку, вы с ним запомните 10 слов по теме «Опасность». В данном случае эту опасность представляет дракон, извергающий огонь. Обратите внимание на выражения 3-6. Это так называемые конструкции «глагол be + прилагательное с предлогом». Переводятся эти конструкции на русский язык глаголом (иногда предлог остается, иногда пропадает), поэтому эти устойчивые конструкции надо запоминать вместе с предлогом. Слова для понимания учить не нужно! Вы можете узнать перевод слова, щелкнув по нему 2 раза мышкой. К сказки предлагается перевод на русский язык.
Из рубрики « Английский язык для детей и взрослых «
Words to remember (слова для запоминания):
Words to understand (слова для понимания):
Английский язык для детей
Once upon a time there lived a dragon whose name was Komodo [ka’moudou]. He could breathe fire, and all the people who lived nearby were afraid of him. When they heard him or saw him, they ran away and hid. They could always hear him because he had six feet, and wore three pairs of shoes, and each of his shoes creaked.
One day he met a little girl who wasn’t afraid of him. «Why are you so fierce?» she asked. «Why do you breathe fire when you see anybody?»
«Well,» said Komodo, «I never really thought about it. Shall I stop it?»
«Yes, please,» said the little girl whose name was Susie [‘sju:zi].
«All right,» said Komodo, «I’ll try.»
They said good-bye to each other, and Susie went home. It was beginning to get dark. Susie was surprised because all the lamps in the town were not lit. She found out that it was because of the lamplighter,whose name was Charlie.
Charlie hadn’t lit the street lamps because he was still in bed. He was tired after lighting the lamps the night before.
The mayor of the town was very angry with Charlie. «What must I do about that?» he thought.
Then Susie had an idea. She ran to Komodo’s cave, brought him to the town. Komodo breathed fire on each lamp and lit it.
How glad the people were! Now they were not afraid of the dragon. They could see he was a friendly animal. And after that Komodo came and lit the lamps every time when Charlie had his holiday.
Полезный дракон (перевод сказки на русский язык)
Жил был дракон по имени Комодо. Он мог извергать огонь и все люди, которые жили поблизости, боялись его. Услышав или увидев его, они убегали и прятались. А слышали они его всегда, так как у дракона было шесть лап, и поэтому он носил три пары обуви, каждая из которых скрипела при ходьбе.
Однажды он встретил девочку, которая не испугалась его. «Почему ты такой свирепый?»- спросила она,-«Почему ты извергаешь огонь, когда видишь кого-нибудь?»
«Hу, вообще-то, я просто не думал об этом. — ответил дракон, — «А что надо перестать?»
«Да, пожалуйста!»- сказала маленькая девочка по имени Сьюзи.
Они попрощались, и Сьюзи пошла домой. Начинало темнеть. Сьюзи удивилась, что уличные фонари не горели. Она узнала, что это случилось из-за фонарщика Чарли.
Чарли не зажег фонари, потому что был еще в постели. Он очень устал после работы прошлым вечером, когда зажигал фонари.
Мэр города очень рассердился на Чарли. «Что теперь я должен делать?» — думал он.
Тогда у Сьюзи появилась идея. Она побежала к пещере Комодо и привела его в город. Комодо дыхнул огнем на фонари и зажег их.
Как обрадовались люди! Теперь они больше не боялись дракона. Они поняли, что дракон очень дружелюбный. И после этого Комодо приходил и зажигал фонари каждый раз, когда у Чарли был выходной.
