Базовый курс английского языка - Эккерсли К.Э.
ISBN 5-7871-0174-X
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MRS. PRIESTLEY: I should hope you did!
MR. PRIESTLEY: I was never so surprised in all my life. I hadn't guessed-
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MRS. PRIESTLEY: Charles Priestley, you may be a clever man and a good teacher and all that, but I sometimes think you don't see the simplest thing that is taking place under your very nose.
MR. PRIESTLEY: What, do you mean to say you knew Jan was in love with Frieda?
MRS. PRIESTLEY: Of course I did. A babe could have seen it; and I must say I'm very glad that he has told her at last. She is a charming girl, and they ought to be very happy together.
MR. PRIESTLEY: Wfell, well, well, you surprise me.
MRS. PRIESTLEY: Come along, it's after twelve o'clock and time both of us were in bed.
НИГАIV
Qpok 1
Frieda and Jan Break the News
Readers of the earlier books of Essential English I, II, and III will remember that the lessons are built round a little group of characters, the teacher, Mr. Priestley, his wife and the students. Book IV completes the story of the students, and when this book closes we shall have seen them all leaving Mr. Priestley and going out into the world. At the end of Book III we saw that Frieda and Jan had fallen in love with each other; so, naturally, Book IV opens with the announcement of their engagement.
JAN: Mr. Priestley, Mrs. Priestley, there's something I-we-want to tell you. Frieda and I are engaged to be married.
MRS. PRIESTLEY: Oh, how nice!
MR. PRIESTLEY: Congratulations and best wishes!
FRIEDA and JAN: Thank you both very much.
FRIEDA: You are the first people we have told-except for my parents. JAN: Yes, I wrote to Frieda's father a week ago, telling him we wanted to get married and asking for his permission.
FRIEDA: And we had replies this morning; it's all right and they are very happy about it.
MRS. PRIESTLEY: Oh! I'm so glad.
JAN: You don't look very surprised at the news.
MRS. PRIESTLEY: I'm not surprised-I'd expected it for months- but I'm very pleased indeed.
MR. PRIESTLEY: I might as well admit that it's a complete surprise to me-I never notice things even when they are right under my nose-but I'm really delighted at the news. I think you are very lucky, Jan, to get such a girl as Frieda.
MRS. PRIESTLEY: And I think you are very fortunate, Frieda, to get such a fine fellow as Jan. I hope you will be very happy together. MR. PRIESTLEY: Are you thinking of getting married soon? FRIEDA: Well, that's one of the things we are not agreed on. As you know, Jan is starting at London University in October to study to become a doctor. He wants us to get married at once. I would rather
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wait for a year or two-at any rate until Jan has taken his first examination.
JAN: But what's the point of waiting?
FRIEDA: So that you can really work hard. Don't you think, Mr. Priestley, that he would think about his work more if I wasn't there?
JAN: But don't you see that if we were not married 1 should be thinking about you all the time and wanting to be with you instead of working. Whereas if we were married-
FRIEDA: Do you hear that? Once we are married he won't think about me any more. That's a fine thing to hear from a man you have just become engaged to.
JAN: Oh, Frieda, you know I didn't mean that. I only meant-
FRIEDA: But that's not the only thing we don't agree on.
MR. PRIESTLEY (smiling): Dear me, this sounds terrible. What is the further cause of disagreement?
FRIEDA: Well, I want to live in a house; Jan thinks we ought to have a flat or rooms in a house.
JAN: A friend told me of a small flat in the centre of London overlooking King's Cross station that will be vacant in October.
FRIEDA: But I don't want to live in a small flat in the centre of London. I'd much rather have a little house in the country looking out on fields, where I can breathe fresh air and see trees and hear birds singing.
JAN: But a flat is so much more convenient. We could get some labour-saving devices that would save you a lot of housework, and there are lots of little restaurants near King's Cross where we could go out for something to eat in the evening so you wouldn't need to cook meals.
FRIEDA: But I want to cook meals. I'm really quite a good cook, and I don't mind doing housework. I like it. Besides, I looked at the flat you are talking about and I didn't like the look of it at all.
JAN: I agree it wasn't very attractive-looking, but the rent was low.
FRIEDA: You know, I don't like the idea of paying rent. My parents have paid rent on our house for thirty years. I wish I had all the money they have paid in rent. They've paid enough to buy the house twice over and yet they don't own a single brick of it.
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JAN: Yes, I agree. I should like to buy a house, but we haven't the money, at least not now; in four or five years' time it may be different. You see, Mr. Priestley, it's like this. My grandfather, my mother's father-he was a Scotsman-left me a sum of money in his will, and some useless property, a factory; but the money is in trust until I am twenty-five. I get the income from it, and that has been enough to keep me and pay for my classes; with a bit of a struggle, it will just about keep us both-at least I hope so. But we've no hope of buying a house-at least not for a time. So if we must pay rent, let's pay the least we can and have a flat.
