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He Came Back
- Alexander
was a young pilot. When the Great Patriotic War began, he was serving
in the Army. He had a young wife, Mary by name. Alexander and Mary loved
each other dearly and were very happy.
- One day
Alexander got an order to go to the front. On the day when he was leaving
he said to his wife, "Wait for me, and I'll come back."
- Some
time later Mary went to work at a plant. Many weeks passed, but she
didn't hear from her husband anything. She missed him badly but she
always remembered his words. At last she received a letter. It was from
her husband's commander. He wrote that the Germans had killed her husband.
But Mary did not believe it. She thought, "He said he would return.
1 am sure he is alive."
- And her
dream came true. Alexander was not dead. One day his plane was shot
down and he had to land on the enemy's territory. Soon he became a partisan.
He knew that his wife was waiting for him and that gave him much strength.
So once he knocked at the door of his flat. "You've come back. You have
kept your promise," said Mary crying with joy.
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- Economy
Wasted Trip
- An Englishman who was
in France wanted to go back to England by sea. But he had very little
money. He had so little money that he could pay only for
the ticket. As he knew that the trip would last only two days, he decided
not to eat during these days.
- As he took a ticket and got on the ship the next morning, he tried
not to hear the bell for breakfast. When dinner time came, he was very
hungry, but he didn't go to the dining-room. In the evening he was still
more hungry, but when the waiter came to invite him to have supper,
the Englishman said that he was ill.
- The next day the Englishman was half-dead and couldn't stand the
hunger any longer. "I shall go and even if they kick me out into the
sea," said he to himself. So he went to the ship dining-room and had
his dinner. In the evening he had supper but was very much afraid of
his future because he didn't pay for the meals. At last he addressed
the waiter and said: "Bring me the bill, please." "What bill?" asked
the waiter. "For the supper and dinner I had in your dining-room." "Don't
trouble, Sir. You paid for your meals when you bought the ticket."
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- A Forgetful Tourist
- An English tourist came to Paris. It was his first visit there.
On the same day he sent a telegram to his wife who was in London. In
the telegram he told her the address of the hotel where he was going
to stay. He also told her that he was quite well.
- As he was in Paris for the first time, he was very eager to see
the places of interest. After dinner he went for a walk and then decided
to go to the theatre to see a new play. It was very late when the play
was over. It was time to go home.
- But at that moment he realized that he couldn't get to the hotel:
he didn't remember either the name of the hotel or the address. The
Englishman was at a loss because he didn't know what to do. Suddenly
he remembered sending that morning a telegram to his wife. So, late
at night his wife got a very strange telegram: "Please, send me my address
at once."
A Dumb Wife
Once there was a man whose wife was dumb, and this made him very
sad because he loved her very dearly. After some time he went to see
a doctor and said, "Can you make my wife speak?" "Perhaps I can," said
the doctor, "the operation is difficult, but if I try, I'll do my best."
"Of course, you may try," said the husband, "I'll bring her tomorrow."
The next day the doctor made the operation and the dumb wife began
to speak. She spoke so much and so loudly that in a few hours her husband
ran back to the doctor and said, "Can you make my wife dumb again?" "No,"
said the doctor. "There are many ways to make a dumb woman speak, but
no ways to make a woman stop talking." "What must I do?" said the man,
"I shall soon die if I have to listen to her all day long." "Well," said
the doctor, "I can't make her dumb, but I can make you deaf and you will
not have to listen to her." "Very well," said the man,"you may do so.
It'll be better than the other way.
Two Gifts
Jim and Della were a newly married couple. They loved each other
but the trouble was that they were very poor. They lived in New York in
the suburbs. They had a very small room to live in.
They worked from early morning till late at night but they got very
little money for their work.
And yet, they had two treasures. They were: Jim's gold watch and
Della's beautiful hair.
New Year Day was coming. Della wanted to present Jim with something
but she had no money for it. The thought that she could not make a present
to her husband made her very unhappy. She sat down on the sofa and began
to cry. Suddenly an idea struck her. She got up and went up to the looking-glass.
In it she saw her beautiful long hair. Then she left the house and a few
minutes later she was at a shop.
"Will you buy my hair?" she asked
. The owner looked at Della's hair and answered:
"Yes, I shall give you 20 dollars for it."
Della was very glad. She took the money and went to buy something
for Jim. Soon she saw a very beautiful watch-chain. "I shall have it,"
she said to herself and bought it.
When she came home, Jim had already been there waiting for her.
When he looked at his wife he understood everything.
"Why did you do it?" he said.
"Dear Jim, I wanted to give you a present. Here it is.
" She gave him the chain that she had bought. But he did not need
that present any more. He had sold his watch to make a present to his
wife. He took a package out of his pocket and gave it to Della. Opening
the package Della saw two beautiful combs.
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