43540 (Сanada and Australia in Focus), страница 9

She flew out of the window right to the river. There she saw I fish.

“Give me your beautiful tail, will you?” she said to the Fish. I am sure you have it only to be beautiful.”

“You are a fool to say that. I can t give you my tail, it helps me to swim,” answered the Fish and swam away.

Then the Fly flew to the woods. She saw a bird sitting high in a tree. “Will you give me your tail, please?” said the Fly to the bird. “It doesn’t help you, it only makes you beautiful “.

“Oh, no, you are wrong. How do you think I can fly and make a nest for myself or get something to eat for my children without my tail?”

“But you have your beak,” answered the Fly.

“Yes, that is so, but I must have my tail, too. I cannot work without it.” The bird saluted the Fly with its beak and began to work with it sitting on its tail. “You watch me,” the bird said, “This is the way I work”.

The Fly watched the bird for a minute and saw that it was right. She flew away and soon met the Fox. The Fox had a beautiful red-brown tail. It looked wonderful. “Well, I am sure the fox will give me her tail,” thought the Fly.

“Give me your tail, will you?” the Fly began her old song again.

“How can you talk like that?! If I give you my tail I can die!”

“But why?” asked the Fly.

“When the men and dogs come to the woods I must run away. I brush the ground with my long tail. And the dogs do not know where I have gone. So you see how much my tail helps me.”

The Fly said good-bye to the Fox and flew away. She flew home straight to the Man.

When the Man saw the Fly he asked her, “Where have you been all this time? Has anyone given you a tail? Report to me.”

“Well, no one wants to give me a tail. They say they must have a tail because they cannot swim, run or work without it,” answered the Fly.

“You see!” said the Man. “I knew it! I knew it all along. Next time think before you ask me something.”

“But I want a tail, too! Give me a tail, Man. Will you?” repeated the Fly.

“Haven’t the animals and birds taught you a good lesson?” asked the Man. But the Fly didn’t t listen” to him. She flew and flew around him, sat on his nose, lips and cheeks, and repeated angrily, “Give me a tail, Man!”

“Well,” said the Man. “Go to the Cow, you have not been to the Cow, have you?”

The Fly at once flew out of the window and hurried to the Cow. She sat on the Cow’s back and wanted to ask her the questions about the tail.

But “Swish-sh” went the Cow’s long tail and that was the end of the Fly who wanted to have a tail so much.

Comprehension check

1. Discuss the main idea of the legend.

2. Is it true or fiction?

3. Choose the better title for the legend.

WRITIHG

Make up a plan of the legend covering its main events.

Glossary

The Snowy River is a major river in south-eastern Australia. It originates on the slopes of Mount Kosciuszko, Australia's highest mainland peak, draining the eastern slopes of the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales, before flowing through the Snowy River National Park in Victoria and emptying into Bass Strait. Up until the mid–20th century, the river was notable for its high volume of fresh water, wide reach and large rapids.While the river's course and surroundings have remained almost entirely unchanged, the majority of it being protected by the Snowy River National Park, its flow was drastically reduced in the mid–20th century, to less than 1%, after the construction of various dams and reservoirs at its headwaters in New South Wales, as part of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. From 2002 to 2008 the flow was increased from 1% to 4%, however targets of 15% by 2009 and 21% by 2012 are unlikely to be met.

The Blue Mountains is a mountainous region in New South Wales, Australia. It borders on Sydney's metropolitan area, its foothills starting approximately 50 kilometres west of the state capital. The area begins on the west side of the Nepean River and extends westward as far as Coxs River. Consisting mainly of a sandstone plateau, the area is dissected by gorges up to 760 metres deep. The highest point of the range is 1,190 metres above sea level. A large part of the Blue Mountains is incorporated into the Greater Blue Mountains Area World Heritage Site, consisting of seven national park areas and a conservation reserve. The Blue Mountains area includes the local government areas of the City of Blue Mountains, the City of Hawkesbury, the City of Lithgow and Oberon.

Totemism, totem is a religious belief that is frequently associated with shamanistic religions. The totem is usually an animal or other natural figure that spiritually represents a group of related people such as a clan. Totemism was a key element of study in the development of 19th and early 20th century theories of religion, especially for thinkers such as Émile Durkheim, who concentrated their study on primitive societies (which was an acceptable description at the time). Drawing on the identification of social group with spiritual totem in Australian aboriginal tribes, Durkheim theorized that all human religious expression was intrinsically founded in the relationship to a group.

The Milky Way, or simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies. It is one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe. Its name is a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn translated from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias), referring to the pale band of light formed by stars in the galactic plane as seen from Earth (see etymology of galaxy). Some sources hold that, strictly speaking, the term Milky Way should refer exclusively to the band of light that the galaxy forms in the night sky, while the galaxy should receive the full name Milky Way Galaxy, or alternatively the Galaxy. However, it is unclear how widespread this convention is, and the term Milky Way is routinely used in either context.

Wombats are Australian marsupials; they are short-legged, muscular quadrupeds, approximately 1 metre in length with a very short tail. They are found in forested, mountainous, and heathland areas of south-eastern Australia and Tasmania. The name wombat comes from the Eora Aboriginal community who were the original inhabitants of the Sydney area.

The grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), also known as the silvertip bear, is a subspecies of brown bear (Ursus arctos) that generally lives in the uplands of western North America. This subspecies is thought to descend from Ussuri brown bears which crossed to Alaska from Eastern Russia 100,000 years ago, though they did not move south until 13,000 years ago. Grizzlies are normally solitary active animals, but in coastal areas the grizzly congregates alongside streams, lakes, rivers, and ponds during the salmon spawn. Every other year, females (sows) produce one to four young (commonly two) which are small and weigh only about 500 grams (one pound). A sow is protective of her offspring and will attack if she thinks she or her cubs are threatened.

Illawarra is a region in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a coastal region situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the Shoalhaven region, encompassing the cities of Wollongong and Shellharbour and the municipality of Kiama. The central region contains Lake Illawarra.

Australian bush is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in certain countries. In Australia the term has an iconic status in Australian life. In reference to the landscape, bush describes a wooded area, intermediate between a shrubland and a forest, generally of dry and nitrogen-poor soil, mostly grassless, thin to thick woody shrubs and bushes, under a sparse canapy of eucalypts.

A swagman (also called tussocker) is an old Australian term describing an underclass of transient temporary workers, who travelled by foot from farm to farm carrying the traditional swag (waterproof bedroll). Also characteristic of swagman attire was a hat strung with corks to ward off flies. Particularly during the Depression of the 1890s and the Great Depression of the 1930s, unemployed men travelled the rural areas of Australia on foot, their few meagre possessions rolled up and carried in their swag. Typically, they would seek work in farms and towns they travelled through, and in many cases the farmers, if no permanent work was available, would provide food and shelter in return for some menial task. Another form of the swagman was the "pack horse bagman" who rode a horse and led one or two pack horses in his travels, typically in the Northern Territory. The pack horse bagman called in at stations where he would work shoeing horses, mustering, repairing bores etc.

The hoop snake is a legendary creature of the United States and Australia. The hoop snake is referred to in the Pecos Bill stories; although it is his description of hoop snakes that most people are most familiar with, stories of the creature predate those fictional tales considerably. Several sightings of the hoop snake have been alleged along the Minnesota-Wisconsin border in the St. Croix River valley and in Wake County in North Carolina. According to folklore, the distinguishing feature of a hoop snake is that it can grasp its tail in its jaws and roll after its prey like a wheel, thus looking somewhat like the ouroboros of Greek mythology, or Tsuchinoko (a legendary fat snake that can roll like a wheel) in Japan. In one version of the myth, the snake straightens out at the last second, skewering its victim with its venomous tail. The only escape is to hide behind a tree, which receives the deadly blow instead and promptly dies from the poison.

Mangroves are trees and shrubs that grow in saline coastal habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes 25° N and 25° S. The saline conditions tolerated by various species range from brackish water, through pure seawater (30 to 40 ppt), to water of over twice the salinity of ocean seawater, where the salt becomes concentrated by evaporation (up to 90 ppt).

Mangroves form a characteristic saline woodland or shrubland habitat, called mangrove swamp, mangrove forest, mangrove or mangal. Mangals are found in depositional coastal environments where fine sediments (often with high organic content) collect in areas protected from high energy wave action. They occur both in estuaries and along open coastlines. Mangroves dominate three quarters of tropical coastlines.

Dictionary

accidentally- adv випадково, несподівано.

affinity- n спорідненість, схожість, привабливість.

ancestor- n предок, прародитель.

annoy - 1. n прикрість, досада; 2. v надокучати, набридати, сердити.

annual - 1. n однолітник; 2. adj щорічний, річний.

anxious- adj стурбований, стривожений.

apron - 1. n фартух, лоток, жолоб.

arrow - n стріла.

ash - n ясен, попіл, зола.

astonishment- n здивування, подив.

awkwardly- adv незграбно, неладно.

axe - n сокира, меч.

be pregnant- v бути вагітною.

beak - n дзьоб.

beg - v просити, благати.

bewilder- v бентежити, дивувати.

blind- adj сліпий.

boar- n кабан.

boldly - adv сміливо, зухвало, стрімко.

brood - n рід, покоління, виводок.

brother-in-law - n зять.

calamity - n лихо, горе.

cautiously- adv обережно.

cave - n печера.

chase- n погоня, переслідування.

chill - 1. n холод; 2. adj холодний; 3. v охолоджувати.

chipmunk- n бурундук.

claw - n кіготь, пазур.

climb - v дертися, видератися.

comrade - n товариш.

contrary- 1. n зворотне, протилежне; 2. adj зворотний;

3. v заперечувати.

covenant- 1. n угода; 2. v укладати угоду.

creature- n створіння.

current- 1. n течія, потік; 2. adj сучасний.

cyclist - n велосипедист.

disconsolately- adv невтішно, похмуро.

distant - adj віддалений, далекий.

distress- 1. n горе; 2. v завдавати горя.

dumb- 1. adj німий; 2. v примушувати замовкнути.

eerily- adv моторошно.

empty- adj пустий.

encounter - 1. n зустріч, сутичка, змагання; 2. v мати сутичку.

ferocity - n жорстокість, лють.

ferry- n пором.

fetch- n хитрощі, зусилля.

fig tree - n фігове дерево.

fingertip- n кінчик пальця.

flap- 1. n борт; 2. v коливати, махати.

fledgling - n оперене пташеня.

flood- 1. n повінь, приплив, потік; 2. v заливати.

gift - n подарунок.

glimpse - 1. n мерехтіння, блимання; 2. v мелькнути, промайнути.

gloomily - adv похмуро, понуро.

gobble- 1. n бурмотіння; 2. v бурчати, пожирати.

grind- 1. n розмелювання; 2. v молоти, товкти.

growl- 1. n гарчання, бурчання; 2. v гарчати, бурчати.

gruff - adj непривітний, похмурий.

guard - 1. n охоронець, варта; 2. v охороняти.