|
 Tom Sawyer – Part
Forty-four
Before you read the text, read the following comprehension questions.
Now read the text and answer the questions.
They soon pushed off into the river, Tom in
command, Huck at the other oar and Joe at the front. Tom stood in the middle
with a serious expression and with his arms folded. He gave his orders in a low,
serious whisper:
"Bring her to the wind!"
"Aye-aye, sir!"
"Steady, steady-y-y-y!"
"Steady it is, sir!"
"Let her go off a point!"
"Point it is, sir!"
As the boys steadily and monotonously drove the raft toward the middle of the
river it was clearly understood that these orders were given only for "style,"
and were not intended to mean anything in particular.
"What sail's she carrying?"
"Courses, top sails, and flying-jib, sir."
"Send the r'yals up! Lay out aloft, there, half a dozen of ye,
foretopmaststuns'l! Lively, now!"
"Aye-aye, sir!"
"Shake out that maintogalans'l! Sheets and braces! Now, my hearties!"
"Aye-aye, sir!"
"Hellum-a-lee--hard a port! Stand by to meet her when she comes! Port, port! Now,
men! Put your back into it!
Stead-y-y-y!"
"Steady it is, sir!"
The raft moved beyond the middle of the river. The boys pointed the front right,
and then lay on their oars.
The river was not high, so there was not more than a two or three mile current.
Hardly a word was said during the next three-quarters of an hour.
Now the raft was passing before the distant town. Two or three lights showed
where it was, peacefully sleeping, beyond water, unconscious of the tremendous
event that was happening.
The Black Avenger stood still with folded arms, "looking his last" upon the
scene of his joys and sufferings, and wishing "she" could see him now, sailing
on the wild sea, facing danger and death with courage and going to his doom with
a grim smile on his lips.
The other pirates were looking their last, too, and they all looked so long that
they nearly let the current take them out of the range of the island. But they
discovered the danger in time, and corrected their course.
... to be continued!
* The text has been adapted from the Adventures
of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
Download the
original book for free
*Consulta
un PDF con la información y resumen de 100 libros en inglés
que puedes descargar en 1 único archivo.
|
|
|
|
|
Now read the text and answer the questions.
About two o'clock in the morning the raft stopped
two hundred yards above the head of the island, and they took their things from
the raft to the land.
Part of the little raft's belongings consisted of an old sail, and this they
spread over a space between the bushes for a tent to shelter their provisions.
But they themselves would sleep in the open air in good weather, as outlaws do.
They built a fire against the side of a huge log twenty or thirty steps into the
forest, and then cooked some bacon in the frying-pan for supper, and used up
half of the corn they had brought.
It seemed wonderful to be eating in that wild, free way in the virgin forest of
an unexplored and uninhabited island, far away from men, and they said they
never would return to civilization.
The fire lit up their faces and threw its light upon the tree-trunks of
their forest temple, and upon the bushes and plans around them.
When the last crisp slice of bacon was gone, and the last allowance of corn
eaten, the boys stretched themselves out on the grass, filled with contentment.
They could have found a cooler place, but they would not deny themselves such a
romantic feature as the roasting camp-fire.
"Isn’t it fantastic?" said Joe.
"It's crazy!" said Tom. "What would the boys say if they could see us?"
"Well, they'd just die to be here, Hucky!"
"I think so," said Huckleberry; "anyway, I'm perfect. I don't want anything
better than this. I don't ever get enough to eat, and here they can't come and
shout at me and tell me what to do.”
"It's just the life for me," said Tom. "You don't have to get up in the mornings,
and you don't have to go to school, and wash, and all that stupid stuff. A
pirate doesn't have to do ANYTHING, Joe, when he's ashore, but a hermit has to
be praying constantly and he never has any fun. He’s always by himself."
"Oh yes, that's true," said Joe, "but I hadn't thought much about it, you know.
I'd rather be a pirate, now that I've tried it."
"You see," said Tom, "people aren’t so keen on hermits, nowadays, like they used
to in old times, but a pirate's always respected. And a hermit's got to sleep on
the hardest place he can find, and put sackcloth and ashes on his head, and
stand out in the rain, and….."
"What does he put sackcloth and ashes on his head for?" inquired Huck.
"I don’t know. But they've got to do it. Hermits always do. You'd have to do
that if you was a hermit."
"I wouldn’t," said Huck.
"Well, what would you do?"
"I don’t know. But I wouldn't do that."
"But Huck, you'd have to. How would you avoid it?"
"I just wouldn't put up with it. I'd run away."
"Run away! Well, you wouldn’t be much of a hermit. You'd be a disgrace."
The Red-Handed made no response. He had finished eating a cob, and now he fitted
a weed stem to it, filled it with tobacco, and lit it from the fire. He blew a
cloud of fragrant smoke. He was full of luxurious contentment.
The other pirates envied his smoking habit and secretly decided to acquire it
shortly.
Huck said: “What do pirates have to do?"
Tom said: "Oh, they have a wonderful time. They take ships and burn them, and
get the money and bury it in awful places in their island where there's ghosts
and things to watch it, and kill everybody in the ships. They make them walk a
plank."
"And they carry the women to the island," said Joe; "they don't kill the women."
"No," Tom agreed, "they don't kill the women. They’re too noble. And the women
are always beautiful, too.
"And don't they wear the best clothes! All gold and silver and diamonds," said
Joe, with enthusiasm.
"Who?" said Huck.
"The pirates."
Huck looked sadly at his own clothes.
"I don’t think I’m dressed like a pirate," he said, "I’ve only got these old
rags."
But the other boys told him the fine clothes would come quickly enough, as soon
as they begin their adventures. They made him understand that his poor rags
would be ok to begin with, though it was customary for wealthy pirates to start
with a proper wardrobe.
... to be continued!
* The text has been adapted from the Adventures
of Tom Sawyer
by Mark Twain
Download the
original book for free
*Consulta
un PDF con la información y resumen de 100 libros en inglés
que puedes descargar en 1 único archivo.
|
|
|
|
