Никоненко Тамара Петрівна

      Midas was a very rich king but he was not happy. Every day he counted his gold and wished for more. King Midas had a little daughter Marygold. He loved her very much and wished to make her the richest princess. But Marygold loved the sun and flowers more than all the gold in her Father’s house. One day a man came into the king’s room. The king looked at him and asked, “Who are you?” “I am Mercury — one of the gods. You have much gold, king Midas,” said Mercury. “I have not so much as I wish,” said the king. “Are you not happy, king Midas?” asked Mercury. “I want that everything I touch will turn to gold,” answered the king. “Well,” said Mercury, “wait for the morning and you will have the golden touch.” Next morning, when king Midas began to dress, his clothes became gold. The chairs, the tables, everything he touched turned to gold. The bread became gold too when he touched it and the water in his glass.

   When I was a boy I lived a long way from school. I had to walk through the forest to get to our school. I usually took my father’s gun with me. One day, coming from school, I heard cries from Mr. Epperly’s house. His dog, Old Ranger, had fought with a mad dog, half an hour before. Now all the people were afraid of Old Ranger because the dog could have become mad too. They all asked Mr. Epperly to shoot Old Ranger. Mr. Epperly said he could not do it himself. He asked some people to do it but nobody agreed. Mr. Epperly came up to me and said: “Joe, why can’t you take the dog with you to the forest on your way home and shoot it?” I told Mr. Epperly I did not want to shoot Old Ranger. “I’ll give you one dollar if you do it,” he said.

Kelly Ryan lives in Kentucky in the USA and starts her new school year in August. She doesn’t go back to just one school, but two. As well as ordinary high school, she goes to virtual high school. Kelly wants to study history of art, but her local high school doesn’t teach it. So she’s taking it on the Internet.

    Martin lived in a small room where he slept, studied, wrote and cooked his meals. Before the window there was the kitchen table that served as desk and library. The bed occupied twothirds of the room. Martin slept five hours; only a man in very good health could work for nineteen hours a day. He never lost a moment. On the looking-glass were lists of words: when he was shaving or combing his hair, he learned these words. Some lists were on the wall over the kitchen table, and he studied them while he was cooking or washing the dishes. New lists were always put there in place of the old ones. Every new word he met in his reading was mar­ked and later put down on paper and pinned to the wall or looking-glass. He even carried them in his pockets and looked them, through in the street or in the shop.

After 0 ‘Henry

   Joe and Delia both loved art. Joe came to New York to study painting. Delia left the little town she was born in for New York to study music. Joe and Delia met at the friend’s studio. Delia attracted Joe’s attention the moment he saw her. They often met at the studio and soon got to know each other well. A year later they were married. They were very happy, they had their art and they had each other. But one day they found that they had no money. Delia said she had to give music lessons and she started looking for pupils. A few days later she came home very pleased with herself. “Joe, dear”, she said. “I have found a pupil. She is the only daughter of a famous architect. I’m to give her three lessons a week. The family is rich; they’ll pay me five dollars a lesson!” However Joe was not happy about that. He did not want his wife to work, he wanted her to study and be a famous pianist.