ANGLIČTINA
6. Why didn’t the students ask Austin any questions? a) Because Austin was too shy. b) Because it was embarrassing. c) Because the teacher was smiling. d) Because the students were shy. 7. Who was Nina? a) The narrator. b) The narrator’s best friend. c) The narrator’s English teacher. d) Austin’s girlfriend.
STAGE 5
b) twice a week c) once a week d) every other week 12. What does “to boast” mean? a) to learn a lot b) to wear nice clothes c) to show off d) to meet someone regularly
Ghost in the loft
8. What made the narrator feel proud and self-confident? a) Her parents who invited Austin to visit them. b) The fact that she spoke to a native speaker in English and that she had his attention. c) English lessons with Austin. d) Her classmates who wanted to speak to Austin. 9. Who made the speaker love English? a) Austin b) her parents c) her classmates d) her university teachers 10. Who is a philologist? a) a student of philosophy b) a teacher of philosophy c) a computer expert d) a language expert 11. How often did Austin give English lessons to the narrator? a) every day 14
This time, I’m going to tell you a story which is absolutely true. Believe it or not, but in a small village in the Jeseníky Mountains there is an old house where ghosts live. I’ve seen them with my own eyes and heard them with my own ears, I swear! They make noises, throw things, talk to people and they even appear as white moving shadows where no light or shadow is supposed to be. But let me start from the beginning. It was a warm afternoon in early September, and the new school year had just begun. Everyone returned from their holidays and people were full of new experience and impressions and were eager to show holiday photos to their friends and talk about their summer time. Students and school children were no exception. I was about fifteen years old and attended the grammar school. I was looking forward to my best friend Nina and wanted to tell her about a handsome guy I met on our family holiday in Italy. It was the first week of school, we still didn’t have much stuff to learn, so my parents allowed me to spend the night at Nina’s house in another village. Nina and I were both happy about the possibility to stay up late and talk about everything. When we returned from school, we went to the garden to pick some raspberries and blackberries. The village was situated high in the mountains so the berries were just ripe13 and sweet enough in late summer. Then we decided to have a barbecue and went to the local shop to buy some sausages and bread. Nina’s father helped us bring some wood and we enjoyed a nice afternoon in the garden.
13 ripe = zralý
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ANGLIČTINA
STAGE 5
SOME FAMOUS URBAN LEGENDS
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We all know the term hoax. Nowadays we connect the term with a kind of information which is not true and is spread in chain messages96 via the Internet. A hoax is usually created and spread with the intention97 to harm or at least bother98 its recipients99, to mystify or to spread false alarm. Before the Internet, these stories were spread by other media, including storytelling and newspapers and they were called urban myths or urban legends. However, they were usually spread with the intention to warn other people rather than to bother them. Nowadays, when we find a message with suspicious100 contents, we have the possibility to check immediately on the Internet if the message is a hoax or not. However, in the past it was not so easy to identify a urban legend. Some of them became so widespread and popular, that they still exist, with local details, in many countries all over the world. Let me introduce you to some of the most famous urban legends from our country as well as from other English speaking countries.
The Corpse101 Train of Whitechapel (London, Great Britain) This story is almost certainly an urban legend, although it has no supernatural102 or mysterious origins. Imagine a train full of dead human bodies: that’s the corpse train of Whitechapel. In the second half of the 19th century when the London Underground103 (sometimes called the Tube) was opened, death was a common
95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103
urban legend = fáma, neuvěřitelná historka, městská legenda chain message = řetězová zpráva intention = záměr, úmysl bother = obtěžovat, otravovat recipient = příjemce, adresát suspicious = podezřelý corpse = mrtvola supernatural = nadpřirozený underground = metro
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thing in hospitals. Imagining the overflowing hospital morgues,104 people invented this scary legend, according to which a secret underground train line was established, running from the Royal London Hospital directly to Whitechapel, which is the main station in the area. Like this, huge amounts of dead human bodies could be transported away from the overflowing hospital morgue. Take a quiz 7: 1. What is the “corpse train of Whitechapel”? a) an overcrowded train b) a famous business meeting in the London quarter of Whitechapel c) a gathering of ghosts d) a train full of dead human bodies 2. When was the London Underground first opened? a) in the first half of the 19th century b) in the second half of the 19th century c) in 1900 d) in the 1920s 3. Does the corpse train really exist? a) No, it’s just an urban legend. b) Not now, but it was an existing underground train line in the 1890s. c) Yes, it goes on the underground train line from the Royal London Hospital directly to Whitechapel. d) Yes, but it’s not a real train – it’s just a tourist attraction. 4. What does the word “morgue” mean? a) an old church b) a chapel in a hospital
104 morgue = márnice
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ANGLIČTINA
STAGE 5
14. The English alphabet.174
17. Ghost words.
Look at this sentence: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” It uses every letter of the English alphabet. Therefore175 English speakers use this sentence to practise handwriting176 or to test a new pen or keyboard. This type of sentence is called a “pangram”.
Due to a printing error, there was a word in the English dictionary from 1932 to 1940 which didn’t have a meaning. The word was “dord” and it became known as a “ghost word”. However, in the New International Dictionary from 1934 the term is defined as a synonym for density182 used by physicists and chemists.
15. Interesting words.
18. Tongue twisters.183
“Queueing” is the only English word with five consecutive vowels. It means “waiting in line”. The infinitive form of the verb is “to queue”. “Rhythm” is the longest English word without a real vowel (a, e, i, o, u). “Bookkeeper” is the only English word with three consecutive177 double letters. “Uncopyrightable” is the longest English word that can be spelled without repeating178 any letters. “Schoolmaster” is an anagram of “the classroom”. (An anagram is a word formed by rearranging179 the letters of a different word or phrase, using all the original180 letters exactly once.) The longest English word with its letters in reverse alphabetical order is “spoonfeed”.
The most difficult tongue twister in the English language is: “The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick”. Other well-known tongue twisters include: “Can you can a can as a canner can can a can?” “Seth at Sainsbury’s sells thick socks.” “The thirty-three thieves thought that they thrilled the throne throughout Thursday.” “Clean clams crammed in clean cans.” “Stupid superstition!” “World Wide Web” “Six sleek swans swam swiftly southwards.” “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?” “Green glass globes glow greenly.” “What a terrible tongue twister, what a terrible tongue twister, what a terrible tongue twister...” “How many cookies could a good cook cook if a good cook could cook cookies? A good cook could cook as much cookies as a good cook who could cook cookies.” “Four furious friends fought for the phone.” “Black background, brown background.”
16. Rhyming181 words. There is no word in the English language that rhymes with month, orange, silver, purple, ninth, pint, wolf, opus, dangerous, or marathon.
174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181
alphabet = abeceda therefore = proto, tudíž handwriting = rukopis, písmo consecutive = po sobě jdoucí repeat = (z)opakovat rearrange = přeuspořádat, uspořádat jinak original = původní rhyme = rým; rýmovat (se)
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182 density = hustota 183 tongue twister = jazykolam
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