Girl Meets Boy | Donna's story

Donna's story

          My story starts in late July. It was July 21st, I think. It was the first day of our holiday, a hot July day. I stood in the sun and looked at the sea. It was eleven o'clock in the morning. I was on the boat at Portsmouth with my mother and father and my sister, Louise. Sea birds played near our big boat and the small boats near us on the sea.

I started to look at the people with us on our boat. They all watched the sea birds and talked and laughed. They were all happy on the first day of their holiday too. And suddenly there he was, this tall, quiet boy in a blue and white shirt: he was really good looking. I'll always remember the first time I saw him.

He didn't see me then. He was with some friends. One of the boys was his brother, I think: they had the same blue eyes, the same mouth and nose, nearly the same hair. His brother and one of the boys with him tried to catch the sea birds and he smiled at them. Then they came and stood near us, and they talked about the small boats on the sea. I watched him over Louise's head all the time!

His brother and his friends made a lot of noise, but he was quiet and didn't talk a lot. Then suddenly he looked at me and his eyes stayed quietly on me . . . and he smiled his lovely smile with his shy blue eyes.

The people near me on the boat, the sun, the sea, the birds, the noise of his friends, time - it all stopped. At that moment there was only him and me, me and him. Him and his smile for me. Only the two of us.

Slowly, very slowly, the boat started to move away, across the water to Spain. It takes a day and a night on the boat from Portsmouth to Santander, in Spain. A day and a night together, on the same boat with him . . .

It was a big new boat with cafes, shops, a cinema and a disco. In the evening Louise and 1 went to the disco together. We had a Coke and listened to the music and watched the dancers. But he wasn't there. Then suddenly a tall boy in a black and white shirt came in — it was him! He was with a friend. They stopped and looked slowly at all the people in the disco. It was dark in there and he stood and looked for a long time.

Then he saw me and he smiled a big, friendly smile. I wanted to stand up and sing and dance . . . dance with him. He came across the room and stopped near our table . . . and he asked me to dance! 

Suddenly he wasn't shy with me. We danced together for a long time after that.

But then I looked up and there was a second tall boy in a blue and white shirt at the door of the disco, with the same eyes and the same mouth and nearly the same hair.

But the boy near the door had that nice, quiet, shy face not a big, open, friendly smile. Suddenly I knew: this was his brother with me on the dance-floor, not him! I was with the wrong brother!

He stood for a moment near the door and watched me and his brother on the dance-floor with sad eyes. I wanted to run to him, to take his sad face in my hands and say 'sorry'. He looked at me, then he went out quickly.

I stopped dancing, walked back to my table and sat     down. His brother started to dance with Louise.

I didn't sleep that night. I thought about him all the time, and listened to the noises of the boat and the sea. In the morning I went to the cafe at eight o'clock and waited there with my sister for a long time. I wanted to say 'sorry' to him. I had four cups of coffee, and I don't really like coffee.  

But he didn't come. Where was he? Where was he?

At eleven o'clock we arrived in Santander. I wanted to stop the boat: I wanted to stop the holiday; I wanted to go back to England. I only wanted to see him again, to talk to him, to ask his name. But he wasn't there.

Vocabulary:  

Birds: 

Laughed: 

Good-looking:

Moment: 

Together: 

Disco: 

Music: 

Nice: 

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell | Chapter 2

 

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Chapter 2: Lessons

I got older and my coat started to shine. It was black, but I had one white foot, a white star on my face and some white on my back.

 When I was a big horse, Mr. Gordon came to me. He looked at my eyes, my mouth and my legs. Very good, he said.

Very good. Now he´ll have to learn to work. He'll be a very good horse then.

What does a horse have to learn?

He learns not to move when a man puts a harness on him. Or when the man puts a bit into his mouth. A bit is a cold, hard thing, and it hurts. You can't move it. It stays in your mouth and across your nose.

I wasn't happy with the bit in my mouth, but farmer Grey was a Kind man in every other way. I didn't bite or kick. My mother always had a bit in her mouth when she worked. Other horses have bits too, and I knew that. So I didn't move when they put it in. Soon it didn't hurt.

The saddle wasn't as bad as the bit. Horses have to learn to have a saddle, and to carry a man, woman, or child on their backs. They have to walk, or to go a little faster. Or to go very fast.

 They put the bit in my mouth and the saddle on my back every day. Then farmer Grey walked with me round the big field. After that, he gave me some good food and spoke to me. I liked the food and the kind words. I wasn't afraid now of the bit and the saddle.

One day farmer Grey got on my back and sat there in the saddle. The next day he rode me round the field. It wasn't very nice with a man in the saddle. But I was happy with my kind farmer on my back. He rode me in the field every day after that.

The next bad thing were the shoes for my feet. These, too, were cold and hard. A man put them on me. Farmer Grey went with me, but I was afraid. The man took my feet in his hands. Then he cut away some of the hard foot. It didn't hurt me. I stood on their legs when he did the other foot. The man made shoes for my feet.

It didn't hurt when he put them on. But I couldn't move my feet easily. But later I started to like the shoes, and the hard roads didn't hurt my feet.

Next, I learned to go in carriage harness. There was a very small saddle, but there was a big collar.

Farmer Grey told me to pull a carriage with my mother. You’ll learn a lot from her, he said, when he put the harness on me. I did learn. She showed me the way to move, and she taught me to listen to the driver.

But there are good drivers and bad drivers, she said. In addition, there are good people and bad people. farmer Greys is kind, and he thinks about his horses. But some men are bad. Or stupid. Always be good, so people will love you. Always work hard and do your best.

Vocabulary : 

Collar: (n) a leather band fastened around an animal’s neck.

Field : (n) an area of land that is used for growing crops, keeping animals, or playing a sport.

Harness: (n) a set of leather bands fastened with metal that is used to control a horse.

Saddle: (n) a seat made of leather that is put on a horse’s back so you can ride it.

Soon: (adv) in a short time from now, or a short time after something else happens.

Star: (n) a shape with five or six points sticking out of it.

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell | Chapter 1

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Chapter 1. My mother.

   I don't remember everything about the first months of my life. I remember a big field of green grass with one or two trees in it. On hot days my mother stood under a tree and I drank her milk. That was before I got bigger. Then I started to eat the grass.

  There were other young horses in the field. We ran and jumped round and round the field. We fell on our backs in the grass and kicked our legs happily.

  When I stopped drinking her milk, my mother went to work every day. Then in the evening, I told her about my day. "I'm happy because you are happy", she said "But remember - you aren't the same as these other young horses. They are going to be farm horses. They're good horses, but we are different. People know your father, and my father was Lord Westland's best horse. When you're older, you'll learn to carry people on your back. Or you'll take them from place to place in their carriages. "

"Is that your work, Mother?" I asked. "Do you do that for Farmer Grey?"

"Yes", said my mother. "Farmer Grey sometimes rides me, and sometimes I pull his carriage. Here he is now."

 Farmer Grey came into the filed. He was a good, kind man, and he liked my mother.

  "Well, my dear," he said to her, "here's something for you." He gave her some sugar. "And how is your little son?" He put a hand on my back and gave me some bread. He was very nice.

 We couldn't answer him. He put his hand on my mother's back, then he went away.

   "He's very kind," my mother said. "Always do your work happily. Never bite or kick. Then he'll always be nice to you."

After you read:

1. Who says these words? Who or what are they talking about?

a "Always do your work happily. Never bite or kick. Then he'll always be nice to you."

2. Why was the little horse and his mother different from the other horses?

3. Who was Mr. Grey? Was he a good person?

Vocabulary :

 

Grass : a common wild plant with narrow green leaves and stems that are eaten by cows, horses, sheep, etc.

Carriage : a road vehicle, usually with four wheels, that is pulled by one or more horses and was used in the past to carry people.

Read also :  >> Chapter 2

BOOK OF THE DAY : #19 | Titanic by PAUL SHIPTON

Titanic by PAUL SHIPTON. PDF

There were many examples of bravery on the Titanic on the night of April 14, 1912. Some of the crew and passengers worked all night to save other people. They chose to stay on

the ship until the end. Other passengers thought only about saving themselves. They fought to get into the lifeboats.

Some people think that the Titanic showed people at their best and at their worst. Maybe this is why the disaster is still famous. The ship sank in the North Atlantic over seventy-five years ago. But almost everybody in the world today knows the name of the Titanic.

So what really happened that night? Why did the ship hit an iceberg? Why didn't another ship save the passengers? How many people survived, and how many died?

You will find the answers in this book. But remember that the disaster is more than just a story in a history book. It happened a long time ago, but some old people today can still remember it. There were many kinds of people on the ship—rich and poor, young and old. Each person had hopes and dreams. When the ship sank, hundreds died. Their hopes and dreams died with them.

Paul Shipton lives and works in the United States and writes mostly for younger people. Ghost in the Guitar is another of his Penguin Readers.

DOWNLOAD For FREE HERE:

https://bit.ly/3abN9sD