The English are obsessed with flowers. If you don’t believe it’s true, look at all the gardening books in the bookshops, find out how many flowers arranging societies there are in England – thousands and thousands. It’s a useful obsession because it doesn’t harm anyone. In winter people tell us, the most romantic thing is to pick up a seed catalogue and gaze at the brightly coloured pictures of summer flowers. Even people with a tiny patch of ground in towns like to grow things, and people who have never seriously tried to speak any foreign language carefully learn the Latin names of the flowers they plant, so that they can tell their friends.
If you want to please an Englishman ( or Englishwoman) be very polite about his (her) garden. It is almost as much his “castle” as his house; he cares for it methodically. March is a busy month for the gardener. He has a great deal of preparing to do. The daffodils, and small, stiff blue, purple, yellow or white and striped flowers called crocuses are already blooming, but all the planting, sowing, and pruning for the summer has to be done. Many English gardens have a section devoted to herbs like mint, thyme, sage and other plants used for seasoning dishes.
The English garden is internationally famous. Some of them are very beautiful, especially the big ones that are open to the public.
Text C. Shut the Door
1.Read the story about a famous writer who liked order and discipline in everything.
Jonathan Swift, the famous English author who wrote “Gulliver’s Travels“, liked order in everything. All the people in his house, for example, had to shut the door behind them when they came into a room and when they left it.
One day a maid servant came and asked him to let her visit her sister who lived ten miles away. Swift not only agreed, but let her go there in his own carriage. The girl was so happy that she forgot to shut the door when she left the room. Swift let her go; but about half an hour later he ordered one of the servants to ride after the carriage, and tell the girl come back.
Much against her wish the poor girl had to turn back. When she came into Swift’s room, her face was unhappy and she asked him what he wanted. “I only want you to shut the door,“ was his answer. “Now you may go to visit your sister. I wish you a pleasant journey”.
2.Answer the questions.
a) Why did J. Swift order the girl to come back? Was he right? Do you think this is a good way to teach a person discipline ?
b) Many young people are well disciplined everywhere. Can you give some examples?
c) Where do you think self-discipline begins ?
3.Stage a play on the text.
4.Retell the text.
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Do You Know That…
… every night at the Tower of London there takes place the traditional ceremony of the Keys? It has taken place for nearly 700 years. The ceremony consists in the following: the guard is turned out and at every gate there is the cry. “Halt! Who goes there?” Then the coming guard replies:”The Keys!” – Whose keys?” – “Queen Elizabeth’s keys”. – “Pass. Queen Elizabeth’s Keys! All is well”. – “God preserve Queen Elizabeth-Amen”. The Tower of London is closed for the night, and only those equipped with the password may come and go.
…twelve ravens are kept in the Tower? An odd story surrounds the Tower’s ravens. It is said that should the ravens leave, the Tower will fall, and with it the nation. So the Raven Master ensures the survival of Britain by keeping their wing feathers clipped so that they cannot fly off at will. The birds are fed and cared.
…two guard-changing ceremonies take place? The Changing of the Queen’s Life Guard takes place at the Horse Guards in Whitehall. The two mounted regiments making up the Household Cavalry - the Life Guard and the Blues and Royals – each perform alternate twenty-four hour guard duty which is a test for both man and horse who must remain unmoving. The ceremony begins at 11.00 when the new guard arrives at Horse Guard Arch from Knightbridge Barracks and forms up opposite the old guard: the new guard remains on duty until the following day.
…the Changing of the Queen’s Guard usually takes place every other day at Buckingham Palace and involves two of the five regiments of the Guards Divisions – the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards. The new guard marches into the forecourt at 11.30 preceded by the band. The old and new guards face each other and then change about.
…the trooping of the Queen’s Colour, held in honour of the Queen’s official birthday, is one of the most tightly organized colourful ceremony in the calendar? The Guards regiments march past, the Queen rides past the ranks of her foot Guards and takes the salute as her Colour is trooped before her. The Horse Guards Parade, the largest open space of its kind in London, is filled with blocks of scarlet and black. Special salutes are fired in the Queen’s honour at the Tower of London, in Hyde Park, at Windsor Castle and other places.
TALKING POINTS
1.Read, translate and act out.