9. Upstairs, ___ the Nursery, Jane and Michael stood ___ the window and looked ___ the street. They were waiting ___ the nurse.
10. She was holding her hat ___ one hand and was carrying a bag ___ the other.
11. They were looking ___ their new nurse ___ great surprise.
12. And then she took ___ ___ the empty bag an apron and tied it ___ her waist.
13. Then she turned ___ the light and got ___ bed.
6. Find in the text the sentences in which the following word-combinations are used. Use them in sentences of your own.
At once; with great surprise; lays the table; turned off the light; took care of; consists of; were waiting for.
7. Find in the text the English equivalents of the following word, word-combinations and sentences. Use them in sentences of your own.
Самый старший; близнецы; накрывает стол к завтраку; что мне делать? как холодно сегодня! я должен надеть пальто; каждый день кроме воскресенья; наверху; детская; они ждали няню; кто-то другой; калитка; пойдем посмотрим! лестничная площадка; гостиная; прихожая; женщина последовала за ней; перила; с большим удивлением; я останусь у вас; сняла шляпу; кусок мыла; зубная щетка; ночная рубашка; пара сапог; подушки и одеяла.
8. Who said the following words? Under what circumstances?
1. One more word from you, and I’ll call the Policeman.
2. What shall I do without a nurse?
3. Let’s go and see who it is.
4. I’ll stay till the Wind changes.
5. They are very good children.
6. Why, there is nothing in the bag!
7. Write into the newspapers and say that you want a very good nurse.
8. That is not Daddy. It is somebody else.
9. How did you come? Did the Wind blow you here?
10. How cold it is today! I must put on two overcoats.
9. Act out the following conversations.
1. Mrs. Banks and Mr. Banks, about a nurse.
2. Michael and Jane, at the window, when they saw Mary Poppins.
3. Mrs. Banks and Mary Poppins.
4. Mary Poppins and the children.
10. Answer the following questions.
1. How many people did the family consist of? Who were these people?
2. What did Mrs. Brill and Ellen do for the family?
3. What did Mr. Banks advise his wife to do in order to find a nurse?
4. Where did Mr. Banks work? Did he go to the City every day?
5. What was the weather like that morning? How do we know that it was very cold?
6. When Mr. Banks went to the City, the children went upstairs to the Nursery, didn’t they? What did they do in the Nursery?
7. Why did Michael and Jane stand at the window in the evening? Whom were they waiting for?
8. Who came up to the gate of the garden when the chil-dren were looking out of the window? Why was the woman hoding her hat with one hand?
9. What curious thing happened when the woman opened the gate of the garden?
10. Why did the children go out of the Nursery to the land-ing?
11. Whom did the children see when the door of the draw-ing-room opened? Describe the visitor.
12. What did Mrs. Banks say to the woman about the chil-dren? Did the woman answer? What did she do?
13. What greatly surprised the children when the woman followed Mrs. Banks upstairs?
14. What did Jane ask Mary Poppins when Mrs. Banks left the Nursery?
15. What surprised Jane and Michael when Mary Poppins opened her bag?
16. What did Mary Poppins take out of her bag?
2. LAUGHING GAS
Jane, Michael and Mary Poppins got off the Bus. “Are you sure your Uncle is at home?” said Jane.
Mary Poppins sniffed.
“My Uncle has asked me to bring you to tea today,” she said. “Do you think he is not at home?”
“Why is your Uncle called Mr. Wigg?” asked Michael. “Is it because he has a wig16 on his head?”
“He has no wig,” said Mary Poppins. “And he is called Mr. Wigg because his name is Mr. Wigg. And if you ask any more questions, we will go Back Home.”
Mary Poppins put her hat straight17 before a shop window. She liked to look at herself in shop windows18. Today she was wearing a blue coat with silver buttons and a blue hat. She thought that she looked very smart.
“Come along19,” she said. They turned the corner and went up to Number Three, Robertson Road. Mary Poppins rang the door bell.
The door opened, and they saw a very thin lady.
“Is he at home?” said Michael.
“How do you do, Mrs. Wigg,” said Jane politely.
“Mrs. Wigg!” said the thin lady angrily. Her voice was even thinner than she herself. “How can you call me Mrs. Wigg? No, thank you! I am Miss Persimmon20 and I am proud of it! Mrs. Wigg, indeed! Go upstairs and to the first door on the landing.” And she went away along the corridor.
Jane, Michael and Mary Poppins went upstairs. Mary Poppins knocked at the door.
“Come in! Come in! And welcome21!” said a loud and merry voice from the room.
Mary Poppins opened the door, and they went in. They saw a large room. There was a bright fire in the fireplace, and in the centre of the room there was a very large table with four cups, bread and butter, biscuits, chocolates and a very large cake.
“I am very glad to see you,” said a voice. Jane and Michael looked round the room, but saw nobody. Then they saw that Mary Poppins was looking at the ceiling. They looked at the ceiling, too, and to their surprise22 they saw a round, fat man, who was hanging in the air.
Mr. Wigg smiled at the children. “My dear,” he said to Mary Poppins, “it is my Birthday today.”
“Oh,” said Mary Poppins.
Mr. Wigg looked at the children again.
“I see you are surprised,” he said. “I think I must explain to you why I am here. You see, I am a very merry man and like to laugh very much. Everything seems funny to me. And I can laugh at everything that I see.”
And Mr. Wigg began to shake with laughter23.
“Uncle Albert!” said Mary Poppins, and Mr. Wigg stopped laughing.
“Oh, I am sorry, my dear,” he said to Mary Poppins. “I won’t laugh – if I can.” He turned to the children. “You see,” he said, “when my birthday comes on Friday, it always happens to me.”
“But why —” began Jane.
“But how —” began Michael.
“If my birthday comes on Friday and I laugh on that day, I become filled with Laughing Gas24. The Laughing Gas is very light, and when it fills me25 I simply cannot stand on the ground. As soon as26 I begin laughing, or even smiling, I fly up like a balloon. And I can get down only if I think about something serious.” Mr. Wigg began laughing again, but then he looked at Mary Poppins and stopped.
“It is strange, of course,” he said, “but very pleasant. Does it ever happen to you?27 ” he asked Jane and Michael.
Jane and Michael shook their heads.
“One day,” said Mr. Wigg, “I went to the Circus and I laughed so much that I flew up to the ceiling and could not get down until midnight, and then, of course, at twelve o’clock I suddenly fell down. Because, you see, it was already Saturday and not my birthday. It’s strange, isn’t it? And funny, isn’t it? And now it is Friday again and my birthday, and you two and Mary have come to visit me, and it is very nice. Oh, don’t make me laugh28, please, don’t make me laugh —”
And Mr. Wigg began laughing and shaking under the ceiling again, and could not stop.
He looked so funny, that Jane and Michael began laughing, too. They wanted to be polite and tried not to laugh, but they could do nothing. They laughed more and more, and soon they fell down and were rolling and rolling on the floor, and could not stop laughing.
“Really!” said Mary Poppins. “Really, such behaviour!”
“I can’t help it29, I can’t help it,” cried Michael, and he was still rolling on the floor. “It is so funny. Oh, Jane, isn’t it funny?”
Then a very strange thing happened. Jane and Michael became very light and flew up in the air! The next moment they were hanging under the ceiling near Mr. Wigg.
“Hello!” said Mr. Wigg. “It’s very nice of you. You saw that I could not come down to you, so you came up to me!
It’s really very, very nice of you.” And all the three of them began laughing again.
“I say,” said Mr. Wigg to the children when they stopped laughing, “there are no chairs here, but I think you can sit on the air. Look at me, I am sitting.”
And indeed, Mr. Wigg was sitting on the air. Jane and Michael tried to sit down, too, and found that they also could sit on the air and that it was very comfortable.