Читать книгу Beginners' Book in Language. A Book for the Third Grade - Harry Jewett Jeschke - Страница 6

Table of Contents

On the morning when Tom awoke from his dream he found his mother at his bedside. The first thing he did was to tell her his strange dream. This is what he said:

Mother, I dreamed about a door. It was in the trunk of a tree. A kind elf showed it to me. I drove away a wicked owl that was trying to carry the elf away.

Oral Exercise. 1. Do you think that Tom told his dream very well? Did he begin at the beginning or at the end of it? Did he leave anything out?

2. Does Tom's story tell what he was doing when he first saw the elf? Does it tell how the elf looked?[8] How might Tom have begun his story?

3. Does Tom's story tell how he drove the owl away? What might Tom have said about this? Look at the second picture of the story and see what it tells.

4. Tom's story says nothing about going into the woods. It does not tell what was written on the strange door. Look again at the third picture. What does it tell you that Tom left out?

The questions you have been answering are much like the questions that Tom's mother asked him. When he answered them, Tom saw that he had not told his dream very well.

"I left out some of the most interesting things," Tom said, as he thought it over on his way to school.

A few days after this, Tom's teacher asked the pupils whether they remembered any of their dreams. Tom raised his hand. The teacher asked him to tell his dream. This is what he told his classmates:

I dreamed that I was picking flowers. The sun was shining, and the meadow was beautiful. Suddenly I heard a cry. Some one was calling for help. I turned and saw a big owl. Its claws were spread out. It was trying to get hold of a little elf and carry him away.

I ran to help the elf. The owl flew up in the air. I waved my arms and shouted and frightened it away.

The good elf said that I had saved his life. He led me into the woods where there were very large trees. In the side of one of the largest I saw a little door. OPEN ME AND STEP IN was written on it.

At first I was afraid to go near the door. But the good little elf told me to fear nothing. Just as I reached out my hand to open the door, I awoke.

Oral Exercise. Did Tom tell the class the same dream he told his mother? Read again what he told her. Now point out where he made it better. What did he add? Which additions do you like most?