Rip Van Winkle (8 Reading)

8 клас LIFE STYLE

RIP VAN WINKLE

(after Washington Irving)

Part I

Rip Van Winkle was a farmer. He lived in a village near high mountains, not far from the Hudson River. He was a very kind man. All the children in the village loved him. He often took part in their games and made them wooden toys.

He was always ready to help other people, but he did not like to work on his farm, and his wife was often angry with him. Rip never answered her, instead he took his dog Wolf and his rifle and went up the mountains.

One fine autumn day Rip Van Winkle went into the mountains, lie walked very high up and then lay down under a tree in the forest to rest. He slept for some time. Then he heard his name: "Rip Van Winkle, Rip Van Winkle!" He opened his eyes and looked around, but could see nobody. He thought that it was a mistake, but again he heard: "Rip Van Winkle, Rip Van Winkle!" At the same time Wolf began to growl.

Rip looked again and this time he saw a little old man with a barrel on his back. The old man called Rip for help, the barrel was full of wine. Rip agreed to help him carry the barrel, and they went up higher into the mountains. Then they stopped, and Rip saw before him some old men playing ball. When they saw Rip, they stopped playing and looked at him for a long time. Rip did not like that. The old man now opened his barrel and gave some wine to each of the men. They drank it and began to play again. Rip sat down near the barrel of wine. "I'll drink some wine too," he thought. Then he drank some wine and liked it very much. Soon Rip wanted to sleep, so he lay down on the grass and closed his eyes.

When Rip Van Winkle opened his eyes, he saw that he was under a tree in the forest high up in the mountains. It was a bright sunny morning. "Have I slept here all night?" thought Rip. "How angry my wife will be when I come back home!" He remembered everything very well. The old man with the barrel of wine, the men playing ball, and the wine in the barrel, which he liked so much.

Rip looked for the nice clean rifle that he had with him, but all that he saw was a very old rusty one near him. He called Wolf, but the dog did not come. It disappeared. Then he stood up ready to go home, but his joints ached. Rip also noticed that he had a long grey beard. "Sleeping in the mountains is really bad for my health," he thought, and began to walk home slowly.

I. Choose the correct answer:

1. Rip lived near the ___ River.

2. He was ___.

3. He didn’t like to ___.

4. He liked to play with ___.

5. One autumn day he went to the ___.

6. There he met ___.

7. When Rip opened his eyes, he saw ___.

II. Answer the questions:

1. Where did Rip Van Winkle live?

2. Was he a kind man? Why did the children like him?

3. What did Rip do when his wife was angry with him?

4. Who did he meet in the forest one day?

5. What happened to Rip when he drank some wine?

6. What happened to Rip’s rifle when he woke up?

7. Could Rip walk well after he woke up?

Part II

When Rip came to the village, he met many people, but he did not know anybody. And the people whom he met did not know him either. When Rip came to the village, he met many people, but he did not know

anybody. And the people whom he met did not know him either.

Then he saw that their clothes were different, not like his.

He touched his face and found that he had a long grey beard. He met many children; they looked at him and laughed. There were many new houses in the village, but he did not see the houses which he knew very well. New names were over the doors, new faces at the windows.

At last Rip saw his house. The house looked old, its windows were shut. “Where is my wife?” thought Rip. A very thin dog lay near the door. Rip called him, but the dog began to growl. “Wolf has forgotten me,” thought Rip. He went into the house and called for his wife and children, but nobody answered him. There was nobody in the house.

Rip in his old clothes, with his grey beard and his old rifle then went back to the village. The people looked at him with great interest. They came up to him and asked him questions. “Who are you?” they asked. “What do you do in our village? Who do you want to see?”

Rip thought a little and then asked: “Where’s Nicholas Vedder?” Nobody answered him. Then an old man said: “Nicholas Vedder! Oh, he died eighteen years ago.”

“Where’s Tom Smith?” “Oh, he went to the war and didn’t come back.”

Rip was very sad when he heard this. He could understand nothing. The war? What war?

Then a young woman with a child in her arms came up to him.

When the child saw the old man, it began to cry. “Don’t cry, Rip,” said the mother, “the old man won’t touch you.”

When Rip Van Winkle heard the name of the child, he looked at the face of the young woman. He tried to remember who she was. He asked

her: “What is your name, my good woman?”

“Judith Gardiner.”

“And your father’s name?”

“Ah, poor man, Rip Van Winkle was his name, but twenty years ago he went away into the mountains with his dog Wolf but never returned. Wolf came back without him. I was then a little girl.”

“And where is your mother?” asked Rip.

“She died a year ago.”

Then Rip put his arms round his daughter and her child.

“Daughter!” he smiled, “I am you father! Don’t you recognize me?”

Then Judith looked into his face and said: “Yes, you are really my father! Where have you been these twenty years, dad?”

Rip and his daughter cried and hugged each other.

Then Rip told his story and one very old man said: “I think that Rip’s story may be true. There is a legend that every 20 years the ghost of the deceased (покійний) Henry Hudson, the explorer, with his men returns to the mountains where he lived once. Those little strangers might have been Hudson and his men!”

Judith was happy to see her father. She took him to live with her and her family. Since then Rip retold his story to the villagers many times.

III. 1. When Rip came back to his village, he saw ___.

2. Rip went to his house and saw ___.

3. What happened to Rip’s wife?

4. What happened to Tom Smith?

5. Judith Gardiner was Rip’s ___.

6. Judith ___.

IV. Translate: село, ліс, гори, дружина, рушниця, бочка, суглоби, борода, війна, дерев’яні іграшки, дослідник, повертатися (2 варіанти), боліти, сміятися, плакати, впізнати, обіймати, гніватися на когось.