THE DIFFICULTIES OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
There are numerous anecdotes about the difficulties of people travelling in foreign countries without a knowledge of the language of that country. Here's the story of a Frenchman travelling in the United States who, while eating in a restaurant, wished to order some mushrooms. Unable to make himself understood, he asked for a pencil and paper and carefully drew a picture of a mushroom. His drawing, however, was not too good, for the puzzled waiter returned in about ten minutes, not with an order of mushrooms, but with a large man's umbrella.
Another similar story concerns two Americans travelling in Spain. They were both unable to speak a word of Spanish and one day, while eating in a restaurant in a small village, they were having considerable difficulty in explaining to the waiter what they wanted. One of them wanted a glass of milk. The waiter seemed unable to understand. Finally, on the back of the menu the man drew a picture of a cow. The poor waiter, however, still seemed puzzled. Finally he left and was gone from the restaurant for half an hour or so. He returned very pleased with himself. There were two tickets for a bullfight in his hand. THE BLINDMAN AND THEGREAT ARTIST
Every day in one of the streets of Vienna you could see a blind man playing the violin. His dog sat near him with a cap in it's mouth. People, who were passing them, dropped coins into the cap.
One day, when the weather was very cold, the man was playing for a long time, but nobody wanted to give him anything. The poor man thought that he would have to go to bed without supper. He was so tired and so weak that he stopped playing.
At the moment a young man came up to him and asked him why he had stopped playing. The blind man said he had played for two hours but nobody had given him anything. «Give me your violin. I shall help you», said the man. And with these words he began to play. He played so well that people began to gather and soon there was a big crowd. Everybody was eager to listen to the fine music and to thank the young man for the pleasure.
Soon the cap was full of money.
«I don't know how to thank you», said the blind man».Who are you?»
«I am Paganini», was the answer.
A WISE JUDGE
Once there lived two brothers. They worked together on their father's farm. They were very honest and got along together very well. One day their father died leaving his property to his two sons. In his last will he told them to divide the property between them.
But the brothers could not agree now. Each wanted to have the better part for himself. After some time they even did not speak to each other. At last they went to the judge who was very wise and always knew how to settle such difficult matters.
The judge listened to them attentively and then he said: «The matter is very simple. We shall divide the property in this way. One of you will divide it in the way he thinks is best and the other one will then have the right to choose whichever of the two parts he prefers».
In this way the case was settled.
DUMB WIFE
Once there was a man whose wife was dumb, and this made him very sad because he loved her very much. After some time he went to see a doctor and said. «Can you make my wife speak?» «Perhaps I can», said the doctor, «the operation is difficult, but if I try, I'll do my best». «Of course, you may try», said the husband, «I'll bring her tomorrow».
The next day the doctor made the operation and the dumb wife began to speak. She spoke so much and so loudly that in a few hours her husband ran back to the doctor and said, «Can you make my wife dumb again?» «No», said the doctor, «there are many ways to make a dumb woman speak, but no ways to make a woman stop talking». «What must I do?» said the man, «I shall soon die if I have to listen to her all day long». «Well», said the doctor, «I can't make her dumb, but I can make you deaf and you will not have to listen to her». «Very well», said the man, «you may do so. It will be better than the other way».A SLAVE
Murillo was a great painter in Spain. He painted beautiful pictures and he had many students.
Once he came to his studio and found a very beautiful picture there. He asked his students who had painted that picture but nobody answered. Then he asKed his slave Sebastian if he had seen somebody in the studio the night before. The slave did not answer. When the night came and everybody went away Sebastian began to paint. He did not think of the time. Suddenly he heard a noise behind him. When he turned round he saw Murillo and his students watch him quietly.
«Sebastian», cried Murillo, «you are very good painter. How did you learn to paint?»
«I took my lessons from you, master», the slave answered.
«From me? I have never given you lessons», said Murillo.
«But you gave lessons to your students, and I heard them», answered the slave. Murillo was a very honest man. He understood that the slave was a very gifted painter, so he gave him freedom and began to work with his «slave» who was not a slave any longer.
THE KING AND THE CRITIC
There was a king who thought that he could paint very well. His pictures were bad, but the people to whom he showed them were afraid of the king. They all said that they liked his pictures very much.
One day the king showed his pictures to a great painter who lived in his country and asked:
«I want to know what you think of my pictures. Do you like them? Am I a good painter or not?»
The painter looked at the king's pictures and said:
«My king, I think that your pictures are bad, and that you will never be a good painter».
The king got very angry and sent the painter to prison. After two years the king wanted to see the painter again.
«I was angry with you», he said, «because you did not like my pictures. Now forget all about it. You are a free man again and I am your friend».
For many hours the king talked with the painter, and even asked him to dine. After dinner the king showed his pictures to the painter and asked: «Well, how do you like them now?»
The painter did not answer anything. He turned to the soldier who was standing near him and said: «Take me back to prison».
A BROKEN VASE
One young man was going to marry a beautiful girl. One day the girl said to him that the next day she would celebrate her birthday and invited him to her birthday party. The young man was eager to make her a present, so he went to a gift shop. There he saw many beautiful things. Of all the things he particulary liked the vases. But they were very expensive, and as he had very little money, he had to leave the shop without buying anything. Walking tothe door he suddenly heard a noise: one of the vases fell on the floor and broke to pieces. A brilliant idea came to his mind. He came up to the counter and asked the salesman to wrap up the broken vase he wanted to buy. The salesman got a little surprised but did what the young man had asked him to do.
The young man took the parcel and went straight to the girl's place. By the time he entered the room the guests had already gathered. Everybody was enjoying the party. Some of the people were dancing, others were talking, joking and laughing. Saying «Many happy returns of the day», the young man told the girl that he had bought a small present for her. With these words he began to unwrap the parcel. Suddenly he got pale and said. «I am afraid, I have broken it. There were so many people in the bus...» But when he unwrapped the parcel, he saw that the salesman had wrapped up each piece of the vase separately.
ENGLISH HOUSES
The climate of a country is one of the factors that influence the style of its architecture. It can be best illustrated by British residential buildings. The weather in England is often cloudy and there are few sunny days in the winter season, therefore, as a rule, the windows in an English house are of a large size to catch as much light and sunshine as possible. In the houses built in the past century the windows, besides being large, opened upwards, which is very convenient on windy days.
Since there is much rain in England, typical British houses have high, steep roofs where rain water and melting snow can easily flow down.
Most of the houses have a fireplace which forms the most characteristic feature of an English home and is seldom seen in other European countries.
The plan of an English house also differs from that of the houses where we live. English architects plan some apartments vertically instead of planning them horizontally, so that an English family having a separate apartment lives on two or sometimes three floors with rooms connected with a narrow staircase. They find it the most convenient style of apartment.There are usually three rooms in each apartment besides a kitchen and a bathroom: a living room, a bedroom and a dining room.