ENGLISH LEARNING

Childhood Memories of Losar New clothes under pillows Are fresh of smell  And sharp of crease. The morning lies veiled  In the mysteries of purple light. How long this twitching and turning continue Till from teasing sleep I come walking To virginal lights of the Losar morning- To reminiscent hustle and bustle-  To sweet fragrance of burnt juniper Mother offers rice cakes to gods Father blesses with crisp rupee notes Men, women, children drink chang. Bend a little on the knees Spin on your heels and toes  A - tishoo! a - tishoo!  We all have fun. - Guru T. Ladhaki  For Solved Exercises of this poem, click on the link below:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJTgYmbQGweWg7n1IMh3PCA/join

THE LITTLE FORKTAIL Enicurus scouleri Vigors Enicurus scouleri Vigors, 1832, Proc. Zool. Soc. London: 174 Himalayas. LOCAL NAME: Oong sumbrek-pho (Lepcha) SIZE: Sparrow FIELD CHARACTERS: A stub tailed miniature of the Spotted Forktail. Above, forehead and forecrown white; rest of head, neck and back black. Wings black, spotted with white at shoulder, and with a broad triangular white bar. Rump and upper tail-coverts white, the former with a broad black band across it. Below, throat and upper breast black; rest of under parts white. Tail short, slightly forked, of the same black-and-white pattern as in female Plumbeous Redstart. Sexes alike.   STATUS AND HABITAT: Fairly common with a wide overall altitudinal range, between c.1000 and 10,000ft. (Singtam, Martam,Dikchu, Singhik, Toong, Chungthang, Lachen, Lachung). Affects rocky, torrential mountain streams, and nullahs with cascades and waterfalls. DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE SIKKIM: SE. Turkestan and Altai Mountains; throughout the Himalayas f

 A CHRISTMAS CAROL - CHARLES DICKENS  Introduction  Charles Dickens was the most popular British novelist of his day. At the age of 24 he was famous both in Britan and America. When he died at the age of 58, he was known and loved everywhere in the world. "A Christmas Carol" is one of Dickens' best known novels. This extract has been dramatized by Walter Hackett as a radio play.  Characters  EBENEZER SCROOGE TWO BOYS NARRATOR FRED Scrooge's nephew BOB CRATCHIT, Scrooge's clerk  GENTLEMAN GHOST OF JACOB MARLEY  FIRST GHOST  FAN BELLE SECOND GHOST TIM CRATCHIT  MRS. CRATCHIT MARTHA CRATCHIT THREE OTHER CRATCHIT CHILDREN THIRS GHOST  TWO MEN  SOUND: Church Clock strikes three times. A group of young people sing "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen."  At its climax a door opens . SCROOGE : (barking) Stop it! Stop it, I say! (Singing stops) Get away from here. We'll have no singing around here. Understand me! No singing! Boy : A Merry Christmas, sir. SCROOGE :

THE NIGHT AT THE HOTEL - SIEGFRIED LENZ The night receptionist regretfully shrugged his shoulders. 'It's all we have available ,' he said. 'And at this late hour you won't find a single anywhere. It's up to you , of course, if you want to try other hotels. Let me tell you, though, even this free bed in a double room will no doubt be gone should you decide to come back for it later.' 'Very well,' Schwamm said, 'I'll take it. Only. I'm sure you'll understand, I should like to know with whom I am sharing the room. Not that I'm afraid, I have no reason to be. Is my partner - as I suppose one might almost call a person with whom one is to spend a night-already in the room?' 'Yes. He's probably asleep.'    Schwamm  filled out the registration forms and handed them back to the receptionist: then he mounted the stars. As he came within sight of the room number,   Schwamm instinctively slowed down, held his breath in the ho

 THE ROAD NOT TAKEN Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,  And sorry I could not travel both  And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down on as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence; Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less travelled by,  And that has made all the difference. - Robert Frost  For Solved exercises of this poem, click on the link below: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJTgYmbQGweWg7n1IMh3PCA/join

ANDROCLES AND THE LION  Long ago there lived a Roman slave named Androcles. Androcles had worked all his life for his master, with never a kind word to cheer him. But Androcles dreamed of the day he would be free and one day his chance came.  He and four other men were working in a field, watched by their master, who sat with his whip, cracking it from time to time because he enjoyed seeing the slaves jump with fear. It was a hot day, and the master had eaten a good meal. Insects buzzed in the grass, and the master’s eyelids drooped . . . . . . . opened . . . . . . . . . . drooped again . . . . . . . . . . . and finally closed. Soon he lay snoring there in the shade. Androcles dropped his hoe. He stared at the sleeping master, then at the forest at the end of the field. He moved quietly over to the other men and whispered, ‘He is sleeping. We could easily escape.’ The others were horrified. ‘You know we can’t get away, Androcles,’ cried one. ‘Runaway slaves are always caught. The

The Eagle and the Beetle A beetle loved a certain hare And wandered with him everywhere; They went to fairs and feasts together,  Took walks in any kind of weather,  Talked of the future and the past  On sunny days or overcast,  But, since their friendship was so pleasant,  Lived for the most part in the present.  One day, alas, an eagle flew Above them, and before they knew What cloud had shadowed them, the hare Hung from her talons in mid-air.  'Please spare my friend,' the beetle cried.  But the great eagle was sneered with pride: 'You puny, servile, cloddish bug - Go off and hide your ugly mug.  How do you dare assume the right To meddle with my appetite?  This hare's my snack. Have you not heard I am the great god Zeus's bird?  Nothing can harm me, least of all A slow, pathetic, droning ball.  Here, keep your friend's head' And she tore The hare's head off, and swiftly bore His bleeding torso to her nest,  Ripped off his tail, and ate the rest.