(äëÿ èçó÷àþùèõ àíãëèéñêèå èäèîìû)
LIVE AND LEARN
It was rather dark in the street though it was only 3 o’clock. It was raining cats and dogs. The sky was covered with low dark clouds, trees were bending in the strong wind. Nobody was in the street, but two friends who were running through the heavy rain towards their house. They were boys of ten or eleven.
When they reached the door of their flat, Peter looked at John who was responsible for the key. John put his hand into his pocket and discovered that there was no key in it.
“Peter, it seems to me that I’ve lost our key”, John murmured confusedly. “Perhaps, I’ve lost it while we were running. What shall we do?”
“For years I’ve been asking you not to keep the key in this pocket, you fool”, Peter cried. “Though you are my brother, I’ll tell you that…”
“Stop crying, Pete. I can say only that a little pot is soon hot. Give me better a piece of wire. I know you have it always in your pockets. I’ll try to open the door with that wire”.
“But how are you going to do it, John?”
“Well, it is as clear as day. Look, how I’ll be bending the wire. But Peter, I’m waiting for your wire”.
Peter took out a small piece of wire and held it out to John.
After taking much trouble over the wire and the lock, John pushed the door open.
“A good workman doesn’t quarrel with his tools”, he said proudly. “After all, all is well that ends well.”
But Peter asked: “What shall we say then to Mummy when she returns home from her work? It’s impossible to find the key in such a bad weather. We’ve lost it like a needle in a bundle of hay.”
John shrugged his shoulders. “Let us not speak about it better, for I’m hungry as a hunter. What shall we have for dinner?”
“Mummy told us to warm some soup and to fry some potatoes and boil sausages.”
“Huh, easier said than done. I can’t boil sausages at all. Can you?”
“No”, Peter confessed, “but let’s try boiling them in some way or other. Experience keeps no school; she teaches her pupils singly.”
He took a large pot and poured some water into it and put it on fire. Then he threw two sausages into the pot and was about throwing butter and salt into it, but John took away butter and salt from Peter and laughed:
“Oh, hold me! It is enough to make a cat laugh.”
“What are laughing at, John? I see nothing to laugh at. Well, he laughs best who laughs last. If you can boil, then boil. And generally speaking, if we can’t as we would, we must do as we can”.
At last they had cooked everything and had had their dinner. Everything was all right, only a strange smell of burnt potatoes filled the kitchen.
“Let’s ventilate the kitchen until Mummy returned”, Peter said.
“It goes without saying”, his brother answered and rushed towards the window. But they hadn’t time for opening the window when Mother came. She entered the kitchen.
“Good afternoon, children. Oh, what has happened? Why is there a smoke in the kitchen?”
“We were cooking our dinner”, Peter said modestly avoiding looking into her eyes.
“Dear me!” Mother breathed. “But I see you didn’t tell me everything. What else has happened to you? And look straight into my eyes.”
“Mummy”, John took a deep breath. “I’ve lost the key”.
“Oh, it never rains, but it pours”, Mother said sadly, “but it’s nice that you’ve confessed yourself. A fault confessed is half redressed. Well, we have to order another key then”. She breathed once more. “And now tidy up the kitchen and then do your lessons”.
“Mummy, we are awfully sorry”, John began, “and…” he stumbled, “let Peter and me cook dinner for you. You are so tired.”
“Oh no”, Mother smiled. “I’ll cook it myself. But if you want you may see how to cook, for example, to fry potatoes.”
She smiled again. “They say: live and learn!”
At night the children were tossing for a long time.
“Pete, we are always causing trouble for Mummy”, John murmured.
“Never mind”, Peter answered. “It is a good horse that never stumbles.”
“But Pete, we are not good horses at all and by my mind we should reform ourselves. You, for example, should sew the hole up in your pocket and tomorrow you’ll tidy up the flat and…”
“Stop, stop, and what about you?” Peter exclaimed.
“You’ll see. I’ll take Mummy’s book of cookery and cook for you and for me, of course, an excellent dinner.”
“Oh, it’s wonderful, but I’ll tidy up the flat only after your dinner as, you know, a hungry belly has no ears. So, we’ll begin our new life tomorrow. Well, we shall live and we shall learn.”
1970 ã.