Номер 1, страница 80 - гдз по английскому языку 4 класс книга для чтения Верещагина, Афанасьева

1. This is a short biography of Hans Christian Andersen. Read it and say why Doris Gates gave this biography the name it has "The Real "Ugly Duckling"".

The Real "Ugly Duckling"

After Doris Gates

New words:

Odense ['əuðənsə] — г. Оденсе

Denmark ['denma:k] — Дания

Copenhagen [,kəupn'heigən] — г. Копенгаген

unfortunately [ʌn'fɔ:tfənitli] — к несчастью

talented ['tælənntid] — талантливый

clumsy ['klʌmzi] — неуклюжий

to recite [ri'sait] — декламировать

an adventure [əd'ventfə] — приключение

charm [tfa:m] — очарование

gentleness ['dʒentlnis] — мягкость, доброта

wisdom ['wizdəm] — мудрость

a mermaid ['mз:meid] — русалка

Hans Christian Andersen is famous for his stories and fairy tales. You have certainly read some of them. Maybe you have read "The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Steadfast Soldier" or "The Ugly Duckling".

Once upon a time, more than a hundred years ago, there was a boy called Hans Christian Andersen. He was the only child of a poor family. Hans and his parents lived in one room of a house in Odense in Denmark.

Their room was always clean and nice to be in. It was a bedroom, a living-room and a kitchen too. There were always flowers on the table.

Hans Christian was a happy boy. Both his parents loved him very much and did all they could for him. Hans Christian's father once made him a toy theatre. His mother made clothes for his toy actors and actresses. Hans wanted to become an actor one day. He wanted to go to the great city of Copenhagen and to become a great actor there.

But unfortunately he was not talented nor was he good-looking. He was big for his age and clumsy. His legs were too long for his body. When he danced, everybody laughed. He had a long sad face.

Hans Christian recited poems though not very well. But he could sing. He had a fine voice and people liked to listen to his songs.

By the time Hans Christian was fourteen he decided to leave Odense and go to Copenhagen. It was situated rather far from Hans's native city and it took the boy a long time to get there. Hans Christian left for Copenhagen with a few coins in his coat.

However, he could not become a dancer as he had no talent for dancing. People in Copenhagen were kind to him, but they told him he couldn't do well in the theatre. They tried to sound nice, but Hans was very sad and didn't know what to do. He often didn't have anything to eat. He used to wear old clothes. Then after his fifteenth birthday, his voice changed. He couldn't sing very well any longer. He decided that, since he couldn't sing or act, he would write plays for other actors instead. He was sure that one day he could be great.

At first his plays were not a success, but then a very important person in Copenhagen Jonas Collin read them and became interested.

The first thing to do was to send Hans Christian to school and so the years of hard work began. At sixteen, this boy had to sit in the classroom with the smallest children. Although he was able to read, he knew nothing about grammar or arithmetic or spell-ing. Only Collin friendly helped Hans Christian to get through these long, difficult years and he was sure that one day he could be a famous writer. He finished school and began to spend all his time writing. His first book was a collection of poems and then he wrote a novel. While he waited for his books to appear, he was writing fairy tales. He remembered his granny's stories and began to write his own. They were full of magic and adventure and were full of charm too. Very soon his first book of fairy tales appeared. It was a success. Andersen wrote with gentleness, wisdom and humour ['hju:mə]. He had a lot of readers not only in Denmark, but in other countries too. Suddenly Andersen found himself famous. Everyone was reading his fairy tales.

The King of Denmark invited him to dinner. As time went by, Andersen became a great man. Indeed he became the friend of all the famous writers in Europe. Wherever he went, people said, "There goes the author of "The Little Mermaid'. There goes Hans Christian Andersen." He returned to Odense, his home city, several times to see his mother before she died and one day he went there as someone special. The people wanted to honour this famous son of their city. There were beautiful, bright lamps in all the streets and squares the night he arrived. As Hans Christian looked at the lights, he felt very happy. He remembered the years of his childhood, "I was a poor boy then. People laughed at me in the same streets. But now I'm happy." Later, when he came to write the story of his life, he said, "That night was like a fairy tale." Indeed it was. Hans Christian was born in a very poor family, but he became the friend of kings.

1. Это краткая биография Ганса Христиана Андерсена. Прочитайте ее и скажите, почему Дорис Гейтс дала этой биографии название «Настоящий «Гадкий утенок»».

Ответ:

Doris Gates likely gave this biography the name "The Real 'Ugly Duckling'" because Hans Christian Andersen's life story closely parallels the famous fairy tale. He was born into a poor family, was described as clumsy, not good-looking, and was often laughed at and considered untalented in his youth, much like the ugly duckling who was mocked and an outcast. However, despite these early struggles and the initial perception of others, he later transformed into a highly respected and famous writer, whose stories brought charm, gentleness, and wisdom to readers, eventually becoming "the friend of kings" – just as the ugly duckling grew into a beautiful swan.

Дорис Гейтс, вероятно, дала этой биографии название «Настоящий «Гадкий утенок»», потому что жизненная история Ганса Христиана Андерсена очень напоминает известную сказку. Он родился в бедной семье, был описан как неуклюжий, некрасивый, над ним часто смеялись и считали бездарным в юности, подобно гадкому утенку, которого высмеивали и изгоняли. Однако, несмотря на эти ранние трудности и первоначальное мнение окружающих, он позже превратился в очень уважаемого и знаменитого писателя, чьи истории принесли очарование, нежность и мудрость читателям, в конечном итоге став «другом королей» — точно так же, как гадкий утенок превратился в прекрасного лебедя.