1. Read and translate the text: The Holiday

They used to spend their summers in a holiday cottage in the country and the winters in London. But that year Alice felt restless and Robert wanted to take her to some new and far away place for a complete change.

So, one evening he suggested the idea to her and Alice sprang to it joyously. She thought she would like to go to Italy and Robert wondered whether Sweden was a possibility. They've never been to Sweden before.

Then Alice remembered seeing some advertisements for Greece and Robert said that France might be a good idea. Finally, without deciding where to go, they realized, that it would be wise to think about the cost of going abroad.

“Well, first of all we must decide about the car,” Alice said. “If we don’t take it, we shall have to stay in one place.”

“And if we decided to take it,” Robert argued, “we shall have to use a car ferry, either ship or plane.” A long discussion followed.

“We had better take the car,” Robert said, “because we just can’t afford to fly all the way. But if we fly across the Channel with the car, we shan’t be able to afford to stay in a hotel.” He glanced up at Alice, and something in her eyes made him suspect she was disappointed.

But then she suddenly put forward a new suggestion. "If we flew all the way," she mused, "we couldn't pay the hotel bills. If we flew across the Channel with the car, we still shouldn't be able to stay in a hotel. But if we bought a tent, we should be able to use the air ferry - and have a camping holiday. And then we might be able to go to several countries instead of one."

It seemed the perfect arrangement and neither of them could find any objection to the idea. So having made sure to have three weeks' holiday from the 1^st August they went along to a sports shop, and after carefully examining five different tents, decided which one would be most suitable and brought it home.

Then things started to happen. Robert found that he couldn't get tickets for the air ferry during the first week in August. And, worst of all, the car began making peculiar jerks; and the mechanic at Robert's usual garage explained that if he took it abroad, he would be asking for trouble.

That evening Robert's sister-in-law phoned from Wales full of excitement because they were going to Italy with some money her uncle had sent her, and they had been lucky enough to get the last two air ferry tickets for the first week in August.

"We are very pleased for you," Robert said weakly, and began a long explanation of their own problem.

"But that's easy," his sister-in-law enthused.

Have our house in Wales. Your car is good enough to take you here, and we shan't be needing the place because we shall be away. Now, don't think any more about it " The house is yours for the first three weeks in August, and you'll like it here in Wales."

Exercises on the text

1. Answer the questions to the text:

1. 1 Why did Robert suggest the idea of going abroad to Alice?

2. What did Robert and Alice discuss one evening?

3. What was the first thing to be decided about?

4. What did Robert suspect of Alice's feelings?

5. What idea could neither of them object to?

6. Could Robert get tickets for the air ferry?

7. What was wrong with their car? ,

8. What did Robert's sister-in-law suggest?