The Pumpkin with No Face

Даниэла Перес

The Pumpkin with No Face

THE PUMPKIN WITH NO FACE

Daniela Perez

English A1-A2

Graded reader with vocabulary, grammar and exercises

Chapter 1. A Blue House on Bell Street

Key vocabulary

a house — дом

a porch — крыльцо

a garden — сад

a kitchen — кухня

a bedroom — спальня

stairs — лестница

a window — окно

a suitcase — чемодан

a grandmother — бабушка

a cat — кот, кошка

blue — синий

old — старый

quiet — тихий

tired — уставший

happy — счастливый

A Blue House on Bell Street

It is the twelfth of October. It is four o’clock in the afternoon.

Mia Delgado is nine years old. She is in a car with her mother and her father. The car is small and green. There are two suitcases in the car, and one of them is Mia’s suitcase. It is red.

The car is on a long road. On the left there is the sea. The sea is grey today. On the right there are trees. The trees are red, orange and yellow, because it is October.

—Are you happy, Mia? —her mother says.

—I don’t know, —Mia says.

—It is only one month, —her father says—. Our new house is not ready. In November you are with us again.

—I know, —Mia says.

Mia is not sad. She is not happy. She is tired, and she is a little bit nervous.

The car stops. They are in a small town. The name of the town is Harbor Point. It is a very small town in Maine. There is one school, one shop, one bakery and one library. There are about six hundred people in Harbor Point.

The car is on a street. The name of the street is Bell Street.

Bell Street is not long. There are nineteen houses on Bell Street. Some houses are white, some houses are yellow, and one house is blue.

The blue house is number seven.

—Here we are, —Mia’s father says.

The blue house is old. It is one hundred years old. There is a big porch in front of the house, and there are three stairs to the porch. There is a green door and there are eight windows.

In front of the house there is a garden. In the garden there are flowers, but they are not big now, because it is October. There is a tree in the garden. It is an apple tree. There are apples on the tree, and there are apples on the grass.

Mia’s grandmother is on the porch.

Her name is Rosa Delgado. She is sixty-nine years old. She is not very tall. She has got white hair and brown eyes. Today she is in a green dress and a brown coat.

—Mia! —Grandma Rosa says.

Mia opens the door of the car. She runs to the porch. Her grandmother is warm and she smells of apples and soup.

—You are very big now, —Grandma Rosa says.

—I am nine, —Mia says.

—Nine is very big.

Mia’s mother and father are in the house for twenty minutes. They drink tea in the kitchen. Then they are in the car again.

—Be good, —her mother says.

—I am always good, —Mia says.

Her mother laughs. The green car goes down Bell Street, and then it is not there.

Mia is quiet for a minute.

—Come, —Grandma Rosa says—. This house is your house now.

The house is big and it is very quiet.

Downstairs there is a kitchen, a living room and a small room with books. The kitchen is yellow. There is a big table in the kitchen and there are six chairs. There is a window over the sink, and from this window you can see the garden and the apple tree.

There is a big pot on the cooker. Something in the pot is hot and it smells very good.

—What is in the pot? —Mia says.

—Soup, —her grandmother says.

—Is it for dinner?

—It is for Friday. On Friday I make soup for the street.

—For all the street?

—For all the street, —Grandma Rosa says—. Nineteen houses.

Upstairs there are three bedrooms. Mia’s bedroom is at the end of the stairs. It is small. There is a bed, a little table, a chair and a window. The window is over the porch. From the window Mia can see the garden, the apple tree, the street and the sea.

There is a blue blanket on the bed.

—Is this room OK? —her grandmother says.

—It is very good, —Mia says. And it is true.

At six o’clock they have dinner in the kitchen. They have bread, cheese, tomatoes and apple cake. The apple cake is warm.

At seven o’clock something comes into the kitchen.

It is a cat. The cat is grey and very big. He has got green eyes and one white foot.

—This is Pepper, —Grandma Rosa says—. He is eleven years old and he is not a friendly cat.

Pepper looks at Mia. Then he sits on Mia’s feet.

—Oh, —Grandma Rosa says—. Interesting.

At half past eight Mia is in bed. The house is quiet. Outside the window she can hear the sea. It is a long, slow sound.

She thinks about her mother and father in the car. She thinks about her new house in the new town. She thinks about school in November.

Then she thinks: October is a long month.

She is wrong. This October is not long. This October is very fast, and it is the strangest October in her life.

But she does not know that now.

Now she is only a tired girl in a small bedroom in a blue house on Bell Street, and outside the window the sea is grey and quiet, and downstairs a big grey cat sits in front of the green door and looks at the porch all night. ## Vocabulary exercises

1. Complete the sentences (Дополни предложения)

1. Grandma Rosa is on the ______ in front of the house.

2. Mia’s ______ is red.

3. There is an apple tree in the ______.

4. The ______ in the house is yellow.

5. Mia’s ______ is at the end of the stairs.

6. From the ______ Mia can see the sea.

7. The house on Bell Street is ______.

8. Pepper is a big grey ______.

2. Match the words (Соедини слова)

1. a porch 2. stairs 3. quiet 4. tired 5. a grandmother 6. old

a. лестница b. крыльцо c. бабушка d. старый e. тихий f. уставший

3. Choose the correct answer (Выбери правильный ответ)

1. A garden is: a) in a house b) in front of or behind a house c) in a car

2. A porch is: a) a room for food b) a place in front of the door c) a big window

3. If you are tired, you want: a) to sleep b) to run c) to sing

4. A suitcase is for: a) food b) clothes and things c) flowers

5. A kitchen is a room for: a) sleeping b) cooking c) reading

4. Answer the questions (Ответь на вопросы)

1. How old is Mia?

2. What is the name of the town?

3. How many houses are there on Bell Street?

4. What colour is Grandma Rosa’s house?

5. Who is Pepper?

5. True or false (Верно или неверно)

1. Mia is ten years old.

2. Harbor Point is a big city.

3. Grandma Rosa has got white hair.

4. There are nineteen houses on Bell Street.

5. Pepper sits on Mia’s feet.

Грамматика

Глагол to be: am / is / are

В английском языке нельзя сказать «Мия девять лет» или «Дом синий» без глагола. Там, где в русском языке ничего нет, в английском обязательно стоит форма глагола to be (быть).

Мия девять лет. → Mia is nine.

Дом синий. → The house is blue.

Утвердительная форма

Полная форма — Краткая форма:

I am — I’m

you are — you’re

he is / she is / it is — he’s / she’s / it’s

we are — we’re

they are — they’re

I am nine. · She is my grandmother. · They are in the car.

Отрицательная форма

К глаголу добавляется not.

Полная форма — Краткая форма:

I am not — I’m not

you are not — you aren’t

he is not — he isn’t

we are not — we aren’t

they are not — they aren’t

Mia is not sad. · The trees aren’t green.

Вопросительная форма

Глагол ставится на первое место, перед подлежащим.

She is happy. → Is she happy?

You are tired. → Are you tired?

Короткие ответы

На такие вопросы отвечают не просто yes или no, а с глаголом:

Are you tired? → Yes, I am. / No, I’m not.

Is the house blue? → Yes, it is. / No, it isn’t.

Обрати внимание: в утвердительном коротком ответе краткая форма невозможна. Нельзя сказать Yes, I’m. Только Yes, I am.

Grammar exercises

1. Write am, is or are

1. Mia ______ nine years old.

2. The trees ______ red and orange.

3. I ______ tired.

4. Grandma Rosa ______ on the porch.

5. We ______ in a small town.

6. The sea ______ grey today.

7. You ______ very big now.

8. Pepper and Mia ______ in the kitchen.

2. Make the sentences negative (Сделай предложения отрицательными)

1. Mia is happy. → ______

2. The house is new. → ______

3. They are in the garden. → ______

4. I am tired. → ______

5. Pepper is a friendly cat. → ______

3. Make questions and short answers (Составь вопросы и краткие ответы)

1. Mia / nine → ______ ? Yes, ______.

2. the house / green → ______ ? No, ______.

3. you / tired → ______ ? Yes, ______.

4. the apples / on the tree → ______ ? Yes, ______.

5. Harbor Point / a big city → ______ ? No, ______.

Ответы

Vocabulary 1: 1. porch 2. suitcase 3. garden 4. kitchen 5. bedroom 6. window 7. blue 8. cat

Vocabulary 2: 1-b, 2-a, 3-e, 4-f, 5-c, 6-d

Vocabulary 3: 1-b, 2-b, 3-a, 4-b, 5-b

Vocabulary 4: 1. She is nine years old. 2. Harbor Point. 3. Nineteen. 4. It is blue. 5. He is Grandma Rosa’s cat.

Vocabulary 5: 1. False 2. False 3. True 4. True 5. True

Grammar 1: 1. is 2. are 3. am 4. is 5. are 6. is 7. are 8. are

Grammar 2: 1. Mia isn’t happy. 2. The house isn’t new. 3. They aren’t in the garden. 4. I’m not tired. 5. Pepper isn’t a friendly cat.

Grammar 3: 1. Is Mia nine? Yes, she is. 2. Is the house green? No, it isn’t. 3. Are you tired? Yes, I am. 4. Are the apples on the tree? Yes, they are. 5. Is Harbor Point a big city? No, it isn’t.

Chapter 2. The First Pumpkin

Key vocabulary

autumn / fall — осень

a pumpkin — тыква

a leaf / leaves — лист / листья

chalk — мел

a word — слово

a face — лицо

wet — мокрый

cold — холодный

a morning — утро

a step — ступенька

big — большой

heavy — тяжёлый

strange — странный

a neighbour — сосед

to write — писать

The First Pumpkin

Mia opens her eyes at seven o’clock in the morning.

The room is cold. The window is grey. Outside there is a lot of rain, and the rain is on the glass in small lines.

It is the thirteenth of October. It is Monday.

Mia is in her blue blanket for five minutes. Then she puts on two socks, a big sweater and old jeans, and she goes down the stairs.

The stairs are cold too. Number four and number nine make a small noise. In this house every step has got a different voice.

In the kitchen there is a light. Grandma Rosa is at the table with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. Pepper is on a chair. He is asleep.

—Good morning, —Grandma Rosa says.

—Good morning.

—There is bread on the table. There is butter and there is honey. There is no chocolate in this house, and there is no chocolate in this house in November too, so please don’t ask.

Mia laughs.

She has got bread with honey and a glass of milk. Outside the rain stops. The sky is grey but there is a little bit of light over the sea.

—Is there a shop in this town? —Mia says.

—There are two shops. There is a vegetable shop and there is a shop for everything else.

—And a school?

—There is one school. It is very small. There are forty-two children in it.

—Forty-two, —Mia says—. In my school there are six hundred.

—Six hundred children in one school, —Grandma Rosa says—. That is not a school. That is a town.

At half past eight Grandma Rosa opens the green door, because on Monday morning the newspaper man puts a second newspaper on the porch.

She does not say anything for four or five seconds.

—Mia, —she says—. Come here.

Mia comes.

On the porch, in front of the door, there is a pumpkin.

It is not a small pumpkin. It is very big and very orange. It is on the second step, between the two flower pots. Around it there are wet leaves, red and brown, from the apple tree.

The pumpkin has got no face. There are no eyes, there is no nose and there is no mouth. Nobody cuts this pumpkin. It is only a big orange pumpkin in the rain.

But on the side of the pumpkin there is a word.

The word is in white chalk. The letters are big.

SOUP

Mia looks at the pumpkin. Then she looks at her grandmother.

—Is it for you? —Mia says.

—I don’t know.

—Is it a present?

—I don’t know.

—Who is it from?

—Mia, —Grandma Rosa says—, I don’t know.

They stand on the porch and look at the pumpkin. The rain is small now. The pumpkin is wet and it shines a little bit.

Mia goes down the three steps. She looks at the grass in front of the porch. There is a lot of water in the grass and there is a lot of hair from Pepper, but there are no shoes, no lines and no marks. There is nothing.

She looks at the street. Bell Street is empty. There are nineteen houses and there are no people. There is one car and it is not new.

—Is there a person in the garden? —she says.

—No, —her grandmother says.

—Is there a person in the street?

—No.

—That is strange.

—Yes, —Grandma Rosa says slowly—. That is strange.

Mia puts her hands on the pumpkin. It is very cold and very heavy. She cannot move it. It is like a small orange rock.

—Grandma, why is there no face?

—Ah, —her grandmother says—. Now that is a good question.

She sits down on the top step, with her coffee in her hands, and she is quiet for a moment.

—In this town, —she says—, in October, there is a pumpkin in front of every house. And every pumpkin has got a face. Two eyes, one nose, one mouth. Big teeth. It is for the children on Halloween night. A pumpkin with a face says: this house is ready.

—And a pumpkin with no face?

—A pumpkin with no face is not ready, —Grandma Rosa says—. A pumpkin with no face is a pumpkin that is waiting.

—Waiting for what?

Grandma Rosa drinks her coffee.

—I am sixty-nine years old, —she says—. And I don’t know.

They take the pumpkin into the house. It is very heavy, so they take it together, four hands on one pumpkin, and they put it on the kitchen table next to the bread.

The word SOUP is white and clear in the light of the kitchen.

—Soup, —Mia says—. You make soup on Friday. For nineteen houses.

—I do.

—So it is about you.

—Or it is about soup, —Grandma Rosa says—. Sometimes soup is only soup.

But Mia looks at her grandmother’s face. Her grandmother is quiet, and her eyes are on the word, and she is not thinking about soup.

That night Mia is at her window for a long time. She looks down at the porch and at the two flower pots and at the second step.

At half past ten there is nothing.

At eleven o’clock there is nothing.

At twenty past eleven her eyes are heavy, and at half past eleven she is asleep with her head on the window.

In the morning there is a second pumpkin. ## Vocabulary exercises

1. Complete the sentences (Дополни предложения)

1. There is a big orange ______ on the porch.

2. On the side of it there is one ______ in white chalk.

3. The pumpkin has got no eyes, no nose and no mouth. It has got no ______.

4. Around the pumpkin there are wet ______ from the apple tree.

5. The pumpkin is very ______ and Mia cannot move it.

6. In October it is ______ in Maine.

7. Somebody puts the pumpkin there in the ______.

8. Nineteen families live on Bell Street. They are all ______.

2. Match the words (Соедини слова)

1. chalk 2. a step 3. strange 4. wet 5. autumn 6. to write

a. осень b. мел c. мокрый d. писать e. ступенька f. странный

3. Choose the correct answer (Выбери правильный ответ)

1. You write on a blackboard with: a) chalk b) soup c) a leaf

2. In autumn the leaves are: a) green b) red, orange and brown c) blue

3. Something heavy is: a) not easy to move b) very small c) very hot

4. A neighbour is a person who: a) lives near you b) works in a shop c) is in your family

5. A pumpkin is: a) a fruit tree b) a big orange vegetable c) a kind of bread

4. Answer the questions (Ответь на вопросы)

1. What day is it in this chapter?

2. Where is the pumpkin?

3. What is the word on the pumpkin?

4. Why is there no face on it, in Grandma Rosa’s words?

5. What does Mia see on the grass?

5. True or false (Верно или неверно)

1. It is Monday the thirteenth of October.

2. There are six hundred children in the school in Harbor Point.

3. The pumpkin is light and Mia can move it easily.

4. Grandma Rosa knows who puts the pumpkin there.

5. In the morning there is a second pumpkin.

Грамматика

There is / there are

Эта конструкция говорит о том, что что-то существует или находится в каком-то месте. По-русски мы говорим «есть», «находится», «стоит», «лежит» или вообще ничего не говорим.

На крыльце тыква. → There is a pumpkin on the porch.

В саду девятнадцать домов. → There are nineteen houses on the street.

Единственное и множественное число

Один предмет — Много предметов:

There is a pumpkin. — There are two pumpkins.

There’s a cat. — There are five cats.

Краткая форма есть только у единственного числа: there’s. Форму there’re в письменной речи обычно не используют.

Отрицание

Есть два способа, и оба правильные:

There isn’t a shop here. = There is no shop here.

There aren’t any children. = There are no children.

Вопрос

Глагол ставится перед there:

Is there a school in this town? → Yes, there is. / No, there isn’t.

Are there any people in the street? → Yes, there are. / No, there aren’t.

Важное правило

Если после there is или there are идёт список, глагол согласуется с первым предметом в списке:

There is a bed, a table and two chairs in the room.

There are two chairs, a bed and a table in the room.

Не путай с it is

There is говорит, что предмет существует. It is описывает уже известный предмет.

There is a pumpkin on the porch. It is very big.

Grammar exercises

1. Write there is or there are

1. ______ a pumpkin on the second step.

2. ______ nineteen houses on Bell Street.

3. ______ two shops in the town.

4. ______ a word on the pumpkin.

5. ______ wet leaves on the grass.

6. ______ no chocolate in this house.

7. ______ forty-two children in the school.

8. ______ a light in the kitchen.

2. Make the sentences negative (Сделай предложения отрицательными)

1. There is a face on the pumpkin. → ______

2. There are people in the street. → ______

3. There is a car in the garden. → ______

4. There are marks on the grass. → ______

5. There is a shop next to the school. → ______

3. Write questions and short answers (Составь вопросы и краткие ответы)

1. a school / in the town → ______ ? Yes, ______.

2. any people / in the street → ______ ? No, ______.

3. a word / on the pumpkin → ______ ? Yes, ______.

4. two shops / in Harbor Point → ______ ? Yes, ______.

5. a face / on the pumpkin → ______ ? No, ______.

Ответы

Vocabulary 1: 1. pumpkin 2. word 3. face 4. leaves 5. heavy 6. cold 7. morning 8. neighbours

Vocabulary 2: 1-b, 2-e, 3-f, 4-c, 5-a, 6-d

Vocabulary 3: 1-a, 2-b, 3-a, 4-a, 5-b

Vocabulary 4: 1. Monday, the thirteenth of October. 2. On the second step of the porch, between two flower pots. 3. SOUP. 4. Because a pumpkin with no face is a pumpkin that is waiting. 5. Water and cat hair, but no marks and no shoes.

Vocabulary 5: 1. True 2. False 3. False 4. False 5. True

Grammar 1: 1. There is 2. There are 3. There are 4. There is 5. There are 6. There is 7. There are 8. There is

Grammar 2: 1. There isn’t a face on the pumpkin. 2. There aren’t any people in the street. 3. There isn’t a car in the garden. 4. There aren’t any marks on the grass. 5. There isn’t a shop next to the school.

Grammar 3: 1. Is there a school in the town? Yes, there is. 2. Are there any people in the street? No, there aren’t. 3. Is there a word on the pumpkin? Yes, there is. 4. Are there two shops in Harbor Point? Yes, there are. 5. Is there a face on the pumpkin? No, there isn’t.

Chapter 3. The Boy from Number Nine

Key vocabulary

a boy — мальчик

a girl — девочка

a bike — велосипед

a fence — забор

a friend — друг

hair — волосы

tall — высокий

short — низкий, короткий

thin — худой

funny — смешной

loud — громкий

to live — жить

to know — знать

to help — помогать

every day — каждый день

The Boy from Number Nine

The second pumpkin is on the first step. It is smaller than the first one. On the side there is one word in white chalk:

AND

—And? —Mia says—. And what?

—And nothing, —Grandma Rosa says—. It is just and.

—That is not a word. That is half of a word.

—It is a word. It is a small word.

They put the second pumpkin on the kitchen table next to the first one. Now there are two pumpkins on the table and there is not a lot of space for the bread.

At ten o’clock Mia goes into the garden.

The garden is wet. Mia walks around the house two times. She looks at every window. She looks behind the apple tree. She looks under the porch, where it is dark and where there are old flower pots and a lot of leaves.

There is nothing.

—Hello!

The voice is very loud and it comes from the other side of the fence.