The Pumpkin with No Face

—How many do you sell in October?

Miss Ada puts her glasses on her nose.

—Why do you ask? —she says.

—Somebody puts a pumpkin on our porch every morning, —Mia says—. There are four now. And there is one word on every pumpkin, in white chalk. Do you know about it?

The shop is very quiet. Somewhere behind the wall there is a clock.

—No, —Miss Ada says.

—You don’t know anything?

—I sell vegetables, —Miss Ada says—. People come in, people pay, people go out. I don’t ask what they do with a cabbage and I don’t ask what they do with a pumpkin.

—But do you remember who buys the big ones? The very big, round, dark orange ones?

Miss Ada takes her glasses off again.

—Child, —she says, and her voice is not unfriendly—. In this town, in October, everybody buys a big round dark orange pumpkin. That is what October is.

Tommy makes a small noise. It is the noise of a boy who wants to say something and knows he must not.

—OK, —Mia says—. Thank you.

—Do you want carrots? —Miss Ada says—. For your grandmother. She makes soup on Friday and she always needs carrots. Take these. No, don’t pay. Take them.

She puts eight carrots in a paper bag and gives the bag to Mia. The carrots are cold and they still have earth on them.

—Miss Ada, —Mia says at the door—. One more question.

—Yes?

—Does my grandmother buy pumpkins from you?

Miss Ada looks down at her table.

—No, —she says—. Rosa Delgado does not buy pumpkins. She never buys a pumpkin. Not for thirty years.

—Why not?

—You must ask her that.

Outside, the sky is white and the air is cold. Mia and Tommy walk up Bell Street with a bag of carrots.

—She knows something, —Tommy says.

—Yes.

—She definitely knows something.

—Yes, —Mia says—. But she is not going to tell us.

—How do you know?

—Because she gives us free carrots, —Mia says—. People give you free things when they want you to go away and be happy about it.

Tommy stops in the middle of the street.

—That, —he says—, is a very good detective thing to say.

At home Mia gives the carrots to her grandmother. Grandma Rosa looks at them and she knows immediately where they are from.

—Ada gives you these, —she says.

—Yes.

—How is she?

—She is well. She has got fourteen pumpkins in front of her shop.

Grandma Rosa cuts a carrot in two.

—Grandma, —Mia says—. Why don’t you buy pumpkins?

Her grandmother puts down the knife. For a moment she is not in the kitchen at all. She is somewhere else, and it is not now.

—Because for thirty years, —she says—, somebody gives them to me.

Then she picks up the knife again, and that is the end of the conversation, and Mia goes upstairs and writes it in her notebook with hands that are not completely steady. ## Vocabulary exercises

1. Complete the sentences (Дополни предложения)

1. In the boxes there are potatoes, ______ and onions.

2. Miss Ada does not ______ bread. She sells vegetables.

3. People come into the shop and ______ for the food.

4. The carrots are cold and ______.

5. There are fourteen pumpkins on the ______ in front of the shop.

6. A person in a shop is a ______.

7. The vegetables in this shop are not ______. They are cheap.

8. Grandma Rosa needs ______ for her soup.

2. Match the words (Соедини слова)

1. an onion 2. a cabbage 3. a bean 4. a box 5. to buy 6. fresh

a. капуста b. лук c. свежий d. покупать e. коробка f. фасоль

3. Choose the correct answer (Выбери правильный ответ)

1. A carrot is: a) orange b) blue c) black

2. If something is expensive: a) it costs a lot of money b) it is free c) it is small

3. A customer is a person who: a) works in a shop b) buys things c) makes vegetables

4. To sell is: a) to give a thing for money b) to eat a thing c) to lose a thing

5. Potatoes grow: a) on trees b) in the ground c) in water

4. Answer the questions (Ответь на вопросы)

1. What is the word on the fourth pumpkin?

2. Where is the vegetable shop?

3. What does Miss Ada look like?

4. What does Miss Ada give to Mia?

5. Why does Grandma Rosa never buy a pumpkin?

5. True or false (Верно или неверно)

1. There are fourteen pumpkins in front of the shop.

2. All the pumpkins in the shop are the same.

3. Miss Ada asks Mia to pay for the carrots.

4. Miss Ada says she knows nothing about the words.

5. Somebody gives pumpkins to Grandma Rosa for thirty years.

Грамматика

Present Simple: вопросы

Чтобы задать вопрос в Present Simple, нужен всё тот же вспомогательный глагол do или does. Он ставится в начало предложения.

Общий вопрос (ответ: да или нет)

Лицо — Форма:

I / you / we / they — Do + подлежащее + глагол?

he / she / it — Does + подлежащее + глагол?

Do you know the answer?

Does she sell pumpkins?

Do they live here?

Правило, которое нельзя забывать

В вопросе с does смысловой глагол стоит без -s:

Правильно: Does she sell pumpkins?

Неправильно: Does she sells pumpkins?

Короткие ответы

Do you know? → Yes, I do. / No, I don’t.

Does he live here? → Yes, he does. / No, he doesn’t.

Специальный вопрос

Вопросительное слово ставится перед do или does:

Where do you live?

What does she sell?

How many pumpkins does she have?

Полезные вопросительные слова

what — что, какой

where — где, куда

when — когда

who — кто

why — почему

how — как

how many — сколько (о предметах)

Глагол to be спрашивается без do

Is she here? (не Does she be here?)

Grammar exercises

1. Write Do or Does

1. ______ you like carrots?

2. ______ Miss Ada sell pumpkins?

3. ______ they live on Bell Street?

4. ______ your grandmother make soup?

5. ______ we need onions?

6. ______ Tommy go to school?

2. Make questions (Составь вопросы)

1. Mia writes in a notebook. → ______ ?

2. They buy vegetables here. → ______ ?

3. He knows the answer. → ______ ?

4. The shop opens at eight o’clock. → ______ ?

5. You want a bag. → ______ ?

3. Complete with a question word (Дополни вопросительным словом)

1. ______ do you live? In Harbor Point.

2. ______ does she sell? Vegetables.

3. ______ pumpkins does she have? Fourteen.

4. ______ does the shop open? At eight o’clock.

5. ______ doesn’t Grandma Rosa buy pumpkins? Because somebody gives them to her.

Ответы

Vocabulary 1: 1. carrots 2. sell 3. pay 4. fresh 5. ground 6. customer 7. expensive 8. carrots

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

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

Vocabulary 4: 1. OPEN. 2. At the end of Bell Street, at number nineteen, under the house with the red door. 3. She is tall and thin, with short grey hair, glasses on a chain and big brown hands. 4. Eight carrots in a paper bag, for free. 5. Because for thirty years somebody gives them to her.

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

Grammar 1: 1. Do 2. Does 3. Do 4. Does 5. Do 6. Does

Grammar 2: 1. Does Mia write in a notebook? 2. Do they buy vegetables here? 3. Does he know the answer? 4. Does the shop open at eight o’clock? 5. Do you want a bag?

Grammar 3: 1. Where 2. What 3. How many 4. When 5. Why

Chapter 6. Soup for Nineteen Houses

Key vocabulary

soup — суп

a pot — кастрюля

a bowl — миска, тарелка

a spoon — ложка

a lid — крышка

salt — соль

bread — хлеб

warm — тёплый

hungry — голодный

an evening — вечер

a story — история, рассказ

to cook — готовить

to taste — пробовать на вкус

to bring — приносить

together — вместе

Soup for Nineteen Houses

Friday morning. The fifth pumpkin is on the grass, under the first step. The word is:

TWENTY

Mia sits down on the wet step and looks at it.

—Twenty, —she says.

Twenty is not like the other words. Soup is a thing. And is a small word. You is a person. Open is an action. But twenty is a number, and a number is different. A number means something.