One of my most favorite works from O. Genry, and perhaps in general one of the most beloved works is the "Gifts of Magi". The touching story of a young couple, who sacrificed on Christmas Eve for each other with the most expensive things.

The book of the Gifts of Magi in English is read as easily as in Russian - in one breath. I hope you will enjoy!

The Gift of the Magi

One Dollar and Eighty-Seven Cents. That Was All. And Sixty Cents of It Was In Pennies. Pennies Saved One and Two at a Time by Bulldozing The Grocer And The Vegetable Man and The Butcher Until One's Cheeks Burned With The Silent Imputation Of Parsimony That Such Close Dealing Implied. Three Times Della Counted IT. One Dollar and Eighty-Seven Cents. And The Next Day Would be Christmas.

One dollar eighty-seven cents. It was all. Of these, sixty cents coins are one hundred. For each of these coins, it was necessary to bargain with a grocers, a greenberry, butcher so that even the ears were burning from the silent disapproval, which caused similar thrift. Della recalculated three times. One dollar eighty-seven cents. And tomorrow Christmas.

There Was Clearly Nothing Left to Do But Flop Down On The Shabby Little Couch and Howl. SO DELLA DID IT. Which Instigates The Moral Reflection That Life Is Made Up of Sobs, Sniffles, and Smiles, with Sniffles Predominating.

The only thing that could be done here was to clap on an old couch and nursing. That was what Della and did. From where the philosophical conclusion suggests that life consists of tears, sighs and smiles, and sighs prevail.

While the Mistress of the Home is Gradually Subsiding from The First Stage To the Second, Take a look at the home. A FURNISHED FLAT AT $ 8 PER WEEK. IT Did Not Exactly Beggar Description, But It Certainly Had That Word On The Look-Out for the Mendicancy Squad.

As long as the owner of the house passes all these stages, looking at the house. Furnished apartment for eight dollars a week. In the setting, not that blatant poverty, but rather eloquently silent poverty.

In The Vestibule Below Was a Letter-Box Into Which No Letter Would Go, And An Electric Button from Which No Mortal Finger Could Coax A Ring. Also Appertaining Thereunto Was a Card Bearing The Name "Mr. James Dillingham Young. "

Below, on the front door, a box for letters, in a gap of which would not be shattered by a single letter, and the button of the electric call, from which no mortal would fail to squeeze the sound. The card with the inscription: "Mr. James Dillingham Jung".

The "Dillingham" Had Been Flung to the Breeze During A FORMER PERIOD OF PROSPERITY WHEN ITS POSSESSOR WAS BEING PAID $ 30 PER WEEK. Now, WHEN THE INCOME WAS SHRUNK TO $ 20, THE LETERS OF "DILLINGHAM" LOOKED BLURRED, AS THOUGH THEY WERE THINKING SERIOUSLY OF CONTRACTING TO A MODEST AND UNASSUMING D. But Whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young Came Home and Reached His Flat Above He Was Called "Jim" and Greatly Hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, Already Introduced to You as Della. Which IS All Very Good.

"Dillingham" unfolded in full length in the recent period of welfare, when the owner of the specified name received thirty dollars a week. Now, after this income dropped to twenty dollars, the letters in the word "dullingham" sweat, as if he was thinking that he was thinking about: and whether it was not reduced to them in a modest and unassuming "d"? But when Mr. James Dillingham Jung came home and climbed to her upper floor, he invariably met the exclamation: "Jim!" And the tender embrace of Mrs. James Dillingham Jung, which already presented to you under the name of Dellas. And this, the right, very cute.

DELLA FINISHED HER CRY AND ATTENDED TO HER CHEEKS WITH THE POWDER RAG. She Stood by The Window and Looked Out Dully At A Grey Cat Walking A Grey Fence in a Grey Backyard. To-Morrow Would be Christmas Day, and She Had Only $ 1.87 with Which to Buy Jim A Present. She Had Been Saving Every Penny She Could for Months, With this desult. Twenty Dollars a Week Doesn't Go Far. Expenses Had Been Greater Than She Had Calculated. THEY ALWAYS ARE. Only $ 1.87 to BUY A PRESENT FOR JIM. HER JIM. Many a Happy Hour She Had Sport Planning For Something Nice For Him. Something Fine and Rare and Sterling-Something Just A Little Bit Near To Being Worthy of the Honour of Being Owned by Jim.

Della cumshot cry and walked through the puffs on the cheeks. She now stood at the window and sadly looked at the gray cat, walking along a gray fence along the gray courtyard. Tomorrow Christmas, and she has only one dollar eighty-seven cents for a gift Jim! For a long month, she gave birth literally every cent, and that's all she reached. Twenty dollars a week will not leave. Expenditures turned out to be more than she counted. With expenses always happens. Only the dollar is eighty-seven cents for a gift Jim! Her jim! How many happy hours she spent, inventing what would give him to Christmas. Something is quite special, rare, precious, anything, at least a little decent high honor belong to Jim.

There Was a Pier-Glass Between The Windows of the Room. Perhaps You Have Seen A Pier-Glass In An $ 8 Bat. A Very Thin And Very Agile Person May, by Observing His Reflection In a Rapid Sequence of Longitudinal Strips, Obtain A Fairly Accurate Conception of His Looks. DELLA, BEING SLENDER, HAD MASTERED THE ART.

In the simplicity between the windows stood trummers. Have you ever had to look at an eight-dollar furnished apartment? Very thin and very mobile person may, observe a consistent replacement of reflections in its narrow flaps, make up a fairly accurate picture of his own appearance. Delle who was fragile addition, managed to master this art.

Suddenly She Whirld From The Window and Stood Before The Glass. Her Eyes Were Shining Brilliantly, Buther Face Had Lost Its Color Within Twenty Seconds. Rapidly She Pulled Down Her Hair and Let It Fall to Its Full Length.

She suddenly bounced off the window and rushed to the mirror. Her eyes glittered, but from the face in twenty seconds fled paints. With a fast movement, she pulled out studs and dissolved the hair.

Now, there Were Two Possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in Which They Both Took a Mighty Pride. One Was Jim's Gold Watch That Had Been His Father's and His Grandfather's. The Other Was Della's Hair. HAD THE QUEEN OF SHEBA LIVED IN THE FLAT ACROSS THE ARSHAFT, DELLA WOULD HAVE LETHER HAIR HANG OUT OF THE WINDOW SOME DRY TO DRY JUST TO DEPRECIATE HER MAJESTY'S Jewels and Gifts. All His Treasures Piled Up in The Basement, Jim Would Have Pulled Out His Watch Every Time He Passed, Just to See Him Pluck At His Beard from Envy.

You must tell you that the couple of James. Dillingham Jung had two treasures that made up their pride. One is the Golden Watch Jim who belonged to his father and grandfather, another - Dellah's hair. If the Queen of Savskaya lived in the house on the contrary, Dellah, having gotten his head, would certainly succumb to the window of loose hair - especially in order to force all the fit and decorate Her Majesty. If Tsar Solomon served in the same house, the Swiss kept all his wealth in the basement, Jim, passing by; Whether it would take the hours of pocket every time - especially in order to see how he tears his beard from envy.

So Now Della's Beautiful Hair Fell ABOUT HER, Rippling and Shining Like A Cascade of Brown Waters. IT REACHED BELOW HER KNEE AND MADE ITSELF ALMOST A GARMENT FOR HER. And then She Did It Up Again Nervously and Quickly. Once She Faltered for a Minute and Stood Still While A Tear or Two Splashed on the Worn Red Carpet.

And here lovely Dellah hair crumbled, shiny and overflowing, just jet of brown waterfall. They descended below the knees and the cloak enveloped almost all her shape. But she immediately, nervous and rushing, began to pick them up again. Then, as if smoking, with a minute stood motionless, and two or three tears fell on the old red carpet.

ON WENT HER OLD BROWN JACKET; ON WENT HER OLD BROWN HAT. With a Whirl of Skirts and With the Brilliant Sparkle Still in Her Eyes, She Cluttered Out Of The Door and Down The Stairs to the Street.

An old brown jacket on his shoulders, an old brown hat on his head - and, shooting off skirts, shining low sparkles in his eyes, she was already rushing down on the street.

Where She Stopped The Sign Read: "MME Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds. " One Eight Up della Ran, and Collected Herself, Panting. Madame, Large, Too White, Chilly, Hardly Looked The "Sofronie."

Signboard, which she stopped, reading: "M-me Sophronie. All sorts of hair products, "Dellah drunk on the second floor and stopped, with difficulty translating the spirit.

"Will You BUY MY HAIR?" ASKED DELLA.

- Do you buy my hair? She asked Madame.

"I BUY HAIR," SAID MADAME. "Take Yer Hat Off And Let's Have A Sight At the Looks of It."

"I buy my hair," Madame replied. - Remove the hat, you need to see the goods.

DOWN RIPPLED THE BROWN CASCADE.

The chestnut waterfall was rolled again.

"Twenty Dollars," Said Madame, Lifting The Mass with a Practised Hand.

- Twenty dollars, "Madame said, habitually weighing a thick mass on his hand.

"Give IT to Me Quick" Said Della.

"Let's rather," Della said.

Oh, And The next Two Hours Tripped by On Rosy Wings. Forget The Hashed Metaphor. She Was Ransacking The Stores for Jim's Present.

The next two hours flew on pink wings - I apologize for the beaten metaphor. Dellah risked shopping in search of a gift for Jim.

She Found It At Last. IT Surely Had Been Made for Jim and No One ELSE. There Was No Other Like It In Any of The Stores and She Had Turned All of Them Inside Out. It Was a Platinum Fob Chain Simple and Chaste in Design by Properly Proclaiming Its Value by Substance Alone and Not By Meretricious Ornamentation-AS All Good Things SHOULD DO. IT WAS EVEN WORTHY OF THE WATCH. AS SOON AS SHE SAW IT SHE KNEW THAT IT MUST BE JIM'S. IT WAS LIKE HIM. QUIETNESS AND VALUE-THE Description AppLied to Both. Twenty-One Dollars They Took From Her for It, and She Hurried Home With The 78 Cents. With that chain on his Watch Jim Might Be Properly Anxious About the Time in Any Company. Grand As The Watch Was, He Sometimes Looking At It On The Sly On Account of The Old Leather Strap That He Used in Place Of a Chain.

Finally, she found. Without a doubt, it was created for Jim, and only for him. Nothing like that was found in other stores, and she all turned upside down the bottom in them, it was a platinum chain for pocket watches, a simple and strict picture, captivating the true with its qualities, and not a swollen glitter, and all good things should be. It, perhaps, could even be recognized as worthy hours. As soon as Della saw her, she realized that the chain should belong to Jim, she was the same as Jim himself. Modesty and dignity - these qualities were distinguished by both. Twenty-one dollar had to pay at the cashier, and Dellah hurried home with the eighteent family cents in his pocket. With such a chain, Jim in any society will not be asked to ask what time it is. No matter how magnificently were his clock, and he looked at them often by sniffing, because they hung on a rubbish leather strap.

WHEN DELLA REACHED HOME HER INTOXICATION GAVE WAY A LITTLE TO PRUDENCE AND REASON. She Got Out Her Curling Irons and Lighted The Gas and Went to Work Repairing The Ravages Made by Generosity Added to Love. Which is Always a Tremendous Task Dear Friends-a Mammoth Task.

At home, the revival of Dellah aimed and gave way to prudency and calculation. She got tongs for curling, lit gas and began to correct the destruction caused by generosity in combination with love. And this is always the greatest work, my friends, the giant work.

Within Forty Minutes Her Head Was Covered With Tiny, Close-lying Curls That Made Her Look Wonderfully Like a Truant Schoolboy. She LOOKED AT HER REFLECTION IN THE MIRROR LONG, CAREFULLY, AND CRITCALLY.

Forty minutes did not pass, as her head was covered with steep small skolonchiks, which made it surprisingly similar to the boy who had fulfilled with lessons. She looked at himself in a mirror a long, attentive and critical look.

"If Jim Doesn't Kill Me," She Said To Herself, "Before He Takes a Second Look At Me, He'll Say I Look Like A Coney Island Chorus Girl. But What Could I Do-Oh! What Could i do with a dollar and EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS? "

"Well," she said, "if Jim doesn't kill me at once, as soon as she looks, he will decide that I look like a chore from Kon Island." But what did I have to do, oh, what I was doing, since I had only a dollar and eighty-seven cents! "

AT 7 O'Clock The Coffee Was Made and The Frying-Pan Was On The Back of the Stove Hot and Ready to Cook The Chops.

At seven o'clock coffee was welded, the frying pan was standing on the gas stove, waiting for lamb cakes.

Jim Was Never Late. DELLA DOUBLED THE FOB CHAIN \u200b\u200bIN HRAN HAND AND SAT ON CORNER OF THE TABLE NEAR THE DOOR THAT HE ALWAYS ENTERED. Then She Heard His Step On The Stair Away Down On The First Flight and She Turned White for Just a Moment. She Had a Habit of Saying Little Silent Prayers ABOUT THE SIMPLEEST EVERYDAY THINGS, AND NOW SHE WHISPERED: "PLEASE, GOD, MAKE HIM THINK I AM STILL PRETTY."

Jim never delayed. Della climbed the platinum chain in his hand and sat on the edges of the table closer to the entrance door. Soon she heard his steps below the stairs and turned pale for a moment. She had a habit of contacting God with short prayers about all sorts of everyday trifles, and she hurriedly whispered: - Lord, make me so that I do not interfere with him.

The Door Opened and Jim Stepped in and Closed IT. He LOOKED THIN AND VERY SERIOUS. Poor Felow, He Was Only Twenty-Two and To Be Burdened With A Family! He Needed A New Overcoat and He Was With Out Gloves.

The door opened, Jim entered and closed her behind him. He had a thin, concerned face. It is not easy for twenty-two years to be burdened with family! He had already needed a new coat for a long time, and the hands of frozley without gloves.

Jim Stepped Inside The Door, AS Immovable As a Setter AT The Scent of Quail. HIS EYES WERE FIXED UPON DELLA, AND THAT SHE AN EXPRESSION IN THEM THAT SHE COULD NOT READ, AND IT TERRIFIED HER. IT WAS NOT ANGER, NOR SURPRISE, NOR DISAPPROVAL, NOR HORROR, NOR ANY OF THE SENTIMENTS THAT SHE HAD BEEN PREPARED FOR. HE SIMPLY STARED AT HER FIXEDLY WITH THAT PECULIAR EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE.

Jim still froze at the door, accurately settter learning quail. His eyes stopped at Dellee with the expression she could not understand, and she became scary. It was neither anger, no surprise nor reproach, no horror - none of those feelings that could be expected. He just looked at her, without taking his glance, his face did not change his strange expression.

DELLA WRIGGLED OFF THE TABLE AND WENT FOR HIM.

Della jumped off the table and rushed to him.

Jim, Darling, She Cried, "Don't Look At Me That Way. I HAD MY HAIR CUT OFF AND SOLD IT BECAUSE I COULDN'T HAVE LIVED THROUGH CHRISTMAS WITHOUT GIVING YOU A PRESENT. It'll Grow Out Again-you WON'T MIND, WILL YOU? I Just Had to Do It. My Hair Grows Awfully Fast. Say 'Merry Christmas!' Jim, And Let's Be Happy. You Don't Know What A Nice-What A Beautiful, Nice Gift I'Ve Got for You. "

"Jim, nice," she screamed, "don't look at me like that." I squeezed my hair and sold them, because I would not survive if I had nothing to give you to Christmas. They will repent again. You are not angry, right? I could not otherwise. My hair grows very quickly. Well, congratulate me Merry Christmas, Jim, and let's rejoice in the holiday. If you knew what a gift I prepared you, what a wonderful, wonderful gift!

"You've Cut Off Your Hair?" Asked Jim, Laboriously, AS If He Had Not Arrived At That Patent Fact Fact Yet, Even After The Hardest Mental Labour.

- Did you squeeze your hair? - Jim asked with tension, as if, despite the reinforced brain work, he still could not realize this fact.

"Cut IT Off and Sold IT," Said Della. "Don't You Like Me Just As Well, Anyhow? I'm Me Without My Hair, Ain't i? "

"Yes, I spoke and sold," Della said. "But you will love me anyway?" I'm still the same, albeit with short hair.

Jim Looked ABOUT THE ROOM Curiously.

Jim looked at the room inappling.

"YOU SAY YOUR HAIR IS GONE?" HE SAID, with An Air Almost of IDIOCY. -

So, it means that your braids are no longer? He asked with senseless perseverance.

"You Needn't Look for IT," Said Della. "IT's Sold, I Tell You-Sold and Gone, Too. IT's Christmas Eve, Boy. Be Good To Me, for It Went for You. Maybe The Hairs of My Head Were Numbered, "She Went On With A Sudden Serious Sweetness," But Nobody Could Ever Count My Love for You. SHALL I PUT THE CHOPS ON, JIM? "

"Don't look for, you will not find them," Della said. - I'm telling you: I sold them - Ostron and sold them. Today Christmas Eve, Jim. Be calish with me, because I did it for you. Maybe the hair on my head can be counted, "she continued, and her gentle voice suddenly sounded seriously," but no one, no one could measure my love for you! " Fry Cutlets, Jim?

Out of His Trance Jim Seemed Quickly To Wake. He Enfolded His Della. For Ten Seconds Let US Regard With Discreet SCrutiny Some Inconsequential Object in the Other Direction. Eight Dollars A WEEK OR A MILLION A YEAR-WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? A Mathematician or a Wit Would Give You The Wrong Answer. The Magi Brought Valuable Gifts, But That Was Not Among Them. I HIS Dark Assertion Will Be Illuminated Later ON.

And Jim came out of stupor. He concluded his della into hugs. We will be modest and for a few seconds we will consider the consideration of some foreign item. What is more - eight dollars a week or a million per year? Mathematics or sage will give you the wrong answer. Magi brought precious gifts, but among them there was no one. However, these foggy hints will be explained later.

Jim Drew A Package From His Overcoat Pocket and Threw It Upon The Table.

Jim pulled a coat from his pocket and threw it on the table.

"DON'T MAKE Any Mistake, Dell," He Said, "ABOUT ME. I don't Think There's Anything In The Way of a Haircut Or a Shave Or a Shampoo That Could make me like My Girl Any Less. But If You're Unwrap That Package You May See Why You Had Me Going a While at First. "

"Do not understand me falsely, Dellah," he said. - No hairstyle and haircut can make me break out my girl. But expand this bundle, and then you will understand why I have a little bit off in the first minute.

White Finger and Nimble Tore At The String and Paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; And then, Alas! A Quick Feminine Change to HysteriCal Tears and Wails, Necessation The Immediate Employment of All The Comforting Powers of the Lord of the Flat.

White agile fingers rushed the twine and paper. Fastened the cry of delight, immediately - alas! - Pure female changed by the flow of tears and groans, so it was necessary to immediately apply all the sedatives that had at the disposal of the owner of the house.

For there Let the Combs-the Set of Combs, Side and Back, That Della Had Worshipped for Long in a Broadway Window. Beautiful Combs, Pure Tortoise-Shell, with Jewelled Rims-Just The Shade to Wear in the beautiful Vanished Hair. They Were Expensive Combs, She Knew, and Her Heart Had Simply Craved and Yearned Over Them Without The Least Hope of Possession. AND NOW, THEY WERE HERS, BUT THE TRESSES THAT SHOULD HAVE ADORNED THE COVETED ADORNMENTS WERE GONE.

For on the table lay the ridges, the very set of crests - one rear and two side, - which Dellah has long been reverently admired in one Broadway showcase. Wonderful ridges, real turtle, with shiny pebbles on edges, and just under the color of her brown hair. They cost expensive ... Della knew it, - and her heart had a long time and languished from a unrealistic desire to possess them. And now they belonged to her, but there are no excellent braid, which would decorate their lined shine.

But She Hugged Them to Her Bosom, And at Length She Was Able to Look Up with Dim Eyes and A Smile and Say: "My Hair Grows So Fast, Jim!"

Nevertheless, she pressed the ridges to his chest and, when, finally, found the strength to raise his head and smile through the tears, said: - My hair is growing very quickly, Jim!

And Then Della Leaped Up Like A Little Singed Cat and Cried, Oh, Oh! "

Here she suddenly jumped like a scratched kitten, and exclaimed: - Oh, my God!

Jim Had Not Yet Seen His Beautiful Present. She Held It Out to Him Eagerly Upon Her Open Palm. The Dull Precios Metal Seeemed to Flash with a reflection of Her Bright and Ardent Spirit.

After all, Jim has not yet seen her wonderful gift. She hastily stretched him a chain on the opened palm. Matte precious metal seemed to play in the rays of her violent and sincere joy.

"Isn't IT A Dandy, Jim? I HUNTED ALL OVER TOWN TO FIND IT. You'll Have to Look At The Time A Hundred Times a Day Now. Give Me Your Watch. I Want to See How It Looks on It. "

- Isn't Charm, Jim? I was on the whole city, as long as I found it. Now you can see at least a hundred times a day, which is an hour. Give me a clock. I want to see how it will look all together.

Instead of Obeying, Jim Tumbled Down On The Couch and Put His Hands Under the Back Of His Head and Smiled.

But Jim, instead of listening, lay down on the couch, put both hands under his head and smiled.

"Dell," Said He, "Let's Put Our Christmas Presents Away and Keep 'Em a While. THEY'RE TOOO NICE TO USE JUST AT PRESENT. I SOLD THE WATCH TO GET THE MONEY TO BUY YOUR COMBS. And Now Suppose You Put The Chops on. "

"Dell," he said, "we'll have to hide our gifts for us yet, let them lie a little. They are too good for us now. I have sold the clock to buy you crests. And now, perhaps, it's time to fry the cutlets.

The Magi, As You Know, Were Wise Men-Wonderfully Wise Men-WHO Brought Gifts To the Babe in the Manger. They Invented The Art of Giving Christmas Presents. Being Wise, Their Gifts Were No Doubt Wise Ones, Possibly Bearing The Privilege of Exchange in Case of Duplication.

Magi, those that brought gifts a baby in the manger, were, as you know, wise, amazing wise people. They then started making Christmas gifts. And since they were wise, then the gifts of them were wise, maybe even with the agreed sharing law in case of unsuitability.

Andhere I Have Lamely Related to You The Neventful Chronicle of Two Foolish Children in a Flat Who Most UnWisely Sacrificed for Each Other The Greatest Treasures of their House. But in a Last Word to the Wise of these of all WHO Give Gifts These Two Were The Wisest. Of All Who Give and Receive Gifts, Such As the Are Wisest. Everywhere They Are Wisest. THEY ARE THE MAGI.

And here I told you with nothing remarkable story about two stupid children from an eight-dollar apartment, who donated their greatest treasures to each other in his greatest treasures. But it will be said in the edification of the sages of our days, that of all the donors these two were the wisest. Of all those who brings and take gifts, truly wise only like it. Everywhere and everywhere. They are the Magi.

The book "Gifts of Volkhvov" in English is intended for independent study of foreign or use in schools as an additional textbook. Collection of stories of the famous writer O. Henry is focused on schoolchildren who own English at the level of the RGE-Intermediate and need to work out vocabulary, already existing knowledge, speech skills and reading, free communication.

The collection contains adapted texts, after each individual story there are detailed comments, special exercises for knowledge control. The book complements the audio invested between the pages. All this together with a unique parallel translation structure provides the most convenient and effective conditions for learning a foreign language.

The main audience is schoolchildren 7-8 classes with the level of knowledge of the RGE-Intermediate, students studying in schools, lyceums or gymnasiums. The collection can also be used for summer reading and independent increase in the level of knowledge.

Description of the book "Gifts of Magi" in English

Book O. Henry "Gifts Magi" is included in the well-known series "English Club", intended for in-depth study of English at any level. This is a collection of adapted stories in English, distinguished by subtle humor and psychology, having many fans worldwide. Stories will be interesting not only to schoolchildren of 7-8 classes, but also to students or adults. The Christmas collection was written in 1905, but many stories still remain relevant.

"Gifts of Volkhvov" and other stories presented in this collection are included in a large series of books in a foreign language, offering the most famous works for various age categories. This allows schoolchildren and students to familiarize themselves with world literature in English, developing their oral speech and reading skills, increasing and deepening English knowledge. Text in the book is designed for students with the level of knowledge of the RGE-Intermediate, in addition to the text, audiobooks are offered in English (located on the enclosed disk), lexico-grammatical exercises, page detailed comments. All this together with a unique parallel translation structure ensures the most effective conditions for learning a foreign language.

Stories in the book are fascinating and informative, they are adapted to the level of rag-intermediate in order to more conveniently study, but still retain their highlight. The work with a parallel translation provides improved conditions for understanding the new text, it makes it easy to work out the knowledge gained in grammatical structures and vocabulary. As a gift, a disc with audiobook disk, allowing the student to improve his oral speech skills.

Christmas novels O. Henry will take a worthy place among other teaching benefits, facilitating training and giving a unique opportunity to plunge into the magical world of classical literature at the same time.

O. Genry was a master of short stories, very short, such lovers love forever hurrying in their affairs. Yes, and its stories are special, their junction, as a rule, is unexpected and pleasant. The Russian reader O. Henry is known for such stories as "Gifts of Magi", "Last Leaf" and "Leader of Redheads". His edition of the "kings and cabbage" is very popular, but how many times I took it to read this volumetric work, and could not finish to finish. Yes, do not mind at all ...

Many very many O. Henry stories, who really worth reading. Here is a small list of those best you will find on our website.

O.Henry. Gifts of Volkhvov (the most famous story O. Henry)

One dollar eighty-seven cents. It was all. Of these, sixty cents coins are one hundred. For each of these coins, it was necessary to bargain with a grocers, a greenberry, butcher so that even the ears were burning from the silent disapproval, which caused similar thrift. Della recalculated three times. One dollar eighty-seven cents. And tomorrow Christmas.

The only thing that could be done here was to clap on an old couch and nursing. That was what Della and did. From where the philosophical conclusion suggests that life consists of tears, sighs and smiles, and sighs prevail.

O.Henry. Gifts of Volkhvov (continued)

As long as the owner of the house passes all these stages, looking at the house. Furnished apartment for eight dollars a week. In the setting, not that blatant poverty, but rather eloquently silent poverty. Below, on the front door, a box for letters, in a gap of which would not be shattered by a single letter, and the button of the electric call, from which no mortal would fail to squeeze the sound. Some knocked the card with the inscription: "Mr. James Dingle Dillingham Jung" "Dillingham" turned on the entire length in the recent period of welfare, when the owner of the specified name received thirty dollars a week. Now, after this income dropped to twenty dollars, the letters in the word "dullingham" sweat, as if he was thinking that he was thinking about: and whether it was not reduced to them in a modest and unassuming "d"? But when Mr. James Dillingham Jung came home and climbed to her upper floor, he invariably met the exclamation: "Jim!" And the tender embrace of Mrs. James Dillingham Jung, which already presented to you under the name of Dellas. And this, the right, very cute.

Della cumshot cry and walked through the puffs on the cheeks. She now stood at the window and sadly looked at the gray cat, walking along a gray fence along the gray courtyard. Tomorrow Christmas, and she has only one dollar eighty-seven cents for a gift Jim! For a long month, she gave birth literally every cent, and that's all she reached. Twenty dollars a week will not leave. Expenditures turned out to be more than she counted. With expenses always happens. Only the dollar is eighty-seven cents for a gift Jim! Her jim! How many happy hours she spent, inventing what would give him to Christmas. Something is quite special, rare, precious, anything, at least a little decent high honor belong to Jim.

In the simplicity between the windows stood trummers. Have you ever had to look at an eight-dollar furnished apartment? Very thin and very mobile person may, observe a consistent replacement of reflections in its narrow flaps, make up a fairly accurate picture of his own appearance. Delle who was fragile addition, managed to master this art.

She suddenly bounced off the window and rushed to the mirror. Her eyes glittered, but from the face in twenty seconds fled paints. With a fast movement, she pulled out studs and dissolved the hair.

You must tell you that the couple of James. Dillingham Jung had two treasures that made up their pride. One Golden Watch Jim, who belonged to his father and grandfather, other della's hair. If the Queen of Savskaya lived in the house on the contrary, Dellah, having gotten his head, would certainly succumb to the window of loose hair - especially in order to force all the fit and decorate Her Majesty. If Tsar Solomon served in the same house, the Swiss kept all his wealth in the basement, Jim, passing by; Whether it would take the hours of pocket every time - especially in order to see how he tears his beard from envy.

And here lovely Dellah hair crumbled, shiny and overflowing, just jet of brown waterfall. They descended below the knees and the cloak enveloped almost all her shape. But she immediately, nervous and rushing, began to pick them up again. Then, as if smoking, with a minute stood motionless, and two or three tears fell on the old red carpet.

An old brown jacket on his shoulders, an old brown hat on his head - and, shooting off skirts, shining low sparkles in his eyes, she was already rushing down on the street.

Signboard, which she stopped, reading: "M-me Sophronie. All sorts of hair products, "Dellah drunk on the second floor and stopped, with difficulty translating the spirit.

- Do you buy my hair? She asked Madame.

"I buy my hair," Madame replied. - Remove the hat, you need to see the goods.

The chestnut waterfall was rolled again.

- Twenty dollars, "Madame said, habitually weighing a thick mass on his hand.

"Let's rather," Della said.

The next two hours flew on pink wings - I apologize for the beaten metaphor. Dellah risked shopping in search of a gift for Jim.

Finally, she found. Without a doubt, it was created for Jim, and only for him. Nothing like that was found in other stores, and she all turned upside down the bottom in them, it was a platinum chain for pocket watches, a simple and strict picture, captivating the true with its qualities, and not a swollen glitter, and all good things should be. It, perhaps, could even be recognized as worthy hours. As soon as Della saw her, she realized that the chain should belong to Jim, she was the same as Jim himself. Modesty and dignity - these qualities were distinguished by both. Twenty-one dollar had to pay at the cashier, and Dellah hurried home with the eighteent family cents in his pocket. With such a chain, Jim in any society will not be asked to ask what time it is. No matter how magnificently were his clock, and he looked at them often by sniffing, because they hung on a rubbish leather strap.

At home, the revival of Dellah aimed and gave way to prudency and calculation. She got tongs for curling, lit gas and began to correct the destruction caused by generosity in combination with love. And this is always the greatest work, my friends, the giant work.

Forty minutes did not pass, as her head was covered with steep small skolonchiks, which made it surprisingly similar to the boy who had fulfilled with lessons. She looked at himself in a mirror a long, attentive and critical look.

"Well," she said, "if Jim doesn't kill me at once, as soon as she looks, he will decide that I look like a chore from Kon Island." But what did I have to do, oh, what I was doing, since I had only a dollar and eighty-seven cents! "

At seven o'clock the coffee was welded, the frying pan was standing on a gas stove, waiting for lamb cakes

Jim never delayed. Della climbed the platinum chain in his hand and sat on the edges of the table closer to the entrance door. Soon she heard his steps below the stairs and turned pale for a moment. She had a habit of contacting God with short prayers about all its everyday trifles, and she hurriedly whispered:

"Lord, do so that I do not interfere with him."

The door opened, Jim entered and closed her behind him. He had a thin, concerned face. It is not easy for twenty-two years to be burdened with family! He had already needed a new coat for a long time, and the hands of frozley without gloves.

Jim still froze at the door, accurately settter learning quail. His eyes stopped at Dellee with the expression she could not understand, and she became scary. It was neither anger, no surprise nor reproach, no horror - none of those feelings that could be expected. He just looked at her, without taking his glance, his face did not change his strange expression.

Della jumped off the table and rushed to him.

"Jim, nice," she screamed, "don't look at me like that." I squeezed my hair and sold them, because I would not survive if I had nothing to give you to Christmas. They will repent again. You are not angry, right? I could not otherwise. My hair grows very quickly. Well, congratulate me Merry Christmas, Jim, and let's rejoice in the holiday. If you knew what a gift I prepared you, what a wonderful, wonderful gift!

- Did you squeeze your hair? - Jim asked with tension, as if, despite the reinforced brain work, he still could not realize this fact.

"Yes, I spoke and sold," Della said. "But you will love me anyway?" I'm still the same, albeit with short hair.

Jim looked at the room inappling.

- So, it means that your braids are no longer? He asked with senseless perseverance.

"Don't look for, you will not find them," Della said. - I'm telling you: I sold them - Ostron and sold them. Today Christmas Eve, Jim. Be calish with me, because I did it for you. Maybe the hair on my head can be counted, "she continued, and her gentle voice suddenly sounded seriously," but no one, no one could measure my love for you! " Fry Cutlets, Jim?

And Jim came out of stupor. He concluded his della into hugs. We will be modest and for a few seconds we will consider the consideration of some foreign item. What is more - eight dollars a week or a million per year? Mathematics or sage will give you the wrong answer. Magi brought precious gifts, but among them there was no one. However, these foggy hints will be explained later.

Jim pulled a coat from his pocket and threw it on the table.

"Do not understand me falsely, Dellah," he said. - No hairstyle and haircut can make me break out my girl. But expand this bundle, and then you will understand why I have a little bit off in the first minute.

White agile fingers rushed the twine and paper. Fastened the cry of delight, immediately - alas! - Pure female changed by the flow of tears and groans, so it was necessary to immediately apply all the sedatives that had at the disposal of the owner of the house.

For on the table lay the ridges, the very set of crests one rear and two side, - which Dellah had long been reverently admired in one Broadway Showcase. Wonderful ridges, real turtle, with shiny pebbles on edges, and just under the color of her brown hair. They cost expensive ... Della knew it, - and her heart had a long time and languished from a unrealistic desire to possess them. And now they belonged to her, but there are no excellent braid, which would decorate their lined shine.

Nevertheless, she pressed the ridges to his chest and, when, finally, found the strength to raise his head and smile through the tears, said:

- My hair grow very quickly, Jim!

Here she suddenly jumped like a scalded kitten, and exclaimed:

- Oh my god!

After all, Jim has not yet seen her wonderful gift. She hastily stretched him a chain on the opened palm. Matte precious metal seemed to play in the rays of her violent and sincere joy.

- Isn't Charm, Jim? I was on the whole city, as long as I found it. Now you can see at least a hundred times a day, which is an hour. Give me a clock. I want to see how it will look all together.

But Jim, instead of listening, lay down on the couch, put both hands under his head and smiled.

"Dell," he said, "we'll have to hide our gifts for us yet, let them lie a little. They are too good for us now. I have sold the clock to buy you crests. And now, perhaps, it's time to fry the cutlets.

Magi, those that brought gifts a baby in the manger, were, as you know, wise, amazing wise people. They then started making Christmas gifts. And since they were wise, then the gifts of them were wise, maybe even with the agreed sharing law in case of unsuitability. And here I told you with nothing remarkable story about two stupid children from an eight-dollar apartment, who donated their greatest treasures to each other in his greatest treasures. But it will be said in the edification of the sages of our days, that of all the donors these two were the wisest. Of all those who brings and take gifts, truly wise only like it. Everywhere and everywhere. They are the Magi.

And finally, Quote O. Henry.

"IT AINT THE ROADS WE TAKE; IT's What's Inside of US That Makes US Turn Out The Way We Do »
"The point is not on the road we choose. What inside us makes us choose the road "

Hello, EveryOne!

What is your Favorite Holiday of the Year? Wait! Don't Answer, Please. I'm Try to Guess. I Believe It's Christmas. IT's Magic Time Full Of Joy, Love and Presents, Of Course.

Do You Know Who Invented The Tradition of Giving Presents? You Might Have Already Heard ABOUT THE THREE WISE MEN WHO FOLLOWED A STAR TO VISIT JESUS \u200b\u200bCHRIST WHEN HI WAS A BABY AND TO GIVE HIM PRESENTS: GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MURRH. This Is How The Tradition Started. Today We Are Going to Read A Short Story Written by O. Henry, An American Writer, "The Gift of the Magi". Hope You Will Like IT.

The Gift of the Magi

One Dollar and Eighty-Seven Cents. That Was All. And Sixty Cents of It Was In Pennies. Pennies Saved One and Two at a Time by Bulldozing The Grocer and The Vegetable Man and The Butcher. Three Times Della Counted IT. One Dollar and Eighty-Seven Cents. And The Next Day Would be Christmas.

There Was Clearly Nothing Left to Do But Flop Down On The Shabby Little Couch and Howl. SO DELLA DID IT. IT Is True That Life Is Made Up of Sobs, Sniffles, And Smiles, With Sniffles Predominating.

DELLA FINISHED HER CRY AND ATTENDED TO HER CHEEKS WITH THE POWDER RAG. She Stood by The Window and Looked Out Dully At A Grey Cat Walking A Grey Fence in a Grey Backyard. Tomorrow Would be Christmas Day, and She Had Only $ 1.87 to BUY Jim A Present. HER JIM. She Had Been Saving Every Penny She Could for Months, With this desult. Her Husband Mr. James Dillingham Young or Jim, As Della Called Him At Home, Was Paid Only $ 20 Per Week. Twenty Dollars a Week Doesn "T GO FAR. Expenses Had Been Greater Than She Had Calculated. They Always Are. Many Happy Hours She Had Sport Planning For Something Nice for Him. Something Fine and Rare - Something Worthy Of The Honour of Being Owned By Jim.

Suddenly She Whirld From The Window and Stood Before The Glass. Her Eyes Were Shining Brilliantly, Buther Face Had Lost Its Color Within Twenty Seconds. Rapidly She Pulled Down Her Hair and Let It Fall to Its Full Length.

DOWN FELL THE BROWN CASCADE

Now, there Were Two Treasures in Which They Both Took a Mighty Pride. ONE WAS JIM "S GOLD WATCH THAT HAD BEEN HIS FATHER" S AND HIS GRANDFATHER "S. THE OTHER WAS DELLA" S HAIR.

SO NOW DELLA "S Beautiful Hair Fell ABOUT HER, SHINING LIKE A CASCADE OF BROWN WATERS. IT REACHED BELOW HER KNEE AND MADE ITSELF ALMOST A GARMENT FOR HER. AND THEN SHE DID IT UP AGAIN NERVOUSLY AND QUICKLY. ONCE SHE FALTERED FOR A MINUTE And Stood Still While A Tear or Two Splashed on the Worn Red Carpet.

She Put On Her Old Brown Jacket And Old Brown Hat. With the Brilliant Sparkle Still in Her Eyes, She Ran Out Of The Door and Down the Stairs to the Street.

Where She Stopped The Sign Read: "MME Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." The Old Woman Bought Hair.

"Will You BUY MY HAIR?" ASKED DELLA, PANTING.

"I BUY HAIR," SAID MADAME. "Take Your Hat Off and Let" S Have a Look AT IT. "

DOWN FELL THE BROWN CASCADE.

"Twenty Dollars," Said Madame, Lifting The Mass with a Practiced Hand.

"Give IT to Me Quickly," Said Della.

Oh, And The next Two Hours della Was Flying On Rosy Wings. She Was Ransacking The Stores for Jim "S Present.

She Found It At Last. IT Surely Had Been Made for Jim and No One ELSE. There Was No Other Like It In Any of The Stores and She Had Turned All of Them Inside Out. IT WAS A Platinum FOB Chain Simple in Design As All Good Things Should Be. IT WAS EVEN WORTHY OF THE WATCH. AS SOON AS SHE SAW IT SHE KNEW THAT IT MUST BE JIM "S. IT WAS LIKE HIM. QUIETNESS AND VALUE - THE Description AppLied to Both. Twenty-One Dollars The Took From Her for It, and She Hurried Home With The 78 Cents .

At Home Della Got Out Her Curling Irons, Lighted The Gas and Went To Work. Within Forty Minutes Her Head Was Covered With Tiny, Close-lying Curls That Made Her Look Wonderfully Like a Truant Schoolboy. She LOOKED AT HER REFLECTION IN THE MIRROR LONG, CAREFULLY, AND CRITCALLY.

"If Jim Doesn" T Kill Me, "She Said To Herself," Before He Takes a Second Look At Me, He "LL Say I Look Like A Coney Island Chorus Girl. But What Could I Do - Oh! What Could i do with a dollar and EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS? "

AT 7 O "CLOCK THE COFFEE WAS MADE AND THE FRYING-PAN WAS ON THE STOVE HOT AND READY TO COOK THE CHOPS. JIM WAS NEVER LATE. DELLA DOUBLED THE FOB CHAIN \u200b\u200bIN HRAN HAND AND SAT ON CORNER OF THE TABLE NEAR THE DOOR That Heard Entered. Then She Heard His Steps on the Stair Away Down On The First Flight A Moment. She Had a Habit of Saying Little Silent Praighs ABOUT THE SIMPLEST EVERYDAY THINGS, AND NOW SHE WHISPERED: " Please, God, Make Him Think I Am Still Pretty. "

The Door Opened and Jim Stepped in and Closed IT. He LOOKED THIN AND VERY SERIOUS. Poor Felow, He Was Only Twenty-Two - And To Be Burdened With A Family! He Needed a New Overcoat and He Was Wathout Gloves.

Jim Stepped Inside The Door, AS Immovable As a Setter AT The Scent of Quail. HIS EYES WERE FIXED UPON DELLA, AND THAT SHE AN EXPRESSION IN THEM THAT SHE COULD NOT READ, AND IT TERRIFIED HER. IT WAS NOT ANGER, NOR SURPRISE, NOR DISAPPROVAL, NOR HORROR, NOR ANY OF THE SENTIMENTS THAT SHE HAD BEEN PREPARED FOR. HE SIMPLY STARED AT HER FIXEDLY WITH THAT PECULIAR EXPRESSION ON HIS FACE.

DELLA JUMPED OFF THE TABLE AND WENT TO HIM.

"Jim, Darling," She Cried, "Don" T Look At Me That Way. I Had My Hair Cut Off And Sold It Because I Couldn "T Have Lived Through Christmas WitHout Giving You A Present. IT "LL GROW OUT AGAIN. I JUST HAD TO DO IT. My Hair Grows awfully fast. Say" Merry Christmas! "Jim, and Let" s be happy. You don "T Know What a Nice-What a Beautiful, Nice Gift I" Ve Got for You. "

"You" ve Cut off your hair? " ASKED JIM AS If He Had Not Arrived AT That Fact Yet.

"Cut IT Off and Sold IT," Said Della. "DON" T YOU LIKE ME JUST AS WELL, ANYHOW? I "M ME WITHOUT MY HAIR, AIN" T I? "

Jim Looked ABOUT THE ROOM Curiously. "YOU SAY YOUR HAIR IS GONE?" HE SAID, with An Air Almost of IDIOCY.

"You Needn" T Look for It, "SAID DELLA." IT "S Sold, I Tell You - Sold and Gone, Tooo. IT "S Christmas Eve, Boy. Be Good to Me, for It Went for You. Maybe The Hairs of My Head Were Numbered," She Went On With A Sudden Serious Sweetness, "But Nobody Could Ever Count My Love for You. Shall I Put The Chops on, Jim? "

Jim Seemed to Wake Out of His Trance Quickly. He Enfolded His Della. Jim Drew A Package From His Overcoat Pocket and Threw It Upon The Table.

"DON" T MAKE ANY MISTAKE, DELL, »HE SAID," ABOUT ME. I DON "T Think There" S Anything in The Way of a Haircut That Could make me like My Girl Any Less. But If You unwrap That Package You May See Why I Was So Shocked When I Saw You at First. "

White Fingers Tore the String and Paper. And Then A Scream of Joy Came Out Which Quickly Changed to Hysterical Tears and Wails. For the here Lay The Combs - The Set of Combs That Della Had Worshipped for Long in a Broadway Window. Beautiful Combs, Pure Tortoise-Shell, with Jewelled Rims - Just The Shade to Wear in the beautiful Vanished Hair. They Were Expensive Combs, She Knew, and Her Heart Had Simply Craved and Yearned Over Them Without The Least Hope of Possession. And Now, They Herse, But The Hair Was Gone.

She Hugged Them to Her Bosom, and with Tears in Her Eyes and a smile, Was Able to Say: "My Hair Grows So Fast, Jim!" And Then Della Leaped Up Like A Little Cat and Cried, Oh, Oh! " Jim Had Not Yet Seen His Beautiful Present. She Held It Out to Him Eagerly Upon Her Open Palm.

"ISN" T IT A DANDY, JIM? I HUNTED ALL OVER TOWN TO FIND IT. You "LL Have to Look At The Time A Hundred Times a Day Now. Give Me Your Watch. I Want to See How It Looks on It. "

Instead of Obeying, Jim Tumbled Down On The Couch and Put His Hands Under the Back Of His Head and Smiled.

"Dell," Said He, "Let" S Put Our Christmas Presents Away and Keep Them for a While. They "Recle Nice To Use Just At Present. I SOLD THE WATCH TO GET THE MONEY TO BUY YOUR COMBS. And Now Suppose You Put The Chops on. "

The Magi, As You Know, Were Wise Men - Wonderfully Wise Men - Who Brought Gifts To The Babe in the Manger. They Invented The Art of Giving Christmas Presents. Being Wise, Their Gifts Were No Doubt Wise Ones. And Here I Have Told You The Story of Two Foolish Children Who UnWisely Sacrificed for Each Other The Greatest Treasures of their House. But Let It Be Said That of All Who Give Gifts These Two Were The Wisest. Of All Who Give and Receive Gifts, Such As the Are Wisest. Everywhere They Are Wisest. THEY ARE THE MAGI.

Helpful Words and Notes

gift - Dar, Gift

magi / MEɪDʒAɪ / - The Three Kings Or The Three Wise Men – mages, Magi. (The word "Magi" in the Gospel denoted the magicians who came to the infant Jesus with gifts - gold, incense and mirroe.)

manger / MEɪNDʒʒ / – nursery

shabby - shabby, shabby

couch - Cushion Sofa

sob - sobs

to sniffle - speak in nose, sniff

to Howl - moan, howl

worthy - worthy standing

rare - rare

to own - own; An owner - owner

powder Rag - Pochka

treasure / Treʒʒ / - Treasure

to whirl / WɜːL / - Circling (Zd. Dart)

to Falter / Fɔːltə / - to weaken, shaken

sparkle / SPɑːKL / - Glitter

to Pant - it's hard to breathe

to Ransack \u003d To Look for - Search

fOB. – pockets for watch

chain - chain

qUIETNESS AND VALUE - modesty and dignity

curling IRONS - Curl Tongs

truant Schoolboy - Schoolboy, Walking Lessons

a Coney Island Chorus Girl - A Woman Who Dances in a Chorus Line As a Part of a Stage Production or Play. DELLA KNOWS THAT HER HAIR NOW LOOKS unnatural and artificially primped. Shee Looks Cheap.

prayer / Preə / - Prayer

to whisper - whisper

burden - Court

to be burdened with smth - be burdened with anything

iM.movable - fixed

quail / Kweɪl / - Quail

to terrify - horrify, scare

dIS.approval - disapproval

iDIOCY / ɪDIəSI / - idiocy

chop - Cutlet (chop)

to enfold \u003d to hug – envelop hugging

rim - Earth

to vanish - disappear

to Crave - passionately wish

to yearn / jɜːn / - wander on something

to Draw (Drew, Drawn) - draw; to pull

to Wrap / unwrap - wramp into paper / deploy

wails - screams, howl

cOMB / KʊʊM / - Comb, Comb

tortoise - Turtle (land)

bosom - Breasts

palm / Pɑːm / - Palm

to Obey / ʊʊbeɪ / - obey, obey

to tumble - fall, ride, drop sharply

to sacrifice / sækrɪfaɪs / - sacrificing

wise - Wisely - unwisely - Unreasonable

Exercises

1. Say Whether These Sentences Are True or False. Correct Them If They Are False.

• DELLA WANTED TO BUY JIM A PRESENT FOR HIS BIRTHDAY.
• DELLA SAVED THE MONEY FOR A MONTH.
• Jim Was PAID $ 20 Per Week.
• Della's Hair Was Blond.
• DELLA AGREED TO SELL HER HAIR FOR $ 20.
• DELLA FOUND A PRESENT FOR HER HUSBAND VERY QUICKLY.
• Jim Did Notice That Della Had Cut Her Hair Off.
• The Combs Were Made of Tortoise Shell.
• DELLA THREW THE COMBS AWAY.
• DELLA's Hair Grows Very Fast.

2. Match The Words on the Left with their Equivales on the right.

1) Sharaby a) treasure

2) to vanish b) hugging, press

3) to Obey C) rare

4) to Own d) decent

5) A Gift E) Shabby

6) a Treasure F) own

7) to hug g) disappear

8) Worthy h) awful

9) to Terrify i) obey

10) Rare J) gift, gift

3. Form Words with the Negative Prefixes and Translate Them Into Russian. Use them in your own sentences.

dIS-:like, Agree, Obey, Appear, Prove

mIS-:understand, Lead, Translate, Take, PRONOUNCE

un-:fortunate, Worty, Wrap, Button, Tidy

iL-:legal, Logical, Literate, Legible

iM-:possible, Moral, Literate, Mature, Patient

in-:human, Visible, Official, Frequent, Sincere

iR-:regular, Responsible, Rational, Resistible, Replaceable

As the biblical legend says, three eastern wise men, who commemorates a new star in the sky and seeing the most intended sign, hurried to the Earth to witness the reverence of the newborn Messiah. And they found Maria with the baby, and bowed to him, and brought him rich gifts, putting the beginning of the tradition of Christmas gifts.

The basis of today's task is the touching story of O. Henry about two newlyweds, which were unable to squeeze their feelings in the framework of practical measurements, but those who were wisdom worthy of the evangelical elders themselves.

The text of the story is valid Betsie Bush. In the project's boundaries Librivox.. Translation into Russian E. Kalashnikova.

Task Materials

Read the instructions for the task

Each level of level from Beginner. before Intermediate Contains the following materials:

1. Audio record story.
2. Text story.
3. Translation of story.
4. Control questions to the text.
5. Audiophragment for learning.
6. Transcript of this fragment.

Actually, the task is to perform exercises:

1. Listen and read the story, try to understand its content. If necessary, refer with the attached translation.
2. Reply to test questions.
3. Download audio recording on the player and listen to as far as possible.
4. To learn by heart a speakerphone. If possible, make sound recording.

1. Audio record story

2. Text of the story

Read out

The Gift of the Magi

One Dollar and Eighty-Seven Cents. That Was All. And Sixty Cents of It Was In Pennies. Pennies Saved One and Two At A Time by Bulldozing The Grocer and the Vegetable Man and The Butcher Until One "S Cheeks Burned With The Silent Imputation Of Parsimony That Such Close Dealing Implied. Three Times Della Counted It. One Dollar and Eighty-Seven Cents . And The Next Day Would be Christmas.

There Was Clearly Nothing To Do But Flop Down On The Shabby Little Couch and Howl. SO DELLA DID IT. Which Instigates The Moral Reflection That Life Is Made Up of Sobs, Sniffles, and Smiles, with Sniffles Predominating.

While the Mistress of the Home is Gradually Subsiding from The First Stage To the Second, Take a look at the home. A FURNISHED FLAT AT $ 8 PER WEEK. IT DID NOT EXACTLY Beggar Description, But It Certainly Had That Word On The Lookout for the Mendicancy Squad.

In The Vestibule Below Was a Letter-Box Into Which No Letter Would Go, And An Electric Button from Which No Mortal Finger Could Coax A Ring. Also Appertaining Thereunto Was a Card Bearing The Name "Mr. James Dillingham Young."

The "Dillingham" Had Been Flung to the Breeze During A FORMER PERIOD OF PROSPERITY WHEN ITS POSSESSOR WAS BEING PAID $ 30 PER WEEK. NOW, WHEN THE INCOME WAS SHRUNK TO $ 20, THOUGH, THEY WERE THINKING SERIOUSLY OF CONTRACTING TO A MODEST AND UNASSUMING "D". But Whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young Came Home and Reached His Flat Above He Was Called "Jim" and Greatly Hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, Already Introduced to You as Della. Which IS All Very Good.

DELLA FINISHED HER CRY AND ATTENDED TO HER CHEEKS WITH THE POWDER RAG. She Stood by The Window and Looked Out Dully At A Grey Cat Walking A Grey Fence in a Grey Backyard. Tomorrow Would be Christmas Day, And She Had Only $ 1.87 with Which to Buy Jim A Present. She Had Been Saving Every Penny She Could for Months, With this desult. Twenty Dollars a Week Doesn "T GO FAR. Expenses Had Been Greater Than She Had Calculated. They Always Are. Only $ 1.87 to BUY A PRESENT FOR JIM. HER JIM. MANY A HAPPY HOUR SHE HAD SPENT PLANNING FOR SOMETHING NICE FOR HIM. SOMETHING Fine and Rare and Sterling - Something Just a Little Bit Near To Being Worthy of the Honour of Being Owned by Jim.

There Was a Pier-Glass Between The Windows of the Room. Perhaps You Have Seen A Pier-Glass In An $ 8 Flat. A Very Thin And Very Agile Person May, by Observing His Reflection In a Rapid Sequence of Longitudinal Strips, Obtain A Fairly Accurate Conception of His Looks. DELLA, BEING SLENDER, HAD MASTERED THE ART.

Suddenly She Whirld From The Window and Stood Before The Glass. Her Eyes Were Shining Brilliantly, Buther Face Had Lost Its Color Within Twenty Seconds. Rapidly She Pulled Down Her Hair and Let It Fall to Its Full Length.

Now, there Were Two Possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in Which They Both Took a Mighty Pride. ONE WAS JIM "S GOLD WATCH THAT HAD BEEN HIS FATHER" S AND HIS GRANDFATHER "S. THE OTHER WAS DELLA" S HAIR. HAD THE QUEEN OF SHEBA LIVED IN THE FLAT ACROSS THE ARSHAFT, DELLA WOULD ACROSS THE ARSHAFT, DELLA OUT THE WINDOW SOME DAY TO DRY JUST TO DEPRECIATE HER MAJESTY "S Jewels and Gifts. Had King Solomon Been The Janitor, with All His Treasures Piled Up in the basement, Jim Would Have Pulled Out His Watch Every Time He Passed, Just to See Him Pluck AT His Beard from Envy.

SO NOW DELLA "S Beautiful Hair Fell ABOUT HER, Rippling and Shining Like A Cascade of Brown Waters. IT Reached Below Her Knee and Made Itself Almost a Garment for Her. And then She Did It Up Again Nervously and Quickly. Once She Faltered for A Moment and Stood Still While A Tear or Two Splashed on the Worn Red Carpet.

ON WENT HER OLD BROWN JACKET; ON WENT HER OLD BROWN HAT. With a Whirl of Skirts and With the Brilliant Sparkle Still in Her Eyes, She Fluttered Out The Door and Down The Stairs to the Street.

Where She Stopped The Sign Read: "MME. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." One Flight Up della Ran, and Collected Herself, Panting. Madame, Large, Too White, Chilly, Hardly Looked The "Sofronie."

"Will You BUY MY HAIR?" ASKED DELLA.

"I BUY HAIR," SAID MADAME. "Take Yer Hat Off and Let" S Have A Sight At The Looks of IT. "

DOWN RIPPLED THE BROWN CASCADE. "Twenty Dollars," Said Madame, Lifting The Mass with a Practised Hand.

"Give IT to Me Quick," Said Della.

Oh, And The next Two Hours Tripped by On Rosy Wings. Forget The Hashed Metaphor. She Was Ransacking The Stores for Jim "S Present.

She Found It At Last. IT Surely Had Been Made for Jim and No One ELSE. There Was No Other Like It In Any of The Stores and She Had Turned All of Them Inside Out. It Was a Platinum FOB Chain Simple and Chaste in Design by Properly Proclaiming Its Value by Substance Alone and Not By Meretricious Ornamentation - AS All Good Things Should Do. IT WAS EVEN WORTHY OF THE WATCH. AS SOON AS SHE SAW IT SHE KNEW THAT IT MUST BE JIM "S. IT WAS LIKE HIM. QUIETNESS AND VALUE - THE Description AppLied to Both. Twenty-One Dollars They Took From Her for It, and She Hurried Home With The 87 Cents . With that chain on his Watch Jim Might Be Properly Anxious About the Time in Any Company. Grand As The Watch WAS, He Sometimes Looked at the Old Leather Strap That He Used in Place Of a Chain.

WHEN DELLA REACHED HOME HER INTOXICATION GAVE WAY A LITTLE TO PRUDENCE AND REASON. She Got Out Her Curling Irons and Lighted The Gas and Went to Work Repairing The Ravages Made by Generosity Added to Love. Which is Always A Tremendous Task, Dear Friends - A Mammoth Task.

Within Forty Minutes Her Head Was Covered With Tiny, Close-lying Curls That Made Her Look Wonderfully Like a Truant Schoolboy. She LOOKED AT HER REFLECTION IN THE MIRROR LONG, CAREFULLY, AND CRITCALLY.

"If Jim Doesn" T Kill Me, "She Said To Herself," Before He Takes a Second Look At Me, He "LL Say I Look Like A Coney Island Chorus Girl. But What Could i do - Oh, What Could i do With a dollar and EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS? "

3. Translation of the story

Hurry up

Gifts Volkhvov

One dollar eighty-seven cents. It was all. Of these, sixty cents coins are one hundred. For each of these coins, it was necessary to bargain with a grocers, a greenberry, butcher so that even the ears were burning from the silent disapproval, which caused similar thrift. Della recalculated three times. One dollar eighty-seven cents. And tomorrow Christmas.

The only thing that could be done here was to clap on an old couch and nursing. That was what Della and did. From where the philosophical conclusion suggests that life consists of tears, sighs and smiles, and sighs prevail.

As long as the owner of the house passes all these stages, looking at the house. Furnished apartment for eight dollars a week. In the setting, not that blatant poverty, but rather eloquently silent poverty. Below, on the front door, a box for letters, in a gap of which would not be shattered by a single letter, and the button of the electric call, from which no mortal would fail to squeeze the sound. Mr. James Dingleingham Young "Dillingham was added to this:" Mr. James Dillingham "launched in the recent well-being, when the owner of the specified name received thirty dollars a week. Now, after this income dropped to twenty dollars, the letters in the word "dullingham" sweat, as if he was thinking that he was thinking about: and whether it was not reduced to them in a modest and unassuming "d"? But when Mr. James dullingham Young came home and climbed to her upper floor, he invariably met the exclamation: "Jim!" And the delicate embrace of Mrs. James Dillingham Young, who has already been submitted to you under the name of Dellas. And this, the right, very cute.

Della cumshot cry and walked through the puffs on the cheeks. She now stood at the window and sadly looked at the gray cat, walking along a gray fence along the gray courtyard. Tomorrow Christmas, and she has only one dollar eighty-seven cents for a gift Jim! For a long month, she gave birth literally every cent, and that's all she reached. Twenty dollars a week will not leave. Expenditures turned out to be more than she counted. With expenses always happens. Only the dollar is eighty-seven cents for a gift Jim! Her jim! How many happy hours she spent, inventing what would give him to Christmas. Something is quite special, rare, precious, anything, at least a little decent high honor belong to Jim.

In the simplicity between the windows stood trummers. Have you ever had to look at an eight-dollar furnished apartment? Very thin and very mobile person may, observe a consistent replacement of reflections in its narrow flaps, make up a fairly accurate picture of his own appearance. Delle who was fragile addition, managed to master this art.

She suddenly bounced off the window and rushed to the mirror. Her eyes glittered, but from the face in twenty seconds fled paints. With a fast movement, she pulled out studs and dissolved the hair.

We must tell you that the couple of James Dillingham Young had two treasures that made up their pride. One is the Golden Watch Jim who belonged to his father and grandfather, another - Dellah's hair. If the Queen of Savskaya lived in the house on the contrary, Dellah, having gotten his head, would certainly succumb to the window of loose hair - especially in order to force all the fit and decorate Her Majesty. If Tsar Solomon served in the same house, the Swiss kept all his wealth in the basement, Jim, passing by; Whether it would take the hours of pocket every time - especially in order to see how he tears his beard from envy.

And here lovely Dellah hair crumbled, shiny and overflowing, just jet of brown waterfall. They descended below the knees and the cloak enveloped almost all her shape. But she immediately, nervous and rushing, began to pick them up again. Then, as if smoking, with a minute stood motionless, and two or three tears fell on the old red carpet.

An old brown jacket on his shoulders, an old brown hat on his head - and, shooting off skirts, shining low sparkles in his eyes, she was already rushing down on the street.

Signboard, which she stopped, reading: "M-me Sophronie. All sorts of hair products, "Dellah drunk on the second floor and stopped, with difficulty translating the spirit.

Will you buy my hair? She asked Madame.

I buy my hair, "Madame answered. - Remove the hat, you need to see the goods.

The chestnut waterfall was rolled again.

Twenty dollars, "Madame said, habitually weighing a thick mass on his hand.

Let's rather, "Della said.

The next two hours flew on pink wings - I apologize for the beaten metaphor. Dellah risked shopping in search of a gift for Jim.

Finally, she found. No doubt, it was created for Jim, and only for him. Nothing like that was found in other stores, and she all turned upside down the bottom in them, it was a platinum chain for pocket watches, a simple and strict picture, captivating the true with its qualities, and not a swollen glitter, and all good things should be. It, perhaps, could even be recognized as worthy hours. As soon as Della saw her, she realized that the chain should belong to Jim, she was the same as Jim himself. Modesty and dignity - these qualities were distinguished by both. Twenty-one dollar had to pay at the cashier, and Dellah hurried home with the eighteent family cents in his pocket. With such a chain, Jim in any society will not be asked to ask what time it is. No matter how magnificently were his clock, and he looked at them often by sniffing, because they hung on a rubbish leather strap.

At home, the revival of Dellah aimed and gave way to prudency and calculation. She got tongs for curling, lit gas and began to correct the destruction caused by generosity in combination with love. And this is always the greatest work, my friends, the giant work.

Forty minutes did not pass, as her head was covered with steep small skolonchiks, which made it surprisingly similar to the boy who had fulfilled with lessons. She looked at himself in a mirror a long, attentive and critical look.

"Well," she said, "if Jim doesn't kill me at once, as soon as she looks, he will decide that I look like a chore from Kon Island." But what did I have to do, oh, what I was doing, since I had only a dollar and eighty-seven cents! "

4. Control questions

1. How to translate into Russian butcher., gROCER..

2. How to say in English della hair?

3. How to say in English golden Watch Jim.?

4. How MUCH HAD DELLA SAVED TO BUY JIM A PRESENT?

5. How MUCH DID DELLA GET FOR HER HAIR?

6. Find all verbs in the form Past Perfect. In the next passage.