word focus - Nb2-a-b-d

The Christmas Presents
What are presents for? We give presents on special days like birthdays and name days,
and festivals like Christmas. But why do we do it? Do we give presents because we
want to show how rich we are? Or how generous we are?
Della and Jim are young and happy, and very poor. The next day is Christmas, and
Helia wants very much to give her Jim a present, a wonderful present, something really
special. But she has only one dollar and eighty-seven cents . . .
O. HENRY
The Christmas Presents
Retold by Diane Mowat
One dollar and eight-seven cents. That was all. Every day, when she went to the shops,
she spent very little money. She bought the cheapest meat, the cheapest vegetables. And
when she was tired, she still walked round and round the shops to find the cheapest
food. She saved every cent possible.
Della counted the money again. There was no mistake. One dollar and eighty-seven
cents. That was all. And the next day was Christmas.
She couldn't do anything about it. She could only sit down and cry. So she sat there, in
the poor little room, and she cried.
Della lived in this poor little room, in New York, with her husband, James Dillingham
Young. They also had a bedroom, and a kitchen and a bathroom - all poor little-rooms.
James Dillingham Young was lucky, because he had a job, but it was not a good job.
These rooms took most of his money. Della tried to find work, but times were bad, and
there was no work for her. But when Mr James Dillingham Young came home to his
rooms, Mrs James Dillingham Young called him 'Jim' and put her arms round him. And
that was good.
Della stopped crying and she washed her face. She stood by the window, and looked out
at a grey cat on a grey wall in the grey road. Tomorrow was Christmas Day, and she had
only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy Jim a Christmas present. Her Jim. She
wanted very much to buy him something really fine, something to show how much she
loved him.
Suddenly, Della turned round and ran over to look in the glass on the wall. Her eyes
were bright.

Now, the James Dillingham Youngs had two very special things. One was Jim's gold
watch. It once belonged to his father, and, before that, to his grandfather. The other
special thing was Della's hair.
Quickly, Della let down her beautiful, long hair. It fell down her back, and it was almost
like a coat around her. Then she put her hair up again, quickly. For a second or two she
stood still, and cried a little.
Then she put on her old brown coat, and her old brown hat, turned, and left the room.
She went downstairs and out into the road, and her eyes were bright.
She walked along by the shops, and stopped when she came to a door with 'Madame
Eloise - Hair' on it.
Inside there was a fat woman. She did not look like an 'Eloise'.
'Will you buy my hair?' Della asked. 'I buy hair,' Madame replied. 'Take your hat off,
then, and show me your hair.'
The beautiful brown hair fell down. 'Twenty dollars,' Madame said, and she touched the
hair with her hand.
'Quick! Cut it off! Give me the money!' Della said. The next two hours went quickly.
Della was happy because she was looking round the shops for Jim's present.
At last she found it. It was a gold chain for The Watch. Jim loved his watch, but it had
no chain. When Della saw this gold chain, she knew immediately that it was right for
Jim. She must have it.
The shop took twenty-one dollars from her for it, and she hurried home with the eightyseven
cents.
When she arrived there, she looked at her very short hair in the glass. 'What can I do
with it?' she thought. For the next half an hour she was very busy.
Then she looked again in the glass. Her hair was now in very small curls all over her
head. 'Oh, dear. I look like a schoolgirl!' she said to herself. 'What's Jim going to say
when he sees me?'
At seven o'clock the dinner was nearly ready and Della was waiting. 'Oh, I hope he
thinks that I'm still beautiful!" she thought.
The door opened and Jim came m and closed it. He looked very thin and he needed a
new coat. His eyes were on Della. She could not understand the look on his face, and
she was afraid. He was not angry or surprised. He just watched her, with that strange
look on his face.

Della ran to him.
'Jim,' she cried. 'Don't look at me like that. I sold my hair because I wanted to give you a
present. It will soon be long again. I had to do it, Jim. Say "Happy Christmas", please. 1
have a wonderful present for you!'
'You've cut off your hair?' asked Jim.
'Yes. 1 cut it off and sold it,' Della said. 'But don't you love me any more, Jim? I'm still
me.'
Jim looked round the room.
"You say your hair has gone?' he said, almost stupidly.
'Yes. I told you. Because I love you! Shall I get the dinner now, Jim?'
Suddenly Jim put his arms round his Della. Then he took something from his pocket
and put it on the table.
'I love you, Della," he said, it doesn't matter if your hair is short or long. But if you open
that, you'll see why 1 was unhappy at first.'
Excited, Della pulled off the paper. Then she gave a little scream of happiness. But a
second later there were cries of unhappiness.
Because there were The Combs - the combs for her beautiful hair. When she first saw
these combs in the shop window, she wanted them. They were beautiful combs,
expensive combs, and now they were her combs. But she no longer had her hair!
Della picked them up and held them. Her eyes were full of love.
'But my hair will soon be long again, Jim.'
And then Della remembered. She jumped up and cried, 'Oh! Oh!'
She ran to get Jim's beautiful present, and she held it out to him.
isn't it lovely, Jim? I looked everywhere for it. Now you'll want to look at your watch a
hundred times a day.
Give it to me! Give me your watch, Jim! Let's see it with its new chain."
But Jim did not do this. He sat down, put his hands behind his head, and he smiled.
'Della,' he said. 'Let's keep our presents for a time. They're so nice. You see, I sold the
watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now, let´s have dinner.'
And this was the story of two young people who were very much in love.

WORD FOCUS
Perhaps Della was thinking about her present for Jim while she waited for him to come
home. Complete the passage with these words. (Use one word in each gap.)
belonged, chain, combs, face, home, important, long, loves, present, ready, sees, sell,
show, watch, when, without

THOMAS HARDY
Netty Sargent and the House
Retold by Jennifer Bassett
Netty Sargent lived with her uncle in that lonely house just outside the grounds of the
squire's big house. She was a tall young woman, with black hair and dancing eyes. And
she had a little laughing smile that sent all the young men wild. All the young men of
that time were after her, but in the end she decided that Jasper Cliff was her favourite.
He was good-looking, but he only ever thought about himself, not other people. But
Netty wanted Jasper, and none of the others. Jasper liked Netty too, but he was more
interested in her uncle's house.
The house was built by Netty's great-great-grandfather, and had a garden and a little
field next to it. But it was a leasehold house, because the ground belonged to the squire.
And what happens,' Jasper asked Netty one day; 'when your uncle dies?'
'The house, garden and field will go back to the squire,' said Netty. 'But if Uncle pays a
few pounds, he can renew the leasehold and put another name on it. Then the squire
can't get the house back until that person dies.'
And what is your uncle going to do?' asked Jasper.
'Oh, he's going to renew the leasehold, and put my name on it. He told me that months
ago.'
Netty's uncle knew that it was important to renew the leasehold, because the squire was
very anxious to get the house back. The squire didn't like all those little leaseholds on
his ground, and he wanted to pull the house down and make it all nice and tidy.
Netty's uncle knew this very well - but he still didn't renew the leasehold. He didn't like
Jasper Cliff, so perhaps he didn't like to think of Jasper marrying Netty and living in the
house when he was dead.
Every week Jasper asked Netty about the leasehold, and Netty asked her uncle, and her
uncle said, 'I'll go and see the squire's agent next week.' But still nothing happened.
At last old Mr Sargent fell ill, and Jasper got tired of waiting. 'Why doesn't your uncle
do it?' he asked Netty. 'I tell you, if you lose the house and ground, I won't marry you.
And there's an end of it.'
Poor Netty hurried indoors to talk to her uncle. 'Please do something, Uncle!' she said.
'If I don't get the house, I won't get a husband!'
'And you must have Jasper, must you, my dear?' 'Yes, Uncle, I must!'
Old Sargent didn't want to make Netty unhappy, so he asked for a meeting with the
squire's agent. The squire was very cross when he heard this. He was hoping that old
Sargent would die and the leasehold would come to an end. But he had to agree to
renew the leasehold if Sargent paid the money. So the squire's agent got the new papers
ready for old Sargent to sign.

By now Netty's uncle was really ill, and couldn't leave the house. The agent agreed to
visit him. 'I'll come at five o'clock on Monday," lie fold Netty, 'and Air Sargent can pay
the money and sign the papers then.'
At three o'clock on that Monday Netty brought her uncle a cup of tea. When she came
in the room, her uncle gave a little cry and fell forward in his chair. Netty ran to him,
hut he could not speak or move. And in a few minutes, she saw that his face and hands
were cold and white. He was dc.\d, stone-cold dead.
Netty was very unhappy. 'Why didn't he live two more hours?' she thought. 'Now I've
lost everything- house, garden, field, and a home for myself and my lover. What./w I
going to do now?'
Then, suddenly, she knew what she had to do. It was a dark December afternoon, which
was very helpful for her. First, she locked the front door. Then she moved her uncle's
table in front of the fire. Her uncle's body was still in his chair, which was a big old
chair on wheels. So she pushed the chair, with her uncle in it, to the table, putting the
chair with its back half-turned to the window.
On the table she put the large family Bible open in front of him, and put his finger on
the page. Then she opened his eyes a little, and put his glasses on his nose. When it got
dark, she hi a candle and put it on the table beside the Bible. Then she unlocked the
door, and sat down to wait.
When she heard the agent's knock at five o'clock, she hurried to the door.
'I'm sorry, sir.' she whispered. 'Uncle's so ill tonight. I'm afraid he can't see you.'
The agent was not very pleased. 'So I've come out all this way for nothing, have?
'Oh no, sir, I hope not,' said Netty. 'We can do the business about the leasehold, can't
we?' 'Of course not. He must pay the money, and sign the leasehold papers in front of
me. I have to be a witness.'
Netty looked worried. 'Uncle is so afraid of business things like this. His hands were
shaking when I told him that you were coming today.'
'Poor old man — I'm sorry for him,' said the agent. 'But he must sign the papers, and 1
must be a witness.'
'Yes, I understand that, sir,' said Netty. She thought for a minute. 'You have to see him.
But can you still be a witness, sir, if he doesn't see you?”
'How do you mean, girl?' said the agent.
'Come with me a minute,' she said.
She took him into the garden and round to the window. Inside, the agent could see, at
the other end of the room, the back and side of the old man's head, and his arm. He
could see the glasses on his nose, and the book and the candle on the table.
'He's reading his Bible, sir,' said Netty, in her softest, sweetest voice.
'Yes, I see that,' said the agent. 'But nobody ever sees him in church, do they?'

'No, but he loves his Bible,' said Netty. 'I think he's sleeping a little at the moment, but
that's not surprising in an old man, who's so unwell. Now, sir, can you stand here at the
window and watch him sign the papers? Then he won't see you, and he won't be worried
and unhappy about it all. Can you do that for him, sir?"
'Very well,' said the agent. He took out a cigar, lit it, and began to smoke. 'Have you got
the money ready?'
'Yes,' said Netty. I´ll bring it out.' She hurried inside, and brought out the money. The
agent counted it, then gave Netty the leasehold papers.
'Uncle's hand is very shaky now." she said. 'And he's so sleepy. I don't think he signs his
name very well.'
'He doesn't have to have beautiful writing. He just has to sign,' said the agent.
'Can I hold his hand, to help him?'
'Yes, hold his hand, girl - that'll be all right.'
Netty went into the house, and the agent went on smoking his cigar outside the window.
He saw Netty put the pen and the papers in front of her uncle, and touch his arm, and
speak to him. She showed him where to write his name on the papers, and put the pen in
his hand. Then she stood behind him, and held his hand. But the agent could still see a
bit of his head, and he saw the old man's hand write his name on the papers.
Then Netty came out and gave the papers to the agent, and the agent signed his name as
witness. He gave her the paper signed by the squire, and left.
And the next morning Netty told the neighbours that her uncle was dead in his bed. So
that's how Netty Sargent lost her house and field, and got them back again - with a
husband. But Jasper was a mistake as a husband. After a few years he started hitting
Netty - not very hard, but it made her angry: Then she told a neighbour about the
leasehold business, and the story gotaround. Bv then the old squire was dead, and the
squire's son got to hear the story. But Netty was a pretty young woman, and the squire's
son never did anything about it.