ENGLISH FOR INTERMEDIATE STUDENTS

32
If she sleeps a little longer,
Baby too shall fly away.
E. S. T. COLERIDGE. ANSWER TO A CHILD’S QUESTION
Do you ask what the birds say? The Sparrow, the Dove,
The Linnet and Thrush say, “I love and I love!”
In the winter they’re silent – the wind is so strong;
What it says I don’t know, but it sings a loud song.
But green leaves and blossoms, and sunny warm weather,
And singing and loving – all come back together.
“I love and I love,” almost all the birds say,
From sun-rise to star-rise, so gladsome are they.
But the Lark is so brimful of gladness and love,
The green field below him, the blue sky above,
That he sings and he sings, and for ever sings he –
“I love my Love and Love loves me!”
‘Tis no wonder that he’s full of joy to the brim,
When he loves his Love and his Love loves him.
5. Interpret the English proverbs and find their equivalents in Latvian.
1. Agree like cats and dogs.
2. All cats are grey in the dark.
3. All is fish that comes to the net.
4. All lay loads on a willing horse.
5. Barking dogs seldom bite.
6. Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow.
7. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
8. A bird may be known by its song.
9. A bull must be taken by the horns.
10. A cat in gloves catches no mice.
11. The cat shuts its eyes when it steals the cream.
12. A cock is bold on his own dunghill.
13. The cow knows not the worth of her tail till she loses it.
14. Dog doesn’t eat dog.
15. Don’t teach a fish to swim.
16. The early bird catches the worm.
6. Make up and act out situations using the proverbs.
7. Give your own examples illustrating the behaviour of people or
animals as characterized in the proverbs in ex. 5. These may be
based on your own experience or taken from books or films.