(a)

It is eight o'clock and the Jones family are eating breakfast. The children eat cereal with warm milk, bread and butter with jam. Mr Jones always enjoys a traditional English breakfast with sausage, bacon and eggs and then afterwards toast with (orange) marmelade.

The mother is following a diet and so only has a large glass of orange juice. Everyone, except for the mother, is sitting at the table in the dining room. Mrs Jones is in the kitchen and is preparing drinks- coffee for Mr Jones and Thomas, drinking chocolate for Mary and a cup of tea for herself. After breakfast Mr Jones will rest for ten to twenty minutes when he glances at the newspaper before he drives the children to their schools.

(b)

Thomas attends a secondary school nearby. He has to wear a uniform with grey trousers, white or grey shirt, a tie with blue and yellow diagonal stripes and finally a jacket with the school badge on the breast pocket. Mary is still less than eleven (still has less than eleven years) and so she is a member of a primary school, which one can (has the right to) attend without uniform.

Thomas checks his books for the day. Today his lessons are mathematics, music, English language and chemistry in the morning and during the afternoon art, geography and French.

(c).

For the most part Thomas enjoys his lessons. He is particularly good (clever) at French. Although he would prefer to study Esperanto further instead of French, he is the best pupil in the class in that subject probably (supposedly) on account of his knowledge of Esperanto. Understandably he founds French much more difficult than Esperanto.

(d).

Mary is excited because today she will not have her normal lessons but the whole class are going to go to the very worth visiting zoo at Bristol to study the wild animals there. She hopes to see the remarkable white tigers, who live there.

(e).

When everyone has left the house Mrs Jones starts her jobs. She prefers to do them immediately, finish and afterwards rest and look at the television. However, before she will be able to rest she has to wash the breakfast things, use both the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine; to visit the shops to buy various items and also to prepare the evening meal. When the others come home later she simply reheats the meals in the microwave oven. After she has finiashed her work then she will be able to look at tthe television or a video tape.

a).

A few years ago children knew a lot of geography because they collected postage stamps. Unfortunately nowadays they prefer computer games and these teach almost nothing. I remember very worth collecting stamps from interesting but, to the presentday children, possibly unknown countries. For example from the countries of the then British Empire : Gold Coast (now Ghana), Bechuanaland (now Botswana), Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) or similarly from the French Colonies (Empire) : Ivory Coast, Algeria, New Caledonia, Chad etc.

On the stamps one sees remarkable languages and even alphabets. One enjoyed distinguishing between the Chinese and Japanese, between the Thai and Burmese. Certainly we could immediately find on a world map both Madagascar and Bolivia; we learnt that the national emblem (symbol) for Japan is the chrysanthemum and that the money in Russia is the rouble and that in South Africa both English and Afrikaans are spoken.

(b).

Now you have learnt* Esperanto for 14 chapters and so you will be capable of easily corresponding with a foreign Esperantist. Obtain a suitable address from an Esperanto magazine for example EKo and write!

Write very legibly and simply (because your future correspondent wil possibly be a beginner). Use a beautiful and colourful stamp on the envelope. Everyone - even those, who do not collect them- will enjoy receiving an unusual postage stamp. Don't forget to enclose a picture of yourself and your family.

(* and still learning so present in Esperanto)

(a).

Yesterday I visited the home of my aunt and uncle. It is located near the central college and to reach there I had to go through the public park. The way goes around the lake, where one can often see anglers, after afterwards leads directly to the correct street. The house is the third on the right-hand side. The house is new and modern. It consists of a lounge, dining room, kitchen and upstairs three bedrooms (of which one is the nursery), the bathroom and the toilet. Outside is the garage and in the yard the kennel.

(b).

Behind the house is a beautiful garden, full of colourful flowers. When the weather is sufficiently good, my uncle enjoys sitting there on a bench and looking at the flowers and also the bees and other insects- particularly butterflies- which visit them. In the large tree one often glimpses squirrels and a magpie, whose nest is on a high branch. My uncle certainly prefers the fresh air outside and to smell the sweet odour of the roses, which he grows there.

(c).

I entered the lounge and Uncle William welcomed me. He said, "Sit down. There's a comfortable armchair." I looked around the room. On the floor was a beautiful Persian carpet, from the ceiling hung a huge chandelier and on its stand was the cage in which lived the canary. That beautiful yellow bird sang happily in spite of the miaows of Aunt Elizabeth's cat. The latter (i.e. my aunt) came into the room from the kitchen. She offered me a basket, jam full of fruit- apples, oranges, bananas, pears, peaches and even two sour lemons! I took a ripe banana.

(d).

I went up the stairs to the nursery, where my cousin Thomas was lying on the bed. He had been ill and the doctor required that he should stay in bed for one or two days. He became bored when he was alone and so it pleased him to converse with me. I gave him a magazine about athletics. Soon, when he is better Thomas will run the 200 metres for his school. Until then, however, my aunt nurses him with an old remedy - castor oil! Kill or cure, isn't it?

(a).

A very active Moscow Esperantist told me an amuzing tale. She was standing in a queue in a post office with a postal item about to be sent abroad. A man, standing behind her, became interested. "In what language are you corresponding with a foreigner?" - "In Esperanto" - "Oh! Esperanto isn't a language" - "Why do you think that?"- "Because it doesn't have any proverbs (In it are no proverbs)". The Esperantist, who was a collector of proverbs, said in Esperanto : " A large skull- but nothing inside"- "What did you say?" - "An Esperanto proverb"- "What does it mean?"- She translated. He immediately went away, understanding that there are proverbs in Esperano.

(In fact Zamenhof in his book 'Proverbo Esperanta' included 2630 proverbs. You can buy it from EC at £4).

(b).

It was about eight o'clock when my alarm clock loudly rung. I suddenly woke up and yawned. Reluctantly I got out of bed and went to the bathroom. There I looked at myself in the mirror and washed my hands and face. Now I went back to the bedroom to dress myself.

I looked out of the window, the sun was only weak (pale) and the weather seemed rather dubious. However I was now ready for breakfast. I went downstairs and greeted the wife. She had already made my breakfast. While I ate I read the paper and also my post.

(c). The silvery moon.

What did our ancestors think about the moon? Of course in their time there were no electric lights (lights were lacking) and so the night sky was very dark- the stars shone like diamands and the moon was a glorious silver object. Did they think that the moon was made of cheese? Of course not! When they looked at its beauty mirrowed in a lake, they probably thought that it was divine- the crown of the night sky. Nowadays scientists tell us that the moon is a large sphere, approximately a quarter of a million miles away. However when a man kisses his girl friend under the beautiful moon, possibly he again thinks that it is truly divine.

The Dinosaurs

Its brain was tiny but the huge beast functioned well. Every day, like its predecessors during millions of years, it woke up, stood and slowly, very slowly went- almost crawled to its favourite spot. There it lay for a few hours on its stone bed under the warming sun. When its blood was sufficiently warm, it stood up again and then realised that it was hungry. The giant animal raised its great head and carefully smelt the air. There!- behind that great rock- food.. This time our hero charged very quickly and soon reached its target. Although the pray was as big as a modern bull, one stroke by the tail of the giant beast felled it and when its huge fangs bit then........

One day even the tiny brain of this stupid animal understood that something unusual was happening. There were two suns in the sky and one was getting brighter all the time. Soon it began to pour but not with rain droplets but with streaks of light and afterwards meteorites. Suddenly a huge explosion, the earth shook so strongly that even the giant beast was knocked down. The sky darkened, the temperature plunged and it began to snow- not beautiful white flakes but with black dirt covered snow. Our animal was soon under a cover of this dreadful cold shit. The brain of Tyranosaurus Rex no longer worked at this low temperature but even if it could have certainly it would not realise that a comet had just hit the earth and the age of the dinosaurs had finished.

1). The Passport

A few years ago I decided to visit Mongolia and, of course, I needed a visa. During the eighth week before my flight I sent my passport, the required forms and my cheque to the Mongolia Embassy in London. The I waited and waited and continued to wait. Two weeks before the flight I still had not received my passport and so I telephoned the Mongolian Embassy. They checked...yes, they had received my passport...yes, they had issued a visa... and yes they had returned it to me two weeks ago! What a surprise!

During the next day I met the postman and asked him whether he could remember the package. He replied, "Certainly. It was unusual- from the Mongolia Embassy. I shoved it through your letter box possible two weeks ago". What a shock!

I visited the neighbours and asked whether they had received my package by mistake but no. What must I now do?

I telephoned the passport office at Liverpool and enquired if they were able to issue quickly a new passport. They replied, "Yes, almost immediately. We only need a letter from the Embassy and, of course, an extra payment." Now I again phoned the Embassy. There were very helpful and promised that they would write a letter to the Passport Office. However, unfortunately, the only man who has the authority (right) to issue a visa is now on holiday for three weeks and my flight now was in only ten days!

That evening I drunk- even got plastered (drunk very heavily)- to drown my sorrows (unhappiness). Finally I decided to go to bed. I zigzagged to the front door to bolt and lock it, but because I was drunk I dropped the key and when I tried to pick it up I simply kicked it underneath a cupboard. The cupboard, which contained overcoats, umbrellas etc., was located opposite the front door and underneath it was a narrow space. I kneeled and felt under the cupboard but instead of a key I found an envelope. My heart missed a beat- possibly my passport. I read it quickly. It was from someone somewhere who suggested that I might buy some new windows! Again I felt and found the key. But what was under it? Another envelope and with the magic words "The Embassy of the Mongolian Republic."

I was over the moon (was ecstatic). On the fifth page of my passport was a beautiful red visa. Now I did not go to bed but returned to the whisky bottle. This time to celebrate and toast the coming holiday.