THE LAST LEAF by O.Henry

THE LAST LEAF

by O.Henry

In November a cold, unseen stranger whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. Mr. Pneumonia wasn’t what you would call a chivalric old gentleman. A mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer. But Johnsy he smote; and she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house.

“She has one chance in – let us say, ten,” said the doctor to Sue. “And that chance is for her to want to live. Your little lady has made up her mind that she’s not going to get well.”

After the doctor had gone Sue went into the workroom and cried a Japanese napkin to a pulp. Then she swaggered into Johnsy’s room. Johnsy lay, scarcely making a ripple under the bedclothes.  Sue arranged her board and began a pen-and-ink drawing to illustrate a magazine story.

Johnsy’s eyes were open wide. she was looking out of the window and counting – counting backward.

“Twelve,” she said, and a little later “eleven”; and then “ten”; and “nine”; and then “eight” and “seven” almost together.

Sue looked solicitously out of the window. There was only a bare, dreary yard to be seen, and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away. An old, old ivy vine, gnarled and decayed at the roots, climbed half way up the brick wall. The cold breath of autumn had stricken its leaves from the vine until its skeleton branches clung, almost bare, to the crumbling bricks.

“What is it, dear? Tell you Sudie.”

“Six,” said Johnsy, in almost a whisper. “They are falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. There goes another one. There are only five left now.”

“Leaves. On the ivy vine. When the last one falls I must go, too. I’ve known that for three days. Didn’t the doctor tell you?”

“Oh, I never heard of such nonsense,” complained Sue, with a magnificent scorn… “Johnsy, dear. Will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not to look out of the window until I’m done working? I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old hermit miner.”

Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath them. Behrman was a failure in art. He had been about to paint a masterpiece, but he had never yet begun it. He drank gin to excess, and still talked of his coming masterpiece.

Sue found Behrman smelling strongly of juniper berries in his dimly lighted den below. She told him of Johnsy’s fancy, and how she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as a leaf herself, float away, when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker. Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt for such idiotic imagination.

… When Sue awoke from an hour’s sleep the next morning she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes starting at the drawn green shade.

“Pull it up; I want to see,” she ordered, in a whisper.

But lo! After the beating rain and fierce gusts of wind that had endured through the livelong night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf. It was the last on the vine.

“It is the last one. I thought it would surely fall during the night. I heard the wind. It will fall today and I shall die at the same time,” said Johnsy. The loneliest thing in all the world is a soul when it is making ready on its mysterious, far journey.

The day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall. And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again loosed, while the rain still beat against the windows and pattered down on the low Dutch eaves.

When it was light enough Johnsy, the merciless, commanded that the shade be raised.  The ivy leaf was still there. Johnsy lay for a long time looking for it.

“I’ve been a bad girl, Sudie”, she said. “Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was. It’s a sin to want to die.”

“Even chances,” said the doctor in the afternoon, taking Sue’s thin shaking hand in his. “With good nursing you’ll win. And now I must see another case I have downstairs. Behrman, his name is. He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute. There’s no hope for him.”

…..The next afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay. “I have something to tell you, little mouse,” she said. “Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia to-day in hospital. He was ill only two days. The janitor found him on the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. They couldn’t have imagined where he was on such a dreadful night. And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and some scattered brushes, and – look out of the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. It’s Behrman’s masterpiece – he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell.”

Listen to the audio of the storyto practise your pronunciation. 
http://listentogenius.com/recordings/TheLastLeaf.mp3

Task 1. Read the text and translate it.

          Task 2. Find English equivalents of the following words and phrases.

1. умереть от воспаления легких

2. преследовать 

3. благородный, галантный

4. дурень, простофиля

5. шедевр, произведение искусства

6. японская салфетка

7. тихонько войти

8. пульсация, рябь

9. озабоченно

10. веточка  плюща

11. рушившийся 

12. чепуха, ерунда

13.  величественная ухмылка 

14. золотоискатель-отшельник

15. в хлам, запоем

16. хрупкий

17. соблазн 

18. серьезный, критический, острый

19. швейцар

20. фонарь

21. разбросанные
22. ледяные пальцы
23. дурень, тупица
24. холодные как лёд
25. шедевр

          Task 3. Match the synonyms 

1. scorn                           k) weep
2. duffer                          j) disdain
3. nonsense                     h) lamp
4. hermit                         g) mockery
5. fragile                         f) fool
6. stalke about               e) bosh
7. cry                               d) loner
8. contempt                     c) brittle
9. lantern                        b) porter
10. janitor                      a) roam around

          Task 4. Point out the main idea and the conflicts raised in O. Henry's story.
          
          Task 5. Write 5 questions to the text in your exercise-books.

Task 6. Watch this presentation about O. Henry's biography

Task 6. Watch this film.

What is "nunchi", the Korean secret to happiness?

What is 'nunchi', the Korean secret to happiness? 

In a new book, Euny Honginv estigates the social ‘art of understanding’ that Koreans cultivate from childhood.

Koreans don’t say someone has ‘good’ nunchi, but ‘quick’ nunchi – the ability to rapidly process changing social information. Photograph: Sensor Spot/GettyImages

Have you ever wanted to read minds? Or wished you had a little bit more of whatever ineffable quality it is that makes some people seem effortlessly popular at parties, lucky in love, and successful at work?

Perhaps you need to brush up on you nunchi – a traditional Korean concept of situational awareness and the focus of the Korean American journalist and author Euny Hong’s new book The Power of Nunchi: The Korean Secret to Happiness and Success.

According to Hong, nunchi is the “art of understanding what people are thinking and feeling” – a quality held by those who are sensitive to the dynamics within a given group.

Koreans cultivate nunchi from a young age. “Kids in Korea know the word by age three,” she says. “You usually learn it in the negative; if everyone is standing on the right side of an escalator and a kid is lounging on the left, the parent will say, ‘Why don’t you have any nunchi?’ It’s partly about not being rude, but it’s also partly, ‘Why are you not plugged into your environment?’”

The word “nunchi” itself roughly translates to “eye-measure”, a sort of sizing-up, not of individuals but of the overall context and atmosphere of a situation. It’s applicable to just about every social setting one can be in, from a wedding to a job interview.

In action, nunchi involves noticing who, in any given context, is speaking, who is listening, who interrupts, who apologizes, who is rolling their eyes. From there, one can make potentially useful assessments about the nature of relationships and hierarchies within a group, the overall mood, and how to behave accordingly.

As the truly skilled discern such cues intuitively even as they’re constantly in flux, Koreans don’t say someone has “good” nunchi, but “quick” nunchi – the ability to rapidly process changing social information.

Because people with quick nunchi take the time to read the room, their chances of success in any social environment are high – they’re more likely to fit in and make connections and are less prone to coming across as clueless or incompetent, or of committing awkward faux pas.

“At a very basic level, people will be happier to be around you if you have quick nunchi,” says Hong, “and from a Machiavellian point of view, you can negotiate better” by staying quiet, listening carefully, and gathering information from others before speaking.

Because nunchi is a soft skill premised on discretion, Hong notes it can be a superpower for introverts. She claims approaching social situations through the lens of nunchi even helped her battle social anxiety, allowing her to remain grounded in stressful circumstances.

In her book, Hong also makes the case that nunchi not only helps individuals but has factored into Korea’s rapid development from one of the world’s poorest nations to a high-income, culturally powerful country in a matter of generations.

This is, as they say, big if true.

Yet if the subtle art of nunchi is so powerful, why does it seem that these days corporate and world leaders seem to more often be blustery loudmouths, rather than sensitive, quiet types?

Hong’s investigation of this question illuminates why the concept of nunchi – with its emphasis on unity, relationship building, and collective harmony – may be particularly relevant at a cultural and political moment characterized by divisiveness. It is, after all, essentially the power of understanding others.

“In the west, autonomy and individualism are emphasized, and nunchi seems to advocate the opposite,” she says. “But developing nunchi doesn’t mean becoming a lemming, it just means you are using data to your advantage to create comfort for yourself and everybody else.”

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/11/what-is-nunchi-the-korean-secret-to-happiness

Task 1. Read and translate the article.

Task 2. Find English equivalents of the following words and phrases.

1)    быть погруженным

2)    различать

3)    быдло

4)    исследование, расследование

5)    совершить оплошность/проступок

6)    подтянуть, привести в порядок

7)    невежественный

8)    вписываться

9)    крикун

10) раскол, спор

11) неописуемый, невыразимый

12) осмотрительность

Task 3. Match the synonyms

1)    easily                          a) loudmouth

2)    discover                       b) clueless

3)    survey                          с) divisiveness

4)    stumble (n.)                 d) efortlessly

5)    screamer, roarer           e) discern

6)    ignorant                        f) investigation

7)    split, controversy         g) faux pas

Task 4. Answer the following questions

1)    What is understood by “nunchi”? Where did this notion originate from?

2)    When and how do Koreans learn and cultivate nunchi?

3)    In what social context can nunchi be applicable to?

4)    Why do Koreans use the word quick in a positive sense referring to someone’s nunchi?

5)    How can nunchi be helpful to introverts?

6)    Why doesn’t nunchi have the power to change the world politics for the better?

7)    Do you think you possess the superpower of nunchi? Do you know any people who do? Does it really promotesuccess? 

8)    Can you find any adequate equivalents of the notion nunchi in your own culture or any other cultures of the world?

9)    If you were asked to call your national secret to happiness, what would it be? 

Task 5. Watch the video "How the power of nunchi could change your life". Be ready to discuss the video.

Task 6. Write a rendering of the article.

LATE AT NIGHT by K. Mansfield

LATE AT NIGHT

by K. Mansfield

(Virginia is seated  by the fire.  Her outdoor things  are thrown  on a chair; her boots are faintly steaming in the fender).

Virginia (laying the letter down): I don't like this letter at all—not at all. I wonder if he means it to be so snubbing—or if it's just his way. (Reads.) "Many thanks for the socks. As I have had five pairs sent me lately, I am sure you will be pleased to hear I gave yours to a friend in my company." No, it can't be my fancy. He must have meant it; it is a dreadful snub.

Oh, I wish I hadn't sent him that letter telling him to take care of himself. I'd give anything to have that letter back. I wrote it on a Sunday evening too—that was so fatal. I never ought to write letters on Sunday evenings— I always let myself go so. I can't think why Sunday evenings always have such a funny effect on me. I simply yearn to have someone to write to—or to love. Yes, that's it; they make me feel sad and full of love. Funny, isn't it?

I must start going to church again; it's fatal sitting in front of the fire and thinking. There are the hymns, too; one can let oneself go so safely in the hymns. (She croons.) "And then for those our Dearest and our Best"— (but her eye lights on the next sentence in the letter). "It was most kind of you to have knitted them yourself." Really! Really, that is too much! Men are abominably arrogant! He actually imagines that I knitted them myself.

Why, I hardly know him; I've only spoken to him a few times. Why on earth should I knit him socks? He must think I am far gone to throw myself at his head like that. For it certainly is throwing oneself at a man's head to knit him socks—if he's almost a stranger. Buying him an odd pair is a different matter altogether. No; I shan't write to him again—that's definite. And, besides, what would be the use? I might get really keen on him and he'd never care a straw for me. Men don't.

I wonder why it is that after a certain point I always seem to repel people. Funny, isn't it! They like me at first; they think me uncommon, or original; but then immediately I want to show them—even give them a hint—that I like them, they seem to get frightened and begin to disappear. I suppose I shall get embittered about it later on. Perhaps they know somehow that I've got so much to give. Perhaps it's that that frightens them. Oh, I feel I've got such boundless, boundless love to give to somebody—I would care for somebody so utterly and so completely— watch over them—keep everything horrible away—and make them feel that if ever they wanted anything done I lived to do it. If only I felt that somebody wanted me, that I was of use to somebody, I should become a different person. Yes; that is the secret of life for me—to feel loved, to feel wanted, to know that somebody leaned on me for everything absolutely—forever. And I am strong, and far, far richer than most women. I am sure that most women don't have this tremendous yearning to—express themselves. I suppose that's it—to come into flower, almost. I'm all folded and shut away in the dark and nobody cares. I suppose that is why I feel this tremendous tenderness for plants and sick animals and birds—it's one way of getting rid of this wealth, this burden of love. And then, of course, they are so helpless—that's another thing. But I have a feeling that if a man were really in love with you he'd be just as helpless too. Yes, I am sure that men are very helpless...

I don't know why, I feel inclined to cry tonight. Certainly not because of this letter; it isn't half important enough. But I keep wondering if things will ever change or if I shall go on like this until I am old—just wanting and wanting. I'm not as young as I was even now. I've got lines and my skin isn't a bit what it used to be. I never was really pretty, not in the ordinary way, but I did have lovely skin and lovely hair—and I walked well. I only caught sight of myself in a glass today—stooping and shuffling along.... I looked dowdy and elderly. Well, no; perhaps not quite as bad as that; I always exaggerate about myself. But I'm faddy about things now—that's a sign of age, I'm sure. The wind—I can't bear being blown about in the wind now; and I hate having wet feet. I never used to care about those things—I used almost to revel in them—they made me feel so one with Nature in a way. But now I get cross and I want to cry and I yearn for something to make me forget. I suppose that's why women take to drink. Funny, isn't it!

The fire is going out. I'll burn this letter. What's it to me? Pooh! I don't care. What is it to me? The five other women can send him socks! And I don't suppose he was a bit what I imagined. I can just hear him saying, "It was most kind of you, to have knitted them yourself." He has a fascinating voice. I think it was his voice that attracted me to him—and his hands; they looked so strong—they were such man's hands. Oh, well, don't sentimentalize over it; burn it!... No, I can't now—the fire's gone out. I'll go to bed. I wonder if he really meant to be snubbing. Oh, I am tired. Often when I go to bed now I want to pull the clothes over my head - and just cry.

Funny, isn’t it.

Task 1. Look at the title of the story. What do you think the story is going to be about?

Task 2. Read the text. Be ready to discuss the main idea.

Task 3. Translate into Russian these words and phrases.

Outdoor things, faintly steaming in the fender, a dreadful snub, I wish I hadn't sent, fatal, to yearn to have someone, the hymns, to croon, to be abominably, arrogant, to throw myself at his head , an odd pair, to get really keen on smb, never care a straw for me, to repel people, give them a hint, to get, embittered about smth, boundless love, so utterly and so completely, tremendous, to be folded and shut away, burden , to feel inclined to, to catch sight of myself, to stoop and shuffle along, to revel in , yearn for something.

Task 4. Write a summary.

Task 5. Write linguo-stylistic analysis of the text. 

Foreigners Help Fill US Teaching Positions

Foreigners Help Fill US Teaching Positions

The New Mexico high desert is known for its beauty. The area enjoys sunny skies, and even snow in winter.One thing missing has been teachers.

The Aztec Municipal School District serves about 3,000 students in northwestern New Mexico. But, for nearly eight years, the school district had trouble finding full-time teachers for its special education students. It instead used temporary or substitute teachers to work with children who have physical disabilities or difficulty learning.

Tania Prokop is Aztec’s Deputy Superintendent. She tells VOA Americans were not interested in the full-time positions.

Aztec is not alone. New Mexico State University reported that the state had 740 unfilled teaching positions in public schools.

A study from the Learning Policy Institute estimates that nationwide, public school districts currently have a shortage of 112,000 teachers.

This year, through a program that brings foreigners to teach in U.S. schools, Aztec has eight full-time, special education teachers. All of them are Filipinos with J1 visas from the U.S. State Department. They teach some of the children who attend the district’s six schools.

Aztec’s Filipino teachers are trained specialists in their areas of expertise. They come to teach for three years, and the visa can be extended for up to five years. The J1 visa, however, does not lead to a green card, or permanent residency in the United States.

Prokop gives high marks to the Filipino teachers, saying it has been “a wonderful experience.”

Not all of it has been easy.

Different cultures

Both the Filipino teachers and the American students have to get used to the differences in their cultures. Prokop says managing the classroom is “one of the biggest things” the teachers have had to learn.

Learning in the classroom is not just limited to reading books and doing homework.

Prokop said that many of the students have never traveled far from home.

“So to have somebody come from a whole different country across an ocean and share those experiences and share pictures and share stories and share food and we're coming up to some holidays. So they'll be sharing some different experiences with holidays.”

Treated like family

Prokop said the community welcomed the eight Filipino teachers and helped them settle into their new homes.

Riva Alipin is one of the eight. She teaches mathematics — integrated Algebra — at Aztec High School with another teacher.

“Working in America is a dream of every Filipino teacher,” she told VOA. She said she believes America provides an “excellent” chance for them to improve their teaching.

Coming here to teach in America, she said, she needed "a lot of guts.” In other words, one must be brave. Alipin also said it was “risky” because New Mexico is so far away from her homeland.

Worried about discrimination

She also was concerned about discrimination.“There has been news in my country that Filipino teachers have been taken for granted, not by the school admin (leaders) but by the students,” she said.

“The students have bullied teachers for being a non-native English speaker. Filipinos are discriminated because of our accent” — meaning, the way they talk. But she said that, “my experience in Aztec High school proves it wrong.”

She says the students are kind and respectful.

How the U.S. is different

Some things the Filipino teachers will need to get used to? The food and weather. Americans eat different foods. In addition, New Mexico has very different weather from the Philippines. The eight teachers are excited about winter, since it will be their first snow.

Alipin found her job through a business called Bepauche International LLC.

Cheryl Marie Maghinay is co-owner of the company. She left the Philippines and moved to the United States over 10 years ago to accept a job as a teacher. In 2016, she launched her company to help other Filipino teachers find work. This year she helped place teachers in schools across the country, from Florida to Montana and Colorado.

Bepauche is based in Farmington, New Mexico, where Maghinay was a high school teacher. She told VOA almost 1,000 teachers a year contact the company. Of that number, 100 to 200 find jobs in U.S. schools.

Maghinay works with the teachers before they start in their new positions. She said it is not easy for them when they first arrive.

But she adds that the foreign teacher program increases understanding between people from different countries.

“I see the benefits and I see the beauty in diversity. You know, different people come together and learn together. Different practices and also knowledge about each other's culture. It's really, it's really nice.”

More than 3,000 teachers given visas

The U.S. State Department says 3,252 foreign teachers were given exchange visas in 2018. The countries sending the most teachers were the Philippines, Spain, Jamaica, China and France. The top five states with the most foreign teachers were North and South Carolina, New Mexico, Texas and California.

In Illinois, 138 teachers from Spain work in public schools under the visitor exchange program. The state has been taking part in the program for 22 years.

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) told VOA it plans to hire an International Teacher Recruitment Specialist “who will be responsible for establishing relationships with other countries.”

In an email to VOA, Jackie Matthews, an official with the ISBE, said the goal is to employ teachers who speak English and can “teach in areas of need.” But, she called it a “short-term solution while ISBE continues to support ‘grow our own’ teacher programs.”

What is causing the shortage of teachers?

Matthews said Americans give different reasons, including pay, pensions and working conditions. The ISBE says another problem is that educators are not always being prepared to teach subjects where there is the highest demand in U.S. schools. Illinois’ biggest shortages are in bilingual and special education.

Anne Ball wrote this story, with information from the Associated Press. The editor was George Grow.

What do you think of this story? Write to me in the comments section below.​

Words in This Story

district – n. an area or section of a country, city, or town: such as an area established by a government for official government business

superintendent – n. a person who directs or manages a place, department, organization

residency – n. the state or fact of living in a place

manage – v. to have control of (something, such as a business, department, sports team)

take for granted – v. to fail to properly notice or appreciate (someone or something that is helpful or important to you)

bully – v. to frighten, hurt, or threaten (a smaller or weaker person) : to act like a bully toward (someone)

hire – v. to give work or a job to (someone) in exchange for wages or a salary

pension – n. an amount of money that a company or the government pays to a person who is old or sick and no longer works

bilingual – adj. able to speak and understand two languages

Task 1. Listen to the record of the article.

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/foreigners-help-fill-us-teaching-positions/5144321.html

Task 2. Write out the new words paying attention to the pronunciation.

Task 3. Fulfill the Quiz - Foreigners Help Fill US Teaching Positions.

Task 4. Write 5 questions to discuss the article.

Task 5. Read the article and be ready to discuss the main idea.

Task 6. Write a rendering of the article.

Task 7. Watch the video "Problems with our School System" and be raedy to discuss it.