HISTORY OF SUPERSTITIONS

Read the text and find the definitions for the words in bold.

When a man sneezes, people still say in some countries, "God bless you." They do not know why they say it; they simply repeat what they heard older people say when they were children, and do not know that every time they use these words they recall the age when people believed that evil spirits could enter into a man, and that when a man sneezed he expelled one of these spirits. It is a very old and widely spread superstition that when a dog howls at night,  someone not far away is dying or will soon die. Many people are uncomfortable when they hear a dog howling after dark, not because they believe that dogs have any knowledge that death is present or coming, but because their ancestors for many centuries believed that the howling of a dog was ominous, and the habits of our ancestors leave deep traces in our natures.

Now, every time the melancholy howling of a dog at night makes a child uncomfortable, he recalls the old superstition which identified the roaring or wailing of the wind with a wolf or dog into which a god or demon had entered, with power to summon the spirits of men to follow him as he rushed along in the darkness. In the old homes in the forests, thousands of years ago, children crowded about the open fire and trembled when a great blast shook the house, for fear that the gigantic beast who made the sound would call them and they would be compelled to follow him. We think of wind as air in motion; they thought of it as the breath and sound of some living creature. When we say that the wind "whistled in the keyhole," or "kissed the flowers," or "drove the clouds" before it, we are using poetically the language our forefathers used literally.

We speak of "the siren voice of pleasure," "the blow of fate," "the smile of fortune," and do not remember, often do not know, that we are recalling that remote past when people believed that there were Sirens on the coast of Crete whose voices were so sweet that sailors could not resist them and were drawn on to the rocks and drowned; that fate was a terrible, relentless, passionless person with supreme power over gods and men; that fortune was a being who smiled or frowned as men smile or frown, but whose smile meant prosperity and her frown disaster.

Vocabulary Task

bound	bewail	clog
courtesy	incorrigible	infatuated

1.     He was one of the few who had never been properly _____ with the Romany patteran, as he privately named her for her continuous flow of inconsequential chatter, and had therefore never liked her.

2.     One fine evening a young princess put on her bonnet and _____, and went out to take a walk by herself in a wood; and when she came to a cool spring of water, that rose in the midst of it, she sat herself down to rest a while.

3.     After a time she threw it up so high that she missed catching it as it fell; and the ball ______ away, and rolled along upon the ground, till last it fell down into the spring.

4.     Then she began to _____ her loss, and said, “Alas! If I could only get my ball again, I would give all my fine clothes and jewels, and everything that I have in the world.”

5.     Stop, on the other hand, before overwhelming her with an excess of _____.

6.     This is the province of the ______ gossip and the new reporter, with neither of whom you can hope to cope.

Vocabulary Task (Intermediate-Advanced level)

chuck	commodity	resign
be bethroted to someone	oscillator	whir

1.     ______ are a building block in integrated circuit design.

2.     The willow wren with his army also came flying through the air with such a humming, and _____, and swarming that everyone was uneasy and afraid and on both sides they advanced against each other.

3.     He stared five minutes, ______ away his cigarette, cleared his throat, spat, and walked out of the zoo.

4.     He’d got it whole in the five minutes he’d watched it staring into infinity with a tiger’s terrible ______ and pride.

5.     Before joining the Rough Guides in 1984, he worked as a sailor on the Red Sea, and as a ______ dealer in Peru.

6.     Quite young she _______ the Dauphin of France, who became afterwards King Francis the Second, and she was married to him when a mere child.

Camp cookery (Intermediate-Advanced level)

In camp life, small and large birds should be roasted, broiled, or stewed.

Pick all the feathers off, cut a slit in them, and draw them. Either wash or wipe carefully. If for roasting, tie the legs down, and place in the pan. Sprinkle with flour, cover the bottom of the pan with water, and roast, if ducks, thirty minutes, grouse and partridges the same. Small birds, about half as long. The oven must be very hot.

Birds Roasted in their Feathers

Open the bird in the usual manner, and draw it; then cover with wet clay, and bury in hot coals. In forty minutes, draw from the coals, and peel off the clay, when feathers and skin will come also. A gentleman assures me that they are perfectly delicious cooked in this manner.

Broiled Birds

Clean, and split down the back. Wipe dry, and broil over a clear fire, if small, ten minutes, but, if large, fifteen. Season with salt, pepper, and butter, and serve on toast.

Stewed Partridges or Pigeons

Place two partridges in a small kettle, and dredge with salt, pepper, flour, half teaspoonful of mace, half of cloves, and cover with cold water. Cover tight, and simmer two hours. Thicken with three spoonfuls of flour, and stir in two spoonfuls of catsup; simmer one hour longer, and serve. Grouse and pigeons are stewed in the same manner.

Brown Fricassee of Chicken

Cut two chickens or old fowl into handsome pieces, and parboil them in just water enough to cover them; when they are tender, take them up, and drain them dry. Cut a pound of salt pork into slices, and fry them brown; take up the pork, dredge the chicken with salt, pepper, and flour, and fry a dark brown in the pork fat. When the chicken is all fried, stir into the remaining pork fat half a cup of dry flour; stir this until a dark brown, then pour on it one quart of the liquor in which the chicken was boiled. (This liquor must be boiling.) Season with pepper and salt to taste. Lay the chicken in this gravy, and simmer twenty minutes. Garnish the dish with boiled rice.

White Fricassee of Chicken

Boil the chicken until tender, and then cut it into small pieces. With the water in which it was boiled make gravy, allowing half a cup of flour and two spoonful of butter to every quart of water. Season with pepper and salt; turn in the chicken, and let it boil five minutes, and serve. Garnish the dish with boiled rice.

Chicken Curry

Make the same as white fricassee, with the addition of one teaspoonful of Indian curry to one pint of gravy, if it is liked strong, if not, half a teaspoonful. Dissolve the curry in a little water, and stir in. Garnish the dish with rice. Veal and mutton can be curried in the same manner.

Chicken Salad

Boil tender four good-sized chickens; when cold, cut off the white meat, and chop rather coarse. Cut off the white part of the celery, and chop in the same manner. To two quarts and a pint of the chicken, allow one quart and a pint of the celery and a spoonful of salt. Mix well together, and then stir in part of the dressing. Shape the salad in a flat dish, and pour over the remainder of the dressing. Garnish with hard-boiled eggs, beets, and the tops of the celery.

Sauce for Birds

Put one tablespoonful of butter into a pan; and, when it gets hot, add one tablespoonful of flour; stir until brown, then add one cup of boiling water, and salt and pepper to taste.

Broiled Chicken

Split down the back, wash, and wipe dry, and broil over clear coals twenty-five minutes. Season with pepper, salt, and butter.

Key words:

Find definitions for the words below:

1.     Garnish

2.     Simmer

3.     Dredge

4.     Grouse

5.     Mace

6.     Pan

7.     Broil

8.     Stir

9.     Mutton

10.                        Sprinkle