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21. IN THE COUNTRY Mr Cunnings works all week long and on Sundays he doesn’t like going out for a picnic or things like that. But last week his kids managed, after a long discussion, to convince him to go in the country for a picnic. Their car was too small and they borrowed a trailer from their neighbours. They set off early in the morning, having packed everything onto the trailer behind their car. It was a really fine day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and they soon enjoyed the greenery and the fresh air of the woods. Even Mr Cunnings was happy. “It wasn’t a bad idea after all”, he kept on repeating along the road. It took them two hours to find a nice spot that was absolutely ideal for a picnic. No one around for miles. Mrs Cunnings unpacked all the food and set it out on a tablecloth. It all looked so appetizing. Mr Cunnings found his corner under a tree, took out an old paper and started reading it. The kids began running among the trees shouting and singing. They enjoyed themselves tremendously. Helen, the youngest girl, went for a walk in the wood nearby. Suddenly she called her mother. Her mother thought she had seen a snake. On the contrary, she had found a sea of flowers. Wonderful coloured country flowers. Mrs Cunnings was very fond of flowers. She wanted to collect a big bunch, so she called also her husband to help them in picking the flowers. When they finished, they went back. But while they were occupied with the flowers, two cows, come from nowhere, attracted perhaps by the smell of food, had eaten everything and had crashed all their glasses and bottles too. Mr Cunnings took a stick and chased them away, but it was too late. The only thing left for them to do was to find a restaurant. There was a country hotel not far and they ate something there. It turned out to be a rather more expensive trip than they had bargained for! 1- Reproduce the story from the point of view of a) Mr Cunnings b- one of the kids 2- Build up a dialogue from this story 3- A friend told me that… 4- Who said the following and why? a) ‘It wasn’t a bad idea after all.’ 5- Complete the following short passages with the help of the key words and phrases provided. The latter may be freely used. When Dorothy, who was seven -year old, was left alone in the house, she decided to have some of her favourite strawberry jam. But the jampot was on the highest shelf in the kitchen, an she wasn’t tall enough to reach it. Stood on chair, still not tall enough, on table, still not tall enough; chair on table, just tall enough; knocked the pot off, fell on the floor, broke; mother came back, Dorothy on the floor, eating jam with a knife.