Vaughan world by Richard Vaughan Read Free Book Online

from the office of the Prime Minister. It was a speech in French that the Prime Minister was going to give in front of the British Parliament in English. The instructions were simply to translate the document into English. However, Pierre knew that the Prime Minister didn’t speak English well, so he made the decision to translate the speech into simple, direct English. The problem was that the Prime Minister always wrote his speeches in complicated French, so Pierre had to do more than translate; he had to change the style of the speech completely without changing the power of the message. He started on the document at 9:30 in the morning and finished it just before 3:00 p.m. His boss sent the translation by special e-mail to the office of the Prime Minister. Two days later, the boss received a telephone call from the Prime Minister himself, inviting him and Pierre to a coffee the next day. The Prime Minister told Pierre’s boss that when he read the speech, he was surprised at first. It was so different from the speech in French. But as he continued reading it, he saw that the message was perfectly expressed. In fact, he thought that Pierre’s version was a new speech that was more effective and more powerful than the original. Pierre’s boss congratulated him. He was as excited as his translator about the opportunity to have a coffee with the Prime Minister.

    1. How does Pierre consider himself?
    2. Does he consider translating a difficult job?
    3. Who was he going to meet the next day?
    4. Who did the Prime Minister want to congratulate?
    5. What did he want to congratulate him for?
    6. How did Pierre consider this translation?
    7. Did he do a special job this time or a normal job?
    8. When did he receive the document?
    9. Was it a speech or a report?
    10. Was it in French or in English?
    11. Who was the Prime Minister going to speak to?
    12. What language was he going to use in the speech?
    13. Were the translation instructions simple or difficult?
    14. What did Pierre know about the Prime Minister?
    15. What decision did he make?
    16. What can you say about the Prime Minister’s style?
    17. What did Pierre decide to change in the speech?
    18. What did he have to maintain in the speech?
    19. What time did he start on the translation?
    20. What time did he finish?
    21. Who sent the translation to the Prime Minister?
    22. How did he send it?
    23. Who did his boss receive a phone call from?
    24. How many days later did he receive it?
    25. Who did the Prime Minister invite to his office?
    26. What did he invite them to?
    27. Did he invite them for the next day or for later?
    28. Did the Prime Minister read the speech?
    29. Was he surprised or angry at first?
    30. Did he continue reading the speech?
    31. What was his opinion about the message?
    32. What did he think about Pierre’s version?
    33. Who did Pierre’s boss congratulate?
    34. Why was he excited?

19. DENISE JOHNSON
    Last Monday, Denise Johnson was nervous. She was in her ballet class after school and the teacher told her and the other students that a woman was coming to give them an examination on Thursday. The woman was from the American Academy of Dance. The exam was held every year for all the girls who wanted to continue with ballet under the supervision of the Academy. If they passed this first exam, then they became members of the Academy and started officially in the category of elementary one. The teacher told the students to go home and tell their parents that the exam cost 15 dollars and the membership 10 dollars a year. Denise didn’t like to take examinations. She always got very nervous when she had to take a test or an exam. That night, she told her mother about the exam and the Academy. She also told her that she didn’t want to become a member because she didn’t like to take exams. Nancy told Denise that the teacher thought she had a lot of potential. She told her that she had good technique and that the exam was probably very easy.