Lesson 34

             Text A

      Stage Fright
    Tom was sick with disappointment. The piano recital ha.d turned out well, all except for his solo. He couldn't understand how it could have happened.
    He had practised for weeks that seemed like months. He had given up sports until after the recital because he wanted to make his parents proud of him. He spent all his time with the pi

    His teacher had said he was gifted. It was true that he accepted music as another language, another way to talk to people.
    His grandparents, aunt, and uncle all came to hear him play, and he was anxious to show them that he was the best in the whole class.

    But, when he stood up to go to the piano, his knees felt weak. He looked into the audience and saw his family smiling back at him.
    His mouth went dry. His fingers began to tremble. The trembling became uncontrollable shaking as though he had caught a bad cold.

    He sat down at the piano. He took a deep breath. He played the first five bars of his music , then realized with horror that he had forgotten thc rest. He started over. thinking that would help. It didn't.
    He stood up as if in slow motion and walked offf the st age. He was a failure. The demon stage fright had left a brilliant musical career in ruins.

          Text B

  I Shall Never Fly Again
    Tom Jackson and Charles Brown are talking about ttheir summer holidays. TOM:   Where are you going for your holidays , Charles ?
CHARLES:   To Australia. I'm going to visit my uncle in Brisbane for three weeks.
TOM:   Good gracious! You certainly are lucky. How are you going there?
CHARLES:   By air, of course. It takes over two weeks to go by sea.
TOM:   I once went to Singa pore by air. It was very exciting-but never agaim'.
CHARLES:   Why? Did you feel frightcned?
TOM:   For a short time. One of the engines caught fire.
CHARLES:   What did thc pilot do?
TOM:   He put it out and flew back to the airport. Then he asked the pcople at the
   airport where the emergency runway was.
CHARLES:   Did you land safely ?
TOM:   Yes, we did. But I shall never fly again.

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