joining field began to amble through the open gateway, unnoticed by my cousin. We like cows but guessed that they would be as
little to her fancy as picnics and so hoped that they would go quietly back, satisfied that we were harmless. But one by one they
gradually advanced nearer and nearer. When my cousin chanced to look up, their eyes confronted hers. With one shriek of horror she
leapt into the air and ran, not to the car, where she might have taken refuge, but towards a gap in the hedge, so small that she could
not possibly have crawled through it. The cows, full of curiosity, gave chase. We were convulsed with laughter but my husband
managed to pull himself together, rounded up the cows, drove them back through the gateway and shut the gate. We thought that
disaster had been averted but our shaken guest, walking unsteadily back to us through a marshy bit of the field that the cows had
trampled into mud, lost her balance and fell on her face. A hot cup of coffee did nothing to restore her composure, so we had no
alternative but to pack up and go home. Never again, my cousin vowed bitterly, would she be so foolish as to go out on a picnic.
8. a) Tell the story of "Picnic" as the cousin might have told to her boy-friend, b) Work in pairs. You will tell each other the story in your own
words. Keep interrupting with questions, c) Imagine that you are an elderly cousin. Describe in your own words what happened to you on the day
after the picnic, d) Suppose you had been present at this event. Describe what you would have seen when the cows came into sight. Use your own
words as far as possible and do not include anything that is not in the passage, e) Imagine that you are the cousin. Describe what you saw and did.
9. In a narrative you can choose whether to report exactly what was said or report the main points of what was said.
Here are some ways of reporting the main points of what was said:
He wanted to know ...
He wondered ...
He tried to find out...
He mentioned something about...
He hinted that...
I found out that...
10. Read the following dialogue. Report the main points of what was said. Use the opening phrases of Ex. 9.
Newsagent's shop. Sunday morning. A young married couple, Anne and Jim, meet Ronald Marcer, a middle-aged librarian, while buying the Sunday
newspapers.
Ronald: "Sunday Telegraph", please. Thank you.
J i m : We would like all the Sunday papers. Why ... hullo, Mr. Marcer.
R o n a l d : Hullo.
J i m: You know my wife, Anne, don't you?
R o n a l d : Yes. We've met once or ... How are you?