The Copybook

Short passages for reading, drawn from history, legend, poetry and fiction.

379

© Ad Meskens, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Facts Factory by Charles Dickens

Mr Gradgrind and a Government expert on education make sure that the children of Coketown have the right opinions about everything.

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380

© David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse as told by Quintus Horatius Flaccus

A sophisticated City Mouse went to see his Country cousin, and pitied his simple fare.

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381

© Andy Reago and Chrissy McClarren, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Grammar of Jays and Cats by Mark Twain

In Jim Baker’s considered opinion, the bluejay had a much better command of language than Mark Twain’s cats did.

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382

From Royal MS 14 B VI, via the British Library and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

The Making of England from The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

In 917, King Edward embarked on a swashbuckling tour of the midlands, and brought their towns under one crown for the first time in five hundred years.

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383

By Andrey Rublev (?-?1430), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Glimpse of the Grail by Sir Thomas Malory

In a lonely castle upon a remote island, Sir Lancelot’s wanderings brought him once more into the presence of the elusive cup of Christ’s blood.

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384

By Henry R. Robinson, via the Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

A Right and a Duty by Daniel Webster

The tighter the US Government’s stranglehold on dissent grew, the harder Daniel Webster fought for freedom of speech.

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May 4 NS

April 21 OS

The Night-time Disciple : Nicodemus did not allow intellectual doubts to get in the way of what he knew in his heart.
She was a Phantom of Delight : Mary Wordsworth wasn’t pretty or bookish, but she was kind and vital, and William loved her.
Hardly : Tone down these bold assertions with ‘hardly’.
The Death of Julius Caesar : When Julius Caesar entered the Senate that day, a note warning him of treachery was clutched in his hand — unread.
Two Letters Home : A German soldier stopped the Great War so he could ask Captain Hulse to post a letter for him.
Smile : Choose adjectives of praise for these nouns, at about the 7/10 level.
The Making of Mark : St Mark wrote his Gospel as a summary of the preaching of St Peter.
Zheng He and the Rise of Malacca : Malacca became a refuge from the overbearing empires of the Far East, thanks to a celebrated Chinese admiral.
Confusables : Compose sentences to bring out the similarities and differences between these words.
Jill and I : Include yourself in these sentences about Jill.
Saddled : Use these words in sentences, and see if you can use one of them as a verb.
Russia’s Heroic Stand : In 1941, with much of the West subdued, Adolf Hitler bent the full force of his hatred on Moscow.
Approachable : Replace the verb ‘can’ with these alternatives, and explain how the meaning of the sentence has changed.
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