Minis
Mini Copy Book

Each post in this section is a short précis (summary) of a passage in The Copy Book. All of them are in modern English. They are intended for students of English as a Foreign Language at Elementary Level.

Sport and Sportsmen

Arthur MacPherson

MacPherson’s tireless efforts to promote Russian sport earned him a unique Imperial honour, and the enmity of the Communists.

Length: 53 words

Sport and Sportsmen

The Aspden Cup

British factory workers started a historic three-cornered league in the Russian city of St Petersburg.

Length: 53 words

Extracts from Literature

One False Step

Louisa Musgrove thought she had hit on a sure method of winning Captain Wentworth’s affections.

Length: 58 words

Extracts from Literature

The Living Past

High above the roof of the Amazonian rainforest, Professor Challenger sees something that eerily reminds him of home.

Length: 55 words

Lives of the Saints

Lost Innocence

In the fourth century, Britain’s Christians acquired a taste for watering down the mystery of their message.

Length: 59 words

Extracts from Literature

Beginner’s Luck

As proof that ‘Providence protects children and idiots’, Mark Twain recalls his first taste of ten-pin bowling.

Length: 116 words