various capsules.

"Do you want me to read to you?"

"All right, if you want to," said the boy. His face was very white and there were dark areas

under his eyes. He lay still in the bed and seemed very detached from what was going on.

I read aloud from Howard Pyle' s14 Book of Pirates, but I could see he was not following what

I was reading.

"How do you feel, Schatz?" I asked him.

"Just the same, so far," he said.

I sat at the foot of the bed and read to myself while I waited for it to be time to give another

capsule. It would have been natural for him to go to sleep, but when I looked up he was looking at

the foot of the bed, looking very strangely.

"Why don't you try to go to sleep? I'll wake you up for the medicine."

"I'd rather stay awake."

After a while he said to me, "You don't have to stay in here with me, Papa, if it bothers you."

"It doesn't bother me."

"No, I mean you don't have to stay if it's going to bother you."

I thought perhaps he was a little light-headed and after giving him the prescribed capsules at

eleven o'clock I went out for a while.

It was a bright, cold day, the ground covered with a sleet that had frozen so that it seemed as

if all the bare trees, the bushes, the cut brush and all the grass and the bare ground had been

varnished with ice. I took the young Irish setter for a little walk up the road and along a frozen creek.

At the house they said the boy had refused to let any one come into the room.

"You can't come in," he said. "You mustn't get what I have." I went up to him and found him

in exactly the position I had left him, white-faced, but with the tops of his cheeks flushed by the

13 102 °F (Fahrenheit) correspond to 38.9 °C (Centigrade), The Fahrenheit thermometer is used throughout the British

Commonwealth and in the United States. The boiling point of the Fahrenheit thermometer is 212°, the freezing point — 32°, the

normal temperature of a human bodyis about 99°. The Centigrade thermometer, used in Russia, France and other countries, has 0°

(zero) for its freezing point and 100° for the boiling point

14 Pyle, Howard (1853-1911): an American illustrator, painter and author.

fever, staring still, as he had stared, at the foot of the bed.

I took his temperature.

"What is it?"

"Something like a hundred," I said. It was one hundred and two and four tenths.

"It was a hundred and two," he said.

"Who said so?"

"The doctor."

"Your temperature is all right," I said. "It's nothing to worry about."

"I don't worry," he said, "but I can't keep from thinking."

"Don't think," I said. "Just take it easy."

"I'm taking it easy," he said and looked worried about something.

"Take this with water."

"Do you think it will do any good?"

"Of course, it will,"

I sat down and opened the Pirate Book and commenced to read but I could see he was not

following, so I stopped.

"About what time do you think I'm going to die?" he asked.

"What?"

"About how long will it be before I die?"

"You aren't going to die. What's the matter with you?"

"Oh, yes, I am. I heard him say a hundred and two."

"People don't die with a fever of one hundred and two. That's a silly way to talk!"

"I know they do. At school in France the boys told me you can't live with forty-four degrees.

I've got a hundred and two."

He had been waiting to die all day, ever since nine o'clock in the morning.

"You poor Schatz," I said. "Poor old Schatz, it's like miles and kilometers. You aren't going to

die. That's a diflerent thermometer. On that thermometer thirty-seven is normal. On this kind it's

ninety-eight."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," I said. "It's like miles and kilometers. You know, like how many kilometers we

make when we do seventy miles in the car?"

"Oh," he said.

But his gaze at the foot of the bed relaxed slowly. The hold over himself relaxed too, finally,

and the next day it was very slack and he cried very easily at little things that were of no importance.

VOCABULARY NOTES

1. to shiver υi дрожать, as shiver with cold

Syn. to tremble, to shudder, to start; to tremble is the most general word;

shuddering/starting is generally the result of (great) fear or disgust, е.g. He seemed perfectly calm,

only a slight trembling of his voice and hands showed he was excited. Keith shuddered at the sight

of the dead body. The child was shivering with cold. She started when they came in.

2. ache n (a continuous, not sharp or sudden, pain). Usually used in compounds: headache,

toothache, stomachache, earache, backache, е.g. I had a bad headache yesterday. Some people

have (a) bad earache when the plane is losing height. But: to have a sore throat, eye, finger, etc.,

е.g. I can't speak loude?, I have a sore throat.

Syn. pain n to feel (have) a bad (sharp, slight) pain in ..., е.g. I feel a sharp pain in my right

knee. My leg gives me much pain.; painful adj болезненный, тяжелый

Ant. painless, е.g. It was a painful (painless) operation.

to ache υ i/t болеть (чувствовать боль) — to be in continuous pain, e, g. My ear aches.

After climbing the mountain he ached all over.

Cf.: hurt υt/i причинять боль, е.g. It hurts the eyes to look at the sun. My foot hurts (me)

when I walk.

3. medicine n 1. лекарство, е.g. What medicine (s) do you take for your headaches? 2.

медицина, e.g. He is fond of medicine, he wants to become a surgeon.

medical adj, е.g. He studies at a Medical Institute. He is a medical student. My medical

knowledge leaves much to be desired. You'd better consult your surgeon.

4. condition n 1. состояние; to be in (a) good (bad) condition, е.g. After the thunderstorm

our garden was in a terrible condition, quite a number of trees were broken. Every parcel arrived in

good condition (nothing was broken or spoiled).; to be in no condition to do smth., е.g. He is in no

condition to travel. The ship was in no condition to leave harbour, He can sing very well, but tonight

he is in no condition to do it, he has a sore throat.

2. условие; under good (bad) condition(s), е.g. The unemployed live under very hard

conditions.; on condition that = if, е.g. I will do it on condition that you give me the time I need.;

conditional adj, е.g. Conditional sentences contain "if or its synonyms.

5. foot n (pl feet) 1. нога (ниже щиколотки, ступня), е.g. The boy jumped to his feet. A

dog's feet are called paws.; 2. фут (около) 30,5 см, pl часто без изменений, е.g. The boy was too

tall for his age and he was three foot two in his shoes.; 3. подножие, нижняя часть, основание, as

the foot of the mountain, at the foot of the page, the foot of the bed, е.g. This boy is at the foot of his

class.