Workbook for students

THE LAST LEAF (After O. Henry)

VOCABULARY

seem - tuyulmoq; ….ga o`xshamoq

nonsense - behuda gap, safsata

sell – sold – sold - sotmoq

masterpiece - shohasar

sure - ishonmoq

fight – fought - jang, urishish, jangqilmoq

fall – fell- fallen - tushmoq, tushibketmoq

at the same time - o`shapaytda, birvaqtda

Two girls, Sue and Johnsy, lived in a big house in New York. Sue was from Maine and Johnsy from California. Sue was bigger and stronger than Johnsy. Johnsy was small and quiet, with big, blue eyes and light hair; Sue was dark. They liked the same things in art and music, and the same poems, they became friends – very good friends – and they decided to live together and paint pictures and try to become great artists. They didn’t have much money, but they were young and full of hope, and life seemed good to them. One autumn day Johnsy fell ill. She was all hot and cold, her mouth was dry. She was ill for a week.

One day the doctor said: “Sue, I want to talk to you. Come out into the corridor”. There the doctor said: “Sue, your friend is worse. My medicine will not help her if does not want to live. And she says that she wants to die.” The doctor went away.

Really, Johnsy lay and looked out of the window at the grey wall of the next house. She was not interested in anything; she spoke less every day, and every day there was less hope in her eyes.

“The doctor says you must have some soup, and you must drink warm milk and eat fruit,” Sue began telling her friend. ButJohnsy was not listening. She was counting. Sue could hear the numbers: “Twelve”, then after a minute, “Eleven”, and after another minute, “Ten, nine,” together.

Sue looked out of the window, but she could see nothing to count there. There were a yard and a stone wall. There were only a few yellow and brown leaves on the wall. “What are you counting, Johnsy, dear?” Sue asked. “Eight,” Johnsy said. “Three days ago, there were almost a hundred; I couldn’t count at all. But now it’s easy. There are only eight”.

“Eight what, dear? Tell me!” “Leaves. On that vine (it means in Uzbek pechakgul). When the last leaf falls, I must go too”.

“Nonsense!” Sue said angrily.” Those old leaves are only old; the vine loses all of its leaves every autumn. But you – the doctor is sure you will soon be well. Try to rest, Johnsy and don’t think about those old leaves! I must finish my picture. If I can sell it, I’ll buy you some nice fruit. “

‘Don’t buy any fruit, I don’t want anything at all.” Johnsy said. “I don’t want to wait, and only want to go down, down, down”.

“Johnsy, please, don’t say so.”

“Yes, Sue, I know. I know that when the last leaf falls down, I shall die.”

Sue didn’t answer anything. Sue couldn’t answer. She was crying.

She went into the corridor and cried there. She was crying when she saw old Berman. The girl told Berman about Johnsy. Berman was poor too. He decided to become a great artist. For forty years he didn’t even become a good artist. Now he was more then sixty. Sometimes he sold his paintings, but he never had any money, because he drank. He loved Johnsy and Sue, and he thought he had to care of them. “I’ll paint a masterpiece,” he often told them and we’ll go away from these little rooms. When Sue told him about Johnsy, Berman was very angry. “She is so ill,” Sue said. “And her head is full of some bad ideas. She counts the leaves on that old vine, and she thinks that when the last leaf falls, she will go too.”

Johnsy was sleeping when Sue came in to the room with Berman. They went to the window and looked out. For five minutes Berman looked at the vine, then he went to the door and went away without a word.

During the night, a cold rain began to fall, and the wind became stronger and louder. Sue sat near Johnsy’s bed; she did not sleep all night. Very early in the morning, she saw that Johnsy’s eyes were open, and she was looking out of the window. When Sue looked, she saw that there was only one leaf on the vine.

“It is the last,” Johnsy said. “I heard the wind all night, and I can’t understand why it didn’t fall. I’m sure it will fall today, and I’ll die at the same time.”

“Oh, Johnsy,” Sue said, “think of me! What will I do without you?” ButJohnsy didn’t answer.

Slowly the day passed. Every minute seemed an hour. At the end of the day, the north wind came again, and brought the cold autumn rain. It rained all night, and in the morning, the two girls looked out of the window together. The leaf was there. For a long time, Johnsy lay quiet. Then she said, “I heard the wind during the whole night, but that brave little leaf fought it. I have been a bad girl, Sue and now I am sorry. That last leaf has taught me how to fight for my life. The doctor came in the afternoon and said, “Sue, if you take good care of her you’ll win. And now, I must go to another patient. His name is Berman, an artist, I think he is old and his heart isn’t strong.

A few days later, Sue came to Johnsy’s bed and sat down. “I have something to tell you, dear.” She said. “Mr. Berman died in the hospital today. They found some green and yellow paint in his room. Do you see that leaf? It isn’t on the vine. Berman painted it on the wall behind the vine. He painted it that terrible night, when the last leaf fell. It is his masterpiece.”