den4ik22855

19.08.2022 14:39 •  Английский язык

Strange Inventions
The house, a 200-year-old stone cottage dating from the 19th century, stood alone on the road outside the village
of Lowick. All was dark and quiet on that Saturday evening: the owners of the cottage were out, and very few cars
came that way.
Inside, the house was nicely decorated, warm and cosy, yet at the same time a house of today. Every corner and
surface downstairs contained a gadget of some kind: by the open fireplace in the living room was the latest home
cinema system with its DVD player; in the kitchen the microwave oven gleamed on the work surface, and the
dishwasher did its useful work quietly by the sink. The washing machine waited silently for its next load of dirty
clothes, and the vacuum cleaner slept peacefully in the cupboard under the stairs.
Upstairs, Susie’s beloved laptop lay on its bag next to her bed. It was her connection with friends all over the world,
and also what she used for work. In the bedside cupboard was William’s photographic equipment: his camcorder
and his digital camera with which he recorded all their favourite holiday moments. At least that hobby gave him a
break from the stresses of work.
Suddenly the quiet in the living room was disturbed by a loud whooshing noise and a flash of bright green light. A
youngish man, about 25, with a beard and long hair appeared. He looked intelligent, although somewhat confused.
He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and looked slowly around him. Obviously the magic had worked –
good old Wizard Ebeneezer – and he was inside someone’s house. The time machine was programmed to send him
to the 21st century but was this it?
The young man, Zed, picked up a long black thing from a small table. It had different-coloured buttons on it. Was
it a child’s toy? Zed tried pressing the buttons, and without warning, a picture flashed onto the big black box in the
corner, and the sound of people laughing loudly hit his ears! Quickly he hid behind a large armchair. But then all
the noise faded, and some music came on. Zed realised that the living room was empty. Then he looked at the box
in the corner, and there were some people having a great time. But they weren’t in the living room, they were inside
the box! Zed gave up trying to understand and went into the kitchen.
At that moment, a loud ringing noise came from the hall. Zed raced out of the kitchen and found where the noise
was coming from: a small white thing with numbers on it. Slowly, Zed put out his hand and picked it up. He heard
a voice saying, ‘Hello! Hello! Is that William? Rob here.’ Zed hesitated. Perhaps he’d better explain to this Rob what
he was doing in the house. ‘Er, hello Rob, er, I’m Zed. William isn’t here, nobody’s here. I’m looking at all the nice
things in the house, and could you tell me please what century I’m in?’
At the other end of the line, Rob opened his mouth, but no words came out. Then he shouted down the phone, ‘Who
ARE you? This is the 21st century, you’re in my friend’s house, and I’m calling 999!’ Before Zed could ask what 999
was, Rob had slammed down the phone. Zed felt a bit frightened. Rob wasn’t very friendly so maybe it was time to
leave. He went back into the living room, took a large key out of his pocket and inserted it into a green cube. Before
turning the key, he picked up the black thing with coloured buttons and put it in his pocket. ‘Sorry, William,’ he
whispered, ‘but I must take this back to show Wizard Ebeneezer, otherwise he won’t believe me.’
With that, Zed turned the key and, as Rob turned up outside the house together with a police car, light flashing and
siren going, he disappeared in a cloud of green light. The house lay still and quiet once more. When the police got
in and searched the house, the only thing that was missing was the remote control for the television.
A15–
A2