1.  How do you understand this proverb?

2. INTERACTIVE READING “Rule of Three”

3.  What is the story “Rule of Three” about? What do you think of it?  What will happen in the story with such a title?  What is the goal of our lesson today?

4.  Express your own attitude towards the story.  Give arguments in order to prove your opinions.  Learn how to avoid making mistakes in our life.

5. Forecastle Forecastle- a place where the seamen have a rest after their work Shriek Shriek- to give a loud cry of fear or pain Plead Plead- beg

6. MATCH THE VERBS AND PHRASES TO GET WORDS COMBINATIONS FROM THE TEXT: Uninvited Start Climb into Put smb. March in Listen with military style visitors doing smth. the rigging attention ashore

7. Uninvited visitors Start doing smth Climb into the rigging Put smb. ashore March in military style Listen with attention

9. The long summer day had gone and it was getting dark. The little harbour was very quiet, as there were only a few small schooners in its gray waters. The skipper of the Harebell and his mate came slowly towards the schooner. The skipper stopped suddenly and, turning to the mate, held up his hand for silence. ‘What’s the matter?’ said the mate. ‘Listen,’ said the skipper shortly. The mate listened. From the forecastle there came the sound of men’s voices and…  What do you think? Who else was there in the forecastle?

10. Continue reading: ‘What’s the matter?’ repeated the mate in surprise. ‘Did you hear what I said to them, Jack?’ asked the skipper. ‘How many times did I tell them not to bring their girls to the schooner? Do you remember, Jack, what I said I would do if they brought them on board again?’ ‘You said you would eat them without salt,’ said the mate.

11. ‘Now I’m going to do something worse than that. I’m going to cast off quietly and take the girls along with us… ‘If you ask me,’ said the mate,’ I think the crew will be very pleased if you do.’ ‘Well, we’ll see,’ said the other.’ Make no noise, Jack!’ With the help of his mate he cast off the warps which help his uninvited visitors to their town. The wind was blowing from the shore, and the schooner sailed silently away from the quay.  What was the reaction of the young sailors when they saw the schooner sail away?

12. The skipper went to the wheel. When the young seamen saw what had happened, they rushed to the deck and looked round in surprise. ‘Stand by!’ cried the skipper to them. ‘Shake them out.’ ‘I’m sorry, sir,’ said one of the young sailors with more politeness in his tone that he had ever used before, ‘one moment, sir…’ ‘Stand by!’ shouted the skipper. ‘Hurry up!’ cried the mate. The men looked at each other helplessly and started doing their duties on board.

13. Continue reading: The girls shrieked …  Why did the girls shriek? Express your personal opinion and give reasons for it.

14. The girls shrieked when they saw their position and ran to the deck too in the hope to improve it. What did the girls plead the skipper to do? ‘What!’ shouted the skipper as if he were surprised. ‘What? Girls aboard after all I said? It can’t be! I’m sure I’m dreaming.’ ‘Take us back!’ cried the girls, paying no attention to the sarcasm. ‘Take us back, Captain!’ ‘No, I can’t go back,’ said the skipper. ‘You made a bad mistake, my girls, coming aboard the schooner!’ ‘We won’t do it again,’ cried the girls, as the schooner came to the mouth of the harbour and they saw the dark sea. ‘It can’t be done,’ said the skipper gaily.

15. WHAT DO YOU THINK? WHO WERE THE SEAMEN IN THAT SITUATION WITH AND WHY? ‘It’s against the law, sir,’ said Ephraim Biddle seriously. What! To take my own ship out is against the law?’ cried the skipper. ‘How could I know that they were here? I’m not going back!’ ‘We are responsible for bringing them here, not they!’ ‘Keep quiet,’ cried the skipper. ‘It’s against the law,’ repeated Biddle. ‘I know a man who got seven years in prison for such a thing.’

16. ‘Nonsense,’ said the skipper, ‘they are stowaways. I’ll put them ashore at the first port we call, at…Plymouth.’ Shriek after shriek came from the stowaways. ‘You’d better go below, my girls,’ said Biddle. ‘Why don’t you make him take us back?’ cried Jenny, the biggest of the three girls. ‘Because we can’t, my dear,’ said Biddle. ‘It’s against the law. We must obey the Captain.

17. For some time the young men stood by, trying to comfort them. But it was useless. When the young seamen got tired at last, they left the girls in the bow and went below to their cabin.

18. CONTINUE READING: The night was clear and the wind light…  Was there a moment when the skipper began to doubt? Why didn’t he return? …Now the skipper began to have some doubts whether he was right in not turning the schooner back. But it was too late to return now, and he decided to go on. And he thought it best to keep the wheel in his own hands. The morning came and found him still at his post.

19. CONTINUE READING: The three girls woke up and put their heads out from the blankets that had been given them by their young men. Then they started a discussion of some important matter. After that they walked up to the skipper and looked at him thoughtfully. ‘As easy as easy,’ said Jenny Evans. ‘Why, he isn`t bigger than a boy,’ said Miss Williams seriously. ‘It`s a pity we didn`t think of it before,’ said Miss Davies. ‘Do you think the crew will help him?’ ‘Not they,’ said Miss Evans firmly. ‘If they do, we`ll do the same to them.’ They went off, leaving the skipper very nervous… Why was the skipper nervous a moment later?

20. They went off, leaving the skipper very nervous as he did not know what it was all about. From the forecastle and the gallery they brought two mops and a broom. Then Miss Evans came on deck with a pot of white paint in one hand and a pot of tar in the other.  Make up a possible conversation between three girls, the skipper and his crew.

21.  Do you think the skipper understood he had lost the game? Why? Why not?  Say, who, in your opinion, was right in the story.  What is the moral of the story?

22.  Read the story to the end