A Day’s Amusements

After dinner, Tom Sawyer, Joe Harper, and Huckleberry Finn went to look for turtle eggs (the round, white eggs of a turtle). They walked on the sandbar and pushed sticks into the sand. When the sand was soft, they dug with their hands. Sometimes they found sixty eggs in one hole. The eggs were round and white. They cooked the eggs and had a great feast. After breakfast, the boys ran and played on the sandbar. They took off all their clothes. They chased each other in the shallow water. The current was strong and sometimes they fell down. They splashed water into each other’s faces and laughed. They were very happy and had a lot of fun. When they were tired, they lay on the hot, dry sand. Later, they played marble games (games played with small, round glass balls). They played for a long time until they were bored. Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn went for another swim. Tom Sawyer did not go because he lost his lucky string of snake rattles. He found it later, but the other boys were already finished. The boys sat apart from each other. They began to feel very sad. They looked across the wide river at their village. Tom Sawyer wrote the name "BECKY" in the sand with his toe. Then he scratched it out. He was angry with himself, but he wrote it again. He missed Becky Thatcher very much. Joe Harper was very homesick (sad because he was away from his home). He wanted to see his mother. Huckleberry Finn was sad too. Tom Sawyer felt downhearted, but he tried to hide it. Tom Sawyer had a secret plan, but he was not ready to tell them yet. Tom Sawyer tried to cheer up his friends. He said that pirates once lived on this island. He said they could find a chest of gold and silver. But Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn did not care about treasure. Joe Harper sat and looked at the sand. He looked very gloomy. Finally, Joe Harper said he wanted to go home. He said the island was too lonely. Tom Sawyer told him to wait. He said the fishing was very good on the island. But Joe Harper did not want to fish. He said he wanted to see his mother. Tom Sawyer called Joe Harper a baby. Joe Harper said he was not a baby. He began to put on his clothes. Tom Sawyer told him to go home and let people laugh at him. He said that he and Huckleberry Finn were not crybabies. But Tom Sawyer felt worried as he watched Joe Harper dress. Huckleberry Finn watched Joe Harper too. He was very quiet. Then Joe Harper began to walk into the water toward the shore. Tom Sawyer looked at Huckleberry Finn. Huckleberry Finn said that he wanted to go home too. He said the island was getting too lonely. Tom Sawyer said he would stay alone. Huckleberry Finn began to pick up his clothes. He asked Tom Sawyer to come with them. Huckleberry Finn said they would wait for Tom Sawyer on the shore. Tom Sawyer said he would not go. Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn walked slowly away. Suddenly, Tom Sawyer felt very lonely. He could not be alone on the island. He ran after his friends and shouted for them to wait. He said he had a secret to tell them. The boys stopped and listened. Tom Sawyer told them his secret plan. Joe Harper and Huckleberry Finn were very excited. They shouted and said the plan was wonderful. They said they would stay on the island now. Tom Sawyer was happy that his friends stayed. The boys went back to their camp. They talked about Tom Sawyer's great plan. Then Tom Sawyer said he wanted to learn to smoke. Joe Harper wanted to try too. Huckleberry Finn made pipes (tools used for smoking tobacco) for them. The boys lay on the grass and began to smoke. The smoke tasted bad and they coughed. But Tom Sawyer said it was very easy. He said he should have learned a long time ago. Joe Harper said it was nothing at all. They talked about how they would show the other boys in town. But soon, the boys became very quiet. They began to spit a lot. Their faces became very pale and they felt very sick. Joe Harper said he lost his knife and went into the woods to find it. Tom Sawyer said he would help. They walked into the trees in different directions. Huckleberry Finn waited for an hour. Then he went to find his friends. He found Tom Sawyer and Joe Harper in the woods. They were very far apart. Both boys were very pale and they were fast asleep. Huckleberry Finn knew they had been very sick. That night at supper, the boys did not talk much. They looked very humble. Huckleberry Finn prepared his pipe to smoke after the meal. He asked if the other boys wanted to smoke too. They said no. They said they felt sick because of something they ate for dinner. At midnight, Joe Harper woke up the other boys. The air was very hot and still. The boys sat near the fire because they were afraid. Suddenly, there was a flash of light. Then they heard a low moan in the trees. The boys felt that the "Spirit of the Night" was passing by. Then a bright flash of lightning (the bright light in the sky during a storm) showed everything. They saw each other’s scared faces. A loud sound of thunder (the loud noise in the sky during a storm) shook the ground. A cold wind blew through the trees. Another flash of light came. Then a very loud crash happened right over their heads. The boys were terrified. Big drops of rain began to fall. Tom Sawyer told the boys to run for the tent. The boys ran in the dark. They tripped over roots and vines. The wind was very loud and the rain was very heavy. One by one, they reached the tent. They were cold and very wet. They were glad to be together. The storm became worse. The wind tore their sail (the big cloth they used for a tent). The sail flew away into the dark. The boys took each other’s hands and ran to a big oak tree. They hid under the tree for safety. The lightning was constant and very bright. They saw the river and the trees in the light. Big trees fell down with a loud noise. The thunder was very loud and scary. It was a very wild night for the three boys. Finally, the storm ended. The boys went back to their camp. They were very surprised. A large sycamore (a type of tall tree) had fallen on the place where they usually slept. The lightning had destroyed it. They were lucky they were not there. Everything in the camp was wet. The fire was almost out. The boys were cold and soaked. They found a small bit of fire under a big log. They used dry bark to make the fire grow. Soon they had a big, hot fire again. They dried their meat and ate a feast. They sat by the fire and talked about the storm until morning. There was no dry place to sleep. When the sun came up, they went to the sandbar and slept. Later, they woke up and had breakfast. They felt very stiff and homesick again. Tom Sawyer tried to cheer them up. He told them they should stop being pirates for a while. He said they should pretend to be Native Americans (the first people who lived in America). The boys liked this idea. They took off their clothes and painted their bodies with black mud. They looked like Native American chiefs. They ran through the woods and acted like they were attacking a village. Each boy pretended to lead a different tribe. They hid in the bushes and jumped out with loud shouts. They pretended to kill and scalp (to take the hair and skin from the top of a head) each other. It was a very exciting and bloody day. At supper time, they were hungry and happy. But they had a problem. They were now at peace, so they had to smoke a "peace pipe." Joe Harper and Tom Sawyer were afraid to get sick again. But they had to do it. They took the pipe and smoked a little bit. This time, they did not get very sick. They found they could smoke a little without any trouble. They were very proud and happy. They spent the evening talking and feeling like great warriors.

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Expression orale et entraînement

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Vocafy

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

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