Force station was established in their country in 1941, they were not alarmed by the noisy yel-low aeroplanes. Occasionally they would even float in circles across the aerodrome itself, and then disappear again behind the hills; the pilots had little fear of colliding with one of these circling, watchful birds. The vast, brown-black shape of the eagle would appear before the little Tiger Moth biplane and then be gone. There was nothing more to it No ques-tion of haste or flapping of wings, simply a flick over and down and then the eagle would res-ume its circling. Sometimes a pilot would chase the bird and would find, unexpectedly, no response; the eagle would seem not to not-ice the aeroplane and hold the course of its circling until the very moment when collision seemed inevitable. Then there would be the quick turn over, under, or away from the plane, with the great span of the wings unstirred. The delay and the quick manoeuvre would be done with a princely detachment and consciousness of superiority, the eagle in the silence of its wings scorning the roar and fuss of the aircraft and its engine.
Two pilots from the station were drinking one day in the local town with one of the farm-ers over whose land they used to fly.
'Two of us, you know, could do it,' one of them said. 'By yourself it's hopeless. The eagle can outily you without moving his wings. But with two of you, one could chase him round while the other climbed above and dived at him. That way you'd at last get him flustered.' , The farmer was not at all hopeful.
'Maybe it'd take more than a couple of planes to fluster an eaglehawk. There's a big one around my place, just about twelve feet across.
I wish you could get him. Though if you did hit him, there mightn't be much left of your little aeroplane.'
'It always beats me why you call them eagle-hawks,' said one of the pilots. 'The wedge-tailed eagle is the biggest eagle in the world.
You ought to pay him more respect, the most magnificent, majestic bird there is.'
The farmer was hostile to this idea of majesty.
'Have you ever seen them close-up? Or ever seen them feeding? The king of birds landing
on a lolly-legged lamb and tearing him to bits.
Or an old, dead, fly-blown ewe that's been fool enough to lie down with her legs uphill. Watch him hacking his way into their guts, with the vermin dancing all over his stinking brown feathers. Then all you've got to do is to let him see you five hundred yards off and up he flaps, slow and awkward, to a myall where he sits all bunched-up looking as if he's going to overbal-ance the little tree. Still, go ahead with your scheme. I'd like to see you beat one at his own game.'
The two pilots landed in the paddock, and, leaving the engines running, walked over to the dark mass of feathers. One of them turned off to the side and came back holding the severed wing. It was almost as big as the man himself.
The two of them stood in silence. The moment of skill and danger was past, and the dead body before them proclaimed their vic-tory. Frowning with the glare of the sun and the misery of their achievement they both looked down at the piteous, one-winged eagle.
Not a mark of blood was on it, the beak glisten-ing and uncrushed, the ribbed feet and talons clenched together. It was not the fact of death that kept them in silence; the watcher could not always keep his station in the air. What both of them could still see was the one-winged heap of bone and feathers, slewing and jerking uncontrolled to earth.
In the distance they heard the noise of the farmer's truck approaching, and saw it stop at a gate and the farmer wave as he got out to open it They quickly picked up the bird and its wing, and ran with them to the little hillock covered in rocks at the corner of the paddock.
Between two large rocks they folded both wings across the bird and piled stones above it;
and then, each lifting, carried a large flat stone and placed it above the others.
As they ran back towards the aerpplane a black dot broke from the hills and swung out above them, circling round and round, watch-ing the truck accelerate and then stop as the two aeroplanes turned, taxied and slid into the air before it could reach them.
Geoffrey Dutton The wedge-tailed eagle
B Vocabulary
Verbs of movement and posture ... swinging in endless indolent curves, ...
. .. They would even float in circles. ..
... up he (laps, slow and awkward, ...
. . . the vermin dancing all over his stinking brown feathers.
These verbs of movement are chosen carefully by the writer to give the impression he wants. Such verbs can be useful in making your own English more vivid and effective.
1 List all the verbs of movement or posture that you know.
2 Work in pairs. Find the twenty-seven verbs of movement or posture hidden in the letter box below. They run from left to right or top to bottom. Check on Study page 174 and do the accompanying exercise.
Examples: shuffle; crawl.
3 Fill the gaps with words from your list. More than one word may be the correct one.
a The people in the queue . along slowly, each one just behind the other.
b The Hell's Angels. into the bar arrogantly, obviously looking for trouble.
C Sit up straight, stop around like that. Aren't you interested in the lesson?
d He around the park every day for exercise.
His doctor says he's too old to run.
e The children have ruined the sofa by all over it every day, pretending it's a castle.
f Although his hands and feet were tied, he managed to to the telephone.
g She on her father's knee, as he talked to his friends.
Her back ached from day,
over a typewriter all i The poor old bellow broke his leg when he.
down the stairs one day.
j The baby stared up at his father, over him.
k The runner , but recovered and managed not to fall.
I It's incredible the way monkeys can _ from one tree to another.
m The old people . peacefully round the park, to the car carrying the chatting quietly.
n I left the shop and __
heavy box.
O He hurt his leg and all the way home.
p When it was shot the elephant . over and hit the ground with a crash.
q The excited dogs . around all over the place, getting in everybody's way.
r He didn't see the step, over it, and fell on his face.
s Don't try to run too fast, just along and take it easy.
t The lost child along the beach, crying for her mother.
4 Group the words from the letter box into sets according to meaning. Suggested groups are:
words connected with falling;
words describing ways of sitting;
words describing moving with difficulty;
words connected with moving secretively;
words describing energetic ways of moving;
words describing moving in a casual or directionless way;
words describing ways of jumping.
Not all the words can be put in these groups, and some may appear in more than one group.
100
UNIT
C Listening
Snake
Discussion
Match the animals on the left with their appropriate characteristics on the right.
ants foxes cats monkey dogs donkeys sheep pigs mice rats peacocks lions fish eagles snakes
emotional coldness mischievousness hard work treacherousness timidity
overeating cleverness elegance stubbornness courage
lack of initiative faithfulness vanity majesty detachment stupidity rudeness
Are the creatures seen the same way by everyone (including your teacher) ? Are the differences cultural or personal?
Listening exercises
You are going to hear a reading of a poem called Snake, by the English novelist and poet D.H.
Lawrence.
1 Listen to the poem. What actually happens?
H What parts of the scene do you see or feel most clearly? Share your impressions with your group.
2 Listen again, and discuss the following questions in n| groups.
a What sort of day was it ? b Why did the snake come?
c What feelings did Lawrence have on first seeing the snake ?
d What was his inner conflict?
e What did he do as the snake went away? Why?
f How did he feel then? Why?
g What, if anything, does the poem have in common with A Reading 1?
3 Turn to Study page 175. Study the poem, and answer any outstanding questions.
D Reading 2
Discussion
• Note down anything you know about these creatures.
owls baboons camels wolves giraffes bats dolphins eagles sharks vultures
Use your dictionaries if necessary.
Reading exercises
1 Read the text below and decide which of the above creatures are described in these five short extracts from the Encyclopaedia Britannica. There are gaps in the text where the creatures' names have been deleted.
2 According to the extracts, which creature(s):
a prefer(s) dry country;
b eat(s) many different things;
c are similar (in any way) to humans;
d are (is) more dangerous;
e live(s) inside rather than outside.
3 How much do you know about tigers? Discuss the following questions, then check against the long extract.