It was just a smooth round metal ball, less than a metre in diameter. Although it was still hot from its journey through the huge nothingness of space, it looked quite harmless. But what was it, exactly? A meteor, perhaps – just one of those pieces of rock from outer space that occasionally fall down on to the planet Earth. But meteors don’t usually make strange hissing sounds…
In this collection of four of his famous science-fiction stories, John Wyndham creates visions of the future that make us think carefully about the way live now.
Kapcsolódó könyvek
D. H. Lawrence - Love among the Haystacks (Oxford Bookworms)
Egyszerűsített olvasmány angol nyelven. Hasznos segítség a nyelvtanulásban. A kötet 2. nehézségi fokozatú, az olvasásához kb. 700 szavas szókincs szükséges.
"Oxford Bookworms Stage 2"
It is hay-making time on the Wookey farm. Two brothers are building the haystack, but thinking about other things - about young women, and love. There are angry words, and then a fight between the brothers. But the work goes on, visitors come and go, and the long hot summer day slowly turns to evening.
Ed McBain - King's Ransom (Oxford Bookworms)
'Calling all cars, calling all cars. Here's the story on the Smoke Rise kidnapping. The missing boy is eight years old, fair hair, wearing a red sweater. His name is Jeffry Reynolds, son of Charles Reynolds, chauffeur to Douglas King.' The police at the 87th Precinct hate kidnappers. And these kidnappers are stupid, too. They took the wrong boy - the chauffeur's son instead of the son of the rich tycoon, Douglas King. And they want a ransom of $500,000. A lot of money. But it's not too much to pay for a little boy's life... is it? (Word count 24,3301)
Tim Vicary - Mutiny on the Bounty (Oxford Bookworms)
It is night in the south seas near Tahiti, and the ship HMS Bounty has begun the long voyage home to England. But the sailors on the ship are angry men, and they have swords and guns. They pull the captain out of bed and take him up on deck. He tries to run, but a sailor holds a knife to his neck. 'Do that again, Captain Bligh, and you're a dead man!' he says.
The mutiny on the Bounty happened in April, 1789. This is the true story of Captain Bligh and Fletcher Christian, and the ship that never came home to England.
Tim Vicary - The Coldest Place on Earth (Oxford Bookworms)
In the summer of 1910, a race began. A race to be the first man at the South Pole, in Antarctica. Robert Falcon Scott, an Englishman, left London in his ship, the Terra Nova, and began the long journey south. Five days later, another ship also began to travel south. And on this ship was Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian.
But Antarctica is the coldest piace on earth, and it is a long, hard journey over the ice to the South Pole. Some of the travellers never returned to their homes again. This is the story of Scott and Amundsen, and of one of the most famous and dangerous races in history.
Desmond Bagley - The Enemy (Oxford Bookworms)
On a beautiful summer evening in the quiet town of Marlow, a young woman is walking home from church. She passes a man who is looking at the engine of his car. He turns round, smiles at her ... and throws acid into her face.
Then her father, the scientist George Ashton, disappears. And her sister, Penny, discovers that her husband-to-be, Malcolm, is a government agent. Why has Ashton disappeared, and why is Malcolm told to hunt for him? Who is George Ashton, anyway?
And who is the enemy?
Jennifer Bassett - Doris Pilkington Garimara - Rabbit-Proof Fence (Oxford Bookworms)
Fourteen-year-old Molly and her cousins Daisy and Gracie were mixed-race Aborigines. In 1931 they were taken away from their families and sent to a camp to be trained as good 'white' Australians. They were told to forget their mothers, their language, their home.
But Molly would not forget. She and her cousins escaped and walked back to Jigalong, 1600 kilometres away, following the rabbit-proof fence north as part of their guide across the desert.
This is the true stoy of that walk, told by Molly's daughter, Doris. It is also a prize-winning film.
Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows (Oxford Bookworms)
Egyszerűsített olvasmány angol nyelven. Hasznos segítség a nyelvtanulásban. A kötet 3. nehézségi fokozatú, az olvasásához kb. 1000 szavas szókincs szükséges.
"Oxford Bookworms Stage 3"
Down by the river bank, where the wind whispers through the willow trees, is a very pleasant place to have a lunch party with a few friends. But life is not always so peaceful for the Mole and the Water Rat. There is the time, for example, when Toad gets interested in motor-cars-goes mad about them in fact...
Christine Lindop - The Girl with Red Hair (Oxford Bookworms)
Every day people come to Mason's store - old people, young people, men and women.
From his office, and in the store, Mark watches them. And when they leave the store, he forgets them.
Then one day a girl with red hair comes to the store, and everything changes for Mark. Now he can't forget that beautiful face, those green eyes, and that red hair . . .
Thomas Hardy - The Three Strangers and Other Stories (Oxford Bookworms)
Egyszerűsített olvasmány angol nyelven. Hasznos segítség a nyelvtanulásban. A kötet 3. nehézségi fokozatú, az olvasásához kb. 1000 szavas szókincs szükséges.
"Oxford Bookworms Stage 3"
On a stormy winter night, a stranger knocks at the door of a shepherd's cottage. He is cold and hungry, and wants to get out of the rain. He is welcomed inside, but the does not give his name or his business. Who is he, and where has he come from? And he is only the first visitor to call at the cottage that night...
In these three short stories, Thomas Hardy gives us pictures ot the lives of shepherds and hangmen, dukes and teachers. But rich or poor, young or old, they all have the same feelings of fear, hope, love, jealousy...
Dick Francis - Reflex (Oxford Bookworms)
Oxford Bookworms Library: Stage 4: Reflex: 1400 Headwords
Book Description
People who ride racehorses love the speed, the excitement, the danger - and winning the race. Philip Nore has been riding for many years and he always wants to win - but sometimes he is told to lose. Why? And what is the mystery about the photographer, George Millace, who has just died in a car crash? Philip Nore knows the answer to the first question, and he wants to find out the answer to the second. But as he begins to learn George Millace's secrets, he realizes that his own life is in danger.
Sue Leather - Desert, Mountain, Sea (Oxford Bookworms)
Three different parts of the world, but all of them dangerous, lonely places. Three different women, but all of them determined to go - and to come back alive!
Robyn Davidson walked nearly 3,000 kilometres across the Australian desert - with a dog and four camels.
Arlene Blum led a team of ten women to the top of Annapurna - one of the highest mountains in the world. Only eight came down again.
Naomi James sailed around the world alone, on a journey lasting more than 250 days.
Tim Vicary - White Death (Oxford Bookworms)
White Death - Sarah Harland is nineteen, and she is in prison. At the airport, they find heroin in her bag. So, now she is waiting to go to court. If the court decides that it was her heroin, then she must die. She says she did not do it. But if she did not, who did? Only two people can help Sarah: her mother, and an old boyfriend who does not love her now. Can they work together? Can they find the real criminal before it is too late? (Word count 6,600)
Arthur C. Clarke - The Songs of Distant Earth (Oxford Bookworms)
'High above them, Lora and Clyde heard a sound their world had not heard for centuries - the thin scream of a starship coming in from outer space, leaving a long white tail like smoke across the clear blue sky. They looked at each other in wonder. After three hundred years of silence, Earth had reached out once more to touch Thalassa ...' And with the starship comes knowledge, and love, and pain. In these five science-fiction stories Arthur C. Clarke takes us travelling through the universe into the unknown, but always possible future."
Arthur C. Clarke - The Songs of Distant Earth and Other Stories (Oxford Bookworms)
'High above them, Lora and Clyde heard a sound their world had not heard for centuries - the thin scream of a starship coming in from outer space, leaving a long white tail like smoke across the clear blue sky. They looked at each other in wonder. After three hundred years of silence, Earth had reached out once more to touch Thalassa...'
And with the starship comes knowledge, and love, and pain.
In these five science-fiction stories Arthur C. Clarke takes us travelling through the universe into the unknown, but always possible future.
Elizabeth Gaskell - Cranford (Oxford Bookworms)
Life in the small English town of Cranford seems very quiet and peaceful. The ladies of Cranford lead tidy, regular lives. They make their visits between the hours of twelve and three, give little evening parties, and worry about their maid-servants. But life is not always smooth - there are little arguments and jealousies, sudden deaths and unexpected marriages ...Mrs Gaskell's timeless picture of small-town life in the first half of the nineteenth century has delighted readers for nearly 150 years.
John Escott - American Crime Stories (Oxford Bookworms)
Curtis Colt didn't kill that liquor store woman, and that's a fact. It's not right that he should have to ride the lightning - that's what prisoners call dying in the electric chair. Curtis doesn't belong in it, and I can prove it.' But can Curtis's girlfriend prove it? Murder has undoubtedly been done, and if Curtis doesn't ride the lightning for it, then who will? These seven short stories, by well-known writers such as Dashiel Hammett, Patricia Highsmith, and Nancy Pickard, will keep you on the edge of your seat. (Word count 26,500)
C. S. Forester - Mr Midshipman Hornblower (Oxford Bookworms)
'Hornblower fired. There was a small cloud of smoke, but no bang. This is death, he thought. My pistol was the unloaded one.'
But Horatio Hornblower does not die. He survives the duel with Simpson, learns to overcome his seasickness, and goes on to risk his life many times over. It is 1793, Britain is at war with France, and life on a sailing ship of war is hard and dangerous. But the hardest battles are fought by Hornblower within himself.
Ellis Peters - A Morbid Taste for Bones (Oxford Bookworms)
Murder in the twelfth century is no different from murder today. There is still a dead body, though this time with an arrow through the heart instead of a bullet. There is still a need to bury the dead, to comfort the living - and to catch the murderer. When Brother Cadfael comes to a village in the Welsh hills, he finds himself doing all three of those things. And there is nothing simple about this death. The murdered man's daughter needs Cadfael's help in more ways than one. There are questions about the arrow. And the burial is the strangest thing of all...
John Escott - Goodbye Mr. Hollywood (Oxford Bookworms)
'The girl suddenly took Nick's face between her hands, and kissed him on the mouth. "Drive carefully, Mr Hollywood. Goodbye," she said, with a big beautiful smile. Then she turned and wwalked quickly away.' ....
Phillip Burrows - Mark Foster - Starman (Oxford Bookworms)
The empty centre of Australia. The sun is hot and there are not many people. And when Bill meets a man, alone, standing on an empty road a long way from anywhere, he is surprised and worried. And Bill is right to be worried. Because there is something strange about the man he meets. Very strange...