With His Own Hands

File added 001129
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The following story appears as an English-language reading lesson in
E. Belova and L. Todd,English: A Textbook of the English Language for the 7th Grade in 7-year and Secondary Schools (third edition)State Textbook and Pedagogical Publishers of the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR, Moscow, 1952; pp. 32-33.

WITH HIS OWN HANDS

In 1946 the Soviet people began to work according to the first post-war five-year plan. One day a schoolteacher decided to speak to his pupils about that great plan. He spoke about wonderful new houses, beautiful streets and parks, about motor-cars and electric trains. The boys sat quite still and listened with all their ears.

When the lesson was over, the boys went home full of excitement.

"I should like to go to bed as usual, fall asleep, and wake up, not tomorrow morning, but in five years. I should like to see everything at once," said one boy.

"No," said another, "that's not interesting, to sleep for five years. I should like to see how our people will do all that."

"And I," said a third, "should like to do all that with my own hands."

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