betty remembers (2) on the sly
Friday, March 28th, 2008DIFFICULTY: NOT TOO HARD, REALLY
intro … Betty Langdon is a 97-year-old lady who lives in a small apartment in New York City. She came to the Big Apple as a young woman, hoping to become famous. But for every celebrity that makes fame look easy to achieve, there are thousands of broken hearts and failed dreams, such as Betty’s.
the Big Apple … p?ezdívka New Yorku
fame … sláva
homecare worker … domácí pe?ovatelka
list … seznam
Betty’s health has been getting worse lately and she knows she doesn’t have long to live. She doesn’t have a whole lot to live for, either. Her friends have been dying left and right. All she hears from her homecare worker and her daughter is a growing list of things she can’t do.
In this short two-part story Betty tells us how she spends her days since she lost the ability to leave her apartment.
SOURCE: a New York Times piece on seniors living out their days in small apartments in NYC
on the sly
During the week, I get up before the girl …….. I dress and get over to this chair. Sometimes I sweep and dust on the sly. I always ……. she doesn’t find out, though, because she’d get very upset. I’m not ……. do it, you know. My daughter ……. me that I’ll fall and break an arm or a leg. But if I listened to her, there would be nothing ……. me to do.
on the sly … potajmu
recall … vybavovat si
shut off … odstr?ená
sweep and dust … zametat a utírat prach
virtually … v podstat?, vícemén?
year in year out … rok co rok
……., I had been able to watch TV. But now I’m virtually blind. I hear better than I see, but I don’t hear …….. Jennifer, the lady who comes to help, does read me the news each week. I’ve started writing my life story — well, Jennifer’s ……. actually writes it down, I just sit here ……. that have happened to me.
Most days, I sit remembering. Some of it makes me very happy. Some makes me ……. sad; certain things didn’t get fulfilled or they didn’t happen ……. I hoped they would. I never used to feel shut off, but this Christmas I didn’t get cards from six of my friends who ……. send them year in and year out. They have probably died. The outside world is starting to feel very ……..
