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THE PEDESTRIAN
Ray Bradbury
Пособие для внеклассного чтения
для учащихся старших классов
школ с углубленным изучением английского языка
составила Потапова Т.Г.
Москва
2020
Ray Bradbury was born in Illinois, the USA, in
1920 and died in 2012. He was a famous American
science fiction novelist, dramatist, poet and writer of
fiction for children, whose brilliant books and stories
have brought new excitement to the field of
imaginative writing. His stories display the
remarkable variety and strength that have always
characterised his work. He conducts a reader on a
tour through time and space — into the future!
Among Ray Bradbury's most celebrated works of
science fiction and fantasy are The Maritime
Chronicals (1950), The Machinery of Joy (1963),
Tomorrow Midnight (1966), Long After Midnight
(1976). Bradbury’s most famous novel Fahrenheit
451 shows a future totalitarian state in which
supertelevision presents all that people are to think
or know, and the ownership of books is cause for
the state to burn volumes and owners alike.
Bradbury's story The Pedestrian was published in
1951.
About the author
Activities before reading
Exercise 1
Read the words and word combinations and guess their meaning.
Translate them paying attention to the suffixes and prefixes.
-IC: metal — metallic, a metallic voice, a metallic whisper; scene - scenic, a
scenic view;
-LESS: wind — windless, a windless country; expression — expressionless,
expressionless faces;
-AL: occasion — occasional, occasionally picked up a leaf; season —
seasonal, a seasonal sport, seasonal activity;
IN-: frequent — infrequent, infrequent lamplights; capable — incapable, an
incapable student
Exercise 2
Translate these word combinations. Pay attention to the use of the past
participle:
the hidden sea; moonlit avenues; ill-lit by television light;
brightly lit electric lights.
Exercise 3
Read these sentences and translate them:
1. He would stand upon the corner of a street and look down long moonlit
avenues in four directions deciding which way to go.
2. Sometimes he would walk for hours and miles and return only at
midnight. He would pause, raise his head, listen, look, and march on.
Exercise 4
Read the story THE PEDESTRIAN and say what seemed strange in
the behavior of the pedestrian from the point of view of the police.
To enter out into that silence that was the city at eight o'clock of
a misty evening in November, to put your feet upon that concrete
walk and make your way, hands in pockets, through the silence, that
was what Mr. Leonard Mead most dearly loved to do. He would stand
upon the corner of a crossing and look down long moonlit avenues
of sidewalk in four directions, deciding which way to go, but it really
made no difference; he was alone in his world of AD 2131.
Sometimes he would walk for hours and miles and return only
at midnight to his house. And on his way he would see the cottages
and homes with their dark windows, and only the faintest glimmers
of firefly light appeared in television screens behind the windows.
Mr. Leonard Mead would pause, raise his head, listen, look, and
march on, his feet making no noise on the walk. For a long while
now the sidewalks had been vanishing under flowers and grass. In
ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had
never met another person walking, not one in all that time.
He now wore soft shoes strolling at night because if he wore hard
heels, lights might click on and faces appear, and an entire street be
startled by the passing of a lone figure, himself, in the early
November evening.
On this particular evening he began his journey in a westerly
direction, towards the hidden sea. There was a good crystal frost in
the air. You could feel the cold light going on and off, all the
branches filled with invisible snow. He listened to the faint push of
his soft shoes through autumn leaves with satisfaction, and whistled
a cold quiet whistle between his teeth, occasionally picking up a leaf
as he passed, examining it in the Infrequent lamplights as he went
on, smelling its rusty smell.
"Hello, in there," he whispered to every house on every side as he
moved. "What's on tonight on Channel 4, Channel 7, Channel 9?
Where are the cowboys rushing? Is it time for a quiz?
A review? A comedian falling off the stage?"
The street was silent and long and empty, with only his shadow
moving like the shadow of a flying bird. If he closed his eyes and
stood very still, frozen, he imagined himself upon the centre of a
plain, a cold windless Arizona country with no house in a thousand
miles, and only dry riverbeds, the streets, for company.
He turned back on a side street circling around toward his
home. He was not far from it when the lone car turned a corner
quite suddenly and flashed a fierce white cone of light upon him.
He stood stunned by the illumination.
A metallic voice called to him:
"Stand still. Stay where you are! Don't move!"
He stopped.
"Put up your hands."
"But -" he said.
"Your hands up! Or we’ll shoot!"
The police, of course, but what a rare, incredible thing; in a city
of three million, there was only one police car left, wasn’t that
correct? Ever since a year ago, 2052, the election year, the force
had been cut down from three cars to one. Crime was ebbing;
there was no need now for the police; this one lone car was
wandering and wandering the empty streets.
"Your name?" said the police car in a metallic whisper. He
couldn't see the men in it because of the bright light in his eyes.
"Leonard Mead," he said.
"Speak up!"
"Leonard Mead!"
"Business or profession?"
"I guess you'd call me a writer."
"No profession," said the police car, as if talking to itself.
"You might say that," said Mr. Mead. He hadn't written in years.
Listen and read
00:00 / 00:00
Magazines and books didn't sell any more. Everything went on in
the tomblike houses at night now, he thought, continuing his fancy,
the tombs, ill-lit by television light, where the people sat like the
dead, the grey or multi-coloured lights touching their expressionless
faces but never really touching them.
"No profession," said the metallic voice. "What are you doing out?"
"Walking," said Leonard Mead.
"Walking?"
"Just walking," he said, but his face felt cold.
"Walking, just walking, walking?"
"Yes, sir."
"Walking where? For what?"
"Walking for air. Walking to see."
"Your address!"
"Eleven South, St. James Street."
"And there is air in your house, you have an air-conditioner, Mr.
Mead?"
"Yes."
"And you have a viewing screen in your house to see with?"
"No"
"No?" There was a quiet that in itself was an accusation.
"Are you married, Mr. Mead?"
"No."
"Not married," said the police car. The moon was high and clear
among the stars and the houses were grey and silent.
"Nobody wanted me," said Leonard Mead with a smile.
"Don't speak unless you're spoken to!"
Leonard Mead waited in the cold night.
"Just walking, Mr. Mead?"
"Yes."
"But you haven't explained for what purpose."
"I explained: for air and to see, and just to walk."
"Have you done this often?"
"Every night for years."
“Is that all?” he asked politely.
“Yes.”, said the voice.
Listen and read
00:00 / 00:00
"Here,"
There was a pause. The back door of the police car sprang wide.
"Get in."
"Wait a minute, I haven't done anything!”
“Get in!”
“ I protest."
"Mr. Mead…."
"Where are you taking me?"
The car hesitated, then said, "To the Psychiatric Centre for
Research on Regressive Tendencies."
Leonard Mead got in. The door shut with a soft dull sound. The
police car rolled through the night avenues. They passed one house
on one street a moment later, one in an electric city of houses that
were dark, but this one particular house had all its electric lights
brightly lit, every window a loud yellow illumination, square and
warm in the cold darkness.
“That's my house," said Leonard Mead.
No one answered him.
The car moved down the empty streets and off away, leaving the
empty streets with the empty sidewalks, and no sound and no
motion all the rest of the chill November night.
Exercise 5
Read and translate the sentences.
1. On his way he would see the cottages and homes with their dark
windows, and only the faintest glimmers of firefly light appeared in
television screens behind the windows.
2. For a long while now the sidewalks had been vanishing under
flowers and grass.
3. He now wore soft shoes strolling at night because if he wore hard
heels, lights might click on and faces appear, and an entire street
be startled by the passing of a lone figure, himself, in the early
November evening.
4. All the branches were filled with invisible snow.
5. He listened to the faint push of his soft shoes through autumn
leaves with satisfaction, and whistled, occasionally picking up a leaf,
examining it in the infrequent lamplights, smelling its rusty smell.
6. Ever since a year ago the force had been cut down from three
cars to one.
Exercise 6
Answer the questions:
1. When and where did this episode take place? What was the world
like at that time?
2. Who was Leonard Mead? What were his habits?
3. What thoughts were in his mind when he was strolling along the
empty streets?
4. What was the common evening pastime of all the people of that
time?
5. Which of Leonard Mead's answers do you think seemed the most
surprising, and even shocking to the police?
6. How did the conversation with the police end?
Exercise 7
Give an explanation of these facts from the story:
1. The streets were silent and empty.
2. The police were a rare, incredible thing; in a city of three million,
there was only one police car left.
3. The police did not consider writing to be a profession.
4. The cold silence of the police after each of Leonard Mead's
answers was in itself an accusation.
5. Leonard Mead was taken to the Psychiatric Centre for Research
on Regressive Tendencies.
Exercise 8
Say how the author shows the reader what kind of person the main
character is:
•
•
•
•
You may find the following words helpful in describing Leonard
Mead:
romantic, intelligent, a keen observer, poetic, ironical,
gentle, anxious, frank, be touched by, feel the beauty of the
world, be in the habit of, have a vivid imagination, lonely
Exercise 9
Answer the questions:
1. What do you think it was that distinguished Leonard Mead from
the people of his generation?
2. Does Leonard Mead seem to be a man who differs greatly from
the people of our day?
3. Say what impression he has made on you.
Exercise 10 Practice
Choose 1-2 questions from exercise 9 and record your opinion.
Then save the file and send the link to your teacher for checking
up.
You might also want to record your phonetic reading if you wish.
An animated version of Bradbury’s classic short story
Источники:
Учебник английского языка для IX класс школ с углубленным изучением
английского языка, лицеев, гимназий, колледжей Москва, изд-во "Версия"
1997, Unit 5;
Youtube:
“The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury from Ian MacKenzie
Wasley English: 10A Unit 4 Lesson 1 - Analyzing "The Pedestrian" by Ray
Bradbury
Audio book The Pedestrian - Ray Bradbury, narrator Justin Thomas James
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