Задание

Read the extract from "The Last Leaf", a short story by O. Henry, and complete the sentences below.

Johnsy's eyes were open wide. She was looking out the window and counting — counting back.

"Twelve," she said, and a little later, “Eleven”; and then, “Ten,” and, “Nine”; and then, “Eight,” and, “Seven," almost together.

Sue looked out of the window. What was there to count? There was only a bare yard to be seen and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away. An old, old ivy vine, gnarled and decayed at the roots, climbed halfway up the brick wall. The cold breath of autumn had stricken its leaves from the vine until its skeleton branches clung, almost bare, to the crumbling bricks.

"What is it, dear?" asked Sue.

"Six," said Johnsy, in almost a whisper. "They're falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It made my head ache to count them. But now it's easy. There goes another one. There are only five left now."

"Five what, dear? Tell your Sue."

"Leaves. On the ivy vine. When the last one falls, I must go too. I've known that for three days. Didn't the doctor tell you?"

"Oh, I never heard of such nonsense," complained Sue, with magnificent scorn. "What do old ivy leaves have to do with your getting well? And you used to love that vine, you naughty girl. Don't be a goosey. The doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were — let's see exactly what he said — he said the chances were ten to one! Why that's almost as good a chance as we have in New York when we ride on the streetcars or walk past a new building. Try to take some broth now, and let Sue go back to her drawing, so she can sell it to the editor man and buy port wine for her sick child, and pork chops for her greedy self."

"You needn't get any more wine," said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window. "There goes another. No, I don't want any broth. That leaves just four. I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. Then I'll go too."

"Johnsy, dear," said Sue, bending over her, "will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not look out the window until I am done working? I must have these drawings finished by tomorrow. I need the light, or I would draw the shade down."

"Couldn't you draw in the other room?" asked Johnsy coldly.

"I'd rather be here by you," said Sue. "Besides, I don't want you to keep looking at those silly ivy leaves."

"Tell me as soon as you have finished," said Johnsy, closing her eyes, and lying white and still as a fallen statue, "because I want to see the last one fall. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of thinking. I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves."

"Try to sleep," said Sue. "I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old hermit miner. I'll not be gone a minute. Don't try to move till I come back."

Write one word in each gap.

Johnsy said that the leaf fall had made her head three days ago. But now it's easy to count the remaining leaves.

"Oh, I never heard of such nonsense," complained Sue, with scorn.

Sue said that she had to have those finished by the following day.