Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22, 1920) is an American mainstream, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury is widely considered one of the greatest and most popular American writers of speculative fiction of the twentieth century. Ray Bradbury's popularity has been increased by more than 20 television shows and films using his writings This story is set in China many centuries ago, where a servant to the emperor notices a man that has created a contraption for flying. The emperor is not at all happy when he asks the inventor his purpose in creating such a device and is told that the inventor's motivation was merely the desire for innovation. Thus the emperor orders that the inventor shall be executed because, while his flying machine may be a beautiful creation, the emperor sees the devastating potential for those who "have evil in their eyes" and will seek to use it for purposes other than the enjoyment of flight, namely flying over the Great Wall of China. For this reason, the inventor is executed, the flying machine burned, and all who saw it are silenced. But in the last line the Emperor suddenly sees the futility of his actions, when he realises birds were the spark of the innovation and will be again.
Some questions
1. Why did the emperor call for his guards to execute the flier?
2. Do you agree with the emperor's concerns? Why or why not?
3. What would you have done if you had been the emperor?
4. What do you think was Ray Bradbury's purpose in writing "The Flying Machine"?
5. What comment is he making on human nature?
6. Why do you think Bradbury set the story in China AD 400?
THE FLYING MACHINE - More Questions
1- Where and when is this story set?
This story takes place in china, in the year 400 AD. In those times in Europe the church was against any form of knowledge which could have been against its thought.
The new invention could destroy the status quo. The great wall was a barrier that protected them (the Chinese) from any invasion - or invention. The flying machine was a threat against the empire
2- What does the flying machine represent?
Maybe the division/connection between the two worlds. It also represents a limit from development, revolution, evolution, freedom.
3- Who are the main characters of the story?
The emperor, the scientist or inventor, and the servant.
4- What kind of man is the emperor?
The emperor is a man who does not want progress. He is a despot and murderer.
He thinks any progress can threaten his land (his domain), so he will prevent any attempt.
He wants to be the best “inventor”, and perhaps, the emperor has / suffers from the
inventor‘s envy because, the flyer’s invention is much more important/creative than his.
The servant is a poor man, submissive. He ignores many things; he believes and trusts in his emperor. He thanks the emperor for letting him be alive/sparing his life. He accepts the invention. (I do not think that he thinks that the flying machine was dangerous)
The inventor is a revolutionary man, intelligent and adventurous. In those times it was dangerous to do something different and daring, however, he created the flying machine.
The inventor is brave with the emperor, because he wants to fight when the emperor orders to kill him. But he was submissive too, because on bended knee, he asks forgiveness.
5.Differences and similarities between the emperor’s invention and the flyer’s invention:
Both inventions mean beauty.
The emperor’s invention represents the empire’s ideals. He has an ideal empire. And the wall represents a prison.
Instead, the flyer´s invention represents freedom. It was a real invention.
The emperor’s invention was closed by a key. His empire was closed within the Wall. On the other hand, the flyer’s invention was an instrument that allows men to fly, and leads to freedom
6-A metaphor compares two unlike things, without the use of a comparison word, such as like or as. What metaphor does Bradbury use to describe the Great Wall? What function does the wall serve?
Splendid snake of stones. The Great Wall serves to protect the Chinese from the enemies
7- What do you think the conflict, or struggle, in the story will be?
The conflict will be perhaps, for the status quo. The emperor wants to keep his powers.
8- On what grounds does the flying man ask for mercy?
The flyer asks for mercy because he was an inventor too. He thinks the emperor has to consider what he has created because his own invention – the flying machine - was similar to the one the emperor has invented. They are both creators .
9- How does the emperor justify his treatment of the flying man?
The emperor says that sometimes you have to sacrifice some things, to prevent others from happening.
10- Why do you think the narrator ends the story with the emperor watching the birds in his mechanical garden?
The emperor says that only the birds can fly. Everything remains the same. The emperor is the one who ca make things “work”.
The writer emphasizes the fact that the emperor has taken the right decision.
Unit 3 A Mobile phones - November 2nd 2009 Recommended article
Driven to Distraction When Texting Kills, Britain Offers Path to Prison Articles in this series examine the dangers of drivers using cellphones and other electronic devices, and efforts to deal with the problem.
Our dream house could have an area that could be different rooms at the same time, the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, everything in only one place. It would be a house with a very tall roof and a big window with balcony overlooking the river or a residential area with a lot of trees all around there.
Roald Dahl (English pronunciation: /ˈroʊ.ɑːl ˈdɑːl/[2], Norwegian: [ˈɾuːɑl dɑl]; 13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter.
Born in Llandaff, Wales, to Norwegian parents, Dahl served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence agent. He rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults, and became one of the world's bestselling authors. His short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, often very dark humour.
Some of his more well-known works include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr Fox, Matilda, The Witches, and The BFG.
"The Way Up to Heaven"
Plot/Description
Mrs. Foster has a pathological fear of being late. Whenever she is in danger of missing a train or plane or an engagement, a tiny muscle near her eye begins to twitch. The worst part is that her husband, Mr. Eugene Foster, seems to torment her by making sure that they always leave the house one or two minutes past the point of safety. On this particular occasion Mrs. Foster is leaving to visit her daughter and grandchildren in Paris for the first time ever, and she's frantic to think that she'll miss her flight. By the time her husband finally joins her at the car, she's too far behind schedule. Luckily the flight is postponed til the next day, and Mr. Foster persuades her to come home for the night. When she's ready to leave the next day, though, her husband suggests that they drop him off at his club on the way. Knowing this will make her late, she protests in vain. Just before the car leaves, he runs back in the house on the pretense of picking up a gift he forgot for his daughter. While he's gone Mrs. Foster discovers the gift box shoved down between the seat cushions. She runs up to the house to tell him that she has the gift... and suddenly she pauses. She listens. She stays frozen for 10 seconds, straining to hear something. Then she turns and runs to the car, telling the driver that they're too late and her husband will have to find another ride. She makes her flight and has a wonderful visit with her grandchildren. She writes her husband every week and sends him a telegram before she flies home six weeks later. He's not at the airport to meet her though, and when she enters the house (after taking a taxi home) she notices a curious odor in the air. Satisfied, she enters her husband's study and calls the elevator repairman. It had jammed and she left him to die there!
Classroom Activities Vocabulary Work
1. List 10 words from the story which describe Mrs Foster as being either nervous or afraid.
2. Find one word in the story which means the same as:
a. unhappy, disappointed
b. very tired
c. find out about something
d. an odd habit or tendency
e. for a short time
Comprehension
1. Why is Mrs Foster upset with her husband at the beginning of the story?
2. How did her husband make her anxious the following morning?
3. What crucial decision did she finally make?
4. What were Mrs Foster's feelings at the end of the story?
Discussion Points
1. Was Mrs Foster right to want to live in Paris? Should husbands and wives always go away together?
2. Do you sympathise or not with Mrs Foster? Do you think she should go to prison? Do you understand why she let her husband die?
Writing
1. Write a short letter (100 words) from Mrs Foster to her daughter in Paris. Describe what happened when she returned home and describe her plans for the future.
Review
1. Is the ending to the story predictable or unpredictable? Give reasons.
Mr. Foster
He is an old man, nearly seventy years old.
He tries to control his wife all the time. He is mean, because he usually makes things to provoke her phobias.
He is a selfish man, he is only interested in himself.
He seems to enjoy her wife’s phobias.
He seems to enjoy when his wife suffers from her phobias.
He does not love his daughter much. He does not to see her. He is a typical man of the nineteen fiftieths.
Mrs. Foster has a pathological fear of missing a train, a plane, a boat… although she is not a particularly nervous woman. That fear makes her twitch the corner of her left eye, for an hour, even the plane has been safely caught.
She has been married for over 30 years and even she has been a good and loving wife (she has served her husband loyally and well), her husband controls her - although she has refused to let her believe that Mr. Foster would ever consciously torment her.
With this trip to Paris, one part of her realizes that her husband manipulates her, and it makes her move on in the way that she continues with something that she really wants (to know her grandchildren) even her husband doesn’t like it. So, in one way she makes herself free.
On the other hand, we think she is used to that kind of life, and maybe she needs that her husband treats her in that way. And that’s why she still remembers her husband and writes to him.
The death of her husband is a relief to her, because that liberates her from the manipulation of Mr. Foster. However, we also have a few questions: If she hasn’t gone in the car, maybe Mr. Foster would be alive by now? In that case, she is his murderess? Has she killed him consciously? In her desire to be free, does she sees an opportunity that she might not have anymore?
They are an old couple.
Mrs. Foster is a poor woman who's been taken to extremes by her mean husband.
Mr. Foster is authoritative with her. The woman, probably, had been educated like that.
He seems to enjoy watching his wife suffer, especially in the later years of their married life.
For over thirty years, she has served him loyally and well.
They are tired of each other. He is irritated by her foolishness. She is tired by his authoritative manners and the life she's had with her husband.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS ARE USUALLY BETTER THAN STATE SCHOOLS
It depends on what private or state school we are talking about.
First of all, education is geting worse in both and it will get even worse unless educational policies improve.
However, each kind of school has positive and negative sides.
Finally, each family must decide what they want for their children, when they have to enter the system, and consider discipline, teaching methods, etc. Natalia - Pablo - Gabriela - Danisa
ALL SCHOOLS SHOULD LET CHILDREN WEAR WHATEVER THEY WANT AT SCHOOL
As soon as young children start school they have to wear a uniform because the Principals at school command them to reapect the school regulations.
In other schools students are allowed to wear whatever they they want.
We think it is better if all children look the same, especially for children who come from poor families. Alfredo - Loreley - Erica - Carolina
GIRLS STUDY BETTER WITHOUT BOYS IN THE CLASS
We disagree with this cause we think that mixed groups are better because girls can help boys and see another point of view from them. Besides, boys can learn to be tidier like girls. They can profit.
As soon as the boys begin studying with girls they become responsible.
Unless teahcers promote the union between boys and girls they won't be able to communicate and share activities. Mauricio - Laura - Eugenia
BOYS STUDY BETTER IN A MIXED CLASS
We agree with this.
First of all, boys' behaviour is better with girls in the classroom.
Boys are more educated if they share activities with girls.
When girls and boys study together, women avoid violent situations - the group doesn't go out of control. Marcelo - Elizabeth - Jorge - Julia
Ray Douglas Bradbury (born August 22, 1920) is an American mainstream, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer.
Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury is widely considered one of the greatest and most popular American writers of speculative fiction of the twentieth century.
Ray Bradbury's popularity has been increased by more than 20 television shows and films using his writings
This story is set in China many centuries ago, where a servant to the emperor notices a man that has created a contraption for flying. The emperor is not at all happy when he asks the inventor his purpose in creating such a device and is told that the inventor's motivation was merely the desire for innovation. Thus the emperor orders that the inventor shall be executed because, while his flying machine may be a beautiful creation, the emperor sees the devastating potential for those who "have evil in their eyes" and will seek to use it for purposes other than the enjoyment of flight, namely flying over the Great Wall of China. For this reason, the inventor is executed, the flying machine burned, and all who saw it are silenced. But in the last line the Emperor suddenly sees the futility of his actions, when he realises birds were the spark of the innovation and will be again
Some questions
1. Why did the emperor call for his guards to execute the flier?
2. Do you agree with the emperor's concerns? Why or why not?
3. What would you have done if you had been the emperor?
4. What do you think was Ray Bradbury's purpose in writing "The Flying Machine"?
5. What comment is he making on human nature?
6. Why do you think Bradbury set the story in China AD 400?
THE SHORT STORY
By Ray Bradbury
In the year A.D. 400, the Emperor Yuan held his throne by the Great Wall of China, and the land
was green with rain, readying itself toward the harvest, at peace, the people in his dominion neither
too happy nor too sad.
Early on the morning of the first day of the first week of the second month of the new year, the
Emperor Yuan was sipping tea and fanning himself against a warm breeze when a servant ran
across the scarlet and blue garden tiles, calling, "Oh, Emperor, Emperor, a miracle!"
"Yes," said the Emperor, "the air is sweet this morning."
"No, no, a miracle!" said the servant, bowing quickly.
"And this tea is good in my mouth, surely that is a miracle."
"No, no, Your Excellency."
"Let me guess then - the sun has risen and a new day is upon us. Or the sea is blue. That now is
the finest of all miracles."
"Excellency, a man is flying!"
"What?" The Emperor stopped his fan.
"I saw him in the air, a man flying with wings. I heard a Voice call out of the sky, and when I
looked up, there he was, a dragon in the heavens with a man in its mouth, a dragon of paper and
bamboo, coloured like the sun and the grass."
"It is early," said the Emperor, "and you have just wakened from a dream."
"It is early, but I have seen what I have seen! Come, and you will see it too."
"Sit down with me here," said the Emperor. "Drink some tea. It must be a strange thing, if it is
true, to see a man fly. You must have time to think of it, even as I must have time to prepare
myself for the sight." They drank tea.
"Please," said the servant at last, "or he will be gone." The Emperor rose thoughtfully. "Now you
may show me what you have seen."
They walked into a garden, across a meadow of grass, over a small bridge, through a grove of
trees, and up a tiny hill.
"There!" said the servant.
The Emperor looked into the sky.
And in the sky, laughing so high that you could hardly hear him laugh, was a man; and the man
was clothed in bright papers and reeds to make wings and a beautiful yellow tail, and he was
soaring all about like the largest bird in a universe of birds, like a new dragon in a land of ancient
dragons.
The man called down to them from high in the cool winds of morning. "I fly, I fly!"
The servant waved to him. "Yes,yes!"
The Emperor Yuan did not move. Instead he looked at the Great Wall of China now taking shape
out of the farthest mist in the green hills, that splendid snake of stones which writhed with majesty
across the entire land. That wonderful wall which had protected them for a timeless time from
enemy hordes and preserved peace for years without number. He saw the town, nestled to itself by
a river and a road and a hill, beginning to waken.
"Tell me," he said to his servant, "has anyone else seen this flying man?"
"I am the only one, Excellency," said the servant, smiling at the sky, waving.
The Emperor watched the heavens another minute and then said, "Call him down to me."
"Ho, come down, come down! The Emperor wishes to see you!" called the servant, hands cupped
to his shouting mouth.
The Emperor glanced in all directions while the flying man soared down the morning wind. He
saw a farmer, early in his fields, watchihg the sky, and he noted where the farmer stood.
The flying man alit with a rustle of paper and a creak of bamboo reeds. He came proudly to the
Emperor, clumsy in his rig, at last bowing before the old man.
"What have you done?" demanded the Emperor.
"I have flown in the sky, Your Excellency," replied the man.
"What have you done?" said the Emperor again.
"I have just told you!" cried the flier.
"You have told me nothing at all." The Emperor reached out a thin hand to touch the pretty paper
and the birdlike keel of the apparatus. It smelled cool, of the wind.
"Is it not beautiful, Excellency?"
"Yes, too beautiful."
"It is the only one in the world!" smiled the man. "And I am the inventor."
"The only one in the world?" "I swear it!"
"Who else knows of this?"
"No one. Not even my wife, who would think me mad with the son. She thought I was making a
kite. I rose in the night and walked to the cliffs far away. And when the morning breezes blew and
the sun rose, I gathered my courage, Excellency, and leaped from the cliff. I flew! But my wife does
not know of it."
"Well for her, then," said the Emperor. "Come along."
They walked back to the great house. The sun was full in the sky now, and the smell of the grass
was refreshing.
The Emperor, the servant, and the flier paused within the huge garden.
The Emperor clapped his hands. "Ho, guards!" The guards came running. "Hold this man." The
guards seized the flier. "Call the executioner," said the Emperor. "What's this!" cried the flier,
bewildered. "What have I done?" He began to weep, so that the beautiful paper apparatus rustled.
"Here is the man who has made a certain machine," said the Emperor, "and yet asks us what he
has created. He does not know himself. It is only necessary that he create, without knowing why he
has done so, or what this thing will do."
The executioner came running with a sharp silver ax. He stood with his naked, large-muscled
arms ready, his face covered with a serene white mask.
"One moment," said the Emperor. He turned to a nearby table upon which sat a machine that he
himself had created. The Emperor took a tiny golden key from his own neck. He fitted his key to the
tiny, delicate machine and wound it up. Then he set the machine going.
The machine was a garden of metal and jewels. Set in motion, the birds sangs in tiny metal
trees, wolves walked through miniature forests, and tiny people ran in and out of sun and shadow,
fanning themselves with miniature fans, listening to tiny emerald birds, and standing by impossibly
small but tinkling fountains.
"Is It not beautiful?" said the Emperor. "If you asked me what I have done here, I could answer
you well. I have made birds sing, I have made forests murmur, I have set people to walking in this
woodland, enjoying the leaves and shadows and songs. That is what I have done."
"But, oh, Emperor!" pleaded the flier, on his knees, the tears pouring down his face. "I have done
a similar thing! I have found beauty. I have flown on the morning wind. I have looked down on all
the sleeping houses and gardens. I have smelled the sea and even seen it, beyond the hills, from
my high place. And I have soared like a bird; oh, I cannot say how beautiful it is up there, in the
sky, with the wind about me, the wind blowing me here like a feather, there like a fan, the way the
sky smells in the morning! And how free one feels! That is beautiful, Emperor, that is beautiful too!"
"Yes," said the Emperor sadly, "I know it must be true. For I felt my heart move with you in the
air and I wondered: What is it like? How does it feel? How do the distant pools look from so high?
And how my houses and servants? Like ants? And how the distant towns not yet awake?"
"Then spare me!"
"But there are times," said the Emperor, more sadly still, "when one must lose a little beauty if
one is to keep what little beauty one already has. I do not fear you, yourself, but I fear another
man."
"What man?"
"Some other man who, seeing you, will build a thing of bright papers and bamboo like this. But
the other man will have an evil face and an evil heart, and the beauty will be gone. It is this man I
fear."
"Why? Why?"
"Who is to say that someday just such a man, in just such an apparatus of paper and reed, might
not fly in the sky and drop huge stones upon the Great Wall of China?" said the Emperor.
No one moved or said a word.
"Off with his head," said the Emperor.
The executioner whirled his silver ax.
"Burn the kite and the inventor's body and bury their ashes together," said the Emperor.
The servants retreated to obey.
The Emperor turned to his hand-servant, who had seen the man flying. "Hold your tongue. It was
all a dream, a most sorrowful and beautiful dream. And that farmer in the distant field who also
saw, tell him it would pay him to consider it only a vision. If ever the word passes around, you and
the farmer die within the hour."
"You are merciful, Emperor."
"No, not merciful," said the old man. Beyond the garden wall he saw the guards burning the
beautiful machine of paper and reeds that smelled of the morning wind. He saw he dark smoke
climb into the sky. "No, only very much bewildered and afraid." He saw the guards digging a tiny pit
wherein to bury the ashes. "What is the life of one man against those of a million others? I must
take solace from that thought."
He took the key from its chain about his neck and once more wound up the beautiful miniature
garden. He stood looking out across the land at the Great Wall, the peaceful town, the green fields,
the rivers and streams. He sighed. The tiny garden whirred its hidden and delicate machinery and
set itself in motion; tiny people walked in forests, tiny faces loped through sun-speckled glades in
beautiful shining pelts, and among the tiny trees flew little bits of high song and bright blue and
yellow colour, flying, flying, flying in that small sky.
"Oh," said the Emperor, closing his eyes, "look at the birds, look at the birds!" From Golden Apples of the Sun Doubleday, 1953
You Can Get It If You Really Want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
Try and try
Try and try
You'll succeed at last.
Persecution you must fear
Win or lose
You got to get your share
You've got your mind set on a dream
You can get it though hard it may seem now.
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
But you must try
Try and try
Try and try
You'll succeed at last.
Rome was not built in a day
Opposition will come your way
But the harder the battle you see
Is the sweeter
The victory girl
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
You can get it if you really want
always answer their mobiles when driving! have to take care no to TEXT to a wrong person with their mobile phones. shouldn't listen to music loudly on their mobile phones when they are in public places.
usually shout when they speak on their mobiles. don't have to use their mobiles when they drive. mustn't use their mobiles on a plane. mustn't use their mobiles in banks. mustn't text when talking to someone. shouldn't switch on their mobiles at the cinema.
The Flying Machine - Ray Bradbury 
