Auggie Wren is a middle-aged guy whose job is to run a Brooklyn cigar store. It’s the only job he’s had in fifteen years but that doesn’t bother him. He enjoys the slow days when only a few of his friends hang around the store shooting the breeze.
One day Auggie and two other guys named Tommy and Jerry are in the middle of discussing whether or not women are more fun than cigars (Freud started that one, I think) when Paul Benjamin, a writer who lives nearby, walks in and joins the discussion. Paul and Auggie have been friends for years and Paul often drops by the store to stock up on cigars and a chat with Auggie
run a store … vést /řídit obchod
it doesn’t bother me … mně to nevadí
slow days … dny kdy se toho moc neděje
hang around the store … bezcílně postávat/popocházet/vysedávat v obchodě
shoot the breeze … vykecávat
whether or not … zda, jestli
drop by … zastavit se (na návštěvu)
stock up on st … vyzásobit se, nakoupit do zásoby
chat … pokec
slow day /1/ women & cigars
PAUL: Hey, how’s it going? Long time ……..
AUGGIE: Hey. Good to see you. What will it be today?
PAUL: Two tins of Schimmelpennincks. And ……. a lighter while you’re ……..
AUGGIE: You know, the boys and I were just ……. a philosophical discussion about women and cigars. There are some interesting connections there, don’t you think?
PAUL: …….. I guess it all goes back to Queen Elizabeth. Have you ever heard of Sir Walter Raleigh?
AUGGIE: Sure. He’s the guy who threw his coat down over the puddle ……. this lady didn’t ……. her feet all wet. And I used to smoke Raleigh cigarettes, too. They ……. with a free gift coupon in every pack.
PAUL: That’s the man. Well, Raleigh was the person who introduced tobacco in England, and ……. he was a favorite of the Queen’s — Queen Bess, he ……. ……. her — smoking ……. on as a fashion. I’m sure Old Bess ……. have shared a cigarette or two with Sir Walter.
at it … call … came … caught
definitely … get … having … must
no see … since … so … throw in … used to
Schimmelpennincks … značka doutníku
Sir Walter Raleigh … voják, průzkumník, dvořan Alžběty I (1552-1618)
Queen Bess … familiérní přezdívka královny Alžběty
tin … plechovka
definitely … rozhodně, určitě
it goes back to … všechno to začalo
puddle … kaluž
since … zde: jelikož
catch on … uchytit se
here are the keywords so you can see just how well you know the story
slow day /2/ the weight of smoke
PAUL: Once, Sir Walter made a bet with the Queen that he could ……. the weight of smoke.
AUGGIE: You mean, weigh smoke? You can’t do that. It’s like weighing air.
PAUL: I admit it’s strange. ……. like weighing someone’s soul. But Sir Walter was a pretty smart guy. What he did was first he took an unsmoked cigar and put it on a balance and weighed it. Then he ……. and smoked the cigar. While he was smoking it he ……. the ashes all ended up in the balance pan. When he was ……., he put the butt into the pan ……. with the ashes and weighed it all. The difference must be the weight of the smoke, right?
AUGGIE: Not bad. That’s the kind of guy we need to ……. the Mets.
PAUL: Oh, he was smart, all right. But not smart ……., it turned out. He ended up ……. his head chopped off twenty years later. But that’s a different story.
AUGGIE: You’re ……. have to tell us that one some day, ok? Take care of yourself now, and don’t do anything I ……. do.
PAUL: I wouldn’t think of it. See you ……., fellas.
almost … along … around … done
enough … gonna … having … lit up
made sure … measure … take over … wouldn’t
the Mets … slabší ze dvojice velkých newyorských baseballových týmů (Yankees jsou ti lepší)
measure … měřit
weight … hmotnost, váha
balance … váha (předmět)
light up … zapálit si
pan … miska
butt … nedopalek
along with … spolu s
take over … převzít něco (vzít do vlastních rukou)
it turned out … ukázalo se, že…
chop st off … useknout
fellas … fellows (kámoši, chlapíci, borci)
a good thing to do is to explain the storyline (incl. the vocab) to the students beforehand and then give them, say, a week’s time to do the fill-outs on this page. that way, they know they’ll be getting a text they have gone through and will also be at least roughly familiar with the other parts
slow day /3/ what could have been
TOMMY: What is he, some kind of wise guy?
AUGGIE: Nah. He’s a good kid. He and I ……. a long time.
TOMMY: I’ve seen him around. He comes in here a lot, doesn’t he?
AUGGIE: Couple of times a week, maybe. Actually, he’s a writer. Lives in the neighborhood. He’s published three or four books. But nothing now for ……. few years.
TOMMY: What’s …….? Did he run out of ideas?
AUGGIE: He ran out of luck. Remember that robbery out here on Seventh Avenue a few years back?
TOMMY: You talking about the bank? ……. those two guys started firing bullets ……. the street?
AUGGIE: That’s it. Four people got killed. One of them was Paul’s wife. The poor guy, he ……. the same since. The funny thing was, she stopped in here just before it happened. To stock up on cigars for him. She was a nice lady, Ellen. Four or five months pregnant at the time, ……. that when she was killed, the baby was killed, too. I sometimes ……. would have happened if she ……. me exact change that day, or if the store had been a little more …….. I mean, it would ……. her a few more seconds to get out of here, and then maybe she wouldn’t have ……. by that bullet. She’d still be alive, the baby would have been born, and Paul would ……. at home writing another book ……. wandering the streets with a hangover.
all over … be sitting … been hit … crowded
go back … hadn’t given … hasn’t been … have taken
instead of … the matter … the past
the time … which means … wonder what
wise guy … chytrolín, kecka
we go back… … my se známe už dlouho
he ran out of ideas … došly mu nápady
fire bullets … střílet kulky
change … drobné
crowded … plné lidí, narvané
wander … toulat se
hangover … kocovina