Зубная ведьма : книга для чтения на английском языке

David WALLIAMS

DEMON 
DENTIST

Дэвид УОЛЛЬЯМС
ЗУБНАЯ  
ВЕДЬМА

 
 
Адаптация, задания и словарь 

УДК 372.881.111.1
ББК 81.2 Англ 
 
У63

ISBN 978-5-9925-1543-5

Уолльямс, Дэвид

У63      Зубная ведьма : книга для чтения на английском языке / 

Адаптация, задания и словарь Ю. С. Ленартович — Санкт-Петербург : КАРО, 2022. — 208 с. : ил. — (Reading with exercises).

ISBN 978-5-9925-1543-5.

«Зубная ведьма» — это захватывающая и загадочная история с 

динамичным сюжетом, от которой невозможно оторваться. Она написана на современном и живом английском языке, легко читается 
и нравится всем — и детям, и взрослым. Перед вами адаптированная и сокращенная версия книги.

Издание снабжено упражнениями на понимание текста, рас
ширение словарного запаса и развитие коммуникативных навыков. В качестве творческих заданий пособие содержит кроссворды 
и головоломки, а для более эффективного обучения — ключи к 
упражнениям и словарь.

Книга может быть адресована учащимся школ с углублен
ным изучением английского языка, а также всем, кто изучает английский язык самостоятельно с уровнем языковой подготовки 
Intermediate.

УДК 372.881.111.1 

ББК 81.2 Англ

© Ленартович Ю. С.,  
 
адаптация, задания  

 
и словарь, 2022

© КАРО, 2022
Все права защищены

PROLOGUE

Darkness suddenly covered the town. Strange things were hap
pening at night. Children would place a tooth under their pillow at 
bedtime, waiting for the tooth fairy to leave a coin. In the morning 
they would wake up to find creeping and crawling insects beneath 
their pillow. 

Someone or something had broken into their bedrooms, stole the 

tooth and left the disgusting little things as a blood-curdling calling 
card.

But what evil was behind it?
How could they sneak into children’s rooms without being no
ticed?

And why did they take all those teeth away?

ACTIVITY

ƒ
ƒ Read the prologue aloud and try to give your answers to the 

three questions in it.

A SIMPLE CASE OF TOOTHACHE

Alfie hated going to the dentist. As a result the boy’s teeth were 

almost all yellow. The ones that weren’t yellow were brown. They 
bore the stains of all the goodies that children love, but dentists hate.

That’s because this twelve-year-old boy hadn’t gone to the dentist 

since he was very little. 

Alfie’s last visit was when he was around six. It was a simple case 

of toothache, but it ended in disaster. The dentist was an ancient man, 
Mr Erstwhile. He wore glasses so thick they made his eyes appear to 
be the size of tennis balls. Mr Erstwhile told Alfie the tooth in question was rotten, a filling wouldn’t save it and unfortunately he had no 
option but to take it out. 

The dentist yanked and yanked and yanked with his huge steel 

forceps. But the tooth wouldn’t come. Mr Erstwhile even rested his 
foot up on the chair by Alfie’s head to lever himself against it to help 
wrench the wretched tooth out. Still it wouldn’t come. 

The ancient dentist then enlisted the help of his even older dental 

nurse. Miss Prig was instructed to hold on to him and tug as hard as 
she could. Even then the tooth wouldn’t come. 

Soon the hefty receptionist, Miss Veal, was asked to step into the 

room to help. Miss Veal weighed more than Mr Erstwhile and Miss 
Prig put together. But even with all her ballast, the tooth wouldn’t 
come. 

With poor young Alfie still lying in terror on the dentist’s chair, 

Mr Erstwhile stepped into his waiting room to request reinforcements. The growing crowd of patients waiting to be seen were all 
called upon to assist. Young and old, fat and thin, the elderly dentist 
needed all the help he could get. 

Nevertheless, even with a lengthy human chain and an army of 

visitors, the tooth stayed well and truly put. 

A Simple Case of Toothache   •   5

By this time poor little Alfie was in great distress. The pain of hav
ing his tooth pulled out was a hundred times worse than the toothache. However, Mr Erstwhile was determined to finish what he had 
started. Sweating profusely, the thirsty dentist took a large swig of 
mouthwash, and gripped on to the forceps as tightly as he could. 

Finally, the dentist had gripped so hard he had crushed the tooth. 

It exploded into thousands of tiny fragments inside Alfie’s mouth. 

With the ordeal finally over, Mr Erstwhile and all his helpers were 

lying in a tangled heap on the surgery floor. 

“Well done, everyone!” he announced, as his assistant Miss Prig 

helped him to his feet. “Oh, that tooth was a stubborn little blighter!” 

Just then Alfie realised something. He still had toothache.
The dentist had taken out the wrong tooth! 

ACTIVITIES

ƒ
ƒ 1. Find in the text the synonyms for the following words:

a mark; delicacies; a trouble; obstinate; miserable; massive; to help; 
aged; long; a gulp.

ƒ
ƒ 2. Solve the crossword puzzle.

Across

 3. Another adjective describing de
cayed teeth.

 7. A room for patients to wait in be
fore they see a dentist.

 9. To extract a tooth.

Down

 1. A medical instrument used for 

picking up and holding things.

 2. Someone whose job is to treat 

people's teeth.

 4. A pain in a tooth.

 5. A room where dentists perform op
erations.

 6. To pull something suddenly and 

with force.

 8. A liquid intended to reduce any 

smell or infection in the mouth.

•   David Walliams. Demon Dentist

At the dentist’s

1

2

3
4
5

6

7
8

9

ƒ
ƒ 3. Find in the text the English equivalents for the following:

заканчиваться катастрофой; не иметь иного выбора, кроме…; 
прибегать к помощи; вместе взятые; в ужасе; быть в бедственном положении; обливаться пόтом; тяжкое испытание; беспорядочная груда.

ƒ
ƒ 4. Answer the questions.

 1. What was wrong with Alfie’s teeth?
 2. Who was Alfie’s dentist when the boy was little?
 3. Can you describe Alfie’s visit to a dentist when he was around 

six?

A Simple Case of Toothache   •   7

 4. What finally happened with Alfie’s tooth then?
 5. What do you think about Alfie’s decision to stop seeing his 

dentist?

 6. Can you recollect your first visit to a dentist? Were you afraid 

then? 

 7. Give three reasons why it is usually frightening to go to the 

dentist’s? 

 8. Can you describe the dentist’s surgery you visited last time?
 9. What would you do if you had ever had a similar painful ex
perience of being at the dentist’s?

10. Would you like to become a dentist in the future? Explain 

why you would or why you wouldn’t.

ƒ
ƒ 5. Retell the chapter briefly using the vocabulary from Task 3.

BELIEVE

Alfie ran out of the dental surgery as fast as his little legs would 

carry him. That fateful afternoon the boy vowed that he would never 
ever go to the dentist’s again. Over the years there had been a sackful of reminder letters from the dentist, but Alfie had hidden them all 
from his dad.

Alfie’s was a family of two. Just him and his father. The boy’s 

mother had died giving birth to him. He had never known her. Sometimes he felt sad, as if he missed his mother, but then he would tell 
himself, how could he miss someone he had never met?

Before ill health forced him out of work, Alfie’s dad was a coal min
er. A great big bear of a man, he had loved working down the pit and 
providing for his beloved son. However, all those years he spent down 
the mine took a terrible toll on his lungs. Dad was a proud man, and 
didn’t let on about his illness for many years. He worked harder and 
harder to dig more and more coal, even taking on extra shifts to help 
make ends meet. When dad finally came round at the hospital the doctors told him he could never go down a mine again. Just one more lungful of coal dust could finish him off for good. As the years passed dad’s 
breathing worsened. Getting another job became impossible, and even 
everyday tasks, something as simple as tying a shoelace, grew to be a 
struggle. Soon dad could only get around in a wheelchair.

With no mum or brothers or sisters, Alfie had to care for his fa
ther alone. Besides having to go to school and do his homework, the 
boy would do all the shopping, all the cleaning, cook all the meals, 
and do all the washing up. Alfie never complained though. He loved 
his dad with all his heart. 

Dad’s body may have been broken, but his spirit wasn’t. He had 

a great gift for telling stories. From their little bungalow dad would 
take his son on all sorts of thrilling adventures. It was a multicoloured 

Believe   •   9

world of make-believe, a million miles away from their black-andwhite existence.

Together they:
· Went out fishing for the day in Scotland and caught the Loch 

Ness Monster. 
· Climbed the Himalayan Mountains and came face to face with 

the Abominable Snowman.
· Slew a huge fire-breathing dragon.
· Hid aboard a pirate ship and were forced to walk the plank as 

stowaways, only to be saved by beautiful mermaids.
· Rubbed a magic lamp and met a genie who gave them three 

wishes each, although dad gave all his wishes to his son.
· Rode on the back of Pegasus, the winged horse from Greek 

mythology.
· Climbed up a stalk to Giant Land and met an extremely hun
gry Cyclops whose perfect idea of a between-meals snack was 
a scrawny little twelve-year-old boy, so dad had to save him.
· Became the first ever father and son team to successfully land 

on the moon in a home-made rocket.
· Were chased across the misty moors at night by a ferocious 

werewolf.

This was the world of the imagination. Anything was possible in 

dad’s and Alfie’s adventures. Nothing could stop them. Nothing.

As Alfie grew older though, he found it harder and harder to see 

these things. As his dad spoke, the boy would open his eyes, become 
distracted, and begin to wish he could play computer games all night 
like the other kids at his new big school.

“Pup, just close your eyes and believe...” his dad would say. Howev
er, Alfie was beginning to think that now he was twelve, nearly thirteen, 
he was too old to believe in magic and myths and fantastical creatures.

ACTIVITIES

ƒ
ƒ 1. Find in the text the synonyms for the following words:

important; to decline; to grumble; to destroy; thin; violent; to promise; exciting; terrible; confused.

•   David Walliams. Demon Dentist

ƒ
ƒ 2. Solve the crossword puzzle about fairytale creatures and 

objects.

Make-believe world puzzle

1

2

3
4

5
6

7
8

9

10

11

Across

 3. A woman who has a fish’s tail and 

lives in the sea.

 5. A huge man in ancient Greek myths 

who has only one eye in the middle 
of his forehead.

Down

 1. An abominable hairy humanlike 

creature which is believed to inhabit the Himalayan Mountains.

 2. A divine winged horse in ancient 

Greek and Roman mythology.

 4. A big fire-breathing creature.