way2go! 7. Coursebook, Schulbuch

39 How is tension created in the reader at this point? What clues does Bradbury give us that something bad is going to happen? (This technique is called ‘foreshadowing’.) The lions were coming. And again, George Hadley was filled with admiration for the mechanical genius who had conceived this room. A miracle of efficiency selling for an absurdly low price. Every home should have one. Oh, occasionally they frightened you with their clinical accuracy, they startled you, gave you a twinge, but most of the time, what fun for everyone, not only your own son and daughter, but for yourself when you felt like a quick jaunt 5 to a foreign land, a quick change of scenery. Well, here it was! And here were the lions now, fifteen feet away, so real, so feverishly and startlingly real that you could feel the prickling fur on your hand. [ …] The lions stood looking at George and Lydia Hadley with terrible green-yellow eyes. “Watch out!” screamed Lydia. The lions came running at them. Lydia bolted 6 and ran. Instinctively, George sprang after her. Outside, in the hall, with the door slammed, he was laughing and she was crying, and they both stood appalled at the other’s reaction. “George!” “Lydia! Oh, my dear poor sweet Lydia!” “They almost got us!” “Walls, Lydia, remember; crystal walls, that’s all they are. Oh, they look real, I must admit – Africa in your parlor – but it’s all dimensional, super reactionary, supersensitive color film and mental tape film behind glass screens.” […] “You’ve got to tell Wendy and Peter not to read any more on Africa.” “Of course – of course.” He patted her. 2 “And lock the nursery for a few days until I get my nerves settled.” “You know how difficult Peter is about that. When I punished him a month ago by locking the nursery for even a few hours – the tantrum he threw 7 ! And Wendy too. They live for the nursery.” “It’s got to be locked, that’s all there is to it.” “All right.” Reluctantly he locked the huge door. “You’ve been working too hard. You need a rest.” “I don’t know – I don’t know,” she said, blowing her nose, sitting down in a chair that immediately began to rock and comfort her. “Maybe I don’t have enough to do. Maybe I have time to think too much. Why don’t we shut the whole house off for a few days and take a vacation?” […] 3 Why do you think Lydia wants to shut off the house? At this stage in the story, what do you think will be the children’s reaction to this idea? Support your opinion. As for the nursery, thought George Hadley, it won’t hurt for the children to be locked out of it awhile. Too much of anything isn’t good for anyone. And it was clearly indicated that the children had been spending a little too much time on Africa. That sun. He could feel it on his neck, still, like a hot paw. And the lions. And the smell of blood. Remarkable how the nursery caught the telepathic emanations 8 of the children’s minds and created life to fill their every desire. The children thought lions, and there were lions. The children thought zebras, and there were zebras. Sun – sun. Giraffes – giraffes. Death and death. […] 5 jaunt: Ausflug, Spritztour 6 bolt: davonstürzen 7 to throw a tantrum: einen Wutanfall kriegen 8 telepathic emanations: telepathische Gedankenströme 4 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv