Chapter 5 - The Caterpillar

The Caterpillar looked at Alice for some time before it spoke. Then it said slowly,' Who are you ?'

It was a difficult question. 'I ... I don't really know, sir,' Alice said. 'I was Alice when I got up this morning. But then I changed — and then I changed again — and again.'

' What do you mean ?' the Caterpillar asked.

'I don't know,'Alice answered.' You see, I'm not me now.'

' I don't understand,' said the Caterpillar.

'I'll try and tell you,' said Alice.'You see, I change all the time. It's very difficult for me.'

' Why ? I can change very easily.'

'Well, perhaps it's not difficult for you, but it is for me,' . said Alice.

' For you ? Who are you ?' said the Caterpillar and laughed. Alice felt  angry.   'It   asked  me   that   question  before,'  she thought. She stood very tall and said,' I will tell you, but first, you tell me. Who are you ?'

' Why do I have to tell you ?' asked the Caterpillar.

This was another difficult question and Alice could not answer it.

'This caterpillar isn't very friendly,' she thought. So she walked away.

♦

'Gome back!' the Caterpillar called. 'I want to tell you something important.' Alice turned and came back again.

' Don't get angry,' said the Caterpillar.

' Is that all? 'Alice asked. She felt very angry with the Caterpillar.

' No,' said the Caterpillar.

It did not speak for some minutes, then it said, 'So you're different, are you ?'

'Yes, I am, sir,' said Alice.' I can't remember things, and my size changes all the time. Sometimes I get bigger and then I get smaller again.'

'So you can't remember things,' said the Caterpillar.'Try this. Repeat, "You are old, Father William."'

Alice put her hands behind her back and repeated:

' You are old, Father William,' the young man said,

'And your hair is now very white;

So why do you often stand on your head —

Do you think at your age it is right ?'

' You are old, Father William,' the young man said, 'You are old and really quite fat; But you jump up and down and turn round and round, Now what is the answer to that ?'

' That is not right,' said the Caterpillar.

' I know. Some of the words are different,' said Alice.

' It's wrong from beginning to end,' said the Caterpillar. It was quiet for a time. Then it asked,' What size would you like to be ?'

' I'd like to be taller,' said Alice.' Seven centimetres is too small.'

'Seven centimetres is a very good size,' said the Caterpillar angrily It stood up very tall.    

' It's a good size for you, but not for me,' said Alice. And she thought,'Why does it get angry all the time?'

The Caterpillar was quiet for some minutes. Then it climbed down the mushroom. 'Eat from my mushroom and you'll get bigger. Eat from that brown mushroom there and you'll get smaller,' it said. It started to move away. A minute later, it vanished behind a flower and Alice never saw it again.

    ♦

Alice looked at the two mushrooms and thought for a minute. Then she went to the Caterpillar's mushroom and broke off some of it with her right hand. She went to the brown mushroom and did the same with her left hand.

She ate some of the brown mushroom. Suddenly, her head hit her foot.

' Oh!' she cried.' I'm really small!'

She quickly ate a little from the white mushroom in her left hand. She started to get bigger. She ate some more, and got very tall. Then she ate some from one hand and some from the other. In a short time, she was her right size again.

She felt quite strange.' What shall I do now ?' she wondered.' I know! I'll look for that beautiful garden.'

She began to walk through the wood. After some time, she came to a little house. It was about one metre high.

' I can't go inside, I'm too big,' Alice thought.' The people in the house will be afraid of me. I know! I'll eat some of the brown mushroom.'

Present Simple

Past Simple

Present Perfect

Zin 1

Zin 1:

Zin 1:

Zin 2

Zin 2:

Zin 2:

Zin 3

Zin 3:

Zin 3:

Chapter 6 - The Duchess and the Cheshire Cat

Inside, a large, ugly woman sat with a baby in her arms. There was a cook by the fire and there was food on the table. Near the fire, there was a large cat with a big smile. This smile went from ear to ear on its face.

'I think that woman is the Duchess,' thought Alice.' Can girls speak to Duchesses ?' she wondered.

But the Duchess did not say anything to her, so Alice asked, ' Please, why is your cat smiling ?'

' Because it's a Cheshire Cat, that's why,' said the Duchess.

' So Cheshire Cats can smile. I didn't know that,' said Alice.

' You don't know much,' said the Duchess.

' That's not very polite,' thought Alice.

She started to say something. Suddenly, the cook threw a plate at the Duchess. The Duchess didn't move. The cook threw more things - plates, cups, spoons. Some of them hit the Duchess and the baby. The Duchess did nothing, but the baby started to cry. ' Oh, don't throw things at the baby!' cried Alice.' You'll hit its pretty nose!'

' You be quiet, it isn't your baby!' the Duchess shouted. She began to sing to it. These were the words of the song:

Be angry with your little boy, And hit him when he cries: He has to know that he's a child, He's really not your size!

The cook sang the song too. When they finished, they sang it again. The Duchess started to throw the baby up and down. At the end of the song, she threw the baby to Alice.

'Here, you can have it now,' she said. 'I have to get ready. I'm going to see the Queen.'

The cook threw another plate at the Duchess. It didn't hit her, but she left the room quickly.

♦

Alice looked at the baby. It was a strange little thing and not very pretty. She took it outside.' I'll have to take this child away from here, or they'll kill it!' she thought. The baby made a strange little sound and she looked at it again.

' Its nose is changing!' she cried. She looked at it very carefully. ' Its face is changing, everything is changing! Oh! It's not a baby any more, it's a pig!'

It was very strange, but the baby was now a pig.                         

' What am I going to do with it ?' Alice thought. The pig made another, louder sound. Alice put the little animal down and it ran happily away into the wood. 

'It wasn't a pretty baby, but it's quite a pretty pig,' thought Alice.    

      ♦

She looked round her and jumped. The Cheshire Cat was up in one of the trees. The Cat smiled at Alice.

' It looks kind, but perhaps it will get angry. They all get angry in this place,' thought Alice. So she spoke to it very politely. ' Cheshire Cat, dear,' she said.  

The Cat's smile got bigger.

'Please, can you help me? I want to go somewhere new,' said Alice.

'Where do you want to go ?' asked the Cat.

' Somewhere different,' Alice said.

'Somewhere different,' repeated the Cat. It thought for a minute or two. Then it said, 'Walk that way and you'll come to a house. A man lives there. He makes hats and he's very strange. We call him the "Mad Hatter".'

' But I don't want to meet a strange man,' said Alice.

The cat didn't answer her. It said,' Walk this way and you'll find the March Hare. He's strange too.'

'But I told you, I don't want to meet strange animals.'

'Oh, you can't help that,' said the cat. 'We're all strange here. I'm strange. You're strange.'

' How do you know I'm strange ?' asked Alice.

' Of course you are,' the Cat said. 'Everybody's strange here. I'm very strange. I laugh when I'm sad, and I cry when I'm happy. That's strange. Are you going to see the Queen today?She's quite strange too.'

'I'd like to see the Queen,'Alice said, 'but I haven't got an invitation.'

'You'll see me in the Queen's garden,' said the Cheshire Cat, and vanished.

♦

'That's strange, but not very strange,' thought Alice. She waited for two minutes, and the Cat came back again.

' What happened to the baby ?' it asked.

' It changed into a pig,' Alice said.

' I knew it!' said the Cat and vanished again.

Alice stayed under the tree for a short time. ' Perhaps it will come back again,' she thought. But it didn't.

' I think I'll go and visit the March Hare,' said Alice. She started to walk to his home. After some minutes, she heard a sound. She looked up, and there was the Cheshire Cat in a tree — a different tree.

' Did you say " pig " ?' asked the Cat.

'Yes,' Alice answered. Then she said, 'Cheshire Cat, one minute you vanish and the next minute you're there again. I don't like it.'

' I know,' said the cat. And this time it vanished quite slowly. First its body went, then its legs. Then all of it vanished, and there was only its smile.

' There are a lot of cats without a smile, but a smile without a cat! Now that's very strange!'Alice said. Slowly, the Cheshire Cat's smile vanished too, and Alice began to walk again. She saw the March Hare's house through the trees. It was bigger than the Duchess's house.

Alice ate some of the white mushrooms. She got bigger again. In a short time she was about 60 centimetres high. She felt afraid, but walked to the house.

' I hope the March Hare isn't too strange,' she thought.

The Future tenses

Je gebruikt verschillende vormen van the future wanneer je praat over iets wat in de toekomst (misschien) gaat gebeuren. In het Engels heb je verschillende manieren om dit te doen en deze hebben ook allemaal net een andere betekenis.

1. Je gebruikt 'will' als je het hebt over voorspellingen in de toekomst (het is niet zeker dat het gaat gebeuren).

2. Je gebruikt 'to be going to' als je het hebt over voorspellingen in de toekomst met bewijs (je hebt bewijs dat het gaat gebeuren).

3. Je gebruikt de present simple (SHIT-regel) als je het hebt over vaste tijdstippen in de toekomst. Vaak zie je in de zin dan werkwoorden staan zoals open, close, depart, arrive, leave, etc.

4. Je gebruikt de present continuous (am/is/are + -ing) als je het hebt over afspraken in de toekomst.

Voorbeelden:

It will rain tomorrow. (Het gaat morgen waarschijnlijk regenen, je weet het niet zeker.)
I am going to travel to Spain this summer. (Ik ga deze zomer naar Spanje reizen, je weet al zeker dat je wilt gaan.)
The train leaves in 10 minutes. (De trein vertrekt over 10 minuten, dit is een vast tijdstip.)
We are meeting Jim at the train station. (We ontmoeten Jim bij het station, dit is een afspraak die je gemaakt hebt.)

'Well, perhaps it's not difficult for you, but it is for me,'. said Alice.