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in amusement
She laughed in amusement when she saw the puppy trying to catch its own tail.
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boast
He likes to boast about his achievements, even when no one asks him about them.
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deliberately
She deliberately ignored his message because she was still upset with him.
·
cross somebody's mind
It never crossed my mind that I might fail the exam.
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costly
Buying a new car can be a costly decision if you don’t plan your budget carefully.
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take a deep breath
Before speaking in front of the audience, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
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spin
The child watched the coin spin on the table until it slowly fell on its side.
On Sunday, George went to church although this was not a usual habit of his. The vicar, a young, confident and enthusiastic Mr. Maydig, preached about forbidden powers, and our duty not to take advantage of others weaker than ourselves simply because we are capable of it.
George felt uneasy . Despite feeling quite doubtful as to whether he should do so, after the service, he asked to speak to the vicar privately .
In the vicar’s study, George nervously explained everything that had been happening.
'You may not believe me,' he began, 'but it seems that I can perform miracles .'
Mr. Maydig looked at George in amusement .
'I see. Well, why don’t you show me?' he said pleasantly .
George pointed at a jar of sweets on the table.
'Be a bowl of violets.'
It changed instantly into exactly that. Purple flowers spilled out from a glass bowl.
Mr. Maydig stepped back. 'This is astonishing !'
'That’s nothing!' boasted George, and miraculously changed it into a fishbowl, then into a pigeon, then back to a sweet far again.
Mr. Maydig’s eyes shone with excitement.
'Are you doing this deliberately ? I mean are you fully in control of what you change things into?'
'Well, yes.' George replied. 'I think of an object in my mind and then will it to happen, and it just happens!'
'My dear man,' he cried, 'this is a gift! An immensely special gift. We must use it to do good in the world!'
'There’s a problem I’m afraid. I sent constable Winch to San Francisco. I didn’t really mean to but I accidentally hit him with my walking stick that had grown into a rose bush. Anyway, if I wish for him back again, he’s going to arrest me. I imagine his wife will be wondering where he’s ended up. It crossed my mind that I could make him forget what happened, but I’m not sure if that would be morally the right thing to do.'
'Yes, yes, yes. We’ll sort that out later,' said Mr. Maydig quickly - obviously with other things on his mind. 'Think of what we can achieve with your powers! Here, I’ve got a few tasks for you,' said the vicar with a mysterious smile on his face.'
They began with small changes. They improved Mr. Maydig’s tasteless meals usually produced by Mr Maydig’s housekeeper* and cook. Delicious and tasty dishes now appeared on the table: a hot beef stew with garden potatoes and a freshly made salad together with a bottle of red Beaujolais wine.
'Come on! Have dinner with me while we make plans as to how to convert this world into a better place.'
They laughed like old friends.
'What else can we do?' asked George.
'We should contribute to the well-being of this village!' cried Mr. Maydig. 'At the moment, it is unfit for good Christians to live in!'
That night they worked miracle after miracle . They cured the local drunks from their drinking problems. They cleared up the local stream that had been polluted for years and removed the disgusting stink that had always come from it. They improved the local railway and ensured that all future trains would always arrive exactly on time. Mr Maydig insisted on making improvements to the church roof that had been leaking over the past few weeks, and would have been very costly to repair.
George was beginning to feel powerful - as though he was unstoppable .
But at three in the morning, he grew tired.
'I ought to be at work at eight,' he pointed out to the vicar.
'We’re just getting started!' replied Mr. Maydig. He looked up at the moon. 'Stop the Earth from spinning ! That will give us more time to complete our work as morning will come later.'
George hesitated . 'That sounds risky . I mean you’re talking about stopping the whole planet!'
'Why not?' whispered the vicar, and there was a look of obsession in his eyes.
George finally agreed. He took a deep breath and commanded in a ceremonious voice:
'Stop spinning , Earth!'
Instantly , George’s world turned upside down .
George was thrown through the air at an incredible speed. Buildings smashed into pieces before his eyes. Trees were pulled up from their roots and they span through the air like matchsticks . The wind roared like a monster from Hell.
The village was gone.
The world was in chaos .
What George did not know because his knowledge of physics was extremely limited, was that he had stopped the spinning of the Earth—but not the objects on its surface . Everything had been thrown forward at great speed. In fact, at around 600 miles per hour, which is the speed of the surface in England due to the rotation of the Earth.
'Let me be safely down on the ground,' he shouted.
He landed hard but alive. The wind, terrible in his ears. A cow flew past his head, crashed into a rock and exploded like an orange.
All around him was destruction .
'I’ve ruined everything!' he cried.
A wall of water like an enormous tsunami rushed towards him.
'Stop!' he screamed.
Lightning flashed.
'I must fix this!'
He thought carefully.
'Let nothing happen until I say ‘Off.’'
The storm paused as though waiting for some final order from its great god.
'Now,' he said slowly, 'let everything go back to how it was before I did any miracles . Let me lose this power forever. Let everybody in the world forget the terrible events of this night.'
He closed his eyes.
'Off!'
'—So you say,' said Toddy Beamish.
George opened his eyes.
He was back in the Long Dragon, arguing about miracles .
He felt slightly confused , as if he had forgotten something of extreme importance. But the feeling passed.
'I tell you,' he said confidently , 'miracles are impossible. They go against the laws of nature. They simply can’t happen.'
'So you say,' replied Beamish calmly.
'Let’s define a miracle,' George continued. 'A miracle is something done by an act of will , something that wouldn’t happen naturally.'
'So you say,' Beamish repeated.
George pointed at a lamp hanging from the ceiling.
'That lamp couldn’t burn upside down , could it…?'
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