The Snowman Problem

Kyle and Emma were playing in the snow.

It was the kind of snow that was perfect for making snowballs. They talked about building a fort or having

a snowball fight.

“How about we make a snowman?” Kyle asked Emma.

“Let’s make the biggest snowman ever!” “Great idea!” Emma said. The two children started working

on their snowman. They each started with a small pile

of snow that they rolled into a ball. Next, they rolled their snowballs on the ground, making them bigger and bigger.

“Do you think my snowball is big enough?”

Emma asked.“Not yet!” Kyle replied. “Keep rolling!” Emma and Kyle kept rolling their snowballs through the snow.

Soon, the snowballs were so heavy

that they could barely push them

They decided to start making a smaller snowball to use for the snowman’s head.

Once the last snowball was ready,

it was time to put the snowman together. “Help me lift this big snowball

on top of the other one,” Emma said to Kyle. The children stood on each side

of the huge snowball and tried as hard as they could to lift it.

It was way too heavy for them to pick up!

They could not even lift it
one inch off the ground.
“Now what?” Emma sighed.
“Should we start again
and just make a small snowman?”
Kyle and Emma stared at the three
balls of snow on the ground.

They felt disappointed, but Kyle was determined to build a big snowman. “I have an idea,” Kyle replied. “Help me push this snowball.” Emma and Kyle pushed one of the big

snowballs so it was right beside the other one.

Next, Kyle rolled the smallest snowball over and added it to the line of snowballs. “What are you doing?” Emma asked.

“Why do you have all the snowballs in a row?” “I’m making a snowman,” Kyle smiled.

“But he’s lying down!”

Emma laughed.

“I know the perfect things

to add to our snowman!” She ran into the house. A few minutes later,

she came out with sunglasses, a big, floppy hat, and a glass

of lemonade. “He’s lying on the beach!”

she exclaimed, as she carefully

put the hat and sunglasses

in place on the smallest snowball.

Kyle laughed and asked his sister,

“Should we put some sunscreen on him

so he doesn’t get sunburned?”

A Snow Man

Oh, the beautiful snow!
We’re all in a glow—
Nell, Dolly, and Willie, and Dan;
For the primest of fun,
When all’s said and done,
Is just making a big snow man.
Two stones for his eyes
Look quite owlishly wise,
A hard pinch of snow for his nose;
Then a mouth that’s as big
As the snout of a pig,
And he’ll want an old pipe, I suppose.
Then the snow man is done,
And to-morrow what fun
To make piles of snow cannon all day,
And to pelt him with balls
Till he totters and falls,
And a thaw comes and melts him away.

Problém sněhuláka

Kyle a Emma si hráli ve sněhu.
Byl tu ten druh sněhu,
který byl ideální pro výrobu sněhových koulí. Mluvili o stavbě pevnosti nebo o tom, že mají koulovačku.

"Co kdybychom udělali si sněhuláka?"
zeptal se Kyle Emmy.
"Udělejme největšího sněhuláka všech dob!" "Skvělý nápad!" Emmo řekl.

Obě děti začaly pracovat
na svém sněhulákovi.
Každý začal s malou hromádkou sněhu, kterou kouleli do koule.
Dále váleli své sněhové koule na zemi, čímž jsou větší a větší.

"Myslíš, že moje sněhová koule je velká dost?"
zeptala se Emma. "Ještě ne!" odpověděl Kyle. "Pokračuj v koulení!"
Emma a Kyle dál váleli sněhové koule ze sněhu.

Brzy, sněhové koule byly tak těžké sotva ,
že ji nemohli utlačit.
Rozhodli se začít vyrábět
menší sněhovou kouli k použití
hlavy sněhuláka.

Jakmile byla připravena poslední sněhová koule, byl čas poskládat sněhuláka.
"Pomoz mi zvednout tuhle velkou sněhovou kouli na tu druhou," řekla Emma Kylovi.

Děti stály na každé straně
obrovské sněhové koule
a snažili se to zvednout, jak jen mohli.
Bylo to pro ně příliš těžké, než aby to zvedli!

Nedokázali ho zvednout

ani o palec nad zem.

"Co teď?" Emma si povzdechla.
"Měli bychom začít znovu."
a udělat si malého sněhuláka?"
Kyle a Emma zírali na
tři koule sněhu na zemi.

Cítili se zklamaní, ale Kyle je odhodlaný postavit velkého sněhuláka.
"Mám nápad," Kyle odpověděl.
"Pomoz mi roztlačit tuto sněhovou kouli."

Emma a Kyle strčili jednu z velkých sněhových koulí, aby to tak
bylo hned vedle toho druhého.
Dále Kyle otočil nejmenší sněhovou kouli
a přidal ji do řady sněhových koulí..

"Co to děláš?" zeptala se Emma.
"Proč máš všechny sněhové koule v řadě?" "Vyrábím sněhuláka," usmál se Kyle.
"Ale on leží!"

Emma se zasmála.
„Vím dokonalé věci, k nimž bych mohla přidat na našeho sněhuláka!"
Vběhla do domu. O pár minut později
vyšla se slunečními brýlemi,
velkým poddajným kloboukem a se sklenicí limonády.

"Leží na pláži!"
zvolala jako opatrně
nasadila klobouk a sluneční brýle
na místo nejmenší sněhově koule

.Kyle se zasmál a zeptal se své sestry:
"Měli bychom ho namazat opalovacím krémem?" aby se nespálil?"

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs

It was a cold, cold winter’s night. In a cottage in the country, tucked away beneath the hills,

a little boy lay sleeping. Snow began to fall, lightly at first, and then with giant flakes which started to settle on the ground. At first light of morning, the little boy turned over, yawned, and sat up. He ran to the window and looked out. Everything was covered in snow – the garden, the fields, and the distant hills. He got dressed as fast as he could. When he was ready, he hurried down the stairs.

At the back door, he put on his boots, his scarf, and his wooly hat, and walked out into the snow. First of all, he thought, I’ll make some giant footsteps.

Above him was a branch of a tree. He jumped up and swung on it. The snow from the branch fell all over him. Then he made a snow-ball and threw it as hard as he possibly could... straight into the kitchen window. “You do something else”, said his mother. The little boy wandered off , wondering what to do, and it was at exactly this moment that he got the idea of building

a snowman.

He built a great column of snow the size of a man and a great big snowball to go on top of it. Then he fetched a scarf and a hat, a tangerine for the nose, and coal for the eyes.

At last, the snowman was finished, and the boy stepped back and looked at him. He seemed to be smiling. By this time, it was getting dark, and the little boy had to go indoors, leaving the snowman standing all alone out in the middle of the garden. Up the stairs he went, two at

a time. Into the bathroom to clean his teeth, then hop-step-and-jump along the landing to his bed. Soon, he was in bed and asleep. In the middle of the night he woke, tiptoed to the window and peered down at the snowman, shivering .

He went back to bed, but then the clock woke him. This time, he got up and tiptoed down the stairs, feeling rather cold. He looked out at the snowman through the glass panels of the front door. Suddenly, while the boy was looking at him, the snowman moved and he actually started to walk towards the boy.

He stopped, and raised his hand. Then he walked forward again, right up to the boy, and they shook hands. “Come in”, said the boy. “I’d love to”, said the snowman.

Together, they tiptoed into the living room. The snowman thought it was wonderful. He looked at the cat sleeping peacefully by the fire and wanted to stroke it. But when the cat saw the snowman, he was terrified and leapt into the air.The snowman jumped backward and lurched into the Christmas tree, setting all the little bells ringing, the candles shaking, and the fairy wobbling

At last, it settled down and the boy plugged it in. The tree lit up with every color you could think of. Blues and greens, reds and yellows, gold lights and silver lights. Then the snowman walked away from the Christmas tree and sat himself down in a comfortable armchair. The boy turned on the television. There was nothing but fuzzy lines and zigzags, and it made the snowman dizzy. Then, with a start , the boy realized that the snowman was sitting too near the fire. He realized he might melt if he got too hot, so he pulled him out of the chair and hurried him out of the room, to the kitchen, which was cold and dark. The boy reached for the light switch. The snowman was curious.He wanted to switch it on himself.

The snowman plodded over to the kitchen sink, and the boy climbed up and turned on the cold tap. Then the hot one as well. A big cloud of steam rose up. Steam! It was too hot for the snowman, and he backed away. He saw a cake with a tiny model snowman on it, picked it up, and smiled. Then he took fruit from a bowl and tried on an orange for a nose, then a lemon, a banana, then cherry, then a huge pineapple. But his own tangerine fitted best so he put it back on. He leaned down, opened the fridge, and a waft of cold air came out.

The snowman loved it. For him, it was just like sunbathing. “Let’s go upstairs”, said the boy, up they went, and paused outside his parents’ room. Someone was snoring. “Be very quiet”, said the boy. “Shhh”. “Look false teeth”, whispered the boy. The snowman wanted to try them on. He put them on and walked to a mirror to see how they looked. It gave him a terrible fright. Next, he tried out some makeup, and looked in the mirror again. He looked into the wardrobe and saw all the clothes hanging up there, and some hats. Then he tried on some trousers , but the braces caught over his nose. “Do be careful”, said the boy. “We mustn’t wake them!”

A perfume spray stood on the dressing table. The snowman squirted it. He liked that. He did it again. Suddenly, the perfume made him want to sneeze. He held his nose. He mustn’t sneeze in the bedroom. The boy hurried him out of the room. And then... he sneezed. In the boy’s playroom was a music box. They wound it up and danced to it. At the end of the dance, they both collapsed on the floor, with balloons and teddy bears all around them.

“I’ve got another idea now”, said the boy. “Come with me, and look out of the window”. Outside, they could see a strange, dark object. Nodding to each other, they tiptoed silently down the stairs. Out through the front door, and into the open air. The dark object seemed much bigger now they were close to it and whatever it was was covered up with a big, black tarpaulin . Summoning up all his strength, the boy went up and pulled it off. Standing there was a bright, shiny, new motorbike.

The boy pointed out the controls to the snowman, turned the key in the ignition, turned on the headlight, and suddenly the snowman was on the bike and racing around the garden.

For a second he stopped, the little boy jumped on behind him, and then, they were off.
When they came back to the garden, the snowman found his legs had started to melt from the heat of the engine. He was dripping all over the place, as if he’d just come out of the bathtub. At that moment, the boy had another bright idea.

Grabbing the snowman’s hand, he pulled him into the garage. Humming away in the corner was the big deep freezer. In a second, the snowman had jumped into the freezer, and in another second, the dripping had stopped.

The little boy watched him lying there, and realized that an idea had come in to the snowman’s head. Without warning, the snowman climbed out of the freezer, and gripping the boy firmly by the hand, began to run. Out of the garage, out into the snow, out across the garden, faster and faster, bounding and jumping, until suddenly the boy realized that they were... flying!

They landed silently in the frozen north. They were in the middle of a great forest of pine trees laden with snow. But somewhere ahead they could hear music and see lights. There in a clearing of the forest, Christmas party was taking place, and all the people at the party were snowmen.

More snowmen than you could ever imagine in your life! And there, right in the middle of them, radiating good cheer and smiling from ear to ear, was Father Christmas himself.
“You’re just in time for the dance of the snowmen”, he chuckled , and clicked his fingers. When the party was over, Father Christmas led the boy and the snowman to see a stable. Light spilled through the door, and inside they could see the reindeer which he used to pull his sleigh.

Father Christmas gave the boy a lovely blue scarf as a present, and he put it on. It was time for them to go. The snowman gripped the boy’s hand, and once again they started to run, faster and faster, bounding and jumping, until they were flying. At last, they landed in the garden again, and together walked slowly to the house. The little boy shook hands with the snowman and went up to the front door. But the snowman waved and the boy ran back and gave him a great big hug. Then the boy went indoors, and very soon was fast asleep.

Next morning, when he woke, the room was ablaze with sunlight. He put on his dressing gown ran downstairs, and opened the front door. The sun felt warm on his face. The boy ran out into the garden and saw... a little heap of melted snow, an old hat, a tangerine, a scarf, and a few lumps of coal, but the snowman was nowhere to be seen. For a moment, he thought that
the adventures of the night before had been nothing but a dream. But then he felt in his pocket, and the scarf that Father Christmas had given him was still there.

O sněhulákovi

Žily byly dvě zcela obyčejné dívky – Ema a Soňa. Jednou na Vánoce napadlo hodně sněhu a Ema se Soňou si šly postavit sněhuláka. Večer na Štědrý den ten sněhulák ožil. Ema se Soňou se druhý den divily, kam se sněhulák poděl. Večer se sněhový mužík vrátil. Další ráno se Ema se Soňou podivovaly, že tam zase stojí, ale řekly si, že je to jedno, a šly si s ním hrát. Když kolem něj sáňkovaly, někdo se jich zeptal, jak se jmenují. Dívky se podívaly, kdo to na ně mluví, a najednou vykřikly:

„Pomoc, ten sněhulák mluví.“ Sněhulák je začal uklidňovat: „Klid, já vám nic neudělám, chci být váš kamarád.“ Dívky souhlasily, hrály si na koulovanou, dělaly andělíčky, a to skoro každý den. Jenže mělo přijít jaro a ony nechtěly, aby kamaráda ztratily. Napadlo je, že sněhuláka odvezou do hor. Sněhuláka tam odvezly a musely jít zpátky dolů domů. Slíbily mu, že se v zimě zase vrátí. Vše dobře dopadlo a v zimě se za ním zase vypravily.