T

he
 I t was early In the morning on Wednesday 12th. Gromit
thc dog sut at the Iable in the kitchen of the little house
at 62 West Wallaby Street and made breakfast. Suddenly
he rcmeInbered something. he got up 1'roin the table and
z'ent to look at the calendar near the door. Wednesday
12th was his birthday. â hero it was on the calendar in
blue pen - 't,romit's birthday'. Gromit took a pen and
put a big blue X through the number 12.

a c0II6f' 6nd lead

pe0Dle make
things to car

qf tha year in

sleeping.‘ he thought. antl he felt sad, Wallace wasn't a o•g« t

he heard a noise at the front tluor. ‘0’here! Th:it‘s the

postm•in!’ he thought. 'Perhaps I'm going to get some
birthday cards this murning. 1.ct’S go and see!’ The one on th0i P
birthday

1
 There were six again and again, Breakfasi saId the kItch
letters by the front red light in the kitchen over
door b
e
there andhe|oo}md h
at them i
carefully.
n
them were letters
d
for Wallace. Letters
in brown
h
i
But there was one
s
envelope — a green
c
With all six letters in his mouth. Gromit ran back to the
h
kitchen. Suddenly a toy trein shot out in front of him. He
a
stopped for a minute. The train went paet and then he
i
ran on, back to the breakfast table. There were lots of
r
different machines in Wallace and Gromit'e house
.
in West
Rliaby Street.
A
Back in the kitchen. Gromit sat down at the table and
t
q ,pp„p, opened the green envelope. It was a birthday card with a
" ‘°”’“"^* picture of a smiling dog on the front, and when he
o
opened
n
it, it played Haypy BirlhA9 to You!
c
Gromit put the card on the table arid looked at it sadly.
e
Only one birthday card on his birthday!
.
Just then a red light over his head began to go on
and off.
u
Upstairs Wallace was in bed. There was a red button
p
next to his bed. It said Brenit/ast on it. Wallace hlt it
in Wallace's room, the head of the bed moved
up.

opened in the Roor at the foot of the bed. The

table in the kitchen wcs right under this duur. stand or walk

Suddenly
Wallace shot out of bed. crying 'Gromit!' He shot down through the door in the
floor. and was soon downstairs. sitting in his chair Rt the kitchen table.
'Well Gromit, my Preying tip in the Morning Machine worked well,' said
Wallace, and he began to eat his breakfast. 'But perhaps I can mRke it work
better. I hit the chair very fast that time. Cracking breakfast, Gromit!' he went
on.
Gromit read his newspaper and sald nothing.
Any letters today-' asked Wallace. Gromit gave him

Wallace opened the first brown envelope and took out a very long letter
asking him for lots of money.
'Oh dear!* said Wallace, looking at the long letter carefully. I-ie looked at ail
the brown envelopes in his hand. 'We must be more careful with money, Gromitl'
Gromit put his birthday card on the table. It played I-Iappy Birthday
slowly and sadly, but Wallace wasn't interested In birthday cards lust then.
Wallace went to look in his money box. There was only
a machine work
Gromit's head. thirty pence in it.
 ’Look at tfiatl’ he said. And those presents weren't Wallace helped Grpmit to put on hie collar. o «+ a s
cheap.' He put his hand over his mouth and looked at 'Now people can see you come from a good home.' he * ""’”
Gromit. Oh no! He didn't want Gromlt tD know about said. ‘But that isn't all. Come and took in here.'
his presents juet then. Gromit went into the front room. Something stood
Gromit looked at Wallace, and his ears went up excitedly. there in the dark. A new machine perhaps? it began to
that a dog 'Perhaps I’m golng to get something more for my make a noise and it came out from behind the door. It
wea
round @ neck birthday,’ he thought. was a big, walking, presentt It walked nearer and nearer
‘Well, Gromit. What's on the 9.OS frain?’ said to Gromit on its two big legs. Gromit felt very afraid.
Wallace. 'Oh looks Here it comes now!' Suddenly the thlng stopped and Gromit saw a small
Wallace's little toy train came through the kitchen door card pn the front of it: No Gromit, love Wallace said the
and shot past the table. Qu1ck1'f Wallace took a little card.
present off it. 'What's this?' he seid and he put the present Because Gromit was afraid, in the end Wallace opened
on the table in front of Gromit. '8appy birthday. chnckl' this second present. But what was it? Green and black
Gromit quickly opened his birthday present. It was a trousers!? Yes. But they were trousers with blue buttons
red dog collar and lead. and red levers.
‘You wanted a cohort' said Wallace, laughing, ‘Here, 'They?eAchno-RousezsflsaldWMtace.
 Wallace gels sume letters asking for money
g 0r0mit gets three presents from \ allace

2
 At home in 62 West Wallaby Street, Wallace sat in the
kitchen. 8e had all the letters asking for money pn the

‘I think you're going to like these ’Techno-trousers(' table in front of him.

Wallace said. He put one end of Gromit's new lead ‘It's no good. We need some more moneys' he said.
on his collar and the other end on the trousers. Then he He wrote out a sign and put it in the front window of
hit some blue buttons and moved some red levers. the house. SPARB @@@M FOR RBNT, it Said.
'Time for a walk. Ten ... no . . . twenty minutes,’ he Gromit saw the sign when he came back from the park.
said. 'Now what's happening?’ thought Gromit.
Suddenly the 'l'echno-trousers began walking out of Later that day Wallace and Grpmlt sat in
the door and Gromit, in his collar and lead, went sadly
with them. ‘did you trove a nice walk, chuck?’
‘Have a nice walk Gromit!' Wallace laughed. asked Wallace. ‘How were the

'there wae a sign in the park. Air. DOGS OF ñ £EAD, tt Gromit lonked at him sadly and
said. But when Grumit arrived. he didn't said nothing.
have his new lead on. Where was it? On Suddenly they heard a rlng at the
a toy dogl So in the end Gromit
played happily in the park and ‘There's someone at the door. Gromltl'
the Techno-trousers took the Wallace quickly got up and went to open
toy the front dock. GPomft stayed
dog for a walk, his chair, but his ears

l:stened carefully
tO
through the •sere zisit4es
open door. *'

•c•y t
Wallace. ‘That's i i‹"
 The next iTiinute a penguin markedquietly into f›2 West
Wallaby shit with a littte black bh8. He went upstairs With the penguin now
Wlth Wallace. Ill NI'0mft’S tTiOR, EOlYlit
moved into
°g twenty pounds a week. That's wtth
breakfast,’ Wallace said to the penguin. They walked
past Gromit's room. 'It's i)K, Grpmit. We can
'It'S cheap because it‘s a dark room.' satd Wallace. soon make it nice,' 8aid
Opening the deor to the spare room. 'But Wallace.
we can soon
meke Of course they had the
The penguin took one look at the dark and dirt Techno-trousers to help
y spare
room and r*n into Gromit's rpom. them. The penguin was
’NO! Willt 8 minut ace. You can't very interested in
But the pengu:n got up » c•OlRft'gbed, ripened his those when he saw them.
bag.
Suit back happily and began listening to the radio.
'Yes ... w'ell ... that's OK then.' said Wallace slowly, t,romit couldn't sleep in his bed in the spare room that
end he felt the penguin In t,romit's role. cItsed the door, night because he could hear the penguin's radio. He went
and went downstairs. downetajrs, but he could hear fhe radio there too. Angrily
he went upstairs again to speak to the penguin, but he
couldn't open the door to his rope. and there was no
enswer when he knocked on it.
In the end (jromit went out sadly into the garden, but he
could hear the radio out there
too. Very lafe that night, the
penguin arrived home. He

to his reom and to bed.

Then the radio stopped
and everything went
quiet.
In fhe garden Gromit
put his head in his
hands and cried quietly.
1

a P * •.: ! i ›°. s are bIark and white. They liye in and ne4r Antarctica

b from it goes f0r a w6\k with the Terhno-trousers in the

a A Penguin arrives at the front

This isn't my car. I'm r _ _ ‹t

d fromit moves into a (Iiffer«nt

\//al|ac8 is happy with the penguin

Oromit leaves home

The penguin buys 62 \¥est Wall80y DUB6t

 2’hat evening Gromit went out into the garden again.
Through the winduw he could see Wallace and the
th penguin eating and drinking u«ppily in the back room.
’More cheese, penguin?’ asked Wallace.
Wallace walked past. “Ciood morning, Gromit!’ he said Gromit looked away sadly. he went into hie Muriel, and
happily, and he went down to breakfast. plot tz o or three of his most important things into a W
and White bag. Before he left, he took an old photu Oi
Wallace in his haads and looked at it for a mimic Of tWO.
Then he put the photo down, put on his yellow coat and
hat. put his bag on his back. and walked off into the rein.
'goodnight, nquir ! Sleep mlt.' called Wotlace.
Under the cold t 8in Gromit shvl walked away from his
kennel, away frotrl his home in West Wallaby Street, and
away from his old friend
Fenn the house the penguin watched N£QtRtt gC, fitld
wns happy. Then he went off to find the Techno-trousers. our ia‹oi•

Then the penguin came out of the bathroom.

Later when Gromit sat down for breakfast. Wallace put his
feet up. 93ie penguin quickly brought his stoppers to him.
‘âlanh you very much, penguin. That's grandt' said
Wallace, putting his feet into the slippers.
iromit usually took Wallace his newspaper when it
came in the morning; but now the penguin got to the
front door and back with the newspaper before Gromit.
’What do you tlilnk of that, Gromlt?’ asked Wallace. ‘Our
new friend's a greet help!’ he laughed.
Gromit lonked at Wallace and the penguin and he felt
that people w'
in the houso angrier and angrier.
The next morning €iromit got up early alter a night Gromit looked at a sign in a shop window. A
sleeping in a bin in the street. At home. in West Wallaby SPARE ROOM TO RENT CffEñP. it said.
Street, Wallace was happy in his bed. Ice opened his ‘Oh, good!’ he thought. 8e read more. NO
eyes DOES! the sign weRt OR. ‘Uh, no!’ thought k- ‘ :

Just then the heed of his bed moved up and the door Then he eew n picture nf a chicken in
opened in the fioor at the foot of the hed. Wallace shot the window. Hely us Lo ftAd tills
out of bed. through the dopr in the floor and down into cfiicgen, and you §Bt I I, 000,
the Gromit read. He looked at the
picture carefully. Did he know that
But this time he didn't land in his usual brown trousers,
chicken's face?
he lRnded in the Techno-trousers. Just then Wallace ran past in the
‘They‘re the wrong trousers!’ he cried.
techno-trousers.
Then fhe trousers moved, but there was no control ‘Ftelp! firomit!’ he cried. ‘They're
the wmng trouserst’
‘Where's the control panel?’ cried Wallace. ‘Stop Gromit ran alter his uld friend.
them, Gromit! Get me out of these trousers!’ ‘Wh«t'i eng with the Techno-
But Grumit wasn't there and the Techno-trousers didn't trousers?’ he thought.
stop. They walked out of the front door, and down the And then. in the street in front of
street with Wallace in them. him, he saw the penguin.
‘What's he got there?’ thought
tsromit.
Quietly he moved nearer, and then he saw. The penguin
had the ctintrol panel! Nnw tiromit understood. With the
buttons and levels the penguin could make the Techno-
trousers move here and there. up and down, and Wallace
couldn't stop him.
In the end the Wchno-trousers tonk Wallace horne. He
felt very tired by then. Because he couldn't get out of the
Techno-trousers, he went to bed in them. And he went to
sleep at once.
 Now the penguin h8d a
yellow tape m 8
vomit was in a coffee chop. Re looked over his his hand. First he looked
newspaper at the street, and saw the penguin ppgyg vtdndowover
walking past. ¥1c quickly ptit his newspaper down. left hls head. after that he
„ g„$ some money for his coffee or the table, and went out tntp made his tape measure
n$*°°h the street. after the pengotn. very long and put » e end
Soon the penguin stopped in front of a big, old, ledg
building. ‘What's he doing here?’ thought Gromit. front of the high WfRdOW.
Suddenly the penguin looked behind him. Gromit And tbcn, when the pther
end of the tape measure
Then the penguin looked back at the big, pld, building ment up, the penguin shot
and began writing lots of things dCiWD in B file book. qp with it and landed on
Gromit got under an old box end moved slowiy nearer the high window ledge-
to the old buildin8. But he could he see but nowt Easyl 4Jp there on the ledge
He took out a little red knife, made e hole in the front of the penguin looked at the
the box, and looked carefully through it. big window in kont of him Cgt@p}ly.He breast *
left to right and up afld doc and he wrote lots mOFD lhiDgfi
due his littte book.
When he finished writing, be put his book undo > s" -
and he put one end df the tape measure on the wide pp
p
ledge again. And
then, when the other end f the t8J

box.
landed in the street. He began walking post Gromit's
s»adm'ly he stopped and lnoked tight at the be.
‘Of, no! Hr know› I'm in here,’ thought Gromit, and he
watched and waited
the box for a
But in the 8nd the penguin only looked at
minute and then walked on.
 on their hdñd9

My teacher

8 him the conFroJ panel the pcnguJn moves \Yaflace. and they leave the town

fromif gets breakfast on his !8et when the Ge/tiny Up Machine goes wrong

''
He watches thF0u§h tne window
2 I "’ Hg listens on the radi0

25
 W allace and the penguin walked through the dark
streets to the museum. And Wallace didn't open his
eyes once.
When they arrived st the museum, the penguin
moved some levers on the control pBnel. Then he
jumped up p the'I'echno-trousers and at once they began
to walk up the call of tbe museum.
Soon the trousers arrive at the high window and here
e Penguin iumped off i«HdCd OR lC window ledge.
I-te looked through the window at the beautiful blue
diamond 8nd mood some more levers on the control Now the penguin could see the Technmtrousers through
pane the window. They came down through an air vent in
The Techno-tPOtiSers went higher up the wall with the ceiling, walked over the ceiling tiles tn the long room,
Wallas in them. At last they arrived at the roof.
and came nearer and nearer to the diamond room.
th
There is l2p, over. and down an air vcat, through the But Wallace had loqg arms and the penguin suddenly
it cr cold
roof and down into the museum. Anfi Wallace slept felt afraid. Thoae long arms could easily get in front of
a through ir ali. the alarm and make It rittg. So he stripped the trousers
tg c0me in
for a

In the end Wallace moved his arms in his sleep, and the
penguin quickly moved some levers on the contml panel
and walked him past the alarm. Now the diamond was alerm a bell that
rlngs when
tomeo«e tod u
Skin something
Then the penguin hit a button on the control panel and from a shop or
the red heimet on Wallace's head opened and a steel

After that the penguin hit a different button and shoved

saw a Sand with
come of the leven on tbe control panel. The trousers fusual1r› tnree
moved and the machine claw went down to the diamond of an »/timaI
and opened over it.
 At the same time a big steel door closed In front of
him. 8ow could the penguin get the diamond out of the
museum now? the air vent was in the long room behind
the steel door.
'Gromitl Gromit!' cried Wallace.
'Phe penguin hlt some buttons and moved some levers
on the control pBnel. The HChno-trousers walked to the
window and stood on it. At once the wlndow opened and
Wallace was out in the cold, standing on a high window
looking up at the night sky. Now the trousers moved and
he could see the dark street under him.
‘Get me downs' cried Wallace. '£telp!'
Then the penguin jumped on Wallace's back and the
Rchno-trousers quickly walked down the wall and ran
Now the steel claw closed on the diamond and the away.
penguin hit eome more buttons. The claw, with the 'You can't do this to met' cried Wallace. 'Stop it at
diamond in It, slowly begun to go up into Wallace's once! I‘m a good man, I am.'
helmet. Then, suddenly, the diamond shot out of the
claw. At once the penguin moved a lever and hit a button.
The steel claw shot down and closed on the diamond
again before it hit
e floo
Once again the penguin hit some more buttons and the
claw moved up into the helmet with the diamond in it.
Then it happened,
One of the ceiling tiles case off the ceiling. and with
It came one of the feet of the Tnhno-trousere. At the
same time the helmet opened again and the steel claw
with the diamond in moved down in front of the alarm.
The atarm began to ring. Lights began to go on and off.
Wallace opened his eyes.
'Where am I? What's that noises' he cried.
\yaIlace and the penguin a) to the museum. The penguin jumps on to a The Techno trousers get into the museum through the @ *_ ^*
the Techno-trousers and then jumps off them onto the ledge under the high b There's a h0Ie in the _ _ oi our house. ¥/hen it rains, water c0mes in through it
» You can't break a________door very easily
d Our can has eot an________in it to stop people from taking it
last the penguin and then down into the museum. They wa|k into a long room with from this tree to that tree?
the \ e have got blue _ on the iñ Our bathroom

diamond in it. Then the penguin bits a d)

o the
control psnel. 9omethin$ comes out of the e7
on \ aI|ace’s head. It's a
machine hand! The hand takes the S

noise and Wallace opens his g}

end the Techno-trousers, with Y/aIIace in them. leave the museum through the window

a The penguin and Wallace go to Y/est Y/aIIaby Street.

b Wallace takes the diamond
c 6romit runs after the penguin

W6TlaC ' 6nf4 fiP0Mit §t g th0US60d QOUDdS

g The Techno trousers stay at ¥/est y/alIaby Street
diam0nd steel doors
techno-tr0users
S1
 In the dark Gromit began to put his hands down the
front of the Techno-trousers.
’What are you doing*’ cried W*llme, ‘8e careful. lad!'
C›romit put the end of a ted wire on the end of a black
put it do 'n. There, tpo, the penguin took the red glove off his head. wire and the lege of the Tecbno-trousers began to move
'Oh! It's pout' said Wallace, for he saw now it wasn't a chicRn standing in front of him,
up and down,but the penguin.
faster Then
and faster. he the
Soon pt angry. ‘Getbroke
wardrobe vie out of these trousers
In answer
away from the fioor and the trousers walked It out of the the penguin quicklx
wardrobe, and closed the door behtnd htm.
room with Wallace and Gromit in it.
‘Helpl Open this door at oncet' cried Wallace in the wardrobe, and he knocked on the door angrily.
’the penguin touk the diamond from the helmet sod pt ‘Whete are we going? I can't see a thing!’ cfied
do W'altace. ’then the m8rdrobe door opened and Gromit
But Gromit ctood at the door. th was angry and he had a came out.
The penguin jumped pn the hamster and went does it
with the gun in hi6 hand. and the diamond bag on his
back. He landed oti ttie front of Wai&ce's toy train.
’Get him, Gromitl' ctied Wallace from in the wardrobe,
Then the wardrobe began to gp downstairs with
Wallace in it. Gromit jumped up at once and caught the
ceiling ramp. The penguin shot the lamp down from the
ceiling and Gromit landed near the back of Wallace's toy
train with the lamp on his head. The train went off
quickly down the track.
took out a big black gun. When he saw

rolling pin down. Now the penguin opened the wardrobe door, Gromit got in witb Wall Bce,
the penguin closed
the door spin.
 The penguin was now behind the little blue train 'Cive me that gun!' cried Wal1sce.
engine. i-ie looked back and trot at Gromit again and
He put out his hand and took the gun from the penguin.
again with his gun. but suddenly the Rchno-trousers hit the wall end Wallace
„„ But Gromit ssn't afrald. He had a lgmp for a helmet on came out of them, went through a hole in the wall, and
his head. and he wanted tn catch the penguin. landed on a kitchen trotted. Atonce iromit took the lamp
Suddenly he saw the train getting near the back door. off his head and began to move to the frpnt of the train.
'ph no! The penguin's going to get away!' he thought. Wallace went past him again. Thjs time he was on his
He trolley, and he had a net in his hands.
hit a red button by the track and the train went off to the 'I'm going to get that penguin now!' he cried.
I-sk the
ro 'ft's OK Gromit,' cried Wallace. He now stood on the But then Wallace's net hit something on the wall and
which e train laet car at the end of the train on one leg of the Techno- this knocked him off the trolley. He landed back on the
trousers. 'I'm behlnd you, lads' he called. truin. The penguin hit a little lever by the track. The
Now the penguin shot his gun at Wallace's feet and engine, with the penguin on a car behind it, went pff trolley a table
Wallace's car jumped off the track and began to run on a along one track. The back of the trsin, with Gromit on
new track next to the first. the first car Bud Wallace on the last car, went off along a
'Stay there, Gromit! Everything’s OK.' called Wallace. different track.
And he moved past hie friend and got near the penguin.
 Suddenly Gromit had no mpre track in front of That afternoon they took the penguin to the
him. “Oh no! We're going to have an accident!' he police and the police put him arty In a
thought. very strong building for a very tong time.
Then he saw a box of new track on the floor, caught That evening Wallace and Gromit 5Rt in
it. and quickly began to put the new track down in the front room. They were friends again.
front of the train. So they went on, under the table, and 'how we've got the thousand poimds
into the from the police, we don't need to rent that
spare reborn. Isn't that grand?' said Wallace
There Gromit's track ran over the penguin's track. At happily. 'Shall we have some cheese, chuck?'
the back of the train Wallace put out his hands to catch the When Gromit got up to get the cheese, he locked
penguin. but he only caught the little blue toy engine. out of the window at the old Techno-trousers, now in a bin
Then the Techno-trousers walked in fcofit of the in the street. And we don't need yox!' he thought happily.
penguin's car, and the penguin - with the diamond bag on He went back into the front room with Wallace's cheese
his back — fiew up oft’ the car and into the kitchen. and then sat dowri to read the newspaper.
At the same time Ciromit hit the kitchen cupboard. and Out in the street, with no ‹control panel to stop them, flue e•*m **i fi•«
peopie wfio 0o
stopped suddenly. A milk bottle carae down off the Techno-trousers got up and walked off into the night.
cupboard and landed in his hand. A second lRtec the
psi things in Whig penguin landed in the milk bottle and the diamond bag
landed in €iromit’s other hand
'We did It. Gromit, lads We caught him!' cried Wallace.
 off his head.

d The pen9uin puts the diamond

After some time Wallace and Gromit

g They get 0I,000
h ln the end The Techno-trousers

a 0h no! He's got a run and he s yoin9 to kill »mro« with it

b I”m not good at football or tennis, J can't s 'atch things in my hands

c Trains travel on I ruck.

0 My ra4io has |0ts of different coloured 1ci ver in it

e I can catch things with my nnt.

I have a Iu op by my bed 90 I c8n read at night

\YaIlace and 8romit go on holiday

a ."* Wallace buys Gr0mit some new Techno-trousers
c \YaIIace and 6ro t start clean ^8 •' do s
 A D*ctiounry o/ In ormnl English a Let's meet later. I'll call you on the telephone that I rare with me about 8 o”clock.
b l”m fat because i eat a lot of foo0
! 'Write these words from 7fze 'rang 7rouserc in the con-oct plaee¥ In the D/ctfbnoz ' c My stomach hur\s.
d I like ausaees a
lot. a What a nice
shirt*
lad chuck f The new girl in oui ulass is strange.
g Where’s the nearest toilgt*

I ‘ i
4 Make a dictionary for tha wands In sctixlty 8 (or aoma other informal words).
After each word write these thinge.
... breakfast. a a formal £ ngli9h word that means the same \a synonym}, or a definition of the word
s an example sentenc8 and a translation
P4ny«ix, tkat's ........................ .

a nauc for
c ...................... souaone that Nappy 0irtjtdaY, ........................
y0u \it‹e

Be car«f«I, ........................ .

2 6an You translate the worde In Activity 1 into informal wotds in your language?

8 Metch thase wQrds god the underlined words In the sentences on page 41.
Use a dictionary to relp you.
1
Why not b«y a new
...

Why nut buy a new

¥/fry not buy a pair suit* his s

of new Techno th8 laiest invention trom AWS
trousers2 These are ‹AII \Y8atl ei Suits). With its
the latest ori htly Olutirerl sun and rain
fur yo r heart

for sunny da\'s It has a

ioo' Anrl the

in Control panel, they helps yo\i to get
j you can put a dog's lead through tiere
the dog, painting walls
and ceilings and many

sticky feet can walk up walls or arross ceiling

hit the bI\›8 buttons and move the red levers on th8 control panel to
program the trousers
rubber legs move up and down and to front and back
 I fi atTy f0P g00 fi 0r b£td W00th
OF!

ra‹nroat and rainsfioes for rainy days

e weather house to see the weather before it happens