A Streetcat Named Bob

Watch the trailer for the movie A Street Cat Named Bob. Discuss what you think the book, and the movie based on the book, are about.

James Bowen (1979–) is an English author. His books about his life with Bob the street cat have become international bestsellers.

injured skadet drugs narkotika earning tjener busking spiller/opptre på gata eventually omsider, endelig take care of passe på ordinarily vanligvis get tuned få stemt gitaren attention oppmerksomhet today though i dag derimot lobbed kastet small denomination coins småmynter generous sjenerøst, snilt fiddlet fiklet tuning stemte the penny eventually dropped det gikk endelig opp for meg crowd folkemengde distinctive gjenkjennelig male mannlig JAMES BOWEN A Street Cat Named Bob A Street Cat Named Bob is the true story of how an injured street cat changed James’ life. James used to be on drugs. Now he lives hand-to-mouth on the streets of London, earning money from busking. One day, Bob shows up outside James’ front door. The cat returns every day, until James eventually lets it in and starts taking care of it. Today, the cat has followed him to the bus, and Vurderingseksemplar joins him to work in Covent Garden for the first time.

Ordinarily it would take me a good ten minutes to get tuned, start playing and get people to pay me some attention. Today though a couple of people slowed down in front of me and lobbed small denomination coins into my guitar case even before I’d played a note. Generous of them, I thought. It was as I fiddled around, tuning my guitar, that the penny eventually dropped! My back was turned to the crowd when again I heard the distinctive clinking of one coin hitting another. Behind me I heard a male voice. “Nice cat, mate,” he said.

Vurderingseksemplar

From the film A Street Cat Named Bob, 2016

mid-twenties midten av tjueårene thumbs up tommel opp taken aback stusset curled up krøllet sammen charmer sjarmør taught myself lært meg selv Cash Converters pantelåner fancied hadde lyst på set her: spilleliste featured inneholdt I turned and saw an ordinary-looking guy in his midtwenties giving me a thumbs up sign and walking off with a smile on his face. I was taken aback. Bob had curled himself up in a comfortable ball in the middle of the empty guitar case.

I knew he was a charmer. But this was something else. I’d taught myself to play the guitar when I was a teenager living back in Australia. People would show me things and then I’d work my way through them on my own. I got my first guitar when I was fifteen or sixteen. It was quite late to start playing, I suppose. I bought an old electric guitar from a Cash Converters in Melbourne. I’d always played on my friends’ acoustic guitars, but I fancied an electric one. I loved Jimi Hendrix, I thought he was fantastic and wanted to play like him. The set I’d put together for my busking featured some of the things that I’d enjoyed playing for years. Kurt Cobain had always been a bit of a hero of mine, so there was some Nirvana in there. But I also played some Bob Dylan and Vurderingseksemplar

a fair bit by Johnny Cash. One of the most popular things I played was “Hurt”, originally by Nine Inch Nails, but then covered by Johnny Cash. It was easier to play that version because it was an acoustic piece. I also played “The Man In Black” by Johnny Cash. That was a good busking song – and it was kind of appropriate too. I generally wore black. The most popular song in my set was “Wonderwall” by Oasis. That always worked best, especially outside the pubs when I wandered around late in the evenings. I played pretty much the same stuff over and over every day. It was what people liked. That’s what the tourists wanted to hear. I would usually start with a song like “About A Girl” by Nirvana just to get the fingers going. That’s what I did today, as Bob sat in front of me, watching the crowds walk out of the tube station. I’d barely been playing for more than a few minutes when a group of kids stopped. They were obviously from Brazil and were all wearing Brazilian football shirts and speaking what I recognized as Portuguese. One of them, a young girl, bent down and began stroking Bob. “Ah, gato bonito,” she said. “She is saying you have a beautiful cat,” one of the boys said, helpfully translating her Portuguese. They were just kids on a trip to London, but they were fascinated. Almost immediately other people were stopping to see what the fuss was about. About half a dozen of the Brazilian kids and other passers-by began fishing around in their pockets and started raining coins into the bag. “Looks like you may not be such a bad companion after all, Bob. I’ll invite you out for the day more often,” I smiled at him.

a fair bit en god del cover en artist synger en låt av en annen artist appropriate passende get the fingers going få fingrene i gang tube station t-banestasjonen barely knapt obviously tydeligvis, åpenbart recognized gjenkjente translating oversatte immediately med en gang, umiddelbart fuss oppstyr half a dozen et halvt dusin, seks Vurderingseksemplarpassers-by forbipasserende bad companion dårlig selskap

UNDERSTANDING

1 Answer the questions. a How did James learn to play the guitar? b Where is Bob while James is playing? c What music does James play? d What does “Gato Bonito” mean? e Why does James say that he will invite Bob to come along more often? f What do you get to know about James?

VIEWPOINTS 2 Discuss the questions. a Are you familiar with any of the artists or bands mentioned in the text? If yes, which ones? b James thinks of Bob as a close friend. Do you think a pet can be a friend? Why or why not? c Why do you think people give more money when Bob is with James? d James says Bob has been a positive, life-changing force. In what ways do you think a pet can change someone’s life? How do you think James’ life has changed? SPEAKING SPOT 3 Find pictures of Covent Garden in London. Take notes and describe what it looks like to a partner. Vurderingseksemplar

MATHS MOVES

4 Do the maths. a James usually makes around 20 pounds a day busking.

How much is this in NOK? b The first day Bob comes with him to work, James makes 63 pounds. How much is this in NOK? c How much more does James earn when Bob comes with him than he does on his own?

WRITING WORKSHOP

5 What are the positive sides of having a pet? Make a list.

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LANGUAGE LAB

6 The present simple Translate the sentences to English. a James og Bob bor i London. James and Bob live in London. b James spiller gitar på gatene. c Barna fra Brasil liker Bob. d James spiller sanger av andre artister. e ‘Wonderwall’ er den mest populære sangen. f James har bodd i Australia. g Han sier at han vil invitere Bob til å bli med han oftere. DIGITAL DIVE 7 Find more information about one of the artists or bands mentioned in the text. Write 5–8 sentences. 8 Search for more information about Bob and James. How are they doing now? EXPLORE MORE 9 Read the whole book about James and Bob, or watch the film.Vurderingseksemplar