KEEP A STIFF UPPER LIP

1

I woke up in a great mood!

A good wizard had opened for me

a curtains of Future for a while

and made my day!

Couldn’t restrain myself,

I shared my dreams with my girlfriend

and told her the idea of writing a book,

visited me last night.

2

She seemed

happier than me,

that’s why my lips weren’t sealed,

and I told her everything,

looking at her

big

blue eyes.

3

Of course, I felt, once better

to keep silence about the book.

But unfortunately

when I came to the university

my idea had already been on everyone’s lips.

There were nobody

who didn’t laugh at me

or criticized loudly my idea,

and only my girlfriend looked supporting me

against the whole world.

4

Anyway,

my misunderstanding wasn’t long.

Suddenly,

staying at the nest door,

I heard my classmates talking,

and then the truth escaped my friend’s lips.

Everything she’d told me before

was just paying lip service!

5

I was almost ruined!

An only friend betrayed me!

In that moment I felt my world had collapsed.

I didn’t remember,

how I kept a stiff upper lip.

Stayed closely to start crying,

I’d just been looking at her stupidly

saying nothing.

But when the first shock had gone away,

I promised myself to become a famous writer.

6

Many years had passed

when suddenly

during an autograph-session for fans

of my new bestseller

I saw ex-friend in the crowd.

Opening the book to get a signature,

she smiled me as earlier,

but not a word passed our lips…

(to be continued…)

Phrases and idioms

A

keep a stiff upper lip

дословно:

“держите верхнюю губу напряженной”

смысл:

“Оставаться стоиком в трудных ситуациях”

Синонимы:

не терять мужества,

не падать духом,

не вешать носа,

держаться молодцом

https://www.native-english.ru/idioms/keep-a-stiff-upper-lip

lips are sealed

не разглашать секрета, “закрыть рот на замок”

https://www.native-english.ru/idioms/lips-are-sealed

on everybody’s lips

у всех на устах

https://www.native-english.ru/idioms/on-everybodys-lips

pay lip service to (someone or smth.)

поддерживать кого-либо на словах, а не на деле

https://www.native-english.ru/idioms/pay-lip-service-to-someone-or-something

Supplementary phrases

B

don’t put on your lips – ну, ну, без нахальства!

lip-deep – поверхностный, неискренний
lip-labor – слова, повторяемые механически
lip-reading – язык глухонемых

lip-service – неискренние, пустые слова
none of your lips – без дерзостей

not a word has passed his lips – не проронил ни слова

to escape one’s lips – сорваться с языка

to put smth to one’s lips – попробовать что-либо, пригубить
to smack one’s lip – облизываться, смаковать

Points for discussion

1. If you were a writer and gave a new life to the main characters, what a story would it be?
2. If not a word had passed the young man’s lips till he wrote the last page of his book, could he keep relations with his girl-friend?
3. What do you think about the Big-Blue-Eyed girl of this story?
4. Have you ever felt that something was almost ready to escape your lips?
5. Do you think the phrase ” Keep a stiff upper lip” could often be used? (Give an example, the more the better!)
6. What phrases have you been remembered and which of them do you like most of all?
7. What is your finished-reading-a-new-story key take-away?

8. Have you enjoyed the story? Why?

Our story

is about peolple around us:

their dreams and ambitions,

betrayal and success.

A young man – the dreamer

turned a famous story-maker

but not everything

was easy…