The story under the title "The Fun They Had" was written by a highly prolific American writer,

one of
the three grand masters of science fiction - Isaac Asimov. The theme is probably "the influence of
technology on the process of teaching." The story is kind of utopian story, but from the perspective of
the children who are the main characters of the story, it is a dystopia, since they thought there was
so much more fun back in the days when there were classrooms... but the whole story circles around
the theme of technology and how children in this version of the future and how children today
interact with that.
The key in this text is lyrical, and the narration here is interwinding with the direct speech and the
dialogues. To prove that the mood is lyrical lets look at the descriptions of one of the main
characters feelings related to her mechanical teacher. The author uses colloquial speech and
jargonized words, such as gee, I guess, I betcha here, to show us that these children are rather
ordinary, and looks similar as the children of our age. The text could be divided into three logical
parts.
The first part of the story begins with the description of two kids who found a real book. It was a little
discovery, the girl even wrote about it that night in her diary It should be noted that all the events of
the story take place in the future, in the year 2155, that's why a mere book from the past seems
quite an interesting object for exploration. And, our heroes, Tommy (13) with Margie (11) read the
book, thinking of those who used it many centuries ago. The author uses in this story such feature
as pointing out the words by using the italic font. He emphasizes the words, to make us feel deeper
and pay extra attention to the very phrase. Margie's grandfather once said that when he was a little
boy his grandfather told him that there was a time when all stories were printed on paper as we
read this the, we understand that from the point of view of these children it was very-very long ago.
From the dialogue of the children we see that they relationship is a friendship. Of course, the author
could not avoid from inventing new terms, such as telebook.
The second part begins with the picture of the teaching process in the far 2157. From the very
beginning of the part, we see the Margies feelings to the schooling process. Her attitude to the
mechanical teacher leaves much to be desired. Reading the story we come across the problem,
tackled by the author. It is a low knowledge level of children, and their uneagerness to study. To
prove it we should mention the fact when the County Inspector slowed up Margie's mechanical
teacher to an average ten-year level. The girl was 11, but she couldn't or didn't want to cover her
own age level, "she had been doing worse and worse". And how strong was her hatred towards
school! She hoped her teacher wouldn't be back, that "large and black and ugly" teacher! "The part
she hated most was the slot where she had to put homework and test papers." - This sentence
indicates at her being a usual girl with a usual nature, while this is the exact thing commonly disliked
at schools.
The third part of the text is the speculation of these children about the teaching process Centuries
ago. They argue whether the live teacher better than the mechanical one, or not; could the living
one be smarter than the machine etc. The narrator lets us see the criticism of this young girl, she
could not believe that the human can teach as good as the machine. The key in this part is rather
emotional, we can see this in the dialogue of our story-heroes. The author uses such colloquies as
sure he is, I betcha; and again points out the admiration of Tom a regular teacher
This story, written by I.Asimov makes the reader to think about the teaching process nowadays. If we
remember that it was written in the middle of the 20th century, we can say that the details in this
story are well chosen. I think that it has a certain purpose to warn the reader about the possible
future problems, because the era of Internet and wide spread of the computers has certain impact
on our generation. Of course the mechanical, or computer teachers is the ideal solution for breeding
the very clever people, the caste of self-made people, but from the other point of view, these people
wouldnt be so social, and would expect certain problems in communication with other ordinary
people. So, it is for us to decide, which way of education is better.

he story under the title The Escape was written by one of the outstanding English writers William
Somerset Maugham. William Somerset Maugham is one of the best known English writers of the
20th century. He was not only a novelist, but also a one of the most successful dramatist and short-
story writers. Maugham wants the readers to draw their own conclusion about the characters and
events described in his novels. His reputation as a novelist is based on the following prominent
books: Of Human Bondage; The Moon and Sixpence; and The Razor's Edge.

Though Maugham doesnt denounce the contemporary social order, he is critical of the morals and
the narrow-mindedness. Realistic portrayal of life, keen character observation, and interesting plots
coupled with beautiful, expressive language, a simple, clear, unadored style, place Somerset
Maugham on a level with the greatest English writers of the 20th century. In general, Maugham's
novels and short stories could be characterized by great narrative facility, an ironic point of view,
cosmopolitan settings, and an astonishing understanding of human nature.

The plot of the story is quite simple, though interesting. The protagonist of the story, a young man
rolling in money Roger Charing fell in love with Ruth Barlow, an unfortunate woman who was
twice a widow. They had all the happy and pleasant moments of relationships a loving couple usually
has and intended to marry. Then suddenly Roger fell out of love with Ruth. But he found a way to
make Ruth release him. He said they would marry the day they found the perfect house for both of
them, however, Roger rejected all the orders of the agents offering a new house. At last Ruth lost her
patience and left Roger herself.

So, the problem addressed in the story lies in the relationships of man and woman, in the way they
get over the quandaries, in the way they treat each other. And I believe this problem is rather vital
nowadays as many families divorce because they dont know how to overcome hardships they face.

The controlling idea of the story is that one should put on his thinking and act very carefully, as
sometimes procrastination can give better results than haste.

The same we see in the story. Roger wasnt hurrying to inform Ruth in his calmness to her, vice
versa he kept on taking care of her not even presenting her any signs to doubt in his love.

At the same time he didnt let the agents stop searching the house, trying Ruths patience. The
repetition used by the author prove non-interest of Roger to all offers: Sometimes they were too
large and sometimes they were too small, sometimes they were too far from the centre of the things
and sometimes they were too close; sometimes they were too expensive and sometimes they
wanted too many repairs; sometimes they were too stuffy and sometimes they were too airy;
sometimes they were too dark and sometimes they were too bleak.
So we see the contrastive requirements of the protagonist who made everything to escape the
marriage and not to lose his face in front of surrounding people.