Lesson 6 The Landscape of Stories
Harrison Bergeron
THE YEAR WAS ____ and everybody was finally equal.
____ weren't only equal before the law―they were equal in every other way.
Nobody was smarter, better looking, ____ or quicker than anybody else.
The new constitution of the United States and the agents of the Handicapper General(HG) guaranteed all this wonderful ____
Some things about life still ____ quite equal, however.
Some months were ____ or hotter than others.
And ____ was in the warm month of April that the HG men took George and Hazel Bergeron's nineteen-year-old son Harrison away.
It was tragic,
It was tragic, all right, but George and Hazel ____ think about it very hard.
Hazel had a perfectly average intelligence, which meant she ____ think about anything except in short bursts.
And George, while his intelligence was way ____ normal, had a little handicap radio in his ear that made it difficult for him to concentrate.
He was made by law to wear it at all times. ____ was tuned to a government transmitter.
Every twenty ____ or so, the transmitter would send out some sharp noise to keep people like George from taking unfair advantage of their brains.
George and Hazel were ____ television.
There were tears on Hazel's cheeks, but she'd ____ for the moment why she was crying.
Ballerinas danced across a television screen. "BUZZ!" ____ the transmitter in George's ear.
Gone were his ____ "That was a real pretty dance they just did," said Hazel.
"Huh?" said George. "That dance―it ____ nice," said Hazel. "Yup," said George.
He tried to think a little about the ballerinas.
They weren't really very ____
____ could have done as good a job.
They had big weights holding them down, so ____ couldn't jump high.
They had masks on their faces so that no one might ____ the beauty inside.
George was toying with the ____ notion that maybe dancers shouldn't be handicapped.
But he didn't get ____ far before another noise scattered his thoughts.
"BUZZ! BUZZ!" went the transmitter in ____ ear.
____ heard the sound from across the room.
"I'd like to hear those noises," she said, a little enviously because she had no radio in her ____
"If I were Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper General, you know what I'd do?" she ____
"I'd put beautiful chimes in ____ ears. People would be happier that way. I'd make a good HG, I think."
"Well, as good as anybody else, I guess," ____ George.
He began to think glimmeringly of his abnormal son Harrison, who was now in ____ maybe he'd make a good HG.
“BUZZ! BUZZ!” went the transmitter in his ear.
"Boy!" said Hazel, "I ____ that from all the way across the room."
George held ____ ears and started trembling.
"Ow!" It ____ so loud that tears formed under his eyes.
"You look tired," said Hazel. "Why don't you ____ your head down on the couch?
You can rest ____ handicap bag as well."
In George's handicap bag were ____ several lead balls.
These prevented him from ____ too fast. "What?"
"You've been so tired lately, honey," ____ Hazel.
"If only ____ could cut a few holes in the bag and take out a few balls."
"I don't think about it anymore. It's ____ a part of me.
And anyway, if ____ did it, then other people would do the same thing.
Pretty soon, we'd be back in the dark ages again where everybody would be competing with ____ else.
Surely you ____ want to live in that kind of world."
“Do you really think that’s possible?”
"BUZZ! BUZZ!" went the buzzer in ____ ear.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" "Never ____ said Hazel.
The television program was suddenly interrupted for a ____ bulletin.
It wasn't clear ____ first what the bulletin was about.
The announcer, ____ all announcers, had a serious speech impediment.
"L-L-L-Ladies ____ g-g-g-gentlemen."
The announcer gave ____ handing his sheet of paper to a ballerina.
He asked her if she could read ____ for him.
____ must have been extraordinarily beautiful since she wore a hideous mask.
"Ladies and gentlemen," said the ballerina, reading the ____
It was ____ to see that she was the strongest and most graceful of all the dancers.
She carried enormous handicap bags.
She had to apologize for her ____ warm, and musical voice.
____ cleared her throat and continued, making her voice completely average.
"Harrison Bergeron, age nineteen, has just ____ from jail.
____ was jailed for trying to take over the government.
He is a genius and an athlete, is under-handicapped, and should be regarded ____ extremely dangerous."
A police photograph of Harrison Bergeron was flashed on the screen upside down, then sideways, upside down again, then right ____ up.
____ was handsome and tall―200 centimeters tall, in fact.
In another ____ he was shown wearing his handicaps.
He wore a huge pair of earphones that slowed down any thinking and big, heavy glasses that made him ____ blind.
Pieces of metal hung all over him, pressing ____ into his seat.
Metal dangled from ____ shirt pockets and across his shoulders.
On Harrison's strong body, he carried no less than ____ kilograms.
To hide his good looks, Harrison was required to wear ____ big, red clown's nose, and his eyebrows were all shaved.
"If you see this boy, don't ____ him.
He's dangerous," ____ the ballerina unnaturally.
Then, suddenly,
Then, suddenly, a door was pulled from its frame ____ thrown to the dance stage.
George Bergeron looked closely at the ____ who emerged from beyond the door, carrying his heavy metal and wearing his ridiculous clown's nose.
"My God! That's our Harrison!" "BUZZ! ____
The ____ focused on Harrison.
____ stood there―a giant amongst men at the center of the stage.
Ballerinas, engineers, and announcers ____ before him, expecting to die.
"I am the Emperor!" ____ Harrison.
"Do you hear? ____ am the Emperor!
Everybody must do what ____ say at once!
Even though I ____ here handicapped and weakened, I am greater than any man who ever lived!
Now watch me become even ____
Harrison tore off his chains with ease and dropped them on the ____
He then smashed ____ earphones against the wall, threw away his clown's nose, and revealed a face that would have amazed Thor, the god of thunder.
“Now,” he said. “Who will be my Empress?”
The people knelt before ____
"Let ____ first woman to rise join me as my partner."
A ballerina ____ rose, swaying on her feet like a gentle rose in the breeze.
"Why should you be made to carry these handicaps? Why should ____ Harrison asked.
He pulled the buzzer ____ her ear, snapped off her heavy bags, and removed her mask.
She was ____ beautiful. "Now," said Harrison, taking her hand.
"Shall we show the people the meaning of the word ____ Music!" he commanded.
The music ____ cautiously at first.
Harrison stripped the ____ of their handicaps and said, "Try it now."
Soon, the most beautiful music sounded out throughout the ____ hall.
Harrison took ____ Empress by the hand.
They danced gracefully across the ____ and then in an explosion of joy, into the air they jumped!
They whirled, and Harrison dipped his Empress nearly ____ the ground.
There were tears in the eyes of all those watching.
They'd never known ____ such beauty could be possible.
____ dancers leapt up into the high ceiling.
When the music came to an end, they embraced ____ and cried tears of joy.
It was then that Diana Moon Glampers, the Handicapper ____ entered the stage.
Diana ____ Glampers said, "Listen up, everybody! I'll give you one minute to put your handicaps back on. Or you will all die."
Right at the moment, the ____ television screen went black.
"Huh! That was weird," said Hazel. But George had ____ into the kitchen to grab a beer.
George opened his can of beer. "You've been crying. What's up with that?" he ____ Hazel.
"Um, you know, I just ____ remember. I think there was something sad on television."
"What?" "I don't know." "Just forget such things. That's my ____ George said.
The ____ in his ear was tremendous.
"It just feels so weird," ____ Hazel.
"Why do we have to feel things? Why in this day and age do we need to ____ sad things?"