Learn English with The Hobbit

• ☐ ☐ ☐ precious [adj] - very valuable
• ☐ ☐ ☐ unaccessibly [adv] - difficult to meet or find (inaccessibly)
• ☐ ☐ ☐ merely [adv] - only, just
• ☐ ☐ ☐ gaze upon [v] - look at
• ☐ ☐ ☐ magnificence [n] - impressively great or beautiful
• ☐ ☐ ☐ a tale [n] - a story
• ☐ ☐ ☐ fall short [exp] - not enough, less than required
• ☐ ☐ ☐ utterly [adv] - completely, 100%
• ☐ ☐ ☐ enormity [n] - largeness
• ☐ ☐ ☐ stupendous [adj] - very very impressive
• ☐ ☐ ☐ flattery [n] - a lot of insincere (dishonest) praise
• ☐ ☐ ☐ your kind [exp] - your type, your race
• ☐ ☐ ☐ a riddle [n] - a question that requires cleverness to answer, usually as part of a game
• ☐ ☐ ☐ a title [n] - a name that describes someone's position or job
• ☐ ☐ ☐ a barrel [n] - a large round wooden container
• ☐ ☐ ☐ a share [n] - a portion, a part
• ☐ ☐ ☐ part with [v] - give away, be separated from
• ☐ ☐ ☐ claws [n] - the sharp hands and feet of an animal
• ☐ ☐ ☐ a spear [n] - a type of weapon
• ☐ ☐ ☐ a hurricane [n] - a large storm with wind and rain
• ☐ ☐ ☐ found its mark [exp] - hit the target
• ☐ ☐ ☐ Your reputation precedes you. [exp] - You are very famous.
• ☐ ☐ ☐ tyrannical [adj] - using power in a cruel or evil way
• ☐ ☐ ☐ almost tempted [exp] - not actually tempted
• ☐ ☐ ☐ suffer [v] - experience pain or a bad situation
• ☐ ☐ ☐ corrupt [v/adj] - make someone bad, evil
• ☐ ☐ ☐ drive him mad [exp] - make him crazy
• ☐ ☐ ☐ But I think not. [exp] - But I don't think so.

[n] - noun,  [v] - verb,   [phv] - phrasal verb,  [adj] - adjective,  [exp] - expression

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Bilbo

• Bilbo has just entered the Dwarvish city of Erebor.
• He is on a quest to kill a dragon named Smaug.
• Smaug stole Erebor from the dwarves because of its wealth and gold.
• The dwarves have sent Bilbo into the chamber to steal the Arkenstone.
• The Arkenstone is a large jewel that gives its owner the right to be king of the dwarves.

1. Smaug ____ see Bilbo.
   can
   cannot
   
   
2. Smaug ____ smell Bilbo.
   can
   cannot
   
   
3. Smaug ____ hear Bilbo.
   can
   cannot
   
   
4. Smaug ____ that Bilbo is wearing a magic ring.
   knows
   doesn't know
   
   
5. Bilbo ____ the ring.
   hides
   takes off
   
   
6. Bilbo tells Smaug that he wants ____.
   to talk to him
   the Arkenstone
   to gaze upon him
   to help the dwarves
   
   
7. Smaug _____ that Bilbo is a hobbit.
   knows
   doesn't know
   
   
8. Bilbo _____ Smaug his name and where he comes from.
   tells
   doesn't tell
   
   
9. Bilbo tells Smaug some titles related to his _____.
   family
   friends
   weapons
   adventures
   
   
10. Smaug ____ that Bilbo is helping the dwarves.
    knows
    doesn't know
    
    
11. Bilbo ____ that he is helping the dwarves.
    admits
    doesn't admit
    
    
12. Smaug thinks that Bilbo came to _____ for the dwarves.
    kill him
    talk to him
    steal the Arkenstone
    take some gold
    
    
13. Smaug offers to give Bilbo _____.
    some gold
    some gems
    his life
    nothing
    
    
14. Bilbo _____ the Arkenstone.
    sees
    can't find
    
    
15. Bilbo notices ____ on Smaug's body.
    the Arkenstone
    some blood
    a weakness
    a scar
    
    
16. Smaug thinks that the Arkenstone will make Thorin ____.
    king
    rich
    angry
    crazy
    
    
17. Smaug tries to _____ and _____ Bilbo.
    burn
    bite
    crush
    
    
18. Bilbo _____ grab the Arkenstone.
    is able to
    isn't able to
    
    

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Directions: Write sentences about the video clip using the words given. You can change the word form or add words, but you cannot change the word order. Use present tense.

as / Smaug / emerge / gold / Bilbo / slip / ring

As Smaug emerges [from/out of] the gold, Bilbo slips on [his/the] ring.

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although / Smaug / can / smell / hear / Bilbo / he / not / see

Although Smaug can smell and hear Bilbo, he cannot see him.

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after / Smaug / reveal / he / knows / Bilbo / wear / magic / ring / Bilbo / take / off

After Smaug reveals (that) he knows (that) Bilbo is wearing [the/a] magic ring, Bilbo takes [it/the ring] off.

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claim / not / be / thief / Bilbo / tell / Smaug / he / mere / wish / gaze / him

Claiming not to be a thief, Bilbo tells Smaug (that) he merely wishes to gaze upon him.

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Smaug / stand / front / Bilbo / reveal / full / stature

Smaug stands in front of Bilbo (in order) to reveal his full stature.
Smaug stands in front of Bilbo and reveals his full stature.
Smaug stands in front of Bilbo, revealing his full stature.

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Smaug / admit / he / not / know / who / what / Bilbo

Smaug admits that he doesn't know who or what Bilbo is.

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Bilbo / tell / Smaug / he / be / luck / wear / riddle / make / and / barrel / ride

Bilbo tells Smaug (that) he is a luck wearer, riddle maker and barrel rider.

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Smaug / ask / where / dwarf / hide

Smaug asks (Bilbo) where the dwarves are hiding.

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Bilbo / pretend / he / not / understand / what / Smaug / refer

Bilbo pretends (that) he doesn’t understand what Smaug is referring to

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Smaug / know / Thorin / sent / Bilbo / find / Arkenstone

Smaug knows (that) Thorin (has) sent Bilbo to find the Arkenstone.

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Smaug / refuse / part / single / coin

Smaug refuses to part with a single coin.

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Bilbo / notice / one / scale / miss / Smaug / chest

Bilbo notices (that) one scale is missing from Smaug's chest.

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Smaug / almost / tempt / let / Bilbo / take / Arkenstone / see / it / corrupt / Thorin / heart

Smaug is almost tempted to let Bilbo take the Arkenstone (in order) to see it corrupt Thorin's heart.

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Smaug / ask / Bilbo / how / want / die

Smaug asks Bilbo how he wants to die.

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Bilbo / slip / ring / and / escape / Smaug

Bilbo slips on [the/his] ring and escapes from Smaug.

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Bilbo / pick / Arkenstone / as / he / run

Bilbo picks up the Arkenstone as he runs away.

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The text below is from the [ original novel ].

1. Which parts of the video are the same as the novel?
2. Which parts of the video are different from the novel?
3. Which parts of the novel are not in the video?

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“Old Smaug is weary and asleep,” he thought. “He can’t see me and he won’t hear me. Cheer up Bilbo!” He had forgotten or had never heard about dragons’ sense of smell. It is also an awkward fact that they can keep half an eye open watching while they sleep, if they are suspicious.

Smaug certainly looked fast asleep, almost dead and dark, with scarcely a snore more than a whiff of unseen steam, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. He was just about to step out on to the floor when he caught a sudden thin and piercing ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug’s left eye. He was only pretending to sleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance!

Hurriedly Bilbo stepped back and blessed the luck of his ring. Then Smaug spoke. “Well, thief! I smell you and I feel your air. I hear your breath. Come along! Help yourself again, there is plenty and to spare!”

But Bilbo was not quite so unlearned in dragon-lore as all that, and if Smaug hoped to get him to come nearer so easily he was disappointed. “No thank you, O Smaug the Tremendous!” he replied. “I did not come for presents. I only wished to have a look at you and see if you were truly as great as tales say. I did not believe them.”

“Do you now?” said the dragon somewhat flattered, even though he did not believe a word of it.

“Truly songs and tales fall utterly short of the reality, O Smaug the Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities,” replied Bilbo.

“You have nice manners for a thief and a liar,” said the dragon. “You seem familiar with my name, but I don’t seem to remember smelling you before. Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask?”

“You may indeed! I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air. I am he that walks unseen.”

“So I can well believe,” said Smaug, “but that is hardly your usual name.”

“I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number.”

“Lovely titles!” sneered the dragon. “But lucky numbers don’t always come off.”

“I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me.”

“These don’t sound so creditable,” scoffed Smaug.

“I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider,” went on Bilbo beginning to be pleased with his riddling.

“That’s better!” said Smaug. “But don’t let your imagination run away with you!”

This of course is the way to talk to dragons, if you don’t want to reveal your proper name (which is wise), and don’t want to infuriate them by a flat refusal (which is also very wise). No dragon can resist the fascination of riddling talk and of wasting time trying to understand it. There was a lot here which Smaug did not understand at all (though I expect you do, since you know all about Bilbo’s adventures to which he was referring), but he thought he understood enough, and he chuckled in his wicked inside.

“Very well, O Barrel-rider!” he said aloud. “Maybe Barrel was your pony’s name; and maybe not, though it was fat enough. You may walk unseen, but you did not walk all the way. Let me tell you I ate six ponies last night and I shall catch and eat all the others before long. In return for the excellent meal, I will give you one piece of advice for your good: don’t have more to do with dwarves than you can help!”

“Dwarves!” said Bilbo in pretended surprise.

“Don’t talk to me!” said Smaug. “I know the smell (and taste) of dwarf—no one better. Don’t tell me that I can eat a dwarf-ridden pony and not know it!

You’ll come to a bad end, if you go with such friends, Thief Barrel-rider. I don’t mind if you go back and tell them so from me.” But he did not tell Bilbo that there was one smell he could not make out at all, hobbit-smell; it was quite outside his experience and puzzled him mightily.

“I suppose you got a fair price for that cup last night?” he went on. “Come now, did you? Nothing at all! Well, that’s just like them. And I suppose they are skulking outside, and your job is to do all the dangerous work and get what you can when I’m not looking—for them? And you will get a fair share? Don’t you believe it! If you get off alive, you will be lucky.”

Bilbo was now beginning to feel really uncomfortable. Whenever Smaug’s roving eye, seeking for him in the shadows, flashed across him, he trembled, and an unaccountable desire seized hold of him to rush out and reveal himself and tell all the truth to Smaug. In fact, he was in grievous danger of coming under the dragon-spell. But plucking up courage he spoke again.

“You don’t know everything, O Smaug the Mighty,” said he. “Not gold alone brought us hither.”

“Ha! Ha! You admit the ‘us’” laughed Smaug. “Why not say ‘us fourteen’ and be done with it, Mr. Lucky Number? I am pleased to hear that you had other business in these parts besides my gold. In that case, you may, perhaps, not altogether waste your time.

“I tell you,” he said, in an effort to remain loyal to his friends and to keep his end up, “that gold was only an afterthought with us. We came over hill and under hill, by wave and wind, for Revenge. Surely, O Smaug the unassessably wealthy, you must realize that your success has made you some bitter enemies?”

“Revenge!” he snorted, and the light of his eyes lit the hall from floor to ceiling like scarlet lightning. “Revenge! The King under the Mountain is dead and where are his kin that dare seek revenge? Girion Lord of Dale is dead, and I have eaten his people like a wolf among sheep, and where are his sons’ sons that dare approach me? I kill where I wish and none dare resist. I laid low the warriors of old and their like is not in the world today. Then I was but young and tender. Now I am old and strong, strong, strong, Thief in the Shadows!” he gloated. “My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!”

“I have always understood,” said Bilbo in a frightened squeak, “that dragons were softer underneath, especially in the region of the chest; but doubtless one so fortified has thought of that.”

The dragon stopped short in his boasting. “Your information is antiquated,” he snapped. “I am armoured above and below with iron scales and hard gems. No blade can pierce me.”

“I might have guessed it,” said Bilbo. “Truly there can nowhere be found the equal of Lord Smaug the Impenetrable. What magnificence to possess a waistcoat of fine diamonds!”

“Yes, it is rare and wonderful, indeed,” said Smaug absurdly pleased. He did not know that the hobbit had already caught a glimpse of his peculiar under- covering on his previous visit, and was itching for a closer view for reasons of his own. The dragon rolled over. “Look!” he said. “What do you say to that?”

“Dazzlingly marvellous! Perfect! Flawless! Staggering!” exclaimed Bilbo aloud, but what he thought inside was: “Old fool! Why, there is a large patch in the hollow of his left breast as bare as a snail out of its shell!”

After he had seen that Mr. Baggins’ one idea was to get away. “Well, I really must not detain Your Magnificence any longer,” he said, “or keep you from much needed rest. Ponies take some catching, I believe, after a long start. And so do burglars,” he added as a parting shot, as he darted back and fled up the tunnel.

It was an unfortunate remark, for the dragon spouted terrific flames after him, and fast though he sped up the slope, he had not gone nearly far enough to be comfortable before the ghastly head of Smaug was thrust against the opening behind. Luckily the whole head and jaws could not squeeze in, but the nostrils sent forth fire and vapour to pursue him, and he was nearly overcome, and stumbled blindly on in great pain and fear. He had been feeling rather pleased with the cleverness of his conversation with Smaug, but his mistake at the end shook him into better sense.

“Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo you fool!” he said to himself, and it became a favourite saying of his later, and passed into a proverb. “You aren’t nearly through this adventure yet,” he added, and that was pretty true as well.

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[ printable .pdf ]

1. The whole movie/book leads to this confrontation with Smaug. How do you feel about the dragon? Does he meet your expectation? Was he frightening? What adjectives would you use to describe him?
2. What adjectives (and nouns) does Bilbo use to describe Smaug?
3. How does Smaug use to describe himself?
4. Bilbo uses riddles to describe himself. (1) I come from under the hill. I am (2) luck-wearer. (3) Riddle-maker. (4) Barrel-rider. What does each one refer to?
5. In the book, Bilbo also describes himself as the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly, and he who walks unseen. What do these ones refer to?
6. Why do you think Bilbo took off the ring in front of Smaug?
7. Why was Smaug tempted to let Bilbo take the Arkenstone?
8. How would you try to kill or defeat Smaug?