Hi, Paul Quinn!   
   I read your message from  04.09.2015 09:34   
   about Animal gender.   
      
    AH>>> Anybody who could describe Bagheera as well as Kipling does here,   
    AH>>> however, would almost certainly be aware of this animal's   
    AH>>> gender.... ;-)   
      
    ak>> Your point is unclear. :) How could I be aware of it? If "he" is a   
    ak>> standard default in Kipling's time, we can expect that we will use   
    ak>> "his" to that animal. We cannot use "he" and "her" simultaneously?   
      
    PQ> I think Kipling is almost doing that. He has already labelled   
    PQ> Bagheera as male in his narrative, so the gender is established.   
    PQ> His description however alludes to a feline form almost akin to the   
    PQ> softer female 'lines'.   
      
   In the Russian translation (and the USSR's animation film on this subject)   
   Bagheega is a giant, gracious, agile female. The last feature gets her more   
   cleaver and nice, the gem of the movie.   
      
    PQ> I hated having to study the book in my early school years, heaping   
    PQ> scorn on the idea that we students should be forced to read such   
    PQ> childish material. However in the intervening decades since, I have   
    PQ> enjoyed the tale many many times.   
      
   Yes, it is a good book for any student who wants to look at good English.   
      
    PQ> Have you seen the definitive 1942 movie adaptation of the book?   
    PQ> Here are some links to it on EwwToob:   
      
    PQ> Jungle Book - [ALT]: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixKOn3SbIsY   
      
   Thanks, I've just dowbloaded it to my computer.   
      
    PQ> I know the first one works as I've only just played it, and its   
    PQ> introduction brought a tear while listening to the story teller's   
    PQ> monologue. (It's a beautiful way of talking that people just don't   
    PQ> use any more.) The other links may or may not work, and one or   
    PQ> another may offer a slightly better quality. Caveat emptor! Enjoy!   
      
   Once I heard of a science fiction novel. It tells us about the future, when a   
   fan of good literature thinks that none of authors of his time is able to   
   write a really good book. But this fan has found some books that were written   
   long ago, in the 20th century, by an unknown author. The style of the books   
   struck the fan's heart and mind. He learned the exact time when that author   
   died. He used a time machine and went into the past to meet the author and to   
   offer him to spend some time in the future, before he would be returned back   
   into the same moment of death, he had been taken from.   
      
   In the future, the author was given a month to write a book about Mars. The   
   fan was getting his novel page by page, as it had been written, reading the   
   pages and admiring them....   
      
   BTW, who did write this book? What is the name of its title? I want to read it.   
      
   Bye, Paul!   
   Alexander Koryagin   
   ENGLISH_TUTOR 2015   
      
   --- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox   
    * Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)