Universidad de Yacambu
Información y Documentación
Idioma Avanzado Intensivo
Trabajo Nº 5 Elizabeth Wright
Reading
Comprehension
Stonehenge
is a Neolithic and Bronze Age megalithic monument located near Amesbury in the
English
It is
composed of earthworks surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones
and is one of the most famous prehistoric sites in the world.
Archaeologists
think that the standing stones were erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC
although the surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the
earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.
The site and
its surroundings were added to the UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in
Questions
Now, answer
the questions about the text.
1.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
2. It is
about
True.
False.
We don't
know.
3.
Archaeologists think that the stones were erected 4000 years ago.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
4. One part
of the monument was built around 3100 BC.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling
Stones are a British rock and roll band who rose to prominence during the
mid-1960s.
The band was
named after a song by Muddy Waters, a leading exponent of hard-rocking blues.
In their music, The Rolling Stones were the embodiment of the idea of importing
blues style into popular music.
Their first
recordings were covers or imitations of rhythm and blues music, but they soon
greatly extended the reach of their lyrics and playing, but rarely, if ever,
lost their basic blues feel.
The band
came into being in 1961 when former school friends Jagger and Richards met
Brian Jones. They named themselves after a song by Muddy Waters, a popular
choice of name —at least two other bands are believed to have called themselves
The Rolling Stones before the Jagger/Richards/Jones band was formed. The
original lineup included Mick Jagger (vocals), Brian Jones (guitar), Keith
Richards (guitar), Ian Stewart (piano), Charlie Watts (drums) and Dick Taylor
(bass).
By the time
of their first album release Ian Stewart was "officially" not part of
the band, though he continued to record and perform with them. United by their
shared interest in rhythm and blues music the group rehearsed extensively,
playing in public only occasionally at Crawdaddy Club in
The band
rapidly gained a reputation in
The choice
of material on their first record, a self-titled EP, reflected their live shows.
Similarly, the album The Rolling Stones (England's Newest Hitmakers) which
appeared in April 1964 featured versions of such classics as "Route
66" (originally recorded by Nat King Cole), "Mona" (Bo Diddley)
and "Carol" (Chuck Berry).
Questions
Now, answer
the questions about the text.
1. Their first recordings were based on blues
music.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
2. The band
was created in
1960.
1961.
We don't
know.
3. Keith
Richards had learned to play the guitar from the recordings of Chuck Berry.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
4. The group
used to rehearse a lot.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
5. They
occasionally played in public in
True.
False.
We don't
know.
Jack
the Ripper
Jack the
Ripper is a pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer (or killers)
active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of
The legends
surrounding the Ripper murders have become a complex muddle of genuine
historical research, freewheeling conspiracy theory and dubious folklore. The
lack of a confirmed identity for the killer has allowed subsequent authors,
historians and mostly amateur sleuths—dubbed Ripperologists—to point their
fingers at a wide variety of candidates. Newspapers, whose circulation had been
growing during this era, bestowed widespread and enduring notoriety on the
killer due to the savagery of the murders and the failure of police to effect a
capture, with the Ripper sometimes escaping discovery by mere minutes.
Victims were
women earning income as casual prostitutes. Typical Ripper murders were
perpetrated in a public or semi-public place; the victim's throat was cut,
after which the cadaver was subjected to abdominal and sometimes other
mutilations such as those found in lust murder. Many now believe that the
victims were first strangled in order to silence them. Due to the nature of the
wounds on some presumed Ripper victims, several of whom had internal organs
removed, it has been proposed that the killer had a degree of surgical or
medical skill, or was perhaps a butcher, although this point, like most of the
beliefs about the killer and facts in the case, is in dispute.
Questions
Now, answer
the questions about the text.
1. The
murders were committed in 1888.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
2. The name
was taken from a letter received by the Central News Agency.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
3. The
killer was never identified.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
4. The
killer may have had medical skills.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
5. The
killer may have been a butcher.
True.
False.
We don't
know.
The American Pepper
"Mummy!
Mummy!" shouted little Murna racing from the front door through to the
kitchen. "There's a parcel. The postman's brought a parcel!"
Her mother, Savni, looked at her in
surprise. She had no idea who could have sent them a parcel. Maybe it was a
mistake. She hurried to the door to find out. Sure enough, the postman was
there, holding a parcel about the size of a small brick.
"From
It was true. In the top right-hand corner
of the brown paper parcel were three strange-looking stamps, showing a man's
head. The package was addressed to Savni, in big, clear black letters.
"Well, I suppose it must be from
Great-Aunt Pasni," said Savni to herself, as the postman went on his way
down the street, whistling. "Although it must be twenty years since we
heard anything from her. I thought she would have been dead by now."
Savni's
husband Jornas and her son Arinas were just coming in from the garden, where
Murna had run to tell them about the parcel. "Well, open it then!"
said Arinas impatiently. "Let's see what's inside!"
Setting the parcel down in the middle of
the table, Savni carefully began to tear open the paper. Inside, there was a
large silver container with a hinged lid, which was taped shut. There was also
a letter.
"What is it? What is it?"
demanded Murna impatiently. "Is it a present?"
"I have no idea," said Savni in
confusion. "I think it must be from Great-Aunt Pasni. She went to
"Well, open the pot, anyway,"
said Jornas. "Let's see what's inside."
Cautiously, Savni pulled the tape from
the neck of the silver pot, and opened the lid. Four heads touched over the top
of the container, as their owners stared down inside.
"Strange," said Arinas.
"All I see is powder." The pot was about one-third full of a kind of
light-grey powder.
"What is it?" asked Murna,
mystified.
"We don't know, darling," said
Savni, stroking her daughter's hair. "What do you think?" Murna
stared again into the pot.
"I think its coffee," she
announced, finally. "American coffee."
"It's the wrong colour for coffee,
darling," said Jornas thoughtfully. "But maybe she's on the right
track. It must be some kind of food." Murna, by now, had her nose right
down into the pot. Suddenly, she lifted her head and sneezed loudly.
"Id god up by doze," she
explained.
"That's it!" said Arinas.
"It must be pepper! Let me try some." Dipping a finger into the powder,
he licked it. "Yes," he said, "it's pepper all right. Mild, but
quite tasty. It's American pepper."
"All right," said Savni,
"we'll try it on the stew tonight. We'll
have
American-style stew!"
That evening, the whole family agreed
that the American pepper had added a special extra taste to their usual evening
stew. They were delighted with it. By the end of the week, there was only a
teaspoonful of the grey powder
left in the
silver container. Then Savni called a halt.
"We're saving the last bit for
Sunday. Dr. Haret is coming to dinner, and we'll let him have some as a special
treat. Then it will be finished."
The following Sunday, the whole family
put on their best clothes, ready for dinner with Dr. Haret. He was the local
doctor, and he had become a friend of the family many years before, when he had
saved Arinas's life after an accident. Once every couple of months, Savni
invited the doctor for dinner, and they all looked forward to his entertaining
stories of his youth at the university in the capital.
During dinner, Savni explained to the
doctor about the mysterious American pepper, the last of which she had put in
the stew they were eating, and the letter they could not read.
"Well, give it to me, give it to
me!" said the doctor briskly. "I speak English! I can translate it
for you."
Savni
brought the letter, and the family waited, fascinated, as the doctor began to
translate.
"Dear Savni: you don't know me, but
I am the son of your old Great-Aunt Pasni. She never talked much to us about
the old country, but in her final illness earlier this year, she told us that
after her death, she wanted her ashes to be sent back home to you, so that you
could scatter them on the hills of the country where she was born. My mother
died two weeks ago, and her funeral and cremation took place last week. I am
sending her ashes to you in a silver casket. Please do as she asked, and spread
them over the ground near where she was born. Your cousin, George Leary."
(MDH 1995 --
from a common urban legend)
Multiple-Choice Questions
Choose the
answer you think is correct.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Where does this story take place?
a) America
b) Arinas
c) India
d) Thetextdoesn'tsay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. How was the parcel wrapped?
a) in brownpaper
b) in
silverpaper
c) in
greypaper
d) in tape
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. WhowasSavni?
a) a
littlegirl
b)
theGreat-Aunt
c) the mother of the
family
d) the son
of the family
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Why don't the family read the letter?
a) They are
too impatient to look in the container.
b) It is
addressed to the doctor.
c) Itis in English.
d)
Itismissing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. What does Murna think is in the pot?
a) dust
b) ashes
c) coffee
d) pepper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Why does Arinas think that the powder is
pepper?
a) Ittastesvery hot.
b) ItmakesMurnasneeze.
c) It is
written on the pot.
d)
Thelettersays so.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. What does the family do with the powder?
a) They keep
it to give to the doctor.
b) They send
it back to
c) They make
drinks with it.
d) They put it on
their food.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Why does Savni save the last bit of the
powder?
a) as a
souvenir
b) for Dr. Haret
c) to analyseit
d) to spread
it on the hills
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. How does Dr. Haret solve the mystery?
a) He
analyses the powder.
b) He
recognizes the powder.
c) He is a
friend of Pasni.
d) He
translatestheletter.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. What was really in the pot?
a) coffee
b)
Great-Aunt Pasni
c) dust
d) special American
pepper
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
Hitchhiker
As
Andrea turned off the motorway onto the road to Brockbourne, the small village
in which she lived, it was four o'clock in the afternoon, but already the sun
was falling behind the hills. At this time in December, it would be completely
dark by five o'clock. Andrea shivered. The interior of the car was not cold,
but the trees bending in the harsh wind and the patches of yesterday's snow
still heaped in the fields made her feel chilly inside. It was another ten
miles to the cottage where she lived with her husband Michael, and the dim
light and wintry weather made her feel a little lonely. She would have liked to
listen to the radio, but it had been stolen from her car when it was parked
outside her office in
She was just coming out of the little
When she did get in, Andrea could see that
she was not, in fact, so little. Broad and fat, the old lady had some
difficulty climbing in through the car door, with her big bag, and when she had
got in, she more than filled the seat next to Andrea. She wore a long, shabby
old dress, and she had a yellow hat pulled down low over her eyes. Panting
noisily from her effort, she pushed her big brown canvas shopping bag down onto
the floor under her feet, and said in a voice which was almost a whisper,
"Thank you dearie -- I'm just going to Brockbourne."
"Do you live there?" asked
Andrea, thinking that she had never seen the old lady in the village in the
four years she had lived there herself.
"No, dearie," answered the
passenger, in her soft voice, "I'm just going to visit a friend. He was
supposed to meet me back there at Mickley, but his car won't start, so I
decided to hitchhike -- there isn't a bus until seven, and I didn't want to
wait. I knew some kind soul would give me a lift."
Something in the way the lady spoke, and
the way she never turned her head, but stared continuously into the darkness
ahead from under her old yellow hat, made Andrea uneasy about this strange
hitchhiker. She didn't know why, but she felt instinctively that there was something
wrong, something odd, something....dangerous. But how could an old lady be
dangerous? it was absurd.
Careful not to turn her head, Andrea
looked sideways at her passenger. She studied the hat, the dirty collar of the
dress, the shapeless body, the arms with their thick black hairs....
Thick black
hairs?
Hairy arms?
Andrea's blood froze.
This wasn't a woman. It was a man.
At first, she didn't know what to do.
Then suddenly, an idea came into her racing, terrified brain. Swinging the
wheel suddenly, she threw the car into a skid, and brought it to a halt.
"My God!" she shouted, "A
child! Did you see the child? I think I hit her!"
The "old lady" was clearly
shaken by the sudden skid. "I didn't see anything dearie," she said.
"I don't think you hit anything."
"I'm sure it was a child!"
insisted Andrea. "Could you just get out and have a look? Just see if
there's anything on the road?" She held her breath. Would her plan work?
It did. The passenger slowly opened the
car door, leaving her bag inside, and climbed out to investigate. As soon as
she was out of the vehicle, Andrea gunned the engine and accelerated madly
away. The car door swung shut as she rounded a bend, and soon she had put a
good three miles between herself and the awful hitchhiker.
It was only then that she thought about
the bag lying on the floor in front of her. Maybe the bag would provide some
information about the real identity about the old woman who was not an old
woman. Pulling into the side of the road, Andrea lifted the heavy bag onto her
lap and opened it curiously.
It contained only one item -- a small hand
axe, with a razor-sharp blade. The axe, and the inside of the bag, were covered
with the dark red stains of dried blood.
Andrea began to scream.
(MDH 1994 --
From a common urban legend)
Multiple-Choice
Questions
Choose on
the answer you think is correct.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Wheredid Andrea work?
a)
Brockbourne
b) Mickley
c)
d)
thetextdoesn'tsay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. How was Andrea feeling as she drove home?
a) happy
b) afraid
c) lonely
d) hot
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Why didn't she listen to the radio?
a) The radio had been
stolen from her car.
b) She liked
peace and quiet.
c) The radio
was broken.
d) There was
a strike at the radio station.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Why did she stop to give the old lady a
ride?
a) It was a
cold evening.
b) Andrea
felt lonely.
c) She felt sorry for
the lady.
d)
Alloftheabove.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Where did the lady want to go?
a) Brockbourne
b) Mickley
c)
d)
Thetextdoesn'tsay
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. What made Andrea afraid when she looked at
the old lady?
a) Shehad a
moustache.
b) She had a
hard voice like a man.
c) She had a
shopping bag.
d) She had hairy arms.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Why did Andrea suddenly stop the car?
a) She
thought she had hit a child in the road.
b) She
skidded on some ice in the road.
c) She wanted to
trick the passenger into getting out.
d) She was
so afraid that she couldn't concentrate, and she nearly had a crash.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. What did Andrea do when the "old
lady" got out?
a) waited for
her
b) drove away quickly
c) opened her
bag
d) switched off
the engine
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Why did Andrea look in the old lady's bag?
a) She
wanted to steal what was in it.
b) She
wanted to find her address so that she could send the bag back to her.
c) She
wanted to borrow the old lady's tools.
d) She wanted to find
out who the strange passenger was.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. What was
the "old lady" probably going to do to Andrea?
a) nothing
b) kill her
c) give her anaxe
d) visit her
in Brockbourne