1) When I came to Canada, my older brother told me that Canadians were turned off by English people who kept going on about how good it is in England. "You're in Canada now," he said, "just get used to the Canadian way of life."
2) My first job in Canada was at Bell Telephone. I was involved in a new twelve-hour shift experiment. There was nothing wrong with the shifts themselves, but the way they organized it I was on nights one week and days the next.
3) So when I arrive at Fran's Restaurant that morning in 1973 for breakfast I was pretty bleary-eyed and not quite with it. I had just come off a 12-hour swing shift.
4) There was a sweet little old lady named Rose who worked there as a waitress. She gave me a menu, and I saw "oatmeal porridge[a]". I was concerned that this didn't sound much like English porridge, but I remembered what my brother told me and decided to eat whatever was served and I made myself promise not to compare it to English porridge.
5) Service was extremely slow that day, and it seemed like an eternity before Rose shuffled over to my table with the bowl and carelessly put it down in front of me with a small bottle of milk without saying a word. Hungry, I looked down at it, thinking that it looked more like molasses[b] than porridge, but then I heard that little voice inside my head telling me I was now in Canada and I should do things the way Canadians do.
6) I ate the contents of the bowl. It seemed a bit sweet to me, and it was cold, but as I was about to complain , I heard that little voice again.
7) As I was sitting back thinking that this life in Canada was going to take a bit of getting used to, Rose came over with a steaming hot bowl. She put it down, looking confused, and said, "Oh, What did you do with the brown sugar?"
1) What does it mean to be “turned off ” in the 1st paragraph?
a) to unplug something
b) to shut down something
c) to feel a dislike for something
d) to make a turn
2) What phrase in the first three sentences means to talk about something again and again?
3) In paragraph three, what is a the meaning of a “shift”?
4) Who are “they” in the 2nd paragraph? (Hint: the answer is implied, but not said in the text.)
5) Is bleary-eyed when your eyes are wide open and awake or when your eyes are tired and confused?
6) Is a swing shift a night shift of a day shift?
7) Why does he promise not to compare the two porridges?
8) What word in the 5th paragraph means, “a very long time”?
9) What phrase in the 5th paragraph means, “to walk slowly while dragging one’s feet”?