Universidad de Yacambu
Información y Documentación
Idioma Intensivo Avanzado
Trabajo
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