Text comprehension
I. Decide which of the following best states the author’s purpose of writing.
A. To express his anguish of moving from his old home.
B. To describe the laughter and tears of the four generations of his family.
C. To explain the real meaning of his grandpa’s words “Never say goodbye”.
D. To tell the story of his grandpa’s death.
II. Judge, according to the text, whether the following statements are true or false.
1. When he turned ten the author felt very sad because he was leaving his old home and friends he knew so well.
2. His grandmother came up to him as the author was shuddering at the porch when the final day for departure approached.
3. Grandpa thought it was too cold for friends to use the word “goodbye”.
4. The author was led to the rose garden in the front yard as his grandpa wanted to show him how beautiful his roses were.
5. Grandpa had planted the roses before the author’s mother had a dream of having a child.
Vocabulary exercises
I. Explain the italicized part in each sentence in your own
words.
1. When I was ten I was suddenly confronted with the anguish of moving from the only home.
2. … they all have one thing in common: sadness.
3. … in that place in your heart where summer is an always time.
4. Don’t ever give in to the sadness and the loneliness of that word.
5. Take that special hello and lock it away within you.
II. Fill in each blank with one of the two words from each pair in their appropriate forms and note the difference of meaning between them.
1. SHUDDER SHAKE
a.Seeing the referee drawing out the yellow card, the coach began ————————— his fist in rage.
b. She ————————— at the touch of his leathery hand.
c. The tree branches were ———————— in that sudden gust of wind.
d. He ———————— breathlessly in the doorway until his pursuers had raced past.
2. ANSWER REPLY
a.He had hoped that divorce would be the —————— to all his problems.
b. We are still waiting for him to ——————— to our requests for further assistance.
c. In ——————— to his suggestions, they have decided to consult him for more details.
d. He ———————— his critics by claiming that he was responding to the new needs of globalization.
3. COMMON GENERAL
a. The ———————— impression we got was that they were not interested in the new project.
b. It was claimed in the newly published report that higher education, in ———————— , is financially in trouble.
c. It may be said that good health is a ———————— condition, and that occasional sickness is —————— .
d. AIDS is becoming the most ———————— cause of death among drug addicts.