Arab British Academy for Higher Education
Activities
Activity 5
Read through
Questions:
the
following
passage
and
answer
the
Joe was seated in a second-class train compartment, gazing out at the
slab-like roofs and the red bricks of Liverpool. He had managed to get
hold of the Guardian but lacked the concentration to read it; his
thoughts were too much preoccupied with his mother and her illness for
him to be much concerned with the world’s happenings.
He knew what was wrong with her. She had always been subject to
bronchitis, and though in the past she had recovered from such attacks,
they must have affected her for this one was serious. Joe prepared
himself for the worst as he gazed out of the window hoping the worst
wouldn‘t happen. The train crossed the Mersey at Widnes with Runcorn
looming up ahead. He reflected he should have gone home more often.
During the past two years he‘d led an independent existence. He hated
the middle class cosiness of his parents’ semi in London‘s
suburbia…He‘d rejected domestic routine, preferring lonely
independence to secure confinement. He wished now he’d taken
another path, although equally he realized that, given another
opportunity he would doubtless have followed the same course; he was
a fatalist.
Joe and his flat mates were having breakfast when the phone rang. It
was for him, he listened blankly to the message, his face must have
turned pale for they were staring at him in concern. Sarah said at once:
‘What‘s the matter, Joe? Bad news?’
‘My mother’s ill.’ He spoke mechanically as if he were a robot giving a
voice-mail message.
There were immediate murmurs of sympathy, but he remained silent
and went on eating; his friends must have seen the phone call had
affected him, because nobody said anything that meal. Larry ate his
toast, Sarah’s pale face was serious, and as Joe looked at her, he felt a
pang of conscience. He liked Sarah but had no intention of breaking the
uneasy silence. Arthur and Peggy just ate solidly.
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a) Write this sentence more simply: he’d rejected domestic
routine, preferring lonely independence to secure
confinement
b) What is meant by: i) he’d taken another path? ii) he was a
fatalist.
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c) Give the meanings of the following: (try to use five words
or less for your definition): preoccupied; concerned;
subject; loom (up); solidly.
d) Give a short paraphrase in your own words of the second
paragraph starting: ‘He knew what was wrong with her’
Activity 6
For the last Activity in this Lesson, we are presenting a short
Article on the importance of Reading in the style of one of our
popular Newspapers. Please answer the questions after the
Article:
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Go Buy a Book!
In our great day and age of scientific miracles, there is still
something left for us to do, and it’s more urgent now than
ever; it’s reading; and why? It will help us to think, to think
and enjoy! You wouldn’t believe it, but there is nothing to
beat thinking, it’s the biggest turn-on of the lot. And that is
where the enjoyment comes from...
But what is the problem with reading? There are plenty of
books about, never more you could say, even though they
are a mite expensive.
‘A mite expensive?’ That’s the understatement of the year, if
not the decade... Books are very expensive, far more than
in the good old days after the War (the time of shortages,
you may have been told) when paperbacks were the cheap
alternative to proper books. And back in the early 1950s,
you could buy a Collins Crime Club detective story for as
little as is 6d, (One shilling and Sixpence or 7p for the
uninitiated). Now this book will cost a well spent £4.99
considerably more than 7p, regardless of inflation, and the
hardback equivalent is about £15.99. No wonder in our
bookshops these days, you can find yourself, if not alone, at
least one of the honoured few.
But all right, fair enough, it’s easy to knock the book trade;
they have to put up their prices as no one is buying their
books, and it all becomes a vicious circle. Prices escalate
more and more and make book buyers scarcer than ever,
unless your name is J.K. Rowling..
But there you have it, maybe J.K. Rowling is the answer.
People are buying her books, the ‘Harry Potters’ have sold
over 2 million copies and in about three years, they have
made their author reputedly richer than the Queen... You
could call Ms Rowling an Enid Blyton for the 21st century
without any doubt at all; even though you could never have
called Ms Blyton richer than the Queen, for authors just
didn’t earn that much in those penurious days...
So there you have it, people will buy books if they want to.
Apart from J.K. Rowling, there are a good number of
authors, and they are not all modern by any means, who as
the saying goes continue to sell like hot cakes.
But the fact remains that many people do not read anything
much other than the daily newspaper. Few of these will
tackle, it is true, even the best sellers, but in spite of this,
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there is clearly a need to try and build up a larger market of
people who will set time aside to relax and read a book.
What is stopping them?
First, there is the fact that many books which are
considered worth reading are extremely difficult, and in the
end very boring. Examples aren’t necessary because we
know which books they are... We have long been subject to
the hallowed tradition that what is difficult and almost
incomprehensible must automatically be good.
But if we want people to read more, we shouldn’t treat them
as if they were would-be members of a select and exclusive
club. Neither should we make the very real problem of
picking up and buying a book, even more difficult by making
the book six hundred pages of very small - and expensive print!
So the answer has to be to make books easy rather than
difficult, entertaining and humorous rather than glum and
depressing, and of the size that can be put into one’s
pocket rather than into a very large shopping bag!
By all means keep in the colourful attractive illustrations
decorating the covers of our modern novels; keep in the
exciting humorous stories that are still to be found in our
bookshops; and the stories about attractive almost
believable people, even if they are in unbelievable
situations.
Such fantasies have always been popular and there is no
reason why they should not continue to be so. Thus the
immortality of among children’s books:
Alice in Wonderland, Treasure Island, The Wind in the
Willows, and more recently Charlie and the Chocolate
Factory, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; and the
immortal and absolutely unbelievable Harry Potter.*
And for adults (though many adults read the books listed
above):
Bridget Jones' Diary; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy;
Rebecca; A Town like Alice. *
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So these are a selection from the current 100 Bestsellers
according to the recent BBC Survey; which indicates surely
that given the book there will be the reader. If more such
books can be put on the shelves of our bookshops,
overnight, people will be rushing to buy, the prices will come
down, and lo and behold, the book trade will be a flourishing
concern, not one languishing in the grips of a never ending
life-support machine!
Three cheers for the pot boilers, they can make Messrs
Boring Trendy at least survive like Rapunzel in their ivory
towers!
(
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*From the BBC Big Read Top 100 Books
1. a) Why should one read?
b) Write briefly why from the Article relatively few
people read these days
c) What sorts of books do people like to read?
d) What features of a book will attract people to buy it;
you can use your own opinion as well as that of the
article.
e) What does the article suggest is the best way to bring
down the prices of books?
2. Give the meanings of the following words:
a) miracles b) mite c) alternative d) inflation e) knock
f) vicious circle g) escalate h) reputedly i) penurious
j) tackle
3. Rewrite the following expressions in simpler language:
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a) in our great day and age
b) it’s the biggest turn-on
c) in the good old days
d) lo and behold
So there you have a cross section of different styles of
Passages. I hope that you have not found the exercises too
difficult. Do not worry if you have had to use the Key, in
your own opinion, rather too much; that is almost certainly
far from the case.
The Key is there to teach you as well as to tell you the
answers to the Activities, what you should do is to look up
the Key when you need, and then later on, redo those
Activities, especially the ones where you found yourself
having to make a lot of use of the Key.
If after that you still find yourself at a loss, that is the time to
consult your Tutor, who will be very pleased to put you right
on anything that continues to puzzle you. The best of luck in
your next Lesson which will spend time with your CD and
spoken English.
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