Holes
Vocabulary, practise more
Vocabulary
Below are the sentences in which the vocabulary words appear in the text. Read
the sentences. Use clues you can find in the sentence combined with your prior
knowledge, or google translate to find the Swedish word. Write down the word
and the Swedish translation in your notebook.
Part 1
• Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland
• During the summer the daytime temperature hovers around ninety-five
degrees in the shade- if you can find any shade
• Here´s a good rule to remember about rattlesnakes and scorpions: If you don´t
bother them, they won´t bother you.
• The bus wasn´t air-conditioned, and the hot, heavy air was almost as stifling
as the handcuffs.
• Mrs Bell wrote the ratio on the board, 3:1, unaware of how much
embarrassment she had caused both of them.
• Supposedly, he had a great-great-grandfather who had stolen a pig from a one
legged Gypsy, and she put a curse on him and all his descendants.
• Stanley´s father was smart and had a lot of perseverance.
• The land was barren and desolate
Determining the meaning
Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions
____ wasteland
A. Dreary, unfit for habitation os use
____ hovers
B. Spider-like, definitely venomous
____ scorpion
C. Opposite of ancestors
____ stifling
D. Not giving up
____ ration
E. Uncultivated or desolate country
____ descendants
F. Relation between two things
____ perseverance
G. Floats or is suspended in the air
____ desolate
H. Smothering, suffocating
Part 2
• Because of scarcity of water, each camper was only allowed a four-minute
shower.
• Back at school, a bully named Derrick Dunne used to torment Stanley
• By the time Stanley retrieved it, he had missed the bus and had to walk home.
• Maybe he was in a hurry to bring the shoes to his father, or maybe he was
trying to run away from his miserable and humiliating day at school.
• The judge called Stanley´s crime despicable.
• He wondered if he had a defective shovel.
• Madame Zeroni warned that if he failed to do this, he and his descendants
would be doomed for all of eternity.
• “That´s preposterous!” exclaimed Igor, expelling saliva as he spoke.
Determining the meaning
Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions
____ scarcity
A. absurd, ridiculous
____ torment
B. being disgraced
____ retrieved
C. condemned to severe penalty
____ humiliating
D. vile, awful
____ despicable
E. shortage
____ defective
F. great pain or anguish
____ doomed
G. flawed, subnormal
____ preposterous
H. got back, regained
Part 3
A lot of people don´t believe in curses.
The water ran out under the walls and evaporated quickly in the sun.
Even the people looked broken, with their worn-out bodies sprawled over the
various chairs and sofas.
Stanley slipped it back in the stationery box.
He looked at the barren land all around him.
Stanley saw his fossil being passed around
“It´s pig latin for Rex (X-Ray…”
Determining the meaning
Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions
____ curses
A. converted or changed into a vapor
____ evaporated
B. sterile, dull, unfruitful
____ sprawled
C. remnant or trace of an organism of a past geological
age (skeleton or leap imprint) embedded in the earth´s
crust
____ stationery
D. jargon formed by putting first consonant at the end of
a word and adding a syllable
____ barren
E. appeals for evil or injury to befall someone or
something
____ pig latin
F. spread out in straggling or disordered fashion
____ fossil
G. writing paper and envelopes
Part 4
• He felt something hard and metallic
• He looked again at the design engraved into the flat bottom of the tube.
• He could explain the situation to the Warden, and the Warden might make up
an excuse for giving him the day off, so X-Ray wouldn´t suspect.
• They were only visible for a short while and would soon disappear behind the
haze of heat and dirt.
• She gently shook the canteen, letting the water swish inside the plastic
container.
• Zero will dig it out of the hole, and Caveman will carefully shovel it into a
wheelbarrow.
• It seemed so familiar, but he just couldn´t place it.
• Stanley was amazed.
Determining the meaning
Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions
____ metallic
A. filled with surprised
____ engraved
B. often encountered, known
____ suspect
C. to move with a whistle or hiss
____ haze
D. vehicle with handles, used to convey loads by hand
____ swish
E. like or containing a metal
____ wheelbarrow
F. carved, cut, etched into something
____ familiar
G. have doubts about, distrust
____ amazed
H. atmospheric moisture, dust, vapor, suspended in air
Part 5
If he jerked too quickly, he felt a throbbing pain above his neck where Zigzag´s
shovel had hit him.
His muscles had strengthened, and his hands were tough and callused.
And as the truck bounced along the dirt, he was able to appreciate the air
blowing through the opened window onto his sweaty face.
Stanley wondered if this was how a condemned man felt on his way to the
electric chair- appreciating all of the good things in life for the last time.
He felt nothing but dread now.
“Do you want to know my secret ingredient?”
“Rattlesnake venom”
His body writhed in agony
Determining the meaning
Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions
____ throbbing
____ callused
____ appreciate
A. twisted, squirmed
B. found guilty
C. poisonous secretion of an animal, such as a spider or
a snake
____ condemned
D. beating rapidly or violently; pounding
____ dread
E. having thickening and hardness af a layer of skin
____ ingredient
F. in terror of, anticipated with fear, alarm, reluctance
____ venom
G. value
____ writhed
H. something that is an element, a part, of
Part 6
A special prize was given every year to Miss Kathrine Barlow for her fabulous
spiced peaches
It made a horrible loud noise and spewed ugly black smoke over the beautiful
lake.
No one even dared to look at his grotesque face.
Stanley stared at the dark spot on the ground, which quickly shrank before his
eyes.
They would get regular medicine from Doc Hawthorn and onion concoctions
from Sam.
“Just calm your pretty self down a second,” the sheriff said in a slow drawl.
She ran down to the lakefront, where Sam was hitching Mary Lou to the onion
cart.
“You´ve got exactly ten seconds to tell me where you´ve hidden your loot,” said
Troot.
Determining the meaning
Match the vocabulary words to their dictionary definitions
____ fabulous
A. outlandish, bizarre
____ spewed
B. got smaller
____ grotesque
C. speech characterized by lengthened drawn-out vowels
____ shrank
D. forced out
____ concoctions
E. stolen goods
____ drawl
F. hooking to, connecting
____ hitching
G. barely believable, astonishing
____ loot
H. preparations made by mixing ingredients