Read the following text and try to guess the missing word in the first line. Task one might
help you understand the text and find the word. Tasks two and three are optional but are
intended to help you understand the meaning of the most difficult words in the text and
to give you some practice for tasks B and D in the exam.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
The _______
Is the Sanitary Inspector. He detects every speck
With his Geiger counter.
Detects it, then inspects it
Through his multiple spectacles. You see him everywhere
Bent over his microscope.
7.
8.
He costs nothing, needs no special attention,
Just gets on with the job, totting up the dirt.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
All he needs is a lick of sugar
Maybe a dab of meat –
Which is fuel for his apparatus.
We never miss what he asks for. He can manage
With so little you can’t even tell
Whether he’s taken it.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
In his black boiler suit, with his gas-mask,
His oxygen pack,
His crampons,
He can get anywhere, explore any wreckage,
Find the lostWhatever dies –just leave it to him.
He’ll move in
With his team of gentle undertakers,
In their pneumatic protective clothing, afraid of nothing,
Little white Michelin men,
They hoover up the rot, the stink, and the goo.
He’ll leave you the bones and the feathers –souvenirs
Dry-clean as dead sticks in the summer dust.
28.
29.
30.
Panicky people misunderstand himBlitz at him with nerve-gas puff-guns,
Blot him up with swatters.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
He knows he gets filthy.
He knows his job is dangerous, wading in the drains
Under cows’ tails, in pig’s corners
And between the leaky broken toes
Of the farm buildingsHe too has to cope with the microbes.
He too wishes he had some other job.
38.
39.
40.
But this is his duty.
Just let him be. Let him rest on the wall there,
Scrubbing the back of his neck. This is his rest-minute.
41.
Once he’s clean, he’s a gem.
42.
43.
A freshly barbered sultan, royally armoured
In dusky rainbow metals.
44.
A knight on a dark horse.
From Hughes, Ted (1984) What is the Truth? London: Faber and Faber.
ACTIVITY ONE (to be sent): Read Ted Hughes’ poem and fill in the following form about the
individual he is describing. Try to provide as many details as possible.
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:
FAVOURITE FOOD:
JOB(S):
WORKPLACE(S):
SALARY:
FRIENDS:
ENEMIES:
NAME:
ACTIVITY TWO (optional): Find the nouns in the poem that match the definitions listed
below.
(The definitions were taken from Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language).
(1).- a small moist lump or mass; a small quantity.
(2).- a small spot differing in color or substance from that of the surface or material upon which it
appears or lies.
(3.).- a tick or sticky substance.
(4).- mounted soldier serving under a feudal superior.
(5).- remains or fragments of something that has been reduced to a state of ruin.
(6).- as much as can be taken up by one stroke of the tongue.
(7).- a strong offensive smell.
(8).- a spiked iron plate worn on the shoe to prevent slipping on ice, snow, etc.
(9).- any brightly multicolored arrangement or display.
(10).- eyeglasses, esp. with pieces passing over or around the ears for holding in place.
(11).- also called mortician; one whose business is to prepare the dead for burial and to conduct funerals.
(12).- that by which anything is withdrawn or drawn off, as a pipe or a conduit.
(13).- decay, putrefaction.
(14).- an instrument for detecting ionizing radiations, consisting of a gas-filled tube in which electriccurrent pulses are produced when the gas is ionized by radiation, and of a device to register these
pulses: used chiefly to measure radioactivity.
(15).- a device for killing flies, mosquitoes, and other insects, usually a square sheet of wire mesh
attached to a long handle and variously ornamented.
ACTIVITY THREE (optional): Find the verbs in the poem that match the definitions
listed below.
(The definitions were taken from Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language).
(1).- to walk through the water, snow, sand, or any other substance that impedes free motion or offers
resistance to movement.
(2).- to add; to make a total (of an amount).
(3).- to rub hard with a brush, cloth, etc., or against a rough surface in washing.
(4).- to assume a curved posture.
(5).- to struggle or contend, esp. on fairy even terms or with some degree of success.
(6).- to clean with a vacuum cleaner.
(7).- (Mil.) to attack by surprised, swiftly and violently
(8).- to wipe out completely; destroy.
ACTIVITY THREE: Choose the word or phrase from the alternatives given which is closest in meaning
to the words in italics in the context of the passage.
(1) Panicky (l.28)
(a) overwhelmed with fear
(2) Filthy (l.31)
(a) healthy
(3) Leaky (l.34)
(a) sticky
(4) Barbered (l.42)
(a) equipped with a barb
(5) Dusky (l.43)
(a) dark
(b) terrible
(c) terrific
(b) insane
(c) dirty
(b) reliable
(c) allowing water, air, light, etc.
to enter or scape
(b) with a trimmed beard
(c) shaved
(b) bright
(c) covered with dust