Part II Reading Task

Comprehension

Content Question

Pair Work

1.        The Salvation Army is a religious charitable organization. A Salvation Army bell ringer is a volunteer who help it collect donations.

2.        The boy asked him: Are you poor? He did it simply out of confusion and curiosity. Obviously he knew nothing about the Salvation Army bell ringer.

3.        He said, “I have more than some people, but not as much as others.” This means that he was neither poor nor rich.

4.        The boy’s mother scolded him because the question was social inappropriate, especially to a person who looked poor.

5.        Yes, economically he is poor. He lives in a small basement apartment. He doesn’t even have a color TV. He falls into the lowest income category. And so on.

6.        No, the writer does not feel poor. This is because he has enjoyed good health and creativity which he thinks are much more important than material goods.

7.        He feels out of place among people who are primarily interested in material things.

8.        She told him that she was interested in what’s on the inside. but after he took her to his poorly furnished apartment, she changed her mind completely.

9.        It only shows that to her the most important thing was still material goods rather than what she had claimed before.

10.    Commercial can put people under pressure to purchase more than is really necessary.

11.    Because December is the time for to work for the Salvation Army as a bell ringer, which gives him a genuine sense of belonging and brings him happiness in helping others.

12.    The boy’s question has helped the writer realize that, despite his lack of expensive possessions, he is rich in many other ways and should be thankful for that.

Text Organization

Working On Your Own

1.          

1)        a.√

2)        the essay is meant to explain something that is, the author’s view of life.

3)        That one can live a life full of riches without being rich financially.

2.          

Part One: The writer’s encounter with a boy who raised the question “are you poor?”

Part Two: In search of an answer the writer finds that not having expensive possessions doesn’t make him feel poor mainly because he enjoys life in many other ways.

Part Three: In conclusion, the writer thinks he’s grown to understand more about himself because of the boy’s question.

Language Sense Enhancement

1.          

(1)     attain

(2)     wear and tear

(3)     dependable

(4)     modest

(5)     primarily

(6)     minimal

(7)     exceptionally

(8)     illness-free

(9)     spirited

(10) energizing

Language Focus

Vocabulary

I

1.          

1)        abrupt

2)        emotional

3)        bless

4)        wear and tear

5)        dated

6)        consequences

7)        seemingly

8)        in contrast to

9)        Curiosity

10)    genuine

11)    primarily

12)    sentiments

2.          

1)        confronted with more than one problem, try to solve the easiest one first.

2)        vital to the existence of all forms of life.

3)        some confusion among the students about what to do after class to follow up on the subject.

4)        nothing more than a job and an apartment to be happy.

5)        tickled him to think that she’d come to ask his advice

3.          

1)        a lingering; fabricating; sentiments

2)        fill out; every item; vital; consequences

3)        be denied; tangible; cherish; attain

II

1.        It is a long trip and will take us five hours by bus.

2.        She arrived early and took a front row seat.

3.        Don’t take me for a fool.

4.        It takes a lot of imagination to fabricate such a story.

5.        My uncle will take me (along on his trip) to the Arctic this summer.

6.        He took the dinner plate I passed to him.

7.        Kevin took second prize in the weight-lifting competition.

8.        If you don’t take my advice, you will regret it.

III

1.        hanging

2.        to give

3.        to return

4.        being praised

5.        not having written

6.        to say

7.        to open

8.        being helped

Comprehensive Exercises

I.        cloze

1.          

(1)     well-off/affluent

(2)     dated

(3)     falling into

(4)     bracket

(5)     deny

(6)     tangible

(7)     pursuit

(8)     cherishes

(9)     out of place

(10) abrupt

(11) focus

(12) donations

2.          

(1)     consume

(2)     fueled

(3)     annual

(4)     plain

(5)     physically

(6)     security

(7)     indicates

(8)     equally

(9)     traditional

(10) follows

III. Translation

1.        

1)        The company denied that its donations had a commercial purpose.

2)        Whenever he was angry, he would begin to stammer slightly.

3)        Education is the most cherished tradition in our family. That’s why my parents never took me to dinner at expensive restaurants, but sent me to the best private school.

4)        Shortly after he recovered from the surgery, he lost his job and thus had to go through another difficult phase of his life.

5)        In contrast to our affluent neighbors, my parents are rather poor, but they have always tried to meet our minimal needs.

2.        

With more and more donations coming in, our university will be much better off financially next year. We will thus be able to focus on the most important task that we, educators, must take on: to encourage students to attain their scholarly/academic goals, to train them to be dependable and responsible individuals, to prepare them for the life ahead, and to guide them in their pursuit of spiritual as well as material satisfaction.