Part II Reading Task

Comprehension

Content Question

Pair Work

1.        Because the pole was set at 17 feet which was three inches higher than his personal best.

2.        Because pole-vaulting combines the grace of a gymnast with the strength of a body builder.

3.        His childhood dream was to fly. His mother read him numerous stories about flying when he was growing up.

4.        Because he believed in hard work and sweat. His motto: If you want something, work for it!

5.        Michael's mother wished he could relax a bit more and be that "free dreaming" little boy. On one occasion she attempted to talk to him and his father about this, but his dad quickly interrupted, smiled and said, "You want something, work for it!"

6.        He began a very careful training program.

7.        He seemed unaware of the fact that he had just beaten his personal best by three inches. He was very calm.

8.        He began to feel nervous when the bar was set at nine inches higher than his personal best.

9.        What his mother had taught him about how to deal with tension or anxiety helped him overcome his nervousness.

10.    The singing of some distant birds in flight made him associate his final jump with his childhood dream.

11.    He could imagine the smile on his mother’s face. He thought his father was probably smiling too, even laughing. However, in fact, his father hugged his wife and cried like a baby in her arms.

12.    Because he was blind.

Text Organization

Working On Your Own

1.          

Part One: Michael faced the most challenging competition in his pole-vaulting career.

Part Two: Michael’s childhood was marked with dreams and tough training.

Part Three: Michael topped his personal best, won the championship and set a new world record.

2.          

(1)     It also has the element of flying, and the thought of flying as high as a two-story building is a mere fantasy to anyone watching such an event.

As long as Michael could remember he had always dreamed of flying.

(2)     All of Michael’s vaults today seemed to be the reward for his hard work.

Language Sense Enhancement

1.          

(1)     startled

(2)     bale of hay

(3)     off

(4)     intensity

(5)     shaking the tension

(6)     tense

(7)     description

(8)     out of nowhere

(9)     pictured

(10) scared

Vocabulary

I

1.          

1)        startled

2)        mere

3)        motion

4)        sweating

5)        stretched out

6)        vain

7)        On the occasion

8)        anxiety

9)        emotions

10)    ashamed of

11)    In my mind’s eye

12)    recurring

2.          

1)        coincides with her husband’s.

2)        sends the prices soaring/results in the soaring of prices.

3)        of alternate sunshine and rain.

4)        have been his lifelong passions, although he studied economics at university.

5)        Tension came over her

3.          

1)        media; dedication to; grace

2)        his competitors; in excitement; hug him; congratulate him on

3)        emotions; numerous; intensity; passion for

II.    Collocation

1.        Mike, a Green, made the suggestion that a large park be built near the community.

2.        In a letter to his daughter, Mr. Smith expressed his wish that she (should) continue her education to acquire still another degree.

3.        There is no reason to hold the belief that humans have no direct moral responsibility to safeguard the welfare of animals.

4.        Children need to feel safe about the world they grow up in, and it is unwise to give them the idea that everything they come into contact with might be a threat.

5.        Anxiety can result from the notion that life has not treated us fairly.

6.        Nobody believed his claim that he was innocent.

III.          Words with Multiple Meanings

1.        I work out in the gym for one hour every morning.

2.        Florence has worked as a cleaner at the factory for five years.

3.        The wounded man worked his way across the field on his hands and knees.

4.        The safe load for a truck of this type works out at about twenty-five tons.

5.        It is difficult to understand how human minds work.

6.        To my disappointment, the manager’s plan of promoting the new products doesn’t work at all.

7.        The teacher has a lot of experience of working with children who don’t know how to learn.

8.        The medicine was like magic, and it worked instantly after you took it.

Comprehensive Exercises

I.        cloze

1.          

(1)     In my mind’s eye

(2)     groan

(3)     competitor

(4)     intensity

(5)     anxiety

(6)     tense

(7)     sweat

(8)     tension

(9)     soaring

(10) recurring

(11) brought me back to earth

(12) fantasy

(13) sweat

(14) congratulate

(15) number

(16) media

2.          

(1)     engineer

(2)     forget

(3)     convinced

(4)     how

(5)     build

(6)     accident

(7)     thought

(8)     only

(9)     sharp

(10) touched

(11) instructions

(12) finally

II.    Translation

1.          

1)        It is the creativity and dedication of the workers and executives that turned the company into a profitable business.

2)        The prices of food and medicine have soared in the past three months.

3)        We plan to repaint the upper floors of the office building.

4)        His success shows that popularity and artistic merit sometimes coincide.

5)        I don’t want to see my beloved grandmother lying in a hospital bed and groaning painfully.

2.          

Numerous facts bear out the argument/statement/claim that in order to recover speedily from negative emotion, you should allow yourself to cry. You needn’t/don’t have to be ashamed of crying. Anxiety and sorrow can flow out of the body along with tears.

Consider the case of/Take Donna. Her son unfortunately died in a car accident. The intensity of the blow made her unable to cry. She said, “It was not until two weeks later that I began to cry. And then I felt as if a big stone had been lifted from my shoulders. It was the tears that brought me back to earth and helped me survive the crisis.”