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Practice
Intermediate
Reading Comprehension Texts
One
of the difficulties that a man has to cope with as he goes through life is
what to do about the persons with whom he has once been intimate and whose
interest for him has in due course subsided. If both parties remain in a
modest station the break comes naturally, and no ill feeling subsists, but
if one of them achieves eminence the position is awkward. He makes a
multitude of new friends, but the old ones are inexorable; he has a thousand
claims on his time, but they feel that they have the first right to it.
Unless he is at their beck and call they sigh and with a shrug of the
shoulders say:
"Ah,
well, I suppose you're like everyone else. I must expect to be dropped now
that you're a success."
That,
of course, is what he would like to do if he had the courage. For the most
part he hasn't. He weakly accepts an invitation to supper on Sunday evening.
The cold roast beef is frozen and comes from Australia and was over-cooked
at middle day: and the burgundy -ah, why will they call it burgundy? Have
they never been to Beaune and stayed at the Hôtel de la Poste? Of course it
is grand to talk of the good old days when you shared a crust of bread in a
garret together, but it is a little disconcerting when you reflect how near
to a garret is the room you are sitting in.
Cakes and ale.
W.
Somerset Maugham.
QUESTIONS.
Reading
comprehension
1.
Could you explain what is courage necessary for?
2.
What do they have for dinner?
3.
Is it pleasant to talk about the past? Is there anything pleasant at all
about it?
4.
According to the writer, should friends be kept throughout a whole life?
5.
Write down a composition about friendship. Use around 80 words.
6.
Vocabulary:
Garret means
1. a kind o room.
2. A kind of food.
Crust means
1. the inner part of bread.
2. the outer part of bread.
Burgundy is
1. meat.
2. wine.
To be dropped means
1.
to be accepted.
2. to be forgotten.
7.
Put the following sentences into reported speech with the introducing
verb in the past tense.
1.
Have you had anything to eat? We=ve
just finished our dinner.
2.
I hear that Ann was at the dance last night. What was she wearing?
3.
The clock has stopped. Did you forget to wind it up?
4.
Did you ring me up last night?
5.
George is taking his exam in June. Do you think he will pass?
8.
Combine the following ideas by means of a defining or non-defining
relatives using a contact clause wherever possible.
1.
This is the man. I gave money to him this morning.
2.
Ann Boleyn was Henry VIII=s
second wife. Henry executed her in 1536.
3.
An old soldier sits begging on the pavement. His legs were shot away in the
last war.
4.
His stepmother was not very kind to him. He was living with her.
5.
Last week I went to see the country town. He used to live in that town.
9.
Complete the following conditionals.
1.
If he had worked harder
2.
He will not come unless
3.
I should not have lost my money if
4.
If you don=t visit me soon