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Practice
Intermediate
Reading Comprehension Texts
SPIDER-MAN
(1962)
In
the early >60s,
Marvel Comics published a comic book called Amazing Fantasy. ABut after issue number ten,@ publisher Stan Lee recalls, Athe sales began to soften and it seemed that
[it was] running out of steam... so it was decided that the fifteenth issue...
would be the final one.@
This
gave Lee the chance to experiment. AFor
quite a while,@
he writes, AI=d been toying with the idea of doing a strip
that would violate all the conventions -break the rules. A strip that would
actually feature a teenager as the star, instead of making him an (Ugh!) Adult
hero=s
sidekick. A strip in which the main character would lose out as often as he=d win -in fact, more often...@
AYep, I knew what I wanted all right, but where
would I get a chance to try it? Where -except in a magazine we were planning
to kill anyway?@
Since
Lee had a free hand to do what he wanted in the last issue of Amazing
Fantasy, he used it to introduce his anti-superhero -Spider-Man. The
web-slinger was based on The Spider, Master of Men, Lee=s favourite pulp magazine character when he
was a kid.
A few weeks after its publication, sales reports came back and showed
that the issue had been a bestseller. It prompted a brand new monthly comic
called The Adventures of Spider-Man.
QUESTIONS
1.
Find words in the text with the same or similar meaning to the following: (2
points).
Oportunity:
Remembers:
Really:
Present:
Demonstrated:
2.
Answer the following questions according to the text (1.5 points)
a.
When did the sales of Amazing Fantasy begin to fall down?
b.
Why did Stan Lee have the chance to experiment with a new character?
c.
What was Spider-man based on?
3.
Use the modal verbs with the perfect infinitives in the box to replace the
expressions in italics below (1.5 points)
|
It can=t have been I
needn=t have been |
|
I shouldn=t have gone It might have been It
must have been |
a.
If my brother passed the exam, I am sure that is wasn=t
very difficult. In fact, I am sure that it was very easy.
b.
Which university did Ben go to? It is possible that it was London- I can=t remember.
c.
While I was at University, I went to all the lectures although it wasn=t necessary for me to go
-they weren=t
compulsory.
4.
Choose the correct modal verbs. (2 points)
a.
I might/can pass the exam. I=m
not sure.
b.
She=s very intelligent but she doesn=t get very good marks. She mustn=t/can=t
be working very hard.
c.
The man looks very important. He must/can be the head teacher.
d.
You mustn=t/needn=t
finish your homework today -but I would like it before before next week.
5.
Composition. Is Spider-man your favourite comic hero? If not, which one is it
and why (80 words) (3 points).