First Reading Selection

Read the text, and then answer the questions that follow.

A Fable for Tomorrow

There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings. The town lay in the midst of a checkerboard of prosperous farms, with fields of grains and hillsides of orchards where in spring white clouds of bloom drifted above the green fields. In autumn, oak and maple and birch trees set up a blaze of color that flamed and flickered across a backdrop of pines. Then foxes barked in the hills and deer silently crossed the fields, half hidden in the mists of fall mornings.

Along the roads, laurel, viburnum, and alder, great ferns and wildflowers delighted the traveler’s eye through much of the year. Even in winter, the road sides were places of beauty, where countless birds came to feed on the berries and on the seed heads of the dried weeds rising above the snow. The countryside was, in fact, famous for the abundance and variety of its bird life, and when flood of migrants was pouring through in spring and fall, people traveled from great distances to observe them. Others came to fish the streams, which flowed clear and cold out of the hills and contained shady pools where trout lay. So it had been from the days many years ago when the first settlers raised their houses, sank their wells, and built their barns.

Then a strange blight crept into the area and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled into the community: mysterious maladies swept the flocks of chickens; the cattle and sheep sickened and died. Everywhere was a shadow of death. The farmers spoke of much illness among their families. In the town the doctors had become more and more puzzled by new kinds of sickness appearing among their patients. There had been several sudden and unexplained deaths, not only among adults but even among children, who would be stricken only among children, who would be stricken suddenly while at play and die within a few hours.

There was a strange stillness. The birds, for example, where had they gone? Many people spoke of them, puzzled and disturbed. The feeding stations in the backyard were deserted. The few birds seen anywhere were dying; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of robins, catbirds, doves, jays, wrens, and scores of other bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marshes.

On the farms the hens brooded, but no chicks hatched. The farmers complained that they were unable to raise any pigs __the litters were small and the young survived only a few days. The

apple trees were coming into bloom, but no bees droned among the blossoms, so there was no pollination and there would be no fruit.

The roadsides, once so attractive, were now lined with browned withered vegetation as though swept by fire. These, too, were silent, deserted by all living things. Even the streams were now lifeless. Anglers no longer visited them, for all the fish had died.

No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves.

This town does not actually exist, but it might easily have a thousand counterparts in America or elsewhere in the world. I know of no community that has experienced all the misfortunes I describe. Yet everyone of these disasters has actually happened somewhere and many real communities have already suffered a substantial number of them. A grim scepter has crept upon us almost unnoticed, and this imagined tragedy may easily become a stark reality we all shall experience.

1. Describe the mood at the beginning of the story. Illustrate by providing relevant examples from the text.

Part I: Answer the following questions using complete sentences of your own.

2. What type of expository writing does the writer of the above text use? Supply relevant examples.

3. Describe the writer’s style. (the language used, the diction, the structure of sentences and paragraphs). What important purpose does employing this style serve the writer.

4. Pick from the text 4 figures of speech. Identify, paraphrase, and explain each one’s significance.

5. What is the general tone reflected in the last concluding paragraphs?

6. Is the title of the above story relevant? In your own simple words interpret how the writer sees the development of the relationship between man and his environment.

Pick up from the text:

Part II: Grammar

1. A sentence with an adjective clause.

2. A sentence with an adjective phrase.

3. A sentence with an adverb clause.

4. A sentence with an adverb phrase.

The above text portrays a very sad picture of the relation between man and his environment. It had been written way before many people worried about air and water pollution.

Part III: Written Expression

Now the damage had been done, and many people and organizations have become aware of the urgency of employing remedial actions.

In a well organized essay, name two organizations or governmental actions which have taken on this responsibility. Try to explain their goals, summarizing the corrective procedures by which they instigate environmental awareness and cultivate the foundations of a harmonious relation between man and his environment.

Second Reading Selection

Culture Shock and the Problem of Adjustment

Read the text, and then answer the questions that follow.

1. Culture shock might be called an occupational disease of people who have been suddenly transplanted abroad. Like most ailments, it has its own symptoms and cure.

2. Culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. Those signs or cues include the thousand and one ways in which we orient ourselves to the situations of daily life: when to shake hands, and what to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to make purchases, when to accept and when to refuse invitations, when to take statements seriously and when not to. These cues, which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, customs, or norms, are acquired by all of us in the course of growing up and are as much a part of our culture as the language we speak or the beliefs we accept.

3. Now when an individual enters a strange culture, all or most of these familiar cues are removed. He or she is like a fish out of water. No matter how broad-minded or full of goodwill you may be, a series of props have been knocked from under you, followed by a feeling of frustration and anxiety. People react to the frustration in much the same way. First they reject the environment which causes this discomfort. Another phase of culture shock is regression. The home environment suddenly assumes a tremendous importance. To the foreigners, everything becomes irrationally glorified. All the difficulties and problems are forgotten and only the good things back home are remembered. It usually takes a trip home to bring one back to reality.

4. Some of the symptoms of culture shock are excessive washing of the hands, excessive concern over drinking water, food dishes, and bedding; fear of physical contact with attendants, the absent-minded stare; a feeing of helplessness; fits of anger over minor frustrations; great concern over minor pains, and finally, that terrible longing to be back home.

5. Individuals differ greatly in the degree in which culture shock affects them. Although not common, there are individuals who cannot live in foreign countries. However, those who have seen people go through culture shock and on to a satisfactory adjustment can discern steps in the process. During the first weeks most individuals are fascinated by the new. They stay in hotels and associate with nationals who speak their language and are polite with foreigners. This honeymoon stage may last from a few days or weeks.

6. But this mentality does not normally last if the foreign visitor remains abroad and has seriously to cope with real conditions of life. It is then that the second stage begins, characterized by a hostile and aggressive attitude toward the host country. This hostility evidently grows out of the genuine difficulty which the visitor experiences the process of

adjustment. There are house troubles, transportation troubles, shopping troubles, and the fact that the host people are indifferent to these troubles. They help, but they don’t understand your great concern over these difficulties.

7. However, if visitors succeed in getting some knowledge of the language and begin to get around by themselves; they are beginning to open the way into the new cultural environment. Usually, in this stage, visitors take a superior attitude to people of the host country. Their sense of humor begins to exert itself. So, instead of criticizing, they joke about the people and even crack jokes about their own difficulties. They are now on the way of recovery.

8. In the fourth stage, your adjustment is about as complete as it can be. The visitor now accepts the customs of the country as just another way of living. You operate within your surroundings without a feeling of anxiety, although there are moments of social strain.

9. With a complete adjustment you not only accept the food, drinks, habits, and customs, but actually begin to enjoy them. When you go home on leave, you may even take things back with you; and if you leave for good, you generally miss the country and the people to whom you became accustomed.

Comprehension Questions:

1. Identify the thesis statement of the above article and state its controlling ideas.

2. Reread paragraphs 1,2,3,4 and state the major cause of culture shock. Point out, at least, three effects that a person experiences as a result. Make sure you use your own words.

3. Individuals moving toward “a satisfactory adjustment” (para:5) to the new culture, follow steps in the process. List the steps following the chronological order in which they appear.

____________________________________________

1.

______________________________________________ 2.

____________________________________________ 3.

____________________________________________

4.

5.

4. In paragraph 7, the writer explains that the second stage of culture shock is “in a sense, a crisis in the disease”. What does he mean? Why does he believe so?

5. What two contrasting attitudes does a visitor adopt against foreigners?

6. The writer uses many features of expository writing. Pick up sentences from the text that match the following patterns:

Pattern Paragraph Number

Sentence

Definition/Classification

Cause/Effect

Process

Listing

RESULT: _____________________________________________

7. Provide the contextual meaning of the following:

1. Ailment (paragraph 1) 3. Anxiety (paragraph 3)

2. 4. Symptom (paragraph 4) Cues (paragraph 2)

Part Two: Writing

Culture shock is depicted as a social problem. Reproduce the ideas in the text to write a 4 paragraph essay describing the problem and emphasizing two major pieces of advice which you feel are mostly efficient.

• .What is the problem? Where does it come from?

• What two pieces of advice could help a person overcome culture shock?

- Third Reading Selection

My Time in a Bottle

Read the following autobiography, in which Mickey Mantle, one of the greatest American baseball players, talks about his story with alcoholism. When you are through with the reading, answer the questions that follow.

1. If alcoholism is hereditary, if it’s in the genes, then I think mine came from my mother’s side of the family. Her brothers were all alcoholics. My mother, Lovell, and my father, Mutt, weren’t big drinkers. Dad would have a pint of whiskey on Saturday night and put it in the icebox. Then every night when he came home from working eight hours in the lead mines of Oklahoma, he’d head for the icebox and take a swig of whiskey.

2. My dad loved baseball, played semi-professional ball on the weekends and was a tremendous St.Louis Cardinals fan. In fact, he named me after Mickey Cochrane, the Hall of Fame catcher for Philadelphia and Detroit who was a great hitter. Dad had high hopes for me. He thought I could be the greatest ballplayer who ever lived, and he did everything to help me realize his dream.

3. Even though he was dog tired after long days at the mine, Dad would still pitch batting practice to me in the backyard when he got home from work, beginning from the time I was four years old. My mother would call us to dinner, but the meal would wait until Dad finished instructing me from right and left sides of the plate. Dad was a tough man. He didn’t have to say anything, and I’d say, “I won’t do it anymore, Dad.” I loved my father, although I couldn’t tell him, just like he couldn’t tell me.

4. I joined the Yankees at 19. The following spring, when Dad died of Hodgkin’s disease at age 39, I was devastated, and that’s when I started drinking. I guess alcohol helped me escape the pain of losing him.

5. God gave me a great body, but I didn’t take care of it, and I blame a lot of it on alcohol. Everyone likes to make the excuse that injuries shortened my career. Truth is, after I’d had a knee operation, the doctors would give me rehab work to do, but I wouldn’t do it. I’d be out drinking with some new people I met. We would spend hours drinking oceans of whiskey. Everything had always come naturally to me. I didn’t work hard at it.

6. After I retired at 37, my drinking got really bad. I went through a great depression. I left all my Yankee teammates, and I think it left a hole in me. We were as close as brothers. I haven’t met anyone else I’ve felt as close to.

7. I never thought about anything serious in my life for a continuous period of days and weeks until I checked into the Betty Ford Center. I always tried to avoid anything emotional, anything serious, and I did it through the use of alcohol. Alcohol always protected me from reality.

8. You are supposed to ask why I ended up at the center. In fact, I had a bad liver and I was always depressed. Whenever I tried to talk about my family, I got all chocked up. One of the things I really messed up, besides baseball, was being a father. I wasn’t a good family man. I was always out, running around with my friends. My son Mickey Jr. could have been a wonderful athlete. If he had had my Dad, he could have been a major league baseball player. My kids never blamed me for not being there. They don’t have to. I blame myself.

9. During my time at the Betty Ford Center, I had to write my dead father a letter and tell him how I felt about him. It only took me ten minutes to write the letter, and I cried the whole time, but after it was over, I felt better. I said that I missed him, and I wished he could have lived to see that I did a lot better

than my first season with the Yankees. I told him I had four boys- he died before my first son, Mickey Jr., was born- and I told him I loved him. I would have been better if I could have told him that a long time ago.

10. Dad would have been proud of me today, knowing that I’ve completed treatment at Betty Ford and have been sober for three months. But he would have been mad that I had to go there in the first place.

11. For all those years I lived the life of someone I didn’t know: a cartoon character. From now on, Mickey Mantle is going to be a real person.

Part I: Comprehension Questions

A. Answer the following questions in complete sentences. Make sure you use your own words. 1. How did Mickey Mantle feel about his father? How, or in which two different ways, did that feeling

affect his life? 2. What three aspects of Mantle’s life were seriously affected by his addiction? Explain.

3. Mickey Mantle confronts an external and an internal conflict. Explain. 4. What is Mantle’s tone in this autobiography? Explain. 5. Identify the figure of speech in the underlined sentence, in paragraph 5, and then explain it.

6. What, do you think, is the message that Mickey Mantle tries to convey through his autobiography?

B. The following statements are false because they misinterpret the meaning conveyed in the above reading selection. Rewrite each statement so that it agrees with what is being stated or implied in the autobiography. 1. Mantle’s baseball career was affected negatively basically because of his injuries and the knee

operation he had to make. 2. After 22 years with the Yankees, it was hard for Mantle to leave his teammates, who were as close

as brothers.

Part II: Writing

Mantle says, “I left my Yankee teammates, and it left a hole in me.” Losing his friends made Mantle feel sad because they were as “close as brothers.” Instead of spending time with them, he’d be out drinking.

In a process essay (how-to essay) of 250-300 words, develop the following title: How to Lose a Close Friend

Make sure you write a good introduction with a clear thesis statement, well-developed body paragraphs that show the steps of losing a friend, and an interesting conclusion.

Fourth Reading Selection

Read the following text, and then answer the questions that follow.

I Could Never Get High Enough

I grew up in Goldbar, Washington with my mom, step dad and younger brother. My mom and her husband at the time bought a restaurant and they were always gone since it was such a demanding business. I was home alone a lot and could do whatever I wanted,

I loved movies and I loved role play. I idolized rockers and hard core lifestyle they lived and I wanted to be a part of it. I would sneak out to parties on the weekends and one thing led to another and tried my first line of meth. I was only fifteen at the time, and some kids offered it to me at a party. I was curious about drugs, so it was an easy sell.

That one line of meth started me on a path of getting high at school and then eventually dropping out all together. Classes interfered with my drug life. What I thought was normal behavior was not normal at all. I was 17, out of control, addicted to drugs and in the mists of all of this, I became pregnant with my son, Isaiah.

All I wanted to do was hang out and get high enough. Sometimes I would be up for days, smoking constantly. When I’d finally come down, I was totally depleted. I would barely get out of bed for weeks. I even tried to stay sober at one point. I got a job at a local gas station to support myself, but after a month, I started using drugs again. I couldn’t hold my job because I was too sick and too high to function.

My boyfriend was a meth cook, which made it easy for me to abuse the drug. I was living on the doorsteps of death everyday, almost unknowingly because I had no idea how toxic and explosive the chemicals used to make meth were at the time.

I tried to lead a regular life, but I found that on meth, even the simplest things were impossible. My apartment looked like someone had taken everything I owned, shook it up and dropped it on the floor. I could barely walk through the piles of garbage, dirty dishes and clothes and knickknacks. I never ate or slept. I was severely thin because I wasn’t taking care of myself. I was also once hospitalized with a kidney infection.

Isaiah was also living in this filth and neglect. I really did want the best for my child, and on meth I simply could not be a mother. I was angry and irritable all the time, constantly

aggravated, frustrated, yelling and screaming. I cased an ex-boyfriend down with an axe and even tried to kill myself on the train tracks.

I know many women who’ve had their children taken away from them, even mothers who chose to give their children up to the system. I know women who have literally lost their minds because of meth and I was becoming one of them. I had no patience _ especially for my own son. It was with this realization that I knew I had to change my life.

I went home to live with my mother and get clean. I tried to get my boyfriend to come to rehab, but my efforts failed.

I took recovery seriously and attended as many twelve step meetings as possible, sometimes five meetings a day _ anything to get me through it all. And it paid off! It changed my life.

I am now going back to school and working part time. My case manager meets with me once a week to set and review my goals, and with her support have achieved some of them. I am also taking the absolute best care of my son. We finally have our own home and for the first time in his life, Isaiah has his own room. When I sit down to pay my bills, I’m just so grateful. Paying my bills every month means that I am a responsible adult and mom. My dream is to complete school and support Isaiah without any assistance. I am so lucky to have a second chance.

When I look at my son, I am so proud. I know that I’ll be there for him. That’s something I could never promise him before. I am someone that he can depend on. I have the direction to achieve great goals _ and I will!

In the beginning, meth gave me a feeling of euphoria. In he end, it just made me feel hollow and empty. Now I want to inspire hope in the families who know someone with an addiction like mine. People get stuck, and it is important to give them hope to get out of it. Don’t give up. Miracles happen everyday.

1. What does the last sentence of paragraph 1 foreshadow?

Part I: Answer the following questions using your own words:

2. Draw two character trait webs with suitable adjectives to describe the writer before and after rehabilitation.

3. How did the writer succeed to rid herself of drugs?

4. Is the writer’s purpose implied or explicit? Explain in the light of the audience to whom this autobiography is addressed.

5. What is the general tone of the writer in the above article? Illustrate.

6. Fill in the following chart with kinds of reasons that put the writer in the atmosphere of dug addiction.

Type of reason Clue

Personal

Family neglect

Corrupt friend

Environment

7. Pick up words from the given paragraphs that mostly have the same meaning as the following:

Word paragraph synonyms

2 Worship; admire; adore

4 Exhausted, worn out, useless

14 Self-important, proud arrogant

8 Dirt,grime,refuse debris

The above text highlights the case of a teenager who lived a horrible experience of drug addiction but could eventually surpass it and live a normal life. You probably have experienced times when you felt down, low spirited, and completely frustrated. When was that? What was/ were the reasons that drove you to feel so? (social, family problems, financial troubles, corrupt company…) How did you manage to get through and live a normal life again?

Part II: Written Expression

Fifth Reading Selection

Why I Want a Wife

In the following article, the author defines “wife” by enumerating the qualities and duties of the “ideal” home companion. As you read through, try to identify the author’s attitude regarding the fundamental “qualifications” of the spouse that constitute a healthy marriage relationship.

1. I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am a Wife. And, not altogether incidentally a mother.

2. Not too long ago, a male friend of mine appeared on the scene, fresh from a recent divorce. He was obviously looking for another wife. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. As I thought about him as I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife. Why do I want a wife?

3. I would like to go back to school so that I can become economically independent, support myself and my family. I want a wife who will work and send me to school. And while I’m gone to school, I want a wife to take care of my children. I want a wife to keep track of the children’s doctor and dentist’s appointments. I want a wife who will wash the children’s clothes and keep them mended. I want a wife who takes care of the children when they’re sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school. My wife must arrange to lose time at work without losing her job.

4. I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep the house clean, a wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find them the minute I need them. I want a wife who will plan the menus, cook the meals, serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning. I want a wife who will care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and loss of time.

5. I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point. I want a wife who will type my papers for me.

6. I want a wife who will take care of my social life. When my wife and I are invited out by my friends, I want a wife who will take care of the babysitting arrangements. When I invite my friends home, I want a wife who will have the house clean, prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends. I want a wife who takes care of the needs of my guests… to make sure that their wine glasses are replenished, that their coffee is served as they like it.

7. I want a wife who understands that sometimes I need a night out by myself.

8. If, by chance, I find a person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one. Naturally, I will expect a fresh new life; my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am free.

9. When I am through with school and have a job, I want my wife to quit working and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and completely take care of a wife’s duties.

10. My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?

Answer the following questions

Part I: Comprehension Questions:

1. What type of expository writing does the author use in her article?

2. Write three sentences that summarize why the author wants a wife. Make sure you use your own words.

3. Identify the tone of the writer. What is her attitude regarding being a wife? What is the purpose of her article?

4. In her article, the writer asks two questions (in the introduction and the conclusion). What different purposes do both questions serve?

5. The last paragraph of the article presents an irony. Identify it and explain the irony.

B. The author, somehow, shows a stereotyped image of a wife’s role in her society. Fill in the following chart by picking up examples from the text classifying 3 points that you accept and 3 that you don’t.

What I Accept What I don’t Accept

C. Supply the synonyms of the words in bold type:

1. Obviously 2. Replenished

D. Follow the instructions and rewrite the following sentences.

1. There’s a great possibility that marriages collapse when one spouse fulfils his needs on the expense of the other’s. (Restate using a modal verb)

2. The writer was already a wife for eight years when she wrote the article. (Find and correct the mistake)

3. The husband is not an understanding person; therefore, she couldn’t save her marriage. (Restate using conditional structure)

4. It was advisable that he bring her flowers after what he had done. (Restate using a modal verb)

5. I want somebody to have cleaned the house and prepared the food before I come. (Change to the passive form.)

Topic One: The wife that the article defines is a voiceless, formless, compliant servant who is never allowed to have intellectual or career pursuits. Do you believe that the “ideal wife” is that which fulfils all her “duties” (like they are described in the text)? Why or why not?

Part II: Writing

Topic Two: The article establishes the basic dissatisfactions that can result when the needs of only one marriage partner are considered in a relationship. What, in your opinion, are the main causes behind a healthy husband-wife relationship? What are the effects of a healthy husband-wife relation on both the family, in general, and the children, in particular?