1. A short story is another kind of narrative. Its purpose is mainly to amuse its reader.
READING COMPREHENSION
1. Readthe text below.
Butterflies
Roger Dean Kisher
There was a time in my life when beauty meant something special to me. It
happened when I was about six or seven years old at an orphanage.
I got up every morning at the orphanage, made my bed just like the little
soldier that I had become. Then, I would get into one of the two straight lines and
march to breakfast with the other twenty or thirty boys who also lived in my
dormitory.
After breakfast one Saturday morning, I returned to the dormitory and saw the
house parent chasing the beautiful butterflies who lived by the hundreds in the azalea
bushes strewn around the orphanage.
I carefully watched as he caught these beautiful creatures, one after the other,
and then took them from the net and then stuck straight pins through their head and
wings, pinning them onto a heavy cardboard sheet.
How cruel it was to kill something of such beauty. I had walked many times
out into the bushes, all by myself, just so the butterflies could land on my head, face
and hands so I could look at them up close.
When the telephone rang, the house parent laid the large cardboard paper
down on the back cement step and went inside to answer the phone. I walked up to the
cardboard and looked at the one butterfly who he had just pinned to the large paper. It
was still moving about, so I reached down and touched it on the wing causing one of
the pins to fall out. It started flying around and around trying to get away but it was
still pinned by the one wing with the other straight pin. Finally it's wing broke off and
the butterfly fell to the ground.
I picked up the torn wing and the butterfly and tried to get it to stick back on
so it could fly away and be free before the house parent came back. But, it would not
stay on him.
The next thing I knew the house parent came walking back out of the back
door by the garbage room and started yelling at me. I told him that I did not do
anything, but he did not believe me. He picked up the cardboard paper and started
hitting me on the top of the head. There were all kinds of butterfly pieces going
everywhere. He threw the cardboard down on the ground and told me to pick it up and
put it in the garbage can inside the back room of the dormitory and then he left.
I sat there in the dirt, by that big old tree, for the longest time trying to fit all
the butterfly pieces back together so I could bury them whole, but it was too hard to
do. So I prayed for them and then I put them in an old torn up shoe box and I buried
them in the bottom of the fort that I had built in the ground, near the blackberry
bushes.
Every year when the butterflies would return to the orphanage and try to land
on me, I would try and shoo them away because they did not know that the orphanage
was a bad place to live and a very bad place to die.
(Adapted from : The Butterflies by Roger Dean Kisher)
2. 2. Answer the question. Cross (X) the best answer.
1. What is TRUE according to the text?
A. Living in a orphanage was very boring.
B. The house parent was a very kind person.
C. All the butterflies could live freely in the orphanage.
D. The writer loved collecting butterflies.
E. The children were happy when the butterflies came
2. “So, I prayed for them and then I put them in an old torn up shoe box...”
(paragraph 9)
What does them refer to?
A. Blackberry bushes.
B. Butterfly’s wings.
C. Butterflies.
D. Butterfly’s pieces.
E. All orphans.
3. It is implied that the house parent was...
A. Cruel
B. Kind
C. Generous
D. Strict
E. Stubborn
4. Why did the writer want to put all the butterfly pieces back?
A. The house parent ordered hi to do it.
B. He wanted to pin the whole.
C. He wanted to bury the butterflies whole.
D. He wanted to show to order children that the butterflies were very beautiful.
E. He was planning to take the butterflies to the dormitory.
5. What caused te butterfly to lose one of its wings?
A. The butterfly flew around with one of it wings stuck on the paper.
B. The writer took one of the pins that stuck it wings.
C. The butterfly fell down.
D. The house parent broke one of the wings.
E. The butterfly was dying.
FREE ANSWER
Answer the question below.
1. What is an orphanage?
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2. Do you have any ideas about living in a orphanage? Describe some routines.
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3. What do you think about the character of the writer and the house parent?
3. ....................................................................................................................
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4. What does ‘’butterfly’’ imply?
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5. Do you think thar the writer enjoyed living in the orphanage? Give some reasons.
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TEXT STRUCTURES
1. Readthe text below.
A Perfect Morning
Deyan Teodorov from Bulgaria
On an early spring morning, I woke up with a strange thought "Something is
going to happen." The weather was beautiful and the morning promised a perfect day.
I was still in bed, enjoying the sun and fresh air. Suddenly, the phone rang. I
answered it and a strange voice said: "Good morning. Are you awake yet?"
I wondered who it was. It was a nice woman's voice with a special accent. She
told me that she wanted to see me and hang up. That phone call made me think a lot.
But then a few minutes later, I forget this. I had breakfast and went out for a walk.
The weather was warm. I was walking through the park, enjoying the beautiful nature
when a young boy came along. He was taking a wallet from the ground. It seemed to
me that I had seen this wallet before. First, I thought that he had dropped it, but his
next actions made me think the opposite. The boy took the wallet carefully, cleaned it,
and put it into his pocket. After that, he ran as quickly as he could. I didn't know what
to do, so, I began to scream loudly. I hoped there would be somebody nearby to catch
him. But there was nobody around. I ran after him, but he disappeared somehow.
Then I reached in my pocket and realized that this wallet was mine. I felt very
hopeless—no money, no keys, nothing. Maybe I had dropped it. Then, I walked along
the path, trying to look for a telephone booth, thinking of phoning the police. Yet, I
could not find one. This was a very awful day.
Suddenly, while I was sitting on a bench a fascinating young woman appeared.
She asked: "What has happened to you? Where have you been?" It was the same voice
which I had heard that morning on the phone. The some special accent I had heard on
the phone. The same special accent. I couldn't believe my eyes. She was standing in
front of me, trying to tell me something.
At that moment I felt someone shaking me and saying:
"Wake up, wake up. It's getting late, wake up!"
I opened my eyes and saw my mother. What a pity! No fascinating young
lady, no park, nothing. I jumped out of bed immediately and checked where my wallet
was. Thank God! It was there. It had only been a bad dream.
4. 2. Answer True or False.
1. The writer woke up early in the morning. ..............
2. The writer’s girlfriend called him and asked him to hang up. ..............
3. The boy in the story lost his wallet. ..............
4. The boy in the story was a pick pocket. ..............
5. The wallet looked familiar for the writer. ..............
6. The boy was scared because a lot of people ran after him. ..............
7. The writer was at th park with his mother. ..............
8. The writer never lost his wallet. ..............
3. Put eachparagraph above into its correctstructure.
Orientation
Complication
Resolution
Complication
Resolution
5. WORD BANK
1. Find the meanings of the phrasal verbs below.
PHRASAL VERBS MEANINGS
1. to wake up
2. to hang up
3. to run after
4. to look for
5. to come along
2. Fill in the blanks with the phrasalverbs from the previous exercise.
Change the verbs form if necessary.
1. After we have been waiting for Rony for a long time, he finally.................with his
injured legs.
2. Where does he ........................these days with all his bestfriends?
3. The police ..........................the robber.
4. I could not.........................early in the last few days because I always slept late.
5. The woman was........................her lost ring.
3. Fill in the blank with the phrases inthe box.
1.
1. We can leave as soon as I.................my socks and shoes.
2. When you leave the room, you should always.................the light.
3. If Arman has extra time, he will..................his essay.
4. ‘’.......................all of your books’’. Mrs. Ratna said when she entered the class.
5. The sign reads , ‘’.......................the grass.’’
6. The kind doctor told his patient to..................deeply.
7. Please remember to.....................the magazines after reading them.
8. ‘’If you don’t......................, you will find yourself in trouble,’’ warned the old man.
PAST TENSE and PAST PERFECT TENSE
Put away watch out put on keepoff
switch off look over put back breathe in
6. 1. Write all verbs that you canfind in ‘’A PerfectMorning’’ (page 21 and
22). Put the verbs in the correctbox.
Past Tense Past Perfect Tense
2. Fill in the blank with the verbs in the brackets. Use the correcttense.
1. He spoke as if he..............him before. (Know)
2. He...................his homework before I visited him. (Finish)
3. The concert.................when they took their seat. (Start)
4. I.................the computer twice before I sold it. (Repair)
5. Susan said that she.................the alarm clock. (Set)
6. When I reached home, my mother.............dinner. (Cook)
7. I................along the road for a kilometer when I realized that I was on the wrong road.
(Drive)
8. The boy was sorry that he...................asleep. (Fall)
9. She....................French when she was a child. (Study)
10. He.................tomatoes before, but now, he likes them so much. (Not, like)
3. Use past tense or past perfect tense to complete the text below.
The New Chief
Soon, everybody in the village knew what 1. ..................(happen). People 2.
................(be) worried. Their chief 3. .....................(pass away) and left two sons.
They knew that Gerry shoud be the new chief because this 4. ...................(be) their
custom. But they also 5. ....................(know) that Berry 6. .....................(be) a good
7. famous fighter and a very hot-tempered man. He 7. .....................(kill) some of the
villager’s cattle.
‘’If our enemies come come, Berry will certainly be the better leader,’’some of the
men 8. .................(say).
‘’But if there are quarrels, Gerry is fairer than his brother,’’ the ohers 9.
..................(answer). ‘’Gerry knows our laws and he is very wise.’’
However, the elders of the village 10. ...................(stay) calm. It seemed that they 11.
..............(make) a decision before before the election. Then, one of them 12.
.................(say), ‘’Our previous chief 13. ....................(leave) a letter to us before he 14.
.....................(die). He 15. ......................(want) us to follow our custom.’’
Just then, all people 16. ...................(shout) ‘’ Hooray!’’.
4. Write sentences in past tense using the words below.
(meet) I met Mr. Doni last night.
1. (buy) ....................................................................................................
2. (carry) ....................................................................................................
3. (drop) ....................................................................................................
4. (pay) ....................................................................................................
5. (say) ....................................................................................................
WRITING DRAFT
1. Write a story ofyour own. Complete the boxes below.
What is the title of yourshort story?
Who are the characters of your story? What is the setting of yourstory?
What happened?
How did the story end?
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8. What is the moral of the story?
2. Ask a friend sitting next to you to read your short story. Ask him/her to
answerthe following question.
No Questions Yes No
1. Can you find past tense and past perfect tense in the
short story?
2. Can you find phrasal verbs in the short story?
3. Can you find mistakes in the short story?
4. Do you like the story?
5. Can you find the moral of the story?
3. Readyour friend’s suggestion. Then, rewrite your short story. Write it in
the space below.
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