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Exercise 2

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23 views

Exercise 2

Uploaded by

Xin Yan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Exercise 2

Read the magazine article about four people (A-D) and the books they have recently read. Then answer
Questions (a) – (j) on the following page.

What do you think of the book you have just read?

Four readers share their thoughts about books.


A. I love reading. Ever since I have learnt to read, books have been an important part of my life and they
often help me relax and even give me inspiration from time to time. When I’m reading, it feels like I can
become someone else for a while. While I was growing up, I was a bit of a tomboy, pretending I was an
adventurer exploring foreign lands. This was also reflected in my choice of reading material. I was never
one for love stories until my friend made me read one. I gave it a go, not expecting much of it, but it
turned out to be a well-written story. Normally, I would hate having more than a handful of main
characters, but not here. Somehow, all the characters fit well in the story. Nevertheless, the author saved
the best for last with a twist in the story, which I didn’t see coming. Some people say it might even be
shortlisted for the National Best-Read Prize.

B. I read a lot- about two books a week. People of ten wonder how I manage to read so many, but my
job involves a lot of travelling, so I have time to read on the train or while waiting for a connecting
flight. The last book I read was a real-life story about a man who relocates to a new country to start over.
I generally enjoy this genre because the stories are so inspiring, but I was surprised what a let-down this
one was. I don’t think the writer did much research on what happens in real life, and it certainly didn’t
convince me. The book was generally an easy read, but at times I got lost because of all the names. I
found myself going back to check who was who. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if this book got
picked by the critics in the Bronte Sisters Competition. It often seems to me that critics tend to praise
books that I don’t enjoy.

C. Unlike many of my friends, I don’t read a lot of books. That is not to say that I don’t read at all, but
the only time I have time to read a book or two is during my summer holidays. I look at the books that
have received some awards, or are recommended by other readers, before I make my final selection, just
as I did with the last one I read. At first I thought I’d made a mistake with my choice. It was a novel set
in France, in the 1940s, an era which I love, but the story was interspersed with these long philosophical
passages. They were quite hard to get through, but I stuck with it because I was eager to find out what
happened to the main heroine. One of my friends couldn’t believe I liked this kind of story, but when I
was reading about the main character’s life, I found myself thinking how similar it was to mine. In the
end, it even gave me the idea of visiting France and learning French.

D. When I read a book, I usually expect to learn something new from it, to give me new ideas. For this
reason, I often go for non-fiction titles. This doesn’t mean, however that I avoid fiction altogether. I
finished reading one novel just last week. It was advertised in the national newspaper as one of the best
novels of the year by an upcoming author- and one that the whole family will thoroughly enjoy. I’m not
quite sure if many teenagers would really agree with that statement. When I finished reading it, I had
mixed feelings about the book. I thought the storyline had potential because It dealt with the topic of trust
and friendship but I felt the writer could have exploited it a bit more. Nevertheless, the writer clearly
spent time researching the characters, who were totally believable. Sometimes I had the feeling that I
knew the vast majority of them from real life. I believe that this author should great promise, and with
time, will produce some award-winning titles.

1
2
The questions below are about the readers (A-D). For each question write the correct letter A,
B, C or D on the line.

Which person …

(a) says the book inspired them to do something? ……… [1]

(b) suggests the book would benefit from fewer characters? ……… [1]

(c) claims the ending was unexpected? ……… [1]

(d) says the book reminded them of their own experience? ……… [1]

(e) thinks the book will get an award? ……… [1]

(f) doubts that the book is suitable for younger readers? ……… [1]

(g) mentions the book was sometimes a bit boring to read? ……… [1]

(h) finds most of the characters in the book familiar? ……… [1]

(i) is surprised they enjoyed this style of book? ……… [1]

(j) says the story was hard to believe? ……… [1]

[Total:
10]

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