Reading comprehension/

The Hitchhiker As Andrea turned off the motorway onto the road to Brockbourne, the small village in which she lived, it was four o'clock in the afternoon, but already the sun was falling behind the hills. At this time in December, it would be completely dark by five o'clock. Andrea shivered. The interior of the car was not cold, but the trees bending in the harsh wind and the patches of yesterday's snow still heaped in the fields made her feel chilly inside. It was another ten miles to the cottage where she lived with her husband Michael, and the dim light and wintry weather made her feel a little lonely. She would have liked to listen to the radio, but it had been stolen from her car when it was parked outside her office in London about two weeks ago, and she had not got around to replacing it yet.

She was just coming out of the little village of Mickley when she saw the old lady, standing by the road, with a crude hand-written sign saying "Brockbourne" in her hand. Andrea was surprised. She had never seen an old lady hitchhiking before. However, the weather and the coming darkness made her feel sorry for the lady, waiting hopefully on a country road like this with little traffic. Normally, Andrea would never pick up a hitchhiker when she was alone, thinking it was too dangerous, but what was the harm in doing a favor for a little old lady like this? Andrea pulled up a little way down the road, and the lady, holding a big shopping bag, hurried over to climb in the door which Andrea had opened for her.

When she did get in, Andrea could see that she was not, in fact, so little. Broad and fat, the old lady had some difficulty climbing in through the car door, with her big bag, and when she had got in, she more than filled the seat next to Andrea. She wore a long, shabby old dress, and she had a yellow hat pulled down low over her eyes. Panting noisily from her effort, she pushed her big brown canvas shopping bag down onto the floor under her feet, and said in a voice which was almost a whisper, "Thank you dearie -- I'm just going to Brockbourne."

"Do you live there?" asked Andrea, thinking that she had never seen the old lady in the village in the four years she had lived there herself. "No, dearie," answered the passenger, in her soft voice, "I'm just going to visit a friend. He was supposed to meet me back there at Mickley, but his car won't start, so I decided to hitchhike -- there isn't a bus until seven, and I didn't want to wait. I knew some kind soul would give me a lift." Something in the way the lady spoke, and the way she never turned her head, but stared continuously into the darkness ahead from under her old yellow hat, made Andrea uneasy about this strange hitchhiker. She didn't know why, but she felt instinctively that there was something wrong, something odd, something....dangerous. But how could an old lady be dangerous? it was absurd. Careful not to turn her head, Andrea looked sideways at her passenger. She studied the hat, the dirty collar of the dress, the shapeless body, the arms with their thick black hairs....

Thick black hairs? Hairy arms? Andrea's blood froze. This wasn't a woman. It was a man. At first, she didn't know what to do. Then suddenly, an idea came into her racing, terrified brain. Swinging the wheel suddenly, she threw the car into a skid, and brought it to a halt. "My God!" she shouted, "A child! Did you see the child? I think I hit her!" The "old lady" was clearly shaken by the sudden skid. "I didn't see anything dearie," she said. "I don't think you hit anything." "I'm sure it was a child!" insisted Andrea. "Could you just get out and have a look? Just see if there's anything on the road?" She held her breath. Would her plan work? It did. The passenger slowly opened the car door, leaving her bag inside, and climbed out to investigate. As soon as she was out of the vehicle, Andrea gunned the engine and accelerated madly away. The car door swung shut as she rounded a bend, and soon she had put a good three miles between herself and the awful hitchhiker.

It was only then that she thought about the bag lying on the floor in front of her. Maybe the bag would provide some information about the real identity about the old woman who was not an old woman. Pulling into the side of the road, Andrea lifted the heavy bag onto her lap and opened it curiously. It contained only one item -- a small hand axe, with a razor-sharp blade. The axe, and the inside of the bag, were covered with the dark red stains of dried blood. Andrea began to scream.

Where did Andrea work? ? Brockbourne ? Mickley ? London ? the text doesn't say How was Andrea feeling as she drove home? ? happy ? afraid ? lonely ? hot Why didn't she listen to the radio? ? The radio had been stolen from her car. ? She liked peace and quiet. ? The radio was broken. ? There was a strike at the radio station. Why did she stop to give the old lady a ride? ? It was a cold evening. ? Andrea felt lonely. ? She felt sorry for the lady. ? All of the above. Where did the lady want to go? ? Brockbourne ? Mickley ? London ? The text doesn't say What made Andrea afraid when she looked at the old lady? ? She had a moustache. ? She had a hard voice like a man. ? She had a shopping bag. ? She had hairy arms. Why did Andrea suddenly stop the car? ? She thought she had hit a child in the road. ? She skidded on some ice in the road. ? She wanted to trick the passenger into getting out. ? She was so afraid that she couldn't concentrate, and she nearly had a crash. What did Andrea do when the "old lady" got out? ? waited for her ? drove away quickly ? opened her bag ? switched off the engine Why did Andrea look in the old lady's bag? ? She wanted to steal what was in it. ? She wanted to find her address so that she could send the bag back to her. ? She wanted to borrow the old lady's tools. ? She wanted to find out who the strange passenger was. What was the "old lady" probably going to do to Andrea? ? nothing ? kill her ? give her an axe ? visit her in Brockbourne

From Carrots to Renovations: How I Spent $10,000 without Really Trying Do you believe that a kilogram of carrots could cost $10,000? My carrots cost me that much last year. Last summer I had to completely renovate my kitchen and it was all because of a bunch of carrots. The story begins with my picking twelve carrots from my vegetable garden and ends with my getting a new kitchen.

I have a vegetable garden and every summer I enjoy eating my own vegetables. One day last summer I picked a dozen carrots. Usually, as soon as I have picked the carrots, I clean the dirt off them by rinsing them in a bucket of water. I keep a full bucket of water beside the garden just for this purpose. But this day, as I was getting up from the ground with my twelve carrots, I tripped and fell over the bucket. The water spilled out of the bucket and went all over my feet. I ran into the house to change my shoes and socks. When I was finally dry and clean, I realized that I had very little time to make dinner. The carrots were part of dinner, so I decided to wash the carrots quickly in the kitchen sink. The carrots were covered in a large amount of dirt from the garden. I put the carrots in the sink, rinsed them with water, and watched all the dirt wash away down the drain.

The next day, when I was washing dishes, I noticed that the water drained out of the sink much more slowly than usual. It drained so slowly that I went to the store and bought a bottle of special drain cleaner. I used the drain cleaner and the water seemed to drain a little faster. However, the following day the drain worked even more slowly. I spent $100 on different kinds of drain cleaner. None of them worked. Soon the water did not drain at all. At this point I called a plumber to come and fix my drain. The plumber tried a lot of different cleaners and equipment, but nothing worked. He tried to go under the house to check the pipes, but he couldn't reach them. He had to cut a hole in the floor where the drain pipe was in order to try to find the problem. While he was cutting the small hole, he accidentally cut the hot-water pipe. Hot water sprayed over the plumber, onto the floor, behind the counters, under the refrigerator; water went everywhere. Two hours later we finally finished cleaning up all the water. But the water had caused a lot of damage.

My refrigerator stopped working because the water had affected the electrical wires. I called an electrician to come and fix the refrigerator. The electrician had to move the refrigerator to work on the wires. In order to move the refrigerator, she had to balance it on an angle and pull it away from the wall. As the electrician was balancing it, she tripped over the plumber's tools. She fell down and the refrigerator tipped over. It crashed into the wall, resulting in a huge hole in the wall. I called a carpenter to come and fix the wall. In order to repair the hole in the wall, the carpenter had to tear down half of the entire wall. When the wall was half gone, the electrician found more electrical problems caused by the water damage. This resulted in the other half of the wall being removed to replace the damaged wiring. Meanwhile, the plumber was still looking for the source of the drain problem. Since the kitchen was in a terrible mess anyway, the plumber decided to remove part of the floor to look at the pipe there. In the middle of the floor, he found the problem: the dirt from the carrots was stuck in the pipe and nothing could go through or past the clump of dirt.

Now I had a sink that did not drain, a refrigerator that did not work, a wall that was gone, and part of a floor that was missing. I looked at this disaster and decided that what I really needed was a new kitchen. Finally, I called a house builder to come and fix my kitchen. Three weeks later I had a new sink, a new refrigerator, new cupboards on a new wall, new tiles on a new floor, and $10,000 less in my bank. I have learned my lesson, I never wash carrots in the kitchen sink; I get them, clean and ready to eat, from the store.

How did a kilogram of carrots cost $10,000? Click on the button beside the best answer. ? the kitchen needed a more modern look correct the dirt from the carrots blocked the drain which led to other problems ? carrots can be very expensive ? the carrots caused water to spill everywhere Which of the following is not a reason why the carrots were washed in the sink and not in the bucket. Click on the button beside the best answer. incorrect the bucket of water fell over incorrect dinner needed to be made soon correct the carrots were always washed in the kitchen sink ? the carrots were dirty because they were fresh from the garden Which of the following steps were taken to make the sink drain more quickly? Click on the box beside each correct answer and then click on "Check". $10,000 was spent to repair the sink a plumber came to repair the drain $100 was spent on different kinds of drain cleaners a new sink and drain pipe were installed CHECK What caused the most damage to the kitchen? Click on the button beside the best answer. incorrect the drain incorrect the plumber ? the water damage incorrect the electrical problem Which of the following items was not damaged? ? the wall ? the hot water pipe correct the oven ? the floor CONTINUE WITH THE NEXT EXERCISE

Where did Andrea work? ? Brockbourne ? Mickley correct London ? the text doesn't say How was Andrea feeling as she drove home? ? happy ? afraid correct lonely ? hot Why didn't she listen to the radio? correct The radio had been stolen from her car. incorrect She liked peace and quiet. ? The radio was broken. ? There was a strike at the radio station. Why did she stop to give the old lady a ride? ? It was a cold evening. ? Andrea felt lonely. correct She felt sorry for the lady. ? All of the above. Where did the lady want to go? correct Brockbourne incorrect Mickley ? London ? The text doesn't say What made Andrea afraid when she looked at the old lady? ? She had a moustache. incorrect She had a hard voice like a man. incorrect She had a shopping bag. correct She had hairy arms. Why did Andrea suddenly stop the car? incorrect She thought she had hit a child in the road. ? She skidded on some ice in the road. correct She wanted to trick the passenger into getting out. incorrect She was so afraid that she couldn't concentrate, and she nearly had a crash. What did Andrea do when the "old lady" got out? ? waited for her correct drove away quickly incorrect opened her bag incorrect switched off the engine Why did Andrea look in the old lady's bag? ? She wanted to steal what was in it. ? She wanted to find her address so that she could send the bag back to her. ? She wanted to borrow the old lady's tools. correct She wanted to find out who the strange passenger was. What was the "old lady" probably going to do to Andrea? ? nothing correct kill her ? give her an axe ? visit her in Brockbourne

Wild Children 4: Emily Carr Not all children who grow up inside a culture are completely influenced by that culture. Some young people find that they are more interested in nature or the culture of other people at a very young age. The most famous painter in Victoria's history is Emily Carr. She was born in 1871 and, as a child, she discovered that walking in the woods appealed more to her than playing with other children. She discovered that she was more interested in roaming the streets of old Victoria than playing at home with dolls and spending her time brushing her hair and putting pretty ribbons in it.

"Appeal to" means: ? call for correct interest ? ask "Roam" means: ? clean ? avoid correct wander "Chubby" probably means: correct A little fat ? often afraid ? beautiful "Fascinate" means: ? bore ? annoy correct interest greatly "Domesticate" probably means: ? kill ? eat correct tame "Distinct" means: correct different ? similar to ? free

"Appeal to" means: ? call for ? interest ? ask "Roam" means: ? clean ? avoid ? wander "Chubby" probably means: ? A little fat ? often afraid ? beautiful "Fascinate" means: ? bore ? annoy ? interest greatly "Domesticate" probably means: ? kill ? eat ? tame "Distinct" means: ? different ? similar to ? free "Uncharted" probably means: ? dangerous ? not included on maps ? well-known "Daring" means: ? assistance ? bravery ? painting skill "Sense" means: ? feel ? avoid ? ignore "Evoke" means: ? reason ? discover ? make you feel

The First Nations people called her "Klee Wyck", which means "Laughing One", and she knew more about their lifestyle and the forests of B.C. than any other European woman. When you look at her paintings, you can sense the atmosphere of these dark, mysterious forests. Her paintings are now very famous and, although the dark colours may not be attractive to some people, they evoke the beauty and mystery of the deep woods and the skill of a great artist. Emily was a very brave and independent woman. She walked for kilometer after kilometer through the woods alone, even though she knew that bears, cougars and wolves might be her only companions.

As she became a young, strong and independent woman Emily began to go on longer and longer trips into the uncharted forests to paint and draw what she saw. She loved the free and simple lifestyle she saw the First Nations people living. In the summer of 1895 she went on an expedition with two other women to explore the wilderness along the Cowichan River that runs through Duncan, just north of Victoria. Some time later she travelled up the coast by boat to visit and draw the native villages along the way. This required great daring and strength. This wilderness was truly wild; there were no police or Coast Guard if she got into trouble - and no radio to call for help.

Emily was a chubby little girl who spent much of her childhood in Beacon Hill Park, which was very close to her family home. Drawing fascinated her, and she also liked to play with the animals she kept as pets. She had ducks and chickens, and even domesticated a crow. In later life she had several dogs and a pet monkey too! She often wandered around the streets of Victoria and was particularly interested in the First Nations people and the Chinese people she saw in Victoria's Chinatown. Their culture and way of dressing seemed so distinct from her own.