Reading lesson HOW TO SUCCEED IN LIFE
A famous American neurosurgeon Ben Carson wrote about his childhood in the book Think Big.
1) What marks did Ben get at school? Was his mother satisfied with his marks at school? (reading for the main idea)
“Benjamin, is this your report card?” my mother asked and took the white card from the table.
“Uh, yeah,” I said, trying to speak careless. I had put the card on the table, hoping that she wouldn’t notice it (1)______________________________________ .
It was the first report card I had received from Higgins Elementary School since we had moved from Boston to Detroit, only a few months earlier. I had been in the fifth grade only two weeks before, all children considered me the most ignorant kid in the class and made jokes about me.
Now, as Mother examined my report card, she asked, “What’s this grade in reading?” (Her tone of voice told me that I was in trouble.) Mother knew that I wasn’t doing well in math, but she did not know (2) .
“Benjamin,” she said, “are these your grades?” She held the card in front of me as if I hadn’t seen it before.
“Oh, yeah, but you know, it doesn’t mean much.”
“No, that’s not true, Bennie. It means a lot.”
“Just a report card.”
“But it’s more than that.”
I prepared to listen, yet I was not all that interested. I did not like school very much
and (3)_________________ . What did I have to look forward to?
“Education is the only way you’re ever going to succeed in life. Do you understand that?” “Yes, Mother.”
“If you continue getting these kinds of grades you’re going to spend the rest of your life sweeping floors in a factory. That’s not the kind of life that I want for you. You have to work harder. Do you understand that?”
“Yes, Mother.” Each time she paused, I said those words.
The next day was like the previous ones — just another bad day in school, another day
of being laughed at because (4)_________________ and couldn’t write any word
right on the spelling test.
Two evenings after the episode with the report card, Mother came home about an hour before our bedtime. Curtis, my brother, and I were watching TV. She walked across the room, switched off the set, and faced both of us. “Boys,” she said, “you’re wasting too much of your time in front of that television. You don’t get an education from staring at television all the time.”
Before either of us could make a protest, she told us, “So from now on, you will not watch television, (5)___________________________________ .”
“Just two programs?” I couldn’t believe she would say such a terrible thing.
“And only after you’ve done your homework. One more thing, you don’t play outside
after school until (6)_________________ . This is what we’re going to do.”
The loss of TV and playtime was bad enough. I got up off the floor, feeling as if everything was against me.
“And that isn’t all,” she said. “Come back, Bennie.”
I turned around, wondering what else there could be.
“In addition,” she said, “to doing your homework, you have to read two books from
the library each week. Every week.”
“Two books? Two?” (7)________________ , I had never read a whole book in my life.
“Yes, two. When you finish reading them, you must write me a book report just like you do at school. You’re not living up to your potential, so I’m going to see that you do. Bennie, is it clear?”
“Yes, Mother.” I agreed to do what Mother told me but I did not like it. Mother was being unfair and wanted more of us than other parents did.
2) Fill in the missing parts of the sentences (from a to h) into the correct place in the text (from 1 to 7). There is one letter that you do not need to use. (identifying the internal organisation of a text)
a) Even though I was in the fifth grade
b) I was a really good reader
c) only two programs each week
d) I did not do any problem right in arithmetic
e) until I went to bed
f) you’ve done all your homework
g) I was doing so poorly in every subject
h) there was no reason why I should