Unit One People Around Us

Enhance Your Language Awareness

Words in Action

▆ Working with Words and Expressions

1. In the box below are some of the words you have learned in this unit. Complete the following sentences with them. Change the form where necessary.

▆ Answers: 1) crease 2) hint 3) assured 4) awaiting 5) hovering 6) scrawled 7) glistening 8) frail 9) sole 10) visible 11) engaged 12) biased 13) dreading 14) grinning

2. In the boxes below are some of the expressions you have learned in this unit. Do you know how to use them in the proper context? Now check for yourself by doing the blank-filling exercise. Change the form where necessary.

▆ Answers: 1) for fear of 2) pulled up 3) except for 4) get by

5) make a living 6) every so often 7) in the background 8) Shut off

9) each and every 10) as it is

11) wraps … around her little finger 12) caught us …unawares

▆ Increasing Your Word Power

1. Choose the definition from Column B that best matches each phrasal verb in Column A, paying attention to the V+ Prep./Ad. collocation.

▆ Answers: 1) f 2) c 3) d 4) e 5) b 6) g 7) h 8) a

Fill in each blank in the following sentences with a proper phrasal verb. Change the verb form where necessary.

▆ Answers:

1) let out 2) clean … up 3) come through 4) waiting on 5) picked up 6) ended up 7) headed for 8) ran through

2. The prefixes ex-, fore-, pre- mean “former, before, or in advance” while the prefix post- means “after or later than”. Study the following examples and form words by adding ex-, fore-, pre-, post- to the words given in the table and then complete each of the following sentences with a proper word you have just formed. Change the verb form where necessary.

▆ Answers: 1) foretell 2) preview 3) forerunner 4) postscript 5) postgraduate 6) precondition 7) ex-husband

Grammar in Context

Task 1: Combine the given sentences into one by using attributive clauses. ▇ Answers for reference:

1) I encountered many people whose lives amazed me. (See Para. 3, Text B)

2) We drove in silence to the address (that/which) she had given me. (See Para. 21, Text B) 3) He pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing cart

were waiting. (See Para. 16, Text A)

4) I had seen too many people trapped in a life of poverty who depended on the cab as their

only means of transportation. (See Para. 6, Text B)

5) Their social worker, who stopped to check on Stevie every so often, admitted Stevie and

his mother had fallen between the cracks. (See Para. 6, Text A)

Task 2: Complete the following sentences by translating the Chinese in the brackets into English. Be sure to use present particles or past particles to modify nouns. ▇ Answers for reference:

well-considered decision, folded paper, written notice, laptop storing my annual report, a postman delivering express mail

Cloze

▆ Complete the following passage with words chosen from Text A. The initial letter of each is given.

▆ Answers: 1) reliable 2) syndrome 3) adopted

4) got done with 5) gloomy 6) or something 7) chance 8) come through 9) barely 10) in good shape 11) booth 12) mess 13) scrawled 14) peeking 15) in

Translation

1. Translate the following sentences into English, using the words and expressions given in brackets.

▆ Answers for reference:

1) What I didn’t count on was that over time I would sincerely take pride in being a social

worker.

2) Shooting a quick look at the clock on the wall, Grandma let out a cry, “Oh, My dear /My

goodness/My gracious, we’re going to miss the train!”

3) At the kindergarten entrance, I always see some kids/children holding firmly on to their

parents. Should young parents be sterner towards their kids/children and leave immediately under these circumstances?

4) In the dim street light stood a weeping little girl/ a girl weeping.

5) When making donations, rich people should be as considerate as possible in order not to

put the recipient in an embarrassing situation.

6) Since last month, my work has been revolving around the routine office duties, so now I

am counting the days until the National Day comes, when my friends and I are going hiking in the countryside.

2. Translate the following paragraph into English using the words and expressions in the box below.

▆ Answer for reference:

That was a time when life was difficult for everyone. My family could barely get by on my small income from driving a cab. One late night I responded to a call for a cab ride. To my surprise, when I arrived at the address, I found it was a frail old lay who was awaiting me. After she got into the cab, I engaged her in conversation. I learnt that she was going to the hospice. Her doctor said she didn’t have very long. The old lady told me to drive through the downtown area. She pointed at some old buildings, telling me those were the places where she used to work or live. When the cab finally pulled up in front of the hospice, I didn’t accept her fare. In the rest of the day, I was lost in thought. Though I had to make a living, I lived not for the sole purpose of surviving. When circumstances looked gloomy, the small favour I had done could be a candle light. However faint the light was, it managed to warm up a soul and ennobled me as well. I did take pride in that small favour.

Theme-Related Writing

▆ Do one of the following writing tasks after class.

1) Suppose you were Frannie, the head waitress, in Text A. Write a short story about Stevie

from your perspective.

2) Read the following newspaper clipping and write a short essay on the question:

Should We Offer Seats to Elderly People on the Bus during Rush Hours?

▆Sample Essay for Task 1:

We all knew Stevie was mentally handicapped, so everyone, especially our boss himself, doubted whether he would be a capable busboy in the truck-stop restaurant where I worked as the head waitress. However, our worries were gradually removed one week later. Smiling and hard-working, Stevie won over all our trucker regulars as well as us employees.

Later we learnt that Stevie badly needed the job because the money he earned made it possible for his mother and him to live together; otherwise he would be sent to a group home. So you can imagine how worried Stevie was when he had to take sick leave for heart surgery. He was afraid that he would lose his job. After the operation, in the week before he returned, he called 10 times to make sure that he could still have the job back. At that time, what concerned me most was how Stevie could handle the huge medical bills.

But something happened which completely caught me unawares. Our regular customers, those warm-hearted truckers, were so generous that they, together with their companies, contributed over $10,000 for Stevie. That Thanksgiving Day was a big day when Stevie was back to work and when the money was presented to Stevie as a surprise gift. I cried a bit while people were cheering for the occasion.

Now, Stevie is still working here. Our boss thinks that Stevie is the best worker he has ever hired. (240 words)