Anecdote

   Text 1 
He was a young father, wheeling the pram through the garden while the baby was screaming its head off. “Take it easy, Jason,” he said calmly, “There’s nothing to worry about.”

      A middle-aged woman noticed his soothing manner and marveled at the new breed of young husband.

      When the baby screamed even louder she heard him say, “Cool it, Jason, don’t get excited, lad, cool it soon.”

      Touched by his gentle manner the women leaned into the pram and cooed, “There, there, Jason. What’s bothering you?”

      “Excuse me, lady,” said the father, “That’s Jeremy, I’m Jason.”

                                                (Taken from Enriching Your Vocabulary through Anecdotes 2)

1. Jason was the name of ….

a. the baby

b. the father

c .the women

d. the old women

e. the middle-aged women

2. The coda of the text above is ….

a. when the young father took his baby for a walk

b. when the baby cried loudly

c. when the women looked him

d. when the women tried to help the man

e. when the man explained about their names

3. The text above is told by ….

a. the young father

b. the baby

c. the women

d. a third person

e. the young mother

Text 2

Mrs. Dickson was having a lot of trouble with her skin, so she went to her doctor about it. However, the doctor could not find anything wrong with her, so he sent her to the local hospital for some tests. The hospital, of course, sent the result of the tests directly to Mrs. Dickson’s doctor, and the next morning he telephoned her to give her a list of things that he thought she should not eat, as any of them might be the cause of her skin trouble.

      Mrs. Dickson carefully wrote all the things down on a piece of paper, which she the left beside the telephone while she went out to ladies’ meeting.

      When she got back home two hours later, she found her husband waiting for her. He had a big basket full of packages beside him, and he saw her, he said, “Hello, sweetheart. I have done all the shopping for you.”

      “Done all my shopping?” she asked in surprise. “But how did you know what I wanted?”

      “Well, when I got home I found your shopping list beside the telephone,” answered her husband, “so I went down to the shops and bought everything you had written down.”

      Of course, Mrs. Dickson had to tell him that he had bought all the things the doctor did not allow her to eat.

1)        Why did Mrs. Dickson visit a doctor?

a)       To see the local hospital.            

b)        To check the list of food.

c)       To visit someone.              

d)       To consult the result of the test.

e)       To examine her skin trouble

2)        Which statement is NOT TRUE according to the passage?

a)       Mrs. Dickson’s husband loved his wife very much.

b)       Her husband bought everything his wife needed.

c)       Mrs. Dickson put her note next to the telephone.

d)       The doctor could not easily find the cause of Mrs. Dickson trouble.

e)       Mrs. Dickson was not allowed to eat the food her husband had bought.

3)        The first paragraph tells about ____.

a)       how the doctor examined Mrs. Dickson

b)       what the hospital sent to the doctor

c)       what Mrs. Dickson should eat

d)       why Mrs. Dickson visited the doctor

e)       when the doctor sent Mrs. Dickson to the hospital

4)        The text above is in the _____ form.

a)       anecdote              b)  descriptive      c)  narrative
d)  news item               e)  procedure

5)        The communicative purpose of the above text is ____.

a)       to describe a particular person

b)       to critique an event for a public audience

c)       to retell events for the purpose of informing and entertaining

d)       to share with others an account of an unusual and amusing incident

e)       to amuse, entertain and to deal with actual or vicarious experience in different ways

6)        “… all the things the doctor did not allow her to eat.” (The last sentence)

The synonym of the underlined word is ____.

a) ask         b)  force               c)  permit             

d)  forbid    e)  instruct

Text 3

Mrs Jones was very fond of singing. She had a good voice, except that some of her high notes tended to sound like a gate which someone had forgotten to oil. Mrs Jones was very conscious of this weakness, and took every opportunity she could find to practise these high notes. As she lived in a small house, where she could not practise without disturbing the rest of the family, she usually went for long walks along the country roads whenever she had time, and practised her high notes there. Whenever se heard a car or a person coming along the road, she stopped and waited until she could no longer be heard before she started practising again, because she was a shy person, and because she was sensitive about those high notes.

      One afternoon, however, a fast, open car came behind her so silently and so fast that she did not hear it until it was only a few yards from her. She was singing some of her high and most difficult notes at the time, and as the car passed her, she saw an anxious expression suddenly come over its driver’s face. He put his brakes on violently, and as soon as the car stopped, jumped out and began to examine all his tyres carefully.

      Mrs Jones did not dare to tell what the noise he had heard really been, so he got back into his car and drove off as puzzled as he had been when he stopped.

1)      The text is about _____.

a)     a country road               c)  Mrs Jones weakness in high notes     e)  a shy woman

b)     a speeding driver           d)  an anxious driver

2)      Which of the following statements is NOT TRUE about the text?

a)     Mrs Jones liked singing very much.

b)     Mrs Jones was a self-confident woman.

c)     Mrs Jones did not want to disturb her family with her bad high notes.

d)     The driver of the car did not know what the noise was about.

e)     The driver of the car checked his tyres.

3)      The text above is in the _____ form.

a)     narrative           b)  descriptive   c)  anecdote      d)  news item    e)  procedure                    

4)      The communicative purpose of the text above is ____.

a)     to describe a particular person

b)     to share with others an amusing event

c)     to critique an event for a public audience

d)     to retell an event for the purpose of entertaining

e)     to amuse, entertain and to deal with an actual or vicarious experience

5)      “Mrs Jones was conscious of this weakness, ….” (Paragraph 1 line 2}

The underlined word means ____.

a)     aware               b)  proud           c)  indifferent    d)  ignorant       e)  arrogant

6)      “ ….. she saw an anxious expression suddenly come over its driver’s face.” (Paragraph 2)

The word ‘its’ refers to ____.

a)     high note          b)  expression   c)  a brake         d)  a tyre           e)  a car

Text 4

      It was Jimmy’s birthday, and he was five years old. He got quite a lot of nice birthday presents from his family, and one of them was a beautiful drum.

      “Who gave him that thing?” Jimmy’s father asked when he saw it.

      “His grandfather did,” answered Jimmy’s mother.

      “Oh,” said his father.

      Of course, Jimmy liked his drum very much. He made a __1__ noise with it but his mother did not   __2__. His father was working during the day, and Jimmy was in bed when he got home in the evening, so he did not __3__ the noise.

      But one of the neighbours did not like the noise at all, so one morning a few days later, she took a sharp knife and went to Jimmy’s house while he was __4__ his drum. She said to Jim, “Hullo, Jimmy. Do you know, there’s __5__very nice inside your drum? Here’s a knife. Open the drum and let’s find it.”

1)      a)  terrible              b)  pleasant       c)  nice             d)  terrific         e)  marvellous

2)      a)  agree                 b)  approve       c)  like              d)  want            e)  mind

3)      a)  understand         b)  hear             c)  watch           d)  feel              e)  discover

4)      a)  biting                b)  hitting          c)  punching      d)  crashing       e)  lifting

5)      a)  nothing              b)  everything    c)  anything       d)  something    e)  none

Text 5       
      Al Brown was very good at fixing things around the house when they broke. One day he went to another city to do some work there, and his wife was alone in the house. While Mr. Brown was away, one f the faucets on the bathtub broke. Mrs. Brown didn’t know much about fixing broken faucets, so she telephoned a plumber.

      The plumber came to the house that afternoon and fixed the faucet in a few minutes. When he finished, he gave Mrs. Brown his bill for the work.

      She looked at it for several seconds and then said, “Your prices are very high, aren’t they? Do you know, the doctor costs less than this when he comes to the house?”

     “Yes, I know,” answered the plumber. “I know that very well, because I was a doctor until I was lucky enough to find this job a few months ago.”

     

1.  This text mainly tells us about ____.

a.       Al Brown’s visit to another city

b.      the payment of the doctor’s visit

c.       the broken faucet of Mrs. Brown’s bathtub

d.      the disappointment of Mrs. Brown about the bill given

e.       an unexpected incidents experienced by Mrs. Brown

2.  Which of the following sentences is TRUE according to the text?

a.       The plumber was smart.

b.      Al Brown went to the village to work.

c.       The plumber charged Mrs. Brown cheaply.

d.      Mrs. Brown was skillful in fixing broken faucets.

e.       Mrs. Brown called Mr. Brown to fix the broken faucet.

3.  “The plumber came to the house that afternoon…” (Paragraph 2)

     The word “plumber” means someone who is skillful in ____.

a.       making handicraft

b.      repairing vehicles

c.       operating computers

d.      fixing washing machines

e.       fitting pipes into building

4.  The type of text above is a/an ____.

a.       report

b.      recount

c.       anecdote

d.      narrative
e.    descriptive 

5.  What is the communicative purpose of the text?

a.       To share an amusing story with others.

b.      To inform the readers about Mrs. Brown’s problem.

c.       To present two points of view about the plumber’s issue.

d.      To describe the plumber’s experience in fixing broken faucets.

e.       To persuade readers to be concerned with Mrs. Brown’s case.

Text 6

Flight 50 has a pretty rough time above the ocean. Suddenly a voice comes over the intercom:”Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seat belts and assume crash positions. We have lost our engines and we are trying to put this baby as gentle as possible down on the water.”

‘Oh,  stewardess! Are there any sharks in the ocean below?” asks a little old lady terrified.

‘Yes, I am afraid there are some. But not to worry, we have a special gel in the bottle next to your chair designed especially for emergencies like this. Just rub the gel on to your arms and legs”.

 “And if I do this, the sharks won’t eat me?” asks the little lady. “Oh, they will e at you all right, only they won’t enjoy it so much”.

At the airport for a business trip, a man settles down to wait for the boarding announcement at gate 35. Then he hears the voice on the public address system saying, ”We apologize for the inconvenience, but Delta Flight 570 will board from Gate 41.” So, he picks up his luggage and carries it over to Gate 41. Not ten minutes later the public address voice tells him that Flight 570 will in fact be boarding from Gate 35. So, again he gathers his carry-on luggage and returns to the original gate. Just as he is settling down, the public address voice speaks again:” Thank you for participating in Delta’s physical fitness program”.

At a software engineering management course in the US, the participants are given an awkward question to answer. “If you had boarded an airliner and discovered that your team of programmers had been responsible for the flight control software, how many of you would disembark immediately?”

Among the ensuing forest of raised hands, one man sits motionless. When asked what he would do, he replies,” I would be quite content to stay on board. With this team’s software, the plane is unlikely to even taxi as far as the runway, let alone take off”.

During taxiing before taking off, the jetliner abruptly stopped turned around, returned to the gate. After an hour-long wait, it finally took off.”A concerned passenger asked the Flight attendant, “What was the problem?” “The pilot was bothered by a noise he heard in the engine,”  explained the flight attendant. “and it took us a while to find a new pilot”. 

When an airliner encounters severe turbulence in flight, the captain urgently announces,” Ladies and gentlemen, we’re going to have an emergency landing. Please be seated and fasten your seatbelt.” Immediately, the vibration stops. A passenger then hastily emerges from a lavatory. Knowing that he has been a long time in the lav, a stewardess asks him, “Are you all right, Sir?’ You were there awfully long! It’s a good thing the turbulence has stopped now!” “Oh yeah,” the man sheepishly explains, “I was just doing a little jogging in place in there.”

A group of hikers were being led through the USA wilderness by a guide. On the third day, the hikers noticed that they had been travelling in circles. “We’re lost!” one of the man complained. “I thought you said you were the best guide in the USA”. “ I am,” the guide answered, “but I think we may have wandered into Canada.”

“Pilot to tower! Pilot to tower! I am 300 miles from land. Six hundred feet over water and running out of fuel. Please instruct!”

“Tower to pilot. Tower to pilot. Repeat after me. “O Allah the Almighty….”