Question
A1. Simple Factual Activity:
Say whether the following statements are True or False:
(1) When the young seagull. pretended to be falling asleep, his parents took notice of him.
(2) Flying across the young seagull, the mother dropped into his beak a piece of fish.
(3) The young seagull was fed a piece of fish by his mother.
(4) The young seagull's father was preening the feathers on his white back.
The sun was now ascending the sky, blazing on his ledge that faced the south. He felt the heat because he had not eaten since the previous nightfall.
He stepped slowly out to the brink of the ledge, and standing on one leg with the other leg hidden under his wing, he closed one eye, then the other, and pretended to be falling asleep. Still they took no notice of him. He saw his two brothers and his sister
lying on the plateau dozing with their heads sunk into their necks. His father was preening the feathers on his white back. Only his mother was looking at him. She was standing on a little high hump on the plateau, her white breast thrust forward. Now and
again, she tore at a piece of fish that lay at her feet and then scrapped each side of her beak on the rock. The sight of the food maddened him. How he loved to tear food that way, scrapping his beak now and again to whet it.
“Ga, ga, ga”, he cried begging her to bring him some food. “Gaw-col-ah”, she screamed back derisively. But he kept calling plaintively, and after a minute or so he uttered a joyful scream. His mother had picked up a piece of the fish and was flying across to him with it. He leaned out eagerly, tapping the rock with his feet, trying to get nearer to her as she flew across. But when she was just opposite to him, she halted, her wings motionless, the piece of fish in her beak almost within reach of his beak. He waited a moment in surprise, wondering why she did not come nearer, and then, maddened by hunger, he dived at the fish. With a loud scream he fell outwards
and downwards into space. Then a monstrous terror seized him and his heart stood still. He could hear nothing. But it only lasted a minute. The next moment he felt his wings spread outwards. The wind rushed against his breast feathers, then under his stomach, and against his wings. He could feel the tips of his wings cutting through the air. He was not falling headlong now. He was soaring gradually downwards and outwards. He was no longer afraid. He just felt a bit dizzy.
A2. Complex Factual Activity:
(1) What were the young seagull's parents doing?
A3. Activities based on Vocabulary:
Match the words in Column 'A' with their meanings in Column 'B':
Say whether the following statements are True or False:
(1) When the young seagull. pretended to be falling asleep, his parents took notice of him.
(2) Flying across the young seagull, the mother dropped into his beak a piece of fish.
(3) The young seagull was fed a piece of fish by his mother.
(4) The young seagull's father was preening the feathers on his white back.
The sun was now ascending the sky, blazing on his ledge that faced the south. He felt the heat because he had not eaten since the previous nightfall.
He stepped slowly out to the brink of the ledge, and standing on one leg with the other leg hidden under his wing, he closed one eye, then the other, and pretended to be falling asleep. Still they took no notice of him. He saw his two brothers and his sister
lying on the plateau dozing with their heads sunk into their necks. His father was preening the feathers on his white back. Only his mother was looking at him. She was standing on a little high hump on the plateau, her white breast thrust forward. Now and
again, she tore at a piece of fish that lay at her feet and then scrapped each side of her beak on the rock. The sight of the food maddened him. How he loved to tear food that way, scrapping his beak now and again to whet it.
“Ga, ga, ga”, he cried begging her to bring him some food. “Gaw-col-ah”, she screamed back derisively. But he kept calling plaintively, and after a minute or so he uttered a joyful scream. His mother had picked up a piece of the fish and was flying across to him with it. He leaned out eagerly, tapping the rock with his feet, trying to get nearer to her as she flew across. But when she was just opposite to him, she halted, her wings motionless, the piece of fish in her beak almost within reach of his beak. He waited a moment in surprise, wondering why she did not come nearer, and then, maddened by hunger, he dived at the fish. With a loud scream he fell outwards
and downwards into space. Then a monstrous terror seized him and his heart stood still. He could hear nothing. But it only lasted a minute. The next moment he felt his wings spread outwards. The wind rushed against his breast feathers, then under his stomach, and against his wings. He could feel the tips of his wings cutting through the air. He was not falling headlong now. He was soaring gradually downwards and outwards. He was no longer afraid. He just felt a bit dizzy.
A2. Complex Factual Activity:
(1) What were the young seagull's parents doing?
A3. Activities based on Vocabulary:
Match the words in Column 'A' with their meanings in Column 'B':
| 'A' | 'B' |
| (1) ascending | (a) grabbed |
| (2) maddened | (b) flying upward into the air |
| (3) soaring | (c) made one very angry |
| (4) seized | (d) rising up |
A4. Activities based on Contextual Grammar:
Read the following sentences carefully, underline the verbs and find out the tenses in the sentences:
(1) The sun was ascending now.
(2) Still they took no notice of him.
A5. Personal Response:
Complete the following statements:
(1) The seagull is afraid to fly because _______________ .
(2) Young birds are afraid to make their first flight because_______________.
