READING 9th

I .Read the text about memories and decide if the statements 1–7 are true (T) or false (F).

OLD MEMORIES

What is memory? It is the ability to remember past thoughts and feelings. If we didn’t remember anything, we wouldn’t learn anything. All our experiences would be lost when they ended.

So why do we forget some things? In general, it is time which has an effect on our memory. It passes, we learn something new, and that replaces what we learned before. An example of this is when we get a new telephone number. It takes some time to learn because we can’t stop thinking of the number we had before.

You can also forget something because you want to forget it, perhaps because it is a bad memory. Sometimes a smell, a sound, a taste or a word makes you suddenly think of it again. This has happened to me.

The other day I was out shopping with my wife and children. We were in the supermarket when I heard my name. I turned round and looked into the face of a man. He seemed familiar, although older and greyer than I expected. Maybe it was someone I hadn’t seen for a long time. From work? An old friend? A neighbour? I was annoyed with myself. Who was it? I had completely forgotten. The man smiled. ‘You don’t remember me, do you, Shorty?’ That’s when I remembered.

‘Shorty’ was what everybody called me at school. I was the short boy who nobody ever wanted on their basketball team. At the time, it seemed like the most important thing in the world. I used to spend hours of my spare time trying hard to get balls in baskets. Finally, I gave up and took up tennis.

I hadn’t thought about those days for years. I hadn’t wanted to remember them. It had not been a pleasant feeling to know I wasn’t as good as everybody else. I said hello to this person from my past, and walked away as soon as I could. The curious thing was I was taller than him now.

1         To be able to learn new things we must remember some of the old ones.  _

2         We sometimes want to forget bad memories. 

3         First, the writer considered the man a complete stranger.  

4         The man was doing his best to be friendly.  ___

5         The writer used to play basketball while at school. 

6         The writer remembered well why he was called ‘Shorty’.  ___

7         The writer felt pleased and said hello to the man.

II. Complete the sentences with the correct prepositions.

     1    Why don’t we go _________ a ride?

     2.  The town decided to turn the area near the river _________ a park.

     3. The film is set _________ 16^th century France.

     4. Some animals are _________ risk of extinction.

     5.  You need to put _________ weight. You’re much too thin.

  6.  After the demonstration, we helped to remove the rubbish _________ the square.

    7. This film is based _________ a book by JK Rowling

  8. Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge came first _________ the finishing line in the 2016 Olympic marathon in Rio de Janeiro.

    9. What time do we need to check _________ of the hotel?

     10. He’s been _________ a diet for three weeks already and he hasn’t lost a kilo!