Reading Comprehension

I don’t know how three of us managed to sleep in a tent the size of a single bed, but somehow we did. When we woke up the next day, my new friend Ingrid opened the front of the tent, and we all looked out. There, shining silver between the trees, was Loch Lomond. ‘Loch’ means ‘lake’ in Scottish, and Loch Lomond is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen! That morning after breakfast, we went horse riding around the lake. I’ve never ridden in such an amazing place.

 2. The next morning, Sally ...

In the next few days, I went BMX biking, tried rock climbing and played volleyball every day until I couldn’t stand up! It was great! The camp organises different activities every day. Most sports activities are in the afternoon, and in the morning you can choose lessons like drawing, chess, drama and cookery. I’ve never been very good at art or board games − and I’m not a great actor − so I went along to the cookery class.

3. What types of activities did Sally do at the camp?

I love food, but I didn’t know how to cook anything before I went to Scotland. Since I’ve been home, I’ve been baking cakes for my parents! (And they haven’t been to hospital with food poisoning yet, so I must be quite good at it!)

4. What happened after she came home from the camp?

You have to work hard on a summer camp. Everybody has to do chores, and you do activities all day, too − you can’t just sit around and hang out. But I really had a great time. The best thing about the camp was making new friends. Since I came home, Ingrid and I have been texting every day. The activities are great, but the people are even better.

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to go on a summer camp? I’ll tell you the answer in two words: exhausting and fun!

5. Overall, how did Sally feel about Camp Lomond?

In the early days, the ‘taggers’ were part of street gangs who were concerned with marking their territory. They worked in groups called ‘crews’, and called what they did ‘writing’.

2. What was the main motivation for the first taggers?

The term ‘graffiti’ was first used by The New York Times and the novelist Norman Mailer. Art galleries in New York began buying graffiti in the early seventies.

3. Who coined the phrase 'graffiti'?

But at the same time that it began to be regarded as an art form, John Lindsay, the mayor of New York, declared the first war on graffiti. By the 1980s it became much harder to write on subway trains without being caught, and instead many of the more established graffiti artists began using roofs of buildings or canvases.

4. How did things change after the first war on graffiti?

The debate over whether graffiti is art or vandalism is still going on. Peter Vallone, a New York city councillor, thinks that graffiti done with permission can be art, but if it is on someone else’s property it becomes a crime. ‘I have a message for the graffiti vandals out there,’ he said recently. ‘Your freedom of expression ends where my property begins.’ 

5. What does New York city councillor Peter Vallone say about graffiti?

On the other hand, Felix, a member of the Berlin-based group Reclaim Your City, says that artists are reclaiming cities for the public from advertisers, and that graffiti represents freedom and makes cities more vibrant.

6. What do the Berlin-based group Reclaim Your City say about graffiti?

For decades graffiti has been a springboard to international fame for a few. Jean-Michel Basquiat began spraying on the street in the 1970s before becoming a respected artist in the ’80s. The Frenchman Blek le Rat and the British artist Banksy have achieved international fame by producing complex works with stencils, often making political or humorous points. Works by Banksy have been sold for over £100,000. Graffiti is now sometimes big business.

7. What is the author's final point?