Variant 1 Reading Second Semester (9 form)

Stephenie Meyer is the best-selling author of the young adult novel Twilight and its sequels. She grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and was one of six children. She ____ her husband, Christian, at school, but they didn’t marry until after she had left University. 

They had three sons, and Stephenie chose ____ at home to look after them. 

Then one night, Meyer had a dream ____ she couldn’t stop thinking about. She decided to write a novel about the characters in her head. 

She spent her days thinking about the plot, and then late at night, while her children ____ , she wrote a novel about Edward, a vampire, and Bella, a human girl. 

In the novel, the two characters fall in love with each other and of course there are plenty of ____ between them. 

After three months, Stephenie ____ a 500 page manuscript. 

Soon after, she found an agent who was delighted ____ her work. It wasn’t long before she had a publisher and a three-book deal. 

Today, Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight books ____ into films and are known all over the world.

It’s strange to think that if Stephenie Meyer hadn’t had a dream, she probably ____ have written the novels.

But it’s fairly certain now that if she writes ____ more books they will probably be best-sellers too.

Henry Moore: sculptor

Henry Moore was born in 1898, in a small house in Castleford, in the north of England. He was the seventh child in a family of eight children. His father was a miner and the family were very poor. Despite this, his father wanted his children to be educated, so he sent them to a local school. In his teenage years, Henry was already very clever, and he also showed an ability for art. He went to Castleford Grammar School and later became a teacher there. He might have stayed at the school, but when the First World War started Henry was sent to fight in the army.

1      People noticed Henry Moore had a talent for art when he …

In 1917, Henry was injured during the Battle of Cambrai, and he didn’t fight again. Instead, he spent the rest of the war training new soldiers. After the war, he realised that he didn’t want to be a teacher any more. He wanted to follow his dream of being an artist. In 1921, he was accepted at the Royal College of Art. He was very talented, but he wanted to be different from everybody else. He began to experiment with different modern styles of art. This was a problem for his teachers who were trying to teach more formal, traditional art. They couldn’t understand what Henry wanted to do.

2 After he was injured in the First World War, Henry …

In 1917, Henry was injured during the Battle of Cambrai, and he didn’t fight again. Instead, he spent the rest of the war training new soldiers. After the war, he realised that he didn’t want to be a teacher any more. He wanted to follow his dream of being an artist. In 1921, he was accepted at the Royal College of Art. He was very talented, but he wanted to be different from everybody else. He began to experiment with different modern styles of art. This was a problem for his teachers who were trying to teach more formal, traditional art. They couldn’t understand what Henry wanted to do.

3      When he was at the Royal College of Art, his teachers …

In 1924, Henry left England and went travelling in Italy and Paris. He studied Michelangelo and Giovanni Pisano. When he visited the Louvre Museum in Paris, he became interested in sculpture. Back in London, he married Irina Radetsky, who he had met at art college. He began teaching at the Royal College of Art and at the same time, he worked on his own art. His first public sculpture was called West Wind, cut in the stone of a building in London, above St James’s Park underground station.

4 When he returned to London after travelling in Europe, he …

In the 1930s, Moore became a member of the modern art movement. He admired artists like Pablo Picasso and Jean Arp. Then, during the Second World War, he worked as a war artist and drew many pictures of ordinary people in London escaping the bombing. These have become well known. After the war, he was given many awards, including the International Prize for Sculpture in 1948. He died in 1986. In September 2000, Moore Square was opened on the site where he was born in Castleford.

5      During the Second World War he …

Complete the text with the missing sentences A–F. There is one sentence you do not need.

The game of love

With the rise of social networking sites and online communication of all kinds, the idea that we can meet and interact with people online is becoming more and more acceptable. Across the globe, people can share hobbies and interests – or even meet that ‘special someone’. 1_____ If you are careful and follow a few sensible rules, it’s a relatively safe way to meet a romantic partner. And, these days, more and more people are taking virtual dating a step further.

Online gaming has become very popular in recent years. Thousands of people spend hours each day having adventures in virtual fantasy worlds. Missions or quests within the game often require characters to work together to solve problems and progress through the game’s levels. 2_____ Using this technology, friendships can sometimes form between players through their virtual characters or ‘avatars’.

Online games are now so sophisticated that players are not restricted to a single path and game progression as they were in earlier games. Since the development of ‘go anywhere’ gameplay, characters can wander around and explore the fantasy landscape however they like. Or they can just sit together next to a virtual waterfall and chat. And they do! Friends who meet up to kill a dragon may sit down later to talk about their lives and dreams. ³_____

But is it really possible to form an accurate impression of a person through the way he or she behaves in an online game? 4_____ And they may create avatars who have characteristics they don’t have in real life. However, psychologists say that most gamers create avatars that are surprisingly true to themselves. Of course, they may not really be a 6-foot warrior, but there is a stronger connection to reality than people might expect. And their interactions with others are sometimes more frank and honest than they might be if they were on a date in the real world.

⁵______ Gamers, online daters and users of social networks have to be cautious. In the twenty-first century we are all learning what it means to be connected to the rest of the world – and we need to be very careful when we choose how connected we want to be. However, growing numbers of people are choosing to meet, chat, date – and even get married in the virtual world!