Unit 5 - The Magic of Reading A
Unit 5 - The Magic of Reading A
Unit 5 - The Magic of Reading A
Unit
5 The magic of reading Te s t A
LISTENING 15 Minutes
A. You will hear two short conversations. For each conversation, put a tick ( ) in the
box below the correct picture.
A B C
A B C
B. You will hear a conversation between a girl, Diana, and her best friend, Dan, about a
book they have just finished reading and the conference they went to. Decide if the
statements are right (R) or wrong (W).
1. Dan was expecting to enjoy the book.
2. Diana and Dan agree that the book was about the city of New York.
3. Diana feels the conference was boring because it was too long.
4. Dan was upset about how some of the audience behaved during the conference.
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5. Dan was disappointed with the way the professor gave his talk.
(Adapted from: Cambridge Tests)
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READING COMPREHENSION 20 Minutes
THE KICKSTARTER
“Butterfly in the sky. I can go twice as high. Take a look. It’s in a book.
A Reading Rainbow.”
For 26 years, this song meant something special to American kids. The PBS TV
programme Reading Rainbow, hosted by the actor LeVar Burton, introduced children
5 to books and motivated them to read and learn. Thanks to crowdfunding, the show is
back to stay like many other things in the ‘80s and the ‘90s.
On Wednesday morning, Burton created a Kickstarter to bring Reading Rainbow to
a new audience. While he had already launched a tablet app for the programme two
years ago, his new goal was to put the programme on the Web for families, build a
10 special version for classrooms and make all this free for schools in need. “I believe that
every child has a right, and a need, to be literate. We have a responsibility to prepare
our children… and right now, the numbers show that we, as a society, are neglecting
this particular responsibility,” he wrote on the Kickstarter page. And people agreed. In
just 12 hours, around 23,000 Reading Rainbow fans decided to pitch in, far surpassing
15 Burton’s initial goal of $1 million. By the end of the day, the Kickstarter had already
raised $1.5 million, with 34 days left to go.
Burton makes it clear that Reading Rainbow encourages children to love and
explore books. But reading as a hobby has been steadily declining over the years.
According to a recent report by Common Sense Media, “the percentage of 9-year-olds
20 reading for pleasure once or more per week had dropped based on recent government
studies. There has been an even larger decrease among older children.” And this has a
real impact on literacy and language proficiency. According to the National Education
Association report, “children who are read to at home have a substantial advantage
over children who are not.”
25 There is a real demand for an engaging programme that can challenge children to
read on their own and develop their literacy skills, and Burton believes that Reading
Rainbow can fill that need. “You take advantage of where kids are. Back in the ‘80s that
was in front of the television set,” Burton told the Verge. “Today, they use the web
which means you have to too. Universal access is really what this effort is all about.”
Adapted from: http://mic.com
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Swoosh · 9.˚ ano Evaluation tests
B. Say whether these statements are right (R) or wrong (W) according to the text.
1. Reading Rainbow was an American children’s television series that aired on PBS
Kids and encouraged children to read.
2. This TV programme has been re-launched thanks to money raised by a website.
3. Thanks to the Kickstarter Campaign Burton wants his programme to be available
for schools for a very low price.
4. The Kickstarter Campaign to Revive ‘Reading Rainbow’ succeeded in reaching its
goal in just a day.
5. Nowadays more children read as a hobby.
C. Find words in the text that have the same meaning as the words below.
1. inspired (paragraph 1):
2. published; made public (paragraph 2):
3. ignoring (paragraph 2):
4. pastime (paragraph 3):
5. abilities (paragraph 4):
3. Why does Burton think that this generation needs his app more than the previous
generation?
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SW9TF_TESTES-8
GRAMMAR 10 Minutes
A. Read the sentences and choose the best verb for each space.
B. Rewrite the second sentence so that it means the same as the first one. Write no
more than four words.
2. Burton said: “If I were you, I would visit the local library.”
Burton suggested library.
5. “Do you like reading science fiction books?” Sarah asked Burton.
Sarah wanted to know science fiction books.
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Swoosh · 9.˚ ano Evaluation tests
TOP ten teen books • Do you agree with this book list?
1. The Hunger Games, • Have you read any of them?
by Suzanne Collins
2. Harry Potter, • If so, identify the book and the author;
by J.K. Rowling mention the general type and genre of the
book; stress what you adored about it.
3. Twilight,
by Stephenie Meyer • Leave your comment.
4. Divergent,
by Veronica Roth
5. City of Bones,
by Cassandra Clare
6. The Fault in Our
Stars,
by John Green
7. The Perks of Being
a Wallflower,
by Stephen Chbosky
8. The Hobbit,
J.R.R. Tolkien
9. Eragon,
by Christopher Paolini
10. Charlotte’s Web,
by E.B. White
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