Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 325 views

    Reading Comprehension Passage A

    Uploaded by

    Sahran Abrar
    Maire McNair has traveled from Ireland to Alaska to be a school teacher at a trading post. As her boat arrives, she sees colorful local women and men wading into the water to help unload cargo. A bare-chested man named Daniel gracefully swims out and lifts Maire from the boat. He has dark eyes and long black hair with tattoos on his hands. Mrs. Paxson, who runs the mission, notes Daniel doesn't usually visit and has him take Maire ashore while a man named George carries her. When they arrive, Maire is greeted by a group of local children and works to communicate that she is the new school teacher.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Reading Comprehension Passage A

    Uploaded by

    Sahran Abrar
    325 views2 pages
    Maire McNair has traveled from Ireland to Alaska to be a school teacher at a trading post. As her boat arrives, she sees colorful local women and men wading into the water to help unload cargo. A bare-chested man named Daniel gracefully swims out and lifts Maire from the boat. He has dark eyes and long black hair with tattoos on his hands. Mrs. Paxson, who runs the mission, notes Daniel doesn't usually visit and has him take Maire ashore while a man named George carries her. When they arrive, Maire is greeted by a group of local children and works to communicate that she is the new school teacher.

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Maire McNair has traveled from Ireland to Alaska to be a school teacher at a trading post. As her boat arrives, she sees colorful local women and men wading into the water to help unload cargo. A bare-chested man named Daniel gracefully swims out and lifts Maire from the boat. He has dark eyes and long black hair with tattoos on his hands. Mrs. Paxson, who runs the mission, notes Daniel doesn't usually visit and has him take Maire ashore while a man named George carries her. When they arrive, Maire is greeted by a group of local children and works to communicate that she is the new school teacher.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    325 views2 pages

    Reading Comprehension Passage A

    Uploaded by

    Sahran Abrar
    Maire McNair has traveled from Ireland to Alaska to be a school teacher at a trading post. As her boat arrives, she sees colorful local women and men wading into the water to help unload cargo. A bare-chested man named Daniel gracefully swims out and lifts Maire from the boat. He has dark eyes and long black hair with tattoos on his hands. Mrs. Paxson, who runs the mission, notes Daniel doesn't usually visit and has him take Maire ashore while a man named George carries her. When they arrive, Maire is greeted by a group of local children and works to communicate that she is the new school teacher.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Passage A: A Trading Post in Alaska

    It is 1890. Maire McNair a young woman from Belfast in Northern Ireland has travelled to Alaska in
    North Marica to be a school teacher at a trading post. Maire has grown up hearing stories about Selkie
    Folk, people who take on the appearance of humans but are really seals and belong to the sea.

    A babble of shouts and riotous color drew her attention from the view above to the shore in front.
    Unfamiliar words and sounds accosted her ears, as did pungent odors of smoke and fish. Women
    dressed in bright calico colors, bare feet visible from beneath their skirts, and scarves atop their heads,
    shuffled small children out of the way in readiness for their landing.

    Nearby, turbaned men with hair cut rough below their ears began to wade into the water, their dun-
    colored trousers rolled o their knees. It wasn’t all wild colour and excitement; among these rainbow
    clothes a few stood out in their darker browns and blacks of merino wool and thick cotton trousers, and
    the lighter whites and beiges of linen shirts.

    Just before the boat could go no further a man from the group moved towards them, parting the fish
    and that thronged the water. He wore none of the bright cottons of dark wools. His chest was bare and
    he glided through the water with a rhythm so graceful Maire wondered what the water might conceal
    beneath his hips. He was truly a creature of the sea with his dark tilted eyes and coal-black hair that
    hung long and loose about his shoulders, and a body that moved through the current like liquid.

    He arrived at the boat and reached up for her. World tattoos rippled on the back of his hands as he
    gestured her to come. Maire gasped at the sight of such primal markings. The Indian noted her reaction
    but no remark, only raised his brow a fraction and gestured once again for her to come.

    “Daniel.” Mrs. Paxson addressed this black-haired man with some surprise. “We don’t usually see you at
    the mission. “She nodded to a short wiry man wading through the water in Daniel’s wake. “Oh good,
    George, you’re here. You can take me ashore. Daniel is taking Miss McNair, the school teacher”

    […] Daniel deposited Maire on the bank and, without a word, headed to the forest above that quickly
    swallowed him whole. Where was his home, if not here by the sea? How much claim on him had that
    forest that absorbed him so completely it was as though he were part of it? What was he, if not of the
    sea?

    “Don’t just stand there gawking, girl,” said Mrs Paxson. “Get yourself up to the trading post and help Mr
    Paxson unpack the stores. I’’’ be along in a short while. “ She turned back to the men surrounding her
    and continued to issue orders about the cargo.

    Suppressing her annoyance Maire nodded, groped for her skirts and made her way towards the cluster
    of vertically planked buildings, When she reached the building most likely to be the trading post, she
    realized she had acquired a group of followers who now crowded behind her. Maire turned around and
    smiled feebly at them. Faces, very young and old, male and female, stared expectantly at her. A young
    girl dressed in bright red calico pressed forward.
    “Are you the school teacher?”

    “Yes, yes.” Maire nodded vigorously. “I am the school teacher.”


    She said in slowly and loudly, hoping they would understand her words. “School teacher,” she repeated,
    pointing to her chest. “Miss McNair”

    They all giggled. Had she said something wrong? Just as she desperately searched their faces for a clue
    to the misunderstanding, a door opened behind her.

    “I thought I head voices,” said Mr Paxson. He stepped down beside Maire, facing the group. “I see
    you’ve found youself the welcoming committee.” He spoke to the group using another language, a
    language full of air and sea. Their language.

    You might also like