Practice- Adultos 1 ° A ñ o Prof. Acu ña

Exercise 1: READING

Nelson Mandela was born in Muezo, South Africa, on 18th July 1918. His father died when he was nine and he went to live with a chief of the Thembu tribe. Nelson grew up in two worlds: the traditional culture of his tribe and the terrible reality of apartheid. He studied law at university and left in 1942.

He started working in a law company. During this time he was living in Alexander and he was very poor. In 1952 he started his own law company with a friend, Oliver Thambo. They defended black Africans.

It was at this time that Nelson Mandela became active in the ANC (African National Congress) and he began to have problems with the police because of his anti-apartheid views. He was very active in politics and he spent very little time with his family because he was often hiding from the police – or in prision. He went to prison in 1964 and spent a total of 27 years there.

He was finally released in February 1990 and continued his work as a freedom fighter. He had a lot of international support and on 2nd May 1994, he became South Africa’s first black president.

He married Winnie, his second wife, in 1958, and they had two daughters called Zenani and Zindzi. Two of his other four children are still living. He is now divorced from Winnie.

a)Write True (T) – False (F) – I don’t know (DK) next to the following sentences. Then correct the wrong ones. 10pts.

1) Nelson Mandela was born in South America in 1918. __________________________________________________________________2) He started his own law company. __________________________________________________________________3) Because of his anti-apartheid views the police respected him. __________________________________________________________________4) Once he went out of prision he retired from public life. __________________________________________________________________5) He had six children in his two marriages. __________________________________________________________________

2- Answer the following questions or read the answers and make the questions. 20pts

1. Why did he go to live with the Thembu tribe?_____________________________________________________2. When did he start his new law company?________________________________________________________3. How long did he stay in prision?_______________________________________________________________4. _____________________________________________________?He became South Africa president in 19945. ______________________________________________________?They are called Zenani and Zindzi.

3- John meets his friend Peter or Monday. Read the dialogue and put the verbs in the past tense.

JOHN : How 0) was (be) your weekend?

PETER: I 1) ____________ a wonderful weekend.

JOHN : What 2) ________________(you/do)?

PETER: Lots of things. On Friday I 3) ________to the cinema...

JOHN : 4)______________________(you/see) ' Love at First Sight'?

PETER: No, 5)______________. I 6) ___________(see) 'The Soldier'. And then, on Saturday I

7)________________(dance) all night with Jane. It was terrific.

JOHN : And what about Sunday?

PETER: My uncle John 8)______________(visit) us and 9)____________________(stay) for lunch and then I

10) _________________(study) all afternoon.I 'm really tired today, what a busy weekend!

4- Complete the sentences with the past tense forms of the verbs in brackets.

William shakeaspeare (1) ................ (be) born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-On-Avon, England.

He (29 .......- (go) to a good local school, where he probably (3) ............... (study) Latin and Greek. In 1577 there

(4) ............... (be) some difficulties with money in his family, and William (5) ............... (start) to work in the family business of

glove-making.In 1583 he married Anne Hathaway. They (6) .................. (have) three children.

In the late 1580s Shakespeare went to London, where he (7) .......................... (stay) for most of his life. He

(8) ................... (write) plays and, with some of his friends and fellow actors, (9)........................... (help) to build his own

theatre, The Globe.

Shakespeare (10) .................. (die) on his birthday in 1616.

5- Read the sentences and underline the correct pronoun.

1. My sister lives in London. I don’t see her very often, but I speak to she/her every Sunday afternoon.

2. Peter and I / me went to the cinema yesterday afternoon.

3. They were very kind. They gave the children a present. Them / they/ their like it very much.

4. Us/ Our parents always visit us at Christmas.

5. I’m not sure, but I think his/him house is near the gym.

6. are – went - were they out last night?

7. did - would - are you like a drink?

8. My father goes to work on – by - in foot.

9. My birthday is on – in - at November the 11.

10. I´ve got any - some -a lot nice photos of Liz.

11. Fruit isn´t - aren´t expensive in my country.

12. I hate doing- cleaning - making the housework.

6- Complete the following sentences with the correct word. There are some words that you don't need.

film – working – drama- jokes -cheese- cartoon- rode- drove- tired- going- chess-

1- Brave Heart is a historical _____________.

2- I hate going to the gym because I don't like __________out. I'm lazy.

3- I'm always ______after a day work. I start early in the mornings and finish late at night.

4- Jane is very funny, she always tells good ___________and make people laugh.

5- when I was a child, I _________my bicycle in the park every Sunday.

6- I love The Simpsons. It's a funny _______________.

7- I love board games. Checkers, Monopoly and ___________are my favourite.

7- Read the following letter and circle the correct form of the verb:

8- Change the verbs in the following sentence into past tense.

1. Yesterday, I (go)________ to the restaurant with a client.

2. We (drive)__________ around the parking lot for 20 minutes in order to find a parking space.

3. When we (arrive)__________ at the restaurant, the place (be)_______ full.

4. The waitress (ask)______ us if we (have)_______ reservations.

5. I (say)_______, "No, my secretary (forget)__________ to make them."

6. The waitress (tell)_________ us to come back in two hours.

7. My client and I slowly (walk)____________ back to the car.

8. Then we (see)_________ a small grocery store.

9. We (stop)_________ in the grocery store and buy some sandwiches.

10. That (be)____________ better than waiting for two hours.

12th November, 2003Hi Maira, I (1) write/ ‘m writing/ wrote this letter from London where I (2) sit/ ‘m sitting /sat in my hotel room and I have wonderful news!(3) I come/ ‘m coming/ came to England because I want to (4) study/ ‘m studying/ studied English. The city is very nice and clean. I (5) lives/ lived/ ‘m living with a girl from Peru in a very nice hotel room in the city centre. I (6) have/ had/ ‘m having a great time here! Last weekend we (7) go/ went/ are going to Stonehenge and next weekend we are going to Scotland. Prices (8) aren’t/ weren’t/ are not going to be cheap in Europe, but I try to spend little so I can travel. I (9) stay/ stayed/ am staying here until the end of January and then I go back to Argentina.I hope you (10) have/ had/ are having a great time there too.See you in January!

Kisses! Monica