ASSIGNMENT 2

Read and study the following paragraph and then answer the questions

MY DAILY PRISON

I often get the impression that my workplace is a prison. For instance, the level of security at my
customer service company is incredible. I have to punch in a special code to enter the parking
lot; then the security guard carefully examines my badge even though he has seen me every day
for the past four years! The cafeteria also reminds me of prison. When it is time for lunch, I look
around at the dark gray walls. There are no pictures hanging there, just a thin layer of grease. We
line up and shuffle slowly through the line, hoping for a new recipe. However, we get wilted
salad, lumpy mashed potatoes with salty gravy, and a fatty chicken thigh. After lunch, I head
back to my closed-in cubicle and wait for our conference meeting time. It is always the same.
The supervisor enters and reads off in a robotic voice the latest company problems and concerns.
We sit quietly, not allowed to speak. After the meeting, I go back to work on the chain gang.
Time seems to stand still in my prisonlike workplace, but I always manage to make it 5:00 P.M.

- Punch in: to enter numbers using a keypad

- Shuffle: to walk slowly while dragging your feet
- Wilted: limp, not fresh
- Mash potatoes: crushed potatoes usually mixed with butter and milk
- Gravy: a sauce made of the juices of cooked meat
- A cubicle: a small work space usually made out of temporary or movable walls
- A chain gang: traditionally a group of prisoners connected by chains around their ankles,
doing hard labor outdoors.

QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever worked in an office? If so, describe the office where you work. If not, try
to imagine and describe your future workplace.
2. How do you imagine the ideal office would look?
3. What kind of paragraph is it?
4. Underline the topic sentence and circle the controlling idea.
5. List at least three supporting sentences showing that the writer’s workplace is similar a
prison.