THE BUTTERFLY CIRCUS

1. Name five positive adjectives and 5 negative adjectives to describe

your personality.
- Positive:
Bright
Sincere
Simple
Honest
Funny
Negative:
Complicated
Expressionless
Sentimental
Shy
Painful

2. Find the adjective for each of these nouns. These words appear in the film.

beauty Beautiful
patience Calm
strength Strong
wonder
grace Funny

3. Who says the following sentences in the film?

Will – Mendez – Little boy – the man from the 1st circus -

A man who God himself has turned his Character

back upon!
Come on in ladies and gentleman, we Character
have the best freak show in town!
Where are your arms and legs? Sammy
But they are different from me! Will
You can be as strong as you like Mendez
I do run a different show Mendez
The greatest the struggle the more Mendez
glorious the triumph.

4. Now translate the sentences to Spanish:

1. Un hombre al que Dios mismo le ha dado la espalda

2. Adelante, damas y caballeros, tenemos el mejor espectáculo de fenómenos en la ciudad
3. Donde están tus brazos y piernas
4. Pero son diferentes a mi
5. Puedes ser tan fuerte como quieras
6. Dirijo un programa diferente
7. Cuando mayor sea la lucha, más glorioso será el triunfo
5. Complete the following table with the comparative and superlative forms which appear on
the film.

Adjective Comparative Superlative

good Better best
Happy happier Happiest
great genialer Genialsten
Strong stronger Strongman
Old New oldest
brave Most brave courage

6. Read the summary of the movie and complete it writing the verb in the correct tense: past
simple or past continuous.

In the 1930s America (1) ______sufferend_________ (suffer) the Great Depression. Many people
(2) ____did not have __________ (not have) a job and were poor. Everybody was sad and worried
for the difficult economic situation. In this context, Mendez was the charismatic master of a small
circus, the Butterfly Circus, and he (3) ___drove__________ (lead) his troupe through Southern
California; along the way, they were performing in small villages – sometimes for free – to bring
some joy in the sad lives of people. One evening, while they were travelling on tour, they (4)
_____stopped_________ (stop) at a funfair, where there were carousels, games and other
entertainment. At the Carnival Side Show, Mendez (5) ____met__________ (meet) Will, the main
attraction. He had no limbs and was on show as a freak of Nature with other odd characters (the
Tattooed Man, the Bearded Woman).
Will was bitter and unhappy but when he (6) ______saw_________ (see) Mendez he decided to
leave the Carnival and join the Butterfly Circus.
People in the circus welcomed him but one day, while Will (7)______spoke____________ (talk) to
Mendez he realized he had to find his way to become part of the act. Will started to know his new
friends and learned that many of them (8)___had_________ (have) a sad story in the past; Mendez
(9) _______give_________ (give) them a second chance in life.
One day, while the members of the troupe (10)_____swam___________ (swim) in the river, Will
accidentally realized that he could swim, so he decided to perform a difficult act in the Circus: he
climbed a tall pole and from the top of it he then dived into a small tank full of water.
Finally Will had found his way in life and was proud of himself; he was part of the show not
because of his strange aspect but because of what he was and what he could do.