Step Five B2.

2
READING & TRAINING K E Y T O T H E E X E R C I S E S

William Makepeace Thackeray

9. unmistakable 10. personality Page 38 – exercise 1
11. celebrated 12. harmless A. 5 B. 9 C. 3 D. 7 E. 1 F. Extra

Vanity Fair
13. usage 14. rapidly heading G. 6 H. 0 I. 4 J. 2 K. 8
15. authoritative 16. respected
Page 38 – exercise 2
Chapter Two a. Because his sisters thought that
she was a dull young woman.
Page 26 – exercise 1 b. Because the markets were
1. D 2. C 3. D 4. B 5. C 6. B disturbed by the fall of Napoleon.
c. He needed money.
Page 27 – exercise 2 d. Becky.
K E Y T O T H E E X E R C I S E S A N D E X I T T E S T 1. B 2. A 3. E 4. G 5. A 6. D 7. B e. She didn’t want Captain Crawley
8. F 9. G 10. C to begin courting her.
f. He paid for their dinners and
Page 7 – exercise 1 3. f. If he hadn’t been embarrassed by Page 28 – exercise 3
entertainment.
a. Calcutta. his bad behaviour at Vauxhall 1. get 6. few 11. even g. She thought he had prevented her
b. In England. Garden, Jos wouldn’t have left 2. until 7. like 12. as marrying Jos; and he thought that
c. Journalism. London. 3. but 8. who 13. there she was vain and ambitious.
d. Mental health problems. 4. g. If Becky hadn’t tried to marry 4. in 9. by 14. no h. She was already engaged.
e. A humorous magazine. Jos, he wouldn’t have proposed to 5. or 10. was 15. up
f. In monthly instalments. Becky Sharp. Page 39 – exercise 3
5. j. If she had thought the word Page 29 – exercise 4
g. It was a fair organised by the devil. a. She is not used to lots of snow in
h. Pre-Victorian times. sounded hot, Becky wouldn’t have Possible answer: the winter.
eaten a whole chilli pepper. Becky tries to become friends with b. In fact, she has never got used to
6. h. If Becky hadn’t spoken perfect everybody at Queen’s Crawley, singing in front of an audience.
Chapter One French, Miss Pinkerton would especially Sir Pitt and Miss Crawley. c. He is not used to being away from
Page 17 – exercise 1 have refused her as an articled She certainly seems to be dishonest his family for so long.
student. and scheming, but if I were in Becky’s d. She is not used to sitting still in a
a. F. He had only visited it.
7. c. If Jos had been relaxed with position, I would do exactly the same chair all day long.
b. F. She was going there for a visit
women, he wouldn’t have drunk thing. After all, as an educated, e. She got used to having a lot of
before she took up her position as
most of the punch. middle-class woman she had no money quite quickly.
governess in the household of Sir
8. a. If Jemima had obeyed her sister, opportunity to do anything else. She
Pitt Crawley.
she wouldn’t have given Becky a had to search for a rich husband or
c. F. Everyone loved Amelia. Chapter Four
copy of Johnson’s Dictionary. protector. Amelia could afford to be
d. T
9. d. If she’d been rich, Becky sweet and kind because she had a Page 40 – exercise 1
e. T
wouldn’t have become a governess. family to protect her, but Becky could
f. T 1. B 2. C 3. B 4. B 5. A 6. B
10. e. If Amelia hadn’t been kind and not: a life of poverty was waiting for
g. F. He did not ask her to marry him
patient, she wouldn’t have invited her. Page 48 – exercise 1
because he was so ashamed of his
Becky to stay at her family’s house. a. F – She was favourably impressed.
behaviour at Vauxhall Gardens. Page 29 – exercise 5
Page 19 – exercise 3 b. F – It was not important that she
Page 18 – exercise 2 Student’s activity
was married, in general, but he did
1. eighteenth 2. conversation
2. b. If Becky had married Jos, Vanity care very much that she had
3. criticism 4. influential Chapter Three
Fair would have ended after just married his son.
5. entries 6. careful
one chapter. c. T
7. meanings 8. amusing Page 29 – exercise 1
d. F – This was Rawdon’s opinion.
Student’s activity

2
 K E Y T O T H E E X E R C I S E S K E Y T O T H E E X E R C I S E S

e. T Page 49 – exercise 3 Page 58 – exercise 2 she began to write letters using

f. F – They frightened her and a. She was intelligent and Possible answer: Rawdon’s name. Clever girl! But I am
delayed her recovery. entertaining. Being rich and old is mostly sad and cleverer and I wrote Rawdon a letter
g. T b. He was wicked and handsome. bitter. You know perfectly well that telling him to go to my lawyer in
h. T c. He had married a woman, Becky, all your relatives are nice to you London. They rushed there and found
without money. because they want your money, and, I left only 20 miserable pounds! I
Page 48 – exercise 2
d. At first glance, it seems what is worse, they want you dead! heard, though, later, that Miss Sharp
Possible answers: found my joke quite amusing. Well,
contradictory, but actually it is not: Still, I have had fun. For example,
a. By sentiment he means that some she may not have money, but she does
Miss Crawley did like wicked, some years ago I was planning on
people feel sorry for the person have a sense of humour. I hope she
intelligent and beautiful people, leaving half of my money to Rawdon
who must auction his family found a way to market it!
but she liked money even more. because he was so handsome and
goods, and think with sadness of
wicked. Unfortunately, he married a Page 59 – exercise 3
the happier days of that person. Page 49 – exercise 4
penniless governess named Becky 1. would you like to stay
By satire, he means that some 1. F 2. B 3. H 4. A 5. C 6. D Sharp. What a stupid thing to do! I 2. managed to free
people do not feel at all sorry for
admit that Miss Sharp was quite sharp 3. was asked to dance by
the ‘great man’ who has lost his
Chapter Five and amusing, but all her wit was not 4. has only got the money
wealth. Perhaps they think of the
worth anything to me – I disinherited 5. would die if George did
rich man’s former arrogance and Page 52 – exercise 1 Rawdon. Of course, Miss Sharp 6. because he had encouraged
compare it, sarcastically, with his
1. C 2. C 3. B 4. A 5. B thought I would change my mind, and
present humiliation.
b. Today we saw the auction of Mr Page 58 – exercise 1
Sedley’s household goods. Anyone Page 60 – exercise 4
a. Her family no longer had any
could buy the intimate possessions 1
money.
connected with the poor man’s b. Dobbin told him that she would E
most happy moments. A simple set die if he didn’t. 2 M 3
of white china cups that sold for c. He cancelled his son’s name from G P R
little may have been those of many the family Bible and gave orders to O 4 5 E E
happy teas with his wife and his banker to no longer give his
daughter. A modest piano had V H 5 B A N K R U P T
son money.
nothing grand about it, but how d. That the campaign against 6 7 E O L O L 10
many Christmas Eves or other Napoleon was about to begin. N S 8 R U N 12 9 U N M A R R I E D
festive occasions were celebrated e. To Belgium to fight against 11 A U C T I O N N E 12 F U S S E E
around that humble instrument? Napoleon’s armies. U O 13 E Y L H D P
This, in short, is the fall of a once f. They were not all about money G C A S 14 M O R A L E A
proud and respected man. But and were correctly written, unlike
what about his sweet daughter H 16 K C S O T 15 D I C T I O N A R Y 17
the letters that Rawdon used to
Amelia? She will certainly have send. T Y B C 20 O T 21 T S
fewer suitors now. The only happy g. Because everybody was anxious 18 Y O U R 19 O R P H A N 23 E 21 S H Y 22 D U L L
note on this day was the sale of the for her to die in order to get her U O U O 23 T R U E R E
piano mentioned before. A dear money. N K N S E L 24 K E E N
friend of the family, Captain h. She asked him to come to London
Dobbin, bought it back for Amelia. G 25 E S T A T E A F D
because her lawyer had money for
We hope its music will sweeten R S S I E
him. This was true, but it was only
the bitter days to come. 20 pounds. E S R
i. She burst out laughing. 26 D A S H I N G

3 4
 K E Y T O T
Page 62 – exercise 5
1. c 2. b 3. d 4. c 5. a
Page 62 – exercise 6
a. burst out b. burst into c. burst
into d. burst out e. burst into
Chapter Six
Page 63 – exercise 1
1. C 2. A 3. B 4. C 5. C
Page 70 – exercise 1
a. His dress became increasingly
military.
b. Gambling, theatre and balls.
c. Because they frequented the
highest social circles.
d. He thought she was a humbug.
e. He danced with Becky and gave
her a note.
f. He realised that he was going to
battle and might die. This made
him feel guilty about the way he
had treated her.
g. He wanted him to take care of
Amelia if he died.
h. Some money he had won at cards
and his horses.
Page 70 – exercise 2
a. He sees it as a kind of a game or a
social event.
b. He takes it seriously, but he is also
used to it.
c. Even though Rawdon was not a
very serious young man, he did
have a heart. In short, he did have
a good side.
Page 71 – exercise 3
A. 3 B. 5 C. 1 D. 6 E. 2 F. 4
H E E X E R C I S E S K
Page 72 – exercise 4
a. made his way b. go out of my way
c. gets her way d. come your way
e. make way for f. get in the way
Chapter Seven
Page 72 – exercise 1
Student’s activity
Page 78 – exercise 1
6. A
1. C 2. A 3. C 4. C 5. A 6. D
Page 79 – exercise 2
Possible answer:
We could hear the sound of cannons
all around. I met a cowardly Belgian
soldier. He told me that the British
had lost, that the Duke of Wellington
was a prisoner of the French.
‘Absurd!’ I shouted. ‘Our brave men
could never lose to the French!’ I
think he wanted me to run, to try to
escape but I knew my duty. I had to
protect my sister. I had to find a way
out of Brussels for her. To do this I
went to a woman I knew. She asked
me for a huge amount of money for
her horses. For myself, I would have
stayed in Brussels, but for my sister I
would have paid any amount of
money. So, I bought these horses and
went to my sister. She was extremely
frightened and wanted to leave
Brussels immediately. I told her we
could leave, but only when we had
news of her noble husband. So I
protected my sister until we heard of
her husbands death, and then, and
only then, I escorted her home.
That then is the story of my departure
from Brussels. Some people have called
me a hero, but I prefer to think of
myself as a man who did his duty to his
family and to his country. That is all.
5 6
E Y T O T H E E X E R C I S E S
Thackeray and Waterloo b. She had not lived a very spiritual
life at all. She liked wicked,
Page 84 – exercise 1 naughty and witty people. All she
a. F – They were part of the middle thought about was money.
class.
b. F – His occupation of these Page 92 – exercise 3
countries was disastrous. 1. for 2. When 3. enough 4. in
c. F – It was destroyed off of Cape 5. about 6. himself 7. who 8. away
Trafalgar on 21st October 1805. 9. Taking 10. would 11. how
12. for 13. however 14. given
d. F – He did conquer Moscow but he
never defeated the Russian army 15. in
and the Russian people destroyed
the land. Chapter Nine
e. T
f. F – He was sent to Saint Helena. Page 98 – exercise 1
g. T a. He carried on with business as
usual even though he was grief-
Chapter Eight stricken.
b. He went to visit his son’s grave
Page 85 – exercise 1 and see the battlefield.
1. Colonel 2. to forgive 3. a fool c. He looked at her with hatred.
4. wrote her letters 5. the rectory d. To tell him how little money
6. fiancée 7. frightened 8. seventy George had left Amelia.
thousand e. He knew that she was loyal to the
memory of her dead husband.
Page 91 – exercise 1 f. Rawdon won at cards, and for the
a. F – She did not think she was the rest they lived on credit.
right wife for him because she had g. To enter London society.
no money. h. Because she was snubbed by
b. T London ladies who had heard
c. T
terrible stories about her.
d. T i. Because people came only to see
e. F – She went because Pitt, her his brilliant and attractive wife.
daughter’s fiancé, had told her that
Miss Crawley was rich. Page 98 – exercise 2
f. T a. Perhaps it was for both reasons: he
g. F – She was furious. felt hurt because his son disobeyed
h. T him and because George did not
i. T care about his father’s money.
Obviously, his father was very
Page 91 – exercise 2
proud of his fortune and could not
a. They probably talked about accept that his son would give it
horrible punishments after death up for love.
for your sins.
 K E Y T O T
b. He was once a servant of the
family, and now he was the
‘landlord’ of one of the members of
the family. In short, he was in a
higher position than his former
masters.
c. Yes, many people live on credit.
Page 99 – exercise 3
1. gentlemen 2. obsession
3. reputation(s) 4. creditors
5. addicted 6. dining 7. dishonest
8. awful 9. dependence
Chapter Ten
Page 100 – exercise 1
1. C 2. B 3. A 4. A 5. C
Page 106 – exercise 1
a. F – He gave them hardly enough to
live on.
b. F – All his business schemes
failed.
c. T
d. T
e. F – She managed to be pleasing to
the whole family.
f. T
g. F – She did not know at all.
h. F – He knew she was in trouble
because he heard she was marrying
and that little George was going to
live with his grandfather.
Page 107 – exercise 2
a. Jos earned a great deal of money,
but he sent only a small amount to
his family.
Although he earned a great deal of
money, Jos only sent a small
amount to his family.
b. Although old Mr Sedley tried
various business schemes, all of
them came to nothing.
H E E X E R C I S E S K
Old Mr Sedley tried various
business schemes. However, all of
them came to nothing.
c. Old Sir Pitt Crawley was dead.
However, his family was not sad.
Old Sir Pitt Crawley was dead. His
family wasn’t sad though.
d. Although Becky knew that
Rawdon was not going to receive
money from his father, she was
very happy to go to the funeral.
Becky knew that Rawdon was not
going to receive money from his
father, but she was very happy to
go to the funeral.
e. Mr Osborne hated Amelia, but he
still wanted to see her son.
Mr Osborne hated Amelia. He still
wanted to see her son though.
f. Although Vanity Fair was written
more than two hundred years ago,
it is still relevant today.
Vanity Fair was written more than
two hundred years ago. However,
it is still relevant today.
g. Dobbin adored Amelia. However,
she had no idea that he was in love
with her.
Dobbin adored Amelia, She had no
idea that he was in love with her
though.
Page 109 – exercise 3
1. had been talking 2. was listening
3. had been repairing 4. had been
running 5. was waiting
Chapter Eleven
Page 109 – exercise 1
1. did not offer them any money
2. talked and played 3. ignored
4. eat in the kitchen 5. hear his
mother singing 6. sang for him
7 8
E Y T O
Page 115 – exercise 1
1. B 2. C 3. D 4. C 5. A
Page 116 – exercise 2
1. B 2. C 3. A 4. C 5. B 6. B 7. D
8. C 9. B 10. D
Chapter Twelve
Page 118 – exercise 1
1. B 2. A 3. B 4. C 5. B
Page 124 – exercise 1
a. Lord Steyne.
b. Because Lord Steyne’s assistant
was with him when he was
arrested.
c. Because he realized that Lady Jane
was a good person.
d. Because she had said that they
were rented.
e. Because he thought that Rawdon
and Becky had tricked him.
f. Rawdon threw a piece of jewellery
at him.
g. Because he had been appointed
Governor of Coventry Island with
the help of Lord Steyne, and
Wenham had said that Becky and
Lord Steyne were alone by chance
the evening Rawdon discovered
them together.
h. Her servants and creditors
demanded to be paid.
Page 125 – exercise 2
1. is estimated to have appeared
2. aren’t/are not supposed to ride
3. is alleged to have stolen
4. are known to work
5. is reported to have broken out
6. are said to have gone
7. are supposed to have been
8. are reported to be
T H E E X E R C I S E S
9. are thought to have attacked
10. was supposed to have arrived
Chapter Thirteen
Page 127 – exercise 1
1. A 2. A 3. C 4. C 5. B
Page 134 – exercise 1
a. He had convinced George to marry
her, and so when she was left with
little money he felt obliged to help
her.
b. They had each taken the other’s
son away.
c. This made her think of George’s
behaviour the night before the
Battle of Waterloo.
d. She showed Amelia the note that
George had given her.
e. They were suspicious of Jos’s
death.
f. They grabbed their children and
walked away.
Page 134 – exercise 2
Possible answer:
I believe that Becky was guilty of Jos’s
death. Even though she had always
acted to gain a secure place for herself
in society, she had never really done
anything particularly bad. After all,
the people around her were just as
decadent as her. Also, a single woman
had only marriage as a way out of
poverty. So Becky cannot really be
considered a bad person for her
attempts to marry Jos and to gain Miss
Crawley’s fortune through Rawdon.
However, things got very bad for her,
and perhaps she was desperate.
Perhaps she was followed by
creditors. In any case, it does seem
strange that Jos took out a large life
 K E Y T O T
insurance policy and then died
mysteriously. Also, he was frightened
of her. All this makes me think that
Becky was guilty.
Page 135 – exercise 3
1. grief-stricken 2. usual 3. birth
4. loyal 5. nothing 6. humiliated
7. amount 8. relief 9. substance
10. kind 11. failed 12. gave
13. Court 14. hired 15. gift
16. behind 17. strolled 18. debt
19. plot 20. innocent 21. creditors
22. fled 23. hatred 24. tour 25. run
26. policy 27. unnatural
K E Y T O T
1 a. He was an artist who like
drinking and wild company.
b. He was a stockbroker.
c. She ordered all the papers of his
various law suits and helped
prepare his accounts.
d. Because everybody hoped to
inherit her money.
e. He was secretly very proud of
him.
f. He didn’t care. The only thing he
cared about was that she came
back to work for him. He did become
furious, though, when he learned
that her husband was Rawdon.
g. He told her that she had become
extremely ill after their
engagement was broken off.
h. He gave his bank orders not to
give George any more money, and
© 2004 Black Cat Publishing, an imprint of Cideb Editrice, Genoa, Canterbury
H E E X E R C I S E S E X I T T E S T
A critic’s assessment of 1 Answer the questions below.
Vanity Fair
Page 141 – exercise 1 a. What was Becky’s father like?
a. She was sweet, religious and good- b. What was Amelia’s father’s job?
natured.
c. How did Becky help the old Sir Pitt Crawley?
b. She was sensuous, unscrupulous
and money hungry. d. Why was Miss Crawley treated so well at Queen’s Crawley?
c. She had no mother to help her in e. What did Mr Osborne think of his son’s wild amusements with Rawdon
her husband-hunting.
Crawley and his aristocratic friends?
d. Her cruelty to her son, her adultery
and the allegation that she f. How did Sir Pitt react when he heard that Becky was married?
murdered Jos.
g. How did Dobbin convince George to marry Amelia?
e. He wanted to show that the
virtuous are rewarded, and the bad h. How did Mr Osborne react when he learned that George had actually
are punished. married Amelia?
f. He wanted to present a realistic
i. How did Becky and Rawdon manage to live so well on nothing a year?
picture of society in which the
unscrupulous often succeed, while j. Why did the new Sir Pitt think about entering politics?
the virtuous fail. k. How did Becky react when her son discovered her singing to Lord Steyne?
l. How did Lord Steyne acquire a scar on his forehead?
m. Why didn’t Jos leave Brussels with Dobbin?
H E E X I T T E S T
n. Why didn’t the insurance company want to give Becky the money after
he erased George’s name from the Jos’s death?
family Bible.
i. Rawdon won cash playing cards
and other games of chance, and for 2 Write a description of your favourite character from Vanity Fair, saying why
everything else they lived on credit. he/she interest you.
j. Because he had become a man of
substance after inheriting both his
father’s and his aunt’s fortunes.
k. She smacked him hard. 3 Look at the titles of the chapters of Vanity Fair. Can you think of alternatives
l. Rawdon hurled the large diamond for each one?
at him which hit him on the
forehead.
m. Because he was afraid of Becky.
n. Because they suspected that she 4 Look at the pictures on pages 47 and 133. What element do they have in
had killed him. common?
2-3 Student’s activity
4 Becky is being ignored in both
pictures, first by Miss Crawley and
then by Amelia and Dobbin.
Photocopiable © 2004 Black Cat Publishing
10