Task-5-About-a-Boy.

pdf

mrnddrc

INGLÉS INSTRUMENTAL I (NIVEL B2)

1º Grado en Estudios Ingleses

Facultad de Filosofía y Letras

Universidad de Granada

Reservados todos los derechos.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
 SET READING – ABOUT A BOY BY NICK HORNBY

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
TASK 5: CHAPTERS 29-36

CHAPTER 29

1) What happened at the beginning of chapter 29?

Nothing happened. He saw Will, he saw Ellie at school, Will bought him new
glasses and took him to have his hair cut. It felt as though he were changing, in his
own body and in his head, and then his mum started crying again.

2) What did Will say when Marcus told him what was happening?

Her mum started crying again and Will told him that she’s the same now as she was

Reservados todos los derechos.

before. Worse. And Marcus was disappointed.

3) Why didn’t Ellie seem terribly pleased to see Marcus the next day at school?
What had happened?

She looked down and distracted, and she didn’t say anything and then she started
saying that Kurt Cobain tried to kill himself and took an overdose. Marcus felt
sick when Ellie said that he’ll do it again that it wasn’t a cry for help and he
really wanted to die.

4) Look up the meaning of the following words in the dictionary: sobbing, hug,
obtuse, unbolted.

sobbing: to cry noisily while breathing in short sudden bursts

hug: to put your arms around someone and hold them tightly to show love or
friendship

obtuse: slow to understand things, in a way that is annoying

unbolted: a metal bar that you slide across a door or window to fasten it

CHAPTER 30

1) What did Will think about helping Fiona?

He’d had just the same feeling when Marcus was asking him to do something about
Fiona. Of course he should do something about Fiona: all that stuff about being the
same but taller was bollocks.

2) What happened one evening at Rachel’s when they were talking about helping
Fiona? What did Rachel suggest?

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4415607
 3) Look up the meaning of the following words in the dictionary: panicky, ruin,
buoyant, quirky, reverie, muster, remnants.

Panicky: very nervous and anxious

ruin: to spoil or destroy something completely

buoyant: happy and confident

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
quirky: something strange that happens by chance

reverie: a state of imagining or thinking about pleasant things, that is like dreaming

muster: to get enough courage, confidence, support etc to do something, especially

with difficulty

remnants: a small part of something that remains after the rest of it has been used,
destroyed or eaten

CHAPTER 31

1) Why did Fiona want Marcus to go to Cambridge to see his dad? Did Marcus want

Reservados todos los derechos.

to go?

His mum wanted him to see his dad because he was desperate. Fiona told him to
take a train to Cambridge to see him but he didn't want to.

2) Why did Marcus change his mind about going to see his dad?

It wasn’t until the next day, when he was talking to Ellie about the window-ledge,
that he began to change his mind about going to see his dad.

3) What did Marcus see when he was travelling on the tube from Holloway Road
station to King’s Cross Station?

He was looking at the back page, so Marcus could see some of the stuff on the
front; the first thing he noticed was the photo

4) What happened when he met Ellie at King’s Cross Station? What did Ellie tell
him? What had she brought with her and why?

He found Ellie and she seemed normal. She just said a part of the station and
brought with her a sweatshirt with the same picture of Kurt Cobain.

5) Look up the meaning of the following words in the dictionary: concussed,

window-ledge, doolally, straggly.

concussed: if you are concussed, something hits you on the head, making you lose
consciousness or feel sick for a short time

Descarga la app de Wuolah desde tu store favorita

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4415607
 window-ledge: a shelf fixed along the bottom of a window

doolally: name of an indian town where there was British army camp

straggly: geogwing untidily and spreading out in different directions

CHAPTER 32

1) What was the plan for Rachel, Will and Fiona while Marcus was in Cambridge

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
visiting his father?

The plan was for Rachel, Will and Fiona to go to a pub in Islington while Marcus was
in Cambridge visiting his father.

2) What happened at the pub? Where did Fiona and Will go after leaving the pub?
What did they talk about? What did Will learn about Fiona?

Will wanted Fiona to meet Rachel and suddenly Fiona started crying apologizing
and saying that nothing matters, she’s fine. He learnt that she hadn’t really
wanted to be a mother, and that sometimes she hated Marcus with a passion
that worries her; he learnt she worried about her inability to hold down

Reservados todos los derechos.

relationships; he learnt that her last birthday had scared her to bits, because she
hadn’t been anywhere, done anything, all the usual malakey

3) What did Marcus say in his answerphone message?

I’m not being funny, but can I come in with you to listen to Marcus’s answerphone
message? I just want to hear he’s OK

4) Look up the meaning of the following words in the dictionary: distracted, manic,
wearily, ulterior, malarkey.

distracted: anxious and unable to think clearly

manic: behaving in a very anxious or excited way
wearly: very tired or bored, specially because you have been doing something for a
long time
ulterior: a secret purpose or reason for doing something
malarkey: silly behaviour or nonsense

CHAPTER 33

1) What had happened on the train from London to Cambridge and why were Ellie
and Marcus at a police station?

They didn’t talk on the train at first. It was Ellie, after all, who had chucked a boot at
a plate-glass window.

Descarga la app de Wuolah desde tu store favorita

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4415607
 No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
2) What happened when Marcus’s dad and his girlfriend arrived at the police
station?

3) Look up the meaning of the following words in the dictionary: swig, cardboard,
cut-out, weedy, kerb, grumpy.

swing: to drink something in large mouthfuls, especially from a bottle

cardboard: stiff thick brown paper, used especially for making boxes

cut out: to remove something by cutting round it

weedy: full of unwanted wild plants

kerb: the edge of the pavement

Reservados todos los derechos.

grumpy: bad tempered and easily annoyed

CHAPTER 34

1) Who went with Will and Fiona to Royston? Why did Will think about the Dead
Duck Day while he was sitting in his car waiting for Fiona and Ellie’s mum?

Rachel. Because there was that same sense of unpredictability and absorption and
chaos.

2) Describe Katrina, Ellie’s mum. What did she say about her daughter?

Ellie’s mum was an attractive woman in her early forties, youthful-looking enough
to get away with the tatty, faded blue jeans and leather biker jacket she was
wearing. she had a shock of curly hennaed hair and nice crinkles around her eyes
and mouth and she seemed to have given up on her daughter a long time ago. She
said ‘She mad’ ’out of control’.

3) What happened when they arrived at Royston police station? Who was Ruth?
What did she look like? What did they do after leaving the police station?

4) Look up the meaning of the following words in the dictionary: willful, deranged,
feisty, mousy, awkward, accomplice, kindred.

willful: continuing to do what you want, even after you have been told to stop

deranged: someone who is deranged behaves in a crazy or dangerous way, usually

because they are metally ill

feisty: having a strong determined character and being willing to argue with people
- use this to show approval

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4415607
 mousy: a mousy woman is quiet and unattractive

awkward: making you feel embarrassed so that you are not sure what to do or say

accomplice: a person who helps someone such as a criminal to do something wrong

kindred: your hole family

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
CHAPTER 35

1) Why did Marcus agree to go back to Cambridge with his father? What did
Marcus and his father talk about when they arrived in Cambridge?

He couldn’t really see what his dad could offer him any more, which was why he felt
sorry for him, which was why he agreed to go back to Cambridge with him.

2) What are the acrobatic displays Marcus refers to?

those ones when you stand on top of loads of people in a pyramid.

Reservados todos los derechos.

CHAPTER 36

1) Why did Rachel so frightened Will?

She might decide that he was too much trouble, or worthless, or no good in bed.
She might meet someone else; she might come to the conclusion that she didn’t
want a relationship with anybody at all.

2) What did Will do most Saturdays?

Most Saturdays now, Will took Ali and Marcus out somewhere. it had begun
because he wanted to give their mothers a break

3) How had Marcus changed?

4) What was the theory Will wanted to test out?

Will knew then, beyond any shadow of doubt that Marcus would be OK.

5) Find information about the British Museum and the National Gallery.

The British Museum, in the Bloomsbury area of London, England, is a public

institution dedicated to human history, art and culture. Its permanent collection of
some eight million works among the largest and most comprehensive in existence,
having been widely collected during the area of the British Empire.

Descarga la app de Wuolah desde tu store favorita

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4415607
 The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in Central London.
Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the
mid-13th century to 1900

6) Look up the meaning of the following words in the dictionary: shivering,

unsteady, endure, deepen, cherish, patronize.

shivering: to shake slightly because you are cold or frightened

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
unsteady: shaking or moving in a way you cannot control

endure: to be in a difficult or painful situation for a long time without complaining

deepen: if a serious situation deepens, it gets worse - used especially in news

reports

cherish: if you cherish something, it is very important to you

patronize: to talk to someone in a way which seems friendly but shows that you

Reservados todos los derechos.

think they are not as intelligent or do not know as much as you

Descarga la app de Wuolah desde tu store favorita

a64b0469ff35958ef4ab887a898bd50bdfbbe91a-4415607