2022-2023 ACADEMIC YEAR

ATAŞEHİR FEN BİLİMLERİ SCHOOLS

6th GRADE WEEKEND WORKSHEET
NAME:
SURNAME: 26.05.2023
PART I: READING

RETURN TO RIVER TOWN

In 1996, Peace Corps volunteer Peter Hessler arrived in Fuling, a quiet town on the
Yangtze, to teach English. He went back recently to find the landscape and his former
students transformed.

I am in the White Crane Ridge Underwater

Museum near the city of Fuling. The museum is
the strangest sight here – it’s under 40 metres of
water on the side of the Three Gorges Dam*. I’ve
known the museum director, Huang Dejian, since
before the museum existed. The last time I saw
him, the Three Gorges Dam was still under
construction 450 kilometres down the river.
Fuling is at the junction of the Yangtze and the
Wu Rivers. In the mid-1990s it felt sleepy and
isolated. There was no main road or railway line.
The Yangtze ferries took seven hours to reach Chongqing, the nearest large city. Foreigners
were rare – if I ate my lunch in the town centre, a crowd often came to watch me. The city had
one escalator, one nightclub, and no traffic lights. I didn’t know anybody with a car.

From 1996 to 1998, I worked at Fuling Teachers College. My

Buğra Erdik – English Main Course Teacher

students came from rural homes and they wanted to be English

teachers. My students taught me many things. They helped me
to understand people’s experiences of moving from the
countryside to big cities. They also taught me about the
complexities of poverty in China. My students didn’t have much
money, but they were optimistic and they had opportunities.

During my return visit, about 15 students come back to Fuling

to meet me. They tell me about their classmates who have left
Fuling. One is a Communist Party official in Tibet, another
started a taxi company and became a millionaire. One woman
presented a radio show for years. My old students are interested
in analysing their society. One, who gave himself the English
name of Mo Money says, ‘Life is competitive. I think this is a
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special stage for China. In the past we criticised capitalist America. But now we are in a similar
situation.’ Another, Emily, tells me about her cousin, who has become richer, but not happier.

My last meeting on this visit is with fishermen, Huang Zongming and his brother Zongguo. I
was here when they moved out of their homes in June 2003, when the first stage of the dam
was completed. Now I am surprised to discover that everything is almost the same for them.
They are still fishermen. The fishing on the river is still good. The dam has not changed
everything in Fuling.

*The Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River stretches for nearly 2.5 kilometres and is the largest
concrete structure on Earth. It’s five times as wide as the Hoover Dam in the United States and is the
world’s biggest power station.

Key Words
Peace Corps: A volunteer program that sends individuals to assist in social and economic
development in other countries.
Volunteer: A person who offers their services or time without receiving payment.
Former: Referring to something or someone that existed in the past.
Transformed: Changed or altered significantly.
Junction: A point where two or more things, such as rivers, roads, or railway lines, meet or intersect.
Escalator: A moving staircase used to transport people between different levels of a building.
Rural: Relating to the countryside or areas outside of cities.
Poverty: The state of being extremely poor.

DIRECTION A: Answer the following questions about the text.

1. When did Peter Hessler arrive in Fuling?

_________________________________________________________________ .

2. What was the purpose of Peter Hessler's visit to Fuling?

_________________________________________________________________ .

3. Where is the White Crane Ridge Underwater Museum located?

_________________________________________________________________ .

4. How deep is the museum submerged underwater?

Buğra Erdik – English Main Course Teacher

_________________________________________________________________ .

5. What was the status of the Three Gorges Dam during Peter Hessler's last visit?
_________________________________________________________________ .

6. How did Fuling feel in the mid-1990s?

_________________________________________________________________ .

7. What were some of the limited infrastructural features of Fuling during that time?
_________________________________________________________________ .

8. Where did Peter Hessler work from 1996 to 1998, and what did his students aspire to be?
_________________________________________________________________ .

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DIRECTION B: Mark the best choice.

1. The town of Fuling …

a. is near the Three Gorges Dam.
b. is now under the water of the Three Gorges Dam.
c. was built at the same time as the Three Gorges Dam.

2. Peter Hessler describes …

a. his job at the Fuling Teacher’s College.
b. the changes he sees in the Fuling region.
c. the Three Gorges Dam project.

3. How is Fuling different today?

a. It’s quieter than before.
b. Lots of people speak English.
c. People are richer.

4. Huang Dejian and Peter Hessler …

a. have not seen each other for several years.
b. have recently met.
c. were students together years ago.

5. Fuling …
a. used to be a busy town.
b. used to be difficult to get to.
c. used to have lot of foreign visitors.

6. Peter’s students …
a. wanted to work in rural parts of China.
b. mostly came from the city.
c. were training to become teachers.

7. Peter’s students …
a. found they didn’t have enough money for city life.
b. were poor but felt positive about the future.
c. were unhappy because they were poor.

8. After Peter’s students left college …

a. some of them did surprising jobs.
Buğra Erdik – English Main Course Teacher

b. they returned home to teach.

c. they stayed in Fuling city to work.

9. What does Peter say about his old students?

a. They are unhappy about how Chinese society has changed.
b. They don’t understand the changes that have happened in their country.
c. They explain how life is changing for people and what the changes mean.

10. What does Peter say about the two fishermen?

a. he expected them to have different lives.
b. the dam has affected them as much as everyone else in Fuling.
c. their lives are better than before.

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PART II: VOCABULARY
DIRECTION A: Do we normally use these adjectives to describe people, things or both? Tick
the correct column. All the adjectives are in the text.

DIRECTION B: Complete the sentences with some of the adjectives in DIRECTION A. In some
sentences more than one adjective is possible.

1. Usain Bolt always wants to win – he’s very ________.

2. The United States is a ________ country but it has some poor people too.

3. Our village is very small and ________ – it’s not very exciting.

4. Jack doesn’t talk very much. He’s a very ________ person.

5. I can’t explain the film – it was a very ________ story.

6. Suzanne expects to pass her driving test. She’s feeling ________. Buğra Erdik – English Main Course Teacher
PART III: USE OF ENGLISH

DIRECTION A: Complete these sentences with the comparative or superlative forms of the
adjectives. All the adjectives are in the text.

1. China has the ___________ population in the world. (big)

2. I think my town is the ___________ place to live. (good)

3. I’m ___________ now because I have a good job. (rich)

4. It’s ___________ in the countryside than in a city. (quiet)

5. The children are ___________ at the weekend than on a school day. (happy)

6. The ___________ city is 50 kilometres away. (near)

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 7. The ___________ woman in the world lives in this town. (old)

8. This is the ___________ place on Earth. (strange)

DIRECTION B: The writer of the text sometimes uses the present or present perfect tense to
describe his visit to Fuling. Read this paragraph again and change the verbs in bold to the past
simple or past perfect simple form.

PART IV: LISTENING (Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiIi0uzAeUA)

DIRECTION A: Write the sentences in the correct group.

Let me see what I can do. I promise this won’t become the norm.
I’m happy to help you. I’m not sure if I can do that.
You’ll really be helping us. I appreciate your help.
I need a favour. I think we can make an exception this time.

The Customer Says: The Supplier Says:

Buğra Erdik – English Main Course Teacher

DIRECTION B: Decide if the sentences are true or false.

1. The delivery hasn’t arrived yet. ____
2. Andrea is having cash flow issues and needs a payment extension. ____
3. Andrea usually asks for an extension of the payment terms. ____
4. Andrea has a new order to place, even bigger than the last one. ____
5. Junko can extend the payment terms on the last order to 60 days. ____
6. Junko will send Andrea an email confirmation. ____

Buğra Erdik Nihan Göral Boyalı

English Teacher Principal
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