… The great visits usually lasted about 2 weeks. Always there came an afternoon when George Morgan walked out into the town and did not come back until late at night. The mother made the children go to bed early, but they could hear him come home, stumbling a little against the furniture, and they could hear his voice through the wall. These were the only times when his voice was sad and discouraged. Lying with held breaths, in their beds, the children knew what that meant. In the morning he would be gone, and their hearts would be gone with him.

    One time their father went away, and he never came back. He had never sent any money, nor had he ever written to them, but this time he just disappeared for good. For two years they waited, and then their mother said he must be dead. The children shuddered at the thought, but they refused to believe it, because no one so beautiful and fine as their father could be dead. Some place in the world he was having adventures. There was some good reason why he couldn't come back to them. Some day when the reason was gone, he would come. Some morning he would be there with finer presents and better stories than ever before. But their mother said he must have had an accident. He must be dead. Their mother was distracted. She read those advertisements which offered to help her make money at home. The children made paper flowers and shamefacedly tried to sell them. The boys tried to develop magazine routes, and the whole family nearly starved. Finally, when they couldn't stand it any longer, the boys ran away and joined the navy. After that Molly saw them as seldom as she had seen her father, and they were so changed, so hard and boisterous, that she didn't even care, for her brothers were strangers to her.

Excerpt from Molly Morgan
By John Steinbeck.

1. Pick out 2 details showing that George Morgan did not live with his family on a permanent basis.
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2. How did the family survive when he was away ? Justify your answer with details from the text.
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3. Complete the following statements :

3.1. The children saw their father as
a. a beautiful and fine man
b. ...........................................................................................................................................................
c. ...........................................................................................................................................................
d. ...........................................................................................................................................................

3.2. The two details showing that George Morgan hated having to leave his family are :
a. ............................................................................................................................................................
b. ............................................................................................................................................................

4. Express the following words or phrases differently to show that you understand them. They are all in the second paragraph.
a. disappeared for good : ..........................................................................................
b. he must be dead : ...................................................................................................
c. distracted : ..............................................................................................................

5. What did the family do to survive when the father "never came back" ?
Were they successful ? Justify your answer with details from the text.
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6. What impact did the disappearance of the father have on the family ?

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    Man has always shown a great capacity for (adjust) ........................ to change. Past generations have survived floods, famines and world wars. But when (deal) .......................... with the environment there is a grave (dangerous) ........................ in relying on (adapt) ........................... alone : simple (prudent) ............................... suggests that taking forceful (prevent) ....................... action to save (energetic) ...................................., to curb pollution, to slow population (grow) ....................... and to preserve the environment will give humanity a much (good) .......................... chance of (adapt) ............................... to whatever comes in the future.

Task 2 : Circle the alternative that best completes each sentence in the paragraph below :

Task 1 : Identify the 8 mistakes in this passage then provide the corrections in the table below. There are 6 grammar mistakes, 1 spelling mistake and a misused word.

    When the old lady returned to her flat she saw at once that the thieves had broken in during her absent, because the front door was open and everything in the flat was upside down. The thieves himself were no longer their, but they obviously had only just lived because a cigarette was still burning in the ashtray. Probable they heard the lift coming up and ran down the fire escape. She wondered if they had found his jewellery. The jewellery had been given her by her husband, which had died some years before. Since his died, she hadn't had the heart to wear it.

Task 2 : Punctuate and capitalize where necessary (Use 3 commas, 1 full stop and 4 capital letters).

Task 3 : Use the notes below to write a biography of Mark Twain. (10 to 12 lines).