Directions: Try
to guess the meaning of the highlighted words based on your knowledge of
English. In each set of words, underline the two words that have similar
meanings to the words in bold letters on the left. Use your dictionary if
necessary. The first one has been done for you.
|
1.
hereditary |
a. genetic |
b. inherited |
c. environmental |
|
2. tough |
a. delicate |
b. demanding |
c. strong |
|
3. devastated |
a. cynical |
b. crushed |
c. desolate |
|
4. depression |
a. dejection |
b. gloom |
c. thrill |
|
5. controversial |
a. debatable |
b. agreeable |
c. disputable |
|
6. choked up |
a. filled with tears |
b. unable to speak |
c. unable to breathe |
|
7. sober |
a. dry |
b. intoxicated |
c. abstinent |
|
8. donor |
a. supplier |
b. receiver |
c. giver |
|
9. swig |
a.
gulp of a liquid |
b.
drink of a liquid |
c.
smell of a liquid |
Directions:
The exercise below has 25 problems that will help you read faster. You will
have only 30 seconds to finish. You will probably not finish all 25 problems, but
you are to work as quickly as you can. Be careful not to make any error, so
read rapidly but carefully. In this exercise, there are six words: one word to
the left of the line and five to the right. Read the word on the left and then
find it among the five words to the right. Once you have found it, circle it.
Example
|
raft |
rift |
rate |
raft |
rote |
reef |
|
1.
genes |
jeans |
gene |
genes |
games |
gender |
|
2.
family |
familiar |
families |
fame |
family |
famed |
|
3.
drinker |
drunker |
drinks |
dunker |
drank |
drinker |
|
4.
played |
player |
played |
plays |
prayed |
planed |
|
5.
named |
names |
name |
named |
tamed |
naming |
|
6.
hitter |
hotter |
hitting |
hatter |
litter |
hitter |
|
7.
catcher |
catheter |
catchers |
caught |
catches |
catcher |
|
8.
great |
grate |
grit |
great |
grunt |
grotto |
|
9.
lived |
lever |
liver |
loved |
lived |
live |
|
10.
tired |
tried |
trunk |
tires |
tired |
toured |
|
11.
meal |
mail |
male |
meal |
mile |
meals |
|
12.
wrong |
wrung |
wring |
rung |
wrong |
wrongs |
|
13.
loved |
laved |
loved |
lover |
lived |
loves |
|
14.
escape |
escaped |
escapes |
escargot |
escape |
capers |
|
15.
body |
booty |
buddy |
body |
bodies |
baddy |
|
16.
knee |
knew |
need |
knee |
know |
kneed |
|
17.
retired |
retired |
retiring |
retires |
retread |
return |
|
18.
weeks |
week |
weak |
wrecks |
reeks |
weeks |
|
19.
tried |
trial |
tries |
trays |
tired |
tried |
|
20.
during |
daring |
during |
touring |
purring |
darts |
|
21.
time |
tine |
tame |
time |
thyme |
tune |
|
22.
boys |
buoys |
bays |
buys |
bores |
boys |
|
23.
proud |
pride |
prune |
prove |
proud |
prayed |
|
24.
wishes |
washes |
wants |
wishes |
whoosh |
wish |
|
25.
about |
above |
abort |
abound |
absolve |
about |
Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the
passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the
last word you read when the time is up.
Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the
passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the
last word you read when the time is up.
Directions: Starting with the first sentence of the passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half minutes. Circle the last word you read when your teacher tells you to stop reading.
Directions:
Starting with the first
sentence of the passage, read as quickly as you can for three and a half
minutes. Circle the last word you read when the time is up.
|
Line No |
Word Count |
||
|
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 |
If alcoholism is hereditary, if it’s in the genes, then
I think mine came from my mother’s side of the family. Her brothers were all alcoholics.
My mother, Lovell, and my father, Mutt, weren’t big drinkers. Dad would buy a
pint of whiskey on Saturday night and put it in the icebox. Then every night
when he came home from working eight hours in the lead mines of Oklahoma,
he’d head for the icebox and take a swig of whiskey. My dad loved baseball, played semi-professional ball on
the weekends and was a tremendous St. Louis Cardinals fan. In
fact, he named me after Mickey Cochrane, the Hall of Fame catcher for
Philadelphia and Detroit who was a great hitter. Dad had high hopes for me.
He thought I could be the greatest ballplayer who ever lived, and he did
everything to help me realize his dream. Even though he was dog tired after long days at the
mine, Dad would still pitch batting practice to me in the
backyard when he got home from work, beginning from the time I was four years
old. My mother would call us to dinner, but the meal would wait until Dad was
finished instructing me from the right and left sides of the plate. Dad was a
tough man. If I’d done something wrong, he could just look
at me – he didn’t have to say anything – and I’d say, “I won’t do it no more,
Dad.” I loved my father although I couldn’t tell him that,
just like he couldn’t tell me. I joined the Yankees at 19. The following spring, when
Dad died of Hodgkin’s disease at age 39, I was devastated, and that’s
when I started drinking. I guess alcohol helped me escape
the pain of losing him. God gave me a great body to play with, and I didn’t
take care of it. And I blame a lot of it on alcohol.
Everyone likes to make the excuse that injuries shortened my career. Truth
is, after I’d had a knee operation, the doctors would give me rehab work to
do, but I wouldn’t do it. I’d be out drinking … Everything had always come
naturally to me. I didn’t work hard at it. After I retired at 37, my drinking got really bad. I
went through a deep depression. Billy Martin,
Whitey Ford, Hank Bauer, Moose Skowron (my Yankee teammates), I left all
those guys, and I think it left a hole in me … We were as close as brothers.
I haven’t met anyone else I’ve felt as close to. I never thought about anything serious in my life for a
continuous period of days and weeks until I checked into the Betty Ford Center. I’ve always tried to avoid anything
emotional, anything controversial, anything serious, and I did it through the
use of alcohol. Alcohol always protected me from reality. You are supposed to say why you ended up at the center.
I said I had a bad lived and I was depressed. Whenever I tried to talk about
my family, I got all choked up. One of the things I really messed up,
besides baseball, was being a father. I wasn’t a family man. I was always
out, running around with my friends. My son Mickey Jr. could have
been a wonderful athlete. If he had had my dad, he could have been a
major league baseball player. My kids never blamed me for not being there.
They don’t have to. I blame myself. During my time at the Betty Ford Center, I had to write
my father a letter and tell him how I felt about him. It only took me 10
minutes to write the letter, and I cried the whole time, but after it was
over, I felt better. I said that I missed him, and I wish he could have lived
to see that I did a lot better than my first season with the Yankees. I told
him I had four boys – he died before my first son, Mickey Jr., was born – and
I told him I loved him. I would have been better off if I could have told him
that a long time ago. Dad would have been proud of me today, knowing that I’ve
completed treatment at Betty Ford and have been sober for three months. But
he would have been mad that I had to go there in the first place. For all those years I lived the life of someone I
didn’t know: a cartoon character. From now on, Mickey Mantle is going to be a
real person. Epilogue As one of Mickey Mantle’s last wishes, he wanted to
establish a donor awareness program, called “Mickey’s Team,” at Baylor
Hospital in Texas, where he received a liver transplant. He planned to tape a series
of public service announcements for the program and even invented a slogan
before he died: “Be a hero, be a donor.” Mickey’s painful
problems have inspired a twofold increase in the number of people requesting
donor cards. “That program,” says Mickey Jr., “will probably be the biggest
thing he’s going to be known for.” By
Mickey Mantle (from Sports Illustrated) |
57 105 147 204 250 298 344 399 459 501 546 604 657 705 744 796 846 862 |
|
Directions: Circle
the letter next to the statement that best answers the following questions.
1.
On
line 8, “tremendous” means _____.
a.
great
b.
tiny
c.
famous
2.
On
line 14, “pitch” means _____.
a.
tar
b.
catch
c.
throw
3.
On
line 17, “tough” refers to _____.
a.
strict
b.
lenient
c.
hard
4.
On
line 20, “that” means _____.
a.
I
loved him
b.
I
had committed a mistake
c.
I
had worked hard
5.
On
line 22, “that” means _____.
a.
when
I was 39
b.
after
my father died
c.
after
I joined the Yankees
6.
On
line 23, “escape” means _____.
a.
run
away
b.
face
c.
avoid
7.
On
line 25, “blame” means _____.
a.
criticize
b.
hold
responsible
c.
think
badly of
8.
On
line 29, “deep” means _____.
a.
intense
b.
subconscious
c.
well-hidden
9.
On
line 33, “continuous” means _____.
a.
ruined
b.
definite
c.
uninterrupted
10.
On
line 34, “checked into” means _____.
a.
examined
b.
verified
c.
registered
at
11.
On
line 40, “messed up” means _____.
a.
littered
b.
ruined
c.
succeeded
at
12.
On
line 41, “running around” means _____.
a.
jogging
b.
spending
time
c.
acquainting
13.
On
line 52, “proud” means _____.
a.
egotistical
b.
swollen
c.
pleased
14.
On
line 59, “transplant” means _____.
a.
remove
b.
operation
to replace (an organ)
c.
uproot
15.
On
line 60, “slogan” means _____.
a.
motto
b.
adage
c.
cliché
16.
On
line 61, “hero” means _____.
a.
superman
b.
sandwich
c.
champion
17.
Mickey
Mantle’s father _____.
a.
had
a drinking problem
b.
had
played for the St. Louis Cardinals
c.
had
confidence in his son’s abilities
18.
Based
on the reading, you can logically infer that Mickey Mantle liked to go out with
his friends because _____.
a.
they
had many things in common
b.
they
were his family
c.
he
was disappointed with his family
19.
If
Mickey Mantle’s father had known about his son’s alcoholism, _____.
a.
he
would have been very disappointed
b.
he
would have been angry with him
c.
he
would have made him get treatment much sooner
20.
Mickey
Mantle entered the Betty Ford Center because _____.
a.
he
tried to avoid anything emotional
b.
he
did not want to do anything controversial
c.
he
was an alcoholic
21.
The
main idea of paragraph 1 is _____.
a.
alcoholism
is hereditary
b.
if
alcoholism is hereditary, Mickey Mantle inherited the genes from his mother
c.
Mickey
Mantle became an alcoholic because his father drank every Saturday
22.
A
good title for this reading would be _____.
a.
Learning
to Play Baseball
b.
My
Time in a Bottle
c.
The
Betty Ford Center