AN ALIEN

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 806.

Read the story and do the tasks after it.

Text 3.

Ch. Forester

I've always wondered about Roy Dwight, ever since I saw him jump. One day, I was walking around the corner of Main Street in Greensburg, my home town, when a car zoomed past me, turned sharply, and went straight for Roy!

‘Watch it, Roy!' I yelled.

He turned around, seeing the car, which was about three metres away from him, and leaped.

And I mean leaped! He went soaring above the blue car and landed about seven metres behind it. The driver, a short, fat man, climbed out of the car and started shouting at Roy. Roy turned and ran, naturally. The driver added a few more swear words to his little speech, then jumped back into his car, slammed the door and drove off.

Here's the problem: I think Roy's an alien. If he could jump around seven metres, he must be used to a stronger gravity.

Roy has a long, thin face, light brown hair and pointy ears. Maybe it was his pointy ears that made me think he was an alien at first. They always reminded me of Spock in that stupid STAR TREK show on TV. When he first came to Greensburg, one and a half years ago, everyone called him Spooky Spocky, but we all got sick of it, so we quit. His eyes always look like they are squinting. If he's not from Earth, he's probably squinting because his sun is less bright than ours, or he lives further away from our sun than we do. He's got a long drooping nose. But his main feature is his IQ. It is 183. Now show me a kid with an IQ of 183 and I'll show you an alien.

Up to now, I'd had my doubts if he was an alien or not, but yesterday in the park I finally decided. We were playing football in the park stadium, and Roy was sitting in the stands with a radio beside him. Of the whole park, our favourite place is the stadium. The guard always lets us play, which is pretty nice of him.

Well, Roy was sitting in the stands, but he was doing something pretty weird, He wasn't only listening to the radio, he was also talking into it! I guessed it was his transmitter, and he was using it to talk to his people. Then Bill had to go home and clean up his room, so we were short one player. We called to Roy and asked if he wanted to play. He agreed, and slid off the bench. As he slid, his leg bumped his “radio” and it fell to the ground and split apart. Its contents were totally different from those of a normal radio. There was this greenish fluid coming out, and the electronics were very, very compact. The antenna had an enormous booster that probably helped in transmitting over long distances.

Right then I knew for sure: Roy is not from Earth. I told the other guys I had to go shopping for my mom, and before they could object, I ran home…

When I finally got there, I ran into my room and hurried to my long, wooden desk. I found a button under it and pushed it. With the hum of electric motors, my desk transformed into a communications terminal. My fingers went flying over the keyboard, typing area codes. Then I reached for my microphone and said into it, “Zargon to Pluto Station, Zargon to Pluto Station, I have found an alien. He is not from Earth, nor is he one of us. Delay the invasion until I investigate further”.

1. Define the following words and expressions:

a. an alien _____________________________________________________________________

b. stands ______________________________________________________________________

c. to slide off __________________________________________________________________

d. to quit _____________________________________________________________________ e. pointy ears __________________________________________________________________

f. to yell ______________________________________________________________________

2. Find the words in the story which mean:

a. to move with great speed and energy _____________________

b. to jump into the air or over a long distance _____________________

c. to close eyes slightly and try to see something

because of a bright light _____________________

d. to break something into several parts ____________________

e. the force that makes something fall to the ground ____________________

3. Write the synonyms to the words from the story:

a. to bump ____________________________________________________________________

b. fluid _______________________________________________________________________

c. weird _______________________________________________________________________

d. to yell ______________________________________________________________________

e. to slam _____________________________________________________________________

4. Which facts helped the narrator decide that Roy ‘wasn't from Earth'?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Comment on the words of the narrator: ‘He is not from Earth, nor is he one of us.'

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