Reading 2

Reading 1

All on her own.

1. When Katherine Fox heard that she’d got into university, she was initially very excited. However, she spent most of the next months worrying about it. She lived near London, and Manchester University was over two hundred kilometers away from home. In fact, she’d never been to Manchester, and she’d definitely never lived away from home. For the first time life she had to think about living on her own, washing her own clothes, and cooking her own food. She’d always taken these things for granted before; they were all part of living at home. She worried even more about leaving her friends, her family and her familiar surroundings. She wasn’t very good at meeting new people and making new friends. What if nobody liked her?

2. On October 4^th, her parents filled the car with her things and then drove her to the huge, frightening city at the other end of the country. They helped her unpack and then said that it was time to leave. Katherine immediately began to panic, and she started talking very fast to stop her parents from leaving. Eventually she stopped talking, and they left her, all on her own.

3. The next evening she phoned home. Her mother answered the phone, half expecting Katherine to break down and cry, and say how homesick she was. Instead of bursting into tears she sounded really happy, and there was the sound of voices in the background. “What’s going on Katherine? Where are you phoning from? ” I’m on my mobile, in my room. But it’s all right. I’m having fun. University’s great. “But what about all that noise in the background? ”

“Oh, some of my new friends are here in my room. They’re sitting in my room, and we’re all drinking coffee. We’re talking about how nervous we were when we first arrived, and how stupid we were to worry so much! ”

1. Read the text and answer the questions.

1. How did Katherine fell about going away?
2. Why did she fell like this?
3. How did she fell only one day after she’d left?

1. Complete the sentences in your own words.

1. Katherine was worried about ___________.

1. At home she didn’t have to _____________.
2. She began to panic when _________________.

1. She rang her parents the next day to tell them _________________.

1. Find words and phrases in the which mean:

1. at first; to begin with (paragraph 1)
2. everything around you (paragraph 1)
3. take things out of suitcases (paragraph 2)
4. finally; at last (paragraph 2)
5. feeling sad when you are away from home (paragraph 3)
6. starting to cry (paragraph 3)

Reading 2

Gap –year volunteers

Every year over 200, 000 British 18-year-old take a ‘gap year’ after they leave school and before they start university. They use this year to travel or gain work experience. Some of them choose to work as volunteers in countries all over the world.

Green Action Volunteers: Costa Rica.

Are you adventurous, fit, enthusiastic and interested in the environment? If you are, then why not work a volunteer on a project which aims to help develop ecotourism, and preserve the rainforests of Costa Rica.

Last year volunteers worked on constriction projects in the rainforest. They lived in tents in two isolated camps. Most of them stayed for eight weeks and worked thirty hours a week. Altogether they constructed over eighty kilometers of forest trails, including three bridges, and built twenty-two cabins in the high mountains south of the capital. As a result, more tourists are visiting this part of Costa Rica. Ecotourism provides local people with badly needed, jobs economy. Volunteers work hard, but they have always found Costa Rica an exiting and beautiful country to visit.