E n g L i s h jenni Currie Santamaria

common nouns
proper nouns
man
Fred
woman
Tinsae
country
Morocco
state
California

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Free Time, Fun Time
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199
city
Addis Ababa
company
McGraw-Hill
store
Target
president
Barack Obama
river
Mississippi
school
Columbia University
restaurant
McDonald’s
Note: Proper nouns are always capitalized.
B.
Use the grammar
List two proper nouns from the passage.
__________________________ __________________________
In each blank, write a P if the boldface word is a proper noun and a C if the 
boldface word is a common noun.
1.
_____ I visited my 
cousins
last summer.
2.
_____ She went skiing in 
Colorado
this winter.
3.
_____ I would like to go canoeing in the 
river
soon.
4.
_____ We bought a 
Toyota
when our old car broke down.
5.
_____ Her goal is to climb 
Mt. Everest
.
6.
_____ They’re going to meet us at the 
restaurant
.
7.
_____ He’ll attend school at 
St. Paul’s
next year.
VI. READ IT AGAIN
Read the passage again. Answer the question.
How is success measured in suring?
BACKPACKING INTO THE WILDERNESS
I. PRE-READING
A.
Background information
This passage is from the 
The Backpacker’s Handbook
, by Chris Townsend. In 
this section of the introduction, Townsend talks about journeying into the 
wilderness to experience our natural world.

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200
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Better Reading English
B.
Words to know before you read
Match the words to their definitions.
____ 1.
forgo 
a. the highest point of a mountain
____ 2.
invigorating 
b. a wild or natural area where few people 
live
____ 3.
odyssey 
c. a steep rock or cliff
____ 4.
mechanized 
d. clean and germ-free
____ 5.
sanitized 
e. to cover in order to stop something 
from going in or out
____ 6.
insulated 
f. a strong material
____ 7.
hiking 
g. an area that is very dry, hot, and sandy
____ 8.
wilderness 
h. long journey full of adventures
____ 9.
crag 
i. walking a long distance for pleasure
____ 10.
vista 
j. 
lat area of land covered with tall grass
____ 11.
desert 
k. machinelike
____ 12.
meadow 
l. a large and beautiful view of an area of 
land or water
____ 13.
nylon 
m. to give up the use of or enjoyment of
____ 14.
summit 
n. lively
C.
Reading strategy
This passage contains many nature words. Quickly read through the text, and 
underline all of the words relating to nature.
II. READ
Read the text. Mark the words you don’t know, but don’t stop reading to look 
them up.
Why backpack? Why forgo the comforts of home or hotel for a night under the 
stars or sheltered by a limsy nylon sheet? Many people hike in the wilds but 
return to civilization at night. This is experiencing only part of what the 
wilderness has to offer; it’s like dipping your toe in the water instead of taking 
an invigorating swim. Only by living in the wilderness twenty-four hours a day, 
day after day, do you gain that indeinable feeling of rightness, of being with 
instead of against the earth, that gives the deepest contentment I have found.
The heart of backpacking lies in the concept of the journey itself, a true 
odyssey, a desire to explore a world beyond our everyday lives, and in doing so 
to explore ourselves. Not so long ago, all journeys were like this, because the 
known world extended little beyond one’s hometown. Now, with modern 

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