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III. COMPREHENSION CHECK
Choose the correct completion for each sentence.
1.
The main idea of this passage is:
a.
backpacking through the wilderness gives you a chance to live apart
from nature.
b.
backpacking through the wilderness gives you a chance to experience
nature, have a closer relationship with the earth, and realize how you are
a part of it.
c.
backpacking through the wilderness shows you how important good
boots are.
communications and mass transportation, most “journeys” consist of nothing
more than the mechanized moving of bodies from one place to another, a
process so sanitized, safe, controlled, and so insulated from its surroundings
that it precludes any sense of freedom, adventure, or personal involvement.
Only when I shoulder my pack and set out into the wilderness do I feel a
journey is really beginning, even though I may have traveled halfway around the
world to take that irst step.
Though being in the wilderness is what matters, and the real goal of any
hike is to experience nature, a more speciic purpose gives shape to a trip and
provides an incentive to keep moving. Thus I always set a goal, even on day
hikes—a summit, a lake, a distance to cover, a crag to visit, a vista to see. Once
I’m under way, the overall goal is subordinated to the day-by-day, minute-by-
minute events and impressions that are my reason for hiking.
Walking is the only way to really see a place, to really grasp what it’s like, to
experience all its aspects. This is true even for cities but applies much, much
more to mountains and deserts, forests and meadows. Seen from a car, a train,
or even a “scenic viewpoint,” these are only pretty pictures, postcard images
for the surface of the mind, quickly forgotten. By walking through a landscape,
you enter into it, experience it with every one of your senses, learn how it works
and why it’s as it is. You become, for a time, a part of it. And once you stay out
overnight and entrust your sleeping self to its care, a deeper bond is forged
and, leetingly and at the edge of your mind, you begin to grasp that we are not
apart
from but
part
of the earth.
This process of exploring the relationship between the self and the natural
world grows and expands as you become more experienced and conident in
wilderness wandering. It does not, I suspect, have limits.
By experiencing the wilderness directly, by being in touch with the land, we
can learn how valuable—how essential—it is, and that we must try to preserve
and restore our still-beautiful world.
Source:
The Backpacker’s Handbook
, by Chris Townsend, New York: McGraw-
Hill, 1949
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2.
In backpacking, the journey is important because it gives us the
opportunity to
a.
use modern communication.
b.
explore our hometown.
c.
explore a world beyond our everyday lives.
3.
Modern communication and transportation have made traveling
a.
safe and controlled.
b.
adventurous.
c.
an exploration.
4.
The goal of any hike should be
a.
returning to civilization.
b.
experiencing modern transportation.
c.
being in the wilderness.
5.
_______________ is the way to “really see a place” and “really grasp what
it’s like.”
a.
Looking at a postcard
b.
Walking
c.
Driving
6.
By exploring the wilderness, we learn that our land is valuable, and that we
must try to
a.
use more natural resources.
b.
preserve and restore it.
c.
build more houses on it.
IV. VOCABULARY BUILDING
A.
Identify meaning
Choose the words that have the same meaning as the underlined words.
1.
The paper plates ar
e too limsy to hold a lot of food.
a.
weak
b.
strong
c.
old
2.
We
subordinated our desire to eat in order to continue playing the game.
a.
raised
b.
lowered
c.
interrupted
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3.
My best friend and I tell each other everything; we have a very strong bond.
a.
connection
b.
separation
c.
fascination
4.
We
forged a friendship when we were in the second grade.
a.
broke
b.
destroyed
c.
formed
5.
My fears of the wilderness wer
e leeting, and I quickly became comfortable
sleeping under the stars.
a.
short-lived
b.
slowly
c.
strong
6.
It is essential to drink water if you are exercising.
a.
extremely dificult
b.
extremely important
c.
extremely dangerous
7.
The cookies were good incentives for getting the children to work faster.
a.
feelings
b.
tests
c.
motivators
8.
The beauty of the mountains left a strong impression in my mind.
a.
mental picture
b.
mental turmoil
c.
mental block
B.
Idioms
The idiom
to be in touch with
has several different meanings. Here are two
examples:
having a deep understanding and appreciation of something
She’s really
in touch with
animals and can tell when they are depressed.
being in communication with someone
Are you
in touch with
your friends from college, or have you grown apart?
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Copy the sentence from the text that uses this idiom.
V. UNDERSTANDING GRAMMAR: PREFIXES
in-
,
re-,
AND
pre-
A.
Read about preixes
in-
,
re-
,
and
pre-
.
A preix is a group of letters that can be added to the beginning of a word or a
“root word” to change the meaning of the word.
A root word is a word that can stand on its own. You can make a new word
from it by adding a preix to the beginning of it.
B.
The meaning of preixes
Every preix has a meaning. For example:
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