A Tribute to New York - Navarra

Pilar Santos Tambo A Tribute to New York
e) A percussion musical instrument:
Were you wondering about the ♦? You have read a text where
every fifth “meaningful” word (noun, adjective, verb, etc.) had
been deleted, and which still was understandable. So, as it
seems, you don’t need to understand every single word of the
text. Sometimes it’s wiser to ignore difficult words as if they
didn’t exist.
F. How many of the deleted words would you dare to replace, according to the
context? Try to do that before your teacher gives you the list of those words.
G. Are the following sentences true or false? Don’t forget to give evidence from the
text for your answers:
a) The Chinese New Year always takes place on February 19 th .
b) Fish, red and dragons, all have positive connotations in the Chinese New
Year.
c) The Chinese New Year is only celebrated in San Francisco, New York,
Honolulu and Houston.
H. Rewrite the following sentences without changing the original meaning:
a) I last visited New York in 1998.
It is __________
b) The father gave some “Lai see” to his daughter and told her. “Don’t spend it
all at once!”.
The father asked __________
c) While I was visiting New York, the Chinese New Year took place.
During __________
I. Follow up–writing. Narrations and descriptions: Choose one of the following
topics and ask your teacher for advice if you need it:
a) Think about the last time you were on holiday and imagine it was yesterday.
Write a letter to a friend telling him/her how you spent the day (it would be
useful to mark the sequence of events by using connectors such as: then,
later, afterwards, etc., and clearly stating the time of your actions by using
time expressions such as: when I got up, after we left the hotel, a little while
after lunch, before going to bed, etc. And don’t forget that narrations are
usually written in the past tense).
b) You have got a new Chinese penpal. Write a letter or an e-mail to him/her
describing how you celebrate the New Year in Spain/in your town 37 .
Remember that descriptions usually contain a lot of adjectives and that you
have to follow an order.
37 If you want to find new penpals: http://www.internationalpenfriends.co.uk/ or
http://www.penfriends.com.au/
72