Reading Skill

Task I

Beauty and the Beast

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Beauty. She lived with her father and her sisters in a small village. Beauty was a beautiful girl. She was also hard-working. She always helped her father on the farm.

One day, her father set out for the city. He saw an old castle and went in. No-one was in but there was food on the table. Then he walked around the castle. He picked a rose from garden for Beauty. Suddenly an angry Beast appeared. He wanted to kill Beauty’s father unless Beauty was brought to him.

Beauty’s father told her daughters what had happened. Beauty’s sisters ordered her to see the Beast. Beauty went to see the Beast and had to stay at the castle. She felt scared, lonely and sad. She tried to run away but was stopped by the Beast. The Beast treated Beauty well. Soon, Beauty began to like the Beast.

One day, through the Beast’s magic mirror, Beauty saw that her father was sick. The Beast allowed her to go home. Her father was happy to see her.

One night, Beauty had a dream. A fairy told her that the Beast was sick. Beauty hurried back and saw the Beast dying. She began to cry. Tears fell onto the Beast. Suddenly, the Beast changed into handsome prince. Beauty and the Beast got married and lived happily ever after.

Answer the question below !

1. What does the first paragraph talk about?
2. How is Beauty’s personal characteristic?
3. Why did the Beast want to kill Beauty’s father?
4. Who told Beauty that the Beast was sick?
5. What lesson can we get from the story?

Source : http://narrative-text.blogspot.com/2009/05/beauty-and-beast.html

Task II

Make a group of four and discuss about the text below! Find the generic structure and specific informations!

The Smartest Parrot

Once upon time, a man had a wonderful parrot. There was no other parrot like it. The parrot could say every word, except one word. The parrot would not say the name of the place where it was born. The name of the place was Catano.

The man felt excited having the smartest parrot but he could not understand why the parrot would not say Catano. The man tried to teach the bird to say Catano however the bird kept not saying the word.

At the first, the man was very nice to the bird but then he got very angry. “You stupid bird!” pointed the man to the parrot. “Why can’t you say the word? Say Catano! Or I will kill you” the man said angrily. Although he tried hard to teach, the parrot would not say it. Then the man got so angry and shouted to the bird over and over; “Say Catano or I’ll kill you”. The bird kept not to say the word of Catano.

One day, after he had been trying so many times to make the bird say Catano, the man really got very angry. He could not bear it. He picked the parrot and threw it into the chicken house. There were four old chickens for next dinner “You are as stupid as the chickens. Just stay with them” Said the man angrily. Then he continued to humble; “You know, I will cut the chicken for my meal. Next it will be your turn, I will eat you too, stupid parrot”. After that he left the chicken house.

The next day, the man came back to the chicken house. He opened the door and was very surprised. He could not believe what he saw at the chicken house. There were three death chickens on the floor. At the moment, the parrot was standing proudly and screaming at the last old chicken; “Say Catano or I’ll kill you”.

Source : http://understandingtext.blogspot.com/2008/12/example-of-narrative-text-smartest.html