CONTINUOUS WRITING - VOCABULARY PRACTICEStudy the words in the box. Complete the essay using the words.

A Heated Argument

blinded porcelain enshrouding fury impotentstreaked shrieked palpable wriggling shatteringrammed radiant wan stormed clenchedretreated froze implacable recollection besieged

The crashing sounds of wine glasses followed soon after the ……………………….. (1) of the

expensive Ming vase. Emily crouched even further into her corner, willing her mind to stop taking in the

sounds of her parents arguing again. She could not remember exactly when these arguments first started, but

she always knew how they invariably ended. Mummy would send the bedroom door banging as she

……………………….. (2) in anger to that refuge. Daddy would come by and hug her before leaving the house

for the next few days.

Emily thought back to the first argument. It started soon after Mummy had come back from the

hospital. She had looked ……………………….. (3) then, such a far cry from her usual ………………………..

(4) and beautiful self. The first thing she did was to take Emily into her arms and squeeze her hard. Emily

remembered ……………………….. (5) irritably, making little noises to show Mummy her discomfort. But

nothing she did then registered Mummy's mind. Suddenly, she felt a strange dampness on the collar of her

dress and struggled free to look at Mummy's face. Her make-up had ……………………….. (6) all over her

face, obviously ruined by her tears. At that moment, Daddy walked in and started speaking to her. She kept

shaking her head and refusing to listen. In the end, Daddy was so angry that he ……………………….. (7) out

of the house.

From then on, increasingly, Mummy would smash things around the house whenever they argued

while Daddy would seethe with ……………………….. (8) fury. Later on, Emily learnt that Mummy had lost the

baby brother who was living in her stomach.

Now, she was awakened from her thoughts when a missile shot past her face. Emily looked at the

pieces of ……………………….. (9) on the floor next to her and squeezed her eyes shut tight. The sounds of

her parents' controlled ……………………….. (10) and biting words persisted in driving themselves into her

consciousness. She opened her eyes and looked up timidly at her parents. She saw the anger

……………………….. (11) in their stances-Daddy's hands were ……………………….. (12) tight around a

photo frame while his mouth was forming words that were obviously hurting Mummy, who had buried her face

in her hands and was sobbing uncontrollably.

Suddenly, Emily realised what Daddy was holding onto so tightly. It was the framed photograph of

their family on her fifth birthday party last year. She recalled that it was taken a mere few weeks before

Mummy lost the baby. In the midst of her ……………………….. (13), she heard her Mummy saying something

about not wanting the baby to die and how she had suffered all this time. Daddy was ………………………..

(14). He stared at her angrily and asked her, "What about Emily?" Emily's blood ……………………….. (15) in

her veins as she heard Mummy's reply, "I don't care." The coldness with which that was said sliced right

through Emily's heart. In a flash, she realised what the problem was. She was obviously the reason why her

parents were arguing all the time.

Hot tears scalded her eyes as she felt the shame ……………………….. (16) her. She was unwanted.

Suddenly, the piercing sound of glass shattering filled the air. Emily looked up. Mummy's voice

……………………….. (17) the unforgettable words, "Let it break! Let it break! Let it all go to pieces!" The

words resounded in Emily's ears. Even Mummy did not want her now, the same loving Mummy who used to

rock her to sleep gently every night. Daddy looked so shocked that he was speechless. In the end, only seven

words escaped him, "Yes, let it all go to pieces."

Emily felt a wave of fear. Daddy was giving up too. He did not want her either. They both did not want

her. ……………………….. (18) by the knowledge, Emily turned from the room and ran towards the front door.

She heard her parents shouting her name, but she did not look back. Suddenly, glaring lights

……………………….. (19) her and she stopped. She only had time to say "Oh!" before the car

……………………….. (20) into her little body.

WRITING AN INTERESTING CONCLUSIONHow would you want the story to end? Put on your thinking cap and write a creative ending to the story.

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VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Fill in the words from the box. There are THREE words you do not need!

accounts aid crops developing

failure floods health

hospitals knowledge livestock policies poverty residents resources

shocking solution starvation success unproductive

vast wealthy

~ Africa Rising ~

Africa Rising is a ....................... (1) documentary of the problems of people in the ....................... (2)

countries of Africa. It shows how a large rural area in Ethiopia takes matters into its own hands to fight

....................... (3).

Ethiopia is a potentially ....................... (4) country with enormous resources. However, the failure of

Western ....................... (5) towards Africa has been causing famine and ....................... (6) in eastern Africa.

The film shows that the West must rethink its role in helping the continent.

In the Sodo region of Ethiopia, schools have been abandoned; in other areas there is no

....................... (7) care and people must travel for hours to reach the nearest doctor or hospital. The whole

region is dominated by ....................... (8) areas of dry and ....................... (9) land where the soil has been

washed away.

Western governments and aid agencies thought they had the ....................... (10) to the problem:

pouring billions and billions of dollars in ....................... (11) into the region with practically no lasting results.

Much of the money ends up in the pockets of foreign aid workers or in ....................... (12) of banks far away

from the region.

The documentary shows how the ....................... (13) of Sodo started helping themselves. Twenty

men and women were taught new skills, like dam construction, bricklaying, micro banking, raising

....................... (14) and planting new ....................... (15). Each of these people passed on their .......................

(16) to twenty others - and those twenty followers to twenty more. Within a short period, tens of thousands of

were growing cash crops for the first time, or digging irrigation systems to stop erosion and the washing away

of soil after ....................... (18).

In short, the documentary shows the extraordinary ....................... (19) story of one of the most

disadvantaged regions of the world.

ERROR CORRECTION – TWO ILL MENThere is one grammatical error in each line. You must underline the error and write one word to correct the error in the space provided. The correct word must not change the meaning of the sentence. The first one has been done for you.

Two men were seriously ill. They occupies the same room in the

hospital. One of them was lying on the bed near the only window in their

room. Every day he was allow to spend some time sitting up in his bed

to help draining the fluid from lung. The other man was forced to spend

all his days flat on his back. They talked a load about their life, families,

jobs, vacations. Every time, when the first man was seated by the

window, he described in details all that he seen outside the window. His

roommate always looked to those moments, when his world was

broadened and brightened out by the world outside. Amazing views of a

park with a beautiful lake could been seen from the window of their

room. Children delightfully played among ducks and swans. Couples

walked arm in arm among colourful flours. Also the stunning city skyline

could be seen. When the man by the window had thoroughly describing

all that was happening outside the window, her roommate would close

his eyes and pictured all the beautiful scenes of life that are told to him.

One night the man, whom bed was near the window, died peacefully

during sleep and his roommate was very sad. After some times, when

the nurse came to visited him, he asked if he could be moved next to the

window. The nurse agree and kindly made the switch. When she left,

the man slowly and painly propped himself up on one elbow and took

the first look at the world outside. He was stunner. The window faced a

blank wall. When the nurse comed to visit him the next time, he told her

about beautiful thinks outside the window that his roommate described

him. The nurse replied that his roommate was a blinded man. She said,

“Probably he was only encouraged you all these while.”

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