A.

READING COMPREHENSION

1. What does the beginning line of this text remind you of?
2. The excerpt above is taken from an adaptation of a well-known European literary
fairy tale: Puss-in-Boots. There are however other literary and cultural references
in this story. Can you identify them?
3. Comment upon the style of the text. What sort of narrative is it? What is the value
of the present tense simple forms appearing in the text?
4. What does the word tom in the first line of the second paragraph stand for?
5. How did the cat get his “fine, high, shining leather boots”?
6. Comment on the notion of “adaptation”. How faithful should an “adaptation “ be
to the text is based on?
7. Can you think of other fairy tales that have been reworked into literary or
cinematic adaptations?

B.VOCABULARY

I. Fill in the blanks with words/phrases from the text.

1.The tabby cat can easily… into her mistress’ chamber. 2. Her eyes incontinently ….at the
slightest whiff of fur. 3. He is proud … of his fine, musical voice. 4. Puss despises the sullen
… of ragged trash that haunts the provinces. 5. A young cavalry officer made him … of the
first boot. 6. Their high heels will… like castanets when Puss prances upon the tiles. 7. He
drew his new boots over the … white stockings. 8. He can perform amazing acrobatics
without a … net. 9. Puss can do a back….. whilst holding aloft a glass of vino in his right paw
and never spill a drop. 10. He has dashingly …. the double tour.

II. POLYSEMY: SLIP Translate the following sentences into English.

1. Așteaptă un moment să mă schimb în ceva mai comfortabil. 2. Țara intră in recesiune 3;

Am alunecat pe gheață si mi-am rupt brațul. 4. I-a scapat paharul din mână. 5) Pasul greșit al
dansatorului a compromis întregul spectacol. 6. N-am vrut să zic asta, a fost o scăpare. 7.
Neatenția la volan poate avea consecințe tragice. 8. Avem nevoie de fețe de pernă noi, acestea
s-au deșirat. 9. Marta poartă furou pe sub rochie. 10. Marinarul a desfăcut nodul frânghiei. 11.
A adus vorba despre căsătorie. 12. Sa nu lasi să-ți scape printre degete o asemenea ocazie.

III. SYNONYMY: SPRING. Fill in the blanks using the appropriate verbs from the list below:
jump, leap, bound, bounce, vault, hop dash, dart, prance, pronk. Make the necessary changes.

1.William … down the stairs grinning. 2. I … out into the street, still in my pyjamas. 3. Once
unleashed, the dog … toward the backyard fence. 4. The pony …. around the paddock. 5.
She… for the door, but he snatched her arm. 6. Herds of antelope … across the open
savannah. 7. The little girl… over the puddle. 8. She… to her feet as the teacher walked into
the room. 9. He… over the fence and continued running. 10. People were forced to … to
safety from the burning building.
IV. PHRASAL VERB: BRING Fill in the blanks with the suitable preposition/particle:
about, back, down, forward, forth, in, on, off, out, round, up.

1.A good omelette is very hard to bring…. 2. Fortunately I brought… the poison. 3. The vote
will not bring … the government. 4. After approximately half an hour, each group was asked
to bring their ideas.... 5.Why does Kate not bring… a child? 6. She’s not keen about it, but I
can bring her …. 7. I hate to bring this … but you still owe me £50. 8. Congress brought…
reforms to prevent abuse of presidential power. 9. She brought… a revolution in
psychoanalysis. 10. Warm weather has brought…a lot of home-grown crops. 11. The smell of
the tiny church brought… every memory of my childhood. 12. The shawl brings… the colour
of your eyes.

C. GRAMMAR

I.NOUN: GENDER – a natural, not a grammatical category in English.

Give the feminine counterpart for the following set of nouns:

Deer; fox ; pig; horse; ass ; goat ; tiger; lion; peacock, wolf.
Policeman, widower, master, duke, count, lord, king, chairman, abbot, nephew.

II. The Order of adjectives

Consider the following examples from the text: Fine, white shirtfront/ Fine, musical voice/
Fine, high, shining leather boots

There are rules constraining the order in which adjectives can be placed in front of a nominal.
1. Subjective opinions are farthest from the noun. 2. General description comes next (size,
shape, age, colour), followed by origin, material and purpose (made of/used for).
For long strings of adjectives we can use the mnemonic below:
VERY SOON A TRAIN SHOULD COME
VALUE SIZE AGE TEMPERATURE SHAPE COLOUR ORIGIN MATERIAL NOUN
LOVELY BIG OLD WARM ROUND RED INDIAN COTTON CUSHION

Some of the adjectives in the following letter are in the wrong order; make the necessary
corrections.

Dear Suzie,

It’s a shame you couldn’t make it to the wedding, but thank you for the lovely dessert crystal
bowls which you sent to us. The wedding was unforgettable and everyone looked beautiful,
especially the bridesmaids in their silk long cream dresses. At the reception we had a three-
course home-made delicious meal and the best man gave an amusing nice short speech. A
talented jazz black musician played the piano in the hall, next to an old-fashioned lovely
marble French mantel. In the evening most guests arrived and the hotel provided Irish live
excellent music. Before we left, we cut the wedding white iced cake. Hope to see you soon.
Love, Amanda & Tim