from Paul Theroux: `The Old Patagonian Express'

Task 1: Reading

Read the fragments and put them into right order:

A

three streets of the town and rather envy the strolling couples and the people with children. The museums and churches are closed, and toward midnight the streets are empty. If I am mugged I will have to apologise as politely as possible: `I'm sorry , sir, but I have nothing valuable on my person.' Is there a surer way of enraging a thief and driving him to violence? It is hard to see clearly or to think straight in the company of other people. Not only do I feel self-conscious, but the perceptions that are necessary to writing are difficult to manage when someone close

B

by is thinking out loud. I am diverted, but it is discovery not diversion, that I seek. What is required is the lucidity of loneliness to capture that vision, which, however banal, seems in my private mood, to be special and worthy of interest. There is something in feeling abject that quickens my mind and makes it intensely receptive to fugitive impressions. Later these impressions may be refuted or deleted, but they

C

Travel at its best is a solitary enterprise: to see, to examine, to assess, you have to be alone and unencumbered. Other people can mislead you: they crowd your meandering impressions with their own; if they are companionable they obstruct your view, and if you are boring they corrupt your silence with non-sequiturs, shattering your concentration with `Oh look, it's raining', and `You see a lot of trees here'. Travelling on your own can be terribly lonely (and it is not understood by Japanese who, coming across

D

might be also verified and refined; and in any case I had the satisfaction of finishing the business alone. Travel is not a vacation, and it is often the opposite of a rest. `Have a nice time,' people said to me at my send-off at South Station, Medford. It was not precisely what I had hoped for. I craved a little risk, some danger, an untoward event, a vivid discomfort, an experience of my company, and in a modest way the romance of solitude. This I thought might be mine on that train to Limon.

E

you smiling wistfully at an acre of Mexican buttercups tend to say things like `Where is the rest of your team?') I think of evening in the hotel room in the strange city. My diary has been brought up to date.; I hanker for company; What do I do? I don't know anybody here, so I go out and walk and discover the

Task 2: Comprehension check

Complete these statements by choosing the answer you think fits best

:1. Travelling companions are a disadvantage, according to the writer, because they

A. give you the wrong impression about the journey.

B. distract you from your reading.

C. C. intrude on your private observations.

D. D. prevent from saying what

2. It has been assumed by the Japanese that he

A. belongs to a group of botanists.

B. is excessively odd to travel alone.

C. C. needs to be directed to his hotel.

D. D. has wandered away from his party

3. His main concern during the evenings was to

A. take some physical exercise.

B. avoid being robbed in the street.

C. C. overcome his loneliness.

D. D. explore the sights of the city.

4. The writer regards his friends' farewell to him as

A. inappropriate.

B. B. unsympathetic.

C. C. tactless.

D. D. cynical.

Task 3: Vocabulary check

• Find words which describe the state of being single:

• Find words which mean `to want something very much':

Task 4: Word formation

Noun	Verb	Adjective
	to divert
		Lucid
Perception
Solitude
		Fugitive
	to verify

Task 5: Focus on register

Which cities do the following extracts describe:

A The most populous metropolis of the Western Hemisphere, ……..is, depending on one's point of view any one of four cities: to a social scientists it is a laboratory in which to study the challenges of urban life, from ghastliest slum to tycoon luxury; to tourists it is a city of jostling crowds, horn-honking traffic jams, dirty streets, smelly subways - all in dramatic contrast to such international symbols as the skyscraper skyline, the United Nations building, Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Times Square and Broadway theatres; to commuters it is an enervating beehive of world trade and finance, mass media, business administration, fashion and associated entrepreneurial activities and manufacturing - a place to leave as soon as possible in the evening for the more serene atmosphere of greener suburbia.

B Okay, so …….. is crowded, dirty, noisy and impolite! But it's one of the world's most exciting and beautiful cities and, surprisingly, a very human place. Other Americans often fear and dislike …... With a typical shrug, its citizens dismiss this as provincial jealousy. Fire sirens may wail all night while steam billows hellishly from the manholes, the subway cars may be defaced by graffiti and people move faster than taxis. So what? …… is the place where it's all happening.

C If I leave my writing table in the hotel and go to the window I can look down on a corner of Central Park where I was jogging a short while ago. Spring is still some weeks distant and it was cold out there. Squirrels, not birds were most evident among the bare trees. The few early morning walkers - mostly with their dogs- were well wrapped. The exercise followed by the hot, then cold shower that I returned to so stimulated my appetite for breakfast that I ate pancakes with maple syrup to preface bacon and eggs. Such self-indulgence is a vice I am more prone to in ……than in any other city in the world. Although this may owe something to the air and something to the exercise, and something to that shedding of inhibitions which is one of the most evident consequences and rewards of travel, it owes yet more, I think, to a quality which is peculiar to this city itself.

D The popular image of ….. conjures up a jungle of muggers, dope addicts, and hustlers creating an obstacle course for the city's normal citizens. But the tourist will find that the Big Apple threatens only his budget. Its menacing streets, while not entirely mythical, fortunately do not approach their notoriety. Common sense and an alert eye should insure the safety of all but the most reckless: steer clear of run-down neighbourhoods (especially after dark) and keep to the more touristed parts of the city and trouble will not find you.

Task 6: Comprehension Check

1. A feature of the city mentioned in extracts A and B is:

• The uncomfortably humid heat of the streets.

• The spectacular height of the buildings.

• The writing on walls and public transport.

• Characteristic sounds of the traffic.

2. In extract C, we understand that the writer

• Enjoys taking exercise more than usual.

• Prefers American breakfast to English ones.

• Is struck by the strangeness of the environment

• Is less restrained in his behaviour than usual.

3. Extracts B and C share

• An enjoyment of the city's particular character

• An awareness of the city's imperfections

• A sense of the city's startling contrasts

• An appreciation of the beauty of the city

4. In Extract D the reader is advised

• To avoid going out at night

• To keep an eye open for a crime

• Not to run unnecessary risks

• Only to drive in the city centre

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