Summary Sentence:

(1) By/On/In/At the picture I can see a woman and a man (2) surrounded/surrounding/are surrounding/surround by cats. The two people must be a couple since they (3) are laing/are lying/are lie/lie in bed next to each other.

More Details:

The woman is reading a newspaper. She (4) perhaps reading/might reading/may be reading/maybe reading some gossip in a tabloid about a cheating celebrity. Her husband is holding a cat in his hands, as if (5) he trying/he tries/trying/to try to put it off the bed. He looks (6) like shocked/as if shocked/shocked/ shocking, which may be because there are cats all over the bed, and he just cannot deal with the situation. Two of the cats are lying on the bed, (7) which one/and the one/one of them/one of whom is eying the yarn ball, looking as though it (8) is waiting/waits/is to be waiting/may waiting for someone to throw it. Another cat is hiding on the right behind the bed, (9) he is looking/he looking/to look/looking at the husband. It (10) may be thrown/have been thrown/may threw/may thrown off by the husband a while ago, and now it's thinking of jumping back on again. Two more cats are sitting on the back of the bed. One of the two is reaching down with one paw, like it was trying to play with either the woman's hair or the newspaper.

Interpretation:

The caption below the picture (11) reads/is reading/reading/is read “Here's a new cure for my cat allergies. Divorce.” In my (12) sight/opinions/view/eyes, it's the husband who is saying it, since he's (13) who/that one who/that who/the one who looks uneasy about the situation. At this point the couple (14) may have had/may have/may had/may be have countless arguments over the woman's cats, but she may have ignored her husband's complaints about the cats. (15) Because/As/That's why/Since the husband may feel resigned because of his wife's stubbornness. Eventually, the husband announces that he wants a divorce, because he can't take it anymore. Again, the woman (16) seems to ignore/is seeming to ignore/seems to ignoring/seems ignoring him and his threat. She might feel confident that her husband is just bluffing. But who knows, (17) maybe/may be/possible/potential this time he will stand up for himself.

Summary Sentence:

In the picture I can see a woman and a man surrounded by cats. The two people must be a couple since they are lying in bed next to each other.

More Details:

The woman is reading a newspaper. She may be reading some gossip in a tabloid about a cheating celebrity. Her husband is holding a cat in his hands, as if trying to put it off the bed. He looks kind of shocked, which may be because there are cats all over the bed, and he just cannot deal with the situation. Two of the cats are lying on the bed, one of whom is eying the yarn ball, looking as though it is waiting for someone to throw it. Another cat is hiding on the right behind the bed, looking at the husband. It may have been thrown off by the husband a while ago, and now it's thinking of jumping back on again. Two more cats are sitting on the back of the bed. One of the two is reaching down with one paw, like it was trying to play with either the woman's hair or the newspaper.

Interpretation:

The caption below the picture reads “Here's a new cure for my cat allergies. Divorce.” In my view, it's the husband who is saying it, since he's the one who looks uneasy about the situation. At this point the couple may have had countless arguments over the woman's cats, but she may have ignored her husband's complaints about the cats. That's why the husband may feel resigned because of his wife's stubbornness. Eventually, the husband announces that he wants a divorce, because he can't take it anymore. Again, the woman seems to completely ignore him and his threat. She might feel confident that her husband is just bluffing. But who knows, maybe this time he will stand up for himself.

Task: Circle the correct choices.

SOLUTION

Here's a few ideas about how to structure your picture description:

1. Summary Sentence
   Say in 1 or 2 sentences what the picture depicts. Say it in a way that even a blind man can imagine the scene. Start like this: ”The picture depicts ...”
   ”In the picture I can see ...”
   ”In the picture there are ...”

2. More Details
   Now is the time to describe the picture in more detail. Talk about where each cat is, and what it is doing. You may make guesses about what they're about to do next, e.g.
   ”There is a cat on the right hiding behind the bed, looking at the husband. It may have been thrown off by the husband a while ago, and now it's thinking of jumping back on again.”

3. Interpretation

Interpret the scene. Go beyond what you can actually see, and decide what is really happening.

• Who is saying the line below the picture?

• Why does one of them want a divorce?

• What happened before this scene? Perhaps they already had a lot of arguments?

• Why is there no better solution than a divorce?

Here's a few ideas about how to structure your picture description:

1. Summary Sentence
   Say in 1 or 2 sentences what the picture depicts. Say it in a way that even a blind man can imagine the scene. Start like this: ”The picture depicts ...”
   ”In the picture I can see ...”
   ”In the picture there are ...”

2. More Details
   Now is the time to describe the picture in more detail. Talk about where each cat is, and what it is doing. You may make guesses about what they're about to do next, e.g.
   ”There is a cat on the right hiding behind the bed, looking at the husband. It may have been thrown off by the husband a while ago, and now it's thinking of jumping back on again.”

3. Interpretation

Interpret the scene. Go beyond what you can actually see, and decide what is really happening.

• Who is saying the line below the picture?

• Why does one of them want a divorce?

• What happened before this scene? Perhaps they already had a lot of arguments?

• Why is there no better solution than a divorce?

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