My parents married when they were very young: my mother was eighteen and my father twenty. They fell in love soon after they met and married nine months later. Fights and arguments between my parents were a daily occurrence. After a fight my father would leave and go to my grandparents'.

I was very close to my grandmother for she was a kind and loving person; the total opposite of my mother. Hannah was an excellent cook, seamstress and housekeeper. She was also a nurse and would get up every morning cook, clean and then go to work at the state hospital for boys. She babysat me, my brothers and sister constantly, even after the divorce. Hannah was a saint.

When we went to the local football and high school basketball games, the cheerleaders were in the spotlight for my mother. After a game we would compare who was the cutest, thinnest, heaviest cheerleader. I would practice cheers in my room and after my mother caught me one afternoon she laughed and said I had to lose twenty pounds. I laughed along. But later I wrote in my journal how disgusted I was with my weight, how I secretly wanted to be a popular cheerleader with many boyfriends. Unfortunately Mum found the journal and read it at dinner one night. I was so upset.

My first steady boyfriend Roger gave me a silver ring with a peace sign on it. Mum immediately wanted me to give it back. Of course I didn't and Roger eventually broke my heart so I had to hear another round of "I told you so" when he asked for his ring back. I was so humiliated.

Now that I am a mother, I can better understand why mum was so severe and overprotective but I‘m doing my best to be my children’s friend, however teenagers never stop complaining!

Family Relationships

Find in the text evidence to the following statements

1. The parents’ marriage wasn’t a happy one.

____________________________________________________________

2. Marianne and her granny were very intimate.

____________________________________________________________

3. Marianne’s mum was very conservative.

____________________________________________________________

4. The mother doesn’t respect her daughter’s private life.

____________________________________________________________

5. The family split up but that didn’t affect the writer’s relationship with her grandmother.

____________________________________________________________

F

Find in the text words/phrases having the same meaning as:

Conflict= ____________

Something that happens every day= _____________

Because= _____________

A person receiving a lot of attention= _____________

To be unhappy/angry= _____________

Ashamed/embarrassed= _____________

FF

conjk

Circle the appropriate explanation

*Hannah was a saint = mean - very good/kind - authoritarian person.

*I laughed along = laughed at her – with her - next to her

*My first steady boyfriend = changing – constant - temporary

* I had to hear another round of “I told you so” = She blamed me again – thanked me - argued with me again -

 

humi

Use suitable words from the text to label the following pictures:

_________________ ___________________ __________________ ________________

Match the word with its meaning:

1. Someone who is determined to do what he wants and refuses to do anything else.

2. Someone who doesn’t like change, fashion and modern styles.

3. Bad – tempered and easily annoyed.

4. Unwilling to accept or understand new or different ideas and opinions.

5. Someone who does something that is not right or good, but is not very serious or a child who behaves badly.

6. Strictly forcing people to obey a set of rules or laws.

7. Behaving in an angry, threatening way, as if you want to fight or attack someone.

8. Someone who is likely to attack, hurt, or kill other people.

a.aggressive

g. narrow-minded

e.conservative

c.authoritarian

b. grumpy

d. naughty

h. violent

f. stubborn