READING COMPREHENSION

Better To Be Unlucky

Sam, an unemployed piano tuner, said it was only the second thing he had ever won in his life. The first thing was an Afghan blanket at a church raffle when he was 25 years old. But this was much bigger: it was $120,000! He had won the Big Cube, a state lottery game. To win, a contestant must first guess which number a spinning cube will stop on. The cube has six numbers on it: 1X, 10X, 50X, 100X, 500X, and 1000X. If he is correct, the contestant must then guess which of two selected variables is going to be greater. So, just guessing which number appears on the cube does not guarantee that you will win any money.

Sam correctly guessed 1000X, but he still had to choose between two variables. One variable was the number of cars that would run the stop sign at Hill Street and Lake Avenue in six hours. The other variable was the number of times that a teenage boy would change TV channels in a three-hour period. This was a tough decision.

Finally, Sam flipped a coin. It came up heads, so Sam picked the teenager. He picked right. The stop sign was run only 76 times, but the teen clicked 120 times. Sixty-year-old Sam jumped for joy, for he had just won 1000 times 120, or $120,000. Sam dreamily left the lottery studio. Talking excitedly on his cell phone while crossing the street, he got hit by a little sports car.

Sam is slowly getting better. He was in the hospital for a month. His hospital bill was $110,000. And the insurance company for the little sports car’s owner sued Sam for $9,000 worth of repairs. Also, Sam still has to pay federal taxes on his winnings. Sam doesn’t play the state lottery any more. He says it’s better to be unlucky.

YES / NO QUESTIONS

1. Does Sam have a job?
2. Did Sam win anything at a church raffle?
3. Is the Big Cube a state lottery game?
4. Did it mean that Sam won the game when the cube showed 100X?
5. Did Sam flip a coin?
6. Did Sam pick the wrong variable?
7. Was he talking on his cell phone while crossing the street?
8. Was he hit by a truck?
9. Did Sam get a big hospital bill?
10.Does Sam still play the state lottery?

WH QUESTIONS

1. How many times has Sam won anything in his life?
2. What was the first thing Sam ever won?
3. How old was Sam when he first won something?
4. What was the second thing he won?
5. What did he flip?
6. Where did Sam jump for joy?
7. What was he doing while crossing the street?
8. What kind of car hit him?
9. How long was he in the hospital?
10.How much was his hospital bill?

LISTENING PRACTICE

GRAMMAR PRACTICE

1. Fill in the blanks with the past tense, present perfect or past perfect of the verb in parentheses.

Clifford Theroux is a portrait painter. Before he was three he (paint) ___________his first self portrait. It_______________ (Show) him after he_________________ (eat) a bowl of spaghetti.
By age ten he___________________ (do) 200 self portraits. His parents proudly__________________ (display) all of them. By the
time he left home to study art in New York, they___________________ (Cover) all the walls of their house with his portraits.
In recent years Clifford__________________ (continue) to paint
only self portraits.
Last month he ___________ (put) up a show, and since
then he __________________ (sell) five paintings. His parents _____________ (Buy) all five of the paintings to hang on the
walls of a room they ______________________ (add) onto their house.
People like Clifford's style of painting, and he _____________
(receive) several requests from people who want their portraits
painted. He ____________________ (refuse) them, because Clifford only paints portraits of himself.

2. Complete the sentences with Information about yourself.
a. Before I was three, I had ____________________________
b. By the time I was ten, I had ____________________________
c. Recently, I have _____________________________

3. Do a survey of the class. Choose one of the following activities and ask questions to see when, if ever, students did it. See the example:
Example: Had you learned to swim before you were five?

WHEN
ACTIVITY: Before the Before the Between the age Never
age of five age of 10 of ten and now

learn to swim
write a poem
cateto a fish
ride a bike
leam to multiply and divide
drink coffee
balee a cake
run a race
drive a car
art down a tree

4. Write sentences based on the survey. See the example
Example: Five students had learned to swim before they were five.