Page 12 - American English File Student Book 3A
P. 12
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5 R EA D IN G Younger brother only child?
a Which do you think has more advantages,
being an only child, or having brothers and
sisters? Why?
THE YOUNGER BROTHER
b Work in pairs. A read The Younger Brother, NOVELIST TIM LOTT
B read The Only Child.
Rivalry between brothers is normal, but
c Tell your partner about 1 and 2 below. there was a special reason for the tension
Whose childhood sounds happier? between us. 1 was very ill when I was born,
1 other family members who are mentioned and spent three months in the hospital
with my mother. My brother did not see
2 how the writer’s experience as a child
her at all during that time because he
affects him / her now
went to stay with an aunt. When our
d Look at the highlighted words in the two mother returned home, it was with a sick
texts. Try to figure out their meaning newborn baby who took all the attention.
from the context. Then match them with No wonder he haled me (although if you
definitions 1-12. ask Jeff, he will say that he didn’t - we
remember things differently).
1 ____________ adj ill
2 ____________ it’s no surprise that My brother and I were completely
3 ____________ noun competition between different. We shared the same bedroom,
but he was neat, and 1 was really messy.
two people
He was responsible; I was rebellious. He
4 ____________ noun the time when you were
was sensible; I was emotional. I don’t
a child
have any positive memories of our childhood together,
5 ____________ norm a meeting of people, though there must have been good moments. Jeff says we used to play
e.g., family “Cowboys and Indians,” but I only remember him trying to suffocate
6 ____________ norm people who are fully me under the bedcovers.
grown
My relationship with Jeff has influenced my attitude toward my own
7 ____________ adj knowing about or being
four daughters. If the girls fight, I always think that the younger child
conscious of something is innocent. But the good news about brothers and sisters is that when
8 ____________ noun a school where children they get older, they value each other more. Jeff is now one of my best
can live during the year friends, and I like and admire him greatly. For better or for worse, we
9 ____________ verb think that somebody or share a whole history. It is the longest relationship in my life.
something is important Adapted from The Tim es
10 ____________ verb divided something
between two or more people
THE ONLY CHILD
11 _____________verb try to hurt somebody else JOURNALIST SARAH LEE
12 ____________ noun a group of friends
I went to boarding school when 1 was seven, and the hardest thing I
m each other found was making friends. Because I was an only child, I just didn’t
When brothers and sisters get older they know how to do it. The thing is that when you’re an only child, you
value each other more. spend a lot of your time with adults, and you're often the only child in
Use each other to talk about an action a gathering of adults. Your parents go on living more or less
between two people or groups of people, e.g., the way they have always lived, only now you are there, too.
I don’t get along very well with my father. We
don't understand each other. I found being an only child interesting because it gave me
a view of the world of adults that children in a big family
e Talk to a partner. Do you have brothers and might not get. And I know it has, at least partly, made me
sisters, or are you an only child? Do you feel the kind of person I am - 1 never like being one of a group,
positive or negative about it? for example. If I have to be in a group, I will always try to go
off and do something on my own, or be with just one other
person — I’m not comfortable with being one of a gang.
My parents are divorced now and my mother lives in the US
and my father in the UK. I feel very responsible for them - I
feel responsible for their happiness. I’m the closest relative in
the world to each of them, and I am very aware of tiiat.
10 IB
Adapted from The G uardian
