CURSO

1
Departamento de Educacin
y Ciencia

Escuela Oficial de Idiomas n 2

de Zaragoza

C.E.
INGLS

ACTIVIDAD

SOPORTE

N FICHA

14

COMPRENSIN
ESCRITA

AULA DE
AUTOAPRENDIZAJE

The Garden that Moved House !

Pre-reading task
The following words are either flowers or colours. Put them in the correct column. Use your
dictionary to check new words.
tulip
pink
orange

daffodil
grey
rose

red
gold
white
Flowers

snowdrop
yellow

brown
primrose
Colours

Read the text and answer the questions.

Artist Verena Devoy loves gardening. It is her passion. Until three days ago she lived in a lovely
little thatched cottage in a village near Cambridge. She spent ten years and thousands of pounds to
make her garden there beautiful. She had flowers and plants for every season of the year.
In autumn, big orange chrysanthemums grew next to the gold of the trees and bushes. In winter,
little snowdrops grew in the grass and under the trees. In spring there were bright yellow daffodils all
over her front lawn and tulips and primroses next to the path. And summer! Summer was the prettiest
season of all! She bought hundreds of roses to fill every part of the garden: she bought climbing roses to
put round the windows and doors, pink roses for the front garden, and red and white roses for the back.
A lot of people came to the village especially to see Verenas garden. It was more beautiful than the
park.
Then last summer she decided that she would like to move to a bigger house. It was easy to sell her
beautiful cottage. Mr and Mrs Grey from London came to see it.
We fell in love with it immediately, especially the garden we couldnt believe the colours of the
roses. We wanted to move from London because we didnt have a garden there.
Of course Mr and Mrs Grey bought the cottage and at the end of the summer they moved from
London. They arrived at the cottage.
There was no garden! There was a brown field with some stones and rocks. There werent any flowers
or trees and there wasnt any grass! It looked terrible! We couldnt believe our eyes!
But it was true! Verena Devoy loved the garden so much that she took it with her when she left. Five
large lorries carried all the flowers, trees, and plants to her new house five miles away. It cost 1,000!
She says:
Ive got a much bigger garden now and Im going to make it even more beautiful than my first
garden. Im going to plant all the flowers and trees again and this time Im going to have a pond with
some goldfish.
And Mr and Mrs Grey? What do they say? She cant do this! We bought the garden with the house!
Were going to see our solicitor!

Comprehension check
a) What is Verenas job? What is her hobby?
b) Why did she spend thousands of pounds?
c) Which was the most colourful season in her garden?
d) Why did Verena want to move?
e) Did Mr and Mrs Grey like the cottage when they first saw it?
f)

Why were they shocked when they arrived at the cottage?

g) How much did Verena pay to move her garden?

h) What are her plans for her new garden?
i)

What are Mr and Mrs Grey going to do?

Language work: Here are some answers. Complete the questions.

a) How much did she spend to make her garden beautiful?
Thousands of pounds?
b) Which was ?
Summer. Because of all the roses.
c) Why

To see Verenas garden.

d) Was

Yes, it was. Very easy.

e) Why

Because they wanted to have a garden.

f) When

At the end of the summer.

g) Has Verena

now?

Yes, she has. Its much bigger.

h) Who

Their solicitor.

KEY
Flowers: tulip, rose, daffodil, snowdrop, primrose
Colours: pink, yellow, orange, brown, grey, red, gold, white
Comprehension check
a) She an artist. Her hobby is gardening.
g) 1,000
b) To make her garden more beautiful.
h) To plan all the flowers and trees and have a
c) Summer.
pond.
d) Because she wanted a bigger house.
i) To see their solicitor.
e) Yes, they did.
f) Because there was no garden.
Questions:
b) Which was the prettiest season?
f) When did they move?
c) Why did a lot of people come to the village?
g) Has Verena got a bigger house now?
d) Was the cottage easy to sell?
h) Who are the Greys going to see?
e) Why did the Greys want to move from London?
From Headway Elementary, extra ideas.
O.U.P. This material may only be used for individual study; multiple copying and distribution are prohibited