Here is a short extract from one of Laurie Lee's novels . Read the passage and complete the following tasks .
I Can’t Stay Long , 1977 , Laurie Lee
One bright June morning, when I was nineteen, I packed all I had on my back, left my native village, and walked up to London looking for gold and glory . That was some while ago and I’ve been here on and off ever since . I will probably stay here for the rest of my life . Yet in spite of all that I still can’t think of myself as a Londoner, nor ever will, nor ever want to .
For years I have lived in the flats, rooms and garrets of this city, the drawers in the human filing-cabinets that stand in blank rows down the streets of Kensington and Notting Hill .Yet when I talk of my home I still think of that damp, green valley near Stroud where I was brought up . The boys I went to school with have long since grown and fattened , got married and gone bald and they would probably have to give me a very long look before they recognized me if I turned up there again . But that is my home, and the image of it the day I left it is still more real to me than the long years of this crowded capital city .
Word bank :
a garret : une mansarde ; a drawer : un tiroir ; a filing-cabinet : un classeur ( meuble )
Let’s study the text :
1 . Introduce the document .
2 . What type of text is it ? Justify .
3 . Give information about the main character(s). Name ; age(s) ; places ……
4 . Where is the narrator when he is writing this text ? Justify .
5 . Tell me about his feelings for his home town and where he lives now . Justify .
6 . Over how many years do you think this text can stretch ( s’étendre ) ? Justify .
7 . Did the narrator achieve his objectives ? State them and justify .
8 . Tell me about his relationship with ‘the boys’. Justify from the text .
Once you have finished the above comprehension exercise you can find out a bit more about the author by logging in to the address below.
http://www.poemhunter.com/laurie-lee/biography/
I Can’t Stay Long , 1977 , Laurie Lee
One bright June morning, when I was nineteen, I packed all I had on my back, left my native village, and walked up to London looking for gold and glory . That was some while ago and I’ve been here on and off ever since . I will probably stay here for the rest of my life . Yet in spite of all that I still can’t think of myself as a Londoner, nor ever will, nor ever want to .
For years I have lived in the flats, rooms and garrets of this city, the drawers in the human filing-cabinets that stand in blank rows down the streets of Kensington and Notting Hill .Yet when I talk of my home I still think of that damp, green valley near Stroud where I was brought up . The boys I went to school with have long since grown and fattened , got married and gone bald and they would probably have to give me a very long look before they recognized me if I turned up there again . But that is my home, and the image of it the day I left it is still more real to me than the long years of this crowded capital city .
Word bank :
a garret : une mansarde ; a drawer : un tiroir ; a filing-cabinet : un classeur ( meuble )
Let’s study the text :
1 . Introduce the document .
2 . What type of text is it ? Justify .
3 . Give information about the main character(s). Name ; age(s) ; places ……
4 . Where is the narrator when he is writing this text ? Justify .
5 . Tell me about his feelings for his home town and where he lives now . Justify .
6 . Over how many years do you think this text can stretch ( s’étendre ) ? Justify .
7 . Did the narrator achieve his objectives ? State them and justify .
8 . Tell me about his relationship with ‘the boys’. Justify from the text .
Once you have finished the above comprehension exercise you can find out a bit more about the author by logging in to the address below.
http://www.poemhunter.com/laurie-lee/biography/
