
Do the preparation task first. Then read the text and do the exercises.
Sam squinted against the sun at the distant dust trail raked up by the car on its way up to the Big House. The horses kicked and flicked their tails at flies, not caring about their owner's first visit in ten months. Sam waited. Mr Carter didn't come out here unless he had to, which was just fine by Sam. The more he kept out of his boss's way, the longer he'd have a job.
Carter came by later while Sam was chopping wood. Carter lifted his hat as if he were waiting for an appointment with the town priest, and then removed it completely as if he were talking to his mother. He pulled out a pile of paper from his back pocket and held it out.
'Don't pick up your mail often, do you?'
Sam took it without a glance and dropped the envelopes onto the bench.
'Never,' he replied and waited for Carter to say why he was here. The fact it was Carter's house was no explanation and they both knew it. Carter twisted his hat round and round, licking his lips and clearing his throat.
'Nice work fixing those fences,' he said finally.
'I'll be back to the beginning soon,' Sam said. It wasn't a complaint. A fence that took a year to repair meant another year's work to the man who did it well.
'Don't you ever want to take a holiday?'
'And go where?' A holiday meant being back out in the real world, a place even people like Carter travelled to escape from. Sam's escape was his reality and he wasn't going back.
Mr Carter wiped the sweat from the back of his neck. The damp patches on his shirt drew together like shapes in an atlas. His skin was already turning ruddy in the June sun. Otherwise he had the indoor tan of a man that made money while other people did the work.
'I've brought my son with me on this trip. He's had some trouble at school.' Mr Carter's eyes flicked up, blinked rapidly and then shifted back to the hat occupying his hands. 'Not much trouble out here for a young boy.' He attempted a laugh but it came out like a dog's bark.
The two men looked towards the northern end of the property. It stretched as far as the eye could see. Even the fences were barely visible from where they stood. However bored and rebellious a teenage boy might get, it wasn't possible to escape on foot. Sam looked at the biggest of the horses, kicking at the ground with its heavy hooves. Could the boy ride? he wondered. There was a whole load of trouble a good rider could get into out here, miles away from anyone. But maybe there was even more trouble for someone who knew nothing about horses and wanted to get away from his father.
In my opinion, Carter wants to his son have a holiday in the farm, because he want his son stay away from school where maybe his son makes a lot of trouble. Farm is a ideal place where is quite remote, uncrowded. Cater thinks his son can not be able make any trouble here.
In task2, question 6, I feel there's no clear cut answer for that. According to the passage, Mr Carter brought his son to the farm along with him as he had had some trouble in school. But this need not be the primary reason for Mr Carter to come to his house.
Hello vishnu_saddikuti,
This is certainly a question which requires some interpretation of the text as the answer is not spelled out explicitly. However, of the four options I think this is clearly the most likely choice. I think Carter's final comment ("Not much trouble out here for a young boy") is very telling as it informs us not only what the son's situation is but also how Carter sees the farm.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
In my opinion, Mr Carter bring his son to the farm to let him know that life isn't easy when you grow up and can let his son have a tough experience at the farm.
in my opinion he brough his son to the farm to learn him life its difficult and you should work and struggle to could live.
I think that Mr Carter has brought his son to the farm as he's had some trouble at school.
This is the best situation analysis I´ve ever read
Hello Rena,
The name of the short story is Over the Edge and the author's name is Nicola Prentis.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Rena,
I always recommend reading novels and short stories to my students. It's useful to read articles and so on but non-fiction tends to be limited in the language it uses, while fiction contains a much broader range: description, action, dialogue, commentary etc.
It's important to find books which are not too easy and not too difficult, and which are more than anything else interesting to you. That's an individual matter, of course, but it can be useful to read books in English which you have already read in your own language. A book you are already familiar with will be easier to understand.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Oscarsamuel,
I'm glad you enjoyed the story :)
That sentence means that Sam was living and working on the farm as a way to escape from the real world. For him, the real world is not a nice place - it's "a place even people like Carter travelled to escape from". And, life on the farm has become his new reality, instead of the "real world". The end of the sentence ("he wasn't going back") shows that he has no intention of going back to the "real world".
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Jorgelina,
I think the sentence has a quite simple structure but appears complex because it has a very long subject. We can replace the subject with a pronoun to show the sentence structure:
In your example, the subject is a long phrase, but otherwise it has the same structure:
The meaning of 'the fact that' is 'this piece of information'.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi shawn peter rual mendes,
I'm not sure what you mean. I understand that you have some problems in reading, but could you be more specific in describing them? What do you mean by 'related to character'?
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello shawn peter,
I'm afraid we don't provide any materials that are designed to help prepare you for the SAT exam. I'd suggest you do an internet search for something like 'SAT exam preparation' -- I'm sure you can find lots of resources this way.
I hope this helps you.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Min Htet Kaung Aung,
In this case, 'out here' means 'here on the ranch' or 'here in the country' or something like that. Sam is referring to the fact that Mr Carter's son will be in an environment that is very different from one that he is used to -- it doesn't specify where he normally lives, but I think it's safe to assume that it's a city rather than the country.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team