WORKSHEETS

2007/Ed. 237

STRANGE STORIES

BEFORE YOU READ

TASK 1. Speaking. With your partner(s) discuss these questions.

a) How often do you eat at home or out? Why?
b) Tell your partner(s) about your favorite Brazilian and foreign restaurant. Do you have
similar tastes?
c) What makes a good restaurant, just the food? Why (not)?
d) What's the strangest restaurant you've ever been to? Tell your partner (s)
e) Is there a restaurant you go to more often than others? Why (not)?
f) Tell your partner about your favorite hotel (or bed and breakfast). Do you have similar
tastes?
g)What makes a good hotel, just the size and comfort of the rooms? Why (not)?

TASK 2. Vocabulary. Match the English words/expressions on the left with their
Portuguese
translations on the right. If you don't know, guess!

1. Amazingly
Inesquecvel

2. Arms and shoulders

Sobem (com dificuldade) em suas
redes

3. Blind waiters
Maluco, insano

4. Harnesses
Braos nos ombros (da pessoa
frente)

5. Insane
Lit. Companhia de Escaladas do
Poderoso Carvalho

6. Safety ropes
Surpreendentemente

7. Struggle onto their hammocks

No existe escurido, apenas
ignorncia

8. There is no darkness but ignorance

Talheres

9. Unforgettable
Cordas de segurana
 10. Cutlery Garons cegos

11. Climbing Company Apetrechos de segurana

Now check your ideas in the Glossary. How many did you do correctly?

READING

TASK 3. Reading for specific information. You are going to read about 3 unusual places
where people eat or sleep. Before you read, look at the names of the 3 places and
decide which pieces of information go with each place. Discuss your ideas with
your partner (s).

Completely dark Cornwall London Birds singing

French-inspired food Miami Blind waiters Bed and Breakfast

Restaurant No building Barbeque Restaurant bar

William Shakespeare Hammocks Buffet stations No tables or chairs

Mighty Oak Three Climbing

B.E.D Dans Le noir
Company

Now read the text as quickly as you can. How many of your guesses were correct?

TASK 4. Reading for detailed information. Using the words/expressions from task 3,
write some true sentences about the 3 places. Work with a partner and don't look at the
article! When you have finished, exchange sentences with a different partner.
Read the text carefully and decide if the sentences are correct or not.

TASK 5. Reading for detailed information (2). Read the text one final time and write
questions for these answers:
a) Blind waiters.
b) 45 Euros per person.
c) Paris.
d) Beds.
e) Music played by top DJs.
f) George Clooney, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez.
g) In Hammocks.
h) About 15 metres above ground level.

AFTER YOU READ

TASK 6. Speaking and/or writing. Discuss some/all of these questions with your partner(s).
If you like, you can write your opinions for homework and show them to your teacher.
a) These 3 places are absolutely ridiculous and will be closed in less than a year.
b) I would never go to any of these places (because...).
c) It's sad that there are people in the world with enough money to go to places like
these.
d) It's not enough for a restaurant to just serve good food.
e) It's great that we live in a world where there is so much choice.
f) People are becoming more and more demanding so it's only natural that restaurants
should become increasingly sophisticated.

SUGGESTED ANSWERS
TASK 5. a) Who guides the customers to their tables at "Dans Le Noir"?
b) How much is a 3-course dinner at "Dans Le Noir"?
c) Where was the first "Dans Le Noir" restaurant opened?
d) What do customers at B.E.D sit on?
e) What do customers at B.E.D listen to (while they're eating)?
f) Which celebrities do customers at B.E.D include?
g) What do customers at the Mighty Oak Tree Climbing Company sleep on?
h) How far above the ground are the hammocks at the MOTCC?