Longman English Edge Extra reading text JS2

Ask Auntie
Your teacher has asked you to read a letter to an agony aunt. Read the letter and answer the
questions. Write your answers in the spaces provided. For multiple choice questions, choose
the best answer and blacken the circle next to the corresponding letter.

Dear Auntie

My name is Heather and

I’m fourteen years old. I
was reading the newspaper
5 at lunchtime when I saw
your column — Ask Auntie
— where you give teens
Lewis Tse Pui Lung. Shutterstock

advice about how to solve

their problems. On the bus
10 home from school, I was
feeling extremely sad (as
usual). Then I got angry. I
said to myself, ‘Write to an What was I thinking about when my teacher took my photo?
My life!
agony aunt like Auntie so
15 that you can get your life back on track.’ I don’t usually tell people about my problems,
as I’m rather reserved, but I feel myself becoming an anxious and pessimistic person —
and I don’t want to be this way. I’m at my wits’ end!

My problems started shortly after a new girl came to our class. I’ll call her ‘Susan’. I
remember the day perfectly. While I was working on a class project with my (former)
20 best friend, Lilly, Mrs Woo brought Susan over and asked us to work with her. ‘Please
make Susan feel at home,’ said Mrs Woo. Before we even finished the project, I knew
that I was going to have problems with Susan. She’s a bossy, outspoken person who also
has a bad-tempered and even hostile side that comes out when she interacts with people
she doesn’t like. Needless to say, she doesn’t like me — and hasn’t from the moment we
25 first met.

Please turn over.

© Pearson Education Asia Limited 2018 1

 Longman English Edge Extra reading text JS2

She likes Lilly though — or at least she pretends to. And that’s what hurts the most. I
can handle her teasing me for having pimples from time to time, or not having enough
pocket money to buy a snack from the tuck shop. But it breaks my heart knowing that
she’s taken my best friend away from me. A few months ago, I was very angry with Lilly
30 because she was spending all her time with Susan and didn’t bother to return my phone
calls. I was crying and raising my voice at Lilly when Susan walked over to us. ‘Let’s go,
Lilly,’ she said. ‘You don’t need to listen to her anymore.’ And Lilly hasn’t spoken to me
since.

People think being bullied at school means getting hit or threatened, but having your
35 friends taken away is even worse. Susan has a very dominant personality, so everyone
follows her. She’s made our classmates think I’m a loser so that they won’t hang out
with me or even talk to me. I never thought I’d have to deal with having no friends. I
was never very popular, but everyone used to be nice to me. Now I don’t have anyone. I
can’t talk to my parents about it because they’ll just call Susan’s parents and make
40 things worse. I don’t want to see a counsellor either as I’ll feel too embarrassed. You’re
my only hope!

Heather

© Pearson Education Asia Limited 2018 2

Longman English Edge Extra reading text JS2

1 An ‘agony aunt’ (line 14) is someone who _____.

 A has no children of her own
 B is a sister of your mother or father
 C suffers from emotional pain
 D uses a newspaper column to give advice

2 How did Heather find out about Ask Auntie?

3 Who is the newspaper column aimed at?

4 According to lines 1–17, Heather _____.

 A has always been an anxious person
 B rarely talks openly about her problems
 C walks home from school every day
 D wants to have a career as an agony aunt

5 If you are at your ‘wits’ end’ (line 17), you can’t _____ a problem.
 A concentrate on
 B stop talking about
 C tell anyone about
 D think of solutions to

6 How do you think Heather was feeling when her teacher took the photo?

7 In line 18, why is ‘Susan’ in inverted commas?

8 Decide whether the following statements are True, False or the information is Not
Given in lines 18–25. Blacken ONE circle only for each statement.
T F NG
a) Heather still considers Lilly to be her best friend.   
b) Lilly is older than Heather.   
c) Heather’s teacher asked Susan, Heather and Lilly to work   
together.

9 What is the meaning of ‘feel at home’ (line 21)?

© Pearson Education Asia Limited 2018 3

Longman English Edge Extra reading text JS2

10 What two things does Susan tease Heather about?

a)
b)

11 In line 28, what does ‘breaks my heart’ mean?

12 Look at how the pronouns below are used and briefly explain what they refer to in
lines 26–33.
Pronoun Line Reference
a) She line 26
b) she line 30
c) her line 32

13 Do you agree that ‘having your friends taken away is even worse’ (lines 34–35) than
getting hit or threatened? Why or why not?

14 What three possible solutions to being bullied at school does Heather mention in her
letter?
a)
b)
c)

15 What advice would you give Heather? Why?

© Pearson Education Asia Limited 2018 4

Longman English Edge Extra reading text JS2

Glossary

Word / Phrase Pronunciation Meaning*

column n (line 6)
on track prep phr
(line 15)
perfectly adj (line 19)
/ˈkɒləm/ an article by a particular writer that appears
regularly in a newspaper or magazine
/ɒn ˈtræk/ used to describe someone or something moving
forward in a positive way
/ˈpɜːfɪktli/ very clearly and completely

interacts with v phr
(line 23)
needless to say adv
phr (line 24)
from time to time
adv phr (line 27)
bother v (line 30)
/ˌɪntərˈæktz talks to each other, works together, etc.;
wɪð/ ‘interacts’ is the simple present of ‘interact’
/ˈniːdləs tə seɪ/ used when you are telling someone something
that they probably already know or expect
/frəm taɪm tə sometimes, but not regularly or very often
taɪm/
/ˈbɒðə/ make the effort to do something

raise (one’s) voice /rəɪz ˈwʌnz to speak loudly or shout because you are angry
v phr (line 31) vɔɪs/
threatened v (line 34) /ˈθretnd/ told that you will be harmed by someone;
‘threatened’ is the past participle of ‘threaten’
dominant adj (line 35) /ˈdɒmənənt/ controlling or trying to control other people or
things
loser n (line 36) /ˈluːzə/ someone who is never successful in life, work, or
relationships
*A word or phrase can have various meanings. Each meaning listed here is for the use of the word or phrase in
the specified text.

© Pearson Education Asia Limited 2018 5

 Longman English Edge Extra reading text JS2

AK
Ask Auntie
Your teacher has asked you to read a letter to an agony aunt. Read the letter and answer the
questions. Write your answers in the spaces provided. For multiple choice questions, choose
the best answer and blacken the circle next to the corresponding letter.

Dear Auntie

My name is Heather and

I’m fourteen years old. I
was reading the newspaper
5 at lunchtime when I saw
your column — Ask Auntie
— where you give teens
Lewis Tse Pui Lung. Shutterstock

advice about how to solve

their problems. On the bus
10 home from school, I was
feeling extremely sad (as
usual). Then I got angry. I
said to myself, ‘Write to an What was I thinking about when my teacher took my photo?
My life!
agony aunt like Auntie so
15 that you can get your life back on track.’ I don’t usually tell people about my problems,
as I’m rather reserved, but I feel myself becoming an anxious and pessimistic person —
and I don’t want to be this way. I’m at my wits’ end!

My problems started shortly after a new girl came to our class. I’ll call her ‘Susan’. I
remember the day perfectly. While I was working on a class project with my (former)
20 best friend, Lilly, Mrs Woo brought Susan over and asked us to work with her. ‘Please
make Susan feel at home,’ said Mrs Woo. Before we even finished the project, I knew
that I was going to have problems with Susan. She’s a bossy, outspoken person who also
has a bad-tempered and even hostile side that comes out when she interacts with people
she doesn’t like. Needless to say, she doesn’t like me — and hasn’t from the moment we
25 first met.

Please turn over.

© Pearson Education Asia Limited 2018 1

 Longman English Edge Extra reading text JS2

She likes Lilly though — or at least she pretends to. And that’s what hurts the most. I
can handle her teasing me for having pimples from time to time, or not having enough
pocket money to buy a snack from the tuck shop. But it breaks my heart knowing that
she’s taken my best friend away from me. A few months ago, I was very angry with Lilly
30 because she was spending all her time with Susan and didn’t bother to return my phone
calls. I was crying and raising my voice at Lilly when Susan walked over to us. ‘Let’s go,
Lilly,’ she said. ‘You don’t need to listen to her anymore.’ And Lilly hasn’t spoken to me
since.

People think being bullied at school means getting hit or threatened, but having your
35 friends taken away is even worse. Susan has a very dominant personality, so everyone
follows her. She’s made our classmates think I’m a loser so that they won’t hang out
with me or even talk to me. I never thought I’d have to deal with having no friends. I
was never very popular, but everyone used to be nice to me. Now I don’t have anyone. I
can’t talk to my parents about it because they’ll just call Susan’s parents and make
40 things worse. I don’t want to see a counsellor either as I’ll feel too embarrassed. You’re
my only hope!

Heather

© Pearson Education Asia Limited 2018 2

Longman English Edge Extra reading text JS2

1 An ‘agony aunt’ (line 14) is someone who _____.

 A has no children of her own
 B is a sister of your mother or father
 C suffers from emotional pain
 D uses a newspaper column to give advice

2 How did Heather find out about Ask Auntie?

She saw the (Ask Auntie) column in a / the newspaper.

3 Who is the newspaper column aimed at?

teens / teenagers

4 According to lines 1–17, Heather _____.

 A has always been an anxious person
 B rarely talks openly about her problems
 C walks home from school every day
 D wants to have a career as an agony aunt

5 If you are at your ‘wits’ end’ (line 17), you can’t _____ a problem.
 A concentrate on
 B stop talking about
 C tell anyone about
 D think of solutions to

6 How do you think Heather was feeling when her teacher took the photo?
depressed / sad / unhappy (Accept any reasonable answer.)

7 In line 18, why is ‘Susan’ in inverted commas?

because the new girl’s name isn’t really Susan

8 Decide whether the following statements are True, False or the information is Not
Given in lines 18–25. Blacken ONE circle only for each statement.
T F NG
a) Heather still considers Lilly to be her best friend.   
b) Lilly is older than Heather.   
c) Heather’s teacher asked Susan, Heather and Lilly to work   
together.

9 What is the meaning of ‘feel at home’ (line 21)?

feel welcome / comfortable

© Pearson Education Asia Limited 2018 3

Longman English Edge Extra reading text JS2

10 What two things does Susan tease Heather about?

a) having pimples (from time to time)
b) not having enough pocket money (to buy a snack from the tuck shop)

11 In line 28, what does ‘breaks my heart’ mean?

makes me feel extremely sad

12 Look at how the pronouns below are used and briefly explain what they refer to in
lines 26–33.
Pronoun Line Reference
a) She line 26 Susan
b) she line 30 Lilly
c) her line 32 Heather

13 Do you agree that ‘having your friends taken away is even worse’ (lines 34–35) than
getting hit or threatened? Why or why not?
(Student’s own answers)

14 What three possible solutions to being bullied at school does Heather mention in her
letter?
a) write to an agony aunt (for advice)
b) talk to your parents
c) see a counsellor

15 What advice would you give Heather? Why?

(Student’s own answers)

© Pearson Education Asia Limited 2018 4

Longman English Edge Extra reading text JS2

Glossary

Word / Phrase Pronunciation Meaning*

column n (line 6)
on track prep phr
(line 15)
perfectly adj (line 19)
/ˈkɒləm/ an article by a particular writer that appears
regularly in a newspaper or magazine
/ɒn ˈtræk/ used to describe someone or something moving
forward in a positive way
/ˈpɜːfɪktli/ very clearly and completely

interacts with v phr
(line 23)
needless to say adv
phr (line 24)
from time to time
adv phr (line 27)
bother v (line 30)
/ˌɪntərˈæktz talks to each other, works together, etc.;
wɪð/ ‘interacts’ is the simple present of ‘interact’
/ˈniːdləs tə seɪ/ used when you are telling someone something
that they probably already know or expect
/frəm taɪm tə sometimes, but not regularly or very often
taɪm/
/ˈbɒðə/ make the effort to do something

raise (one’s) voice /rəɪz ˈwʌnz to speak loudly or shout because you are angry
v phr (line 31) vɔɪs/
threatened v (line 34) /ˈθretnd/ told that you will be harmed by someone;
‘threatened’ is the past participle of ‘threaten’
dominant adj (line 35) /ˈdɒmənənt/ controlling or trying to control other people or
things
loser n (line 36) /ˈluːzə/ someone who is never successful in life, work, or
relationships
*A word or phrase can have various meanings. Each meaning listed here is for the use of the word or phrase in
the specified text.

© Pearson Education Asia Limited 2018 5