LEVEL4

Literat u re E x t r a s
o rk s h e e t
able w Photocopi

1 My Ántonia – Willa Cather

2 Wired Love – Ella Cheever Theyer
3 The Backward Fall – Jason Helmandollars
4 They’re Made Out of Meat – Terry Bisson
 Literat u re E x t ra 1
MY ÁNTONIA
Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947) was an American author
who became famous for her stories about pioneer life in
BY WILL A CATHER
the USA. This extract is taken from her novel My Ántonia.
When his parents die suddenly, Jimmy is sent to live with his grandparents, far away from where he grew up in
the USA. Jimmy is accompanied by Jake, a young man who worked for his family. During the journey, the train
guard becomes friendly with them and tells them about the other passengers.

1 What do we learn about the countryside the train travels through?

Once when he sat down to chat, he told us that in the immigrant car
ahead there was a family from “across the water” whose destination
was the same as ours.

“They can’t any of them speak English, except one little girl, and all
5 she can say is “We go Black Hawk, Nebraska.’ She’s not much
older than you, twelve or thirteen, maybe, and she’s as bright
as a new dollar. Don’t you want to go ahead and see her,
Jimmy? She’s got the pretty brown eyes, too!”

This last remark made me bashful, and I shook my head and

10 settled down to my book, Jesse James. Jake nodded at me approvingly
and said you were likely to get diseases from foreigners.

I do not remember crossing the Missouri River, or anything about the long day’s journey through Nebraska.
The only thing very noticeable about Nebraska was that it was still, all day long, Nebraska.

I had been sleeping, curled up in a red plush seat, for a long while when we reached Black Hawk. Jake roused me
15 and took me by the hand. We stumbled down from the train to a wooden siding, where men were running about
with lanterns. I couldn’t see any town, or even distant lights; we were surrounded by utter darkness. The engine
was panting heavily after its long run. In the red glow from the firebox, a group of people stood huddled together
on the platform, encumbered by bundles and boxes. I knew this must be the immigrant family the conductor had
told us about. The woman wore a fringed shawl tied over her head, and she carried a little tin trunk in her arms,
20 hugging it as if it were a baby. There was an old man, tall and stooped. Two half-grown boys and a girl stood
holding oil-cloth bundles, and a little girl clung to her mother’s skirts. Presently a man with a lantern approached
them and began to talk, shouting and exclaiming. I pricked up my ears, for it was positively the first time I had
ever heard a foreign tongue. We were led to where two farm-wagons were tied, and I saw the foreign family
crowding into one of them. The other was for us. The immigrants rumbled off into the empty darkness, and we
25 followed them.
GLOSSARY
(…) There seemed to be nothing to see; no fences, no creeks or trees, no hills
bashful – shy
or fields. If there was a road, I could not make it out in the faint starlight.
roused – woken up
There was nothing but land: not a country at all, but the material out of which panting – breathing hard and fast
countries are made. clung – held very tight
creek – river or stream
2 Read the text again and answer the questions.
1 Why do you think Jake ‘nods approvingly’
3 SPEAKING Work with a partner and discuss
the questions.
when Jimmy goes back to reading his book?
1 Who do you think will find it hardest to adapt
2 What does the way the woman holds her trunk to their new life – Jimmy or the immigrant
tell us about how she feels? family? Why?
3 Why do you think the man ‘shouts and 2 What do you think might have caused the
exclaims’ when he talks to the family? family to travel from ‘across the water’?
4 How do you imagine Jimmy feels when he
looks at where he is going to live?

Think Level 4 Literature Extra 1 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2017

 Literat u re E x t ra 2 WIRED LOVE
Wired Love was published in 1879 in the USA. Theyer had BY ELL A CHEEVER THEYER
worked as a telegrapher – someone who sent and relayed telegraphs electronically using Morse code. Her
book used the experience and it became a best seller. In this extract, the main character, Nattie (a telegrapher)
is at work in her office. Two friends – Quimby and Miss Archer – are visiting her.

1 Read the text. How does Nattie feel about her work?
“You remember my speaking about ‘C’ and wondering
whether a gentleman or lady?”
“Oh, yes!” Quimby remembered, and fidgeted on his
chair.
“He proved to be a gentleman.”
“It must be very romantic and fascinating to talk with
someone so far away, a mysterious stranger too, that
one has never seen,” Miss Archer said, her black eyes
sparkling. “There is something so nice about anything
with a mystery to it.”
“Yes, telegraphy has its romantic side—it would be
dreadfully dull if it did not,” Nattie answered.
“But—now really,” said Quimby, who sat on the extreme
edge of the chair, with his feet some two yards apart
from each other; “really, you know, now suppose—just “How much does it cost to telegram?” she asked.
suppose, your mysterious invisible shouldn’t be—just “To what place did you wish to send?” Nattie inquired.
what you think, you know." “It’s no matter about the place, I only want to know what
“I have great faith in my ‘C,’” laughed Nattie. it costs to telegram!”
“It passes the time?” enquired Miss Archer. “That depends entirely on where the message is going,”
Nattie nodded in reply, as she took a message from a answered Nattie, with a glance at Miss Archer.
lady, who had only a few words to send, but found it “Oh, does it?” said the woman, looking surprised. “Well,
necessary to ask about fifteen questions, and relate all to Chicago, then.”
her recent family history, concluding with the birth Nattie told her the tariff to that city.
of twins, before being satisfied her message would go “Is that the cheapest?” she then asked. “I only want to
all right, —a proceeding that made Quimby stare, and send a few words, about six.”
afforded Miss Archer much amusement. “The price is the same for one or ten words,” said Nattie
“Oh! that is nothing!” Nattie said, in answer to the latter’s rather impatiently.
significant laugh, when the customer had retired. “Some The woman gave another surprised stare.
very ludicrous incidents occur almost daily, I assure you. “That’s strange!” she said incredulously. “Well”—moving
Truly, the ignorance of people in regard to telegraphy is away—”I’ll write
surprising; aggravating too, sometimes." then; I am not going to GLOSSARY
“I wish I knew how to telegraph, I would have a chat with pay for ten words when fidgeted – made nervous movements
your ‘C.’ I am getting very much interested in him!” I want to send six.” dreadfully dull – very boring
A woman put her head into the window.

2 Read the text again and answer the questions.
1 Why do you think Quimby is not happy about
Nattie communicating with ‘C’?
2 How do Quimby and Miss Archer react to
telegraphy? What do their reactions suggest
about their personalities?
3 How do the two ladies who come to the
office show us that the telegraph is a new
technology?
4 Describe Nattie’s character and personality.
Use details from the text to help you.
3 SPEAKING Work with a partner and discuss
the questions.
1 What do you think about the way Nattie spoke
to the second lady? How helpful was she?
2 Have you ever had to explain how something
works to someone who didn’t understand?
3 Do you think Nattie and the mysterious ‘C’ will ever
meet? What do you imagine will happen if they do?

Think Level 4 Literature Extra 2 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2017

 Literat u re E x t ra 3
THE BACKWARD FALL
George is caring for his wife, who is losing her memory. As
she moves between recollections of the past and confusion
BY JASON HELMANDOLL AR
with the present, he tries to help her, while experiencing his
own feelings of loss.
1 Read the text. What kind of atmosphere does the writer create?

“Dad?” she says. “I swear, I can’t remember the words to my own songs.”
She is sixty-two and sitting on the edge of the couch, her old acoustic
guitar perched on her knee.
     Her husband of forty-seven years walks into the living room from the
kitchen. “What’s that, Mom?” he says. For decades, ever since they had
their third child together, he has called her Mom and she has called him
Dad.
     “I can’t remember how the second verse starts.”
     “Well, what are you singing?”
     “You must be ignoring me. I’ve been trying to sing the same song for
the last twenty minutes.”
     George, her husband, looks up at the ceiling. “Well, let’s see,” he says,
rubbing the gray stubble of his beard. “Picking Flowers in the Rain?”
     She smiles and strums the guitar with a flourish. “Lucky guess.”
     “The second verse is when it starts to rain. Something about drops on the petals, I believe.”
     “Of course.” She nods her head once. “How could I have forgotten that?”
     She begins to play again, simple chords on a wooden guitar, and sings a song she wrote when she was much
younger. It is the story of two lovers who walk in a field of wildflowers. A warm rain begins to fall, and instead of
running for shelter, they pick flowers together and realize they are in love.
“Dad?” she says. She is sixty-four. “Will you get in that closet by the door and …”
     “What’s that, Mom?” he says. He is instantly on his feet, poised to do her bidding. “What do you want me to do?”
     He sees the look on her face and lowers himself back into his chair. He hates that look, although he sees it so
often it has become his old, evil friend. It is a look of confusion, one of bewildered fear.
     “I forgot what I wanted.” She shakes her head, settles back into her own chair.
     “That’s all right. It’ll come to you.”
     She stares straight ahead. Their two recliners are set up in front of the television, but she rarely watches
anymore. After a few moments, she turns her head to him. “What are we going
GLOSSARY
to do when I can’t remember anything?”
perched – sitting, like a bird
     “The doctors said it might not get any worse. You know that.” with a flourish – with a big, noticeable
     “But what if it does? What if one day I wake up and I’ve forgotten everything?” movement
     He reaches across the small table between them and pats her hand. “Then bewildered – confused and uncertain
I’ll just remind you of everything.” recliners – US English for armchairs

2 Read the text again and answer the questions.
1 Which details suggest the couple have had a
happy marriage?
2 Why do you think George looks up at the
ceiling when Mom asks him the words of the
song?
3 Why do you think Mom is trying to sing this
particular song?
4 Why do you think George ‘lowers himself
back into his chair’ when he sees ‘that face'?
5 How difficult do you think it will be for George to
keep his promise to Mom?
6 What do you think is going to happen to Mom?
3 SPEAKING Work with a partner and discuss
the questions.
1 In this kind of situation, who do you think suffers
most - the person who is sick, or the family
member who cares for them?
2 It’s sometimes said our lives have a soundtrack – songs
we listen to that remind us of people,
places and experiences. Do you agree?

Think Level 4 Literature Extra 3 PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2017

 Literat u re E x t ra 4
Terry Ballantine Bisson is an American science fiction and fantasy author
best known for his short stories. Several of his works, including Bears
Discover Fire, have won top awards in the science fiction community.
In They’re Made Out of Meat, two aliens discuss the life they have found
on Earth.
1 Read the text. What do you imagine the speakers look like?
“They’re made out of meat.”
“Meat?”
“Meat. They’re made out of meat.”
“Meat?”
“There’s no doubt about it. We picked up several from
different parts of the planet, took them aboard our
recon vessels, and probed them all the way through.
They’re completely meat.”
“That’s impossible. What about the radio signals? The
messages to the stars?”
“They use the radio waves to talk, but the signals don’t
come from them. The signals come from machines.”
“So who made the machines? That’s who we want to
contact.”
“They made the machines. That’s what I’m trying to tell
you. Meat made the machines.”
“That’s ridiculous. How can meat make a machine?
You’re asking me to believe in sentient meat.”
“I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. These creatures are
the only sentient race in that sector and they’re made
out of meat.”
“Maybe they’re like the orfolei. You know, a carbon-
based intelligence that goes through a meat stage.”
“Nope. They’re born meat and they die meat. We
studied them for several of their life spans, which didn’t
take long. Do you have any idea what’s the life span of
meat?”
“Spare me. Okay, maybe they’re only part meat. You
know, like the weddilei. A meat head with an electron
plasma brain inside.”
“Nope. We thought of that, since they do have meat
heads, like the weddilei. But I told you, we probed them.
They’re meat all the way through.”
“No brain?”
2 Read the text again and answer the questions.
1 Why does the second alien repeat the word
‘meat’ at the beginning?
2 Why do you think they talk about the radio
signals?
3 What does the conversation tell us about
other life forms in the universe?
4 How would you describe the aliens’ opinion
of humans?
Think Level 4 Literature Extra 4
THEY’RE MADE
OUT OF MEAT
BY TERRY BISSON
“Oh, there’s a brain all right. It’s just that the brain is
made out of meat! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell
you.”
“So ... what does the thinking?”
“You’re not understanding, are you? You’re refusing
to deal with what I’m telling you. The brain does the
thinking. The meat.”
“Thinking meat! You’re asking me to believe in thinking
meat!”
“Yes, thinking meat! Conscious meat! Loving meat.
Dreaming meat. The meat is the whole deal! Are you
beginning to get the picture or do I have to start all
over?”
“Omigod. You’re serious then. They’re made out of
meat.”
“Thank you. Finally. Yes. They are indeed made out of
meat. And they’ve been trying to get in touch with us for
almost a hundred of their years.”
GLOSSARY
probe – analyse in detail
sentient – being able to feel things
the details’
spare me – an expression meaning ‘don’t tell me
the whole deal – everything
s (not a proper word)
Omigod – ‘Oh my God’ written the way it sound
3 SPEAKING Work with a partner and discuss the
questions.
1 What other things about humans and our way of
life might be strange for an alien?
2 Do you think there are other life forms in the
universe? If so, what do you think they look like?
PHOTOCOPIABLE © Cambridge University Press 2017