Intermediate III - Assignment 2

Reading and Writing - (20pts./25%)

Part 1: Reading

Instructions:

1. Read the text Just for the thrill of it.

2. Answer the questions creating a Word document.

3. Once your answers are ready, read them again so you can check your performance. If you are
not happy with the result, you may rewrite it until you have a final version.

Part 1: Answer the following questions in a Word file using complete and meaningful sentences
with your own words. Pay attention to language use and all the words and expressions needed to
answer the questions. 10pts.

1. What do people do on mountains with skateboards? (1pt)

A- They speed down the mountain on their skateboards, we can see something similar at the
movie “Yes sir” where the main characters wear some suits with wheels on it and they can
speeded down a mountain.

2. What do people jump off into? (1pt)

A- They jump into the sea, but they’re 20-metter over the sea.

3. What can you do in the city? (1pt)

A- You can pay to be kidnapped in New York (Sounds like something that I couldn’t stand)

4. What has sprung up to satisfy our desire for new and exciting sensations? (1pt)
A- Some of those called “Extreme sports”, they were born to make some people feel alive, another
thing that was created to satisfy us are the Horror movies or experiences (As the extreme sports,
they scared us, increases our pulses and we can enjoy that experience too)

5. What does Oliver do? (1pt)

A- He’s one of those guys who just climb some buildings on the cities, some of them don’t use
security elements for it (I think all of us know about that man who died practicing that sport alone)

6. How old is Tamsin? (1pt)

A- Tamsin is teenager, he’s 17 years old.

7. Who gave us the urge to take risks? (1pt)

A- It becomes from our origins, when we were nomads we needed to be active, feel the adrenaline
on our bodies while we were traveling finding those animals we used to eat, some of them very
dangerous and that comfort that we have now makes us feel empty, that was essential for our
lives but taking risks it’s on our human nature.

8. What does type T mean? (1pt)

A- It refers to people who desperately need some risk or just strong feelings on their lives, they
enjoy it.
9. When does type T peak? (1p)
A- At late teens and early 20s type T tends to peak.

10. Who says people often miscalculate risks? (1p)

A- The man who says that people often miscalculate risks is the Oxford Professor Martin Bates.

Part 2: Writing. 10pts.

Topic: Imagine you have a blog and you have to write your next post. Choose a Venezuelan custom
(religious, cultural, indigenous, etc.) and write about it. Include relevant information related to
clothing, activities, food, music, etc.) Use your creativity and include some pictures.

Grammar: you should include quantifiers, relative clauses, and vocabulary from the classes
(adjectives, social habits, customs, etc.).

Hey! Today is a great day to learn a bit about our country and as you know, I’m the choose one to
share with you some information that you didn’t know five minutes ago. What’s the big deal
today? I’m going to share with you an unordinary Zulian custom that has been dying, have you
ever asked yourself about the origin of Venezuelan Gaitas?

I’m Aixa Burgos and today we’re going to learn about Gaitas, a family tradition, something we can
enjoy and we just need a handkerchief, good vibes and our family or friends.

Let’s start, some people say that Gaitas were made to protest, and of course we can think that,
but its true story were less aggressive (Some of them think that Gaitas were born with syndicates,
that’s completely wrong!) Gaitas were born in Zulia and they were a custom used to be practiced
by families and entire neighborhoods. Some of them carried some drums (I don’t know if exist a
difference between our drums and American drums, if they’re called different, don’t kill me), a
“Charrasca” (An instrument who is very similar to that kitchen tool that we use to handle the
cheese, “grater” or… I forgot its name too, I got a headache, don’t focus on it) and a handkerchief.

With these things, some of the people who is in the place starts with the rhythm, this sometimes is
just random or is just the rhythm of a popular song, someone take the handkerchief and sing
something about its week, you could say something sad, something funny, something happy,
transforming those emotions and experiences into songs that you’re sharing with others, (better
than therapy, don’t you think that?), some of them wanted to just get rid

As you could imagine, you could be part of this beautiful custom on December, they share their
hallacas with each other, some rum (Why not? We’ve never used to enjoy wine as much as rum, is
in our story, we can’t ignore it!)

It’s the time for a funny detail! There was a Gaita named “Perico” that was pretty famous on 60’s,
they used to that celebration the rhythm of that song because it was very easy to catch it, as songs
that you couldn’t stand, Perico, its lyrics and rhythm made a place on people’s brain, some of
them started to hate it, kids sang it a lot and others, Perico caused lots of fights on bars and family
houses as a point where de Mayor had to ban it, it was very insane the obsession with that song.