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Ud 08
Ud 08
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE?
COMMUNICATIVE OBJECTIVES
Speaking
Talking about things when the agent is not important or is not known
Talking about modality
Reporting what people say or think
Talking about having things done
Giving directions
Listening
Listening to a talk about the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays
Listening to a talk about actors in Shakespeare’s time
Reading
Reading an article about William Shakespeare
Reading an article about Macbeth
Writing
Writing a short plot summary
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CONTENTS
INDEX
READING 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
COMPREHENSION CHECK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
GRAMMAR 1: Passives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
GRAMMAR PRACTICE 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
VOCABULARY BUILDING 1: Formal and informal words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
LISTENING 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
GRAMMAR 2: Modal verbs in the passive voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
GRAMMAR PRACTICE 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
STOP AND SEND 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
READING 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
VOCABULARY BUILDING 2: Review of prepositions by, on, in, at, of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
GRAMMAR 3: It is said that… / He is thought to… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
GRAMMAR PRACTICE 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
LISTENING 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
GRAMMAR 4: Have / get something done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
GRAMMAR PRACTICE 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
STOP AND SEND 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
SPEAKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
WRITING: Writing a short plot summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
STOP AND SEND 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
EXAM PRACTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
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UNIT 8
READING 1
Reading strategy: Texts are written in different styles, depending on their intended
audience and their topic. The English of scientific or technical texts is often more
formal, while many novels and articles in popular magazines are written in informal
style. Texts written a long time ago often contain words and grammar that we no longer
use today. Knowing who the text was written for, what it is about or when it was written,
will help you recognise the style.
1. Look at the title of the text. What do you think the word ‘bard’ means?
William Shakespeare is perhaps the greatest playwright of all time. His plays are performed
more often and in more countries than those of any other playwright.
Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564. The son of a merchant, it is
thought that he was educated at a local grammar school. At the age of eighteen he married
Anne Hathaway, but left her behind in Stratford when he went to London in the 1580s to
work as an actor and a playwright.
The order in which Shakespeare wrote his plays or when they were first performed is
not known with certainty. They include tragedies such as Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth and
Othello, comedies such as The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It and Twelfth Night,
and historical plays such as Henry V, Richard III and Julius Caesar.
You will be surprised the first time you read Shakespeare, since he writes in the English
of the sixteenth century and many words are not used today. Here is an example. Can
you guess the characters and the title of the play the extract is from?
Congratulations if you guessed that the extract is from the most famous love story of
all time: Romeo and Juliet. Like all of Shakespeare’s plays, this work is much admired for
the beauty of its language and the insights it provides into the human condition.
Shakespeare made his will in March 1616, a few months before his death. In it, he
famously left his wife his ‘second best bed’, something which has led to much speculation
ever since. Shakespeare was buried in the parish church at Stratford. Nowadays Stratford
is one of the most popular tourist locations in the UK, as hundreds of thousands of admirers
of Shakespeare’s work make the journey there to pay homage to the great bard.
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COMPREHENSION CHECK
2. Match the words and phrases that Shakespeare uses in Romeo and Juliet to their modern
English equivalents.
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UNIT 8
GRAMMAR 1: Passives
NOTE
We use by + the agent when we want to say who does the action.
Shakespeare in Love was directed by John Madden.
2. Read the note and complete the missing forms in the chart.
NOTE
We form the passive with the appropriate form of to be + past participle.
Present simple They perform his plays. His plays are performed.
Present continuous They are making a new film. A new film is (1) _______.
Past simple They built a new theatre. A new theatre (2) ______.
Present perfect They have sold all the tickets. All the tickets (3) _______.
Will They will put on a new play. A new play (4) ________.
Infinitive with to The new director wants The new director wants
the actors to respect him. (6) _______.
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GRAMMAR PRACTICE 1
1. The Globe Theatre was opened / were opened in London in May 1599.
2. The circular structure built / was built of wood and up to 3,000 people sat / were sat in galleries
or stood around the stage in an area which knew / was known as the pit.
3. Shakespeare not only wrote / was written plays for his theatre company but also acted / was
acted in them.
4. All the roles played / were played by men and boys as women banned / were banned from the
stage.
5. The Globe destroyed / was destroyed by fire on 29th June 1613 and rebuilt / was rebuilt on the
same site in 1614.
6. It will visit / will be visited by generations of Shakespeare lovers.
2. Complete the text with the correct active or passive form of the verbs in brackets. You will
also need to choose the correct tense.
If you want to know what life was like during Shakespeare’s time, you should watch Shakespeare
in Love. The film (1) ________ (direct) by John Madden in 1988, and (2) ________ (star) Gwyneth
Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes. The action (3) ________ (set) in London during the late 16th century.
Young William (4) _______ (try) to write Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter, but he (5) ________
(suffer) from writer’s block. During the auditions for the role of Romeo, Will (6) ________ (impress)
by a young man called Thomas Kent. We soon find out that he really is Viola de Lesseps, the
daughter of a rich merchant who (7) ________ (love) acting and all Shakespeare’s previous work.
After Will (8) ________ (discover) his star’s true identity, he and Viola (9) ________ (begin) a
passionate secret affair. Shakespeare and Viola know, however, that their romance (10) ________
(doom).
The plot of the film is fiction, though several of the characters (11) _________ (base) on real
people and constant references (12) ________ (make) to Shakespeare’s plays. The film (13)
_________ (win) seven academy awards, including best picture, best actress and best female
supporting actress. Originally, Paltrow’s role was going (14) ______ (play) by Julia Roberts, but
she (15) _________ (withdraw) six weeks before filming began.
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UNIT 8
VOCABULARY BUILDING 1: Formal and informal words
1. Complete the table with the missing words.
car dwelling party spouse wheels friend missus place tipple cash drink
felicitations get-together mate congratulations funds
2. Underline the informal or slang word(s) in each of these sentences and write the neutral
equivalent.
1. John was so hungry that he scoffed all the food on the table. __________
2. She didn’t have any dosh so Mike lent her some. __________
3. “You’d better get a move on or we’ll be late.” __________
4. Kylie got completely smashed last Saturday night. __________
5. She made a complete pig’s ear of the job and we had to do it again. __________
6. “I’m just going out. I’ll be back in a jiffy.” __________
7. Irene’s a real scream. We always laugh a lot when we’re with her. __________
8. “Don’t be so nosy. This is none of your business.” __________
9. The baby puked up her dinner all over the floor. __________
10. Sam drinks too much. He knows it’s a problem but he just can’t kick the habit. __________
11. When I told Petra, she went completely berserk. __________
12. Ollie’s a bit thick. You have to explain everything to him twice. __________
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LISTENING 1
Writing strategy: When listening to a talk, it is helpful to identify who the speaker is and
the attitude he or she has to the subject.
2. Listen again and complete the transcript with the missing words.
There have been many great (1) ____________ of Shakespeare’s plays. Who can forget Macbeth
(2) ____________ by Sir Laurence Olivier and, in more recent times, the (3) ____________ of his
work to the cinema, such as the very popular (4) ____________ Shakespeare in Love. However,
for those of us who are interested in Shakespeare, a new film by Roland Emmerich called Anonymous
is a very disappointing (5) ____________ indeed. I say ‘disappointing’ because it tells us lovers of
Shakespeare that his (6) ____________ could not have been written by him but rather by Edward
de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. According to the film, Shakespeare as we know and love him did
not exist at all! Indeed, he is (7) ____________ as a drunken, illiterate, womanising buffoon. The
idea, to be fair, is not the director’s but is (8) ____________ on James Shapiro’s book Contested
Will Chronicles. It is argued that as no original (9) ____________ survive, none of the plays can
be proved to be from Shakespeare’s hand, and also that his background was too common. He
could not have known enough of kings and courtiers to have written the (10) ____________ and
only someone from the upper classes, widely travelled and educated, could have (11) ____________
such works as Julius Caesar. On the face of it, this may sound convincing. But the truth is that
William Shakespeare was both (12) ____________ and (13) ____________. He went to Stratford
Grammar School and would have been educated in the (14) ____________. By the time he was
thirteen, Shakespeare would have been able to read works in Latin by Terence, Virgil, Erasmus,
Cicero and probably (15) ____________ too. He was certainly not uneducated. In many ways, the
very fact that he was from a lower social class is part of the greatness of Shakespeare. He wasn’t
limited by one (16) ____________ in life. He was able to identify with lords and masters as well
as slaves. He didn’t need to go to Italy because Rome had come to him at school and came again
in the travels of his roaming and (17) ____________ mind. His (18) ____________ went beyond
a single class or place. It was his greatness and ultimately, the film’s failure: lacking in both historical
(19) ____________ and imagination.
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UNIT 8
GRAMMAR 2: Modal verbs in the passive voice
1. Read the examples and complete the chart
with the missing forms.
Present modal passives are formed with a modal verb + (1) ____________ + (2)
____________.
3. Read the note and rewrite the sentences using the past form of the modals in the passive.
NOTE
Past modal passives are formed with a modal verb + have been + past participle.
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GRAMMAR PRACTICE 2
1. Rewrite the sentences using the passive.
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UNIT 8
STOP AND SEND 1
1. Complete the text about Dickens with the correct forms of the verbs in the box.
During the year 2012, several English institutions (1) _______ the bicentenary of Charles
Dickens’ birth. A website called Dickens 2012 (2) _______, where you can find all types of
initiatives that (3) _______. One of the highlights is a new BBC production of his much loved
novel Great Expectations. Undoubtedly, Dickens (4) ______ by many to be the greatest novelist
of the Victorian period, which covers the second half of the eighteenth century. As a boy, he
(5) ______ to work in a factory after his father (6) ______ for debt. He endured terrible working
conditions which (7) _______ in David Copperfield, one of his most popular books. His novels
(8) ______ serially in monthly instalments. His readers were left waiting to see what (9) ______
in the next episode. His novels (10) ______ for their realism and his mastery of prose.
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READING 2
Reading strategy: If a text does not have a title, it is a good idea to stop after you read
and try to think of one. This helps you to identify the main idea in the text.
(a) The Success of Macbeth (b) The Curse of Macbeth (c) The Failure of Macbeth
Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in 1604. In Act IV of the play, he included the following words
from a 17th century black magic ritual:
“Round around the cauldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.”
Apparently, the ritual’s practitioners were not amused and as punishment they cast an everlasting
spell on the play. And so the legend began…
At the first performance of the play, in 1606, the actor who was supposed to play Lady Macbeth
became inexplicably feverish and died. Moreover, the play is thought to have displeased King
James I so much that he banned it for five years. When performed in Amsterdam in 1672, the
actor playing Macbeth substituted the imitation stage dagger for a real one and killed Duncan
with it in full view of the entire audience. As Lady Macbeth, Sarah Siddons was physically attacked
by an irate audience in 1775, Sybil Thorndike was almost strangled by a burly actor in 1926, and
Diana Wynyard sleepwalked off the rostrum in 1948, falling 15 feet. During its 1849 performance
at New York’s Astor Place, a riot broke out in which 31 people were trampled to death. In 1937,
when Laurence Olivier took on the role of Macbeth, his sword broke onstage and flew into the
audience, striking a man who later suffered a heart attack. In 1934, British actor Malcolm Keen
lost his voice onstage, and his replacement, Alister Sim, like Hal Berridge in the first production,
developed a high fever and had to be hospitalized. In the 1942 production headed by John Gielgud,
three actors – Duncan and two of the witches – passed away, while the costume and set designer
committed suicide surrounded by his fiendish Macbeth creations. Charlton Heston suffered
severe burns from tights that were accidentally soaked in kerosene in 1953. Finally, an actor’s
strike halted Rip Torn’s 1970 production in New York City, two fires and seven robberies plagued
the 1971 version starring David Leary, and in the 1981 production at the Lincoln Center, J. Kenneth
Campbell, who played Macduff, was assaulted in the street soon after the play’s opening.
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UNIT 8
VOCABULARY BUILDING 2: Review of prepositions by, on, in, at, of
1. Complete the sentences with the correct preposition: by, on, in, at or of.
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GRAMMAR 3: It is said that… / He is thought to…
1. Compare the active and the passive version
of the following sentences and then
answer the questions.
2. Read the note, then complete the rules with the missing words.
NOTE
We often use the following reporting verbs in passive reporting structures: say,
claim, believe, think, know, estimate, hope, report, suggest, consider, expect.
3. Study the following pairs of sentences. They have exactly the same meaning.
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UNIT 8
GRAMMAR PRACTICE 3
1. Put the missing word in brackets in the correct position in the sentences.
1. People ________________________________________________
2. Many people ___________________________________________
3. People used to __________________________________________
4. Many people ____________________________________________
5. They __________________________________________________
1. People sometimes claim that the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe was the real author
of Shakespeare’s plays.
_________________________________________________________________
2. They say that he faked his death to escape charges of blasphemy and heresy.
_________________________________________________________________
3. They suggest he escaped overseas where he continued writing.
_________________________________________________________________
4. They claim he used the pseudonym of William Shakespeare.
_________________________________________________________________
5. According to witnesses’ reports, Marlowe went to a tavern called The Bull on the day of his death.
__________________________________________________________________
6. They say that during a quarrel over a bill, another drinker drove a dagger into Marlowe’s eye, killing
him.
__________________________________________________________________
7. Supporters of the Marlovian theory suggest that the corpse of another person was used at his burial.
___________________________________________________________________
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LISTENING 2
Listening strategy: When you read questions before listening, look up any words
you don’t know in a dictionary. The speaker(s) will probably use some of the same
words, so looking them up will help you understand better.
2. Listen to check.
A B
1. the acting (a) broke out
2. not allowed (b) fashion
3. forbidden (c) performers
4. a war (d) poisonous
5. major (e) diseases
6. child (f) to appear
7. in (g) by law
8. highly (h) and lodging
9. skin (i) profession
10. board (j) parts
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UNIT 8
GRAMMAR 4: Have / get something done
1. Read the examples and answer the
questions.
1. The structure have something done is used when you do something for yourself /
someone does something for you.
2. We can use have and get / only have for this structure.
3. We form the structure with the subject + have / get + object + infinitive / past participle.
had my hair cut am going to have my hair cut have had my hair cut
am having my hair cut
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GRAMMAR PRACTICE 4
1. Rewrite the sentences using the structure have something done.
1. Someone repaired my computer yesterday.
I had my computer repaired yesterday.
2. Someone is doing Sandra’s hair this evening.
__________________________________________
3. Has someone tested your eyes recently?
__________________________________________
4. Does someone ever dry clean your clothes?
__________________________________________
5. Is someone checking your blood pressure soon?
__________________________________________
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UNIT 8
STOP AND SEND 2
196
SPEAKING
Speaking strategy: When you give directions, keep them as simple as possible.
The cinema? under bridge / third turning left / right at traffic lights / straight on / end of road
Tourist: ______________________________________________________________
Local: ______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Tourist: ______________________________________________________________
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UNIT 8
WRITING: Writing a short plot summary
Writing strategy: When writing a short plot summary, only mention the most important
people and events. Do not give many details and keep the language simple, with verb
forms in the present.
1. Read the summary and number the acts from the play in the correct order
Brutus joins the conspirators, but Cicero is left out. Brutus decides not to kill
Mark Anthony. Caesar goes to the senate against the wishes of his wife
Calpurnia.
Civil war erupts. Cassius' army joins Brutus' army. Caesar's ghost visits
Brutus and says they will meet again.
(c) Act 1
Caesar emerges victorious in the Roman civil wars. The Roman people
celebrate, but the tribunes do not. Conspirators meet and decide they must
kill Caesar before he becomes king.
The armies meet for battle near Philippi. Brutus turns a sure victory into
defeat and Cassius and Brutus commit suicide. Anthony wins.
Brutus stabs Caesar with a fatal blow. As the conspirators calm the city,
Mark Anthony arrives and wins Brutus over with flattery. At Caesar’s funeral,
Brutus foolishly lets Mark Anthony speak to the crowds, who turn against
the conspirators as a result. Anthony joins Octavius Caesar and General
Lepidus in a three-man government.
1. According to the summary, how many people die in the play? Who are they?
2. How does Brutus kill Julius Caesar?
3. What big mistake does Brutus make in Act 2 of the play?
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3. Mark the features according to whether they are present in the plot summary or not.
Yes No
1. Past tenses
2. Present tenses
3. Lots of adjectives
4. Lots of adverbs
5. Simple linking words
6. Lots of details
7. Dialogue
Writing tip: Remember, when writing a short plot summary, only include the main
characters and the most important events.
Act I: The Montagues and the Capulets are the two main families in Verona and they have
been enemies for many years. Two of the Capulets’ men, Sampson and Gregory, fight with
Abraham and Balthasar, from the Montagues. Benvolio tries to stop the fight but Tybalt attacks
him, and a riot breaks out. The Prince arrives and says that if anyone from either of the families
fights again, he will execute them. In the next scene, Benvolio goes to see Romeo, who is a
Montague, and who is in love with Rosaline, although she does not love him. Benvolio persuades
Romeo to go to a party at the Capulets’ house, so he can meet other girls. In the following
scene, at the Capulets’ house, Lady Capulet tells Juliet that Paris, the cousin of the Prince,
wants to marry her and that she will meet him at the party that night. Juliet promises to try and
like Paris. In the final scene, at the party, Tybalt recognises Romeo and wants to kill him because
he is a Montague, but Lord Capulet forbids him. Romeo talks to Juliet and they are both immediately
attracted to each other. At the end of the party, they find out that each of them comes from one
of the two enemy families.
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
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UNIT 8
STOP AND SEND 3
Write a 150 word plot summary of Romeo and Juliet.
Step 1:
Look on the internet for information
about the play you are going to summarise.
Step 2:
Note down the information
you are going to include from each act.
Step 3:
Write the first draft of the plot summary.
Remember to keep it simple.
Use present tense verb forms and simple linkers.
Step 4:
Reread the summary and check:
– Is the plot clear?
– Is the grammar correct?
– Is the spelling correct?
– Have you used correct linking words?
Step 5:
Write the final draft.
Step 6:
Check it again!
200
EXAM PRACTICE
Read the following text and then answer the five questions below.
The theatre was very popular in Shakespeare’s time. People could choose between five or
six theatres in London, each giving a daily performance. This meant that out of a total population
of around 100,000 people, about 30,000 attended the theatre each week. Everyone went, from
the lowest to the highest classes, although Queen Elizabeth herself had private showings in her
palace. Standing room in the pit, just in front of the stage, cost a penny, while a seat in a gallery
cost two pennies. There was only one door, and people put their money in a box at the entrance,
which was carefully guarded. Before the play started, they amused themselves by eating, drinking,
smoking or playing cards, and often kept on doing the same things during the performance.
Pickpockets, food vendors and prostitutes circulated through the audience. Fights often broke
out, and sometimes led to riots.
Elizabethan audiences loved plays with battles and murders, processions and spectacular
firework displays, as well as ghosts and witches. However, the theatre had another function as
well. At a time when most people were illiterate, there were no newspapers or magazines, and
books were a luxury, people went for a good story they could enjoy and talk about afterwards.
They also enjoyed the historical plays that taught them about the history of their own country,
as well as plays set in exotic locations that stimulated their imaginations with (usually completely
unrealistic) depictions of other parts of the world.
Provide answers (5-10 lines) to the following four questions on the text using your own words:
2) (1.5 points) What evidence does the writer give to support the view that the theatre was very
popular in Elizabethan times?
3) (1.5 points) Name three ways in which going to the theatre in Elizabethan times was different to
going to the theatre today.
4) (1.5 points) What kinds of plays did people enjoy, and why?
5) (4 points) Write a composition of approximately 15 lines on the following topic: If you could
choose to live at a different time in history, when would you choose? Give reasons.
201