You still don't know what to do this summer? Well, here's your chance to win a one-week language course in Kent, England! Free4Fun and ETC (English Travel Connections)are giving away two trips to Rochester. This historic city is less than an hour's drive from London and close to the sea resort of Heine Bay. It is also the home of one of England's most famous writers, Charles Dickens. The town of Rochester is in Southeast England. Charles Dickens often wrote about it in his books. His home, Gad's Hill, is there, too. A popular attraction is Rochester Castle, a large Norman fortress  . It was built in the 11th century and rebuilt during the 14th century. Other attractions are Rochester Cathedral, which was built during the 13th century, and Dickens Centre. It has got its name in honour of Dickens himself. The trip to England includes: * travel by train( via the Eurotunnel)to and from any railway station in Germany * room and full board with a guest family for one week * language course in small groups * two trips to London * large choice of sports and entertainment * German-speaking advisors available 24 hours a day Interested? All you have to do is to answer the following question: When was Charles Dickens born? So, take the chance and send your answer by May 1 to: Free4Fun "Rochester" Free4Fun,24 Elphinstone Road, Hastings ,2FQ6VJ fax :089/85-763-103 e-mail :free4fun@ netlight, com The two winners will be contacted directly before May 5. They will also be announced in the June issue of Free4Fun. Good luck! For further information contact. phone: (03212) 144-43 fax: (03212) 144-42 e-mail :info@ etc. com What activities can you participate in during the trip? A) Enjoying sports and entertainment. B) Learning the German language. C) Traveling by train with a guest' family. D) Working as a language advisor.
A


(Question)
My six-year-old granddaughter stares at me as if she is seeing me for the first time. "Grandma, you are an antique," she says. "You are old. Antiques are old. You are my antique."  I am not satisfied to let the matter rest there. I explain, "An antique is not only just old; it's an object existing since or belonging to earlier times such as a work of art or a piece of furniture. Antiques are valuable."  We look around the house for antiques. There is a large desk that was handed down from an aunt to our family. "It's very old," I tell Jenny. "I try to keep it polished, and I show it off whenever I can. You do that with antiques." When Jenny gets older and understands such things, I might also tell her that whenever I look at the desk or touch it, I am reminded of the aunt who was dear to me and gave me the desk as a gift. I see her face again, though she is no longer with us. I remember myself as a little girl standing against this antique, listening to one of her stories.  Our tour of antiques continues. There is a picture on the wall purchased at a yard sale. It is dated 1867, and it is not in very good condition. There is a vase on the floor. I'm not certain where it came from, but I didn't buy it new. And then there is an old-style bed, sent to me forty years ago from an uncle who slept in it for fifty years.  "The one thing about antiques," I explain to Jenny, "is that they usually have a story."  For a moment Jenny looks thoughtful. "I don't have any antiques but you," she says. Then her face brightens. "Could I take you to school for our antiques show?"  "Only if I fit into your backpack," I answer. And then her antique lifts her up and gives her a big hug that will last through the years. What would be the best title for the text? A) Jenny's antique B) A tour of antiques C) My love of antiques D) Stories behind my antiques
(Answer)
A


Ques: Charles Dickens was one of the most beloved storytellers in the English language. His novels made him famous in his own time, and continue as classics in ours.      Dickens began his literary career with almost no formal education. He was born in Landport, on Feb. 7, 1812, the second of eight children. When he was 12, his father was sent to debtor's prison. Dickens was forced to quit school and work in a London blacking factory. He would rework that terrible experience into his fiction for the rest of his life.      "He was a social reformer," says actor Simon Callow, author of a new biography called Charles Dickens and the Great Theatre of the World.  "He knew what poverty was. He knew what it was to be rejected, to be cast aside, to  live in squalor  ."      And so Dickens wrote with great sympathy for the suffering of innocent and vulnerable   children - characters like David Copperfield, Little Dorrit and the orphan, Oliver Twist:       With his slice of bread in his hand, and his little brown parish cap on his head, Oliver was now led away from the wretched home, where one kind word or look never lighted the gloom of his infant   days.       Yet he burst into an agony of childish grief as the cottage gate closed after him.  Wretched as were the little companions in,misery he was now leaving behind him, they were the only friends he had ever had.       His first book Sketches by Boz came out in 1836. With the appearance of Oliver Twist in London periodicals in 1837, the 25-year-old Dickens became the most popular writer in England. But his first love was theater, and he considered becoming an actor.      "When he was actually writing, he became his characters," says Peter Ackroyd, author of Dickens: Public Life and Private Passion. "He would get up from his desk, go over to the mirror and mouth the words - do the expressions, grimaces  , whatever, and then laugh, chuckle to himself, then go back to his desk and write it down."      Dickens created 989 named characters, which increased his popularity.... The author quotes Dickens' description of Oliver Twist mainly to show A) that Dickens was full of pity for poor children B) that Dickens knew well about poor children C) what real poverty was like in his days D) what kind of life Oliver Twist lived
Ans:
A