3. Open the brackets using the Past Simple or the Present Perfect.

1. Joanna (not/change); she is the same as ever.

2. When they (get) married? – Last year. So they (be) married for about a year.

3. The employment office (call) me twice since I (move) to Los Angeles.

4. People (use) to come at the weekends, but during the week I (be) alone in that huge house.

5. He (give up) smoking yet? When he (do) it?

6. Although I (study) French for years I have difficulties in speaking the language.

7. How many times you (be) in love? When you (fall) in love first?

8. We (see) him at the summer course in London.

9. You ever (be) to the United States? – Yes, I (be) in California two years ago.

10. I (buy) everything I needed and (go) straight home.

Reading comprehension

1. Read the text carefully.

Margaret is a cleaner and she works night hours. She gets home about 6.30, gets the children ready for school, and then starts on her own housework. Some days she goes to bed for two or three hours, others she doesn’t go to bed at all. She then goes two or three days without any sleep. At first she found it hard, but that was because she had never done any cleaning before. She soon got used to it. She also got used to the reaction of other people when she told them what she did for the living. “They think just because you are a cleaner you don’t know how to read or write”, says Margaret. “But it’s about the only job I can do at the moment that suits me, what with the children and everything. I don’t dislike my work, but I can’t say I’m mad about it. If they opened a factory round here and the hours and pay were the same as I’m getting now, then I’d rather take a job there. I’ll give myself another year or eighteen months at the cleaning. The children will be much older then. Though what I’ll do I’m not sure.”

The fact that she is working all night doesn’t worry Margaret at all. Unlike some buildings where there is very little lighting at night – and where a cleaner who had an accident could easily not be found for hours because no one else is working on her floor – the building where she works is fully lit all night, and the women work in groups of three. “I’m doing the job because I have to. But since I’ve got to be here night after night I try to enjoy myself. We all have a good laugh, so the time never drags”.

2. Mark the statements below as True or False.

Example: 1 -False

1. Margaret goes to bed for two or three hours every day.

2. Margaret has got used to her daily routine because she likes cleaning.

3. People think that all cleaners are uneducated.

4. Cleaning is the only job Margaret can do at the moment.

5. Margaret would like a job at a factory but there is no factory in the neighborhood.

6. In a year or so Margaret is going to look for another job.

7. Margaret doesn’t mind working at night.

8. The time passes quickly because Margaret works with three other cleaners.

3. Write questions to these answers.

1. She’s a cleaner. (What? ...)

2. No, she goes to bed for two or three hours only. (Disjunctive)

3. Because she had never done any cleaning before. (Why? ...)

4. Because it’s the only job that suits her at the moment. (Why? …)

5. For another year or eighteen months. (How long? …)

6. She is not sure what she’ll do then. (What? …)

7. It is fully lit all night. (Alternative)

8. No, the women work in groups of three. (General)