|
OUR FIRST BIKE
La versión en español
NIVEL: Principiante - Intermedio:
30 minutos
There have been many developments in transportation in the last hundred and fifty years, but even today we can see why the bicycle was the most exciting form of transport of all when it was invented. It is cheap and available to people of all ages.
In good weather we can ride along with our friends and feel the healthy wind on our face. In a way it was – and is – a miracle of travel, as it requires no gasoline or other fuel except human muscle power.
The word ‘bicycle’ often appears in writing but it is formal. It is more natural for English-speakers to say ‘bike’ in conversation.
The great thing about the bike is that it is not expensive. You can buy a new bike for around a hundred US dollars and it costs next to nothing to maintain.
Many boys and girls earn their first wages by working in a local store, a fast-food joint, or in a carwash. And with their first wages they soon make their first investment – a bike!
This is our first ‘property’, it is ours alone, and it is to be defended from all possible thieves in the neighborhood. It is essential to park it in our bedroom at night, even if Mom is not very happy about it. Where else could it go?
Roads are busier today, and cycling is more dangerous than it was fifty years ago, but the open road – and good cycle paths – are available to us!
There is no better excitement for the young person than the freedom to push off from the curb and visit places around town that had previously been only names on a map.
PREGUNTAS:
1. How many years does the article mention in the first paragraph?
2. Why was the invention of the bike exciting?
3. What kind of wind can we feel on our face?
4. Why does the writer describe the bike as a ‘miracle’ of travel?
5. What word do ordinary English-speaking people normally use instead of ‘bicycle’?
6. What does the author say is ‘the great thing about the bike’?
7. What words does the author use to tell us that it doesn’t cost much to maintain a bike?
8. Please state one of the ways in which boys and girls can earn their first wages.
9. Where must we park our first bike, even if Mom is not pleased about it?
10. In the opinion of the writer, is cycling now safer than it used to be?
Respuestas: Palabras o frases claves:
1. One hundred and fifty years
2. cheap, available to people of all ages
3. healthy
4. Because it requires no fuel
5. Bike
6. It is not expensive, it is cheap
7. ‘next to nothing’
8. Working in a local store OR fast food joint OR carwash.
9. In our bedroom
10. No, it is more dangerous nowadays
|
