Going Places, on the Cheap

Writers often travel unpredictable and uncommon paths. That’s particularly – and literally – true for Matt Gross, who had the enviable task of traversing the globe in 90 days, chronicling his journey in a blog and (17) ________.

In May, he set out from New York City to Lisbon. In August, he ended his trip with a flight from Beijing to San Francisco. In between, Gross skipped around the world carrying his messenger

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bag, (18) ________, a host of gadgets for staying in touch, and a list of contacts culled from friends and readers.

Sounds sexy, but he wasn’t on (19) ________. Gross is the paper’s “Frugal Traveller,” which means he has to operate on a tight budget. And, unlike a vacation, his time isn’t his own.

“I’m on a Greek island right now,” he said by phone in June. (He had already driven from Lisbon to Galecia, flown to Barcelona, hopped a bargain flight to Italy, taken a ferry to Croatia, and ridden

(20) ________.) “I’d be perfectly happy to spend the next three days going to the exact same beach and eating food at the same restaurant. But my perfect vacation is not necessarily the same thing as anybody else’s perfect vacation. So I try and do everything. I explore (21) ________. It’s this sort of constant rush.”

With his editors, Gross decided to avoid some destinations, and purposely include others. He also wanted to simply see where the winds would take him. “I can’t really narrow it down because in some ways I’m not (22) ________,” he said mid-trip. “I don’t care where I go; I’m just happy to go.”

A a very particular traveller

B a bus to Montenegro and Albania

C a long road trip around the continent

D a three-month, spare-no-expense lark

E a 28-inch rolling duffel

F as a sixth-grader had written a story

G a series of articles for The New York Times

H as many of the beaches as possible

Task 5

A Winter Story

Written by: Tuesday F.

The night grew colder as Julie (23) ________ through the snow. She had left because no one was home. Her mom was at work, her dad was with some coworkers, and her sister was probably out with her boyfriend at some wonderful ice rink or whatnot.

Julie didn't remember a Christmas where someone wasn't gone. It weighed down her heart

(24) ________ it had been carved out of lead and stuck inside her chest.

An older college couple passed Julie laughing and giggling. They seemed so happy just to be together, not caring about the snow or the muddy streets, nothing could (25) ________ them.

Julie sighed and kept walking. She walked past an elderly couples house where they sat outside on a swing, holding hands. She stopped for a moment, examining them, wondering to herself what they were smiling and whispering about. The old lady (26) ________ sight of Julie and called her to come. Julie obliged, stepping down the pathway to the porch. The old lady smiled, "Little girl, why are you out here all alone in this kind of weather, especially (27) ________ this special night?" Julie shrugged shyly, stuffing her hands in her pockets before speaking up, "I have nothing really better to do and a walk helps me clear my thoughts."

The old lady watched in content, she stood up, (28) ________ her ankle long skirt and went to the door. She turned back to Julie, "Well, can't let you leave without something, now can I?" She

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quickly called Julie to come in, (29) ________ the door. Julie stepped inside to the warm house, looking around (30) ________ the old paintings and what not. There was a living room to the left with a giant, glowing Christmas tree in the corner near the light fireplace.

The old lady stepped into a large kitchen with cookies, gingerbread houses, and other sweets scattered across the table and counters. She reached up into a cabinet, pulling down a pack of hot chocolate. She put a kettle on the stove and poured the pack into a small tea cup.

Julie made herself at home, wondering around the decorated sweets, studying them. When the old lady (31) ________ a chair for herself, Julie did the same.

The kettle began (32) ________ and the old lady rushed to the stove, quickly pulling it off and pouring the water into the cup. She (33) ________ a spoon and started to stir the hot chocolate. She set the cup and spoon in front of Julie with a gentle smile.

Julie took the cup and held it up to her lips, (34) ________ the liquid slowly trying her best not to burn herself. She set the cup gingerly back on the table, saying to the old lady, "Thank you very much."

The old lady smiled, "It is Christmas my dear, give and you shall receive. But I really don't expect to receive anything from you, dear, just my act of kindness today." Julie smiled wider and decided since no one was home at her house; she would stay her a little longer and talk to the old lady.

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Task 6

Who Scooped the First Ice-Cream Cone?

Most ice-cream cones end the same way, (35) ________ sweetly on the tongue. But how did the first ice-cream cone begin? Tales of the cone’s invention (36) ________ on one spot: the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. In one story, an ice-cream vendor ran out of serving dishes and was rescued by Ernest Hamwi, a Syrian immigrant selling Middle Eastern waffles at the next stand. Another Syrian immigrant claimed it was his idea (37) ________ a hot waffle, let it harden, then plop in the ice-cream. Yet a third claimant was former (38) ________ acrobat Charles Menches, who is said to have peeled away one side of an ice-cream sandwich to make an (39) ________ vase for flowers, then molded the other side to hold the remaining ice cream. Hamwi and Menches went on to create ice-cream-cone empires.

One earlier claim gets lost in the hubbub: Five months before the World’s Fair, a patent

(40) ________ to candy-maker Italo Marchiony: ”I claim as my invention … a molding apparatus for creating ice-cream cups and the like.” If only he’d said cones.

Why Do We Have Eyebrows?

In his (41) ________ weird book The Expressions of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Charles Darwin maintained that human eyebrows (42) ________ from the vestigial remnants of the scattering of long hairs one finds in the very same place on other mammals, including chimps and dogs. But why were eyebrows preserved, while most of the rest of our hair was lost?

In accordance with (43) ________ views on sex selection, he believed that those human hairs which remain are those which are (44) ________ to the opposite sex.

However, another suggestion is that they're important for (45) ________ facial expressions that are more easily recognised by other individuals in one's social group.

They also serve the practical purpose of stopping sweat and rain (46) ________ down your forehead into your eyes.

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Writing

Task1

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