Appearance and character of a person (literary character)

Choose and fill in the appropriate word. He is so_____. He has not joined any sports clubs.

Choose and fill in the appropriate word. Don’t expect an apology from Nick; he’s too_____to admit that he was wrong.

Choose and fill in the appropriate word. It’s not your business. Try not to be so______.

Match the antonyms.

Choose the correct item. John _____us at our new house yet.

Choose the correct item. We ______ for Ann for over an hour. Maybe we should call and see if she’s OK.

Choose the correct item. What _____of this painting? Do you like it?

Choose the correct item. Alice isn’t as_____her older sister.

Read the text and match. Whitney Houston The world of music was stunned by the death of Whitney Houston, when she was found dead in her hotel room on the 11th of February, 2012. She was born to sing. Her mother was a soul and gospel singer, and at the age of eleven Whitney had already sang in her local church in Newark. In the early 1980s, Whitney Houston started working as a fashion model and sang in nightclubs with her mother. When the producer Clive Davis saw her, he was impressed so much that he immediately signed a contract with her. The press called her ‘one of the most exciting new voices in years’. In 1989, the singer set up The Whitney Houston Foundation for children , a non-profit organization that still raises money for the needs of children. It takes care of homeless children and children with cancer or AIDS. Whitney Houston’s first film role was in The Bodyguard which came out in 1992. That year she married Bobby Brown, a soul singer who was known for taking drugs. They were married for 14 years, but they had a troubled life. She became ill because of taking drugs with her husband and people began to notice that her voice wasn’t as good as it used to be. With her death, the music world has lost one of its most legendary stars. For millions of music fans she forever will be remembered for her amazing songs.

Read the text and match. The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories First introduced in 1927, The Hardy Boys Mystery Stories are a series of books about the adventures of brothers Frank and Joe Hardy. They are teenage detectives who solve one mystery after another. The Hardy Boys were so popular among young boys that in the 1930s a similar series was created for girls featuring a sixteen-year-old detective named Nancy Drew. The cover of each volume of The Hardy Boys states that the author of the series is Frank Dixon. The Nancy Drew Mystery Stories for girls are supposedly written by Carol Keen. Over the years, though, many fans of both series have been surprised to find out that Frank Dixon and Carol Keen were only pen names. Nobody knew who was hiding behind those names or who actually wrote The Hardy Boys and The Nancy Drew Stories. The Hardy Boys and The Nancy Drew Stories were written through a process called ghostwriting. A ghost-writer creates a book according to a specific formula. Ghost-writers are paid for writing books, but their names do not appear on the covers when the works are published. Ghost-writers can create books for children or adults, and most often they work on book series. The initial idea for both The Hardy Boys and The Nancy Drew Stories was developed by a man named Edward Stratemeyer, who owned a publishing company that specialised in children’s books. Edward Stratemeyer noticed the increasing popularity of mysteries among adults and decided that children would enjoy reading mysteries about younger detectives. Edward Stratemeyer first described the plot, the setting, and the characters himself. Then he hired a ghost-writer to develop his ideas into a book of over 200 pages. After the ghost-writer had written the book, he or she sent it back to Stratemeyer, who made a list of corrections and mailed it back. Once Stratemeyer had approved the book, it was ready for publication. As each series was published for so many years, The Nancy Drew Stories and The Hardy Boys both had a number of different ghost-writers. However, the first ghost-writer for each series turned out to be the most influential. Although The Hardy Boys and The Nancy Drew Stories were very popular with children, not everyone approved of them. Critics thought their plots were very far from the real life of teenagers - most of them could not experience adventures such as the young detectives from the books had. The way the books were written also attracted criticism. Many teachers and librarians disliked the ghostwriting process. They said it was designed to produce books quickly rather than create quality literature. Some libraries, including the New York Public Library, even refused to include the books in their children’s collections. Ironically, this decision helped sales of the books because children simply bought them when they couldn’t find them in local libraries. Despite the debates about the literary value of these books, they have had a great influence on American and even global culture. Most Americans have never heard of Edward Stratemeyer and his ghost-writers, but people throughout the world are familiar with Nancy Drew and Frank and Joe Hardy.