The Fire Alarm

Jennifer's ears were "talking" to her. They were making little sounds, like little
bubbles bursting. A "bubble" was bursting almost every second. It was not
ainful, but annoying. !he knew the cause.
"hile she was cleaning the whiteboard after her class ended last night, the fire
alarm went off. Instead of leaving the building immediately, she walked around
to see what the roblem was. The blaring alarm sounded like the busy signal on
a hone, but #,$$$ times louder. The school seemed to be emty. Then she
walked by one room, and saw about seven students inside.
Just then the night suervisor came by. !he told everyone to leave immediately.
The students were acking their hair%care e&uiment into their bags. The night
suervisor waited imatiently. Finally, after almost five minutes, all the students
and their teacher left the building. They aologi'ed for being so slow.
The firemen never arrived. Instead, a school olice officer showed u. (e
walked around the area with the suervisor. It was a false alarm. The officer
used his key to finally turn off the alarm.
)ut it was too late for Jennifer. !he had listened to the loud alarm for too long.
!he should have known better. *ven as she drove home, her ears felt strange.
Vocabulary
bubbles % balls of air or gas in liquid:
painful % causing physical pain
annoying % making you feel slightly angry; irritating
fire % uncontrolled flames, light, and heat that destroy and damage things
the fire alarm went off % the fire alarm started ringing to warn you of a fire
Instead of % In place of; rather than
Instead % as a substitute or an equivalent or alternative to +used to say what is done,
when you have just said that a particular thing is not done)
blaring % making a very loud unpleasant noise
busy signal % a repeated sound on a phone to tell you that the person you are calling
is talking on their telephone; engaged + sinal de ocupado num telephone)
come by +a lace, house, etc., make a short visit to a place on your way to
somewhere else
1
hair-care equipment % equipment used for washing and drying your hair and
shaping it into a style
pack your things/stuff % put your things into cases, bags etc ready for a trip
somewhere show u % arrive, especially at the place where someone is waiting for
you turn up
turn off - make a machine or piece of electrical equipment such as a television,
engine, light etc stop operating by pushing a button, turning a key etc switch off
Verb
)e - was.were - been
/ake - made - made
)urst % burst % burst
0now - knew - known
1lean - cleaned - cleaned
*nd - ended - ended
2o - went - gone
3eave - left - left
!ee - saw % seen
)lared - blared - blared
!eem - seemed - seemed
1ome - came - come
Tell - told - told
4ack - acked - acked
"ait - waited - waited
Aologi'e - aologi'ed - aologi'ed
!how - showed - shown
5rive - drove - driven
Feel - felt % felt
6uestions
#. (ow were Jennifer7s ears feeling8
9. "hat kind of sounds were they making8
:. "hat was bursting almost every second8
;. "as it ainful to Jennifer8
<. "as the sound boring8
=. 5id she know what was causing such ringing in her ears8
>. "hat haened while she was cleaning the whiteboard after her class
ended last night8
!
?. 5id she leave the building immediately after the fire alarm went off8
@. "hat did she do when the fire alarm went off8
#$. "hat did the fire alarm sound like8
##. (ow many more times was the fire alarm louder in comarison to a busy
signal on cell hone8
#9. "as the school full or emty8
#:. (ow many students did she see when she walked by one of the school
rooms8
#;. "ho came by Aust then8
#<. "hat did the suervisor tell everyone to do8
#=. "hat were the students acking into their bags8
#>. (ow long did it take the students and the teacher to leave the building8
#?. "hat did the students aologi'e for8
#@. 5id the firemen arrive to ut out the fire8
9$. "ho showed u at the school8
9#. "hat did the olice officer do8
99. "hat it a real fire alarm8
9:. (ow did the olice officer turn off the fire alarm8
9;. !o, why were Jennifer7s ears BtalkingC to her8
9<. 5o you believe that being eDosed to loud noisy for a long eriod of time
can cause hearing roblems8
9=. 5o you know of anyone who has lost their ability to hear well because of
too much eDosure to noise8
1rossword 4u''le
"
Fill in the squares with the correct word.
Across:
1. Balers, corn pickers, combines, and tractors are types of farm ___.
5.
Bob doesn't use his turn ___s because he doesn't want to burn out the light bulb;
instead, he ___s with his arm out the driver's window.
.
!he Bush government responded to the "atrina hurricane disaster ___ ___, and with
too little.
#. $ost people ignore a ___ car alarm; it's %ust another annoying sound of civili&ation.
1'. !he woman ___ into tears when she heard that her father had been killed.
1(.
)uring the *lympics, if a runner starts running before the starting gun is fired, he
has caused a ___ start.
1+.
___ ___ products, including shampoo and conditioner, are popular with women and
men.
15. !he police ___ was on his motorcycle when he got hit by a truck running a red light.
Down:
'. ,eorge tapped his foot and looked at his watch while he ___ waited in the long line.
(.
!he '-' on your car's fuel gauge stands for ___; try to fill up when you have a .uarter
tank.
+. !he Board of ___s runs /os 0ngeles 1ounty; the five ___s represent five districts.
2.
___ed that the car was blocking him on a 3an 4rancisco street, the killer shot to
death the car's driver and his two sons.
#.
5hen the housing market ___ burst, millions of 0mericans saw the value of their
homes plummet.
6. $any people think that a barking dog makes the best burglar ___.
17.
0n alarm should ___ ___ in your head if someone offers you a deal that sounds too
good to be true.
11.
8f you ___ sincerely after you've done something wrong, people will often forgive
you.
#
Now look back at the story, read it again silently two or
three times. Then, translate the Portuguese version
below back to English.
Es ouvidos de Jennifer estavam a "falar" com ela, ois fa'iam e&uenos
sons ,como e&uenas bolhas &ue estouram . A " bolha " eDlodia &uase a cada
segundo, mas nFo era doloroso, antes irritante. A Jennifer sabia a causa.
*n&uanto ela limava o &uadro deois da sua aula ter terminado ontem G noite,
o alarme de incHndio disarou. *m ve' de deiDar o edifIcio imediatamente, ela
deu uma volta ao redor ara ver &ual era o roblema. E alarme estridente
soava como o sinal de ocuado em um telefone, mas mil ve'es mais alto. A
escola arecia estar va'ia. 5e seguida, ela assou or uma sala e viu cerca de
sete estudantes lJ dentro.
Kesse reciso momento os suervisora da noite aareceu, e disse a todos ara
saIrem imediatamente. Es alunos comeLaram a arrumar os seus e&uiamentos
de cuidados de cabelo nas suas malas, en&uanto a suervisora da noite
aguardava imacientemente . Finalmente, deois de &uase cinco minutos,
todos os alunos e os seus rofessores deiDaram o edifIcio, edindo desculas
or serem tFo lentos.
Es bombeiros nunca aareceram. *m ve' disso, um olicia da escola
aareceu, e caminhou ao redor da Jrea com os suervisora. Tinha sido um
falso alarme. *ntFo, o olicia usou a sua chave ara finalmente desligar o
alarme .
/as era tarde demais ara a Jennifer. *la tinha escutado o alarme alto or
muito temo. *la deveria ter sabido melhor +*la deveria ter adivinhado &ue isto
iria acontecer,. /esmo &uando ela condu'ia o carro de volta a casa, ela sentia
os seus ouvidos estranhos .
Crossword Pule !ey
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