1

Ingls

Alumno: SANTIAGO CARBONELL MATARREDONA

1. Chapter ONE (first part)

B) Reading test
i) Reading comprehension
1. Read the text and answer the following questions. Give
short answers. You can use exactly the same words that
appear in the text or you can even use quotations.
1. How does he (the author, C.S.Lewis) feel?
He feels very sad and grieved because of his wifes death. And this feeling
seems to him as if he were afraid.
2. What thought comes to his mind as if it was the voice of the
common sense?
The thought of surpassing Hs loss by muting the sorrow in his heart,
underestimating its significance, or focusing on the existential resources he
had before knowing H or after her death.
3. What three traits does he use to define Hs personality?
He

speaks

about

her

quick

intelligence,

firm

personality,

and

clear

discernment.
4. What is the consequence of grief?
A general laziness. Some kind of handicap or difficulty towards any effort.
5. How does he describe Gods attitude towards him? He uses two
metaphors, which ones?
God seems to have abandoned the author, to be silent and gone.
-

1st metaphor: A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and
double bolting on the inside.

2nd metaphor: An empty house, with no lights in the windows.

6. What is his conclusion about God?

Its not a really conclusive conclusion, for he confesses God to be absent even
more, non-existent when he needs Him, but to be so present when we do not
ask for Him.
He is really aware of the dangerous idea of a God Who deliberately sends such
dreadful things to His creatures.

2
Ingls

Alumno: SANTIAGO CARBONELL MATARREDONA

7. Why cannot he believe that God is an invention of the unconscious

that substitutes love?
Because its quite aberrant to deal with love substitutes when we can enjoy
love itself.
8. How does he describe their love?
In many different ways, in order to the variable experiences in which their love
was performed: solemn and merry, romantic and realistic, [] dramatic as a
thunderstorm, [] comfortable and unemphatic.
9. Why does he think the respect for the wishes of the dead is a trap?
Because its unfair to the others, for he can be using what H. would have
liked as an instrument of domestic tyranny, with her supposed likings
becoming a thinner and thinner disguise for my own.
10. How do his children feel when he tries to talk to them about her?
They feel unequivocally embarrassed, uncomfortable, as if their father were
committing an indecency to them.

2. Say if these statements are True (T) or False (F) according

to the text.
(the red and underlined letter is the right answer)

1. He only wants to be alone. T/F

2. Writing and Reading help him to keep calm. T/F
3. When you are happy you feel God is present.

T/F

4. He thinks that when you are unhappy you feel God doesnt exist.

T/F

5. Thinking about Christs loneliness on the cross makes him feel better.
6. He doesnt believe in God any more.

T/F

T/F

7. He thinks religion is an invention of the unconscious.

T/F

8. As long as they were married they didnt care about the existence of God.
T/F
9. He doesnt want to say things such as H. wouldnt have liked that.
T/F
10. The children dont want him to talk to them about her. T/F

3
Ingls

Alumno: SANTIAGO CARBONELL MATARREDONA

ii) Grammar
1. Find in the text words with a negative prefix. And say what part of speech
(adjective, adverb, noun) the base word is.
o invisible; adjective.
o uninteresting; adjective.
o unexpectedly; adverb.
o misrepresent; verb.
o unable; adjective.
o unhappy; adjective.
o untidy; adjective.
o disquieting; adjective.
o unconscious; adjective.
o unemphatic; adjective.
o unsatisfied; adjective.
o unfair; adjective.
o indecency; noun.
2. One is ashamed to listen to this voice; One passes into tears and
pathos What does one refer to? With such a subject, what type of
sentence are these?
It refers to the author, the subject of both sentences.
3. These are at least clean and honest; But the bath of self-pity, the
wallow, the loathsome stickysweet pleasure of indulging it that
disgusts me; Hed rather lie there shivering than get up and find one;
after that, silence; This is unfair to others. What do the underlined
words in bold refer to in the text?
o These: the moments of agony.
o That: the bath of self-pity, the wallow, the loathsome stickysweet
pleasure of indulging it
o One: an extra blanket.
o That: slamming a door in your face, and the sound of bolting on
the inside.
o This: saying that H. wouldnt have liked anything.

4
Ingls

Alumno: SANTIAGO CARBONELL MATARREDONA

4. Look in the text for one example of these verbal tenses/structures. Write
them down and translate them.
Present simple I am not afraid : no tengo miedo
hayplural/singular: There is a sort of invisible blanket : hay
como una tela/sbana invisible
Past simple (say if the verb is regular/irregular and give the infinitive
form) No one ever told me nadie nunca me dijo // irregular
verb; infinitive = tell For those few years H. and I feasted on
love // regular verb; infinitive = to feast Durante aquellos
pocos aos H y yo festejamos / celebramos / banqueteamos el amor.
Future if you remember yourself and turn to Him with gratitude
and praise, you will beor so it feelswelcomed with open arms
si recapacitas (te acuerdas de ti mismo) y te conviertes a l con
gratitud y alabanza, sers o al menos as lo parece recibido con los
brazos abiertos.
Imperative Thy will be done. Hgase tu voluntad
5. Can you give examples of 5 different modal verbs in the text? Write down
the sentence and specify which verbal structure follows the modal verb.
-

shall: Come, I shant do so badly [subject] + [modal verb] + [main

verb]

can: I cannot talk to the children about her the same as previous

must: At any rate I must keep clear of the spiritualists

may / might: You may as well turn away / It might be an empty

house

will: The longer you wait, the more emphatic the silence will become

iii) Vocabulary
Look up the following words in a dictionary. Write down a definition
in English and then give an equivalent in Spanish.
1. Grief: deep or intense sorrow // profunda pena, intenso dolor.
2. Pathos: quality in speech, writing, etc. that arouses pity or sadness //
cualidad o caracterstica, en un discurso o un escrito, que suscita
compasin o tristeza.
3. Pain: suffering or distress of body or mind
tanto fsica como mental.

//

sufrimiento o angustia,

5
Ingls

Alumno: SANTIAGO CARBONELL MATARREDONA

4. Empathetic/un-: ability for identifying oneself mentally with person or

object of contemplation // capacidad para identificarse mentalmente
con aquella persona u objeto de contemplacin.
5. Assurance: emphatic declaration, guarantee, certainty, assertivenes
declaracin enftica, garanta, certeza, asertividad, confiabilidad

//

6. Sheer: mere or unqualified // mera, absoluta, indiferenciada

7. Loathe/loathsome: regard with hatred and disgust //
intenso desagrado y disgusto / desdn.

contemplar con

8. Praise: express warm approval or admiration for; glorify God in words //

manifestar una cordial aprobacin o admiracin; glorificar a Dios con
palabras.
9. Resentment: indignant or bitter feelings // sentimiento de indigacin o
amargura.
10.
Embarrassment: feeling awkward or ashamed
incomodidad y vergenza.

//

sentimiento de

iv) Thesis
What do you think is the most important idea (or ideas) of this
excerpt. Specify in which sentence(or sentences) you think that
idea (or those ideas) are expressed.
The author tries to expose the disconcerting consequences which no-one
ever told him about before of his grief. He is experiencing, for the first time,
new aspects of a deep pain:
-

no one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.

no one ever told me about the laziness of grief.

Anyway, he doesnt want to avoid this painful process. He is unwilling to

silence his heart and his feelings.
-

I almost prefer the moments of agony. These are at least clean and
honest

He also emphasizes the grievous feeling of the absence of God during

these sorrowful and desperate moments. But, moreover, he shows his
reluctance to submit to the idea of a God Who hides Himself voluntarily,
especially when his creature is most in need of his protection.
-

But go to Him when your need is desperate, [] and what do you find?
A door slammed in your face.

The conclusion I dread is not So theres no God after all, but So this is
what Gods really like. Deceive yourself no longer..