UFPR – 2009

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Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is hailed as one of the great voices of American literature and as a remarkable Renaissance woman. Being a poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director, Dr. Angelou continues to travel the world making appearances, and spreading her legendary wisdom.

Born April 4, 1928 in Saint Louis, Missouri, Maya Angelou`s given name was Marguerite Johnson. In her early twenties she was given the name Maya Angelou after her debut performance as a dancer at the Purple Onion Cabaret. The author`s father, Bailey Johnson, was a naval dietician, and her mother was Vivian Johnson. She has one sibling, a brother named Bailey after their father. When she was about three years old, their parents divorced and the children were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Angelou claims that her grandmother, whom she called “momma”, had a deep-brooding love that hung over everything she touched. Growing up in Stamps, Angelou learned what it was like to be a black girl in a world whose boundaries were set by whites. She learned what it meant to have to wear old hand-me-downs from a white woman. And she also learned the humiliation of being refused treatment by a white dentist. As a child, she always dreamed of waking to find her “nappy black hair” metamorphosed to a long blond bob, because she felt life was better for a white girl than for a black girl. Despite the odds, her grandmother instilled pride in Angelou with religion as an important element in their home.

After five years of being apart from their mother, the children were sent back to Saint Louis to be with her. This move eventually took a turn for the worst, when Angelou was raped by her mother`s boyfriend. The devastating act of violence committed against her caused her to become mute for nearly five years. She was sent back to Stamps because no one could handle the grim state Angelou was in. With the constant help of a woman named Mrs. Flowers, Angelou began to evolve into the young girl who had possessed the pride and confidence she once had. Again in 1940, her brother and her were sent to San Francisco to live with their mother. Life with her mother was a constant disorder. Living with her mother soon became too much for her, so she ran away to be with her father and his girlfriend in their rundown trailer. Finding that life with him was no better, she ended up living in a graveyard of wrecked cars that mainly housed homeless children. It took her a month to get back home to her mother. Angelou’s dysfunctional childhood, spent moving back and forth between her mother and grandmother, caused her to struggle with maturity. She became determined to prove she was a woman and began to rush toward maturity. Angelou soon found herself pregnant, and at the age of sixteen she delivered her son,Guy.

(http:voices.cla.umn.edu vg)

UFPR

1.Consider the following information:

1. The city where Maya Angelou was born.
2. The number of dancing presentations she carried out before she was given a new name.
3. The number of brothers and sisters Angelou had.
4. The reason Angelou`s parents divorced.
5. The relative with whom Angelou went to live after her parents divorced.
6. The occupation Angelou had at the Purple Onion cabaret.
7. The amount of money she used to earn at the Purple Onion cabaret.
8. The church Angelou attended while living with her grandmother.

What information is in the text?

a) Only 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.
b) Only 1, 3, 5, 7 and 8.
c) Only 2, 4, 6 and 7.
d) Only 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
e) Only 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8.

2. According to the text:

a) At the time Angelou lived with her grandmother, she did not face discrimination.
b) Angelou’s grandmother was a very affectionate woman.
c) Angelou disliked her grandmother because she used to be quite violent.
d) Maya Angelou used to call her grandmother “momma” because her mother Vivian had died.
e) Angelou`s grandmother taught her the importance of being a famous dancer.

3. In the sentence, “Despite the odds, her grandmother instilled pride in Angelou with religion as an important element in their home”, the underlined expression can be replaced by:

a) Undoubtedly
b) In spite of Angelou`s lack of faith
c) Above all things
d) Regardless of the negative circumstances
e) Taking into consideration the importance of religion

4. According to the text:

a) In Stamps, Angelou helped Mrs Flowers to become a proud and confident woman.
b) Maya Angelou decided to go back to Saint Louis because life in Stamps made her feel depressed.
c) After being forced to have sex, Maya Angelou was unable to speak for some years.
d) Throughout her childhood, Maya Angelou`s life was filled with intense love and affection.
e) At the time Angelou was a small girl, black people had the same rights white people had.

5. According to the text, Maya Angelou

a) decided to live in a cave with other children near a graveyard.
b) found the support that she needed when she returned to her mother`s homeplace.
c) had to sell second-hand cars in order to survive.
d) had to abandon her son Guy.
e) lived with her father in a very bad condition mobile home for a time.

Explosion in New Jersey

NEW YORK, (Reuters Life!) – A New Jersey man trying to exterminate insects in his apartment blew it up instead, the New York Daily News reported on Monday. Isias Vidal Maceda was unhurt in the incident, but 80 percent of his apartment was destroyed, Eatontown, New Jersey police told the newspaper. The accident occurred as Maceda was spraying for pests in his kitchen. Somehow the bug spray ignited a blast that blew out the apartment`s front windows and trigged a fire that quickly spread, the newspaper said. Police told the newspaper that the Saturday blaze also caused smoke damage to the apartment above.

(http: uk.reuters.com)

UFPR

6. According to the text:

a) Isias Vidal Maceda called the New York Daily News to report what had happened to him on a Monday morning.
b) The New Jersey police told the New York Daily News what had happened to Maceda inside his apartment.
c) Maceda, who lives in Eatontown, New Jersey, is an expert insect exterminator.
d) The facts the New York Daily News reported had inconsistent elements, said Maceda.
e) Isias Maceda had problems with Eatontown, New Jersey police because he was living illegally in the state.

7. The incident reported is:

a) A man who destroyed his apartment as he forgot his cigarette burning near the kitchen windows.
b) A man who accidentally set on fire most of his apartment when trying to get rid of the insects in his kitchen.
c) A man who burned 80 percent of his body when he tried to exterminate the insects in his apartment in New Jersey.
d) An explosion that came from a nearby apartment and consequently damaged Maceda`s apartment.
e) A tornado that blew out Maceda’s apartment front windows and also damaged his neighbor`s apartment.

8. According to the text:

a) After Maceda exterminated most of the insects in his kitchen, something terrible happened.
b) Before the bug spray ignited a blast, his apartment was destroyed.
c) As Maceda found out the bug spray had trigged a fire, he decided to call the police.
d) Maceda had to leave his apartment from the front windows because the fire was spreading quickly in the building.
e) Maceda was trying to exterminate some insects when something happened unexpectedly.

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