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Paul Sparks,
Sino-Canadian International College, Guangxi University, Online English Lesson Plans, Lesson Material and Ideas
for Reading Lessons...
Reading: "A Haunted House"
by Virginia Woolf
Lesson
Objectives: Practice for the
mid-term exam. Opportunity to analyse a short story.
Activity: Read the short
story entitled “A Haunted House” applying a suitable reading style. When
you have read the article answer all of the questions.
A
Haunted House
by VIRGINIA WOOLF
Whatever hour
you woke there was a door shutting. From room to room they went, hand in
hand, lifting here, opening there, making sure--a ghostly couple.
"Here we left it," she said. And he added, "Oh, but here
tool" "It's upstairs," she murmured. "And in the
garden," he whispered. "Quietly," they said, "or we
shall wake them."
But it wasn't that you woke us. Oh, no. "They're looking for it;
they're drawing the curtain," one might say, and so read on a page or
two. "Now they've found it,' one would be certain, stopping the pencil
on the margin. And then, tired of reading, one might rise and see for
oneself, the house all empty, the doors standing open, only the wood pigeons
bubbling with content and the hum of the threshing machine sounding from the
farm. "What did I come in here for? What did I want to find?" My
hands were empty. "Perhaps its upstairs then?" The apples were in
the loft. And so down again, the garden still as ever, only the book had
slipped into the grass.
But they had found it in the drawing room. Not that one could ever see them.
The windowpanes reflected apples, reflected roses; all the leaves were green
in the glass. If they moved in the drawing room, the apple only turned its
yellow side. Yet, the moment after, if the door was opened, spread about the
floor, hung upon the walls, pendant from the ceiling--what? My hands were
empty. The shadow of a thrush crossed the carpet; from the deepest wells of
silence the wood pigeon drew its bubble of sound. "Safe, safe,
safe" the pulse of the house beat softly. "The treasure buried;
the room . . ." the pulse stopped short. Oh, was that the buried
treasure?
A moment later the light had faded. Out in the garden then? But the trees
spun darkness for a wandering beam of sun. So fine, so rare, coolly sunk
beneath the surface the beam I sought always burned behind the glass. Death
was the glass; death was between us, coming to the woman first, hundreds of
years ago, leaving the house, sealing all the windows; the rooms were
darkened. He left it, left her, went North, went East, saw the stars turned
in the Southern sky; sought the house, found it dropped beneath the Downs.
"Safe, safe, safe," the pulse of the house beat gladly. 'The
Treasure yours."
The wind roars up the avenue. Trees stoop and bend this way and that.
Moonbeams splash and spill wildly in the rain. But the beam of the lamp
falls straight from the window. The candle burns stiff and still. Wandering
through the house, opening the windows, whispering not to wake us, the
ghostly couple seek their joy.
"Here we slept," she says. And he adds, "Kisses without
number." "Waking in the morning--" "Silver between the
trees--" "Upstairs--" 'In the garden--" "When
summer came--" 'In winter snowtime--" "The doors go shutting
far in the distance, gently knocking like the pulse of a heart.
Nearer they come, cease at the doorway. The wind falls, the rain slides
silver down the glass. Our eyes darken, we hear no steps beside us; we see
no lady spread her ghostly cloak. His hands shield the lantern.
"Look," he breathes. "Sound asleep. Love upon their
lips."
Stooping, holding their silver lamp above us, long they look and deeply.
Long they pause. The wind drives straightly; the flame stoops slightly. Wild
beams of moonlight cross both floor and wall, and, meeting, stain the faces
bent; the faces pondering; the faces that search the sleepers and seek their
hidden joy.
"Safe, safe, safe," the heart of the house beats proudly.
"Long years--" he sighs. "Again you found me."
"Here," she murmurs, "sleeping; in the garden reading;
laughing, rolling apples in the loft. Here we left our treasure--"
Stooping, their light lifts the lids upon my eyes. "Safe! safe!
safe!" the pulse of the house beats wildly. Waking, I cry "Oh, is
this your buried treasure? The light in the heart."
Copyright: this story is in the public domain and not protected by
copyright.
Source: http://reading.englishclub.com/ss_hauntedhouse.htm
Questions:
1. The Main
Idea: Write the main idea of the article. Use your own words, do not copy from
the article or you will lose marks.
2. Vocabulary: Some words have been selected from the article. For each word select
“a” or “b” to show which best describes the word.
1. Murmured
a) whispered b) shouted
2. Margin
a) side
b) end
3. Sought
a) look for
b)
see
4. Pulse
a) beat
b) body
5. Cease
a) stop
b) begin
6. Cloak
a) coat
b) trousers
7. Lantern
a) light
b) dark
8. Pondering
a) thinking
b)
walking
3. Paraphrasing /
Summarizing:Paraphrase or Summarize the article. Use your own words. If you copy
sections of the article you will lose marks.
4. Viewpoints & Opinions:
Answer each question using your own opinion, do not copy sections of the
article or you will lose marks.
-
In your
opinion, is the article well written? give your reasons.
-
Is the
article fact or opinion? give your reasons.
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