Читать книгу English for Life Reader Grade 8 Home Language - Elaine Ridge - Страница 15

Pre-reading
1.	Look at the title of the poem. What do you expect the poem to be about?
During reading
2.	What is the actual story and who tells it?

Bedtime Story

Chris Mann

The bath, the brushing of teeth,

the dragging on of pyjamas

worked through with threats and pleas,

the sprinting, wrestling and bouncing

at last diminishing.

I light a candle on the toy-chest,

step across a carpet mined with Lego

and bend towards the five-year-old

who opens his arms in reply.

Sitting on the foot of the bed

I ask the worst and best of his day,

trying to imagine a pre-primary universe,

its Liliputian taps and urinals,

its lockers with towels and mugs on hooks

with battered brown cases on shelves,

its corridors boisterous with children.

He turns and stretches a moment,

the heel of a foot shoved in the air,

rubbing at a sticker

of dinosaurs rearing on the wall,

then says with a grimace,

‘At break I was so lonely,

I went to the swings and when I came back

the friends I was playing with had gone.’

The words pierce my adult composure.

I find little comfort in thinking that pain matures us

that he is already his own human being.

I start to make healing suggestions,

which he considers for a moment

then grunts at in reply,

the silence deepening,

the heel continuing to rub at the door.

pierce – to make someone feel a strong emotion

composure – the state of being calm

Post-reading
3.	Quote one line that tells you that the child is reluctant to get ready for bed. Why do you think the boy does not want to go to bed yet?
4.	How does the child show that he loves and trusts the speaker (probably his parent or grandparent)?
5.	Give an example from the poem of behaviour that is ‘boisterous’.
6.	The word ‘pierce’ has been chosen because it is associated with discomfort or even pain. Why does the speaker feel upset?
7.	Is the problem resolved at the end of the poem? Explain how you found your answer.