Writing an Story

1. READ the story below and ANSWER the questions in English:

1. When did the legend of El Dorado start circulating?
2. What people were the first to spread the legend of El Dorado in Europe?
3. What do Chibcha indians have to do with the legend of El Dorado?
4. Where did they live?
5. Where was El Dorado supposed to be?
6. Who or what did the Chibcha indians worship?
7. What ceremony did the indians do in the lake?
8. Who was Alexander Von Humboldt?
9. Has some gold or jewels ever been found in the lake?
10. What treasure was found in a cave near Bogotá?

2. WRITE s summary of the story in Spanish (Minimum 100 words)

THE LEGEND OF EL DORADO

Soon after the discovery of the New World, stories began circulating throughout Europe about the existence of a legendary city of gold in the Andes.

Incredible riches awaited whoever was bold enough and lucky enough to find the fabled city called El Dorado.

The search for El Dorado became a quest for many bored young conquistadors in search of glory and adventure. Most perished in the jungles or mountains without ever realizing that El Dorado was not a city, but a man.

The legend of El Dorado first reached the Old World through the Spanish who followed Christopher Columbus to Central America. Wherever they went, soldiers under Balboa and other explorers heard fascinating tales about the legendary city of gold.

As they plundered their way into South America, Spaniards and other Europeans were thrilled by the promise of great riches. Exaggerated accounts of El Dorado handed down by the sun-worshipping Chibcha Indians who lived in the 8,600-foot high plateaus near present-day Bogota fired their imagination. The Chibcha tribe, it was said, venerated gold as the sun god's metal. They wore golden ornaments and for centuries had covered their buildings with sheets of the precious metal.

Some Indians spoke of a holy lake full of gold. Others told of meeting a golden chieftain in a city called Omagua.

As the tales spread, El Dorado came to be thought of as a city of gold; it was even shown on ancient maps of Brazil and the Guianas, though its location was vague.

In the 1530s the Germans and Spaniards sent several expeditions into what is now Colombia to seek El Dorado. But the mountains were nearly impassable, and they were forced to turn back when they ran out of food.

More than half the men were killed in skirmishes with Indians, and all the expeditions came to grief.

But the legend of the fabulous city still tantalized fortune hunters, and the very words constantly on their lips, "El Dorado," became synonymous with "The Golden Place" and its true meaning -- "The Gilded One" -- was ignored.

The Chibchas worshiped not only the sun but also a being who was said to live in the lake. Some said it was the wife of a chief who had thrown herself into its waters centuries ago to escape a dreadful punishment and had survived there as a goddess.

Indians made pilgrimages to present offerings to the goddess of the lake, and at least once a year the lake became the center of an elaborate ceremony.

The tribesmen would smear their chief with sticky resin and blow gold dust over him until he glistened from head to foot, literally an El Dorado. Then he was conducted in a magnificent procession to a raft on the edge of the lake. The raft was towed to the middle of the sacred Lake Guatavita. Plunging into the icy water, the chief rinsed the gold off his body while the others cast priceless offerings of gold and emeralds.

The story of El Dorado did not end with the conquistadors. Explorers in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, including the great Prussian natural scientist and traveler Alexander von Humboldt, also sought the fabled treasure.

No trace of El Dorado was found until 1969 when two farm workers dug up an exquisite model raft made of solid gold in a small cave near Bogota. On board the raft were eight tiny oarsmen-rowing with their backs to the regal golden figure of their chief.

Yet Lake Guatavita still refuses to yield its golden treasures.

Although some gold and emeralds were found in the muddy banks, the icy depths of the lake were never plumbed. So far as is known, the offerings to El Dorado -- the Gilded One -- are still at the bottom of the sacred lake.

                              

Tobermory the Cat

One August afternoon, Lady Blemley was in her sitting room. Some of her friends were with her. She liked to have her friends for the weekend. Their names were Miss Resker, Miss Pellington, Mrs Cornett, and Mr Cornelius Appin. Mr Appin was a young man.

He said, "I can teach English to animals."

"Can you?" said Lady Blemley.

"Yes. Your cat, Tobermory, can speak English now."

"No," they all said. "It's not true."

"Yes it is," said Mr Appin.

Lady Blemley said to her husband, "Wilfrid, get Tobermory, please."

Sir Wilfrid went out. He came back without Tobermory .

"It's true!" he said. "Tobermory was on my bed. I said, 'Tobermory, come with me!' And he answered me!"

"He didn't!" they all said.

"He did," said Sir Wilfrid. "He said, 'I'm not ready. Is my milk in the sitting room?' "

Then a girl came into the room with tea. Tobermory came too.

"Good afternoon, Tobermory," said Lady Blemley .

"Where's my milk?" said Tobermory.

Lady Blemley put some milk on the floor for him .

They all looked at him.

"Must you look at me?" he said. "More milk."

Lady Blemley put down some more milk.

Miss Resker said, "Tobermory, can I ask you a question?"

"Must you?"

" Tobermory, do you like me?" said Miss Resker.

"I don't think about you much," said Tobermory. "Sir Wilfrid likes you. I saw you two in the garden this morning."

Miss Resker's face was red. Sir Wilfrid's was, too.

"But you like me, Tobermory," said Miss Pellington .

"Lady Blemley doesn't like you," said Tobermory.

'Tobermory ¡' said Lady Blemley. "She's my old friend!"

"Perhaps," said Tobermory "She's going to buy your car, isn't she? It's no good. Too old, like her."

Lady Blemley's face was red. Miss Pellington's was, too.

"Tobermory," said Mrs Cornett. "Lady Blemley and Sir Wilfrid are buying your food."

"They're buying yours, too," said Tobermory.

"You said, 'I don't like the Blemleys much, but  the food is good.' "

Mrs Cornett's face was red.

"Tobermory," said Sir Wilfrid, "out."

Tobermory looked out of the window.

"Out now," said Sir Wilfrid.

Tobermory went out of the room.

"Mr Appin," said Lady Blemley, "can Tobermory teach how English to all his cat friends?"

"Yes," said Mr Appin.

"Then, Wilfrid, we must...."

"Yes," said Sir Wilfrid. "Tonight."

But Tobermory listened at the door. He went away and didn't come back again. Where is Tobermory now? They don't know. Is he in your house?

     

1) Write a 60 word sumary of every one of them in Spanish.

 ·Una tarde se reunieron unos amigos, la dueña de la casa tenia un gato que según su amigo podia hablar pero todos los demás lo negaron. La mujer le dijo a su marido que trajera al gato, cuando llegó le hombre al salon con Tobermory, el gato, también asintió que el gato había hablado. 

Tras un rato, Tobermory hablo mal de todos los presentes y alfinal la mujer lo hecho y el gato no volvió mas a esa casa.

2) Write a 10 items quiz about the context of the story.

1: They have a dog?

    ·FALSE       ·TRUE

2: What did Mr.Appin say?

3: Who is Lady Blemly?

4: What did Tobermory say to sir wilfriend?

5: What did the cat answer to sir wilfriend when he calm to the bedroom?

6: Tobermory didn't talk

     ·FALSE       ·TRUE

7: What did Tobermory eat?

8: Tobermory say to the people wrong things 

     ·FALSE       ·TRUE

9: The woman's pace was read 

     ·FALSE        ·TRUE

10: The woman said to Tobermory to go out

     ·FALSE        ·TRUE

                                       Death and Money

This is a very old story. There were three young men. They liked to eat, and they liked to drink a lot.  One day they were in the bar of the Grand Hotel. Through the window, they saw some men. They had the body of a dead man.

 "What's that?" said the 1st young man. He said to a child, "Boy, come here!" The boy came. The young man said, "Who is dead? Go and ask." The boy went, and came back. "That was one of your old friends," he said. "He was often here at the Grand Hotel with you."

"Why is he dead?"

"I don't know," said the boy. "Death takes all lives."

"The boy is right," said the barman. "Death is going to take your life some day. Perhaps today. Perhaps tomorrow."

 "Oh no," said the 1st young man. "Death is not going to take my life."

"You must be ready for Death," said the barman.

The 1st young man said, "Where is Death? I am going to find  him and kill him. Are you coming with me?"

"Yes," said his friends.

The three young men walked up the road. An old man came along the road. He knocked

the ground with his stick. "Open for me, Mother," he said to the ground. "Old man," said the 1st young man. "Why do you knock the ground with your stick?"

"I am old. I don't want to live. But Death is never going to take me. The ground is not going to open for me. I walk along the road and I say, 'Mother, I want to die. But I can't die."'

"Where is Death?"

"I saw him under a tree, up on the mountain there," said the old man. "Go there, find the

tree, and Death too."

The three young men walked up the mountain. They came to the tree. Under the tree was money, a lot of money. The 1st young man said, "Now my friends, are we going to take this money? Or are we going to find Death and kill him?"

"The money," said his friends.

"Where are we going to take it?"

"To my house," said the 2nd young man.

"Not in daylight," said the 3rd young man.

"People mustn't see us."

"No," said the 1st young man. "We must take it home by night. We want some beer now, beer and food. Who is going to the town, to buy beer and food?"

"I am," said the 2nd young man. "Give me some money."

He went down the road to the town. The 1st young man said to the 3rd young man, "Are we going to give him some of this money?" "No," said the 3rd young man. "How can we kill him?"

"I have a knife. And you have a knife."

The 2nd young man walked to the town and he said, "I want all the money. Why not? But how can I get it? They are two and I am one."

Then he said, "I'm going to kill them." He went to a shop. He asked for poison. "I want something to kill the rats in my house," he said to the man in the shop. "They eat all my

food."

"I have some very good rat-poison," said the man .

The young man went away with the rat-poison.

He went to the Grand Hotel. "Three bottles of beer, please," he said.

He put poison in two of the bottles. Then he went back to his friends. His friends put their arms round him. They killed him with their knives.

"Now," said the 1st young man. "Have some beer. "

They opened all the bottles of beer. Before night, they were dead. The old man was right. Death was under the tree.

1) Write a 60 word sumary of every one of them in Spanish.

   · Tres hombres que no quieren morir, así que van a buscar la muerte y a matarla. Cuando van por la calle, encuentran a un hombre gritandole al suelo, el hombre mayor les cuenta que la ultima vez que vió a la muerte estaba debajo del árbol que había en una montaña. Fueron al arbol y encontraron dinero, y se pelearon por el, alfinal acabaron muriendose los tres. Por eso la muerte estaba debajo de el árbol.

2) Write a 10 items quiz about the context of the story.

1: They were three young women
     · FALSE     ·TRUE 
2: The old men wanted to live
     ·FALSE       ·TRUE
3: They found a lot of money
     ·FALSE       ·TRUE
4: What poissont did the man put in the beer?
5: What drink did the man buy?
6: How did the men kill their friend?
7: Did they drink the bear?
8: They were friends?
     ·FALSE      ·TRUE
9: Did they die?
10: Where was the death?