Reading 1

My Grandpas Funeral in Toraja

Last month my family and I went to Toraja to attend
Grandpas funeral. It was my first time to go to such a ceremony. We
gathered there with our kind in the ceremony.
Overall, the ceremony was quite elaborate. It took about a week.
Several days before the ceremony was done, grandpas body was
kept in a series of houses arranged in circular row around an open
field called tongkonan. His corpse was dressed in a fine wearing.
The funeral was performed in two phases. First, we
slaughtered the pigs and buffaloes, and then moved the corpse to
face north. In this ceremony we wore black clothes. After that, the
corpse was placed in a sandal wood coffin. Then, it was brought out
of the house and placed on an open platform beneath the granary.
Meanwhile, my uncle, my brother, and I prepared the wooden
puppet and a funeral tower called lakian. The next phase of the
ceremony was held in this place. The coffin is borne from the house
and placed in the lakian. During the day, there were also buffalo
matches. They were great matches. In the night, we were feasting,
chanting, and dancing.
On the last day, the grandpas coffin were lowered from the
funeral tower and brought up to the mountainside family graveyard.
Great shouting and excitement followed it from the relatives and the
guests. Finally, we installed the wooden puppet on a high balcony
where other puppets representing the members of a whole family
were already there.
The funeral ceremonies made my family and me tired.
However, we were grateful because it ran smoothly.
Adapted from:
http://www.worldisround.com
Questions:
1. When did the writer attend the funeral?
2. How long did the writer and his family hold the ceremony?
3. What did they do to the corpse before the funeral was done?
4. What did they do after the corpse was placed in a sandal
wood coffin?
5. What did they do on the last day of the ceremony?

Reading 2
Long, long ago, when the gods and goddesses used to mingle in the
affairs of mortals, there was a small kingdom on the slope of Mount
Wayang in West Java. The King, named Sang Prabu, was a wise man. He
had an only daughter, called Princess Teja Nirmala, who was famous for
her beauty but she was not married. One day Sang Prabu made up his
mind to settle the matter by a show of strength.
After that, Prince of Blambangan, named Raden Begawan had won
the competition. Unfortunately, the wicked fairy, Princess Segara fell in
love with Raden Begawan and used magic power to render him
unconscious and he forgot his wedding. When Sang Prabu was searching,
Raden Begawan saw him and soon realized that he had been enchanted
by the wicked fairy. The fairy could not accept this, so she killed Raden
Begawan. When Princess Teja Nirmala heard this, she was very sad. So a
nice fairy took her to the Kahyangan.

Questions
6. Where might the story take place or happen?
7. How many characters are there in the story?
8. Why the wicked fairy did used her magic to make Raden Begawan
unconscious?
9. What do you think will happen if the wicked fairy did not fall in love
with Raden Begawan
10. So a nice fairy took her to the Kahyangan. (Paragraph 2) The
word her in the sentence refers to.

Reading 3

I really enjoyed my holiday in Australia. Last Sunday I visited a marine

park called Sea World which is at surfers Paradise near Brisbane. Its Australias
largest marine park and I had a wonderful day there.
The first thing I saw was the Oceanorium where you can watch all sorts of
sea fish and animal under water. There were huge turtles, sharks, and a
beautiful tropical sea fish. The most exciting thing was watching a man feeding
the sharks. He wore a special diving suit. Then I watched the performance of
sea animals. The saw was in a big outdoor swimming pool. There were killer
whales, dolphins and sea lions, and they did all sort of fantastic things in the
water. One of the girls in the show rode around the pool on the back of killing
whale, and another girl rode underwater on the back of a big turtle.
After the show, I had lunch. There were several big restaurant at the park
and I had lunch in a restaurant that was shape like a ship! Then I watched a
wonderful water-ski show which was held on a lake. There were lots of other
things to do at the park. There was lake cruising, a train ride, a big water slide,
swimming pools, and an incredible roller coaster called the corkscrew-
because it goes three loops upside down. But I wish I had gone on the roller
coaster ride before lunch rather than after it!

Questions
11.Which of the following sea animals is known as killer?
12.What is the main idea of paragraph two?
13.What made the writer very excited?
14.There were huge turtles, sharks, and a beautiful tropical sea fish.
(Paragraph 2)
The antonym of the underlined word is
15.How many programs did the writer do during his holiday in Australia

Reading 4
The Story of the Smart Parrot
 A man in Puerto Rico had a wonderful parrot. There was no another
parrot like it. It was very, very smart. This parrot would say any word-
except one. He would not say the name of the town where he was born.
The name of the town was Catano.
The man tried to teach the parrot to say Catano. But the bird would
not say the word. At first the man was very nice, but then he got angry.
You are a stupid bird! Why cant you say the word? Say Catano, or I will
kill you! but the parrot would not say it. Then the man got to so angry
that the shouted over and over, Say Catano, or Ill kill you! but the bird
wouldnt talk.
One day after trying for many hours to make the bird say Catano,
the man got very angry. He picked up the bird and threw him into the
chicken house. You are more stupid than the chickens. Soon I will eat
them, and I will eat you, too.
In the chicken house there are four old chickens. They were for Sundays
dinner. The man put the parrot in the chicken house and left.
The next day the man came back to the chicken house. He opened
the door and stopped. He was very surprised at what he saw!
He saw three dead chickens on the floor. The parrot was screaming
at the fourth chicken, Say Catano, or Ill kill you!
(sumber: detik-detik UN bahasa Inggris; 2005/2006; Intan
Pariwara)

Questions
16. What is the story about?
17. Where does the story take place?
18. What is the word that the parrot cannot say?
19. What does the man do to the bird because the bird cannot say
the name of a place.
20. It was very, very smart
The underlined word refers to .
Reading 5
Once upon a time there was a girl name Cindrella. She lived with her
bad step-mother and two step-sisters. She had to do all the household
chores.
One day the king invited all the ladies in the kingdom to go to a ball
(pesta dansa) in the palace. He wanted to find the Crown Prince a wife.
The step sisters went to the ball that night with their mother.
Cindrella was left alone. She cried because she actually wanted to go to
the ball, too.
Just then a fairy godmother came. With her magic wand, she gave
Cindrella a coach (kereta), two horses and footmen. She also gave
Cindrella a lovely dress to wear the ball and a pair of glass slippers. She
told Cindrella to come home before midnight.
At the ball, Cindrella danced all night with the Prince. The Prince fell
in love with her. At midnight, Cindrella ran home. Unfortunately, one of her
slippers slipped off at the door. She did not have time to put it back on.
The Prince was sad as he could not find Cindrella again that night.
The next day, the Prince and his men brought along the glass
slipper. They went all over the Kingdom to search for the owner.
After searching for along time, finally, they came to Cindrellas
house. The slipper fit her. The prince was very happy to find Cindrella
again. They got married and lived ever after.

1. What is the purpose of the text above?

2. What was there at the palace one day?

3. Why did the king hold the event at his palace?

4. How was the end of the story?

5. She also gave Cindrella a lovely dress. (Paragraph 4). The
underlined word has the same meaning with ..
 My Day

I had a terrible day yesterday. First, I woke up an hour late because my

alarm clock didnt go off. Then, I was such an hurry that I burned my hand
when I was making breakfast. After breakfast, I got dressed so quickly that
I forgot to wear socks.

Next, I ran out of the house trying to get the 9:30 bus, but of course I
missed it. I wanted to take a taxi, but I didnt have enough money.

Finally, I walked the three miles to my school only to discover that it was
Sunday! I hope I never have a day as the one I had yesterday.

Questions

11. What happened to the writer yesterday?

12. Why did he wake up an hour late?

13. What did he do after having breakfast?

14. How far did the writer walk?

15. What does the writer hope?