B2+ UNITS 1 and 2 Literature PDF
B2+ UNITS 1 and 2 Literature PDF
B2+ UNITS 1 and 2 Literature PDF
Deliberately I set myself to think of this village I And now I did not know what to do next. I called a
was seeking, and what I should do when I entered small black boy, who was sitting on a log playing a
it – if I could find it, which was doubtful, since I stringed gourd, quite naked except for the strings of
was walking aimlessly and it might be anywhere 30 blue beads round his neck, and said: 'Tell the Chief
5 in the hundreds of thousands of acres of bush I am here.' The child stuck his thumb in his mouth
that stretched about me. With my mind on and stared shyly back at me.
that village, I realized that a new sensation was For minutes I shifted my feet on the edge of what
added to the fear: loneliness. Now such a terror seemed a deserted village, till at last the child
of isolation invaded me that I could hardly walk; 35 scuttled off, and then some women came. They
10 and if it were not that I came over the crest of a were draped in bright cloths, with brass glinting
small rise and saw a village below me, I should in their ears and on their arms. They also stared,
have turned and gone home. It was a cluster of silently: then turned to chatter among themselves.
thatched huts in a clearing among trees. There I said again: 'Can I see Chief Mshlanga?' I saw they
were neat patches of mealies and pumpkins and 40 caught the name; they did not understand what I
15 millet, and cattle grazed under some trees at a wanted. I did not understand myself.
distance. Fowls scratched among the huts, dogs At last I walked through them and came past the
lay sleeping on the grass, and goats friezed a kopje huts and saw a clearing under a big shady tree,
that jutted up beyond a tributary of the river lying where a dozen old men sat cross-legged on the
like an enclosing arm around the village. 45 ground, talking. Chief Mshlanga was leaning back
20 As I came close I saw the huts were lovingly against the tree, holding a gourd in his hand, from
decorated with patterns of yellow and red and which he had been drinking. When he saw me, not
ochre mud on the walls; and the thatch was tied a muscle of his face moved, although I could see he
in place with plaits of straw. was not pleased: perhaps he was afflicted with my
50 own shyness, due to being unable to find the right
This was not at all like our farm compound, a forms of courtesy for the occasion. To meet me, on
25 dirty and neglected place, a temporary home for
our own farm, was one thing; but I should not have
migrants who had no roots in it. come here. What had I expected?
A VOCABULARY FOCUS
aimlessly (line 4): without any particular purpose or plan friezed (line 17): formed a line up
crest of a small rise (line 10): the top of a small hill kopje (line 17): a small hill
cluster (line 12): a small group of things that are very jutted (line 18): stuck out
close to each other ochre (line 22): a brown-yellow colour
mealies (line 14): corn glinting (line 36): shining with quick flashes of light
millet (line 15): a type of grain gourd (line 46): the shell of a hard fruit
fowls (line 16): chickens afflicted (line 49): suffering from
the surroundings
the animals
the village
the huts