Interactive English :
Twenty-one words have been omitted from this article. Replace them by
checking the right option in each of the twenty-one drop-down text
boxes.
In each case, there is only one correct solution !
There
have been lots of movies
about superheroes! Fabulous heroes like Superman, or Batman,
or
Spiderman, have been popular since the first half of the
twentieth century, saving people and saving the world.
If only they were real ! When Coronavirus
struck the whole world, we could have done with a
few
superheroes to help us get by.
Ben Affleck
was Batman in the 2017 film Justice League
Not
just
Superman and
Batman...
Superman
and Batman are just two superheroes out of many. We could
also include Spiderman,
Wonder Woman, Robin Hood, James Bond, Zorro, Indiana Jones
and a lot more. They're all more or less the same person, in different
forms. Some are in the past, others in the present, others in the
future.
But why does Hollywood
superheroes? Is
it a question of money? Of course; but it's not only money.
People have always
superheroes.
Long before
the first Hollywood movie, people loved stories about superheroes.
Robin Hood has
a
popular hero for over 600 years ... and there
were
others before him.
The first superheroes were real
people. Nevertheless,
the stories about
were often
.
Some of the first European
superheroes were Charlemagne
and Roland (Orlando). Mediaeval
writers and singers invented exciting stories about these real men,
just as Hollywood
stories about tomorrow's superheroes.
A thousand years
, people sometimes sat round
in dark rooms in the evening,
to the adventures of brave
heroes. Today, we sit in a dark room in the evening,
the
adventures of the brave Batman. The medium
is different, the technology
changed .... but the people are really
the same.
Superman - perhaps the best-known of all superheroes
Hollywood doesn't actually
invent
new superheroes. Superman, Judge Dredd, Batman and the
others
"existed" before Hollywood discovered them. These three
all come from
magazines.
The first Batman story came out in 1939!
So Batman has now been defending the people of Gotham City for
80
years! There have been several Batman movies, with different stars
Val Kilmer, George Clooney and Christian Bale. How long can
it last?
Superman is even
: he dates
from
about 1932 (the exact year is not
). Even Judge Dredd is a
familiar figure; he first
in England in 1977.
Hollywood's biggest superheroes live in
the future. That is not
surprising. Hollywood has fallen in love
with special effects, and the future
great spectacular special
effects. Besides,
people today are frightened about the future. Things do not
look
good; perhaps we will need characters like Batman and Judge Dredd in
100 years' time. Perhaps we even need them today!
WORDS:
movie: film - do with:
use, get some help from - long before: a
long time
before - nevertheless: but, yet -
Charlemagne: Carlus
Magnus, Charles the Great - mediaeval: from the
Middle Ages - medium: means of communication -
actually: in fact - last: continue
- dates from: first appeared in - besides: also
- look: seem, appear
Copying permitted for personal study, or by teachers for use with their
students
Student
Worksheet
Exercise:
Imagine
you have been talking to Ben Affleck (who plays Batman in Justice League). How
did Ben answer your questions?.
YOU:
Is Batman Hollywood's first superstar?
BEN:
YOU: Who is Batman ?
BEN:
YOU: Why do people love superheroes ?
BEN:
YOU: Did superheroes exist before
Hollywood ?
BEN:
YOU: Are you Hollywood's first Batman?
BEN:
YOU: Are superheroes always imaginary
people?
BEN:
YOU: Do you think we'll see more
superheroes in the future?
BEN:
Using
the interactive text.
This exercise is designed to be done by your students directly on their
computer screen or mobile phone. Students should select the correct
answer in each of the twenty drop-down boxes, in order to complete the
article. There is only one correct solution in each case. In most
cases, the choice is a question of simple grammar; in some it is a
matter of logic or essential vocabulary. Just one set of options may
lead to confusion, no 19 where there is a choice betwen real and
really. The grammatically correct choice is of course really, even if
real is
commonly used in spoken English, specially in the USA.
If you do not have access to computers, and want
to use a printed copy of this article, you will either leave the boxes
empty, and get your students to complete them by logical thinking, or
from a list of the options that you will have copied out; alternatively
you will need to do the online exercise yourself, then copy it or print
it out with the missing words that you have chosen.
Students can save their work by filling in the words then
printing it or saving it so that
you, the teacher, can receive a copy of their work. As for
marking... There are 21 choices to be made.... Just mark your students'
work as if there were only 20, with one mark off for each mistake, or
one mark for each correct answer, as you prefer!
Language:
Pay attention to the position of adverbs in this article. There is a
selection of adverbs of frequency, as well as other adverbs of time and
degree.
Text contraction:
Ask pupils to try and reduce paragraphs 3 to 8 to about a half of their
current length, while maintaining as much of the essential information
as possible.
Discussion:
What makes a superhero?
Free expression:
Ask pupils to describe their superhero, and explain why he (she) is so
highly considered.
Missing
words - answers.
The full text, with the correct answers, can be found in the answers
section of A
Background to English,
the new paperback "best of" B1-B2 intermediate texts from
Linguapress.
As well as answers, this collection of 27 texts includes some texts not
available online, and access to more audio
recordings.
Top photo by Gage Skidmore.
Superman photo by Omarukai.
Creative commons licence
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to use
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