EXTRA READING COMPREHENSION 3

1 The words below appear in the text in Exercise 2. Find the words and guess their meanings. Use a dictionary to check your guesses.

       1.  clown        ……………………                   3.  balloon   ……………………

       2.  make-up   ……………………                   4.  shout      ……………………

THE CLOWN OF THE PARTY Jill Blackstead is a professional party clown. She uses the name “Tiddlywink” and people pay her money to perform at children’s parties. Jill has been a party clown for more than ten years. Her career began when she was still at school. She wanted to make some money to buy CDs and clothes, so she began organising children’s parties. Her parties became very popular and soon she was doing more than eight parties a month. Today, Jill works as a party clown almost every day. She has a good salary and really enjoys her work. Jill wears the usual clown costume – a red nose, a big hat and funny shoes. She doesn’t wear face make-up because this often frightens young children. Over the years, she has improved her programme. Her parties include face painting, magic, silly games and balloon animals. Jill has won an award for being the best party clown in New York. So what is her secret? Jill believes that a party clown must make children feel happy. While she is painting faces or making balloons, she always talks to the children and asks them questions. She has also noticed that every year there are two or three words that children think are funny. When things are not going well at the party, she just shouts one of these words and the children immediately start laughing.

  3  Write T (true) or F (false) in each sentence below according to the text.
Copy the sentences that helped you decide.

                                                                                                                                      

       1.  Jill became a party clown because she wanted to be popular.                     

                                                                                                                            

       2.  Jill gets a lot of money for her work.                                                                                                                                                                                       

       3.  Jill paints her face white.                                                                                                                                                                                                        

       4.  Jill sometimes shouts at the parties.         

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