Monday, December 20, 2010

First and last words

I found this little literary quiz in the New English File Advanced textbook at the school (I have to teach Colleen's advanced adults class this week while she's back in Scotland). Take a look and see how you do! (Answers will be in the comment section)

Famous First and Last Lines from Novels:

1) All children, except one, grow up.
2) It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortunate must be in want of a wife.
3) "Oh, my girls, however long you may live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this!"
4) James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the final departure lounge of Miami Airport and thought about life and death.
5) Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
6) "Tomorrow, I'll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day."
7) Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
8) Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.
9) Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
10) Renowned curator Jacques Sauniere staggered through the vaulted archway of the musuem's grand gallery.

Which line is your favourite? Which one captures your attention right from the beginning and makes you want to read the rest of the book? And which one perfectly sums up the book and leaves you satisfied? (I, for one, HATED the way number 6 ended!)

And now this bookworm must hurry off to the Wasteland for another fun day of teaching! xoxo

2 comments:

  1. Answers:
    1) Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie
    2) Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
    3) Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
    4) Goldfinger, by Ian Fleming
    5) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
    6) Gone With the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
    7) Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
    8) 1984, by George Orwell
    9) One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
    10) The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown

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  2. It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile; winning's winning.

    Where is that from?

    ReplyDelete