1. Fill in must or have to.
1. We will ... call your father to come after you.
2. You ... wrap up warm, it’s very cold outside.
3. You will ... keep moving to keep warm.
4. The girl ... keep her perfect attendance that school year.
5. On her way to school, the girl ... look at her watch.
6. Father said I ... stay at home in such stormy weather.
2. Read the story “Perfect Attendance” and say who was right — the
girl’s mother or father.
Perfect Attendance Part One
For Mother, school was the center of her universe. As a teacher, she thought pupils
should be in their seat when the first bell rang, each day school was in session.
Things such as rain, sleet, snow, and bitter cold were no excuse to miss school.
Father, on the other hand, was of a different turn of mind. School for him had been a
place to socialize and have fun. Lessons were to be tolerated, so any reason not to
attend was good enough for him.
This morning when I awoke, there was a snowstorm. There was no chance that
Father could take me to school in the car. Surely Mother wouldn’t make me go out in
this blizzard to keep my perfect attendance at school.
As I climbed out of bed on this awful morning, I could hear Mother and Father
arguing about whether I should go to school.
“This girl can’t go to school today. It’s too bad out there!”
“But she hasn’t missed a day this year,” Mother said, “I know she doesn’t want to be
absent.” Of course, she hadn’t asked me what I thought about it.
“There is a blizzard out there. She can’t go out in it.” Father tried again to convince
Mother of the nonsense of sending a child out in a blizzard.
Mother was insistent, “I’ll wrap her up good. She’ll be fine.”
By then I had run out of my freezing bedroom and was standing in front of the wood
heating stove in the dining room enjoying the warmth.
“Can I ride my pony?” I asked.
“Oh, no!” exclaimed Father, “You would freeze for sure. You will have to keep moving
to keep warm. So if you go, walking is the only way.”
This told me that Mother had won…
Part Two
As I walked along the road, the swirling snowflakes bit my face. It was cold and the
wind was so strong I had to struggle to push my eight-year-old body against it. I
frequently pulled up my left coat sleeve to look at my watch. As long as I was going, I
did not want to be tardy. The snow stuck to my clothes and the scarf around my
mouth froze from the humidity of my breathing. I knew I had to hurry.
Finally, the schoolhouse appeared on top of the hill. I knocked on the door of the
house and was greeted by Mrs. Crawford. With a surprised look, she rushed me in
and began to unwrap my frozen clothes. My wrist had some frostbite where I had
kept looking at my watch.
“Don’t you know there isn’t any school today? The weather is too bad; you should not
be out in this!”
“Mother said I had to go so I could keep my perfect attendance*.”
“Well, we will have to call your father to come after you because you can’t walk back
home in the storm.”
*perfect attendance - (USA) a person with perfect attendance would be one who never
missed to be present whenever school, was in session.3. Who was right — the girl’s mother or father.
4. Choose the right variant.
Example: Mrs. Crawford began to ... (wrap; unwrap) my frozen clothes. Mrs.
Crawford began to unwrap my frozen clothes.
1. The mother promised to ... (wrap; unwrap) me up warm.
2. She ... (packed; unpacked) her school bag and headed off to school.
3. Maggie carefully ... (packed; unpacked) her birthday presents.
4. The mother said, “Please ... (dress; undress) and get into bed. You are sick.”
5. What is ... (done; undone) cannot be ... (done, undone).
6. We should ... (do; undo) something to help him.
