The Good Storyteller Reading Answers

Mar 16, 2024

The good storyteller Reading Answers is an academic reading answers topic. The good storyteller Reading Answers have a total of 12 IELTS questions in total. This topic has 10 questions in which you have to fill up the black choosing appropriate words from paragraphs. In the rest of the questions we have say whether statement is true or false.

Candidates should read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly to recognize synonyms, identify keywords, and answer the questions below. IELTS Reading practice papers, which feature topics such as The good storyteller Reading Answers. Candidates can use IELTS reading practice questions and answers to enhance their performance in the reading section.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

The Good Storyteller

The windswept clouds into inky puddles across the sky. A few swollen drops of rain fell on the windshield of our rental car as my friend and I sat at a service station. A red-haired lad with a spattering of freckles across his face pumped our gas. He craned

his head upward. 'Ah, the weather is desperate today,' he said. Desperate. The word clung to me. How had he found the most poetic and perfect word to describe the weather that day? Although this trip was many years ago, I still recall that young man,

as well as the cadence and lilt of the words that greeted us in the shops and pubs at which we stopped to ask directions. As a writer, I was inspired and intrigued by the Irish and their wonderful facility for language and poetic prose.

While Ireland is a small island - you can drive from the east coast to the west coast, or north to the south in little more than four hours -this green and fertile land has produced more writers per square inch than any other country. And it has done so for centuries, from James Joyce to Nobel-Prize winning poet Seamus Heaney. But how? What organic ingredients have created a recipe for such talent? Could it be the mythical landscape itself? During that trip, I still remember how the green, undulating

mountains that opened up to vistas of the ocean, cliffs, and ruined castles seemed to be permeated with ancient wisdom and mysterious energy that seeped from the earth into my very spirit. Is it this that made such prolific writers of the Irish and blessed

them with their gift for the lyrical word?

Perhaps so, but I believe it is also about the Irish soul, which is so entwined with storytelling. Much like the primeval land that was carved over centuries, the Irish seem to allow for the flow of space and time. They are present to the rhythm of their lives

and allow the creative process to speak to their souls. One of my favorite authors, the late John O'Donohue in his book Anam Cara, spoke of the power of simple presence which takes us ultimately where we need to be, as people and as creative writers.

'It is far more creative to work with the idea of mindfulness rather than with the idea of will. Too often people try to change their lives by using the will as a kind of hammer to beat their lives into shape. If you work with a different rhythm, you will come easily

and naturally home to yourself. Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore, you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go.

The Irish are also well-known storytellers. In fact, the Seanachie (pronounced Shawn-a-key) or storyteller is still an honored profession in Ireland as it has been for centuries. Sean O Suilleabhain in Storytelling in Irish Tradition writes: 'The good storyteller, who had a large repertoire stored in his memory, seated at his own fireside, in an honored place in the house of a neighbor or at a wake, was assured of an attentive audience on winter nights. Nor was it only adults who wished to hear tales. My father described to me how himself and other children of eight years of age would spend hours, night after night, listening to an old woman storyteller in South Kerry and an old man in the same area told me that, as a youth, he and his companions used to do all the household chores for an elderly neighbor each winter evening in order that he might be free to spend the night telling them long folktales ...

The desire to tell stories, to weave narratives, is still central to the Irish people, as their works of literature demonstrate. James Joyce, W.B. Yeats, C.S. Lewis, Frank Mccourt, Maeve Binchy, Niall Williams, and countless other writers have not only given us

moving stories but told them, oftentimes, in words that resonate to the rhythm of our soul. At the end of that time to visit the site of Yeats' grave in County Sligo. The weather that day was more than desperate, as a biting:

leaves around the Drumcliffe cemetery. I took a quick snapshot of his grave, and stood there, part of his poem When You are Old and gray wajuing through my thoughts. I thanked him for sharing his gift of words with the world and asked him to help

me do the same. Weeks later after we had returned home, I had the photos developed (there were no digital cameras back then) there above his grave, floated a form, a shape - a hazy gauze of white that not explain. I like to think his Irish soul was wishing me well as a writer.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 1-6

Answer the questions. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

[1] Which word did the gas pump attendant use that so impressed the writer?

Answer: DESPARATE
Supporting statement:“........ He craned his head upward. 'Ah, the weather is desperate today,' he said. Desperate. The word clung to me. How had he found the most poetic and perfect word to describe the weather that day? ..........”
Keywords: clung, found
Keyword Location: para 1, line 4
Explanation: The word that impressed the writer was "desperate," . It was used by the gas pump attendant to describe the weather.

[2] Which TWO words in the second paragraph mean the accent and rhythm of the Irish voices the writer heard on her trip?

Answer: CADENCE AND LILT
Supporting statement:“........ Although this trip was many years ago, I still recall that young man, as well as the cadence and lilt of the words that greeted us in the shops and pubs at which we stopped to ask directions...........”
Keywords: cadence, greeted
Keyword Location: para 1, line 6
Explanation: These words describe the accent and rhythm of the Irish voices heard by the writer on her trip.

(3] Which three physical features of the landscape of Ireland does the writer describe as having an unreal quality?

Answer: OCEAN / CLIFFS
Supporting statement:“........ I still remember how the green, undulating mountains that opened up to vistas of the ocean, cliffs, and ruined castles seemed to be permeated with ancient wisdom and mysterious energy that seeped from the earth ..........”
Keywords: ancient, permeated
Keyword Location: para 2, line 6
Explanation: The writer describes the ocean, cliffs, and ruined castles as having an unreal quality in the landscape of Ireland.

[4] According to the writer, which basic elements of life do the irish appreciate and embrace better than people elsewhere

Answer: SPACE AND TIME
Supporting statement:“........Perhaps so, but I believe it is also about the Irish soul, which is so entwined with storytelling. Much like the primeval land that was carved over centuries, the Irish seem to allow for the flow of space and time...........”
Keywords:
Keyword Location: para 3, line 1
Explanation:According to the writer, the Irish appreciate and accept the flow of space and time better than people elsewhere.

[5) Which idea did the writer John O'Donohu believe to be preferable to determination and a desire to achieve?

Answer: MINDFULNESS
Supporting statement:“........'It is far more creative to work with the idea of mindfulness rather than with the idea of will. Too often people try to change their lives by using the will as a kind of hammer to beat their lives into shap..........”
Keywords:
Keyword Location: para 3, line 7
Explanation:John O'Donohue believed that working with the idea of mindfulness, rather than with determination and a desire to achieve.

[6] What is the Irish word for a person who entertains with stories?

Answer: SEANANCHIE
Supporting statement:“.......The Irish are also well-known storytellers. In fact, the Seanachie (pronounced Shawn-a-key) or storyteller is still an honored profession in Ireland as it has been for centuries...........”
Keywords: storyteller, centuries
Keyword Location: para 4, line 1
Explanation:The Irish word for a person who entertains with stories is "Seanachie."

Questions 7-10

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each.

- tales were recalled from the storyteller's [7)......

Answer: MEMORY
Supporting statement:“.........The good storyteller, who had a large repertoire stored in his memory, seated at his own fireside, in an honored place in the house of a neighbor or at a wake.........”
Keywords: seated, wake
Keyword Location: para 4, line 3
Explanation:Tales were recalled from the storyteller's memory.

- storytellers were [8]. ... guests at social gatherings

Answer: HONOURED
Supporting statement:“........ In fact, the Seanachie (pronounced Shawn-a-key) or storyteller is still an honored profession in Ireland as it has been for centuries...........”
Keywords:honored, ireland
Keyword Location: para 4, line 2
Explanation:Storytellers were honored guests at social gatherings.

- both (9]..... were attentive listeners - storytellers sometimes exchanged stories for [10]......

Answer: ADULTS AND CHILDREN
Supporting statement:“.......Nor was it only adults who wished to hear tales. My father described to me how himself and other children of eight years of age would spend hours, night after night, listening to an old woman storytelle...........”
Keywords: himself, night
Keyword Location: para 4, line 6
Explanation:Both adults and children were attentive listeners to storytellers.

Ques 10:

Answer: HOUSEHOLD CHORES
Supporting statement:“........he and his companions used to do all the household chores for an elderly neighbor each winter evening in order that he might be free to spend the night telling them long folktales..........”
Keywords:
Keyword Location: para 4, line 9
Explanation: Storytellers sometimes exchanged stories for household chores.

Questions 11-12

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?

In boxes 11-12 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE - if the statement agrees with the information.
FALSE - if the statement contradicts the Information.
NOT GIVEN - if there is no information on this.

[11) The weather on the day of the writer's trip to Yeats' grave was better than on the day she spoke at the gas station

Answer: FALSE
Supporting statement:“.......At the end of that time to visit the site of Yeats' grave in County Sligo. The weather that day was more than desperate, as a biting: leaves around the Drumcliffe cemetery...........”
Keywords: sligo, cemetary
Keyword Location: para 5, line 5
Explanation:The statement contradicts the information. The weather at Yeats' grave was described as "biting," which implies it was not better than the weather at the gas station.

[12] The writer would like to believe that Yeats responded to the request she mad at his grave.

Answer: TRUE
Supporting statement:“........part of his poem When You are Old and gray wajuing through my thoughts. I thanked him for sharing his gift of words with the world and asked him to help me do the same. ..........”
Keywords: thoughts, grave
Keyword Location: para 5, line 7
Explanation:The writer would like to believe that Yeats responded to the request she made at his grave, which is given in the passage.

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