TASK 14. Choose the right option

Part 1

My (eldest / oldest) sister's only child is a boy. His name is Tim. Even when he was very young he was a (manly/ mankind) little fellow, a (skilful / skilled) and (confident / confidential) horseman, and a (dead/ deadly) marksman with an air rifle. He was (a lively / an alive) child.

Throughout his (awake/ waking) hours he was engaged in (worthy/ worthwhile) activities, and even when he was (asleep/ sleeping), his (imaginary/ imaginative) brain seemed to be at work, because often he would wake up with some (sensitive/ sensible) idea. He was always a (healthy / fit) boy. When any of his (ill/ sick) friends asked him for help with their homework he was always (sorry/ sympathetic) and did his best to help them.

Tim had one (especial/ special) friend - Dick, a much (elder/ older) boy, who had one (shrunk/ shrunken) leg and who lived in one of the (wooden /wooded) (neighbouring / neighbourhood) houses.

Dick's father was always (drunk / drunken), so the family lived in (needful/ needy) circumstances. Dick's mother was very (sensible/ sensitive), so when Tim went to the house, he often found her with her eyes (swelled/ swollen) with tears. He used to try to comfort her in his (childish/ childlike) way, but he could not be of any (effective /efficient) help to her, because his own family's (economic / economical) position was not a very good one. His father worked for a (politic/ political) party, but he had no (officia l/ officious) position in it.

Part 2

There was a ring at my door late yesterday evening and when I opened it there was (an ashamed/ a shamefaced) girl standing outside. She seemed (afraid/frightened) of something and not at all (confident / confidential) that I would welcome her at that late hour. She had rosy cheeks, long (gold/ golden) hair and a slim (graceful /gracious) figure. She had long (silk/ silken/ silky) eyelashes but her eyes looked (swelled/ swollen) as if she had been crying.

‘May I come in?" she said. Her voice was (silver/ silvery) and, although she couldn’t have been less than 18 years old, there was something sweetly (childish/ childlike) about her when she spoke. I am very (sensible/ sensitive) to personality and I felt that this girl and I had very (alike/ similar) characters. She seemed to sense my (inner /inward) sympathy for her, and suddenly her (afraid/ frightened) air disappeared and her control, which had only been (outer/ outward), vanished. She became a very (alone/ lonely) girl in need of comfort and reassurance. She told me that her father was (drunk / drunken) and was threatening to kill her and her (ill/ sick) (older/elder) sister. They had just moved into a hut on a (wooded /wooden) hill which was (neighbouring/ in our neighbourhood), and she knew nobody here. Their (former/ previous) home had been a hundred miles away. I gathered that her father was (a worthless / an unworthy) actor whose (drunk/ drunken) habits had led him to (economic / economical) ruin and constant (sick/ ill) health. The girl's mother committed suicide because her (sensible/ sensitive) soul could no longer stand the degradation of her lot.

I am a reasonably (imaginary/ imaginative) woman, and I shuddered as I contemplated that desperation that must have driven her to take her own life.