I Was not Alone

We didn’t talk about problems, or parents, or automobiles, or ambitions. We talked about life… And the sea was there, forty feet away and getting closer, and the sky over the sea, and the sun going down the sky. And it was cold, and it was the high point of my life.
I’d had high points before.
Once at night walking in the park in the rain in autumn.
Once out in the desert, under the stars, when I turned into the earth turning on its axis. Sometimes thinking, just thinking things through.
But always alone. By myself.
This time I was not alone.
I was on the high mountain with a friend.
There is nothing, there is nothing that beats that. If it never happens again in my life, still I can say I was there once.

Ursula LeGuin, Very Far Away from Anywhere Else

1. Fill each gap in these paragraphs with a suitable word from the options given below.

One rainy day Owen 1_________ Natalie Fields and his life changed.

She had been there, living two blocks up his street for a couple of years – his 2_________.

She had been his 3_________ at the high school, but Owen hadn't really noticed her before.

They started going 4_________.

Soon they 5_________ close friends.

Before meeting her, he had been 6_________.

As their bonds grew stronger, Owen 7_________in love with her.

She didn’t want 8_________, though.

1. knew               met

2. mate               neighbour

3. classmate     friend

4. ahead             out

5. became         made

6. alone              lonely

7. fell                   was

8. friendship      romance

2.  Adjective or adverb? Choose the right option.

1. Peer pressure can lead teens to act against what they ____ (true/truly) believe.
2. Teens can be so ____ (strong/strongly) influenced by their peers that they ignore their parents’ advice.
3. If a teenager looks ____ (different/differently) from the group, he may never be accepted.
4. ‘Groupthink’ can make you do ___ (dangerous/dangerously) things.
5. Even popular teenagers sometimes feel lonely and ____ (sad/sadly)