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    Learn English > English lessons and exercises > English test #117553: A story of adolescence 1 (vocabulary)
    > Other English exercises on the same topics: Tales | Family | Find the word [Change theme]
    > Similar tests: - Vocabulary: Family life - My close family - Present simple and habits - Fairy tales and legends-Vocabulary - Dialogue : Having a shower - May, Might, Should... what they mean... - A/An-how to use - Kate, Kensington Palace and Queen Elizabeth II
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    A story of adolescence 1 (vocabulary)


    These two consecutive lessons and tests are going to tell us a psychological story. The heroin is a pre-adolescent (The story starts when she's ten, and finishes, in front of our eyes, when she's around 14.) 

     

     Adolescence: is quite a difficult period in young people's lives. Young men or women often experience frictions and problems, jealousies, quarrels, lack of communication, frustrations... These years are all the more painful and difficult as the child's conditions of life are complicated by the departure of one of the parents, or by "aggravating" circumstances. Then, the young person needs to establish a new relationship with the remaining parent (single mother/ single father) in order to be able to shape his or her personality for the future. Thus, the teenagers are trying not to suffer too much from a situation they haven't chosen, but must accept. 

                                                      

     

     The bumpy ride/ rough journey of adolescence    
     The choppy waters of adolescence 
     The sufferings/ to suffer from...
     The crucial stage of adolescence

     Everlasting adolescence

     To fill the void in my life

     

                                                               

     

     A troubled adolescence 
     The clumsiness of adolescence (to be clumsy) 
     The anxieties of adolescence
     The horrors af adolescence 
     The deep waters of adolescence 
     The dangers of adolescence 
     The sorrows of adolescence
     The loneliness of adolescence (to be lonely)
     The angst/ the angry feelings of adolescence  
     The solitude of adolescence
     The hormonal surge of adolescence
     The intensified feelings of adolescence
     The shadow of the valley of adolescence

    It is obvious that, in that period, all the teenagers' feelings and emotions are blown out of proportion. Every event is "magnified, amplified"happy moments and difficult ones (sorrows). The young people's reactions are not always in keeping with the reality of the events. 

     

                                                    

     

    Some circumstances of life make this difficult period of young people's lives even more complicated. They can be prostrate, like in a state of shock,  get isolated, lonely, feel misunderstood, and lose self-respect and self-confidence. The teenagers may feel "broken", misunderstood, abandoned, unwanted; they unconsciously crave for reversing the situation wanting to recreate the past, when the family was united.

     

     Having divorced/ separated parents 
     Having a step-father/ a step-mother 
     Being brought up by a single-parent 
     Drinking alcohol/ being tipsy/ being drunk    
     Taking drugs/ being addicted 

    * To check the situations and solve problems, social workers often visit the broken homes.  

     

    After the mum's departure, a "priviledged" relationship can be established between the father and his daughter. In the following story, the young girl is feeling abandoned by her mother, and needs to recreate a comfort zone with her father.  Nobody should, or could penetrate the comfortable nest. Should anyone try, the intruder should then be ready to feel the huge disappointments which are bound to happen. How far can the young person push this defensive reaction? 

                                                                    

     

    Life could be quite pleasant when you live alone with your father. A new balance can then be established, until...

    (This story was adapted from Best Mate, a short story by Andrea Lascelles.

    Good luck for the test!  

     

     



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    English exercise "A story of adolescence 1 (vocabulary)" created by here4u with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from here4u]
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    When my mother left us for another man, I was ten, and I didn’t really understand what was happening. I missed her a lot, but I pretended to feel no and be a big girl. I thought I wasn’t . My father found himself quite , and had to take care of me as a . He was suddenly swamped with work. He had both his job at the Brewery, and the to keep him more than busy. Yet, as father and daughter, we soon became partners in life. I was doing all I could to help him and keep the away… We would sit at night, , we would go shopping on Saturdays, cleaning the house when it was too messy. He would tease me and would call me ' His ! '

    One night, coming home after a ball, he looked very happy but a little ; a few weeks later, he announced we would have a guest. On that Saturday, Marilyn came into our home and I immediately resented her. She was terribly ' feminine ', wore flashy dresses, earrings and the highest and most ridiculous I had ever seen; most of all, my father doted on her. She was kind to me and acted like the ' kind ' she wanted to become. Dad announced we would have a dinner party to celebrate their six-month-anniversary, using Mum’s beautiful china which had never been used and was still in the
    (... to be continued)









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