Mr. Thompson did not learn to drive a car until he was almost thirty, because he was a very nervous person who always had the convenience of someone else to drive him-first his mother and then his wife. But at last he decided to take lessons, and managed to pass his driving test on the second attempt, although he still wasn't very good at parking.

A week later he drove into town by himself and was trying to park between two other cars when he damaged one of them slightly.

When he wrote to the insurance company about the accident, they sent him a form to fill in describing it, and one of the questions on the form was, "How could the driver of the other car have prevented the accident from happening?"

Mr. Thompson thought for a minute and then wrote, "He could have parked his car on another street."

A       Answer these questions:

1. Why didn't Mr. Thompson learn to drive sooner?
2. When did he pass his driving test?
3. How did he have an accident?
4. Who did he write to then?
5. What did they do?
6. What was one of the questions Mr. Thompson had to answer?
7. How did he answer the question?

B       Which words in the story mean the opposite of:

1. calm
2. caused
3. fail
4. repaired
5. going forward
6. severely

C      Complete the second sentence in each group, and also the third, where there is one (all the sentences in each group have the same meaning):

Example: a. Mr. Thompson damaged another car.

               b. Another car was damaged by Mr. Thompson.

1. a. The insurance company sent Mr. Thompson a form to fill in.

   b. Mr. Thompson _________________________________.

   c. A form ________________________________.

2. a. Mr. Thompson's mother used to drive him around in her car.

    b. Mr. Thompson __________________________.

3. a. Two people had parked cars on the street where Mr. Thompson wanted to park.

    b. Cars _________________________.

4. a. The accident was caused by Mr. Thompson

    b. Mr. Thompson ___________________________________.

5. a. Mr. Thompson had been given a driving test by an official examiner.

   b. An official examiner _______________________________.

   C. A driving test _________________________________.