Reading Unit 1
Coming of age 1 Read the text. Match topics 1–4 to
paragraphs A–D.
1 tests of young people’s physical abilities ___
2 special events ___
3 legal rights at different ages ___
4 a definition of coming of age ___
2 Match the definitions to the underlined words in
the text.
1 cows that are farm animals ___________
2 sometimes ___________
3 choose a candidate in an election ___________
4 a traditional community with the same customs
___________
A
5 people in your family ___________
Coming of age is the transition from child to adult.
3 Are the sentences true or false?
Many cultures celebrate this moment in different
1 English teenagers can get married at 16 if their
ways.
parents allow them to. ___
B 2 In England, your 21st birthday is more important
than your 16th birthday. ___
In England, you can get married at 16 with your 3 Hamar boys have to demonstrate their skills
parents’ permission and you can vote when you before they can become adults. ___
are 18. However, people usually celebrate coming 4 Young Xavante men must sleep for 15 days in
of age on their 21st birthday. water to become men. ___
5 The quinceañera is common all over South
C America. ___
6 Not all people have a sweet-sixteen party in
In other cultures, becoming an adult depends on North America. ___
experience, not age. In Ethiopia, before Hamar boys
become men, they must run four times over the 4 Answer the questions.
backs of their cattle. The young men of the Xavante 1 What is ‘coming of age’?
tribe in Brazil have to spend 15 days in the river _______________________________________
before they can become an adult. They can only _______________________________________
leave the water occasionally to sleep. 2 What age are you allowed to vote in England?
_______________________________________
D _______________________________________
3 When do sweet-sixteen parties take place in
In some parts of South America, girls become the USA?
adults on their fifteenth birthday. Their relatives _______________________________________
organize a big party called a quinceañera. Sweet- _______________________________________
sixteen 16 parties, on boys’ and girls’ 16th birthdays,
are a tradition in the USA and Canada. Some
families celebrate with huge parties, although others
treat it as a normal birthday.
When do people come of age in your country?
