The next three stories in the collection are all relatively short and are centred around various difficulties faced by youth. Before reading the stories, you can try a few listening tasks about topics related to the stories.
The first task is based on a segment from an American daytime TV show hosted by comedian Steve Harvey in which a member of the audience asks Harvey what a friend can to make the man who has a crush on her like her. This is related to "Araby" because the main character has a crush on a girl next door who he hopes to impress.
The segment is a bit longer than three minutes, which is quite a bit shorter than most of the listening clips on the highest level exam tends to be; however, the speaking style of the host might be a bit challenging for, especially if only listening to the audio. Since the audio clip is short and certain questions overlap one another, this will be good practice to look carefully at all questions and answers before the task begins and also to listen carefully to information that comes quickly without much time to think.
Listening Task: Getting a Crush to Like you Back
This second task is based on a YouTube interview with a woman who has moved to Norway recently in order to stay with her boyfriend who has moved back home. This is relevant to “Eveline” because the main character of the story is also planning on leaving her country in order to be with a man who lives in another country.
Listening Task: Moving to Norway
This task is a VICE video interview with a former worker in the gambling industry who exposes some of the unethical practices done by major companies. The task is challenging due to a voice scrambler that the speaker uses to make himself anonymous — his voice is much lower than it naturally would be, making it a bit difficult to understand what he is saying. The speaker uses the uncensored f-word once in the video at 0:25. This topic is related to “After the Race” as the main character is pressured into playing cards by his friends towards the end of the story.
Listening Task: What the Gambling Industry Doesn’t Want You To Know
After having done the listening tasks, you can read each of the stories below and complete an exam-style task to go along with it. Afterwards, there will be a multiple-text task about all three stories.
You could also work together with two friends and each read a different story and then try the multi-text task together.
“Araby” tells the story of a boy who has developed an obsession with the sister of a friend who lives next door. After much time spent watching her from afar, their first conversation involves her telling about a market that is happening soon called “Araby” which she will not be able to attend, with the boy promising to get her something if he is able to go.
"Eveline” depicts the thoughts of a young woman who is one day away from leaving Dublin forever together with a man she has recently met who has proposed to her and promised a better life together in Buenos Aries. She has been tasked with looking after her younger siblings after her mother passed away, but she has become tired of mundane life working at a shop as well her alcoholic father’s increasingly abusive behaviour. However, she is unsure of what to do up until the final moment before the ship leaves.
“After the Race” tells the story of an affluent young man whose formerly nationalistic and idealistic father has risen in economic class after opening a successful chain of butcher shops. The father hopes that his son will be able to rise in social class as well, which is why he is happy that his son has been spending time among the young elite of Europe despite spending money in wasteful ways. On this particular day, the son is spending time with a French investment partner he knew from university both during and after a car race. After a fancy dinner, the main character and the group he is spending time with continue their party on the yacht of an acquaintance, where the main character feels pressured into playing a game of cards.
Reading Task: "After the Race"
Now, try a multi-text reading task about all three stories:
Multi-Text Reading Tasks: "Araby," "Eveline," and "After the Race"
Here are some speaking tasks you can try about topics related to the three stories.
After doing the tasks, you can move on to the sixth story in the collection, "Two Gallants."