Answer Key: The Magician David Berglas

Lesson Plan:  The Mysterious Magician David Berglas

II. While Reading Activities

Word Inference

  1. magician |məˈjiSHən| noun • a person who performs magic tricks for entertainment.
  2. grail |ɡrāl| noun a thing that is being earnestly pursued or sought after: profit has become the holy grail.
  3. Decades  |ˈdekād| noun 1 a period of ten years: he taught at the university for nearly a decade.
  4. iteration |ˌidəˈrāSH(ə)n| noun the repetition of a process or utterance.
  5. repertoire |ˈrepə(r)ˌtwär| noun • a stock of skills or types of behavior that a person habitually uses: his repertoire of threats, stares, and denigratory gestures.
  6. spectator |ˈspekˌtādər| noun a person who watches at a show, game, or other event.
  7. imperceptible |ˌimpərˈseptəb(ə)l| adjective impossible to perceive: his head moved in an almost imperceptible nod.
  8. skeptic |ˈskeptik| (British sceptic) noun 1 a person inclined to question or doubt all accepted opinions.
  9. stooge |sto͞oj| noun 1 derogatory a person who serves merely to support or assist others, particularly in doing unpleasant work: you fell for that helpless-female act and let her make you a stooge.
  10. ally noun |ˈalī| (plural allies)  a person or organization that cooperates with or helps another in a particular activity: he was forced to dismiss his closest political ally.

Source: New Oxford American Dictionary

  

 Grammar Focus: Structure and Usage

I – 1 – the

In the late 1940s, the British magician David Berglas started refining a trick.

II – 2 – are

There are hundreds of ACAAN variations.

III – 2 – talk

I contacted Mr. Berglas to ask if he would talk about his famous trick.

Reading Comprehension Fill-ins

I left his house in a muddle, and I have returned to that muddle every time I think of this performance. Off by one seems, on some level, more perplexing than nailing it. Off by one implies that there is nothing automatic about this ACAAN, that it isn’t a contraption that simply works when deployed. It’s more like archery, which requires practice and concentration and can end with something other than a bull’s-eye.