Page 16 - PBD Plus English T5 (EG)

English Form 5 Unit 2

Fans of the hit TV show “The Walking Dead” may be interested to know that their favourite flesh-
eating characters are based on some very real history — that of Haiti in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Zombies arose from the blending of old African religious beliefs and “the pain of slavery” that defined
Haiti before it gained independence from France at the turn of the 19th century. (5) D But the
modern concept of a zombie in Western cultures has diverted significantly from its Haitian roots.
Films portraying reanimated corpses that feast on human flesh first started popping up in the 1960s
with George A. Romero’s film “Night of the Living Dead.” In 1985, on-screen zombies added human
brains to their ghastly menu in the movie “Return of the Living Dead”.
Tales of werewolves appear in the nearly 2,000-year-old writings of the ancient Roman novelist
Petronius, and in Ovid’s narrative poem “The Metamorphoses.” But even “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” a
Babylonian tale that is nearly 4,000 years old, might mention a werewolf. In the epic poem, a goddess
turns a shepherd into a wolf (a similar thing happens in Ovid’s tale). But regardless of when, exactly,
werewolves were first written about, belief in these creatures remained strong throughout the
Middle Ages in Europe. (6) E
Are these monsters imaginary or real? It depends on your personal beliefs and judgment!

Adapted from: https://www.livescience.com/52648-mythical-halloween-monsters-origins.html

Six sentences have been removed from the text. Choose from the sentences (A to H) the one
which fits each gap (1 to 6). There are two extra sentences which you do not need to use.

A Many died in battle and their families E Known as lycanthropes by some, they were
could not afford to have their bodies people bitten by a wolf or werewolf or are
sent home for burial. cursed by someone with the transformations
occurring on the night of a full moon.

B They are unique in that they do not F It kills living creatures to absorb their qi, or “life
walk, stumble or stagger. force”, usually at night, while during the day, it
rests in a coffin.

C After the end of the witch trials, G Common beasties such as blood-sucking
the werewolf became of interest in vampires, throat-ripping werewolves, and
folklore studies and in the emerging dead-eyed zombies have existed in the human
Gothic horror genre. imagination for millennia.

D Slaves would consider committing H They were corpses, who went out of their
suicide to escape their miserable lives graves at night to suck the blood of the living,
despite the warning that they might either at their throats or stomachs, after which
become walking dead with no souls if they returned to their cemeteries.
they killed themselves.

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02 PBD Plus Eng F5.indd 8 22/12/2022 3:49 PM