Senior citizens are permitted to travel cheaply on a bus if they have a special card. Women may get the card when they are sixty.

Mrs. Matthews lived in the country but she went into town once a week to buy food and other things for the house, and she usually went by bus. She always had to pay the full price for her ride.

Then she reached the age of sixty and got her senior citizen's card, but when she used it for the first time on the bus, it made her feel very old.

The bus driver had often seen her traveling on the bus before, and he noticed that she was feeling unhappy, so after she had paid her money, he winked at her and whispered, "Don't forget to give your mother's card back to her when you see her again." Mrs. Matthews was very happy when she heard this.

A         Answer these questions:

1. What are senior citizens allowed to do?
2. Where did Mrs. Matthews go once a week?
3. How did she travel?
4. How much did she have to pay for the bus ride before she was sixty?
5. What happened when Mrs. Matthews got her special card?
6. What did the bus driver say to her?
7. Why did he say this?
8. How did Mrs. Matthews feel about this?

B         Which words in the story mean the same as:

1. allowed

1. closed one eye
2. arrived at
3. sad
4. at a reduced price
5. talked softly

C      Write the sentence for each picture, choosing the correct word under each blank space.

1. This woman isn't old enough to travel cheaply on the bus, but she has a card. She (must) (should) ________ have borrowed her mother's card.
2. She (must) (should) _________ have paid the full amount: it wasn't honest not to.
3. She (must) (should) __________ be about fifty years old.
4. She (must) (should) ___________ be ashamed of herself.
5. There seemed to be a lot of other people (traveled) (traveling) ________ on the bus that day too.
6. The bus hit a brick wall, but no one was (hurt) (hurting) __________.
7. Luckily, nobody had been (standing) (stood) __________ up at the time of the accident.