29451 a story with a moral 1b

A

Fill in the missing verbs in the text to find out a fascinating story about your
life. You should change the verbs into the simple past tense in order to make
sense.

begin - fall - agree - smile - pour - shake - be - ask - stand - lose

A philosophy professor 1) ………………... before his class and had some items in front of
him.
First he 2) ………………..…. filling a large glass jar with golf balls. The
students 3) ………..…...…. that the jar 4) …….…...……..… full. So the
professor 5) …………………... and picked up a box of small pebbles and
poured them into the jar. The pebbles, of course, 6) ……………..….. into
the small spaces. Then the professor
7) ………….…..….. a box
of sand into the jar, 8) ..….………..….…. it, and the sand completely filled the
jar.
Then he explained. “The jar represents your life,’ said the professor. ‘The balls are the
important things – your family, your religion, your health; if you
9) ……………………. everything else, your life would still be full.
The pebbles are the smaller things that matter – your job, your
house, your car. The sand represents the trivial things. If you
put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles
or the balls, just like life. Take care of the rocks first- the things
that really matter. The rest is just sand.’
One student 10) …………..…. what the beer represented. The professor smiled and
said:’ Look, what happens!’ then he opened the bottles and poured out into the jar. The
beer was easily absorbed. ‘Now it’s full’, he said.
‘You know what,’ the professor continued, ‘the moral of the story is simple.

B

No matter how full your life is, there is always room for a couple of
beers with a friend.’
B


Fill in the missing verbs in the text to find out a fascinating story about your life.

asked - lose - smiled - was - poured - began - stood - agreed - fell - shook

A philosophy professor 1) ………………... before his class and had some items in front of
him.
First he 2) ………………..…. filling a large glass jar with golf balls. The students 3)
………..…...…. that the jar 4) …….…...……..… full. So the professor 5) …………………...
and picked up a box of small pebbles and poured them into the jar. The pebbles, of
course,
6) ………………..….. into the small spaces. Then the professor
7) ……………….….. a box of sand into the jar, 8) ……………….…. it, and the
sand completely filled the jar.
Then he explained. “The jar represents your life,’ said the professor. ‘The
balls are the important things – your family, your religion, your health; if
you 9) ……………………. everything else, your life would still be full. The
pebbles are the smaller things that matter – your job, your house, your
car. The sand represents the trivial things. If you put the sand into the jar
first, there is no room for the pebbles or the balls, just like life. Take care of the rocks
first- the things that really matter. The rest is just sand.’
One student 10) …………..…. what the beer represented. The
professor smiled and said:’ Look, what happens!’ then he
opened the bottles and poured out into the jar. The beer was

easily absorbed. ‘Now it’s full’, he said.
‘You know what,’ the professor continued, ‘the moral of the
story is simple.
No matter how full your life is, there is always room for a couple of beers with a
friend.’

Key
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

was
smiled

stood
began
agreed


fell
7. poured
8. shook
9. lost
10. asked
6.