THE ELEPHANT MAN (Level 2)

This is a true and tragic story. He is not beautiful. His mother does not want him, children ran away from him. People laugh at him, and call him ‘The Elephant Man.’
Then someone speaks to him – and listens to him! At the age of 27, Joseph Merrick finds a friend for the first time in his life.

THE ELEPHANT MAN

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Vocabulary:

1. Bath: when you want to wash your body, you sit in a bath full of water
2. Below: under
3. Beside: next to
4. Bible: the most important book for Christians
5. Box: (in a theatre) a small ‘room’; you can watch the stage from a box, but other people can’t see you
6. Cab: an old word for ‘taxi’
7. Card: a piece of paper with your name and address on it (visiting card); or a card with a picture and a greeting on it (e.g. a Christmas card)
8. Chairman: an important man in the hospital
9. Cloth: trousers, coats, dresses, etc. are made from cloth
10. (the) country: not the town
11. Creature: a living animal
12. Drop: to let something fall
13. Editor: the most important person in a newspaper office
14. Elephant: a very big grey animal with a long nose and big ears
15. Enormous: very big
16. Yours Faithfully: you write “Yours Faithfully” at the end of a formal letter
17. Fingers: you have five fingers on each hand
18. Fish: fish live in rivers and in the sea
19. Food: what you eat
20. Gentleman: a man from an important family
21. Glass: you drink tea from a cup, you drink water from a glass
22. Heavy: it is difficult to carry heavy things; 1,000 kilos is very heavy
23. By himself: nobody was with him
24. Hip: the place where your leg joins your body
25. Hole: an empty space or opening in something
26. Horrible: not nice; people are often afraid of ‘horrible’ things
27. Kind: nice, good; a kind person often helps people
28. Knee: the middle of your leg where it bends
29. Lady: a woman from an important family
30. Life: your life stops when you die
31. Lighthouse: a tall building by or in the sea, with a strong light; the lights tells ships that there are dangerous rocks
32. Like (preposition): not different; e.g. a river is like the sea, because it is made of water
33. Loudly: with a lot of noise
34. (His/Her/Your) Majesty: when you speak to a king or a queen, you say ‘Your Majesty’
35. Marry: to take somebody as your husband or wife
36. Mirror: a piece of special glass; you can see your face in a mirror
37. Neck: your neck is between your head and your body
38. Newspaper: you read a newspaper to know what is happening in the world
39. Nose: your nose is between your eyes and your mouth
40. Place: where something or someone is (a room, a house, a town, etc.)
41. Play: (n) you go to the theatre to see a play
42. Police: the police help people; they also put bad people in prison
43. Present: something that you give or get from somebody (e.g. a birthday present)
44. Prison: a building for bad people; they must stay there and cannot leave
45. Queen: the most important woman in Britain
46. Sad: not happy
47. Scream: to make a loud high cry because you are afraid or angry
48. Shake hands (past tense shook) to hold somebody’s hand and move it up and down as a greeting
49. Shopkeeper: a person who has a small shop
50. Side: the part of something that is not the top, bottom, front or back
51. Skin: you have skin all over your body; people have different skin colours
52. Smell (past tense smelt) you see with your eyes; you smell with your nose
53. Step: a place to put your foot when you go up or down
54. Stick: a long piece of wood; Merrick walks with a stick
55. Strange: different
56. Stream: a small river
57. Tears: water from your eyes when you cry
58. Theatre: a building where you go to see plays
59. Touch: to feel something with your hands
60. Ugly: not beautiful
61. Voice: you talk with your voice