•Understand the structure and the general idea of the story

•Think about how to interpret the story

•Know something about the author

•Solve your own questions about the story

•Match the words with their correct meanings in the text.

1. assure

2. encounter

3. spout

4. occasion

5. potential

a. the possibility that sth. will have a positive effect

b. to become soft through heating

c. to send out with great force; gush

d. to tell sb. that sth. is sure to happen

e. strong feeling of dislike

f. a special or particular time

g. to meet sb. or experience sth.

•What happened to the author’s old jeep in Brazil? How did the villagers help repair it?

•What did the author learn about the center of the world (the rock)? How did he feel toward it?

•What are the two learning moments of the author? What did he learn?

•What’s the use of the green banana in the text? What does it symbolize?

•When the author says we should leave our own centers of the world, does he mean we should travel to other countries more often?