E - Klasse 6 - Arbeit Nr. 10 - GreenButterSolutions

The autograph collector

In the dark of the parking garage of his Los Angeles apartment complex, Michael Wehrmann, 35, *digs through the trunk of his rented, anonymously respectable black Mercury Grand Marquis. A pretty young woman approaches.
"Every time I see you, you're looking in your trunk", she says, *unabashedly flirting. "What's in there?"
He *glances at her, *blushes and looks back in the trunk, at the professional equipment of an *in-person  autograph collector -- 3,000 unsigned photographs (filed by name: "Robert De Niro, Yvette Mimieux, Julia Roberts"), four electric guitars (you never know where Sting will *pop up) and assorted sports equipment (for those days when he runs into Arnold Palmer or Muhammad Ali).
"Just a few bodies," Wehrmann *deadpans, still looking in the trunk, then turns to make eye contact again, but by now the woman is almost at her car, both hands on her purse. Wehrmann is based in New York, but he spends winters in Los Angeles, where he is a leading figure in the core group of 25 or so in-person autograph collectors, almost all of them white men under 35, who make their living this way. The group is *bound by a sense of camaraderie (they all have nicknames: Fluffy, Crackhead) that is shot through with *contempt.
"I think if it were such a great thing to do, you'd have a better class of people doing it", one collector *gripes.
The job can be lucrative: a signed photo of Julia Roberts fetches 150.
Vocabulary:
to dig - to excavate, to shovel, to mine, to look deeply for something
unabashedly - openly, without any shame, explicitly
to glance - to look at, to glimpse, to glitter
to blush - to clear, to empty
in-person autograph collector - person who actually collects autographs
to pop up - to appear suddenly
to deadpan - to say something in a very critical or satirical way
bound - obliged, tight, constrained
contempt - disdain, shame, loathing
to gripe - to complain, to moan

1.1. What is Michael doing every time the young woman sees him?

 

1.2. How often does Michael go to Los Angeles?

 

1.3. Are professional collectors happy with their lives?

 

2.1. Last night we were in Vietnamese restaurant. food they served there was excellent.

 

2.2. time is healer.

 

2.3. That is problem I told you about.

2.4. most politicians are stupid.

 

2.5. He loves milk, so he ordered glass of milk.

2.6. She lives in Netherlands whereas he comes from Azores.

 

2.7. She usually eats bread with butter in morning.

2.8. light tavels faster than sound.

2.9. people are worried because inflation is rising.

2.10. Do you use article before names of countries?

3.1. Jill (live) in Sleaford for the past 30 years.

3.2. Astronauts (travel) to the Moon, but they (not / travel) to Mars yet.

3.3. - (you / be) to Canada in the last year?

- Yes, I (be) there last week.

3.4. He (play) the piano ever since he (be) a teenager.

3.5. She (write / already) three novels, and she (work) on another one.

3.6. He (work) for this company since he (graduate).

3.7. They (always / shop) on Friday night.

3.8. A few days ago we (visit) his aunt.

3.9. Tim is not in his office. He (go) on holiday.

3.10 The population of India (increase / enormously) since the end of the last century.