He was the rock legend known as The King, she was a school -girl who
loved him tender and swooned at the mere mention of his name. Now, thirty -nine
years after she wrote to Elvis Presley promising to marry him when she grew up,
Karen Golz has learned that her idol did not have a wooden heart. In a message
from beyond the grave, his reply finally arrived.
It was as her 11th birthday approached in 1960 that Karen wrote to Elvis,
who was serving as an American GI 1 in Germany. In a letter posted to the house
where he was staying, she wrote: “Dear Elvis, It's my birthday soon and if you
send me your autograph I promise I will marry you when I grow up.”
Anxious not to disappoint
his young fan, he wrote a note back, scrawling her name and address in Germany,
on the envelope. Inside, the note said: “Dear Karen, May you have a very
happy 11th birthday –and a lot of Teddy Bears. Your friend, Elvis.” He gave
the stamped and addressed envelope to his landlady to post. But she mislaid
it and the letter lay undiscovered until the woman died. It was only when
her family was cleaning out the house that the memento was rediscovered.
Even though they realised its value to collectors, they donated the letter
to the local Elvis Presley society.
There, club members spent weeks tracking down Karen. After receiving
the letter Karen said: "My eyes filled with tears". Though she plans to hang on to
her letter, experts have valued it at around £3,500.
In your own words and based on the ideas in the text, answer the following questions. (?)
a) Why did Elvis´s letter take thirty-nine years to reach the
person to whom it was addressed?
Elvis´s letter took so long in reaching his fan because the letter was mislaid by the landlady who was asked to post it to the girl. It was not until the landlady´s relatives were cleaning the house many years later that they accidentally discovered the letter and donated it to the Elvis Presley society who finally gave the letter to Karen.
Ayuda: la respuesta la encontramos en el tercer párrafo,
que nos cuenta lo que ocurrió hasta que la carta que Elvis escribió a Karen
llegó a sus manos: su casera la extravió y cuando murió años más tarde,
sus familiares la encontraron al limpiar la casa. Más tarde, la Elvis
Presley society, a quien donaron la carta, localizó a Karen y se la
entregó.
Vocabulario: so long: tanto tiempo; until:
hasta; relatives: parientes.
b) How did Karen react when she got Elvis´s letter?
Karen cried when she received the letter and her plans are to keep it rather than to sell it because she was moved to learn that her idol had written back to her.
Ayuda: el último párrafo nos describe la reacción de Karen cuando recibió la carta: sus ojos se llenaron de lágrimas. También puntualiza que aunque la carta es muy valiosa ella piensa guardarla.
Vocabulario: keep: conservar; rather than: antes que/ en lugar de; sell: vender; moved: emocionada.