The Night the Lights Went Out
A story about an evening power cut in the city, when a family and their neighbors discover each other again.
Tap any word to hear it · dotted words have a definition in the glossary
🎧 Listen
1It happened on a evening in January. I was in the middle of my homework when, suddenly, everything went dark. The fridge stopped , the TV went silent, and outside the window the whole street disappeared into the night. “A power cut,” my father said. “Probably the storm.”
2At first, I was . My phone had only ten percent battery, and I had planned to watch a film online with my friends. My little sister Maya was scared and held my mother's hand. Dad found two candles and a flashlight in the kitchen , and we all sat together in the living room.
3Then Grandma, who lives with us, started to talk. She told us about her in a small village, where the electricity often stopped for hours. “We didn't mind,” she said. “We sang songs and told stories, and the nights felt longer and warmer.” I had never heard these stories before. Even Maya forgot to be afraid.
4Later, there was a knock on the door. It was our neighbour, Mr. Levi, with a pot of hot tea that he had made on his gas stove. Soon, three families were sitting on our floor, sharing tea, biscuits and jokes. I that I had lived in this building for six years and knew these people.
5Before bed, I went out to the balcony. Without the city lights, I could see more stars than ever before. Just after midnight, the lights came back on with a loud beep from the fridge. Strangely, I felt a little . The power had gone out, but for one evening, something else had been switched on.
📘 Glossary
- stormy - with strong wind and rain
- humming - making a low, steady sound
- annoyed - a little angry
- drawer - a box in a piece of furniture that slides in and out
- childhood - the time when you are a child
- realised - understood something suddenly
- barely - almost not at all
- disappointed - sad because something was not as good as you hoped
Questions
Finding details
1. Circle the correct answer. What probably caused the power cut?Finding details
2. Give TWO things in the home that stopped working when the power went out.Making inferences
3. Why was the writer annoyed at first?Finding details
4. Copy the words that show how Maya felt when the lights went out.Reference words
5. What does the word "She" in paragraph 3 ("She told us about her childhood") refer to?Making inferences
6. Why didn't Grandma mind when the electricity stopped in her village?Finding details
7. What did Mr. Levi bring?Making inferences
8. What did the writer realise about her neighbours?Word meaning
9. In paragraph 2, the word "annoyed" means…Making inferences
10. What does the writer mean by "something else had been switched on" in paragraph 5?
Answer every question to get a score (0/10)