Practice One Are You a Litter Lout?
Words You Need to Know
litter lout core
volunteer package recycle
Exercise 1:Directions:Listen to the passage and decide which sentences have been mentioned.
If the sentence is mentioned, write "Y" (Yes). If not, write "N" (No).
Have you ever left an apple core on a bench or wall, or an empty drink bottle sitting by a lamp-post?
And have you ever left your newspaper behind on a train seat when you've finished reading it?
If you answered "Yes" to just one of these questions, then you are a litter lout, according to the Tidy Britain Group.
Litter is a big problem in Britain. This organization is trying to deal with about 6 million tons of litter left on the streets each year.
The aim is "Getting away from litter". Last year 1.6 million volunteers got involved in thousands of events-cleaning up rivers, streets and other areas.
In one place 150 people collected 20 tons of litter in only one morning!
Packaging makes up 60 per cent of litter dropped, and one way of dealing with this is to recycle it.
Bottle banks and litter centers are appearing all over the country, but Tidy Britain says that more are needed and that not enough people use them.
By the way, it appears that more men than women are litter louts.
In 1990, over 2000 men were punished for dropping litter against around 200 women! (203 words)
1)If you answered "Yes" to just one of these questions then you are a litter lout.
2)The country is not going to think about the problem of litter.
3)Six million volunteers got involved in thousands of events-cleaning up rivers, streets and other areas.
4)If you want to recycle the litter, you'll have to have a large bank.
5)Bottle banks and litter centers are appearing all over the country.
6)More louts are needed and not enough people belong to that kind of louts.
7)In comparison, over 2000 men were punished for dropping litter against around 200 women.
Exercise 2:Directions:Listen to the passage again and decide which of the following are mentioned as litter.
Put a tick ( )beside it.
Exercise 3:Directions:Listen to the passage for the third time and answer the following questions briefly.
1)What are you called if you have left litter around?
2)What is the organization of "The Tidy Britain Group" trying to do?
3)How many volunteers joined in the events?
4)What did the volunteers do in the event?
Practice Two Does Anyone Care?
Words You Need to Know
psychology incident metro
Exercise 1:Directions:Listen to the passage and decide which choice is the best answer to each of the questions.
In 1985 a French television company sent its reporters to the Paris Metro.
They took cameras to see what passengers would do if they saw someone attacked on the platform or trains.
The incidents looked real but they were all done with the help of actors.
However, very few people tried to help,and most passengers pretended not to notice.
In one incident, a foreigner was attacked by three men.
The attack was on a train which was quite full, and although one man tried to get the other passengers to help,
they all refused. This is not only a French problem.
A British newspaper reported in 1991 that a professor of Social Psychology in New York had sent his students out to rob their own cars.
The students didn't try to hide what they were doing.
About 800 people watched 250 car thefts, and only twelve people tried to stop the student robbers
In a typical incident, one man stopped, looked, and then put his hands over his eyes and shouted "I didn't see that!"
About forty people offered to help the thieves, and two people actually sat down next to the car and waited to buy a camera and television set a student was taking from the back seat of his own car.
The professor wonders whether it's a problem of big cities, or would the same thing happen anywhere. (234 words)
1)Who carried out the experiment on the platform and trains?
2)How could the incidents be described?
3)Why didn't passengers help those being attacked?
4)What did 40 people do when the cars were robbed?
5)What is the conclusion we can get from the passage?
Exercise 2:Directions:Listen to the passage again. Fill in the numbers to show whether the following expressions are mentioned in the first experiment ( )or the second experiment ( ).
Practice Three Changes in the World
Words You Need to Know
terrorist hostage hijack violate starve
Exercise 1:Directions:Listen to the passage and decide whether the following statements are true (T)or false (F).
Many people say the world is becoming a more dangerous place.
In almost every area of the world, something bad is happening.
Many countries are having political problems. Some are fighting wars with their neighbors.
In others, people are making trouble against their own government and fighting wars.
Terrorists are taking hostages and hijacking planes to make demands on their government or on the government of another country.
Some countries are violating the human rights of some of their citizens.
People in those countries as well as in other countries are against the government.
Besides political problems, there are also economic problems.
In some countries, there is not enough food, and people are starving.
In others, such as the US, unskilled workers are losing their jobs as technology keeps increasing.
There are also many social problems. In the US, for example, more and more people are getting divorced,
and children are growing up in single-parent families.
Many young women are having babies without getting married.
More and more young people are using drugs. (172 words)
1)Some countries are fighting against their neighbors.
2)There are no wars in any countries so far.
3)Some terrorists are threatening the governments.
4)In advanced countries, technology is taking away some people's jobs.
5)The US divorce problem causes many children to live in single-parent families.
6)Some people take drugs because they are having more babies.
Exercise 2:Directions:Listen to the passage again and answer the following questions briefly.
1)How many general kinds of problems are mentioned in the passage?
2)In some countries, what are people doing to their own government?
3)Under economic problems, how many phenomena have been mentioned?
4)In social problems, who have more troubles, middle-aged people or young people?
Exercise 3:Directions:Listen to the passage for the third time and write down the summary of the passage.
Lesson Two Theft
Pracitice One Types and Characteristics of Shoplifters Words You Need to Know
shoplifter kleptomaniac impulse
disturb cosmetics journalist
Exercise 1:Directions:Listen to the interview and answer the following questions briefly.
I:Is there such a thing as a typical shoplifter?
D:Uh, not really... But there are certain types most shoplifters fall into
Three types, I would say.
I:Tell me more about these three types.
D:Well... uh... people in the first type are what I call "the sudden impulse type".
Doctors and psychologists call such people kleptomaniacs.
They see something and just can't... uh... help stealing it.
The strange thing about this first type is that the people in it are often well off and could easily afford to buy the thing.
Sometimes they don't even need it... and often they're emotionally disturbed in some way... middle-aged women,
for example, whose husbands have left them, or perhaps older men whose wives have recently died.
I:What about the second type?
D:Well, those are people who are really... uh... "little thieves".
They work alone, and know exactly what they want before they go into the store.
These days a lot of them, but by no means all, are teenagers who steal things they can't afford.
Leather jackets. Watches. Expensive cosmetics. Things like that.
I:And the third type? What kind of people do you find in the third type?
D:Ah, yes, they're what I call "the experts".
I:Why?
D:Well, first of all, because they're highly organized.
And secondly because they do it for a living.
They usually operate in groups of three or sometimes four, and they're extremely difficult to catch.
I:Can they make a lot of money that way?
D:Oh, yes. Yes, they're very well off, believe me... much better off than a store detective... or even a journalist! (274 words)
1)How many types of shoplifters are mentioned in the conversation?
2)Among the three types of shoplifters, who can be found out least easily?
3)Among the three types of the shoplifters, who are most probably the youngest?
Exercise 2:Directions:Listen closely to the interview again and fill in the diagram below with the information from it.
Practice Two An Unlucky Robber
Words You Need to Know
cashier slide crawl
get to one's feet Milan
Exercise 1:Directions:Listen to the passage and put a tick ( )to the sentences that have been mentioned in the passage.
In September 1979, Carlo Colodi parked his car outside a bank in Milan, Italy,
and then rushed inside with a big handkerchief hiding his face and a gun in his hand.
Hitting his foot on the corner of the carpet, he sild across the smooth floor.
His handkerchief dropped off, showing his face, and as he fell, he by chance fired his gun, which hit no one.
Getting to his feet in a hurry, he ran to the cashier's desk,
started to fall again, and seized a counter to keep his balance.
At that time he dropped his gun, and the whole bank rocked with laughter.
Annoyed, the man turned, ran, slipped again, and finally crawled out of the bank.
Outside he found a police officer writing out a ticket for his car, which was parked in a noparking area. (140 words)
1)Carlo Colodi rushed inside with a handkerchief hiding his fact.
2)He jumped into the car and drove away.
3)He took up the money and fell.
4)The robber by chance fired his gun.
5)He rocked the whole bank.
6)He crawled out of the bank.
Exercise 2:Directions:Listen to the passage again and put serial numbers in brackets, according to the order of the content in the recording.
Practice Three The Magnificent Powder
Words You Need to Know
powder paralyze boast figure
Ibadan Nigeria Tommy Lucas
Exercise 1:Listen to the passage and decide which choice is the best answer to each of the questions
My father old me this story. It happened at a place called Ibadan, in Nigeria.
Nowadays Ibadan is a big, important city, but at that time it was still quite small.
The few Europeans working there lived in houses built close together in a suburb of the town.
In the evening the Europeans used to meet for a talk or a game of tennis at the club.
It so happened that during the three or four months before a number of robberies had taken place,
All the people robbed were white and in each case they told a similar tale.
They had woken during the night and seen silent, dark figures moving about, but they were unable to move or give the alarm.
In the morning when they awoke, they found that valuable things had disappeared.
All kinds of suggestions were put forward, and the most popular theory was that the thieves were using some form of African drug,
which had the effect of paralyzing the people for some time, so that they were aware of things happening,
but unable to move or speak. It was thought that this drug was blown into the bedroom through a tube in the form of a fine powder which the sleeper breathed in.
A young man called Tommy Lucas listened carefully to the conversation.
He had only recently arrived from England, while my father and some of the older members had been living in Africa for 20 years or more.
"I'd like to see any African drug paralyze me with magnificent power," boasted Tommy Lucas.
"I always sleep with a loaded gun on my bedside table and I wouldn't hesitate to use it, I can tell you."
There was a moment of silence. Everyone looked at him.
"You haven't been in Africa very long, have you, Tommy?" asked one of the older members, quietly.
On Saturday evening there was a party at the club and everyone went home rather late.
So my father was surprised to be woken about 8 o'clock on Sunday morning by a gentle knock at his bedroom door.
Ade, his African servant, stood there with an amused smile on his face.
He asked my father to follow him out into the morning sunshine. There, in the middle of the road,
was Tommy Lucas, fast asleep in his bed. Beside him, on his bedside table, lay his gun. (402 words)
1)What do we know about the city of Ibadan when the story happened?
2)What happened in the story?
3)What was true about the incidents?
4)What do you know about the young man Tommy Lucas?
5)Who proved that Tommy Lucas was wrong?
Exercise 2:Directions:Listen to the passage again and decide whether the following statements are true (T)or false (F).
1)The Africans liked to tell a similar tale.
2)The Africans disliked the Europeans.
3)The speaker's father had lived in Africa for at least 20 years.
4)On that Sunday morning the weather was fine.
5)Tommy Lucas was carried out of his bedroom.
6)Ade turned out to be the thief