Post on 24-Mar-2022
CONTENT Job Descriptions 2
Future of Historic Air Base 4
A Siberian Winter 9
Snake Bites Boy 15
New Fact Checking Website Arrives 19
Couple Sue TV Station 25
Mother Fined For Son's Absences 28
Prisoner Shot 32
SunPro After-Sun Treatment 36
Missing Refugee Boat 38
Aviation Near Miss 41
Couple Win Lottery 45
Who You Gonna Call? 48
University Offers Computer Game Course 53
King Holiday Considered 'Mixed Blessing' By Some Historians 56
Island Tribes Cope With Loss of Habitat After Tsunami 62
Prisoner 7042 67
Headline 72
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
JOB DESCRIPTIONS Read what the people with different jobs say and
match what they say to the name of their job. Write
the correct letter (A-K) in each box.
•Police Officer
•Waiter
•Teacher
•Nurse
•Sports Player
•Dentist
•Gardener
•Musician
•Pilot
•Author
•Architect
1. Some people treat you so badly and think that's
OK as long as they give you a few dollars. ____
2. Many people are suspicious of us but I believe
2
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
those people are the ones with something to
hide. ____
3. It's true that I have had to put my hands into
and look into some nasty places, but the
money's great and everybody wants to know
one of us! ____
4. It's not all fancy performances and globetrotting
I can tell you! Without hard work, dedication
and lots and lots of practice, you won't
succeed. ____
5. We have become a lot more aware in recent
years about health dangers that exist while
working here and now we are even more
careful. After all, I want to remain on this side
of the curtain! ____
6. It's great seeing paper plans come to real stone
and brick reality. ____
7. Yeah, we get paid a lot but there's always the
risk of injury and our careers are pretty
short. ____
8. The first and last five minutes are the most
stressful and that goes for the members of the
3
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
public as well. ____
9. Some days, I get blocked really badly and can't
string more than two words together. ____
10.In this institution, a lot of it is control. When
you cons i de r t he i r home l i f e , t ha t ' s
understandable! ____
11.I consider myself an artist, I really do! What I
create lasts a long time and can even change
throughout the year. ____
FUTURE OF HISTORIC AIR BASE Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
questions are multiple choice.
RAF Upper Heyford - once the heart of allied
defence against nuclear attack by the USSR -
could become a Cold War 'museum'.
Historians want parts of the base to be
preserved as a heritage centre that could show
4
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
future generations the struggle with Soviet
communism 'in a way no document can'.
Details of the latest recommendations for Heyford -
now being called Heyford Park - have been put
forward by English Heritage which has called for
measures to prevent demolition of the 'irreplaceable'
military remains.
Current thinking comes from a detailed
assessment of Cold War infrastructure across
England by English Heritage experts. Keith Watson,
the chief executive of the North Oxfordshire
Consortium who are to develop part of the site for
housing, said they were in full agreement with
English Heritage's proposals.
He said: "We are quite content with what
English Heritage is proposing. It has always been
part of our scheme to retain these structures in any
event. "We are working with English Heritage to
agree a consistent plan for the buildings."
David Went, English Heritage inspector of ancient
monuments, said many Upper Heyford features
exemplify historical aspects of national importance
5
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
about the Cold War.
"The sheer scale and bare functionality of the
structures on the base can illustrate for present and
future generations, in a way no document can, the
reality of the struggle with Soviet Communism," he
said.
"In our view much of this character would be
lost by future ill-thought-out change and there
stands an opportunity to ensure this does not
happen.
"We recognize that preservation of the whole
base exactly as it stands today may not be a realistic
option but a sustainable future could be found which
balances the need for preservation against other
needs."
Mr Went said the English Heritage view was that the
future appearance of the base should include the
most significant monuments and should:
•keep the open character of the runway area
wi thout p lant ing schemes p lanned by
developers
•keep a section of the main runway and the
6
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
remainder as a grassed avenue
•provide all-weather access to the monuments,
preferably by keeping existing base taxiways
and perimeter tracks, for visitors or other
practical use
•preserve the present landscape balance around
the bomb bunkers and quick reaction area.
The English Heritage study, submmitted to the
Planning Inspectorate in advance of the public
inquiry into planning wrangles over the base which
started at Bodicote House yesterday, has revealed
that much of the Heyford landscape prior to
becoming an airbase was open common or heathland
- a feature Cherwell District Council planners would
like re-established as a local country park.
The council aims to defend the accepted
1,000-home plan which the North Oxfordshire
Consortium of developers wishes to extend to over
5,000 homes.
1. Why does English Heritage want to preserve
the air base?
7
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
A.They believe it is still of military importance.
B.They think it can show young people something
about history.
C.There hasn't been proper planning by developers.
2. What do the North Oxfordshire Consortium
think?
A.They want to build more houses than originally
planned.
B.They say there is some possibility of keeping the
base's original buildings.
C.They want to call the base "Heyford Park”.
3. Which of these proposal does English
Heritage oppose?
A.Planting trees where the runway is currently.
B.Making it easy for people to see the important
military buildings.
C.Not destroying all of the runway.
8
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
4. Which would be the best sub-title to the
article?
A.Fight Against Communism Not Over Yet.
B.Historians and Developers Clash Bitterly.
C.Fight To Preserve Historical ‘Document'.
A SIBERIAN WINTER Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
questions are multiple choice.
It was only minus 28 degrees Celsius when we
landed in Irkutsk. But that was cold enough to
make breathing an effort - the air felt like ice as it
scraped the back of my throat. Five minutes later, I
needed a second pair of gloves and pulled my scarf
tight over my nose and mouth. I was obviously a
beginner at this.
At the petrol station, Mikhail the attendant
laughed when we asked if he wasn't freezing. He'd
9
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
spent the whole day outside with no more than his
fur hat and a sheepskin coat for warmth. It was mid-
afternoon and icicles were hanging from his
moustache like Dracula's fangs. He said he never
drank to stay warm - unlike many others.
Vodka
There's a belief in Siberia that enough vodka
will insulate you from the cold. It's been proved
tragically wrong in the past few weeks. Dozens of
bodies of the homeless or men walking drunkenly
back from the pub were hauled out of the snowdrifts,
frozen or so badly frost-bitten that many will never
walk again.
The local hospital in Irkutsk is overwhelmed.
Ironically, it's the burns unit that's taken all the
frostbite victims - 200 of them in just two weeks in
one town. Even here, icicles are hanging down on
the inside of the windows, though the heating is on
full power. The doctor was too busy performing
amputations to talk to us.
Shortages
But we could hear the screams from the
10
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
operating room. They'd run out of anaesthetic after
performing 60 amputations that week. The other
patients could hear it too, and one girl in the
corridor, clinging to her mother for support, was near
to tears.
Nastya is only 16. Last week she missed her
last bus home, so she walked instead - seven
kilometres through the snow, in temperatures of
minus 40. She had no gloves. Now her hands are
bandaged and hang down uselessly. She'll find out
soon if they need to be amputated.
She was far from the worst case. In one bed,
Nikolai Dobtsov lay quietly staring at the ceiling.
Underneath the sheets, blood was seeping through
his bandages, from where his feet and hands had
been amputated the day before. He was a truck
driver, he explained, with a good job delivering wood
- and recently there'd been a lot of demand. So he'd
set out to deliver a last load upcountry. The weather
forecast - just minus 25 in Irkutsk - seemed to
suggest that the journey was safe. It wasn't. His
truck broke down miles from anywhere, and for 6
11
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
desperate hours he fought to repair the axle. He
even greased his hands for protection, and finally
managed to get the truck going again. Somehow he
found the strength to drive himself back and straight
to hospital, but it was already too late.
I asked Nikolai what would happen to him now.
He just laughed, and shrugged. Nikolai has no wife
or family in Irkutsk - and invalidity benefit is a
pittance. Life in an institution may be the best he can
hope for, and he'll almost certainly never work again.
Resilience
That incredible stoicism is everywhere. In
Irkutsk at least, people seem simply to accept that
winter is harsh - and this one especially so. It is
without doubt the cruellest Siberian winter in living
memory. Yet outdoors, everything appears to
function normally - even schools re-opened as the
temperature rose briefly to minus 25.
The trams and buses are back on the roads,
though everyone drives slowly to avoid skidding on
the layers of ice below the grit. The main street
bustles with people wrapped in layers against the
12
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
cold. But even indoors, the chill is inescapable. After
her shift as a tram conductor, Natasha Fillipova
comes home to a freezing house. She shows us the
bedroom - where ice has built up on the inside walls.
She scrapes it off with her fingers, but that has little
effect. One night, Natasha says, she washed her hair
before going to bed. When she woke up, it was
frozen solid to the wall. The children are doing their
homework in the bathroom - the only room warm
enough to sit in. Natasha doesn't want to complain.
But she is angry with the state and the architects for
building shoddy houses.
The flats here are supposed to withstand up to
minus 40 degrees. They don't, and her children are
ill with coughs and colds. Natasha's anger is brief,
and she seems faintly embarrassed about it.
Siberians are used to cold weather, she explains.
Here, she tells us, people prefer to rely on
themselves - and the knowledge that eventually,
spring will come.
1. What do we learn in the opening paragraph?
13
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
A.The author arrived by bus.
B.The author wasn't accustomed to such cold.The
author wished he had had another pair of gloves.
C.The author ate some ice when he arrived.
2. What is the local theory about vodka?
A.If you drink too much, you may never walk again.
B.If you don't drink it, you may lose your legs.
C.If you drink it, you may suffer less from the cold.
D.You shouldn't drink it if you are old.
3. Which sentence is true about the hospital?
A.It is too warm inside.
B.They don't have enough supplies and equipment.
C.The staff didn't want to talk to the journalist.
D.Most frost-bite victims need to have operations.
4. What happened to Nikolai?
A.He almost lost his hands.
B.He ignored the weather forecast.
C.He had a problem with his engine.
D.He had had to help himself.
14
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
5. Houses in Irkutsk…
A.don't have separate bathrooms.
B.were built by private companies for profit.
C.are too cold if the temperature is less than -40ºC.
D.cause health problems for their residents.
SNAKE BITES BOY Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
questions are multiple choice.
Three-year-old Teddy Lasry was napping
yesterday in his cowboy outfit yesterday at his
family's Fifth Ave. apartment when he shot up in bed
screaming. A 3-foot-long black-and-white snake was
coiled around his left arm and had just bitten his
pinky.
"The baby-sitter freaked out," said Teddy's
father, David Lasry, who, along with his wife, Evelyn,
15
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
was at work when the reptile showed up about 4
p.m.
The horrified nanny called 911 and the
building's doorman. The doorman and two cable TV
workers helped pry the snake off the boy's arm and
stow it in a garbage bag, Lasry said.
Police rushed Teddy to Mount Sinai Medical
Center, where his parents said he spent two hours
attached to a heart monitor as a precaution in case
the snake was poisonous.
It wasn't. Experts at the snakebite treatment
center at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where
cops took the critter, determined it was a non-
venomous California king snake.
But how did it end up in Teddy's bed?
A little sleuthing determined that the serpent
had escaped two weeks ago from its cage in the
apartment of a doctor whose family lives four floors
below the Lasrys. The apologetic owner said his son's
pet snake likely traveled up the radiator pipes and
into his neighbor's apartment.
"It's a very docile, very harmless snake," he
16
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
said. "It's handled by our family all the time."
Lasry, 42, a fine arts publisher, said he believed the
pet was simply hungry after two weeks of cruising.
Teddy's mother, Evelyn Lasry, 37, said her son seems
to have gotten over his fright by thinking of himself
as a hero cowboy as he rode in the back of the police
cruiser to the hospital.
"I told Teddy he's a pretty snake, a nice pet
snake who got out of his cage," Evelyn Lasry said.
"But he asked, 'Why did he bite my finger, Mamma?'
And I said, 'Because he saw that you are a big boy,
Teddy, in your cowboy outfit and he got scared.’"
1. What did the babysitter do?
She ran out of the apartment.
She took the snake off Teddy's arm.
She called for help.
She called the television company.
2. What do we learn about the snake?
It was poisonous.
It had escaped from a zoo.
It was about a meter long.
17
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
It had escaped earlier in the afternoon.
3. Which of these statements is true?
Teddy was awake when the snake arrived.
Teddy's father was working and his mother was at
home.
Teddy needed a heart machine to stay alive for
two hours.
The snake is used to being touched.
4. What does Teddy think now of the snake
attack?
He was attacked because the snake was scared of
him.
He was attacked because he was asleep.
He was attacked because the snake was hungry.
He was attacked because his parents weren't at
home.
18
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
NEW FACT CHECKING WEBSITE ARRIVES
Read the text below and then answer questions
A frica Check, a fledgling fact checking website, is
attempting to pin down unfounded claims made
by the country's leaders, media outlets along with
widely held beliefs.
There is a common claim in Johannesburg that
it has the largest man-made forest in the world. It's
easy to believe; the city has lush, green canopy that
covers many neighborhoods. But it's not true,
according to Africa Check, which found that the
largest man-made forest is actually in China, next to
the Gobi desert.
Debunking bogus claims, politically charged
fictions and unfounded statements, Africa Check is a
website that challenges media, politicians and the
occasional social media celebrity when they massage 19
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
the truth, or ignore it completely, said Julian
Rademeyer, southern Africa editor for the site.
"I think the fundamental element of our work
is that we are trying to get people to question what
they're told, what they read, what politicians say to
them, and to look at what the information that is
there and ask essentially what the fundamental
question is 'Where is the evidence?' If someone
makes a claim, where is the evidence to support that
claim, and to actually interrogate those claims and
not to accept things purely for what they are,"
Rademeyer said.
Africa Check was launched in June 2012 by the
Agence France Press foundation in partnership with
the University of Witswaterand's journalism
department. Rademeyer and a researcher are the
site's two full-time employees. There is also a team
of freelance reporters who work on fact checking
assignments.
Following in the footsteps of popular American
websites like PolitiFact and Factcheck.org, Africa
Check is the first media outlet in South Africa to
20
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
solely work in fact checking. South Africa has a
strong legacy of investigative journalism and
photography that dates back to the apartheid era.
But like many countries, Rademeyer says its news
industry has been hampered by shrinking budgets
and newsrooms.
"Because of the fact that newspapers don't
have the resources they would've had in the past, or
don't have specialist beat reporters," he said. "It
allows public figures and it allows politicians to make
claims that don't go checked. I think that's where we
play a role. We come in and look at those claims and
we have the ability and the time to go through those
claims."
Paula Fray, former editor for the Star
Newspaper and a media consultant, says Africa
Check may put a much-needed pressure on
newsrooms.
"At the moment Africa Check is not known as
much as I'm hoping as it going to be known," she
said. "I'm hoping that eventually journalists will be
writing their stories and thinking if my news editor
21
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
doesn't pick up that something hasn't been verified,
Africa Check might pick up that it hasn't been
verified. So I'm not going to put anything in my
stories unless I can prove it."
She also hopes it will create a greater culture
of accountability. "I think the more organizations out
there holding journalism to account the better
actually for the industry," Fray said.
The site also takes on myths that get repeated
so often that they go unchecked. When a South
African musician with 175,000 Facebook followers
made the claim that white South Africans are being
killed at an alarming rate, Africa Check looked into
the facts. It found that most of the musician's claims
were exaggerated or untrue.
The site has also debunked claims made about
traditional healers, South Africa's rate of asylum
seekers and a BBC report about white squatter
camps in South Africa.
Long term, Rademeyer envisions the site
expanding across the continent. "I really do think as
a project it could play a very important role," he
22
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
said. "We've done some very basic fact checking or
fact sheet-related reporting on elements of the
elections in Zimbabwe recently. We'd obviously like
to do more of that in the next elections in Zimbabwe,
for instance, and elections in neighboring countries.
And try to expand our reach." With presidential
elections looming next year in South Africa,
Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia, the site will be
busy. Source: http://voanews.com
1. The new website has been set up to show
Africa in a more positive light.
true
false
2. The new website proved that more money is
spent on the environment in China.
true
false
3. What are the stated aims of Africa Watch?
to get people angry
to get people to think
to get people reading more 23
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
4. Which of these has hit South African
journalism?
bribery
corruption
money problems
5. How will Africa Watch put pressure on
newspapers?
by making them check information before publishing
by taking website traffic from them
by giving them better journalists
6. What was the Facebook musician found to
inaccurate about?
crime by whites
crime against whites
how many white killers there are
7. What hopes does Julian Rademeyer have for
the site's future?
that it can predict election results better
that they will be allowed into Zimbabwe
that it can become more important across the
continent.
24
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
COUPLE SUE TV STATION Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
questions are true or false.
The couple banished from the hit "reality" series
"Temptation Island" because they are parents of
a young child have sued the production company and
Fox-TV for defamation, claiming that producers knew
about the toddler all along.
Ytossie Patterson and Taheed Watson claim in
their Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that
producers edited an episode of the hit show to make
it appear that they had concealed their status as
parents and then chastised them on the air in an
"extremely condescending and humiliating manner."
A spokeswoman for Rocket Science Laboratories, the
show's producers, referred calls regarding the
lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, to Fox, which
said it would have a statement "later in the day."
25
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
Patterson, 34, and Watson, 29, were among
four couples sent last season to an island off Belize
in the Caribbean to film "Temptation Island," which
separates the partners and sets each person up on
dates with attractive singles to see who will cheat.
Patterson and Watson were booted off the
show midway through the season after the network
said it had discovered that they had a two-year-old
child together, making their further participation
inappropriate.
The couple claims in their lawsuit, which seeks
unspecified damages, that they revealed the
existence of their child when asked during
preliminary interviews with Rocket Science and were
told that that was "the wrong answer."
Patterson and Watson claim that "Temptation
Island" producers decided that it would boost the
show's ratings if the child's existence were suddenly
revealed during a broadcast.
During that broadcast, the couple claims, hours
of conversation between them and producers was
edited and "manipulated" to create a false
26
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
impression that they had kept their child secret.
"The footage was edited to exclude plaintiffs'
responses to the producers questions and falsely
portrayed plaintiffs as mischievous and immoral (and
that) they had in fact concealed the existence of
their own child and that they had nothing to say
about it in the face of this disgraceful tongue-
lashing," the lawsuit claims.
1. The programme mentioned is successful.
True
False
2. The couple say they had told Fox of the child.
True
False
3. The couple felt embarrassed by their
treatment on the show.
True
False
4. The four couples go on dates with each other
to see what happens.
True
27
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
False
5. The couple are suing for financial loss.
True
False
6. The court case is in the Caribbean.
True
False
7. The couple say that the producers changed
the film to make them look dishonest.
True
False
MOTHER FINED FOR SON'S ABSENCES Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
questions are true or false.
A n Ipswich mother, who allowed her son to go on
holiday during school term, has been fined £400
after her son repeatedly refused to go to school.
The 36-year-old mother, who can not be
28
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
named for legal reasons, appeared before South East
Suffolk Magistrates Court yesterday where
magistrates heard her 14-year-old son was currently
on holiday in Spain.
She told that court: "He just does not like
going to school. Although he is getting better now
and seems to be enjoying it."
The boy has had 145 unauthorised absences
between October 15 last year and March 22 this
year. His absences were blamed on a late-night life
style.
The mother has been attending parenting
classes voluntarily and told the court that she
thought they were helping her.
Out of the last eight school sessions - there are
two a day - he has attended five.
Chairman of the bench David Coe asked her if
she thought she could get her son to school in
future.
"Yes I think I can with some help," she said.
She told the court that he was on holiday
during the time other pupils were doing work
29
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
experience because he had not been given a place.
On sentencing Mr Coe said: "He is not in school
and then he disappears on holiday. We would expect
the local authority to bring this back to court quickly
if there are further problems."
She was fined £400 and ordered to pay £50.
Yesterday's case is the second to be dealt with by
south east Suffolk magistrates recently. Last month a
37-year-old was fined £50 after her son had
attended just 16 out of 182 sessions.
And the cases follow national concern after
Oxfordshire mother Patricia Amos was jailed for
allowing her children to miss school. She was
originally sentenced to 60 days' jail, but this was
reduced on appeal.
1. The boy had returned to school when his
mother was in court.
True
False
2. The main reason for his absences was the
fact that he went out late every night.
30
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
True
False
3. The mother has to go to parenting classes.
True
False
4. The mother claims her son is not currently
missing school lessons.
True
False
5. The mother may find herself in court again
soon.
True
False
6. There have been other similar cases
nationwide but this is the first in this area.
True
False
7. There was national support for the tough
treatment of Patricia Amos.
True
False
31
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
PRISONER SHOT Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
questions are true or false.
A Hermosa Beach man who cried for forgiveness
five years ago before a judge sentenced him for
the drunken-driving killing of a Lawndale man was
shot in a San Luis Obispo prison when he attacked a
guard and tried to escape, authorities said
Wednesday.
Scott Brockman, 33, taken from the medium-
security California Men's Colony to a San Luis Obispo
medical clinic for an X-ray on Tuesday, was shot in
the back by the guard when he tried to run and jump
a fence, police said.
"He started bashing on the guard and ran off,"
said San Luis Obispo police Capt. Bart Topham. "The
guard was able to get up and chase him down."
Brockman, who had previously been convicted
32
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
of drunken driving, was sentenced Nov. 19, 1997, in
Torrance Superior Court to 14 years in prison
following his guilty plea to voluntary manslaughter
charges in the death of 27-year-old Jeffrey Dodley.
On Aug. 27, 1996, a drunken Brockman
sideswiped a car on Hawthorne Boulevard, ran red
lights in an escape attempt, and slammed into the
back of Dodley's 1984 Nissan 200SX at Manhattan
Beach Boulevard in Lawndale.
The Nissan exploded into a fireball, enveloping
the trapped or unconscious Dodley.
Dodley, a teacher's assistant at a Lawndale
elementary school who was starting a basketball
league for children, died on his way back from a
video store.
"These last months (in jail), I cried out to God,
asking why he didn't take me instead of your son,"
Brockman cried at his sentencing.
Brockman was one of two inmates taken
Tuesday to the Raytel Medical Imaging office for X-
rays. Lt. Larry Vizard, spokesman for the San Luis
Obispo prison, said Brockman punched one of two
33
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
corrections officers in the face and escaped out the
back door of the building. The officer chased him,
ordered him to stop and fired two shots.
One struck Brockman in the back and exited
his abdomen without hitting any vital organs. He was
treated at a hospital and returned to prison
Wednesday.
Brockman, who had to serve nearly 12 years of
his sentence before he is eligible for parole, now
could be charged with battery on a peace officer and
attempted escape with force.
1. Brockman was given an X-ray after being
shot.
True
False
2. Brockman had been considered a dangerous
criminal.
True
False
3. Brockman attacked the guard before
escaping.
34
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
True
False
4. When Brockman killed Dodley, it was his first
traffic offence.
True
False
5. Dodley was going to rent a video when he
died.
True
False
6. Brockman showed remorse for his killing of
Dodley.
True
False
7. Brockman could now die as a result of his
injuries after being shot.
True
False
8. Brockman may have to stay in prison longer
because of his escape attempt.
True
False
35
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
SUNPRO AFTER-SUN TREATMENT Read this product information from the side of
a tube of SunPro after-sun cream.
SunPro after-sun treatment is the first and only
after-sun product with the dry skin healing
power of natural soy. The cooling lotion soothes and
revitalizes sun-exposed skin on contact and helps
minimize the short-term effects of sun damage.
With an exclusive blend of natural soy, anti-
oxidants and a multi-vitamin complex, the non-sticky
lotion minimizes flaking and peeling, and helps
reduce the signs of redness and irritation caused by
the sun. The unique formula also contains emollients
to provide 12-hour moisturization and help replace
moisture lost by sun exposure.
Directions: Apply generously to sun-exposed skin.
Cools and soothes skin
36
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
Minimises signs of short-term sun damage
Absorbs quickly
Non-sticky
Find words in the description that mean:
1. Gives life back to
2. Recipe
3. Goes into the skin
4. Water, humidity
5. Adhesive
6. Something which causes itching
7. Owned only by us
8. Helps to calm, relax
9. Mix
10.Put on
11.
Answer True or False for the following
questions.
11. This product can help you for a long time into the
future.
12. Only this company uses natural soy in an after-
37
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
sun product.
13. Your clothing may stick to your body after use.
14. This cream can also help to replace moisture lost
whilst sunbathing.
15. You should use on all the body together.
MISSING REFUGEE BOAT Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
q u e s t i o n s a r e t r u e o r f a l s e .
Write true or false in the box provided.
Fears are growing that a rickety vessel loaded
with boatpeople may have sunk as it headed
towards New Zealand.
The fishing boat, thought to be carrying 42
asylum-seekers, left west Java three weeks ago and
38
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
looked to be heading along the northern coast of
Australia. The wooden boat is so unseaworthy that
one report said its propeller had fallen off.
Indonesian authorities tracking the suspect
boat reportedly lost it from their radar screens three
weeks ago.
The Australian yesterday quoted an Indonesian
naval officer saying it was possible the wooden
vessel had sunk. The newspaper said the boat was
carrying 18 men, 16 women and eight children.
It quoted the Indonesian officer as saying the
boat was heading for New Zealand, but said there
were also reports that it could be heading for West
Timor. Other theories being put forward last night
were that it had turned back, or sought shelter in a
secluded bay.
A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Phil
Goff said there had been no word from the
Indonesians and the Australians were not directly
tracking the boat because it was yet to reach their
territory.
"The minister can't comment because we just
39
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
don't know," the spokesman said.
"It was always unlikely that it would get here."
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer
said intelligence services could not yesterday confirm
claims that the asylum boat had sunk.
New Zealand officials have been in contact with
their Indonesian counterparts about stopping illegal
immigrants before they reached international waters.
However, it was believed the chances of the vessel
making the hazardous voyage to New Zealand were
always slim.
The New Zealand Government this week
passed a law setting out tough new fines and jail
terms for people-smugglers. The law, which Prime
Minister Helen Clark said was designed to protect
New Zealand's borders, introduced a $500,000 fine
and/or 20-year jail term for convicted people-
smugglers.
The Transnational Organised Crime legislation
also gives police wider search and seizure powers,
allowing them to board boats once they enter New
Zealand's "contiguous zone", 24 nautical miles off
40
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
the coast.
1. There is actual evidence that the boat has sunk.
2. The Australians are trying to find the boat.
3. New Zealand has asked Indonesia to prevent this
happening in the past.
4. New Zealand law-makers are also working on this
issue.
5. Police from New Zealand can search boats as soon
as they enter New Zealand waters.
AVIATION NEAR MISS Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
q u e s t i o n s a r e t r u e o r f a l s e .
Write true or false in the box provided.
41
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
A commuter plane had to take evasive action
after a Suffolk-based US fighter jet came within
800m of colliding with it, a report revealed
yesterday.
The pilots of the KLM UK Fokker 50, which was
carrying 37 passengers, sent it into a dive and then
into a climb to avoid the US Air Force F15E Eagle
from RAF Lakenheath. The incident happened as the
aircraft, from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, was
coming in to land at Teesside Airport on August 13,
2001.
The two US crewmen on the F15 had been on
a training exercise and were heading south to return
to Lakenheath.
An Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB)
report said an air traffic controller warned the Fokker
when it was approaching Teesside that a fast-moving
aircraft was five miles away and closing. The
turboprop plane's collision warning system sounded,
prompting the 35-year-old captain to scan the
horizon, where he spotted the oncoming jet.
An alert saying "Descend, descend, descend"
42
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
then sounded, and the co-pilot sent it into a dive –
but seconds later, the warning system sounded
again, telling the crew to climb immediately. As the
F15 passed below, the captain's radar display
showed it as being just 300ft below the Fokker. The
captain then saw the plane moving away to his left.
After the incident, which happened 35 nautical
miles from Teesside, the captain asked a cabin
attendant to check that no one had been injured.
The report said passengers had been subjected to a
force of 2G by the avoiding manoeuvre, but
fortunately the 'Fasten seat belts' sign had been on
at the time.
The rear seat crewman of the F15, which
recorded the incident with an on-board video
camera, said he had seen the Fokker and estimated
it was about 400ft above and would pass behind
their aircraft. A report by the safety and quality
section of the Manchester Air Traffic Control and
Airport found that the controller managing the
situation had acted correctly by not giving the Fokker
any instructions, as they might have aggravated the
43
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
situation.
The AAIB report found that at their closest
point, the two aircraft were 800m apart horizontally
and 1500ft apart vertically. Had evasive action not
been taken, it is believed the vertical separation of
the two aircraft tracks would have been less than
100ft and the lateral separation less than 500m.
There had been a previous near-miss in the
same area involving a RAF Tornado and a Shorts
SD-360 passenger plane in March 2000, the report
added. As a result, a number of recommendations
were put into force by the Civil Aviation Authority.
1.A military plane was involved.
2. The two planes were going to the same airport?
3. The passenger plane's pilots saw the plane before
the plane's systems sounded a warning.
4. The passenger plane's pilots actually saw the
American jet.
44
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
5. The passenger plane's pilots took evasive action to
try and avoid a collision.
6. The passengers were not aware of anything
happening.
7. This area has seen other similar incidents in the
past.
COUPLE WIN LOTTERY Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
questions are true or false. Write true or false.
A nagging wife paid off big-time for a New Jersey
man, who won $100,000 a year for life in the
lottery thanks to his insistent spouse. Jeweler Rasen
Patel was dead-set against going to work in
Manhattan on March 5 because of bad weather. But
45
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
his wife, Hina, insisted he go - and he picked up a
New York State Lottery instant ticket on his way in. A
few scratches of a coin later, and Rasen Patel was
screaming with joy.
Forecasters had predicted a big blizzard for
that day, but the snowfall was light. And that
prompted Hina Patel, an accountant, to push her
husband to make his usual commute from their
home in Edison into the city. "I wasn't going to go,"
he laughed, as he and his wife picked up their first
$100,000 check at a New York Lottery office on Long
Island. "I made him go because he was supposed to
collect money owed to him," she said.
Rasen Patel bought a "Set for Life" instant
lottery ticket in Penn Station on a whim and ended
up never making it to work that day. Holding his
winning ticket, he phoned home and told his wife,
"I'm a rich guy!"
"I said, 'What are you talking about?' I didn't
believe him until he got home and showed me," Hina
Patel said. "I am still in shock and can't believe we
won. We can now pay for our children's colleges, and
46
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
we also plan to help people who aren't as fortunate."
The couple has two kids, ages 15 and 10.
They'll keep collecting as long as they live -
and the lottery will pay up to $2 million to their
estate in the case of their early deaths. Two other
lottery winners also accepted their prizes at the
same press conference.
Victoria Ragone of Port Jefferson claimed a
check for $4.5 million - her take-home pay, before
taxes, of a $9 million Lotto win. "I still can't believe it
- I never win anything," beamed Ragone, a single
medical-billing worker.
She said she wasn't going to go wild with her
new fortune at first, but then changed her mind. "I
am going to do something crazy but I don't know
what it is . . . maybe a little nip and tuck later," she
laughed.
1. Rasen didn't want to go to work on March 5th.
2. He played a scratch card lottery.
3. The weather was cold but sunny.
47
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
4. Hina is a housewife.
5. They will collect the rest of their money next
year.
6. Victoria will be very sensible with her money.
WHO YOU GONNA CALL? Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
questions are multiple choice.
The A-Team
Asotin County in Washington State is a
beautiful place. Tucked into the south-eastern corner
of this western state, the name means "place of
eels" in the local Indian language and refers to the
huge quantity of eels that are found in the county's
numerous rivers and other waterways.
Asotin is also the home of the A-Team, four
48
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
members of the local Sheriff's department who are
involved in rescue and emergency services provision
in the county. While their colleagues busy
themselves with illegal hunting and speeding
motorists, Kevin Pate, Raul Hernandez, Bryan Grant
and Lucy Pigalle have, for some seven years, been at
the sharp end of incidents as varied as landslides,
flash floods, highway pile ups and even a bear that
ran amok in the town of Anatone.
"We are the guys they call when things go
badly wrong in the county," explains Bryan Grant, a
handsome, rugged Oregonian who, at 31, is the
"baby" of the A-Team. "We used to be called the
"Asotin Alert Team" which became the 'AA Team' but
we changed it because we didn't want to be thought
of as alcoholics!"
Forces of Nature
I asked the four members of the A-Team,
gathered for this interview in the Sheriff's Office
canteen, what caused them most problems. Was it
drunken drivers or the wildlife this region of
Washington State is famous for?
49
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
"I would say it was undoubtedly Mother
Nature," says Raul Hernandez. "Just last week, we
rescued a guy out of his car that had been swept
away by a flash flood on the George Creek. His car
was sinking fast but we managed to get the door
open and the driver was able to swim to the shore.
Unfortunately, he was driving with his Labrador dog
and we couldn't save the dog in time."
Kevin Pate, 48 years old and the senior
member of the rescue crew, agrees. "We get some
extreme weather in this part of the state. We've had
everything from earthquakes to tornadoes."
Forest fires are also a big killer. Last summer, a
large stretch of the Umatilla National Forest, which is
situated in the west of the county, went up in smoke.
Kevin continues. "The firefighters succeeded in
controlling the blaze and we were involved in rescue
missions. A lot of picnickers and the like got caught
up in the fire and many of them couldn't get out as
they were more or less surrounded by towering
flames in a gusting wind."
Part of the Job
50
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
Lucy Pigalle, 36, recalls the Umatilla fires.
"Many people are just convinced that these things
won't reach out and touch them. Until it's too late,
that is. This one family of four was trapped in a
picnic area with a wall of fire surrounding them. They
couldn't get out at all. We managed to beat a path
into the area and were able to get them out with
about five minutes to spare. It was terrifying.
Tragically, that day, four out-of-state visitors
perished in the Umatilla National Forest."
Bryan Grant sums up the thoughts of the rest
of the group when he states that, "you get to see
tragedy and death as part of the job. You almost
become desensitized to it. You can't save everybody.
You just have to remember all the people you
managed to save!"
I left Asotin with a reassuring feeling that my
safety, should tragedy strike, would be in the hands
of these competent, brave individuals who would
combat hell and high water to save me.
1. Asotin is in the east of the country.
51
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
True
False
2. The youngest member of the group speaks
first.
True
False
3. The name of the group was created partly
out of a wish to avoid embarrassment.
True
False
4. Drunken drivers cause the team many
problems.
True
False
5. The driver caught up in the flash flood was
saved.
True
False
6. The A-Team was involved in fighting the fire
in the Umatilla National Forest.
True
False
52
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
7. The family of picnickers saved themselves in
the end.
True
False
8. Bryan Grant says it's best to not think about
those who can't be saved.
True
False
UNIVERSITY OFFERS COMPUTER GAME COURSE
Read the text and look at the questions that
follow it. In this reading comprehension, the
questions are true or false.
A Scottish University has announced a world first
in the field of elite academic achievement. It is
offering a masters degree course in computer games
software engineering.
The University of Abertay in Dundee says it 53
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
could put the city at the centre of a multi-million
pound industry.
Over £45bn will be spent on computer software
in Europe this year, with the games market making
up a substantial share.
There are only forty places on the course. The
course leader, John Sutherland says he hopes that
people will see that computer games are about
people as well as machines.
"Students will have to learn about how people
see, feel and hear to be successful in this
environment" he said
"In the next five years the computer games
industry will be worth more than the entire cinema
industry is today."
The University will be offering a Bachelors
course in the same discipline in the very near future
and are in the process of building a new computer
laboratory.
Computer games technology, particularly
virtual applications, have other uses apart from
entertainment.
54
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
Medical simulations for training surgeons and
more realistic flight simulators for pilot education are
just two uses for the technology.
Credit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/28081.stm
1. The university wants to teach people how to
play games better.
True
False
2. There's a chance that the area might become
very important for the computer game industry
if this course goes ahead.
True
False
3. The leader of the course hopes to expand
people's understanding of what computer
games are about.
True
False
4. There is more money now in computer
games than in the entire cinema industry.
True
55
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
False
5. Only older, more advanced students can
currently take the course.
True
False
6. The university is undergoing expansion to
allow the course to take place.
True
False
7. The course is specially designed for
professionals such as doctors and pilots.
True
False
KING HOLIDAY CONSIDERED 'MIXED BLESSING' BY SOME HISTORIANS
In the following text, the headings of five
sections have been removed. Choose the best
heading (A-F) for the five sections (1-5). There
is one extra heading you do not need to use. 56
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
You only need to write the letter in the space.
Use these headings to fill the spaces below.
There is one extra you do not need to use.
A. Avoiding Difficult Questions
B. Fairer Chance For All
C. Inaccurate Legacy
D. A Question Of Necessity
E. Ongoing Struggle
F. Other Agendas
On the third Monday of every January since 1986,
schools, federal offices and banks across the
United States are closed so that Americans can
celebrate the birth and life of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Reverend King was the dynamic civil rights leader
who focused the world's attention on the problem of
racial segregation in the American South.
He is remembered for his strategy of
57
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
nonviolent resistance and his opposition to racism.
But before he was assassinated in 1968, Reverend
King had begun to challenge more than America's
understanding of race, and some prominent
historians fear that his opposition to U.S. economic
and foreign policy is being forgotten.
1. _________
"The greatest danger by far with King birthday
celebrations is the umpteenth re-playing of the 'I
Have a Dream' speech," says David Garrow, author
of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Bearing the Cross:
Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference. Professor Garrow calls the
speech -- which Reverend King delivered in 1963 on
the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington,
D.C. -- an "unrepresentative sample" of what the
civil leader stood for. He says the unrelenting focus
on the address incorrectly makes Martin Luther King
look like a "rosy-eyed optimist."
2. _________
"Younger people are left with a really quite
misleading impression of King that focuses too much
58
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
on that one very upbeat speech," says Professor
Garrow, "and oftentimes gives no attention
whatsoever to King as a critic of economic inequality
and American foreign policy around the world."
On the day he was assassinated, Martin Luther
King was in Memphis, Tennessee, supporting a strike
that had been launched by sanitation workers there.
Just moments before he died, he was writing a
sermon titled Why America May Go to Hell. Two
years earlier, he had moved into a slum in the
northern city of Chicago to call attention to urban
poverty - and to challenge the notion that the South
was the only region that had a problem with race.
Reverend King had also become an outspoken
critic of the war in Vietnam, calling the United States
"the greatest purveyor of violence in the world
today" during a sermon he delivered in New York in
1967. "In some respects," says Clayborne Carson,
director of the King Papers Project at Stanford
University, "the civil rights issues, narrowly
conceived, were the easiest to resolve, because
there you had a distinction between the way black
59
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
people were treated in the South and the dominant
values of the nation, as expressed by the [U.S.]
Supreme Court in the Brown [vs. Board of
Education] decision [which outlawed segregation.]"
3. _________
Professor Carson, who has been editing the
correspondence and speeches of Martin Luther King
for the last 20 years, notes that Reverend King had
changed his focus before he died. "When King
started to confront the issues that were as common
in the North as in the South," he says, "then I think
he faced a much greater challenge. And I think that's
the challenge we still face today."
4. _________
So why is it that public remembrances of
Reverend King have been so concentrated on the
issues of race and non-violence, rather than on his
criticisms of economic policy and the Vietnam War?
Historian David Garrow says it is because very few
people today object to Martin Luther King's call for
an end to racial segregation. "If, on the other hand,
King holiday events addressed King's identifying
60
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
himself as a Democratic Socialist or King's emerging
as a very outspoken critic of American militarism in
Vietnam and Southeast Asia," he says, "then holiday
celebrations would have to confront whether
American society today has any greater level of
economic equality than it did in 1968 and whether
American foreign policy in the years since 1968 is
fundamentally different than the militarism and go-
it-alone attitudes that King criticized so forcefully."
5. _________
David Garrow argues that the so-called
"sweetening" of Martin Luther King's historical
reputation was unavoidable once his birthday
became a federal holiday. He says even the most
conservative political leaders have had to find a way
to embrace Reverend King's legacy -- and putting
the emphasis on the Baptist preacher's opposition to
racial segregation has been that way.
For this reason, David Garrow says, Martin
Luther King, Jr. Day has been a mixed blessing. On
the one hand, it calls national attention to America's
problematic history with race. But on the other hand,
61
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
he says, the holiday has made it difficult for young
African-Americans struggling with economic
inequality to identify with a civil rights leader who
was killed before they were born.
ISLAND TRIBES COPE WITH LOSS OF HABITAT AFTER TSUNAMI
In the following text, the headings of five
sections have been removed. Choose the best
heading (A-F) for the five sections (1-5). There
is one extra heading you do not need to use.
You only need to write the letter in the space.
Use these headings to fill the spaces below.
There is one extra you do not need to use.
A. Livelihoods Affected
B. Greatest Fears Allayed
C. Man-Made Concerns
D. More Aid Required Fast 62
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
E. Inherited Wisdom
F. Speedy Return Crucial
The primitive tribes of India's Andaman and
Nicobar Islands largely escaped last month's
deadly tsunami unscathed. But anthropologists fear
that the massive damage to their habitat has left
them vulnerable.
The five aboriginal tribes that inhabit the lush
jungles and beaches of the Andaman and Nicobar
islands number less than 1,000 people.
Left undisturbed in their secluded habitats,
they subsisted by hunting with bows and arrows,
fishing and gathering wild fruit. Never large, the
tribes' populations have shrunk over the past several
decades, in part because of increased contact with
outsiders, who carry diseases the tribes can not fend
off.
Most of them survived when the tsunami hit
the remote islands in the Bay of Bengal on December
26. But the land on which they live suffered severely
63
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
and many anthropologists believe that the damage
to their habitat has left the tribes facing new
challenges.
Initial surveys show that island coastlines have
changed shape and salt water has tainted the soil
that nurtured coconut palms and fruit trees.
1. _______
Anstice Justin, head of the Andaman unit of
the Anthropological Survey of India, recently led a
mission to assess the damage on islands where one
of the tribes live. He found sand and debris had filled
the shallow waters where the Sentinelese people
used to pole their canoes to catch fish.
Mr. Justin says that could pose a major challenge to
the Sentinelese, who have no knowledge of fishing in
deep waters.
"The shallow waters, the blue lagoon that was
there along the south coast of the island is
completely eroded and a new field of rocks appears
to be in its place," said Anstice Justin. "There will be
no fishing ground for the Sentinelese to fish around
that area."
64
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
Experts say the destruction of a natural
resource could make all the difference between
survival and extinction for a tribe whose numbers
have dwindled to below 250.
2. _______
An altered landscape is not the only problem.
Experts also worry that some of the tribes are
getting too much outside contact because of the
tsunami relief efforts.
Some tribes, such as the Sentinelese, have
long shunned contact with the outside world. But
others like the Onges and the Great Andamanese
have been exposed to outside influence in the past
century and their numbers have steadily shrunk over
the same period.
After their coastal homes were destroyed by
the tsunami, the Onges and the Great Andamanese
had to be evacuated and are now housed in special
relief camps in the sprawling archipelago's capital,
Port Blair.
3. _______
Samir Acharya who heads the Society for
65
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
Andaman and Nicobar Ecology, says endangered
tribes like the Onges now number less than 100. He
says they should be moved back to their island as
quickly as possible to continue life as hunters and
food gatherers in their own natural habitat.
"This will be a prolonged contact till they are
taken back and resettled in their own area," said
Samir Acharya. "They have already been exposed to
civilized vices like tobacco and alcohol, so one is
naturally worried about that. Ideally, they should go
back to their own habitat and start living once again
in their own traditional way. That probably is one
way of ensuring their continued welfare."
4. _______
While most of the tribes survived, not much is
known so far about the welfare of one of the most
secluded tribes, the Shompens, whose island took
the brunt of the waves. A few members of the tribe
have been sighted and even shot arrows at a military
helicopter that hovered over their island on a post-
tsunami reconnaissance trip.
Despite worries about how they will cope,
66
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
anthropologists are elated that the tribes appear to
have escaped annihilation in the disaster.
Mr. Acharya says the people may have escaped
because they moved to higher ground after they saw
the sea water go back, a phenomenon that usually
occurs just before a tsunami strikes.
5. _______
"Probably either by their tradition, or it is a
crystallized wisdom of ages that is perhaps there in
their unconscious mind that they have learned to
fear or be suspicious of receding water and that was
what has saved the day," he said.
These tribes are of Mongoloid and Negrito origin, and
some are believed to have traveled to the Andaman
Islands from Africa some 60,000 years ago. They are
considered one of the world's last links to prehistoric
times.
PRISONER 7042 In the following text, the headings of eight
sections have been removed. Choose the best
heading (A-H) for the eight sections (1-8). You
67
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
only need to write the letter in the sentence.
Use these headings to fill the spaces below.
A. Haunted By The Past
B. Financial Wrongdoing
C. Wasted Opportunities
D. Healthy Diversions
E. Yawning And Yearning
F. Anxious Wait
G. Artistic Escape
H. Ordinary People
Looking Back In Anger
1. _________
Max Scheffer gets up at 7a.m. He got up at
7a.m. today and he will get up at 7a.m. tomorrow.
Max Scheffer knows today that he will get up at
7a.m. every single morning for the next 2 years of
his life. Which probably explains the first thing Max
intends to do when he gets out of Bayville Minimum
Security Prison For Men. "I'm going to spend a week
68
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
in bed. I wish we didn't have to get up so early. On
the outside, I always hated getting up early." As he
speaks to me, he calmly, almost nonchalantly, carves
away at a wooden figurine with deft strokes of what
seems to be a simple Swiss Army knife.
2. _________
Max was sentenced to four years imprisonment
for his part in a fraudulent scheme to overcharge
clients in his Toronto-based insurance company. He
gives me no more details than that and I don't ask.
Two years of good behavior gives him every hope
that he could be released as early as next year.
3. _________
"I could never imagine someone like myself in
a jail. It's beyond belief. There are so many normal
guys like me in this place. Everyone is in for petty
financial stuff. Nothing violent. Bayville is actually a
pretty OK place. I just wish I wasn't so bored all the
time."
4. _________
Max finds his days organized for him. He
spends up to 19 hours locked in his cell but, being a
69
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
low security prison, some people would be surprised
to find just how many home comforts he is allowed.
"I watch a lot of TV. We only have about six or
seven channels. You know, no cable! I got into
watching those old black and white classics which is
where the painting started." Max indicated the wall
above the TV set to me and there, between huge
posters of the Toronto Blue Jays and Albert Einstein
were hung some 15 or so vintage style movie
posters, all hand painted by Max himself.
5. _________
"The warden was really decent about getting
me the paints. I really regret not taking this up
earlier. I've only been doing this for about six
months. So you know, I could have spent the first 18
months a lot more constructively. When you're shut
away like this, you have to occupy your mind or
you'll go crazy. That's my favorite right there." He
points out a small hand painted poster for the film
Casablanca.
6. _________
I avoid asking Max about the crimes that
70
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
brought him here but ask him instead about how he
feels about being here. What regrets does he have or
does he not waste his time with regrets? It seems
Max most certainly does waste his time. "I regret
having been so greedy. I am here for $10,000. It
wasn't worth it. I mean, even for a million it wasn't
worth it. But for ten grand it was crazy. I wish I
hadn't listened to my colleague who convinced me
everything would go smoothly. I regret being so
angry about things in the past I can't change but
that's just the way I feel."
7. _________
Max's cell shows all the signs of a man
struggling with boredom. A harmonica lies at the foot
of his bed while his small bedside table is full of
wordsearch and crossword puzzle books. On the sill
of his cell window, complete with screen instead of
bars, lies a half-finished model of the Notre Dame in
what looks suspiciously like toothpicks. "I wish I
hadn't wasted so much time when I first got here.
There are fellow inmates who have taken degree
courses, masters, you name it, they've done it right
71
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
here inside Bayville. I did nothing but watch TV and
read the free magazines for over a year. I just
thought that's what you did! I wish someone on the
staff here had taken me aside and told me what
possibilities exist in here. That would be my only
complaint."
8. _________
As we talk together in Max's cell, I notice him looking
more and more at his watch. I ask what the problem
is. "I'm waiting for the buzzer, you know for lunch.
You start to live your life according to a buzzer. It's
sad I know." Then just as he says that, the
aforementioned call to lunch sounds and I think I see
a look somewhere between satisfaction and relief
pass across his very friendly face.
HEADLINE Put each of the headlines with a sentence from
the story below. Write only the correct letter
(A-J) after each headline.
72
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
A.Rev. Parsley, worried about falling church
attendance figures, came up with the idea after
watching a programme on British TV whilst on
vacation there.
B. The UN official, who declined to be named, said
the money would not have to be paid if the kingdom
came into line with the rest of the nations.
C. The weather is not forecast to improve over the
next few days which will only make the rescuers'
task even more difficult.
D. A getaway vehicle was found burnt out in an
alleyway some six miles across town from where the
bank was held up.
E. The government is believed to have been
surprised at the rise in unemployment figures and
this could explain the shortfall in funds.
F. The trawler got into trouble off Sri Lanka as waves
73
ADVANCED - Reading Comprehension
as high as 20 feet threatened to engulf the vessel.
G. If agreed, the agreement would see a huge
increase in Asian imports into the American market
and this has worried some politicians.
H. Increased competition from the Far East has also
led to lower profits and job losses have been on the
cards since the spring.
I. Not only are people worried about inflation but the
latest interest rates rise has also caused less
movement on the property market than is usual
for this time of year.
J. Added to this are the effects of the recently signed
trade treaty with Europe which many struggling
companies had called for.
1. Cops Hunt 4 After $5m Heist _____
2. US Said To Be Against Trade Deal _____
3. UN Offers Hope On Saudi Fine _____
74