Weekly Lessons

•

Level 1

Advanced

1

Key Words

Fill the gaps using these words from the text:

subdued encampment abduction fundamentalist breed warp overwhelmed crave thug raid

1. If you something, you want it very much and in such a way that it is very hard to control. 2. If a place is by people, there are so many people in it that it is difficult to deal with them. 3. To a negative feeling or situation is to cause it to develop.

4. A is a man who is violent, especially a criminal.

5. An is the act of taking someone away from their home or family using force. 6. To something, for example a person’s character, is to affect it in a negative way. 7. A person or group believes that original religious and political laws should be followed very strictly and not be changed.

8. A is a sudden short attack.

9. If someone looks , he looks slightly sad or worried. 10. An is a large group of tents or temporary shelters.

2

Pre-reading What do you know?

Choose the best answer for each question. Then look in the text and check your answers.

1. Where is Uganda?

a. In the Middle East. b. In Asia c. In Africa. 2. What is the main problem in northern Uganda?

a. A civil war. b. Severe floods. c. Severe droughts. 3. How long has this problem existed?

a. For almost 5 years. b. For almost 10 years. c. For almost 20 years. 4. What is the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)?

a. The group in power. b. A rebel group. c. The country’s army.

The night-walkers of Uganda

Mary Aciro has spent the day gathering grass to feed the cattle, weeding the vegetable patch and helping her mother cook dinner over a charcoal fire: the life of any African girl in any African village. But as daylight begins to fade, Mary slips away from the family’s tiny mud hut and strides down a sandy track into the nearest town. The adults in the town of Lacor in northern Uganda are going home for dinner on buses. Mary, along with hundreds of other children, is going the other way. The children are dressed in rags and flip-flops;

some carry sacks or rolled-up blankets on their shoulders. They scramble over grassy banks and hurry down the sun-scorched roadside on the way to the night shelters, which are guarded by government troops. In any other country a 14-year-old girl leaving her home and an anxious mother for the night would spell rebellion. Here, it’s simply about survival. “We fear the rebels, we fear thugs and robbers who come at night to disturb us,” says Mary as she walks with a swinging stride.

On a troubled continent, the war in this region stands out. It is Africa’s longest-running civil war, and perhaps the only conflict in history in which children are both the main victims and the principal aggressors. Mary and the other children walk to safety every night because they fear, with good reason, abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a Christian fundamentalist rebel group that uses children as soldiers, porters and sexual slaves. The LRA carries out its raids at night, storming into villages from the surrounding bush, killing adults and forcing children to beat their parents before marching them away to camps deep in the bush. Mary’s 15-year-old brother, Geoffrey, was abducted by the rebels; he was held for three months. “They made him carry heavy loads, beat him at times, he went without food,” says their mother, Agnes. Geoffrey only escaped when a government helicopter gunship attacked the rebels holding him. Mary’s neighbour, a girl named Florence, was abducted too. She spent three years with the rebels: she was forced into sexual slavery and became pregnant.

Desperate to keep the child-snatchers from their doors, parents in northern Uganda began sending their children into nearby towns at night in 2002. 40,000 children across the region started walking into towns to sleep. Aid agencies set up shelters to give them somewhere safe to go, and it’s one of these that Mary is heading for.

As she approaches Lacor, she walks past bars lit by a single lightbulb and tiny shops whose wooden shelves are crammed with cooking oil, salt, soap powder and mobile phone top-up cards. As the shadows spread, the shopkeepers open their thief-proof metal doors and step out. Mary lives near the town but some of the other children walk for hours to reach safety. When she reaches the shelter, it is already full of children, some of them barely toddlers, others in their late teens. The shelter is made up of stark concrete buildings, bare as a barn inside, as well as rows of giant white canvas tents.

Lillian Apiyo, 14, is already inside. “I come here for protection,” she says. “I always get new friends from here. There is nowhere to stay at home.” The children filter through the gates looking subdued, but a party atmosphere soon develops. A dozen or so children begin dancing. At other shelters there is frenetic singing of motivational songs. The shelters are busy enough as it is, and if food were provided, they would be overwhelmed.

Adult wardens patrol with torches, breaking up the occasional fight over a blanket and checking on children who look scared or upset. “When I am here, I feel I am somebody,” says Gabriel Oloya, who studies his schoolbooks in the dim light. “When I am at home, I’m always upset. I feel lonely and so many thoughts come into my mind. Here, I tend to forget such things.” Gabriel, 15, is responsible for the four younger brothers who walk with him to the shelter. “My parents are dead, killed by the rebels,” he says.

Childhood is short in rural Africa, but it is rare for children to be thrown so completely on their own resources as they are in this war-damaged society. The children who come to the shelters crave affection. Many of them are orphans whose parents were murdered by the rebels and who have been taken in by their ex-tended family. The girls comb each other’s hair while the boys spin bottle-tops or engage in play fights.

•

In the shelter the wardens keep boys and girls apart, but outside its gates young couples are cuddling in the semi-darkness.

This sort of thing does worry Mary’s mother. “We can’t follow our children up to the shelter,” Agnes says. “Sometimes a girl says she has gone there, but she has gone to a boyfriend, and she becomes pregnant and drops out of school.” But then there is more to worry about than teenage boys. The Acholi and Lango tribes of northern Uganda were once farmers, living in scattered villages amid their herds of cattle and fields of maize. But 19 years of war have warped everything: almost the entire population of the north, 1.5 million people, has been displaced into crowded, dusty encampments on the outskirts of towns. Despair has bred alcoholism and violence; the horror of war is part and parcel of life.

As the older generation dies out, so does the hope of returning to a normal life. This is a culture with few written records, which relies on memories to place the boundaries of farmland and the distance to the nearest stream. When their parents are gone, the children’s link with their original villages will be broken for ever. “For me, the worst thing that may happen here is a situation where officially there is no war, but everybody remains in the camps,” says Father Carlos Rodriguez Soto, a Roman Catholic priest who has spent 18 years in Uganda.

The sun has not quite risen when the wardens rouse the children. After a prayer and a wash, the children who have blankets roll them on to their shoulders, the older ones gather up younger brothers and sisters and they begin to slip out of the gates and stream on to the road. By 9 a.m. the sun will burn and sweat will drip from every forehead, but now it is gentle. It is a good time to walk home.

3

Comprehension check

Match each fact with a reason or purpose.

Facts

1. In Uganda 40,000 children leave their home every night. 2. The LRA abducts children.

3. Aid agencies have set up shelters. 4. Food isn’t provided in night shelters. 5. Wardens patrol the shelters with torches. 6. A lot of children crave affection.

7. Childhood is very short in Uganda.

8. The children’s link with their villages will be lost. Reasons or purposes

a. To avoid having overwhelmed shelters. b. Because they fear abduction.

c. To break up fights and check on the children. d. To use them as soldiers, porters and sexual slaves. e. Because they are orphans.

f. To provide a safe place for children to go to.

g. Because there are few written records and the older generation is dying out. h. Because children are thrown on their own resources at an early age.

4

Vocabulary 1 Adjective order

Put the words in order to make phrases from the text. Check your answers in the text.

1. mud / hut / tiny / a

2. tents / giant / canvas / white 3. concrete / buildings / stark

4. fundamentalist / Christian / a / group / rebel

5

Vocabulary 2 Compound modifiers

Write a compound word (a word made up of two or more words joined by dashes) to complete the descriptions in column B. Check your answers in the text.

A B

1. the roadside scorched by the sun the roadside 2. blankets that have been rolled up blankets 3. a girl who is 14 years old a girl 4. the civil war that has run the longest the civil war 5. metal doors that are proof against thieves metal doors 6. a society that has been damaged by the war a society

6

Vocabulary 3 Phrasal verbs

Use these words to complete phrasal verbs from the text. Check your answers in the text.

in for out up without

7

Discussion

Of all the problems in Uganda, which do you think is the most serious of all? Why? What could be done to help solve it?

Level 1

Advanced

1. The LRA carries raids at night. 2. Geoffrey had to go food. 3. Aid agencies set shelters. 4. Mary is heading a night shelter. 5. The shelter is made of buildings and tents.

6. Wardens patrol the shelters to break fights.

7. Gabriel was taken by his extended family.

•

KEY

1 Key Words

Fill the gaps using these words from the text:

1. crave 2. overwhelmed 3. breed 4. thug 5. abduction 6. warp 7. fundamentalist 8. raid 9. subdued 10. encampment

2 Find the information

1. c; 2. a; 3. c; 4.b

3 Comprehension check

1. b; 2. d; 3. f; 4. a; 5. c; 6. e; 7. h; 8. g

4 Vocabulary 1 - Adjective order

1. a tiny mud hut

2. giant white canvas tents 3. stark concrete buildings

4. a Christian fundamentalist rebel group

5 Vocabulary 2 – Compound modifiers

1. the sun-scorched roadside 2. rolled-up blankets 3. a 14-year-old girl

4. the longest-running civil war 5. thief-proof metal doors 6. a war-damaged society

6 Vocabulary 3 - Phrasal verbs

1. out 2. without 3. up 4. for 5. up 6. up 7. in 8. out

Level 1

Advanced

Level 1

Elementary

1

Key Words

Fill the gaps using these words from the text.

aid agency pregnant capture hut warden shelter slave bush rebel patrol

1. A is a small simple house with only one or two rooms.

2. A is a place where people are protected from bad weather or from danger. 3. A is someone who opposes their government and tries to remove it using force. 4. A is someone who is responsible for a place and checks that people follow rules. 5. If you a person, you take him or her prisoner.

6. If you a place, you move regularly around it in order to prevent trouble or crime. 7. The is an area in a hot country that is not used for growing food.

8. An is an organization that gives money, food or help to people in need.

9. A is someone who is forced to do what another person tells them to do and has to work for him or her.

10. If a woman is , she is going to have a baby.

2

Find the information

Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible:

1. Where is Mary Aciro from? 2. How old is she?

3. What is the LRA?

4. How many children spend the nights in shelters? 5. How many people live in shelters?

The night-walkers of Uganda

Mary Aciro lives near the town of Lacor in northern Uganda. Every day, she collects grass to feed the cattle, works in the vegetable patch and helps her mother cook dinner over a fire. And then, just before the sun sets, Mary leaves her family’s tiny hut and walks down a sandy road into Lacor. The adults are going home for dinner on buses. Mary and hundreds of other children are going the other way. They are wearing dirty old clothes and flip-flops. Some are carrying sacks or rolled-up blankets. They are going to night shelters guarded by government troops.

In any other country, a mother wouldn’t let her 14-year-old daughter leave home for the night. Here, the most important thing is to survive. “We fear the rebels and violent robbers who come at night to disturb us,” says Mary as she walks.

•

There are many problems in Africa but the war in this region is the worst problem of all. It is Africa’s longest civil war. Mary and the other children walk to the shelters every night because they don’t want to be captured by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA is a religious rebel group that uses children as soldiers, porters and sexual slaves. The rebels attack the villagers at night. They kill adults and take the children away to camps in the bush.

Mary’s 15-year-old brother, Geoffrey, was captured by the rebels and he was a prisoner for three months. “They made him carry heavy things. They hit him and didn’t give him any food,” says their mother, Agnes. Geoffrey escaped when a government helicopter attacked the rebel camp he was in. Mary’s neighbour, a girl named Florence, was captured too. She spent three years with the rebels: she was forced to have sex and became pregnant.

In 2002, desperate parents in northern Uganda began sending their children—about 40,000 of them—into nearby towns at night. Aid agencies built shelters to give them a safe place to go. Mary is going to one of these places. When she reaches the shelter, it is full of children of all ages. The shelter is made up of concrete buildings and large white tents.

Lillian Apiyo, 14, is already inside. “I come here for protection,” she says. The children look sad when they reach the shelter, but soon they become happier. Some children begin dancing. At other shelters, they sing songs. The children are not given anything to eat. The shelters are already very busy, and if food were given to the children, they would be even busier.

Adult wardens patrol with torches. They stop fights occasionally and check on children who look frightened or unhappy. “When I am here, I feel I am somebody. When I am at home, I’m always upset,” says Gabriel Oloya, 15, who is responsible for the four younger brothers who walk with him to the shelter. “My parents are dead, killed by the rebels,” he says. Childhood is short in rural Africa, but it is even shorter in this society. The children are alone and they need love. Many of them live with their extended family because their parents were killed by the rebels.

In the shelter the wardens keep boys and girls apart, but outside its gates young couples are alone in the semi-darkness. This sort of thing worries Mary’s mother. “We can’t follow our children up to the shelter,” Agnes says. “Sometimes a girl says she has gone there, but she has gone to a boyfriend, and she becomes pregnant and leaves school.” But other things worry her more. The tribes of northern Uganda were once farmers. They lived in small villages and had cattle and fields of maize. But 19 years of war have destroyed everything. Almost all the population of the north, 1.5 million people, now lives in crowded temporary shelters near the towns. As the war goes on, the situation gets worse.

There is little hope of returning to a normal life. This is a culture with few written records. When their parents are gone, the children’s link with their villages will be lost. Who will tell the children the boundaries of farmland or the distance to the nearest stream? “For me, the worst thing that may happen here is a situation where there is no war, but everybody stays in the camps,” says Father Carlos Rodriguez Soto, a Roman Catholic priest who has spent 18 years in Uganda.

The wardens wake up the children before the sun rises. The children pray and wash. Some children roll their blankets, others call their younger brothers and sisters. They leave the shelter and walk to the road. At 9 a.m. the sun will be very hot, but now it is gentle. It is a good time to walk home.

3

Comprehension check

Match the beginnings and the endings to make complete sentences.

1. In northern Uganda 40,000 children 2. The rebels attack villages at night and 3. Aid agencies have built shelters to 4. In the shelters wardens walk around to 5. There are few written records, so older people 6. After 19 years of war, it will

a. provide safe places for children. b. pass information on to children. c. leave their home every night.

d. keep order and help children who are scared or sad. e. capture children to use them as slaves.

f. be very difficult to return to a normal life.

4

Vocabulary 1 Collocations

Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make phrases from the text.

1. feed a. dirty old clothes 2. look b. pregnant 3. wear c. home / school 4. carry d. shelters 5. leave e. the cattle 6. build f. sacks 7. become g. dinner 8. cook h. sad

5

Vocabulary 2 Prepositions

Complete these sentences based on the text using an appropriate preposition. Check your answers in the text.

Level 1

Elementary

1. Mary lives northern Uganda. 2. Mary’s mother cooks dinner a fire. 3. Adults go home dinner on buses. 4. The shelters are guarded government troops.

5. The rebels attack the villagers night.

6. The rebels take the children to the camps in the bush.

7. The shelter is full children and teenagers.

•

6

Vocabulary 3 Verbs related to wars

Use these verbs to complete these sentences based on the text. Check your answers in the text.

escaped killed destroyed captured attacked 1. Geoffrey was by the rebels.

2. He after three months.

3. A government helicopter the camp. 4. Gabriel’s parents were by the rebels.

5. Almost 20 years of war have almost everything in northern Uganda.

KEY

1 Key Words

2 Find the information

1. (northern) Uganda 2. 14

3. the Lord’s Resistance Army / a rebel group 4. 40,000 5. 1.5 million

3 Comprehension check

4 Vocabulary 1 Collocations

5 Vocabulary 2 Prepositions

6 Vocabulary 3 Verbs related to wars

1. captured 2. escaped 3. attacked 4. killed 5. destroyed

6

3

Level 1

Elementary

•

Level 1

Intermediate

1

Key Words

Fill the gaps using these words from the text.

toddler rags warden thug rebellion

abduction beat aid agency damage alcoholism

1. An is an organization that helps people affected by wars or natural disasters. 2. A is a violent criminal.

3. A is a very young child who is learning to walk.

4. A is someone whose job is to be responsible for a place and check that rules are obeyed. 5. An is the act of taking someone way from their home or family using force.

6. If something causes , there is strong opposition to it. 7. To someone is to hit a person violently several times. 8. To something is to break it or spoil it.

9. are clothes that are old, torn and dirty.

10. is a medical condition that makes it difficult for people to control the amount of drinks such as wine or beer that they drink.

2

Find the information

Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible.

1. What country is Mary Aciro from? 2. Where is this country?

3. What is the LRA?

4. When did children start going into towns?

5. Approximately how many children spend the nights in towns? 6. What problem has existed in Mary’s country for 19 years?

The night-walkers of Uganda

Mary Aciro has spent the day gathering grass to feed the cattle, weeding the vegetables and helping her mother cook dinner over a fire: the life of any African girl in any African village. But before the sun sets, Mary leaves the family’s tiny mud hut and walks down a sandy track into the nearest town. The adults in the town of Lacor in northern Uganda are going home for dinner on buses. Mary and hundreds of other children are going the other way. They are dressed in rags and flip-flops; some carry sacks or rolled-up blankets on their shoulders. They are on the way to the night shelters, which are guarded by government troops.

In any other country, a 14-year-old girl leaving her home and an anxious mother for the night would cause rebellion. Here, it is necessary to survive. “We fear the rebels, we fear thugs and robbers who come at night to disturb us,” says Mary as she walks.

On a continent with many wars, the war in this region is particularly bad. It is Africa’s longest civil war, and perhaps the only conflict in history in which children are both the main victims and the main attackers. Mary and the other children walk to safety every night because they fear, with good reason, abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a religious rebel group that uses children as soldiers, porters and sexual slaves. The LRA attacks the villagers at night, killing adults and forcing children to beat their parents before taking them away to camps deep in the bush.

Mary’s 15-year-old brother, Geoffrey, was abducted by the rebels. He was held for three months. “They made him carry heavy things, beat him at times, gave him no food,” says their mother, Agnes. Geoffrey only escaped when a government helicopter attacked the rebel camp he was in. Mary’s neighbour, a girl named Florence, was abducted too. She spent three years with the rebels: she was forced into sexual slavery and became pregnant.

In 2002, desperate parents in northern Uganda began sending their children—about 40,000 of them—into nearby towns at night. Aid agencies built shelters to give them somewhere safe to go, and it’s one of these that Mary is going to. Mary lives near the town, but some of the other children walk for hours to reach safety. When she reaches the shelter, it is already full of children of all ages. The shelter is made up of concrete buildings and giant white canvas tents.

Lillian Apiyo, 14, is already inside. “I come here for protection,” she says. “I always get new friends from here. There is nowhere to stay at home.” The children walk through the gates looking sad, but a party atmosphere soon develops. A dozen or so children begin dancing. At other shelters, they sing songs that cheer them up. The children are not given anything to eat. The shelters are busy enough as it is, and if food were provided, they would be even busier.

Adult wardens patrol with torches, stopping occasional fights and checking on children who look scared or upset. “When I am here, I feel I am somebody,” says Gabriel Oloya. “When I am at home, I’m always upset. Here, I forget my worries.” Gabriel, 15, is responsible for the four younger brothers who walk with him to the shelter. “My parents are dead, killed by the rebels,” he says.

Childhood is short in rural Africa, but it is even shorter in this society damaged by the war. The children who come to the shelters are in need of affection. Many of them live with their extended family because their parents were murdered by the rebels.

In the shelter the wardens keep boys and girls apart, but outside its gates young couples are alone in the semi-darkness. This sort of thing worries Mary’s mother. “We can’t follow our children up to the shelter,” Agnes says. “Sometimes a girl says she has gone there, but she has gone to a boyfriend, and she becomes pregnant and leaves school.” But then there is more to worry about than teenage boys. The tribes of northern Uganda were once farmers who kept cattle and grew maize. But 19 years of war have destroyed everything: almost the entire population of the north, 1.5 million people, now live in crowded temporary shelters on the outskirts of towns. There is alcoholism and violence, and the horror of war is part of everyday life.

The hope of returning to a normal life is slowly disappearing. This is a culture with few written records. When their parents are gone, the children’s link with their villages will be lost. Who will tell the children the bounda-ries of farmland or the distance to the nearest stream? “For me, the worst thing that may happen here is a situation where there is no war, but everybody stays in the camps,” says Father Carlos Rodriguez Soto, a Roman Catholic priest who has spent 18 years in Uganda.

•

The wardens wake up the children before the sun rises. After a prayer and a wash, some children roll their blankets on to their shoulders and the older ones gather up younger brothers and sisters. They walk out of the gates on to the road. By 9 am the sun will burn, but now it is gentle. It is a good time to walk home.

3

Comprehension check

Choose TWO correct answers to complete each sentence:

1. In northern Uganda 40,000 children

a. spend the night in shelters built by aid agencies. b. leave their homes at the age of 14.

c. are afraid of being captured by the rebels. 2. The LRA is a rebel group that

a. captures children to use them as slaves. b. attacks villages and murders people at night. c. takes adults away to camps in the bush. 3. The shelters

a. provide children with food.

b. are a safe place for children to stay. c. are guarded by government troops. 4. The war in Uganda has lasted so long that a. it has completely destroyed society.

b. there is little hope of returning to a normal life. c. people will have to stay in camps forever.

4

Vocabulary 1 Descriptions

Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to form descriptions from the text.

1. a mud a. building 2. a sandy b. tent 3. a concrete c. hut 4. a canvas d. shelter 5. an extended e. track 6. a crowded f. family

Level 1

Intermediate

5

Vocabulary 2 Word building

Complete the table. Check your answers in the text.

Noun (person) Noun (thing) 1. governor _____________ 2. rebel _____________ 3. abductor _____________ 4. slave _____________ 5. child _____________ 6. farmer _____________

6

Vocabulary 3 Find the wrong word

Cross out the word or phrase that CAN’T complete the sentence. The first one is done for you.

1. The children are dressed in rags / torches / flip-flops. 2. Some children carry tracks / sacks / blankets. 3. Villagers fear wardens / thugs / rebels.

4. The rebels use children as soldiers / slaves / victims. 5. Shelters are safe / desperate / crowded.

6. Some children are full / scared / upset.

7. Children need alcoholism / affection / protection.

8. In northern Uganda, the society is damaged / destroyed / murdered by war.

7

Discussion

Of all the problems in Uganda, which do you think is the most serious of all? Why? What could be done to help solve it?

•

KEY

1 Key Words

2 Find the information

1. Uganda 2. in Africa

3. the Lord’s Resistance Army / a rebel group 4. in 2002 5. 40,000 6. a (civil) war

3 Comprehension check

4 Vocabulary 1 Descriptions

5 Vocabulary 2 Word building

1. government 2. rebellion 3. abduction 4. slavery 5. childhood 6. farmland

6 Vocabulary 3 Find the wrong word

1. torches 2. tracks 3. wardens 4. victims 5. desperate 6. full 7. alcoholism 8. murdered

Level 1

Intermediate

Level 3

Advanced

1

Pre-reading 1

Look at the headline. What do you think the article will be about?

2

Pre-reading 2 Key Words

Predict the meaning of these words from the text by matching them with the definitions.

a polytunnel a dozen a walking frame to witness something defiance to cheer somebody on to object to something to descend on (a place) to spring up a migrant

1. to say that you disagree with something 2. to see something happen

3. an open refusal to obey; a strong protest

4. to encourage somebody to continue what they are doing 5. twelve, or about twelve

6. someone who moves to another country to work or live 7. to appear suddenly and unexpectedly, as if by magic 8. a metal support that helps old or disabled people to move 9. a long, transparent polythene cover to protect growing plants, tall enough for people to work inside

10. to arrive somewhere in large numbers

Now read the first four paragraphs and see if you were right.

No strawberries and cream for fruit pickers

1 _{When Val Salisbury walked down her lane in Herefordshire, in southern England, and into a giant plastic}

polytunnel where dozens of Ukrainians, Lithuanians and other east Europeans were picking strawberries, the workers were surprised. She was, after all, a 69-year-old Englishwoman using a walking frame. But when she started pulling up the plants and throwing them to the ground, they realised why she was there.

2 _{Mrs Salisbury herself was surprised by what the east Europeans did next. According to some of the people}

who witnessed her act of defiance against S&A Davies, Europe’s largest strawberry grower, the workers started clapping, and then cheered her on. By the time the farm manager had arrived, Mrs Salisbury was a hero. A hero, not just for those people in the county of Herefordshire who object to thousands of acres of plastic-covered farmland, but also to an army of workers from all over eastern Europe who pick fruit for British supermarkets.

• 3 _{“I felt so much better after my protest,” said Mrs Salisbury last weekend. “We don’t need these bloody}

strawberries and these polytunnels in Herefordshire”.

4 _{Welcome to the English strawberry fields, where the beginning of summer sees at least 5,000 people from}

eastern Europe descend on Herefordshire and Worcestershire to pick fruit. This year two villages, each of more than 1,700 people, have sprung up without planning permission, each with 400 or more caravans, football pitches, internet cafes and even saunas. The pickers are welcomed by the majority of local people, but there is concern that the migrant labour force is being exploited. Last weekend an informal survey of 50 people working in the tunnels suggested that many pickers are as angry as Mrs Salisbury. Those who spoke English said they were being paid less than they expected, that they had to wait for payment, that the accommodation was expensive, that they had paid too much to get there, and that the management were profiting excessively from their stay.

5 _{“In Lithuania I earn two hundred pounds a month,” said Mindaugas, a Vilnius policeman. “I thought I could}

earn more here. It looks like I am not going to. It cost more than I thought to get here; it costs more to live.”

6 _{“None of us like strawberry picking,” said Svetlana, a Ukrainian student. “Today I have earned £23. But}

I must pay £35 a week to live in a box with three other people. Perhaps I earn £150 in a week, but when I have paid for food, accommodation, tax, everything, maybe I have £70 for a six days. It’s not good”.

7 _{“The money is bad,” said Artur, a waiter from the Czech Republic. “We waited days to have work. Last year}

we heard there was a strike here; perhaps there will be one this year, too. It is like a prison. I have been given a yellow card already. One more and I am sent home.”

8 _{Documents drawn up by S&A Davies and seen by the Guardian set out the terms and conditions for workers,}

who live four or five to a room. They must pay £26.25 a week for accommodation, £3 a week for sewage and waste collection, £2.25 for electricity and £2.75 for leisure facilities, including a TV set, football pitch and disco. For £30, they have access to medical and translation advice.

9 _{The documents state that pickers can be sacked for eating a single strawberry, for stopping work, going to}

the toilet in a hedge, or for smoking indoors. If rooms are not “clean and tidy”, the workers can be asked to leave. If they want to invite a visitor to the camp, they must ask permission two days in advance. “I have never been anywhere like this,” said Irynya, a Ukrainian housewife. The company said they guaranteed pickers £5.05 an hour when there was work, and a bonus if they met targets. But they said that at the start of the season or in bad weather they could not guarantee hours. “When 3,500 people turn up, it’s hard to get everyone going at the same time. We reduced the accommodation charge to £10 when it was raining, two weeks ago,” said Graham Neal, a manager with S&A Davies.

10 _{Mr Neal blamed agents in east European countries for sending them unsuitable workers. “The old student}

agriculture workers quota scheme meant we could go to an east European university and know people’s history and character. We had superb people. Now the government says that we must recruit EU people. Some countries ... have sent over their unemployed drunks,” he said.

11 _{As a final irony, the east Europeans cannot afford to buy the fruit they pick. “Yes, we like strawberries but we}

cannot pay for them,” said Linas Petraitis, a Ukrainian buying cheap white bread and margarine in the local supermarket. “When you eat one, just think of us in the tunnels.”

3

Post-reading Point of view

Do you think the writer sympathizes more with the workers or with the management of the strawberry farm? Why?

4

Detailed comprehension

Are the following statements true or false?

1. Mrs Salisbury was fit and healthy.

2. She didn’t want the countryside covered with plastic. 3. None of the local people agree with her.

4. The workers were angry that she was destroying their work. 5. There is nothing for the workers to do in their free time.

6. Some local people think the management are making an unfair profit out of the workers. 7. The migrants’ working conditions are severe.

8. Doctors and interpreters are provided free. 9. There is not always enough work for everyone.

10.The S&A Davies manager is critical of all European workers.

5

Vocabulary 1 Word search

Find words in paragraphs 7-10 that mean:

1. When workers refuse to work, to protest about their conditions (7)

2. A sign or warning (originally from football) that you have done something wrong, and may be dismissed (7)

3. Waste material from the toilet (7) 4. Dismissed (8)

5. Promised (to pay) (8) 6. Reached the totals set (8)

7. A number that is officially permitted (9) 8. Find and employ ((9)

9. A strange or funny situation where things happen in the opposite way to what you would expect (10)

•

6

Vocabulary 2 Phrasal Verbs

1. See if you can remember the missing particles in these phrasal verbs.

1. pulling the plants 2. cheered her

3. descend Hertfordshire 4. two villages have sprung

5. documents drawn by S&A Davies 6. set the terms and conditions 7. when 3,500 people turn

2. Now match numbers 1, 5, 6 and 7 to these definitions:

a) prepared and written b) explained clearly in writing c) arrive (sometimes unexpectedly) d) removing, roots and all

3. Check your answers in the text.

7

Interpretation and discussion

1. Do you agree with the idea of richer countries importing workers from poorer countries to do manual jobs? If so, under what circumstances and conditions?

2. With a partner, take the roles of: A. a migrant worker

B. the manager of the fruit farm

Try to reach an agreement about wages and conditions.

Key:

2. Pre-reading 2 Key Words

1. to object to sth 2. to witness sth 3. defiance 4. to cheer sb on 5. a dozen 6. a migrant 7. to spring up 8. a walking frame 9. a polytunnel 10. to descend on (a place)

3. Post-reading Point of view

The writer appears to sympathize more with the workers. He gives lots of space to various individual workers, their complaints, and the unpleasant condi-tions of their contracts. He gives much less space to the manager, and gives the last word to one of the workers, repeating and explaining the point made in the title.

4. Detailed Comprehension

1. False; she used a walking frame 2. True

3. False; ‘a hero not just for those people in

Herefordshire who object…’

4. False; ‘the workers started clapping, and then

cheered her on’

5. False; ‘football pitches, internet cafes and even

saunas’.

6. True 7. True

8. False; ‘for £30 they have access to medical and

translation advice’

9. True

10.False; ‘We had superb people. Now ... Some

countries ... have sent over their unemployed

drunks’

5. Vocabulary 1 Word Search

1. a strike 2. a yellow card 3. sewage 4. sacked 5. guaranteed 6. met targets 7. (a) quota 8. (to) recruit 9. (an) irony 10. a strike

6. Vocabulary 2 Phrasal Verbs

1. 1. pulling up the plants

2. cheered her on

3. descend on Hertfordshire 4. two villages have sprung up 5. documents drawn up by S&A Davies 6. set out the terms and conditions 7. when 3,500 people turn up

2. 1-d; 5-a; 6-b; 7-c

•

Level 1

Elementary

1

Pre-reading 1

Look at the title. What do you think the article is about?

a. The fact that strawberry pickers are not allowed to eat when working.

b. The fact that strawberry pickers are not paid a lot of money for the work they do.

Now read the first two paragraphs and see if you were right.

2

Pre-reading 2 Key Words

See if you can guess the meaning of these words from the text by matching them with the definitions.

to clap to cheer a yellow card a contract leisure facilities a migrant to afford

1. is a piece of paper that two or more people sign to show that they agree to do something (usually concerning work).

2. is to shout loudly to show that you are happy about something or somebody. 3. is someone who moves to another country to work or live.

4. is to hit your hands together, many times, to show that you think something is good. 5. is to have enough money to buy something.

6. (used in football) is a sign or warning that you have done something wrong. 7. are things you can use to help you enjoy your free time.

Now read the text quickly to check the words.

No strawberries and cream for fruit pickers

1 _{Val Salisbury lives in a country village in England. She loves the countryside, but just near her house there}

is a big strawberry farm. So now the fields are covered with very big pieces of plastic, called polytunnels, where the strawberries grow. And people have to work in the polytunnels, too. These workers come to England from eastern Europe every summer, to pick the strawberries for British supermarkets.

2 _{Mrs Salisbury was very angry about all the plastic, and she was also angry that the workers were badly}

paid. She wanted to show the farm company (S&A Davies, Europe’s largest strawberry grower) how she felt. So one day she walked into one of the polytunnels, and started pulling the strawberry plants out of the ground. The east Europeans understood why she was angry, and they clapped and cheered.

3 _{“I felt so much better after my protest,” said Mrs Salisbury last weekend. “We don’t need these strawberries}

4 _{Every year, at the beginning of summer, at least 5,000 people from eastern Europe arrive in south-west}

England to pick fruit. This year, two villages, with more than 1,700 people in each, have been built there. Each one has about 400 caravans, football pitches, internet cafes and even saunas. Most local people welcome the fruit-pickers, but some are afraid that the fruit company is making too much money out of them. Last weekend, a reporter interviewed 50 people working in the tunnels, and many were as angry as Mrs Salisbury. The workers who could speak English said that their conditions were terrible. They thought the company was making too much money from their stay.

5 _{“In Lithuania I earn 200 pounds a month,” said a policeman from Vilnius. “I thought I could earn more here.}

It looks like I am not going to. It cost more than I thought to get here; it costs more to live.”

6 _{“None of us like strawberry picking,” said a Ukrainian student. “Today I have earned 23 pounds. But I must}

pay 35 pounds a week to live in a box with three other people. Perhaps I earn 150 pounds in a week, but when I have paid for food, accommodation, tax, everything, maybe I have 70 pounds for a six days. It’s not good”.

7 _{“The money is bad,” said a waiter from the Czech Republic. “We waited days to have work … It is like a}

prison. I have been given a yellow card already. One more and I am sent home.”

8 _{The contracts S&A Davies gives the east Europeans make life hard for the workers. They have to pay}

£26.25 a week to live four or five in one room. They must pay £3 a week for toilets and waste collection, £2.25 for electricity, and £2.75 for leisure facilities, including a TV set, football pitch and disco. It costs them £30 to see a doctor or a translator.

9 _{The contracts say that the pickers can lose their jobs if they eat a single strawberry, stop work, or go to the}

toilet at the side of the field, or smoke indoors. If they want to have a visitor, they must ask permission two days in advance. “I have never been anywhere like this,” said a Ukrainian housewife.

10_{The company said they promised to pay pickers £5.05 an hour when there was work, and extra money if}

they picked a lot of strawberries. But they said that they could not promise full-time work for everyone at the start of the strawberry season. “When 3,500 people arrive, it’s hard to give everyone work at the same time. And when it was raining, two weeks ago, we only charged £10 for accommodation,” said Graham Neal, a manager with S&A Davies.

11_{The strange but sad thing is that the east Europeans cannot even afford to buy the fruit they pick. “Yes, we}

like strawberries but we cannot pay for them,” said a Ukrainian who was buying cheap white bread and margarine in the local supermarket. “The next time you eat one, just think of us in the tunnels.”

•

3

Reading for Information

Match the numbers (they are all in paragraphs 4-8):

£35 £70 5,000 £150 £200 4

1. How many foreign workers come to the strawberry farms every year? 2. How much does the policeman earn at home?

3. How much does the student earn each week? 4. How much rent does she pay?

5. How many people share her room? 6. How much does it cost to visit the doctor?

4

Vocabulary 1 Collocation

Match these word pairs from the article:

1 white a cafe 2 full-time b village 3 football c Europe 4 country d work 5 internet e paid 6 strawberry f bread 7 eastern g Republic 8 badly h money 9 Czech i pitch 10 extra j farm

Now read quickly to check.

5

Vocabulary 2 Word building

Find words in the text that match the description on the left. (The first has been done for you.)

1 somebody who grows (fruit or vegetables) is called - 2 somebody who manages (a company) is called - 3 somebody who picks (fruit or vegetables) is called - 4 somebody who works is called -

Level 1

Elementary

Now do the same with these words from the text. (The names for these people are not in the text):

5 Somebody who buys things is called - 6 Somebody who has a farm is called -

7 Somebody who is in prison is called - 8 Somebody who smokes is called - 9 Somebody who cleans is called - 10 Somebody who drinks is called -

6

Discussion

Do you think Mrs. Salisbury was right to pull up the strawberry plants? Why / why not?

Level 1

Elementary

•

Key

1. Pre-reading 1

The text is mainly about the fact that the workers are badly paid, though it’s also stated that they aren’t allowed to eat the strawberries (see paragraph 9).

2. Pre-reading 2 Key Words

1. a contract 2. to cheer 3. a migrant 4. to clap 5. to afford 6. a yellow card 7. leisure facilities

3. Reading for information

1. 5,000 2. £200 3. £150 4. £35 a week 5. 4 6. £30

(£ is the symbol for British pounds – also, GBP.)

4. Vocabulary 1 Collocation

5. Vocabulary 2 Word Building

1. (a grower) 2. a manager 3. a picker 4. a worker 5. (a buyer) 6. a farmer 7. a prisoner 8. a smoker 9. a cleaner 10.a drinker

Level 1

Elementary

Level 2

Intermediate

1

Pre-reading 1 Discussion

1. Have you ever had a job like picking fruit? Was it hard work? Did you enjoy it? 2. Look at the headline. What do you think the article will be about?

2

Pre-reading 2 Key Words

See if you can guess the meaning of these words from the text by matching them with the definitions.

a polytunnel a walking frame to complain to cheer a protest a strike a contract a migrant

1. is to say that you are not satisfied with something.

2. is a metal support that helps old or disabled people to move. 3. is a strong disagreement.

4. is to shout loudly to show that you are happy about something or somebody. 5. is a long, transparent polythene cover to protect growing plants,

tall enough for people to work inside.

6. is an agreement in writing, about work or business. 7. is someone who moves to another country to work or live. 8. is when the workers all stop work to show the management that they are not happy about their working conditions.

Now read the text quickly to check the words, and to see if your answer to question 1 2 was right.

No strawberries and cream for fruit pickers

1 _{Val Salisbury walked down her road in the English countryside and went into a giant plastic polytunnel.}

Inside, lots of people from eastern Europe were picking strawberries. The workers were surprised to see a 69-year-old Englishwoman using a walking frame come in. But when she started pulling the strawberry plants out of the ground, they began to understand that she was angry with the company they worked for.

2 _{Mrs Salisbury herself was surprised when the east Europeans clapped and cheered her act of protest against}

S&A Davies, Europe’s largest strawberry grower. By the time the farm manager had arrived, Mrs Salisbury was very popular. Popular, not just with the local people who don’t want large areas of farmland covered in plastic, but also with the workers from all over eastern Europe who pick fruit for British supermarkets.

3 _{“I felt so much better after my protest,” said Mrs Salisbury last weekend. “We don’t need these strawberries}

• 4 _{Every year, at the beginning of summer, at least 5,000 people from eastern Europe arrive in Herefordshire}

and Worcestershire to pick fruit. This year, two villages, with more than 1,700 people in each, have been built there. Each one has about 400 caravans, football pitches, internet cafes and even saunas. Most local people welcome the fruit-pickers, but some are afraid that the fruit company is treating the migrant workers unfairly to make money out of them. Last weekend, 50 people working in the tunnels were interviewed, and many seemed as angry as Mrs Salisbury. Those who could speak English complained about their conditions, and thought the company was making too much money from their stay.

5 _{“In Lithuania I earn 200 pounds a month,” said a policeman from Vilnius. “I thought I could earn more here.}

It looks like I am not going to. It cost more than I thought to get here; it costs more to live.”

6 _{“None of us like strawberry picking,” said a Ukrainian student. “Today I have earned 23 pounds. But I must}

pay 35 pounds a week to live in a box with three other people. Perhaps I earn 150 pounds in a week, but when I have paid for food, accommodation, tax, everything, maybe I have 70 pounds for a six days. It’s not good”.

7 _{“The money is bad,” said a waiter from the Czech Republic. “We waited days to have work. Last year we}

heard there was a strike here; perhaps there will be one this year, too. It is like a prison. I have been given a yellow card already. One more and I am sent home.”

8 _{The Guardian has seen the contracts S&A Davies gives the east Europeans. The rules and conditions are}

hard. The workers have to pay £26.25 a week to live four or five in one room. They must pay GBP3 a week for toilets and waste collection, £2.25 for electricity, and £2.75 for leisure facilities, including a TV set, football pitch and disco. For £30, they can get medical and translation advice.

9 _{The contracts say that pickers can lose their jobs for eating a single strawberry, for stopping work, for going to}

the toilet at the side of the field, or for smoking indoors. If their rooms are not “clean and tidy”, the workers can be asked to leave. If they want to invite a visitor to the camp, they must ask permission two days in advance. “I have never been anywhere like this,” said a Ukrainian housewife. The company said they promised to pay pickers £5.05 an hour when there was work, and extra money if they picked more than a set amount of strawberries. But they said that they could not promise full-time work for everyone at the start of the strawberry season, or in bad weather. “When 3,500 people arrive, it’s hard to give everyone work at the same time. We reduced the cost of accommodation to £10 when it was raining, two weeks ago,” said Graham Neal, a manager with S&A Davies.

10_{Mr Neal blamed agents in east European countries for sending the wrong kind of workers. “Under the old}

system, where fixed numbers of students came to do farm work, we could go to an east European university and get excellent people. Now the government says that we must take anyone from the EU. Some coun-tries ... have sent over their unemployed drunks,” he said.

11_{The strange but sad thing is that the east Europeans cannot even afford to buy the fruit they pick. “Yes, we}

like strawberries but we cannot pay for them,” said a Ukrainian who was buying cheap white bread and margarine in the local supermarket. “The next time you eat one, just think of us in the tunnels.”

3

Reading for Information

Find the numbers (they are all in paragraphs 4-8).

1. How many foreign workers come to the strawberry farms every year? 2. How much does the policeman earn at home?

3. How much does the student earn each week? 4. How much rent does she pay?

5. How many people share her room? 6. How much does it cost to see the doctor?

4

Vocabulary 1 Find the word

Find words in the article that match the definitions. Use the paragraph numbers (in brackets) to help you.

1. Hit their hands together, many times, to show that they think something is good (2) 2. A sign or warning (used in football) that you have done something wrong (7) 3. Things you can use to help you enjoy your free time (8) 4. Made (it) less (9)

5. Says or thinks that somebody is responsible for something bad (10)

6. People who have no work, and drink too much alcohol (10) 7. To have enough money to buy something (11)

5

Vocabulary 2 Collocation

See if you can remember the missing propositions. Use the paragraph numbers (in brackets) to help you.

1. angry somebody (1) 2. work somebody (1) 3. complain something (4) 4. pay something (6, 8 and 10) 5. advance (9)

6. the same time (9) 7. the cost something (9)

8. blame somebody something (10)

Now quickly read the article to check.

•

6

Word order

Put the words in these sentences in the right order:

1. could / thought / more / I / much / earn / here / I / money

2. never / anywhere / have / this / like / been / I

3. strawberries / them / like / pay / but / cannot / we / for / we

4. time / you / the / one / eat / next

5. of / think / us / tunnels / just / the / in

Now read the text quickly to check.

7

Discussion

Do you think Mrs Salisbury was right to pull up the strawberry plants? Why / why not?

Key:

2. Pre-reading 2: Key words:

1. to complain 2. a walking frame 3. a protest 4. to cheer. 5. A polytunnel 6. a contract 7. a migrant 8. a strike

3. Reading for Information:

1. 5,000 2. £200 3. £150 4. £35 a week 5. 4 6. £30

(£ is the symbol for British pounds – GBP)

4. Vocabulary 1 – Find the Word

1. to clap 2. a yellow card 3. leisure facilities 4. to reduce 5. to blame somebody 6. unemployed drunks 7. to afford

5. Vocabulary 2 – Collocation:

6. Word Order

1. I thought I could earn much more money here. 2. I have never been anywhere like this.

3. We like strawberries but we cannot pay for them. 4. The next time you eat one …

5. Just think of us in the polytunnels.

•

Level 1

Elementary

1

Key vocabulary

Fill the gaps using these key words from the text.

pirate armed cabin safe (n) grenade navy cargo crew target chaos

1. A is a small bomb that someone throws or fires from a gun.

2. The people who work on a ship are called the ship’s .

3. If someone is , they are carrying a weapon, usually a gun. 4. is a situation where everything is confused and in a mess. 5. The things that a ship carries are called its .

6. A is a strong metal box with a lock used to store valuable things and money.

7. A is someone who attacks ships while they are sailing in order to steal things from them. 8. The is the part of a country’s armed forces that fights at sea.

9. A is a private room on a ship.

10. A is something that someone plans to attack.

2

Find the information

Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible:

1. Where do most modern-day pirate attacks happen? 2. How many pirate attacks have happened since 1992? 3. How many people have died in these attacks? 4. When was the ‘golden age’ of the pirates? 5. What percentage of world trade goes by sea?

6. How much did the pirates steal from Captain Newton’s ship?

Return of the Pirates

A large container ship was sailing across the South China Sea on its way to New Zealand. It was evening and Captain Peter Newton was in his cabin. As the ship passed the Indonesian island of Bintan, nine armed men came into Captain Newton’s cabin. They held a knife against his neck and tied his hands with rope. The gang leader told him to open the ship’s safe. The pirates took the $20,000 they found in the safe and used a rope to leave the ship.

There are many Hollywood films about pirates but now real-life pirates are very active again. During the last ten years attacks by modern pirates have increased by 168%. Since the attack on Captain Newton’s ship in 1992, there have been 3,583 attacks by pirates around the world, and 340 people have died in these attacks. Last November, a cruise liner called Seabourn Spirit was attacked off the coast of Somalia. The pirates who attacked the ship used grenades.

The 17th century was the golden age of the pirates. European countries colonised the Caribbean and pirates such as Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach and ‘Calico’ Jack Rackham attacked trading ships. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the navies of the great powers controlled the seas and attacks by pirates were rare. But now pirate attacks are on the increase again. There are two main reasons. Firstly, shipping companies are trying to save money so they do not spend much money on security. Secondly, there is no international law to control pirates.

Most modern-day pirate attacks happen in the South China Sea. More than a third of last year’s 266 reported pirate attacks happened there. The seas around lawless countries are particularly dangerous. The Indian Ocean coast of Somalia has had a lot of pirate attacks.

Modern pirates use inside information, satellite phones and tracking technology to plan attacks on ships with valuable cargo. They attack the ships using ropes and special hooks. It is very difficult to climb onto a moving ship and some experts believe that many pirates have had military training. Captain Newton says that pirate attacks are increasing because there is almost no danger for the pirates.

‘Our ships don’t have armed guards and nobody is going to come after you because you are in international waters,’ he says. ‘As soon as pirates are on your ship, there is nothing you can do if they are armed and you are not.’ The pirates feel safe because many shipping companies do not report pirate attacks. They think it is cheaper to lose $20,000 in cash than to pay much more money for insurance. In October 2002, there was a suicide attack on a French oil tanker in Yemen. After that the cost of insurance increased by 300% for ships entering Yemeni waters.

Navy vessels sometimes keep pirates away but they do not often arrest them in international waters. The US navy recently arrested some pirates who attacked a Thai fishing vessel off the coast of Somalia, but had to free the men because neither the Thai government nor any other government wanted to put them on trial. Shipping companies are trying to save money and now there are only 20–24 crew members on modern container ships. Usually, just two crew members sail the ship at night. Sometimes only five or six people are up and working on a ship which is the size of two football pitches. This means that the risk of a pirate attack is very great.

There has been an increase in pirate attacks in oceans with a lot of warships. There were no attacks in Iraqi waters in 2004, but last year there were 10 attacks on oil tankers and cargo vessels near Basra. Ships are easy targets for terrorists. Attacks in a key area like the Suez Canal could cause chaos. About 90% of world trade goes by sea. ‘Piracy isn’t fantasy,’ says Andrew Linington of the ship officers’ union in London. ‘It is happening every week. It is an advertisement to terrorists that it is easy to attack ships.’

3

Comprehension check

Match the beginnings and endings of the sentences.

1. There is almost no danger for the pirates because … 2. Shipping companies do not report pirate attacks because …

3. Some experts believe many pirates have had military training because … 4. The South China Sea is dangerous for ships because …

5. Shipping companies do not spend much money on security because … 6. Navy ships often do not arrest pirates because …

•

a. it is very difficult to climb onto a moving ship. b. they are trying to save money.

c. they are in international waters. d. ships do not have armed guards.

e. more than one third of pirate attacks last year happened there. f. they do not want to pay more money for insurance.

4

Sequence of events

These sentences tell the story of what happened to Captain Newton’s ship (paragraph 1). Put them in the correct order. Check your answers in the text.

a. They tied his hands with rope. b. Captain Newton was in his cabin. c. They used a rope to leave the ship. d. They told him to open the safe. e. They held a knife against his neck. f. They took the money from the safe. g. Nine armed pirates came into the cabin.

5

Vocabulary – ships

Find the words in the text that are used with these words:

6

Vocabulary – prepositions

Fill the gaps using prepositions.

Level 1

Elementary

1. sail the South China Sea

2. to increase 300%

3. pirate attacks are the increase

4. spend money security

5. attacks ships

6 to put someone trial

7. 90% of world trade goes sea 8. the coast of Somalia

KEY

1 Key vocabulary

2 Find the information

1. the South China Sea 2. 3,583 3. 340 4. the 17th century 5. 90% 6. $20,000

3 Comprehension check

4 Sequence of events

5 Vocabulary – ships

6 Vocabulary – prepositions

Level 1

Elementary

•

Level 2

Intermediate

1

Key vocabulary

Fill the gaps using these key words from the text.

machete ambush secluded decline jurisdiction risk free detain vulnerable non lethal cost-cutting

1. A place is private and peaceful and not near other people or places.

2. If something is , it does not involve any danger.

3. If something it gets smaller, less effective or weaker.

4. If you someone, you keep them under arrest.

5. If you someone, you attack them after hiding and waiting for them.

6. If something is it will not kill you.

7. is the process of taking certain actions to reduce the costs of a business.

8. is the right or power to make legal decisions.

9. A is a large knife with a long wide blade used as a weapon or tool. 10. If something is , it is weak or easy to attack.

2

Find the information

Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible:

1. Which area is the centre of modern-day piracy?

2. How many pirate attacks have been reported since 1992? 3. How many people have died in these attacks?

4. When was the ‘golden age’ of piracy?

5. What percentage of world trade is carried by sea?

6. How much do Filipino crew members on container ships earn each month?

The Return of the Pirates

A large container ship, the Australian Star, was sailing across the South China Sea on its way to New Zealand. It was evening and Captain Peter Newton had returned to his cabin. As the ship passed the Indonesian island of Bintan, nine armed men burst into Captain Newton’s cabin. They held a machete to his neck and tied his hands with rope. The gang leader told him that if he didn’t open the ship’s safe – or if he set off its alarm – they would kill him. When the pirates had taken the $20,000 they found in the safe, they used a rope to leave the ship and climb down to their boat.

Pirates have always had a glamorous image. Hollywood loves to make films about pirates but now real-life pirates are more active than ever before. Over the last ten years attacks by modern pirates have increased by 168%. Since Captain Newton was attacked in 1992, there have been 3,583 piratical attacks reported worldwide, causing 340 deaths. Last November, a ship called Seabourn Spirit was ambushed off the coast of Somalia. The pirates who attacked the ship were armed with rocket-propelled grenades.