AMERICA'S DRIVE-IN MOVIE

THEATERS
Is there anything more American than the "drive-in"? The
"drive-in" or "drive-thru" is part of America's twentieth century cultu
re; and no "drive-in" in more classically American than the drive-in
movie theater. But for years, the number of drive-in theaters in the USA
has been falling. How long will they last?

They were a cultural icon, a classic

product of twentieth century lifestyle; movie theaters where you just drove up, paid a few bucks,
parked facing the screen, relaxed in your car, and waited for the movie to begin.
In the mid fifties, when drive-in theaters were at their most popular, there were over
5000 of them spread all across the USA. It was the age of the American Dream, of James Dean
and the young Elvis Presley, a time before anyone had heard of Vietnam, smog, inner cities or
color TV.
The "automobile" was king, a symbol of the new-found freedoms of the great American

middle class. The American dream was to live in a nice house in a friendly suburb, with a large
comfortable automobile or two parked in the driveway; and the automobile was there to be used.
Drive-in movie theaters originated in the eastern USA in the 1930's; in those days the
quality of movies was not terribly polished, so people tended not to worry about poor quality
sound and images that
flickered on the vast outdoor screens in front of them. Often, it wasn't much better in indoor
movie theaters. Moreover the drive-ins had advantages that indoor theaters did not have; you
didn't get disturbed by the person next to you, and you could go as you pleased. In those days,
people dressed up to go to the movies in town; there was no dressing up for drive-ins.
From the end of the Second World War, until the mid sixties, drive-ins lived their glory
years. They got bigger and smarter, and the sound quality improved markedly. In the early years,
the sound had come from huge loudspeakers placed below the screen; by the fifties, the system
of individual sound for each car had become the norm, and all you had to do was to roll down the
window and hook the small loudspeaker over it. If there were too many mosquitos, you could
even pull the speaker right into the car, and roll the window up again.
Movie theaters were changing; but so was American society. By 1965, the American Dream was
beginning to show some cracks. Once color television arrived, the writing was on the wall for
thousands of U.S. movie-theaters, both drive-ins and indoor cinemas. With an escalating
crime rate and rising fears of violence, more and more Americans decided that it was better not to
go out in the evening at all.
; Drive-in movie theaters were also suffering from commercial pressures; some went out of
business, unable to compete with the flexibility and comfort of new suburban multiplex cinemas but many profitable theaters closed too. As towns and cities expanded, large suburban sites
became valuable real estate, and few owners could resist multi-million dollar offers to sell out to
supermarket chains or business corporations. Over 1,000 drive-ins closed during the 1970's; over
2,000 followed in the next decade; by the time 1990 arrived, there were less than 1,000 drive-in
screens across the USA, and few people thought that there would be any left at all by the end of
the century.
Yet things have not happened that way. Today, in 2009, there are still almost 500 drive-in theaters
in the USA; only about 100 screens disappeared in the 1990's, and new screens are now
appearing, particularly in states where suburban real estate values have not escalated too far.
Ohio, for instance, still has almost over 30 drive-in theaters!
Today's theater owners have learned to market their assets more effectively; instead of
remaining empty during the day time, theater parking lots are now used for flea markets, open
air sales, and other activities.
Technology has come to the drive-in too; the modern drive-in uses a low-frequency FM radio
sound system, and viewers simply tune their car radio to the right channel, and listen to the
soundtrack using their own hi-fi system. Given the quality of the sound systems in some cars
these days, there is a new breed of drive-in theater fans who come along to enjoy their own incar sound systems. Watching the recent movie Twister with the advantage of a quadriphonic
megawatt in-car hi-fi was, it is said, quite an experience - especially on a windy night with
lightening flashing in the distance!
Many movie-goers, however, come along just for the fun, or the nostalgia, of watching a movie in
a different sort of environment, under a star-lit sky, and in the comfort of their car! They can
smoke if they want to, drink coffee, or order a pizza or a burger; food and drink are available in
today's drive-ins, providing another plus that indoor theaters cannot offer... and that too is helping
drive-ins to survive.

It is still possible to visit a drive-in movie theater in the USA, but how long will they last? Watching
a move from the back of a 1962 Cadillac convertible was one thing; doing so from the back of a
Honda Civic is not the same experience !

WORDS:
buck: dollar - smog: a mixture of smoke and fog, pollution - driveway: access to a
house - flicker: jump around - improve:get better - mosquito: insect that stings
- rate: level - multiplex: with several screens - real estate: land, property
-escalate: rise, go up - asset: something that is positive - parking lot: car park - flea
market: place where people sell old things they don't want - breed: race WORKSHEET

AMERICA' DRIVE IN MOVIE

THEATERS
Comprehension: true/false exercise:

Read the article and decide if these statements are true or false: justify your answer by quoting
from the text.
1. The drive-in movie theater was invented before color television
2. People liked the original drive-ins because the quality of the pictures was so good.
3. In the 1930's people usually put on smart clothes if they went to the movies in town.
4. The original drive-ins had individual loud-speaker systems for each car.
5. The rise in street crime contributed to the falling fortunes of drive-in movie theaters.
6. The owners of many drive-in movie theaters opened supermarkets in their place.
7. The 1970's were the worst decade in the history of drive-in movie theaters.
8. Today, drive-in movie theaters tend to be used for other things during daylight hours.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------New words:

Advanced level English

American society

America's Teenage courts

Where teenagers are judged by others of the same age group
In the small city of Odessa, western Texas, local judicial authorities have reinterpreted the
old legal principle that offenders should be tried by a jury of their peers. Odessa's "Teen
Court" is one of over a thousand such courts in the USA, where teens themselves
are responsible for trying and sentencing teenage offenders. And the results are very
encouraging..

The teen court in

Odessa, Texas.

In the year 1215, the Norman barons of England drew up an ultimatum that they
presented to King John and forced him to sign. Among other things, the document,
called Magna Carta, the great charter, formally recognized basic human rights, and reestablished one of the fundamental principles of English law that a man should be
judged by his peers, or equals. Trial by a jury has been a key feature of English law ever
since.
When Thomas Jefferson and others drew up the American Declaration of
Independence in 1776, one of the complaints that they made was that the King of
4

England had deprived Americans of their right to trial by jury. Twelve years later, this
right was enshrined in Article III of the new Constitution of the United States, where it
has remained ever since.
But what is a jury of equals? Is a teenager, faced with a jury composed of people his
parents' age, being judged by his peers? Most teens would answer "no".
The idea of "teen courts" has been around in the USA for many years. It was in the
1980s in Odessa that the Teen Court was first suggested. Realizing that many teenage
offenders were alienated by a justice system organized and controlled by people of a
different generation, the court in Odessa decided to let offenders opt to be tried by other
teenagers.
Many thousands of teens have since been tried by their peers in Odessa, and almost
all agree that it was the right thing to do. Statistics confirm this, as rates
of recidivism among teens tried in different Teen Courts are under 5% (compared to up
to 50% with normal courts).
Odessa's Teen Court is one of many now operating in the state of Texas, which in
1990 became the first American state to establish a state-wide organization to develop
teen courts. Until the 1990s, the number of new courts increased slowly; but since the
millennium, hundreds more cities all across the USA have seen that the system works,
and have introduced it in their own community. In 2007, the idea crossed the Atlantic,
with the opening of the first teen court in England, in Preston, Lancashire.
Teen courts operate in just the same way as a real court, the major difference being
that the only professional in the process is the judge. Run by volunteers, the court sits
every Tuesday evening under the control of a local judge, also a volunteer; proceedings
are conducted as in a real court, with teenagers taking the roles ofprosecution and
defense: a panel of teens sits as jury, and it is they who propose the sentence they
consider to be appropriate.
While there is no possibility of an Odessa teen jury fining an offender or sending him
or her to prison, there is a range of punishments available, including community service,
driving classes, counseling and also jury service in the Teen Court. The range of
sentences available reflects the type of offenses referred to the court, minor misdeeds
such as traffic violations, (including speeding), fighting, vandalism and intoxication.
Furthermore, the Court only has the right to judge other teens who have (a) decided to
plead guilty, and (b) agreed to be tried by their peers.
Most other Teen Courts that have been set up operate with similar restrictions, though
some, more controversially, have been given powers to determine guilt or innocence in
certain cases, and even recommend detention.
Teens who opt for trial by the Teen Court, thinking that it will be a soft option, are
generally surprised. A Los Angeles teen jury recently sentenced 14-year old Michael C.
to 600 hours (!) of community service for stealing a car stereo. Judge Jamie Corral,
presiding, reduced the sentence to 200 hours, but Michael still had to spend a lot of his
free time for six months doing community service as a gardener at Abraham Lincoln High
School. "I didn't expect them to be so hard on me, but I deserved it," he said afterwards.
In 2015, there are well over 1000 teen courts in operation across the United States,
and the number is increasing month by month. Teens, judges and community leaders all
agree that the system is good, and especially good at stopping young offenders going
any further down the road to a life of crime. Evidence shows that young offenders are
5

much more receptive to warnings and reprimands and punishments delivered by their
peers, than to those delivered by "the authorities".
Finally, it is not only teens who are benefitting from the Teen Court. In Odessa,
teenage offenders have now contributed over 100,000 hours of community service to the
city and to volunteer organizations since the Teen Court was first set up, something that
has not gone unnoticed by local residents. "Because of these youth giving the community
service hours back to the City of Odessa, they have become an effective part of our
community," says Tammy Hawkins, the project's coordinator. "We have found that the
kids that are active in the Teen Court Program have less of a desire to drop out of school.
They've found a purpose in their lives, and in their own neighborhoods they feel safer
because they are becoming an active part of the community."

WORDS
offender: minor criminal - to try: to judge - peer: person of similar situation deprive
of : take away something - enshrined: included - alienated : marginalized recidivism: reoffending, committing the same crime again - process: system (this word
has no judicial meaning) - prosecution: lawyers who accuse - fine: impose a financial
punishment - guilty: opposite of "innocence" -

Teachers section : Using this article in class

1 Words: This text contains a good selection of the basic vocabulary of the law court.
Have students pick out all the legal vocabulary, and explain it where necessary. Note that
the word "process" does not have any specific legal meaning. It does not mean "trial".
Words to find: judicial, legal, offender, offense, try, sentence, rights, principles, law,
jury, to judge, justice system, recidivism, court, judge, jury, prosecution, defense,
sentence, to fine, to plead guilty, to determine guilt or innocence, detention.
2 Word search answers:
final warning (ultimatum)
to take something away from someone (deprive)
choose (opt)
six (half a dozen).
a penalty ordered by a court (sentence)
the act of damaging property (vandalism)
established (set up)
people living nearby (local residents)
up to the present time (so far)
a reason for living (a purpose in their lives)
3 Article structure: This article is divided into 4 sections. Have students determine the
three breaks. What are the four different sections?
(Paras 1-3, introduction: paras 4-6 zoom in on Odessa ; paras 7-9, development of the
core subject. Para. 10-12 : conclusion (appreciation).)

4 Synopsis: have students reduce each of the above-determined sections to a single

sentence of at least 30 words
5 Free expression: have students say, in about 400 words, why they think the Teen
Court system is good or bad.
6 Role Play: Conduct sessions of the teen court in class. You will need the following
roles.
An offender ("Johnny" has "borrowed" a car for an evening / Janice (16) was drunk in
the town center / Steve drove his motorbike too fast in the town center / Martha was
caught picking a big bunch of flowers in a public garden.... or use your imagination!)
A presiding judge (or two)
One or two lawyers for the defense
One or two prosecuting lawyers.
Two witnesses (one for prosecution, 1 for defense)
A jury of two or three.
Procedure: Divide class into groups of four, and get each group to imagine details of a
supposed offense, and write them down. In due course, each group will present its
scenario to the class, and the best one(s) will be selected as role plays.
Remember, this Teen Court cannot determine guilt and innocence. Its aim is to
determine the seriousness of the offense, to see if there are mitigating circumstances,
and pass judgement in function.
Teams of 5 to 8 students should then prepare the role play, after distributing the roles
(except the jury, who will be selected from a different group). For maximum authenticity,
prosecution (+ witness), defense (+witness) and judges should prepare their roles
separately.
After allowing sufficient time for preparation, conduct a session of the teen court in
class. Allow 15 to 20 minutes per case longer if it really gets going well!

Advanced level English

Sport - Adventure

The Yukon Quest

A thousand-mile race that's said to be the toughest race in the
world
Each year, in the middle of February, up to thirty-five teams of men and animals set out from
the town of Fairbanks, Alaska, or from Whitehorse, Canada, at the start of what is described
as the "toughest race in the world". The Yukon Quest is the most exciting of several North
American dog-sled races, taking participants over a gruelling 1000 mile course through
Alaska and northern Canada..

Crossing Alaska.

Imagine mushing along broken snowy trails behind some of the toughest, surefooted little athletes in the world; the only sounds to be heard are those of crunching
snow, the hiss of the sled'srunners, and the puffing of the team of dogs out front. This is
life on the Yukon Quest, a ten-to-fourteen day dog-sled race across one of the coldest
parts of the world - the northern parts of North America.
As the teams battle across the frozen wastes, temperatures can vary from freezing on
the warmest of days, down to -62C if cold weather really sets in. Hard packed snow,
8

rough gravel, frozen rivers and mountain terrain can make the trail fast at times, or else
slow to acrawl.
There are other long-distance sled-dog races; but none quite like the Yukon Quest,
which follows a trail across some of the most sparsely populated and undeveloped
terrain in North America. Named after the Yukon river, the Quest takes teams from
Fairbanks, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Canada in even-numbered years, and the other way
round over the same route in odd-numbered years - a trail once followed by miners and
trappers on their way to and from the icy North.
Teams come from all over North America to take part in this the hardest of sled-dog
races. Depending on the year, up to 35 teams take part - each team being composed of
a "musher" and up to 14 dogs.
Training for the race is long and hard, and the teams that start out on the Quest in mid
February have been training since August. Dogs and men have to be in tip-top condition,
to confront the 1000 miles of the race, which take them almost up to the Arctic Circle.
Running 1000 miles - about the same as running 3 marathons a day for 11 days in a
row - would be impossible for humans; but this is the challenge that faces the dogs. In
order to cover up to 100 miles some days, much of the time in darkness, the teams
generally alternate six to eight hour periods of running and resting - mushers sleeping on
their sleds, the dogs in the snow.
Since the race was first run in 1984, teams and equipment have improved; in 1984,
the winning team completed the race in just 12 days. For the next twenty-five years,
winning times were mostly ten or eleven days, depending on the weather conditions. But
then, in 2009 Canadian musher Sebastian Schnuelle first finished in less than 10 days;
then five years later American musher Allen Moore had a winning time of under 8 days
and 15 hours.
Though physical fitness is of paramount importance both for dogs and mushers, a
musher needs to know his dogs perfectly before taking them out on such a gruelling test
of endurance. Performance, nutritional needs, stress symptoms and other aspects of the
dogs' physical and mental conditions need to be precisely assessed.
Starting with a maximum of 14 dogs, each musher has to reach the end with no fewer
than 6. Vets are on hand at check-points along the route to keep detailed track of each
animal's condition; but between check points, it's the musher himself who has the job of
making sure that his animals remain in good form. Blood tests, urine samples,
measurements of weight gain or loss and body temperature are all carefully examined, to
make sure that each animal remains fit and healthy. Dogs are constantly checked for
dehydration and fatigue - and if there is any doubt about an animal's ability to continue
the race or not, it is dropped off at the first available opportunity.
The interdependence between a musher and his animals is total - the
dogs relying totally on their musher to take care of them, and the musher depending
totally on the dogs to get the sled across the snowy miles, and ultimately to the distant
destination.
The Yukon Quest is probably not the only claimant to the title of "the toughest race in
the world". There can be few others however - if any at all - that can have such a valid
claim to this superlative.
WORDS
gruelling: demanding - to mush: to drive a dog-sled - trail: track (don't confuse
with trial ) - runners: the flat parts under a sled - wastes: empty terrain - set in: gets
9

established - gravel: small stones and sand - crawl:very slow pace - course: itinerary
- fit: in good form - paramount: primary - assess: analyse, judge - relypronounced
[ri'lai]: depend

Student worksheet
The Yukon Quest
Synonyms and expressions - Find the expressions, used in the text, that could be
rephrased using the following words. The expressions are in order.
1.

that can be heard

2.

the weather really gets cold.

3.

lightly inhabited

4.

in the opposite direction

5.

compete

6.

a maximum of 14

7.

days in a row -

8.

under eleven days

9.

precisely

10.

no fewer than 6.

11.

are present

10

12.

who has to make absolutely sure

13.

checked

14.

about whether an animal can

Advanced level English

Life in America

Wall Street Culture - the heart of America

For Americans, the most important street in the USA is Wall Street
In the United States of America, there are plenty of famous streets. But of all the streets in
world, there is one which is in the news every day: WALL STREET . This is the street on
which fortunes are made and lost. But more generally what goes on on the street is of vital
interest for most Americans..... and the rest of the world too. As they say, when Wall Street
sneezes, America catches cold.

The New York Stock Exchange,

on Wall Street.

11

Say "the streets of New York" to a non-American, and he'll probably think of Times
Square, Madison Avenue or Broadway; but mention the subject to an American and for
many the first name that comes to mind will be Wall Street.
For many, Wall Street is indeed just "the street", probably the most important street in
the USA or even in the world; for what goes on on Wall Street, more perhaps than what
goes on in Congress, can have a direct influence on the lives of everyone in the USA, if
not most people in the world.
Wall Street is of course the home of theNew York Stock Exchange, the financial heart
of the American business world. Each day, billions of dollars of shares are traded on the
floor of the stock exchange on behalf of companies, pension funds and private
individuals wanting to protect their investments or their life's savings, and make sure that
they too are on the bandwaggon of prosperity.

Wall Street's ups and downs affect

the lives of most Americans

The New York Stock Exchange is the biggest and most active stock exchange in the
world; over half of all adult Americans have some, if not all, of their savings invested
directly on Wall Street, so it is not surprising that thefluctuations of the Street's famous
indexes, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq, are followed daily by millions of ordinary
Americans. When the Dow and the Nasdaq are on a rise, millions of Americans feel more
prosperous; when they are falling, millions start feeling worried about their financial
security and their retirement years. Yet more importantly, when Wall Street booms it is a
sign that the American economy is booming, creating jobs and prosperity for people
throughout the nation; when Wall Street slumps for more than a short period, it is
because the American economy is slowing down, putting investment and jobs at risk.
Nevertheless, in spite of its periodic crashes and downturns, most Americans know
very well that by investing directly in the stock market, they are probably ensuring the
best
possible
long
term
return
on
their
investments.
Over time, direct investments on Wall Street have always done better than most other
forms of long-term placement, and logically speaking this is inevitable. Ultimately, most
forms of investment depend on the performance of the US economy in general, and by
12

investing directly on Wall Street, American investors are simply ensuring that they
personally take full advantage of the growth of the stock market, rather than share their
gains with banks, investment trusts or other intermediaries offering investment services.

CRASHES ON THE STREET

The risk of a crash on Wall Street is a reality that must always be borne in mind: Wall
Street "crashed" most spectacularly in the fall of 1929, when share values dropped over
50% in the space of a few days. By the time the fall bottomed out in 1932, over 80%
had been "wiped off" the value of shares on the American stock market, and the Great
Depression
had
begun.
Before 1929, as the stock market boomed, over a million Americans had been
speculating on the Street, borrowing money that they did not have in order to
buy shares for sale at a profit. When the crash came, hundreds of thousands of these
speculators, both individuals and companies, went bankrupt, causing immense distress
and
poverty.
More recently, Wall Street crashed in 2007 - 2008, almost triggering a collapse of the
world financial system. When the stock market eventually stopped falling in March 2009,
it had lost 54% of its value, and many people had lost their life's savings.
Previously in 1997, almost over a third of its value was wiped out in a few days; but
this time the consequences were less dramatic. While most Americans saw the value of
their savings tumble, few went bankrupt as a result.
In today's America, borrowing money solely for the purpose of speculating on Wall
Street is not a common habit, so the money that was "lost" in recent crashes was mostly
money that people owned themselves, not money that they owed to someone else.
One day no doubt, in some unforeseen future, Wall Street will crash spectacularly
again; but when that happens there will have to be both a cause and an effect. The
most likely cause will be a major world crisis; the most likely effect, given today's "global
economy", will be a major economic catastrophe around the world, perhaps similar to the
hyperinflation
that
affected
Germany
under
the
Weimar
republic.
If that happens, society as we know it will grind to a halt, and most forms of saving,
except perhaps gold andreal estate, will lose most of their value; until that day, Wall
Street will remain as one of the nerve centers of the global economy.
be on the bandwagon: be part of - bear in mind: remember - comes to mind: he
thinks of - distress: alarm -fluctuation: ups and downs - grind to a
halt: stop - likely: probable - on behalf of: for - plummet: fall
sharply- purpose: reason - real estate: land and buildings - retirement years: years
when one no longer works -share: investment, bond - slump: go downhill, fall
- solely: just - stock: share, investment - trade: buy and sell - tumble: fall

13

USA - Music

Mississippi Mus
ic
Though New York and Los Angeles are the current day
capitals of the American music industry, it is half way between the
two of them, in the MississippiValley, that the roots of American
popular music are to be found.

14

Elvis Presley - surely the most famous musician to have his roots in the Mississippi valley

There are six classic forms of American popular music; jazz, the blues, bluegrass,
soul, rock 'n' roll, and country and western.
With the exception of bluegrass and country and western, the Mississippi valley is the
birthplace of them all.
Like American culture in general, American music has evolved out of the different
traditions that reached the New World from the old. But out of all the different types of
music that reached the New World - from England, Ireland, Spain, France, Germany,
Africa and many other places - one was to have a particularly significant impact: African
music.
While European influences provided melody and a lyric tradition, African influences
added a new sense of rhythm and new harmonies, which were to give rise to several
new forms of music that were different from anything European.
New American forms of music developed among the slave communities working in the
cotton fields near the mouth of the Mississippi; Christianized slaves developed
gospel music and Negro Spirituals, which soon became popular far beyond the rural
states of the South.
Following emancipation, Blacks had much more opportunity to develop their musical
talents, and many did exactly that, adding instrumentation to the essentially vocal
tradition of the spiritual.
From the Spanish musical tradition they added the guitar, a popular instrument in the
15

southern states which had been originally colonized by the Spanish. From a more
general European tradition they added brass instruments such as trumpets, which were
popular with the marching bands used at all kinds of ceremonial events in the American
states.
It was thus in the late nineteenth century that two new forms of American music began
to develop, both of them in the Mississippi valley.
Firstly there was the blues. In the cotton-growing Delta region of the state of
Mississippi (not to be confused with the Mississippi Delta), the blues appeared in the
1870's, sometimes as a purely vocal tradition, at other times using the guitar as
accompaniment. It was a form of music through which poor exploited Blacks expressed
their sadness and their problems, their "blues". The sadness of the blues is evident both
in the music itself, and in the titles of countless popular blues songs, such as Poor Boy
Blues, Homesick Blues and many many others.

Traditional jazz band

Jazz, on the other hand, developed in and around New Orleans, as a type of music
for festive moments and dancing. The most famous jazzman of all, Louis Armstrong
(Satchmo) was born in New Orleans.
Both of these forms of music migrated up the Mississippi valley with the Blacks who
went north in search of work in the early twentieth century. Satchmo was one of them; he
went north, ending up in Chicago, where his "New Orleans Jazzmen" soon established a
national reputation, thanks to the development of both radio and the gramophone.
In the 1920's, many of the Blacks who migrated north went looking for jobs in the
booming American automobile industry, in and around Detroit, and it was here in
"Motown", i.e. mo(tor) town, that soul music and other new varieties evolved.
With the advent of radio and records, all varieties of black music became increasingly
popular. In the north Detroit became the capital of soul music; in the south New Orleans
remained the capital of jazz; and between the two, at the heart of the Mississippi valley,
Memphis became the center for an exciting new type of music; rhythm 'n' blues.
This music soon attracted the attention not just of Blacks but of Whites too; and with
very little change, R & B evolved into yet another new type of music; rock 'n' roll.

Elvis Presley
The man who did most to help rock 'n' roll conquer first America, then the world, was in
fact not a black musician, but a white boy from rural Mississippi, by the name of Elvis
Aaron Presley. Elvis's family were poor, very poor; as a kid, Elvis lived in a tworoom shack in Tupelo, Mississippi. There was not much to distinguish the lifestyle of his
16

poor white family from that of the equally poor black families in the region, and young
Elvis had plenty of contact with black culture and music.
After making his first records in Memphis, Elvis became the biggest rock star the world
had ever seen; "the King". Yet he never abandoned his Mississippi valley roots, and it
was in Memphis that he established his famous home, Graceland.
In the space of the last forty years, rock 'n' roll has become the basis of popular music
worldwide. In this respect, it could be argued that the Mississippi valley is the source of
the greatest cultural phenomenon of the twentieth century.

WORDS:
evolve: develop - lyric: music that tells a story - give rise to: create - slave: unpaid
worker - gospel: parts of the bible -emancipation: freeing of the slaves - brass: a yellow
metal - countless: innumerable - shack: poorly-built house.

Exercises
Read through the article, then decide if these statements are right (R) or wrong (W). Rewrite any
wrong statements, correcting them as necessary.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

The roots of American popular music are mainly African and Caribbean. R W
Gospel music first developed in the south of the United States. R W
American slaves often played the guitar as they sang in the fields. R W
Some of the first blues musicians sang unaccompanied. R W
Jazz originated with Louis Armstrong in Chicago. R W
Many Blacks headed north to Detroit because it was the capital of soul music. R W
Elvis Presley invented rock 'n' roll. R W
The city of Memphis can claim to be the birthplace of modern rock music. R W

Music

John Lennon - much more than just a

Beatle
John Lennon was assassinated in New York in
December 1980 - just three months after the launch of
Linguapress's Spectrum magazine. This retrospective,
the oldest item on the Linguapress online archive,
appeared in January 1981.
The circumstances of the murder of John Lennon are well enough known for it to be
unnecessary to repeat them now. It was ironic that John Lennon, advocate of nonviolence, should have died the way he did : though perhaps it was ironic too that John
17

should have chosen to live in New York, one of the more violent cities in the USA.

"lt could only have

happened in New York," said one stunned fan, shortly after the news broke; that may or
may not be true. That it did happen in New York certainly was. "lt's a part of our youth
that has died," said someone else ; and tributes to John Lennon came in from people all
over the world from politicians, from musicians, from writers, from Englishmen, from
Frenchmen, from Japanese people. There is probably no country in the world in which
John's death did not come as a shock to some people. US president Ronald Reagan
described it as "a great tragedy", and music radio-stations across the world played
Lennon's songs, some of them in a non-stop tribute to the former Beatle who had such a
tremendous effect on the world of the nineteen-sixties and early seventies.

18

AN ACCIDENTAL HERO

John Lennon never set out to become a hero, nor the leader of a whole generation. It
came on him more by accident. He didn't want to be thought of as the leader of the
Beatles people forced it on him. "We're a co-operative" he used to say: but in the early
nineteen sixties that was something people couldn't accept. "You must have a leader,"
they answered, and so John became the chief Beatle. He deserved the position, indeed,
since he was the founder of the group, he wrote the words of most of their songs, and
he was the dynamic force behind the others. "I'm just a 'uman bein' " he used to say.
What was it therefore which made the Beatles what they were ? In short it was a
combination of various things; their music, the words of their songs, their attitude, and
their appearance.
Right from the start they were different; their music was good, and original; the words
of their songs (Lennon's words) were often different. At the start Lennon wrote about love
and romance, but it wasn't Hollywood love, it was 1960's everyday romance : something
with which millions of young people in the cities of Britain and America, later Europe too,
could identify. And in the nineteen sixties, there were millions and millions of teenagers
and twenties just searching for something new to identify with. The expression
"generation gap" was just becoming popular. The Beatles, led by Lennon, became the
leaders of a new generation.
Forced into the role of leader, John Lennon accepted it, modestly. Even in 1970, he
was still saying "l'm just a uman bein' " : but by then he knew he was a human being with
influence; he knew that what he said or sung would be repeated all over the world. His
songs had usually said something, right from the start; but in the period 1969-70, he
began to say things more consciously. He had always been a symbol of an alternative
life-style; but in the late 60s, his message became more overt. He wrote "Revolution", a
song which classed him as peaceful, not violent, revolutionary, then there was his
famous "Give Peace a Chance", and the more socially-conscious "Working-class Hero".
In fact, Lennon left the Beatles and the Beatles split up because they had "nothing
more to say", whereas he had a lot. The Lennon of the early seventies was the most
influential. He was "John Lennon", not just "a Beatle".
Shortly after the end of the Vietnam war, Lennon retired from public life. In a sense,
the Beatles generation had managed, by then, to change the face of western society.
Attitudes had become much more liberal, and pop music part of our culture.
Shortly before his death, John Lennon recorded another album; and the day he died,
he had been in the recording studio. After five years of family life, he was returning to
public life. Was it a need for more money? Certainly not. Lennon was returning to life,
perhaps, because he could see the world returning to its old ways. Re-armament, a
return to conservatism, international tension, talk of war. The ex-leader of a generation
which had tried to give peace a chance, could not sit back and watch things change for
the worse. Tragically, in the end, peace would not give him a chance.

WORDS
Advocate : supporter, promoter - Stunned : shocked - former : ex- , one-time - set out
to: planned to -deserve : merit - founder : creator - uman bein' (slang) : human being
- gap : separation, distance - overt : frank, open - whereas : when (opposition) - retired
19

from : left, quit.

American society

Crime-time Basketball
An unusual sports program that is helping some of the most
disadvantaged young people in the USA
Alfred Jones didn't have much going for him when he was 17; a high school dropout living in
the poor Atlanta suburb of Jonesboro South, he had little to look forward to other than a life
of unemployment and petty crime, if not more crime. No one respected young men like
Alfred, and Alfred had no self respect either. No ambitions.
Yet today Alfred is a student at Atlanta's Clark University, his self respect has
returned, and he's looking forward to getting a proper job. It's all down to basketball.... and a
bit more.

20

Basketball offers
something different to do on a warm night.

Crime comes easily to many young men in the tough parts of America's cities; it's almost
second nature, specially toguys who have no jobs and no money, and nothing to do.
It comes easily at any time of day, of course; but at night it comes more easily still. The
middle of the night is prime time for crime, and it always has been, specially when the
nights are warm and it's good to be out of doors.
Yet the level of crime in America's big cities has fallen considerably over the last two
decades. In some cities, such as New York, the fall has been spectacular, and though
America's cities may still be dangerous places at night, compared to most European
cities, the improvement is real.
One reason for this improvement is statistical; the number of young men in the 15-25
age group has fallen. However there are other factors too, including stricter policing; but
less spectacularly, perhaps, there are also the numerous programs that have been set
up, by cities and volunteer groups, to provide young people with alternatives to crime.
While Curtis Sliwa's Guardian Angels showed New Yorkers, then people in other cities,
that tough young men could be just as happy and effective combating crime as
participating in it, many other programs have also helped bring down the crime rate. The
idea behind them all is much the same; to give people something constructive or
enjoyable to do, and channel their efforts away from crime.
The concept of Midnight Basketball was first launched in 1986 in Maryland, by
a retired federal employee, G. Van Standifer working at the time as town manager at
Glendarden, a suburb of Washington. The federal capital has one of the highest rates of
21

criminality in the U.S.A..

Faced with an "escalating crime rate" among "at risk" young men, mostly Blacks, Van
Standifer saw that one of the main reasons for the rapidly worsening situation was
boredom, the fact that young men had nothing to do - or at least, nothing they could
afford to do, given that few of them had jobs.
With the help of some friends and volunteers, he set up the first Midnight Basketball
program, opening the doors of a local sports center from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., and inviting in
anyone who wanted a game. Word soon got round, and before long groups of
Glendarden's young men were dropping in to take part or cheer on their friends.
The idea spread, and before long other cities and urban areas started opening up
facilities to encourage young men in off the streets for basketball; by the early 90's,
Midnight Basketball programs were running in 44 American cities, and a network of
regional leagues was established. In 2014, twenty-eight years later, after some ups and
downs, the concept of Midnight Basketball is still going strong, and Midnight Basketball
tournaments are organised in many US cities, such as New Orleans, Newark and San
Antonio. The idea has even spread to Australia..
However, there is more to Midnight Basketball than just playing ball; there are
conditions. Many players first take part in a "HOPE" session, HOPE being an acronym
for Helping Other People Evolve.
Hope is a commodity that is often in short supply in America's run-down inner cities;
at Midnight Basketball HOPE sessions, educators, community leaders and people with
useful skills show 17-25 year olds how they can improve their situation in life. Pre-game
seminars concentrate on subjects such as getting a job, respect for women, and
developing skills. When appropriate, participants are encouraged to get back into
education of some sort. Many participants in the Midnight Basketball program are indeed
high school dropouts, with no skills and no qualifications; for some, Midnight Basketball
provides an opening that they would never otherwise have had.
Alfred Jones is just one young man from the suburbs of Atlanta who has been
successful; others, in other US cities, have done as well as he has, or even better.
Alternatively, like Tony Johnson from San Francisco, they have got jobs. "I've changed
my life completely," says Tony, who now has a full-time job with Nestl. Previously, Tony's
life was just "hangin' on the streets, bein' a menace, sellin' drugs."
Not all Midnight Basketballers will end up with a job or a qualification; not all will
abandon crime. "It brings a lot of criminals to one spot and keeps 'em off the streets 'til
it's over," says a San Francisco cop, without much enthusiasm. In San Francisco, as
elsewhere, uniformed cops regularly sit in with the spectators, as trouble can flare up
easily at Midnight Basketball sessions.
Yet for many, Midnight Basketball has provided at least a first foot back on the road to
hope; and that is a chance that, without it, they might never have had.

WORDS
dropout: failure - down to: a result of - tough: hard - guys: men - provide with: give
- crime rate : number of crimes - channel: direct - retired: former, who used to be
- cheer on: applaud - league: championship - is in short supply: there is not enough of
it - skill: practical aptitude

22

Thanksgiving
- a very American festival
Thanksgiving is perhaps the most American of America's
festivals. While many countries have days when everyone eats a lot,
only the Americans have a day on which they celebrate having
enough to eat. Perhaps this may seem rather superfluous in a
country whose inhabitants are today among the best-fed in the
world; but to Americans, Thanksgiving is a reminder that this was
not always the case.
23

The First Thanksgiving in 1621 - from a painting by JLG Ferris

The last weeks of the year are a festive time in most countries; but while Europeans
just celebrate Christmas and the New Year, Americans begin their festive season about a
month earlier. The feast ofThanksgiving, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in
November, is second only in importance to Christmas in the American calendar of feast
days.
Thanksgiving is the oldest non-Indian tradition in the United States, and was first
celebrated in the year 1621. It was in this year that the men and women in Plymouth, one
of the first New England colonies, decided to establish a feast day to mark the end of the
farming year.
As devout Protestants, they called their feast day "Thanksgiving", a day on which
people could celebrate and give thanks to God for the crops that they had managed to
grow and harvest. This was not in fact an original idea, but was based on the English
"Harvest Festival", an old custom whereby people gave thanks to God once the crops
were all in.
In America however, a successful harvest was more significant than in England, for
any failure to bring in an adequate supply of crops could be fatal for a new
colony, struggling to set itself up in an alien continent. While several early North
Americans colonies failed because the colonists were killed off by disease or fighting,
others perished because they did not have time to prepare enough land and grow
enough food for their needs during the long cold winter months. The year 1621 was a
particularly bountiful one for the Plymouth colonists, so they "gave thanks" for their
good fortunes.
In the years that followed, other colonies introduced their own Thanksgiving festivals,
each one at first choosing its own date, and many varying the date according to the state
of the harvests. In 1789, President George Washington gave an official Thanksgiving
Day address in honor of the new Constitution; and Thanksgiving Day, like Independence
Day (July 4th) became one of America's great days.
Nevertheless, initially the date was not fixed nationally; indeed, it was not until 1863
that President Abraham Lincoln declared that Thanksgiving Day should be celebrated on
24

the last Thursday of November. Other presidents made similar proclamations, and the
date of Thanksgiving tended to move around until the year 1941, when Congress and the
President jointly declared that it should henceforth be fixed on the fourth Thursday of
November. Since then, Thanksgiving Day has remained fixed.

THANKSGIVING RITES
Once a communal festival, where whole communities celebrated together,
Thanksgiving is today the great family festival; but apart from that, it has not changed
greatly.
The heart of Thanksgiving is still the fruit of the land; and the Thanksgiving feast is
based, essentially, on the native American foods that allowed the early settlers to survive:
turkey, corn, potatoes and squash.
The wild turkeys, large birds that lived in the forests of North America, were like a
miracle for the early colonists who could trap them with ease; and turkey has always
been the center piece of the Thanksgiving feast.
Potatoes were unknown to Europeans before the discovery of North America, and it
was Indians who taught the early colonists how to grow them and eat them.
Maize, the great native North American cereal, is another ingredient of the
Thanksgiving meal, eaten in the form of sweet corn.
Finally, for dessert, no Thanksgiving meal is complete without "pumpkin pie", the
traditional tart made from pumpkins, enormous round orange types of squash.

WORDS:
devout: strict, pious - crops: plants that can be eaten - harvest : picking of fruit, or
cutting of cereal crops - custom: something done regularly - failure (n) : from the verb to
fail, to not succeed - struggle: fight - disease: sickness - bountiful: abundant
- address: speech - henceforth: from that time onwards - squash: vegetables such as
courgettes (zucchini) and marrows.

Americans fat and thin

Over the past 50 years, obesity has become a major health problem
in the USA
by Nicole Bernheim
One of the things that most surprises Europeans who set foot in
the USA for the first time is the huge number of fat people. Not just "fat"
people, such as one finds all over Europe too, people who are just a little
bit overweight and happy to be so; but people of sometimes massive
25

proportions, obese people who are not just twenty or thirty pounds
heavier than they should be, but sixty or seventy or eighty pounds above
normal. Even children. Fifty years ago, Americans were not overweight in
the way they are today; so what is it that has brought about this change?

Obesity is a problem in all communities, but particularly among ethnic minorities

According to statistics from the American Center for DiseaseControl, at least a third of
all Americans today (2008) can be considered obese that is more than
25 pounds overweight for women, and 30 for men. Worse still, 21% of young people
between the ages of 12 and 19, the age at which people should normally be most
concerned about their looks, are obese, compared to only 6% in the 1970s.
Obesity has become a real national disease, which particularly afflicts the poorer part
of the population and cost America over 147 billion dollars in 2008. 50% of black women
and 48% of Hispanic women are obese. The problem also tends to be worse in small
towns and rural areas than in the big cities; there are not a lot of obese people in New
York, for instance, where traveling by car can take such a long time that it is often much
faster to go on foot, and many people live in old apartment blocks with no elevator.
Obesity is definitely a disease of modern America, which began to develop in the
1960s following a fundamental change in lifestyles. Americans stopped walking and
taking part in sport; nowadays, everything can be done by car, and even suburban and
small town banks offer drive-thru tellers. Sport and physical education programs that
used to be compulsory in high schools and universities have generally become optional,
and instead of playing cowboys and Indians, kids now spend most of their time in front of
the television or playing video games. When they go to the movies,
they stuff themselves with pop-corn. Many women who stay home get bored, but when
they go out for a break, they simply jump into their cars and drive round to a neighbor's
26

for a cup of coffee and some cookies.

For millions of Americans, the longest walk they ever do is the walk round the shelves
of their supermarket. Besides, it is not easy to go for a walk in suburban America, where
little is provided for the benefit ofpedestrians.
Eating habits have changed too. Not so long ago, Americans ate plenty of natural
produce, fresh from the farm. Today, the fashion in supermarkets is for "enriched" foods.
Vending machines offering candy and pop are omnipresent, and chocolate distributors
and ice-cream sellers are all over the place; both young and old wash down their meals
with pints of Coca Cola, Pepsi or something similarly sugary.
The "large" cups of cola sold in American restaurants contain almost a liter, and many
places offer free refills!
Americans have gotten used to the new situation. In a Chicago department
store recently, I was surprised to find that women's jackets started at the equivalent of
European size 52! Wanting a smaller size for myself, I was sent down to the "Junior"
department!

Sleek is Chic
Yet while being fat is the new "being normal", being thin has now become a symbol of
social status. In theaffluent districts of big cities, young ladies pride themselves on
being sleek, while their mothers often lookemaciated, almost like skeletons! Jackie
Kennedy's famous saying, "You can never be too thin or too rich", is taken as gospel in
these parts of America. It has to be, since top fashion clothes are not designed to be
worn by fat people.
Women and men spend fortunes on beauty products, extravagant health diets, and all
kinds of cures andplastic surgery, to keep themselves thin. At the age of 70, Nancy
Reagan was proud of the fact that she still took only size 6 (European size 36). But then,
she was the President's wife not an ordinary American

WORDS:

disease : illness, sickness - a pound : 454 grammes, 25 pounds :

about 11 kg -overweight: too heavy - elevator: lift - teller: cash desk - to stuff: to fill pedestrian: person on foot - pop: Coke, 7-Up, etc - department store : big shop
- affluent: rich, prosperous - pride themselves on being : are proud to be - sleek:
slender, elegantly thin -emaciated: unelegantly thin - gospel: the certain truth - plastic
27

surgery: medical operations for esthetic reasons.

Advanced level English

Environment and wildlife

America's Bald Eagles

A REMARKABLE STORY OF SUCCESS

When it comes to wildlife, the stories that are told

in magazines and on television tend to be stories of catastrophe and destruction stories

about the disappearance of species in the face of ever-more destructive human activity.
So it comes as nice change to learn that there are exceptions - some of them
quite remarkable; and as far as the United States is concerned, there can surely be no
more encouraging story than that of the famous "bald eagle", saved at the eleventh hour
from the possibility of total extinction in all but the most isolated of regions.
No doubt the fact that this magnificent bird of prey is America's national symbol has
something to do with it; but for over a hundred years, these great birds' symbolic status
did little to save them from destruction.
It is estimated that there were in the region of 100,000 bald eagles in the USA in the
year 1782, when their image was first adopted as a national symbol by the young States.
This great bird, with its wingspan of almost two metres, was almost a natural choice for
those who were looking for a symbolic beast to stand alongside the lion of England or the
Russian bear. After all, it could be found virtually throughout North America, and was also
the only eagle unique to the continent.

28

Yet although they had

chosen it as a proud national emblem, Americans did little to ensure its survival; in the
course of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, the bald eagle slowly
but surely disappeared from state after state, a victim of spreading urbanization, new
farming techniques, and the shotguns of indiscriminate hunters.
In 1940, noting that the national bird was "threatened with extinction," Congress passed
the Bald Eagle Protection Act, making it illegal to kill, harass, possess (without a permit),
or sell bald eagles; but that was not enough to save the bird. By the early 1960s there
were fewer than 450 nesting pairs in the contiguous USA; only in Alaska was their
survival still guaranteed.
In 1967, bald eagles were officially declared an endangered species throughout the
United States south of the 40th parallel; and a massive information campaign was
launched by the federal government and by wildlife organizations, to try and save the
nation's emblem, and protect its habitat from further destruction.
Among all factors that had led to the eagle's destruction, the greatest was almost
certainly the massive use of pesticides by American farmers, from the 1940's onwards.
One such pesticide, DDT, was sprayed on croplands throughout the USA and its
residues washed into lakes and streams, where they were absorbed by fish. The
contaminated fish, in turn, were consumed by bald eagles.
The chemical interfered with the eagle's ability to develop strong shells for its eggs.
As a result, bald eagles and many other bird species began laying eggs with shells so
thin they often broke during incubation or failed to hatch. Their reproduction disrupted,
bald eagle populations fell sharply. It was not until after the dangers of DDT became
known, in large part due to Rachel Carson's famous book Silent Spring, that this
chemical was banned for most uses in the United States in 1972.
As the extent and speed of the decline in eagle populations became apparent, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service developed a captive-breeding program at its Research
Center at Patuxent, Maryland. Here scientists increased the species' breeding potential
by removing each first clutch of eggs as soon as they were laid, and incubating them
artificially. The bald eagles would usually then lay a second clutch, which they were
29

allowed to incubate themselves. In all, 124 bald eagles were hatched at Patuxent, and
subsequently returned to the wild, during the critical years.
Today, thanks to years of protection and breeding programs, the decline in the eagle
population has been reversed, and numbers have begun to grow again. There are now
over 4000 breeding pairs south of the 40th parallel, and the bald eagle has been officially
taken off the list of endangered species in the USA. Nevertheless, it remains officially
classified as a "threatened" species, and one which is protected by no fewer than three
acts of Congress - with two other acts banning theft, sale or possession of its eggs.
Perhaps that is in the end the only way to ensure the survival of America's most
famous bird . Even this high degree of protection is not enough to save the bald eagle
from the most ruthless or thoughtless of hunters; there are those who will shoot anything
for pleasure.
Last year, a Florida man was fined $1500 for shooting an eagle; he got off very
lightly, given that federal law allows prison sentences and fines of up to $100,000 dollars
for those who knowingly kill or capture these magnificent birds.

WORDS
a species: a variety of creature or plant - isolated: distant, inaccessible - bird of prey: bird that
eats small animals - wingspan: width across the wings - unique to: found nowhere else but in
- contiguous USA: continental USA excluding Alaska - 40th parallel: the Canadian border (in
the west) - crops: plants cultivated as food - shell: hard outer casing - incubation: period when
the mother bird sits on her eggs - hatch: produce a baby bird - to breed: to produce young
- clutch: group - theft: stealing, taking - ruthless: without compassion, determined - got
off: escaped - knowingly: intentionally -

USA - American life

Who killed Martin Luther King?

30

On the night of April 4th 1968, someone was

waiting opposite the windows of the Lorraine Motel, in downtown Memphis.
In front of the motel, a big white Cadillac was parked; it was the car in which the Rev.
Martin Luther King was being driven round, as he traveled through the southern states,
speaking to audiences in towns and cities, promoting the cause of non-violence and civil
rights.
When King stepped out onto the balcony, to take a breath of fresh air after eating his
dinner, a shot rang out. The civil rights leader and Nobel-prizewinner, the man who
preached non-violence, fell to the ground, fatally wounded. Within minutes, he was
dead.
The news spread like wildfire round the USA; the man who had done more, perhaps,
than any other to further the rights of Black people in the United States of America, had
been assassinated, it seemed, by a lone sniper, a white extremist. Weeks later a man by
the name of James Earl Ray was arrested and sentenced to 99 years in prison for the
assassination. But is that really what happened?
Though James Earl Ray initially confessed to killing King, it was not long before
he retracted his statement; and to this day, there are those who do not believe that Ray
was actually guilty of the crime for which he spent almost 30 years behind bars.
Indeed, the calls for Ray's release grew stronger by the year, to the point that even
Dexter King, Martin Luther King's son, now believes that Ray was not his father's
assassin.
But if Ray did not do the deed, who did? And why? Was it just a pure racist crime? Or
was this a political assassination ordered by some faceless figures in some secret
service? The theory that King was really assassinated by the Secret Service has been
growing more and more popular over recent years, and was even the subject of an "XFiles" episode. So how real is the conspiracy theory? And what reasons might anyone
31

other than a racist have had to get rid of a charismatic and peaceful leader like Martin
Luther King?
We have to take ourselves back to 1968. Since 1955, King had been at the front of
the Civil Rights movement in the USA. He had given great support to the year-long bus
boycott in Montgomery, Alabama, which eventually led to the desegregation of public
transportation; he had used his skills as a passionate orator to inspire black people to
stand up for their rights, in housing, education and other civil rights; and he had gained
the backing of a growing number of whites. He was in the front line of the antisegregation demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, which probably did more
than any other protest to further the cause of civil rights.
During his brief presidency from 1960 to 1963, Kennedy paved the way for a Civil
Rights Act, which would officially ban race-based segregation throughout the USA.
Though Kennedy was gunned down before he had time to put the act through Congress,
Lyndon Johnson completed the job, and by the end of 1964, the Civil Rights Act was law,
and Martin Luther King had won the Nobel Prize for Peace.
Racism, however, had not disappeared. More laws, including the 1968 Civil Rights Act,
were needed to fullyeradicate all forms of official racism. But even then, laws could not
change the deep-seated bigotry of many southern whites; the more Civil Rights laws
were passed, the more some racist groups felt threatened.
1968 was a crisis year in many countries. The Civil Rights movement in the USA had
more or less merged with the anti-Vietnam War movement. Black leaders like King were
being joined by the pacifist gurus of a new generation of educated young white
Americans, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. At the same time, in the black ghettoes of
the rustbelt cities, a new and more aggressive movement had emerged: Black Power.
In the opinion of some observers, America was slowly sliding towards civil unrest on a
large scale. Though King, with his non-violence, was no supporter of civil conflict, he was
the no.1 figurehead of black America. Hence the conspiracy theory.
According to the theory, King was assassinated by the government (whoever that may
have been) to prevent the USA from severe civil conflict. A week before King was
assassinated, a peaceful march in Memphis had been provoked into violence by a gang
called "the Invaders". Nobody knows who was behind the Invaders - but someone was.
James Earl Ray admitted that he was involved in the assassination of King, but
claimed that he was part of a plot, the dumb guy who was used by others who tricked
him into it. He claimed that the gun that killed King was actually fired by a man called
"Raoul" - but who Raoul was no one knows. Dexter King, who has studied events
surrounding his father's death in the minutest detail, now believes that Ray was telling
the truth.
In July 1997, a judge in Memphis announced that new scientific tests suggest that it
was not Ray's gun that fired the bullet that killed King.
So if it was "Raoul", not Ray, that really assassinated Martin Luther King, why did he
do it, and on whose orders? Was it the CIA, or some other secret organization, nervous
about rising black militantism and opposition to the Vietnam war? Or was King's
assassination masterminded by some secret white supremacist organisation?
Maybe we will know one day, maybe not.
32

WORDS:
shot: , gunshot, sound of a gun being shot - retracted : withdrew, denied, took back
- release : liberation, freedom, - get rid of : eliminate, kill - backing :support, help
- act : law -eradicate : eliminate, remove -bigotry : narrow-mindedness, people with
narrow and fixed ideas, extremism - rustbelt : The Rustbelt is the part of the USA (from
Chicago to Virginia) where old fashioned heavy industries have gone into decline -

America's Amish; model

society?
America's Amish communities live a lifestyle that has changed little since
the 18th century; but in other respects, they are showing other Americans the
way forward into the twenty-first....

The roadsign is, to say the least, unexpected ; driving through

a prosperous rural part of North America, the last thing you expect to see beside the highway is a
yellow diamond roadsign with a horse and buggy in the middle! Watch out for horses and
buggies on the road? What is this? Do they exercise racehorses here, or what?
You keep an eye open for horses; for two miles you see nothing, then all of a sudden, look!
Coming towards you on the other side of the road, two black horse-drawn buggies! As they go by,
your surprise turns to disbelief; what's going on? Are they making a movie about eighteenth
century America? The men and the women in the buggy look like they jumped out of a novel by

33

Fennimore Cooper.
Then, another mile
and things get even stranger; beside a neat-looking farm-house, there is a whole line of buggies.
In the door of the house, half a dozen men in black coats, and with long beards, are talking while
some women dressed in a curiously ancient fashion are sitting on a bench. Is this 2015 or
1715 ?
You drive on, wondering what has happened to this part of the United States of America? Have
you driven into a time-warp, and without realizing it, gone back 300 years, or is it the people
you've just seen who're stuck in a time warp?
A quick enquiry at the nearest gas station gives you the answer; you are in Amish country, and
the men and women you have just seen are Amish, part of a strange religious group that settled
in America in the 18th century, and much of whose lifestyle has changed little since then.
If you had seen the movie "Witness", you would have already known something about the
Amish, how their community is strictly religious and self-contained, how Amish people do
without the essentials of modern-day life such as electricity and cars, and how they do not mix
with people outside of their own community. It is virtually unheard of for anyone to become an
Amish, who was not born an Amish. This is about all that most Americans know about Amish
people, unless, that is, they actually live near them and come across them in daily life. So who
are they?

In brief, the Amish are

members of an ultra-protestant religious movement that first came to America from the upper
Rhine valley over three hundred years ago, and have kept their traditions and lifestyles. They are
very law-abiding citizens, and their community is one in which crime is almost, though not
entirely, inexistent; Amish families live strict lives, following the same code of morals as their

34

ancestors. In a sense, they are indeed stuck in a time warp.

Yet the most remarkable things to note about the Amish are not their quaint lifestyles and their
home-made clothes, but the expansion of their community, its efficiency, its social cohesion, and
their recent adoption of "green" technology, including wind-power and solar energy. Although they
work the land using traditional horse-drawn machines, and use no chemical fertilizers, their
agriculture is - interestingly - among the most productive in North America !
While white America is, on the whole, a population that is stable in numbers, the Amish
community is growing faster than virtually any other community in the USA. In the 40 years from
1950 to 1990, the number of Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the original and still the
largest Amish community in the USA, grew by exactly 400%, all by natural growth, not through
the influx of immigrants. The Amish do not keep statistics, but it is fairly safe to assume that the
total Amish population of the United States in the year 1900 was no more than a couple of
thousand; today the Old Order Amish, those who have kept up the strictest traditions of their
religion and society, number over 100,000, spread in communities across the eastern US and
Ontario. The total number of Amish living in the United States in 2011 was estimated at over
260,000.

Amish, who reject modern

medicine and all forms of birth control, have some of the biggest families in America, with an
average of over six children per family. Few abandon their community.
Amish teenagers tend to be as normally rebellious as any other American teens, until they
are baptized. Until this happens, they are not obliged to conform to the strict Amish codes of
dress, hairstyle and behavior, and many make the most of this liberty; before baptism, Amish
teenagers behave much like other American teens; up to 30% of older unbaptized Amish teens
own cars, and 40% have drivers licences! Amish teens also enjoy baseball, dancing and even
alcohol! Amish baptism takes place between the ages of 16 and 21, sometimes even later.

35

Amish youth working at the family sawmill

The fact that only about 18% of young Amish abandon the austere way of life of their ancestors
is not the only reason why the community is growing so fast. Other factors include increasing lifeexpectancy, and higher standards of living.
As for machines and modernity, Amish families do not live a primitive life; while they reject the
use of mains electricity in the home, they accept the use of kerosene and efficient woodburning stoves that provide plenty of light and heat and comfort in their homes; and they are
certainly not out of touch withtechnology. It was estimated that in 2007, 80% of homes in some
Amish communities were using wind or solar power ! In this respect, far from being stuck in the
past, they can be considered as one of the most advanced communities in the world !
As for leisure, it is not one of their major preoccupations! While they do not have televisions or
radios, they have other social activities; yet Amish leaders actually fear that the development of
a cult of leisure could rapidly destroy their society.
Contrary to popular belief, the Amish are not cut off from the rest of America; like any farmers,
they need markets for their products and suppliers for their goods; some work for non-Amish
employers. Many have non-Amish neighbors. They know what is going on in the rest of the
United States, and like many other Americans, they are alarmed by many modern developments.
This too explains why most young Amish opt to carry on with the hard-working and strict way
of life of their community. Though Amish life is hard in many ways, it is free of most of the
pressures and problems of the rest of American society. As long as this lifestyle is not forced into
radical change, many of those who have been brought up in it will continue to see it as an
attractive option.
WORDS
Amish is pronounced "ar-mish" - buggy: small carriage - time-warp: something not in the
correct age - do without: do not have - law-abiding: obeying the law - influx: arrival - baptism:
Christian ceremony of initiation -life-expectancy: average age that people live - purpose:
reason - mains electricity: electricity from the public system - stove: enclosed fire - out of
touch: not in contact - cult: tradition - supplier: a source, person who supplies - opt: choose

36

Technology and the Amish:

Refused:
Television, radios, telephones in the home, home computers, 110 volt electricity (the standard
voltage in North America).
Accepted:
Communal telephones, diesel generators, electric woodworking and metalworking equipment,
electric fences, solar power, wind power

Horses are the motive power in Amish farms

Amish family; note how the children are not wearing shoes

TEA and the British

The father of modern economics, Adam Smith, once
described the British as a "nation of shopkeepers". He
might just as easily have described them as a nation
of tea-drinkers, since tea has long been a national
favourite. The image of the tea-drinking British is not
just a myth; it is a reflection of reality. Today, tea
37

accounts for 43% of all the drink consumed in Britain,

excluding plain water

Tea-time in a
traditional English tea-room : tea, scones and cream, and cake.

There was a time in the 1960's and 1970's when some people believed that coffee would
replace tea as Britain's favouritebeverage.
In the event, that did not occur, and today, tea remains firmly anchored as Britain's
favourite drink, accounting for over two fifths of all the drink consumed in Britain with the
exception of water.
To say that the British are fond of tea is something of anunderstatement. From the
Royal Family down to the humblest of the homeless and the out-of-work, tea is more
than just a pleasure; it is an essential part of life! It is one of those things that
distinguishes life in Britain from life anywhere else. The average Briton over the age of 10
drinks three and a half cups of tea per day, or 1,355 cups per year mostly tea with milk
in it which puts Britain miles ahead of any other country in the international league of
tea-drinking nations! Second and third in the league are the New Zealanders (889 cups)
and the Australians (642 cups); in Europe, the nearest rival to Britain is Russia, where
people only consume on average 325 cups of tea per year.
The popularity of tea in the United Kingdom has a long history, reflecting the nation's
development since the seventeenth century. It was in 1657 that Thomas Garway,
the owner of a coffee house, sold the first tea in London. The drink soon became popular
as an alternative to coffee, and by the year 1700, there were over 500 coffee houses in
the British capital selling the new drink.
In those days however, it was not something for anyone; the cost of a pound of tea in
the year 1700 (up to 36shillings a pound) was almost the same as it was in 1985
(average: 1.80 a pound).... but in 1700, a working man earned one shilling a week,
compared to 140 in 1985!
For a century and a half, tea remained an expensive drink; many employers served a
38

cup of it to their workers in the middle of the morning, thus inventing a lasting British
institution, the "tea break"; but as a social drink outside the workplace, tea was reserved
for the nobility and for the growing middle classes. Among those who had the means, it
became very popular as a drink to be enjoyed in cafs and "tea gardens".
It was the 7th Duchess of Bedford who, in around 1800, started the popular fashion of
"afternoon tea", a ceremony taking place at about four o'clock. Until then, people did not
usually eat or drink anything between lunch and dinner. At approximately the same time,
the Earl of Sandwich popularised a new way of eating bread in thin slices, with
something (e.g. jam or cucumbers) between them, and before long, a small meal at the
end of the afternoon, involving tea and sandwiches had become part of a way of life.
As tea became much cheaper during the nineteenth century, its popularity spread right
through British society, and before long, it had become Britain's favourite drink
promoted by the Victorians as an economical, warming, stimulating non-alcoholic drink.
In working-class households, it was served with the main meal of the day, eaten when
workers returned home after a day's labour. This meal has become known as "high tea".
Today, tea can be drunk at any time of day. The large majority of people in Britain
drink tea for breakfast: the mid-morning "tea break" is an institution in British offices
and factories (though some people prefer coffee at this time of day); and for anyone
working outdoors, a thermos of tea is almost an essential part of the day's equipment.
Later in the day, "afternoon tea" is still a way of life in the south of England and among
the middle classes, whereas "high tea" has remained a tradition in the north of Britain.

A CLASSIC ENGLISH "CUPPA"

To make tea. Put two

teabags or teaspoonfuls of tea into a warmed pot. Add boiling water, and leave
to brew for three or four minutes. Serve with a dash of milk and/or sugar. Tea without
sugar is the best accompaniment with sweet snacks (biscuits, jam sandwiches, cakes).
Some brands of tea:
Ty-Phoo, Brooke Bond etc. "Standard" British teas are Indian varieties, which can be
drunk quite strong.
Varieties of tea:

The best Indian tea is reputed to be Darjeeling tea. Assam tea is a much darker stronger
tea. China teas are more delicate: the most popular are Keemum and Lapsang
Souchong.
"Earl Grey" tea is a blend of China and Darjeeling, flavoured with oil of bergamot.
39

WORDS
beverage: drink - in the event: in reality - an understatement: the opposite of an
exaggeration - owner: proprietor - shilling: 0.05 pounds (5 modern pence) - to last: to
continue - a break: a pause - labour: work -factory: industrial building - cuppa: cup of
tea - brew: infuse - a dash: small amount - a brand: a trade name - a blend: mixture
- flavour: taste Printing: Optimized for the Firefox browser
Copyright Linguapress. Do not copy this document to any other website
Copying permitted for personal study, or by teachers for use with their students

40

STUDENTS' WORKSHEET
Tea and the British
Here is a summary of the article on tea. However, it contains 10 errors of fact. Can you
find them, and correct them. After doing this, try to rewrite this rsum, changing as
much of the expression as you can, without changing the meaning.
Tea is the most popular drink in Britain, accounting for almost half the liquid consumed by
people in Britain; furthermore, the British are the world's biggest tea drinkers having been
so ever since Thomas Garway became the first person to sell tea in London, in the year
1567.
Three hundred years ago, however, tea was a very expensive drink. Nevertheless, the
great British tradition of the "tea break" began very early on, as employees got into the habit
of serving tea to their workers in the middle of the day. As a social drink, tea was initially
reserved for the middle classes and the nobility, who could not afford it.
The ceremony of "afternoon tea", a snack of tea and sandwiches between lunch and
dinner, was invented by the Earl of Sandwich in the early eighteenth century; then the drink
became very popular with the Victorians, who preferred it to alcoholic beverages.
Today, tea is still extremely popular, since it can be drunk at mealtimes at any time of the
day

JRR TOLKIEN - creator of

the Hobbit
41

"Middle Earth" is a world to itself, a

magical mythical place like no other. It is one of the most famous places in twentieth
century fiction, and the wonderful fruit of a brilliant imagination. The Lord of the
Rings, the trilogy set in this mysterious world, has become one of the great classics of
twentieth century literature. It has been translated into dozens of languages and imitated
by dozens of writers, storytellers and film makers; yet no-one has surpassed the genius
of the original. J.R.R.Tolkien, the author of Lord of the Rings, was the improbable creator
of this great work of fantasy.
It was while he was marking exams in the early 1930's that J.R.R.Tolkien, Professor of
Mediaeval English Literature at Oxford University, wrote down a strange sentence that
started: "In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit..."
Obviously, creative writing was more interesting than marking papers, for Tolkien went
on to transform his sentence into a full novel, called "The Hobbit", published in 1937.
Quite unlike any other book in contemporary English literature, the Hobbit was an
extended fairy tale, an allegory set in a mythical world peopled with strange creatures
and animals. It was not the sort of book that ought to have become a best seller in the
late 1930's, but it did so much so that the publisher requested a sequel. Delayed by
the horror of war, the first volume of Lord of the Rings eventually reached the
bookshops in 1954.
Since then, Tolkien has come to be seen as one of the most important figures in
English literature this century, an original genius who created his own style of literature
and his own universe. So who was this unusual figure, born in the late nineteenth century
in rural South Africa?
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien first came to England at the age of 4, when his mother
determined that it would be better for him to be brought up in a milder climate. His father,
42

a banker, should have followed his family back to England, but shortly after their
departure Arthur Tolkien caught rheumatic fever and died; Ronald and his brother were
thus brought up by their mother from age four onwards.
Tragedy was to mark Ronald's childhood again; when he was 10, his mother died of
diabetes, leaving him and his brother to be brought up in the care of a family friend,
Father Francis Morgan, a Catholic priest.
With no parents, and no family except his brother, Ronald was left much to himself; a
dreamer, he loved reading and could happily lose himself in the imaginary worlds he
passed through in the pages of novels. Yet as a pupil at King Edward's School in
Birmingham, he proved to be a brilliant linguist, and soon mastered French and German,
Latin and Greek, plus Anglo Saxon, Old Norse, Icelandic and Finnish. His interest in
Scandinavian languages also led him into a world of sagas and mythology.
At the age of sixteen, Ronald fell in love with a pretty girl, Edith Bratt, three years his
senior, who was another orphan living in the same lodging house in Birmingham. In the
strict climate of Edwardian Britain, teenage romances were frowned on, and although
Ronald and Edith did their best to keep things a secret, it was not very long before
someone spilled the beans. Furious, Father Francis removed Ronald to new lodgings,
while Edith's guardians sent her to live with relatives in the genteel town of Cheltenham.
Heartbroken, Ronald swore eternal love to Edith, even though he could not see her
again; and with no other girls to worry about, he escaped from his sadness into hard
work at school, eventually winning a scholarship to Oxford to study philology.
The question of whether art imitates reality, or vice versa, is one which is often
discussed; but in Tolkien's case, the answer seems to be quite clear! Raised on a diet of
novels, sagas and imaginary fiction, Ronald Tolkien did the kind of thing "that only
happens in books"; when midnight struck on the day of his 21st birthday, he wrote to
Edith announcing his intention of marrying her at once!
Edith, however, had in the mean time got engaged to a young man in Cheltenham,
and wrote back to Ronald with this unexpected news! On receipt of her letter, Ronald
hurried down to Cheltenham and began courting Edith again; the other young man was
soon forgotten!
Then the war began. During the next year and a half, Ronald completed his degree in
English (having changed courses), getting married to Edith before being sent off to fight
in the trenches. Two months later, he was on the Somme, where he saw many of his
great friends killed.
By good fortune, Ronald came out of the war physically unscathed; but
psychologically, he had been through a deeply marking experience. The war had
strengthened his love of the calm of the countryside, and hatred of industry and the evil
of inhumanity and war. These themes were to come up repeatedly through the idealism
expressed in his fiction, from the Hobbit to the Lord of the Rings and beyond.
Tolkien died in September 1973.
WORDS
in the care of: by - his senior: older than him - frowned on: disapproved of - swore:
promised - scholarship: financial help, bursary - diet: menu - degree: university diploma
- unscathed: undamaged.

43

Teachers:
If you have not read the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings yourself, there will probably be
someone in your class who has, or who has seen the film of one or both. Get some-one
to describe the book to the rest of the class, preferably in English.
Narrative style. This potted biography of Tolkien is a clear example of a chronological
narrative. Expressions of time are important elements in the general cohesion of the text.
Have students pick out all the words/expressions relating to time, starting from paragraph
Class activity - Letter writing:
Male students: imagine you are Tolkien on the day of his 21st birthday, and write a letter
to Edith. You will need to remind her of the past!
Female students: imagine you are Edith, and have just received Ronald Tolkien's
proposal! Reply to him!
Teacher: make sure there is no collaboration between students. Then select two
students, place them in opposite corners of the room, as "Ronald and Edith". Give all the
letters by male students to "Edith", and those by female students to "Ronald", and have
them read out (anonymously) letters and replies. Amusement and success guaranteed!
Students will listen attentively and enjoy their class and that means they will learn!

Britain's Chinese come out Top !

Just behind Trafalgar Square, not far from

Piccadilly Circus, lies Soho, famed as the centre for London's night life, with its bars and
restaurants and theatres. But these days Soho is famed too as the heart of London's
"Chinatown". Walk down Gerrard Street, where the road signs are in Chinese and the

44

phone boxes have tiled roofs, and you could easily imagine yourself in Hong Kong.
Britain's Chinese community has taken root in the heart of the capital, and is doing very
well, thank you.
Martin Chow, a student at London university, is perfectly frank.
"My parents came to Britain over 25 years ago, from Hong Kong. My dad couldn't speak
much English, and my mum couldn't speak a word. She still doesn't speak it very well. But they
pushed me through school, and made sure I got to university. In June, I'll be graduating with a
degree in computer engineering. I should be able to get a very good job quite quickly."
In a year's time, Martin will almost certainly have joined the ranks of the well-educated wellpaid Chinese British, who make up one of the biggest success stories in modern Britain.
Forty years ago, most of the Chinese immigrants in Britain were poorly educated, and
worked in arduous conditions in relatively poorly paid jobs, notably in catering; but according
to a survey published last Spring, Britain's 170,000 Chinese are now the best qualified, most
highly educated and most economically successful ethnic group in the United Kingdom.
Over 50% of all young Chinese British now get university degrees or other higher education
diplomas about double the national average; and unemployment among Chinese British is
lower than for any other ethnic group. Martin Chow has good reason to be confident.
Like many of the Hong Kong Chinese who came to Britain in the 1960's and 1970's, Wu
Chow, Martin's father, arrived almost penniless. Working long hours as a cook in a restaurant,
and living very frugally, Wu nevertheless managed to save up some of his meagre earnings,
and within five years had enough money in the bank to be able to open his own restaurant.
Wu's Chinese Takeaway was certainly not luxurious; however, situated near the middle of a
small town in the English Midlands, it provided a service that no other local restaurant (except
for a fish 'n' chip shop) was providing : carry-out food at affordable prices; it soon became
popular.
The takeaway was very much a family business, the Chows lived in a flat near the shop, and
Wu and his wife served Chinese food from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. six days a week. Sometimes,
the shop would stay open later, till 11 or midnight. Martin and his brother Brian would help out
after school most days, running errands, chopping vegetables, or washing the pans.
In spite of this, Wu made sure that his children did their schoolwork properly; if something
had to be learned for homework, Martin and Brian were not allowed to go to bed until they knew
it.
"Yes, we had to work hard even when we were quite small," says Martin, "But it seemed
quite normal to us. Everyone in the family worked hard. Chinese people believe in hard work
and in family values; it's part of our tradition, and I think that's why we're successful."
The experience of the Chow family was mirrored by thousands of other Chinese immigrant
families all over Britain. While most Asian and West Indian immigrants tended to group together
and form concentrated ethnic communities in specific towns and cities, the first generation of
Chinese immigrants dispersed nationwide , specialising in restaurants and takeaways, and
determined to make sure that their own children would never experience the poverty and
hardship that they often had to endure.

45

Sociologists point out that other immigrant groups in history have followed the classic "ragsto-riches" path; but none before has ever done so in the space of a single generation.
Today's young Chinese British are ambitious and hard-working; and it is not just the young
men. Unlike some other ethnic groups, Chinese parents in Britain are as keen to encourage
their daughters as their sons, and plenty of young Chinese women are now graduating as
lawyers, doctors and accountants. Indeed, the differences in qualifications and earnings
between men and women among "second generation Chinese British" are less than they are for
any other ethnic group, including "ethnic British".
Martin's girlfriend, Tania (born to Chinese parents in Singapore) should qualify as a lawyer
next year.
"I think we can look forward to a fairly comfortable life, for us and our children" says Martin.
"That's the reward for hard work , and its part of our way of life. Look at Hong Kong and Taiwan
and Singapore, and look at the way China's booming now people have a bit more freedom!"
"Would you go back and live in the Far East?"
"Maybe, but I don't think so. After all, I was born in England, and I like it here. I know I'm
Chinese, but I've got a British passport! I feel I'm English too!"

WORDS:
frank: direct, clear - arduous: difficult - catering: the restaurant sector - frugal: simple
- meagre earnings: the little money he earned - flat: apartment - run errands: go out to do
small jobs - West Indian: Caribbean - endure: go through - accountant: financial expert -

THE CAR - a short story

by Andrew Rossiter
Click here to show vocabulary guide

46

"It's a really good bargain,"

said the man in the showroom ; and as far as Shafi could tell, he was telling the truth.
"It's yours for just 5,000!" he continued. "You won't find a better buy anywhere else in the
North; and what's more, we'll give you a year'sinsurance with it. Free!"
Shafi eyed the vehicle longingly; it was bright red, and just over a year old - and inside it had
that smell of polish that comes with a new car. There was just the matter of the price - it was
more than he had planned to spend on his first car, and more than he actually hadavailable.
"Five thousand?" he asked, hoping rather hopelessly that he had somehow misheard.
"Five grand! That's it. But you can 'ave it for three in cash now, and the rest in three months.
You can get a loan from the bank!"
Ever since he'd taken his first job at the burger bar at the age of 17, he'd been saving up for a
nice car; of course, he could have made do with a cheap wreck years ago - but that was not
what he wanted. Shafi wanted a good car, a nice car, one that would make him feel as if he
had achieved something better in life than serving in a restaurant.
He handed over the crisp fifty pound notes. Even if the insurance was only third-party,
he reckoned it was a good buy at the price.
Settling in to the driving seat, he adjusted it for position, and turned the key. Within minutes,
he had passed the outskirts of Leeds, and was headed for Gemma's house in Frampton. After
all, she'd been badgering him to get a car, ever since he'd first mentioned the idea to her a month
or so earlier
He knew that she'd be impressed.
"So you bought it at last!" she exclaimed. "Great!" Now we can go places!"
"Yes. And it goes like a dream!"
"Let's take it over to Sawby tonight," she suggested. "Jess is on the door, he'll let us in free."
"Good idea."
Sawby was only sixteen miles away, but the quickest way to get there was to take the
motorway ; and besides Shafi was keen to see how fast he could get the new car up to.
"Hey, take it easy," said Gemma, as the speedometer edged up towards the 100 m.p.h. mark.
"You don't want to get done for speeding on the very first day!"

47

Shafi slowed down; the exit for Sawby was coming up fast.
As luck would have it, there was a space just opposite the club as Shafi proudly arrived in the
shining new car. A group of young men watched from the pavement opposite as he carefully
parked by the kerbside.
Jess wasn't on the door after all, and they had to pay to get in; but the atmosphere in the club
was hot and exciting as usual. It was a popular place, and with some of the best D.J's in the
region, it attracted people from all round, even from Manchester.
"So you've got your car at last, eh Shafi, boy!" said a voice in the semi-darkness.
Shafi looked round. He recognised the speaker at once, and was not pleased. It was
Rooksby, Gemma's former boyfriend. The three of them had worked together a year ago in a
restaurant, until Rooksby was sacked for insulting a group of foreign tourists.
"Hello," said Shafi.
"Smart job, ain't it!" said Rooksby.
"Yes," he answered. "Very nice thankyou...."
"A bit too smart for someone like you, ain't it?"
"Oh give over!" said Gemma.
Rooksby gave a sarcastic laugh, and moved away.
It was almost 3 a.m. as they emerged from the club.
"Hey!" exclaimed Shafi, looking across the street. "Where's the car? We left it there, didn't
we?."
"Yes, I think so," said Gemma.
"Oh no, don't say someone's gone an' nicked it already," Shafi groaned. The tears were
already beginning to well up in his eyes.
"What did you do with the keys?" asked Gemma.
"They're here," he answered, rummaging in his pocket. "Or at least I think they are."
Then he frowned. "They've gone.... They can't have.... I must have put them down
somewhere.... No! this is ridiculous."
He was looking increasingly desperate.
At that moment, a red car roared past them, and disappeared up the road.
"But that's the car," Shafi exclaimed. "It's my car! Come back!"
"No good yelling after 'em," said a voice from behind, "Looks like you've lost it, doesn't it,
Shafi boy!"
They turned and saw Rooksby again, a wry smile on his twisted lips.
"That's brilliant!" said Gemma. "You bring me out here, then the car gets nicked. How'm I goin'
to get home?"
"I'll call a taxi," said Shafi.
"I'll run you home if you like," said Rooksby. "I've just got room for one!"
"You?" said Gemma. "Well I suppose it's better 'n nothing."
*******
Two weeks later, the police called Shafi's employer, asking for the owner of a red car.
Shafi eagerly took the phone; "You've found it?" he asked excitedly.

48

"Yes Sir," said the voice on the other end of the phone. "It's in the pound in Birmingham....
but I'm afraid you can't have it back now."
"What? Why not?"
"Well Sir, you see it's a write-off."
Shafi felt a lump rising in his throat. "You mean...."
"Fatal accident, Sir. The driver was killed, and the passenger's in intensive care. She's just
told us you were the owner of the car."
"What? Who was it then?"
"She won't give us her name. She just says she wants to see you. She says she's sorry.
Perhaps you can help us with our enquiries."

Blue Gum Tree - a short story

by Pat Boyle
Click here to open vocabulary guide

It was a week night, we were a half dozen guys in our late teens, hanging around 'the flat' - as
usual. The flat was sparsely furnished, a few old chairs in the lounge, plenty of chrome and
formica in the kitchen, a mattress on the floor of each bedroom. The only thing of any real value
in the place was "the Stereo". Like a shrine we would kneel before it, changing records, or
adjusting the tone controls. After a time, even this most holy ofappliances grew tiresome. We
wanted action.
We got in the car - a big white Valiant, big enough for all of us to crowd in to - and off we went, in
search of adventure. We soon found ourselves at Blue Gum Corner, a place named after the lone
huge old blue gum treethat stood by there, a well-known local landmark. It stands at a minor
intersection leading to our town. The trunk is tall and smooth with no handholds for climbing.
About six metres from the ground the first branch sticks out over the road.
We parked beneath the huge old tree and discussed what we might do. It was decided that we

49

would use thetow-rope from the car to try to climb it. I stood upon the roof of the car and threw
the rope over the lowest branch, tied it off, and gave it a good tug. One of the guys remarked how
the loop at the bottom end of the rope looked like a noose - used for hanging. All at once the
young thrill-seekers hatched an idea - we would fake a hanging! I was nominated as 'hangee'.
The plan was absurdly simple. As I stood upon the roof of the car, the rope was threaded down
my jacket through my collar and down one leg of my jeans. I put my foot through the loop at the
bottom and the car was driven away and hidden down the road. There I hung, motionless. The
boys rolled about laughing until, A car, I hear a car! Before they ran to hide, they gave me a
good shove so that 'the body' would swing as the car drove by.
To our collective disappointment, the car simply turned off for town without even slowing. The
boys came out of their hiding places and we discussed the situation, surely they had seen me,
hadn't they? Then we heard another car, the act was repeated, but still without any apparent
reaction. We played the game about five or six times, but as no one seemed to notice, we
abandoned the prank . What we did not know was that every car that had passed had definitely
seen 'the body' and each one, too scared to stop, had driven directly to the local Police Station.
Now at that time of the night, the local constable was well tucked up in his bed, so the first
person dispatched to the scene was the traffic officer that happened to be on duty that particular
night.
The traffic officer that arrived on the scene that night was typical of his kind; moustached, timid,
and not the smartest person in town.
Hearing the siren before we saw the car, we had plenty of time to run and hide in the field beside
the tree. I finally felt that familiar mix of fear and excitement we had been striving for all night.
The traffic officer, always the professional, began scanning the area with his spotlight; as soon as
the light was off any one of us, we would begin to crawl away. The resulting rustling and
scuttling sounds would cause the light to be turned on the spot any noise emanated from, the
crawler instantly freezing. As this would happen another would-be Houdini from our group would
begin his escape on the other side of the field. The poor traffic officer ended up darting his light
back and forth all over the paddock chasing some invisible, suicidal lunatic.
It may be useful for me to elucidate on the thinking of the officer at this time. He had been
informed that some person had been killed, by hanging, at Blue Gum Corner. When he arrived,
the body was gone! and he was hearing 'unnatural sounds' from the surrounding area. As far as
he knew, some crazed monster was lurking around in the field before him, possibly dragging
a corpse behind him - and we thought we were scared!
One of the boys, I had no idea which, had made it to a fence. When the spotlight was off him, he
had started to climb it. Now when you climb an eight-wire farm fence, the wires tend to create a
screeching noise; this caused the cop to just about jump out of his black boots! He fumbled for
his torch then ran off down the road towards the sound. He got about half way then slowed and
stopped, thinking better of it he ran back to the car calling, "Get the dog Kevin, get the d - o - g!"
We all knew he was completely alone, so this only resulted in a few gigglesfrom the field.
The cop kept looking nervously at his watch, I figured he was probably waiting for back up from
the local police officer. Once there were two of them, the chances of getting caught were going to
be pretty high, so I figured I had better do my best to get out of there as soon as I could. Another
screech from a fence on the far side of the field really upset our friend in the uniform. Once more
he yelled, this time, "I've got a gun!" We well knew that in those days traffic officers were not
even issued with a baton.
He went to his radio and made a call that really began to worry us. I lay so close I could hear
every word, he called for the "armed offender squad" and a "dog team, better make it two", he
had a "serious situation" at Blue Gum Corner. Then the police officer arrived. After a briefing from

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the traffic cop he decided not to go into the field until armed squad and dog teams arrived.
Now two spotlights were on the field and none of us could move. By then, Keith had managed to
make his way back to his car that was hidden at the gravel pit a few hundred meters away. As we
lay in the field we heard his engine start, we heard the sound of gravel beneath his tyres, but the
cops did not take their eyes off the field. As we lay in the now damp grass, we all knew it would
be a long walk back into town!
As luck would have it, police cars cannot leave their spotlights on all night without flattening their
batteries. So, after a time, the two cops began alternating their lighting of the field, allowing us the
opportunity to resume our crawl for freedom. One by one, we all managed to slip off and make
our way home. Behind us we left what must have looked like a small city of lights, police cars,
roadblocks, barking dogs, armed officers and an old towrope hanging from a tree.
When I think back to that night, to what the drivers of the cars think happened, what police
believe happened, and to what happened from my perspective, I am reminded of a simple truth our eyes perceive darkness and light, colour and movement, our ears detect only vibrations in the
air. It is how we interpret these images that shapes our "reality".

WORDS:
gum tree - eucalyptus - hang round: pass the time - lounge: living room - shrine: holy place
- holy: sacred - -appliance: machine - towrope: rope used for pulling something behind a car
- tug: pull - noose: ring of rope -thrill-seekers: people looking for excitement - fake: imitate
- shove: push - prank: game - constable:policeman - on duty: on service - strive: search
- crawl! move on hands and knees - rustling and scuttling sounds: soft indistinguishable
sounds - paddock: field - elucidate on: clarify - corpse: dead body - fumble:look
- giggle: laugh - back up: support - issue with: provide with, give - squad: team - slip
off: escape.

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS with a Twister

Paul Denman tells about the day he came face to face with America's
most frightening meteorological phenomenon, a tornado
Click here to show vocabulary guide
(If the vocabulary guide does not show up (some smartphones), see guide at foot of this page)

Until last year, I'd always wanted to see a tornado. A few years ago, in Oklahoma, I saw one of
those violent dark green storm skies, with small cones hanging down from its underside; but the
tornado that people feared at that moment never materialized. The cones were sucked back into
the clouds, and eventually the sun came out again. Last year I met my first (and thankfully only)
tornado.... and it was not in the south. We were in Montana - tranquil old Montana - enjoying our
summer vacation, when the twister struck. The day had begun like any ordinary July day in

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Montana, with a bright blue sky, and hot sunshine. A few bubbling clouds were blowing across, as
we made our way in the footsteps of Calamity Jane , towards an ancient mining town called
Castle. In the days when the West was Wild, Castle was a rough and busy town, full of miners
looking for silver and gold. Jane stayed there for a few years, running a bar. Today, Castle is a
"ghost town", a collection of old wooden buildings, some still standing, others just a pile of
fallen boards and planks of wood. Abandoned over 100 years ago, when the mines ran out
of precious metals, Castle now lies in the middle of nowhere, miles from a paved road, miles from
civilisation.

That morning, Castle was

deserted. Few visitors make the journey to this distant part of Montana, and even fewer want to
drive ten miles on a dirt-track to visit a place like Castle. The sun was shining brightly when we
arrived, and it was still shining when we found the house where Jane used to live. It wasn't until
the sun went behind a cloud that we looked up at the sky.
"Hey!" said Sarah, "Look, there's a storm coming..." Indeed, to the south, the sky had turned
an inky black. A storm was coming, and it looked like a big one.
"Let's get back to the main road," Sarah added. "These tracks will be unpassable if there's a
storm."
"Sure, that's a good idea, let's get going!" I said
"If we go north, we'll come out near White Sulphur Springs," said Robbie.
The track wound upwards through a forest of pine trees, then divided, then divided again.
"Which way?" I asked.
"Take the track to the right," said Julie who had the map.
"Are you sure?"
"No, I'm not sure exactly where we are... the map doesn't show all these tracks... but I think
so."
The time was just about midday, yet somehow, in the space of ten minutes, all the blue had
vanished from the sky, and the light was fading fast, as if evening was coming on. The track
twisted and turned, up and down, through woods and over streams, and then, at last, out onto an
open, treeless, hilltop. Suddenly Sarah shouted. "Look, a tornado!"
I pulled the car to a stop, and looked back; and there it was. Just like in the movie: the clouds
were hanging like a dark ceiling above our heads, slate gray with tinges of brown and green. And

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there, just a few miles to the south, was the tornado, an inky funnel of twisting cloud coming right
down to the ground. Beside it, several other menacing cones were hanging downwards, ready to
strike. We could see them moving in our direction.

"Let's get out of here!" I said, and threw the

car into gear.
I don't usually drive cars at 50 m.p.h along dirt tracks, but this time I did; as we sped across the
open hilltop, it seemed like there were three different storms coming towards us at once, from
three different directions. By now we could see waves of wind gusting across the grassland, and
by the time we reached the trees again, branches were blowing in all directions. Then, beside the
track, we came across a group of tourists on quad bikes, enjoying a cross-country trip. We
stopped the car for a moment to warn them, but the tour-guide laughed. "Tornado?! No! We don't
get tornados here!" I wasn't going to hang around arguing with him, so we just set offagain,
hoping to find a real road where we could move faster than the storm. But it was not to be. We
had come out of the woods, and were going down into a valley when suddenly the hills in front of
us vanished. It all happened in the space of about two minutes.
"It's coming this way," shouted Sarah.
"Find some shelter!" said Julie.
There was none - not a tree, not a building, not a bridge, until, just as we were giving up hope,
like a mirage in the desert, wespotted an old abandoned church. Just beyond it, the sky seemed
to touch the ground. As we raced towards the shelter of this - probably the most solid building for
miles around - the first hailstones hit us, as big as golf balls, blowing almost horizontally across
the windscreen. We reached the church, and pulled to an abrupt halt. Shelter! By then we could
see nothing - or at least nothing further from us than about fifteen meters; and although there

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were four of us in the car, and it was a heavy car too, the vehicle was jumping up and down on
its springs, as if someone was trying to push it over. The noise of the wind and the hailstones on
the roof was deafening, and conversation was impossible, so we just sat there in silence hoping
and praying that our car was not going to be picked up like a leaf, and thrown across into the
unknown that we could not see.....
It probably lasted about ten minutes - but sitting in that bumping noisy car, it seemed more like
ten hours until, almost as suddenly as it had started, the wind stopped, and the hail stopped
falling. Normality returned.
"Phew!", said Sarah. "I thought we'd had it!"
"Me too," said Robbie.
Fortunately, the tornado had missed us, and we'd just been through the very violent storm that
accompanied it. But just short distance down the road, the twister had caused chaos and
destruction, flattening a farm and a garage as it rolled across the prairies of Montana. A week
later, a similar twister crashed into a camp ground in Alberta, Canada, killing a dozen people,
and wrecking hundreds of tents and caravans. With hindsight, I felt that we'd been quite lucky.
I'd seen my twister, I'd been on the edge of it, but fortunately not in the middle. Frankly, that was
quite enough.

TORNADO ALLEY
Perhaps you saw the movie "Twister". Remember, it was the film about scientists who wanted to
measure the forces in the middle of a tornado. It was a frightening movie, which illustrated the
incredible strength of this terrifying natural phenomenon. Though small tornados can happen in
many parts of the world, it is only in North America that the real big "twisters" attack. "Tornado
Alley" stretches from the Gulf of Mexico in the south, as far as the plains of Alberta, Canada, in
the north. The further north you go, the rarer they are; but in the southern states of Texas, Kansas
and Oklahoma, Tornados strike every year, destroying houses and mobile homes, cars and trees,
and anything else that gets in their way.

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