5

News and views

Narrative tense • Giving news and responding
Talking about books and films • Showing interest and surprise

TEST YOUR GRAMMAR

Match the tense names with the verbs in the sentences.

Past Simp le Ellen and George were driving home.

Past Continuous They'd been on holiday.
Past Perfect Simple They'd been driving for hours.
Past Simple Passive They crashed the car.
Past Perfect Continuous Fortunately they weren't injured.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?

Narrative tenses

Look at the pictures and read the news

headline. What is the stor y abo ut?

2 What else would you like to know?

Wri te some questions us ing these Man
question words. •
Who ... ? Wh.r•.. . ? How .. . ? survives
Wh." ... ? What ... ? Why . . . ?
Share your q uestions with a partner.
60 days
3 Read the newspaper article. stuck in snow
Can yo u find answers to all
your q uestions? Why do you A 44-YEAR-OLD SWEDISH MAN survived for 60 days by eating
think som e experts are sceptical? handfuls of snow when his car had become trapped in snowdrifts.
4 IDI Listen an d compare your Yesterday he was recovering in hospital after being pulled out barely alive.
questi o ns and answers. Experts think he went into a form of hibernation after temperatures plunged
to as low as -30°C.
The emaciated man, whose name was reported as Peter Skyllberg, had been
driving on a remote forest road near the town of Ume~ in southern Sweden and had
become stuck during a snowstorm. He was finally found last Friday by a passing
worker on a snowmobile. The rescuer said: 'I was clearing the road when 1 noticed
the car. 1 stopped to scrape some snow from the windscreen and saw a movement
inside. The man was in a very poor state. He could hardly speak but 1 understood
that he had eaten nothing but snow for over two months.' Skyllberg was wrapped in
a sleeping bag but had no other warmth. His fuel had run out weeks earlier because
he had kept the engine running to keep warm.
He is now in intensive care, being treated for hypothermia. Police think that
perhaps he was a nature lover who had been trying to photograph elk. Tommy
Cederholm, a professor of nutrition at Uppsala University, says that humans can
survive 60 days without food, but other experts are highly sceptical about the story.
 5 IDI Listen to two people discussing the article. PRACTICE
Complete the lines from their conversation.
____ he ____ by an avalanche while
Discussing grammar
he _ _ _ skiing? 1 Compare the use of tenses in these sentences.
2 No, he skiing. I f read I a book on the plane.
f was reading
3 He his car and he ____ in
f opened the champagne.
snowdrifts.
2 When the first guests arrived, f was opening the champagne.
4 How come nobody him? f had opened the champagne.
5 He a sleeping bag and he _ __
o
o o
in that
6 Why ____ anyone him missing?
7 He said he nothing but snow.
8 I think there's more to this story than _ _ __
the eye.
6 Do you think it's possible to live so long with only
snow to eat? Discuss with a partner and the class.
Are there any sceptics? Turn to p161 to find out the
truth about Peter.

7 Match a line in A with a line in B.

A B
I He disappeared with his family. 3 The film started I when we got to the cinema.
2 He'd been living in the forest like an igloo. The film had started
1 The car looked until February. 4 He was sacked because I he had stolen some money.
4 He'd fallen out since May. he hod been stealing money for years.
5 They hadn't been trying ten months ago.
to find him.
I
5 When I got to the garage, my car was being repoired.
6 He wasn't discovered had been repaired.

DD Listen and check Practise saying the lines. Writing narratives

LANGUAGE FOCUS 2 Rewrite the sentences as one sentence, beginning with
the line in bold.
What are the different tenses used in these two
paragraphs? Why are they used? Which paragraph sounds He wasn't always poor. He had a successful business.
more like the beginning of a story? Unfortunately, it went bust Mick was a homeless beggar.
I Peter drove into the forest It started snowing. Mick was a homeless beggar, but he hadn't always been poor as he'd
His car became stuck in a drift. He sat and watched had a successful business, which, unfortunately, had gone bust.
the falling snow.
1 He got up at dawn. He was driving for ten hours.
2 Peter was sitting in his car watching the falling snow. Peter was tired when he arrived home.
It had started to snow soon after he'd driven into the
1 had 2 I parked my car on a yellow line. It was towed away.
forest, and now his car had become stuck in a drift.
.g I went to get my car, but it wasn't there. (When ... )
2 Find more examples of narrative tenses in the
:ed 3 She won £2,000 in a competition. Last night Sally
newspaper article.
ent was celebrating.
)d 3 Find some examples of the Past Simple Passive.
4 They were shopping all day. They spent all their
·ed in ~ Grammar Reference pl42
:ause money on clothes. Jane and Peter arrived home.
They were broke. (When ... )
~ WRITING Using adverbs in narratives p106 5 He saw a house in Scotland. He first saw it while he
was driving on holiday. Last week John moved to
n the house.
tory.
Unit 3 • News and views 23
Here is the news!

3 DD Listen to the first item on a radio news bulletin .

What do the pictures show?
4 Work with a partner and correct these statements
about the item.
1 John Caudwell is a millionaire property tycoon.
2 He was badly injured when masked men broke into
his newly-built home.
3 He had just had supper with his wife in the kitchen
when the robbers struck.
4 The robbers escaped in a van with £500,000 in cash.
5 The couple were immediately rushed to hospital.
6 Three men in their 20s have been arrested in
connection with the robbery.
5 DD Listen to the last item from the bulletin about
Nik Wallenda, an American stuntman. Complete the
questions and answer them.
What/he do that/so amazing?
2 Has anyone/this before?
3 What/wearing?
4 What/not wearing?
5 How long/take?
6 What/the weather like?
7 How many people?
8 What/do the year before?
lID Listen and check.
SPOKEN ENGLISH Giving and receiving news I
In conversation, when we tell or hear news we can use certain
expressions. Match the expressions with the headings.
Giving news You're kidding!
Did you hear about... ? It says here that ...
f - - - - - - - -- ---j The incredible thing was that ...
Reacting to news What happened next was ...
That's amazing! Apparently what happened was ...
Where did this happen?
r - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1 Really?
Asking for more information Who called the police?
How did it happen? I don't believe it.
That's such a shame.
Anyway, in the end ...

6 Work with a partner.

Student A Read the news story on p 161.
Stndent B Read the news story on p162.
When you've read your story, tell your partner about it.
Use some of the phrases from the SPOKEN ENGLISH.
~ WRITING Narrative writing 1- Using adverbs in narratives p106
 ~ Ihttp://www~bookreview.net
VOCABULARY AND SPEAKING
Books and films REVIEW

We usually want to know some things about a book The Fallen Curtain
before we start reading it. Here are some answers. by Ruth Rendell
Write the questions.
1 Who wrote it ? BOOKSEllER RAT ING *****
Charles Dickens/ Agatha Christie/John Grisham. CUSTOMER RATI NG *****
? The short stories in The
2
Fallen Curtain are from a
It's a romance/a biography/a psychological thriller.
crime writer at the height of her
3 ? powers. Ruth Rendell employs all
It's about boy meets girl/the painter, Van Gogh/ her spine-chilling crafts to produce
a man with a strange obsession. a page-turner that makes the
4 Where and ? heart pound. She lays bare the
twisted workings of the unbalanced
London in the 19th century/Modern America/
mind in these tales of haunting
The Planet Zog in 2250.
psychological accuracy.
5 ?
A boy called Harry Potter/ A killer and his From the press
psychiatrist. * 'Suspense at its best' TheTimes
6 ? * 'One of the best inventors of plots since Agatha (hristie'
Yes, it has. It came out a few years ago and starred Daily Telegraph
Johnny Depp. * 'Ruth Rendell is at the top of her class' TheObserver

7 ?
* 'Rendell transcends the mystery genre and achieves something
almost sublime' Los Angeles umes
Really tragically/It's frustrating because we don't
really know/They all live happily ever after.
8 ?
Yes, I would. I couldn't put it down/It took a while to
oLisa fears for her life when she meets her exact double,
get into but then I was hooked.
the sensuous, manipulative Zoe. But Lisa's fiance, Peter,
9 ? becomes obsessed with Zoe, risking his savings and his
Most said it was a great read/There was one bad sanity for her.
o Acautious woman's desire for security within her home
review in the New York Times.
is tested to the extreme by a roommate who often leaves
lO ? the doors unlocked, which leads to sinister consequences.
Yes, it has. It was awarded the Booker prize for , Asuburban couple have an exciting, charismatic new
first-time writers. friend, Reeve, a writer whose behaviour towards them
lID Listen and check. soon becomes both violent and sinister.
o Sometimes mothers are not maternal. They reject their

2 W hich questions could also be asked about a film? children. Here the mother-daughter relationship is
What other questions could you ask? disastrously played out.
o Aquiet-living, modest man rescues a young woman from
3 Look at the online • jJiiJiiQI of a book called The Fallen suicide and goes on to marry her, only to become a victim
Curtain, by Ruth Rendel!. What kind of stories does she of her obsessive possessiveness.
write? What words are used to describe them? Has she
o Astranger lures 8-year-old Richard into his car with
won any awards? the promise of sweets. Age 18 he is still haunted by the
4 Read the iJJm)4'!4t of six of the stories. Match them incident but remembers nothing until he revisits the site
with the titles. and the curtain lifts.
1 The Vinegar Mother 4 People Don't Do Such Things
2 The Double 5 The Fallen Curtain ' ( add to basket ) ( add to wish list ) ( tell a friend )
'pl06 > You Can't Be Too Careful 6 The Clinging Woman

Unit 3 0 News and views 25

READING AND LISTENING
Book at bedtime

You are going to listen to The Clinging Woman

as told on the radio.
Look at the picture and answer the questions.
1 What is the woman doing!
2 What is the man in the window doing!
3 What is she thinking!
4 What is he thinking!
5 What do you think happens next!
2 lI!I Listen to the introduction to the radio
programme. Listen and read Part 1 of the story.
Complete the facts that are established in
this part.
• There are two characters a man and ...
• He lives .. .
• She lives .. . Partl
It is ... in the morning. he girl was hanging by her hands from the railings
The weather ...
• He sees ...
T of a balcony. The balcony was on the twelfth floor of
the high-rise block next to his. His flat was on the
ninth floor and he had to look up to see her. It was half-past
six in the morning. He had been awakened by the sound of
an aircraft flying dangerously low overhead, and had got out
of bed to look. His sleepy gaze, descending from the blue
sky which was empty of clouds, empty of anything but the
bright vanishing arrow of the aircraft, alighted - at first with
disbelief - on the hanging figure.
 3 lID Listen and read Part 2. Answer the questions.
1 What is the man's initial interpretation of what
he sees?
2 What is his second interpretation? How does
he know it's wrong?
3 What is his third interpretation? What does
he do?
4 How do the neighbours react?
5 How does the man react to this attention?
What do you learn about his character?
6 What happens two weeks later?
Part 2 7 Why doesn't he recognize the person at the door?
H e really thought he mU5t be dreaming, for this sunrise 4 IDIiI Listen only to Part 3 of the story and
time was the hour for dreams. Then, when he knew he answer the questions.
wasn't, he decided itmU5t be a stunt. This was to be a scene 1 How does the man feel as she talks?
in a film. There were cameramen down there, a whole film What does he say?
2 What does he want her to do?
unit, and all the correct safety precautions had been taken.
3 What doesn't he want to happen?
Probably the girl wasn't even a real girl, but a dummy. He
4 How does he feel as she goes?
opened the window and looked down. The car park, paved How does she appear?
courts, grass spaces between the blocks, all were deserted.
On the balcony rail one of the dummy's hands moved, What do you think?
clutching its anchorage more tightly, more desperately. 1 Why is it 'curious' that they meet the next morning?
H e had to believe then what was obviously happening - 2 What do you think happens at the bus stop?
unbelievable only becaU5e melodrama, though a frequent Do they get to know each other? Go out together?
constituent of real life, always is. The girl was trying to kill 3 The writer doesn't ever give the man a name.
Why not?
herself. She had lost her nerve and now was trying to stay
4 Read some lines from the rest of the story.
alive. All these thoughts and conclU5ions of his occupied What do you think happens?
about thirty seconds. Then he acted. He picked up the 'My life has been yours ever since you saved it:
phone and dialled the emergency number for the police. 'We don't need children to bring us together. You're my
husband and my child and my friend all in one:
The arrival of the police cars and the ultimate rescue of
• The first thing he noticed when he let himself in at his front
the girl became the focU5 of gossip and speculation for the door at six was the stench of gas.
tenants of the two blocks. Someone found out that it was • 'How long,' she asked dully, 'will you be gone?'
he who had alerted the police and he became an unwilling Three months: She paled. She fell back as if physically ill .
hero. He was a modest, quiet young man, and, disliking ... she had been lying there, the empty bottle of pills still
this limelight, was relieved when the talk began to die clutched feebly in her hand.
away, when the novelty of it wore off, and he was able to Look at p 162 and read a synopsis of the story.
Were your predictions right?
enter and leave his flat without being pointed at as a kind
of St. George and sometimes even congratulated.
Vocabulary work
About a fortnight after that morning of melodrama, he
Match the highlighted words in the text with a
was getting ready to go to the theatre, jU5t putting on his synonym or near synonym from the box.
overcoat, when the doorbell rang. He didn't recognize the
notified courage woken up disappearing
girl who stood outside. He had never seen her face.
clearly final centre empty
She said, 'I'm Lydia Simpson. You saved my life. J've come look faded holding tightly
to thank you:

Unit 3 • News and views 27

 LISTENING AND SPEAKING E'
Page to screen Sh

What was the last film that you saw or book that you read? 1
Would you recommend it? Why/Why not?

2 Look at the list of books and films. Which do you know?

Which are both a book and a film?
The Da Vinci Code Skyfall Mamma Mia!
The Matrix Pride and Prejudice The Dark Knight
The Great Gatsby The Hunger Games Les Miserables
3 D!IJ Listen to four people talking about some of the titles
in exercise 2. Which do they talk about? How do you know?
Discuss as a class.

4 ID!I Listen to Luey and Raehel talking about books. 2

What is the relationship between them?
Answer the questions.
3

• Why is Lucy surprised about Rachel's change of opinion?

• What benefits to the Kindle do they talk about? And what limitations?
• Why isn't Lucy as keen as Rachel to switch to using a Kindle?

5 IIDI Now listen to Greg and Eddie talking about films and What do you think?
answer the questions.
Work in small groups.
• Who do you agree with most in both conversations' Why?
What will be the future for printed books and the cinema in
5 years? 20 years?
Imagine you are creating an on line list of top books and
films. Which three films and which three books would you
choose? Discuss and decide together.
Tell the class about your choices. Use some of the
language below.
It's a 'must-see' thriller/romance/true story",
It's set in ".
• What development in cinema has Eddie found out about? The main characters are ".
• What are the pros and cons of going to the cinema? And of
downloadingjstreaming video? What we really like about the story is ".
• Why doesn't Greg like the same type of films as his girlfriend? What's unusual about it is ".
• How does Eddie offer to help Greg? 4
What happens in the end is ".

28 Unit 3 • News and views

 EVERYDAY ENGLISH
Showing interest and surprise

IIEI Listen to the dialogue. Write in B's answers.

How does she show interest and surprise?
A Jade's got a new boyfriend.
B ? Good for her!
A Apparently, he lives in a castle.
B ? How amazing!
A Yes. She met him in Slovenia.
B ? That's interesting.
A Unfortunately, he can't speak much English.
B ? I thought everyone could these days!
2 B uses echo questions and reply questions. Which are which?
Practise the conversation with your partner.
3 Complete the conversations with either an echo or a reply question.
[I]

A Sam wants to apologize. A We had a terrible holiday. A I'm broke.

B ? B ? B ? How come?
A Yes. He's broken your precious A Yes. It rained all the time. A Because I just had a phone bill for £500.
Chinese vase. B ? B ? Why so much?
B ? Oh, no! A Yes. And the food was disgusting! A Because I have a girlfriend in Korea.
B ? What a drag! B ? How interesting!

v?
ain

.u
A It took me three hours to get here. A I'm on a mountain, watching the sun set.
B _ _ __ B _ _ __I
A Yes. There was a traffic jam ten miles long. A Yes. And I've got something very important to ask you.
B ? That's awful' B ? What is it? I can't wait!
A Now I've got a headache! A You'd better sit down. I'd like to marry you.
B ? Poor darling. I'll get you something for it. B _ _ _ _ ?Wow!

DnI Listen and compare. Practise t'hem wit'h a partner.

4 Your teacher will read out some sentences abo~t himself/herself.
Respond using an echo or a reply question.
Unit 3 • News and views 29