MISTAKES?
12.1
117
READING AND VOCABULARY
MISTAKES
2
a
Look at the title of the article and read the first
line. What does the first line tell you about the title?
2
b
Read the newspaper reports and answer
the questions.
1
Which story/stories involve a misunderstanding?
2
Which story/stories involve taking possessions?
3
Which story/stories involve automobiles?
4
Which story/stories involve damaging property?
3
Which is your favourite story from the text?
4
Inferring emotions
How do you think the people
highlighted in
bold
in the text felt? Choose from
the adjectives below or use others you can think of.
Explain your choices to a partner.
worried angry surprised amused
frightened confused
5
Complete the word web with words from the text.
(The first letter of each word is given.)
6
Work with a partner. Talk about a recent story that
you know about. Try and use some of the vocabulary
from Exercise 5. Continue the following sentence.
Recently, I heard about …
7
In groups, discuss these questions.
1
What is the author’s opinion of the people who made
mistakes?
2
Which adjectives indicate this? Underline them in the text.
3
Do you think all of the people deserve a punishment?
If so, what?
SPEAKING
8
a
Work with a partner. Check that you know the
meaning of the following types of accident. Use a
dictionary to help you. Which do you think are the most
common in Bahrain?
injury at home injury at work/school road accident
negligence slips, trips and falls repetitive strain injury
criminal injury accidents during travel
8
b
Work with another pair and explain your choices.
8
c
Work in your groups of four. Which is the most
serious type of accident in your opinion?
1
Which is the most serious mistake in Bahrain?
2
What kind of mistakes are common in Bahrain?
they could hardly
believe it. Eventually,
Larry managed to pop
some of the balloons
and float back to
Earth. When they
asked him why he’d
done it, Larry replied,
‘A man can’t just sit
around.’
2
2 A
group of friends
came across some old
parachutes decided to
entertain themselves
by using a parachute
to stop their car while
travelling at speed. If
they had attached the
parachute to the car,
this would have only
done a little damage.
Unfortunately, they
decided to save time
by attaching the
parachute to the driver
instead.
They threw the
parachute out of the
sunroof and made two
unsuccessful attempts
to get it to open. On
the third attempt, the
parachute opened
as soon as it caught
the air and the
driver was pulled up
against the roof of
the car with only his
seatbelt keeping him
inside. Eventually he
managed to pull on
the brake but he didn’t
fall back to his seat.
He didn’t know why
he was still trapped
until he saw that the
parachute was caught
on a nearby building.
If he had pulled the
brake a second later,
he would have died.
3
Danilo
, 36, is the
only person from
Serbia to have been a
victim of the tsunami
that struck countries
around the Indian
Ocean. He was at
home in Serbia when
he heard the news
on television that the
tsunami was about to
cause a lot of damage
and destruction. As
soon as he saw the
pictures on TV, he
panicked and jumped
out of his apartment
window.
As he fell from the
second floor, he
began to think that a
tsunami in the Indian
Ocean was not really a
threat to him as it was
thousands of miles
away. Unfortunately,
it was already too late
and he hit the ground
and broke his leg.
MISTAKES
p
people
d
v
transport
a
b
p
places
b
s
verbs connected
with movement
r
f
f
j
