Reading aloud
•A Small boy
Read the poem and complete the tasks which follow. Small boy
He picked up a pebble and threw it in the sea
And another, and another
He couldn’t stop
He wasn’t trying to fill the sea
He wasn’t trying to empty the beach
He was just throwing away nothing else but
Like a kitten playing
he was practising for the future
when there’ll be so many things he’ll want to throw away
if only his fingers will unclench and let them go
Norman MacCraig
a. Listen to Track 28 and write in the commas and full stops in the poem, depending on how the speaker reads it. b. Check your version with the audioscript. c. Listen to Track 28 again and read along with the speaker.
d. Practise reading the poem. c. Read the poem into a rape recorder. Compare your version with Track 28.
В Space Station 5
1 Read the story extract and complete the tasks which follow. They had been up here for five years Five years for five people cut off from earth since World War IV True the Moonshuttle came every six months with з supply of food but it was pilotless They had not been able to make contact with Moonbase for two years Cathy said it was weird You say that three times a day Rosie answered Well it's true It's weird and I don't think I can stand it much longer Oh for Jupiter's sake shut up Go and play eight-dimensional death- chess and leave me alone You drive me crazy! You shouldn't have spoken to me like that Cathy said quietly and left the cabin the door hissed behind her
a. Listen to Track 29 and write in commas, full stops and inverted commas depending on how the speaker reads it.
b. Check your version with the audioscript,
с. Listen to Track 29 again and read along with the speaker,
d. Practise reading the extract.
e Read the extract into a tape recorder. Compare your version with Track 29.
An extract from Space Station 5
They had been up here for five years. Five years for five people, cut off from earth since World War IV. True, the Moonshuttle came every six months with a supply of food, but it was pilotless. They had not been able to make contact with Moonbase for two years. Cathy said it was weird.
’You say that three times a day,’ Rosie answered.
’Well it’s true. It’s weird and I don’t think I can stand it much
longer.’
’Oh for Jupiter’s sake shut up! Go and play eight-dimensional
death-chess and leave me alone. You drive me crazy!’
’You shouldn’t have spoken to me like that,’ Cathy said quietly
and left the cabin. The door hissed behind her.
С Reading the news (1)
In London today a very unusual story of the perfect crime that went wrong, the bank robbery that failed. Everything seemed to be just right: the timing had been planned to the minute, the escape route was ready, even the hiding place for the money had been carefully prepared. The getaway driver had been handpicked as someone who could be trusted. The robbery went without a hitch and the robber ran out of the bank with over £100,000 in cash. Unfortunately for the robber, Wayne Smith from East London, when he reached the getaway car, his friend the driver, wanting to make the escape as fast as possible, ran him over. Smith and his accomplice are both in hospital tonight where they are reported to be in a stable condition.
Track 30
NEWSREADER: In London today a very unusual story of the perfect crime that went wrong, the bank robbery that failed. Everything seemed to be just right: the timing had been planned to the minute, the escape route was ready, even the hiding place for the money had been carefully prepared. The getaway driver had been handpicked as someone who could be trusted. The robbery went without a hitch and the robber ran out of the bank with over £100,000 in cash. Unfortunately for the robber, Wayne Smith from F.ast London, when he reached the getaway car, his friend the driver, wanting to make the escape as fast as possible, ran him over. Smith and his accomplice are both in hospital tonight where they are reported to be in a stable condition
a Listen and decide whether the newsreader’s voice goes (a) up,
(b) down, (c) up and then down or (d) down and then up in the parts in blue.
b Practise saying the news item, paying special attention to the sections in blue in the transcript.
с Read the news item aloud along with the newsreader until you feel you are speaking in a similar fashion to him.
2 Record your news broadcast and compare it with the one on Track 30. You can combine this with the news broadcast in Track 31.
Track 31
NEWSREADER: Some crime news from across the Atlantic. In Florida today, Reinero Torres Jr was finally prosecuted after going ro court for a third time. The first two times, he had been found not guilty of the charges of shoplifting from a local store and had gone free. Today he was finally convicted at the third attempt. His crime? Stealing law books from the court house library which he was using to prepare the defence for his first two cases.
► There are more activities related to this news broadcast in Listening 16 on page 42.
D Reading the news (2)
t Read this transcript of a news broadcast and listen to it on Track 31.
Complete the tasks which follow.
[Some crime news] [from across the Atlantic]. [In Florida today],
[Reinero Torres Junior] [was finally prosecuted] [after going to court for a third time], [The first two times he had been found not guilty]
[of the charges of shoplifting from a local store] [and had gone free], [Today he was finally convicted] [at the third attempt]. [His crime?] [Stealing law books] [from the court house library] [which he was using] [to prepare the defence for his first two cases].
a For each phrase [between square brackets], underline the syllable or syllables that have the strongest stress, b Check your answers in the answer key. с Read the news broadcast aloud along with the newsreader on Track 31.
You can combine this with the news broadcast on Track 30.
► There are more activities related to this news broadcast in Listening 16 on page 42.
E The leisure centre
Use your watch or, better still, a stopwatch, to time yourself.
Welcome to the High Park Leisure Centre. If you know the extension of the person you are calling, please put in that number now. If you would like to become a member of the Centre, please press 2. If you would like information about our facilities and opening hours, please stay on the line. You may hang up at any time. The High Park Leisure Centre is your super centre for all types of leisure activities from ice-skating to tennis to swimming. Our opening hours are from 7 am to 10 pm Monday to Friday, 8 am to 10 pm on Saturdays and 10 am to 6 pm on Sundays. We are open every day of the year except 25th December and New Year's Day.
Now listen to these three paragraphs on Track 12 (they are the first three paragraphs) and time them using your watch (or better still a stopwatch). Who reads faster, you or the person on Track 12? Listen to Track 12 again. On the transcript on the previous page, underline any words that you will want to stress when you speak the messages again.
Track 12
Welcome to the High Park Leisure Centre. If you know the extension of the person you are calling, please put in that number now. If you would like to become a member of the Centre, please press 2.
If you would like information about our facilities and opening hours, please stay on the line. You may hang up at any time.
The High Park Leisure Centre is your super centre for all types of leisure activities from ice-skating to tennis to swimming. Our opening hours are from 7 am to 10 pm Monday to Friday, 8 am to 10 pm on Saturdays and 10 am to 6 pm on Sundays. We are open every day of the year except the 25c^ of December and New Year’s Day.
The Polar Bear ice-skating rink is open from the beginning of October to the end of April.
The High Park swimming pool is open all year round and costs £3.50 or £1 for members of the High Park Leisure Centre. If you’d also like to use the gym when you come to swim, there is a special price of £5 which allows you all-day access to these facilities.
In the sports centre, tennis, badminton and squash courts are available for rent when the High Park teams do not have matches. Please call 01 800 6767 extension 54 for details of availability and prices.
High Park Leisure Centre classes run all year round and the new winter sessions begin soon on the I5th January. This term we will be offering classes in aerobics, ballet, modern dance, modern jazz, judo, tae kwondo and tai chi. Our classes last for ten weeks. Please take advantage of our online booking service at....... to register for a class or to consult our full catalogue of classes. You can also pick up a catalogue at the Centre during our opening hours and special discounts are only available from our office when you register in person. Unfortunately we cannot take registration for classes over the phone.
That concludes this recorded information service. If you would like to hear this information again, please press 1. If you would like to speak to a Leisure Centre representative, please press 3. Thank you for calling the High Park Leisure Centre, your super centre for leisure and entertainment. Goodbye.
Read the announcements aloud with the speaker on Track 12. Try and use the same speed, intonation and stress as she uses.
► There are more activities related to the High Park Leisure Centre announcement in Listening 7 on page 20.
Laura
Listen to the first part of Track 10. Put a full stop (.) or a comma (,) in the circles. Change the following letters into capital letters, if necessary. Stop the recording at the end of this extract. Laura scringed away from the wall ( ) the wolf was on the other side of it ( ) she was too scared to make a sound ( ) the cold was not in her backbone only ( ) it was all through her ( ) Mary pulled the quilt over her head ( ) Jack growled and showed his teeth at the quilt in the doorway ( ) 'be still, Jack ( )' Pa said. Terrible howls curled all around the house ( ) and Laura rose out of bed ( ) she wanted to go to Pa (^) but she knew better than to bother him now he turned his head and saw her standing in her nightgown. ‘Want to see them?' he asked softly Laura couldn't say anything ( ) but she nodded and padded across the ground to him О he stood his gun against the wall and lifted her up to the window-hole. There in the moonlight stood half a circle of wolves () they sat on their haunches and looked at Laura in the window ( ) and she looked at them ( ) she had never seen such big wolves ( ) the biggest one was taller than Laura he was taller even than Mary ( ) he sat in the middle, exactly opposite Laura ( ) everything about him was big - his pointed ears ( )and pointed mouth with the tongue hanging out and his strong shoulders and legs ( ) and his two paws side by side ( ) and his tail curled around the squatting haunch ( ) his coat was shaggy grey and his eyes were glittering green. Check your answers with the audioscript for Track 10.
Track I0
Laura scringed away from the wall. The wolf was on the other side of it. She was too scared to make a sound. The cold was not in her backbone only, it was all through her. Mary pulled the quilt over her head. Jack growled and showed his teeth at the quilt in the doorway.
‘Be still, Jack,’ Pa said.
Terrible howls curled all around the house, and Laura rose out of bed. She wanted to go to Pa, but she knew better than to bother him now. He turned his head and saw her standing in her nightgown.
‘Want to see them?’ he asked softly. Laura couldn’t say anything, but she nodded, and padded across the ground to him. He stood his gun against the wall and lifted her up to the window-hole.
There in the moonlight stood half a circle of wolves. They sat on their haunches and looked at Laura in the window, and she looked at them. She had never seen such big wolves. The biggest one was taller than Laura. He was taller even than Mary. He sat in the middle, exactly opposite Laura. Everything about him was big - his pointed ears, and pointed mouth with the tongue hanging out, and his strong shoulders and legs, and his two paws side by side, and his tail curled around the squatting haunch. His coat was shaggy grey and his eyes were glittering green.
Laura lifted her toes into a crack in the wall and she folded her arms on the window slab, and she looked and looked at that wolf. But she did not put her head through the empty window space into the outdoors where all those wolves sat so near her,shifting their paws and licking their chops. Pa stood firm against her back and kept his arm tight round her middle.
'He’s awful big,’ Laura whispered.
'Yes, and see how his coat shines,’ Pa whispered into her hair. The moonlight made little glitters in the edges of the shaggy fur, all around the big wolf.
‘They are in a ring clear round the house,’ Pa whispered. .Laura pattered beside him to the other window. He leaned his gun against that wall and lifted her up again. There, sure enough, was the other half of the circle of wolves. All their eyes glittered green in the shadow of the house. Laura could hear their breathing. When they saw Pa and Laura looking out, the middle of the circle moved back a little way.
After a moment Pa went back to the other window, and Laura went too. They were just in time to see the big wolf lift his nose till it pointed straight at the sky. His mouth opened, and a long howl rose towards the moon.
I hen all around the house the circle of wolves pointed their noses towards the sky and answered him. Their howls shuddered rhrougli the house and filled the moonlight and quavered away across the vast silence of the prairie.
‘Now go back to bed, little half-pint,’ Pa said. ‘Go to sleep. Jack and I will take care of you all.'
So Laura went back to bed. But for a long time she did not sleep. She lay and listened to the breathing of the wolves on the other side of the log wall. She heard the scratch of their claws on the ground, and the snuffling of a nose at a crack. She heard the big grey leader howl again, and the others answering him.
But Pa was walking quietly from one window-hole to the other and Jack did not stop pacing up and down before the quilt that hung in the doorway. The wolves might howl, but they could not get in while Pa and Jack were there. So at last, Laura fell asleep.
Look at the extract. If you were going to read it in an American accent like the speaker on Track 10, which words would you find difficult to pronounce? Practise saying the words.
Read the passage aloud along with the reader on Track 10. Try and use the same pronunciation, pace and stress and intonation patterns as she does.